directly contrary to David's Testimony in the Psalm cited See now where the Contradiction is evidently placed by us 'T is between W. Haworth and the Prophet David and not between the Apostle Paul and David Another of William Haworth's Forgeries is that William Bates saith He is ONLY SORRY for his Weakness and Over-sight in giving him any such Answer We told him he addeth Only Sorry and makes himself work on this Lye To come off with an Excuse here he tells us The word ONLY the Printer should have put into another Character As if another Character would make that true which is an apparent Lye as in his saying That William Bates in his Retractation saith he is only sorry c. for 't was none of his saying nor sense of all he says in his Retractation and neither consist in the Emphasis which a different Character may shew And William Haworth does not at all amend his matter by saying that William Bates mentions not any more that he is sorry for but that he gave him such an Answer If for nothing else for that only Here he makes his own implicite Consequence to prove that William Bates said that in his Retractation which he did not say viz. that he is ONLY SORRY c. which words are not there William Haworth is a Forger in this and many more things against us then as yet we divulged Besides William Bates did not only acknowledge his Weakness in giving any such Answer as is cited in his Retractation but also clears the People called Quakers from teaching or holding any such thing to his Knowledge and likewise from William Haworth's Reproaching them on that Occasion as being No Christians but Seducers c. which with many more False Aspersions he has cast upon us Subscribed on the Behalf of Truth our selves and the rest of our Friends concerned Hertford 3d mon. 1678. Henry Stout Henry Sweeting Richard Thomas Richard Martin Edward Plumsted The Publication of this has been occasionally delayed for 't was writ not long after our Adversary's Answer came out A Postscript in Answer to William Haworth 's QVESTIONS SInce that William Haworth hath been far louder in his Charge against us then in his Proofs either from the Dispute at Barbican London which in his Antidote he unjustly quoted or from any of our Writings since pretended by him for Proof viz. That we deny the Manhood of Christ and Jesus of Nazareth to be the Christ But on the contrary to discover his shortness and failure of proof he is fain after all to Query us and put Questions to sift us further p. 8. for matter against us However wee 'l adventure a brief and plain Answer Question I do but query what is become of that Flesh wherein he i. Christ was manifested is that Flesh now in being and if so where is it in every place or circumscribed in Heaven Answer That Flesh saw no Corruption but was raised from the Dead Acts 2. 31. Christ did rise in that Body wherein he suffered and in the same ascended into the Heavens where the Patriarch David did not as to his Bâ—dy which was in the Sepulchre Acts 2. 29 to ver 36. And that very Body of Christ which was rais'd from the dead or that flesh which saw no Corruption how should it but be in being ‖ In our Testimony for the Man Christ pag. 7. we plainly told him our Belief viz. That the Man Christ did neither vanish nor perish in any thing essential to him either as to his Soul Spirit or Body that is in that Spiritual Sense we have given seeing he dyed not again according to Rom. 6. 9 Knowing Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more Death hath no more dominion over him his dying was only as to the Body he was put to death as concerning the Flesh therefore the Flesh was raised from the dead Circumscribed It is so far circumscribed or encompassed in the Heavens as 't is capable of and as is proper to it and though it be spiritual and glorious yet a Body therefore not in every place where God is And as he has told us It is not limited or confined to any one place or corner as it were of Heaven To be Omnipresent is only proper to God and not to Bodies Q. How do they but deny the Manhood of Christ that say the Body of Jesus is changed as to Substance and his Soul is in every Saint Answ 1st They do not deny the Manhood of Christ that say his Body is so changed as to the quality and glory of it that it is a spiritual heavenly and glorious Body in a higher state then when on Earth under Sufferings this is no annihilating of the Body 2dly That his Soul doth powerfully extend to and is in every Saint in some sense and degree this must needs be if it act together in union with the Deity in perfecting all good in us as our Adversary has coufessed as also that it is virtually in the Saints Though we grant that it is in more fulness in himself then in us yet of his fulness we have all received Q. They own they say the real Birth Suffering and Resurrection of Christ but do they own bis Intercession in his Manhood as an High Priest in Heaven Answ Yes we do He is entred into Heaven it self to appear in the Face of God for us yet not wholely exclusively out of the Saints For this High Priest who is set on the Right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens is a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which is with men even with such whose Minister Leader Christ is And God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts crying Abba Father The Spirit makes intercession with Sighs and Groans c. W. H. So that as man he is not materially here on Earth Answ An impertinent and fallacious Addition if he own him not as man in any sense on Earth For doth not this imply that as Man he is immaterially on earth If by materially he means he is not corporally on earth as in the dayes of his Flesh we grant it But then we may not deny his being on Earth Spiritually and virtually as Man he being the spiritual and heavenly Man the Lord FROM Heaven and a quickening Spirit Else how are any on Earth quickened by him And how did he walk in the midst of the seven Golden Candle-sticks which were the seven Churches Rev 1. W. H. These are Scripture words Acts 3. 