appointment this part of the Supper being laid aside as Jewish fulfilled and ended by Christ. And therefore to us that last Supper of Christ appears to be a Consummation and fulfilling of the Jewish solemn Feasts under the Law as John's Baptism was of the divers legal Washings or Baptisms imposed until the time of Reformation when Christ blotted out and nailed the Hand-writing of Ordinances to his Cross. After which they were not legally obligatory though condescended unto for a Season by reason of the Weakness of divers and Respect many had unto them in the Churches Infancy And tho' too many now are very formal and superstitious in those outward Observations and Shadows laying so much stress for Salvation upon them that they neglect the Substance yet others being more conscientiously tender in the observation thereof we are the more tender to these so as not to censure or condemn them meerly for practising that which they believe is their Duty either in breaking of Bread or Water Baptism yet desire they may see further and come under that higher and evangelical Dispensation of the spiritual Communion and Bread of Life and Cup of Blessing from Heaven which can only nourish the Soul unto eternal Life and of the spiritual Baptism of Christ which only is the Soul 's sanctifying and saving Baptism so that this One Baptism and this One Bread which is the Substance they may livingly partake of unto eternal Life We do hitherto want Proof that Paul either received of the Lord the Bread and the Cup or the real Supper of the Lord in the Figure or Type but the Mystery thereof or that to observe the Figure was an Institution of Christ to continue in the spiritual Church And tho' he fulfilled the Command of the Passover at his Supper we have no reason to think that was his own Institution to continue in the Christian Church no more than the Passover Legal Offerings Circumcision c. We confess That the neglect and abuse of the Holy Mystery p. 207. which is the Substance Christ the living Bread did and doth incur Damnation and grievous Diseases as among the Corinthians He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh Damnation to himself not discerning he Lord's Body 1 Cor. 11. 29. If you rest or stick in the Shadow and neglect the Substance or Mystery so as you discern not the Lord's Body you discern not that whereby your Souls should live and be nourished unto eternal Life 'T is Matter of Condemnation you are but eating and drinking Damnation to your selves The main end and drift of the Apostles labouring with and writing to them at Corinth was to bring them to Life and Substance to the spiritual Rock the spiritual Meat and Drink which is Christ 1 Cor. 10. 14 15 16 17. 2 Cor. 13. 5. that they might be blameless in his Day which 't is evident the outward Figure or Shadow did not bring them to but they were blameable and blamed for the Carnality Divisions and Disorders which were among them 1 Cor. 3. 1 3. Now as to the outward Supper so little being said for it by our Opposer we are not willing to enlarge or enter into any strict Controversie about that Subject but for further Explanation refer him to what our deceased Friend Robert Barclay has writ upon it in his Apology from p. 493 to p. 514. And if we were convinced that it is our Duty to receive Bread and Wine as an outward Memorial of Christ's Death we should never own this our Accuser who has shamefully reproached us or any such Enemies to be our Administrators nor hold Communion with them For Baptism he alledges Mat. 28. 20. Go teach all Nations baptizing them And here the Man breaks leaving out In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and then brings in And lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Taking it for granted that this Commission must intend Water Baptism and the continuance thereof as well as Teaching or Preaching even unto the End of the World Hence saying They i. e. Christ's ministerial Officers indeed were impowered as John to baptize with Water p. 205. But is this Adversary really for John's Baptism or for baptizing as John did He 's not express nor plain in this Point Tho' he would seem an eminent Advocate for the Church of England we may greatly question his Sincerity herein If under this Pretext he means Infants Baptism or Sprinkling them he should not take up the Anabaptist's Arguments for that which they oppose as a scriptureless Thing and at the same time deem them Schismaticks Enthusiasts and number them among the various Sects set up by Rome under universal Tolleration as before p. 17 18. 2d Part. He 's very disingenuous in this as well as in many other Things He should have plainly told us what Baptism he aims at and who the Subjcts of it whether Infants or Believers before he had either upbraided or threatned us for the neglect of it However pray observe the great Stress he lays upon this outward Baptism with Water viz. That it was an Ordinance instituted as a means of Grace whereby the inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost was conveyed therefore the Form appointed of admission into the Society of the Church and thereby giving a Title to all the Privileges and Promises annexed to it p. 206. whereby Persons are daily baptized into Christ's death p. 209. And tells us of Outward Signs and Seals Pledges and Means of Grace which he judges the Enemy has deluded Men into a neglect of Now observe 1. He makes Water-Baptism whether of Infants or Believers he resolves not not only an Institution but a Means of Grace whereby the inward Baptism of the Holy Ghost is conveyed 2. Such a Form appointed of admission into the Church as giveth a Title to all the Privileges and Promises c. 3. That 't is the Baptism into Christ's Death 4. A Seal Pledge and Means of Grace In all which he does but upon his own Authority impose upon the Reader without Scripture-proof And his Impositions herein are liable to many Exceptions 1. They suppose all Persons under Grace and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost who are come under Water-Baptism without Exception of Infants or others when the contrary is evident in many wicked Persons and even in Simon Magus the Sorcerer who was baptized and yet wicked and wanting the Gift and Baptism of the Holy Ghost would have bought it for Mony Acts 8. 2. It also supposes all to be void of Grace and of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and of the Promises who are not baptized with Water consequently that many thousands are Damned because they are not so baptized Which is highly uncharitable 3. We deny that by Water-Baptism Men are baptized either into Christ's Death Body or Church or that 't is a Seal or Pledge of Grace For 't is by one Spirit that true
it is a necessary Maintenance and Livelihood to them that serve in the Church it may be retained or any other Stipend appointed that may be sufficient for their Maintenance be it more or less than the Tenth part But that there is any sacrificing Priesthood to whom it is due in the New Testament the old Payment of Tithes doth not prove neither did Christ himself our High-Priest ever make claim unto them nor his Apostles the Ministers of the Church but only a sufficient Living by the Gospel to be allowed of their temporal Goods to whom they ministred spiritual Goods 1 Cor. 9. 14. Gal. 6. 6. From all which 't is evident First That the Protestants in those Days did not esteem Tithes of divine Right for Gospel Ministers but abrogated by the Death of Christ but indefinitely allowed a sufficient Maintenance for them without restricting it to the Tenth Secondly Divers eminent Martyrs and others who were both Persons of Piety and good Fame are more full and plain in this Point against Tithes in the Gospel-day and times as John Wickliff VVilliam Swinderby VValter Brute VVilliam Thorp the Bohemians with other Christians mentioned in the Book of Martyrs did bear Testimony against Tithes and compell'd Maintenance by the civil Authority This of their opposing Tithes was made a principal Article against them by the Popish Bishops and Clergy as more largely and particularly appears in the 1st vol. of Martyrs in the Reigns of Richard II. Henry IV. and Henry V. And tho' with those Christian Martyrs and first reformed Protestants we are persuaded That Jesus Christ by his Suffering and Death hath abrogated Tithes and the Law that required them according to Heb. 7. and that his Ministry ought to be free and without any forced Maintenance yet 't is not our Business now strictly to dispute the Merits of that Case of Tithes being fully opened by other Hands as Fra. Howgill in his Great Case of Tithes and Tho. Ellwood in his Foundation of Tithes shaken and R. Richardson's Testimony against Tithing among Christians with divers others to which we refer the Reader And to shew how much this Adversary resembles a Son of the old pretended Mother Church in his Contempt and Scorn against some of the Protestant Reformers particularly against VVilliam Thorp p. 169. for esteeming their Priests or Gospel Ministers not to come of the Lineage of Levi but of Judah which can intend no other but as they come of Christ who came of the Tribe of Judah and not of Levi for this William Thorp is derided as shewing what a doughty Clerk he was And with Fulsom Stuff p. 170. our Adversaries saying Who told Thorp or the Quakers that our Priests came of the Lineage of Judah Are they Jews What fulsom Stuff is this quoth he No doubt William Thorp meant the true Priesthood of Christ descended spiritually of his Line and not naturally And does not Jo. Fox call him A valiant Warrier under the triumphant Banner of Christ and commend him as that the Might Spirit and Grace of God to a marvel appeared in him But this Popish Agent ironically renders him a doughty Clerk a fulsom Writer What fulsom popish Stuff is this Sn. p. 194. Traiterous Principles and Actions charged against the Quakers from 1650 to 1660. as also Blasphemies and Treasons Blasphemers and Traitors p. 196 197 198. Ref. We need but answer these with Negation and Detestation as being most foul Raileries proceeding from a Spirit of Persecution and deadly Malice which the righteous Lord will rebuke but has he not heard of some of the Clergy who have lately absolved Persons condemned of High Treason His quoting Bugg's Authority for these black Charges p. 199. shews his partial Credulity in not taking notice of our Answers to him As also our Answer to John Pennyman on the like Passages Entituled Christ's Lambs defended from Satan's Rage Sn. p. 199. He chargeth G. Fox and E. Burrough with Traiterous abetting of Oliver and the Rump Ref. This is very harsh and deny'd He forgets how the then Clergy abetted Oliver and highly applauded him and his Son Richard as their Moses and Joshua and shews as little regard to the Act of Indemnity in these Recriminations if they were true Sn. Yet in p. 204 205 206 207. 208. he not only gives a Recital of a cruel and bitter Petition and Charge against divers of the People called Quakers directed To the Right Honourable the Council of State as they were called by several of the Priests and others in Lancashire and printed in 1653. but also takes it for granted that the Persons charged were guilty of every part of the Charge p. 209. Observe Thus he has sided with the Persecutors of those Times who abetted and sheltered under that Government which no doubt he now esteems not Loyal and not only so but he appears very partial and credulous of their most bitter and malicious Charges which were then designed to stir up severe Persecution Sn. One of the Charges p. 202 203 205 206. That G. Fox professed and avowed That he was equal with God Another That he professed himself to be the Eternal Judge of the World Ref. Observe here the Man 's partial Credulity and Injustice again in taking for granted what persecuting Adversaries have long since unjustly suggested against a conscientious Sufferer without hearing his Defence where the said G. F. being charged by his Persecutors with professing himself to be equal with God positively denies the Charge as not so spoken as that G. F. was equal with God but confessed That the Father and the Son are one and that Christ and the Holy Spirit are equal with God Saul's Errand p. 5 6. And so to Christ Jesus both as he was of the Seed of Abraham and also as he was equal and one with the Father And do not these confess both the Humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ Vid. Just Inquiry p. 12. Sn. p. 212. That the Quakere take the Name of God and Christ to themselves because of God's supposed dwelling in them And p. 213. Their pretence to Perfection equal even to the Perfection of God himself and that they all pretend to it Ref. We the Quakers so called positively deny all such presumption and these Charges thereof in their several Parts Pray when and where did ever the People called Quakers call themselves by those Names of God and Christ either because of God's Indwelling or for any other cause We deny the Charge as both blasphemous and confused God's indwelling in his People cannot render them God And though we do sincerely believe and own a perfection of a deliverance from Sin and of Sanctification and Holiness as obtained and wrought by Jesus Christ for and in true Believers in this Life yet we cannot pretend to any such equality of Perfection as that of God himself which in Wisdom and Power c. is infinite seeing we are Men and not God finite Creatures and not the Creator
