infalible proofs being seen of them fourty dayes c. In all which he demonstrated himself to them to be the same person and in the same Body yea to have the same flesh and bones hands and feet in which he dwelt among them and walked up and down with them in the dayes of his flesh or weaknesse and in which he was crucified through weaknesse And that now in the same Body he did live again by the Power of God and in the Glory of his Father and did or presently should ascend up and go away from them to the Father to appear in the presence of God in Heaven it self for them to prepare a place for them c. And that from thence he might even in the same body in the Name and Glory of his Father descend or come down again and receive them to himself with all else who through his Grace bringing Salvation to all men in due time do love and waite for that his Glorious appearing that they may be with him for ever See the Scriptures before mentioned to this purpose how after his Resurrection he did evidently demonstrate himself to them Luke 24. 36. to the end And to Thomas particularly who not being with the rest when they had seen the Lord had said to them except I shall see in his hands and put my finger into the print of the nayles and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe See what follows John 20. 24 to the end For even those things are written that we in after ages that have not so seen him might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing we might have life through his Name See also how further he asserts concerning his Ascension and going away from them to the Father John 20. 17. with Chapter 14. 3. 28. and 16. 5 9. 28. And that the same Jesus of Nazareth even Christ of the fruit of Davids loyns after the flesh for the name Jesus was not given him or not so as that he was called by it till he had taken and was made flesh and it alwayes signifies that person as so made and includes the body of his flesh That he in the same Body did Ascend and was parted from them after he had so shewed himself unto them and was carried and received up into Heaven even as he had said unto them See the Scriptures Mark 16. 19 Luke 24. 50. 51. Acts 1. 2 3. 9 10 11. and 2. 22. 36. As likewise that the Heaven must receive him till the times of restitution of all things And then and to that God shall send him from thence in the Glory he now possesseth for us there Acts 3 13. 21. Mat. 16. 27. In the mean time he appears in the presence of God for us even in Heaven it self there possessing Bodily even in the man the Glory he had with the Father as his onely begotten Son before the World was Heb. 9. 24. John 17. 45. Col. 2. 9 Acts 5. 30 31. Heb. 7. 23. 26. with Chap. 8. 1. 3. 4. So that this Jesus is the very Christ Acts 9. 22. and 18. 28. with Chap. 17. 3. And the man Christ Jesus is the one Mediator between God and men even he the same who gave himself a ransom for all and is not any more to be offered in Sacrifice or to give himself a Ransome for us But to be testified to us in due time We come in the next place to their query under this 5th head viz. Quest What is that place he is in far above all Heavens which is not Heaven Answ This question is foolish and unlearned for asmuch as it takes for granted either as our minde or saying or as the expression of the Scripture that there is some place far above all Heavens which is not Heaven Whereas neither is this any saying of ours nor any where in the Scripture but their filly inference Nor is there any ground for their question in the words of the Scripture which they seem to allude to For that Ephes 4. 10. speaks not expresly of a place far above all Heavens but of a person He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all Heavens c. And sure its understandable enough that a person exalted to great Glory and dignity may be far above the place of his Habitation where he possesseth it Yea is it not said of God that made the Heavens and the Earth that Heaven is his Throne upon which he sitteth Mat 23. 22. the place of his Habitation Psal 33. 14. And yet sure the Creator is infinitly above and greater than the Creature yea he hath set his Glory above the Heavens Psal 8. 1. This Question therefore as stated by them we may justly reject as a foolish and perverse disputing of men of corrupt mindes destitute of the Truth Yet we shall here also as alwayes by the Grace of God with simplicity and Godly sincerity clearly assert and shew by the Scriptures the Truth of God against their privy endeavours to cast down the man Christ Jesus from his Excellency And so we say The place or places where he now possesseth his Glory in that body of his flesh for us is the Heaven it selfe Heb. 9. 24. The place of the Habitation or Throne of God Psal 33. 13. 14 Isa 66. 1. Mat. 23. 22. For he is with him appearing in the presence of his Glory for us in Heaven it self when we cannot in such wise appear for our selves nor in our own persons while at whom in the body in its mortal state he is set on the Right hand of the Throne of Majesty in the Heavens Heb. 8. 1. into which he is passed and gone up Heb. 4. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 22. And yet therein he may be truly and properly said to be ascended or gone up far above all Heavens not only in respect of Glory and Dignity but even in respect of place or local height also When it self the Heaven or Heaven of heavens the place or places on high whether he is gone up is distinctly mentioned in the same Scripture and speech as it is in that Eph. 4. 8. 10. He ascended on high saith ver 8. far above all Heavens saith ver 10. Now as the Apostle teacheth us to argue 1 Cor. 15. 27. But when he saith all things are put under him its manifest that he is excepted that did put all things under him So we may say here when he saith he is ascended on high far above all Heavens it appears that the place or places on high where he possesseth this Glory for us is excepted from those all Heavens far above which he is locally ascended or gone up And so we read of the Heaven of heavens 1 Kings 8. 27. Neh. 9. 6. Sometimes also called the Heavens of heavens Psal 148. 4. And also that Christ of the fruits of Davids loyns after the flesh is ascended on high far above all Heavens even into
