no notice of then why do they blame me that I have both of late seen and noticed divers Errors in their Books which formerly I had not seen for want of due examination nor noticed Pag. 170 171. Now if this were but received among those called Christians that nothing should be required by one sort from another as an Article of Faith or Doctrine or Principle of the Christian Religion in common to be believed but what is expresly delivered in the Scriptures in plain express Scripture-terms of how great an advantage might it be to bring a Reconcilement among them and to beget true Christian Unity Peace Love and Concord Here Note Some of my late Opponents have brought this place against me to prove me guilty of a contradiction by my late practise of what they call my Imposing on them Unscriptural Creeds and Terms as when I told them they must believe in Christ without them for Salvation as well as in Christ or the Spirit of Christ within them they have blamed this as Unscriptural and have queried me for express Scripture to prove Christ without and a Heaven without and a Resurrection without and a Day of Judgment without to whom I have Answered them by again querying them Where do they find express Scripture for an Earth without or Sun Moon and Stars without us or a Land of Judea without or a Moses or David without us For though the Word without is not expressed yet it is so easily and universally understood in all these cases as if it were expressed And I still adhere to my former Advice that nothing be required by one sort from an other as an Article of Faith or Doctrine in common to be believed but what is expresly delivered in the Scriptures in plain express Scripture terms yet not so as every Word must be exprest in so many Letters and Syllables when there is no necessary occasion for it for it may suffice if a truth be exprest in such plain and easie terms as are equivalent to Scripture terms as when we say Christ was born at Bethlehem we mean that Bethlehem was a place without us and also that Christ was born without us and I confess it had been as little needful to have mentioned Christ without us or Heaven without us c. as Judea without us or any other place had not that wild Notion of many who own no Christ without nor Heaven nor Resurrection nor Day of Judgment without but only within occasion'd it Pag. 191. The sacrifice of Christ's Death did truly extend for the Remission of Sins past from the beginning of the World Hence ALL THE BELIEVERS that lived under the Law and Prophets and BEFORE THE LAW were saved by FAITH IN CHRIST and had their Sins pardoned not by the Offering of the Blood of Bulls and Rams but by the Blood of Christ who was to dye for them and in whom they believed and dyed in Faith as is clear out of many places of Scripture and especially the Epistle to the Hebrews and by virtue of Christ's Death and Offering once for all Men all have had or have or shall have a Day of Visitation and offer of Grace through Christ even these who lived before Christ came in the Flesh in that prepared Body as well as others and therefore all who finally perish and are lost in whatever Age or Time of the World they lived they must be accountable to Christ who is judge both of quick and dead and Lord of both and they shall be punished with Fire of Hell for neglecting and despising the Salvation offered by him And although this is a great Mystery and hard to be uttered how this Gospel Invitation and Visitation cometh unto all and how all shall be accountable unto the Man Christ Jesus on the score or account of his dying for them Acts 10. 42. Acts 17. 31. Yet seeing the Scripture is so plain and clear for it it is better to believe it than curiously to dispute how or after what manner it comes so to be Here Note 1. These foregoing Words published by me in Print sixteen years ago prove that I did not place our whole Salvation upon an inward Principle excluding the Man Christ Jesus from being jointly concerned with his Light Grace and Spirit in men as many called Quakers now do 2. That I then held that all who were saved in any Age of the World were saved by Faith in Christ as well before he came in the Flesh as since and that by Faith in Christ I meant the Man Christ who is both God and Man who in the fulness of time came in the Flesh and shed his Blood for the Remission of their sins is obvious to any intelligent Reader therefore my late Adversaries among a sort of Quakers are most injurious to me and false Accusers of me who call this a new Doctrine of mine to affirm that all who ever were saved or shall be saved with Eternal Salvation were saved by Faith in the Man Christ either express or implicit even him that was in the Fulness of Time crucified for them And it is but a trifling and nonsensical Objection in them to argue against it that they could not believe in Christ crucified before he was crucified for it was one and the same Christ that was to be crucified and who was crucified in the fulness of time the same yesterday to day and forever who is the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World and a Priest forever and who therefore by virtue of the Sacrifice of himself that was to be slain in the fulness of time made Peace betwixt Believers and God as well before he came and suffered for the Sins of men as since and on whose Account they had Remission of Sin and the Holy Ghost to sanctifie them and none had the Holy Ghost by union and indwelling but such as had some degree of Faith in Christ either express or implicit as not only this Book called Truth Defended but all my Books that treat on that subject plainly shew and particulary my Book called The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches all which I refer to the Reader 's serious consideration And though my late Adversaries among the Quakers find great fault with divers passages in the Book last mentioned especially for asserting the necessity of Faith in Christ crucified universally either express or implicit for Eternal Salvation yet that Book before it was printed in America had the approbation of them called Friends in the Ministry in Pensilvania and was so well approved by the Quakers here at London that some caused it to be Reprinted and it was publickly sold in a Quakers Shop in George-Yard in Lumbard-street nor did I ever hear any exceptions against it from any of them in England until our late differences betwixt them and me began And whereas I had formerly said none but such who have Faith in Christ crucified or who was to be crucified had the
Lord's love and goodness at that time when I wrote that Book which was a time of great Suffering unto me being straitly confined in Prison where I met with divers Hardships and Severities from Men all which the Lord turned to my spiritual Advantage and the spiritual Comforts and Refreshments where withal the Lord was pleased to visit my Soul were exceeding precious unto me as they are at this day feeling at this present time these of the same kind and nature by the good Spirit of the Lord continued and renewed unto me notwithstanding of the unjust and uncharitable Judgment of my late Adversaries against me as if I were become a dry Tree yet my Soul is alive to praise God who hath preserved me to this instant in the midst of many great and deep Exercises and Tryals both inward and outward one of the greatest of which hath been and is the envy and rage of such who have risen up in great enmity against me for my telling them the Truth and my faithful opposing the Errors and Evils that I have found among them and my trust and Faith is in God through Christ Jesus that he will preserve me to the end and disappoint and frustrate all their False Prophecies bitter Curses and lying Divinations they have poured out against me and continue to utter both in print and private Letters they send to me for which I desire and pray sincerely unto God that he may give them Repentance and Forgiveness And being sensible and truly convinced that I had too far exceeded in the thoughts of my spiritual Attainments not only then but since therefore whatever passages are to be found either in this first Book or any other of my later Books that are justy offensive on the account of my going beyond the due Bounds of my real growth and spiritual and inward state in the Truth or of thinking of my inward Attainments and Calls Services Labours and Testimonies beyond what I ought to have thought