Human Nature of an Human Soul and Human Body And likewise Truly and Properly the Son of God Contrary to Will. Penn. And that He is not such in Any Other Person Whatsoever Not in the Person of Will. Penn G. Whitehead or Any of the Quakers Reader forgive me for using so many Words Less Particular and Positive will not do with these Men. It is for their sakes that I do it That I may by any Means if Possible Open their Eyes to Discover their Horrible Delusions They have by this Means of Allegorizing the Incarnation and Birth of our Blessed Saviour from the Letter to their Imagined Conception Birth Passion Death and Resurrection of the Light within taken away all Certainty whereby we may know Whether ever ther was Such a Man in the World as Jesus Christ or that He ever did any Miracle or had any Attestation from Heaven for His Ministry That Most Express of the Glorious Appearance of a Light from Heaven Descending Leasurly and Hovering upon the Head of Jesus at His Baptism after the Manner that a Dove Lights upon the Ground the Quakers have Deny'd that is turn'd it to an Allegorie Doest thou believe says G. Whitehead to his Opponent in his Truth Defending the Quakers p. 42. That it was visible to the Carnal Eye as a Created Dove is or its Lightning I believe he Meant Lighting upon Him as a Dove was in respect of its Nature and Comliness By this they Mean That Innocency and Simplicity like that of a Dove was all that did Light upon Jesus or which Exprest His Nature and Comliness at that Time And then indeed they might well Ask Was it visible to the Carnal Eye But by this they have Quite Overthrown the Validity of that Miraculous Attestation given to Christ And so they have done to all the Rest That as I said they have not left One Single Proof that Ever ther was such a Man in the World For that can not be known but by Outward Acts and Attestations And if they can be thus Turn'd ther is an End of all Proof from them But they wou'd have no other Proof for Christ or His Mission than ther is for their Own Since they vouch Themselves to be Christ and God! Indeed as many Gods as ther are Quakers For if as they say the Seed in them can Grow up to be God That God do's BEGET Himself in them Then I do not see how they can avoid the Consequence of a Multiplication of Gods Of God's having a Beginning and being Created For if He be Begotten in Time Every Day in Every New Quaker He must be Created and so is both the Creature and the Creator If He be Capable of Encrease of Growing up from a Seed to a Child c. He must likewise be Subject to Dissolution He must be Lyable to Infirmities and Passions as We are And this the Quakers do not Deny Nay they Argue Expresly for it They take in a Literal Sense those Expressions in Scripture Where God is said to Repent to be Weary to Suffer c. several of which G. Whitehead Quotes in his Divinity of Christ p. 56. as Isai 63 10. Amos. 2.13 Hos. 11.8 9. Psal 95. Gen. 6.6 Psal 78.40 Isai 1. and chap. 43.24 These he brings as an Answer to the Argument of Thomas Vincent against whom he Disputed That Christ as God Cou'd not make Satisfaction for our Sins because as God He cou'd not Suffer The Contrary of which G. W. here Endeavours to Prove and brings these Texts to shew That God can Suffer These are the Natural and Necessary Consequences of this Mad Foundation of the Quaker Faith in Setting up their Light Within for Christ and God I am Weary in Pursuing their Blasphemies But it is Necessary in Order to Un-Deceive the Simple and Deluded among them Who know not these Depths of Satan into which they have been Led Especially Considering the Tenacious Obstinacy of their Leaders Who tho' they know these things Yet for Popularity or other Ends will not Suffer their Implicit Followers to Repent But Buoy them up with all the Artifice and Cunning they are Able to Believe That all is Well And to adhere firmly to All that they haue Taught them from the Begining And that IN ALL THE PARTS OF IT Some Texts Rescu'd from the False Glosses of the Quakers to favour the Universality of what they call The Light within 3. Let me for a Conclusion Rescue some Texts of Scripture which the Quakers have wrested to their own Destruction And upon which they build their wild Notion of the Light-Within That being undeceiv'd in this they may by the Blessing of God see their Error and Return Their Chief Text which they have Constantly in their Mouths is Rom. x. 8. The word is Nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the word of Faith which we Preach This word of Faith they take to be the Light which is in Every man of the World and not to Refer to the outward Christ or to the Faith in Him His outward Sufferings and Death but to the Faith in their Light within which Every man has even those who never heard of Jesus of Nazareth But the very next words ver 9. shew the Apostle's Meaning to be quite otherwise and to Refer wholy to Faith in the outward Christ This is the word of Faith which we Preach says he That if thou shalt Confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt Believe in thine Heart that God hath Raised Him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Now that by Faith the Apostle did not mean that Light which is Common to All men is plain from 2 Thess iii. 2. For all men have not Faith Says he You see here That in the very next verse following Rom. x. 8. which is the Quakers Text the Apostle do's Limit it Expressly not to the Light within but to Faith in the outward Jesus So in Deut. xxx 11 12 13 14. Whence the Apostle Quoted it the very next Verse immediately Before viz. Ver. 10. do's Limit these words in Moses to the outward Book of the Law and not to their Light within For thus says he If thou wilt hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy God to keep His Commandments and His Statutes which are Written in this Book of the Law For this Commandment which I Command thee this Day is not far off It is not in Heaven or Beyond the Sea c. And Chap. xvii 18 19 20. The King is Commanded to Write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that before the Priests the Levits And to Read therein all the Days of his Life That he might thereby Learn to Fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them Was he to write a Copy of the Light within in a Book out of the Levits Book And by Keeping the words of this Law was no More
1.19 is Perverted when taken in that sense and averrs that the Apostle there Doth not tell of Human Blood to Redeem them with for says he Human is Earthly What Blood is it then which Redeems Us He go's on to tell in the next words But Christ whose Blood is Spiritual is Lord from Heaven c. And then he Asks Was that Human Blood which Christ saith except a Man Drink he hath no Life in him and which Cleansed the Saints from all Sin who were Flesh of Christ 's Flesh and Bone of His Bone G. W. means that this cou'd not be the outward-Flesh But that it was the Eternal and Spiritual Flesh before spoke of Which the Quakers suppose that they have within them and this is it which they call their Light within But I will Answer this Quere of G. Whitehead's because I believe he ask'd it thro' Ignorance and that many Quakers are Deluded by it Therefore I say That it was Human Blood of which Christ said Except a man drink of it c. But the Figure lies in the word Drink not that we were literally to Drink the very Material Blood of Christ but to Feed upon it in our Hearts by Faith i. e. in the Satisfaction and Atonement thereby made to God for our Sins But to put the Figure upon the Blood as if that were only Figurative and not True Real Material and Human Blood which Christ offer'd for us but a Notional Spiritual which is not Real Blood this is the Fandamental Error of the Quakers and which overturns the whole Christian Faith And now what do's it signifie to bring Quotations out of the Quaker Books which speak of the Blood of Christ and bear witness to it while they mean not Real or Human Blood of our Nature but only the Inward Spiritual Life of Christ in our Hearts And do not Distinguish this at all from His Blood As G. W. says in the same Book before Quoted Truth defending c. p. 63. Whose Christ's Blood is not differing from His Life which Redeemeth from sin as thou Imaginest says he to his opponent Christopher Wade who having said as G. W. Quotes him That our Blessed Saviour did Instruct men to lay fast hold of and to abide in such a Faith which Confideth in Himself being Without Men. G. W. Replies p. 65. That 's Contrary to the Apostles Doctrin And the Saints Faith stood in the Power of God which was In them Again ibid. G. W. opposes this of C. Wade's which he Quotes That the true Christ doth by infallible Arguments prove Himself not to be a Spirit i. e. not a meer Spirit as in the next page G. W. Quotes him And G. W. gives the like Answer to this which is says he Quite