contradictory and unscriptural as he could but that all lights upon himself and I doubt not but in the end it will appear that I have contended for the Justification of Life whilst his aimes will have been at nothing more in all his Bussle then to promote a Justification in a State of Death where the indwelling Life Power and Virtue of Christ which gives to live to God in the nearness of Life cannot be enjoyed nor known else what means his reputing that Assertion in my Sandy Foundation shaken so Erroneous namely without Good Works there is no Acceptance with God which without any Wrong to him causes me to believe that it is his Faith that Men may be accepted with God without Good Works and consequently that they are not necessary to Salvation I wish for his sake more then mine own he had been no more Injurious to me and the Truth I have defended then I have been to him in expressing but the natural Result and Tendency of his Doctrine I shall now be as good as my Word and that is to produce an Argument or two against the Common Doctrines of rigid Satisfaction and Justification as they have been opposed by me in this short Discourse and that out of my Book called The Sandy Foundation Shaken because it has been most in this Adversary's Eye That if he thinks fit to reply he may have something else to employ his Mind about then to write Dialogues filled with Lyes Shifts Forgeries Scoffs Impudence and Scurrility Of SATISFACTION 1. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger forever because he delighteth in Mercy Can there be a more express Passage to clear not only the Possibility but real Inclinations in God to pardon Sin and not retain his Anger for ever since the Prophet seems to challenge all other Gods to try their Excellency by his God herein describing the Supremacy of his Power and Superexcellency of his Nature that he pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his Anger for ever so that if the Satisfactionists should ask the Question Who is a God like unto ours that cannot pardon Iniquity nor pass by Transgression but retain his Anger until some-body make him Satisfaction I answer Many amongst the harsh and severe Rulers of the Nation but as for my God he is exalted above them all upon the Throne of his Mercy who pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his Anger for ever but will have Compassion upon us 2. And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors Where nothing can be more obvious then that which is forgiven is not paid And if it is our Duty to forgive without a Satisfaction receiv'd and that God is to forgive us as we forgive them then is a Satisfaction totally excluded Christ farther paraphrases upon that part of his Prayer v. 14. For if you forgive their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you Where he as well argues the Equity of God's Forgiving them from their Forgiving others as he encourages them to forgive others from the Example of God's Mercy in forgiving them which is more amply exprest in Chap. 18. where the Kingdom of Heaven that consists in Righteousness is represented by a King Who upon his Debtors Petition had Compassion and forgave him but the same treating his Fellow-Servant without the least Forbearance the King condemned his Vnrighteousness and delivered him ever to the Tormenters But how had this been a Fault in the Servant if his Kings Mercy had not been proposed for his Example How most unworthy therefore is it of God and Blasphemous may I justly term it to be in any's daring to assert that Forgiveness impossible to God which is not only possible but enjoyn'd to Men. Consequences Irreligious and Irrational 1 That it 's Unlawful and Impossible for God Almighty to be Gracious and Merciful or to pardon Transgressors then which what 's more Unworthy of God 2 That God was inevitably compell'd to this way of Saving Men the highest Affront to his incontroleable Nature 3. That it was Unworthy of God to Pardon but not to inflict Punishment on the Innocent or require a Satisfaction where there was nothing due 4. It doth not only disacknowledge the true Virtue and real Intent of Christ's Life and Death but intirely deprives God of that Praise which is owing to his greatest Love and Goodness 5. It represents the Son more Kind and Compassionate than the Father whereas if both be the same God then either the Father is as Loving as the Son or the Son as Angry as the Father 6. It robs God of the Gift of his Son for our Redemption which the Scriptures attribute to the unmerited Love he had for the World in affirming the Son purchased that Redemption from the Father by the Gift of himself to God as our compleat Satisfaction 7. Since Christ could not pay what wâ—â— not his own it follows that in the Payment of his own the case still remains equally grievous Since the Debt is not hereby absolv'd or forgiven but transfer'd only and by consequence we are no better provided for Salvation than before owing that now to the Son which was once owing to the Father 8. It no way renders Men beholding or iâ— the least oblieg'd to God since by their Doctrine he would not have abated us nor did he Christ the last Farthing so that the acknowledgments are peculiarly the Sons which destroys the whole current of Scripture Testimony for his Good Will towards Men. O the Infamous Portraiture this Doctrine draws of the Infinite Goodness Is this your Retribution O Injurious Satisfactionists 9. That God's Justice is satisfied for Sins past present and to come whereby God and Christ have lost both their Power of injoyning Godliness and Prerogative of punishing Disobedience for what is once paid is not revokeable and if Punishment should arrest any for their Debts it either argues a Breach on God's or Christ's part or else that it hath not been sufficiently solv'd and the Penalty compleatly sustained by another forgetting that every one must appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ to receive according to things done in the Body Yea every one must give an account of himself to God But many more are the gross Absurdities and Blasphemies that are the genuine Fruits of this so confidently believ'd Doctrine of Satisfaction Of JUSTIFICATION 1. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but He that doth the Will of my Father Whosoever heareth these Sayings of mine and doth them I will liken him unto a Wise Man which built his House upon a Rock c. How very fruitful are the Scriptures of Truth in Testimonies against this absurd and dangerous Doctrine these Words seem to import a two-fold Righteousness the first consists in Sacrifice the last in Obedience the one makes a
Dialogue Chr. Was not Christ God's Gift Quak. Yea he was so Chr. To what end Quak. His Doctrine Life Miracles Death and Sufferings to God is the Gift and Expression of God's Eternal Love for the Salvation of Men. Penn's Sandy Found Pag. 19. Chr. Thou hast affirmed that God is Christ If so Did God die and suffer to God To which I answer that T. Hicks as in other places so here is basely Unjust and if he accounts me his Adversary or an Opposer of his Principles though I never had to do with him in particular nor any of that People in general It behov'd him to be honest and give me my due Instead of which he leaves out some Words and horribly perverts the rest For first I did in that Book acknowledge and confess to Christ's Bodily Appearance and that he was born of the Virgin Mary after the Flesh and that largely and plainly p. 36. which he wholy omitts to mention Secondly I do not remember that I so exprest my self that God was Christ but whether I did or no to insinuate a Denyal of his Manifestation in Flesh is most perversly wicked and ungodly as well as that it plainly shews notwithstanding his feigned Confession to Christ's Divinity that in truth he owns him not to be God or he has very ill exprest himself when he sayes thou affirmest God is Christ or Christ is God for it implies he does not else what means his following words did God himself dye and suffer to God he thus queries to shew the Absurdity of believing God to be Christ or Christ to be God and tells us that he believes what dyed was the Intire Christ Certainly he is either rank Socinian in the Point which I mention not in Disgrace unless it be to that Party that so impious a Person is of it or he has not well given us his Mind But this proves what elsewhere I observe of him that from our Asserting Christ to be God or God Christ Tho. Hicks is ignorant or malitious enough to infer that we deny that ever he took Flesh whence he would fasten such like Absurdities upon us you say Christ dyed Christ you say is God did then God dye c. But if he has represented us to deny the Bodily Appearance why did he not also make us to deny his Death and Sufferings too and then there had been no room for that preposterous Conclusion But to insinuate a Belief of our Denyal of Christs's coming in the Flesh and not of his Death that he might bring us upon this Pinch of Contradiction to wit that God dyed and not the Body in which he was manifested is such an invented piece of Dishonesty as deserves nothing else then the Abhorrence of all Impartial Persons In short we say that God manifested in Flesh was the true Christ that then appeared that the Flesh and not God dyed and that the whole of the Appearance whether in Life or Death was for Man's Salvation And if Tho. Hicks is not herewith contented we cannot help it but hope others are not so Unreasonable But he proceeds thus Give me leave to ask you directing himself to his foresaid Quaker Whether one great End wherefore Christ was given and came into the World was not to seek and to Save such that were lost Quak. Yea he came to seek and save the lost Christ But who or what is this that was lost He wickedly and with an Aggravation like the Enmity of his Spirit thus makes G. Keith to answer That which is lost is still in Man That Christ came to seek and save and all his Ministers preached People to this the lost in Man a lost God a lost Christ c. To which sayes T.H. Blush O Heavens and be Astonished O Earth Was ever such a thing as this heard of before that Jesus Christ came to seek and save a lost God a lost Christ c. Was ever God and Christ in a Lost Condition But the Heavens may Blush and the Earth be Astonished indeed at such sordid and base Dealing G. Keith means that Christ came to seek and to save by turning People to enquire after a lost God and a lost Christ the Groat within the Pearl in the Field c. that is to God's Light in them by which God and Christ are revealed to the Soul For whatever may be known of God is manifest within which they Rebelling against had lost the Knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ And this unrighteous Person turns it that G. Keith meant that Christ came to seek and to save a lost God and lost Christ What Sence can there be in so horrible a Perversion as well as that there is no colour for it who endeavours to insinuate that Christ came to save God and Christ not the Soul by turning it to seek after God and Christ and to represent God and Christ's Condition Lost and Perilous instead of theirs who had or have lost God and Christ In short Lost as taken by T.H. is meant of Man's lost Condition and as there used by G. Keith is understood of God and Christ whom Man had and hath lost the Knowledge of and Fellowship with But such sinister Practices savour of the height of Dishonesty The Inventer of BAXTER