or wherein either in this or any other of my Books I have seemed to my self or professed to others to have been acted by a purely divine impulse and motion to speak and write I do freely and most willingly retract and revoke it so far as any thing of the least mixture of mistake or untruth is to be found therein as I confess I have found some mixture in this Book and in other my Books And as in other things I acknowledge my Mistakes as to the People called Quakers in general so in this that was the general mistake among us that their chief Leaders led us generally into that the People called Quakers was the Church come out of the Wilderness But for divers Years past I have seen my Mistakes as to this and the great Defects Disorders Confusions and Imperfections I have found among them and especially the ignorance and great want of dne Qualifications in the generality of their Ministry have given just ground to judge far otherwise concerning them But yet I do affirm that I have found divers that go under that Name that have to my understanding and apprehension made a good progress in spiritual Experiences and other spiritual Attainments of Knowledge and Virtue And I do still continue in my real perswasion and belief that there was a good Work of God upon the Hearts of many of that People and his mighty Power did stir and operate in them as I hope it doth in some continue to do unto this day But greatly has the Power of Darkness and Error prevailed with many especially their Leaders in great part to mislead them and Presumption and Pride earthly Lusts and uncharitableness in so highly condemning others are Sins that did and do greatly prevail among them and hath brought a great Cloud of Darkness over many of them which I pray God to remove and cause his blessed Light to shine forth more among them and all others and that he would be pleased to knit and unite the Hearts of all that sincerely love the Lord to love one another and make them of one Heart and Soul that they may worship the Lord together in Spirit and in Truth that as the Lord is one all his People may be one which cannot otherwise be effected but by the more powerful Coming and Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ into their Hearts and inward parts to prepare them for his last coming in Glory without them to receive them to his Heavenly Kingdom Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen But notwithstanding of the particular passages in that Book which I have retracted I adhere to my Testimony I have given in the same as in all my other Books as to Matter and Substance of many weighty things there delivered and the good Advice I gave to my Country-men in that Book I wish heartily they would duly regard Pag. 63. And this Prophet Jesus Christ is nigh unto us yea more nigh than all the Men or Books upon the face of the Earth And a little after And the Bride rejoyceth greatly because of the Voice of the Bridegroom himself And now we need not-say who will go down into the Grave and bring up Christ to us or who will ascend to Heaven to bring him down to us or who will go over the Seas and bring us tydings of him from Jerusalem when he suffered in the Flesh him whose Name is the Word of God we of a truth witness near us even in our Hearts so that we need not either ascend or descend or go fouth c. Here Note That this above-mentioned passage was brought by T. Ellwood in one of his late printed Books against me to parallel that Antichristian Doctrine of G. Whitehead who said in his Truth Defended Answer to W. Burnet The Quakers see no need of directing to pag. 110 111. the Type for the Antitype viz. neither to the outward Temple nor yet to Jerusalem either to Jesus Christ or his Blood knowing that neither the Righteousness of Faith nor the Word of it doth so direct Rom. 10. And a little after he saith And where do the Scriptures say the Blood was there shed for Justification and that Men must be directed to Jerusalem to it Light and Life pag. 59 60. But who seeth not that my Words have no such tendency as his but are of quite another importance as intimating that after we are brought to know God and Christ by the inward Teaching of God and Christ in our Hearts that perswadeth us that Christ suffered in the Flesh at Jerusalem and moveth us to believe the outward Testimony of the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ's Death and Sufferings we need not say who will go over the Seas and bring us Tydings of him from Jerusalem where he suffered in the Flesh for all sincere Christians are well satisfied with the Faith they have already of Christ by the inward Testimony of his Spirit in their Hearts that the Scripture-record of him is ture So
George Keith's EXPLICATIONS OF Divers Passages Contained IN HIS Former BOOKS AS ALSO His Free and Open Retractations of sundry other Passages contained in the same Which may at present suffice for a Reply to the Late as well as Former Books of Tho. Elwood and John Penington Published against Me in Respect of the most material Things Every day they wrest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil they gather themselves together they hide themselves c. shall they escape by iniquity Psal 56. 5 6 7. Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him Job 13. 7. LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pidgeons in Cornhill and Rich. Baldwin in Warwick-Lane and are to be Sold by 〈…〉 the Golden Ball in White Chappel 1697. THE PREFACE to the Friendly Reader THE chief occasion I have of Writing this short Preface to the following Treatise is to excuse the delay of Publishing it until now having declared my purpose of doing such a thing in a Printed Treatise called The True Copy of a Paper given into the Yearly Meeting with a short List of some of the gross and vile Errors of G. Whitehead c. which was Published above a Year ago and to Answer the Objection that some make why I should expose the Errors of these Men before I did Correct my own To both which I thus Answer briefly To the First I say Upon an after Review of my Books I then mentioned in that Treatise I found divers more Passages that needed an Explanation and some of them a Correction above what I had discovered when I published my said purpose and I thought it was more proper to do both at once then to Publish one Part before another But indeed the Whole might have been much sooner Published had not the great Brags of my late Adversaries telling what great matters of Contradictions and other Absurdities they had found in my Books justly occasioned a longer delay that I might see the Sum Total of what they had to charge me with which at last is come out against me in several late Printed Books of my Adversaries as of Thomas Elwood John Penington and Edward Penington but having diligently perused them all I find nothing material in them justly chargeable but what I had much more charged my self with and had Corrected before beside that most of the Things I have Corrected and Retracted in my Books they have so past them over that they have not put the least Censure on them And the Contradictions and Absurdities they would fasten on me are nothing for the far greatest part but their own blind Inferences and perversions of my sound Words proceeding from their great Ignorance What are otherwise are my own Observations and free Acknowledgments without any assistance I had from their insignificant and self-contradictory Scriblings And that they may demonstrate their Itch to Scribble they have filled a great many Sheets with repeating the same things over again and again with very little addition and what is so is almost wholly either a manifest perversion of my Words or a palpable bewraying their Ignorance and Folly which I may if God permit in divers particulars hereafter discover it not being proper in this place above the particular Instances I have given in the following Treatise And this I hope will suffice to Apologise for this small delay and will be a reasonable Excuse to impartial Men and may serve to stop the Mouths of my Adversaries also who have taken as much time and perhaps more to publish Answers to Books that they have said they would Answer To the Second I Answer First My free Acknowledgment that there were things in my Books that did need Correcting and my declaring my purpose with the first convenience to Correct them might excuse me for my not beginning with my own Books until I had