And also see 1 Cor. 6.11 where both Washing Sanctification and Justification are said to be in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And even Erasmus in his Paraphrase on Acts 13.38 39. saith expresly Through this same Jesus each man without respect of any Person or else offence hath Righteousness or Justification and Innocency profferred unto him so that he believe the Promises of the Gospel Note Surely then these are profferred to be received Therefore this Adversary's saying That the Quakers have a Pâ—pe in their Bellies and that the Quaker his Lines are hammered out upon his Popish Anvil as in pag. 22 24. These are some of his Abominable Scurrilous Slanders such Temporizers as he are more like to have a Pope in their Bellies that for their Bellies can Temporize Change and Turn their Coat in Religious matters And how like a Popish Incendiary has he acted in rendring the People called Quakers so guilty of Popery as if he had a Design to carry on for the Popish Interest either by endeavouring the Quakers Destruction because of their opposition to Popery or else by encreasing the Number of Papists by adding the Quakers thereto or rather falsly rendring the Popish Interest far bigger than it is Besides he grosly mistakes as well as shallowly argues about Popery in his rendring some Truths which the Council of Trent held to be Popery whereas Popery is the Gross Erronious Idolatrous and Superstitious part of their Doctrine and Religion and not any Scripture-Truths that they hold But this man it seems where they hold the New Birth and the Renovation of the inner man c. as necessary to our Justification this he 'll deem Popery because held by the Council of Trent But further Though Christ dyed for all all are not Partakers of the blessed Ends and Benefit thereof but those to whom it is communicated for unless in Adam they were faln and degenerate so as to dye in their own Injustice unto Righteousness they should not be unjust so unless they be regenerate in Christ they should never be justified and live to him Council of Trent chap. 3. Sess 6. Vnless they were born again in Christ they should never be justified Then it follows because that Regeneration is given to them by the Merit of his Suffering by Grace received whereby they are made Righteous What Protestant ever denyed this that only the Regenerate had the Benefit of Christ's Sufferings and that Regeneration was given freely and that thereby they were made Righte ous or Sanctified or Repentance wrought in them and Newnes of Life By Grace we are saved saith Paul through Faith and that not of our selves it is the Gift of God This Man appears in this Point an Adversary to the Papists and Protestants that are not Libertines And the Charge is true against him that the Papists untruly bring against the Protestants viz. of Libertinism And at this rate he may as well invalidate much of the Doctrine of the Church of England so much applauded by him for that she holds the same Truths which in divers things the Church of Rome holds and both have recourse in many things to the same Authors and Fathers for their Assertions And in this very Case of Justification inwardly the Rhemists in their Annot. on Rom. 3.22 cite St. Augustine speaking thus The Grace of Christ doth work our Illumination and Justification inwardly also De Pec. Mer. l. 1. c. 9 10. And again He giveth to the Faithful the most secret Grace of his Spirit which secretly he poureth into Infants also And again They are justiâ—â—ed in Christ that believe in him through the secret Communication and Inspiration of spiritual Grace whereby every one leaneth to our Lord. And again He maketh just renewing by the Spirit and Regeneration by Grace And also a Person of note who lately wrote the Book entituled The Middle Way of Perfection with indifferency between the Orthodox and the Quaker he vindicates us in this very Point of Justification as it is from the Charge of the Law and the Charge of the Gospel confessing That our Faith and Repentance is our Righteousness in regard to the Gospel but Pardon of Sin together with this Righteousness so both into universal Justification p. 5. And also pleads for God's justifying us by this Righteousness that is by Faith and Evangelical Obedience And farther saith he I do not find that the Scripture doth denominate or pronounce any one Righteous or a Just Man from one end to another upon any other account then his doing Righteousness As also saith That calm Protestants grant the Constitution of a real true Righteousness according to the Covenant of Grace pag. 15 16. And grants A having the Righteousness of a perfect Heart for Justification and yet no