BAPTIZED IN BLOOD BY ANABAPTISTS is nothing to this horrible kind of Perversion And I doubt not but T. Hick's Recompence will be more terrible from the hand of a Just God irritated by such Irreligious Proceedings However I will return upon T. Hicks what more concerns him then he is aware of If Christ came to seek and to Save that which was Lost then because the whole World was lost he came to seek and to save the whole World And if so then Reprobates because Lost or else there can be no such thing as Eternal Reprobation or Men from Eternity unalterably decreed to Eternal Destruction How much more this confounds his own partial Opinion of Predestination then any thing he has said can the Quakers Principles let the Sober minded judge CHAP. VII Of the Seed and Redemption of the Seed HIs next Stumble and gross Perversion of our Words is concerning the Seed from a passage or two taken out of the Books of J.N. and G.F. That the Seed is Christ that the Seed wants Redemption as being laden by Sinners as a Cart with Sheaves c. He thus argues If then Redemption be of the Seed and this Seed be Christ either there must be more Christs then one or else Christ came to redeem himself Again Christ-without you esteem to be but a Creature but the Seed-within you say is God Tell me seriously whether a Creature can redeem the Creator Can you pretend to be guided by an Infallible Spirit and yet be guilty of such gibberish and folly as this To which before I make my Answer I think fit to insert that which he gives in the Name of the Quakers Here thou shewest
separate Christ in them the Hope of Glory Newman's Light within p. 81 82 83 86. XIV Qua. That through Faith in the Power of Christ Perfection that is a Freedom from Sin is attainable and comes to be attained in this Life by the Soul that experienceth the Restauration by Christ Bap. If God in his Son draw up the Soul to himself Jo. 6 44. The more Special and Spiritual Condition of Souls thus drawn up to God in Christ is not only a Restauration to the Condition of the first Adam with relation to a Freedom from Sin this every Believer enjoys by Christ a Freedom a Justification from Sin But secondly every Soul drawn â—p out of it self to God is brought into the Condition of the second Adam Marrow Christian p. 29. XV. Qua. That Soul that 's restored unto the New Covenant-Dispensation and come to taste how good he is to partake of his Spiritual Wisdom and Counsel therein doth own and follow this Spirit and the Light thereof as the Chief Rule of Faith Obedience and Worship above the Scripture or Letter and the Spiritual Saving Knowledge of God and Christ therein beyond all Literal Knowledge and Profession of him received from without Bap. This Wisdom namely of the Spirit which is spiritual and heavenly sets the Creature out of himself in the Power of God that Wisdom namely of the Flesh and first â—dam carried on the Creature to the Answering of God in the Letter and yet in all this come sâ—oâ—t This 〈…〉 of the Spirit carries on the Soul where It 〈◊〉 is nâ—â—â—fter the Oldness of the Letter but after the Newness of the Spirit In â— wâ—rd that Wisdom could not helâ— to the Knowledge of God in the Spirit This doth 1 Câ—r 1. Marrow of Christian p. 35. Certainlâ— that â—oul who hath once tasted how Good and how Gracious the Lord is in the Spirit 〈◊〉 never be satisfâ—â— with â— Knowledge of him in the Letter The Knowledge of a Spiritual Vâ—iâ— with God produceth an acting 〈◊〉 and â—â—er the Spirit of God How doth the Creature 〈…〉 work and â—â—ls it self even in the Letter of the Gospel as well as formerly in the Letter of the Laâ— for want of Knowledge of the Vnion in the Spiritual Power of the Lord Marrow p. 44. XVI Qua. Christ's Second Appearance or Coming to the Salvation of them that truly wait and look for him is a Spiritual Appearance or Coming in Spâ—â—â— to sâ—vâ— his People and not in Scripture callâ— a Pâ—â—â—â—â—d or Fleshly Coming nor his Reign a Personal Reign in his Kingdom for 't is a Spiritual Kingdom and his Reign in it Spiritual Bap. Christ's Presence and so his Kingdom will be a Spiritual Presence and not a Personal His Reign in the Latter Dayes will not be Personal but Spiritual Jesus Christ is no more to be known of the Saints after the Flesh therefore his Presence so and his Kingdom will not be a Fleshly or Personal Presence and Kingdom but a Spiritual his Glory Spiritual his Kingdom not of this World c. See the Point argu'd at large Marrow Christian p. 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 to the end of the Section XVII Qua. That there is an Immortal and Incorruptible Seed of the Nature of Christ Jesus to be known in the Soul whereof true Believers come to be born again even by the Word of Life and Power which liveth and abideth forever and so comes Christ to be formed and Spiritually born in them and they to be renewed up into his Nature and Image Bap. Although we have known Christ after the Flesh yet know we him no more why If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature Christ is formed in him after the Spirit and he comes now to 〈◊〉 a Spiritual Christ within him Marrow p. 55. Faith may be acted not only on Christ's Dying 〈◊〉 the Cross but in Christ's Living in the Soul that is my believing That Christ is Spiritually formed in me as well as that he dyed for me Ibid p. 56. XVIII Qua. We are fully satisfied that God is so far from having absolutely and particularly decreed Men's Destruction from Eternity or designing perpetual and meer voluntary Hatred to particular Persons or with-holding his Saving Grace from them that his Love is in the first place Universal to all Mankind his Grace which brings Salvation hath appeared and is free to all Men till they reject it