that believing is which closing with that Object of faith is therefore called faith and not else 1. The Object of faith is the same that was preached by the Apostles for the obedience of faith or to the faith Gal. 1. 23. Rom. 1 3 4 5. and 16. 25 26. The most holy faith in believing to be built up in Jude 20 The precious faith of Gods elect Tit. 1 1 2 Pet. 1 2. Which object though one yet is three ways considerable 1. In respect of the most inmost and absolute Object the further and full stay of the soul and that is God Almighty the divine essence of God in Christ as evidenced by the holy Ghost in his infinite power love mercy truth c. And so God is called the trust of his people Psal 40. 4 and 17 3 5. 2. The most inmost and absolute medium which the believer discerns comes to and fastens on God and that is Jesus Christ the son of God become man the Saviour of the world c. Rom. 1 2 3 4 5. John 4. 42. 1 John 4. 14. And this as he is set forth in Scripture John 7. 37 38. Rom. 16. 26. Both in respect of what he hath done in his incarnation death resurrection sacrifice by which he made peace obtained redemption compleated righteousness and received spirit in the man and for men and what by vertue of all this he is doing in his mediation between God man and appearing in the heavens before God interceeding for transgressors and advocating and mediateing in speciall manner for believers affording and continuing means and sending forth spirit to the rebellious that the Lord God might dwell amongst them and to believers to lead them into all truth and what by reason and vertue of all said he is even the propitiation for sins wisdom righteousness holiness and redemption the Saviour of sinners the head of believers the fountain of life the Lord and Judge of all And what he hath assured in his 〈…〉 confirmed by his blood that he will do in his visible and glorious 〈…〉 the dead and causing all his peculiar to appear in glory with him and bring 〈…〉 before his judgements seate to acknowledge him and receive 〈…〉 1 Tim. 2 4 5 6. Tit. 1. 1. 2 3. and 2. 11. -14 and 3 -4. 7. And thus is Jesus Christ both the Object of faith and living and enlivening medium by which any comes to God and believe in God Heb. 7. 25. 1 Pet. 1. 21. 3 The instrumentall and outward Object or medium through which God in Christ and his well pleasedness in him and the things above mentioned are declared and according to which he is to be beheld believed and trusted in which is the faith the Apostles preached and wrote to be obeyed in believing and this is the word and Gospel of God and Christ as testified and recorded by the spiration and inspiration of the Holy Ghost in the holy Scriptures John 5. 39. and because so reported it is called his name Psal 138. 2. and believing him is in believing his Gospel Mark 1. 15. Joh. 2. 22. and 5. 47. and begins in glorifying his word Acts 13. 38. and so right believing on him is believing on him as the Scripture hath said John 7. 37. and according to his word and so trusting him in his word Pal. 56. 3 4. 10 11. and so to us-ward this is the first and outward Object and medium nigh to us discovering God and Christ that we may trust rightly in him the next which through this is come to the inmost living mediate Object discovered in that word and through that word believed in is Jesus Christ as aforesaid and so through Christ the last and most inmost and absolute Object is God in Christ 1 Tim. 4 10. Rom. 4. 24. and so the Object of faith is one that is God in Christ as discovered by his Spirit in the Gospel and this is the faith of which these opposers discover themselves by their own words to be void and of no judgement as after also may more appear 2. As for that believing which closeth with this Object of faith and is therefore called faith it is in holy Scripture shewen to have these three things in it together in one 1. A right discerning judgement and perswasion of God in Christ according to the discovery of himself in this word and testimony and begotten by this word and testimony Joh. 5. 39. 44. 47. and 7. 37. 2 Thes 1. 10. Rev. 19. 10 Heb. 11. 13. 2. From and with this an hearty imbracement of this discerned and from thence an unfeined believing and trusting in God for all the grace and glory in Christ promised Heb. 11. 13. Rom. 4. 18 -25 and 5. 8 9 10. 2 Tim. 4. 18. 3. Thirdly a yielding up the heart and powers to be saved and framed in affections choise and endeavours of service by the teachings allurements and operation of this grace believed Isa 45. 22. 2 Cor. 5. 20. Cant. 1. 3 4. and 2. 4 5 6. Phil. 3. 3 7 8 9. 1 Pet. 1. 5 6. 8. Rom. 6. 17. Tit. 2. 11 -14 Heb. 11. 13. And in these three meeting in one is that believing that closing with and receiving this Object of faith that is rightly called faith which had these opposers known they would not have avouched it an errour to say that Jesus Christ the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit dwelleth in believers by faith for by faith the Object discovered and believing or faith in the heart begot there they receive his word or testimony into their hearts Jam. 1. 18. 2 Cor. 3. 3. and where this word abideth in the heart there and so is Christ John 15. 4. 7. 1 John 2 24. and 5. 10. and 2. 9. And here through the Holy Ghost discovering Christ and the things of Christ the vertues of his death resurrection fulness sacrifice and by his divine light breathing and power glorifying him to their hearts John 15. 26 27. and 16. 13 14 15. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Rom. 4. 25. draweth them more on Christ 1 Pet. 2. 5. From whom they receive and believing have in them remission of sins Acts 10. 43. Col. 2. 13. Justification and peace with God in Christ access to God in that grace and hope of glory Rom. 5 1 2. 8 9 10 11. 1 Cor. 6. 11. And as these are by the word and spirit witnessed in them and received by them so and thereby is Christ in them 1 John 5. 10. 20. Col. 1. 27. And by the word and Spirit in it with these riches received is effected in them an inner man a new heart new Spirit the mind and disposition of Christ Ephes 4. 20 -24 Col. 3. 10 11. Rom. 8. 14 15. 1 Cor. 2. 16. 2 Cor. 3. 3. 17 18. And as this Spirit and mind and faith and love is in them so and therein is Christ and God in Christ in them ◠John 3. 24. and 4. 13. 16. And from this
and grew in body and waxed strong in Spirit fil'd with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him Mat. 2. 13. to the end Luke 2. 39 40 c. And when in that body of his he was twelve years old going up with his parents to Jerusalem when they returned he tarried behind them Which he could not have done if personally or essentially in them as in that his own body and after seeking him three dayes with sorrow at last they found him not in themselves or in other persons but in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them which was part of his abasement and service and his mother hid or kept not his body within her womb any more after born of her but his sayings in her heart And after John the son of Zachary and Elizabeth his messenger had been preparing his way Baptizing and Preaching the Baptisme of Repentance he himself came the Text saith not into but unto John to be baptized of him And when he was Baptized the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from Heaven saying not of John but of Jesus This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased a like voice after in his transiguration before three of his Disciples they heard from Heaven not speaking of them but of him whence they said that he not they received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the Excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1. 17 18. with Mat. 17. 1. 5. And so John his fore-runner having both seen and heard professed not himself but this Jesus to be the Christ and pointed to him not as in himself or as in other men but as a distinct person standing not in every of them but among them the beholders though they knew him not and proclaimed him to be and called men to behold him as such the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World John 1. 19. 36. and 3. 26. 36. After this the same Jesus of Nazareth manifested himself and walked up and down more openly and generally among the Jewes Preaching the Gospel and doing good calling and choosing Disciples and was approved of God amongst Friends and Enemies by miracles and signes which God wrought by him in the midst of them such as none before him ever did nor after any like works but in his Name but he was hated of the Sadduces that denied the Resurrection of the dead of the Pharisees that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous and by their means of the chief of the People and of many of the inferiour also At last they arreigned and falsly condemned him and delivered him to Pilate and so to the Gentiles to be Crucified and he was by them hung upon the Tree and Crucified and when dead was buried by two Honourable persons not in themselves but in a new Sepulchre which was sealed and watched by Souldiers that he might not be stolen away unto all which the Father delivered him and he gave himself for our sins But he in the same body that was dead and buried even Jesus of Nazareth rose again the third day and was witnessed by Angels to be risen and not to be there in the grave the emptinesse of which place the orderly lying of the cloathes witnessing the same And then he appearing to his Disciples shewed himself alive in that very Body having the very same flesh and bones hands and feet though now in another quality viz. Spiritual Immortal in which they had foreseen him Mortal then he acquainted them with the ends necessity of his Death and Resurrection and shewed opened to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself opening their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures gave them the Gospel which he had received from his Father Commission with commandment to Preach it make it known out of the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of Faith and having prayed for their Sanctification fitnesse to that service and for blessing on all that after should believe through their word he also promised his Spiritual presence with them in that Ministration to the end of the World After which while he blessed them and while they beheld he was parted from them in that body of his and ascended and was received up into Heaven and according to his promise did soon after send down and powre out upon them the Holy Ghost to furnish and enable them to their Ministry And so he hath already come in the flesh and perfected all that he was to do in his own body in his first coming as all that read and believe the record God hath given of his Son and caused to be written for our instruction may plainly and more fully discern Nor was this coming of his ever so seen nor but by Faith of any before those times no though it hath been desired by many of them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luk. 10. 