Natural body c. Answ. This is another manifest perversion for it is plain by J. C. his words here cited by thee that J. C. doth not speak of the body of Christ but of the body of an ordinary man which goeth to dust and corruption whereas the body of Christ did not corrupt for it being conceived by the Holy Ghost and having a Heavenly Original it was more excellent then the body of any other man and therefore seeing it did not corrupt it was raised again according to the words of Christ concerning it Destroy this Temple and after three days I will raise it up and the same after fourty days Ascended into Heaven Pamphlet Animad 15. Yet according unto Keith the Philosopher though it be the same in substance it is no more a body of Flesh and Blood Answ. How or in what respect he calleth me the Philosopher as whether by way of Derision or not I am not careful to determine or inquisitive to understand for I affect no such Title unlesse it be understood according to the Etimology of the word to signifie a lover of Wisdome namely the true Wisdome and not that falsely so called and in this sense every true Christian is a Philosopher which is to say a lover of Wisdome but that Philosophy and vain deceit which the Apostle bids the Colossians beware of that is after the Tradition of men after the rudiments of this world and not after Christ wherein I have been formerly educated and exercised before I knew the truth as it is in Jesus I have renounced and do here openly declare my Renounciation thereof and count it all but loss and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus in whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdome and Knowledge and what I have declared or given forth in any publick Testimony concerning the truth I have not received from the Worlds Philosophy or Wisdom but from the openings of the spirit of truth as they livingly fprung up in my heart and inward parts and unto the same and to nothing else I can and do recommend my Testimony to be judged in all who have the same living spring of truth as it is in the life and light of Jesus opened in them and unto the greater measure of the spirit of truth in any others I freely can and do submit any publick Testimony which I have given forth for the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets what the spirit of truth opens in one can never be condemned by the same spirit in another Pamphlet Animad 15. The first Heavenly body of the man-hood of Christ which Keith saith he had from the beginning he allows to have Flesh and Blood and calls it so and it hath so now in Heaven surely according unto him yet the body born of the Virgin is changed so Etheriall that you must call it no more Flesh and Blood Answ. I have said nothing concerning the Flesh and Blood of Christ either before or after his outward coming in the Flesh but according unto plain Scripture nor have I medled to give any other names unto the body of Christ but what the Scripture giveth for Christ said the bread from heaven is his Flesh and of this Bread or Flesh all true believers did feed and thereby had life in them even from the beginning of the world and seeing Christ himself gave these names of Flesh and Blood to that inward Heavenly Spiritual and invisible substance which refreshes the soul and inward man of every one that believeth Who dare call these names into question or find fault with them although I do freely acknowledge they are Metaphorical and figurative as when Christ called himself the vine and those that believed in him the branches and I ask was not Christ the vine even from the beginning into which all true believers were grafted and did they not eat the Grapes of this Heavenly Vine-Tree and drink the Liquor or Juice or Wine thereof and what was that but his Flesh Blood even as the Grapes of the Vine may be called it's Flesh and its Wine or Liquor its Blood and as it is so called in Scripture the Blood of the Grape But when I say the body of Christ which was born of the Virgin and was crucified and rose and ascended did not remain a body of Flesh and Blood I am warranted by the Apostle who said Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and the body at the last resurrection is raised spiritual conform unto the glorious body of Christ and therefore it is not Flesh and Blood in the Vulgar or common sense but if any call it so Metaphorically and spiritually I shall not contend Pamphlet Animad 15. If the body of Christ be turned into air and yet remain the same in substance we ask what it is that identifies and makes it the same in substance that it was when Flesh and Blood Ans. Here is another gross abuse and perversion of my words that he affirmeth I say the body of Christ is turned into Air. This is a gross lye and perversion I call it not Air but a body Etherial and Heavenly and it is a more excellent body than the purest Air beyond all comparison and as to his question what is that which Identifies and