either brought them to give an equal Acknowledgment of their need of Correcting their Books or upon their stubborn and pertinacious conceit of their Books being free of all Erros I might the more justly expose them not only to be guilty of Errors but that they hold them pertinaciously Secondly As I said before in the Preface to my Printed Narrative my Errors being compared with theirs were but as Motes to their Beams which Motes I had so far pull'd out of my own Eyes that I had made a general publick Acknowledgment of them in Print and a particular Acknowledgment of as many of them as came under my Observation to divers particular Persons viva voce Thirdly The particular occasion given to me by my Adversaries did justly give me cause to begin with detecting their Errors for they did Excommunicate me as they did pretend for breaking the Peace of the Church which pretended Breach was my opposition to the vile Errors and Heresies I had proved divers of the Preachers in Pensilvania guilty of They who Excommunicated me here at London viz. the Yearly Meeting where G. W. and W. Penn were the Ring-leaders instead of blaming these Persons in Pensilvania or censuring their vile Errors did justifie these Men and would take no notice of my effectual Proofs against them but did most abominably cloak them and gave out a Bull of Excommunication against me which together with my Answer to it I Printed soon after as if I had been the only Offender and I did quickly perceive what the bottom was why they did so justifie these Men and cloak their Errors even because they were guilty of the same Errors themselves and were the Nursing-mothers out of whose Breasts these in Pensilvania had sucked that poisonous Milk therefore it was necessary that they should in the first place be discovered to give warning to the many Thousands that were so greatly deceived by them I desire the Friendly Reader to excuse my Inserting in this short Treatise divers perversions and misrepresentations of my Adversaries cast upon divers Passages in my Books with my Answers unto them the nature of the present Case so requiring it to be without which my Explication of these things had not been so clear nor my just Defence so intelligible And Lastly I desire them to take notice As I have not here or elsewhere Retracted nor renounced any one Assertion contained in any of my former Books that ever was Judged by me an Article of Faith so they will not find as I have not found that my Adversaries have proved any Contradiction in my latter Books to any Article of Faith Asserted in my former Books George Keith's Explications AND Retractations CONTAINING An Impartial Review of his former Printed books relating chiefly to matters of Doctrine Wherein are given divers Explanations as also Emendations and Corrections of divers Passages in his said books no wise derogating from nor invalidating the weight of his former Testimony but greatly confirming it with respect to the great Truths of the Christian Faith and Doctrine SECTION I. Containing divers Explanations and
called Mary really and truly according to the flesh And his Birth thus after the flesh as he was born of the Virgin at Bethlem in Judea I did always believe as I do at present so believe was really intended and foretold in these words Gen. 3. 15. And as Mary was the immediate Mother of Christ according to the flesh so Evah who was the Mother of all Men was his Mother remotely But the Allegorical sense of Christ's Birth or Formation in the Saints is warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity By Scripture as Mat 12. 50. Rev. 12. 2. 5. And by Antiquity for Augustin first and long after him Erasmus said If Mary had not born Christ in her heart or soul he could not have been her Saviour tho she had born him in her flesh But this Allegorical Allusion of Christ's Birth in the Saints I did not ground on Gen. 3. 15. but on Mat. 12. 50. and Rev. 12. 1 5. And how and in what sense I understand the Birth of Christ in the Saints I refer to the 4th Paragraph of this Section XX. Page 254. And this is as proper a Death as when a man dieth for when a man dieth his soul dieth not in it self but it dieth unto that Fellowship it had with the body by reason of the Vital Union betwixt it and the body being broken Here Note I acknowledge this passage is not safely worded therefore I retract it For tho I had very safely asserted That the Life af Christ viz. The Principle of the Divine Life in men never dieth in it self but only as to men when they commit great and heinous sins whereby they are said to quench the spirit and crucifie the Son of God afresh to themselves after they had known a divine quickening yet the Union betwixt the soul and body of a man being broken is more properly a Death the other I take to be understood rather figuratively than proper For when the Vital Union betwixt Soul and Body is broken the Soul doth wholly cease to act in that body while it is dead But Christ ceaseth not oft times to act in a dead soul but doth oft act in it by sharp Reproof and Conviction for its sin and also by new and fresh Visitations of his Life and Love in order to quicken and renew it again Moreover the Soul and Body of a Man are so united that they make up one Person but so are not Christ and the Soul united as to be one Person for that would make every Saint to be Christ The Union betwixt the Soul and Body of a Man is a Personal Union whereby every Action of the body is chargable upon the Person according to that true Maxim Actiones sunt suppositorum i. e. Actions are of Persons as what the hand doth the Man whose hand it is is justly said to do it whether Good or Evil. But the Actions of Mens Souls in whom Christ is are not chargeable upon Christ for as Christ is no wise chargeable with the least Sin that the Soul Acteth so when the Soul repenteth and believeth c. That is not Christ that repenteth and believeth in that Soul Christ indeed is the Author and chief efficient cause of true Repentance and Faith in believers but he is not the subject of reception This excellent Union betwixt Christ and true Believers is compared in Scripture to that Union betwixt the Head and the Body the Vine and the Branches the Foundation and the Building but it is better felt by the Faithful than it can be defined by the best of words for it is unspeakable and yet is incomparably short of that Union that is betwixt the Godhead and Manhood of Christ which is a Personal Union So that the Man Christ is God yet so that the Manhood is not the Godhead And the Union betwixt Christ and Believers is by their Faith in him and Love to him by which Faith and Love as they are United to his Spirit and Measure of his Life and Grace in them so thereby they are United to the Man Christ in Heaven and to that fullness of Grace that dwells in him as every Member of the Body as it is United to the Life in that Member so it is to the Head and to the Life that is in the Head and as all the Members in the Natural Body are United both to the head and to each other so all the faithful are United to Christ and to one another The Reader that is willing to know my sense further as to these weighty matters above-mentioned relating to Christs Birth or Formation in the Saints and their Union with him may read if they please my Appendix to the General History of the Quakers by G. Croese Printed at London this present Year 1696. SECT II. Containg diverse Explanations and Emendations of Passages in my Book called The Universal free Grace of the Gospel Asserted Printed 1671. TItle Pag. Proved by many infallible Arguments in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of Truth Here Note That I had the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth on my side in diverse of the Arguments I have used in that Book I still believe but whereas on a further consideration and more mature Judgment I find diverse Passages in that Book that need correction therefore I Acknowledge my Weakness and Rashness in ascribing all the Arguments in that Book and my whole way of Arguing on that subject to the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth and I freely and most willingly retract that clause both here or any where else in any of my Books where I have used it so far 〈…〉 have ascribed any saying or Passage to the Spirit of 〈…〉 that is not according to the Testimony of the Holy 〈…〉 the Spirit of Truth leads into all Truth and into 〈◊〉 but Truth therefore whoever ascribes whether I or any Man else any untruth or Inpertinency or undue Application of Scripture to the Spirit of Truth however unwittingly they so do as what I did was unwittingly they do greatly Err and Sin in so doing And my sin and error herein I freely confess trusting in the Mercy of God for Christs sake for the pardon of that and all my other Sins I. Pag. 4. That God by an Eternal decree hath wholly passed by the most part of Men and left them in Darkness without any Light to shine in their Darkness that can possibly at any time Lead them out of it Doth not this discourage People Here Note That it is this which I mainly opposed in my Book Viz. The decree of absolute reprobation making salvation impossible to the greatest part of Mankind And on the other hand I earnestly plead for the Universality of the Light Word Grace and Spirit of God towards and upon all In a day of Visitation for making salvation possible unto them compared with p. 110. And in this Testimony I remain against that absurd Doctrine of absolute