against the Apostles Doctrin who Preach'd Christ In them the Hope of Glory and a Quickening Spirit That Christ is a Spirit and Ever was no Christian Doubts But that He has not likewise a Body not from Eternity as Quakers and Muggletonians madly Dream but an Human Body of our Nature which He took into His own Nature in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin and will for Ever Retain United in His Person true God and Man and therefore is not now a meer Spirit as before His Incarnation none can Deny but the Grossest of Hereticks And G. W. here Denies it and says That to affirm Christ not to be a meer Spirit is contrary to the Apostles Doctrin who Preach'd Christ In them No Christian denies but that Christ by His Blessed Spirit and Influence do's Dwell in the Hearts of Believers But therefore to Deny the Demonstration which Christ gave Luk. xxiv 39. That He was not a Spirit but had true Flesh and Bones is such a Degree of sottish Infatuation as has Possest none amongst us but these Miserable Quakers Why else did G. W. oppose C. Wade for urging this Scripture in Proof that Christ was not a Spirit but had a True Real Human Body G. Whitehead's meaning was as before shew'd p. 18. that the Person who then Appear'd to the Apostles was not the Christ. No but only a Vail or Garment of Borrow'd Flesh and Blood which He Wore And by which the Quakers expect no Justification but only by their own Works wrought In them by the Spirit Thus ibid. p. 62. G. Whitehead brings in C. Wade saying thus That God doth totally exclude works whether wrought by Men or by any Spirit in man whatsoever for Mens Justification He do's not Exclude Works as being a Necessary Effect of Faith and as Requir'd by God and without which when Possible true Faith cannot be nor can men otherwise be made Partakers of the Benefit and Purchase made for Us by the Obedience and Death of Christ But that our works tho' wrought in us by the Operation of the Holy Spirit as all our Good Works are yet must not come in for any share of the Merit and Satisfaction for Sin and our Justification thereby Psal xlix 8. For it Cost more to Redeem our Souls so that we must let that alone for Ever Our Works tho' necessary to Qualifie us and make us Susceptible of that Justification which Christ hath Purchased for us by His Blood yet are they Totally Excluded from being any Part of the Meritorious or Procuring Cause of our Justification And to this G. Whitehead's Answer is This is a Doctrin of the Devil The same Answer He and Will. Penn Repeated in their Serious Apologie Printed An. 1671. to shew they Alter not p. 148. to those who objected to them That they Deny'd Justification by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in His own Person for us wholly without us and therefore Deny the Lord that bought us To which their Answer is in these words And indeed this we Deny and Boldly affirm it In the Name of the Lord To be the Doctrin of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which do's now Deluge the whole World It makes ones Hair stand on End to Hear such outragious Blasphemy against the very Heart and Foundation of the Christian Religion Against which the Cursed Spirit do's thus Gnash his Teeth to see his Chief Principle Attackt of making men trust for their Justification and Salvation to what is wrought in their Hearts by the Spirit of God as they suppose for which they oft mistake as in the Present Case the most Venemous Suggestions of the Devil Now if the Quaker method of Contrary Testimonies wou'd be allow'd See 2d Part. Sect. ii N. 3. they might Easily get off from all this by what Will. Penn has wrote in Point blank Contradiction to what is above Quoted in his Primitive Christianity Printed 1696. p. 79. where he owns Justification only for the sake of the Death and Sufferings of Christ And nothing we can do says he though by the Operation of the Holy Spirit being able to Cancel old Debts or wipe out old Scores You see he says here Though by the
where by Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord they mean only Righteousness which they call Christ and Sin they call Anti-Christ and the Seed of the Woman they make to be only a Principle or Quality in our Hearts and not any Person which are the very Words and Sense of Will. Penn in his Part of The Christian Quaker p. 97 98. And in his Address to Protestants p. 118 119. What is Christ says he but Meekness Justice Mercy c. And thence Infers that every Meek Man must be a Christian But the Familists go on in the words of the Creed Who was Conceiv'd of the H. Ghost Born of the Virgin Mary that is in their Cant as every one of them is Conceiv'd of the H. Ghost by the Renewing of the Spirit in their Hearts Born of the Virgin Mary i. e. In their Virgin Hearts Thus the Quakers understand it See Will. Bayly's Works p. 291 292 293. where this is at Large Insisted on And the standard of the Lord. p. 17. says in this same sense That where Christ is Born He is Born of a Virgin that is In them as there Explained Again Suffer'd under Pontius Pilat was Crucify'd Dead and Buried and Descended into Hell i. e. That Jesus Christ or The Light is Crucify'd c. In Men under Pontius Pilate i. e. The Wicked one or our Corruptions and Lusts. Et sic de Caeteris And the same Author tells p. 100. That because of these Double Meanings of the Famalists ther was no way to Discover them by any Words or Tests that cou'd be fram'd But only by making them Renounce and Disown their Ring-Leader one Henry Nicholas and to Condemn his Doctrin which they wou'd not do And thus must we deal with their Spawn the Quakers while they Refuse to Disown the Pernicious Doctrins of Fox Whitehead Penn c. we must Conclude That they still do own them notwithstanding of all their Jesuitical and Janus-Confessions which they have Copy'd after the Like Plain-Dealing Familists Of whom you may see more in the Authors I have Quoted Who wrote before ther was a Quaker in the World or the Name known But this shews who were the Fathers that Begot them For they were the Sons of Many Fathers All the Pestiferous Sects of Forty One Whose Vomit they have Lick'd up and Render'd it ten times more Nauseous and Deform'd And the Legions which Possess'd these Sons of Belial are Enter'd with Double Force and Malice into this Herd of Swine whom They have Captivated both Souls and Bodies in an Higher Degree than any of the Former or than Any perhaps that have been known in any Age Which I come next to shew with G. Whitehead's Defence of them His Sober Caution consider'd as to these Quakers who were Possest with the Devil wherein the wonderful story of John Gilpin VI. His Sober Caution as he call's it contains the first 12 pages of his Book And it is all spent in warding off the several Instances which cannot be Deny'd of Quakers Possess'd with the Devil in most wonderful and Astonishing Manner The Bulk of his Reasons is that such Instances can be no Reflection upon the People call'd Quakers or upon their Principles more than if they had happen'd among any others of other Communions 1. But this is Answer'd in the Sn. Sect. xxi p. 309. c. where it is shewn that such Enthusiastical Madness and Possession do's proceed from the Principles of the Quakers and is caus'd chiefly by them And besides it is a most Notorious Mortification to their Pretence of Perfection and the Spirit of Discerning beyond all other Men. 2. But G. W. adds some other Arguments here as p. 3. he Asks How Satan is transform'd into an Angel of Light when he appears like a Mad-man a Witch a Devil a Blasphemer Ans. Who says that he appears then like an Angel of Light You must allow him sometimes to take his own shape But Secondly The Pretence of Godliness and High Illuminations which these Possess'd Quakers make such Great Boast of that is the Sheeps Cloathing and the Disguise of Light which Satan then puts on and with which many are Deceiv'd 3. G. W. adds next that Men thus Mad or Possess'd are fitter Objects of Compassion than of that Wit and Raillery which the Author of the Sn. bestows upon the Quakers Ans. That is true And that Author bestows none of what G. W. call's Wit or Raillery upon them unless G. W. reckons himself as one of them The Author of the Sn. do's not esteem All the Quakers in that High Degree of Enthusiastical Madness as Gilpin Toldervy c. And therefore G. W. ought to take that little Familiarity us'd sometimes with him as a Complement as supposing him not in that Excess as others as not yet Quite without the Boundaries of Reason out of which when he shoots sometimes with Extravagance so Excessive as to Pass the Reach of Argument then is he in kindness to be Reduc'd by shewing him his Folly in it's Plain Dress which he call's Wit and Raillery Nor is this without its Pity and Compassion though Laughing may be the Cure as to Hypocondriacks who cannot be Reason'd yet sometimes are Jested