little his Endeavour Vnrighteously to infer that those Moral Perpetual and Eternal Holy Precepts thou shalt have no other God but me thou shalt not Murder thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Steal thou shalt not bear False Witness c. are not binding upon us But that we give our selves the loose of such horrid Principles as the contrary and are therefore inconsistent with Civil Government Cont. pag. 59 60. As if that Eternal Holy Omnipresent Light with which we are enlightned did not continually declare and require these Just and Righteous Things at our hands God rebuke him 22. From our Use of the Scripture and a Ministry with such like Means though by the Assistance and Leadings of the Eternal Spirit for this End that all may come by them as Helps to the Life and Power it self the great End of all External Means He would insinuate the Insufficiency of the Light and does prefer the very Beggarly Elements of the Jewish Religion before it which holds as well against God Christ and his Power Grace and holy Spirit because the like Means are used notwithstanding to reclaim and restore Men to a State of Happiness but if that were Wicked what can his Reflection be upon the Light Dial. p. 37 41 42 49 23. Because we say that no Man can rightly worship God without the Preparation Motion of his holy Spirit which we daily wait to feel and accordingly are prepared drawn forth to worship the Lord whether in publick or private for we never sought his Face in vain This Envious Man suggests that we never wait to be so prepared or moved But if the Spirit of God compels us not God must go without his Worship and not blame them with such like making as if the Spirit were as far off as he would have Christ and that to stay till Men were mov'd were never to worship which sufficiently shews his Ignorance of that Spirit whose alone Leadings make a Child of God as well as the Wicked Vse he makes of that Holy and Christian Practice Cont. p. 60 61. 24. From our asserting that every Man ought to be convinc'd of what he does and that by the Light in him as his Rule of Faith Duty before he sets about to do or perform it He insinuates the Impossibility of our Renouncing and Rejecting any tenacious Disputer about unprofitable Questions that may go out from us as a Religious Society because such Person or Persons may plead the Light within for it Cont. p. 64 65. As if they might not as well plead the Scripture too upon his Belief of a Rule and give him the same Difficulty Must every one use the Scripture right that pretends to it as their Rule If not then why may not several pretend to the Guidance of the Light for that which the Light really condemns 25. From our denying the Resurrection of the Natural and Corruptible Body and leaving it with the Lord to give us a Body as pleaseth him This Caviller and Foolish Intruder into Sacred Mysteries endeavours to possess People with our being Shufflers about Denyers of the Resurrection of any Body to Life Eternal however Spiritual or Glorified Dial. p. 56 57 58 59 60 61 62. 26. And from our asserting the Unity of God and the Soul and our Denyal of their Carnal Resurrection He blindly concludes that the Soul is part of God and so no future Rewards or Punishments at all to be expected by any Dial. p. 16 17. Thus much to give the World a Taste of the Man's Spirit He that can thus far believe him to be an Honest Man ought to be condemned for great Ignorance and Inhonesty God that made Heaven and Earth will Recompense it into his Bosom with a Vengeance if he Repent not A Collection of a Few of his Many GREAT LYES Arg. III. He that Lyes is not of God but Thomas Hicks is a Lyar therefore not of God then no Christian 1. First That our owning of Christ Jesus is indeed no other then A MEER MYSTICAL ROMANCE and that the Christ we own is no other then a MYSTICAL ROMANCE Dial. p. 10. Contin p. 9. A Prophane Untruth Vntruth in speaking so of us and Prophane with a witness to call the Light a Mystical Romance which he just now said ought to be obeyed Is this your Champion 2. That according to the Quakers Conceits Scripture and Reason must not be made use of Ibid. p. 26. A Lye our Books and Practice plentifully prove 3. That the Light in us sees no Necessity of a Mediator Ibid. p. 35. When God knows we feel the daily Benefit of one 4. That the Quakers account the Blood of Jesus Christ no more then they do the Blood of a COMMON THIEF Ibid. p. 38. An Ungodly Aspersion 5. That we deny his Visible Coming and Appearance in the World Cont. p. 37 45. Though a Contradiction to himself 6. That the Quakers hold they can work a Compleat Righteousness OUT OF THEIR OWN BOWELS Ibid. Epist p. 53. Dial. p. 38. and yet a while since all was to be done by the Motion and Operation of God's Spirit alone O Confusion it self 7. They own Christ in all he did ONLY as an Example Contin p. 54. yet just now he made us deny his Coming at all What strange Lying and Self-Contradicting is here 8. That the Quakers Dissemble when they tell People they own the Scriptures and that they render them of no more Authority then ESOPS FABLES Cont. Epist That a Quaker should say That which troubles thee is thy PUZLING thy self so much in that BOOK THE BIBLE thou wilt never be setled till thou throw that Book AWAY Cont. p. 76. A Wicked Lye Also That a Quaker should saâ— to one T. Hollbrow What dost thou tell me of the Scriptures they are no more to me then an old Almanack Which we renounce both as being a Lye and an Irreverent Expression For J. Nobbs on whom it is charged was a Ranter and if I mistake not it was spoken before the People Quakers were known in the Southern Parts if not before God's Breaking forth by them 9. That any thing against our Ministry though never so true must be looked upon as the greatest Lye Ibid. Epist But this is one to be sure God will clear their Innocency and confound their bitter Enemies 10. That Nicholas Lucas said to one of T. Hicks 's Acquaintance that he might burn the Bible and serve God as well without and that he might write as good Scripture himself if he would have any Ibid. pag. 5. A Lye he disowns and in the Appendix may be seen 11. That they appoint their Ministers afore-hand to speak in such a Place and at such a Time and that they go to Meetings only to encourage that is to decoy trapan and inveagle others Ibid. p. 66. Very Lyes I testifie in God's Fear 12. That the Quakers bid People follow the Light within and if they do so
cited in Defence of his gross Conceit of the Râ—surrection are either relative of another Matter or directly opposite to and inconsistent with his Assertion 1. And this Mortal shall put on Immortality this Corruptible shall put on Incorruption 1 Cor 15.53 I grant that this implies a Change but I deny that it so much as intimates that Men shall rise with those very Carnal Bodies that were buried No the Apostle not only tells us that the Body sown is not the Body that shall be but that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God vers 50. If the Flesh and Blood be transmuted or changed into no Flesh and Blood I query and I think I may do it safely too Whether It be the same Flesh and Blood that is changed into no Flesh and Blood that is the Body raised O Absurd Dark and Carnal Man Nor am I afraid to tell him that the Scripture cannot rationally be taken strictly as translated neither ought many more for there are certain Figures Modes and Wayes proper to that Language in which this Epistle was written which are to be understood with Allowances for how can the Mortal taken for Mortality and not him who in part is Mortal put on Immortality It is Impossible Can Mortality be cloathed with Immortality then it seems that Mortality is the Person and Immortality the Garment If Thomas Hicks should tell me No it is meant that the Mortal Body should be changed into an Immortal Body it follows that he is gone from the Letter of the Text into an Interpretation as well as that it contradicts his absurd Identity or Sameness of Body If so it is as Lawful for me and more if in the Right to construe It thus That we who are Mortals respecting our Bodies put off the Mortal Part and put on instead thereof Immortality suitable to that weighty Passage of the Apostle Paul For We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in Heavens which as directly concludes the Charge not of Accidents but Bodies from an Earthly House or Tabernacle to an Heavenly House or Building as ever any thing can be spoken by Men or Angels To conclude Since Mortality can not properly put on Immortality but Man that is cloathed with Mortality may put off or exchange Mortality for Immortality because otherwise Mortality would have Immortality for its Garment a thing impossible and absurd I do infer that this place yields no Strength at all to Thomas Hicks's gross Apprehension of the Resurrection 2. His next Scripture is that in the Romans But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that rais'd up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you