makes it the same in substance this is very easily answered the substance of the body it self remaining the same under these different modes or manners of being as when the Soul of a man is the same for substance when converted from Earthly Carnal and Natural to Heavenly and Spiritual Pamphlet Animad 16. As to the comparison that the Author uses as nothing of the Body of the Sun is here on Earth but in Heaven only its light and heat which are qualities in the Air So now that light within that these Quakers have made so much stirr about is nothing else but an accident and quality from the man-hood of Christ in Heaven adhering in our Souls as light and heat adheres in the Air. Ans. Here he passeth by the other examples given by me here and elsewhere and only noticeth that of the Light which having its center in the Sun emanates in most abundant Streams into all the World which emanating light that flows from the body of the Sun he denieth to be any part of the Suns body affirming it onely to be an accident or quality But what reason or prooff giveth he for his assertion Surely none at all But if he thinketh to defend himself by the authority of some called Philosophers who say the same with him I can tell him of other Philosophers so called more famous who speak indeed more according to the truth that deny it and affirm that the Light of the Sun that emanates unto us is a real substance and hath of the real body of the Sun in it which is the real Substance of Fire as it can be proved by the said
animae hominem Sed ut per se sibi sumpsit ex Virgine corpus ita ex se sibi animam sumpsit qua utique nunquam ab homine gignentium originibus prebetur Si enim conceptum carnis nisi ex Deo Virgo non habuit longe magis necesse est anima corporis nisi ex Deo aliunde non fuerit at vero si Dominici corporis sola ista natura sit ut sua virtute sua anima feratur in humidis insistat in liquidis et extructa transcurrat quid per naturam humani corporis concepta ex Spiritu S. caro Iudicatur And concerning the Soul of Christ he further saith Naturae hujus potestatem Iam non dico metus sed nec infernae sedis regio est concludens quae descendens ad inferos a paradiso non desit sic ut hominis filius loquens in terris maneat in Caelo Non habet hunc metus corporalis penetrantem quidem inferos sed ubique Naturae suae virtute distentum naturam hanc mundi Dominam ac libertate Spiritualis virtutis immensam non sibi terrore mortis Gehennae chaos vindicat qua Paradisi deliciae carere non possunt In English thus Again he said that he was bread that by this that he is bread coming down from Heaven the Original of his Body may not be esteemed to be of Humane Conception while it is shown to be a Heavenly Body And the Hereticks use to accuse us because we say that Christ was born a man having a Soul and Body not of our kind but as by himself he took to himself a Body of the Virgin so of himself he took to himself a Soul which is never to be acknowledged to have the same Originals of them begotten of Man for if the Virgin had the Conception of the flesh not of any other but God it is much more needfull that the Soul was not of any but of God But indeed if that be the onely Nature of the Lords body that by its own vertue by its Soul it is carried upon the waters and standeth upon the Floods and being struck at can pass through why is the Flesh conceived of the Holy Ghost judged by the Nature of an Humane Body And concerning the Soul of Christ he further saith The power of this Nature now I say not only fear but the region of the infernal seat doth not contain which descending into the Hells is not absent from Paradice so that being the Son of Man speaking in the earth he doth remain in the Heavens Bodily fear doth not take hold of him that doth indeed penetrate the hells but is everywhere extended in the vertue of his own Nature and the pit of Hell cannot claim to it self by the Terrour of death this Nature that is the Lady of the world immense or unmeasurable in the liberty of Spiritual vertue Which the delights of Paradice cannot want Post-script SInce I wrote the Answer aforesaid to the Pamphlet set out by a Nameless Author called the Quakers Creed c. I have seen a sheet in print subscribed by William Haworth a sort of Independent Teacher at Hartford which he calls a Winding-sheet for the five Hartford Quakers and in the said sheet he refers the Reader to the aforesaid Pamphlet called the Quakers Creed for an answer to my Book The way cast up This gives me just ground to hold the said William Haworth either to be the Author of the said Pamphlet or at least an approver of it and therefore all the Lies and Calumnies and whatever other gross abuses weaknesses and impertinencies and all the absurd and blasphemous Assertions which I have discovered in the said Pamphlet are Chargeable upon him and lye at his door And whereas William Haworth saith at the end of that fheet aforesaid that G. Keith saith Christ never