〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shape or Figure of a Man See the difference in Crit. Sacr. and the Translation of the Church of England In Phil. 2.7 Of Christ its expresly said and found in Figure as a Man as Dr. Fulk against the Papists has it He was also said to be made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them under it Gal. 4.4 He was Circumcised presented to the Lord with an Oblation Luke 2.21 24. He eat of the Passover c. and thus came under the Law to fulfill it in these Things which were figurative and shadowy yet was the Substance and End of them Charges 10 and 11. Against an Actual keeping of the Law of God so as to avoid all Sin though he grants such a Perfection as imports Sincerity Integrity and Constancy in our utmost endeavours perfectly to keep God's Law entirely to avoid all Sin c. which Perfection he confesses to be requisite to Salvation Yet contrariwise chargeth one of our Friends for saying He had proved by manifest Scriptures that some were perfect in this Life even without Sin and that our Sanctification is Christ himself 1 Cor. 1.30 And another Friend he charges for saying In your Vnbelief you judge that none can live without sinning Obs. Now take the Doctor as believing the contrary thus viz. Though 't is our Duty sincerely to use our utmost endeavours perfectly to keep God's Law and entirely to avoid all Sin yet none were ever so perfect in this Life without Sin and that our Sanctification is not Christ and that 't is our belief to judge that none can live without sinning Thus faithless is this great Doctor how contrary to the Faith of Christ and true Christians is his belief herein And such endeavours for such a Perfection as never attain it but still fall short are not in the true Faith nor so sincere as they should be for Christ said Whatsoever ye ask in my Name believe that ye shall receive it and the same shall be given you Mark 11.24 Luke 11.9 10 11 13. John 14.13 14. and 16 23. Mat. 7.7 And by Faith in Christ comes the Heart to be purified Acts 15.9 And Christ is of God made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 And blessed are the undefiled in the way c. Psal. 119.1 2 3. And seeing the Son of God is manifest for this very purpose to destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3. Why then should Sin which is the Devil's Work be thus Preach'd up or contended for by any who profess Faith in Christ Jesus Their's must needs be a faithless Preaching who when they have told People 't is their Duty to use their utmost endeavours entirely to avoid all Sin yet contrarywise tell them That none can live without sining With what Faith or Sincerity can this Man or any of his Brethren engage Childrens God-Fathers and God-Mothers as they call them by Promise and Vow that they shall forsake the Devil and all his Works and yet endeavour to perswade them 't is impossible for them so to do i. e. to live without Sin or to avoid all sinning wherein they obey the Devil and do his Work And note that this Doctor S.F. has in this Point also contradicted the said Doctor Stillingfleet his now Bishop See his Sermon Preach'd before the King March 13. 1666 7. Wherein he does not only plead and argue it as our Duty to obey God's Laws and Commands but the Possibility thereof through the Assistance of his Grace and good Spirit against them who charge God with laying impossible Laws upon Mankind c. and puts the Question What then is wanting but only setting our selves with a serious obedience to them to make his Commands not only not impossible but easy to us Now that this Priest S.F. who styles himself D.D. has apparently contradicted his said Bishop the Contradiction being between the Impossibility and Possibility of living without sining or avoiding all Sin Charge 12. Against some of our ancient Friends for asserting that he calls main fundamental of all our Religion namely The Light and Christ within us and that this Light is in its own being no other than God himself the Christ of God and Saviour of the World the living Principle of God of the Divine Nature c. Obs. And we do not believe this to be either Unchristian or Antichristian as he has rendered it by his Title over it which is no Proof but his own bare Affirmation and Charge wherein he imposes still we preach no other Light but what is Divine of the divine Nature and Being and manifest by degrees in us God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and hath shined in our Hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 1 John 1.5 And Christ saith I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not abide in Darkness John 8.12 and Chap. 12.46 And he saith Believe in the Light that ye may be the Children of the Light John 12.36 And his Apostles Preached not only Christ as without but also Christ as within in Spirit and so did Christ himself John 14.20 and 15.4 and 17.23 2 Cor. 13.5 And therefore our Adversary is far out and shews himself Unchristian in opposing such ancient Christian Doctrin as this of the divine Light and Christ within c. Rendring it both Unchristianity and Antichristianity The Lord deliver poor Souls from such ignorant dark and unchristian Preachers and Doctors who neither know the holy Scriptures nor Jesus Christ nor his divine Light or power of God within