Jesus Christ imputed unto us but we also say It is imputed to none but such who have Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience and that is true inward Righteousness wrought in them by the Spirit of Christ and though Faith and Repentance and Obedience are not the Foundation of our Justification yet they are the Terms and Condition of it as I have sufficiently showed in my former printed Treatises nor doth Edward Burrough and VV. Penn if their words be duely construed contradict what I have affirmed But the true state of the Question is VVhether men are justâ—â—â—â—d by Christs Righteousness imputed to them without any inward Righteousness as the requisite Condition and Terms in order to that imputation And whether David lying in his sins of Adultery Murder remained Justified Which we deny In his 11 th Assertion although he states the Question in the Title so as we can own it to wit That a sinless Perfection is not attainable in this VVorld as their Principle but not ours yet he miserably wresteth perverteth and mis-applyeth and jumbleth things in the Explication for that Scripture in Philip cap. 3 v. 12. doth nothing contradict our Assertion who affirm no such degree of Perfection as wherein a man may sit down and make no furder progress which Paul 〈◊〉 not to do but still to go on more and more to Perfection And for that place in Rom. 7.19 c. it is not to be understood of the best Condition of the Saints when they are farthest advanced but of their struggling Time and State before they obtain the Victory and Freedom which Paul doth acknowledge in the same Epistle And for any of the Quakers saying They have no sin in them I know not any that is generally owned and approved by us that have said so it is common to Ranters and such as Tho. Cases Crew that say so but for the honest and sober People called Quakers they do not boast of their Perfection but had rather by their innocent Walk and Conversation demonstrate their growth and progress in Sanctification than by a Talking of it CHAP. V. IN his 12 th Assertion he doth not fairly state the Question especially in the Explanation of it for he should have distinguished betwixt the state of Servants and Sons of the Free Woman and so betwixt Saints by way of Inchoation or Initiation and Saints by way of Confirmation as betwixt Corn in the Bud or Blade or green Ear when it is in danger of blasting and ripe Corn that is past all danger of blasting for as to this latter I did grant in my former printed Treatises in unity with my faithful Brethren that there is a confirmed state in Faith and Sanctification wherein the Saints persevere to the end of all Tryals and from which they cannot fall away and the Faith of such is more precious than Gold that perisheth endureth all Tryals and Tentations even as true Gold endureth the Fire and looseth nothing in it but all have not attained to this State which is indeed the only proper state of Salvation that is as the Harbour or Port of Safety to the tossed Marriner and till the Soul arrive to this state it is but as a Ship exposed to the Waves of the Tempestuous Sea Also I readily grant that none of Gods elect can finally fall away for his 〈◊〉 is over them so to preserve them as that they do not fall or if they do fall as in the case of David to restore and renew them again by Repentance And C M. and his Brethren have granted in that Book call'd their Antidote or The Principles of the Protestant Religion 〈◊〉 That the temporary Faith that may be lost is not false and if not false then true after a sort although I grant it is not that Faith of Gods Elect that 's more precious than Gold that endureth all fiery Tryals yet is of a saving tendency and such who have it it they did well and duely improve it might in due time arrive to that Confirmation in Faith and Holiness that cannot be totally finally lost But whether the Faith that may be lost and the Faith that cannot be lost differ in Kind or Specie or only in Degree it being too Nice and rather Philosophical and too Logical I did not as I said in my former printed Book see cause to enquire seeing it is a very great dispute among Schollars what maketh a Distinction of things in Kind or Specie some affirming That the Mettles and Elements differ not in Specie others contradicting and saying they do In his 13 th Assertion concerning Infant Baptism or rather Rantism or Sprinkling and in his 14 th Assertion concerning the Supper he bringeth no new matter but what I have sufficiently answered in my former Books and therefore shall say no more here as to them But that he chargeth it upon us as if we did not believe Christs coming again and appearance without us in his glorified Body to judge the quick and the dead is that he cannot prove any of us guilty that is generally own'd and received to be of our Faith only we have denyed the gross and caâ—nal Imaginations that some have vented as concerning Christs â—â—dy câ—lling it Natural