by their subtilty to ensnare them yet now George Keith has given a plain answer to their Question he tells them Christ's Body is Ascended into Heaven and is in Heaven Note this fallacy G. W. knew well enough that what I had asserted about Christ's Body his Ascension into Heaven did contradict both his and his Brethren's Doctrine He doth Contradict what Friends had formerly said but is possitive and plain in his answer to the Professors question So my opposers ceased any more to object against me upon that Head The Second Particular they charged against me was that in my Book I had said the Friends did pray to Christ Jesus and did Worship and Pray unto the Mediator betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus the Anointed King Priest and Prophet of his People who also is God over all blessed for ever pag. 123. of The way cast up And whereas I had set down some words of prayers that I had said I had heard some use in our own Meetings and I had used as Jesus son of David had mercy on us pag. 121. O thou blessed Lord Jesus that wert Crucified and Dyed for our sins and shed thy Precious Blood for us be gracious unto us c. the which prayer containeth a whole page in Print wherein also the forgiveness of our sins is prayed for a thing many say they never heard in a Quaker's Meeting to this these two men observed that it was a sort of Popery but with this difference that the Papists prayed both to the Mother and the Son George Keith though he prayed not to the Mother yet he prayed to the Son Some present said it was a part of Common Prayer to say Son of David have mercy on us but these two before mention'd Persons my chief opposers put me hard to it to give some Instance where ever I heard any ancient Friend of the Ministry that was an English man pray to Christ Jesus It is possible said they thou hast heard some Scotch Friends pray so whom thou hast taught so and were thy Proselites I confess I was at a stand to name any one English man that ever I heard so pray though in Scotland I would have named one But William Penn prevented me and said Friends I am an English man and a Freind of the Ministry I have oft prayed to Christ Jesus to my great comfort and have been answered And not long ago being under some great weight upon my Spirit and like to have been swallowed up by a power of Darkness I uttered these words its true I was in private Lord Jesus who was Crucified for me have mercy on me and immediately I was eased and comforted They objected that William Penn was but a young Minister Let George Keith give an instance what ancient English Friend of the Ministry he ever heard pray to Christ Jesus As I could remember none so nor did any in all the Meeting give an Instance But said George Whitehead it is not what William Penn or George Keith saith let the Scripture decide it whereupon he call'd for the Bible and reads in 1 Cor. 1.2 Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus call'd to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ both theirs and ours What say ye to this Friends ye see that Paul did-approve the Corinthians that called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Note Reader one would think that if G. Whitehead had made it his practise to pray to Christ Jesus being an ancient Minister and using to pray frequently in the publick Meetings of the people call'd Quakers he would have named himself to have been one who had prayed to Christ Jesus or some that had oft heard him ther present might have given him for an instance but no instance was brought of any English ancient Friend of the Ministry who had ever been heard so to pray and had it been a frequent practise among them to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it could not be supposed to be possible that these two men my opposers could have objected it against me as a novelty or such a singular practise as that no English ancient Friend could be produced as a witness for that practise their answe to George Whitehead's Question was Paul was dark and ignorant in that thing as George Keith is for our parts we know better George Whitehead reply'd hold Friends say not so Ye know we have been accused by divers that we esteem our selves equal to the Apostles which for my part I never did how will this be received by Professors if they shou'd hear that we did set up our selves above them and above Paul one of the chiefest of them after he had so plentifully received the Holy Ghost and had planted so many Churches Pray let us not exalt our selves above Paul it is very well if we be where he was But they still continued blaming my assertion in my Book for saying that Christ was to be prayed unto and especially they blam'd the manner of praying to him by the name Son of David objecting against one of the prooffs in my Book how Bartimeus pray'd to Christ in these words Son of David have mercy on me Poor blind Bartimeus said they had George Keith no better Arguments for him than blind Bartimeus he was as blind in his Soul as he was in his Body Thomas Hart replyed to them Friends say not so ye are under a great mistake to think he was blind in his Soul he was greatly enlightned in his Soul and had a great Faith and