them Charge 13. Is about the Holy Scriptures that one said They are not the Word of God not the Rule and Guide of Faith and Life to the Saints but the Spirit of God that gave them forth the Covenant of Life and Peace That a Man may lawfully deny the Scriptures to be the Foundation of Faith and Rule of Life c. That another Friend said Faith is the Ground of the Scriptures and of the Scriptures the Ground of Faith c. With more of like Nature in his Charge elsewhere Answered and Explain'd in our Friends Books quoted by him Obs. Where any of our Friends have said or writ such things it was so far from undervaluing or slighting the Holy Scriptures that the matters here charged as unchristian are agreeable to the very Doctrin of Christ and his Holy Apostles as First That the Word of God is Christ. In the Beginning was the Word John 1. His Name is called The Word of God Rev. 19.13 Secondly That the Spirit of God and Christ is the Saints Guide and Rule of Faith to lead and guide them into all Truth as Christ Jesus promised John 16 â—3 Thirdly That Christ is the Foundation of the Saints Faith and not the Scriptures No other Foundation can any Man lay than that which is laid which is Christ. Fourthly That Faith is the Ground of the Scriptures and not the Scriptures the Ground of Faith
own bare ipse dixit must bear us all down But note by the way that our Friends questioning the Term human as applied to Christ or to the Soul of Christ is still in honour and respect to Christ they taking the Term as originally relating to the Earth of which Man was made and not opposing it simply as it relates to Mankind nor questioning Christ's being perfect Man in Soul Spirit and Body as well as God over all in respect to his Divine Power and Oneness with the Father but being the Heavenly Man the Lord from Heaven the Question is if Human be not too low a Term for his Soul Charge 8 and 9. Against our Friends E.B.W.P. and F.H. 1 st For asking Where dost thou Read in all the Scriptures that God doth require satisfaction for the Sins of the Elect or laid any thing to their Charge 2 ly For cautioning against saying That God should condemn his innocent Son that he having satisfied for our Sins we might be justified by the Imputation of his Righteousness 3 ly And against F.H. for saying You are only talking of Christ at a Distance and his Righteousness as far from you as betwixt Earth and Heaven and here is your Justification Godâ—s Righteousness in you justifies Obs. Now seeing this our Adversary has put all these Passages under the Title of Unchristianity and Antichristianity charged on the Quakers Ancient Friends May we not justly place the contrary upon him that his Christianity is 1. That God requires satisfaction for the Sins of the Elect and charge them 2. That he did condemn his Innocent Son to satisfie Divine Justice for our Sins and to justifie us by the Imputation of his Righteousness whilst Christ is at a Distance and his Righteousness as far from us as betwixt Earth and Heaven and not in us Now first observe His thus excluding Christ Jesus and his Righteousness and Justification out of his People and so leaving People in their Sins all their days is expresly contrary to Holy Scripture Testimony contrary to the Righteousness of Faith and Testimony thereof say not in thine heart who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ from above c. Rom. 10.6 7 8. as well as to the Nature Intent and Tendence of Justification Redemption Pardon and Acceptance with God in Christ Jesus See Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of God's Elect It 's God that justifieth and 1 Cor. 6.11 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God and Heb. 13.20 21. Where the Apostle both prayed for their perfection and that God would work in them that which was well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. See also these Scriptures Isa. 26.12 and ch 60.21 Psal. 32.1 2. Rom. 4.6 and ch 8.1 Titus 2.14 and ch 3.3 4 5 6. 2 Cor. 13.5 Rom. 2.13 Heb. 3.14 2 ly To place Man's Justification in a sinful unjust State upon such a kind of satisfaction supposed to Divine Justice that is Vindictive as they call it as by God's condemning his Innocent Son to undergo his Wrath and Punishment due to the Sin of the World in the Sinner's stead as many of our Opposers hold and this seems to be of the same Notion This is to justifie the Wicked and condemn the Just which to do is an abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 And thus to render the most dear and innocent Son of God the Subject of his Father's Wrath and of the Execution of his vindictive Justice to indemnifie Offenders continuing in their Sins How can this consist either with Divine Justice it self or with that most glorious Union Divine and Superlative Love that is and ever was between them And though we confess Christ's satisfaction in the Sense that God was always well pleased and satisfied in his dear Son in all he wrought and suffered for Mankind for Man's Redemption yet we find not in Scripture that ever he required such severe and rigid Satisfaction and Payment of our Debts from his Son in our stead or for the Sins of Men and thereby to acquit pardon and justifie the Guilty This Notion or Term Satisfaction and the Understanding of it is confest by Dr. Owen to depend upon