animae hominem Sed ut per se sibi sumpsit ex Virgine corpus ita ex se sibi animam sumpsit qua utique nunquam ab homine gignentium originibus prebetur Si enim conceptum carnis nisi ex Deo Virgo non habuit longe magis necesse est anima corporis nisi ex Deo aliunde non fuerit at vero si Dominici corporis sola ista natura sit ut sua virtute sua anima feratur in humidis insistat in liquidis et extructa transcurrat quid per naturam humani corporis concepta ex Spiritu S. caro Iudicatur And concerning the Soul of Christ he further saith Naturae hujus potestatem Iam non dico metus sed nec infernae sedis regio est concludens quae descendens ad inferos a paradiso non desit sic ut hominis filius loquens in terris maneat in Caelo Non habet hunc metus corporalis penetrantem quidem inferos sed ubique Naturae suae virtute distentum naturam hanc mundi Dominam ac libertate Spiritualis virtutis immensam non sibi terrore mortis Gehennae chaos vindicat qua Paradisi deliciae carere non possunt In English thus Again he said that he was bread that by this that he is bread coming down from Heaven the Original of his Body may not be esteemed to be of Humane Conception while it is shown to be a Heavenly Body And the Hereticks use to accuse us because we say that Christ was born a man having a Soul and Body not of our kind but as by himself he took to himself a Body of the Virgin so of himself he took to himself a Soul which is never to be acknowledged to have the same Originals of them begotten of Man for if the Virgin had the Conception of the flesh not of any other but God it is much more needfull that the Soul was not of any but of God But indeed if that be the onely Nature of the Lords body that by its own vertue by its Soul it is carried upon the waters and standeth upon the Floods and being struck at can pass through why is the Flesh conceived of the Holy Ghost judged by the Nature of an Humane Body And concerning the Soul of Christ he further saith The power of this Nature now I say not only fear but the region of the infernal seat doth not contain which descending into the Hells is not absent from Paradice so that being the Son of Man speaking in the earth he doth remain in the Heavens Bodily fear doth not take hold of him that doth indeed penetrate the hells but is everywhere extended in the vertue of his own Nature and the pit of Hell cannot claim to it self by the Terrour of death this Nature that is the Lady of the world immense or unmeasurable in the liberty of Spiritual vertue Which the delights of Paradice cannot want Post-script SInce I wrote the Answer aforesaid to the Pamphlet set out by a Nameless Author called the Quakers Creed c. I have seen a sheet in print subscribed by William Haworth a sort of Independent Teacher at Hartford which he calls a Winding-sheet for the five Hartford Quakers and in the said sheet he refers the Reader to the aforesaid Pamphlet called the Quakers Creed for an answer to my Book The way cast up This gives me just ground to hold the said William Haworth either to be the Author of the said Pamphlet or at least an approver of it and therefore all the Lies and Calumnies and whatever other gross abuses weaknesses and impertinencies and all the absurd and blasphemous Assertions which I have discovered in the said Pamphlet are Chargeable upon him and lye at his door And whereas William Haworth saith at the end of that fheet aforesaid that G. Keith saith Christ never was a man this I charge upon him as a most gross and Notorious lye and slander I never spoke wrote nor thought any such thing It is strange that the man has so far lost all sense of shame to publish such a manifest lye in the sight of the world Now how truely and uprightly I own and believe that Christ is both God and Man my book called The way cast up is a sufficient witness and this other Treatise writ by me in answer to the lying Pamphlet owned by him is another But it seemeth he doth suppose that such a Conclusion will follow by way of Consequence from my words because I have affirmed in my book that Christ the Heavenly Man was from the beginning even before Adam the first Man which was of the Earth earthly But this consequence I altogether deny as false and unreasonable for his being before he came in that body doth no more infer that he was not man in that body than it doth infer that a man ceaseth to be a man or that the Soul of any Man ceaseth to have a being when it is not in a Fleshly body and if the having of a Fleshly Body be so Essential to the being of the Soul which is most principally the Man so as the Soul cannot be or subsist before the Fleshly Body the same reason holds as much that the Soul cannot subsist or have a being after the Fleshly Body is put off and so by W. Haworth his Argument the Soul of every man dyeth with the body and hath no immortal Subsistance Let him see how he can clear himself of this and many other absurdities which he runneth himself into by his foolish and inconsiderate way of reasoning And as for other things in that he calleth his Winding Sheet which he chargeth upon the Quakers as their Doctrines