was a man this I charge upon him as a most gross and Notorious lye and slander I never spoke wrote nor thought any such thing It is strange that the man has so far lost all sense of shame to publish such a manifest lye in the sight of the world Now how truely and uprightly I own and believe that Christ is both God and Man my book called The way cast up is a sufficient witness and this other Treatise writ by me in answer to the lying Pamphlet owned by him is another But it seemeth he doth suppose that such a Conclusion will follow by way of Consequence from my words because I have affirmed in my book that Christ the Heavenly Man was from the beginning even before Adam the first Man which was of the Earth earthly But this consequence I altogether deny as false and unreasonable for his being before he came in that body doth no more infer that he was not man in that body than it doth infer that a man ceaseth to be a man or that the Soul of any Man ceaseth to have a being when it is not in a Fleshly body and if the having of a Fleshly Body be so Essential to the being of the Soul which is most principally the Man so as the Soul cannot be or subsist before the Fleshly Body the same reason holds as much that the Soul cannot subsist or have a being after the Fleshly Body is put off and so by W. Haworth his Argument the Soul of every man dyeth with the body and hath no immortal Subsistance Let him see how he can clear himself of this and many other absurdities which he runneth himself into by his foolish and inconsiderate way of reasoning And as for other things in that he calleth his Winding Sheet which he chargeth upon the Quakers as their Doctrines and then upon some called Quakers as that one should say that the Soul of man was the Devil that the Devil was made an offering for sin and another should say that Christ was a bastard These false and abominable Calumnies have been so fully and sufficiently answered above by the said five Hartford Friends and especially in their last called the Malice of the Independent Agent again rebuked that it is to no purpose to give any further reply Nor is the evidence he giveth by proof of some witnesses of any more Authority than his own who hath openly in the face of the world discovered himself to be a lyer and false accuser and can it be questioned but he can find others like to himself who because of their deep malice and prejudice against the Truth make no more conscience than himself to bear false witness against the innocent Moreover whereas these five Friends of Hartford did justly blame W. H. for Charging the whole people called Quakers with any errour that some one or other called a Quaker may be supposed to have writ or asserted set case any one had so writ or asserted And they Query further Is it just the Independent party should be charged with the private Opinions of every one of them because they pretend all to one rule the Scripture The said W. H. giveth only this bare and naked evaston in that he calleth his Winding Sheet Should the Independants saith he hold Infallibiliy as you do then might that party be Charged with all the Religious Opinions that any of them at any time vented Unto which bare evasion these Friends of Hartford have given a sufficient reply in pag. 13. of their last book where among other things they say Such an absurdity was never the assertion of the people called Quakers viz. That either every one pretending to be guided by the light within or distinguished by the name Quaker is therefore guided by the same light in all discourses or so to be owned by the said people This which they have already said is sufficient to overturn his evasion as because the Quakers do all pretend an infallible Spirit that therefore all must be acknowledged to have that infallible Spirit and to be guided thereby which doth no more follow than that because all the Independants so called pretend to one Rule the Scripture that therefore all that they or any of them speak write or do is according unto the Scripture which instance of parity they did bring in their foresaid answer pag. 13. Yet do not thereby grant that any of the people called Quakers are guilty of any such Blasphemous Doctrines as before cited To which W. H. hath made no reply and therefore it is returned upon him as wholly unanswered as also the whole substance of their last book which W. H. hath not answered nor indeed hath not so much as pretended to give a particular answer unto the greatest and most Principal part thereof And therefore these Friends see it not needful to give any further answer to what he calleth his Winding Sheet until he give a particular answer to the several parts of their book and they look upon his sheet to be no Winding-Sheet for them but that it is an evidence he hath spent all his strength and is as it were a dying man that is no longer able to hold out in this controversie and that therefore it may be more fitly called a Winding-Sheet for VV. Haworth himself than for them FINIS