man justified but by the Grace of God through the Redemption which we have in Christ Jesus pag. 26. And also consesseth That we have their Divines on the blind side and that the Orthodox are quite out that will have any justified without a Righteousness that is perfect according to the Law that justifies him i. e. the Law of Grace pag. 26. And confesseth also on St. Augustine Aug de Spir. et Lit. That 't is possible for a Man to attainto such a perfection as to live without Sin by Grace or the special Assistance of God's Spirit granting it also to be our Duty But our Adversary tells us That it is an old Popish Trick to assert Justification by Works of the Spirit p. 23. Thus he still persists in his Antinomian Libertine Sin-pleasing Principle to shut out the Work of the Spirit from Justification that Impure and Poluted Persons may be deemed Just and Righteous under the Notion of Imputation contrary to the most Moderate and Learned of all sorts both Protestants and others and contrary to what 's before-cited out of their 17th Article for the Spirit 's working in due season and mortifying the Works of the Flesh And I would know where ever any Protestant Writers of note did charge the Council of Trent with Popery on the two Passages before cited out of the said Council against us As also contrary to many Passages in the Common-Prayer or Service Book as in their Absolution to be pronounced by the Priest viz. That Almighty God hath given Power to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being penitent the Absolution and Remission of their Sius he pardons and absolves all them which truly repent and unfeignedly believe c. Wherefore we beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his Holy Spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our Life hereafter may be Holy But with what Heart or Faith can our Adversary thus pronounce or pray when he neither believes a Pureness of Life nor grants Repentance and such unfeigned Belief to concern our Justification while he shuts out the Works
the consequence of placing the Rule of Faith Knowledge of God and Salvation only upon the Scripture and not upon the Light of Christ within Pr. Ibid. Vnto the Law and the Testimony is no Rule for Children to walk by Page 65. By no means the Law and the Testimony mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah may now be our Rule Hath not this man Quaked to purpose Answ He still wrongs and abusively derides the Quaker for children are not so taught that the Law and the Testimony is No Rule for them to walk by whether it relate to the Law and Testimony of God as outward in Scripture or inward in the Heart whether to the Law and Testimony of God by Moses as in Tables of Stone or to the Law and Testimony of Christ as in fleshly Tables of the Heart we cannot say of either that 't is no Rule at all for every Command or Precept from God or Christ whether it be upon outward or inward Record is a Rule in it self for Instruction by the Spirit 's Assistance The Law and Testimony as given by Moses and as in Tables of Stone were a Rule to Israel after the Flesh yet not to exclude the Word nigh them even in their Hearts or their hearkening to the Voice of God for that was through all Dispensations The Law and Testimony of the New Covenant written in the Hearts of spiritual Christians under the Guidance of the holy Spirit must needs be their Rule now who Worship God in Spirit And further the Commandment which is a Lamp and the Law which is Light and the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy are not only the Principal Rule in the Hearts of Spiritual Christians who are the Evangelical Israel and Inward Jews but also of more Universal extent as to Nations then the Scriptures are For when even those Gentiles who have not the Law and yet do by Nature the things contain'd in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts Rom. 2.14 15. So that the Scripture could not be their Rule who had it not but the Law and Light of God and his Christ in their Hearts And the Law and the Testimony within contain the Substance and Truth of what 's written in Scripture and will the more clearly and livingly appear and be read in the Heart as the Vail of Darkness Sin and Corruption in man is removed and taken away in his Conversion and coming into the New Covenant Dispensation On the words To the Law and to the Testimony I would Query If this Testimony could be the Books of the New Testament which this Prophet Isaiah referred them then to No sure how could they when those Books were not then written Yet whoever obey and follow the Law and Testimony of the SPIRIT of Life in Christ Jesus within such cannot