Silent waiting was in practice among the prophets, and those that attended them, as appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel. We find the spirit of the prophet was engaged in divine vision, whilst the elders of Judah sat before him, as it is described from the 1st verse of the viiith chapter, to the 4th of the xith chap. ter. During the time of which vision, it cannot be consistently supposed, that he was either speaking to them, or they to him, or to each other. This was not a singular instance of their meeting together, for it was the manner of God's people to congregate with the prophets, as that close reprehension plainly indicates: "They come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them."a

not themselves faithful; but the defect is in themselves, and not in the principle.

5. We profess, that the Spirit of Truth ought to be ours, and every man's leader, and that this Spirit is an infallible guide, and that so far as any faithfully follow it, they are infallibly led, and no further; but we never did, nor do profess, that all in society with us are so led, or even sufficiently seek to be so. Nor was it the case amongst the primitive Christians themselves. We well know, and freely own, that we have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God, and that without repentance and regeneration, we must for ever fall short of it. We are also sensible, that upon due confession, submission, and sincere obedience to the manifestations of Christ, the light of men," he is faithful and just to forIn this solemn practice, we have often been give us our sins, and to cleanse us from all enabled thankfully to acknowledge the verity unrighteousness;" and if we "walk in the of that gracious declaration of our Lord, light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship Where two or three are gathered together one with another, and the blood of Jesus in my name, there am I in the midst of Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." them;" the fulfilling of that promise, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;" the certainty of that assertion, "The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him ;" and the necessity and authority of that just command, "Be still, and know that I am God."e

Could any thing but either gross ignorance, captious envy, or malevolence, infer from this, that we profess, we all are, or that any of us always are, infallible? Yet so have our doctrines been discoloured by our adversaries from the beginning, and in the same track our present opposer follows his predecessors; reAs silent waiting appears to us, in the first peatedly upbraiding us by allegation, that place, requisite to the worship of God in spirit there is some difference both in sentiment and and truth, it is always our practice, for we practice among us; but is it possible to be believe he ought to have the direction of our otherwise with any body of people, whether hearts therein; and if he please to influence less or more, whilst different degrees of capaany one under due preparation, vocally to ap- city and experience remain amongst them, as pear, either by way of address to himself in they ever must, and whilst any are deficient prayer, or to us in preaching, we never pre-in paying that due regard to the principles clude such appearances, but silently assist ac- they profess, which they ought to do? cording to our measures. If it prove that none are so concerned to speak, we sit the time through in silence, wherein true mental worship is often experienced; but we never appoint any meeting with intent that it shall be held throughout in silence, as some have mistakenly imagined; for we believe, that all ought to be led and guided by the good Spirit of God, more especially in the solemn acts of divine worship. It would be a happy thing, were all so led, amongst us as well as others, but the case appears otherwise with too many, who sit unconcerned, in expectation of hearing the ministry, instead of waiting upon God, and therefore often meet with disappointment. The apostle said in his age, "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." So we must acknowledge, all who have descended from faithful ancestors, are

3. S. Newton's subsequent query, p. 47, has reference to an expression of mine, in answer to his common, though improper, manner of reasoning, that is, drawing general conclusions from particular premises, and charging the faults of particular persons upon the general body, which never espoused or countenanced them. This I showed to be a fallacious practice, and instanced, that by this manner of arguing, the theft and treachery of Judas might be charged upon the whole twelve apostles, seeing he was one of them. Upon this my opponent impertinently asks, "Did our Lord and his apostles countenance theft or treachery, as the Quakers do publicly and privately a neglect of a primary and principal attention to the Scriptures, as the best standard of faith and practice?"