the Appearance whereof is in and by the Light of his Son in all which is sufficient to leave all the Disobedient without Excuse whereby Men are at sometimes put into such a Capacity as that they may be saved and so receive the Benefit and good End of Christ's Coming Suffering Death and becoming a Ransom for ALL for a Testimony in due time of God's fâ—â—e Love and Grace And with this the General Baptists agree against the Contrary Partial and Pinching Opinion of the Particular Electioners Bap. 1. We believe and are very confident that there is one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things who is the only begotten Son of God whom God freely sent into the World because of his great Love unto the World who as freely gave himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.5 6. tasting Death for every Man Heb. 2.9 a Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World 1. Jo. 2.2 2. That God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 and the Knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 for which End Christ hath commanded that the Gospel to wit the glad Tiding of Remission of Sins should be preached to every Creature Maâ—k 16.15 So that no Man shall eternally suffer in Hell for want of a Christ that dyed for them but as the Scripture saith for denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. or because they believe not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God Jo. 3 18. Vnbelief therefore being the Cause why the Just and Righteous God will condemn the Children of Men it follows against all Contradiction that all Men at one time or other are put into such a Capacity as that through the Grace of God they may be eternally saved Joh. 1.7 Act. 17.30 Mark 6.6 Heb. 3.10 18.19 1 Joh. 5 10. Joh. 3.17 See Art 3.4 of Confession of Faith presented to the King subscribed by 46 of them Serious Reader I having diligently traversed the present Controversies between some of these Water-Baptists and us called Quakers have thus far laboured for Quietness and Reconciliation by thus obviously laying down those Principles and Doctrines of ours that have been chiefly struck at by the Dialogue-Man and some others of them together with his and his Brethren's own intermixt Concessions and Assenting to the Truth thereof in most things very nearly concurring in Matter and Substance which while he or any of them otherwhiles oppose and
or Means were vain or needless For as the Weakness of Men should not call the Ability of the Light in Question nor their Carnallity take off from the Light 's Sufficiency Spirituallity or Divinity so neither doth the Sufficiency of the Light render all Means accommodated to Man's Weakness vain or needless especially when the Vertue that is in them comes from the Light of Life To his Third Objection which with most Opposers carrieth the greatest Weight I have this in Plainness and Brevity to answer We own not neither do we confess to another Christ then him who after the Flesh was born of the Virgin Mary at the City of Bethlehem in Judea who preacht an Everlasting Gospel worked Miracles bore our Iniquities and was cut off or dyed for the People But since Thomas Hicks would have us believe that he is not yet Socinian enough to deny the Divinity or Godhead of Christ and therefore that Christ was not only a Man much less that what was born of Mary was crucified and laid in the Sepulchre of Joseph of Arimathia was the Whole Christ I must distinguish The Word that was with God in the beginning and was God who in time took Flesh was and is the Light of the World in the fulness of time he manifested himself in a more Familiar and Intimate Manner to Mankind in order to which he prepared an Holy Body in which he preached his Everlasting Gospel worked many Miracles drew many after him He sustained grieveous Weights the Burden of the Iniquity of the whole World lay upon him he travelled under it and trod the Wine-Press alone and was pressed as a Cart with Sheaves And so well did he love the World that to testifie the same he gave up his Life not only to recommend his Love but to confirm his unchangeable Gospel of Remission of Sins and Eternal Salvation to as many as believed and followed him the Light of the World that so Remission might not only be preacht in his Name but Blood also for it was a time of Blotting-out for God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself In which Manifestation he not only drew many to him gave Testimony of his Salvation to some particulars but he combated the Serpent bruised his Head and gave him an absolute Defeat in the General scattering his Oracles chasing his Infernal Spirits causing his own Light more universally to clear up and break forth into the World insomuch that Thousands followed him He qualified and deputed Ambassadors Commissioned and Impowred them from on high whose Message was Powerful and whose Ministry was Effectual yet when all this is said and believed most surely as well as exprest most plainly That which gave the Life Power Virtue Strength and Efficacy to all this and to whom therefore eminently the Work Salvation Power and Glory are most deservedly ascribable is the Word that was in the beginning with God and was God whose Life was and is the Light of Men who took Flesh and was manifested therein Therefore He who is our Light ought not to be denyed being the true Christ and true Saviour For no other Light and Life then appeared in that Body that was then an Offering for Sin once for all is the Life and Light that we assert and defend And for that Holy Body it was our Lord's as the Scripture speaks Joseph of Arimathia begged the Body of Jesus Mat. 27.58 Mark 15.43 Luke 23.52 They found not the Body of the Lord Jesus