a little below He was never so uncharitable as to judge that few or none were truly Pious or of a true Christian Spirit but such as were of the same Profession with him So that he was charitable it seems when he gave this Character of you in the Lump And I do not find he clears you yet except by such a particular Exception out of a general Rule which leaves you in the dark as to the Exemption to â—he Indemnification not to the Charge Whose Sense of you now if we may gather from his Judgment upon others in his Way cast up p. 35 36. where acknowâ—edging that the Lord had some among the Presbyteâ—ians who belonged to his true Church he saith Far the greatest Number of their Church-Members were of Gross and Scandalous Lives utterly Inconsistent with true Piety is not a very charitable one And â—re the rest of you sure he thinks better of you What he widely and without shew of proof alledgâ—th against us as oppugning the great Fundamentals of the Christian Religion and of nasty tearms and words used by â—me Preachers among us worse than Bill insgate which he â—lso assigns in general Tearms without specifying what â—hey were and who gave them while he applauds himself as never having that Faculty deserves not my notice except to reject as an unproved Slander The Man is gauled and fretted his Work being too heavy for him either to clear himself or make out his Charge against others whom if he cannot overturn with Arguments he would fain over-run with Noise But no Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every Tongue that shall rise against thee in Judgment thou shalt condemn said the Lord of his Heritage of old Isa 54.17 who is the same to his to day yesterday and for ever § 14 Thus having gone through G. K. his Explications and Retractations the Fruit of 18 Months Toil and shewed what poor silly shâ—fting deceitful and evasive Allegations he hath used all along more like 〈◊〉 Pedantick Trister and Quibbler his Charge upon others than a Man of sound Knowledge and Expression his owâ— Character of himself and also reflected upon his insincere and mincing Retractation of those few he pretendâ— to Correct as if in nothing Doctrinal he had erred buâ— only in an undue application of a Scripture or two noâ— unsound but unsafely worded and that many times delivered in ambiguous tearms I had once thought to havâ— Collected those Passages he hath wholly pretermitted and we have exposed in ours to which these are pretended as an Answer But considering this would adâ— too much to the Bulk of these which hath alreadâ— swelled beyond my desire and that it will necessarilâ— fall in in course if ever he reply to ours Five where of lye upon his Hands unanswered I forbear at presenâ— waiting to see whether the next 18 Months will producâ— a more mature Birth than the preceeding have done Yet not so but that I shall direct where they may 〈◊〉 found and what Subjâ—cts they Treat of I shall then premise that had he really designed tâ— purge himself satisfie his Reader and reclaim what hâ— could not defend or wherein his Judgment was altered he would have been so far from overlooking whole Books as he hath done his Light of Truth Way Cast up Way to City of God Presb. and Ind. Churches Christian Faith and Serious Appeal to which I may add his Postscript to G. W 's Nature of Christianity that he would rather have erred on the other hand by repeating them over and over as he insinuates in his Preface that we have done Nor would he have excused himself by a silly pretence depending upon his own Veracity without Demonstration that ours needed them not that we had perverted and wrested his words c. as hath been observed already And had he been really and conscienciously concerned or to use his own words p. 44. Did he with deep Regret acknowledge and blame his too great rashness in giving hard Names and passing uncharitable Censures on such as deserved it not he would have descended to a more particular Retractation and Explanation what the undeserved Names and Censures were and who deserved them not whereas now this limitation and reserve opens a way to him to make a Nose of Wax of his Recantation at pleasure as they please him or his future Circumstances put him in a condition either to stand in need of them or the contrary And whereas over-passing his more early Books he had Vindicated us so lately as in the Year 1692. even since he began to be litigious in America as sound with respect to most of if not all the Doctrines he now pretends we are unsound in and that from 28 Years converse both in publick Meetings and private Discourses even with the most noted and esteemed among us as he alledged Serious Appeal p. 7. and that this hath been objected to him both in my Apostate Exposed a Book G. K. is still Debtor to and elsewhere it is not sufficient for him now to heap up unproved Accusations against us without taking notice of what we have said in our Defence but to have