find that I have used that very distinction and largely insisted on it in several pages of that book And in p. 29. I say giving the sense of Paul 's words By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified Rom. 3. 20 By Law there is understood the Law of the first Covenant which came by Moses and it 's true no justification is by that Law whether it be understood of Moses his outward ministration Or of the same Ministration of Moses in the Spirit where the Law is Writ but in Tables of Stone till the Seed be raised by which the Law is fulfilled But in diverse of the Gentiles the Seed was raised which is that divine nature or birth by which they did the things contained in the Law and so were Justified by him who gave them power to fulfil it And whereas they strongly alledge out of this Book and some other of my former Books That I had formerly Asserted Men might be Justified and Saved without all knowledge and faith of Christ without us as he was Crucified c. But upon a diligent search into my Books and an Impartial Examination of all the places cited by them to prove it I can find no such thing and my so frequently cautioning the Matter all along wherever I had occasion That the express knowledge and faith of Christ's death is not universally necessary to Mens Salvation so that as I have noted in my Book called The Antichrists and Sadducees detected some of my Adversaries ten several times at least in the Words and Passages they have quoted out of my Books bring me in using the word Express still saying the express knowledge and faith of Christ's death is not universally necessary c. is sufficient to clear me with all intelligent and impartial Men that I still held some knowledge and faith of Christ though not express yet implicit was universally necessary to Mens Salvation IV. Pag. 9. And as he viz. Christ had his Flesh in the outward which was a Vail so he hath his Flesh in the inward which is a Vail also the Word became Flesh and dwelt in us said John Here Note Though I deny not the Flesh of Christ in the inward in an Allegorical and Metaphorical Sense as above Explained § 4. Sect. 10. yet I freely acknowledge I have unduly and improperly applied that place Joh. 1. 14. 1 Tim. 3. 16. to the Flesh of Christ in the inward as likewise I have made the same undue Application of that place in my Book called The Way cast up as in Page 133 134. and possibly in divers other Places and Books which undue Application wherever it is in any of my Books I do Retract judging it to be improper And though I might possibly excuse it to be only said by way of Allusion yet even in that respect I Retract it having found by too great Experience that too frequently Allusions do great hurt and are an occasion to ignorant People to draw them from the true Sense of that place of Scripture really intended by the Spirit of God to which the Allusion is made And though I am not against Allegorical Expositions of some places of Scripture warranted by Scripture or such as cannot be truly understood without an Allegory nor do I condemn universally Allusions to some places of Scripture yet for the sake of the Ignorant that may be hurt thereby I judge they had better be not used in many cases and when used in any case it should be told that it is but an Allusion V. Pag. 9. Thus it is sown natural viz. the Divine Seed but is raised Spiritual Here Note This is but an Allusion and was no wise intended in prejudice of the Resurrection of the Body for in this san Book Pag. 70. I plainly Assert the Resurrection of the Body as thing not yet attained by the deceased Saints But because as is a ready said Allusions in many cases are not safe I wish I had in used it in this case and therefore let it be as unsaid and the rathe because to my certain knowledge some great Preachers among that sort of Quakers that are turned my Adversaries do wholly apply all that is said in 1 Cor. 15. of the Resurrection to the inward rising of the Soul or the Seed within And I have more than once heard some Preachers among the Quakers wholly Expound that place 1 Cor. 15. 14. If Christ be not risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain of the inward rising of the Life in the Hearers when the Ministers speak And one of their Ministers did so strongly Assert it that in a private Conference with him I could not by the best Reasons I could bring persuade him that it was meant of a Resurrection of the Body after death VI. Pag. 20. So that it is manifest by this Expression That which may be known of God Rom. 1. 19. And as it is in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is understood the Gospel And a little after I say aggreeable unto this is that the same Apostle writeth unto the Colossians 1. 23. That the Gospel has been preached to every Creature which is under Heaven but according to the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every creature i. e. in every man as when Christ said to his Disciples Preach the Gospel to every creature Here Note that by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paul meant an inward divine supernatural Principle in the Gentiles who had not the Gospel outwardly preached unto them which he saith was manifest in them and which God had shewed unto them and which he calls the Truth that many held in unrighteousness v. 18. I still hold and that in a figurative way of Synecdoche it may be called Gospel or as the word Gospel may be extended to a more general signification than is commonly used in Scripture I will not deny for taken at large it may signifie any Intimation of God's Love Goodness and Mercy to sinful men and in this sense it may be said that the Gospel hath been preached in every Creature i. e. in every Man And as the Divine Principle Word and Light within preacheth in some sort the Love Goodness and Mercy of God to sinful men in order to their salvation so every creature without or so to speak the whole Creation both without Man and in Man himself doth preach it as it is said Ps 19. 1. The Heavens declare the glory of God c. Not only the glory of his Power Justice and Wisdom but also the glory of his Mercy Love and Goodness towards men Yet I must needs acknowledg that I am fully convinced that it is not a due application to apply this to the word Gospel as it is generally used in Scripture and particularly by Paul in these places quoted by me Ro. 1. 16. and Col. 1. 23. and 1 T. 3. 16. therefore I do freely retract and correct my undue
