Man was But these Quak 〈…〉 they say of our Lord His Person was mean and contemptible Therefore thâ— Spirit cannot be the same with the Apostles but a contrary one therefore Anâ—â—christ For as G. K. well observed our Lord said The Spirit he would send should Glorifie him But theirs Contemn him as farther appears says W. Baily p. 29. When he had the Body prepared which he took up and laid down and took up without the Gates of Jerusalem This I grant says W. B. was a Personal coming or the Godhead dwelt in that Person bodily And pag. 30. says W. B. He taught them to Pray our Father and not to look at his Person and pray to his Person without them c. And whereas the Apostle saith the Godhead dwelleth as present they say dwelt as past And the Scripture saith They shall look on him whom they pierced And he did shew them his hands and side and bid them feel and handle him saying A Spirit hath not flesh and bones as I have And St. Peter first Epistle 1. Chap. 8 ver Preach'd the same Christ without them whom they did not nor had not seen Although these Quakers say He did not bid them Pray or look at his Person without them but they do not prove where he ever forbid them and unless they can prove there was or is such a Body or Person Jesus of Nazareth without or distinct from the Divine Nature their Distinctions are vain at best But it 's too much the scope of their Books to contemn his Person under pretence of advancing his Divine Nature For farther saith W. B. of our Lord Jesus which in process of time was born of a Virgin had a Body prepared to do the will of his Father as it is at this day says W. B. p. 20. And again says he p. 21. That which may be known of God and Christ which is one saith he is manifest in People there he is and is only to be found Here you see they agree to degrade and contemn his Person from being the Saviour and ascribe it to something in themselves A Holy thing in People there he is only to be found say they in their or our prepared bodies Allegorizing his Conception and Birth and Person as but Figures and Facile Representations of something within or to be acted in the Saints Bodies But I do not find this Birth and Body W. B. mentions prophesied of in the Scripture as our Lord was nor such Joy in Heaven as was at the Birth of our Lord whom the Angels and Shepherds Elizabeth and Simeon and all the Prophets from Samuel prophesied of and the Apostles Preach'd And as a Man is not a Man without Soul Spirit and Body no more was our Lord Jesus of Nazareth ever without his Divine Nature And for farther Proof of their Contempt of him see G. K's Book A True Copy of a Paper c. from pag. 17. to the end where S. Eagles one of their Blasphemous Brother Preachers saying The blood shed out of him Christ after he was dead was no more than the blood of another Saint Is this all the preference you can afford his Blood and Himself to be one or a Saint with your selves And this doth G. Whitehead excuse which is Proof enough of their Contempt of his Person Sufferings and Blood as also their now excusing their Blasphemy The Jews never saw the World's Saviour as in their Book The Discoverer Discovered c. p. 7. If there was no other Proof of their Contempt of his Person and Blood but this it 's enough For as the Mystery of Godliness was great so is there a great Mystery of Iniquity or Antichrist described first Epist St. John 2d Chap. He that denieth that Jesus is the Christ is Antichrist This Spirit hath shewn it self through many of the Chief Priests among these Foxonian Quakers as he did in their Fore-fathers the Jews especially in W. Bingley whose Enmity was such against Preaching the Faith in our Lord Jesus of Nazareth That he in a Publick Meeting hindered G. K. from Preaching and as the Jews did by Stephen so they gnash their Teeth on G. K. W. Bingley by interrupting him and when himself had done speaking went out of the Meeting bidding the People pass away as the Jews served our Lord who said He is mad why hear ye him And W Pen hath done worse by him at Ratcliff since whereby they have proved their Spirit not to be the same that Paul's was who although some preach'd Christ out of Envy to him yet because Christ was preached he rejoyced But Antichrist in these G. K's Persecutors is so far from Preaching our Lord Jesus of Nazareth as the Saviour that they are so bold as to Preach That the Jews never saw the World's Saviour As is testified in a Book entituled A Call c. By E. Burlin from Pensilvania p. 17 18. And now also by them excused in their Book entituled The Discoverer Discovered p. 7. saying Though they saw the Man Jesus yet the Eyes of their minds were blinded c. As if because they saw him not to be the Saviour therefore he was not so But you say He was both God and Man but yet the Jews did not see him to be so therefore by your Argument