and grew in body and waxed strong in Spirit fil'd with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him Mat. 2. 13. to the end Luke 2. 39 40 c. And when in that body of his he was twelve years old going up with his parents to Jerusalem when they returned he tarried behind them Which he could not have done if personally or essentially in them as in that his own body and after seeking him three dayes with sorrow at last they found him not in themselves or in other persons but in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them which was part of his abasement and service and his mother hid or kept not his body within her womb any more after born of her but his sayings in her heart And after John the son of Zachary and Elizabeth his messenger had been preparing his way Baptizing and Preaching the Baptisme of Repentance he himself came the Text saith not into but unto John to be baptized of him And when he was Baptized the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from Heaven saying not of John but of Jesus This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased a like voice after in his transiguration before three of his Disciples they heard from Heaven not speaking of them but of him whence they said that he not they received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the Excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1. 17 18. with Mat. 17. 1. 5. And so John his fore-runner having both seen and heard professed not himself but this Jesus to be the Christ and pointed to him not as in himself or as in other men but as a distinct person standing not in every of them but among them the beholders though they knew him not and proclaimed him to be and called men to behold him as such the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World John 1. 19. 36. and 3. 26. 36. After this the same Jesus of Nazareth manifested himself and walked up and down more openly and generally among the Jewes Preaching the Gospel and doing good calling and choosing Disciples and was approved of God amongst Friends and Enemies by miracles and signes which God wrought by him in the midst of them such as none before him ever did nor after any like works but in his Name but he was hated of the Sadduces that denied the Resurrection of the dead of the Pharisees that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous and by their means of the chief of the People and of many of the inferiour also At last they arreigned and falsly condemned him and delivered him to Pilate and so to the Gentiles to be Crucified and he was by them hung upon the Tree and Crucified and when dead was buried by two Honourable persons not in themselves but in a new Sepulchre which was sealed and watched by Souldiers that he might not be stolen away unto all which the Father delivered him and he gave himself for our sins But he in the same body that was dead and buried even Jesus of Nazareth rose again the third day and was witnessed by Angels to be risen and not to be there in the grave the emptinesse of which place the orderly lying of the cloathes witnessing the same And then he appearing to his Disciples shewed himself alive in that very Body having the very same flesh and bones hands and feet though now in another quality viz. Spiritual Immortal in which they had foreseen him Mortal then he acquainted them with the ends necessity of his Death and Resurrection and shewed opened to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself opening their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures gave them the Gospel which he had received from his Father Commission with commandment to Preach it make it known out of the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of Faith and having prayed for their Sanctification fitnesse to that service and for blessing on all that after should believe through their word he also promised his Spiritual presence with them in that Ministration to the end of the World After which while he blessed them and while they beheld he was parted from them in that body of his and ascended and was received up into Heaven and according to his promise did soon after send down and powre out upon them the Holy Ghost to furnish and enable them to their Ministry And so he hath already come in the flesh and perfected all that he was to do in his own body in his first coming as all that read and believe the record God hath given of his Son and caused to be written for our instruction may plainly and more fully discern Nor was this coming of his ever so seen nor but by Faith of any before those times no though it hath been desired by many of them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luk. 10. 23 24. But by Faith they saw it and rejoyced John 8. 56. with Heb. 11. 1. 12. Nor yet hath it ever been so seen of any since the Apostles so saw it and him 1 Cor. 15. 5. 8. and Chap. 9. 1. with Chap 4. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Nor will he ever come in that manner to suffer and do over those things again so to be seen John 16. 10. Rom. 6. 9 10. Acts 13. 34. But these things are written concerning him even this Jesus that we may believe that he is the Son of God the Lords Christ and that believing we may have life through his Name John 20. 31. And so our sight is onely in believing by Faith as Heb. 11. 1. 3 Yea they are pronounced blessed that having not seen him so as the Apostles did yet have believed John 20. 29. In which believing to understand and know him to have come in the flesh and to have done and to be that for us as the Testimony recorded declareth is to know him not after the flesh or carnal and sensual mind but after the Spirit according to the Testimony he hath already given of him and in his Light and Power shining and working in and with that Testimony by which onely these things now not so seen as before are made evident plain and powerfully nigh that they might be believed with the heart and confessed with the mouth and still made further precious to and effectual on them that believe 2 Cor. 5. 14 15 16 17. c. Rom. 1. 16 17. and 10. 6. 9 10. And whosoever now boast of having otherwise seen his first coming his appearance and Manifestation in the flesh is a lyar Yea neither is this Jesus who is the very Christ now in that his own personal body in the World we have him not
this life but which they partake of in this life but where can they shew us any that ever died that either had not sin in him or sin imputed to him They imply p. 6. l. 25 26. By their taxing us with the contrary that Adam might have died the naturall death if he had not sinned and to prove it adde for Christ died who had no sin To which we reply 1. Did Christ die a naturall death was it naturall to Christ to die 2. Had Christ no sin of ours upon him which occasioned his death or should he have died though he had not them laid upon him He bare our sins in his own body on the tree therefore he had sins though none of his own he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth see there guile and sin distinguished as if all sin is not guile or guile not all sin yet he bare our sins 1 Pet. 2. 22 24. 3. Is this a good inference Christ died that did not sin yet had our sins charged or laid upon him therfore Adam should have died a natural death though he had not sinned let the reader judge they say Christ died to destroy the death that came by sin Rep. 1. If death came by sin as the Apostle testifies in Rom. 5. 