23 24. But by Faith they saw it and rejoyced John 8. 56. with Heb. 11. 1. 12. Nor yet hath it ever been so seen of any since the Apostles so saw it and him 1 Cor. 15. 5. 8. and Chap. 9. 1. with Chap 4. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Nor will he ever come in that manner to suffer and do over those things again so to be seen John 16. 10. Rom. 6. 9 10. Acts 13. 34. But these things are written concerning him even this Jesus that we may believe that he is the Son of God the Lords Christ and that believing we may have life through his Name John 20. 31. And so our sight is onely in believing by Faith as Heb. 11. 1. 3 Yea they are pronounced blessed that having not seen him so as the Apostles did yet have believed John 20. 29. In which believing to understand and know him to have come in the flesh and to have done and to be that for us as the Testimony recorded declareth is to know him not after the flesh or carnal and sensual mind but after the Spirit according to the Testimony he hath already given of him and in his Light and Power shining and working in and with that Testimony by which onely these things now not so seen as before are made evident plain and powerfully nigh that they might be believed with the heart and confessed with the mouth and still made further precious to and effectual on them that believe 2 Cor. 5. 14 15 16 17. c. Rom. 1. 16 17. and 10. 6. 9 10. And whosoever now boast of having otherwise seen his first coming his appearance and Manifestation in the flesh is a lyar Yea neither is this Jesus who is the very Christ now in that his own personal body in the World we have him not
the spirit detained in prison in the first Death this is that unquenchable fire ever burning and that can never be quenched no not to them that are cast into it the raised bodies of men being in that equal to the evil angels they can never more cease to be or be ever free from sencible Suffering nor will the Worm in their Spirits ever cease tormenting This is that lake of fire into which the first Death and Hell shall be cast when they have delivered up all the dead that was in them and so shall be destroyed and swallowed up in this that shall remain and burn on all the ungodly for ever see for this and who they are and when they shall be cast into it Rev. 20. 11. 15. and 21. 8. Mat. 25. 41. 46 with Mark 9. 43 48. so that out of this after men are in it here is no deliverance in any sence but none are in this until they be brought forth of their graves and delivered up by Death and Hell as forementioned except those that at his appearing shall be taken and cast alive into that lake of fire without being detained any time in prison as the rest are Rev. 19 20. with chap. 20. 10. Now had these men understood the Scripture and so these things as there distinguished and set forth they would not have counted it at all absurd that souls in Hell bodies in dust and spirits in prison should come forth again to receive their final judgement yea had they in the least believed God to be true in his sayings they would not have dared so plainly to have contradicted and blasphemed them though they could not have understood them seeing the Holy Ghost speaketh expresly of the Final and Eternal Judgement when all the dead that have died in their sins from the beginning of the World to the latter end of it shall at once be raised and brought forth to that judgement and there and to that faith Death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them But they have clearly shewed themselves to be of that sort that deny the Resurrection of the dead and the Eternal Judgement of all men witnessed in the Scripture as yet to come and to be passed and executed upon them by that man Christ Jesus whom God hath ordained to judge the world in Righteousnes whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Question 19. Whether the receiving Bread and Wine to shew the Lords death be to continue an Ordinance in the Church till the end of the World yea or nay Answ This and the three following questions aptly follow the former to a further discovery of their Antichristian Spirit For As Jesus Christ having ascended on high and received gifts in the man hath given gifts unto men and therein set in the Church First Apostles that were chosen witnesses of his personal body in which he the Word was made flesh and humbled himself unto the death of the Cross as now raised from the dead and received up into glory having finished the works the Father gave him to do in that body on the earth that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all Nations and so as wise Master builders layers of the foundation Doctrinally As likewise he hath given and appointed to be still in continual exercise a gift and office inferior to the Apostles for instructing in and opening out of the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles the foundation as already laid by them in the word of the beginning of Christ and for directing to and building on that foundation in witnessing him as already come in the flesh and having finished the works as aforesaid and so for Doctrinal shewing forth the Lords death and the pretiousnesse thereof with the Father for us and in his Name to us and to manifest the goodnesse and righteousnesse of God therein Luke 24. 44. 48. John 17. 18. 20. c. 1 John 1. 1. 5 Rom. 1. 1. 5 and 16. 25 26. 1 Cor. 3. 10. 11. Secondarily Prophets or the gift and office of prophesie to shew distinctly out of the Scriptures and from the foundation as already laid the things to come even the Resurrection of the dead and Eternal Judgement and so the grace and glory to be brought to us at the glorious appearing of Christ from Heaven for encouragement to look to him and for the edification and comfort of those that wait for him which gift office was primely given to the Apostles and is also included in that inferior gift office forementioned as given to believers since and the choise to be desired by them whence that is called prophesying 1 Cor. 14 1. 3 and 12. 28. which also is called Ephes 4 11. prophecying and evangelizing John 15. 26 27 and 16 13 14 Titus 2. 11. 13 14 15. Thirdly Teachers or the gift of teaching for applying instructing and directing to the usefulness of both namely of that which he hath already done and is become for us in himself the ground of all the Redemption already wrought and obtained by his Blood and the infinite and abiding efficacy of it in what he is now doing and of that Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time as the end of all from both together to teach Transgressors the way that sinners may be converted to him and to lead Believers into all truth teaching them that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lust they should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the Glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Tit. 2. 13 12 13. 1 Pet. 1. 10. 14. c. John 16. 8. 14. So on the other hand Anti-christ that was to come in these last dayes and is already come he hath his contrary gifts and work yet coming in the name of Christ and as Apostles and Prophets and Teachers of Christ but in a directly opposite and contrary strain though subtilly and with hidden things of dishonesty for such are false Apostles deceitful Workers c. They to prepare and make way for their false Apostolizing in which they lift up something else in the name and place of Christ in respect of what he hath already done and is become in himself for us and for their false prophecying in which they magnifie something else in the name and place of him in respect of what he will do in his second and glorious appearing and for their false Teaching in which they direct to another Light and Teacher and teach otherwise not consenting to sound words even the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine according to goodlinesse to this purpose we say they seek with design in the first place to cast him down from his excellency in his person and works and to render his Ordinances contemptible and that they may effectually pull down the house with both their hands as