for his Account is almost in every part false containing at least twelve plain Mistakes at best A natural Consequence of being over-officious and medling in other Mens Affairs which he is the readier to let him know that if he will please to appear Face to Face and hath two Ears may be yet better informed by him who is willing to join Issue with him in his great many more Instances as he saith Nath. Marks Among his many repeated Falshoods there is something of Truth hinted about one he calls a Prophet although never so esteemed by us who not keeping in Humility true Fear and Watchfulness as the Light of the Lord would have guided him the Enemy prevailed to hurry him by the shrength of Imagination and a secret discomposure of Mind wrongfully to charge a Person with the Fact for which he has been reprehended and testified against and we desire the Lord may truly humble that Person unto true Repentance Is it just to reproach all for this one Man's Offence Would this Accuser be so dealt by from the gross Miscarriages of many of his esteemed reverend Brethren of the Clergy Or because some of them have run Mad would he and the rest be so deemed We trow not Sn. p. 104 105. These Quaker-Prophets resolv'd to try their Hands round since they had begun and see if they could terrifie some or other to confess their Infallibility Re. What Prophets and how many did so resolve This is a foul Aspersion mix'd with the other false and partial Story to defame us and to invalidate our Christian Testimony which is to the Spirit of Truth and its Infallibility Sn. p. 112. Now it is made apparent that that Spirit which possesses them i. e. the Quakers is the very Spirit of Lies which is the Spirit of the Devil and consequently that their Light within is Darkness and then as our Saviour said O how great is that Darkness Re. What a blasphemous scornful and defaming Wretch is this 1. Thus to defame and condemn a sober religious People as possest with the Spirit of the Devil from some personal Mistakes Failings and Weaknesses 2. Thus to condemn the Principle i. e. our Light within as great Darkness because of some personal Miscarriages or Darkness prevailing through their not walking in the true Light which we profess Sn. p. 113. O therefore let those Christians beware who are led away with pretences to the Spirit in any Men not only against but beside that which is written who break the Vnity of the Church which Christ calls the tearing of his own Body to pieces and forsake the Communion of their lawful Bishops whom Christ has left as his own immediate Representatives and Vice gerents and as the Principles of Vnity in their respective Churches Re. This Story affects all Protestant Dissenters how conscientious soever any of them are as if they were all led by an ill Spirit against Scripture to break the Unity of the Church of Christ and tear his Body to pieces and to forsake the Communion of Christ's own immediate Representatives and Vice-gerents Very high Charges indeed but we deny them he must produce some better Proofs than his own ipse dixit or thus imposing upon Dissenting Protestants And suppose some such Dissenters should deny a Church guilty of severe Persecution to be the Church or Body of Christ and such Bishops as have countenanced Persecution to be his Vice-gerents and therefore cannot in Conscience hold Communion with them or with that Church what proof will he bring to satisfie the Denyers thereof See what follows Sn. p. 115. Sect. 10. Tho' God sent many Prophets to reprove the Kings and the Priests yet they neither rebelled against the Kings nor set up opposite Altars against those of those wicked Priests But AS they paid all dutiful Obedience to their persecuting Kings and suffered Martyrdom under them without resistance SO did they always keep in the Communion of those same Priests whom they had provok'd and reprov'd and paid all due Obedience to their sacred Authority Re. 1st That God sent Prophets to reprove the wickedness of Kings and Priests and the Covteousness Idolatry Prophaneness and Persecution of corrupt and polluted Priests is true and that true Prophets patiently suffered by both 2. But that the true Prophets did always keep in the Communion of those same corrupted polluted and wicked Priests whom they had reproved as asserted we deny for the Holy Prophets had a distinct pure Communion from that of the polluted Priests 3. 'T is no better than a piece of Popery thus to plead for keeping Communion with wicked Priests and Obedience to their Authority as sacred when they have no divine or sacred Authority being debased by their own Iniquity This is to make People Vassals to a corrupt Priesthood such as the holy Prophets testified against and as God overthrew for their Covetousness Idolatry and Wickedness the great Corruption of Priests is sufficient cause to dissent and separate from them Sn. p. 124 125. Their Churches have censur'd these Separatists and consequently given Judgment against the Light within particular Persons Re. The Consequence is falsly deduced for where the Separation is a Self-separation for which no just Cause is or can be assigned or Corruption charged upon the Society or Church from whom the Separation is made 't is unwarrantable and not arising from the true Light in any particular Persons and therefore the Judgment against such a Self-separation is not against the Light but against a Fruit of the Flesh and Darkness The Lord requires a Separation from the Unclean but not from the Congregation of his People nor from the Flocks of his Companions Sn. p. 128. The Ground of this Persecution against G. Keith was his preaching Christ without or a personal Christ in Heaven besides the Light within which he said was only the spiritual Presence of Christ by his Light and Life in all his Children P. 130. They do not really believe in any other Saviour than their own Light within which they call Christ and so endeavour to amuse us Re. 1. We never understood that G. K. was prosecuted for preaching Christ without in Heaven and only his spiritual Presence by his Light and Life in all his Children seeing this is all still but one and the same indivisible Christ and not two Christs Christ as in the Heavens and as in our Hearts is not divided There were other Matters charg'd against G. K. of his turbulent Spirit and Behaviour making Divisions Parties Separations c. 2. We do really believe in the intire Christ of God who was sent to be the Saviour and Light of the World that enlightens every Man coming into it and he is our Light Life and Salvation and this can amuse none but them that walk in Darkness Sn. p. 140. That G. K. upon the Text 1 John 1. 7. said It ought to be taken literally that it was the outward shedding of Christ's Blood which
his own Words against his Adversary viz. Who can have the Confidence to call the Scripture his Rule and yet contradict it so egregiously as when the Apostle tells us It is not the same Body that is sown that shall be to assert that it is the same Body and that who says the contrary denies the Resurrection and eternal Recompence which is a very confident Perversion and Opposition to the Apostle's Doctrin In short we do acknowledge a Resurrection in order to eternal Recompence and that every Seed shall have its own Body and rest contented with what Body it shall please God to give us who giveth a Body as it pleaseth him 1 Cor. 15. But as we are not such Fools as curiously to enquire what so must we for ever deny the gross Conceits of T. H. and his Adherents c. And in conclusion of the same Head Reason against Railing p. 124. he saith For our parts a Resurrection we believe and of Bodies too unto Eternal Life What they shall not be I have briefly said and proved what they shall be we leave with God who will give every one a Body as it pleaseth him and Thou Fool belongs to the unnecessary Medler Thus 't is evident W. P. did not deny the Resurrection it self nor count it Nonsense c. but the gross Conceits of some Persons about it Consequently this Accuser has charged the Quakers as falsly in this Point as in the rest And we know not Those others among us he tells of that suppose the Soul it self is the spiritual Body mentioned 1 Cor. 15. 44. and consequently that there is no other Resurrection than at each particular Persons death p. 184. We know none in our Society hold or suppose these things but the contrary that the Soul of every Person shall be invested with its own proper spiritual Body in the general Resurrection and last Day And besides the true Believers being quicken'd and raised out of the Fall in Adam unto Life Righteousness and Victory in and by Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life Three things are also observable in that 1 Cor. 15. The Apostle argues 1. for the Resurrection of the Dead from the Resurrection of Christ against some that said There is no Resurrection of the Dead 2. He argues against some and reprehends them as Fools that questioned How the Dead are raised and with what Bodies do they come forth From the Wheat and other Grain that 's sown and the difference between the Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies and the Natural Body and the Spiritual 3. For those Saints that shall remain alive at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to raise the Dead that they shall be changed in a moment at the sounding of the last Trumpet of God It 's evident that the Apostle Paul fully answers both those that said there is No Resurrection of the Dead and also those Fools that question With what Body do they come forth And asserts the sudden change of those who shall remain alive until the coming of the Lord from Heaven So that the Resurrection of the Dead and final change of the Living so as the Corruptible must put on Incorruption and the Mortal shall put on Immortality As this Doctrin was really believed by the Primitive Christians so it is by us who believe that God raised up Jesus from the Dead and therefore the Dead both the Just and Unjust shall be raised by Jesus Christ according to Scripture whatever Prejudice may suggest to the contrary But our Adversary will needs have it That Mr. Penn does understand that long and elegant Description of the Resurrection of our Bodies from the 35th Verse of the 15th Chap. of the first Epist. to the Corinthians Only of the spiritual state of the Soul in this Life and for it quotes The Invalidity of John Faldoe's Vindication 1673. p. 373 p. 369. He wrongs W. P. in this i. e. That he understands that long and elegant Description of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 35. to the end Only of the spiritual state of the Soul in this Life I say this is a Perversion and Abuse of W. P.'s Discourse in the Case for on verse 44. he utterly denies that this Text is concerned in the Resurrection of Man's carnal Body shewing according to Beza both from the Latin and Original Greek that a natural Body is sown a spiritual Body is raised that there 's not a Word in either for the Relative It Inval. p. 369. And in p. 373. W. P. supposing the Apostle treated of a natural Change and not only of the spiritual state of the Soul in this Life This Supposition is not to understand the Apostle Paul to treat only of the spiritual state of the Soul in this Life in that 1 Cor. 15. from v. 35. For in the place quoted it is by the Accused confessed That tho' we sow not the Body which shall be God giveth a Body as it pleaseth him from 1 Cor. 15. 37 38. 'T is observable That W. P. in his Answer to T. Hicks and John Faldoe quoted is not so unnatural as not to allow the sanctified Soul a suitable Clothing or Mansion when the earthly Tabernacle is dissolved which is eternal in the Heavens according to 2 Cor. 5. 1. wherein it is undoubtedly happy being in perfect Peace and Rest with God in Christ Jesus but he also allows it a spiritual celestial glorious Body in the Resurrection far excelling the Terrestrial And we doubt not but we shall be the same and as many distinct Souls Men or Persons in the Resurrection as we are now though far better Clothed with our spiritual glorious Bodies we hope The Premises consider'd 't is evident our Accuser has as actually wronged us in this Point even in Matter of Fact by Perversion as in his saying The Quakers have spiritualiz'd away all the Body and the Being of Christ into their Light within p. 195. which is all a notorious Untruth and answered before To his Stories 1. Of a Quaker Preacher to whom he urging for a proof of the Resurrection Mat. 27. 52 53. That many Bodies of Saints arose and came out of the Graves after Christ's Resurrection and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many That he made this Answer That was not meant of the literal or earthly Jerusalem that any dead Bodies arose there but of the spiritual Jerusalem which John saw coming down from Heaven 2. And that others told him They heard the same Exposition in a Quaker Sermon at one of their Meetings p. 196. Answ. We know not any Preacher among us that gave such Meaning or Interpretation to the said Text neither do we own it And we have reason to question the truth of these Stories 3. He says He can tell of a Preacher among the Quakers that said He had already obtain'd the Resurrection by Christ having risen in his Heart and that he believed no other Resurrection nor expected any p. 198.