This appears intended to deceive the unwary reader into a notion, that in the pre

a 1 John i. 9. b Verse 7.
54

ceding remark, I have drawn a reflection words; which should have been, "The Holy injurious to the character of the apostles, and Spirit communicates, not a natural faculty, to heighten the prejudice, he irreverently foists but somewhat from itself, to the faithful soul, in our Lord also, who is not once mentioned which becomes to it," &c. By this he might in the paragraph. With regard to the Scrip- have gathered, that I intended not a commutures, I have declared our sense concerning nication of its essence, but its influence; like them, and shall only add, that we hold them as the sun in the firmament doth not shed its to be the best written standard of belief and body, but its radiance upon the earth; by the practice that we know of in the world. We light and animating warmth of which, the favenerate them for the sake of the great Author culties of men receive a clearer and stronger they came from, and seek to him for the right perception, both of that glorious luminary understanding and proper use of them, believ-itself, and also of what it reveals and discoing He who alone can open the true sense of vers, than it is possible for them to do without them, and accompany it with power to enable its assistance, by all other means whatsoever. us effectually to put it in practice, to be the As to the word organ here, S. Newton knows primary guide, and therefore ought always to it is only a metaphor, a short similie in one have our principal attention; ever esteeming word, often used in discourse, not as arguourselves in duty bound, in the first place, to ment, but for illustration; and as no similie look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of runs on all four, it is not reasonable to expect our faith.a As "the life is more than meat, it in this. I meant to be understood by the and the body than raiment," so is the imme- words, as an organ, its operating to like purdiate influence of the Spirit of Christ more pose as a corporeal organ, or a means of conthan the Scriptures, or than any man's, or veying intelligence from the divine essence to people's, private or partial interpretation of the soul of man; as an eye doth from the them, from whence have arisen all the differ- object to the understanding. I hope this exences that subsist about them, and which must planation will sufficiently obviate all the inever remain to be the case, till the Holy Spirit ferences and reflections occasioned by my itself is applied and attended to, as the right inadvertence. interpreter, and supreme standard of faith and practice. This is the original essential primary guide, and that revelation which comes immediately from the Spirit of God into a man's heart, is certainly the primary one, and that which he receives through instrumental means, is as certainly but a secondary one.

4. S. Newton pretends, p. 56, "It is some. what remarkable, that Mr. Phipps should refer us more than one hundred years back, to prove to us, there had been a spirit of prophe. cy among them." Why should this be so remarkable, when he demanded what grounds Barclay had to assert such had appeared among them? Would any person rationally expect I should bring modern instances to prove an assertion made before they existed? Had I introduced any that arose after the date of the Apology, he might properly have said they were impertinently alleged.

5. P. 64, he cites this passage from my observations, "Barclay's doctrine is, that the Holy Spirit communicates not a natural faculty, but itself to the faithful soul, and becomes to it a new principle wherein, or as an organ whereby, it is capacitated rightly to understand religious truth." My inadvertence in leaving an expression so short of my real in tention, perhaps may have led my opponent to misunderstand my meaning. I must therefore request his leave to explain my own

a Heb. xii. 2. b Luke xii. 23.

6. P. 69 and 70, S. Newton infers, that the Quakers' notion of revelation seems to imply, that it must be a revelation of something not understood, or a communication of something to the mind, of which the soul has no conception; and that it is a manifest contradiction— no revelation at all, &c.

Barclay distinguishes revelation into objec tive, and subjective, and sometimes he speaks of the one, and sometimes of the other. In order to show the propriety of this distinction, let me observe, that the soul of man hath not only a faculty of cogitation, by which it ordinarily thinks, unites, divides, compares, or forms ideas, but also a latent power of internal sensation, or of perceiving spiritual objects by an inward and spiritual sense, when presented through a proper medium; which, till the beams of divine light shine upon it, it must be as totally unacquainted with, as the child unborn is with its faculties of sight and hearing. For though in that situation, it may be completely formed, and possess every organ proper to corporeal sensation, yet it is not empowered to exercise them, or really to know it hath them, till it be brought forth into the medium necessary to the use of them, composed of the light and air of this world. Then it first finds the peculiar sense, and exercise of those natural powers which, before its birth, it could not have the least understand. ing, or proper use of. In like manner, the natural man must be delivered out of his na

now modishly treated as the only revelation still existing, and to exist, is rather the fruit of revelation than the thing itself, a scriptural record of things revealed, for they certainly

tural darkness, into the luminous and quickening influence of that divine Word, or Spirit, which is most emphatically styled the true light and life of men. Thus born of the Spirit, into this proper medium of divine know-were so to those to whom they were immediledge, the soul is made acquainted with that spiritual sense it could neither discover, nor believe pertained to it, whilst in its natural This is no new natural faculty added, but its own mental power newly opened, and brought into its new place and use.