12. What death was that if not the naturall death Or where doth the Apostle distinguish and say there is a death of men that came in by sin and the death of men that came not in by sin and that 's the natural death Or where find we mention of Adams dying before and without respect to his sinning in any kind of death 2. Did not Christ by death destroy the naturall death both in taking away its force for taking us out of favour and fellowship with God and in becoming the Resurrection and life from death by whom men shall be raised up out of it at the last day Did he not destroy that kind of death which he died and if that was the naturall death as they say the bodily death we may say then that he also destroyed and so destroying that death that came in by sin it follows that the naturall or bodily death came in by sin too and so that Adam should not have died had he not sinned Do they think that we will worship them and call them the masters of our faith to receive their dictates without proof Let them shew that Adam might have died the natural death or the believers either if they had not sinned They say They who die in the Lord are blessed and to die is gain to them Rep. True but it s by vertue of the Lord in whom they die that turns their curses into blessings death into life Nor is it natural to die in the Lord though to die be It s true too that the righteous mens dying was not charged upon them as a reward for their sin and yet true too that had they never been sinners or sinned in Adam they had never died for as much as by one mans sin death passed upon all as the Apostle witnesses as a reward of Adams sin and theirs in him it first was denounced and though through Christ the weight and destructiveness of it is removed yet the carcass of it remains upon men generally though through Christ turned to the believers gain W. and F. They say God said to Adam in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die but Adam lost not his naturall life in the day he eat of the tree of knowledge for after that he lived in the body Rep. Herein again they shew their confusion for what though Adam lived in the body after he eat of the tree of knowledge follows it he had not lost his life that day he eat A man my loose or forfeit that which may not presently be taken from him men loose their lives in a Law sense when they do such things as subject them to the Law so as they are thereby condemned to die though death be not presently executed upon them That day he died then in the sentence of the Law though not as to its execution upon him which yet had been then executed too its probable had not Christ the Mediator interposed between him and death to die for him Besides that a thousand years being to the Lord but as one day and he dying in that space he might be said in that sense to have died on the day he sinned They say The covenant Adam was in before his fall was a covenant of life for he was in the image of God and a living soul having the breath of life in him and had dominion in it while he stood in his habitation c. Rep. That Adam was under a covenant of life before the fall is true nor opposes our sayings but their own that Adam might have died the naturall death though he had not sinned But they have weakly proved that it is so for sure the covenant made with him was with him alive and as a creature and not made with him before he was a living man and therefore his being in the image of God a living soul having the breath of life in him and dominion in it as they speak are not to the purpose The covenat might concern their continuance to him not his being made first in them they adde this state have the believers proved and witnessed that life and nature and image that was in man before the fall though they become further in the second Adam who is greater then the first Adam Rep. Still they dictate magisterially where have the believers proved that state of Adam and witness it let them shew it in all the Scriptures for as for their witnessings they are of no Authority with us it s the truth of their witnessings we would have them prove and not onely tell us they are true for we are not of the mind with some simple that believe every of their words to believe that their sayings are as good or better then the sayings of the Prophets and Apostle in the Scriptures have any believers ever witnessed that they were without sin as Adam under no more sentence of death then Adam while in his innocent condition let them shew us that that we may believe it have any believers proved that state of Adam to have life in themselves and not in Christ crucified as Adam had And how are they come further in the second Adam are they led to that and the second Adams state too Where prove they that Into the naturall life of Adam as earthly and fallen full of sin and death such as Adam fallen derived to them they are born and through it are led yea and out and beyond that in Christ in a measure here and fully hereafter but that Christ leads them first into the state of Adam innocent and then into the state of Christ they must prove and not onely dictate before it find credit with
us or with any that know and believe the Scriptures but they imply That if Adam was under a covenant of works do this and live then he should not have lived when he was in innocency till he had done some thing to merit life Rep. The mistake of this is shewed above in that that covenant was not for the first giving but for the continuance of his life in the favour of God and that though he could not merit by any works and obedience was to be continued upon his working that that was good sinlesly otherwise he was to die as appeared in that he lost it by his sinning and fell under death from which that covenant afforded no Redemption as the covenant in Christ doth so that we have not spoken ignorantly as they charge us but the ignorance is found with them that confound what covenant Adam was under with what was given to the people of Israel for convincement of their sin when fallen The covenant of works or Law as given to fallen man in the hand of a Mediator entred because of transgression till the seed came and so was given with subordination to the covenant of grace even the grace of God in the Redeemer from the fall and the death that came by sin as the naturall death also did though they erroneously imply the contrary and no marvaile for if that death be by sin then there must be a Redemption out of that death and so a Resurrection of the body from it which seeing they deny how can they grant it comes in by sin and that the seed should Redeem the creature out of it So that herein also their iniquity and corrupt judgement is seen and the root of their deniall that the naturall death came in by sin namely their deniall of the Redemption by Christ from that death and so the Resurrection of the body from it as after will more appear so that here Reader we have a complication of errours in them Thus much to their defence of their first errour about their sinlesness let us see how they defend their second Our second charge of them was about the personall body of Christ in which he suffered which that it is ascended into Heaven the Heavens without all men and above the clouds opposed to the visible earth we say they would not be brought to acknowledge touching which whether we questioned severall times altering our words as they charge us let them judge that read our book But they say W. and F. We contradict our selves because we say that they said the same body that suffered was glorified at Gods right hand in heaven Rep. Nay not unless by that body and that Heaven we say they meant as we expressed