and not to thus scandalize them who sincerely believe the sacred History of Christ's Death for Sinners and Reconciliation thereby but do experience the influence and fruit thereof by his holy Spirit according to their growth in Grace who faithfully follow him in his Light The Passage I am to observe as his Reason for what goes before follows viz. For the Historical Faith must be inseparable from the saving Faith aud indeed the saving Faith is the Historical throughly digested and applyed p. 12. Which is to conclude that none have the saving Faith but those who have the Historical consequently that all must be damned who have not the historical Faith of Christ dying for Sinners whereby he has at once condemned all Nations or Peoples both Infants dying in Innocency and all others who have not the History or historical Faith of Christ's sufferings and Death tho' it was really for mankind in general and may and doth for ought he knows influence many who have not the historical Faith or knowledge thereof otherwise the universal good and end thereof intended for all is frustrated to many thousands for want of the History or Preaching of Christ's Death to them unless G. K. can demonstrate and resolve that the twelve Revolutions of humane Souls will make it all up That all that are Deceased or have Dyed without the historical Faith or Knowledge of Christ Crucified shall return and have opportunity to have Christ so Preached unto them which he has no divine Revelation for but rather a long exploded Hypothesis or Supposition as in the first part Heathenish and therefore the more difficult Task to give any certain demonstration of the same 'T is farther observable what uncertainty as well as inconsistency this Advocate for G. K. is in even in this Point He saith viz. How God will deal with the good moral Heathen who never heard of Christ I will not determine nor enter into the Secrets of Providence p. 12. When he has determin'd already that if they have not the historical Faith they have not the saving Faith if they be inseperable as he has asserted For 't is certain without some saving Faith they cannot be saved as without Faith it is impossible to please God But he appears as pinching and partial in his following objection against the Light as he is uncharitable in the Premises viz. But that they i.e. the good moral Heathen have the Christian Faith by believing their Light within Or that there is any object of the Christian Faith without the outward Jesus who suffered at Jerusalem is a Quakers Dream and opposite to the whole Tenure of the Gospel p. 12. Hence observe 1. This is to deny the Gentiles any Christian Faith who believe in the Light given them according to God's promises to them yea though they be good moral Men who so believe as if they could be good or pious without any Christianity in them Which is to oppose the blessed end of Christ being so given for a Light of the Heathen and Salvation to the ends of the Earth 2. It is to deny the Light of Christ or Christ as the Light within to be any object of the Christian Faith contrary to Christ's Doctrin Believe in the Light that ye may be the Children of the Light 3. The last part of the Objection implies that either Christ as without and Christ as within is divided or that there are awo Christs an outward Christ and an inward Christ whereas there is but one Lord Jesus Christ. And his Light within cannot be without or divided from him who is the Fountain of Light and Life 4. 'T is not opposite but according to the Tenour of the Gospel to believe in the Light or Word of Faith i.e. Christ as within nigh in the Heart which hath both Law and Gospel Judgment and Mercy in it to Minister suitable to Mens states and conditions And in this Light or Word we meet with the great Ends Benefits or Fruit of Christ's suffering and Mediation which are manifest and come to be fulfilled in all who truly believe in and obey the same Word whereby the Gospel is preached in every Creature under Heaven yea even in many thousands of Souls who have not the outward History of Christ's suffering and Death tho' both the sacred History and sincere Preaching thereof by the Spirit of Christ be of great use and advantage and in no wise to be rejected where God is pleas'd to afford them But seeing He that believes not in the Son of God is condemned already and the wrath of God abides upon him because he obeyeth not the Son of God John 3. 18. consequently the Son of God is offered unto all and his Grace is given and appears unto all mankind that they may believe in him and thereby lay hold on him for Life and Salvation Christ plainly gives the reason of Mens condemnation when he there saith This is the Comdemnation that Light is come into the World and Men loved Darkness rather then Light beeause their Deeds were Evil John 3. 19. Otherwise to represent God to condem and bring his Wrath upon Men for not believing in that they never had or which was never afforded nor appeared unto them This were Blasphemously to render God Unjust Unmerciful and most cruel to Condemn and bring his Wrath upon Men for an Impossibility for how should they believe in or obey the Son of God if no saving Grace or Power of believing be afforded unto them This were like as to bind their hands and feet and lock all Food from them and then bid them walk and work or else starve But our good God is no such hard Master who willeth not the Death of Sinners but rather their return to him that they may live and for this end hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the World As for innocent Infants or little Children who dye in Innocency Divine Providence has provided for their safety by Christ Jesus his Meditation and Seed of eternal Life in them and their Angels who see the face of God continually are ready to carry their Souls into the Heavenly Kingdom when they dye in that State My Objecting against W. Burnet about the Blood of Christ that was shed on the Cross was first and chiefly upon his holding That the shedding of the Blood of Christ upon the Cross that was let out by vertue of the Spear being thrust into his side to be meritorious or the meritorious cause of Man's Justification which his Brother Ives could not stand by him in but supposed a meaning for him Secondly That the same Blood that was shed doth both purge and sprinkle their Conscieuces sanctifie and justifie them and yet that 't is not in Being but cumpared to a price lost as more at large in my Answer Light and Life p. 7 8. p. 64. together with their contradictions about it referring to W. Burnet's Book and their Discourses But now to excuse his
Man's Redemption both outwardly and inwardly outwardly by the Ransom given by Christ's Sufferings and Sacrifice and inwardly by the operation of his Life Power and Spirit which Mystically is that precious Blood that is opposed to all corruptible things which redeems from the vain Conversation from all Iniquity and effectually washeth and clcanseth us from our Sins purgeth and sprinkles our Consciences c. And farther to Answer to Types and Shadows under the Law of shedding Blood and sprinkling c. That God according to his Mercy saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Titus 3. 5 6. And I 'le sprinkle clean water upon them and wash them from all their filthiness saith the Lord. And the Blood of sprinkling which the spiritual believers were come unto has the same effect And if the name of Water be attributed to the Spirit as it is Jo. 7. 38 39. Light and Life The name of Blood may also which is not to Allegorize away or invalidate the outward Blood or Sacrifice of Christ or any part thereof yet the Mystery thereof we may not deny but confess And according to the answers I have given for the Blood of Christ and the Mystery thereof our deceased Friend and Brother Robert Bercley expresly agrees whose Testimony therefore I am the more willing to cite because G. Keith has approved of his Works p. 60. R. B's Testimony in his Works p. 10. follows in these words viz. This Blood speaking of the Blood of Christ that is healing c. is known and felt within to wash and purge the Conscience for Christ as he is within is not without his Blood which is Spiritual even the pure Blood of the Vine and is that Wine of the Kingdom which is inwardly felt to wash and to refresh which he gives to them who know not distinctly the outward shedding of his Blood as it was many hundred years ago and which many are ignorant of who have heard much of the outward shedding of his Blood but know not the Blood as shed and poured forth in them to sprinkle their Consciences from dead Works for it is a Mystery sealed up from all who stand in opposition to his Light within But there mark thy own Words saith he to his Opponent The Plaster must be applyed er'e the Sore be healed Must not then saving Grace be applyed er'e the Soul be Converted or Healed And R. B. treats much more largely concerning the Flesh and Blood of Christ to the same purpose as before cited for the Blood of Christ as 't is Spiritual and Mysterious c. p. 494. 495 496 497 498. upon his thirteenth Proposition of his Apology and in page 494. He has recourse to Agustin viz. § II. The Body then of Christ which Believers partake of is Spiritual and not Carnal and his Blood which they Drink of is Pure and Heavenly and not Humane or Elementary as Augustin also affirms Ps. 98. Except a Man Eat my Flesh he hath not in him Life Eternal And he saith The Words which I speak unto you are Spirit and Life understand spiritually what I have spoken Ye shall not Eat of this Body which ye see and Drink this Blood which they shall spill that Crucifie me I am the living Bread which have dscended from Heaven He called himself the Bread who descended from Heaven exhorting that we should believe in him c. Unto which I further add for Illustration That the pure Blood of Grapes promised to Judah and Israel Gen. 49. 11. Deut 32. 14. was Typical of this spiritual Blood and Fruit of the Heavenly Vine Christ Jesus which truly relieves and comforts the afflicted and sorrowful Soul that comes unto him And also the Milk and Honey the Butter Oyl and Wheat and other Temporal Blessings which were in the promised Land were all Types of Christ and the spiritual Blessings received in him in his Kingdom and Heavenly Canaan And the Oyl and Wine which the Compassionate Samaritan poured into the Wounds of the Man that was wounded by Thieves and left half Dead Luke 10. 34 were also Typical of the healing Vertue Life and spiritual Blood of Christ Jesus which he graciously poureth into many wounded Souls As concerning the word Personality and Personal Existence as applyed to God and Christ I have sometimes questioned as also the word Humane as ascribed to the glorified Body of Christ which is spiritual and also to his Soul or Spirit for these reasons 1. Because imposed on us by some Adversaries without Scripture proof of those terms and not to Question Christ's glorious Manhood for in that sense I admit of and sometime may use the word Humanity either for Man or for the Good Nature and disposition of Man as of the word Trinity for Three being not willing to maintain contest about Words but to mind the thing intended thereby 2. Because false Arguments have been drawn thence against Christ and his Light in Man 3. Because of the carnal Imaginations of too many thereof who under pretence of expecting Christ to come again in the Flesh in the same manner as he was on Earth and to be seen with their carnal Eyes neglect the introversion of their Minds to Christ's inward appearance in Spirit 4. Because whilst Men feed upon such Notions and Imaginations of Christ excluding him out of their Hearts they exclude the living and Heart-purifying Faith of Christ so that their Faith is but Dead and Fruitless whilst such seem to adore Christ as only an outward Christ or as wholly without them and not in them instead of opening the Door of their Hearts unto him to let him in they harbour and indulge their own Corruptions Pride Scorn Envy and Covetousness c. in their Hearts out of which proceed all these bitter Reproches Revilings and Calumnies which we meet with this Day as heretofore In all my former questioning their unscriptural terms who profess the Scriptures to be their only Rule ascribed to God and Christ I never designed to deny his being our Mediator as Man nor to oppose his coming in Power and great Glory in his gloryfied spiritual Body to Judge the Quick and the Dead in the last Day tho I have sometimes shunned controversy on that Point and about the Resurrection and last Day of Judgment Urging not to put the day of the Lord afar off nor to neglect the present day of their Visitation and Judgment of Christ by his Spirit and Light within them The Question how are the Dead raised and with what Body come they forth I have often waved as unnecessary as well as unwarrantable being reprehended in some 1 Cor. 15. 35 26. I being willing to acquiesce in the will of God in that matter to give a Body as it pleaseth him and to every Seed it s own Body as proper thereunto ver 38. One thing I would be better understood in Not having
AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE VENOME OF The Snake in the Grass Or the Book so stiled AND THE Christian People CALLED QUAKERS Vindicated from its most gross Abuses and Calumnies In certain Reflections detecting the nameless Author's Malice Outrage and Persecution against the said People Unto which is Annex'd A brief Examination of the Author's second Book stil'd Satan Dis-rob'd Also Some Notice taken of his Discourse for the Divine Institution of Water-Baptism Psal. 83. 3. They devise deceitful Matters against them that are quiet in the Land London Printed for Tho. Northcott in George-yard in Lombard-street 1697. THE BOOKSELLER TO THE READER Friendly Reader THE so long delay of this Answer to The Snake in the Grass has been chiefly the Printers occasion and partly to have some Answer to his latter Book still'd Satan Disrob'd So Reader that thou may'st be preserved from the Venom of this Snake in all his twistings and twinings is the desire of him who wisheth the Well-fare of all Men. T. N. ERRATA PAge 37. l. 13. r. Persecutors l. 38. dele as p. 56. l. 6. r. Kingdoms p. 81. l. 1. r. Prosecution p. 166. l. 30. for them in r. in them p. 167. l. 12. for reprobachs r. reproaches p. 200. l. 25. r. universally p. 204. l. 7. r. who rendred p. 232. l. 4. r. of Sin and Death l. 5. r. of Life p. 235. l. 13. d. 60. Some litteral Faults and Points mis-placed may be understood by the sense of the matters Impartial Reader AFter the perusal of the said Snake in the Grass seeing the gross and absurd Aspersions Calumnies Perversions and scornful Stuff therein Contained and the great Malice of the nameless Author's Spirit against the People called Quakers It was slighted by us and laid aside for some Months being stuft with many lying and incredible Stories as scarce deserving any particular Answer except the notice of some few to discredit the Author and invalidate his fruitless attempts of his foul Envy and Falshood But some indifferent Persons being urgent for an Answer and the said Book being rendred as an unanswerable Piece by some too easily imposed upon and others in prejudice gave occasion for the insuing Reflections to be Exhibited in order to obviate the injurious Design of the Author and his Abettors i.e. some wrathful implacable and perfidious Apostates who are of those Cattle he has principally Plowed withal and from whom he has chiefly derived his unjust Authority to Defame and Scandalize the said People with those old false and refuted Aspersions and Slanders as Possessed with the Devil Enthusiastick Madness Blasphemy Heresie denying the true Christ and his holy Humanity or Manhood real Sufferings and Satisfaction and the Resurrection and Contemning the Holy Scriptures Doctrins and Precepts therein contained with abundance more of such like Calumnies and Slanders Abuses and Perversions of our Words and Doctrins frequently answered and refuted by divers of us in our former and latter Books And now because of our present Ease and Liberty which Mercy our Gracious God hath influenced the present Government to afford us from our late grievous and destructive Persecutions for which Liberty we are truly thankful For this Cause the Devil and his Agents appear the more enraged and to have exceeding great Wrath against the remnant of the true Seed and to combine together to persecute us with their most shameful Reproaches Abuses Lyes and Slanders which is the present Persecution we are under When the Devil was suffered to imploy his Agents to Oppress and Persecute us in our Persons and Estates by severe Imprisonments and spoil of Goods tending to Ruin us and our Families then the Pens of his Clerks and Ministers were quiet towards us But seeing his and their wicked ends by that kind of open and cruel Persecution could not be accomplished upon us now they bend their perverse Studies and Pens to persecute us with shameful Reproach and Blasphemy to Destroy and Murther our Reputations both as Men and Christians not sparing either the Living or the Dead The Lord our God will rebuke their Fury and Outrage and confound their mischievous Devices and Confederacies even the just and righteous God who by his power supported us under our deepest Sufferings and Persecutions and gave us Faith and Courage then to Face the severest Storms and Blustering Winds which rose up against us for our Christian Testimony and Assemblies he hath enabled and will enable us to face and outface this Storm of envious and outragious Persecution of our open and secret Enemies And 't is no small shame and disparagement for such Eminent Church of England Men as the Author of the Snake in the Grass would seem one of them to be beholding to pretended Quakers such as George Keith and Thomas Crisp for their Aid or Authority against us and to F. Bugg's Authority also who has been detected of numerous Falshoods against us since he left us and turned to the Priests and to the Publick as he calls it and the said George Keith contrary to his many and frequent Vindications of the People called Quakers and their Principles and above thirty Years Conversation among them now turned an open Adversary to Revile and Reproach them and yet a falsly pretended Quaker as if he would ingratiate himself into favour with the worst of our Enemies the Day will yet further discover him and them I confess where Persons of a contrary Judgment to us appear moderate and civil in their Discourse and Treatment in things wherein they differ from us they deserve to be gently and tenderly Answered and Treated and if such suppose me mistaken in any thing or circumstance of words from which I intend not altogether to excuse my self in all Controversies from my young and early Years and yet be assured by the Spirit of Truth in matters Essential to Salvation I would take kindly their civil and friendly Discovery thereof to me being desirous that the Truth may be exalted above all Self-reputation But when I find Persons like this Author of The Snake in the Grass maliciously set in a persecuting Spirit to defame and reproach Truth and our Christian Society which I am concerned in Conscience for I confess then a holy Zeal the Lord raises and has raised in my very Heart and Soul against such bitter Implacable and Persecuting Spirits And the Lord's Power I have felt and do still feel it to accompany and inable me in Defence of his blessed Truth and People And inasmuch as the said Author of The Snake in the Grass is so very liberal in his most odious Characters upon us and has so frequently Branded us even divers Persons by Name with Blasphemies and Heresies c. who have been and are known to be Persons of good Reputation both as Men and Christians in Life and Conversation 'T is pity but this Defaming Author should be publickly exposed by Name for his Folly and outrage especially if he persists in his Scorn and envious injurious
to that which is of God and from him and mentions not the Quakers in the place Sn. p. 52. Great Mystery p. 248. again quoted viz. All THAT have the Son and the Holy Ghost have THAT which is equal in Power and Glory with the Father and this all the Quakers say they have Re. That the Son and Holy Ghost are equal in Power with the Father and that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the Dead dwells in the Saints we see not this to be such a monstrous Heresie Are not the Son and Holy Ghost of the same Substance with the Father And have not the Assembly at Westminster confessed as much as G. F. says Yet the Quakers do not say they have the Holy Ghost in fulness but in measure Sn. p. 53 54 55. Sect. 7. Of the Quakers making their Soul of the same Person and Substance with God quoting Great Myst. p. 247. p. 90 91. 273. Of Christ's dwelling in the Saints Of that which came out from the Creator Of the Soul that came out of him c. Re. 1. The Case herein is both mis-understood and mis-represented against the Quakers They do not so make their Souls of the same Person and Substance with God I know no such Expressions used by the Quakers 2. There 's a mis-understanding also of G. F. in the Case about his questioning Is not that a part of God which came out from God and of his Being as God breathed into Man the Breath of Life and he i. e. Man became a living Soul to which Words G. F. expresly refers We always understood him to intend That this Breath of Life which made Man a living Soul was that divine Breath or Spirit of Life which came out from God and of his own Being for otherwise how should Man thereby become a living Soul Which clearly distinguisheth the Creature Man to be that living Soul that was so made by that Spirit Breath and Life which proceeded from his Creator and which some term the Soul of the Soul So that the Soul of Man abstractly considered was as truly created as Man himself tho' that divine Inspiration or Breath of Life whereby the Soul had its Being Life and Immortality be Increated and of God himself for we ever distinguished between the Soul of Man and that which saves it Note That his 2d 4th 8th 9th Sections are not particularly pointed at being in Substance comprehensively and sufficiently answered in divers Answers to the rest and in our Just Enquiry the same things being often repeated in his Book as about Carnal Weapons Damning all the World the Soul and Immediate Revelation Sn. p. 69. Sect. 10. As they place Infallibility in every single Quaker so they confine it not to Matters of Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things to know all Men's Hearts and all Things in the World by their inward Light without being told by any Re. Here 's a great Mistake in these Accusations 1. Such a personal Infallibility as to know all Persons States and Things in the World we pretend not to for that were for Man to pretend Omnisciency which is only proper to Almighty God The Man 's egregiously out in confounding Infallibility with Omnisciency The Infallibility or Certainty own'd by us originally is in the Spirit and Light of Truth given by Christ Jesus and not consisting in Persons their humane or natural Parts yet we must confess to the Glory of God that the Spirit of Truth doth infallibly teach and lead them into all Truth who truly obey it and gives them certain knowledge in Matters of Faith and Salvation Sn. p. 81. They turn and wind this Infallibility of theirs at such a rate that no Man can I am sure I cannot know what they mean by it Re. Where 's then the Blasphemy Here 's manifest Contradiction to what he hath said before about extending the Quaker's Infallibility to all Persons and Things and to know all Mens Hearts and all things in the World c. which is to pretend to Omnisciency which is only proper to God who only is Omniscient Silence had better become this occult Adversary's Ignorance than to reproach or vilifie us about what he knows not Sn p. 83 84. The Strength which God has given to our Bodies is as sufficient to climb up to the Skies as the Wisdom or Light which he has given to our Souls was sufficient of it self to have found out the redemption of lost Man by the Incarnation and Satisfaction of Christ to God's Justice for our Sins or if found out to have paid that Price and to have accomplished that whole wonderful Oeconomy of our Salvation by our own Abilities and then he goes on thus confusedly so very insufficient is the Light within us even tho' followed to the utmost by its own Strength to carry us to Heaven Re. This is to deny any divine Wisdom Light Word or Power to be given to our Souls as if they could live and immortally subsist without the divine Logos or Word in them which in Scripture is called The Ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and consequently to carry us to Heaven 't is therefore great Darkness to oppose the sufficiency of this Light this Word or Christ within or to oppose his Incarnation Sufferings Satisfaction or our Redemption obtained by him as our Mediator to this his own inward Light Power and Appearance for as truly as Christ Jesus as our blessed Mediator has obtained eternal Redemption and Salvation for us so truly doth Christ Jesus by his Light Life and Power make us Partakers of that Redemption and Salvation and to know the Oeconomy Law or Rule of his House and Family as we obey him therein that we being reconciled by his Death might be saved by his Life The divine Logos the Light or Spirit of Christ is as able now to discover what Christ hath done and suffered for our Redemption as it was to shew the Prophets his Sufferings and the Glory that should follow Sn. p. 84. And therefore the Quakers preaching up the sufficiency of the Light within as all of them but the Separatists do is not only highly derogatory to the satisfaction paid by Christ for our Sins but it is blasphemous in ascribing to Our Selves a Power sufficient to work out our own Salvation Re. There are two gross Mistakes in these Passages 1. The sufficiency we ascribe to Christ his Light and Life within is not any derogation to his Satisfaction Attonement or Ransom given and paid by him without us for Sins and Sinners no more than Christ's own exhorting Men To believe in the Light that they might become Children of the Light or the Apostle's to a receiving the ingrafted Word which was able to save the Souls could be derogatory to his blessed intention and end in his Suffering and Sacrifice for Mankind but the contrary Christ by his Light and Life within leads to know and experience the