of men set up before 6. Our Christ is by his Word and spirit and the riches of his Grace in the hearts of his people by faith quickening and inlivening them which these perverters deny and jeer at and say Their Christ in all the reality of his Body with his Flesh and Blood is wholly within them for so some of them have said even sensibly bearing their sins in them though not willingly as Christ bare ours on the Tree but desiring to be free and so is rising in them and reigning in Glory So as the Redemption and Resurrection of the Body others wait for these say they have in this body within a pleasing fancy 7. Our Christ will come again personally in his own Glorious Body and every eye shall see him in which coming he will not by degrees or one after another but at once together in one moment in the twinkling of an eye change the surviving and raise the dead bodies of all that sleep in Jesus so as they shall be all mortal and meet him in the air and appear in Glory with him freed from all Hunger Persecution Sorrow and death for ever and blessed in the enjoyment of him with whom they shall reign for evermore and when he is set on his Throne he will gather all Nations before him raising all men not leaving out these Deceivers but all shall appear before his Judgement Seat even those that rebel against him and in this day deny him then shall they acknowledge him Lord and his People that have now confest him the beloved of the Lord when themselves shall be judged by him and sent into the Lake of Fire c. all which coming of his and the Resurrection of the dead and judgement after death the bodily death is by those Perverters also altogether denyed they owning no other coming of Christ then some of them enjoy now nor other Resurrection then is now sometime of one and sometime of another and yet they of them that enjoy the Resurrection of the body they talk of sometime bunger and feel pain and cry out of Persecution and must die the bodily yea and rise again to the second death too 8. Our Christ hath by his spirit so fully discovered himself in the Testimony of the Gospel that is the written verity that in and according to the plain import of the saying thereof he is to be known so far as we may know him till his coming again and by and wit that the Holy Spirit doth witnesse of him to and teach the hearts of the believers and they from the same spirit and according to the same Gospel do conside in him confesse him and hold him sorth to others and for that are opposed by these perverters Of whose Christ and their Doctrine of him though whatever is said of the true Christ or of his Church in the Scripture they apply to their false Christ and to themselves as if they meant no other Christ nor faith then the Scriptures speak of perverting them to that end Yet the scripture writing indeed speaketh not but to the condemnation overthrow and confusion thereof warning all believers not to hear or follow them nor receive them to house nor bid them God-speed But hold them accursed beware them and avoid them as Wolves false Apostles and Reprobate concerning the Faith Such the Doctrine and Principles which these men call the truth which indeed is errour and darknesse let the Scriptures be compared 2. For the manner of their managing and maintaining their doctrine let these particulars amongst divers others be noted 1. They come in their own name or authority boasting of themselves and witnessing to and of themselves and so obtruding things upon men not by and in the light and evidence of the spirit in and according to the Scriptures as the true Apostles use to do but upon their own authority and the authority of their sayings and witnessings which therefore they say also are of equal authority with c. Better than the saying of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as appeares by George Whiteheads answers to the Cambridge Queries To this purpose is their saying in their Title Page that what they have written and made manifest in their Book is they say by the Truth they say not which is in Christ or in the Gospel of Christ but which is in George Whitehead John Whitehead George Fox the younger to which three witnesses in their own names We oppose the three in Heaven the Father the Son or Word and the Holy Ghost and the truth that is in and is witnessed by them much of this their way of self-witnessing and obtruding things in their own name word or authority the Reader may see in their Book p. 8. 13. 18. 20 21 22 23. 26. In which they are such as the false Christs and the false Prophets of whom our Lord said to the Jews if another come in his own name him ye will receive John 5. 43. And like the Idol worshippers and preachers of whom the Lord says by the Prophet Isaiah that they were their own witnesses Isa 44. 9. And though they say the Lord saith yet they do therein as the false prophets affirming the Name of the Lord to their own words dreames fancies or deceits as in Jer. 23. 16. 25 26 27. Ezek. 13. 7. As we might also instance in some they have said of that they were Priests and Hirelings and took Tythes that were never exercised in such away as a certain woman said of Thomas Moor junior at Glentworth in Lincoln-shire and George Fox said in Bury Goal of one Disbrough brother in law to Joseph Hagger being a trads-man in London yet they pretended that they speak by the Revelation of the spirit of them in which their imposture and deceit was made manifest 2. When they do quote Scripture they usually pervert and corrupt it altering leaving out something or adding thereto corrupt and false glosses we may instance some few particulars in their book against us As 1. Alleadged 1 John 5 10. He that believeth hath the witnesse in himself bâ—ing out on the Son of God without which it is not true for the Devils believe yet have not the witnesse spoken of in 1 John 5. in themselves Jam. 2. 19. 2. They alleadge 1 John 4. 17. as he is so are we in this World to prove that they are without sin here as well or much as Christ is though its evident that contradicts the Apostle himself who says 1 John 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves touching which quotation because they make some specious use of it to deceive the simple We shall note some things here further about it for the help of the weak let the Reader mind then that 1. He saith not as he was besore the World was so are we in this World for so he was glorified with the Fathers own self equal to God and in his forme the same with
M. his Assertion was That as the blood of Christ is in heaven with the Father in the sense above expressed so it s the ground and foundation of our Faith it being that by means of which he is so and so we still say that the blood or sufferings of Christ and he through and by means thereof being raised from the dead and glorified in the same body in which he bare our sins without which his sufferings could have done us no good is the foundation of our faith it seems it is not of theirs and so they have not faith in his blood as the Apostles preached Rom. 3. 25. their faith is founded in something else and so they are men of dangerous Principles beware of them 6. T. M. They further say affirmed That the life of Christ is not in the blood of Christ whence they infer that the Foundation of our faith hath not the life of Christ in it Ans This also is a deceitful abuse and falsifying of his words which were in answer to their assertion That the blood of Christ is nothing else but the life of Christ the Spirit or power of God bringing those Scriptures for proof that speaking not so much as of man in his mortal state but of other mortal creatures say the blood is the life and the life of the flesh is in the blood Gen. 9. 4. Lev. 17. 11. In answer to which T. M. said that the life of Christs personal body which body they deny is not in or by the supply of material blood as the life of mortal creatures yet he said that the eternal life and redemption in Christ for us is the fruit of his blood being obtained by it So that their conclusion hath not the least colour from his saying but is contradicted by it for the material blood that was shed as to its present locallity or place of being as to its matter is not the foundation of our faith in whole or in part but his bloodshed or sufferings to the pouring out his soul to death for our sins and he by vertue thereof as is before said 7. T. M. affirmed say they again that the light wherewith Christ lighteth every man is both natural and spiritual Ans That Christ is the true light that lighteth every man coming into the world and that the light which he giveth or wherewith he lighteth them is all that is truly called light and good whether natural or spiritual we did and do assert as truth their denial of which implies an evil Principle held by them Viz. That they deprive Christ of the glory of being the Author and giver either of the natural light or good or of the spiritual 8. T. M. say they said That the person of Christ namely of flesh and bones is a quickning spirit and dwells in the beleevers by faith and to prove it he said that the Corinthians dwelt in the heart of Paul Ans There again they falsifie and pervert his sayings which were that the person of Christ that had and hath flesh and bones a person of flesh and bones we call him not that 's the term they put upon him by way of derision and reproach even Jesus Christ who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead even in the same body in which he bare our sins on the tree and he the second man the last Adam is made a quickning spirit which was answered against their seeking privily to insinuate to the people that that body of his flesh was abolished or annihilated so that now he hath not that body or possesses not his glory therein to shew the vanity and wickedness of their indeavours wherein it was urged that the manhood or body of his flesh is not annihilated by his becomming a quickning Spirit it being the man Christ Jesus the last Adam that 's made a quickning Spirit yea it s because this man continues for ever in the name glory of the Father for us that he hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is able to save to the utmost them that come to God by him God having given to the Son of man to have life in himself even as the Son hath life in himself As to the other part of the charge T. M. his saying was that its the man Christ Jesus as thus considered as a distinct person personally or bodily distant from them so as they are absent from him while they are at home in the mortal body that is and dwels in the beleevers heart by faith To their sensual scoffing at which as not being able to comprehend by their sensual imagination how such a thing might be such matters of faith being too high for them as even the least things in the wisedome of God are too high for a fool that seeks to be wise in himself we brought that of the Corinths and the Philippians being in the Apostles hearts by love 2 Cor. 7. 3. Philip. 1. 7. not to prove that Christ dwells in the beleevers hearts by faith that 's fully and plainly the assertion of the Scripture and needs no other proof Eph. 3 17. 2 Cor. 5. 7. But for illustration and discovery of the thing to the weakest of them whom they indeavoured to subvert to shew them how one might dwell in the heart of another and yet be personally distinct and as to bodily presence distant also 1 Thes 2. 17. But mind Reader that these men do flatly oppose the dwelling of the man Christ as a quickning spirit in the hearts of the beleevers by Faith which had they not been blinded with Antichristian Babilonish confusion they would not have done plainly therein without covert contradicting the Spirit in the Apostle that with so great earnestness prayed for the Ephesians That Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith but its manifest that these men know not what faith is but take it for a beleeving something of God or Christ from a knowing or experimenting it in themselves as the Devils believe James 2. 19. Which yet is not faith or having faith and their after abuse of and clipping 1 John 5. 10. in their p. 1. Gives occasion to think they take it so or for sense or sight as many of their words import but did they know that believing is the receiving a thing from a report and that every believing is not faith in Scripture account Prov. 14 15 2 Thes 2. 11. But the hearty believing of that report in which the true and saving Object of faith is set forth and brought nigh Isa 53. 1. John 7. 37 38. Rom. 10. 8 9 10. Whence believing receives the denomination of faith they would not thus have said and writ for those that are willing to understand this business we shall here take liberty to open what the Object of faith is which is often called faith though of many not believed and what