Oppose Slight nor Invalidate any thing of holy Scripture but have real Union therewith and be in the Life Practice and Fulfilling thereof Pr. Ibid. The Spirit that doth infatuate the Quakers is the foolish Guide whom this Quaking Father would have his Child to follow Answ What Blasphemous Folly is this against the Spirit of Truth which the Quaker would have the Child yea and all Men to follow which 't is Horrid Blasphemy to charge with being an Infatuating or Foolish Guide whereby he hath also abused and slighted Christ's Testimony and the Scriptures which testifie of the Spirit of Truth to guide into all Truth Pr. Ibid. This Quakers Faith to undermine the Scriptures to render them good for nothing for saith he the Spirit alone is to be minded in all things therefore the Scriptures to be minded in nothing Answ He hath herein abominably belied the Quaker and perverted his words though he himself has cited but a few Lines before in the same page 36. viz. The Scriptures are a true Testimony of what the Saints were made Witnesses of This is no undermining nor rendring them good for nothing Again from minding the Spirit alone in all things it follows not that the Scriptures are to be minded in nothing He might as well have said that nothing else upon any account is to be minded but the Spirit alone howbeit that the Spirit alone is to be minded in all things as the Principal and most Eminent Rule is true yea 't is to be minded even in the reading Scriptures or else they cannot be rightly understood Pr. p. 37. The Quakers ill Spirit is to be minded in all things this alone is the true Discerner betwixt Truth and Falshood but pity those poor Children that have no better guide to follow Answ When the Quakers speak of the Spirit of Truth this Priest will have it the Quakers Ill Spirit thus he Blasphemously perverts still But that the Spirit of Truth is both the true Discerner and Giver of true Discerning betwixt Truth and Falshood I suppose he dare not deny S. XVI Pr. pag. 38. As for those Priests that do warrantably use the Common Prayer-Book either in the King's Chappel or else-where to speak this Quakers mind or sense they are a company of dull Ignoramusses they cannot pray at all a sad Case except it be in the Quakers Dumb Meeting or amongst those that are acted by the Spirit of the Hat Answ The Quaker so called was speaking of such Priests and Teachers as pray not with the Spirit nor with Vnderstanding and of some that cannot pray at all but as they have Made Prayers by others in a Book to read and such it seems he renders those Priests in the King's Chappel and else-where so dull as that they cannot pray without Book for he has made the Application with such a Reflection As for our Meeting which he Scornfully terms Dumb we therein wait upon God in his holy Fear and have regard to the Motions of his good Spirit in his Worship and Service both in our inward Attention Meditation Souls breathings unto God Preaching Praying to and Praising our God who is a Spirit and to be Worshipped in Spirit Truth I take his telling of the Spirit of the Hat also to be in Scorn and Contempt nothing at all of any serious Sence or Argument in it he should have explain'd himself therein Pr. p. 39. According to this Quaking Rant is not the King's Majesty basely reflected on Hath he not a dull Clergy to minister in his Presence Is not this Church whereof he is a Nursing-Father in a bad Cafe Answ I think this Priest hath Reflected on the King and his Clergy to purpose while he has rendred them such as do not pray with the Spirit or as cannot pray without Book for such was our Friend writing of about which this Priest takes all this occasion And why does he call the King a Nursing-Father of the Church He rather means as he would have him the Nursing-Father of the Clergy that they may feed upon the Fat
this Papal Quaker Answ This is False again for whilst we own a Life and Living by the Faith of the Son of God how can we disown his Righteousness that is made our's by Faith When 't is made ours we partake of it though it was without us in him before it was in us by him § XII Pr. Ibid. In this Quaking Account of Justification what hath this Quaker said more which the Council of Trent hath not determined to his hand viz. Council Trid. Cap. 3. Sess 6. Cum ea renascentia per meritu passionis ejus gratia qua justifiunt illis tribuatur Which he thus Englisheth Together with the New Birth through the Merit of Christ's Passion Grace whereby they are made Righteous is imparted to them Cap. 7. Sess 6. Justificatio est Sanctificatio Renovatio interioris hominis per voluntariam susceptionem gratiae As he interprets Justification is both