not in the Paths of it Job 24. 13. And though there 's no Sin against the Light or Backsliding from it without some Conviction at one time or other yet 't is possible for some to presume to sin rebel and shut their Eyes so long until they become stark blind and hardned in sinning and past feeling in Rebellion and given over to hardness of Heart and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie and so to Damnation and Destruction yet however clouded all this while the Light in them remains in it self pure certain and an infallible swift Witness against the Rebellious who love Darkness and the Works thereof rather than the Light which is come into the World Mens thinking themselves to be in the right when mistaken p. 174 175. having their Understandings darkned will not destroy all or any of the Quakers certainty which they have in the true Light as they believe and walk therein P. 176 177. It was hard for Saul to Kick against the Pricks and that is against the Power of Christ which would be too hard for him if he strove against it as is confest No doubt that Power reached his Conscience when awakened and convicted consequently those Pricks which that gave him were then in him and that Power or Holy Ghost which Stephen's Persecutors and Saul also resisted when he kept their Garments while they stoned him and consented to his Death was near them to convict and condemn them for their Persecution and Cruelty but their Fury Wrath and Violence would not permit them to adhere or submit to the strivings thereof for they always resisted the same Holy Spirit as did their Fathers Acts 7. 51. Which Resistance of theirs implies the Spirit 's secretly striving with them and giving Counsel against their Wickedness and Cruelty for how can there be always a resisting that which either is not or moves not or counsels not O therefore the same Holy Spirit and Light of it was in them in some measure moving and striving with them to persuade stop and reclaim them from those destructive Courses and Enormities they had chosen And here we may observe how he excuses the Ministry where People are not converted by it he deems it a very bad Argument to blame the Ministry for Mens being Evil may proceed from their own Perversness and not from the Fault of the Ministry Pref. p. 57. May we not retalliate such Argument for the Light within That 't is a very bad Argument that the Light within is either insufficient or fallible because Men are Evil or blind or mistaken Which may proceed from their own Disobedience or Perverseness and not from any defect or fault in the Light given them And when Saul thought with himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth and was zealous in persecuting and imprisoning the Christians and exceeding mad against them Acts 26. 9 10. 11. This was in his blind deceived State when a Follower of the persecuting Priests and the more blinded by such blind Guides as hate the true Light and oppose it For as Paul saith I persecuted this way unto the Death binding and delivering into Prison both Men and Women Acts 22. 4. For many of the Saints I shut up in Prison having received Authority of the High Priests and when they were put to Death I gave my Sentence Acts 26. 10. So that the Priests were very ill Instruments to influence and misguide him in Persecution and Cruelty contrary to the Light such his Blindness Madness and injurious Persecution against the Saints to Imprisonment and Death being expresly contrary to the Law of God without them and within them in Scripture and Conscience Will any be so blind as to suppose God did not afford them so much Light as to shew them such gross Iniquities and Injuries to others who were innocent How impertinent and senseless then is the Man's Question viz. Had Paul then any Pricks of Conscience or of his Light within against the lawfulness of that wherein he was fully persuaded and zealous p. 177. No doubt he had so much Light in him as would both have prickt him for and shewn the Unlawfulness of his Persecution and Cruelty against the Saints if he would have inclined his Mind to it for Counsel and not to the Priests who encouraged him in Persecution against the Christians which they persuaded him to and not the Light They helped to make him so mad against the Saints as he was but Christ the Light whose Power prickt him made him wise when converted and tho' 't is possible that in his Hurry and Fury to Persecution he might not at that very instant feel the Pricks of the Light in 's Conscience yet it swiftly pursued him and seiz'd him when Christ had wonderfully put a stop to him and his Letters and Errand from the High Priests to persecute the Saints Tho' the Candle of the Wicked may be many times put out 't is lighted again For how oft is the Candle of the Wicked put out How oft is Destruction upon him If it be often put out 't is often lighted And therefore all these things seriously consider'd we do not see it any hard Matter to make sense of the Quakers Notion as he calls it of the Light within nor that this Instance of St. Paul can stand as any irrefragable or other Proof against it or our Testimony for that true Light which inlightens every Man coming into the World John 1. 4 9. Because many are blinded by the persecuting and covetous Priests and many shut their Eyes against the Light and many love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil and the Candle of the Wicked is often put out But they shall all find it hard to Kick against the Pricks even in their own Consciences as 't is confessed even in the English Annotation in the Margin on Acts 9. 5. It is hard for thee to Kick against the Pricks i. e. to resist God when he pricketh and soliciteth our Consciences therefore such prickings are within All which truly consider'd 't is no difficulty to make Sense of the Quaker's Notion as he calls it of the Light within p. 178. seeing 't is according to the express Sense of Holy Scripture-Testimony thereof and the Sense which the Light gives all them that truly regard it Christ being the Light of the World that inlightens every Man coming into it that whosoever believe in his Light and follow him the Light might not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and become Children of the Light Neither doth our Adversary's Instance of St. Paul or others stand as any irrefragable Proof against the Light within or the Quakers Notion of it as he vainly supposeth p. 178. Unless it be a good Argument that because some Men are blind and others shut their Eyes there 's no Sun in the Firmament giving Light into their Houses We find no better Proof or
We question the Truth of this Story also in the last part of it viz. That he believed no other nor expected any than Christ risen in him and this also of no other we disown for as truly as we own Christ risen in us and we in him from Sin and Condemnation so truly do we believe and expect to be raised up by him in the last Day above all Corruption and Mortality we being raised in Christ from Sin here we shall be raised by him to Glory hereafter And therefore are not of the Opinion of Hymeneus and Phyletus who said That the Resurrection is past or made already 2 Tim. 2. 18. For that Resurrection which Paul in his converted state when risen with Christ had not attained Phil. 3. 11 12. we do believe and expect as yet to come after this Life and at the last Day Another Accusation is That G. F. says plainly in these Words There 's none have a Glory and a Heaven but within them leaving out what follows which was before Man had a Being Gr. Myst. p. 214. This is intended of what the Saints have and enjoy in this Life in the Present Tense and not of that more full attainment in that which is to come who have and enjoy the indwelling of God and Christ as their God and their Glory according to his Promise having of this excellent Treasure in their Earthen Vessels according to their measures of degrees of attainment being changed from Glory to Glory from one degree of Glory to another as by the Spirit of God There 's no doubt but all true and spiritual Believers who are dead with Christ and whose Life is hid with Christ in God when Christ who is their Life shall at last appear they shall appear with him in Glory Col. 3. Yea in far more Glory than 's here attainable in a mortal State Though we are now the Sons of God yet it appears not what we shall then be but when Christ appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3. 2. Heaven which is God's Throne and Dwelling-place is no doubt so spacious and the Heavens which declare his Glory so wonderfully extensive that we cannot suppose they should all be contain'd in the narrow compass of our Hearts though our Conversation be now in Heaven and we come to a heavenly state in Christ Jesus Therefore we do not confine all our expected Attainments of Heaven and Glory to within us in this Life but the way to attain more thereof in that which is to come is to partake of some share thereof in Christ Jesus even in this Life and where Christ is enjoy'd there Heaven and Glory is in measure spiritually enjoy'd there being spiritual and inward Heavens as well as natural and outward Note For the spirituality of the Resurrection Bodies and the nature of the Body of Christ after his Resurrection and Ascension Our Opposer may peruse H. Moor's Search into the nature of a glorified Body Apol. ch 3. p. 494. Of his Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity And compare the same with what we have written on that Subject and then let our Opposer answer him having been a Doctor of his own Church and Philosopher also of Repute in Cambridge c. As to his 14th Sect. Of the Sacraments as he terms them but without Scripture-proof of the Term Sacrament as applied to the outward Elements Signs or Shadows which end in Christ the Substance who livingly represents himself beyond them by his Spirit in the Hearts and Souls of spiritual Believers who have attained unto the spiritual Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and to partake of his spiritual Supper with him Rev. 3. 10. The difference between us and our Accuser in this Point is about the Text 1 Cor. 11. 26. of shewing forth the Lord's Death till he come as he says By the Celebration of his last Supper Whether this coming of Christ be spiritually in our Hearts or at the Resurrection at the last Day which ends the time limited for the Celebration thereof We believe it of the first if that may be owned as any real coming of Christ He of the last His Reason is That Christ was so come in the Hearts of the Holy Apostles and of the purest Primitive Christians The Apostle's condescending to divers Things that were Shadows and Figures for sometime it follows not that therefore we are bound to imitate them in all things they did Neither were the Corinthians the purest of Primitive Christians when Paul writ his first Epistle to them nor had they then so far attained to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as to confirm and make them blameless as in his Day but then waited for such his coming 1 Cor. 1. for there were divers Disorders among them and many of them carnal and walked as Men. And therefore they were not then of the purest of Christians though they had good Gifts yet they had then great need to wait for the coming of Christ to make them better to bring them into a blameless state The Apostles themselves were come to higher Attainments in Christ Jesus which they laboured to bring their Hearers to as is evident from Paul's desiring That the Corinthians might not be ignorant how that all the Fathers who were baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea did all eat the same spiritual Meat and drink of the spiritual Rock which followed them or went with them which Rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10. And told them the Cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we break it is not the Communion of the Body of Christ For we being many are One Bread and One Body being all Partakers of the One Bread ver 16 17. and doubtless the knowledge of this Mystery was what he received of the Lord which was above the Sign Shadow or Figure thereof Yet 't is not to be questioned but there was a good Intention in the first Proposal and Practice of those outward Memorials of Christ's Death among the Corinthians in the capacity they stood in to remember and shew forth Christ's Death thereby until they knew and had more of his Life to shew forth in a holy and unblameable State and Conversation in the Day of the Lord Jesus Christ for whose spiritual coming they waited for that end 1 Cor. 1. 6 7 8. And also that they might flee from Idolatry and keep out of it and forbear eating in the Idols Temple which he warned them against As to Christ's Celebration of his last Supper 't is strange that should be so much urg'd as obligatory upon us until Christ's last coming again at the Resurrection in the last Day seeing we find none of the Urgâ—rs thereof so much as in a true imitation of the last Supper of Christ where he eat the legal Passover with his Disciples according to his own
order to its Reconcilation to himself as when he brings Man to taste of his Justice and Displeasure for Sin it 's still in Mercy to humble him by his Chastisement and Judgment unto Repentance that he may find Mercy so as Judgment and Mercy may meet in the same Soul And God's Wisdom is truly magnified in finding out the means of our Redemption by our great and only Mediator Jesus Christ through his Mediation Suffering Sacrifice and Attonement and his Goodness and Mercy are equally magnified in affording those means But this proves not that adequate Satisfaction to vindictive Justice which our Adversaries have contended for And tho' we sincerely own Jesus Christ as we ought to do both for our Example Intercessor Light and Teacher yet this is not all our Notion or rather Knowledge wherein we receive him neither do we in these deny the necessity of his Death or exclude any rational account thereof as is unduly supposed p. 216. For there was great reason for Christ's Death and Sacrifice for Sinners because all in Adam were dead and under Condemnation that they might live by and unto him so as to be truly capable of really knowing and owning Christ Jesus in Spirit Life and Power and in all his Offices and Works both as King High priest and Prophet our great Mediator Example Captain Leader Light and Law-giver But to draw towards a Conclusion of this point of Satisfaction seeing 't is so numbly and impertinently stated by our present Antagonist let us observe a little further how rigidly and severely he states it to the Dishonour of God divine Justice it self and his beloved Son He first puts the Queston What room then is there for God's Mercy If he be all Justice where is his Mercy Then he Answers God's Attributes do not fight or contradict one another they magnifie and exalt one another True thus far but how Thus God's Justice is magnified in that it exacts full and adequate Satisfaction paid to God's Justice for our Sins in the Sacrifice and Death of Christ which because of his divine Nature was full and adequate Satisfaction And by his humane Nature the Satisfaction was paid by the same Nature which offended p. 214 215. All which considered this is to assert Satisfaction as a Notion of Law as Dr. Owen call'd it in the highest rigid and most severe Sense exacted that any of the Prebyterians c. have asserted it And to save us the Labour of drawing the Consequences and Answers here we may here I hope without Offence give him a Recitation of a more ingenuous Person 's Answer and Objection against this Notion than himself namely Dr. Stilling fleet since Bishop of Worcester in his Discourse concerning the true Reason of the Sufferings of Christ pages 269 270. Printed 1669. Out of which take the following Discourse viz. The state of the Controversy hath been rendred more obscure by the Mistakes of some who have managed it with greater Zeal than Judgment they have shot over their Adversary's Heads and laid their own more open to Assaults It is easie to observe That most of Socinus his Arguments are levelled