and then upon some called Quakers as that one should say that the Soul of man was the Devil that the Devil was made an offering for sin and another should say that Christ was a bastard These false and abominable Calumnies have been so fully and sufficiently answered above by the said five Hartford Friends and especially in their last called the Malice of the Independent Agent again rebuked that it is to no purpose to give any further reply Nor is the evidence he giveth by proof of some witnesses of any more Authority than his own who hath openly in the face of the world discovered himself to be a lyer and false accuser and can it be questioned but he can find others like to himself who because of their deep malice and prejudice against the Truth make no more conscience than himself to bear false witness against the innocent Moreover whereas these five Friends of Hartford did justly blame W. H. for Charging the whole people called Quakers with any errour that some one or other called a Quaker may be supposed to have writ or asserted set case any one had so writ or asserted And they Query further Is it just the Independent party should be charged with the private Opinions of every one of them because they pretend all to one rule the Scripture The said W. H. giveth only this bare and naked evaston in that he calleth his Winding Sheet Should the Independants saith he hold Infallibiliy as you do then might that party be Charged with all the Religious Opinions that any of them at any time vented Unto which bare evasion these Friends of Hartford have given a sufficient reply in pag. 13. of their last book where among other things they say Such an absurdity was never the assertion of the people called Quakers viz. That either every one pretending to be guided by the light within or distinguished by the name Quaker is therefore guided by the same light in all discourses or so to be owned by the said people This which they have already said is sufficient to overturn his evasion as because the Quakers do all pretend an infallible Spirit that therefore all must be acknowledged to have that infallible Spirit and to be guided thereby which doth no more follow than that because all the Independants so called pretend to one Rule the Scripture that therefore all that they or any of them speak write or do is according unto the Scripture which instance of parity they did bring in their foresaid answer pag. 13. Yet do not thereby grant that any of the people called Quakers are guilty of any such Blasphemous Doctrines as before cited To which W. H. hath made no reply and therefore it is returned upon him as wholly unanswered as also the whole substance of their last book which W. H. hath not answered nor indeed hath not so much as pretended to give a particular answer unto the greatest and most Principal part thereof And therefore these Friends see it not needful to give any further answer to what he calleth his Winding Sheet until he give a particular answer to the several parts of their book and they look upon his sheet to be no Winding-Sheet for them but that it is an evidence he hath spent all his strength and is as it were a dying man that is no longer able to hold out in this controversie and that therefore it may be more fitly called a Winding-Sheet for VV. Haworth himself than for them FINIS
being the nearer that it is in nature unto God doth the more resemble him and that God himself is a most simple unmixed being without all composition of parts or principles and is one in the highest and most perfect sense which yet his being three only in manner or property of being doth nothing hinder and that Christ the Heavenly man of all things is nearest unto God and his most perfect Image therefore it is manifest that he hath least of that which may or can be called a composition or mixture of principles But whatever perfection virtue power or operation the creatures have in their various compositions he hath them all virtually and eminently in himself after a more perfect and simple manner But seeing he took hold on the Seed of Abraham and did partake of Flesh and Blood like unto ours to the end that he might be yet more like unto us that he might make us like unto him yet more abundantly whether it behoved not that he was to partake with us of all the principles both inward and outward that belong to the essential constitution of any man is a thing worthy of consideration as also admitting that he did partake of all these Principles whether he did assume or partake of them at one and the same Moment of time And what I have here written is enough I hope to them who have a Spiritual understanding to discern and perceive my Judgement in the present case as whether the Nephesh and Neshamah in Christ be distinct Principles yea or Nay or whether more then these two but as for others who are Carnal and cannot reach unto these things if never so plainly told them I am not concerned to give them a further answer and I had rather that I might be instrumental in the hand of the Lord to bring the Soul of any man or woman to the Feeling and Tasting of