state.

ately disclosed; but the different senses put upon the many disputed parts of them, for many generations past, demonstrate those parts are not truly a revelation to those who mistake them; nor can they ever become such to them, till they know the holy Author to be Words are inadequate to the expression of their interpreter. For, "No prophecy of Scripthis internal sense felt in the soul under di-ture is of any private interpretation. For the vine influence. It cannot be ideally conveyed prophecy came not in old time," or rather, at to the understanding of the unexperienced; any time, " by the will of man, but holy men for it is not an image, but a sensation, impos- of God spake as they were moved by the sible to be conceived but by its own impres- Holy Ghost."a sion. So true is that of the apostle, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." It was upon this consideration that I said, divine light is the subject of inward sensation, "and is not to be communicated from one to another by reasoning, or verbal description." For should any person give the most clear and lively description possible of the light of the sun, to a man blind from his birth, it would only be communicating an ideal notion of the light, but not the light it self. It might be called a subjective revelation concerning the light to him, but not an objective one of the light itself. This no man can have but by his own immediate sensation. Divine revelation is a disclosure of some thing to the rational mind by the Holy Ghost, not in the mind's own power to discover. This the Holy Spirit doth, either by unveiling itself by its influence in some degree to the soul, and giving it an internal sense of its presence; or by favouring it with the vision of other objects, real or representative, through the communication of divine light and power; or by giving the soul a clear sense of its own state and condition. All this being a disco-to their salvation. very of objects, is called objective revelation.

Subjective revelation is a disclosure of subjects, or things relative, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; by which the mind is opened into the knowledge of the divine Will concerning persons or things, led into the true sense of Scriptures, or into a deeper understanding of doctrines than it could ever reach without divine illumination. Of this kind was the original revelation of the Scriptures to those who penned them.

All this, both objective and subjective, is truly internal immediate revelation. What is

a 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10.

P. 75 and 76, S. Newton argues, that the immediate internal revelation of the Holy Ghost is not in all sufficient to save, because Barclay allows, that some who have once had it, may be, and have been damned; to which I answer, if all were saved, it would be a certain proof that God is able to save all; but are we therefore warranted to deny or dispute the ability of Almighty power to save all, because all are not saved? A flowing spring is cer tainly sufficient to quench my thirst, if I drink sufficiently of it; but if I refuse, the insufficiency is not in the spring, but entirely owing to my refusal. But Balaam is adduced as an instance quite in point; because he had internal revelation, yet taught Balak to seduce the Israelites to sin. That he sometimes had internal revelation, is true, and whilst he adhered thereunto, it preserved him from teaching seduction. It was when he departed from it, or suffered himself to be so far overcome with a love to the wages of unrighteousness,' that the Holy Spirit departed from him, as an illuminator and preserver, that he joined Balak in his evil purposes. This has been the case of all apostates; the grace of God is allsufficient, but they disobey, divide from, and thereby prevent it from operating sufficiently

CHAPTER XV.

1. S. Newton's inconsistency with our Saviour's expression, Mat. xvi. 2. The possibility and necessity of attaining a spiritual sense of the Spirit of God, preached by Paul to the pagans. 3. A false inference from my words obviated. 4. The pagans not void of God's saving grace, nor led by it into polytheism, &c. The rude absurdity of charging us with paganism. 5. Impious idolators, &c., not in Christ; but he appears in them as a swift

a 1 Pet. i. 20, 21. b2 Pet. ii. 15, and Jude 11.

article, "The religious opinions and practices of Mr. Phipps's brethren, whom he has select ed from among the heathens, recapitulated, that he may see what their supposed divine inspiration taught them."