be applied unto them which was figured by the Offering under the Law that was to be offered for every male child and by circumcision of every male child that sufficed also for the Female which was implied under the male SECTION III. Containing divers Explanations and Emendations of Passages in my Book called The Rector Corrected Printed at London 1680. And in my Book called Truth Defended Printed at London 1682. BY Christ his giving his Flesh for the Life of the World we understand both the offering up of his Flesh as his dying for us upon the Cross and also his giving us his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink for even as the Priests under the Law were to eat of the Sacrifice and to have the Blood sprinkled upon them so Believers under the Gospel are to eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood And pag. 26. Although the Saints do not eat the visible Flesh of Christ to wit by the Bodily Mouth and drink his visible Blood yet they partake of the benefit and virtue of both his Flesh and his Blood and the substance of both doth remain which is his glorified Body in Heaven and the virtue of which doth really extend unto the Saints both in Heaven and on Earth by which they are spiritually refreshed and nourished as with Meat and Drink and thus we do not divide Christ c. Here note that as by divers other Quotations out of my Books it hath been proved that I did not place all our Salvation upon the Light within excluding the Man Christ without and his Flesh and Blood that was outward and visible but that I did lay a great weight upon it so the like appears by this present quotation And whereas pag. 25. it is said and indeed it is very plain by the words of Christ that by his Flesh and Blood John 6. 50 51. he meaneth Only Spirit and Life The word said he that I speak unto you are Spirit and Life it is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Whether the Word only being there is a Typographical Error or was an oversight in me for want of due consideration I hold it needful to retract and correct it and accordingly I so do and that it was at most an oversight in me for want of due consideration and that by it I did not intend that the Faithful did not partake of the unspeakable benefit of the Flesh of Christ that was outwardly Crucified and of his Blood that was outwardly shed and that the virtue of it did not extend unto them for that is above plainly affirmed but my sense was they were not to eat it with the bodily Mouth but by Faith so as to have the virtue of it conveyed unto them by a living Faith in him which virtue may be said to be Spirit and Life and the Words that he spake had a spiritual sense and signification and not such as the carnal Capernaumites did conceive Pag. 29. So we see he viz Hilarius findeth fault with the word Humane as well as G. F. Here Note That my bringing the words of Hilarius to excuse G. F. was not that I did not believe that Christ had the true nature of Man consisting of a true reasonable created Soul and a true Body for that I did always believe and that he did partake of Mary's Substance for so did also Hilarius believe But seeing Christ had a miraculous Conception and Birth above all other Men therefore I did judge that G. F. and some others with him meant only by blaming the word humane and humanity humane Nature as applicable to Christ that his Manhood Nature was more excellent than that of other men But I never thought that any of them denyed him as Man to be a Creature or to have been produc'd by Generation of and from the Properties of Man in Mary as some of them have But of late divers of the chief Teachers among the People called Quakers have used the terms Humanity and Humane with reference to Christ But what they understand by it is not easie to determine for if Christ's Humanity be not a Creature or created what is it seeing it cannot be the Godhead and T. Ellwood hath argued in his late Book That if Christ be a Creature he is not God But all who have the sound Faith believe that Christ as a Man is a Creature or created Being but as he is the Eternal Word he is God and not a Creature But this they think a contradiction not owning that Christ hath a twofold Nature essential to him the one uncreated as God the other created as Man and yet but one Christ therefore they have said That Man or outward Person that suffered at Jerusalem is not properly the Son of God So W. Penn expresly faith in his Serious Apology pag. 146. Pag. 37. Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them which look for him he shall appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation Heb. 9. 28. Whether these Words may not very safely be understood and are not really meant of Christ's appearing in the Heart to destroy Sin I desire the Reader to consider Here Note The occasion of my giving this Sense to these Words in Heb. 9. 28. was in defence of G. Whitehead who had before that given the same sense to them and which Thomas Wilson whom I answered had blamed as a false Interpretation But at that time I knew not in the least that G. Whitehead had put that sense on that place in prejudice to Christ's coming without us to judge the World in his glorified Body and Person as since I have found for not only did he deny this place to be meant of his Coming without us to Judgment but any other places that his Opponents brought to prove his outward coming to Judgment he turned them all to his inward coming as that in 1 Thes 4. 15. and that in Matth. 16. 27. and brought that in John 14. to prove that Christ was not to come in Person or in a Personal Existence to judge the World Yet a little while and the World shall see me no more This positive unbelief of theirs which I had but of late discovered by a more narrow search into their Books hath awakened me I confess better to consider things that both I and they had formerly written and upon better consideration I declare I am convinced that the true sense of these words above-mentioned is of his outward coming the second time in his glorified Body to judge the World and it is called his Second Coming as denoting his former coming which was in his state of Humilation but his Second Coming shall be in a state of Glorification I shall not enlarge to give my Reasons at present why I so understand that place of his coming without us nor to answer largely the Reasons I gave in that Book that it was to be understood of his inward coming for
that would take up too much time and be improper in this place it sufficeth at present that I retract that sense formerly given and that I declare my sense of that place of Scripture to be conconcerning his coming without us to Judgment which is I think the more general sense of Christian Expositors But let none from hence infer that I deny the inward coming of Christ in mens hearts to destroy Sin for that I own but I say it is not the true sense of that place of Scripture and whereas it is said in that place He will appear the Second time without Sin unto Salvation doth not infer being understood of his coming without us to Judgment that Sin remains in the deceased Saints until his coming But that at his coming he will not charge Sin upon them but will solemnly acquit and discharge them of all their Sins however great they have been who have sincerely repented of them and believed in him whereas upon all others he will charge their Sins upon them as is clear from Matth. 25. And though the deceased Saints need no Salvation from Sin yet from some of the effects and consequences of it they do until the Resurrection with respect to which Paul said We are saved by Hope and Hope that is seen is not Hope c. For seeing Death is the last enemy that is to be destroyed which is not destroyed but by the Resurrection from the Dead therefore the Resurrection from the Dead is that Salvation which all the Saints both living and deceased wait for which will be at Christ's coming without us And that this was my Belief when I did write that Book as well as formerly I shall for proof recite two plain passages out of that Book the first is pag. 42. where I say We believe with all our Hearts and in believing the same we rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory in all our Sufferings Tryals and Temptations even that He whom we look for will come again at the Last Day and raise us up to live with him for ever in an immortal and incorruptible Body and then shall we be saved as well from all the consequences of Sin of all kinds as now from Sin it self in the being and nature of it For then and not till then fully and in all respects shall Death be swallowed up in Victory and that full Salvation and enjoyment be attained which all true Christians do yet wait for The second passage is pag. 45. And I hope it will satisfie any sober Reader that we acknowledge the Coming of Christ in the Clouds or in the Air in a Literal Sense Pag. 65. That Christ will come in the End of the World we do faithfully believe according to that 1 Cor. 15. and other Scriptures But that his coming mentioned 1 Cor. 11. is that last coming of his is not yet proved but is a meer begging of the Question Here Note That this passage contains another plain proof that I believed that Christ would come in the End of the World in his Glorified Person without us to judge the World and I judged that the People called Quakers generally so believed until my late experience hath given me sufficient ground to think otherwise and that from the Words of divers among them plainly denying and ridiculing any such thing telling me the End of the World is already come and there is no other coming of Christ to be expected but his inward coming in the Hearts of People and into this foul Error the Printed Books of G. W. and other Leading Men among their Teachers had led them although now he and some others seem to own it that Christ will outwardly come again But if a Scrutiny were made among them one by one few among them in comparison would be found to own it in respect of many that would deny it But whereas in that passage above-quoted I had affirmed That our Lord's coming mentioned 1 Cor. 11. 