offered had he designed a thorow Retractation even thereof something at least as an Evidence that his Opinion then was ill grounded and now leans upon a surer and faster bottom than that of Prejudice or a Personal Pique which every Judicious Reader knows is apt to miss-way the Judgment Thus far in general Now to be more particular 〈◊〉 come to recapitulate some of the Quotations G. K. hath wholly leapt over wherein what I give out of him in one Book I shall not offer again when brought by us in another as not designing more shew than substance The first I shall observe is what T. E. hath offered in his Truth Defended p. 47 to 50. out of G. K. his Imm. Rev. p. 179 188 190. relating to a knowing a Tree by its Fruits proceeding from an inward relish taste and discerning which G. K. hath not touched upon to Explain or Correct The next Treating concerning the Man Christ as being Man from the beginning before outwardly Born and Conceived of the Virgin that as inwardly revealed he was a Lamb or Sacrifice to attone and pacifie God's Wrath to Man the promised Seed the Seed of the Woman that did actually bruise the Serpent's Head ever since the Fall had inward Flesh which thâ— Holy Men fed on in ALL AGES and that more thaâ— visible Flesh is the Ransom out of G. K. his Imm. Rev p. 226. Way cast up p. 93 to 99 and p. 102 103 104 111 141 142. Way to City of God p. 125 and Rect. Corr. p. 20 21 27 28. may be seen in T. E's Truth Defended p. 117 119 91 94 104 142 150 and in his Answ to Narr p. 36 46 86 87 100. opâ—posed there to G. K. his late Sentiments For whaâ— he gives but even a transient touch at the Page how little soever
begging of the question who himself had once acquitted us and that even from the Errors he would now fasten upon us yea and out of some of the same Books he then cited in our Vindication and we still continue to defend as unjustly imputed to us whereas his own let him call them Errors or some more diminutive name if he please he hath assigned as needing both Explication Emendation and Correction His second Assigning his own to be Motes ours Beams is too idle for me to take notice of as thinking his Testimony on his own behalf not valid His Thirdly alledging our Excommunicating him is as shallow For had not that drawn him to be Vindictive it would rather have stirred him up by a free and open Retraction to have approved himself to have exceeded us in Confessing and Forsaking And his lastly is all of a piece with his second That what he hath retracted or renounced was never judged by him an Article of Faith and that we have not proved him contradicting in his latter Books any Article of Faith asserted in his former Books To which I reply Had he not done his work by halves he would have found cause to have retracted his doctrinal Errors Errors which every body else that knows what Errors are will acknowledge to relate to Articles of Faith and which as suc◠we have exhibited and argued upon which must be left to the indifferent Reader 's Judgment who hath read his and our Books In the mean time I enter upon examining those before me which he hath here pretended to explain or correct which I also submit to the Judicious whether they relate not to Articles of Faith and also whether G. K. hath at length done his Work Well Sincerely and Conscientiously or on the contrary Sect. I. § 1 Beginning then with his first Section Containing as he saith divers Explanations and Emendations of Passages out of his Book of Immediate Revelation not ceased Printed Anno 1668 and reprinted with an Appendix Anno 1676 in his § 1. he saith Some but who he saith not are offended at the Term Immediate Revelation and mis-construe it to a wrong Sence never intended by him as if he thereby did signifie such a Revelation as did give us the Doctrinal Knowledge and Faith of Christian Religion and Principles thereof without the Holy Scriptures or other outward means of Instruction To which I answer The People called Quakers are not concerned in this Charge at least with respect to the Term Immediate Revelation for they allow the thing and dispute not against the Term. And what himself hath said on behalf of the Necessity and Usefulness of Immediate Revelation the Book it self will plainly evidence Yet lest this Reference may seem too general a way I dislike in my Antagonist let the Reader consult the Preface and he will find G. K. there represents this Doctrine of Immediate Revelation a great and weighty Matter which it hath been in his Heart once and again from the Lord to write of saying that It REMAINETH and is of necessary continuance in the true Church Not only for the Preservation Safety and comfortable Walking of the Saints with God but also in order to Men and Womens becoming Saints And that there is no Immediate Revelation now-a-days as the common Priviledge of the Saints he accounts such a Fundamental Error in Men that the greatest part of their other Errors are