out of their Delirous Imaginations Which when any man comes to be Persuaded are the Immediat Dictates of the Holy-Ghost then is his Madness in Perfection And the Quakers have never yet been able to give us any Mark or Rule or shew of Reason that they do not thus mistake All their own Wild Imaginations for the Inspiration of God We see and G. W. cannot but own it to what Excessive Heights this Enthusiastical Principle has driven some of the Quakers therefore let the Rest beware for they are upon the same Rode They have lost their Compass while they set their Light above the Scriptures And have no other Assurance that they are in the Right but their own Assurance that they are so Which sort of Assurance not only Sometimes but Always do's accompany every Error For no Man can be in any Error who do's not think himself to be in the Right Else he were not in an Error but in a Willful Obstinacy if he Persisted in it after he knew it it to be an Error Now to Christians who believe the Divine Revelation of the H. Scriptures these are a Rule by which we measure our own Imaginations and if any thing comes into our Heads contrary to these we are bound to Reject it But to believe it a Divine Inspiration and so not Controulable by Scripture this is to be Mad to be given up to all Delusion to surrender our Hearts as a Blank Table for the Devil to write what he pleases upon and to pass it as the Ingravings of the Finger of God! And if ther be no Light that is no Vnderstanding in us but what is Divine we must think every thing Divine that is written there And then we are Seal'd up in Error from which ther
Christ and the Garment which He wore between Him that Came and the Body in which He came between the Substance which was Vailed and the Vaile which Vailed it Lo I come a Body hast thou Prepared Me. There is Plainly He and the Body in which He came Ther was the outward Vessel and the Inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the Bodily Garment Christ but that which Appeared and Dwelt in the Body So that by this Jesus was not the Christ only the Prepared Body Garment or Vaile in which Christ Dwelt The same Argument is Prosecuted by Will. Penn in his Part of the Serious Apology p. 146. and in the like words with Is Penington to shew the Unanimous Consent of the Quakers in this the Heart of their Christianity These are his words He that laid down his Life and suffer'd his Body to be Crucify'd by the Jews without the Gates of Jerusalem is Christ the only Son of the most High God But that the outward Person which suffer'd was Properly the Son of God we utterly Deny A Body hast thou Prepared me said the Son then the Son was not the Body tho' the Body was the Son's i. e. The Body was the Son's as a man's Garment or Vaile is his who owns and wears it as the Body of Will. Penn is the Son's who he supposes Dwells in it But the Son was not the Body that is Jesus in whose Body Christ Dwelt was not the Son not Properly the Son of God but in a Large sense as other men are call'd the Sons of God And Christ Suffer'd His Garment or Vaile the Body of Jesus to be Crucifi'd But that the outward Person which suffer'd was Properly the Son of God the Quakers do Vtterly Deny And as that Person which Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God it follows as certainly that the Son of God was not Properly that Person or was not Properly a Man This was the Meaning of Will. Penn in his Sandy Foundation p. 20. calling Christ a Finit Impotent Creature He did not mean the Eternal word Or that this Word was Properly a Man in our Nature for then tho' the Manhood was a Creature and Finit yet the Man or Person was not so As a Man's Body is Corruptible yet the Person Consisting of Body and Soul is not so Tho' the Properties of Each Nature whereof a Person do's Consist may be Attributed to the Person as a Man is said to Dye to Eat Drink Sleep c. tho' these are Proper only to the Body And likewise he is said to Think to Reason to be Immortal tho' these are Proper only to his Soul Thus God is said to Dye to shed His Blood c. tho' this be Proper only to the Manhood which the Word assum'd into His own Person And Man is said to be God Infinit Almighty c. tho' this be Proper only to the Divine Nature of Christ who is likewise Truly and Properly a Man And none who had a True Notion of this cou'd ever have brought himself to call Christ a Finit Impotent Creature Such a Blasphemous Contempt of our B. Lord and God cou'd never have Dropt from the Pen of a Christian But upon Will Penn's Scheme that the Word was not Properly a Man it must follow that the Person who Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God And Consequently that the Person who Suffer'd which is the Christians Christ was but a Finit Impotent Creature and not Truly and Properly the Christ J. Pennington asserts that the Name of Christ did not belong to the Person of Jesus which he calls only the Vessel or Vaile as in his Quest to Professors p. 25. but only to the Light or Christ which Dwelt in Jesus as in the Quakers So that the Name Christ says he is not given to the Vessel but to the Nature to the Heavenly Treasure to that which is of him In the Vessel And he Contends That it was not the Flesh and Blood of the Vaile which was the Sacrifice that Cleanses i. e. not the Flesh and Blood of Jesus but The Flesh and Blood within the Vaile i. e. the Spiritual Flesh and Blood of their Light within Not the Flesh and Blood says he of the outward Earthly Nature but the Flesh and Blood of the Inward Spiritual Nature Not the Flesh and Blood which Christ took of the first Adam's Nature but the Flesh and Blood of the Second Adam's Nature And What is the Laver of Regeneration says he p. 24. wherewith the Soul is washed Is it the water which ran out of the side of the Natural Body when it was Pierced with a Spear or the Water which floweth from the Spirit And Can outward Blood Cleanse the Conscience c. Now G. W. is not against telling the History of the Life and Death of Jesus that is as he puts the Caveat Truly Consider'd i. e. so as not to lay the stress of our Salvation upon Faith in those outward Sufferings or to make that Necessary to us That Prerogative they Reserve only for the Sufferings Blood-shedding c. of Their Christ the Light within That only is sufficient without any thing else And when you come to this say they in a Book Intituled The Doctrin of Perfection vindicated Printed 1663. p. 19. you will cease Remembring His Death at Jerusalem and will come to see how He hath been Crucify'd In you c. His outward Death is to be Forgotten for the stress do's not Ly upon that And as Mr. Penn says in his Quakerism a new nick-name c. p. 12. Since they believe that appearance of Christ in the Flesh at Jerusalem they need not Preach what is not to be again See Satan Dis-Rob'd p. 11. Ther is an End of any more Preaching or Faith in that Nay it do's Hurt as taking men off from Trusting wholey and soley in the Light within as sufficient without it Which is the very Heart and Soul of the Quaker-Faith And therefore they think the Heathen in a Better Condition than those Christians who lay so much stress upon the outward Christ His Death and Sufferings for that the Heathen have not that Encombrance to Divert them from Trusting wholly to their Light within and to nothing else And they think the Faith in the outward Christ so very Destructive that G. Fox Denounces them to be Reprobates and Possest with the Devil who Expect to be sav'd by Faith in the outward Jesus and as wholly Ignorant of the Inward Presence of Christ in the Heart For thus he Replies upon Christopher Wade who had in a Book he wrote call'd Quakery Slain asserted the Necessity of Faith in the outward Christ but withall he is Full and Large upon as Great Necessity of the Inward Presence and Operation of the Spirit of Christ in our Hearts In his Inspections Influences and Operations and by His Spirit Dwelling even in the Hearts and Societies of His People as he words it