in our question which we said they did not and they in their book clearly manifest the truth of what we therein said so that it 's but another falshood added to the former to say that we are stifled in our own confusion and another yet to say that we charge them ignorantly with what they meant for here they plainly say W. and F. It appears we hold Christ hath two bodies in telling of a mysticall body and not receiving that as in answer that his body is the Church the fulness of him that filleth all in all and in that from our words they say we would have Christ to have a body besides or distinct from the fulness of God when as the Scripture doth not say that Christ hath two bodies or that his body is a body of flesh and bones without the blood in it as they say we told them Rep. See here Reader did we ignorantly charge them that by the body they said was glorified in Heaven they meant his Church do not they here speak it out while they tax us with holding Christ hath two bodies because we say he hath his personall body in which he suffered and which he shewed to have flesh and bones in it as a Spirit hath not And is it more absurd for Christ to have in two senses a body or two bodies in different senses of the word body then for the believer to have two heads in two distinct senses hath not George Whitehead and the rest each of them their personall head in which they have tongues with which they smite them that are more righteous then themselves And if they were believers in truth should they not have Christ for their head too And why then may not Christ have a body of his own as a man the man Christ Jesus in which he shewed his Disciples flesh and bones and yet have a body mysticall or body signifying a Church society or congregation as he is the Ruler and Governour of them and in them by his Spirit And doth not the Scripture set forth both these to us as distinct bodies though those very words two bodies it hath not was it his body the Church in which he shewed his Disciples his flesh and bones hands and feet that were pierced with Nailes and in which he bare our sins on the tree And was it his personal body for which Paul filled up the remainder of the sufferings Col. 1. 24. Is there not expresly the body of his flesh mentioned Col. 1. 22. In which he reconciled us to God his now glorious body in the Heavens to which the body of his Church is to be fashioned into the likeness of it Phil. 3. 20. 21. And the body his Church Col. 1. 24. See here how these men broadly deny Christ as man and onely make him a Spirit filling the Church and so the Spirit and the Church to be Christ and is not that all the Christ they confess now to be And whereas they say we would have Christ to have a body besides and distinct from the fulness of God Col. 2. 9. We say we acknowledge a body in which dwells the fulness of the Godhead which we say is distinct from the fulness of the Godhead that dwells in it and is distinct too from the Church the fulness it is not said of God as God but of him that filleth all in all that is of Christ as Mediator in the power of God Ephes 4. 9 10. Yet that his body is a body of flesh and bones in Heaven without blood in it we determined not but that that body of flesh and bones or in which he shewed his Disciples flesh and bones is ascâ—nded up into Heaven and he as in it is glorified against which they reason thâ—â— W. and F. It 's not proper to say a body of flesh and bones is in the Heavens as if it were in many places at once for Heavens are more then one a silly reason for by that reason it 's not proper to say a body of flesh and bones is in the waters or a stone sinks in the waters for waters are more then one Heaven and Heavens are indifferently used in the Singular or Plurall number as water and waters be as we
are as followeth For John Horn and Thomas Moor both Teachers who disputed against George Whitehead at Lin the 15. th day of the 7th month 59. A few questions of concernment for them or any that own them to answer directly 1. WHether do you own that Christ hath two Bodies one in Heaven and another on Earth yea or nay 2. Whether the body of Christ which is the sulnesse of God whereof the Saints are members is a Body of flesh and bones in the Heavens yea or nay 3. Whether did the body of flesh and bones wherein Christ suffered descend from Heaven into the lower parts of the Earth yea or nay Seeing no man hath ascended up to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven And it is the same that descended into the lower parts of the Earth that ascended far above all Heavens that be might fill all things Eph. 4. 9 10. Psal 68. 18. 4. What and where are the lower parts of the Earth whereinto Christ descended from his Father 5. And if he which descended into the lower parts of the Earth be a person of flesh and bones which ascended far above all Heavens what is that place he is in far above all Heavens which is not Heaven 6. Whether do you believe that all the Heavens are local places one above another and above the Firmament called Heaven yea or nay 7. Can a body of flesh and bone be both in the Heavens and far above them all and fill all things at one and the same time yea or nay 8. Seeing Thomas Moor did not own that Christs body is a carnal body in Heaven how is it that you say his body is a body of flesh and bones or a humane body without blood in it is not a fleshly body Carnal 9. Can any locall place containe that Glory which Christ had with the Father before the World was wherein he is Glorified 10. Where or how came Christ into the house where his Disciples were met after his Resurrection the doors being shut John 20. 19. 26. Have not some of you said that then his body being Spirituallized it glided in at the Key-hole of the door for so it hath been spoken concerning some of your way 11. Whether the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered persecution whose body was subject to hunger and afliction be not made a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. And yet his flesh and blood is so nigh to every true believer that his Flesh is his meat indeed and his Blood is his drink indeed 12. And if the Blood of Christ that was shed be the drink indeed and the purger of the Conscience where is that blood if not in Christs flesh as you affirmed Seeing that men must drink the Blood of Christ as well as eat his Flesh or else they have no life in them 13. And was the Blood of Christ that was shed seperate from his Body and then bearing Record in the Earth when John wrote these words in 1 John 5 8. 