built on it as 1. That the Scriptures outward Testimony is most necessary and that no true and saving Knowledge of God is to be attained but by the Scriptures being read or heard See Preface p. 1 2. Now hence I argue If it be an Error according to G. K. to assert that the Scriptures outward Testimony is most necessary and that no true and saving Knowledge of God is to be attained but by the Scriptures being read or heard Then it is G. K. his Sense and not a Mis-construction thereof that a Saving Knowledge of God may be attained by Immediate Revelation without the help of the Scriptures and that the Scriptures outward Testimony is not most necessary in his Judgment And this Saving Knowledge must be a Knowledge of the Christian Religion except he be prepared to retract his Retraction But to obviate this Offence and Mistake as he terms it he recommends the Reader to what he hath said from p. 38. to p. 42. of that Book but cites no passage out of it where I distinguish saith he of means intermitting and transmitting and shew that it is the intermitting means that hinders the Revelation to be Immediate but not the transmitting Answ Here he Shuffles the Debate here is not whether Revelation be Immediate or no when transmitted through organized Instruments either the Holy Scriptures or Men divinely inspired but whether he hath asserted such an Immediate Revelation is not ceased as is received with either the one or the other That the Reader may inform himself of even in p. 40 within the compass of G. K. his Reference for he there saith We find that he sometimes useth outward means and sometimes he useth them not but conveigheth unto us from and through his own Seed and Birth in us the living Manifestations and Communications of his Life Will and Council many yea MOST TIMES without all Means or Instruments from without for most times we are left alone as to Instruments or Means without us I would advise him therefore in his next either to retract this Passage which is within the Pages he hath so lately recommended to us or his referring us thereto to obviate the pretended Mistake and Offence for this Passage will hamper him else Now let us see whether he mends the matter by his other Book called Divine Immediate Revelation for he tells us that in p. 44. thereof as an instance He did own the Holy Scriptures to be a necessary means to give us the true Knowledge and Faith of Christian Doctrines and Principles But that his own Citation saith not but only that all other Doctrine and Heads of the Christian Religion which he calls special the other general Religion are made known to us by the Scripture means the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring c. Which doth not prove that they are a necessary means a sine quâ non that without which the Knowledge cannot be conveighed but that they are profitable and useful means when attended with Divine Illumination and Inspiration and therefore not ad rem What he would have noted that twelve Years ago he distinguished between Gentile and Christian Religion saith he between special and general Religion say I though some call this a new Doctrine in him so to distinguish I think hath little of weight in it except he had told us who his Accusers were For my part I do not account it a New Doctrine in him to distinguish between special and general Religion yet I do esteem it a Contradiction to say as in p. 63. of
that Book Cornelius received the Spirit immediately and yet obtained it further by means of Peter's Preaching And again to assert It is an Error to say Cornelius had the Holy Ghost in his Gentile State but the Holy Ghost was promised PARTICULARLY to Believers in him to such ONLY who believe in Christ crucified and raised again c. Truth Advanced p. 70. neither of which he hath yet retracted He goes on Seeing the word Immediate Revelation is no Scripture Term though Revelation is I can freely consent that the word Immediate be not pressed or imposed on any Answ This is idle all over We are not entring into a Strife of words with him but will he retract the things will he say Revelation is not Immediate now a days which in two former Books he hath asserted that it is and entitled one of them Immediate Revelation not ceased the other Divine Immediate Revelation continued in the True Church and told us the ill Consequences of denying it assigning it as such a Fundamental Error that the greatest part of their other Errors are built on it and indeed the whole Superstructure of their Church and Ministry as to its outward Constitution see Preface to Imm. Rev. p. 1. This were he sincere he would either retract or fairly maintain but instead of that he playeth upon words and acts the Sophister to his great Shame were he not past it For whereas even in p. 42. of Imm. Rev. a Page he recommends us to even now he could then say These who minister not immediately from the immediate Communications of Life in their own