But this is nothing to T. H's Purpose in the least For the Apostle treats not here of the Resurrection of Dead Carnal Bodies in our Adversary's Sence as the whole Chapter seriously read proves but of the Inward Work of the Spirit in order to the making Man's Body a fit Temple for the holy Ghost to dwell in as he writ to the Corrinthians 3. The third place he brings is out of the Epistle Paul writ to the Philippians He shall change our Vile Bodies Upon which he sayâ—s This cannot be meant of a New-created Bodâ— because such a Body cannot be said to be either Vile or Changed But what makes this for his Conceit Surely nothing For if the Vile Body he changed then it is not that Vile Body therefore not the same Body Again to say that Scripture can't be meant of a New-Created Body because such one can't be said to be either Vile or Changed makes much against him For 1. It is to say that the Body that shall be is Vile else what means his Saying Because such a Body cannot be said TO BE not to have been either Vile or Changed 2. Though the Body That shall be may not be said to be either Vile or Changed yet it may be given of God in lieu of a Vile Body and so the Vile Body Changed for one that is Glorious It was either Ignorantly or Sophistically done in Thomas Hicks to imply That Body that shall be could not be said to be Changed since the Change lies on the side of the Vile Body that is exchanged for a more Glorious Body Therefore all along we must conclude it is not the same but another Body But how Disingenuous is Tho Hicks to repute G. W's Answer in the Apostle's Words a pressing the Metaphor too far and yet by so doing runs himself into this Dark Imagination of a Fleshly Resurrection But Tho. Hicks thinks The Joyes of Heaven Imperfect else I Answer Is the Joy of the Ancients now in Glory Imperfect or are they in Heaven but by halfes If it be so Unequitable that the Body which hath suffered should not partake of the Joyes Celestial Is it not in measure Unequal that the Soul should be rewarded so long before the Body This Principle brings to the Mortality of the Soul held by many Baptists or I am mistaken But why must the Felicity of the Soul depend upon that of the Body Is it not to make the Soul a kind of Widdow and so in a State of Mourning and Disconsolateness to be without its Beloved Body which State is but a better sort of Purgatory See T.V. and T.D. What made the Apostle willing to be absent from the Body that he might be present with the Lord if such a Dissolution brought Sadness instead of Joy as our Adversaries in the Point of the Resurrection suggest if not boldly affirm In short If the compleat Happiness of the Soul rests in a Re-union to a Carnal Body for such it is sown then never cry out upon the Turks Alcoran for such a Heaven and the Joyes of it suite admirably well with such a Resurrection The Reasons I have to give against this Barbarous Conceit I thus Contract 1. Because that the Scripture speaks of a Dissolution and no Resurrection of that which is dissolved being Earthly and Unfit for a Celestial Paradice and therefore holds forth a Building of God and House Eternal in the Heavens 2. If the Body be the same it must have the same Nature otherwise not the same Body But if it have the same Nature it will be Corruptible still Mortal Seeds bring forth Mortal Natures not Immortal Neither can Mortal be Immortal and yet the same Nature as before for that Change made tell me What remains of the Old Earthly Body 3. It makes the Soul Uncapable of Compleat Happiness without a Fleshly Body as if Heaven were an Earthly Place to see walk in and all our Outward Senses to be enjoyed and exercised as in this World though in an higher Degree which I call Mahometism For what Spiritual Happiness the Body now can have
we affirm viz. 1st That Jesus Christ in the Flesh was more thâ—â— a meet Exemple of Holiness 2dly And his Blood was of peculiar Value and Estimation with God Thomas Hicks Proceeds in his Envy and Falshood stiâ—â—â—â— bring our Sufferings into Dis-esteem viz. 〈…〉 People that ever boasted so vainly of their Sufferings 〈◊〉 you do that scarce a Pamphlet can come out from yo◠〈◊〉 but the World must hear of your Brags of this kind Contin p. 6. A manifest and two-fold Falshood for 1st We do not vainly boast of our Sufferings but have rejâ—yced in Christ Jesus that we have been counted worthy to suffer for his Name when you who now enjoy our Prosperity durst not shew your Heads in publick for your Profession or Worship but fled into Corners and Obscurities and your publick Meetings were deserted and put by For thy part T.H. I do not think thou hast much Suffering for Conscience or any for Christ to boast of 2. Scarce a Pamphlet Is also false for many of our Bookes and Papers relate not our Sufferings but other Subjects much less vainly boast or brag thereof But it seems that it both judges and vexes thee and such Creeping Envious Spirits to hear of our deep Sufferings since they have had such a blessed Effect in the Nation as the inclining the Hearts of many to the Living Truth and the Increase of our Number in it Thou T.H. and such Envious Spirits are most quiet towards us when you see us under Persecution and appear most outragious against us when we have Liberty as if you were discontented and perplexed at our Liberties and as desirous of Persecution and Ruin upon us 3. I am not sorry that I was made Instrumental in obtaining the Liberty of some of thy Brethren the Baptists out of Prison the last Somâ—er who among a great Number of our Friends were released though I am but sorrily and badly requited by thee but thou art one of them who art more ready to persecute and scandalize our Sufferings then to suffer or sympathize with them that suffer for Conscience sake but have not some of thy Brethren both commended of our Sufferings and the Service thereof both to themselves and other Dissenters why then dost thou insinuate as if Carnal Interest Wills and Lusts were our chief Motive to suffer God and his Witness in many Consciences will judge thee for this gross Abuse Again T.H. did most falsly insinuate though by way of Query That our Sufferings were only to satisfie our Wills and Lusts and for Carnal Advantage which to excuse he now saith In this I only queried what it should be that doth influence you to suffer forasmuch as you deny that this Body shall rise And G.F. maintains that the Soul is part of God's Being Contin p. 6. 1. To the first I answer that every Seed shall have its own Body as it pleaseth God and every Man shall be reserved spiritually in his own proper Being though not in the gross fleshly Form Is this either to deny the Resurrection or an Eternal Advantage 2. To the second G.F. doth not so speak of the Soul or Spirit of Man nor are his Words directly and truly cited but of the Immediate Inspiration of God or original Life or Soul of Man's Soul by which Man became Living a Living Soul in this he queries Is not that of God which came out from God 3. It s an absurd and most abusive Insinuation that our Sufferings either were or could be for any carnal Advantage or Interest seeing we freely have often offered up our Lives and our All in this World therein 4. It s still a manifest Slander that we deny any Eternal Advantage to Persons after Death neither is it any much less direct Consequence of our saying Not that Body which thou sowest shall be and Flesh and Blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God or That the Body which God giveth shall not be in a Fleshly but in a Spiritual Form as Tho. Collier confesseth dare he say this is to deny any Eternal Advantage But with T.H. This is no more then the Genuine and a direct Consequence of denying the Resurrection of this Body Is it not then the reaping Eternal Advantage must be placed upon this Earthly Tabernacle or Carnal Body though it must be dissolved and no New one to be created according to his former Doctrine Dial. p. 58. O wonderful Philosophy Eternal Advantage placed upon these same Earthly Bodies yet they not to be renewed by Creation after dissolved and turned to Dust and how contrary to the Apostles Testimony is his so much placing Eternal Advantage upon this Earthly disolvable Body see the 2. Cor. 5 1 2 8. Phil. 1.21.23 Our experiencing Christ's second Appearance without Sin unto Salvation in Answer to our Hope and testifying to Eternal Life and Felicity as Inwardly and Spiritually receiv'd by those that now suffer for Christ can be no Denyal of any Future or Eternal Advantage according to his Instance against me p. 7. seeing we know that to live is Christ and to dy is Gain unto us they that walk up to his Light in them here cannot miss of an Eternal Advantage hereafter Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for is a far more exceeding weight of Glory see 2 Cor. 4 10 11. to the end of the Chapter Concerning Justification Imputation and Sanctification p. 