the precious Life of Christ in their hearts than to fill their understandings with the soundest Conceptions of words about Christ and I can and do say it in the presence of the Lord the life and power of Christ Jesus as I feel it in the least measure to move and operate in my Soul to conform and Leaven me into the Image of Christ in righteousness and holiness is more to me then all the soundest Conceptions of words about Christ But yet because in the Light of the Lord I see clearly how false and absurd yea how Blasphemous and Atheistical Notions and conceptions of Christ and also of God many men have I have been earnestly and fervently moved and am at this present time in the Zeal and Love of God and in true compassion and good will towards Man-kind to declare what God hath made manifest unto me of this and other things and to open the Scriptures of Truth concerning them as God by his Holy Spirit hath opened them plainly to my understanding Wherefore let every one that is Spiritual and hath a Spiritual discerning read me and feel my Testimony and that from which it comes for it is not of man but of the Lord although at times to gain the reader as Paul did in his day I find freedome to make use of Testimonies of other men and what ever True Testimony to the Truth I find in any man be he Jew or Gentile Scythian or Barbarian so called it is precious and comfortable unto me And to declare it unto others as the Lord giveth me true freedome may and shall have its Service for Truth is one in all and its Testimony is one And something of Truth by Vertue of that Divine illumination of Jesus Christ the Light of the World that doth inlighten every man that cometh into the World is made manifest for a Testimony among all Nations and sorts of people and in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him And what if some hold the Truth in Unrighteousnesse What if wicked men at times confesse unto Christ as the Devils formerly did We must not therefore deny him but rather make use of their own Testimony against them unto their further condemnation Pamphlet Animad 20. I query here whether besides this Nishma Adam had a Rational Soul which was the Root of his animal Senses and discursive parts and whether this that was breathed into Adam was the Center of the Soul of Christ or some ray only it should be the Center in that Nishma is the excellency the Author saith of this Soul Answ. The darkness and perversness of Spirit that is in this Author of the Pamphlet causeth him to ask many unnecessary questions which a Child of an ordinary clear understanding might resolve according to the Principles laid down in my book and although I have condescended in freedom to answer many of his questions especially such as have any weight in them for further clearing the Truth yet diverse others I purposely forbear to answer seeing they neither tend to edification nor serve to clear the Truth But to these at present mentioned by me as above I answer briefly Adam beside that Divine Nishma or Soul of Christ had also a Rational Soul as we also have and all men but the Center of the Divine Nishma or Soul of Christ was not breathed into Adam nor into any man besides Christ himself nor doth it follow that it should be the Center which was breathed into him because the Nishma is the excellency of his Soul above ours I say this reason doth not hold for not only the Center but also that emanation or ray of the Divine Soul of Christ that is in us is exceedingly more excellent than our Souls Moreover whereas he argueth that if Adam had a proper Nephefh that then he was a more compleat man then Jesus Christ of Nazareth I deny the confequence for Christ hath all the Essential perfection of mans whole Soul and Body elther Virtually or formally even as man hath Virtually or formally all the Essentials resembling the Sensitive Soul of a Beast that belong to perfect it as an animal or living Creature but yet he hath some what more all which proveth not that a beast is a more compleat animal or living Creature than a man Pamphlet It s True he saith the Soul or Spirit of Christ hath an immediate and wonderfull manner of Union with the Deity as no other Soul or Spirit of men were partakers of But what Union the body of Christ that was taken of the Virgin had with the Logos which any of the Quakers have not I cannot yet learn Answ. That is also plainly enough insinuated in my book where I expresly say that Christ was a most wonderfull Vessel both as concerning his Soul and Body and that in that very body born of the Virgin the Center of his Soul did reside which could not be without an Union of such a Nature as no other body could have seeing no other man ever had the center in him but he