and Earthly which we believe is spiritual and heavenly and if any call it spiritual and heavenly glorified Flesh as well as Body we shall not contend against them for we do acknowledge it is the same in Being and Essence that it was on Earth but wonderfully changed in Manner and Condition see our printed Sheet called The Christian Faith c. In his 15 th Assertion he doth most grosly prevaricate abusing and â—eâ—verting our words as because we own an inward quickening and 〈◊〉 â—aised with Christ in our Souls and inward Man that therefore we deny any future Resurrection of the Body aâ—ter Death which we deny noâ— but affirm against Ranters and vain Norionists and we believe Tâ—â—t the Resurrection of the Body is not attained immediately after Death altho' the Souls of the faithful immediately after Death go into Heaven or Paradise but at Christs coming and Appearance to judge the quick and the dead and the same Body that dyeth is raised in 〈◊〉 true sense being freed and refined from all Dross of Corruption even as Gold is the same when it lieth in the course Oar or Miniral and when it is refined but wonderfully changed in Manner and Condition In his essaying to prove his 16 th Assertion he showeth himself extreamly weak as if because God commanded the Jews to keep the Seventh Day for a Sabbath from the beginning of the World in the fourth Commandment therefore he commandeth the Christians in the same fourth Commandment to keep the first Day But I need say no more on this Head but refer him to his much esteemed Calvin for his Refutation who in that doth fully agree with us as generally do all the Protestants in France and the Low Countries and
which the Author of The fulfilling of the Scriptures doth plainly acknowledge was about that time among them and indeed many of these Tremblings and extraordinary Motions that seized on the Bodies of some Presbyterians many call'd Quakers in these dayes did proceed in great part from the small experience of and little acquaintance that these Persons had at first with that sensible manner of the working of Gods Spirit and that there were but few at first that could well advise them to bear with more composure and quiet of Body that manner of workings whereas by more frequent Experience many did and do at this day witness and feel sensibly not only as great but oft greater inward Workings of the Spirit of God on all accounts and yet can bear them and most willingly and gladly submit to them with little or no Observation of any Bodily Trembling for as in going to War and heariâ—◠〈◊〉 dreadful Sound of Guns Trumpets and Drums the young Soulâ—â—â—â—â— are oft afraid even to a degree of Bodily Trembling yet aâ—â—â—â—wards having more Experience they feel not either that Bodâ—â—â— Trembling nor such fear that is the cause of it and as Water aâ—â— Fire at its first breaking forth is more violent and yet afterwarâ— is fully as effectual without such Violence so at the first hearinâ— of Thunder and seeing the terrible Flashes of Lightning Persoâ—â— are much more afraid than after when they are more acquainteâ— with it by frequency thereof so it might be and was so that the Power and Spirit of God did work in former dayes with a more seeming Force upon many and yet since doth work as effectually now and sometimes more without it so as not to come under such frequent Observation and yet even Bodily Tremblings are still witnessed proceeding from the inward working of Gods Spirit among us as the Apostle saith Knowing the Terrors of the Lord we perswade men Pag. 12. For the words of Humphry Norton alledged by C.M. I have made inquiry at divers but can find no intelligence of any such words in any Book of his but if any such have dropt from him or any other tending to deny the Faith of Christ's being in Heaven in his glorified Body of Man without us we shall be far from excusing them for we zealously believe That the Man Christ is in Heaven without us in his glorified Body of Man the same for Being he had on Earth but wonderfully changed in Manner and Condition as is clearly and fully expressed in that late Treatise given forth by our Friends in Rhode-Island called The Christian Faith c. Vindicated c. But yet we cannot approve of the too carnal Conceptions of many carnal and ignorant Professors that have too carnal Imagination of Christ and confine him altogether to such a Remoteness that they wiâ—â— not allow any Measure of him to dwell in Believers plain contrary to the Scripture Pag. 12. And whereas he saith If they own those Principles why won't they give us leave to own them I Answer We blame you not for owning them providing ye did own them as ye ought to do in the true and right Faith of them that proceedeth from the Spirits inward Inspiration and Revelation sensibly working by way of sensible Object upon the inward and spiritual Senses of mens Souls but this ye deny and therefore it is not the matter but manner of your ownâ—â—â— them that we