21. Whom the Heaven must receive or contein the reading will bear it until the time of the restitution of all things Is not that whom the Man Christ His Deity cannot be conteined any where Answ 1st Whom the Heaven must receive or take it is not contein nor retein and sometimes Heaven in the New Testament-Scriptures is put for God himself 2. It is times in the plural viz. whom Heaven chiefly
respecting God that dwells therein must receive or take until the times of the restitution which is the reparation or reformation of all things spoken by the holy Prophets Those times are the Gospel times and the last dayes wherein God is making good his Promise of the Blessing in Christ to all Nations in turning every man that receives him from Iniquity Acts 3. 26 So that now the last Adam or second Man is revealed from Heaven and known to be a quickening Spirit and the Lord FROM Heaven That whom was Jesus Christ the Heavenly Man whom Heaven received into Glory into a more hidden condition when the Earth had contemned and rejected him until those more glorious times of his Out-goings and Discoveries in the latter dayes for the gathering of Nations and Peoples and blessing them in turning them from their Iniquities And though those Times of Restitution are begun he who is the Restorer shall yet more fully and universally appear for the accomplishment of that his Work Q. Is not Heaven a place remote from the Earth Answ Heaven is higher then the Earth and so distinct or remote But there is a plurality of Heavens some more near and some more remote as also spiritual Heavens as well as natural Q. Is not Conteining Circumscribing Answ What 's contein'd within the compass or circumference of place more or less may be said to be circumscribed W. H. So that as man he is not on Earth locally Answ Why is locally added In what other sense then locally is Christ as man on earth Is he not on earth spiritually as a quickning Spirit being the Lord from heaven even that man by whom came the Resurrection of the dead who quickens whom he will If in no sense this second man appear on Earth how are any quickned by him Q. Is that Restitution of all things fulfilled or yet to come answer plainly Answ That Restitution of all things spoken by the Mouth of all God's Prophets is not wholly fulfilled But both the times thereof are begun and Jesus Christ is about and carrying on the work of restitution fore-told The Deliverer is come out of Zion and the Restorer of Paths to dwell in is come he is on his way And he will yet more fully and gloriously appear to fulfil the Promises spoken of him W. H. Obj. But belike they have a notion which in time they will speak out That Christ was Man before he was a Man i. e. which Penington saith heavenly Flesh Blood and Bones came down from Heaven and tabernacled in that Body That was the Man Christ that came into the Man Christ Answ Whether he has rightly cited Isaac Penington in all these words or no is some question What Book and Page of his they are to be found in he tells us not That I. P. in some Questions hath distinguished between that Flesh and Blood of Christ which came down from Heaven which is meat and drink indeed of an inward spiritual eternal nature and the Body Flesh or Vail that was prepared for him is true And what has our Adversary to say to this Does it thence follow that Christ was man before he was a man or that there are two man Christs one that came into the other what absurd Nonsense would this man brand us withal might not Christ the Son of God be the heavenly man the mediator before he took upon him the Body that was prepared for him which is not a being man before he was a man but before he was so invested or came into that Body Surely his saying A Body hast thou prepared me Heb. 10. 5. does not make him two man Christs THE END
not then be a wonderful Change in the Body and yet the Substance not annihilated nor destroyed Nor does it follow from our not believing nor owning his Characters of natural and Earthly on Christ's Glorious Body that therefore nothing of that Body remains or is in being as he falsly and frequently argues in his Books For he has confessed Christ hath a Glorious Body and all the Saints shall have like Bodies Phil. 3. ult And that both his is and theirs will be spiritual heavenly glorious for Qualities pag. 29. of his Jesus of Nazareth And grants it Angelical Spiritual Celestial as to Qualities pag. 31. ibid. If SPIRITUAL and HEAVENLY or CELESTIAL c. be Qualities then NATURAL and EARTHLY and CARNAL are Qualities also And if we must believe our Adversary when he says Christ's Body in Heaven is very glorious spiritual and heavenly for Qualities yea brighter then a Thousand Suns then we must not believe him where he says 't is natural earthly c. which are contrary to spiritual and heavenly If hee 'l yet infer that then there 's nothing of the Substance