in his members and these two warring the one against the other but their arguing is like as if they should say the beleever hath no flesh or blood in his body because he hath a spirit in his body that hath neither flesh nor blood in it or that they be guilty of the imperfection of witlesness because they have something in them their gutts suppose that be witless and they are not divided from their nature they adde John said speaking of Christ as he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. and therefore that we have manifestly wronged them and the Apostles Rep. That we have either wronged them or the Apostles is false for that they hold what we said they do they deny not and that the Apostles so held they prove not the place they quote says not as Christ is without sin in himself so are we in this world no more then he saith as Christ is without a natural corruptible body or without pain ach or bodily death so are we in this world they may as well gather the one as the other from that saying and that the Apostle meant it not in respect of sinlesness as men is evident by comparing it with 1 John 1. 8. where he saith If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us we may not strain Scriptures beyond their scope nor may we say we are in every respect as Christ is either in himself or to the world or to beleevers Christ is God over all so are not the beleevers Christ is the second Adam a quickning spirit so are not the beleevers Christ is the only begotten Son of God so are not the beleevers on him The only begotten Son of God and they that beleeve on him are distinct and different persons Christ is the Saviour of the world so are not the beleevers not the Saviour though instruments of saving men Christ is the propitiation for our sins and for the sins of the whole world so are not the beleevers Christ is the Head and Husband of the Church so are not the beleevers but as Christ is so are the beleevers and in an eminent sense so were the Apostles in the world in the judgement knowledge account of the world as also in a measure set to be lights in the world But the main scope is that in respect of judgement account and estimate as Christ is so are we in this world for he says Herein is our love or love with us made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement when we are judged of men here because as he is so are we in this world as to their receit approvement rejection or disapprovement we have our fellowship therein with him which also gives us strong consolation and confidence that when he comes to judge he will justifie us that were here condemned with him but what is this to their being sinless in themselves They add That they say not there is any perfection themselves without Christ who is their righteousness and they the righteousness of God in him Rep. That Christ is their righteousness c. is but their own testimony of themselves which we cannot receive because the true Christ whom we with the Apostles look for from heaven so to come again as they see him go up they say p. 10. they desire not the knowledge of nor doth their not saying that there is any perfection in them without Christ suffice to excuse them for its an Error to say that through Christ they have perfection in themselves so as to be perfectly sinless even the beleever in Christ though in Christ perfect is not as yet perfect in himself through Christ while here Paul though in Christ said he was not perfect nor had attained Phil. 3. 12 13. no not to be sinless Rom. 7. 20. 1 Tim. 1. 15. That Christ was manifested to take away our sin and in him is no sin we granted but added that its never said so of any else no where said by any of the Saints of themselves or of any of their brethren that they had no sin in them or were not sinners But they bid W. and F. mark how fairly we contradict our doctrine by telling its said indeed that he that abideth in him sinneth not and he that is born of God doth not commit or work sin because the seed of God abides in him neither can he sin that is commit work or yeeld up himself to sin because he is born of God which they render as inconsistent with our counting their maintaining a perfection of sinlesness in this life as a great error and say we would accuse the Saints or brethren with being sinners Rep. 1. Is this to accuse the Saints or brethren to observe what they have said or not said of themselves or one another If so then all are accusers of them that observe their sayings and so it seems they to avoid accusing of them observe them not If it be not then are they lyers and so not sinless that call our observing what they said or said not of themselves an accusing of them for we did no more in those sayings they have quoted as any impartial Reader may see 2. What we observed they said contradicts not what we noted they said not if they can find that they said of themselves or of their brethren that they had no sin in them or were not sinners they should produce it and prove us lyers if not then have they falsly charged us with self-contradiction These two contradict not John said He that abideth in him sinneth not and John said not he that abideth in him hath no sin in himself or is not in that respect a sinner or that any doth perfectly abide in Christ in every operation and act so as never to wander in his minde out of him Paul abode in Christ in the main and did not commit sin for he says It s no more I but sin that do it and yet Paul then had sin in him for he adds but sin that dwelleth in me Yea and said that with his flesh he served the law of sin and yet with his mind served the law of God Rom. 7. 20 25. Did Paul then contradict himself If yes then will we be counted contradictors of our selves also with him if no then neither do we contradict our selves but either they are ignorant of the nature of contradictions and so not perfect or else knowingly say falsly and so are vitious We then yet account what they maintain a great Error and yet say what the Apostle John said because he said not what they say that he that is born of God hath no sin in him but on the contrary If we say we have no sin in us we deceive our selves and yet they were born of God sure they beleeved Jesus to be the Christ and whosoever doth so is born of God 1 Joh. 5. 1. so that any that
are not blind may see the confusion and deceit in themselves that they would perswade them they may see in us and we have not broken our selves as they say falsly of us against any stone nor can any stone we war against in them break us being but such as are to be removed out of Gods Vineyard Isai 5. 2. they adde W. and F. If Christ be made manifest to take away sin then they in whom he is made manifest are not to have sin in them so long as they are in this life and if he that is born of God cannot sin nor yield up to sin then he is not a sinner but clear and perfect from sin Rep. We deny these inferences the latter we have spoken to and disproved above to the former we say I'ts not their duty to have sin as their phrase may seem to imply Nor do we say it is their duty but their infirmity even as to be weak and mortall is not their duty but their burthen but if by are to have sin in them they mean they have or will have sin in them so long as they are in this life we deny that inference till they prove that Christ was manifested to take away sin so as to take it wholly out of the nature of man in some of the particular persons in this life and that too absolutely infalibly we are not to build our faith upon their inferences but upon Gods sayings and God by his Apostle saith not Christ was manifested to take away sin therefore in us is no sin as their Inference imports therefore their Inference is denied by us nor slumble we much less do we break our selves at that stone They adde Whosoever sinneth hath neither seen Christ nor known him now they that affirm that the Saints or they that be born of God are sinners they might as well say that the Saints have neither seen Christ nor known him Rep. True if by saying they are sinners they mean they be in their sins and live in their sins he that so sinneth hath neither seen him nor known him but to be in sin and to have sin in men to live in sin and to have sailings or be overtaken with faults as Gal. 6. 1. Are very different things and in such sense he that saies the Saints are sinners that is have sin in them and in some things offend doth not all one as to say they have not seen or known Christ a man may be a sinner by having sin in him and yet not sin as Rom. 7. 20. Paul did not the evil yet saies of whom namely of sinners I am the chief by your inference Paul might have said he neither had seen Christ nor known him and Isaiah might have said I a man of polluted lips therefore mine eyes never see the Lord of hosts whereas he sayes the contrary for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts which he spoke of Christ when he saw his glory Isa 6. 