Luke 24.3 He prepared it he took it he was manifested in it and by it how can we deny that Body which was our Lord's By no means To conclude though our Divine Word of Life and Light dyed not for Christ as God over all blessed forever could not dye yet his Body did and fo his Fulness therein and there by manifested have we received and Grace for Grace So that all those who are talking of the Body of Christ and seeking to represent us to the World as Deniers and Despisers of his Appearance they are but in the Steps of the Persecuting Jews who as they eryed up the Prophets but being Strangers to their Divine Life relisht not savour'd not and therefore yielded not to Christ the Rock who followed the Fathers in the Wilderness the Fountain of all the Life and Refreshment of the Holy Ancients but with their Proud and Conceited and indeed Mistaken knowledge not from but of the Letter and in a bitter Zeal for their dying Forms and Traditions did they war against the Breaking forth of that Day of Salvation and that as Heresie Blasphemy and the like so now these Men seem busie and great Sticklers for the Body of Christ which they know not and for Bread Wine Water c. and all in Opposition to a more plain and Inward Manifestation of the Divine Light Life and Substance shed abroad as the Accomplishment of the Promise of the Father in this our Day and Generation But as it fared with those of old so shall it with these Opposers their Visitation shall pass swiftly over their Head and their Temple shall be cast down and not one Stone of their fair Edifice shall be left standing upon another To his Last Objection I must tell him that we have not that Uncharitableness in our Principles which our Adversaries are guilty of He like the Jews of old is ready to think every Man damn'd nay by his Principle it is not avoidable who hath not heard of the Name Christ or is not enter'd into some kind of Church-Fellowship upon common Christian-Confessions as they are called and distinguisht from meer Morality or Good Life But for my part as God had a People among the Gentiles of old who became a Law unto themselves doing the Things contained in the Law whom I believe to be at Rest and Peace notwithstanding the severe and positive Censures I have heard from several Professors against them and Millions more so though much Darkness hath prevailed in most parts of the World and still continueth yet then and where the Day of Ignorance remains and where there hath been and is a Walking with Sincerity towards God according to their Knowledge I do believe the Lord did and doth wink and had and hath Mercy though great Strangers to that Christian-Profession so much boasted of among too many in our Nation And I doubt not but that there may be found some Thousands both of Turks and Indians who would not only have detested in point of Credit but in Fear to God dreaded doing a Tittle of what Tho. Hicks hath falsly and impudently said and done against our Persons Practices and Principles In short though God in every Age hath had a Regard to the Sincerity of Peoples Hearts and their Upright Living though subjected under gross Forms and in the Darkest seasons of the World yet God having now caused his Day spring from on high to visit whereby more certain knowledge sound Judgment is given
that his Obedience unto Death was in order to make Men Righteous because it was in the Nature of a Sacrifice by which God testified unto the World his Desire of Reconciliation through the Remission of the Sins that are past which was held forth and came and was confirmed by that Obedience even to the Death of the Cross In which Sence the Just sufferd for the Vnjust and whilst we were Sinners Christ dyed He was made Sin that is to take away Sin for us an Hebraism and he justifieth the Vngodly that is remitteth the Vngodly upon Repentance and bore our Iniquities or bore away our Iniquities that is by this Offering for Sin was Remission for Sins past declared and confirmed unto all as an Vniversal Propitiation For God was in all these Sufferings shewing forth his Love and reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them But still Repentance was that which brought home the general Pardon promulgated in and by that holy Offering up of his Body once for all unto every particular Soul Thus by the Obedience of that one Man even to the Death of the Cross many come to be made Righteous that is justified from many Offences see Rom. 5.6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. But if this first part of Justification which is Remission of Sin be not obtainable by any however general it be in Christ without Repentance from dead Works which implyes Faith Contrition and Amendment of Life How miserably is T. Hicks out who brings this very Scripture we are upon to prove that we are compleatly justified which takes in both Forgiveness of Sin past and a being Inwardly made Just through the casting out of Sin by the just and holy Power and Spirit of God operating in the Heart and Conscience by Christ's Righteousness WHOLELY WITHOUT US I grant it that Forgiveness of Sin is God's free Love meer Grace and rich Mercy declared in and by Christ Jesus to the World and that this Grace abounded unto all for He was a Propitiation not only for the Sins of those that believe but of the Whole World yet the whole Benefit thereof should never redound unto any whilst alienated from God by wicked Works Peter preached another Doctrine For though Christ dyed for the Vngodly yet they were not thereby Justified that is pardon'd for Sin past while Unrepentant Peter sayes Repent and then they should receive Remission of Sins Now I would fain know how this Repentance is wrought by which as a Condition any come to have an Interest