rality, as truly as S. Newton himself can do, is he justly to be stigmatized with the reproachful title of brother-pagan? What is it that constitutes paganism? Is it a belief, that "the manifestation of the Spirit is given to The instances I adduced from the pagans every man to profit withal?"a Or, to perceive were to show, that it was evident from some of a truth, "that God is no respecter of perof their own expressions, they had an internal sons, but in every nation, he that feareth him, sense of that grace of God which the apostle and worketh righteousness, is accepted with saith, "brings salvation, and hath appeared to him?" Then both Paul and Peter were broall men." The citations I made, appear to me ther-pagans too. If we hold the same doctrine proofs of it. Our opponent appearing prepos with the pagans where their tenets are agreesessed with an opinion, that eternal salvation able to truth, is it equitably to be inferred, is confined to the knowledge of the history that we are one with them where they are not and doctrines of our Saviour, is necessarily agreeable to truth. Should I return my anled to think, that all who are not providential- tagonist his compliment, by producing points ly furnished with this, are intentionally left wherein he accords with Papists, Deists, enunder an impossibility of entering the king- thusiasts, antinomians, and pagans, and charge dom of heaven; and thence concludes, that their errors and extravagances upon him, would the generality of the pagan world must be he not tell me, it is treating him with haughty void of any share of the saving grace of contempt and virulent invective, as he doth God; and that we must be wrong in suppos- without any such reason? Let him look to ing otherwise concerning them. Possessed of the beam in his own eye. these notions, he seems to infer, that the same principle which taught them that they had at times a manifestation of something of a divine nature within them, also led them into their polytheism, idolatry, false theology, and immoralities. But I apprehend, this is as far from being true of the pagans, as it is of those patriarchs, Israelites and Christians, who have defaulted or degenerated. For I can no more believe, that principle which sometimes gave Plato a sense that "the light and Spirit of God raiseth up the soul into a sensible communion with him," led him also to teach a plurality of deities, than I believe the Spirit which led Noah to preach righteousness, led him also to overcharge and disguise himself with wine; or that the Spirit which at seasons inspired Aaron, led him also to make a golden calf, for the Israelites to worship, or at all concurred with him in it. Nor do I think it reasonable to conclude, that because Aaron assisted in an idolatrous practice, and offended the Spirit of God in other respects, as also Miriam, David, Solomon, and many other inspired persons did, that he never had a sense of divine influence.

I

The sentences I quoted from a few pagan writers, demonstrate what I adduced them for; that they were sensible of a divine principle in their consciences, and knew somewhat of its operation. Their abiding still in some part of the polytheism, &c., they had been educated in, and the customs they had been taught to hold as sacred and inviolable, only indicate, they had not come so fully under the guidance of this principle, as to be led into all truth by it; but not that they were void of all sense of it.

P. 119, 120, S. Newton asserts, when Paul was at Athens, he did not direct them to an immediate revelation-nor appeal to a divine saving principle, or Spirit in them. But elsewhere says, Eph. ii. 12, they were without God; 1 Cor. i. 21, and that they knew not God.

The text doth not peremptorily say, they knew not God, but that they knew him not by their own wisdom; and the same apostle saith; "They are without excuse; because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves But it seems, both myself, and the people wise, they became fools." This shows, they am religiously connected with are brother pa- had sometime a knowledge of him, but through gans, because we hold one like opinion with inattention and disobedience lost that knowsome of the best and most intelligent heathens. ledge; as is the case with too many professing Is it either just or charitable, to suppose those Christians as well as they. And when the heathens held no sound or sensible truths? If apostle was among the Athenians, he acthey did hold any such, how can any sound quainted them, that God made all nations of or sensible mind do otherwise, than to acknow-men, that they might feel after him and find ledge the same truths? And, if such a one him; intimating, for their encouragement so detest their polytheism, idolatry, and immo

a Tit. ii. 11.

a 1 Cor. xii. 7. b Acts x. 34, 35. c Rom. i. 20, 21, 22. d Acts xvii. 27.