THE True Christ Owned AS HE IS TRUE AND PERFECT GOD MAN Containing An ANSWER to a late Pamphlet having this Title The Quakers Creed concerning the Man Christ Jesus c. Writ by a Nameless Author Which Pamphlet containeth many gross Lies and wilful Perversions Beside some other great Mistakes occasioned by the Author his Ignorance and Blindness By George Keith Printed in the Year 1679. The True Christ Owned AS He is True and Perfect GOD AND True and Perfect Man Pamphlet TRanscribed verbatim out of a Treatise entituled The way cast up Ans. The false-hood of this shall plainly appear to any who readeth my Book how that the Author hath Omitted many particulars of great Moment that are necessary for the Reader to understand the whole beside the many Arguments made use of in my Book to prove the truth of what I have affirmed which he hath not so much as once named onely he hath taken notice of some few wherein he thought he could find any advantage but that he is therein also disappointed the following Answer I hope shall make sufsiciently apparent Pamplet Animadversion 1. The Quakers from hence believe that Christ had a Manhood differing in nature srom the man-hood of all other Men contrary to Heb. 2. 11. Ans. He hath given no answer to my argument from 1 Cor. 15. 45 46 47. that proveth that Christ as Man excelleth all other Men in Nature and Substance as the most high Heavens do excel the low Earth but only to oppose this he bringeth that Scripture Heb. 2. 11. which yet doth nothing oppose what I have affirmed for granting that Heb. 2. 11. proveth that Christ hath the same Nature of all other Men in respect of all the essentials of Man's Nature and that he had all belonging to Man's Nature which Adam had before the Fall although more is to be understood in Heb. 2. 11. all this doth not prove that he hath not somewhat more belonging to his Nature as he is the Heavenly Man than Adam had but indeed on the contrary it proveth very clearly that he had more which is implyed in these words He that Sanctifieth for Christ the Heavenly Man the Second Adam doth Sanctify the Earthly Man or First Adam as he believeth in him and giveth him Life both to Soul and Body even Life Immortal and therefore he hath a more excellent Nature which is Heavenly and Divine than the First Adam had for that which Sanctifyeth and Quickeneth is more excellent than that which is Sanctifyed and Quickened thereby but it behoved him to partake of the true Nature of all other men in all essentials which therefore accordingly he hath done according unto Heb. 2. 14. forasmuch then as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also himself took part of the same and ver 16. For he took not on him Angels but the Seed of Abraham But that more is to be understood also by these words Of One Heb. 2. 11. is manifest because he that Sanctifyeth and they who are not Sanctifyed but remain in their Unbelief and Ungodliness are not said to be Of One. Nor doth Christ call the Unbelievers his Bretheren but only them that believe and are Sanctifyed by him Christ therefore and true Believers are Of One because they are united together by a mutual participation of the Nature of each other so that as Christ the Heavenly Man doth partake of the Flesh and Blood of the Children they also partake of his Flesh and Blood and become one Flesh with him according to Eph. 5. 31 32. And therefore as he doth partake of the Nature of Men so these men who do believe in him are partakers of his Divine Nature who is the Heavenly man and of God through him according to 2 Pet. 1. 4. compared with 2 Cor. 5. 19. and John 17. 23. Moreover that the Man Christ Jesus hath a Nature excelling all other men as much as the Heavens do excel the Earth See also John 3. 31 32 33 34 35. and compare it with 1 Cor. 15. 45 47. Pamphlet Animad 2. They believe from hence that the Word was made Flesh or Man before the Creation of this World contrary to Gal. 4. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Ans. These Scriptures prove nothing contrary to my assertion for they are only to be understood of his outward coming when he took Flesh in the Virgins Womb and came in the likeness of Sinful Flesh now I do not say that he took that outward Flesh from the beginning but only at that time but he namely the Heavenly Adam himself was from the beginning and was the Word made Flesh and gave unto the Saints srom the beginning his Flesh to Eat and his Blood to Drink otherwise they could not have had Life in them according to John 6. Pamphlet Animadversion 3. The Quakers have found out another kind of Flesh besides these four sorts 1 Cor. 15. 