commonly blame even as some said that the Lord â—â—â—ed yet they swore falsly because they did it hypocritically not â—nowing him to live in them but yet sometimes in these very things ye err also in the matter Pag. 15. That the Quakers adore G.K. either for his outward Learning and make him their Head or for any other thing is false nor doth he seek any such false Honour it sufficeth him to be loved by his Friends and neither he nor his Friends make any other account of outward Learning but to be the foot-stool of Christ and subservient to his Truth and as the Spoils of the Aegyptians were made serviceable to the Israelites And that he saith This Keith it is who has given the greatest advantages to Quakerism and that with no little Alterations How this is consistent with his representing me as if I were Mad pag. 44. and extreamly Ignorant doth not appear And as for Alterations great or small that I have made in the Quakers Principles as rightly understood delivered by our most Antient Friends of best account in general he hath not proved He calleth my late Catechism A wily Catechism wherein Quakerism is so disguised as that one would almost suspect him a real Protestant and yet he will needs have it that the Juice of Toads is as wholsom a Potion But it is strange that such a Wily Catechism and so politically contrived should proceed from a Mad-man and extreamly Ignorant as he would have me to be But however I say that Catechism is writ and given forth in true sincerity without any disguise and doth as really bespeak me a true Protestant as all true Quakers are as it doth seem to represent me to be and will be found to have nothing that 's hurtful in it but profitable and wholsom I hope upon impartial Examination That the inward excusing or condemning Principle as he chargeth on us p. 15. which all men are born with is the Man Christ Jesus is not asserted by any called Quakers that I know unless by a figure called Synecdoche of giving the Name of the whole to the measure and by a Metonyme as where in Scripture the second Adam is called the quickening Spirit and the Light of the World but the Quakers so called generally acknowledge that the Spirit Light and Life dwelleth in all fullness only in the glorified Body of the Man Christ Jesus without them and the measures of it not seperated from the Fullness more or less as he is pleased to give in Believers Nor do the Quakers saâ—â— that men bring with them into the World these inward Illumination and Convictions and other Operations of the Light or Spirit whether common or special that men feel by experience in them when at Age although none can come into the World but as the Almighty Power and Arm of God who formed them in the Mothers Womb doth bring them and as that eternal Word without which nothing is made doth appoint them in their several Ages and Generations And for Christian Lodowicks Challenge against our Friends in Rhode-Island it is already answered and they are cleared from his Calumnies and our Christian Religion sufficiently distinguished from either Paganism Judaism or Mahumatism And the Exceptions he makes against my Catechism are soon answered if his Perversions were but detected 1 st That some who are left without either the help of the holy Scriptures or holy Men do yet so rightly improve the inward help of Christs Light as to be accepted with God This he saith is altogether contrary
from being any design of our Religion that it more than any tendeth to humble the Creature for man can never be truly humbled until he see himself in the Light of God shining in his heart and that will greatly humble him as it did Job and Isaiah and all the holy men of God were humbled and kept humble by bowing down and subjecting thâ—â—r Minds and Thoughts with all their Desires and Affections to that divine Spirit Light and Life of Christ in them that bringeth men to the true Denyal of Self and to cease from all Self-Actings Willings and Runnings that only proceed from their meer Natural Paâ—ts and Abilities whether in Prayer or any other Religious Performance and however such Prayers and Devotions that are performed without the Spirit of God may please mans carnal Mind and give 〈◊〉 false and carnal ease and peace and exalt Self in Man yet they can neâ—â—â—â—â— profit them who use them nor please God for God who is a Spiâ—â—â— will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth And whereas in his 8th page he accuseth the Quakers for their horribly Prayer-less Lives withal asking how many Prayer-less Houses and Prayer-less Tables are to be found among the best of them I Answ In that he is very uncharitable as that the best of us had neither Prayer in our Houses nor at our Tables which is false for not only the most grown up in the Truth but even the least Babes in the Truth are not without frequent Prayer both in their Houses and at their Tables altho' not so very frequent vocally yet sometimes vocally as God is pleased