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 wherein we differ he is fully answered in our Books viz. Divin Chr. Serious Apol. But where he saith viz. I know of none that hold Justification of Persons in their Vngodliness p. 55. Are there not those that hold Justification before Sanctification or in a sinful Estate by a meer Imputatation And those that thus argue for it by the Rule of Contraries As Christ was made to be Sin for us who knew no Sin i.e. by an inherent Guilt or Operations of Sin in him so we are made the Righteousness of God in him they adding as and so as he so we i.e. we are not actually made Righteous by any inherent Righteousness or Holiness of Christ wrought in us any more then Christ was made Sin but reckened Righteous only from his active and passive Obedience without us This Doctrine we have not only opposed but refuted Divin Christ Ser. Apol. The wicked Slander he calls upon us in this is his own T.H. we plead not for a Righteousness Imputed to overthrow a Righteousness Inherent or the Exercise of Christian Virtue p. 55. But do you not oppose a Righteousness inherent as to Justification or deny that those Christian Virtues within are reckoned or esteemed of God unto Justification T.H. 'T is you would separate and divide them not we p. 55. False we make no such Separation between Christ's Righteousness Inherent in us and Justification on the Imputation as ours we experiencing a Participation thereof Christ being made unto us both Righteousness Sanctification Redemption
that his Obedience unto Death was in order to make Men Righteous because it was in the Nature of a Sacrifice by which God testified unto the World his Desire of Reconciliation through the Remission of the Sins that are past which was held forth and came and was confirmed by that Obedience even to the Death of the Cross In which Sence the Just sufferd for the Vnjust and whilst we were Sinners Christ dyed He was made Sin that is to take away Sin for us an Hebraism and he justifieth the Vngodly that is remitteth the Vngodly upon Repentance and bore our Iniquities or bore away our Iniquities that is by this Offering for Sin was Remission for Sins past declared and confirmed unto all as an Vniversal Propitiation For God was in all these Sufferings shewing forth his Love and reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their Trespasses unto them But still Repentance was that which brought home the general Pardon promulgated in and by that holy Offering up of his Body once for all unto every particular Soul Thus by the Obedience of that one Man even to the Death of the Cross many come to be made Righteous that is justified from many Offences see Rom. 5.6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. But if this first part of Justification which is Remission of Sin be not obtainable by any however general it be in Christ without Repentance from dead Works which implyes Faith Contrition and Amendment of Life How miserably is T. Hicks out who brings this very Scripture we are upon to prove that we are compleatly justified which takes in both Forgiveness of Sin past and a being Inwardly made Just through the casting out of Sin by the just and holy Power and Spirit of God operating in the Heart and Conscience by Christ's Righteousness WHOLELY WITHOUT US I grant it that Forgiveness of Sin is God's free Love meer Grace and rich Mercy declared in and by Christ Jesus to the World and that this Grace abounded unto all for He was a Propitiation not only for the Sins of those that believe but of the Whole World yet the whole Benefit thereof should never redound unto any whilst alienated from God by wicked Works Peter preached another Doctrine For though Christ dyed for the Vngodly yet they were not thereby Justified that is pardon'd for Sin past while Unrepentant Peter sayes Repent and then they should receive Remission of Sins Now I would fain know how this Repentance is wrought by which as a Condition any come to have an Interest in that great Pardon held out to the whole World Is the Spirit of Christ unconcern'd in it Can we think one Good Thought of our selveâ— Are we not altogether degenerated Plants of a Strange Vine by Nature Children of Wrath c. Is not this frequently confest by the Professors of Religion in our times and the most affected piece of their Righteousness too Well then If we cannot repent of our selves and that Repentance is a Condition that it is in the Soul and that it cannot be there without the Spirit of Christ work it tell me plainly if something is not to be done within and therefore of the Nature of Inward Righteousness before any Benefit be procured deriv'd or receiv'd from Christ's Death and Sufferings to any particular Person This is close to our Point for therefore is it that we affirm that such as go on to transgress against the Law of the Spirit of Life and so disobey the Light and grieve the Holy Spirit by wicked Works are not in that State Justified I mean now that they are not so much as forgiven and least of all that they should be look'd upon as compleatly justified that is by Qualification and Participation of the Divine Nature truly and inwardly made Just since it would be to say that by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous who notwithstanding remain Disobedient and Rebellious to God's Grace which has appeared unto them We do say again that such a Doctrine so speaking Peace to a State of Sin and Death and shutting out an Inward Work many wayes necessary to the Forgiveness of Sin past or dayly Acceptante with God IS NO LESS THEN THE DOCTRINE OF DEVILS and the worst they have to propagate to the Dishonour of God and the Eternal State of People Souls In short here lyes the gross Mistake of our Adversaries They make the Sufferings of Christ which peculiarly relate to the first part of Justification Remission of Sins past to be that which has answered not only for Sins past but present and to come so as to acquit them from all Inward Work as necessary to Justification compleatly taken contrary to express Scripture Rom. 5.25 and the great End of Christ's Spiritual Manifestation in his People There might be much more said in this matter but because he thinks I have not made a little for him in my Book truly entituled The Sandy Foundation Shaken and that I am to be short I shall proceed to dispatch what remaines as God shall enable me To that Answer he gave out of the Romans by the Obedience of one c. already with other Scriptures explained and vindicated from his Abuse of them he makes me thus to answer him Quak. It is a great Abomination to say God shall condemn and punish his Innocent Son that he having satisfied for our sins we might be justified by the Imputation of his perfect Righteousness O why should this horrible thing be contented for by Christians Penn. ibid. p. 25.30 To which he returns Chr. How now Mr. Penn Is this the Doctrine of Christ's Sufferings for Sinners to make Satisfaction to Divine Justice an horrible thing and an Abomination to you Do you consider what you say And thus brings me in answering him Qu. This I do say that the Consequences of such a Doctrine are both Irreligious Irrational Penn. ibid. P. 16. Now that he has dealt Blasphem ously with God and Injuriously with me as well as that he has given me no account of his thoughts upon the Errour he makes me guilty of in case I held it besides that impertinent Question plainly appears First he has dealt Blasphemously with God in calling Christ's Suffering God's condemning and punishing his Innocent Son c. which his Censure of my so Phrasing their Opinion manifestly implyes Now I appeal to all Impartial People which of us two is most to be blamed I that confess to Christ's Sufferings as the Effect of Gods's Love thereby not to satisfie himself as a Revenger or as he could not forgive for none of that is in the Verse at all which yet is in their Sordid Opinion but as a God full of Mercy Forgiveness and Pardon to all true Penitents to declare to the World his free Remission of Sins and that he would not impute their Iniquities unto them if they would repent believe obey or T. Hicks who holds