26. is that last coming of his is not yet proved but is a meer begging of the Question This whole Passage I fully and freely retract with all the other passages either in this Book or in my Book called Truth Defended where I have denyed his coming mentioned 1 Cor. 11. 26. to be his outward coming or in any other of my Books where any such like passage is to be found I fully and freely Retract them all And on the Contrary I do freely and with great Satisfaction declare That I am sufficiently convinced and perswaded in my Conscience that the Coming of the Lord mentioned 1 Cor. 11 is His Last Coming which is to be without us which will be accompanyed with his more abundant inward coming and Revelation in us As also whatever is said in this Book called the Rector Corrected concerning the Command that our Lord gave to his Apostles Matth. 28. 19. That it was not Water-Baptism there commanded I fully and freely Retract that also and all the like passages either in Truth Defended or in any of my other Books whatsoever conconcerning the sense of that place of Scripture Matth. 28. 19. And on the contrary I do declare that I am fully and clearly perswaded in my Conscience that Water-Baptism was there commanded by Christ And here I think fit to Transcribe what I have already said in my late Book called The Antichrists and Sadduces detected c. to this effect pag. 34 35. I am not ashamed to own my general Mistakes I have been under concerning divers places of Scripture particularly relative to Water-Baptism and the Supper as Matth. 28. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 26. And I am so far from being ashamed to publish this Confession that I have great Peace and Joy in it Amd I also declare that I am justly ashamed that I have been so long deceived and byassed with such weak Arguments as both they called Friends and I have used being too much influenced and byassed by their pretended Authority to perswade and draw away the Minds of People from the true sense of these places of Scripture and the Arguments that we have used against these two things are so weak that they have the some force against the Bible it self and all Books and outward Testimonies and outward Acts of Worship and therefore are void in themselves for seeing they have no force against the latter they have as little against the former However I continue in my faithful Testimony against the abuse of these things and the dead empty and formal may that too many practise them and except the Lord be found to bless and accompany them who use them with his Power and Spirit they are but as empty Shadows and Shells but who find the Lord to bless them with his Presence I judge them not It is not proper for me in this place to give any large account of the Reasons why I am otherwise minded as to the Sense of those two places of Scripture Matth. 28. 19.
Holy Ghost by union To this some of my late Adversaries have objected a Quotation I made in some of my former Books out of Plato and Plotimus who did mention union with God and a certain divine contact but it doth not appear that these Gentiles had Faith in Christ as above exprest To this I Answer That Plato who lived some hundred of years before Christ's Incarnation had no Faith in Christ so much as implicit is more than they can prove for there are divers sayings in his Books that make it probable he had There is less ground to think that Plotimus who lived Two Hundred Years and more after CHRIST and was contemporary with Origen had Faith in Christ seeing he writ against the Christians therefore what things he said of Union with God and the divine contact and other high Expressions of the like nature might possibly be not so much from his own experience as from his Master Plato's Writings or allow he might have had some true experience of a divine contact and union in some transient way like a glance or flash of Lightning yet this proves not that he or any others who never had any degree of Faith in Christ crucified or that was to be crucified had that permanent and lasting Union with the holy spirit that the Saints and Believers recorded in the holy Scriptures had which permanent and lasting Union through the in ward residence and indwelling of the lively Spirit in the Faithful is that which most properly deserveth the name of Union with God for it is most evident from the holy Scriptures that none but Believers in Christ even the Man Christ Jesus have the holy Spirit by union and inhabitation for which see and well consider the following places Gal. 3. 2. 14. Ephes 1. 13. John 7. 39. Acts 10. 43 44. Acts 26. 18. And it is great Ignorance in my late Opposers not to understand how though the spirit of God who is holy may and doth work and operate in the Hearts of Gentiles and Unbelievers yet he hath no inward residence or abiding union in them or communion with them but such only who hath Faith in Christ Another trifling Objection they have made that because I have said That all who had not the express knowledge of Christ before death who are saved had it either at Death or after Death From this they infer I hold a sort of Purgatory or transmigration But behold these mens ignorance doth it imply any Purgatory or Transmigration to say all that go to Christ in Heaven after Death must have an express knowledge of Christ in Heaven for so I expressed my sence in my Book called The pretended Antidote c. pag. 115 116. Can it be supposed that any Souls now in Heaven can be without all express knowledge of Christ can they be with him and yet not know him Hath not the least Saint in Heaven more clear knowledge of Christ than any living on Earth Suppose the Souls of Plato and Socrates be in Heaven as far be it from me to judge the contrary are they still without all express knowledge of Christ But if indeed they think there be no man Christ in Heaven having any Bodily Existence as some of my Opposers have affirmed it s no wonder they think that the Saints in Heaven have no knowledge of him Having performed what I promised in my Book called A short List of the vile and gross Errors of G. W. c. Printed in the Year 1695. concerning some Explications and Emendations of some Words and Passage in my four Books above-mentioned viz. Immediate Revelation Universal Grace The Rector Corrected and Truth Defended which four chiefly relate to matters of Controversie I think fit to publish some other few Explanations and Emendations such as I see needful of some pages in my Book called Help in time of Need. Help in time of Need printed at London 1665. pag 46. But now the Light hath shined forth in such clearness that we have seen to the bottom of all Babylon's Treasures And pag. 58. And we the Lord's People called in derision Quakers do witness this day of God come and broke up among us in pure perfect brightness to the fulfilling all these things aforesaid every one in their measure and yet more abundantly to be fulfilled Pag. 62. And we have seen the Bride the Lamb's Wife adorned and trimmed for the approach of her Husband and the New Jerusalem descending from above the Holy Gity coming down from God out of Heaven having the glory of her God and her Light is like unto a stone most precious like a Jasper clear as Crystal and we have seen the frame and proportion of this City with the Walls and Gates of it within which our Feet have stood whose Builder and Maker is God and there is nothing of man's work in it but all purely of him And now the Lord hath made us Citizens of this City and stones of this Building even living stones and the Builders are wise Builders and the Ministry is spiritual and so are the Ministers men taught by God who speak because