the Sanctification and Renovation of the inward man by Grace received He should have said By the willing or free receiving of Grace Answ And what does our Adversary infer from hence but that Quakers and Papists agree together in the point of Justification by inherent Righteousness And yet he cannot deny but the Merit of Christ's Passion is confest to in the point But it seems he would not have the New Birth concern'd in the case or that Grace that makes us Righteous should be imparted to us and so included and joyned with the Merit of Christ's Passion in this great point of Justification or that Justification should be both the Sanctification and Renovation of the inward man by Grace received If these be not offensive to him why does he clamour against the Quaker for agreeing with the Council of Trent in this point as if his citing the Council of Trent having determin'd a point to the Quakers hand or which Quakers own though they never received it themselves and which he himself does not at all consute were enough to knock down the Quakers at one Blow Whence it follows that where the Council of Trent grants the Merit of Christ's Passion which the Papists place mens first Justification upon without Works Christ's Merit or deserving herein must be opposed because the Council of Trent and Papists hold it Is not this learned Logick Thus our Adversary has attempted to knock down the Quaker because the Council of Trent and Papists hold divers Errors but Papists render their own good Works after the first Justification strictly meritorious of Heaven which the Quakers do not therefore we must not hold any Truths which they intermix among their Errors but be branded derided for Papists Papal Quakers such kind of arguing savours more of an Atheistical Spirit than of a Christian And such measure have we from our Adversary But his main Design is to oppose the Saints being made Righteous by Grace imparted to them through Christ and to impose upon us a Justification or rather his false Imputation thereof without either Sanctification or Renovation of the inward man by Grace received seeing he has espoused the Cause of such as affirm Justification and Redemption of men while no good is wrought in them and that these are fulfilled or compleated WHOLLY WITHOUT THEM And yet to his own Confutation has granted that Righteousness must be imparted and retain'd in his 10th page but here because the Council of Trent has confest unto the New Birth and that the Grace that makes Righteous must be imparted to them rendring the Merit of Christ's Passion as a means thereof which is an Undeniable Truth I must be revil'd as a Papal Quaker and this Inherent Righteousness in the New Birth though wrought by the Grace of God opposed as to our Justification Thus my Adversary has not only Absurdly argued against me but Atheistically set himself against the Work of Christ inward by invalidating of it reckoning Persons justified Wholly without which must be whilst they are wholly Unjust and Poluted within or when no good is wrought in them else what does all his Quarrel against us amount to But he sillily goes on in his Comparison between Quaker and Papist as followeth Pr. Ibid. They do both disclaim the works of the Law before Grace received Ibid. Works not done in Christ the Seed do not justifie says the Canting Quaker Ibid. Justification is the Sanctifying of the inner man by Grace received say the Papists Ibid. The Righteousness by Faith is when the Law is performed in us by the Works of the Spirit saith the Quaker Ibid. By Grace received in the New Birth are we made Righteous say the Papists Thus the Light within which guides the Quaker to Scribble concerning Justification is nothing else but TRENT POPERY infused into them by subtil Popish Priests Answ We have nothing but his Comparison and Reviling here for Confutation The matter is answered before I would ask this man First If he does not disclaim the Works of the Law before Grace received Secondly If works not done in Christ do Justifie or render any Just If he says No why does he Scoff and Cry out Canting Quaker so saying they do not Thirdly Whether any do partake of the Righteousness by Faith without Christ's fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law in them according to Rom. 8.4 For it s them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit to whom there is no Condemnation and In whom the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled And this does not make void Christ's Passion or Suffering for man and fulfilling the Law in his Person without us for therein he was not only a Perfect Pattern of Righteousness but also came to condemn sin in the