Hearts can do us no good for they cannot Minister and transmit the Communications of Life who have it not in themselves such are Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain said he then Now such Ministers who he knows still oppose Immediate Revelation and deny an immediate Call are by him reputed Pious which is far from being Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain for to such was reserved the Blackness of Darkness for ever Jude 12.13 and perhaps given with a design to lick their Fingers as well as that he hath laboured to irritate them against us for to suppress our Books and disturb our Meetings that he might be eased of that Task he is so uneasie under and hath hitherto so unsuccessfully wearied himself with § 2 To sweeten them and make Friends to himself of what he might as well account the Mammon of Unrighteousness as Wells without Water and Clouds without Rain he in § 2. mincingly gives part of what he had said in the Preface to Imm. Rev. viz. His blaming them who say the Scriptures are a filled-up Canon c. And p. 4. of the Book it self Though no new Essentials are to be added yet a new and fuller and clearer Testimony may be added concerning the same old Essentials This last passage he clips egregiously for he there said Now though we say That the Scriptures are a full and perfect Testimony of all the Essentials of the Christian Religion yet we believe contrary to these of the National way that they are not a Canon so filled up as no more is to be added unto them from the same immediate Inspiration of the Spirit of God through his Servants of the SAME AUTHORITY with them for though no new Essentials are to be added yet a new and fuller and clearer Testimony may be added concerning the same old-Essentials Now as it is not his present Interest to give his Belief contrary to those of the National way for he craves their help against us so instead of being so sincere as to retract it he slips it over in silence And that his Belief now and his Belief then may not seem to interfere he puts a Trick upon his Reader concealing those words where he had said the Scriptures are not a Canon so filled up as no more is to be added to and from the conclusiv◠words drawn from the Premises he bids us note th◠words may be added as importing the Possibility of such◠thing as if he had delivered nothing positive had no◠asserted they were not a Canon so filled up as no mor◠is to be added to but had been only proposing an Addition as a thing not impossible A plain downrigh◠Retraction even of an Error had been more to hi◠Credit than this false and deceitful Subterfuge whereby the Man shews he rather labours to put a false Gloss upon his Cause than ingeniously to Recant what now he is unwilling to defend To this he adds Whether God shall be pleased to add to the Books of the Holy Scripture other Books of the same Authority in any time to come before the end of the World I judge it not safe for me to determine either in the Affirmative or the Negative Answ If he had not by with holding that part of the Citation I have given and a perusing the Sence of that which he hath given which he could never have done unespied had he cited the whole as he ought cast a Mist before his Readers Eyes it would have been obvious that G. K. formerly was so far from not judging it safe for him to determine the Matter Negatively or Affirmatively that he hath given his own Sence in the Affirmative that Books of the same Authority with the Scriptures may be added Who were he now otherwise minded and of an honest Mind not to mis-guide and abuse his Reader would rather have retracted and given this as the Fruit of his second Thoughts than to have offered this as his then Sentiments which were not so and would have been evident not to have been so had the Citation been fairly given I am perswaded that as the Learned among the Church of England will readily see so the Pious will abhor his palpable Deceit and Prevarication § 3 In his § 3. He labours to excuse his blaming them who deny that there is an Infallible way whereby to discern the True Ministers and Members of Christ's Church from the False he had added in that Preface to Imm. Rev. Whence proceeds that promiscuous mixt Number of Teachers and People whereof their Church is composed who are GENERALLY void of any Experience of a gracious Work in their Hearts but this he slily drops as not ingenious enough to retract it nor daring to defend it by telling us Though such a discerning was given at times to the Prophets and Apostles and others extraordinarily endued whereby to know Mens inward States without regard had to their Fruits yet the general way that Christ hath given whereby to know Men is by their Fruits of Words and Works whether Good or Evil. Answ Surely he makes meer Babies of Men of other Perswasions if they may not be supposed to know as well as himself that at times extraordinary Men have been extraordinarily qualified Nor was it in debate then between him and his Antagonists whether the Prophets and Apostles had the Gift of discerning