14. And how can the Blood of Christ either cleanse away from sin or give life to any if the Life of Christ be not in it as Thomas Moor affirmed 15. How many comings of Christ do you own seeing you yet have his second coming without sin unto Salvation to look for 16. What are these seeds that must every one have its own Body in the Resurrection and whether are they Natural or Spiritual 17. And must not every seed have a body of its own nature 18. And whether the wicked upon whom after Death Judgement is come whose souls are in Hell must afterward come out of Hell again to receive a second Judgement 19. Whether the receiving Bread and Wine to shew the Lords Death be to continue an Ordinance in the Church till the end of the World yea or nay 20. And whether doth the receiving Bread and Wine alone without an outward Passeover really figure forth the Death of Christ 21. And how must the life of Christ be shewen forth and when if People must receive Bread and Wine as a continuing Ordinance in this Life alwayes to shew forth the Death of Christ 22. What is your ground for sprinkling the Children of them you count believers have you ever a command from God or evident example for it if you have shew it 23. Whether do you own such Teachers as take Tythes or Preach for hire or for gifts and rewards yea or nay 24. What is the Soul of man which the Word of God is to save and what is the difference between the Soul and the Spirit seeing the word of God divides them asunder 25. Whether men must be justified by the same Righteousness of Christ in them which sanstifies them yea or nay 26. What is that Light with which Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world which Thomas Moor said is both Natural and Spirituall Name one Light that every man is lighted with that is both Natural and Spiritual or else let your silence be an acknowledgement of your Ignorance touching the Light and that you have confuted your selves for Thomas Moor would not acknowledge that every man hath a Spiritual Light in him or is inlightned with a Spiritual Light But that every man should in due time be enlightned with such a Light when the seed is sown or by the Preaching of the Gospel what says he then to this the Gospel is preached in every Creature under Heaven Answer directly in simplicity without evading from these things propounded to you as you did evade and cavil at the dispute and Thomas Moor severall times fled from his own words and John Horn when you could not answer to our Question where the Blood of Christ is which you say is the foundation of Faith in his deceit asked us the same question again leave off such deceit for shame and come down to the simplicity of God in you and speak not evil of the things you know not And if you answer these questions send or give your answer to some of our friends in Lin to be conveyed to me Who am a friend to the Truth But a witnesse against all Deceit Hypocrisie and dead formality that is among you George Whitehead An Answer to the Questions forementioned THese Questions give so full intimation of their Antichristian Spirit and give us such occasion to discover it to others and so evidence the Truth of God in the great things of his Doctrine against their endeavours to make it void That since all the three forementioned have owned them as sent by them all We have judged it seasonable and tending to the profit of many that they may be saved to make them with this answer publick which answer is owned by John Horn and Thomas Moor senior and Thomas Moor junior And in it we desire the Readers to note that we direct not our speech to them because they have been already discovered and proved deceivers and
bodily Col. 2. 9. with Capter 1. 19. Not that his body is the fulnesse of God or of the God-head but that dwells in him bodily that so of his fulnesse we might receive And of his Body the Church he saith it is his fulnesse namely the fulness of Christ as he is the Head of a Body viz. of an union of many persons in one Body now although that head be God blessed for ever and he and the Father are one though distinct in respect of the manner of their being in the God-head and as so distinct as Christ is the Head of the Church so the Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. So although Christ who is the Head of the Church be God yet the Church is not said to be his fulnesse simply as he is God but as he is the Head of the Church and that is as he is God man in one Person the Man Christ Jesus now raised from the dead and continuing ever with the the Father even as so considered he is the Fountain of all fulnesse for us and filleth all in all compare Ephes 1. 20. 23. with chap. 4. 8 9 10 c. and Col. 1. 13. 19. and 2. 9. 19. Heb. 7. 23 24 25. as so considered he is the Head of the Church and as he in that his personal body is the Head and Husband so the Church is his fulnesse even as Eve was Adams or as the Natural Body is the Heads fulnesse the Church is that in which is the fulnesse or compleating of him as he is the Head of a body viz. of an union of many persons in one body for so as we have shewed before he could not have a Body in such a sence had he not members many Persons united to himself as their Head Governour and Husband Further also their Querie is perverse and corrupt in that it intimately charges us as calling the Personal Body of our Lord Jesus Christ now Glorified a Body of flesh and bones which is a slander for it is not our expression but theirs used oft by way of derision and reproach of him and though possibly we may sometimes have let it pass without consideration or particular notice of it in some discourse that may have passed between us yet the expression we own not but say with the Scripture That the Personal Body of Christ hath flesh and bones hands and feet even the same in which he once suffered for sins the just for the unjust truly called the Body of his flesh and in that very body he is now glorified yea this we have divers times asserted to them in answer to such their deriding expressions and still do assert that the Personal Body of our Lord Jesus Christ for which we contend is not a body without a spirit which a body of flesh and bones may be yet we are so far from being ashamed of the Words of Christ and bearing the reproach cast upon his Glorious Body by them That as we know and believe as the Scripture hath said so we confesse that Jesus Christ was made of the Seed of David after the Flesh Rom. 1. 3. made of a woman Gal. 4. 4. and so took part of flesh and blood with mankind that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil c. Heb. 2. 14 15 16. and so he dyed as man mortal but he rose again the same body spiritual and immortal his Body not a spirit though spiritual yet truly a body yea the body of a man and in that sence humane The same he that dyed and was buried is risen and ascended having flesh and bones even such as before his ascention was seen and handled by his Disciples and so himself saith of himself and did walk speak and eat before them and shewed them his hands and his feet to confirm the same Luke 24. 36. 44. John 20. and 21. And while he blessed them and they beheld him he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven Luke 2. 50 51. Acts 1. 9 10 11. And as his Disciples that saw were blessed so he hath also pronounced them blessed that have not so seen and yet believe John 20. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 8. so that though we call not his personal body a body of flesh and bones yet believing his sayings we are not ashamed to confesse he hath flesh and bones though not carnal or mortal like mortal men whole life is in then blood and may be let out with a Sword and must die But his though humane yet spiritual and immortal and because of that suffered and done by him in that Body in which he hath overcome death and so received gifts in the man it s by way of Eminency and Peculiarity called his flesh and his bones and he in that body is in the Heaven of Heavens nor is there any but the Spirit of Satan in Antichrist that will move any to deny or reproach this as these do From all which considerations we refuse this Question as thus stated by them as foolish unlearned corrupt and prophane But yet for the help of the weak if it be queried what is that his Body of which he is said to be the Head and which is said to be his fulnesse as he is the Head Ephes 1. 23. We answer Not his Body in the first sence but in the second viz. not such an union of many Members in one Body as in which they are all united in one person or personal body but the union of many persons believers or Persons so imputed that have each a distinct personal Body in one mystical body Church or Congregation under that one head who hath also a distinct personal body of his own in which he is the head and also the Saviour of that his Body the Church see the Text Ephes 1. 22 23. with chap. 5. 23. 28. If it be further Queried whether the Body of Christ in this sence or his Body the Church have flesh and bones it s already answered 1. He who is the Head of it hath a distinct Body that hath flesh and bones now glorified in which he is the Head 2. The members also that are living on the earth have each their distinct personal bodies that have flesh and bones yea they are yet partakers of flesh and blood in weaknesse and mortality and their bodies vile Phil. 3. 21. Rom. 8. 10. 23. Heb. 2. 14. If yet further any Querie whether this Body be in Heaven it is likewise already answered The Head who is their forerunner is already entered and so they in him as in their head and with him by the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him he saith not them his own personal Body not theirs from the dead see Col. 2. 12. with Ephes 1. 20 21 22. and Chap. 2. 6. Heb. 6 19 20. with Chap. 4. 3. But they in their particular bodies are not so entered but while at home
its pretious fruit abiding with him in the man Christ Jesus glorifyed by means thereof and so evidently set forth to us in the preaching of the Cross even this is in the Faith and Believing remembrance of unfained Believers and pretious to them and so in its pretious Fruits in their mind and conscience working also through the whole man through that Faith of the Operation of God which is the evidence of things not seen the confidence of things hoped for And had these men understood what it is to eat Christs flesh and drink his Blood and to have the conscience purged with that they would have been far from so blaspheming it as a common or prophane thing as in this question with the other at least privily they have done nor would they have sought room to lift up and magnify something else in the name and place of it But they clearly manifest to those of any right understanding and skil in the Word of Righteousness that it is not his flesh they eat nor his Blood they drink for they believe not that his once suffering in the flesh for sin to be so pretious with God as to have obtained such glory into him in the man for us as before is shewed and therefore neither do they believe that to be of such infinite and abiding virtue as to be the meat and drink of life and purger of the Conscience as they signify in this question and so they believe not on him as the Scripture hath said as may appear in the answers given nor is it the true Christ that is in them but something else in the name and place of him it is Swines Flesh they eat unclean and forbidden things and the broth of abhominable things is in their Vessels nor are their Consciences truly purged or made good though they may be seemingly quiet but still defiled according to the corrupt unbelieving mind if not seared as with an hot Iron for in him whom the Father hath sent and sealed they believe not nor in the Lords death the Blood or Death of his Crosse have they their peace consolation and rejoycing as further appears in what follows Quest 13. And was the Blood of Christ that was shed separate from his body and then bearing record on the earth when John wrote those words 1 John 5. 8. A. The Blood of Christ that is to say his once Suffering in the Flesh even to the shedding of his Blood and so to the pouring out his Soul or life unto death that blood or death of his Cross as we have before fully shewed that to be meant by the blood of Christ by which peace was made and redemption obtained and he entered into heaven it self c. Yea it is evident to be meant here for the blood that bears witnesse in earth is the same mentioned vers 6. as that by or through which his having come in the Flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself compare with vers 6. chap. 4. 2 3. and Heb. 9. 26. was perfected Now it is not simply his sometime having Material and Mortal blood or his being partaker of Flesh and Blood but his suffering and enduring even to blood and so to death in the Flesh by which together with the Grace of God he came as our Saviour and became a Captain of Salvation for us and to us as Heb. 2. 9. 10. 14 15. and chap. 9. 12. 26. That Blood of his Cross his once suffering unto death in the Flesh and so his death is as we have before shewed past and over as to the actual accomplishment and sustaining of it yea so separated from his Personal Body as that all mortality was put off in his Resurrection from the dead he dyed once and can dye no more but the remembrance of it remaineth with the Father who hath received and accepted it and him by means of it as a sacrifice for ever and so the infinite Fountain of the pretious virtue and fruit of it is treasured up in the man Christ Jesus whom God hath raised from the dead and Floweth from him in the influences and streams thereof unto men in the Name of God his Father and so his blood is still bearing witnesse on earth for God hath given him as delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification for a Witnesse to the People a Testimony in due time Isa 55. 3 4. with Acts 13. 34. and 1 Tim. 2 4 5 6. and therein this is the first and great thing witnessed by the Holy Ghost in which he commends his love to men and sheds it abroad in the hearts of believers namely that when we were yet without strength enemies ungodly c. In due time Christ dyed not is dying for us Rom. 5. 6. 8. with 2 Sam. 14. 14. yea such the powerful efficacies of this blood or death of Christ that is so past that it can no more be suffered that where the preaching of it is with the Heart believed it fills with peace hope and joy through the power of the Holy Ghost in it it purgeth the Conscience from dead works to serve the Living God and so also is bearing witnesse on the earth for he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witnesse in himself in his understanding and heart by faith through which he proves its pretious fruit and effecacy So that as the Blood or death of Abel whom Cain slew when over and past yet witnessed against Cain and cryed unto God for vengeance Gen. 4. 