Christ answered him and said thy Faith hath saved thee which proveth he was not blind in his Soul when he so prayed They still remaining dissatisfied and greatly blaming that manner of expression Son of David as improper William Penn said Friends we know that Christ after his Ascension call'd himself the root and off-spring of David Now why may it not be supposed that a Friend may be moved in prayer to say O thou root and off-spring of David have mercy on us Some also brought that place in Acts. 7.59 how Stephen being fill'd with the Holy Ghost at his death call'd saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit so after several words of discourse made by other Friends present mostly approving my assertion they passed to their Third particular charg'd against in my Book the passage in my Book that they blam'd is in pag. 123. Compared with pag. 136. where I had said pag. 123. He is that mighty one upon whom the Father hath laid help for that although the Father himself loveth us and is most willing and ready to help us in all our Necessities yet we can no otherwise receive his help but as it comes to us by the Conveyance of the Man Christ Jesus our alone Mediator And pag. 136. I had said But still as in respect of Union Manifestation
Great Distance from all People Above where the Sun Moon and Stars are And p. 24 25. Whosoever Preacheth or causeth People to Believe their Saviour is without them and that the Carnal Eye may behold His Glory who is to be Revealed I say whosoever Preacheth to People of a Saviour without them and of a Kingdom without them I charge all such in the Name of the most High God To be Horrible Blasphemers and Ministers and Messangers of the Devil He adds by way of Amusement while the Light of Christ condemns them within and while the Kingdom of God Suffereth violence within them For even then and then Chiefly is the Faith in the outward Christ to be Preached to them to Reclaim and Convert them O no say the Quakers the outward Person of Christ is not the Mediator or the Lamb of God who takes away Sin but only the Light in the Heart for Christ is not any Person See Sn. p. 140. and Sat. Dis. p. â—3 c. but only a Principle or Quality in the Heart As Will. Penn says What is Christ but Meekness Justice Mercy c. who then can deny a Meek man to be a Christian And W. Bayly here p. 38. Humility and Meekness in the Heart of God's Child is a Mediator it is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin And this the Quakers do worship as Christ in them G. Fox falls upon those that are not worshiping Him Christ In them Gr. Myst p. 55. But for the outward Christ and His Sufferings the Quakers Despise them to that Degree That they Prefer their own Sufferings to them They say that Their Sufferings are Greater and more Vnjust than the Sufferings of Christ. See Sn. p. 134.135 c. That the Blood of Christ was no More than the Blood of another Saint Nay they make it not so much as the Blood of a Quaker For of Christ's Blood they say Can outward Blood Cleanse the Conscience c. as we have heard But of the Quakers Blood they say The Guilty Covered Clergy Man Vnvail'd p. 17. An. 1657. That those who shed it cou'd not be Purg'd from that Guilt but by The Same Blood of the Quakers which they so Cruelly shed I desire any Quaker to shew such a Term of Respect to the Blood of Christ which was shed upon the Cross in all the writings of the Quakers No. That cannot be done But on the Contrary The outward Christ and His Blood was that at which they Levell'd all their Venomous Darts They set up the Doctrin of Perfection in themselves say They are Free from Sin and therefore from Repentance But they will not allow that Prerogative to our B. Lord. It is told Sect. xiii how R. Hubberthorn calls his opponent a Lyar and a Slanderer for saying That Christ Himself was not Capable of Repentance and says He was Capable of Repentance Which cou'd not be without being Capable of Sinning For we are not to Repent of Good But see how Differently some of them Treat James Naylor They say of Him That he Made himself of no Reputation Hidden things brought to Light p. 37. An. 1678. yea Sin that Knew none Yet I cannot think they will say That Christ had Sin But their Malice to Christ is because the Christians do Worship Him Which Transports the Evil Spirit that Possesses them beyond all Rules of Sense or Reason In a Paper of Queres of some Quakers about Cambridge An. 1655. Subscrib'd by Thomas Biddal they say thus to the Christians there The Great Delusion Sorcery and Bewitched Doctrin that you are under of these Bewitching Simon Magus Sorcerers which have put you upon a Christ Crucify'd without you notwithstanding you and the Rest are in your Filthiness and First Nature This is there said to be Written from the Spirit of the Lord and that The Lord Reveal'd this by His Spirit in them These Queres are Printed by one Thom. Moore in his Antidote against the Spreading Infections of the Spirit of Anti-Christ An. 1655. p. 68. c. And pretended to be Answer'd by G. Fox in his Gr. Myst. p. 132. c. but no notice is taken of this Passage Which G. F. do's not Deny As for that Softning stroke at the end of this Quotation Notwithstanding you and