God and so nothing of the Holy Spirit which is one Essence with him and the end of this is plain down-right Atheisme for if God himself be not present in men nor the Holy Ghost which is one Essence with him nor Christ how can any thing that is truly Good be in us who can work it or being wrought who can preserve it if God and Christ be absent Surely nothing appeareth unto me more rampant Blasphemy nor more gross Atheism than to deny that God is really present in all Men and in all Things For how is God omni-present if he be not really present in and with all his Creatures And if God be present in all his Creatures then Christ is also present because the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ. But seeing thou wilt not allow Christ to have any further reach or extent than the humane soul and body of any ordinary Man and that the Fulness of the Godhead is contained within that bounds of the ordinary stature of a mans body and that essentially is not this to limit the infinite God into a narrower place or room than the Souls of many brute beasts which have larger bodies manifold times than the greatest body of any earthly man and to confine him within the humane figure and shape of a man yea nothing is more plain which is gross Anthropomorphitisme and the blasphemous Doctrine of Lodowick Muggleton But further I enquire seeing thou affirmest That the Essence of God is only in Christ and that whole Christ is contained within the ordinary dimensions of mans Body and that Christ had neither Soul nor Body before Mary Where was the Essence of God from the beginning of the World until that time For either it was somewhere or no where to say it was no where no not in the Highest Heavens is absurd seeing God is said to dwell in the Heavens and they are called Gods Throne and Christ Taught his Disciples to Pray Our Father which art in Heaven c. But again on the other hand if thou shalt grant That the Essence of God was in Heaven then that Heaven is as personally united unto God by thy Doctrine as ever Christ Jesus and may as truly and in the same sense be called God the Son of God God-man the Creator of the World and is the Object of Divine Worship This I say is the necessary and infallible consequence of thy Doctrine because thou sayest expresly who ever hath the Essence of God in him is as personally united unto God as Jesus Christ and may as truly and in the same sense be called God c. Pamphlet Animad 18. Yet observe the Author will not have the center of the Heavenly Man hood of Christ dwell in us but allows here the Essence of the Deity to dwell in us Is not this a preferring the Manhood above the Deity Ans. By no means but it is an infallible indication That the Deity is infinitely a more excellent being than the Man-hood of Christ simply considered for it is a greater perfection to be all center and that the center be every where then only in some place As for Example if the Light of the outward Sun were all center and that the center of the Suns Light were every where in the whole Firmament that Light should be a much greater and a more glorious and excellent Light than the Light of the Sun as it is now at present is And although I say that the center of the Soul and Spirit of Christ as Man is not in us yet the true Essence of the Soul and Spirit of Christ in measure is in us for that emanation or flowing forth and ray of his Life and Light is truly efsential unto him and is not any meer quality or accident or operation as some have supposed Pamphlet Animad 19. They believe that there is a Nephesh and a Nishamah in this Heavenly Soul of the man-hood of Christ one more gross the other more refined Answ. This is a gross abuse and perversion for although I speak of a Nephesh and Nishamah in the Soul of Christ yet I did not call the one more gross the other more refined although the one doth excel the other yet none of them are either to be called or understood to be gross as having any mixture of refuse or superfluity as the word gross doth import Pamphlet But there is a secret not yet to be revealed by this Rabbi whether these two be one Soul or two Souls of different kinds or whither two faculties or parts of one and the same Soul Answ. This is another abuse for I do not state the question so as whether one Soul or two Souls but thus whither two principles really distinct or two faculties or powers of one only principle which I found no necessity to determine as neither I yet do whatever be my Judgment and Perswasion in the case Now admitting or giving that they were two principles yea although three or four or more Principles were acknowledged to be in the Soul of man as constituent thereof it is still but one Soul in the compleat and intire notion of the Soul as the Body of man is still but one body although consisting not only of many Members but also of many Principles as namely the Elements of Water Earth Air Fire and certainly he that understands the nature of any ordinary man and what man is inwardly and outwardly in Soul and Body must needs acknowledge that every ' man hath many principles in him yea the principles of the whole Creation reduced by a wonderful order into a certain Epitome or Compend and for this cause not only these called Philosophers of old but also these called the Fathers have called Man the Microcosme or little World as having all the principles of it in him namely the principles of the outward and visible World in his body and outward man and the principles of the inward and invisible Worlds in his inward man and these words Isaiah 43. 