5. Joh. 12 41. See Reader how there runs a constant streame of mistake in all their writings To those phrases He that is born of God cannot sin we said it 's no more then to say that a man acted of God cannot therein sin To this they say It 's no more then to say that a man acted of God cannot sin in being acted of God or he that doth righteousness doth not sin in so doing Rep. Yes it 's some thing more viz. That mens sinnings are not of God nor can be and so that they that sin do not do righteousness nor are born or acted of God thereunto contrary to many that pretend that whatever they do they are led of God thereunto even then when they sin and to that purpose I was told by one whether it be true I know not that some of the Quakers should say that what ever they do after they are believers or born of God in their sense they cannot sin in it the Apostle Argues the root from the fruit as in James 1. 13. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God is not tempted with evill nor tempts he any man 's but a man is tempted when led away by his own lusts c. As for reserving an accusation against him that 's born of God as they charge us it 's answered before we accuse not whom God justifies nor contradict we what John saith that He that doth righteousness is righteous as God is righteous for he saith not he that doth righteousness is as righteous as God is righteous in whom there is no sin similitude there is but not perfect equality yea therefore is righteous as Christ is righteous not because there is no sin in him but because Christ is made to him of God his righteousness and in him he is righteous as Christ is righteousnot in himself through Christ as ighteous as Christ is in respect of being without sin they adde See here how they have accused the Apostle Paul I. H. and T. M. words are these yea in 1 Tim. 1. 15. He saith he was then when an Apostle the chief of sinners Rep. Here again they say falsely of us unless to say what the Apostle said of himself be to accuse him that the Apostle even when an Apostle said not I was but I am the chief namely of sinners see the Scripture quoted by us nor follows it as they imply that because the same Apostle in 1 Tim. 1. 12. Sayes that Christ counted him faithfull and put him into the Ministry that we might as well say he that is faithful to Christ is the chief of sinners no it only follows that he that said he was counted faithfull by Christ also even then acknowledged himself the chief of sinners and that 's true unless they can blot out the words of Scripture and prove them false read else and see if he that in verse 12. Saith that Christ counted him faithfull c. Sayes not verse 15. Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief is it we that said thus of Paul or Paul that said thus of himself let all men judge or can they deny that Paul said of himself what we say he did and when we say he said it surely no but they say when as it is said Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief and saith he had obtained mercy now doth it not follow that Paul was one of the chief or greatest sinners but he was one of the chiefest sinners that was saved by Christ who saveth his people from their fins and doth not suffer them to remain the greatest sinners when they are saved from sin Rep. To this their glosse we say doth Paul say of whom I was the chief or of whom I am the chief of his obtaining mercy he saith in the time past I obtained mercy but of his being the chief of sinners that Christ came to
save he saith not in the time past I was but in the time present I am the chief For though he did not sin so grosly as before yet he was still the same sinner or sinfull man that Christ came to save yea and might possibly account every small neglect or failing a greater sin now then his greatest sins before because sensible now of his more ingagement to Christ for his having shewed him such favour a smaller offence against greater knowledge and mercy may be greater then a greater sin against less knowledge and mercy however what he said of Paul we proved and prove yet from the Text that is that he said of himself even then when an Apostle that then in the present tense he was a chief sinner if he said falsely of himself then was he therein a sinner if true then have not we said falsely of Paul nor accused him W. F. They say As for the Scriptures we bring 1 Joh. 1. 8 9 10. and Jam. 3. 1 2. These prove not that we would have them that the Saints were not perfectly freed from sin in this life they did not preach up sin and imperfection to remain in this liâ—e as they say we do for both James and Joh. exhort them otherwise for said James let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and intire wanting nothing James 1. 4. And John said if we walk in the light as he is in the iight we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. and Chap. 2. 1. My little children these things have I writ unto you that yee sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father so he did not include them all as to remain sinners for they were all sinners while they were not cleansed by the blood of Christ Rep. 1. That these Scriptures prove not that the Saints were not perfectly freed from sin in this life it 's but their saying so for are they perfectly freed from sin as to the being of it in them that have it as these say they had and David saith no man living and sure men are living while they are in this life is so free from sin as to be justified if God enter into judgement with them Psal 143. 2. And as for preaching up sin and imperfection that is falsely and slanderously said of us do we preach them up because we say they remain sure then David preacht them up when he said as above 2 James and John exhort to the contrary they say is this a good argument or a piece of sophistry John and James exhorted against sin therefore they did not sin is it not as good to say God commands all men every where to Repent therefore no man is impenitont all do repent James said let patience have its perfect work that ye may be perfect c. Therefore it seems they were not yet perfect nor intire but wanted something why else would he have so exhorted them Nor doth that prove they ever were so perfect and intire as to have no sin in them while here seeing Asa was perfect all his dayes yet had sin and sinned 2 Chron. 15. 17. and 16. 7. 10. 12. Do the Apostles say let no sin be in you any where Men are perfect and intire and want nothing when they have all things that may further them to their glorifying God here in their generation though they be not perfectly possest of all things they are capable of attaining hereafter may they not as well say men may have all their happiness and glory here before their decease the resurrection and whatever they may have in the world to come because James saith that ye may be perfect and intire wanting nothing Again can patience be said to have its perfect work in any so long as it hath any further exercise for it and hath it not something further till death be over 3. To Johns saying What need of cleansing from all sin where is no sin to be cleansed from He saith not it hath cleansed us already but cleanseth us what cleanseth now finds something to be cleansed from and doth not the Apostle plainly say so much when he immediatly adds If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves let all judge how these Quakers and the Apostles cross one the other They say because it cleanseth us from all sin those that it so cleanseth have no sin the Apostle says immediately after that saying If we say we have no sin we deceiâ—e our selves doth not prove these men to be deceived and so to deceive others seeing they are of such as say so 4. What made them stop in their next proof at we have an Advocate when the Apostle adds and be is the propitiation for our sins they see the words our sins mentioned there and that scared them from the quoting it so far Oh do not their Consciences accuse them as juglers and deceivers in this Argument and that they are afraid of the light it shines so full against them 5. And how follows their Conclusion then So then he did not include them all as to remain sinners c. Whom did he exclude seeing the blood of Christ cleanseth them that have fellowship with God and had not the Apostles so by their own confession yet they say our sins and if we say we have no sin even we that have fellowship with God we deceive our selves But they ask W. and F. What one sin or sins we can lay to Paul or James or Johns charge or to any of them that they were not perfectly freed from sin before their decease let them prove some sin say they of us which was not destroyed in any of those before their decease and who can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect let them speak out and answer directly or for ever be silent from pleading for sin or accusing the righteous as they have done Rep. It is enough that we beleeve Paul and James and John that they had sin and did in many things all offend though we cannot name their particular offences as it is to believe multitudes to have died though we know not of what particular diseases would it not be a fine argument to say prove of what particular diseases Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther died or else be for ever silent of accusing them to have been mortall That in many things they all offended we believe because James tells us so but what were their many offences we know not because they tell us not we can tell some sins these men are guilty of if they had asked us namely of lying deceit guile sophistry taking up a reproach against their neighbour as they do in the conclusion of their Book Thomas Moore Sen. But what John and James in particular were guilty of besides naturall infirmity we cannot tell because the Holy Ghost hath not told us nor do we