Death So foully hath he prevaricated in wresting his words to what they will not bear nor were not designed to bear when given He goes on This was never intended by me to lâ—ssen or obscure that great Truth of the Gospel That the Man Christ is the Promised Seed of Abraham in the true literal Sense and without all Allegory as he was born of the Blessed Virgin and that Promised Seed of the Woman that should bruise the Serpents head Answ What he intended is best interpreted by what he said except he would perswade us that he said one thing meant another I shall not therefore think much to transcribe a Passage or two already given in our former Books and not yet retracted by him In his Way cast up p. 99. he saith Though the outward Coming of the Man Christ was deferred according to his outward Birth in the Flesh for many Ages yet from the Beginning this Heavenly Man the PROMISED SEED did inwardly come into the Hearts of those that believed in him and bruised the Head of the Serpent and destroyed him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And in Way to the City of God p. 125. Even from the Beginning yea upon Man's Fall God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and Christ was manifest in the HOLY SEED inwardly and stood in the way to ward off the Wrath of God from the Sinners and Unholy that it might not come upon them to the uttermost during the day of their Visitation For even at Man's Fall the Seed of the Woman was given not only to bruise the Serpent's Head but also to be a Lamb or Sacrifice to attone and pacifie the Wrath of God towards Men. And also p. 128. he Queries Why might not Christ suffer in Men before his outward Coming as he doth now suffer in them long after it Again The Seed hath been the SAME in all Ages and hath had its Sufferings under by and for the Sins of Men in them all for the removing and ABOLISHING of them This I bring not to entertain a strife about words but seeing he absolutely told us what he ever intended I demand the Intent hereof whether he did not then acknowledge Christ's Appearance as a Seed and the Effects thereof both to reconcile attone and pacifie the Wrath of God towards Men and also to bruise the Head of the Serpent was previous to that of his being born of the Blessed Virgin the which he knows to be that which we have all along pinched him with out of his former Writings and which to this day he hath neither retracted nor defended § 13 Whereas he had said Imm. Rev. p. 87. ' The Soul speaks to God in the Son Through him not at a distance but near He now § 13. saith His Sense was not at a discontinued distance but both near and afar off Answ This idle Shift will not help him he is positive he is not a distance but near and adds Where his living Drawings are felt his eternal Power is felt making way for the Soul unto God breaking through all the Powers of Darkness c. And is that Presence wherein the livings Drawings are felt c. at a distance absent not near even within say I Yea Christ is near as Mediator He is Man's Advocate unto God and there is none to intervene or come betwixt God and the Soul but Christ the alone Mediator to whom God speaks in his Son said G. K. but a little above and in p. 88. speaks of the Appearance of Jesus to mediate in Men which could not be spoke of the Body received of the Virgin and now glorified in Heaven for that is at a distance not near but of that Presence which is not at a distance but near even of him who is the high and holy one that inhabits Eternity with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit Isa 57.15 Nor will his Notion of a discontinued distance help him but rather shew he is a meer Shuffler First for that it is no Scripture Phrase Yet expresly delivered in the Scriptures in plain express Scripture-terms therefore by his own Rule Truths Defence p. 170 171. should not be required by one sort from another as an Article of Faith or Doctrine or Principle of the Christian Religion 2ly However it may hold in the Mathematical Science with respect to a direct Line which extends from the place near to another remote and afar off yet here Vbiquity being an Attribute not only of the Deity but even of the Man Christ according to his own Assertion Way Cast up p. 130 131. and not yet retracted so that God and Christ are every where not confined or circumscribed to a remoteness as in a direct Line where one part is near the other afar off this distinction will not hold 3ly What he alledges out of Acts 17.27 where Men are bid to seek the Lord if happily they may feel after him and find him reacheth not his purpose viz. That he is not at a discontinued distance It being spoken of the Vnfaithful and even to them God was not afar off however they might be far from him so as to feel and find him For that which