7. Every one that is called in my name and unto my Glory I have Created him I have Formed him I have Made him The learned among the Hebrews understand them in respect of the three Worlds aforesaid so that out of each of these three Worlds Man is Made or Created and yet he still but one man his Soul one Soul and his Body one Body although consisting of many principles Even as a speech or discourse is but one speech or discourse although that speech consist of many sentences and every sentence of many words every word commonly of divers syllables and every syllable of divers letters and the letters which are the first principles of speech of divers kinds and natures and for this cause and with a respect unto this some have called man Logos i. e. a Speech as being the Similitude of that more excellent and principal Logos which is Christ the essential speech or Word of God But because every
or substance And the first greatest of all the second less than the first but greater than the Third so that Plato his Doctrine of this Mystery was unsound and imperfect although it seemeth that he aimed at the Truth Now whereas we believe that the Holy Ghost is one and the same Essence with God and that the Heavenly Man-hood or Nishmah of the Soul of Christ is distinct in essence or substance from the God-head although by a most excellent and wonderful union united with the same for ever and yet is not any third essence as Plato calleth his Anima Mundi It is very manifest that Plato his Anima Mundi cannot at all be acknowledged to be the Soul of Christ. Again Plato calleth it the Soul of the World as Judging the World it self to be an Animal or living creature composed of Soul and Body But this doth by no means agree unto the Soul of Christ for if it did then the world should be Christ and the body of every beast fish foul tree or stone and also the earth it self should be the real body of Christ all which is false and absur'd and therefore Plato's Anima Mundi cannot be the Soul of Christ. Pamphlet Animad 21. I Query whether this Soul of Christ can be the Holy Ghost Answ. This query is altogether needless seeing in my book called The Way cast up I have expresly declared that the Soul of Christ and the Holy Ghost simply considered are distinct beings but because the Holy Ghost dwelleth in Christ the Heavenly Man and by him only is conveyed unto us and that they are wonderfully united one unto another we cannot understand them as separate and therefore as Christ the Second Adam in Scripture is called the quickening Spirit and the Lord is the Spirit so he may also be called the Paracletus or Advocate as he is expresly called 1 John 2. 1. And if any man Sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and this same advocate or paracletus is but one it is clear that sometimes Christ himself is called the Holy Ghost in Scripture for the words Holy Ghost as well as the word Spirit have different significations in Scripture for God is said to be a Spirit also Christ is called the Lord that Spirit and the Second Adam the quickening Spirit And thus the words Holy Ghost and Spirit do sometimes signify more generally and sometimes they have a more particular and peculiar signification Pamphlet Animad 21. Why then the Christian hath a great advantage of a Quaker in that his Sanctification is of another and better nature than that of the Quakers in that it is the Holy Ghost who is God who mystically dwells in them Answ. Here thou dost commit Three great abuses 1. To distinguish betwixt the Christian and the Quaker whereas every true Christian is a Quaker namely one that trembles at the Word of God and every true Quaker is a Christian and we desire to be called by no other name than that of true Christians 2. That thou dost insinuate as if we did not believe that the Holy Ghost who is God did dwell in us but only Christ which is a gross perversion and false calumny yea so false that thou givest thy sels manifestly and openly the lie in the next citation 3. Thou dost grosly again contradict thy self that thou sayest the Holy Ghost dwells mystically in every true Christian and yet thou deniest that the essence of God dwelleth in any Christian although the Holy Ghost be one essence with God Nor will thy term mystically save thee for if by mystically