flesh and by his Sacrifice to make an Attonement and Pacification to stop the Wrath and suspend the severe Execution of the Law which man had incurred and to make way for Remission to us that we might be the more engaged to him to follow him in Spirit and come under the New Covenant terms But the Priest concludes with a notorious Falshood about what we write of Justification as being infused by Popish Priests This is a Wicked Slander for the work of the New Birth Being made inwardly Righteous by Grace received in Christ the sanctifying renewing the inner man by the holy Spirit these we never learned of the Popish Priests nor ever were we discipled by them but by the blessed operation of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ through Faith in his Name according to the Testimony of himself holy Apostles most plainly intimated in these Scriptures Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. And If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me said Christ to Peter John 13.8 And According to his Mercy he saved us by the Washing of Regeneration c. Tit. 3.5 6.
Spirits who further manifests his Folly and Ignorance in his Discant or Paraphrase upon Nicholas Knights Book Entituled A Comparison between the true and false Ministers Printed 1675. After this Priest hath told us that in this Quaking Book the false Ministers of England are thus described and after several Descriptions given of them the Priest cites these following in his pag. 142. which I recite directly as he has done viz. Tythes are only claim'd by false Teachers I ask him where did true Ones or Christ's Ministers ever claim them They deny the Doctrine of Christ enlightning every one with a saving Light and that truly for it is a Quaking falshood They deny the manifestation of the Spirit in all they reproach the true Ministers of the Light and justly because of their Folly They are Persecutors of the Children of Light but the Quakers have no Truth nor Righteousness to be persecuted for They deny that any are made Perfect from all Sin in this Life which they ought to do Observation Observe that these Words within the Crotchets are the Priest own very words wherein first he hath blasphemously charged the Light of Christ who is that true Light which lighteth every man that comes into the World John 1.9 2dly He has reproached the true Ministers of the Light in directly charging them with Folly 3dly He has slandered the Quakers in saying They have no Truth nor Righteousness 4thly He counts it a Duty to deny that any are made Perfect from all Sin in this Life herein he has justified the false Teachers against Christs Doctirne and Work who taught his to be Perfect and is come throughly to purge his Floor to sanctifie wash and cleanse his Church and People that there may be no spot in his Spouse But this work of Christ the false Teacher denyes he says they ought to deny it The Lord deliver People from such blind Guides § XXVIII Pr. p. 101. You see that the Quakers are accused justly for asserting a perfect freedom from all Sin on Earth of this false Doctrine this Quaker is a sorry Champion Answ Such a freedom from Sin must be on Earth or never there is no Purgatory after Death and no unclean thing shall enter into Gods Kingdom If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all Sin 1 John 1.7 Unto him that loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood Rev. 1.5 Blessed are the Undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord Psal 119.1 They also do no Iniquity ver 3. And this was on Earth therefore no false Doctrine Pr. Ibid. Nothing less than a perfect freedom from all Sin on Earth was the End and Aim of Redemption by Jesus Christ to deny a perfect Freedom from all Sin in this Life is according to this Quaker to make Christ only a part of a Redeemer and to establish a middle way betwixt Earth and Heaven in which to be made free from Sin Answ Our Saviour Jesus Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from ALL Iniquity and Purifie unto himself a peculiar People Zealous of good Works Tit. 2.14 By one Offering he hath perfected forever them that are Sanctified Heb. 10.14 This was the End and Aim of Redemption by Jesus Christ who therefore is not only a Redeemer in part but wholly wherefore to deny such freedom from all Sin in this Life is to suppose Christ only a Redeemer in part some middle place to be freed from Sin in after Death Pr. Ibid. To assert this great Truth that there is no perfect freedom from Sin to be attained to in this Life is as the Quaker doth basely speak a great Delusion of the Devil Answ 'T is a great delusion of the Devil to assert that there is no perfect