Cyrus had a Soul and Body and did exist in flesh and blood an Hundred Years before he was born for he is called by Isaiah Gods Anointed before his Birth Isaiah 45. 1. Ans. If this be not gross Socinianisme and Samosatenianisme I leave unto all understanding and sound Christians for to Judg For both the Socinians now and Samosatenians of old denyed that Christ was before Mary and so doth this Author contrary to the express Testimony of many Scriptures cited and opened in my Book called The Way cast up to which again I Refer the Reader and what a gross and unchristian yea Blasphemous comparison is this of the Author betwixt Cyrus and Christ as if Christ were no more Gods Anointed before his outward Birth in the Flesh than Cyrus was before his birth and so by this means all the Saints from the beginning of the World unto the outward birth of Christ containing near about four Thousand Years had no Christ nor no Saviour no Head no Mediator nor indeed nothing of the Heavenly and Spiritual Anointing or Unction and so had nothing of the Holy Ghost which is that Anointing for how could they have it without Christ who is Gods Anointed originally and first of all and from and by and through whom it cometh down and is conveyed unto the Saints even as the Oyl that was poured on Aarons Head ran down from the Beard unto the skirts of his Garment Now that David and all the Saints before Christ came in the flesh were in measure anointed with the holy Unction or Anointing even the same wherewith the Saints are now Anointed see Psal. 23. and Psal. 133. 1 2. And how did they receive this Oyl or Anointing but from Christ who is Gods Anointed first of all and by whom it descendeth unto them of whom Aaron the high Priest was the Figure or Type therefore Christ was Gods Anointed from the beginning not only before Cyrus but before all other men according unto Prov 8. 23. I was anointed from the beginning so the Hebrew word Nissakti doth signifie as I have already shewed in my Book or ever the Earth was Moreover when Paul said the Fathers of old drank of the Rock and that Rock was Christ was this only a Prophecy of Christ who but one so blind and grosly ignorant as the Author of this Pamphlet can so affirm Nor do thefe Scriptures Cited by thee Mat. 3. 16. Luk. 4. 1. concerning Christ his being anointed with the holy Ghost after his outward birth prove that he was not anointed before For in contradiction to thy self thou grantest he was Anointed before he was born as indeed he was both then and also from the beginning The Fifth Animad hath nothing in it of Argument against what I have affirmed only he perverteth some of my words as the Reader may fee by comparing his words and mine together and this he often ufeth not willing to suffer my words to stand as they are but seeking to Vail and darken them with his perverse minglings and additions Pamphlet Animad 6. They believe that the Man Christ did suffer was slain and Crucified when our first Parents sinned and doth suffer is slain and Crucified as often as man sins and Apostatise contrary to Heb. 9. 26. and 1 Pet. 18. that testifie that the man Christ Jesus was personally and really slain Crucified and offered for sin but once the other is but either in Decree Promise Type or Metaphor Ans. These Scriptures are only to be understood of Christ his Sufferings in the body of flesh so that he did but once die and suffer for sin in the outward body and in his outward person which doth not hinder but that he suffered and was slain inwardly and spiritually in mens hearts by sin both before and since he suffer'd in the body of flesh which was Crucified at Jerusalem for the writer to the Hebrews did tell of those that fell away that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh Heb. 6. 6. And if thou saist this is but in the Metaphor I Answer admitting it in a sense so to be yet a real suffering is implyed under that Metaphor as also when the Spirit is said to be quenched somewhat real is understood under that Metaphor and so in the present Case although the slaying and Crucifying of Christ may be said to be a Metaphor or Figurative Speech yet some real suffering analogous in some true respect unto what he did suffer in the outward is thereby understood and that I did acknowledge a Metaphor in that expression is clear by my very words cited by thee where I say the measure of the life of the Lamb came to be slain as it were in them by transgrefsion here the words as it were signifie a Metaphor which yet hindereth not that the suffering of this innocent Life of Christ was real according unto its own kind and nature Pamphlet Animad 7. In Answer to Amos 3. 13. he saith As well might they say that God as God hath now and had then such Eyes Ears Feet Hands as we have for the Scripture speaks of him frequently after that manner Ans. I no where Read in all the Scripture that God hath such Eyes Ears Feet and Hands as we have fo that in this thou dost grosly pervert the Scripture it self For although the Scripture speaketh at times of Gods Eyes Ears Feet and Hands yet they are not said to be such as ours and though these words are metaphorical they have also somewhat that is real understood by them by way of Analogy his Eyes signifying his infinit Knowledg and his Hands his Power c. and although I do also acknowledg that the words Amos 3. 