the Rest are in your Filthiness it has been Answer'd already to be no Reason against Preaching of the Crucifi'd Jesus but rather on the Contrary as the Best Remedy against Sin But the Quakers sometimes Pretend That by their Preaching against the outward Christ they only mean to oppose those who Totally Exclude the Sanctifying Graces of His H. Spirit within Vs But this is a most Horrible False Pretence against their own Consciences for they know that ther were none such who Oppos'd them And all those Books that I have seen to which G. Fox Answers in his Gr. Myst are Particularly Large and Full upon that Point This Moore p. 32. Says That Jesus who is Personally Absent from the Believer is Dwelling in the Believers Heart by Faith of and in Him and so the Father in and through Christ Which G. Fox Opposes p. 135. And will have the very Person of Christ in Believers Another one Ra. Farmer wrote against the Quakers in the same year 1655. a Book which he Intitul'd Mysterie Babylon the Great c. where in his Preface he Explains himself thus Though God and Christ and Scriptures and Ordinancies be and be never so Glorious and Excellent yet if they be not In thee in their Life and Power and Efficaciously Reforming and Conforming Virtue they are to thee as if they were not at all or Worse But whenever they shall be in thee let the Measures and Degrees be never so High they will and must also be Without thee and shall never be Indistinctly the Same with thee This he Prosecutes further in his Book p. 26. and speaks against such a Notion of God and Christ within as to make Void the Efficacy of His outward Sufferings at Jerusalem And this too G. Fox Opposes in his Gr. Myst p. 173. I could give a Multitude of such Instances I am the Larger upon this because it is the only Fig-Leaf the Quakers have left to Cover their Hellish Heresie in their Contempt and Blasphemy which they Spue out against our B. Saviour His Precious Death and Passion for our Redemption Let me take this Place to answer the Last Effort of the Quakers upon this Head and which being sufficiently Cleared leaves their Cursed Heresie Naked and Expos'd to the Abhorrence of All Christians The Quakers are told of this their Artifice in Sat. Dis Sect. 1. N. ix p. 12. To. which G. W. Replies in this Antidote p. 210. 211. And Repeats the Charge against them thus To my Adversaries confidently Asserting says he That J. Faldo nor any other did ever oppose this That they shou'd Preach Only the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem i. e. without Freaching
stand the utmost Demand of His Extremest Justice for that they owe Him Nothing as Edw. Burrough says p. 32. of his works That God doth not accept of any where ther is any Failing or who doth not Fulfil the Law and doth not Answer every Demand of Justice See how Literally these Quakers are Describ'd and their Fearful Condition 1 Joh. 1.8 9 10. If we say that we have no Sin we Deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us If we say that we have not Sinned we make Him a Lyar. But Solomon Eccles the Fâ—dler and Quaker-Prophet in his Musick-Lecture p. 22. Returns the Lye upon St. John if he Included himself amongst the Sinners as he Evidently do's speaking in his own Person as well as of others If We say But Crowdero Answers with a Home Stroke I do Affirm Says he that if John had said he had been a Sinner he had Lyed Therefore since all the Rest of Mankind do confess themselves to be Sinners except the Quakers it is not strange to sind this vile Scraper Determin thus Positively in his Quakers Challenge p. 3. That the Quakers are in the Truth and None but They. Here they Exclude all the World And All the World have Reason to Exclude them He that Confesseth and Forsaketh his Sin shall have mercy Prov. xxviii 13. What Mercy then can these men have who are so far from Forsaking this their Blasphemous Pride that they will not so much as Confess it Pride was the First Sin and of all others sets us farthest off from God And of all Pride the Proud Humility is the Greatest This Hypocrytical Humility is the widest Distance from the True v Christian Humility Hates and Abhors it and Falls upon it wherever it meets it See how the Quakers Insult and Triumph over Mr. Crisp for Confessing himself a Sinner in their Rabshakeh Rebuked Printed 1695. Which was wrote in Answer to two Papers that Mr. Crisp before mention'd had Publish'd against the Quakers in the first of which call'd An Essay towards the Allaying of George Fox his Spirit p. 1. he Expresses himself thus in a Christian Humility in Answer to their Abuses of him They cannot Represent me a Greater Sinner than I thank God I think my self to be Upon this they fall upon him p. 5. of the Introduction And first to shew their Sense or Sincerity they wou'd make Mr. Crisp to thank God for his being a Sinner whereas any but a Malicious Quaker must have seen at first view that he thanks God for the Sense which He had given him of his Sins And it wou'd be a Matter of Great Thanks-giving to the Quakers if the like Grace of Humility were Granted unto them Pray God of His Mercy Give it them else their Salvation is without All the Promises of the Gospel But the Quakers from this