in that great Pardon held out to the whole World Is the Spirit of Christ unconcern'd in it Can we think one Good Thought of our selveâ— Are we not altogether degenerated Plants of a Strange Vine by Nature Children of Wrath c. Is not this frequently confest by the Professors of Religion in our times and the most affected piece of their Righteousness too Well then If we cannot repent of our selves and that Repentance is a Condition that it is in the Soul and that it cannot be there without the Spirit of Christ work it tell me plainly if something is not to be done within and therefore of the Nature of Inward Righteousness before any Benefit be procured deriv'd or receiv'd from Christ's Death and Sufferings to any particular Person This is close to our Point for therefore is it that we affirm that such as go on to transgress against the Law of the Spirit of Life and so disobey the Light and grieve the Holy Spirit by wicked Works are not in that State Justified I mean now that they are not so much as forgiven and least of all that they should be look'd upon as compleatly justified that is by Qualification and Participation of the Divine Nature truly and inwardly made Just since it would be to say that by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous who notwithstanding remain Disobedient and Rebellious to God's Grace which has appeared unto them We do say again that such a Doctrine so speaking Peace to a State of Sin and Death and shutting out an Inward Work many wayes necessary to the Forgiveness of Sin past or dayly Acceptante with God IS NO LESS THEN THE DOCTRINE OF DEVILS and the worst they have to propagate to the Dishonour of God and the Eternal State of People Souls In short here lyes the gross Mistake of our Adversaries They make the Sufferings of Christ which peculiarly relate to the first part of Justification Remission of Sins past to be that which has answered not only for Sins past but present and to come so as to acquit them from all Inward Work as necessary to Justification compleatly taken contrary to express Scripture Rom. 5.25 and the great End of Christ's Spiritual Manifestation in his People There might be much more said in this matter but because he thinks I have not made a little for him in my Book truly entituled The Sandy Foundation Shaken and that I am to be short I shall proceed to dispatch what remaines as God shall enable me To that Answer he gave out of the Romans by the Obedience of one c. already with other Scriptures explained and vindicated from his Abuse of them he makes me thus to answer him Quak. It is a great Abomination to say God shall condemn and punish his Innocent Son that he having satisfied for our sins we might be justified by the Imputation of his perfect Righteousness O why should this horrible thing be contented for by Christians Penn. ibid. p. 25.30 To which he returns Chr. How now Mr. Penn Is this the Doctrine of Christ's Sufferings for Sinners to make Satisfaction to Divine Justice an horrible thing and an Abomination to you Do you consider what you say And thus brings me in answering him Qu. This I do say that the Consequences of such a Doctrine are both Irreligious Irrational Penn. ibid. P. 16. Now that he has dealt Blasphem ously with God and Injuriously with me as well as that he has given me no account of his thoughts upon the Errour he makes me guilty of in case I held it besides that impertinent Question plainly appears First he has dealt Blasphemously with God in calling Christ's Suffering God's condemning and punishing his Innocent Son c. which his Censure of my so Phrasing their Opinion manifestly implyes Now I appeal to all Impartial People which of us two is most to be blamed I that confess to Christ's Sufferings as the Effect of Gods's Love thereby not to satisfie himself as a Revenger or as he could not forgive for none of that is in the Verse at all which yet is in their Sordid Opinion but as a God full of Mercy Forgiveness and Pardon to all true Penitents to declare to the World his free Remission of Sins and that he would not impute their Iniquities unto them if they would repent believe obey or T. Hicks who holds
that God condemn'd and punish'd his Innocent Son for other Folkes Sins that he might be satisfied for pardon he neither could nor would And which is most absurd Christ being this same God he at once makes him the Party satisfying the Party satisfied which is absurd and impossible besides 't is such a Satisfaction as hath paid all Debts past present to come whereby all Inward Righteousness though of Christ's Working is not necessary to Justification in any Kind Secondly He has dealt Injuriously with me and that in two Respects 1. In not stating the Doctrine truly which I opposed and my Words at length that they might speak for themselves But in that case perhaps he thought he should have been oblieged to answer them a thing he every where seems afraid of his Trade â—s Caviâ—â—â—g And 2lâ— In that he brings this Passage which opposâ—d sucâ— a Satisfaction as is said to have paid for Sins pâ—st present and to come to answer a Scripture which concerns Justification and that part of it too which relates to Remission of Sins Insinuating that I make Men's own Works sufficient to Justification in the first sense I mean Remission in the second sense I mean daily Acceptance upon being made Just and lastly that I overturn all the Righteousness Death and Sufferings of Christ whilst in Truth and Sincerity of Soul 1. by Justification not by another's Righteousness WHOLELY WITHOUT I only meant That it was Christ's Righteousness wrought in us and not our own which made Inwardly Just and which gave daily Acceptance and brought into the heavenly Fellowship with the