13. are Metaphorical yet a real suffering is implyed under them which is the suffering of the Spirit of Christ as he is the Heavenly man Lamb of God for in that respect only he doth or can suffer properly nor is it any contradiction or inconsistency as thou seemest to make it that the same Life or spirit of Christ may be alive in it self and yet Slain or Crucified as to the sinner no more than it is any contradiction or inconsistency that the soul is as it were dead unto the dead body in which it lived and yet remaineth alive in it self even when it is in the body as it was in the case of Eutichus whom Paul raised from the Dead Acts 20. 10. In his Animad 8. he bringeth no new matter but what my former Answer doth give a sufficient Reply unto for the words Rom. 6. 9. are to be understood of Christ his being raised from the Dead in that body wherein he suffered so that he died no more as in the Head no nor yet in many of the Members in whom that precious Life of Christ shall never any more be slain or quenched but it cannot be so said of all seeing some may fall away and Crucify him afresh unto themselves Pamphlet Animad 9.
Animad 12. They believe that Christ did not become man when the Virgin conceived by the over-shaddowing of the Holy Ghost but was man before Answ. He was man before but yet he was not man cloathed with Flesh and Blood in the likeness of our Flesh before the Virgin conceived by the over-shaddowing of the Holy Ghost and therefore we do saithfully believe that the Man Christ was born of the Virgin and conceived by the over-shaddowing of the Holy Ghost who was the Son of God both after he was so born and also before even from Everlasting Pamplet Animad 12. Thus Christ was never man had never a Humane Nature for as they have said before The Soul most properly is the man and Christ never had a Humane Soul according unto Keith Answ. That Christ was never man I altogether deny to follow by any true Consequence from what I have affirmed and as to his reason that Christ never had a Humane Soul according unto Keith as touching the words Humane Soul I do not remember that I have used that Term at all in my book The way cast up for because it is not a Scripture-Term and of a doubtfull and Equivocous signification I purposely did pass it by I say it is of a doubtfull or Equivocous signification because first it may signifie such a Soul as hath no substantial dignity or perfection in it above the Souls of other men and in this sense the Soul or Spirit of Christ as he is the Heavenly man is not a Humane Soul but Divine and Heavenly for it is more excellent even in the nature of it than the souls of other men Or Secondly it may signifie the true soul of man having all the Essential Properties of mans soul and it 's whole perfection and if in this sense any will say that Christ hath a Humane Soul and call the Man-Hood of Christ his Humanity there needeth no contention about it for in the Latine Tongue we have not a word so proper as Humanitas to signifie the Man-hood and if we may say Humanitas in Latine we may say in English Humanity that is to say Man-hood But then by the Humanity of Christ we understand not only the whole Essential perfection of the souls of Ordinary men but also some greater and more Excellent perfection as aforesaid and therefore it may be called his Heavenly and Divine Humanity or Man-hood which took part of Flesh like unto ours in the womb of the Virgin And not only the soul of Christ but also his body of Flesh in the outward as it had all the Essential properties and whole Essential perfection of our bodies so it had somewhat more as being conceived of a Heavenly and Divine seed that came down from Heaven and for this cause the Heavenly man Christ Jesus is truely Divine both in soul and body being divinely qualified in both And if this offend any that Christ should be called a Divine man I desire them to consider how oft men are called Divines only for some profession of Divinity surely Christ Jesus as man hath incomparably more reason to be called Divine than any of them And what if I should call all their Divines Humanes Is this too mean and low a Terme whereby to call them But why is it too mean and low unto them and yet they give it unto Christ and call him Humane his soul a Humane soul and his body a Humane body Is not this to exalt themselves above Christ himself and to take to themselves a Title which they will scarce allow unto him and to give him a Title as namely Humane which they think too mean for themselves Pamplet Animad 12. So that he is so far from being like to us in all things that he is not like unto us in any thing for though he had a body like to ours yet that body is not informed as ours Answ. He is sufficiently like unto us in all things sin excepted that both his soul and his body had all the Essential properties and whole Essential perfection that the soul or body of any other men hath but that he had and still hath greater and more excellent perfections both of soul and body than all other men doth not hinder that he was made like unto us in those which both he and we also have for was not Adam made in the Similitude or likeness of God So that by reason of that Similitude man was like unto God and yet God is infinitely