Confession of Mr. Crisp's Charge him Home and say that by this he owns all that they said against him as to the Abusing of them and their Writings nor is it Possible says the Pen-man for me to Wrong him for let me Represent him how I will I cannot Represent him a Greater Sinner than he thinks himself to be and Thanks God for it too And says that if they shou'd Represent him to be a Whoremonger Prophane Swearer Drunkard or Idolater c. this Confession of his Includes not only all those but all other Sins of all sorts and kinds how Gross soever such Bitter Enemies are they to Confession What sort of a Sinner wou'd they have Made St. Paul at this Rate from his Confession 1 Tim. 1.15 that he was the Chief of Sinners And to Dispute against these Brutes is a Martyrdom like that of his who was Condemn'd to Fight with less Guilty Beasts at Ephesus But I have Undergone it for their Good tho' I Receive the Thanks for it of him who wou'd Rouse a Sluggard out of his Sweet Slumber But some of them have been Rous'd therefore I Cease not my Pains to Recover more of them at least to Prevent others from falling into their Pit of Destruction I have Insisted longer upon this Point than was needful to overthrow the Poor Answer which G. W. gives to it But I did it because this is a Material Point it is the very Bolt of the Door which shuts the Quakers up in their Darkness by Perswading them never to Consider any more and be sure never to Repent i. e. That they Repented once for all when they first turn'd Quakers But after that they are Sinless and Perfect and so need no more Repentance G. Whitehead Denies That ther is Continual need of Repentance and Thomas Elwood Justifies him in this See Sat. Dis Sect. v. N. 2. p. 51. As he do's likewise in G. W's Assertion that the Righteousness in the Quakers is not Finit but Infinit ibid. Sect. 2. N. 7. p. 36. And then indeed what need of Repentance to the Quakers They are Past Repentance But G. W. Changes his Tune in his Christian Epistle to Friends An. 1689. For there he Complains Grievously of their Great Corruptions not only of a Few but that Few of them Nay very Few were what they ought to be very Few says he p. 9. have their Minds Exercis'd in frequent Prayer or in Heavenly Meditation c. But too many have their Hearts taken up with these Fading Objects and things Below Minding Earthly things c. And p. 10. he Charges them with Degenerating into Pride and Height of Spirit and Apparel as Too too Many do Says he of the Friends Contrary to Gravity Modesty Sobriety Plainess Simplicity Innocency and Humility And he goes on p. 11. Though some Formality and something of the Form of Truth they may have by outward Education yet says he 'T is not by the work of Regeneration for it is but Few in Comparison that Really Come in at That Door c. Here is a sad Account of the Quakers Infallibility which was Granted not only to some Eminent Quakers but as Burrough says in his Preface to Fox's Gr. Mystery p. 7. To Vs Every one of Vs in Particular Yet now it seems Most of them are Gone off And but very Few Left in the Truth And have those that are Behind any Greater Security than the others had Is ther not now Continual need of Repentance Is the Righteousness that is in Them not Finit but Infinit Can Infinit Righteousness Fail or Fall away Are not these Many and Grievous Sins of which the Greatest Part of the Quakers are Guilty Sufficient Matter for Publick Confession of Sin and Repentance among the Quakers No. No. That must not be Admitted They are Perfect and Sinless for all this As their Heavenly Father is Perfect And As He is so are they in this World Pursuant to this Principle ther is no Petition for Repentance or Forgiveness in all G. W's Long Prayer before Mentioned i. e. not for the Quakers only for the worlds People that they may turn to be
their Sufferings more Vnjust than the Sufferings of Christ That the Blood of Christ was no more than the Blood of another Saint That ther is no Heaven or Hell but Within Men That ther shall be no Resurrection of our Dead Bodies or General Judgment at the End of the world These are the men who call for Scripture for every thing And will allow of no Inferences But will have All in Express Words And yet they have set up the most Vn-scriptural Jargon that ever was heard of in the world They Demand Scripture for Christ's having any Human Nature in Heaven because they Deny it They Require Scripture for the Soul being Part of Man's Nature because they make it a Part of God as before shewn Let them then Produce Scripture for the Soul being a Part of God Gr. Mystery P. 90. for its being Infinit and without Beginning which they Assert in these Express words Will. Penn speaking of Baptism and The Lord's Supper Denies them to be Ordinances of Christ And for this Reason says he Reason against Railing p. 108. The Appellation Ordinances of Christ I therefore Renounce as Vn-scriptural and In-Evangelical Yet the Quakers call Womens-Preachings and Womens-Meetings set up by G. Fox The Good Ordinances which Christ Jesus hath set up in His Church And Accus'd those who oppos'd them Solom Eccles â—â—tter to 〈◊〉 Sto-John Babels Builders 1st Part. p. 15. of no less than Rebellion against