Body of Christ is within them as well as His Spirit Indeed they are here in a monstrous Confusion for by this Body they mean the Spirit and by a Spiritual Body they mean nothing but Spirit However this serves them to Dodge and Decieve others It was to meet with them in this that the First and the Sixth Quaeres of those given to their Yearly Meeting 1695. were fram'd viz. Do you believe in a Christ without you Now in Heaven And Quaer 6. Is Christ now at this Day and for Ever to come Truly and Really a Man in true and Proper Human Nature without all other Men But in their Pretended Answer to these Quaeres they wave Answering Directly and leave out the words without us and without all other Men and the word Human upon which the Chief stress was laid because they do believe that this Notional Body of Christ is within them as well as His Spirit Therefore they wou'd not Answer to this And tho' this was again Prest upon them in the Conclusion of the Sn. and they were told of all this Dodging and this was put upon them as a Criterion to Clear themselves and therefore they were Desir'd to begin their Answer to the Sn. with a Plain and Direct Ans Yea or Nay to these Two short Queres Yet no Provocation can bring them to it They will not yet Answer to it for it Discovers the Heart of their Cause It wou'd totally overthrow their Ancient Testimonies wherein they Deny That Christ hath now a Body of Flesh and Bones Circumscript or Limited in that Heaven which is Above and out of Every Man on Earth These are the words of John Whitehead in his Quakers Refuge Printed 1673. p. 40. And p. 41. he says that they are in the Error who wou'd Limit it to a Particular Place and out of every Man on Earth for says he The Spirit and Body of Christ is not Divided but wheresoever the Spirit and Life of Christ is it is in the Body of Christ. This shews plainly what they mean That the Body of Christ is not Now a Body Circumscript or Limited to any Place and consequently it is no Body at all for that is Inseperable from a Body but that it is wheresoever His Spirit is and that it is within them and not without all other Men. Thus Edward Burough being Demanded in these Positive Terms Is that very man with that very Body within you Yea or Nay And this he do's not at all Deny but Answers in the Affirmative p. 149. of his works The very Christ of God is within us You must take the meaning of these men by Considering that to which they Answer and which they oppose for in a Limited sense Christ by His Holy Spirit and Influences is within us and Christ is The very Christ so that ther is a sense in which that Expression tho' offensive in the wording of it may be admitted But then when we consider that which they Oppose or to which they Answer the meaning appears Plain for why wou'd they Oppose what they thought Orthodox And this is the method by which we must understand G. Fox's Great Mystery which is a Pretended Answer to 108 Books and Disputes against the Quakers For G. Fox's own words are â—eldom either Sense or English and he Miserably Mis-Quotes and Mistakes their words whom he writes against sometimes it appears to be on Purpose and sometimes out of Pure want of Vnderstanding Half Knave and Half Fool But by Reading those Books which he opposes you may Discover what he wou'd be at Instances of this out of Number can be given Which if any think it worth the while are Ready to be Produc'd But to the Subject we are upon The first Book he Answers in his Great Mystery is of one of the then Ministers Mr. Sam. Eaton call'd The Quakers Confuted Printed A. D. 1654. where p. 12. Mr. Eaton makes as full a Confession as can be to the Inward Presense and Operation of Christ by His Spirit in the Hearts of Believers And therein says he they have Him But they have not Christ in Flesh or the Flesh of Christ dwelling in them for that was taken up into Heaven and will there be Contain'd till the Restitution of All things This G. Fox opposes in his Great Mystery p. 3. And Quotes thus much of his words with the Page But the Saints have not Christ in the Flesh p. 12. And opposes this as Contrary to Christ and the Apostles Doctrin who said they were of His Flesh and of his Bone and they that have His Flesh have it in them This shews in what sense he Understood these Scriptures and what his Notion was of the Flesh of Christ viz. That it was now at this time in all Believers and so not any Literal Flesh but some Imagination or other that they have of Spiritual Flesh which they think that God Himself has and Christ or the Light had from all Eternity so nothing of outward Human Flesh or Nature Tho' if you take the word Human as it may be Deriv'd from Homo a Man thus they will allow that Christ has a True Human Body and Ever had from Eternity that is a True and Real Manhood In this sense it is said before p. 11. l. 8. that they allow the Body which they say Christ had from Eternity to be an Human Body For ther is no other word in Latin whereby to Express the Nature of Man but Humanitas whence we use the word Humanity to mean the same as Manhood But if you Derive the word Human from Humus the Ground or Earth of which Man was Made in this sense the Quakers Deny that Christ had an Human Body from Eternity or indeed while He was upon the Earth For which I Refer you back to p. 19 20. where you will find this Artfully Distinguish'd by the Quakers But we will now go on to see the further Salvos that the Present Antidote affords in this Case Their Denyal that Christ had any Human or Created richer Soul or Body while upon Earth 2. G. W. Skips to p. 38. And takes up this Argument again where he Pretends to Answer the objection of the Quakers making the Body of Jesus only a Vaile or Garment wherein Christ or the word Dwelt but that He took not that Body into His own Person so as to be Hypostatycally United to it And to this he says p. 38. We are to seek herein as not knowing where the Quakers say these things Yet Answers not or Names one of the many Proofs which are brought for this See Sn. Sect. x. This wou'd be very Provoking but that I am us'd to it for it is his Constant Method Yet in the Excuse he makes for it he Confesses enough to shew that the Quakers are Guilty herein For says he Tho' His Flesh is call'd the Vail yet it was that he own'd as His own Body being also call'd the Body of
And to Him Only Yet but the very page before p. 148. they fiercely oppose Justification by the Rightcousness which Christ hath fulfilled in His own Person for Vs wholly without Vs Not that the Effect is wholly without us for it is rather wholly within us that is the Application of that Justification which Christ hath wrought for Us when it is brought home to our Consciences But the Price the Satisfaction for our Sins which is our Justification that is Wholly without Vs we are no Part of the Meritorious and Procuring Cause of our Justification that is only Christ His Blessed Death Sufferings and Perfect Rightcousness Perform'd in His own Person wholly without us But this is far from the Quaker meaning tho' it seems to be the Import of their Words And in the above Quotation where they ascribe their Sanctification Justification c. to our Lord Jesus Christ to Him Only and to His Blood they mean the Blood within and Christ within But as for Justification by the outward Christ as above they Return this Prodigious Answer which I have before Quoted And indeed this we Deny and Boldly Affirm it In the Name of the Lord To be the Doctrin of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which do's now Deluge the whole World This is within less than the Compass of one Page to the above Quotation And but two pages before this they Deny that Person who Suffer'd that is our Lord Jesus Christ to be Properly the Son of God whom in this Quotation they Seem to call His only Son And this is not Contradicting themselves For the Mystery lies here they allow that Christ took Flesh but not into His own Person so that it was not His own Flesh only as He Borrow'd and wore it for a while And therefore that it was not His Person which Suffer'd only the Person of that Man Jesus in which He Dwelt The Person they Deny to be the Son of God but the Light within that Person they call the Christ the only Son c. And all this comes upon them because they do not truly believe the Incarnation of Christ or that He took our Nature into His own Person Which is the Charge against them and these are all the Testimonies which they have brought to Clear themselves And these do by no means Clear them But have Detected their Artifice much the more And Render'd them Doubly Guilty I have taken All the Quotations before-mention'd upon Trust except that out of the Serious Apology which I had by me for I wou'd not Causelesly suspect others of Deceit tho' themselves do it And because these Testimonies here brought by Appen are nothing to their Purpose as has been shewn Of the Reality of the Sufferings and Death of Christ II. The next Sect. 3. in Appen p. 19. c. contains Testimonies to the Truth and Reality of Christ 's Death and Sufferings But I may save the Reader and my self the Pains of Examining these Because if Christ was not Truly In-Carnat He cou'd not Truly Suffer And tho' He be said to Suffer Die c. yet that is not cannot be meant Properly by those who think that the Person which Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God But they call these the Sufferings of Christ only because He permitted that Body to be Crucify'd which He assum'd as a Cloak or Vail but did not take it into His own Person by which Means only those Sufferings cou'd be said to be His Properly Therefore all they can say of the Death and Sufferings of Christ will never Clear them while they tell us that they mean it not in a Plain and