that God condemn'd and punish'd his Innocent Son for other Folkes Sins that he might be satisfied for pardon he neither could nor would And which is most absurd Christ being this same God he at once makes him the Party satisfying the Party satisfied which is absurd and impossible besides 't is such a Satisfaction as hath paid all Debts past present to come whereby all Inward Righteousness though of Christ's Working is not necessary to Justification in any Kind Secondly He has dealt Injuriously with me and that in two Respects 1. In not stating the Doctrine truly which I opposed and my Words at length that they might speak for themselves But in that case perhaps he thought he should have been oblieged to answer them a thing he every where seems afraid of his Trade â—s Caviâ—â—â—g And 2lâ— In that he brings this Passage which opposâ—d sucâ— a Satisfaction as is said to have paid for Sins pâ—st present and to come to answer a Scripture which concerns Justification and that part of it too which relates to Remission of Sins Insinuating that I make Men's own Works sufficient to Justification in the first sense I mean Remission in the second sense I mean daily Acceptance upon being made Just and lastly that I overturn all the Righteousness Death and Sufferings of Christ whilst in Truth and Sincerity of Soul 1. by Justification not by another's Righteousness WHOLELY WITHOUT I only meant That it was Christ's Righteousness wrought in us and not our own which made Inwardly Just and which gave daily Acceptance and brought into the heavenly Fellowship with the Father and with the Son the Justification then intended by me 2 ly Since God has made his Truth known to me I have ever understood Christ's being offered up to signifie the carrying away of Sin the bearing away of Iniquity that by which God declared Remission and Forgiveness of Sins past to all that repented And this Justification called Rom. 4. ver 5 6 7 8 God 's not Imputing Sin I have ever owned to be the Free Unmerited Love of God to the World And was not that Justification by me spoken of in the Passage cited 3 ly That which I opposed was so rigid a Satisfaction as made it absolutely unavoidable or necessary in God to require a Satisfaction thereby robbing him of the Power of his free Mercy and Loving-kindness to remit and pass by and that Christ did not answer or pay by the Act of his Suffering for Sins past present and to come but as he declared Remission by his Blood for the Sins past of the whole World the beginning of his Work so that he doth by his Power and Spirit subdue destroy and cast out Sin out of the Hearts of all who believe in him whereby their Consciences come to be made pure they sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit which necessitates to Good Life and speaks no Peace to the Wicked in their Wickedness nor yet to the sloathful formal and carnal Professor of Religion Therefore such rage and imagine a vain thing against us That the Consequences of the common Notion of both Satisfaction and Justification are Irreligious and Irrational though what has been said might suffice with Sober and Impartial Readers yet I may anon have further Occasion to prove it In the mean time He tells the World that William Penn in Answer to this Question How did Christ fulfil the Law for Sinners says That Christ fulfilled the Law ONLY as our Pattern or Example S.F. p. 26. In which he has done exactly like himself For if he can find the Word ONLY there or such an Answer to such a Question or the Matter strictly contained in that Question he has not wronged me but sure I am there is no such Question and as sure that the Fulfilling of the Law was not the Subject treated on and very certain that the Word Only was not there therefore a Forger That which I said with the Scripture on which it was grounded follows If ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my Love even as I have kept my Father's Commandments and abide in his Love From whence this Argument doth naturally arise If none are truly Justified that abide not in Christ's Love and that none abide in his Love that keep not his Commandments then consequently none are justified but such as keep his Commandments Besides here is the most palpable Opposition to an Imputative Righteousness that may be For Christ is so far from telling them of such a Way of being Justified as that he infoâ—mâ—th them the Reason why he abode in his Father's Love was his Obedience and is so far from telling them of their being Justified whilst not abiding in his Love by Virtue of his Obedience imputed unto them that unless they keep his Commands and obey for themselves they shall be so remote from an Acceptance as wholely to be cast out in all which Christ is but our Example Now that this concerned not the Whole Law Christ came to fulfil The whole Law he fulfilled the place of Scripture quoted the Nature and Matter of the Argument clearly proves Next If Christ had been other then our Example in that case then he should have fulfilled his own Commandments in our stead who from Obeying his Father's taught us our Duty was to obey His. And supposing that he could have kept his own Commandments and obey'd himself for us or in our stead it would have followed 1. That we needed not to have kept them unless they were to be observed twice over And that 2ly in not keeping of them we had been notwithstanding justified from his alone Fulfilling of them unless his Answering them had been Insufficient The first of which if I understand any thing opens a Door to all Licentiousness however Upright some may be in their Intentions to the contrary And the last strikes dead their own Opinion of the Sufficiency of Christ's Personal Obedience to perfoâ—m all needful on our Account From hence he undertakes to charge me with the Merit of Works My words at length are these which he thought good to conceal Was not Abraham justified by Works when he offered Isaac and by Works was Faith made perfect and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness By which we must not concâ—ive as do the dark Imputarians of this Age that Abraham ' s Offering Personally was not a Justifying Righteousness but that God was pleased to account it so since God never accounts a thing that which it is not nor was there any Imputation of another's Righteousness to Abraham but on the contrary his Personal Obedience was the Ground of that just Imputation therefore that any should be justified from the Imputation of another's Righteousness not inherent or actually possessed by them is both Ridiculous and Dangerous Ridiculous since it is to say A Man is Rich to
Talking the other a Doing Christian I in short argue thus If none can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but they that do the Father's Will then none are justified but they who do the Father's Will because none can enter into the Kingdom but such as are justified Since therefore there can be no Admittance had without Performing that Righteous Will and Doing those Holy and perfect Sayings Alas to what Value will an imputative Righteousness amount when a poor Soul shall awake polluted in his Sin by the hasty Calls of Death to make its Appearance before the Judgment Seat where 't is impossible to justifie the Wicked or that any should escape uncondemned but such as do the Will of God 2. For not the Hearers of the Law are just before God but the Doers of the Law shall be justified From whence how unanswerably may I observe Unless we become Doers of that Law which Christ came not to destroy but as our Example to fulfil we can never be justified before God wherefore Obedience is so absolutely necessary that short of it there can be no Acceptance Nor let any fancy that Christ hath so fulfill'd it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their Acceptance but only as their Pattern For unless ye follow me saith Christ ye cannot be my Disciples And it is not only repugnant to Reason but in this place particularly refuted for if Christ had fulfill'd it on our behalf and we not enabled to follow his Example there would not be Doers but One Doer only of the Law justified before God In short if without Obedience to the Righteous Law none can be justified then all the Hearing of the Law with but the meer Imputation of anothers Righteousness whilst actually a Breaker of it is excluded as not justifying before God If you fulfill the Royal Law ye do well so speak ye and so DO as they that shall be judg'd thereby 3. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall dye but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live No Man can be dead and justified before God for so He may be justified that lives after the Flesh therefore they only can be justified that are alive from whence this follows If the Living are justified and not the Dead and that none can live to God but such as have mortified the Deeds of the Body through the Spirit then none can be justified but they who have mortified the Deeds of the Body through the Spirit so that justification does not go before but is subsequential to the Mortification of Lusts and Sanctification of the Soul through the Spirit 's operation 4. Was not Abraham our Father justified by Works when he had offered Isaak his Son upon the Altar Ye see then how that by Works a Man is justified and not by Faith only He that will seriously peruse this Chapter shall doubtless find some to whom this Epistle was writen of the same Spirit with the Satisfactionists and Imputarians of our tâ—me they fain would have found out a Justification from Faith in and the Imputation of anothers Righteousness but James an Apostle of the most high God who experimentally knew what true Faith and Justification meant gave them to understand from Abraham's self-denying Example that unless their Faith in the Purity and Power of God's Grace had that effectual Operation to subdue every beloved Lust wean from every