they believe and are endued with Power from on High and filled with the Holy Ghost Pag. 66. And as the Ministry and Worship of the Church or House of God among us is spiritual so is the Order Discipline and Government among us and we witness the Lord's presence with us in our Assemblies and the Head Christ in us whether few or many passing sound righteous and infallible Judgment concerning the Particulars that come before us And pag. 74. And now what I have declared unto you and the Manifestation of the Spirit of Truth will shew much more even the perfect Pattern of the House of God in the Mount concerning these things which are necessary and expedient in order to a through cleanly and perfect Reformation we the People of the Lord called Quakers have fallen upon them being taught and directed by the Wisdom of God Here Note All these passages so far as I did understand them to respect the People called Quakers as a visible Body of People together with the generality of their Ministry and general way of Worship and Discipline c. I retract and revoke as being too large and ample a commendation of them generally considered and all other passages of the like nature respecting the generality of that People and their Ministry that may be found either in this Book or any other of my Books whatsoever and I freely and willingly acknowledge my weakness and short-fightedness in having so high and great an esteem of them generally considered My zeal and fervour I freely consess did carry me too far even beyond the due Bounds not only in the estimation I had of that People in general but also in the Judgment and Thoughts I had of my own Attainments though I dare not disown it but I do to God's praise declare it that I had great inward experience of the
that they neither need nor seek any other ground of confirmation to their Faith either of an outward Voice from Heaven or from beyond the Sea from Jerusalem where he suffered yea a true Christian and sincere Believer who sincerely believes that Christ suffered for his sins at Jerusalem and has the Faith of it wrought in his Heart by the Spirit of Christ in him the Scriptures Testimony having been Instrumental thereunto hath not so great and absolute necessity of the Scriptures outward Testimony as that his Faith must be lost if the Letter of Scripture were quite taken away from him for though the Scripture be very useful and comfortable to him yet if persecuting Infidels should rob him of the Bible and all other Books it followeth not that they can rob him of his Faith And that this is the importance and signification of my Words above-mentioned is obvious to any intelligent unprejudiced Person But the Question in debate there betwixt G. W. and W. Burnet was not about the manner how the Saints are taught as whether more by an outward Teacher or by Christ their inward Teacher how to believe in Christ or whether the Spirits inward Testimony or the outward Testimony of the Letter of Scripture or any outward testimony of Men is the more necessary and greater ground of Confirmation to our Faith but whether the Quakers see need to direct men to Christ as he suffered at Jerusalem or to his Blood as it was there shed for Justification and as G. W. his Words further clear his sense he saith Where do the Scriptures say the Blood was there shed for Justification and that Men must be directed to Jerusalem to it I need not insist to show how unparalel altogether is the quotation he takes out of my Book to excuse the Antichristian Doctrine of G. W. But suppose I had been in the same Error with him doth my Error excuse his Error But how impudent a wrester of my innocent Words is T. Ellwood that to make me an Apostate from my former Principles he fains me so far to contradict my former Testimony that I am now for sending to Jerusalem to have Tydings of Christ brought from thence But to discover him to be a shameless Forger and false Accuser which are plain signs of his Apostacy from common Honesty in this as in many other particulars I tell him and all his Gang and Fraternity of False Accusers whose best Weapons to support their tottering Kingdom are Lyes and Calumnies I am now no more than ever for sending to Jerusalem to have Tydings of Christ brought from hence for I seek no other outward Testimony not need any other but that which began to be preached at Jerusalem by the holy Apostles of our Lord above sixteen hundred Years ago and from Jerusalem came to Britain and many other parts of the World and that the said outward Testimony is true I am fully perswaded by the inward Testimony of Christ the Living Word in my Heart which praised be God my preserver I am not gone from neither in Principle nor Practise but own it and embrace it with great joy and satisfaction that is infinitely more to me than all worldly treasure as much as at any time formerly and I hope shall so be for ever Therefore it is another absolute Forgery and Falshood in T. E. to charge me as he doth saying But now being gone from the Word in his Heart and turned against it c. But why doth he think I am gone from it and turned against it because I did blame G. W. his Antichristian Doctrine in saying It was contrary to Rom. 10. to direct Men to Jesus Christ as he suffered there and to his Blood as it was shed there for Justification Which is a gross abuse put upon Rom. 10. that doth direct us to Christ the Object of our Faith as he rose from the dead at Jerusalem where he suffered Death ver 9 10. If thou shall confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe with thy Heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved And as for T. E. his poor evasion in alledging it was a Typographical Error in G. W.'s Book To for For having formerly shewed the falseness of it he having used the Particle To in divers other places to the same effect and supposing it were to be read For mends not the matter I shall not any more insist on it here As touching divers passages quoted by my late Adversaries particularly Thomas Ellwood and John Pennington out of some other of my Books as The Way to the City of God The Way cast up Light of Truth in Answer to R. Gordon or any others of the like nature and importance which they have sought greatly to pervert and misconstructure on purpose to abuse me and make their credulous followers think my late Principles contradictory to my former touching Articles of Faith I see no present need nor cause to recite them particularly one by one or to rescue and vindicate them by any large Answer from their perversions and wrestings the passages themselves in great part as quoted by them abstractly considered from their perverse glosses sufficiently serve to clear me that I remain constant to my former Principles with respect to these great Doctrines of the Christian Faith and will much more clear me if they be read and considered as they stand in my own Books so that I think it worth mentioning what an unprejudiced and judicious Person that had read their several late Books against me and the Quotations they have brought out of my Books to prove me changed in my Principles said both to some of themselves and also to me He was not one called a Quaker but of another Communion that instead of their thinking to do me a diskindness so as to prove me changed from my former Principles from those several Quotations they have brought out of my Books they have though contrary to their design done me a great Kindness for these very Quotations prove that I have been of the same Principles formerly that now they blame me for and which they commonly call Priests and Professors Principles And seeing I have in divers late Printed Treatises as in my Printed Letter to G. Croofe at the end of his General History of the Quakers and in my late Book called Antichrists and Saddnces detected given divers plain Explications of most of these and such like Quotations brought by them against me and shown the good Consistency of them with my present Faith it would be a superfluous labour to Reprint another Vindication of those Quotations from their Perversions And here in the close I acquaint the Friendly and Judicious Reader that if any of my above-given Explications seem to him in any degree strained beyond what the genuine sense of the Words will 〈◊〉 though I know not any one such I am freely willing that what he 〈◊〉 in any degree strained he may