more excellent in nature and being than Man but yet according unto the reasoning of this Author either man hath no likeness unto God is not like unto him in any thing or then God hath no Substantial or Essential perfection above man both which are most absurd and contrary unto Scripture But again is not man like unto the Beasts in some things as also unto the Herbs Plants and Trees of the field So that as the Herbs Plants and Trees have a Vegitable soul or life and as beasts have a sensitive soul or life hath not man both the Vegitable and sensitive soul and is he not like unto them in those respects And yet hath he not a Substantial dignity and excellency of nature above them But yet again according unto this mans reasoning either man is not like unto the Beasts and Trees in any thing or else he hath no Essential dignity or perfection not so much as in his very soul above them and therefore it shall follow at last that as God is no more excellent in his nature than man and as man is no more excellent in his nature than any beast yea or Tree that God is no more excellent than any beast or Tree of the field which is most gross and blasphemous and yet the Natural and necessary Consequence of this mans Doctrine When I think upon these and such like gross absurdities that follow from this mans Doctrine together with his other absurd sayings and Malicious perversions I wonder not that he hath been either ashamed or afraid to put his Name to his Pamplet Pamplet Animad 12. A Son is not a Son if he have not the same nature with the Father and Mother Answ. I grant for Christ hath the same Nature both of Father and Mother seeing as I have declared in my book he is True and perfect God and True and perfect Man but that he hath the same Nature with Mary and all Mankind as to all the Essentials of soul and body hindereth not that he hath also a more excellent nature otherwise thou might as well say that Christ could not be the Son of Man and also the Son of God which is contrary to Scripture Pamplet Animad 12. Jesus increased in Wisdome his Soul was then subject to some kind of ignorance though not sinfull it did not know all present or past things Answ. Ey Jesus increasing in Wisdome may be very well understood the manifestation of the spirit of Wisdome that did
past things but only as to the thing to come Answ. This is a most gross and unreasonable perversion and wresting of my words which any man that hath the least Sobriety or Candor must needs acknowledge by reading my words even as cited by him But if he say that his gloss doth follow by way of consequence from my words I altogether deny it and in plain contradiction to what he hath most perversely and falsely alleadged to be my assertion I say the Man-hood or Soul of Christ neither knoweth nor can know any thing past or present without the need and necessary help of God as neither indeed can we or any Creature And Secondly I affirm that Christ hath this Omnipercipiency or Universal knowledge of things past and present by Virtue of his Divine Union with God even as the body hath its perception of some things by Vertue of its Union with the Soul to which it is United And because the Soul of Christ hath the most excellent most perfect and most high and immediate Union with God so as that Christ himself is God therefore he hath this universal perception or knowledge of things past and present and therefore also he hath the most abundant knowledge of things to come by Divine Revelation from the Father above what the most perfect Angels or men can have so that what they know by Divine Revelation they know it by Jesus Christ who hath it from the Father according unto Rev. 1. 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to shew unto his servants Nor can it follow by any just consequence imaginable that because I say that Christ hath an Universal sense or Perception of things as they are that therefore he doth know them without all need of God or without all Relation unto him or Union with him I say this doth not follow no more then it followeth that whereas the Author of this Pamphlet hath many Natural Perceptions of Natural Objects Seeth Heareth Smelleth Tasteth Feeleth many Objects immediately and knoweth them without immediate Revelation that therefore he hath no need of God or of his help whereby to make them known Whereas indeed according to his manner of reasoning either he himself Heareth Seeth Smelleth Tasteth Feeleth all Natural things by immediate Revelation and all his Natural knowledge of things immediately Revealed unto him by God or then he knoweth them all without any need of God and without all Relation unto God so much as unto a Creator both which how absurd they are and yet how the Natural Consequence of his own reasoning I leave unto every understanding man sor to Judge But I cannot but wonder at his blindness and inconsiderateness that doth not understand how to make a difference betwixt that knowledge which is by a real sense or perception of the Objects in themselves and that which is by a Divine Revelation when the Objects themselves are not immediately