against an Opinion which few who have considered those things do maintain and none need to think themselves obliged to do it which is That Christ paid a proper and rigid Satisfaction for the Sins of Men considered under the Notion of Debts and that he paid the very same which we ought to have done which in the Sense of the Law is never called Satisfaction but strict Payment Against this Socinus disputes from the impossibility of Christ's paying the very same that we were to have paid because our Penalty was eternal Death And that as the consequence of inherent Guilt which Christ neither did nor could undergo If a Mediator could have paid the same then the Gospel had not been the bringing in of a better Covenant but a performance of the old p. 271. But if there be a Relaxation or Dispensation of the first Law then it necessarily follows that what Christ paid was not the very same which the first Law required for what need of that when the very same was paid that was in the Obligation But if it be said That the Dignity of the Person makes up what wanted in the kind or degree of Punishment this is a plain Confession that it is not the same c. Besides if the very same had been paid in the strict Sense there would have followed A Deliverance ipso facto for the Release immediately follows the Payment of the same and it had been Injustice to have required any thing further in order to the Discharge of the Offender when strict and full Payment had been made of what was in the Obligation But we see that Faith and Repentance and the Consequences of those Two are made Conditions on our parts in order to the enjoying the Benefit of what Christ hath procured so that the Release is not immediate upon the Payment c. P. 272. We are to consider that these very Persons assert That Christ paid all for us and in our Name and Stead so that the Payment by Christ was by a Substitution in our room And if he paid the same which the Law required the Benefit must immediately accrue to those in whose Name the Debt was paid for what was done in the Name of another is all one to the Creditor as if it had been done by the Debtor himself But above all things it is impossible to reconcile the freeness of Remission with the full Payment c. Neither will it serve to say That though it was not free to Christ yet it was to us for the Satisfaction and Remission must respect the same Person for Christ did not pay for himself but for us neither could the Remission be to him c. It is impossible the same Debt should be fully paid and freely forgiven much less will it avoid the Difficulty in this Case to say That it was a refusable Payment for it being supposed to be the very same it was not in Justice refusable c. p. 173. But this whole Opinion is built upon a Mistake That Satisfaction must be the Payment of the very same which while they contend for they give our Adversaries too great advantage and make them think they triumph over the Faith of the Church when they do it only over the Mistake of some particular Persons But the Foundation of this Mistake lies in the Consideration of Punishment under the Notion of Debts and That Satisfaction therefore must be by strict Payment in Rigor of Law But how great that Mistake is will appear in the subsequent Discourse Thus far the Citation The subsequent Discourse he mentions is from p. 273 274. to the end of the said Discourse of the Sufferings of Christ. Now I would advise our Accuser to compare his Notion of a full and adequate Satisfaction paid to God's Justice which he has told us cannot remit
the least Farthing with the aforesaid Discourse and then see how he 'll reconcile his Notion thereunto In Sect. 16. Concerning the Holy Trinity he saith The Quakers and Socinians acknowledge a Three but deny a Trinity which is to confess the same Thing in English and to deny it in Latin for Trinitas is only Latin for Three He mistakes the Quakers They do not deny the Three either in Latin or English but really own the holy divine Three in Heaven tho' their being rendred distinct and separate Persons by some of our former Adversaries we have conscientiously questioned as unscriptural Terms Our Adversary adds They cannot tell what Three they are if not Three Persons p. 219. This is a Mistake we can safely tell what to call them in Scripture Language That they are Three that bear Record or Three witnessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Witnesses in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One John 1. 5. These are the Father Son and Holy Spirit which are essentially One or One in the Divine Being Our Adversary further saith The Quakers who own the Divinity of Christ are under greater Difficulties than the Socinians who deny the Divinity of Christ p. 219. 'T is well he now grants the Quakers own the Divinity of Christ But how well this agrees with much of his Book against us let the serious Reader judge And we know no Difficulties we are under herein The Man imagins and would obtrude Difficulties upon us from his own Terms which are none of ours as that there is but One Person in the Godhead which are none of our Words Much less his Muggletonian Consequence That God died and that Christ was his own Father to whom he pray'd upon the Cross. We know no real occasion given by the Quakers for him to draw such Absurdities upon them or to be afraid of such Distinctions and Salvo's at the bottom of the Quaker-pretences as impertinently he prates against them exposing his pretended Fears instead of Proofs And what if G. F. opposed Chr. Wade's calling The Holy Ghost a Person And if he said The Scriptures do not tell the People of Three Persons c And yet confessing the Father Son and Holy Spirit to be always One Does it follow That the Quakers do not acknowledge that there were Three in Heaven before Christ was born as he saith it seems p. 220. And then to aggravate the Matter against G. F. That he means One Person as Muggleton does p. 220. What if the Quakers think the Term Three Persons too low an Epithite or Character to put upon the most Glorious Blessed Three that bear Record in Heaven Can they be to blame herein When they aim at giving more Honour to them in a true Scripture sense than they think the Term Persons imports yet still owning the Holy Divine Three in Heaven and that they were before Christ was born contrary to what 's unduly suggested against us For the Father the Word and Holy Spirit were concerned both in Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness in forming preserving and governing both the Old Creation and the New By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth Psal. 33. 6. So here 's the Divine Holy Three forming and compleating the first Creation And the Gospel was commanded to be preached in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost that Men might truly believe and know the Work of God by his dear Son and Holy Spirit unto their everlasting Salvation Peace and Comfort For God so loved the World that he hath given his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3. 16. And Jesus answered and said If any Man love me he will keep my Word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and will dwell with him John 14. 23. And ver 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I have told you And Ch. 15. 26. But when the Comforter shall come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth of the Father he shall testifie of me And 1 Joh. 4. 13 14. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And we have seen and do testifie That the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World All which may evince how scripturally we own a Trinity or Holy Three in the Deity Our Accuser tells of what unimaginable Excesses Enthusiasm may drive Men to and that all should beware of that desperate Shelve upon which both our Church and State have suffered miserable Shipwreck p. 221 222. Here he disparages his own Church whereby we may beware of embarking in such a â—raz'd wreck'd Vessel as here he represents her He excepts against the Words not distinct from which G. F. intends in a sort of common Acceptation That the Son is not divided or separate from the Father p. 222 223 224. Tho' 't is true in one Sense the Father Son and Holy Ghost are not essentially distinct as to their divine Being which is but One they are but One God but in respect to their Properties of Relation as Father Son and Holy Ghost as such they are distinct but not divided nor separate either in themselves or Work of the Old or New Creation yet not Three Gods nor Three distinct Creâ—tors but One God and One Creator Passing by divers Impertinencies and Absurdities under this Head to conclude We know no People professing a Deity in Christendom that more sincerely and livingly believe and confess a most glorious Scripture-Trinity or Holy Three the Father the Word or Son and Holy Ghost than we the People called Quakers do believe and confess to the Praise and Glory of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Our Accuser's 17th Sect. Concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ is full of Falshoods Perversions and Misconstructions 1. He begins with this Falshood viz. The Quakers Heresie in this is taken from the Socinians They say Christ took Flesh but no otherwise as they explain it than as Angels assumed Bodies c. Which is notoriously false against the Quakers who confess and believe That Christ the Word took real Flesh a real Body and not a meer Apparition nor a Fantastical Body and so they have often declared both in Print and Preaching 2. That they allow not always that Christ did inspire the Person of that Man Jesus in an higher measure than other Men. False and perverse again God did inspire the Man Christ Jesus higher than all other Men he received the Spirit not by measure but in fulness he was anointed with the Oil of Gladness above all his Fellows All other Men even the best are inspired
only measurably This is always allowed by us 3. False again That they deny any proper Incarnation of Christ that is that he was made Flesh. For the Word was made Flesh John 1. 14. And he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham and part of the same Flesh and Blood which the Children had Heb. 2. 14 16. and Christ Jesus is one entire Christ and Saviour We do not divide nor confound Jesus and Christ nor take the Name Christ to our selves but Christians as anointed by him and Partakers of Christ and only so far have an Interest in his Name Power and Life 4. False also That they say not that Christ did carry up i. e. the Body of Jesus with him into Heaven Whose Body then but his own when he was visibly seen to ascend so as a Cloud received him out of their sight Acts 1. 9 10 11. 5. Seeing we confess That Christ is now in Heaven when did ever we refuse to confess that there is any Jesus now in Heaven or any elsewhere This is an absurd Accusation as if we divided Jesus and Christ or denied Jesus to be Christ which is far from us 6. That they know not what 's become of him Jesus is also false He ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things and we know him in us by his Spirit 7. That they say there 's no Christ without them is false also 8. No other Christ but what 's within them There 's not Two Christs 'T is one and the same Christ that is without us and within us tho' in different manners 9. That they allow him no other Body but their own is false They allow him his own proper glorious Body in which he is their Head and they united to him so as the Body in general or comprehensively is but one Body even so is Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. 10. That they spiritualize ALL his Life and Death to his spiritual Living and Dying within them which is a reiterated Falshood The same Christ that was crucified in the Flesh without is spiritually within known in true Believers 'T is not another Christ but another Manifestation of one and the same Christ. 11. Our Friend G. F. in the places impertinently and perversly quoted Gr. Myst. p. 210 211 254. does not dispute against saying That the Man Christ that was crucified his Body is now in the Presence of his Father But against their saying Christ is absent from the Saints and People and against their professing a Christ without them and another within them i. e. Two Christs There being but one Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 8. 6. 12. 'T is neither impious nor blasphemous in the Quakers to affirm That the One Lord Jesus Christ does influence inspire and enlighten us by his Life and Spirit in our Hearts this is the true state of the Case to guide us and that he is the only Christ and Saviour that so doth and that Christ and his Spirit and Light are not so divided Being still but One Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who suffered for us and reigneth both in Heaven and Earth in which he hath all Power committed to him 13. Our Adversary refers to one Rob. Gordon's Authority against us in his pretended Testimony to the true Saviour or Jesus of Nazareth printed 1670. In which there are many Abuses Misrepresentations and Contradictions answered and detected by G. Keith and G. Whitehead in their Book Entituled The Light of Truth triumphing over Darkness Ignorance Error and Envy G. Keith then vindicated us and our Principles against R. G. and other Opposers however he be now declined and turned against us he has not retracted his Answer to the said R. Gordon whose Authority we deny and it will not support our present Opposer against us 14. What he quotes of S. E. 's Challenge What was said of Christ the World was made by him and the World knew him not so it may be said of this true Prophet G. F. p. 232. We the Quakers so called disown the Comparison any otherwise than as it relates to the World knew him not for so far Christ himself allows his own They are not of the World as I am not of the World John 17. And the World knoweth you not because it knoweth not him 1 John 3. 1. 