thou understandest not a real indwelling of the Holy Ghost as he is one essence with God then the Quaker is in a better condition and hath a great advantage of thy supposed Christian that according unto us every true Christian and Quaker hath the Holy Ghost who is one essence with God really or essentially dwelling in him through Christ who is also in him and this according unto 1 Cor. 14 25. God is in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being rightly translated is essentially from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth being or essence Pamphlet Animad 21. But they understand the Holy Ghost who is God is not separated from this Body Soul of Christ but why then did they not express themselves so Answ. Thou seest Reader how openly he giveth the lie unto himself in this citation by acknowledging that we understand the Holy Ghost is not separated from this Body and Soul of Christ and yet a few lines before he did alleadge that according to our principle the Holy Ghost did not dwell in us and whereas he saith why then did they not express themselves so I answer first how couldest thou know our understanding or mind if the thing had not been expressed But Secondly I say that I have sufficiently expressed the same in my book called The way cast up in several places particularly in p. 114. where I say expresly For because the Fullness dwelt in him and that he was immediately and most intimately united with the God-head so as no Man nor Angels are but only the Man Jesus he is only the true Christ. And because he it is alone who in an immediate way and originally is Gods Anointed who hath Anointed him with his Holy Spirit and all other men even the most Holy but mediately united with God through him receiving the Anointing or Holy Spirit Therefore all other men are not Christ but Christians not being immediately Anointed of the Father but by the means of Jesus Christ. Nor are they otherwise partakers of the Anointing or Holy Ghost but as they are partakers of Christ. Thus Reader thou feest how clearly I have expressed this very thing and how faulty the Author of this Pamphlet is and how far he hath fallen short of his promise to give the World a true account of our Faith concerning the Man Christ Jesus who is guilty of so many false insinuations gross perversions self belyings and contradiction as I have sufficiently demonstrated Pamphlet Animad 22. They believe this humane nature is divine farewell that distinction then yet 't is inferior to the God-head But this Author thinks that omnipresency and omnisciency may be attributed to the Man-hood yet the man hood not being consounded with or equalized to the God-head contrary to the Doctrine Taught by our Christian Divines Answ. Mark Reader the great ignorance and partiality of this Author who is so much offended because I call the Nature of the Man-Hood of Christ Heavenly and Divine as if because the name Divine is given to the Man-Hood of Christ that therefore I consound the Man Hood with the God-Head and equalize it thereunto and yet within three or four lines he calleth these of his brethren who profess to teach of Divine things Christian Divines he will therefore have men that Teach or profess to teach Divine things to be
truly Divine union it hath with the Godhead doth by vertue of the same receive such Divine attributes and perfections as are communicable unto none else beside him and the nature of the Manhood of Christ must be so excellent so great and so perfect and so substantially excelling all Men and Angels that is capable of such an Union or of such Divine attributes properties and perfections that are both proper and necessary for such an one as is to be Mediator betwixt God and Man and our High Priest with God of which Divine attributes omnipresence and omnipercipience aforesaid are some which I call Divine because of their great excellency and in respect of which the manhood of Christ is nearest unto the Godhead of all other distinct beings although as I have already shewed the omnipresence and omni-percipience or omniscience of Christ as man is not the same nor equal unto these attributes of omniscience and omni-presence that belong to Christ as God or unto the Godhead but of a far inferior sort Moreover seeing the foresaid communication of names is grounded upon that so rare and singular union betwixt the Godhead and manhood of Christ it is very manifest from hence that the said communication of names could not be from the beginning of the world unless also the union betwixt the Godhead and Manhood of Christ which is the ground of the said communication had been from the beginning and consequently also the Manhood of Christ was from the beginning for two natures cannot be united before the one of them have any being again as the said communication of names and properties require the Man-hood of Christ to exist or have a being from the beginning of the World otherwise it could