Dallila and intirely to resign and sacrifice Isaak himself their Faith was a Fable or as a Body without a Spirit and as Righteousness therefore in one Person cannot justify another from Unrighteousness so whoever now pretends to be justified by Faith whilst not led and guided by the Spirit into all the Wayes of Truth and Works of Righteousness their Faith they will find at last Fiction Consequences Irreligious and Irrational 1. It makes God guilty of what the Scriptures say is an Abomination to wit that he justifieth the Wicked 2. It makes him look upon Persons as they are not or with respect which is unworthy of his most Equal Nature 3. He is hereby at Peace with the Wicked if justified whilst Sinners who said There is no Peace to the Wicked 4. It does only imply Communion with them here in an Imperfect State but so to all Eternity for whom he justifieth them he also glorifieth Therefore whom he justify'd whilst Sinners them he also glorify'd whilst Sinners 5. It only secures from the Wages not the Dominion of Sin whereby something that is sinful becomes justify'd and that which defileth to enter God's Kingdom 6. It renders a Man justify'd and condemn'd dead and alive redeemed and not redeemed at the same time the one by an Imputative Righteousness the last by a Personal Unrighteousness 7. It flatters Men whilst subject to the World's Lusts with a State of Justification and thereby invalids the very End of Christ's Appearance which was to destroy the Works of the Devil and take away the Sins of the World CHAP. X. Of the Doctrine of Sanctification and Perfection The Ignorance or Malice of T. Hicks Detected OF the Doctrine of Sanctification he has several Vnsanctified Passages though he bestows not much time upon that Important Subject some of which I shall take a little notice of Christ Let us understand your Opinion of Sanctification what it is Out of Ed. Burroughs he answereth himself thus Quak. 'T is Christ Hence we conclude to say Sanctification is Imperfect in this Life is as much as to say Christ is Imperfect To which he replies Christ 'T is true 't is Jesus Christ by his Spirit is the Author and Worker of Sanctification but will it therefore follow that the Work of Sanctification in us is Christ or that this Work is perfect in all its Degrees Now let any tell me wherein T. Hicks could have more grosly mistaken E. Burroughs who frequently insults over the Grave and Labours of that Faithful Servant of the Lord then he has done on purpose I doubt not to insinuate his Belief of the contrary to what he opposed But hear Edw. Burrough's Words at large in Answer to Priest Eaton Thou sayest Sanctification is not Perfect in this Life And the New Man the Spirit or Law of the Mind is that Grace or Imperfect Sanctification Then Christ is not Perfect in this Life for He is made of God unto us Sanctification 1 Cor. 1.30 In this it is evident First That the Priest did not so much strike at the Work done in the Creature as at the Perfection of the Principle by which the Work should be perfected in the Creature 2dly E. Burroughs did not in that place meerly intend the Work of Sanctification but the Author and Worker of it who is oftentimes called by the Name of the Work it self the Cause by the Effect as is plain from the Scripture quoted in which he used but Paul's Words How basely done was it
then in Tho. Hicks not only to leave out what the Priest asserted but to misconstrue E. B's Answer and that such Perversion might go the more Unquestionable omit the Insertion of that Scripture in which Christ is by the Aâ—stle said to be made Sanctification to the Saints the mention of which would have given a clear Understanding of E. Burroughs's Answer and broke the Neck of his Ungodly Purpose to misrepresent him We say and it was the Faith and Tendency of the Writings of that Just Man 1. To assert a Perfect Principle of Righteousness and Sanctification which is Sanctification and Perfection in the abstract 2. The Possibility of being Perfectly Sanctified by it 3. That such Sanctification when taken for the Author of it who is the Fountain of all Holiness and Purity is Compleat and Perfect 4. When taken for the Work of the Spirit in the Creature it is first Perfect in Degree only but as the Creature comes into perfect Subjection unto the Spirit and Power of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead which hath wrought that Perfection in Degree he comes to experience that Sanctification throughout in Body Soul and Spirit which the Apostle otherwise minded then T. Hicks prayed the Churches might witness which is that blessed State wherein he that 's born of God SINS NOT Old things are done away ALL IS BECOME NEW No more I but Christ that liveth in me I write unto you Young Men because ye have OVERCOME the Wicked One Be ye Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect unto a PERFECT MAN That the Man of God may be PERFECT The God of Peace make you PERFECT IN EVERY GOOD WORK The God of all Peace make you PERFECT Let us cleanse our selves from ALL FILTHINESS OF FLESH AND SPIRIT Perfecting Holiness in the Fear of the Lord. With many more Places of like Importance But he objects Why doth the Apostle exhort Sanctified Persons to put off the Old Man from Coloss 3.5 If where the Old Man the Body of Sin remains none are Sanctified as saith E.B. This indeed is the Drift of the Man he would be Sanctified whilst Unsanctified as Dangerous as it is Absurd For what thing can be and not be the same thing at one and the same time But I deny they were then Sanctified who stood in need of that Reproof and Exhortation to wit that they should mortifie such Lusts as Fornication Vncleanness Inordinate Affection and Covetousness which is Idolatry Sanctifying such are who are Mortifying but when Sin is not Mortifying none are Sanctifying and where Sin is not Mortified no Man is Sanctified We may easily see what a Church-Fellowship T.H. can allow of and what a Gospel-Sanctification it is he pleads for Can Men be Sanctified and yet so Corrupt If they can tell me in what sense and from what they are cleansed Is this the End of pleading for Perfection in Degree to allow these Abominable Enormities as Church-Infirmities Away for Shame But that a perfect Sanctification is no Heresie suppose they had been Sanctify'd Persons to whom the Apostle wrote which could not be Sanctifying was the most yet since he exhorted them to put off the Old Man which Old Man is the Body of Sin and that when he is off he is not on and that the Apostle exhorted them Not to an Impossible thing I conclude from his Question that a State of Perfect Sanctification is attainable He pretended to correct E. B's Extravagancy but whatever Face he puts upon it this is the Mark he aims at To conclude and sum up his Ungodly Method E.B. speaks of a Perfect Sanctification in Christ T.H. infers that same perfect Sanctification immediately to the Creature not only confounding the Worker and Work the Cause and the Effect about which one piece of Baseness he bestows not a little Pains but suggesting thereby that we deny all Sanctification or Perfection in Degree and that we are as compleatly Perfect as Christ himself Next He leaves out those words that would best explain his Mind And Lastly All his Opposition is because the Quakers are for having Men Sanctify'd before they are Accounted so and New Creatures before they ought to be reputed Good Christians which so directly Vn-churches and Vn-christians T. Hicks that we may well believe it a main Reason for his Implacableness against them CHAP. XI Of COMMANDS MOTIONS and MINISTRY T. Hicks proved Vnjust to us and an Enemy to God's Law Gospel the Quakers and himself HE has not less abused and belyed us in these three Particulars then any thing he has written against us which I shall briefly shew To this Passage in E. Burroughs's Works That is no Command to me which is a Command to another neither did any of the Saints act by a Command that was given to another he thus answers Then that Law which forbids Idolatry Adultery Murder Theft and Bearing false Witness is no Law to you And after having made this indirect Consequence he breaketh forth Impiously Horrid Vngodly Irreverent Patronizers of Blasphemy Countenancers of such Novices Prophane Scribler and abundance more Now though I have said something to this before and have largely vindicated that Passage against J. Faldo yet I cannot well omit touching here upon it the Matter being so aggravated by this disingenuous Person These Commands must either relate to Ordinary or Extraordinary Duty I mean they must either be such Commands as that of Moses 's going to Pharaoh Isaiah's going Naked Jeremiah 's making Yoaks Amos 's going to the Kings's Chappel with many more And here I do affirm with that Faithful Young Man of God that the Command which came to them not coming to another that other Person is not only not warranted but condemnable in an Imitation of any of them If then such Extraordinary Commands as these before mentioned must not be intended then those that are Ordinary and Common to Mankind as Fearing God and working Righteousness towards God towards their Relations both Natural and Civil Now I would ask T.H. if he believes that Idolatry Murder Adultery Theft and Bearing false Witness be not reproved by the Common Light in all Men if not T.H. gives the Lye to all Mankind and his own Books too Nay what is it good for But if they be query If any can confess to one God love his Neighbour be Chaste be Just and speak Truth in his own and Neighbour's Cause without being thereto oblieged by that Light they have Did the Gentiles of old the things contained in the Law without a Word Commandment Law or Light within inducing them thereto I perceive T. Hicks owns no Command in himself against Idolatry Adultery Murder Theft and Bearing false Witness which is to say if the Scripture did not restrain him he should be guilty of all Farewell Grace Spirit Light and all Inward Rule or Judge by which to see taste relish and determine of things But in this Condition