discerned for that which I know by a real Perception of the things I need not a Revelation to make them known As for Example when I hear a man speak I need not a Divine Revelation to tell me who speaketh unto me or what is spoken and yet I need the help of God in many respects both to convey the voice unto me and also to help me to hear for it is God who maketh the ear to hear and the eye to see And thus according to the aforesaid Example if Christ Jesus even he the Man-Christ Jesus who was Crucified for us hear our Prayers when we pray unto him and unto God through him doth he not know our Prayers without a Divine Revelation and if he know them only by a Divine Revelation he cannot be faid properly to hear them as I have sufficiently proved in my book and to which this Trifler and perverter hath made no reply and if he denyeth that the Man Christ Jesus heareth our prayers let him declare so much and then we shall see how this shall relish unto the ears of true Christians and who are most denyers or owners of the True Christ of his Divine perfections Pamplet Animad 14. Whether this is not to constitute a new God in time Is it not Jehova's Prerogative what is spoken Psal. 139. Of possessing the Reins and being Omniscient Answ. To say that Christ Jesus the Heavenly man and Lord from Heaven is Omniscient and hath an Omni-perception and Universal knowledge of things is not to constitute a new God in time for Christ Jesus is God even the same God with the Father by vertue of his most excellent and most immediate Union with him which no men nor Angels have or are capable to have and Christ Jesus is before all things and consequently before all times also the first and the last Nor doth it follow because the man-hood of Christ hath an Universal knowledge and perception of things that therefore his man-hood is either equal unto the God-head or the same for seeing the man-hood hath his being as well as his knowledge from the God-head and is altogether dependent from him the Father is greater then he as he hath declared himself and here what thou talkest of the communication of properties I may afterwards consider in its proper place where thou fliest unto it as thy last refuge after thou hast finished thy Animadversions Pamphlet Animad 14. As to the second it is spoke Now I am no more in the World and me you have not always I go away Answ. It is very clear that he spoke these words only in respect of his outward and bodily presence of his external person or outward man but not in respect of his inward and spiritual presence even as he is the Son of man or second Adam for after the Ascenfion of Christ John saw one like unto the Son of man walking in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks who could this be but the Son of man himself And how is Christ the second Adam the quickning spirit if he be not present to quicken those whom he doth quicken for how can that which is absent from us altogether quicken us or give us life Pamphlet Animad 15. As to thy query here I answer That Christ was an offering unto God for sin when he was Crucified upon the Cross both in soul and body and neither his soul nor body want any thing that is Essential unto the true and real Nature of man and all that which he had as man he offered up unto God through the eternal spirit Pamphlet Animad 15. They believe this second latter body is Ascended glorified in Heaven yet remains the same in substance contrary to their former faith citing John Crook in his book called Counterfeit Convert when the question is put J. C. viz. whether dost thou believe that the same body of man after the departure of the soul from it doth rise to life again he answereth this query is contrary to Scripture which saith a
Light when it is contracted or gathered together by the help of a burning Glass that it burneth or kindleth any ordinary combustible matter as any other fire doth But seeing such a debate is more proper for naturalists and belongeth to that called natural Phylosophy I shall not insist thereon only I inform the Reader who is not acquainted perhaps with such things that the opinion which holdeth light and heat to have no body is almost generally now rejected in the Schools as false and as a meer old fiction of some old Popish School men grounded upon some mistaken notions of Aristotle and upheld by the Jesuits to uphold their absur'd Doctrine of Transubstantiation when they teach That the colour and tast and smell of the bread wine being but meer accidents do remain without all Substance of the bread and wine after the consecration and as absur'd and ridiculous is their doctrine who say that light hath no body that is proper unto it but is a meer accident or quality in the Air For as well may the Jesuits say that the colour smell and tast of the Bread and Wine having no body or substance of the Bread and Wine are only accidents adhering in the Air. But why dost thou not answer to my other examples brought from Scripture as namely how the natural Life and Soul do principally reside in the head and heart and yet emanate into all the members of the body and how the Sap and Moisture residing principally in the root of the Tree goeth forth into all the branches even so the life and light of Christ as he is the Heavenly Adam residing principally in himself doth emanate and stream forth into all his members and in some respect into all things Is the Sap and Moisture a meer accident having no substance and is not the Soul of Man substantially in all the bodily Members although residing more principally in the heart head Pamphlet Animad 17. They believe this Heavenly man-hood to be a creature contrary to John Crooks Counterfeit convert p. 63. that true light which is called the Life of Christ John 1. 