may be inwardly felt and found is not far off But hear him again I did not intend in the least saith he by asserting the Mediation and Intercession of the Mediatory Spirit of Christ in the Saints to deny or derogate from Christ's Mediation and Intercession without us in Heaven Answ Neither do we But what doth he retract then if it be still good Doctrine that Christ is Mediator in his inward Appearance in Man as well as in Heaven What hath he been hitherto contending with us about in his several envious Pamphlets Will he give up the Cause at last and cry Peccavi for his fierce opposing and slandering us as denying Christ's Mediatorship upon this very foot rather than retract this Passage Or will he do neither but twist and twine and wriggle in constant Inconstancy and neither plainly renounce nor plainly defend what he hath so plainly asserted formerly § 14 He would perswade us if he could § 14. that by these words Imm. Rev. p. 99. Jesus Christ revealed in Man is the Foundation of the true Church He did not mean only and alone the Light Within but that the true Knowledge and Faith of Christ as he is both God and Man and who as Man died rose and ascended c. is grounded upon him as inwardly revealed c. Answ He was not speaking of Jesus Christ revealed TO Man but of his being revealed IN Man which is the Scope of his Argument from p. 99 to 129. Who in p. 101. saith Christ must be revealed by the Father before he became a Foundation this is that which buildeth which edifieth the effectual Working in every part the Revelation of the Arm of the Lord IN Man's Heart And p. 103. having told us that Whatsoever Church
need of them That many called Vniversity Men have had among whom he reckons Wickliff Luther Cranmer c. and may now have a good measure of true Spiritual Knowledge he pretends he dares not be so Vncharitable as to deny Answ What his Sentiments may have been or yet are of particular Men I do not enquire what they have been of the Order of the Degree is manifest out of the same p. 137. where he goes on thus Then down should all the proud lording lofty Clergy with their many Degrees of Doctorships Lordships and Masterships pass who being Strangers to the true Knowledge are vainly puffed up in their Fleshly Minds by the Form of Knowledge in the Letter c. This is it which I laid before him once before in my Keith against Keith p. 143. and which he hath not yet retracted nay nor took notice of here though he gave us a Passage even now out of the same Page which shews the Man had rather slide over it than either defend it and so displease the Clergy he would now fawn on or renounce and disclaim it as an Error in him formerly and so be reputed a Man changed in his Judgment by those few who hold with him and would still be reputed Quakers viz. His Flock at Turners-hall which yet recommends him not as sincere to either Nor will an excepting some out of a general Rule while this Hand-writing is upon the Wall against him satisfie any Men of Judgment that are of that Order and Degree he hath thus reflected on and who are not willing to be imposed upon that this is a reasonable and adequate Compensation for those Epithets so lavishly bestowed upon them both in the place above and elsewhere § 18 In this § 18. he gives us a new Exposition I never heard of from him before of what he did understand by the Historical Knowledge and Faith viz. That Knowledge and Faith that respects the History of Christ's Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascension c. with all the Circumstances of Times Places and Names of Persons c. as related by the four Evangelists which elsewhere but he doth not say where he hath called the express or explicit Knowledge and Faith which many of the Faithful never had But the Doctrine of Christ simply considered he saith is one thing and the History or Historical Revelation of the many Circumstances of Times Places and Persons c. â—dâ—lating to that Doctrine is another thing Answ That this is a meer Shift the Objection raised Imm. Rev. p. 228. which he gives not and his answer will fully declare and evince The Objection was That G. K. did not mention any thing of the History or Historical Parts of Christ's Birth Life Miracles c. mark he did not say of the Circumstance of Time Place or Persons but of the History c. as being any Essential part of this new Revelation whereupon his Adversary brands him with Familism G. K. answers p 229. by distinguishing the parts of Religion into those necessary to the Being of it and those not necessary to the Being of it which he thus summeth up The Knowledge and Belief of the History of Christ his outward Coming Birth Life c. and of the other Historical parts oâ— the Scriptures are such parts of our Religion and Faith as are to make up the Intiredness or Fullness of it But that the Historical Knowledge and Faith is not an essential part of true Religion he instanceth in Cornelius whose Prayers