Brother will you Pray No Brother I am not so well able as you are Let Brother such a one Pray he is better gifted for the Work c. Complementing Shifting and at last Praying c. in their own Wills and not in God's Motion This God hates Next Since the Pouring forth of the Spirit is the great Gospel Gift and that the Children of God are to be led by it In what should we more diligently wait for its Heavenly Assistance then in that part of our Duty which we owe to God Is his Worship Spiritual and can we perform it out of the Motion of his own Spirit For what then was his Spirit given Again If Men should pray in a known Tongue much more with the Spirit as the Apostle speaks No Wonder the Professors ask Pardon for their Prayers Indeed God's Spirit gives them to see the Emptiness of their Righteousness and condemns them for it wherfore they are at times dissatisfy'd in them yet they will not learn of him to be guided by him who would cover them with Everlasting Righteousness Blessed would they be if their Minds were stayed in his Counsel But instead thereof T.H. does as good as say that if he should stay till the Spirit moved him he might stay long enough rendring the Spirit Wanting in that for which he was shed abroad in the Heart Because through his Enmity and Darkness hasty Running in his own Spirit he feels it not to lead him else he would never infer from our Asserting the Necessity of the Spirit 's Moving to Right Acceptable Worship that we are acquitted from any Fault in omitting to do that which is Good and the Blame must be laid upon the Spirit But let me ask him Can any Man do Good of himself Surely he will say No. How then shall Man do that Good he ought to do but by the Holy Ghost Canst thou call Jesus Lord by any other Power or Spirit Read the Scriptures What greater Contradiction can there be then to believe Man of himself can do no Good and yet to say he can do it without God's Spirit to incline and assist him thereunto But if the Spirit do not what does Tell me what can tender the Heart prepare the Soul raise the Affections give true Feeling of Wants and help to perform all in that Fear Reverence and deep Sense which becomes all New Covenant Spiritual Worshippers if this cannot or do not Nay what an Affront is it to God since it is to suppose that Man wants him not that his Spirit neither moves to Duty that ought to be performed nor yet condemns for Duty omitted Behold the Impudence of the Man He talks of Gospel Christ the Mysteries of his Glorious Kingdom c. What grosser Opposer of the New Covenant can there be who denies the very Life Virtue and Soul of all true Gospel-Worship and Discipline and without which the otherwise best Christian-Church that ever was would be worse then Legal For they that worship not from the Motions of God's Spirit offer strange Fire set up their own Worship and are Image Makers such ask but they receive not because they ask not aright For if no Man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost no Man can pray to the Lord or in his Name without the Holy Ghost yet a Sigh or Groan from its holy Operation that Sacrifice though without Words is manifold more engaging and effectual with the Lord then the most excellent Performance of Man 's own Spirit 'T is the Fear and Heavenly Sense of God in the Soul that recommends the Performance and that the holy Spirit begets And as the Minds of Men and Women are exercised in the Law of this pure and quickening Spirit as it appears in them they shall know the true Worship which stands in Life and Power whose End is Everlasting Peace when the LORD LORD-CRYERS that have Prayed and Preached in their own Wills and Wisdom as well as to their own Ends and Advantages shall be cast out forever with a DEPART FROM ME YE WORKERS OF INIQUITY But there is one Objection taken from my Book called The Spirit of Alexander the Copper-Smith c. which he thinks splits us irrecoverably It runs thus Either there is such a thing as a Christian-Church or there is not if there be then this Church either hath Power or hath not If no Power then no Church If a Body or a Church then there must be a Power within it self to determine To which sayes Tho. Hicks For Christians to plead this who own the Scriptures for their Rule and not the meer Light within the Argument may safely be allowed But you cannot stand by this For will you say what a Man doth without an Inward Motion is accurst and yet disown him for not doing what he is not moved unto But though this be plausible it is no more For the Difficulty remains in Case the Scripture be admitted for the Rule for Instance The Church unto which Tho. Hicks belongs own the Scripture to be the Rule But suppose Tho. Hicks in some one Point believes the Scripture not to intend the same thing the rest of the Church understand it to mean as in Case of Free-Will I query how this Matter shall be reconciled They affirm the Scripture to be the Rule and say This is the true Sense of the Scripture Thomas Hicks also affirms the Scripture to be the Rule but that his Sense is the Mind of the Scripture This occurs almost daily among those who believe the Scripture to be the Rule of Faith Now observe the Parallel The Quakers by the Light within them as their Rule judge that rude Imagination of keeping the Hat on in time of publick Prayer The Anabaptists by the Scripture as their Rule censure Thomas Hicks for upholding a Contrary Sense to the Scripture The Dissenter from the Quakers sayes The Light which he calls his Rule manifests no such thing to him nor doth he believe it to be the Mind of the Light to him Thomas Hicks makes Answer to the Church that by the Scripture he understands quite another thing and the Scripture is his Rule for what he sayes and maintains in the Matter I would ask any Man of Common Sence if the Scripture is not as well set in Opposition to it self by these two Pretenders as the Light within and if the Church of Anabaptists would not therefore doubt the Truth of their Interpretation but proceed to censure Thomas Hicks as a Disturber of their Church in its Doctrine or Discipline by the Introduction of New and Unprofitable Opinions Neither are the Body of the Quakers to question their Judgment given by the Light within as their Rule to be a true and unquestionable Determination against such Alexanders and Enemies to the Peace of their Jerusalem But I would further tell Thomas Hicks that though we renounce all Worship not led to by God's Spirit his Reflection
respecting God is derived through the Soul to the Body and not through the Body to the Soul Besides if so great a Change or Alteration pass upon the Body how is it that Carnal and Sensible Body that suffered And how can that same Body be equally sensible of Celestial Delights for the Flesh Blood that suffered is not to enter God's Kingdom and if that very same Carnal Body enter not which sustained any part of the Tribulations the great Knot is broken and our Adversary's strongest if not only Plea is rendred Invalid For if the same Natural Body Parts and Senses consisting of Living Flesh Blood and Bones that suffered and dyed rise not another is given in which the Children of the Resurrection who have suffered in the Flesh have their Recompence and if they do so strictly rise as they dyed then every Man is to rise Married Low High Fat Lean Young Old Homely Handsom and according to former Complexion and Sex And which is yet more Unreasonable This Body is to be Vncorruptible Immortal Spiritual Fashioned like Christ's Glorious Body and as the Angels of God May our Adversary blush at these Dark Imaginations but here toucht upon because more largely handled else-where Only I cannot but signifie that this Sort of Resurrection pleaded for is renowned by some Baptists and several other more Clear-sighted Professors For our Parts A Resurrection we believe and of Bodies to unto Eternal Life What they shall not be I have briefly said and proved What they shall be we leave with God who will give every one a Body as pleaseth him and THOU FOOL belongs to the Unnecessary Medler CHAP. XIII A Collection of some of T. Hicks's many CONTRADICTIONS PERVERSIONS LYES FORGERIEâ— RAILINGS and SCOFFS at WITNESSING from all which he is proved to be neither a True Christian nor a True Man His CONTRADICTIONS Argument I. HE that Contradicts Himself is not led by Gods Spirit consequently no Child of God nor certain of their own Faith but so doth T. Hicks therefore No Christian Man He tells us That the true Light hath enlightned every Man from John 1. and that it ought to be attended upon making the Light to be distinct from the Soul and not the Soul Dial. 7 22. In Contradiction to which he makes this Light to be but a part of the Soul by which he falls into the same Confusion he falsly would fasten upon us namely That if the Soul ought to obey the Light it would obey It self which is absurd and cannot be Dial. p. 14 32. 