John Wilbur
Source: Wilbur, John. Letters to a Friend, on Some of the Primitive Doctrines of Christianity.
Philadelphia: Tract Association of Friends, 1995.
This Document is on The Quaker Writings Home Page.
LETTER V: ON THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
MY DEAR FRIEND:
It will be seen by every rational well-informed mind that the comparison of two or more things
together does not virtually diminish the real value of either; but affords a ready way of exhibiting
and ascertaining, the equal, or superior, or inferior properties of things differing both in nature and
kind, viz: the good and the evil; and these severally have their degrees; but my present purpose
will be answered by a brief recurrence to the good. On this great scale is beheld, even by us,
short-sighted as we are, a mighty range of vast extent from the lowest to the highest, in the
blessed order of God's assignment; for no man hath ever been able to comprehend or to reach to
the higher degrees of the radii of this mighty circle: so that we see there is room for a place and a
station for every good thing in the spiritual as well as in the temporal economy, and that without
any interference or infringement upon each other. And God standeth above all, and over all, and
through all, and is in all, and ordereth all; and in comparison of whom there is no created thing
which can be named in the heaven above, or the earth beneath, or under the earth, or even all
things put together; they can indeed be no more accounted of than the drop of the bucket, or than
the particles of dust which cleave to the balance; and this is the more evinced to us by reflection
on his glorious attributes of wisdom and power, justice and mercy, goodness and love, each in
itself unbounded in extent; yet in him all are comprehended, each of itself filling all things, yet
each clearly distinct; all in harmony, and what is wonderful, all are one, and that one is God, and
each of these bears witness to the whole, and God in each records his mighty power, and testifies,
and manifests himself unto man; and which all believers acknowledge, he has not only manifested
himself, but also the knowledge of his will, and that too at sundry times and in divers manners.
But as it regards the ways and means by which God, through Jesus Christ, has revealed his will in
former times, or at least as respects the adaptation of those ways and means to the minds of men
in the present day, there appears to be a great difference of opinion between us as a people, and
other professing Christians - which difference Robert Barclay in his apology for the true Christian
divinity, has set forth in a clear, cogent, and scriptural manner. He has in that work answered the
great question, whether that principle which contains the light, grace, spirit, and faith of the
gospel, or the Bible, is the first and best leader and controller of the Christian's life and practice;
and he has fairly made the Bible to decide this question itself. None need do more than simply
quote all the passages from the Scriptures which speak in favor of both these positions, and there
will certainly be found a great preponderance in favor of the ground taken by our early Friends,
and taken also by the apostles, in following the directions of our Lord, as to the guidance of his
spirit, and its operation upon men's hearts. And I would indeed that all who may have any doubts
on this point might first read the New Testament carefully through with candor, and an eye to the
subject, and then examine Robert Barclay's proposition on the same subject, when the coincidence
will be readily seen. But though Robert Barclay has clearly and unanswerably demonstrated this, I
would suggest the following queries for the consideration of all inquirers: -
1st. Can the Scriptures, or did they ever, save any one without the spirit?
2nd. Is a person called to the work of the ministry by the Scriptures, or by the spirit of Jesus
Christ?
3rd. Is a man brought under a concern to go from one place to another to preach the gospel, by
the Scriptures, or by the constraining power of the spirit and love of Jesus Christ?
4th. And when he is arrived at the place assigned, and is assembled with the people, is it not the
spirit of Christ that truly unfolds the Scriptures, and brings to view the state of men, either in the
words of Scripture, or in some other suitable language?
5th. And when a professed minister preaches in any of our meetings, his doctrines not being
repugnant to the letter of the Scriptures, are the elders or others to judge by the Scriptures, or by
the Spirit of Truth, whether his ministry is from the right spring or not?
6th. Did not the Jews think they had eternal life in the Scriptures, and yet would not come unto
Christ that they might have life?
Finally, Christ the Lord is the minister and leader of his people, (others as well as ministers,) for
they do believe the truth of his gracious words, that he is with them, and dwelleth in them, and
girdeth them, and bringeth all things to their remembrance; and they know him and his words
which he spake in the days of his flesh, to be unequivocal and true, and not feigned words, or vain
pretensions. They know too, by blessed experience, that their faith in Him, their leader, is a
practical and living principle - that it is not a mere theory; and they find this living experience
confirmed to them by literal testimonies from the Scriptures. Hence they are enabled livingly to
believe the Scriptures, and to assign them their proper place; or rather to allow them to take their
own station and allotment in the blessed schedule of God's providence, declaring themselves to be
"profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness," and that
through faith they are able to make us wise unto salvation; where too he has also placed them,
and where they acknowledge themselves to have been placed. Hereby those who attempt to put
them in the place of the immediate and life-giving instruction of the spirit of Christ, are not true
and genuine believers of the full, fair, and irrefragable testimony of the Holy Scriptures, as it
relates to the question before us. In making a comparison of the blessed spirit of the gospel with
the Scriptures of truth, there is nothing lost to them; for placing it above them is no diminution of
their excellency, nor of their character; nor can there be any dishonor brought to the sacred
writings, by placing the all manifesting spirit, and light, and grace of God, through our Lord Jesus
Christ, over and above them in the rightful order of God's manifestations and provisions for the
children of men. Nay! truly, it cannot be derogatory to the Scriptures, nor to any other creature
here below, to place the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the quickening spirit, above them;
and it may be presumed that no person who believes in, and is disposed willingly and
self-denyingly to wait from time to time, for the coming of the Lord from heaven, the quickening
spirit, will be disposed to give the preference to aught which is beneath the power, and the life,
the covering, and the instruction proceeding from it: for these know it to be their Alpha and
Omega, truly the beginning and the end of all their Christian movements; but this would never
authorize any one in the least to believe or act contrary to the Scriptures, which are a blessed
revelation of the will of God.