Proper Sense But as our Sufferings may be call'd the Sufferings of Christ Col 1.24 Which in a Large Sense is True But our Dispute proceeds of Christ's Sufferings only in the Strict and Proper Sense Not as the Quakers think their own Blood to be the Blood of Christ And that same Blood by which we are sav'd Thus they told some who they said had shed their Blood You will by no means be thence Cleansed but by the same Blood which you so Cruelly shed This is in a Book Publish'd by them An. 1657. call'd The Guilty Clergy-Man Vnvail'd c. p. 17. Many Quotations of the like Nature can be Produc'd out of their Books But I stay not here Of the Resurrection and Future Judgment III. Appen Sect. iv p. 25. begins the Contrary Testimonies concerning The Resurrection and Future Judgment Where observe first their stating of the Case ibid. p. 25. We are more Learned say they in the School of Christ than to Deny or be Ignorant of so Inestimable an Advantage as is The Resurrection by Christ to Eternal Glory and of that Future Judgment by which the States of Men must be Determined Now nothing at all of this is the Question The Quakers have been told in the Sn. and Sat. Dis. of their Notion of an Inward Resurrection of Christ or the Light in their Hearts and of a Judgment there likewise Past upon Sin But the Question is of the Resurrection of the Body of the Same Body that Dy'd And concerning this ther is not one word of a Contrary Testimony among all those here Produc'd The word Body is not so much as nam'd in all these Testimonies except one which is a Testimony brought from Will. Penn. p. 29. where he says as there Quoted We own the Resurrection of the Body according to the Pleasure of God And every Seed shall have its own Body What Body they mean by this is told in the Sn. Sect. xii That by a Spiritual Body they mean no Body at all but only the Soul freed from the Natural Body which Natural Body they do not allow ever to be Raised again or Joyn'd to the Soul And there it is shewn at large That Will. Penn allows no Resurrection of the Body that Dies and Denies Positively That that Description of the Resurrection 1 Cor. xv Relates to the Resurrection of the Body at all but to the two States of Man in the Natural and Spiritual Birth And this same Appen instead of Contradicting do's Re-assert and endeavours to Justifie the Testimonies of the Quakers against the Resurrection of the Body And Repeats their old Argument against it p. 31. thus As for the Body 1 Cor. xv 37. Thou sowest not that Body that shall be Thence they Inferr That it is not the Same Body that Rises This is fully Answer'd in the Sn. Sect. xii of which no Notice at all is taken by Appen But the old Objection still Insisted upon And this where they Pretend to bring Contrary Testimonies to those Produc'd which Deny the Resurrection of the Body Yet this hinders not their Constant Boast which concludes Every of their Arguments of having fully Clear'd themselves and totally Overthrown their Adversaries Here says Appen p. 30. I have brought Twelve Witnesses to Testifie contrary to this Man 's
Infallibility and Spirit of Discerning Equally Infallible In their Description of the Light within p. 38. say they And it is Eternally true That men by Believing in the Light notwithstanding his Idle scoff may become Children of the Light And it is of necessity that them that are truly such must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of this World i. e. Darkness Thus Appen And if what I have said before be not sufficient to Prove these men to be stark Mad sure this will be such a Conviction as that none can Desire a Greater It has been Prov'd upon them over and over again that not only most Vile and Scandalous Livers but even Witches and Persons visibly Possess'd with the Devil have Preach'd VnDiscover'd amongst them some for Twenty years together see Sn. Sect. xxi as Winder's Witches c. Attested beyond all Contradiction And their Books are full of Complaints of Judases among Themselves so they call their Seperatists who liv'd long among them but were not truly of them whom yet they cou'd not Discover Did they Discover Christopher Atkinson and Thomas Symons's Maid till they Discover'd it themselves Sn. Sect. vi N. v. or George Archer Sat. Dis. Glean Sect. vi N. 2. p. 92. and many others till their Whoring and Vileness Grew Notorious in the Countries where they liv'd Who was it that Discover'd H. Winder's murderous Witches to the Quakers who stuck by them to the very Last Yet still notwithstanding of all these Convictions they stand firmly to it That it is of necessity that they must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of Darkness Have they not had Instances enough to shame them out of this Senseless and Blasphemous Pretence They call for more while they Refuse to Repent And tho' it be needless I will Gratify them or the Reader with one more that is Remarkable The Great Quaker Apostle of Mary-Land in America was Thomas Thurston who while the Deputy Governor was absent a year or more in England came with a Message from the Lord as he Horridly pretended to his Wife who was a Quaker that he was sent to Propagate the Holy seed with her And when her Husband Return'd finding a Child more than he had left she Confess'd the whole matter Upon which he oblig'd her to go to the Quaker-Meeting and there Publickly to Declare the whole Monstrous Truth which she did Nor cou'd Thomas Deny it Upon which he came to England and till it was otherwise Discover'd was Receiv'd by the Friends and Preach'd among them as Formerly As he did in Mary-Land for sometime after it was Publickly known there And his Light within was thought so Infallible that another Quaker-Preacher own'd it to him of Good Credit who told it to me That the Generality of the Quakers there nay said he I my self Durst not Judge him even in our minds not to have had an Inspiration from God for what he did Yet it is of necessity That they that are truly Quakers must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of Darkness And Rich. Hubberthorn p. 212. of his works says That they can Discern the Elect from the World And Denies those to be true Ministers of Christ who cannot do it This was the Argument by which G. Fox thought that he had Prov'd one Nathanael Stephens who was Minister of Drayton in the year 1655. not to be a True Minister of Christ This you may see in a Book wrote by G. Fox and others of the Quakers with this Title The Spiritual Man Judgeth all things or The Spiritual Man's True Judgment And how by him the Hearts of others were and may be Judged by the Spirit of Truth and also how things by the Spiritual Man were Judged of concerning both Salvation and Dammation c. Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Paul's 1655. This Spiritual Man here mention'd was G. Fox And the Judgment which he pas'd upon the Hearts of Others and the Occasion of it is told p. 3. of a Chapter which bears this Superscription This is to go abroad to stop Lies and Slanders that Truth may be Cleared c. And it is subscrib'd George Fox There he speaks of himself in the third Person and says GEORGE FOX coming to Drayton to his Fathers in the Flesh Christopher Fox's House This was to Imitate the Stile of our Blessed Lord. Rom. ix 5. upon the Sixth day of the week being the Twelth day of the Eleventh Month Thus Particularly he sets it down with other Circumstances as who were Present c. Because of the mighty Miracle he shewed that Day in Judging the Heart of Nat. Stephens which he go's on to Relate and tells how he came into the Grave-yard so he call'd the Church-yard and met with N. Stephens the Priest as he thought he Reproach'd him and there before the Company particularly Christopher Fox his Father According to the Flesh being Present Then George asked him the Priest what he did Believe whether he G. Fox had such a Familier Spirit as it seems with very good Reason had been objected against him Yea or Nay The Priest Answered and said He cou'd not tell He might have a Good and he might have a Bad. Then George told him Here thou hast Manifested thy self to be no Minister of God but a False Minister For the Ministers of Christ and the New Covenant of God they cou'd Discern Spirits and Try them 1 Cor. 12. 1 Joh. 4. And as you may Read in Isaiah he Discern'd the Familier Spirit and Judged it Isa 8. And the Apostle Discerned the Witch-Craft of the Witches that had Bewitched the Galatians read Gal. 3. And here thou hast Manifested thy self to be a Blind Guide who can put no Difference between the Precious and the vile who hast no Salt to savour withall therefore thou art good for nothing but to be Cast out and Troden under Foot Mat. 5. Then George told him that the Spiritual Man Judgeth All things And Stephens and the other Priest Chester both Denyed it and said the spiritual Man did not Judge All things These are the words of G. Fox And upon this occasion the Book wherein this is told was written And bears the Title of The Spiritual Man Judgeth All things c. Through all which Book this Argument is carry'd on That he can be no true Minister of Christ who cannot Discern and Judge the Hearts of other men And the Quakers here take to Themselves those Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit which are mention'd 1 Cor. xii And equal Themselves to Isaiah and the Holy Prophets and Apostles of our Lord. None of whom ever Pretended to that Prerogative of God Alone to Know the Hearts of Men. Therefore it is said of Christ Joh. ii 24 25. â— That He knew All men And needed not that any shou'd testify of man for He knew what was in Man But this was never said of any Prophet or Apostle