because they did not see him God and Man he was not so For they no more saw him to be God and Man than they saw him to be the Saviour and by your Doctrine either he was not the Saviour or the Jews did not see him For the difference is not about what the Jews saw him to be but what he really was and if this your Doctrine had been only to prove the blindness of the Jews your excusing it might have been born with But being in Contempt of his Person and contrary to the Scriptures ought to be denyed For our Lord said to the Woman of Samaria and to the Man whom he cured 9 John 36. Thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee And the 4 John 26. I that talk with thee am he But these Quakers in Print say in their Book entituled The Sword of the Lord drawn p. 5. To say that this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye These are so contemptible of our Lord Jesus of Nazareth as being Christ and the Saviour as the Scriptures declare him that none that love him would utter or excuse them as these Quakers do For it 's no less than denying him to be the Saviour and therein they deny the Lord that bought them and trample his precious and inestimable Blood under foot For the Jews did both see him and handle him and that with wicked hands too Therefore according to our Lord's Command go not after them for although his Name be in their Mouths yet he is not in their Hearts That is they do not mean him our Lord Jesus of Nazareth as will further appear but something that
is to humble our selves and not as G. F. doth exalt himself and his false Spirit under the Notion of the same Spirit that Christ had but the contrary Fruit shews it a contrary Spirit Also for that Text which G. F. brings to make himself one with God 2 Heb. 11. He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one And saith G. F. It 's God that sanctifieth thereby implying his Spirit was one with God for saith he the same Spirit where it is is equal with God c. And then in the conclusion of that Paragraph says he This I witness what the Scripture saith c. p. 6. And all this not in denyal but in confirmation of his claiming Equality with God But this Text doth set out the great Condesension of our dear Lord Jesus how he became one with us and not to exalt any to equality with God but to the contrary as saith the Apostle We see Jesus who was made lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death For it became him for whom and by whom are all things To make the Captain of Salvation perfect through Sufferings 2 Heb. 9. Therefore hereby it 's evident that G. F. doth pervert the Scripture as well as mens words And observe in the second of the Philippians it's said of our Lord And being found in fashion or shape as a Man he humbled himself And it 's not said he was found in that Man but he was that very Person God and Man and not a meer Man without or distinct from the Divine Life for the Word was made flesh and as Body and Soul make but one Man so the Divine and Humane Natures are both one Lord Jesus Christ I have made a long Digression but am by their Clamours forced to it For farther Proof of their Contempt of our Lord and his Sufferings They say in Print The Sufferings of the People of God themselves in this Age are greater and more unjust than in the days of Christ or of the Apostles For what was done to Christ or his Apostles was chiefly done by a Law and in great part by the due execution of a Law Edw. Burroughs Works p. 273. If this be not abominable Contempt of our Lord's Sufferings and excusing the Jews I know not what is And I am sure it was no Christian Spirit that wrote or excused such Antichristian Doctrine Judge ye if this be not more properly denying the Lord that bought them than J. S's calling their Light within perverse Principle of Self-adoring Light Of this they say in Print it 's Blasphemy and no less than denying the Lord that bought him R. Hubberthorn's Works in Answer to J. S. p. 89. And for Proof of their Contempts of the Magistrates and Laws of the Nation and their Uncharitableness and Arrogancy Observe They say in Print Truth allows no Payment of Tithes at all but condemns it so would you also were your hearts right to God They who pay Tithes do thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh which is a mark of Antichrist in their Book An Antidote against Infection c. p. 78. This cruel and illegal Sentence of theirs is against W. R. a Christian Quaker who doth not plead the Right of Tithes but for Liberty of Conscience for these who could freely pay them and not by constraint And it 's this just Liberty that they oppose and will-not allow such to be Christians but condemn them as Antichrists and Denyers of Christ and so for Damnation And this affects no less than all Christendom even ever since the Apostles to the World's end