39. Ans. Here thou seemest rather to mock than to argue in good earnest But what I have affirmed of the Heavenly Flesh and Blood of Christ which he had from the beginning is no invention nor fiction of ours but grounded on the Scriptures Testimony and also on our own blessed experience for that Flesh and Blood of Christ which he had from the beginning is the Food and Nourishment of our Souls unto Eternal Life as it was also the Food and Nourishment of the Souls of all that believed in him from the beginning of the World for all before and after his outward coming in that Body of Flesh did Eat the same Spiritual Meat and Drink the same Spiritual Drink for they Drank of the Rock c. and that Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10. But when the Apostle is speaking of four kinds of Flesh he is only speaking of the Flesh of Terrestrial or Earthly Bodies but not of the Flesh of Christ that came down from Heaven which indeed is none of these four Sorts but hath a more excellent Nature for all these four Sorts are but Natural and Corruptible but the Flesh of Christ is Spiritual and Incorruptible And as touching the words of Grotius cited by thee Flesh is not understood by the Hebrews but of the Mortal Body it is easily answered by taking the word literally without any Metaphor or Figurative Speech but if we take it Figuratively it hath other Significations For how oft is all mankind comprehending both Soul and Body called Flesh in Scripture and yet the Soul is not the Mortal Body But how little hast thou considered how if thou stand unto the words of Grotius thou hast given a stone to break thy own Head for if nothing is to be called Flesh but the Mortal Body then the Body of the Resurrection namely both Christ his Body also the Resurrection Body of the Saints is not properly Flesh because not a Mortal Body Pamphlet Animad 4. The Apostles frequently speak of things to come as present as well might the Author say that
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
followeth from thy Doctrine that the Brat of thine own Imagination is Equal unto God Which if it be not the grossest Idolatry that ever any Man was Guilty of I leave unto all Men of a true Understanding for to judge yea if it be not the Height of Atheisme But again supposing but not at all granting that there were such Infinite wast Places having no Creatures in them I ask thee If God should fill them all with Creatures as he could well do because he is Omnipotent should these Creatures taken in the whole Complex be Equal unto God and have the same Immensity or Infinitness with him Surely thou must needs say Not And therefore Christ the Heavenly Man although he should also be in all these Places is still inferiour to the Godhead For whatever any Man or Creature can conceive of Places or Spaces of the greatest Extent Imaginable God is still infinitly Greater and all the Creatures Visible and Invisible are unto Him but as the Drop of the Bucket and Dust of the Ballance And here if any should ask me because I deny all such Imaginary Spaces as idle Fictions of foolish and Ignorant Men What is beyond this Visible World of Heaven and Earth I do easily and readily answer That not only God and Christ but also real Parts of the Creation which are true real beings Created of God are beyond this Visible World of Heaven and Earth whose Greatness and Number no Humane nor indeed any Created Understanding can fathome or comprehend but God alone the most High and Christ Jesus by whom all Things are created and made Visible and Invisible For Solomon said truly We cannot find out the Works of God from the Beginning unto the End And thus we have no need to run into these Fictions of Imaginary Spaces to find a Place beyond this Visible World seeing the Things which God hath made are Greater and more Numerous than we can conceive or imagine And therefore are really Infinite and Immense or Immeasurable unto our Understanding although they are well known unto God in Number Weight and Measure and are in comparison as Nothing and as the Prophet speaketh Even less than Nothing Pamphlet Animad 23. And thus he layes the Ground and Foundation of the Angels Worship upon the Excellency of the Nature of the Manhood barely considered in it self I query solemnly If it be not great Idolatry for Men or Angels to worship any Creature and that Creature though never so Excellent be not in Personal Union with God and the Worship terminated upon the Godhead Christ is God and Man Christians worshipping him terminate the Worship upon the Godhead See if Keith hath not made the Angels Idolaters Answ. That he saith I lay the Foundation of the Angels Worship upon the Excellency of the Nature of the Manhood barely considered in it self is a gross Abuse and Perversion and a most palpable Lye and Contradiction to my Words As also that he insinuates that Men or Angels are to worfhip the Man Christ without a Respect unto that Union he hath with God So that by Vertue of the said Union he is God This also is another gross Lye and Perversion And 3 dly That he alledgeth that in our worshipping the Man Christ Jesus we do not terminate our Worship upon the God-head but only upon the Manhood and that also barely considered in it self All which Three Assertions of the Author are gross Lies and most groundless Calumnies For I no where in all my Book use any such Words as he alledgeth And that I have