freedom from all Sin to be attained in this Life and contrary to Scripture-Testimonies before cited Pr. p. 102. That if they lay hold on him by Faith their Sins shall not be imputed to them though they Sin daily that the Righteous man sins seven times a day Answ Here he hath accused true Believers and the Righteous man without exception both with sinning daily and sinning seven times a day such a Champion is this Priest for Satans Kingdom against the Righteous for which he has no rule in Scripture that we know that saith The Righteous man sins seven times a day but that a Just man falls seven times and rises up again Prov. 24.16 Here 's neither sinning nor day mention'd he may fall so often into Trouble Affliction and Suffering Psal 56.1 and not into Sin and rise up again out of his Troubles The Lord knows the dayes of the Upright and their Inheritance shall be forever Psal 37.18 Also in Zachariah's Prophecy of Christ and his Salvation he saith That we being delivered out of the Hands of our Enemies might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the dayes of our Life Luke 1.74 75. And thy Testimonies are very sure Holiness becometh thine House O Lord forever or to length of days Psal 93.5 Pr. Ibid. That their Sins shall not be imputed to them that believe in Christ though they sin daily Answ Sinning daily is neither consistent with true Faith in Christ nor with the estate of the Righteous and blessed of the Lord to whom Sin shall not be Imputed see Psal 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is NO GVILE unto which the Apostle refers Rom. 4.6 7 8. Pr. Ibid. That the Righteous man doth sin often in one day that the Holy men of God have sinned that do deny a perfect freedom from all Sin attainable in this Life Answ His Charge against the Righteous man without exception is refuted before as contrary to Scripture and indeed 't is Antichristian Sin pleasing and Impious thus to plead for Sin against the Righteous and 't is a great aggravation of this Impiety to accuse the Holy men of God with denying a perfect freedom from all Sin to be attainable in this Life Come Priest thou that say'st The Scripture is thy only Rule produce us plain Scripture to prove this thy Charge which is general against the Holy men of God where ever they denyed such a freedom from all Sin to be attainable in this Life either bring us Scripture-proof for this or else forever be silent and deceive the People no longer Pr. Ibid. To speak this Quaker's mind without being perfectly cleansed from all Sin no man can witness Christ to be his Redeemer nor that he is come to destroy the Works of the Devil nor can he witness that Christ is come to redeem him Answ The Priest hath here utter'd his own mistake and not the Quaker's mind For every true
of men in this Life as he hath done § XXX Pag. 115. Qr. And are made Partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ by which they are made Christians Pr. The Priest Answers In these few words this Qr. hath given a most Blasphemous account of all Qrs. for he saith that they are made Partakers of Christ's Divine Nature that they are Christians thus made Answ His telling of a Blasphemous account of All Qrs. is a Falshood to abuse us for the matter here opposed by him as it is in James Parnel's Book p. 176 177. Collect. is not placed in these words as that All Qrs. are made Partakers of Christ's Divine Nature but the words are more general relating to the Church of Christ and his Members who live by the Faith of the Son of God who are New Creatures in Christ Jesus set free by the Law of the Spirit of Life and are made Partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ by which they are made Christians and such now witness the effect of the Blood of Christ wrought within them and the End of his Coming and the Benefit of his Death who are dead with him c. Thus far J. Parnel Observe well here that I shall not let this Priest pass as only making Exception against all the Qrs. being made Partakers of Christ's Divine Nature but also I must take him as opposing the thing it self that his Quarrel is not only against the Persons Quakers but against the thing i. e. the partaking of Christ's divine Nature wherein his gross Ignorance both of Christianity and Scripture will farther appear in what follows Pr. p. 116. Behold here is our Saviours Godhead shared amongst the Quakers behold here are the Quakers made more than Co-heirs with Jesus Christ no less God than himself is Answ Behold here the Priest hath not only shewn his lamentable Ignorance but his false as well as blasphemous Inference for us to own a being made partakers of Christs Divine Nature He counts this