this life but which they partake of in this life but where can they shew us any that ever died that either had not sin in him or sin imputed to him They imply p. 6. l. 25 26. By their taxing us with the contrary that Adam might have died the naturall death if he had not sinned and to prove it adde for Christ died who had no sin To which we reply 1. Did Christ die a naturall death was it naturall to Christ to die 2. Had Christ no sin of ours upon him which occasioned his death or should he have died though he had not them laid upon him He bare our sins in his own body on the tree therefore he had sins though none of his own he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth see there guile and sin distinguished as if all sin is not guile or guile not all sin yet he bare our sins 1 Pet. 2. 22 24. 3. Is this a good inference Christ died that did not sin yet had our sins charged or laid upon him therfore Adam should have died a natural death though he had not sinned let the reader judge they say Christ died to destroy the death that came by sin Rep. 1. If death came by sin as the Apostle testifies in Rom. 5. 12. What death was that if not the naturall death Or where doth the Apostle distinguish and say there is a death of men that came in by sin and the death of men that came not in by sin and that 's the natural death Or where find we mention of Adams dying before and without respect to his sinning in any kind of death 2. Did not Christ by death destroy the naturall death both in taking away its force for taking us out of favour and fellowship with God and in becoming the Resurrection and life from death by whom men shall be raised up out of it at the last day Did he not destroy that kind of death which he died and if that was the naturall death as they say the bodily death we may say then that he also destroyed and so destroying that death that came in by sin it follows that the naturall or bodily death came in by sin too and so that Adam should not have died had he not sinned Do they think that we will worship them and call them the masters of our faith to receive their dictates without proof Let them shew that Adam might have died the natural death or the believers either if they had not sinned They say They who die in the Lord are blessed and to die is gain to them Rep. True but it s by vertue of the Lord in whom they die that turns their curses into blessings death into life Nor is it natural to die in the Lord though to die be It s true too that the righteous mens dying was not charged upon them as a reward for their sin and yet true too that had they never been sinners or sinned in Adam they had never died for as much as by one mans sin death passed upon all as the Apostle witnesses as a reward of Adams sin and theirs in him it first was denounced and though through Christ the weight and destructiveness of it is removed yet the carcass of it remains upon men generally though through Christ turned to the believers gain W. and F. They say God said to Adam in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die but Adam lost not his naturall life in the day he eat of the tree of knowledge for after that he lived in the body Rep. Herein again they shew their confusion for what though Adam lived in the body after he eat of the tree of knowledge follows it he had not lost his life that day he eat A man my loose or forfeit that which may not presently be taken from him men loose their lives in a Law sense when they do such things as subject them to the Law so as they are thereby condemned to die though death be not presently executed upon them That day he died then in the sentence of the Law though not as to its execution upon him which yet had been then executed too its probable had not Christ the Mediator interposed between him and death to die for him Besides that a thousand years being to the Lord but as one day and he dying in that space he might be said in that sense to have died on the day he sinned They say The covenant Adam was in before his fall was a covenant of life for he was in the image of God and a living soul having the breath of life in him and had dominion in it while he stood in his habitation c. Rep. That Adam was under a covenant of life before the fall is true nor opposes our sayings but their own that Adam might have died the naturall death though he had not sinned But they have weakly proved that it is so for sure the covenant made with him was with him alive and as a creature and not made with him before he was a living man and therefore his being in the image of God a living soul having the breath of life in him and dominion in it as they speak are not to the purpose The covenat might concern their continuance to him not his being made first in them they adde this state have the believers proved and witnessed that life and nature and image that was in man before the fall though they become further in the second Adam who is greater then the first Adam Rep. Still they dictate magisterially where have the believers proved that state of Adam and witness it let them shew it in all the Scriptures for as for their witnessings they are of no Authority with us it s the truth of their witnessings we would have them prove and not onely tell us they are true for we are not of the mind with some simple that believe every of their words to believe that their sayings are as good or better then the sayings of the Prophets and Apostle in the Scriptures have any believers ever witnessed that they were without sin as Adam under no more sentence of death then Adam while in his innocent condition let them shew us that that we may believe it have any believers proved that state of Adam to have life in themselves and not in Christ crucified as Adam had And how are they come further in the second Adam are they led to that and the second Adams state too Where prove they that Into the naturall life of Adam as earthly and fallen full of sin and death such as Adam fallen derived to them they are born and through it are led yea and out and beyond that in Christ in a measure here and fully hereafter but that Christ leads them first into the state of Adam innocent and then into the state of Christ they must prove and not onely dictate before it find credit with
life of the natural body preserved by food turned into blood and not of a spiritual and raised body as his Speech was To their Question What is the Body of flesh and bones turned into then We Answer His Body had flesh and Bones in it in the raised changed state as he shewed his Disciples And therefore that they are changed into any other thing or that the bodies of the Saints raised shall not have Flesh and Bones in them as his had follows not What they say in the remainder of page 17. is all spoken to before W. and F. Whereas p. 18. they say That they believe not that when Christ after the Resurrection shewed his Disciples his Hands and his Feet his Body then had no blood in it We will not contend with them about it for neither is it an Article of our Faith though their conceit proves not that it had nor can it be any thing more then a meer guesse though they are so infallibly led they pretend that they must not be thought by their Disciples to guesse at any thing as if they knew it not They alleadge that he eat before them of the broiled Fish and Hony Comb which is nourishment both to flesh and blood Reply T is so to our Natural Bodies follows it that it was so to his raised spiritual Body They say The Blood is the Life of that that hath need of such nourishment yea the life of all flesh is Blood Gen. 9. 4 5. Levit. 17. 14. Reply This is true of mortal flesh in its natural state but that Christ eat because he needed such nourishment after his Resurrection for his raised body we believe not but to demonstrate by infallible proofs that he was truly raised in a real and not a fantastical body And therefore all this is to no purpose As for what they prate of The Body of Christ in Glory and the Bodies of the Saints in the Resurrestion that they shall as far exceed in Glory these our earthly bodies as the Sun Moon and Stars do exceed the bodies of birds beasts and Fishes These are but Visors to hide their uglinesse for what resurrection is there of the Saints if that body that dyed shall never rise Can any thing be said to rise again that never fell or dyed as they say The body that dies shall not But therefore they tell us The mystery of these things is for ever sealed up in Parables from such blind guides as they reproach us to be who have long abused the Truth c. It seems Reader they would have thee know that whatever they seem to say fairly they have another meaning couched under it and so they walk in hidden things of dishonesty and deal deceitfully and would make us believe the Apostles did so too who commended themselves to every mans Conscience in the sight of God and did not hide their meanings but speak openly what Christ spake to them in parables but these have usually another meaning for the Apostles sayings because they believe them not in their own meaning in which they uttered them understand Reader that as Joseph Fisher a Quaker in a Paper to us implies the change of the Body is made by the Babe within here before the separation of the Soul and Body and so that their spiritual bodies are those that excel so in glory above the Bodies of Beasts and Birds that is those that are not in and of the same corrupt mind with them Some such mystery they put upon the Apostles plainest sayings to make them Parables To justifie their corrupt Doctrine that the Scriptures are not the Medium of Faith which we disproved from John 17. 20. Acts 17. 11 12. They alledge That no Scripture sayes the Scriptures are the Medium of Faith Reply Nor say they Christ is the Medium neither though the word Medium be not expressed the sence of it is as through their words They say The Apostles were not Ministers of Letter Reply If by Letter they mean the writing of words as in Epistles and Letters its false for they Ministred the Knowledge of God both by Vocal Preaching and by writing it in Epistles and Letters so as men in reading their writings might see the Truth and acknowledge it and understand their Knowledge in the Mystery of Christ 2 Cor. 1. 13. Ephes 3. 4. 5. and though their words however Ministred by them whether by audible voice or writing our Saviour supposes men should believe for he limits it not to any one way of Ministration Are not the sayings of the Apostles their words because they be written The Letter of which the Apostles sayes they were not Ministers is clearly the Law opposed to the Gospel which is a Ministration of Spirit whether spoken or written Now through their words is all one in sence as to say their words are a Medium of mens believing To that of the Bereans they say That the Bereans first received the Word with all readinesse of mind and then searched the Scriptures But this they say of their own head for the Scriptures say not so but that they received the word with all readinesse of mind and searched the Scripture and that therefore many of them believed which implies their searching the Scriptures and finding them to agree with the Apostles words was a Medium or mean of their readier believing But of those words urged by us they take no notice they could once and again make something of there when it signified nothing but hereof but hereof therefore when it signifies or points to a mediate cause they make nothing Oh perverse and crooked generation nor doth the mentioning their searching the Scriptures after the mention of their receiving the word imply that they first received the word and then searched the Scriptures no more then the mentioning of mens confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus before the believing him in the heart raised from the dead Rom. 10. 9. implies that the confession must be first in being before believing in the same person Nor doth the Greek mention any and but reads it thus these received the word with all readinesse searching the Scriptures and that manner of phrase usually signifies the latter as a means to the former as may be seen Acts 8. 3. 6. 9. 13. Heb. 12. 1 2. c. their confounding the Author with the Medium is a piece of their confusion though Christ be the Author of Faith and bring to believe that hinders not but the Scriptures and the Doctrine therein declared may be and is the Medium but these are truly Blind guides that are destitute of understanding wo to the people that are led by them Page 19. John Whiteheads witnessing against our charge of him with saying That the Apostles were not bringers of light but onely pointed to what they had before is of no credit with us because we know it to the contrary in his speaking and so do the Auditory if they remember