15. His repeated false Charges of making our selves equal with God and preferring our selves before the Man Christ making him and all he did and suffered to be BVT a Type or Shaedow of what is really performed in us by the true Christ p. 233. These Falshoods and Perversions are answered denied and detected partly before in this and in our Just Enquiry and also in an Answer to Dr. Ford Entituled The Christianity of the People commonly called Quakers c. Some of his other Falshoods he quotes and credits out of R. Gordon are viz. 16. Crying up a Light within to cry down the Blood without 17. To preach him Christ as an Example to cast out the Attonement 18. Denying him to have any real outward individual glorified bodily Existence in his Fathers Kingdom 19. That the preaching of a Christ without them they call old beggarly Stuff Adding viz. 20. And those who formerly preacht him as without us though Prophets or Apostles to be low and carnal in their Day according to their Cant which he there repeats p. 235. These foul and odious Lies Calumnies and Perversions he credits and repeats against us which we utterly deny and his Authority also quoted by him as malicious and injurious 21. His next Authority against us is T. C. i. e. Tho. Crisp his Animadvers and F. Bugg's Quakerism Withering both which are fully answered and their manifold Falshoods and Calumnies justly detected and reprehended particularly in G. W.'s Answer Entituled The Counterfeit Convert and T. C. by Edward Pennington As to those offensive Words Your carnal Christ your imagined God we do not affect the Terms neither are they proper to the true Christ or omnipresent God 22. In p. 236. the Snake unfairly cites G. F. in two places Gr. Myst. p. 250. leaving out the very reason of his Reflection upon Chr. Wade his recording himself a Reprobate which was his Ignorance of the Mystery of Christ within him And Gr. Myst. p. 183. The Imputation to a Believer is owned and this Imputation is within for he that believes is born of God and hath the Witness in himself Abraham believed and the Romans and to such the Imputation was spoken in the Belief c. All these Words left out as seems to us with design to render us as wholly denying Imputation on any account which is a manifest Perversion tho' G. F. in the place cited esteems the inward Enjoyment of Christ Jesus and his Righteousness to be beyond any Imputation only in the first Belief as true Believers in Union with Christ are nearer to him than when they first believed 23. 'T is false That the
therefore Three Persons Another having given Aquinas his definition of a Person as being an individual Substance of a rational Nature which is neither the part of another nor upheld by another But now if they be not Three Beings nor Three Substences how well have these Men defended a principal Article of their Faith Seeing the Father the Word and Holy Ghost are owned by Christians to be One Being One Substance therefore not Three Beings nor Three Substances My speaking of Christ as the only begotten of the Father and for his Divinity as he was the Brightness of the Father's Glory and express Image of his divine Substance and thereupon questioning T. Danson where doth the Scripture say That his Soul was created This Question is no Determination that it was or was not Christ as God his Soul was increated As Man his Soul or Spirit was not the Deity but formed and assumed by the Word The Word or Son of God who made the Worlds was not a Creature because he made all Creatures Though he took upon him a most pure and perfect Soul and Body he took upon him the Seed of Abraham that he might in both Soul and Body suffer for Mankind and sympathize with us in bearing our Sorrows and carrying our Griefs and that his Soul might be in Travel for us and made an Offering for Sin and poured out unto Death Isa. 53. By my said Question I chiefly eyed his Divinity considering him as he proceeded and came out from God and as he was glorified with the Father before the World began Upon the whole my Adversary's Charge of Heresie upon me and the Quakers against the Incarnation of Christ p. 2. as also his Author G. Keith's publick Aspersions That G. W. disowns Christ to be God and denied him to be Man Narr p. 16. These are to tell the World That we own no Christ at all Wherein as they have both grosly wrong'd my Intention Principle and publick Testimony I am persuaded G. K. has wronged his own Conscience and that he must needs know the contrary of me in this and some other things for which he is accountable to the just God For by questioning the Words created or human Soul I did not thereby intend to deny Christ to be truly Man as is unduly insinuated against me p. 2. but rather to own That tho' Christ was truly Man in Soul and Body yet that his Soul was more divine than any other Mans or Mens and therefore he may be said to be a most divine Man and more of the divine and increated Life in his Soul than in any other Man's whatsoever and that therefore the word human as it relates to the Ground or Earth from which the Body of Man was taken I might suppose was too low or mean a Character or Epithite to give to the Soul of Christ or to his spiritual glorious Body either and I hope I deserve not blame in this while I was careful not to lessen the Glory or Dignity of the Son of God as he is the Lord from Heaven by not allowing him to be from beneath or Earthly either in Soul or Body in his glorified State and I am perswaded that some so much insisting upon the word Human Soul and Body of Christ gives the Socinians more advantage than my pleading for his Divinity and Heavenly glory both as God and Man To my Question to Robert Gordon I think there 's no real Cause for Offence to be taken at it if the Occasions ministred by him were Impartially taken notice of which they are not by this partial Adversary As R. G.'s great Ignorance both of the Light and Saving-work of Christ in Man excluding Christ's work of Salvation and Justification c. as all done and finished without Man even when no good is wrought in Man and pleading for Imperfection and Sin in Man in so much that Geo. Keith charged the said Gordon with 18 corrupt Doctrins and above 20 Lyes and false Accusations in the conclusion of my Book Entituled The Nature of Christianity in the true Light asserted Printed Anno 1671. And yet this officious Adversary takes his part excusing him in defence of G. Keith against us as he has done also in his Snake in the Grass which is such a piece of confused Mixture and Medley as I have seldom ever met withal My Question to R. Gordon as Cited Dost thou look for Christ as the Son of Mary to appear outwardly in a bodily Existence to save thee If thou dost thou mayest look until thy Eyes drop out before thou wilt see such an appearance of him And what proof is made of this against me But that I do not acknowledge that Christ has now the Body of a Man or will come in that Body to Judge the World Answ. Neither do I deny it If I do not acknowledge it in this Passage I do in many others namely that Christ as the Heavenly Man has his own proper glorious Body wherein he will come to Judge the World at the last day And therefore do not hold that Christ has no bodily Existence or being without us as G. K. accuseth me Narr p. 16. He wrongs me in this as in divers other things But upon R. Gordon 's pretending a perfect Justification and Redemption of Sinners without them when no good is wrought in them and yet granting that Christ's appearing the second time is without Sin to Salvation But then his deferring this till the Resurrection of the Body this I confess was so offensive to me that I put the said Question the reason whereof appears more at large in my said Answer Nature of Christianity p. 29. It being always my Judgment with many others that Salvation from Sin should be expected in this Life and Christ's second appearance for that end also mentioned Heb. 9. 28. That this ought not to be put off till the last day but expected even in this Life as in the Apostles days There were those then that looked for him to whom his appearance the second time without Sin unto Salvation was promised and the true Believers were not disappointed of their expectations in that weighty matter As many have been who have expected to see Christ's outward coming in Person with their carnal Eyes to save them Besides 't is true in Fact that those carnal Eyes of many fail them drop out or rot before they can see Christ's outward appearance or coming in the last day to Judgment And G. Keith himself as well as I have charged false and corrupt Doctrin upon Robert Gordon particularly in his asserting That Redemption Justification and Reconciliation is finished and compleated by what Christ did and suffered outwardly and not in our Persons and without the help of any thing to be wrought in us Artic. 6 8 12 of his Charge against Gordon Nature of Christianity p. 70 71 72. And why now I should be accused by G. Keith or his Advocate for the words before to
R. G. as if I denied Christ to appear in or to have a Bodily Existence or Being I see no just Cause but rather that G. K. does therein as in many other things interfere with himself and his own former Testimony which is directly agreeable to what I have said and more severe and positive as in his Help in time of need p. 78 79. In these words viz. And now whether ye will hear or forbear this I do declare unto you in the Name and Power and Authority of the living God the day of the Lord is of a truth broken up among us and ye shall look till your Eyes fail you and rot within your Eye-holes e're ever you see another day or appearance of Jesus Christ to your comfort than what we the People of the Lord called Quakers do witness come and yet more abundantly coming and if ye will not hear my Soul shall mourn for you in secret places and weep before the Lord on your behalf Quere Was this to deny Christ to have any Bodily Being If G. K. may be cleared herein I may be clear from and against his own Judgment unduly given upon me I see no vehement or any denyal of Christ's being either Bodily or Spiritually at God's right hand as I am accused p. 3. by Questioning the Words and Terms of R. G. What Scripture proof has he for these words That Christ existeth outwardly bodily without us at God's right hand And what and where is God's right hand Is it Visible or Invisible Within us or without us only And is Christ the Saviour as an outward Bodily Existence or Person without us distinct from God and on that consideration to be Worshipped as God yea or nay And where doth the Scripture say he was outwardly and bodily glorified at God's right hand c. These Questions are no conclusions nor any positive determinations and they carry in them the reason thereof namely 1. Our then Adversary's excluding Christ as to his being out of his People and Saints because at God's right hand which has been the common Argument of divers of them 2. Their neglect and opposition to Christ's inward spiritual appearance and saving work in the heart under pretence of his outward and bodily Existence at God's right hand which expressions I did the more Question because of the common and gross sense wherein many are apt to take them as a bodily Being like their own earthly Bodies of Flesh and Blood which cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. And because they commonly have opposed his being at God's right hand to his inward and spiritual appearance asserting the one in opposition to the other having expressed very gross and carnal conceits of Christ's outward and bodily Existence at God's right hand thence inferring that the true Christ is not in Men which Argument and Inference I deny the reason whereof may farther appear As for instance John Newman whom G. K. and his Advocate has sided with against me argues thus Christ cannot dwell in Man for Christ is perfect Man as well as perfect God in his Book stiled The Light within p. 61. Again If Jesus Christ be with the Father then he is not in Man and that therefore 't is a feigned Christ and Light within p. 47 66 72. I deny the Argument both of the first Proposition and Consequence Christ being with the Father or at God's right hand is no reason or proof that he is not in Man To which I then Answered J. N. Christ ascended p. 20 21. Doth Christ's being with the Father or at his right hand hinder him from being in his People This is gross Error and contrary to plan Scripture 2 Cor. 13. Know you not how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates and this is neither a feigned Christ nor a feigned Light as Blasphemously and Scornfully he words it And what doth J. N. think or imagin concerning God his right hand and being And Christ at God's right hand that he thus would exclude limit and seem to confine them out of all Men Doth not this oppose the Infiniteness and Omnipresence of God and Jesus Christ and bring them under the limitation of finite Creatures With much more upon this Subject in the places Quoted I do not find that my Answer to J. N. is a denying Christ's outward appearance at the great day as accused p. 4. But rather a Questioning such a manner of appearance as he and others carnally expected to be seen with their carnal Eyes as having declared that Jesus Christ Rose and Ascended Flesh and Blood and those that pierced him in his Body shall see that Body visibly come again I Answered These are not the words of Scripture but added and for Answer to him I referred to Rev. 1. 7 8 13 14 16. In none of which is Jesus Christ called or represented as a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones visibly to come again c. The words Blood and Bones G. Keith has in recital hereof injuriously left out in his Gross Error and Hypocrisie p. 3. And yet makes use of the place to defame me with unbelief in a fundamental Doctrin of Christian Faith and the same words as Body of Flesh Blood and Bones he has likewise left out in his injurious Citation and Construction in his Nar. p. 17. He has also left out this following Passage on the same Subject Howbeit His Christ's appearance shall be universal seen both to the Joy of the Righteous and universal Conviction and Condemnation of the Wicked who have rejected his Light within and his saving appearance thereby made manifest yea every Eye shall see him both of Good and Bad both those that have waited for his second coming without Sin to Salvation and they also which have Pierced and Crucified him c. Christ Ascended Printed in 1669. p. 22 23. I never heard before That 't is a Fundamental Doctrin of the Christian Faith That Jesus Christ either consisteth of a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones or is in such a Body to come again visibly to Mens carnal Eyes they now have which was the very thing I Questioned in the places Quoted against me by G. K. Light and Life p. 41. Printed in 1668. And Christ Ascended p. 21 22 23. Wherein in the first he has left out the Question Did John see him with carnal Eyes on Rev. 1 And of the glory of the Father wherein the Son of Man shall come Mat. 16. 27 28. Luke 9. 26 27. Is it visible to the carnal Eye left out and in the latter after in none of which i.e. Scriptures Quoted is Jesus Christ represented as a Body of Flesh here Blood and Bones are left out which is very unfair and more unjust to render me an unbeliever thereupon like as if one should deal thus by a Quotation out of G. K.'s Way cast up p. 131. After it being no more a Body to leave out of Flesh Blood and Bones