And they Bow after the same Fashion Who wou'd speak Three words to Purchace their Ungainly Conges as Stiff and Grave as an Elephant's or to see them thrust out a Limb for a Salute as if they were going to make a Pass at you But ther is a Mystery at the Bottom of Iniquity and Rebellion All that was Couch'd under the Parallel that is made to them of Judas and his Gaulonites And we may the Rather Believe this because the Quakers in this Appen do in plain Terms Justifie Judas for having Repeated his Principle as given in Prim. Heres out of Josephus That he and his Followers wou'd Expose themselves to all Torments rather than call any Mortal Man Lord or Master Appen Answers p. 49. Now Believe me Friends I cannot See the Heresie of this Doctrin Here then the Charge is Confess'd And the Parallel Acknowleg'd to be Just betwixt Judas and the Quakers who own That they Maintain the same Principle with Him And who can Doubt but that it is to the same End They Quarrel Prim. Heres for bringing the Testimony of Josephus as they wou'd make the Reader believe instead of one of the Primitive Fathers which Appen p. 48. calls Canonizing this Jew Whereas Josephus is only Quoted to shew the Principles and Sect of Judas Galilaeus not for the Condemning of them That is shewn from the Apostles And what Canonizing is hear of Josephus Can the Reader bear with this Trifling But these men will Complain nay Boast if they are not Answer'd But whether is this so much a Canonizing of Josephus as Appen do's of Judas who Justifies his wicked Heresie And Consequently must Rank his Sufferings for it upon the score of Martyrdom as of the Quakers for the same Cause And is Every Primitive Father that is Quoted therefore Canoniz'd But what Patience can hold out to see these Quakers make objections for want of Primitive Fathers And to Quote them too as Gibson before and others Do they lay any stress upon the Primitive Fathers or Pretend to Follow Them O yes by all means They wou'd fain be in Good Company And they call Quakerism now of Late Primitive Christianity in which Book ther is not one Syllable of what the Primitive Fathers held not one Quotation from one of them nor any of them so much as Nam'd How then do's their Christianity appear to be Primitive No matter for that Primitive is a Good word especially to stand upon a Title-Page which 100 Read for one that Reads the Book This shews They wou'd be Primitive or have the Reputation of it And so they have As Primitive as Judas whose Doctrine they Espouse and the Apostles Oppos'd But if they are so much for Primitive what say they to those Quotations which are brought in Prim. Heres out of the most Ancient and Vn-doubted of the Fathers And which Confront their Tenets very Expresly For them They care not two pence for as many more of them Appen p. 10. 11. calls them Stale Tracts of Vncertain Persons Do's he shew how they are Vncertain No not he Let them look to that or have the Quakers any Better Editions or other Works of those Fathers than those which are come to our Hands No no no They have None of them they Hate and Abhor them they were a Company of Bishops and Doctors But ne'r a one among them like George Fox or Edw. Burrough or G. Whitehead or Little Appen No not one of them Therefore says Appen p. 10. We shall not need to be at all Afrighted if we do find our selves to Differ from what is to be found under the specious Names of Ignatius Polycarp c. tho' Living within 150 years after Christ nor under the Great Names of them call'd Fathers in the Succeeding Ages And p. 5. It will not Avail tho' he bring many Clouds of such Witnesses And notwithstanding he calls this a Cavil we learn'd from Elder Dissenters we are not Afraid to stand by it and therefore Pay little Reverence to those nor any thing not Purely Apostolical But Ignatius and Polycarp liv'd in the Apostles Days and were Disciples to the Apostles What is that to Us Quakers It is no matter what they were or where they were We will have None of them So set your heart at Rest We have Better at Home We never Lik'd G. Keith since he was so Insolent to Compare the Books of our Friends to them call'd the Greek and Latin Fathers as supposing Friends Books to have been written by no Better Guidance See Sat. Dis Sect. iv n. v. p. 47. nor Clearer Light than theirs who Lived and wrote in those Dark times For which Thom. Ellwood has Pay'd him to Purpose And it is no wonder that he has left Us. For when any once get Fathers and Councils and Antiquity and such stuff into their Heads they can never Endure Us afterwards Therefore we Hate all Schools and Colleges and Learning and Human Reason for all these things make against Us. And now that we are Setting up Schools c. of our own I 'm afraid we shall not be Long-Liv'd That by the bye Therefore Appen wisely throws off all your Fathers and Primitives which serve us only for Title-Pages But says p. 5. Indeed if he can Absolutely Determin the Question by the Scriptures the work is done Yet in the Last Case against Judas and the Quakers the Proof was brought from Scripture and from nothing else And yet the work is not done For then you call'd for the Fathers then he has not Perform'd his Promise of Giving us Quotations out of the Fathers but puts Josephus upon us and Canonizes him for a Father But will the Scriptures do Then indeed the work wou'd soon be done Will you let the Scriptures be the Rule we will Ask no more Appen Denies it as shewn before Yet they will stand to what the Scripture Commands Provided the same thing be Requir'd by Their Own Spirit Anew See Sn. Sect. vii p. 92 93. that is if they Like it They cannot Deny but that the Scripture Requires Honour to be Pay'd to Magistrates Or that Taking off the Hat is not a Paying of Honour as Prov'd above And therefore Except the Reason I have Given which they will not Give I cannot Conjecture the shadow of a Reason for their Refusing it They say as Howgil before That God has not Commanded it Not Particularly as to the Hat Neither has He Commanded to take off our Hats at Prayer Why then did they Contend so zealously for that They Render themselves Self-Condemn'd They will as Judas call no man Lord or Master Why then do they call any Man Father for both are Forbidden in the same Place Matth. xxiii 9. And in whatever Sense they take the one they may take the other But their Practice shews their meaning They do call their Quaker Masters by the Name of Masters And they do now use the word Lord Speaking of or to Noble-Men but
ye Vpwards ye Earthly-Minded and behold His Star in the East the Wise Men whose Eyes are in their Head have Seen it and been Led by it till the Babe was found Lying in a Manger for in the Inn ther was no Room for him He that hath an Ear to Hear let him Hear Thus they Commonly Conclude when they Speak Mystically This is to shew that they Mean not according to the Letter Therefore they Cry He that hath Ears c. For it is not given to Every One to Understand these Quaker Mysteries Therefore they speak to Us in Parables that Seeing we might not See nor Vnderstand them for they think Us not Worthy as having Harden'd our Hearts against them Let me here set down a Quotation more at Large out of the fore-cited place of Will Bayly's Works p. 291 292. It will give the Reader a Plainer View of this their Principle And they Complain often that their Words are given too Short and the whole Sentences not Produc'd at Large Thus then says that Renowned Quaker So now this Christ was before the World that now is began and was a Seed before any Name was given to it which in process of time being Begotten of God was Born of a Virgin had a Body Prepared to do the will of his Father as it is at this Day But none knows him or ever shall Born but of a Virgin he that hath Ears let him hear Whose Eye is Single Mind stayed on God Forsakes all takes up the dayly Cross denies Self These only know him Born tho' once like Mary said How can this be Seeing I know not a Man Seeing I have no Strength Wisdom Parts or Abilities of my Own But the Answer is at it was Be thou but the Virgin The Power of the Most High