God heard and yet he knew not the History of Christ nor of his Death and Sufferings till it was preached unto him by Peter p. 230. By all which it appears what he then meanâ— by Historical Knowledge and Faith viz. Not the Circumstances of Times Places and Persons only but that Relation which Cornelius wanted and for want whereoâ— he denies in his late Book stiled Truth Advanced p. 45 and 70. him to have received the Holy Ghost in his Gentile State Who sure must be very uncharitable to Cornelius and the many Faithful who never knew alâ— the Circumstances of Times Places and Persons c. as alledged even now if they having the Essentials oâ— Religion and being destitute only of the Circumstanceâ— of the History not of the History it self must thereupon miss of having the Holy Ghost which is the natural Consequence of this new Interpretation of Historicaâ— Knowledge and Faith Yet to make it yet more fully appear hear him further p. 232. where he saith In them who have not the Scriptures the Spirit and Light sufficiently teacheth them the parts of Religion absolutely necessary without the Scripture to which parts the History of the Scripture doth not belong What parts are those say I For the Spirit doth not teach the Knowledge of Christ's Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascension c. without the Scripture omitting Circumstances of Time Place c. therefore he could not formerly mean as he now saith but his saying so now is a false Pretence See also p. 243. where he saith True Religion and Christianity may subsist without the Knowledge of Christ in the Letter to wit In the Mystery of the Life of Christ in the Spirit and yet even here where the History is wanting he doth not say the Circumstance of Time Place c. the Mystery or in-side of Christianity is not without its skin or out-side namely an outward Confession unto God c. This I doubt not but he would now account Deism in us but I observe he did not then oppose Mystery to Mystery but Letter to Mystery out-side to in-side yea that he admitted of an outside viz. an outward Confession unto God which might subsist without the Knowledge of Christ in the Letter which is more than bare Circumstances of Time Place or Persons even where the History is wanting And that in the Mystery of the Life of Christ in the Spirit So that then true Religion and Christianity with him might subsist in the Mystery without the History Nor was it the Debate between him and his Antagonist whether all the Circumstances were Essential to true Religion but whether the literal and historical Knowledge was so which G. K. denied as hath been already instanced Now upon his thus Expounding Explicit and Implicit Knowledge he tells us He knows not any thing to be found in all his former Writings to the contrary notwithstanding the Attempts of his Ignorant Adversaries who affirm it and whom he hath sufficiently Answered as he pretends in diverse of his late Books particularly that called Ant. and Sadd. detected Answ This is a very nimble way of Purgation to say he doth not know it is to be found in his Books yet confesseth we have affirmed it but where he saith not and alledgeth he hath sufficiently Answered us but for that he names but one of his Books particularly and in that assigns neither Page nor Passage that the Reader might be forced to take all upon Trust
number 400 as 〈◊〉 adds p. 116. being produced of Four answering 〈◊〉 the Four Elemental Principles and Qualities of thâ— Body and the number Ten to the Ten Commandments which may be branched forth into other Teâ—â— And a little lower p. 116. that the Graves that shaâ— be opened at the Resurrection are not any visiblâ— places on the Globe of this Earth but certain invisible places to our Carnal Eyes where they are lodgeâ— until the time of the Resurrection And p. 117. Thus commonly Men have two Graves the first giveâ— them by Men till the Separation be made betwixt thâ— Kernel and the drossy part by Putrefaction as suppose after a Year more or less the second giveâ— them by God c. Now he having in the close of these thus summed up the Matter p. 118. viz. But against the Doctrine of the Resurrection as HERE delivered and opened by plain Evidence of Holy Scripture and in Scripture-words and tearms to whicâ— it is only safe to keep in this and all other things c. I in my Keith against Keith p. 46 47 and 141. pâ— him upon giving plain Evidence of Scripture and iâ— Scripture-words and tearms for these his Monstrouâ— Notions of the Resurrection Whereby the Readeâ— may perceive I give better Light into the Controversie as well as assign Page and Passage than G. K. hatâ— done who now dare leave it with the Judicious wheâ—ther G. K. hath not administred occasion to be reflected on as transgressing his own Rule He saith p. 34. The word without is easily understood when we speak of Earth Sun Moon Stars Judea Moses David that they were without us and that Christ was Born at