no such Meaning as his Words import my Words that stand upon Record in my Book do sufficiently clear me As namely where I say expresly p. 82. That the Man Christ is God by reason of that most wonderful Union betwixt the Two Natures And a little after I say The Godhead and Manhood of Christ are but one Christ. And the God-head of Christ is no Inferiour Divinity or Deity but the very same Godhead of the Father Again as concerning this most wonderful and singular Union whereby the Godhead and Manhood of Christ are one Christ I say p. 83. Christ as Man hath a true and real Soul distinct from the God-head yet for ever united with the same in a most immediate and wonderful manner Of which Union no other Soul or Spirit of Men or Angels ever were or shall be Partakers And thus Reader thou mayest clearly see that I lay not the Foundation of Men and Angels their worshipping Christ upon the Excellency of the Nature of the Manhood barely considered as if he were not God by reason of his most rare and singular Union with God But on the contrary I do very plainly affirm the said Union and that because thereof Christ is God And therefore also I do further say That the Worship which Men and Angels give unto the Man Christ doth not terminate which is as much as to say in more plain English doth not rest nor end upon the Manhood but ascendeth through the Manhood of Christ unto the Godhead where it doth terminate or rest And therefore the Saints in Scripture are said to praise God through Jesus Christ and by Him to offer up unto God continual Sacrifices of Thanksgiving And so much doth the word Mediator import which signifieth a Middle Man betwixt God and Us So that although our Prayers our Thanksgivings and whole Worship be directed unto Christ yet not unto Him alone but also unto God htrough Him Nor do my Words cited by thee give thee the least Ground to say That I lay the Foundation of the Angels Worship upon the Nature of the Manhood barely considered in it self because I say That the Man Christ Jesus is a Great and Mighty and most Excellent Being far above All and excelling all Men and Angels For doth not the Man Christ Jesus excell all Men and Angels by reason of his Union with the Godhead such as none else are Partakers of Is not this Union of his with the Godhead most Excellent And doth it not cause him to Excel all other Beings that have no such Union By thy Doctrine indeed it addeth no Excellency unto him and consequently by the same Doctrine of thine although in Contradiction to thy self the Man Christ is to be worshipped as barely considered in himself without any respect of his Union with the Godhead For according unto thy Doctrine that Union addeth no Excellency unto him and maketh him not one whit more Excellent And thus now I desire all Men of Understanding to see and consider whether the Author of this Pamphlet and not I hath not made the Angels Idolaters And here Reader I desire thee also to consider how this Author of this Pamphlet seeketh to lurk in the Dark and giveth us no express Account whether he believeth that the Man Christ Jesus is to be worshipped only telleth that all true Christians do terminate the Worship upon the Godhead which we also do But this
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
as the Greek word doth not always signify a strict Creation so no more doth the word Creation in English and that the word is sometimes applyed to an Humane work or constitution proveth not that it is so to be understood here For the Writer to the Hebrews is not comparing Heaven with the Tabernacle made by mens hands as thou alleadgest in that verse neither doth he call Heaven that greater and more perfect Tabernacle for he saith not so but thus Christ being come an high Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle c. entered in once into the holy place The greater and more perfect Tabernacle Therefore is Christ himself who hath gone into Heaven And this Tabernacle is more excellent than that outward figurative Tabernacle was because that Tabernacle could not remove it self from one place unto another but as it was carried by the hands of men neither could it go into Heaven because it was of a meer earthly creation but Christ Jesus by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle namely by himself did go into Heaven for he came down from Heaven and is Heavenly and not of such a mean and Earthly Creation as that outward Tabernacle was and therefore he doth compare Christ with the Figurative Tabernacle not so much as to its structure or building with mens hands for that were but a mean and low comparison seeing the beasts Skins that covered the Tabernacle and the blood that sprinkled it as also the substance of the wood and other materials were not made with mens hands but only the artificial structure or form of the Tabernable was the work of mens hands But Christ Jesus this greater and more perfect Tabernacle doth excel the Typical and figurative Tabernacle in regard of the very substance of which it is made as being of an Heavenly Nature and not of this creation with the outward Tabernacle as to the very substance although for our sakes he did partake with us of the Earthly creation yet he himself is wholly and altogether Heavenly if this be not the True and real sense of those words Heb. 9. 