both Temporal and Eternal Are not these pretty men that accuse us for not proving what we never said and then charge that as an errour which is a most undeniable truth Is not Christ the Author of all Natural light as well as Spiritual And is it not a grosse errour in them to deny it They say the life in him is the Light of men and that is not Natural but Spiritual But therein they confound the Light lighting and the Light streaming from that Light and so prevaricate as if they should say Christ is our peace and he is not Temporal but Eternal therefore Temporal peace is not given by him Doth not Life in Christ produce both Natural and Spiritual good to men Let all that understand judge We said forsomuch as all men receive not Christ and his Light therefore all have not him and his Light in them This they say is a poor Argument le ts see how they prove it so The Spirit of the Lord they say and the Grace of God hath appeared in many that have resisted it and not received it and a measure of it is in such to condemn them as the Kingdom of God was in the Scribes and Pharisees and yet they received him not nor Christ when they heard him a poor answer For beside that they say what the Scripture says not as that the Spirit and Grace of God appears in many that resist it and a measure of it is in such to condemn them They take hold of a dubious saying to confirm it for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies as well among you as in you and Christ and his Church which is called his Kingdom was amongst them Again 2. Gods providential Kingdom is over all and rules in all things men and devils though they come not voluntarily under it follows it therefore that his Light his Spiritual Light for of that they speak is in them 3. His Kingdom may be in men in its strivings in them for admission and yet upon their rejection God may take it from them as he threatened the Pharisees Mat. 21 43. And that 's sufficient to justifie our Argument that it is not in all men forasmuch as all men receive it not God by way of punishment taking it from some for their rejection of it for it is still in them from whom it is taken Surely not To their exceptions about the morning Light not in some Isa 8. 20. we said Christ is called the morning Star and therefore if no morning light in any man then none of his Light who is the morning light W. and F. They tax herein our Ignorance for say they that Light of Christ shines in darknesse in some before the morning and that led some to the arising of the day-Star in their hearts And so the Light of Christ who is the morning Light◠to some appears as a Candle in the darknesse to others and is not the morning light to them till they by it see the morning in them And the Light that hath shined in darknesse arising out of darkness So that the Light of Christ is both the evening Light and the morning Light Reply Herein they allude to 2 Pet. 1. 19 and so they imply that the word of Prophecy the Scriptures of the Prophets for it appears clearly by the next verse that he speaks of them as more sure to others for their faith because more abundantly confirmed then the Apostles saying that they had such a vision then was is not the morning Light that the believers that had like precious faith with the Apostles had not the morning Light in them and so were like those that peep and mutter and Preach false Doctrine such as Isaiah speaks of Isa 8. 19 20. But 2. What if the morning Light appears as they say to some as a candle light is it not therefore the morning Light Hath not a Star sometimes seemed to some to be a candle was it therefore not a Star 3. Metaphors are not to be strained David says the Lord shall lighten my candle was not that light that lighted him the morning Light because it is compared in him to candle light So the Apostles are compared to a candle no man lights a candle and puts it under a bushel c. Mat. 5 15. Were they not therefore lighted with the morning Light because they were like candles to the World Will ye say the Apostles were like the peepers and Mutterers in whom was no morning Light 4. Is it enough for them to say the light that appears to some as candle light is not the morning light to them till they by it see the morning in them c. Is not the morning Star the morning Star till men see the morning by it Doth its being so depend upon their seeing it 5. In their conclusion from all this that Christs Light is both morning and evening Light do they not imply that Christ shines with two Spiritual Lights the morning and the evening lights But 6. And chiefly might not this glosse of theirs upon Isa 8. 20. afford a way to the deceivers to encourage themselves in their deceits and imbolden the people to listen to them though they peep and mutter and speak not according to the Law and Testimony for would it be a sufficient reason to avoid such that no morning light is in them if there glosse be true that they have the Light of Christ in them though as candle light or evening light Or should men listen to the morning Light of Christ and them that speak according to it but not to the evening light or candle light of Christ And was not the Apostle Peter out then that said the believers did well to take heed to the candle light or light shining in a dark place if that was not morning light till the day dawned Yea did not Peter by the glosse contradict Isaiah commending them for that that Isaiah would not have them to do Or might not that be replyed to that Prophet your counsell is not good to will us to turn away from men because there is no morning light in them seeing though that be not in them that speak not according to the Law and Testimony yet the Light of Christ may be in them the evening light sure the morning light is not in these men for they speak not according to the Law and Testimony as appears in the particulars above Would they perswade men that Christs Light is in them notwithstanding his evening light VVell but the Prophet would not have us inquire of such or listen to them what ever light they pretend is in them They call J. H. impudent lyar for charging them with a passage about Mr. Townsend To that J. H. sayes he cannot be guilty of impudent lying for he followed the Cambridge Queries and what was attested in them judging the Author of them to set down the words punctually seeing the Scholler that disputed with and
stand by themselves and say God I thank thee I am not as other men are I am not as this Publican c. The Hypocrites use not to be sencible of and own their sins but rather boast themselves to be holy as if they had no sin Search the Scriptures and see if the Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites or the true Apostles and Prophets rather use to confesse their sins and take shame to themselves for them You may finde David Solomon Isaiah Jeremiah Daniel Paul James John c. but never the Scribes and Pharisees so doing let all see whether they or we be in the steps of the Hypocrites then do they walk directly in them lifting up themselves as if they had no sins to confesse when indeed they be most deceitfull and abominable Hypocrites in the inside of their Doctrine turning the Truth of God into a lie But 3. What would they have done had they lived with the true Apostles and Prophets from whom they distinguished themselves above Would they not have fallen fowlly upon them and reproached them as they do us Had they heard Davids saying innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up they are more then the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me Would they not have called him Hypocrite for faulting his enemies and persecutors as evil doers and yet he himselfe so burthened with iniquity Had they heard Isaiah say we grope for the wall like the blinde we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noon day as in the night c. Isa 59. 12 13 14. for our transgressions are multiplyed before thee our sins testifie against us for our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God speaking oppression and revolt c. Would they not have said Oh thou Hypocrite hast thou been crying out against us as blind and bruitish and such as have no understanding and dost thou grope like a blinde man and as if thou hadst no eyes people had need take heed of thee least thou lead them blind-fold into the ditch Do you lie and transgresse and speak words of ravolt from God Should we or any of us then take heed to you Consider your own conditions c. Do not those words speake as high as neglect of Christ and abuse of his Truth Revolt from him signifies more then simply neglect of him and how would these have reproached him had they heard him say we are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rage c. Isa 64. 