to give an utterance and at other times only with our Hearts which God accepts for vocal and external words of Prayer are not so essential to Prayer but that true Prayer may be and is most frequently without it yea Samuell Rutherford a great Presbyterian saith in his Epistles Words are but the Accidents of Prayer yet Prayer with Words uttered with the Mouth as God is pleased to enable us we gladly own both in our Assemblies and Families and if any be wanting in their Families in Prayer or any other part of Devotion it is their own fault for which they must answer and ought not to be charged upon the innocent And we believe Gods holy Spirit will be wanting to none duely to move them and that most frequently to Prayer who watch thereunto both with words or without them And if they watch not unto Prayer their Neglect of watching and likewise of Prayer is their sin and chargeable upon them and they will bear their burden for it But that any faithful man owned by us hath said as C.M. alledgeth not from any Quaker but from a partial Adversary That in many Years they have not had a motion to Prayer we do not believe if any feel not their hearts moved to Prayer and that most frequently it is their own fault and sin for indeed every faithful Soul his Life is a Life 〈◊〉 Prayer and he prayeth in his heart as frequently as he breatheth in the air for true inward Prayer rightly understood is the â—â—â—â—inual Motion of the heart towards God The Spirit helping our 〈◊〉 with Groans that cannot be uttered for even Paul said We know not what to pray for as we ought Rom. 8.26 And also he hath solemn Times and that frequently for solemn Prayer and Meditation and Thanksgiving but the most sincere Christians do not always make the greateâ—â— show or outward appearance to pray as the Phariseâ— did of 〈◊〉 And I might easily retort this Question How many 〈…〉 and Independents have either Prayer lesâ— Houses and 〈…〉 very formal and Hypocritical and are wholly Strangers in the 〈…〉 Life and Mystery of Prayer Though we have Charity 〈◊〉 some of all sorts and as we judge neglect of Prayer a great 〈◊〉 so we judge 〈◊〉 Formality and Hypocrisie to be no less both which Extreams are to be avoided Some Collections of Passages out of Jer. Taylors Book 〈◊〉 The History of the Life and Death of the holy JESUS Part 1. Sect. 9. of Baptism N. 29. JVst as we use to deny the Effect to the Instrumental Cause and attribute it to the Principal in the manner of speaking So we say it is not the good Lute but the skillfull hand that makes the Musick it is not the Body but the Soul that is the Man and yet he is not the Man without both Note And so the Quakers commonly say It is not the Scriptures but the Spirit that revealeth to us divine Mysteries yet by so saying they deny not that the Scripture is an Instrument of the Spirit to reveal the Doctrinal Principles peculiar to the Christian Faith as Christs Birth of a Virgin his Crucifixion c. as much as the Lute is the Instrument of the skillfull hand that makes the Musick Infants Baptism Part 2. N. 8. No man can conclude that this Kingdom of Power that is the Spirit of Sanctification is not come upon Infants because there is no sign nor Expression of it it is within us therefore it hath no signification it is the Seed of God And it is no good Argument to say here is no Seed in the Bowels of the Earth because there is nothing green upon the face of it And N. 19. For as the reasonable Soul and all its Faculties are in Children Will and Vnderstanding Passions and Powers of Attraction and Propulsion yet the Faculties do not operate or come abroad till Time and Art Observation and Experience have drawn them forth into Action so may the Spirit of Grace the Principle of Christian Life be infused till in its own day it is drawn forth for in every Christian there are three parts 〈◊〉 to his integral Constitution Body and Soul and Spirit and all these have their proper Activities and Times but every one in his 〈◊〉 Order first that which is Natural then that which is 〈…〉 what Aristotle said A Man first lives the Life of a Plaâ—â— then of 〈◊〉 and lastly of a Man is true in this sence and the 〈◊〉 spiritual the Principle to the longer it is before it operates because â—â—re things concur to spiritual 〈◊〉 than to Natural and these are 〈◊〉 and therefore first the other are perfect and therefore last 〈…〉 who is he that so 〈◊〉 understands the Philosophy of this third Principle of a Christians Life the Spirit as to know how or when it is infused 〈◊〉 how it operates in all its Periods and what it is in its Being and proper 〈◊〉 and whether it be like the Soul or like the Faculty or like a 〈…〉 to what Purposes God in all varieties doth dispense it thaâ— which is 〈◊〉 is that the Spirit is the Principle of a new Life or a new Birth 〈…〉 the Seed of God and may lie long in the Furrows before it springs up that from the Faculty to the Act the passage is not always suddain and quick And a little after