11. I leave unto the spiritual for to Judge Pamphlet Animad 17. Let the Quakers remember that this creation of which he saith this Man-Hood is not but of another was not by hands Answ. That it was not the work of mens hands I confess but this giveth thee no advantage nor doth it in the least weaken my Argument for this Earthly and corruptible creation although it is not the work of mens hands yet by a Metaphorical and figurative speech it is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made with hands to signifie the weakness and corruptibility of it and for a clear proof of this see 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. Where the Apostle compareth the earthly house of this Tabernacle of our Mortal Flesh with our house from Heaven and calleth this last by way of Antithesis an house not made with hands as if the Mortal body which is our earthly house were made with hands although not with the hands of men which is a figurative expression as holding forth the meanness and weakness of all that which is earthly and Mortal which the Learned among the Hebrews on that account call in Hebrew Asiah as to say in English manufaction or a making with hands but besides this visible and corruptible world of Heaven and earth which they call Asiah or faction they understand that there is another more excellent world or creation invisible unto our outward eyes and this they call Jezirah as to say in English formation and besides this yet a more excellent which they call Briah in English creation namely that which is strictly and properly so called the other two although commonly named Creations yet not so properly or strictly for which distinction of three Worlds they Alledge Isaiah 43. 7. where all these three Hebrew words are used and besides all these yet one most excellent of all and which doth in the Nature thereof approach nearest unto God himself and this highest and most Noble production above all things Created Visible or Invisible they call Aziluth which is to say in English Emanation Nor are these distinctions of Worlds and Creations idle fictions of latter Jews but real things the Truth whereof is warranted by clear and express Testimonies of Scripture both of the old and new Testament for doth not the Scripture speak of Heavens in the Plural number and of Heavens of Heavens Also doth it not say that God made all things both visible and invisible by Jesus Christ and certainly these invisible things are a more excellent Creation as God created them than the visible also it is said That God by his Son made the Worlds or Ages which cannot meerly relate unto the times but also and more especially unto the things themselves made in those times Pamphlet Animad 17. Some of them think fit to call this man-hood an Emanation rather than a creation you see they are at a losse what name to give this child of their own begetting and breeding in the imagination Answ. This is another gross abuse and perversion of my words as if by these some who think fit rather to call the Heavenly man an Emanation than a Creation I did understand some of my friends called in scorn Quakers and as if we were at variance among our selves how to name it which is a grosse untruth and false hood for by that same I did understand some Hebrew Doctors or Teachers who call this Heavenly Man Aziluth which is to say in English Emanation as also they do call him the Heavenly Adam the great High-priest the Bridegroom and Husband of the Church and they say plainly if this man were not the world could not confist and who is this but Christ Jesus although they do not express these names And certainly it might be a great help whereby to convince the Jews and to gain them to believe in Christ Jesus as he was born and suffered in the Flesh and Rose and Ascended into Heaven to make use of those Testimonies which are in their own books unto Christ although under other names some whereof are very proper and according unto Scripture in our reasoning with them in order to their conversion which way if used in the Wisdom of God and direction of his Holy Spirit I doubt not but the Lord would bless for even Paul when he preached unto the Gentiles at times made use of some Testimonies out of their writers whereby to bring them to acknowledge the Truth But whereas thou art not affraid nor ashamed to call this Heavenly Man Christ Jesus a Child of our own Begetting and Breeding in the Imagination thou openly shewest thy gross Ignorance of the Scriptures and thy great Unbelief and want of True Faith in Christ and that thou art a greater Infidel in some Respect than many of the Jews are Some whereof in words do Acknowledge him as
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