the Living God This to all Considering men is sufficient to Render them Self-Condemn'd But they have a Salvo which will carry with their Deluded Followers that is That their Appealing to Scripture is only an Argumentum ad Hominem against those who do own the Holy Scriptures for their Rule which the Quakers do not but Resolve all into the Guidings of their Light within which they make the only True Gospel and Faith And my Design is not so much to Confound as to Convert them Therefore I wou'd Intreat the Sober-Minded among them to Consider of that Gospel and Faith which the Apostles Preached Whether they Taught a Faith in the Light within or rather a Faith in the Outward Jesus What was it which St. Peter Preach'd to Cornelius Ther was not a word of the Light within or Reading within Listning to that Within or the like But of Faith in the outward Jesus of Nazareth Act. x. 38 c. That through His Name whosoever Believeth in Him shall receive Remission of Sins And Cornelius had the Light within before and the Attestation of God that he had truly Follow'd it ver 2. And if that had been sufficient for Remission of Sins what needed another Faith in an Outward Man Jesus of Nazareth have been Preach'd to him And why was that Faith which Peter Preach'd call'd Words by which Cornelius and all his House shou'd be saved And that God had granted to the Gentiles Repentance unto Life Act. xl 14 18 by allowing the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth to be Preached unto them if Faith in the Light within and obedience to that had been Sufficient without any thing else If Good Cornelius had Dy'd before the Gospel had been Preach'd unto him as I before have said I will not take upon me to Determin of him but leave him to the Vn-covenanted Mercy of God But if Cornelius had Rejected the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth for the Remission of his Sins when Preach'd to him all his Former obedience to his Light within had not been Sufficient to Save him And therefore the case of the Vn-converted Gentiles upon which the Quakers do so much Depend will be no Relief to them who do after the Preaching of the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth set up their Faith in their Light within as Sufficient without It for the Remission of their Sins I do beseech these Quakers likewise to consider that large Description which the Apostle Paul gave of the Gospel which he Preached whether it was the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth His Outward Sufferings Death and Resurrection or the Faith in the Light within Moreover Brethren says he I Declare unto you the Gospel which I Preached unto you by which also ye are saved 1. Cor. xv 1 2 c. if ye keep in memory what I Preached unto you unless ye have Believed in vain For I Delivered unto you first of all that which I also Received how that Christ Dyed for our Sins according to the Scriptures And that He was seen of Cephas then of the Twelve After that He was seen of above Five hundred Brethren at once After that He was seen of James then of all the Apostles And last of all He was seen of Me also This cannot be Apply'd by any means to the Light within which cannot be seen of any body And this Great Article of the Resurrection of Christ was the Chief thing in consideration of which Matthias was Chosen in the Room of Judas Wherefore of these men which have Company'd with us Act. 1.21 22. all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same Day that He was Taken up from us must one be Ordained to be a witness with us of His RESVRRECTION This was the Great Foundation of the Christian Faith 1 Cor. xv 14. for says St. Paul If Christ be not Risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain Do's not this make the Faith in the Light within to be a Vain Faith At least this is a Demonstration that it was not the Faith which the Apostles Preached For the Apostles do Testify that the Faith which they Preached had been Vain if Christ be not Risen Yea and we are found False Witnesses of God say they because we have Testify'd of God that He Raised up Christ whom He Raised not up ver 15. if so be that the Dead Rise not But against all this Conviction the Quakers will not let this be Meant of the outward Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth but of the Rising up of the Light in their Hearts And therefore they come in for Witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ jointly with the Apostles Which is Monstrous to Believe But it is true For thus says Edw. Burrough in his works p. 42. We witness the same Christ made Manifest in Vs and His Resurrection not because Paul said so But we have seen it And are Witnesses of it And Will. Penn in his Primitive Christianity p. 103. Describing those who are True Ministers of Christ says Ministers of Christ are his Witnesses And the Credit of a Witness is that he has Heard Seen or Handled And thus the Beloved Disciple states the Truth and Authority of their Mission and Ministry 1. Joh. 1.1 3. That which we have Heard which we have Seen with our Eyes which we have Looked upon and our Hands have Handled that Declare we unto you I say if Christ's Ministers are His Witnesses they