not be said that the Man Christ Jesus was from the beginning not so much as by that figurative speech of communication of properties so in like manner that communication of properties cannot be allowed but where as well as when the Godhead and Manhood are together united and existent and that for the same reason already given namely that the communication of the names is grounded upon the union of both existing together in the same things places or persons as well as in the same times and therfore if the Manhood of Christ were not omnipresent in all places as well as all times The Man Christ could not be said to be omni-present not so much as by that figurative speech of communication of properties which is not barely Verbal or Titular and Nominal but Reall and Substantial according to the manner above expressed Again there are many Scriptures which speak of Christ that must needs be understood of Christ as Man and not as God so much as by that figurative Speech of communication of prorerties as when Christ said John 6. I came down from Heaven not to do my own Will this must needs be understood of Christ as Man as I have already proved seeing Christ as God always doth his own Will What he adds page 14 15. concerning the sum of the Quakers Doctrine concerning Christ it being in great part a heap of Nonsence and Confusion and not my words nor meaning and so far as any part of it is true being sufficiently answered already I need not make any new Reply unto it only whereas he talketh of two Souls and Bodies of Christ I would have the Reader to Remember that I have no where in all my Book spoke of two Souls of Christ and as concerning the two Bodies of Christ they are also but one body in the full and intire Notion of a body consisting of various parts and members united into one so that the manhood of Christ is still but one in its full and intire Nature And again whereas he finds fault with us for saying that Christs heavenly body whereof the Saints are partakers confisteth of flesh blood and bones he may find the same fault with Christ who spoke os his flesh and blood that came down from Heaven which is the Saints Food also he may blame Paul who said the Saints were of his flesh and of his bones But flesh blood and bones here understood are not to be meant literally and after a vulgar manner but spiritually and figuratively for his flesh and blood from Heaven are Spirit and Life And although the Wisdom of God hath expressed them under these distinct Names yet originally they may be but one substance even as flesh and blood and bones of an earthly body are originaly but one substance which is dust and earth And I can and do freely appeal unto all Christians whom God hath spiritually Enlightned and given a Spiritual Understanding unto of the Mystery of God and Christ whether this be not the True Christ of God of whom I have declared And Whether that described by the Author of this Pamphlet here Answered by me is not indeed a False Christ And also his God whom he limiteth Essentially within the Dimensions of an ordinary Human Body be not also False And so Whether He and not I be not guilty of Gross Idolatry and bringing in another Gospel and so is acted by another Spirit and hath therefore a Curse from the Apostle upon him Gal. 1. 8 9. And lastly Whereas he laboureth to fix upon me the Heresies of no less than Seven several sorts of Heretical Sects he but sheweth forth the same Lying Spirit that hath acted him all along And therefore to undeceive the Reader whom he seeketh so grosly to abuse I shall very clearly and briefly pass through these Seven Heads and sufficiently purge my self of every one of them to any that are Judicious and Impartial 1. He chargeth me with the Heresie of the Macedonians and Valentinians who said Christ brought an Heavenly Body from Heaven with him To this I answer That was no part of their Heresie but only that they said Christ's Body in the whole Substance of it came down from Heaven and did not in any part share or partake of the Substance of the Virgin Mary but altogether passed through the Virgin as Light passeth through the Air or purest Christal But this I do not maintain for I have sufficiently declared That Christ did really partake of the Virgins Flesh and Substance although the Body of Christ was not Conceived after the manner of Human Conception And therefore it was Heavenly in respect of its Original and more Excellent than the Body of any other Man And that this was reputed no Heresie among the Antients I prove because Hilarius one of the Fathers of great Antiquity and in high Esteem among these called the Orthodox was of the same Judgment namely That both the Body and Soul of Christ had a Nature more Excellent than that of all other Men although they had also what belonged to the true Nature of Man in all Essentials 2. He chargeth me with the Heresie of Apellis that said Christ had an Airy Body and Starry Flesh that passed through the