not only a sharing of our Saviours Godhead among us but also a making our selves no less than God himself which is a sad and most Ignorant Inference that new Creatures in Christ and his Members may not partake of his Divine Nature unless they be God and Christ himself What sad and miserable blindness and Irrational Work is this As if the Member of a Body must not partake of the Nature of the Body unless that Member could be the whole Body Heb. 3.14 We are Members of Christ in particular joyn'd to him partakers of Christ having his Spirit and Life manifest in us as all real Saints and true Christians have And can all this be can any be so nearly related and joyn'd to Christ and not Partakers of his Divine Nature Can they be Partakers of Christ of his Power Heb. 3.14 Rom. 11.16 17. Spirit Virtue Life Faith Divine Image Holiness and have him therein form'd in them and yet not be Partakers of Christ's Divine Nature What strange Inconsistency is this Though the Priest will not own this of the Qrs. we impose it not so upon him yet will he own it of any of Christ's Members No See what follows as his Consequence on the Assertion and farther Evidence of his great Blindness and Ignorance both of Scripture and Christian Experience pr. Ibid. Every Real Qr. is truly Godded with God and Christed with Christ according to this Abominable Quaking Assertion they are all Partakers of that same Divine Nature which Christ hath Quaking Blasphemy Intolerable Blasphemy Answ See now how it is the Assertion itself that this Priest opposes viz. The Partaking of the Divine Nature which Christ hath this he puts these black Characters Quaking Blasphemy Intolerable Blasphemy upon We will not contend whether all called Qrs. partake thereof or no for I don't affirm it because its possible for some to be Unfaithful under that Profession and may hold the Truth in Unrighteousness but whether any Saints Members of Christ or New Creatures be Partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ I affirm they are as every true Branch that is grafted in the true Root partaketh of the Root and Fatness of the Olive Tree Rom. 11.17 And saith Christ I am the true Vine and ye are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much Fruit for without me or severed from me ye can do nothing John 15. Now doth not every such Branch partake of the Nature Virtue of the Vine Did you ever hear of a Branch in any Vine that beareth Fruit without partaking of the Nature Virtue or Sap of the Vine But it seems here is a Priest a Teacher that would be counted a Member of Christ a Christian a Believer a True Fruitful Branch no doubt and yet altogether Void and Destitute of the Nature Virtue and Life of the true Vine which can be neither true in Spirituals nor in Temporals And for a Final Confutation of his folly in this Great Point take one Scripture more 2 Pet. 1.3 4. According as his Divine Power hath given unto us all things that portain unto Life and Godliness through the Knowledge of him that hath called us to Glory and Virtue whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious Promises that by these you might be PARTAKERS of the DIVINE NATURE having escaped the Corruption of the World which is through Lust Mark here how plain it is that the Apostle did confess how they were Partakers of the Divine Nature which our Adversary has counted such an Abominable Assertion and Intolerable Blasphemy Thus he hath Reproached and Blasphemed the Primitive Christian Doctrine and Attainment in and by Christ his Divine Power and Nature which the Saints were made Partakers of Qr. pag. 117. Here is the true Church where there is but One Teacher One Lord One Faith One Baptism One Light One Life One Way One Shepherd and One Sheepfold One Priest over the Houshold of God One Hope One Language One Family One God and Father of all Pr. To this the Priest Answers viz. In these Quaking Lines we have such an account given of the true Church of God as was never heard nor read of till within these Thirty Years by past such an account as no Age of the Primitive Church can render the like except in a Qrs. Conventicle this true Church is not to be found on Earth Answ What a stranger to the true Church and the Unity thereof hath our Adversary shewn himself to be He has here such an Account of the true Church of God as it seems he never heard nor read of before he knew the People called Quakers But he falsly presumes in saying that no Age of the Primitive Church can tender the like and that this true Church is not to be found on Earth by which he has rendred his own Church no such true Church But why is it such a strange Account of the true Church Is it strange that