2. He acknowledges That the Light checketh within for many Evils and exciteth to many Good Things and that he ought to shun those Evils and do that Good p 8. In short That Christ is the Light and Life of Men p. 22. Yet he dares to tell us that this Light in directing to its best Actions swelleth Men but with Proud Conceits that it doth deceive misguide such as follow it p. 3 37. 3. But I do and must bear witness against thy Erroneous Opinion if true to the Light in me p. 8. I am to do what the Light in my self directs me and herein is my Comfort p. 91. Again Where a Rule is there must be Light in the Subject yielding Obedience otherwise no Reasonable and Acceptable Service p. 14. I grant it ought to be obeyed p. 7. To Vnsay which he assures us as his Judgment at least That the Light is Uncertain In one Man it teaches one thing in another the directly contrary so that saâ—es he there can be no certainty of Truth or Error SIN or DUTY BY THIS Again He sayes that 't is no Disparagement to the Lightin with to say that God doth make any thing more known of his Will then is or can be known by it for 't is but to say that each DEGREE OF LIGHT is serviceable to its End p. 36. In direct Vndervalue of and Opposition to which he tells us within 2 Pages after that the Improvement of the Light within subverts the Covenant of Grace the only Way God hath revealed for Salvation And that it directly opposeth it self to the Ends of the Covenant and ought to be Rejected p. 38. From all which it is very observable 1. First That the Light is Christ's Light 2. That it ought to be Obeyed 3. that it is not a Distinct Light from a Gospel Light but in DEGREE only and Consequently One and the same Light therefore Saving in its Nature But in Contradiction to all this he sayes 1. That it is part of the Soul 2. That it will Misguide and Deceive 3. That it is Repugnant to the Ends of the Covenant of Grace and ought to be Rejected These are a few of his very many Self Oppositions Now if this be to argue safely prudently and like a Disputant I am greatly mistaken sure I am there is nothing of Truth or Christianity in such Confusion For that Man should be oblieged to obey a Light that does misguide or that Tho. Hicks should talk of Aâ—â—ing according to the Light in him making his Appeal thereto in others and yet suggest that it may deceive and oppose the very Ends of the Covenant of Grace is with me the Top of all Impudence and Self Contradiction Of the Quakers PRINCIPLES And Tho. Hick 's PERVERSIONS Arg. II. Who Perverts and Misrepresents another Man's Principles acts not like a True Christian-Man but such is T. Hicks therefore no Christian-Man 1. Because we hold Christ is God God the Light and that all Men are enlightned by him He concludes that every Man comprehends whole God and whole Christ Dial. p. 2 3 4 5. 2. Because we assert it to be sufficient to save all from Sin who are led by it and walk in it He concludes from the Ignorance and Wickedness of those that have it tendered to them but obey it not that the Light is Ignorant Weak and Deceivable Ibid. p 10 32 33 34 3. From our Belief in the Light 's Sufficiency to Save as that which was and is given of God for Salvation to as many as bring their Deeds to it and are translated by it He infers That all other Means are needless not considering it was not the Light 's Insufficiency but Man's Weakness that has necessitated the great Light to make use of External Means to bring mens Minds from wandring abroad to the Inward Light which is the Just Man's Path Ibid. 12.36 37. 4. From our making the Illumination in Man to be a Natural Emanation or Product of the Divine Word which made all things He wickedly turns it to an Effect of God's Power and so would by that Argument make the Trees c. also Divine Ibid. p. 3 4. 5. From our asserting that Christ shineth by his Light in the Heart of every Wicked Man as well as every Good Man He tells People that we hold Christ to be in every Wicked Man as he is in his Saints Cont. p. 45 46.
him into all Truth as he obeyes it Bap. Abel Enoch Abraham Isaac Jacob Noah c. had a Sufficient Rule before the Scriptures were written viz. the Spirit 's Rule God's Speaking and Directions from his own Mouth and that they had a more Infallible Word to waâ—k by then now is to us For 't is possible that some Scriptures may be corrupted having been in the hands of corrupted Men. The Scriptures may be and is corrupted by Man This may be graâ—ted that the Spirit is the Rule Of more Efficacy then the Letter The Spirit is greater then the Letter Jo. Newman's Light Within page 19 20 104 105 106 108 110 112. VIII Qua. 'T is possible for True Believers through the Power and Help of Jesus Christ to attain to such a Perfection in this Life as the keeping the Commandments of God Bap. The Spirit of God assures us that they who are subject to and keep the Commandments of God are the Children of God and they who do not are Lyars 1 John 2.3 4. cap. 5.2 3. Contin p. 61. IX Qua. That Remission and Pardon of Sins past thrâ—ugh the Blood Righteousness of Christ Jesus tâ—e Justification of Persons whether it import the making or declaring them Righteous in Christ by a Living Faith are neither imputed nor reckon'd of God tâ— thâ—m in an Unconverted Unsanctified Disobedient or Ungodly State but to the truly Repentant Converted Believing and Obedient Souls Bap. I know of none that hold Justification of Persons in their Vngodliness We plead not for a Righteousness Imputed to overthrow a Righteousness Inherent or the Exercise of Christian Vertues He that is pardoned were a Sinner till justified not such that remain so being satiâ—fied Contin p. 55 56. The Saints are made the Righteousness of God that is God now as in Christ dâ—â—â—'s and â—â—â—s in the Saints hâ— hâ—â—â—pirit writes his Law in their Hearts makes them Partakers of his own Nature and so goes oâ— in Fulfilling his own Righteousness in thâ—â— For the Righteousness of the Law in the Spirit is fulfilled in us Marrow Christian p. 38. X. Qua. Though the Soul and Spirit of Man be not of God's Divine and Infinite Being but related â—o the Being of Man and as Corruptible hath a mutâ—blâ— Habit yet as we are his Off-spring and Man is the Image and Glory of God the Original â—ife oâ— Soul of the Soul that came from God and is immutable is of his own Being In short God in whom we live move and have our Being is the Life of Lives and Great Soul of Son's and the Soul thâ—t is Saved and United to God doth partake of his Divine Nature and he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit Bap. The Condescension of God and Christ into the Hearts of his People to woâ—k up his Saints into the sâ—â—â— Nature with himself c. God aâ—d Christ iâ— Holy so his Word is Holâ— and through Faith in tâ—is 〈◊〉 Christians are wrought up into the Nature of it self and into God J. Newman 's Book Light Within p 78 84 87 88. There were the Propeâ—ties oâ— Gâ—â— iâ— some measure imparted to Adam Adam was in the Image of God in respect of Eternity he hâ—d given hâ—m an Everlasting Being Marrow of Christianity pag. 4 5. Christ was both the Power and Wiâ—dom â—f God and as Christ so all the Saints are 〈◊〉 one iâ— thâ—s Wisdom Christ is made unto us Wisdom nâ—t only by wâ—y of Imputation but by the Operatiâ—n of the same â—pirit who dwells as truly in every Believer as in Christ ibid. pag. 34 35. And have not sâ—me of their Brethren confâ—st That there is a kind â—f Infiniteness in the Soul XI Qua. The Children of the Resurrection shall be equal unto the Angels of God in Heaven and their Bodies not Natural Earthly and 〈◊〉 the very Gross Mâ—ttâ—r that nâ—w they are 〈…〉 Celestial Spiritual like uâ—to Chriâ—â—'◠〈◊〉 Body God giveth a Body as it plâ—asâ—th 〈◊〉 in Subjection to whose Good Pleasure we 〈◊〉 quiesce till it be effected as he seâ—th 〈…〉 own Praise Bap. That there shall be a Resurrection of the â—ody at the Last Day is Evident John 5 〈◊〉 11. with 1 Cor. 15. Rev. 20. although 〈…〉 some denyed and by others too caâ—â—lly looke◠〈◊〉 Some thinking that our Bodies of