Bethlehem and Bethlehem was without us and adds at the close it had been as little needful to have mentioned Christ without us as Heaven without us as Judea without us had not that wild Notion of many who own no Christ without nor Heaven Resurrection nor Day of Judgment without occasioned it Answ This is to Slander not prove nay he doth not so much as attempt to prove it wherefore as a false Charge I reject it To the rest I say whatever Exposition agreeable to the Scriptures may be allowed to another G. K. having precluded himself by that Passage Cited Truths Defence p. 170 171. ought not to Claim it For his saying ' Nothing should be required from one sort to another as an Article of Faith c. but what is expresly delivered in Scripture in plain EXPRESS Scripture-tearms signifieth either something or nothing If nothing what was it said for If something where 's the boundary We see how largely he hath ranged in what hath been given above by C. P. and my self Who while pretending to be of the same Mind still as formerly now interpreteth his meaning to be not that every word must be expressed in so many Letters and Syllables when there is no necessary occasion for it but in plain easie terms as are equivalent to Scripture terms But who shall be judge of the occasion say I or that the tearms are equivalent For this brings all into uncertainty again if G. K. may be his own judge It is as much as to say They must be delivered in plain Scripture-tearms which are obvious to every one that can read or in equivalent terms of which my self not the Reader shall be judge And upon this stock as he hath already grafted his Hydra of Absurdities and Contradictions enough to nauseate the Sober and Inâ—telligent so may he superfoetuate upon them at pleaâ—sure who had he kept to Scripture-words and expressions perhaps had found never a Stone to fling at Friendâ— in America § 9 The substance of what he gives out of Truth Defence p. 191 192. is that the Sacrifice of Christ's Death did truly extend for the Remission of Sins past from the beginning of the World that all the Believers that lived under the Law and Prophets and before the Law were saved by Faith in Christ and by Vertue of his Death and Offerings once for all all have had have or shall have a Day of Visitation and shall be accountable to the Man Christ on the score of his Dying for them Upon this he descants p. 35. not retracting but defending it as proving that he did not place our WHOLE Salvation upon an inward Principle excluding the Man Christ Jesus from being jointly concerned with his Light Grace and Spirit in Men as he falsly saith many called Quakers do And that he then held that all who were saved in any Age of the World were saved by Faith in Christ as well before he came in the Flesh as since All which is granted him as I have often told him but whether that Faith was ALWAYS attended with a Revelation that he came and suffered outwardly else NOT SAVING is the Matter in Controversie For whereas some had objected There can be no Justification without Faith in Christ but these Gentiles had not Faith in Christ G. K. answers by denying the second Proposition Vni Gr. p. 30. that they had not Faith in Christ And how did he prove that may some say Did he offer to prove that they had an Implicit Faith in Christ his late distinction or that they might have the History of what Christ did and suffered or was to do and suffer without Circumstances of Times Places or Persons a new-coined fetch he hath in Sect. I. § 18. of these nothing less But as he had said Imm. Rev. p. 243. that true Religion and Christianity may subsist without the History of Christ in the Letter to wit in the Mystery of the Life of Christ in the Spirit and yet even here where the History is wanting the Mystery or Inside of Christianity is not without its Skin or Outside namely an outward Confession to God c. So here Vni Gr. p. 30. he saith If they did cleave unto and believe in the Light they believed in Christ for he is the Light nor is the outward Name that which saveth but the inward Nature Vertue and Power signified thereby which was made manifest in them c. So that Faith in the inward Manifestation was Faith in Christ then with G. K. and also Saving This he calls ibid p. 34. the main and principal Thing the Word of Faith the Gentiles did share in with the Jews that whoever among the Gentiles did believe and call upon the Name of the Lord were saved no less than the Jews And ibid p. 56. he calls it Some Manifestation of him in and among the Gentiles sufficient to Salvation As well as that he had said ibid p. 36. The very Gospel hath been preached to ALL otherwise they should never have been charged with not having obeyed it All which I offer that G. K. may not couch himself under general tearms and thereby cast a Mist before his Reader 's Eyes as he endeavours to do in what follows where he saith That by Faith in Christ I meant the Man