10. 14. so the blood or death of Christ through which his comming in the flesh or first appearing to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself was perfected being presented before the Father in the appearing of the Man Christ Jesus in that Body of his flesh in which he so suffered in the presence of his glory doth speak better things for us in Heaven and from thence also in the Name of the Father speaks good things on earth even peace and good will to men yea it speaks and works effectually in the hearts of them that believe Heb. 12. 24. but these men not onely intimately shew their counting this his suffering to blood to death a common thing of no more virtue and efficacy then the blood of another person may be but they also manifest themselves unreasonable and absurd that cannot understand how a thing actually past and over may still remain in its fruit and efficacy which they might have seen in other things as in that of Abels blood forementioned so also in Gods delivering Israel out of Aegypt destroying their enemies his answering Balaam to the making void the consultations of Balaak and such other wonderful works being given for a witnesse of his Righteousnesse unto the generations after Mich. 6. 1. 5. Psal 81. and 78. and 106. Quest 14. And how can the blood of Christ either cleanse any from sin or give life to any if the life of Christ be
they render the knowledge of him as Preached by the Apostles and witnessed in the Ordinances as delivered by them fleshly and carnal and so to be let go for the other Surely Antichrist doth not onely figure forth but reveale himself in them by these Queries as may be seen in the light 21. Query And how must the life of Christ be shown forth And when If people must receive Bread and Wine as a continuing Ordinance in this life alwayes to shew forth the death of Christ Answ In the right shewing forth the Lords death the life of Christ is also acknowledged and shew'n forth For therein we shew not forth a dead Christ or Death simply but the Lords death that is as is shewed before the death of him who by means of that his death being raised from the dead in the Glory of the Father and made both Lord and Christ in that body in which he died and was buried is alive for evermore And so that death by which Peace was made and Redemption and life obtained in and by him for us That with him it might be given to us and in receiving him be received by us as he is received that is now by Faith And in the first fruits of those Spirituall blessings we are now blest within him and the hope of the fulnesse with the Redemption of the body at his second coming and so it is that death the excellency and preciousnesse of which is shewed in the testification of the glory God hath given him in his Resurrection and exaltation as the fruit of it that our faith and hope might be in God And so that of which and the preciousnesse thereof he now liveth to be an Apostle to us as likewise by vertue of which he appeares in the presence of God an High Priestâ— for us and therefore also is able to save to the utmost them that come to God by him And so in the right shewing forth the Lords death all this is acknowledged and shewed forth as that in which his death is commended as therefore infinitely worthy to be remembred and the Grace and Glory of God therein displayed And so in being Spiritually baptised into his death into the understanding and acknowledgement of it as declared in the Gospel Therein a man is also risen with him through faith of the operation of God and comes to prove the power of his Resurrection in such fellowship of his sufferings quickening to new and lively hope and affections by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead Col. 2. 1â— Phil. 3. 10. 1 Pet. 1. 1. 3. c. And is made a powerful Saviour of Christ to others either of life unto Life or of death unto Death For the Preaching or shewing forth the Crosse of Christ in which the whole Gospel of Christ the Wisdom of God the Power of God is preached that is to them that perish foolishnesse but to us that are saved it is the Power of God Whence the Apostled said God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in the Crosse of Christ by whom the World is crucified to me and I to the World yea he determined not to know any thing in his Preaching among believers but Jesus Christ and him crucified 1 Cor. 1. 18. 23 24. â— 2 with Gal 6. 14. And he had then the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 16. and was therein rejoycing in and shewing forth the Life of Christ Gal. 2. 19 20. holding forth not a Ministration of death but of Spirit and Life 2 Cor. 3. 1 John 1. But this must needs be an offence and stumbling block to them who deny the abiding virtue and effecatious preciousnesse for others of that death once finished in that his own body and believe not his being raised and continuing for ever in the same body in which he died But set up an Idol in the name and place of him that is often dying rising and offering it self and in divers bodies For they cannot shew forth the death and life of their Immaginary Christ in one and the same demonstration because when he rises or is risen in them its another and not the same body that died which rises or is risen 22. Query What is your ground for sprinkling the Children of them you count Believers Have you ever a command from God or evident example for it if you have shew it Answ This Question is laid as a snare for such as differ from us in the Ordinance of Baptising with water in the Name of Christ as to the persons that may be baptized and the manner of baptising And yet agree with us in the acknowledgement of the Lords body and of the infinite Grace and abiding Vertue of his first appearing therein and the hope of his second and of the Resurrection of the dead and Eternal Judgment at his appearing to his Kingdom that so by seeming to take their part against us in this about baptisme they may catch them in their net For why else do they not as well question our grounds for the continuance of this Ordinance of Baptising with water in his Name as they have done that of the Lords Supper seeing it is notoriously known they make no more account of the one then of the other We shall therefore here say the lesse to this Hypocritical question But if any desire to understand the grounds of our practice in that they may see them at large shewed by the Scriptures in Treatises made publick the one by Joh. Horn called Considerations of Infant Baptism The other by Tho. Moor senior called A brief discourse about Baptism And if any that own the great things of the Doctrine of Christ but different from us in such lighter things will propound their distractions or reasons against our practice in answer to what is made publick or they have ours in manuscript which yet they have not done or otherwise we shall be ready to answer them though we think it not expedient here to speak to those things in which they differ from us who yet own the same Lord Jesus with us and waite for his Glorious appearance from Heaven And though differing from us in the manner or outward form of an Ordinance c. Yet do it to the same Lord whom we will neither judge nor dispise nor reckon them amongst or joyn them with such Enemies of the Crosse of Christ as prvily deny the Lord that bought them and dispise both his sayings and Ordinances 2. Why demand they a command from God or evident example for what we do in this seeing they contemn both in the former and in scorn reject the Ordinance it self as unprofitable We might answer this demand as our Saviour answers a like Question Mat. 21. 23 24 25. When they demanded of our Saviour by what Authority he did those things He answered and said unto them I also will aske you one thing which if ye tell me I likewise will tell you by what