even Kings and all Estates and Degrees whatsoever who pay Tithes nay their own dearest and nearest Relations And if it do not condemn Judge Fell yet I am sure it doth that Divine Judge Hale whom they pretend in their Journal to speak well of and I am sure did deserve better from them And this their Testimony is so Uncharitable and Unchristian a Judgment that it concerns all true Christians to disown it But these Foxonian Quakers are so hardy that they are not ashamed to tell the Parliament That their Testimony against Tithes is not a Law of their making but of Christ's Counterfeit Convert c. p. 73. Also they say They cannot hold up Tithes in the War nor in the Law nor they that give them and do see that they that give them and they that take them are neither agreeable to Law nor Gospel in a Book entituled These several Papers were sent to the Parliament 1659. Now until they disown this aforesaid unchristian Testimony of theirs all the Foxonian Quakers are chargeable therewith And hereby it 's evident That a Liberty for such as cannot for Conscience-sake pay Tithes will not satisfie them but they will impose upon them who can freely pay them without constraint under the Penalty of being Antichrist and denyers of Christ And it 's of concernment to be determined which is most binding the Foxonian Quakers Testimony against Tithes being a Law of Christ's making as they say or the Laws of the Nation For by these Quakers Doctrine all who pay them are in a damnable condition although they pay them freely without Constraint and more especially they who receive and make the Laws for the Payment of them For G. F. also says Tithes must be taken away from Men as well as Ministers pag. 368. So here is a Law made by Christ in G. F. that Tithes must be taken away not only from Ministers but from other Men and it 's confirmed by G. W. c. to the Parliament And also they say That Antichristian Generation the National Ministry have received a deadly blow by our Witness against their forced Maintenance and Tithes against which we have witnessed by cruel Sufferings as our Chronicles shall make known to Ages to come so that their Kingdom in the hearts of thousands begins to totter and shall assuredly fall to the ground In their Book The Anarchy of the Ranters c. p. 42. And also above Thirty Years since did one S. T. say in a Publick Meeting As there was not then a Bishop in England so there should not be a Priest And in the Epistle to G. F's Great Mystery they say Our Spirits were first filled with Indignation against the Priests and Teachers and against them we first began War Also in R. Hubberthorn's Works in Answer to J. S. pag. 130. They say When the Law of the Land ceaseth to maintain them which will come sooner than they expect then may they beg their Bread or perish for want Also W. P. in his Guide Mistaken saith The Idle Gormandizing Priests of England run away with 150000 l. a Year under pretence of being God's Ministers No sort of People have been so universally the bane of Soul and Body as that abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God's most dreadful Vengeance is reserved to Act their Eternal Tragedy upon What Mouth all these uncharitable and
of my Lord Jesus of Nazareth without me and his Obedience and Sufferings and shedding his inestimable Blood of his Body his Stripes his Death and his Mediatorship and Intercessing with the Father now in Heaven The Satisfaction he made to the Father I say in him only do I by Faith fix and rely for Salvation and my Soul says to him as the Disciples in the Ship when they were in a Storm Lord save me or I perish Even the same Jesus who lived in Capernaum I which sate in Darkness among you many Years through Mercy by that little weak belief in him that I have obtained found Light to spring up as in the 4th of Matth. 13. 16. I say again my Redeemer and Saviour in whom I trust is the same Lord Jesus St. Peter Preach'd and St. Paul Acts 13. Who was taken down from the Tree and laid in a Sepulchre whom God raised from the dead Through this Man do I expect forgiveness of my sins and by him to be justified I am not ashamed of this my belief and hope in him whom ye contemn and now term an outward Man in p. II. Discoverer Discovered And to cover your Errors you would divide his two Natures under pretence of distinguishing whereas there never was a Jesus of Nazareth an outward Man only and there is great difference between your Doctrine and the Apostles for you Preach a Christ therein crucified i. e. in him and a Light in every Man but the Apostles Preach'd him even him that was taken down from the Tree and laid in the Sepulchre This could not be the Godhead only distinct from his Manhood nor could this Jesus be Personally or Substantially in Man nor his Flesh and Blood Therefore the Light within every Man alone