in being we deny his Inference it being also contrary to his own Confession viz. That the same Substance remains so that it may be so wonderfully changed as to Qualities and yet the Substance neither destroyed lost or nullified But to wave many more of W. Haworth's Untruths and false Consequences in his Books and Sheet take two or three Instances of his Falshoods and Forgeries which are very obvious in matter of fact in the 6th and 7th pages of his Sheet touching Christ's Ascention where he says that When we say the same man ascended by ascending into HEAVEN he says we mean the Globe which we call the EARTH Which is all one as to say that by HEAVEN we mean EARTH For proof of this notorious and most absurd Falshood he refers the Reader to the 16th page of his last and saith According to our Principle there was nothing of the Man Christ to ascend As if we allowed nothing of the Man Christ either of Spirit or Body to have a Being after his Resurrection to ascend a most horrid Falshood brought to prove another such as his Book and Page quoted is stufft with His pretended Reason is answered else-where in this viz. If the Body was changed as to Substance c. For though it was changed and become more excellent refined and glorious in the Substance it follows not that 't was annihilated He addeth And the humane Soul Immense Another Falshood still imposed on us in his own Unscriptural Phrase Though Christ be God and Man in a most glorious Union and Power yet the Manhood is not the Deity nor the Deity the Manhood yet inseparable in the Heavenly Man Christ who is Lord from Heaven W. H. saith He remembers one of G. Fox 's Interpretations that when 't is said he took upon him the Seed of Abraham that Seed was the Light within On this we asked Where does Geo. Fox so interpret that Scripture we do not believe he ever did so William Haworth gives us this answer viz. I did not say I received it in his Books but I Remember c. I have heard it and from good hands whether they have heard it from his Mouth or read it in his Books I know not I do believe it Rep. Observe how wonderful Credulous this man's Malice makes him against us to make a direct Charge from a Report viz. That he remembers that it was one of G. Fox's Interpretations on the Scripture cited But now he remembers he hath heard it so REIORTED and he does believe it One while he remembers it was Geo. Fox's Interpretation another while he believes it as having had it from other Hands but whose Hands he tells us not that we may know or enquire how good it is greatly to be questioned whether he has not herein belyed good Hands to cover his Lye against G. F. and us But to support his Credit in this matter he bids us Hear Naylor interpret this thing in the very same way Love to the Lost Preface viz. So to the Light within makes for the gathering Creatures together to that one Name and Seed wherein all the Nations of the Earth are blessed Do but see how hard the man 's put to it for a Proof to save his Credit But how much besides the Point in two respects 1st as to the Person 2dly as to the Thing for 1st James Naylor is not G. Fox 2dly The Light of Christ within or what proceeds from him the Root making for the gathering Creatures together in that one Name and Seed wherein the Nations are blessed is not the same with saying That Seed Rom. 1. of Abraham which according to the Flesh Christ took upon him was the Light within nor either of them the Interpretation of that Scripture For that Name and Seed wherein Nations are blessed is Christ himself Not that the Fleshly Seed taken by Christ was the Light within How miserably hath this Adversary come off Oportet mendacem esse memorem Also where William Haworth accuseth the Quakers Now to say That what Paul saith in Rom. 4. 6. is contrary to what David saith in Psal 32. 2. For this he quoteth the eighth page of our Vindication Doct. 11. with this addition viz. They cite the words of Romans 4. 6. and then say contrary to Psalm 32. 2. Thus sayes he they set one Scripture against another Rep. Here he has committed an abominable Falshood twice over 1st in his Jes Naz. pag. 8 9. and 2dly in his Sheet For in our Vindication there is no such thing as that what Paul sayes Rom. 4. 6. is contrary to Psal 32. 2. Neither do we say that these words cited Rom. 4. 6. are contrary to Psal 32. 2. Nor yet do we set one Scripture against another as he has most falsly accused us but his own false Exposition and Perversion on David's and Paul's word in Psalm 32. 2 and Rom. 4. 6. As where David describes the Blessedness of the Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works What Works sayes William Haworth and then answers Done by the Spirit surely for such were David 's Works see his Antidote page 18. line 25. Whereas 't was not David's words but these last words of William Haworth viz. DONE BY THE SPIRIT SVRELY these were shewed by great Characters that we opposed to David's words Psal 32. 2. As to say That God imputeth Righteousness without Works done by the Spirit this we affirm is contrary to David in Psalm 32. 2. where the blessed Qualification of that man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity is intimated viz. in whose Spirit there is NO Guile Now a man's Spirit can neither be sanctified nor clear from Guile without the Work of the Spirit of God Therefore to say that a man is imputatively Righteous or blessed of God without any Works done in him by his Spirit is erroneous and