idols will I cleanse you And as God promised to do so doth and will he do the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin and yet it follows If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and he is the propitiation for our sins 1 John 1. 7 8. and 2. 2. As was before noted he that forgives and cleanseth us by way of pardon from all sins bids us also pray as duly as for our daily bread forgive us our trespasses c. 3. As for exhortations to be perfect they prove not the being of the thing exhorted to They supposed above the little children to whom the Apostle wrote that they might not sin might have sin in them not withstanding Nor is all perfectiom perfection of sinlesness in mens selves Asa was perfect hearted all his daies and yet had sin and sinned 2 Chron. 15. 17. and 16. 9. And yet every one that is perfect shall be as his Lord he saies not he is so yea in saying he shall be he implies he is not yet so but when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is This we granted but they skipt it over 4. The Apostle said they were circumcised with the circumcisiou made without hands in the putting off the body of sins of the flesh but it was in Christ he saies for so much the words in whom signifies And the same Apostle in the same Epist Col. 1. 10. 11 to the same people therefore he saith but now you also Mark now also put off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication c. Col 3. 8 9. it seems then they had those things yet to put off still for can any put off what is not So to the Ephesians too when he had said they had learned to put off the old man and put on the new he addes wherefore putting away lying speak every man truth to his brother a lesson these men have not yet learned To the Corimbians also he saith purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump even as ye are unleavened so that in some sense in Christ they were unleavened and yet in other sense needed to purge out the old leaven which implies it was yet in them for how can a man purge that out of him that is not in him but they through ignorance confound these things and run themselves and Auditors into delusion Again p. 5. l. 36. They distinguish the true Prophets Christ and his Apostles from themselves that are accused by us and so again imply that they be neither the true Christ nor his true Prophets or Apostles Reader mind it they give out themselves for Prophets and Apostles and some of them say they are Christ but they are false ones and why then plead they for their false prophecyings and witnessings But they indeed shew their confusion and rayling against us as after will appear to their own delection and shame as for their innocence no liers are innocent but they be over and over proved liers that perfect heartedness and compleateness in Christ may consist with sin being in men in this life we have shewed And they cannot disprove unloss they will blot out Col. 2. 10. with Chap. 3. 8. 2 Chron. 15. 17. so 1 Cor. 5. 8. 9. Which we noted above either let them say those Scripture sayings are false or else own their own words to be false in saying that we fight against our own words and that they that are compleate in Christ are perfectly freed from sin namely as to all inherency of it in themselves or they say nothing to purpose that sinners are out of the compleatness of Christ which though in some sense true viz. Of sinners out of Christ yet is not universally true except Paul when he said of sinners I am the chief was out of Christs compleatness that the heart that hath sin dwelling in it is not perfect contrary to 2 Chron. 15. 17. with 16 17. Where Isaiahs heart is said to have been perfect all his daies and yet he is charged with relying on the King of Asyria and not relying on the Lord his God and those were heart-sins surely and they dwell there too for some time as the verses before manifest p. 6. They accuse us of confusion that we say believers are come to a further state and covenant then Adam was in before his fall who then had no sin in him and yet accuse the believers they say with having the body of sin or not being perfect while here Rep. Here they shew their own confusion for the believers being in a better state or convenant in Christ hinders not their having sin yet in themselves to purge out as is evident in Col. 2. 10 11. with 3. 5. 8 9. No more then it hinders them from having infirmides and death which Adam unfallen had not besides they have added a lie or two as that we accuse the believers with having a body of sin then Paul accused them when he said the believers old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed the words might be plainly imply it a thing not then done but to be done as in all like expressions is evident and that we accuse them with not being perfect when in divers respects we grant them to be perfect as perfect in Christ Jesus and many of them perfect with Christ in their Spirits without guile there and perfect comparatively to some others c. In the same page they wrong us in giving it as our saying that Adam might possibly sin and die but not so the believers whereas we added what they suppress to not so the believer not under a covenant of works here nor hereafter the resurrection capable of sinning and dying as Adam before his fall was again they say we would accuse the Quakers of being sinners because of their dying which is false let any man read our book p 3. What we said is thus that the Quakers are not in Adams state before the fall because Adam had no death then upon him as the Quakers have for they must die but they say here our darkness appears for believers dying the natural death doth not prove them sinners while here for through death they gain more of the peace and glory of God which they partake of in their life time which is both confused and inconcludent for what if the believer gain by his death may it not therefore argue he had sin in him while he lived is not the being freed from the body of death and inherency and combating with sin again think they Though we did not bring it for an argument to prove what they charge us with as we before discovered and for their confusion their words sound as if they believed that the greater gain by their death they have it all in this live for they say not more of the peace and glory of God then they partake of in