cannot be him even Jesus of Nazareth who is the Son of God and Saviour of the World and your contempt of his Person is offensive You say in Print of his Disciples For they loved his Person for the sake of the frame and quality of the Spirit that dwelt in him or else what was his Person being mean and contemptible to them more than another Person but for that which dwelt in him they loved him let none mistake I do not slight it nor the Person of any of his Brethren or Children as they are prepared to do the will of their Father but I do know in God's Counsel that it was even so as it bath been also in these days among whom God the Father of Mercies hath as it were deprived some of his Disciples of the Personal Presence of some of his dear sons and Servants which may be to this end that the same Spirit and Life might be felt possessed lived in and enjoyed in themselves in their own particulars in which only their Eternal well-being consisteth Deep to Deep by W. B. pag. 30. Here observe it 's not the Body but it is the Person our Lord Jesus they contemn and as is proved by their aforesaid terms HIM and HIS PERSON and in this their Contempt of his Person his Blood must be included and as is here shewn they say His blood was no more than the blood of another Saint and so here above his Person is made to be but equal with theirs There is more Contempt in this above Sentence than I can express and if it be not also contrary to the 13 Acts judge ye But to discover the depth of the Mystery of Iniquity couched hereunder is more than I can do but you cannot be good Christians until you disown these Contempts And it is but deceit for you to pretend you own Jesus of Nazareth as the Saviour as long as you do not disown but excuse these Contempts Remember how you charged the Baptists that if they did not condemn or disown Tho. Hicks for abusing you that they were chargeable so also are you Foxonian Quakers the whole Body chargeable with these Errors until by or for you disowned much more by your excusing them Awake awake all Christians especially you Overseers who love our Lord Jesus and the Gospel of Salvation and contend earnestly for the true Faith in him for certain Men are crept in speaking great swelling words pretending to the Power and Spirit of Christ exalting themselves above and opposing all other Christians This is the very Mystery of Iniquity now at work Do but consider how furiously they prosecuted F. Bugg for putting a jest upon twelve of them by a Mock-Pillory They Indicted him in London when he above Sixty miles absent and knew nothing of it nor could defend himself and complained of him to the Secretary of State and to the Parliament as one Seditious and of ill Consequence to the Government which was false and a gross Slander Now shall they be so concerned for the Reputation of Twelve Men among them that the whole Nation must be alarmed And shall our Lord Jesus of Nazareth his Blood and Sufferings and the Holy Scriptures be contemned and you not affected nor concerned Surely if our Lord took so much notice of them that had not fed nor cloathed nor visited his Disciples insomuch that he took it as to himself 25 Matth. 42. surely much more will he take notice of them who do not in this evil day and time own and confess him before men take his Holy Apostles for an Example of suffering Afflictions Bonds and Imprisonments for Preaching and Testifying to our Lord Jesus of Nazareth as the only Saviour What though they will not suffer you to Buy or Sell in their Markets but thrust you out of their Synagogues and Defame and Persecute and Imprison and Fine take away Goods as they the Chief Priests of the Foxonian Quakers have done by G. K. and his Friends Yet he is Faithful that hath promised and hath greater Power than they And because as they say The only way to recover the Deceived is to discover the Deceivers Therefore are these Errors of theirs published and not as they falsly say out of Envy or to incense the Government against them their false boasting of themselves and Spirit and condemning others G. Fox being charged to have said he was Christ he answered It was a Lye but saith he Christ in the Male or Female if he speak he was Christ the Seed and the Seed was Christ but he said He did not speak it as a Creature p. 299. I take him to mean it was not the Creature G. F. but Christ in him that said he was Christ. Now in their Discoverer Discovered p. 14. They charge T. C. for abusing G. F. by misrepresenting him Now I charge them in the top of this Paragraph with False Boasting and I leave it to the Reader to judge whether or no these Instances I give do not prove it For they themselves say pag. 14. He G. F. gives the name Christ to something in him and spake through him yet it was no Creature nor of him G. F. but of the Seed which is Christ