If we compare the Scriptures with the writings of our early Friends, there will be nothing lost to
the latter by placing the former above them, and in the higher sphere of that exalted rank, where
they do deservedly, and ever ought to stand, far above all modern writings, for several
considerations which are well defined by Robert Barclay. For as the Scriptures, being authentic
and true, place themselves below Christ and his blessed Spirit, so the writings of our worthy
predecessors being also true, place themselves meekly and modestly, entirely below the holy
Scriptures - a correct position.
Now, therefore, as the Scriptures are true and authentic in word and doctrine, and stand above all
other writings, we may fully admit them to be the only outward, fit rule and standard by which all
the professors of Christianity may prove and try their doctrines; and more especially, where that
Spirit which trieth the spirits, is not so well known and understood. This outward test being then
generally agreed to by all, is a treasure of inestimable value, and the more so, because it instructs
them of the purchase of their redemption, and emphatically directs all to the light and grace of
God, through the gospel; which are the very things that our forefathers and we as a people have
insisted on. But we see, nevertheless, that for want of a perfectly single eye to the light of Christ,
some of the doctrines of this perfect standard are misconstrued and differently understood, so that
Christendom has become divided into divers denominations, and each of these denominations has
a creed or confession of faith peculiar to itself, and founded, as it is supposed, upon a right
understanding of the Scriptures; every individual member, therefore, of these different sects feels
himself bound to believe and support the doctrines of the gospel as understood by his own
society; and such is surely his duty, if he believes with all his heart that they are correct. But
whenever any member of a religious body sincerely thinks that he has found important errors in
the fundamental doctrines of his own people, it then becomes his duty openly and candidly to say
to them, "That such and such, being your faith, and such and such mine, I must therefore separate
myself from you, my views having become established, and my duty prompting me to open them
to you, and before all men, and not knowing but as ye are many and I am but one, that ye are still
more correct than I, I am resolved, therefore, to take no secret measures, nor use any hidden
influence, to draw you unawares into my opinion; knowing as I do, that the purity and integrity of
the gospel is such, that no end, however seemingly good, can sanctify any deceptive means to
draw votaries to its support."
Candid and Christian was the way taken by our early Friends to gather and establish a society
coinciding with their own views; they maintained honest, manly ground; for their object was not a
perversion of right principles, but a fair and lucid exhibition of them in the very face of day. Far
different were the subtle movements of the seceders from Friends in America; they endeavored,
with all the art and cunning in their power, secretly to gain and to proselyte the unwary, to their
new-fangled system of infidelity. How much more honorable to have come out into broad
daylight, and proclaimed their views, inviting others to their standard. There might have been
honor in such measures, though practiced by infidels.
The subject before us, my dear friend, is one of deep importance, (even the right assignment of
the place of the holy Scriptures,) when we contemplate the great consequences which await the
retaining or abandonment of apostolic ground; the ground taken by our predecessors in
profession, and which they supported with regard to the comparative rank of the spirit of Jesus
Christ, and the Scriptures; for it would not require much foresight and sagacity to see, that if we
as a people, were to change the place of the Scriptures, and exalt them above, and put them in
place of the teaching of the spirit of Christ, that it must inevitably, and that before long,
completely overturn and change our ancient faith and practice, concerning both silent worship,
and the need there is of a continually renewed qualification in a gospel minister: two very
prominent and important doctrines of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and they
have been virtually witnessed by the real worshippers and faithful messengers in all the previous
ages of the world, who waited, spoke, and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The
knowledge and true experience of these doctrines had been very much lost, even since the more
refulgent dawning of gospel light upon the sons of men, until they were proclaimed, and the true
standard was again raised and supported through much pain and suffering by George Fox and his
contemporaries; and the same doctrines continue to be acknowledged by their successors in faith
down to the present day. Yet it is lamentable that these doctrines remain to be peculiar to the
society of Friends, and that they only (it is believed) as a body, are found experimentally and
livingly to teach and to practice them.
Inasmuch then as men, by silently waiting upon God, may happily attain strength and instruction, so they can thereby do more towards pulling down the strongholds of sin and Satan; therefore his enmity is the more excited, and his cunning the more exercised to allure them from this blessed ground; for finding his attempts to drive them by violence from the truth to be in vain, he now very insidiously resorts to art and intrigue; he is very plausible with them, seeking if he can, to relax their direct hold upon God, and their dependence singly on him. He asks but small concessions at once, and admits something that shall very nearly resemble the right thing, and yet not be the thing itself; he gives it a good name, alleging its necessity, and extolling its advantages. And however the adversary hates the Holy Scriptures, and would induce men to disbelieve them altogether, still, when he cannot effect this purpose, it is like himself, to exalt them in name, even above their right order and true standing, that so he may dishonor Christ; hence he would place the Scriptures instead of, or before the instructions of Christ's spirit, casting a shade of darkness over men's minds, and over the true faith of the gospel, subtly suggesting the impracticability of a direct leading of the Holy Spirit, and thus inducing ministers to abandon that flesh-paining exercise of waiting for the promise of the Father, and setting them to work, to preach the letter only instead of Christ Jesus in the demonstration of the spirit, and with power; hence by degrees he would in time, so thoroughly change and remove this holy ground of our standing, that it might finally be abandoned altogether; which must indeed unavoidable be the case if we misplace the Scriptures, (as some other professors do,) buy putting them as our instructor before the Spirit; then would our worship, our ministry, and our forms, become like theirs!