6. Would they not have cryed out upon him unclean wretch and bid him leave preaching and told the people they had need to take heed of following such an unclean wretch Had they lived in Agurs dayes and heard or seen him publish his prophecy with Jehiel c. and how he begins with this confession Surely I am more bruitish then man and have not the understanding of a man I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the Holy Would not such proud Pharisees as these have cryed out upon him for a beast what should he be heard for And warned people not to take heed to his sayings seeing he confesses he hath not the knowledge of the holy Prov. 30. 2 3. The like I might observe of Ezra and Nehemiah Job confessing their sins and Daniel that they had done wickedly rebelled by departing from Gods precepts judgments Daniel says expresly that he confessed his sins as well as the sins of his people Dan. 9. 20. Yea and this too after they were holy men and Prophets and born of God as was made good lately against G. W. at our later dispute with him he not being able to maintaine the contrary What would they have said had they lived when Paul that wrote against the Antichristians that made a fair shew in the flesh and gloried in appearance comes out with an acknowledgement that he was a chief of sinners and lesse then the least of all Saints Eph. 3. 8. Would they not have concluded him to be an Hypocrite to give out himself to be an Apostle and Preacher of Christ and yet not so much as the least Saint Would they not have concluded him then one of the World and so led by a worldly deceitful spirit not to be believed and followed Reader judge indifferently between us if they in thus reproaching us for joyning our selves with the people and confessing our selves faulty in that we have too much neglected Christ and abused his Truth not so contended for Christ against these deceivers and false prophets as we should nor so used and walked in his Truth as we ought and are not like the Pharisees that pretend themselves perfect and to have no sins to own and confesse Judge whether of us tread more in the steps of the Prophets and Apostles who said if we confess our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Judge whether of us have the beame in our eye to hinder us from seeing we that pull it out by owning and confessing our evils with the evils of the people or they that hide their wickednesses and justifie themselves as no sinners though guilty of such horrid damnable deceits as we have herein in them discovered They bid give over our Teaching of others Reply Ay that 's the thing they would have that 's it grieves them that the sheep should not be left to the Wolves that they might devour them but is that wholesome Counsel and the way for us to do better we confess we have too much neglected Christ and they would have us neglect him more let him look to his own affairs c. We confess we have been guilty with the Nation in the abuses of truth and they would have us abuse it worse by suppressing it that God might take it from us and give us up to their delusions Nay nay that 's not the way to do well that 's counsel from the Devil Did not the holy men above mentioned condemn and reprove the false Prophets and enemies of the Truth of Christ in their several ages because they confest themselves guilty of such evils bruitishness iniquities no whit below our expressions See what Agur sayes notwithstanding his foresaid confession Prov. 30. 12 13. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes are not these Quakers such and yet are not washed from their filthiness There is a Generation Oh how losty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up Are not the Generation of the Quakers such haughty and proud boasters Did not David Isaiah Jeremiah Paul John c. Preach against and reprove the false Prophets hypocrites and Antichrists of their times too though they confest sins in themselves Should they not have done thus
his precious blood sufferings and death Yea therein was he and so his past and finished sufferings actually and fully made and mightily declared to be such bread of Life For if he had not rose and revived or lived again in the same body in which he bore our sins to offer himself to God in Heaven it self and there to appear in his presence for us his flesh could have profited us nothing but now its profitable to all things If he had been still and often suffering for sins or could die or shed blood any more then had there been no such vertue in that which he hath already done if therein he had not finished the works of abasement and blood-shedding the Father gave him to do on the Earth and thereby obtained the Resurrection and Glory of Eternal Redemption and Life in himself for us we had been yet in our sins and the Preaching of his Crosse and Faith therein had been vain which is not in blood now shedding but shed the sufferings and Death finished and past as to the acting or actuall bearing or sustaining them but God hath raised him from the dead and given him Glory because he so humbled himself c. That by him our Faith and hope might be in God and so the vertue or preciousnesse of his blood the love testified in it the peace made and Redemption obtained by it remaines ever with the Father for us treasured up in him even in that his now Glorious body in which he once suffered for our sins that in his name it may be Spiritually shed forth upon us which precious vertues and fruits of his blood may be also called his blood in a like sence as the water fetcht out of the well of Bethlehem with the jeopardy of their lives that fetcht it is called the blood of those men 2 Sam. 23. 15 16 17. And as that which is bought with a mans money may be called his money yea his having obtained by shedding his blood the Spirit of life in the man more excellent in degree then the breath of Life first breathed into Adam with all power Authority and fitnesse to send forth thereof to men and having also confirmed the Precious promises of it in his blood This his fulnesse and fitnesse to dispence is Wine mingled and so that Spirit powered forth in and with the Preaching of his Crosse opening and making known his words is drink indeed John 6. 27. to the end with Prov. 9. Jer. 15. 16. Psal 119. 103. And may be called his blood as being the precious fruit of it but still that which Originally and properly beares that Name and from whence such precious fruits of it may be also so called is as before that blood blood-shedding or Death of his Crosse and that being the Root and foundation of all these precious fruits is the drink indeed the bottom matter of all Spiritual quickenings and retreshings because by means of it Christ is raised and Glorified in the man for men and made such a quickning Spirit as hath been shewed before therefore we shall add no more to it here 3. This is brought to us that it may be Spiritually fed on by us not in the material or sencible being of that flesh and blood in us or sencibly nigh to us nor in a dayly coming in the flesh and so suffering for sin and offering himself often either within us or without before us that we might be eye witnesses of these things as those that lived in the dayes of his flesh or being manifested in the flesh were For then must he often have suffered from the foundation of the World but now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself he once suffered and died for sin and can die no more either in his own Person or for sin and for the putting away sin in any other person But that which he hath already done and compleated in himself by means thereof is brought to us by the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit in the Gospel and other witnesses of his goodnesse and Name given us in which he that was dead is witnessed by means thereof to be alive for ever more and appearing in the presence of God for us Therefore it s said that he gave himself a Ransom once for all not that he should offer himself often or any more but to be testified in due time in what he hath already done and is become thereby or that he should now be a Testimonie thereof to men and of the Grace and Glory of the Father therein 1 Tim. 2. 6. So that now for the making us partakers of the blessed benefit and fruit of what he hath done and is become for us he is not doing the same things over again once finished on the Earth But first executing the office of an Apostle Messenger or Preacher of the peace that ho hath made thereby therein shewing his sulnesse and fitness for us by means thereof and commending the Grace of God through it and then also executing the Office of a great high Priest appearing in the presence of God for us that we may not fail of his Grace through our manifold weaknesse follies But still that his appearing there as a Priest and Advocate and so as the propitiation for our sins is by vertue of and with that one offering of his one body perfected through sufferings once for all whence we are exhorted to consider the Apostle and high Priest of our profession Christ Jesus who was faithfull to him that appointed him even in the finishing those works of which he is an Apostle to us and by which he is an high Priest for us and that laid down as the ground of our confidence of his goodness and faithfulness in what remains Heb. 3. And so as we have before hinted the Scripture saith not as these men that the flesh and blood of Christ is nigh them but the word of Faith which declares it and its vertues and efficacies with the Father in shewing himself in that body in which he so suffered by means thereof to be risen from the dead made both Lord and Christ and appearing in the presence of God for us that Preaching of the Cross is made nigh to men in the Proaching of it vouchsafed they being in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit with power revealing the object and opening the eyes and strengthening the heart that they might believe and confess that God hath raised Christ from the dead and so that Christ might dwell in their hearts by Faith of him in what he hath done and is become for them yea it is the Power of God to Salvation to them that believe though foolishness to them that perish from it Rom. 10. 6. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 18. c. 12. Query And if the blood of Christ that was shed be the drink indeed and the purger of the conscience where