shall Over-Shadow thee And that Holy thing which shall be Born of thee shall be Called the Son of God This was Christ's Name in the Womb a Holy thing Read within This is the I AM which was before Abraham the Virgin is Subject to the Power of the Most High Where Christ is known to be first a Holy thing then a Child given c. as before Quoted That which may be known of God or Christ which is One is Manifest IN People there He is and is ONLY to be found This is that God which Paul Preached to the Athenians that Made the World c. Thus Will. Bayly And by this you see That they make God and Christ to be all One. That this God was a Seed before any Name was givin to it i. e. from Eternity That this God do's in process of time even at this Day Beget God IN Us. That this God do's Grow and Encrease IN Us from a Seed to a Child then to a Son lastly to be the MIGHTY GOD the EVERLASTING FATHER Again you see how they Allegorize the Virgin of Whom CHRIST was Born to a Pure or Virgin HEART That when Mary said she knew not a Man by Man here was only Meant Our own Wisdom Strength Parts or Abilities out of which Christ cou'd not be Born That they know Him Born of them at this Day as Mary knew Him Born of Her And indeed it do's not Appear That they think Him to have been Born any otherwise of Her than He is of Them that is Not of her Body in a Literal Sense but only in the Womb of her Heart as in Theirs They say that Christ or the Light is Begotten of God But they say not this of that Prepared Body as they call it of Jesus of Nazareth in which Christ or the Light Dwelt which was Literally Born of the Virgin MARY Whom they do not that I can find own to have been a Virgin in the Common Acceptation of the Word that is who had no Carnal Knowlege of a Man but only that she had a Pure that is a Virgin HEART Therefore they are Desir'd to tell us who they think was the Immediate Father not of Christ or the Light but of that Prepared Body of Jesus of Nazareth Whether they think as some Socinians have done that it was Begot by Joseph in the Ordinary way of Generation If they Wave giving any Answer to this It is Owning that they do think so For if they Believe as all other Christians do they can have no Scruple in Owning of it Especially Now when they are upon Smoothing of their Principles and Endeavouring to make them Appear the same with other Christians particularly with the Doctrin of the 39 Articles of the Church of England And in their Answer to this I here give them Caution to Avoid Ambiguity of Terms That they Word it not Who was the Father of Christ or of Jesus for they can call their Light within sometimes by the Name of Jesus that is a Saviour as well as by the Name of Christ that is Anointed But that they Answer Directly Who was the Father of that Outward Body of Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary And that they say not only Who was his Father for they may say it was God which is true in a Large Sense as He is the Father of All Living But that they tell Who was his IMMEDIATE Father And whether He was Begotten of Any Mere Mortal Man I Desire them to keep in the word Mortal because they have a Notion of an Eternal Manhood of God as shewn in the beginning of the First Part Therefore I Desire they may say whether our Jesus was Begotten of any MORTAL Man And because they have a Sense too in which they think that God or the Light may Dye in Our Hearts Therefore that they add the word Mere to Mortal and say Whether the Outward Body of Jesus of Nazareth which was Born of Mary the Wife of Joseph was Begotten by any Mere Mortal Man Ther is Need of all this Caution with these Quakers as sufficiently shewn before It is Impossible otherwise to Hold them Ther are None who have such Starting-Holes and Evasions as they have With all their Pretences to Flainness and Sincerity Now if they shall Answer in the Terms before set down That Jesus was IMMEDIATLY Begotten by God in the Womb of the B. Virgin Then that they give a Good Reason Why He was not Properly the Son of God Or otherwise That they Disown that Representation of their Belief which Will. Penn has Given and says it in their Name viz. That the outward Person which Suffer'd was Properly the Son of God We Vtterly Deny As has been before Quoted from p. 146. of his Serious Apology Then let them Own That Christ was otherwise Begotten and Born of the Blessed Virgin than He is in their Hearts or Ever was or will be in any other Person That only at that Time in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin and Never Before He did Assume our Flesh into an Hypostatical or Personal Vnion with His Divine Nature And that He is now Truly and Properly a Man in Compleat
must Know what they speak that is they must have Experienc'd and Past through those States and Conditions they Preach of and Practically know those Truths they Declare of to the People or they come not in by the Door but over the Wall and are Thieves and Robbers Thus Will. Penn. And in the Contents of this Chapter p. 97. He Intitules this Fourth Sect. thus Christ's Ministers True Witnesses they speak what they Know not by Report So that by this the Quakers know nothing of the Resurrection of Christ by Report of the Apostles or others who saw it But only that sort of Resurrection which they say they have Experienc'd Pass through themselves and Practically Known of Christ in their Hearts And they Pronounce all those who Now Preach the Resurrection of Christ which they have not Seen or any other Christ but whom they have Seen with their Eyes whom they have Looked upon whom their Hands have Handled they Pronounce all such Preachers that is All the Christian Preachers that are Now or Ever were in the world since Christ Left it to be Thieves and Robbers In the same Manner do's G. Fox Conclude against them Who are not the Eye-Witnesses as the Apostles were Gr. Mystery p. 242. of whose Resurrection say the Quakers we are Eye-Witnesses Of whose Resurrection Will. Bayly's works Re-printed 1676. p. 173. Was it of the Person of Christ to the Resurrection of which the Apostles did Witness No. For they lay no stress upon that Resurrection neither do All of them Believe it I have heard some even of their Preachers Deny it But however they make it of no Consequence to us For says the same Quaker Quoted on the Margin ibid. p. 307. What was his Person being Mean and Contemptible to them his Disciples more than another Person I can hardly believe my Eyes tho' I take these words out of the Book now before me For who cou'd think that such vile Contempt of the Person of our Blessed Saviour cou'd have come out of the Mouths of any who call themselves Christians But they Deserve not that Name who turn the Faith in Christ to Faith in their Light within and thus overturn the whole Foundation of the Gospel Their Light is Darkness even that may be Felt Which has led them as thus to Allegorize the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord See Sn. Sect. xii p. 160. 161. into the Rising of their Light within so Downright to Deny the Resurrection of our Bodies Which Will. Penn do's utterly Deny to be Meant at all in the xv Chap. of the 1 Ep. to the Corinthians Which if it be true then by the Apostles Argument ver 16. the Quakers must likewise Deny the Resurrection of Christ as they Do but will not always Confess For if the Dead Rise not then is not Christ Raised And hence I Recommend to their Consideration the next verse And if Christ be not Raised your Faith is vain ye are yet in your Sins Are they not then in their Sins and is not their Faith vain who Preach That Christ was never seen with Carnal Eye nor His voice heard with any Carnal Ears These are the words of one Worlidge a Quaker in his Declaration to the Baptists p. 13. And Justify'd by G. Whitehead in his Light and Life p. 39. For if Christ was never seen with Carnal Eye how cou'd the Apostles be Witnesses of His outward Resurrection What do's the Apostle mean by saying That He was Seen of Cephas then of the Twelve c Did none See that is Fcel the Light within but these only Was it to keep the Light within from Kising that the High Priests Desired Guards to be set upon the Sepulcher of Jesus our Lord Did not Thomas see Christ when he thrust his Hand in his side And upon that Conviction said to Him My Lord and My God! What did Christ mean when He said to him Thomas because thou hast seen thou hast Believed Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have Believed Is not here a Plain Difference put betwixt Seeing and Believing Believing is the Inward Seeing Therefore the other must be meant of the outward Seeing with the Carnal Eye Christ said to His Disciples Many Prophets and Kings have Desir'd to see what you see and have not seen them Did not the Prophets see the Light within that is Inwardly in their Hearts Did not Christ say The Poor ye have always with you but Me