Father and with the Son the Justification then intended by me 2 ly Since God has made his Truth known to me I have ever understood Christ's being offered up to signifie the carrying away of Sin the bearing away of Iniquity that by which God declared Remission and Forgiveness of Sins past to all that repented And this Justification called Rom. 4. ver 5 6 7 8 God 's not Imputing Sin I have ever owned to be the Free Unmerited Love of God to the World And was not that Justification by me spoken of in the Passage cited 3 ly That which I opposed was so rigid a Satisfaction as made it absolutely unavoidable or necessary in God to require a Satisfaction thereby robbing him of the Power of his free Mercy and Loving-kindness to remit and pass by and that Christ did not answer or pay by the Act of his Suffering for Sins past present and to come but as he declared Remission by his Blood for the Sins past of the whole World the beginning of his Work so that he doth by his Power and Spirit subdue destroy and cast out Sin out of the Hearts of all who believe in him whereby their Consciences come to be made pure they sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit which necessitates to Good Life and speaks no Peace to the Wicked in their Wickedness nor yet to the sloathful formal and carnal Professor of Religion Therefore such rage and imagine a vain thing against us That the Consequences of the common Notion of both Satisfaction and Justification are Irreligious and Irrational though what has been said might suffice with Sober and Impartial Readers yet I may anon have further Occasion to prove it In the mean time He tells the World that William Penn in Answer to this Question How did Christ fulfil the Law for Sinners says That Christ fulfilled the Law ONLY as our Pattern or Example S.F. p. 26. In which he has done exactly like himself For if he can find the Word ONLY there or such an Answer to such a Question or the Matter strictly contained in that Question he has not wronged me but sure I am there is no such Question and as sure that the Fulfilling of the Law was not the Subject treated on and very certain that the Word Only was not there therefore a Forger That which I said with the Scripture on which it was grounded follows If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love even as I have kept my Father's Commandments and abide in his Love From whence this Argument doth naturally arise If none are truly Justified that abide not in Christ's Love and that none abide in his Love that keep not his Commandments then consequently none are justified but such as keep his Commandments Besides here is the most palpable Opposition to an Imputative Righteousness that may be For Christ is so far from telling them of such a Way of being Justified as that he infoâ—mâ—th them the Reason why he abode in his Father's Love was his Obedience and is so far from telling them of their being Justified whilst not abiding in his Love by Virtue of his Obedience imputed unto them that unless they keep his Commands and obey for themselves they shall be so remote from an Acceptance as wholely to be cast out in all which Christ is but our Example Now that this concerned not the Whole Law Christ came to fulfil The whole Law he fulfilled the place of Scripture quoted the Nature and Matter of the Argument clearly proves Next If Christ had been other then our Example in that case then he should have fulfilled his own Commandments in our stead who from Obeying his Father's taught us our Duty was to obey His. And supposing that he could have kept his own Commandments and obey'd himself for us or in our stead it would have followed 1. That we needed not to have kept them unless they were to be observed twice over And that 2ly in not keeping of them we had been notwithstanding justified from his alone Fulfilling of them unless his Answering them had been Insufficient The first of which if I understand any thing opens a Door to all Licentiousness however Upright some may be in their Intentions to the contrary And the last strikes dead their own Opinion of the Sufficiency of Christ's Personal Obedience to perfoâ—m all needful on our Account From hence he undertakes to charge me with the Merit of Works My words at length are these which he thought good to conceal Was not Abraham justified by Works when he offered Isaac and by Works was Faith made perfect and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness By which we must not concâ—ive as do the dark Imputarians of this Age that Abraham ' s Offering Personally was not a Justifying Righteousness but that God was pleased to account it so since God never accounts a thing that which it is not nor was there any Imputation of another's Righteousness to Abraham but on the contrary his Personal Obedience was the Ground of that just Imputation therefore that any should be justified from the Imputation of another's Righteousness not inherent or actually possessed by them is both Ridiculous and Dangerous Ridiculous since it is to say A Man is Rich to