4 9. and lighteth every man that cometh into the World is not a creature Keith saith it is a creature Ans. To this I have answered sufficiently above upon Animad 8. that the Spirit or Life of Christ as he is the Heavenly man is not so properly or strictly a creature But men have not only the Spirit of Christ in them as he is Man but also as he is God and the Light Life and Spirit of Christ as he is God or the word simply considered in it self in no sense can be said to be Created But the word made Flesh may in that sense be said to be Created as it is said to be made for Made Created and Formed are commonly of one Signification And that the word was made Flesh from the beginning I have proved in my book because the Saints in all Ages did feed upon the Word made Flesh and the Word made Flesh dwelt in them Now in what sense I understand that the Heavenly man-hood and Soul of Christ is Created I explain in my book in these words p. 135. Therefore to the end that the word may be ingrafted into us and we again ingrafted into it the Word must be Incarnate or made Flesh as we are for all men are a sort of Flesh and so called in Scripture in comparison of God that is purely Spirit and though the Souls of Men are Spirits yet comparatively as unto God they are as it were Flesh and thus the Word is become Flesh that is to say hath advanced a Step or degree neerer unto us than it was in God before any thing was made and the Word was first of all made Flesh to be the root and soundation of all other Created beings and for which they are Created for it is a more noble Creation than all things else Here by my words quoted at large in my book it may be seen how and in what sense I understand the Heavenly man-hood of Christ to be Created namely as the word is made Flesh also Christ himself designed by Wisdome Pro. 8. 24. doth expresly say of himself when there were no Depths I was Formed and again v. 25. before the Hills I was Formed for so doth the Hebrew word Cholalti most properly signify and is used elsewhere in Scripture to signify the Creation of other things so that Made Formed Created do commonly signify one and the same Nevertheless I do acknowledge that Christ the Heavenly Man is not so properly or strictly to be called a Creature or Created Made or Formed but rather generated and he is the Son of God rather than a Creature of God even as a Man's Son is not called his Creature but his Son and yet he doth truly and properly partake with the Creatures otherwise he could not be a perfect Midle or Mediator betwixt God and Men who are Creatures But seeing this production or bringing forth of Christ from God the Father is so great a Mystery it is by no means to be curiously disputed about but simply to be acknowledged believed and admired and not to be expressed in words which mans wisdome teacheth but what the Holy Ghost Teacheth such as the Scripture words are which say The Word was made Flesh and Christ the Heavenly man is the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth and the first-born of every Creature and concerning his wonderful Generation it is said Who can declare it and he is called the New Man who is Created after God c. and so to these Scripture Names I keep close where I am safe and where the malicious accusations of the adversaries of truth cannot reach unto me And by what is said the reader may easily understand that there is no real contradiction betwixt John Crook and me for whither J. C. mean by the true Light which is the Life of Christ the Light of the Word simply considered or the Word made Flesh I am at no contradiction with him for according to the first That Light can in no sense be called a Created Light and according to the second namely As the Word made Flesh or as the Spirit of Christ as man it is not properly Created nor in that strict and narrow sense is it to be so called as the other Creatures are Pamphlet Animad 17. That Scripture in Heb. 9. 11. Not of this Building is grosly corrupted by the Author c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here is rightly translated building or structure It is not always taken for the Act of God in framing something out of nothing nor the effect of Gods so Acting but it is taken in another sense in some places as 1 Pet. 2. 13. Ans. That Scripture Heb. 9. 11. Is not at all corrupted but truely translated and the sense of it truely given nor doth thy weak and frivolous reasoning prove the contrary for