ye have not Always Is not the Light within Always with Us Was not this then Spoke of His outward Person which was to be taken from Us Yet the Quakers will not Allow that He is Absent from Us even as to His Person or we from Him Tho' the Apostle says Whilest we are at home in the Body 2 Cor. 5.6 we are Absent from the Lord. Which G. Fox Opposes in his Gr. Myst p. 8.210.222.247 c. and many other Places where he Denies that Christ is Absent from Us As touching His Flesh and as to His Bodily Presence And do's not Answer but Confront the above Text with others as That Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates c. Now from the words of St. Paul above Quoted I leave it to the Consciences of the Sober among the Quakers whether it be True which Will. Bayly so Positively Averrs p. 600. of his Works That Paul did not Preach a visible Christ with Flesh and Bones But the word says he that is the Light within But Paul Preached That Same Jesus whom the Jews Took down from the Tree and laid him in a Sepulcher Act. xiii 29. Did they take the Light within down from the Tree I am Asham'd to offer Proofs for a Point so Obvious to Every Christian But it is Necessary for these Miserably Deluded Quakers who have thrown off the Lord Jesus and turn All that is said of Him to their Christ their own Light within Even his being the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh as Will. Bayly says p. 210. This Seed of Abraham which is Christ In Vs which He hath Raised to offer up Living Sacrifices acceptable in His Sight So that by this the Living Sacrifice and only Acceptible Offering for Sin is Christ or the Light within Offer'd up IN Us But this has been Sufficiently Expos'd before And ten times more Authoritys than here Produc'd are Ready when ther shall be need To the Authority of the Holy Scriptures I will add the Experience and Confession of the Quakers themselves that their Faith in what they call their Light within is a Vain and Vncertain Faith That they can never be sure of it or know when they have it Right G. Whitehead in his Judgment fixed Printed 1682. Inserts with Approbation a Letter which he calls a Testimony of Benj. Furly's Retracting some things he had formerly wrote against Fox and Whitehead where he says thus p. 268. As for those Papers so long since given forth by me not Discerning
And Prophesy'd of the Mighty things which GOD had to do with them In order to which the QVAKERS gave them their Directions from THE LORD how to Manage But their SPIRIT of DISCERNING Fail'd them here as it us'd to serve them For within seven Days after the Date of this their Address to that Parliament they were Turn'd out by Lambert Which they little suspecting but thinking that they were to hold the Reins of Government for a longer time gave their Wise Instructions in the above Quoted Councel and Advice to Employ the QVAKERS in their Affairs And then all would do well without Doubt Tho' by the Advice they Gave the Quakers were of all Men the least Fit to be Employ'd They Hit Themselves Exactly in the Description they gave of other Men For they Advis'd not to Employ WILLFVL and HEADY Men not VN-CONSTANT and CHANGEABLE Men nor TRAYTORS that have Turn'd for self Advantage and will CHANGE with the TIMES to any way of Government c. But especially they Guarded against the Return of Hereditary Monarchy as before Quoted Yet as soon as that Return'd in the Restauration of the Royal Family which was within 7 Months after this was wrote then the Quakers were for the King and Monarchy And without any Blush Vpbraided and Accused the other Dissenters to the King as Changeable Men who Turn'd to Every Power and every Government as it Turn'd And therefore not fit to be Trusted See their Two Declarations in Sn. p. 224. and p. 227. And from this time they Began to Chop and Change Curtail and Alter their Former Books in the Re-printing of them And this not only in leaving out whole Chapters and some Intire Treatises as those before Instanc'd which were so Rank as could not possibly be Screw'd to mean any thing short of Bare-fac'd TREASON and REBELLION But they took care likewise of Words and Expressions that might give Offence for Example 3. In The Trumpet of Burrough's before Quoted p. 7. he Accuses the Officers and Souldiers for Exercising the like Tyranny as the King had done The same Oppression says he and Kingly Power of Cruelty stands in Dominion under another Appearance But in his Works Re-printed p. 99. the word Kingly is left out 4. In a Letter to Oliver with whom he Rejoyceth and Congratulats for the Many Victories Honourable and Remarkable which says he to OLIVER were given thee over them who had Exalted themselves above God And Ruled in Tyranny over his People whom the Lord pitied and thou an Instrument in his Hand was ordain'd by him to lead forth a People whom he Blessed with thee against a Cruel People and Generation of Oppressors who Exercised Tyranny over the Lord's Heritage till they were taken away and cast out and is a Reproach unto the Lord and his People unto this day and even so shall all be that follows their Example and are Oppressors and Tyrants over the seed of God as they were And this thou knowest c. This Letter is in p. 552. of Burrough's Works Re-printed But all within the Crotchets in Roman Letters is left out which I have Copy'd out of the First Edition of what he Intitules Good Councel and Advice Rejected Printed An. 1659. p. 4. And it bears this Direction For the hands of the Protector This Book consists of Letters from Burrough to Oliver and Richard Protectors And on the Title-Page he says Put to Publick View by one that wished well to them in their Day But this is likewise left out in the Re-print Ther are several other such like Passages of this Book left out in the Re-printing of it among the Rest of Burrough's Works As 5. In p. 17. Where Instigating Oliver against his Enemies Scatter'd through all these Nations who is full of Wrath and Ravening Envy towards thee Even of those known by the Name of MALIGNANTS party in whose hearts to this day ther is continual Hatred and evil surmising lodgeth against thee and all thy offspring And not slipping any Advantage how to Revenge themselves and the Cause of their King The above words within the Crotchet viz. Those known by the Name of MALIGNANTS Party are left out in p. 559. of Burrough's Works And the last words in this Quotation viz. The Cause of their King are Changed thus To Promote their Cause 6. In the same Page he says thus to Oliver of the King and the Malignants I know the Lord hath Cursed them and their Endeavours to this day and thou hast had Dominion and Power given thee of God to Bruise them and Break them to Pieces And what thou hast done unto their KING should not be Reckoned against thee by the Lord if now thou wert faithful to what he Requireth of thee for because of the Wickedness of that Generation which was Grown to the full did the Lord Raise thee up c. These words within the Crotchets are left out in his Works p. 560. Whereby neither King nor Malignants being Nam'd the Quakers may have a Latitude to Pretend when Challeng'd That they did not mean Them but some other Wicked People Especially they wou'd not Desire to have it known That they Pronounced Absolution from the Lord to Oliver for his Murther of the King 7. In p. 38. He writes To the Protector 's Kindred his Wife and Children and says God gave you the Palace of Princes And threw out the High and Mighty before you because of their Wickedness which was Great in the sight of the Lord Even for that Cause was the Generations of the STEWARTS cast out And if you walk in the same steps c. These words within the Crotchets are left out in p. 569. of Burrough's Works Tho' in the same above cited p. 38. he says Remember that you are now Warned from the Lord God by whom I am moved to Write this unto you in Dear and Tender Love to you all What Spirit then was it which moved the after Quakers thus to Diminish and Curtail these Words which Burrough said he was Moved of the Lord to Write 8. The following words in p. 64. are left out in p. 580. of his Works viz. And as concerning the Armies abroad let Faithful and Just Men that will not seek themselves be put in trust for the Army is of Great Consequence to thee to stand or Fall by them as to Mans account And the War against Spain be faithful to God in it and let Trusty Men have Authority The Lord may Accomplish something by it to his Honour and to Thine if thou be Meek and Humble and Walk with the Lord. And to say no more about it ther is something in it known to the Lord and he may bring it to pass in his Season The after Quakers left out this Prophetical Admonition for it was Given to Richard in the Beginning of his short Protectorship the 18. of the 8. Month. 1658. And they had Reason to be Asham'd of those Auspicious Hopes which their Light within