Flesh shall be Raised in the same Form in which it Dyed c. The Form in which they shall be raised that is a Spiritual Form not in a Fleshly It is sown a Natural Body it is raised a Spiritual Body When Christ who is our Life shall pâ—eâ—r we shall appear with him in Glory all Flesh shall he swâ—llowed up in â—pirit and our Bodies shall be changed and made like unto his Glorious Body Marrow of Christianity by T.C. pag. 93 94 95. And those Saints who are alive at the Coming of Christ shall be changed in a Moment in the Twinkling of an Eâ—e 1 Cor. 15.51 52. and so shall be caught up in the Spirit to meet the Lord in the Air 1 Thes 4.17 Ibid. p. 92. XII Qua. The Son of God doth not consist or is not made up of a Humane Body of Flesh Blood and Bones For he was the Word and One in Being with the Father from Everlasting But in the Fulness of Time he took upon him Flesh or that Body prepared for him and being Ascended into Glory his Body is a Glorious Body surpassing all Humane Earthly Carnal and Corruptible Bodies Bap. Christ was a Son by a Spiritual Proceeding and Coming from the Father who was Eternally One in the Father Marrow of Châ— p. 30. Our Bodies shall be changed and made like his Glorious Body Ibid. p. 95. Theâ— shall be raised in a Spiritual Form not in a Fleshly p. 94. The â—on took Flesh upon him the Word took Fleâ—h the Father did prepare him a Body Dialogue p. â—5 4â— and 83. XIII Qua. Christ being so highly exalted and Glorified as it God's Right Hand as he is can be neither Proof nor Argument that he is not iâ— any Man nor that either Christ or God's Right Hand is limited and circumscribed to such Remotâ—ness as not to be in the True Believers to save and uphold their Souls Bap. When a Soul is satisfied from its Vnion with God and its Dwelling in God that all the Administrations and makings forth of God is Love unto it thus it dwells in Love and from hence is filled with Joy It causeth the Soul alwayes to dwell at the Right Hand of God where is Joy and Pleasure for evermore Marrow of Christian p. 28. Christ the Son was Eternally one in the Father so in him all Believers are made by the same Spirit the Adopted Sons of God being made Partakers of the same Divine Nature Marrow of Christian p. 30. Christ dwells Spiritually in all the Saints If Christ be in you you shall be sensible of it Ibid p 31.32 Tâ—is Indwelling of Christ in his People God and Christ cannot be
separate Christ in them the Hope of Glory Newman's Light within p. 81 82 83 86. XIV Qua. That through Faith in the Power of Christ Perfection that is a Freedom from Sin is attainable and comes to be attained in this Life by the Soul that experienceth the Restauration by Christ Bap. If God in his Son draw up the Soul to himself Jo. 6 44. The more Special and Spiritual Condition of Souls thus drawn up to God in Christ is not only a Restauration to the Condition of the first Adam with relation to a Freedom from Sin this every Believer enjoys by Christ a Freedom a Justification from Sin But secondly every Soul drawn â—p out of it self to God is brought into the Condition of the second Adam Marrow Christian p. 29. XV. Qua. That Soul that 's restored unto the New Covenant-Dispensation and come to taste how good he is to partake of his Spiritual Wisdom and Counsel therein doth own and follow this Spirit and the Light thereof as the Chief Rule of Faith Obedience and Worship above the Scripture or Letter and the Spiritual Saving Knowledge of God and Christ therein beyond all Literal Knowledge and Profession of him received from without Bap. This Wisdom namely of the Spirit which is spiritual and heavenly sets the Creature out of himself in the Power of God that Wisdom namely of the Flesh and first â—dam carried on the Creature to the Answering of God in the Letter and yet in all this come sâ—oâ—t This 〈…〉 of the Spirit carries on the Soul where It 〈◊〉 is nâ—â—â—fter the Oldness of the Letter but after the Newness of the Spirit In â— wâ—rd that Wisdom could not helâ— to the Knowledge of God in the Spirit This doth 1 Câ—r 1. Marrow of Christian p. 35. Certainlâ— that â—oul who hath once tasted how Good and how Gracious the Lord is in the Spirit 〈◊〉 never be satisfâ—â— with â— Knowledge of him in the Letter The Knowledge of a Spiritual Vâ—iâ— with God produceth an acting 〈◊〉 and â—â—er the Spirit of God How doth the Creature 〈…〉 work and â—â—ls it self even in the Letter of the Gospel as well as formerly in the Letter of the Laâ— for want of Knowledge of the Vnion in the Spiritual Power of the Lord Marrow p. 44. XVI Qua. Christ's Second Appearance or Coming to the Salvation of them that truly wait and look for him is a Spiritual Appearance or Coming in Spâ—â—â— to sâ—vâ— his People and not in Scripture callâ— a Pâ—â—â—â—â—d or Fleshly Coming nor his Reign a Personal Reign in his Kingdom for 't is a Spiritual Kingdom and his Reign in it Spiritual Bap. Christ's Presence and so his Kingdom will be a Spiritual Presence and not a Personal His Reign in the Latter Dayes will not be Personal but Spiritual Jesus Christ is no more to be known of the Saints after the Flesh therefore his Presence so and his Kingdom will not be a Fleshly or Personal Presence and Kingdom but a Spiritual his Glory Spiritual his Kingdom not of this World c. See the Point argu'd at large Marrow Christian p. 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 to the end of the Section XVII Qua. That there is an Immortal and Incorruptible Seed of the Nature of Christ Jesus to be known in the Soul whereof true Believers come to be born again even by the Word of Life and Power which liveth and abideth forever and so comes Christ to be formed and Spiritually born in them and they to be renewed up into his Nature and Image Bap. Although we have known Christ after the Flesh yet know we him no more why If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature Christ is formed in him after the Spirit and he comes now to 〈◊〉 a Spiritual Christ within him Marrow p. 55. Faith may be acted not only on Christ's Dying 〈◊〉 the Cross but in Christ's Living in the Soul that is my believing That Christ is Spiritually formed in me as well as that he dyed for me Ibid p. 56. XVIII Qua. We are fully satisfied that God is so far from having absolutely and particularly decreed Men's Destruction from Eternity or designing perpetual and meer voluntary Hatred to particular Persons or with-holding his Saving Grace from them that his Love is in the first place Universal to all Mankind his Grace which brings Salvation hath appeared and is free to all Men till they reject it the Appearance whereof is in and by the Light of his Son in all which is sufficient to leave all the Disobedient without Excuse whereby Men are at sometimes put into such a Capacity as that they may be saved and so receive the Benefit and good End of Christ's Coming Suffering Death and becoming a Ransom for ALL for a Testimony in due time of God's fâ—â—e Love and Grace And with this the General Baptists agree against the Contrary Partial and Pinching Opinion of the Particular Electioners Bap. 1. We believe and are very confident that there is one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things who is the only begotten Son of God whom God freely sent into the World because of his great Love unto the World who as freely gave himself a Ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.5 6. tasting Death for every Man Heb. 2.9 a Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World 1. Jo. 2.2 2. That God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2. Pet. 3.9 and the Knowledge of the Truth that they might be saved 1 Tim. 2.4 for which End Christ hath commanded that the Gospel to wit the glad Tiding of Remission of Sins should be preached to every Creature Maâ—k 16.15 So that no Man shall eternally suffer in Hell for want of a Christ that dyed for them but as the Scripture saith for denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. or because they believe not in the Name of the only begotten Son of God Jo. 3 18. Vnbelief therefore being the Cause why the Just and Righteous God will condemn the Children of Men it follows against all Contradiction that all Men at one time or other are put into such a Capacity as that through the Grace of God they may be eternally saved Joh. 1.7 Act. 17.30 Mark 6.6 Heb. 3.10 18.19 1 Joh. 5 10. Joh. 3.17 See Art 3.4 of Confession of Faith presented to the King subscribed by 46 of them Serious Reader I having diligently traversed the present Controversies between some of these Water-Baptists and us called Quakers have thus far laboured for Quietness and Reconciliation by thus obviously laying down those Principles and Doctrines of ours that have been chiefly struck at by the Dialogue-Man and some others of them together with his and his Brethren's own intermixt Concessions and Assenting to the Truth thereof in most things very nearly concurring in Matter and Substance which while he or any of them otherwhiles oppose and