take it if not for a genuine and proper Explication if so be it is in the least inconsistent with the truth of the Holy Scripture to be my plain and free Retractation For what I cannot fairly defend by Explication I am freely willing to correct and amend by Retractation As concerning the late abusive Books published in Print against me as well as the former by T. E. and J. P. and others containing vile Errors in point of Doctrine gross Perversions base Slanders trifling Defences in their own and others Vindication I defer my larger Answer to them to another occasion which I hope may be e're very long if it shall please God to afford it unto me Having thus far proceeded to explain amend and retract those particular passages in my Books above-mentioned which I judged my Duty so to do from true Conviction and out of real love to Truth I conclude with my making a general Retractation which I do freely and humbly of all passages either in my Books above-mentioned or in any others of my Books not mentioned in this Treatise in so far as they are not perfectly consistent with the holy Scriptures and the divine Doctrines and Testimonies delivered in them and likewise I submit all that I have at any time given forth in Word Writ or Print by way of Doctrine in Religious matter to the Test Touch-stone and Rule of the holy Scriptures as the greatest the best and most authentick Rule and Standard of Truth compared with all Testimonies Writings and Books of Men whatsoever renouncing revoking retracting disowning and denying whatever is contained in any of my former or latter Books that doth not perfectly agree with the holy Scriptures Which general Retractation I make for this Reason because it is possible that divers other particulars in my Books which I have not observed may need correction therefore until I see other particulars to need Correction which how soon I see I am ready to correct I hope this general Retractation will suffice And if any shall inform me or show me either by Word or Writ any particular passages in any of my Books that may need further Correction and Amendment they being enabled so to do by a divine Illumination I shall receive so most kindly and as amost friendly Office and judge my self greatly obliged to be thankful unto them But if any presume or proffer to make any seem Corrections in my Books or pass Censures on passages in them without a right understanding or from a spirit of Prejudice or a scossing taunting airy Unchristian Spirit as my late Adversaries have done whereby they have shown and continue daily to show their great Ignorance and Perverseness of Spirit they have their Reward and they will but still more and more expose their Folly and Enmity for indeed so blind with Ignorance and Prejudice my-late Adversaries have been particularly Tho. Ellwood and John Pennington and Caleb Pusey that the soundest Passages for most part in my Booke in relation to Doctrine they have blamed and censured though geâ—â—â—â—y such as most need Correction they have past without the least censure However as my great Comfort is that both they and I shall stand e're long before the Supream Judge of the whole Earth to whom I have committed my Righteous Cause and I do still commit it and make my humble Appeal to him acknowledging my many sinful defects and imperfections for which I humbly beg pardon of God for Jesus Christ's sake and for all my other Sins and hope for it and have in measure the sense and Faith of it being fully perswaded in my Conscience both by the divine Testimony of the Holy Scriptures without me and the divine Testimony of the Holy Spirit within me and also by the concurrent Testimony of all true Christians in all Ages of the truth of that doctrine God has raised me up to contend for which three are as a threefold Cord that cannot be broke that whatever my Imperfections are in managing this great Controversie my Cause is Just and my Heart is sincere before him so it is a great comfort to me that many throughout these Nations far and near have a good understanding of the present Case and though my Adversaries seek to overwhelm me with a thick Cloud of Infamy grounded on Falshoods and Calumnies yet the Truth and Integrity of my Testimony will overcome it all and will shine forth and be manifest and the Generation to come of the Posterity of many of that People who now account me their Enemy and pour out Curses and Lying Prophesies against me will regard my Testimony and it will be a good savour unto them This trust and hope I have in my gracious God whose I am and whom I serve and it is a considerable advantage unto me that some of my greatest Adversaries have acknowledged they have nothing against my Morals nor Doctrine and it is come under the Observation of many that hear them in their Meetings how admirably they are changed of late to preach the very same Doctrines which formerly they have so fiercely opposed in all that were not of their way and for which they have Excommunicated me but they cannot be judged sincere until they plainly Retract their former Errors And finally with a free and willing mind I make a general Retractation of all the hard Names and uncharitable Censures I have at any time either by Word or Writ past on any differing from me in point of Judgment that have not deserved them humbly desiring their Forgiveness wherein I have in that case justly offended them And though I do with deep regrat acknowledge and blame my too great rashness in giving hard Names and passing uncharitable Censures on divers with whom I have differed in point of judgment being engaged in the heat of Controversie and divers times provoked by the hard Names and uncharitable Censures that some of my Opponents have given me which provocation I should not have given way to but rather according to what the Scripture requireth to have sought in meekness to instruct them that opposed themselves if God peradventure would give them Repentance yet I was never so uncharitable as to think or judge that few or none were truly Pious or of a true Christian Spirit or that did belong to the true Church of Christ but such as were of the same outward Profession with me for the Contrary I have several times signified in Print and as I have been charitable in my Judgment with respect to others with whom I have distered in Controversal points when I did think they held the Head and built on Christ the true Foundation though some part of what they built was but Hay Wood and Stubble so it is my resolution by divine assistance to be yet more charitable in judgment concerning others that differ from me in the lesser matters when they agree with me in the greater and whose manner of Life and Conversation is suitable to their Christian Profession But as for such who deny the Lord that bought them and hold such Antichristian Principles as oppugne the great Fundamentals of the Christian Religion as I have sufficiently proved my late Adversaries to have done the greatest and best Charity that I can extend unto them is to deal roundly and plainly with them and give them and their vile Errors such sit and proper Names as they deserve and as the Scripture giveth to such who were guilty of such vile Errors in former times But the nasty and unclean Terms and Words worse than Billingsgate that some called Teachers among the Quakers and some of which are my present Adversaries have given to their Opponents I account it my mercy that I never had the faculty of them and yet so impudent have these my late Adversaries been to accuse me for giving hard Words to such unto whom they have given an hundredfold much harder and I have this with other great advantages over them that I have freely and willingly Retracted them as well as other things that I saw cause and occasion for which I find not that any of them in the least have done and are not like to do until their Crown of Pride come down and they see themselves to be fallible men having Infirmities and Defects like other Men which I pray God they may see and find Mercy to Repent of all their Errors and Evils before it be too late and may have a. Heart given them of God if not to follow me as an Example yet to follow the Example of other great Penitents and obey the Command of God that requireth every Man both to confess and forsake his Sins for he that hideth his Sins will not prosper but if we confess our Sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness G. K. THE END Pref. Imm. Rev. Pres Imm. Rev. Pag. 12. lin 2. 2d Edit pag. 22.