Christ in either respect As concerning Sol. Eccles saying That the Blood that was forced out of Christ's Side with the Spear after he was Dead being no more than the Blood of another Saint p. 19. and Nar. p. 28. Concerning which I said I do not make S. E. his Expressions therein an Article of our Faith for I own that in one sense the Blood shed was more than that of another Saint tho' not in the visible matter of it more in that it had a peculiar signification for Christ the one offering was the Man peculiarly ordain'd and appointed of God both to bear the Sins of many and to end the many offerings under the Law and in all his Example and Sufferings that were permitted to be laid upon him he both Answered Fulfilled and ended the outward part and administration of the Law and Shadows and performed the Father's Will therein and was particularly Eyed and Prophesied accordingly by the Holy Prophets and through all his sufferings in the Flesh he gave an universal Testimony and Consecrated a New and Living way even through the Veil that is to say his Flesh that the way into the most Holy might be manifest Light and Life p. 58 59. In the first place I did shew a dislike of S. E's Expressions before cited in not allowing them as an Article of our Faith tho' I was willing Charitably to improve his own explication so far as it would bear a Charitable Construction with respect to his own declared Estimation of the Blood of Christ it 's Value and Vertue 2dly I shewed in part my estimation of the Blood and whole Sacrifice or Offering of Christ both in respect to the Blessed Testimony Value and Efficacy thereof more than that of any other Saint or Saints which manifestly differs from S. E.'s Expressions before cited However if I have not been thought plain enough in this matter let me be allowed so much candor as to be credited in being more full and plain therein I disown his said comparison of the Blood of Christ with that of another Saint and believe he was not in the Counsel or Wisdom of God therein tho' I did charitably construe his meaning with respect to the sincerity he had towards God and his self denying crucified Life and Testimony he bore for Truth in divers sufferings and respects and I believe he dyed in Peace tho' in some things he in his zeal was not guided in true Wisdom which was his own weakness and personal Failure not justly chargeable on us as a People much less on our Principle or belief of the Spirit of Truth or the infallible guidance thereof Howbeit this Adversary appears so eagerly bent against us as a People that he is willing to take any occasion to Defame and Brand us as in this very Passage which he calls The Broad and Impious Blasphemy of Sol. Eccles. He Scornfully yet Bitterly reproaches us as a People and my self in particular in these Words viz. There never was surely such a Company of good natur'd forgiving People They can slip over cover and excuse the Lewdest Blasphemies in a Charitable way c. They can see no faults in their own Friends G. W. says of this very Passage of Sol. Eccles. That it was so harmless as might have satisfied any spiritual or unbiassed Mind p. 21. And that this is in his Light and Life before quoted p. 58. Wherein he notoriously wrongs me and perverts my Words I did not call this very Passage or comparison of S. E's harmless but his Words declaring his high esteem of the Blood of Christ and of the new Covenant which was not his comparison of the Blood of Christ with that of another Saint which I have disown'd In my answer to W. Burnet quoted but lamely and partially cited p. 22. 23. § 5. I did not call Christ's outward material Blood a Type of the mystical Blood or Light within as my answer is perverted but closely pursued his Argument with exceptions which he is not cleared from by this Advocate his Argument is this viz. All things under the Law in the Type were purged with Blood and this Blood was material Blood and not mystical and that Blood that Christ shed in order to the effecting the Salvation of Man must needs be visible and material Blood Which is to Argue thus that because all things under the Law were purged with material Blood and not mystical Ergo the Blood of Christ which purgeth the Conscience and Effecteth the Salvation of Men must needs be Material and not Mystical I still deny the inference and my answer shews where and against what my Exceptions lye The Types and Shadows under the Law did both point at what was Material and what was Mystical in Christ If the legal Sacrifices were Types of Christ and so Mystical as is confess'd p. 23. contrary to Burnets asserting them Material not Mystical As in his asserting That 't was Material Blood not Mystical whereby all things under the Law were purged but now contrarywise those Sacrifices are granted to be Mystical because Types of Christ the Substance and Mystery of them My Answer to Burnet's Argument even in the first part left out by this Adversary is plain and clear viz. As if one should reason That because the Type was Material visible and not Mystical therefore the Antitype or Substance must needs be Material and not Mystical by this all Mysteries of divine things are excluded from being either spiritual the Antitype or substance Whereas it was the Heavenly things themselves that are in Christ in which consists the substance and end of Types and Shadows And my subsequent exceptions against the said Argument are as plain and unanswered That if the Antitype was Matterial and Mystical because the Type or Shadow was Material then this is like as to argue That because Circumcision which was a Type was Material or outward therefore the Circumcision of the Spirit which is the Antitype of it must needs be outward too and not Mystical and thus he might as well reason touching all other Types and Shadows under the Law and the Heavenly or good things to come Prefigured or Shadowed by them That because the Priests under the Law at the outward Tabernacle or Temple were Ministers of outward or Temporal things Carnal Ordinances Shadows c. Therefore those good things to come which Christ was said to be the High Priest of must needs be Temporal and not Mystical which to assert were absurd c. And I farther proceed in my Answer about the Heavenly and Spiritual things which the Law had the Shadow of viz. Whereas both the Heavenly and more perfect Tabernacle and Altar with the Heavenly things are all Mystery and Spiritual the Offering and living Sacrifices are Spiritual the Passover Spiritual the Seed Spiritual the Bread the Fruit of the Vine the Oyl the Flesh and Blood which give Life to the Soul yea the Water and Blood which washeth and sprinkleth
fully explained a Passage in that Book Christ Ascended Pref. and p. 67. Where 't is implied that we do not affirm Christ is in every Man or that every Man hath the Son but a measure of his Light Grace or Heavenly Gift in all Whereby is meant Christ in his fulness is not in any Man nor revealed in every Man nor is every Man in Christ. Neither is Christ in every Man as he is in them in whom the Body is Dead because of Sin Rom. 8. 10. But as a Light as an Immortal Seed as the Word he is in some degree in every Man but every Man is not in Christ as the new Creature is and all true Believers who walk in his Light are in him and he in them And for our endeavours to draw Peoples Minds off from their carnal expectations of Christ's outward coming again in the Flesh or from resting upon a fleshly knowledge of him as come in the Flesh without them only that their Minds may be turned to his Light and Grace within them to know his Power and Work in them This cannot be truly deemed any Antichristian Doctrin or Ministry and we are sure G. K. did not so deem it heretofore but the contrary see his Help in time of need p. 22. This is the Antichrist who denies Christ the Son come thus in the Revelation of himself in the Heart for that comeing of Christ in his Bodily appearance at Jerusalem Antichrist will not does not deny it being he knows it will never harm his Kingdom so to confess him come provided Christ's Kingdom be not set up in the Heart So that Antichrist's work now-a-days is to oppose Christ's spiritual Coming and Kingdom and yet pretend to own his coming in the Flesh Yet this greater subtility of Antichrist's work now than formerly will not cover his evil designs but the true Seed Christ will prevail and his Power reign over that Spirit of Antichrist and Son of Perdition Glory to God and to the Lamb that sitteth upon the Throne Some of the Author to the Snake in the Grass his notorious Lyes and Perversions gleaned out of his said Book Satan Disrob'd THat they i.e. Quakers have thrown off the Baptism of his i.e. Christ's Death having renounced the benefit of his Death it self Note Which are both false Christ's Baptism into his Death and the benefit thereof are very precious to us 2. p. 24. That G. W. makes the Righteousness of God to be of the same kind and nature with ours which is Blasphemy Note This is not true Christ who is made of God unto us Righteous hath brought us to deny our own Righteousness 3. p. 28 29. That heavenly Body which they i.e. Quakers talk of most of them understand nothing by it but the Soul it self or an heavenly frame or disposition of the Soul which they think they have attained already Note These are not true the heavenly Resurrection Body is not the Soul it self but a Body which God giveth as it pleaseth him 4. p. 29. Innumerable instances might be given of lying Prophesies the rankest Treasons and Blasphemies pronounced in the name of the Lord. And this against the Quakers these are outragious Aspersions and Slanders 5. p. 30. That the coming i.e. of Christ to the future judgment this he i.e. G. W. utterly denies I take this to be an utter Falshood I am not conscious of such denyal by my questioning such a manner of coming again in the Flesh as they carnally expected to see with their carnal Eyes who I answered about this point 6. p. 30. That they mean that there is no visible coming of Christ to be now looked for outwardly What they mean by a glorâ—fied heavenly Body not any thing either visible or intelligible This is not true The coming of Christ to Judgment in the great and last Day will be both seen and understood and so will the glorified Bodies of his Saints I really believe Pray observe what a storm of furious Rayleries and Falshoods this Author to the Snake c. vents against us and other Dissenters as followeth viz. 7. p. 33. The Year 1650. when our new Light arose in our Hemisphere when the Church being pull'd down the vilest and most monstrous and numerous Spawn of Multifarious Sects that ever the bottomless Pit spew'd forth at once were with a thousand other Devils let loose among us a just punishment for our Schism and Rebellion And we are yet left to War with the Tayl of this Hydra which is gathering new life and if it should for our Sins prevail our last State would be worse than the first Who can refrain from indignation to see such a conceited senseless most ignorant and blasphemous Crew destitute of common modesty or shame wipe their mouths and gravely set up themselves above all the glorious Light of the Church Confessors and Martyrs ever since the Apostles whom they damn as Apostates Which is a gross Lye I forbear Answer to these Passages because of the grosness outrage ralery and notorious Falshood thereof 8. p. 34. Denial of these four great Essentials so call'd 1. Faith in Christ as he outwardly suffered at Jerusalem to our Salvation 2. Justification by his Blood outwardly shed 3. The Resurrection of the Dead 4. The future Judgment unjustly charged and perversions alledged for proof 'T is mis-construction and mis-application of Christ's Sufferings and Blood without the Spirit and Operation thereof within that we deny and not the real living Faith in Christ concerning any of these Points which his Spirit reveals according to holy Scripture 9. p. 35. He saith And it is an horrible scandal that such should be suffered under the name Protestant As 't is the People called Quakers he chiefly smites at this appears to us a bold reflection upon the Government for so esteeming and recognizing the said People by Law as being Protestants Whereas G. F. Question'd about the Soul partly in the Terms of his Adversary i.e. Is not that a part of God and of his Being which came out from God viz. the Breath of Life God breathed into Man the breath of Life and he became a living Soul gr myst This I have more fully spoken to before and I see no great cause the Man has to quarrel with the Passage if rightly quoted only the words part of God may seem somewhat uncouth but they were first an Aposer's words and admitted of as from him The breath of Life which God breathed into Man whereby Man became a living Soul was intended by G. F. Seeing he who now quarrels with us confesseth Man's Soul was breathed from God and made a glorious Image of him and partook of many excellencies and endowments which were communicated by God unto it all this the usual opinion doth ascribe to the Soul p. 40. of Satan Disrob'd That Man's Soul was Breathed from God c. I think this Confession and that we are his Off-spring Act. 17. 28. is much of the