though such Vngodly Persons partake not of his Holy Life and Power neither are subject unto his Government 6. From our affirming God's Promise made good that he would be the Teacher of his People and Directing People to God's Light in them as the Gospel-Instruction to the Way of Life He wickedly infers against us yet as our Meaning that we deny all Ministry all Visible Worship c. though they stand in God's Power and Spirit Dial. p. 41 43 A thing never believed nor intended 7. When we speak of Christ's Manhood or Christ's Visible Appearance and when we speak of his Eternal Godhead or as he is now to his Saints People saying he was never as such Visible to Wicked Men. He is not ashamed to tell the World in our Name that Christ was never Visible to Wicked Men as to that Bodily Appearance and therefore that we deny any such Appearance at all Cont. p. 37 40 41. 8. From our Believing Christ to be in his People according to express Scripture and our asserting that as such he is Crucified by Wicked Men. He infers that we deny Christ to be as well without as within not that he was ever Crucified in the Flesh Dial. p. 44. Oh Wicked Man 9. From our Denyal of their rigid Satisfaction that is that Christ was punished by his Father for our Sin and that Sins past present and to come are answer'd for and that Men may be Holy in Christ by Virtue thereof whilst not New but Old Creatures and so Unholy in themselves their Consciences not being Purged from dead Works He unworthily concludes that we disown Christ's Death and Sufferings as a Propitiation that his Body was an Offering for Sin that he bore the Weight of the Iniquity of the whole World that he carry'd away sins past sealed Remission in his Blood to as many as believe and that we expect to be both forgiven and accepted not for Christ's sake nor in his Sacrifice and Righteousness but our own Works Dial. p. 9 10. Cont. 48 49 50 51 52 53. All which is an horrid Abuse of us 10. From our asserting that the End of Christ's Coming to be not only the Forgivenes of Sin past upon Repentance but the finishing of Transgression in the Creature by the Operation of his Power in his Inward and Spiritual Appearance He Wickedly infers that we make his Visible Appearance of no Value and deny the End of Christ's Sufferings Dial. p. 10. Cont. p. 50 51 52 53 44 55. 11. Because we say that Men are not accepted of God but upon the Inward Work of the Holy Spirit in the Soul as to daily Comunion with God And that there is not another Way to be saved from Sin present and to come then by Christ's Inward Manifestation and Operation He Insinuateth as our Faith that we purchase our Forgiveness by our own Good Works and not that Christ was Gods Propitiation by whom Remission of Sins past came which is the meer Love and Mercy of God declared then by him in the World more eminently and now by the Light in the Conscience to all that Repent Ibid. p. 51 52 53. 12. Becauce we make Obedience a Condition to Salvation He would have People believe that we make it the Meritorious Cause and so Papists Dial. p. 2 63. 13. Because we say that Christ is but our Example in his abiding in the Father's Love by keeping his Commandments So Wicked is he as to conclude that we believe Christ to be in ALL THINGS BUT AN EXAMPLE Ibid. p. 54. Behold this Wickedness 14. From our pleading for a Perfection from Sin and a Growth to the Measure of the Fulness of the Stature of Christ in this Life He confidently infers our Denial of a Perfection in Dâ—gâ—â—es and our Belief of as high a State of Perfection of Glory in this World as hereafter Dial. p. 48 49 50 51. 15. From our asserting True Rejoycing to be the Result of God's Work in Man and Man's Conformity to him and what Man sows he reaps This Person basely infers our utter Denial of any Cause of Rejoycing from what Christ had done for us when bodily in the World or by his Righteousness now in us Ibid. p. 53. 16. Because we say that such Works as are wrought by the Holy Spirit in us are necessary to Eternal Life and may in a sense be said to obtain it since the Lord hath so freely offered it upon the condition of Believing Obeying the Fruits of the Spirit of God in Man He wickedly suggests in our Name that we expect to Merit Eternal Life by Good Works and those of our own working as the Spider Weaves his Webb out of his own Bowels Thus does he pervert and misconstrue our pure Faith Dial. p. 38. Cont. p. 51 52. 17. Because we say all True Spiritual Liberty stands in God's Power that loses from Satan's Snares He unrighteously infers That who are not of our Way should have no Liberty Cont. p. 87. O Impious Man God will reckon for these things with thee 18. From our asserting that the Breath of Life which came from God by which Adam became a Living Soul to God was something of God himself That he may keep his old Wont he falsly renders it as our Meaning that the Soul is a part of God and then fastens all his hideous Consequences Dishonestly upon us Dial. p. 45 46. 19. From our Preaching the Redemption of the Seed from under the Weight and grievous Pressures of Sin and calling it the Lost Groat and Pearl in the Field c. He dares to give it as our Faith that we believe that Holy Seed to be in a Lost Undone or Polluted State Dial. p. 47 Cont. p. 49. then which what can be more Wicked 20. Because we say the Scriptures are not the great Gospel-Rule but the Spirit because the Dispensation of the Spirit is that of the Gospel more peculiarly and that without it we cannot understand or savingly believe any thing declared of in the Scripture and therefore that it is our Rule for believing the Scriptures themselves He basely suggests that the Quakers cast off all Precepts in the Scriptures and will not bound either their Doctrines or Lives thereby so will not bâ—ing their Cheats Impostures to the Test thereof counting them of no more Authority THEN ESOPS FABLES Dial. p. 20 21 22 23 24 30 31 32 33 34 35 36. Cont. Epist to the Reader Behold your Anabaptist Preacher Indeed an Vngodly Wrester to his own Destruction 21. From our asserting that what was a Commandment to any Servant of God in old times is not so to us because so to them that is such as going to Pharaoh going Naked going to the Kings Chappel as Moses Isaiah and Amos did as also those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed for a Season and to pass off That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit anew It is not a