some Notion of Law in his Declaration and Vindication and directly opposed and argued against by Dr. Stillingfleet now Bishop of Worcester in his Discourse of the Sufferings of Christ. Page 269 270 271 272 273 275. For he saith It is easie to observe That Socinus his Arguments are levell'd against an Opinion which few who have considered those things do maintain and none need to think themselves obliged to do it which is that Christ pay'd a proper and rigid Satisfaction for the Sins of Men considered under the Notion of Debts and that he pay'd the very same which we ought to have done Charge S.F. In his 9 th Charge again takes upon Trust Clapham's Quotation of a Book Entitled Saul's Errand to Damascus P. 8.9 In these words viz. Christ in the flesh with all that he did and suffered therein was but a Figure and nothing but an Example Obs. We deny these words as a plain Abuse Miscitation and Perversion For in the said Book of Saul's Errand Christ is confest as both the Substance of all Figures Types and Shadows and Example of his People The words are Christ in the Flesh without them is their Example or Figure which is both one as they intended who so writ for his being their Example 1 Pet. 2.21 and 4.1 and 1.15 and John 13.15 are quoted See also Luke 2.31 He was called a Sign Now hence to say he was But a Sign this were a gross Perversion Christ was our Example Now hence to say he was nothing else is an Abuse and alters the Sense as our Adversary has here done upon Trust condemning our Friends as Unchristian c. upon a false Report which is besides all Justice Morality and judicial Proceedings But whether the Word Figure may be in any tollerable sense attributed to Christ is the Question We find in some sense it is with other Words of like Nature and some meaner Characters are given to him as not only Example Figure Form of a Servant Similitude Habit Image c. but he was said to be made Sin and a Curse for us though he knew no Sin nor ever sinned 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 1 Pet. 2.22 His Humiliation Lowliness and suffering for us did not hinder him of his most excellent Glory and Dignity But to the Point in Hand in Heb. 1.3 The Son of God is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In some rendered Figura Substantiae the Figure of his Substance And Phil. 2.6 7. He took on him the Form of a Servant where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Form or Figure and he was made LIKE unto Men and was found in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE PEOPLE Commonly Called QUAKERS Vindicated from Antichristian Opposition I. In a serious Examination of Doctor Ford's Preservative against Quakerism in a large fallacious Scheme Tendered by S.F. D.D. as he stiles himself II. In a brief Answer to Henry Osland's Manuscript against the said People III. In a brief Consideration of an Epistle directed to Friends and Brethren at their next General Meeting in London Signed N.N. but no Name to it Sincerely Tendered in behalf of the aforesaid People and their Ancient Friends by some of them Psal. 35.20 They devise Deceitful Matters against them that are Quiet in the Land LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George Yard in Lombard street 1690. THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE PEOPLE Commonly called QUAKERS Vindicated from Antichristian Opposition In a serious Examination of Doctor Ford's Preservative against Quakerism in a large Fallacious Scheme THE Industrious though fruitless Attempts of this Profound Doctor as he would be esteemed to unchristian or rather Antichristian the People called Quakers especially those of their ancient Friends is in this wise Methodized in three Columns on one large Sheet small Print The first contains a Recital of a Paper Entituled The Christianity of the People commonly called Quakers asserted against the unjust charge of their being no Christians writ by some of the said People by which the said Doctor S.F. saith They seem to be of a New Edition compared with the Vnchristianity or rather Antichristianity of their ancient Friends as he unjustly charges them in his Title set over his two other Columns and yet in contradiction falsly stiles our said Paper a Partial and Fallacious Scheme of their Doctrins Thus his Design appears malicious and uncharitable to endeavour not only to unchristian but to antichristianize an Innocent People that truly fear God and to render them contradictory to their Christianity sincerely asserted by them And whereas contrary to the Title over his first Column which is The Christianity of the People called Quakers over his second and third he has put the Title of the Vnchristianity or rather Antichristianity of the Quakers ancient Friends Hereby its apparent â—â—rst That all those Doctrins are by him rendered Vnchristian Antichristian which he has placed under the same Title and charg'd the Quakers ancient Friends withal in his two last Columns Secondly we may therefore rationally take him as holding the contrary and need give the less Remarks on the Particularâ— where his Unchristian Doctrins and Errors appear most obvious Thirdly most part of his charges are but what some of our old Adversaries and Persecutors have enviously and blindly Objected which long since are answered and the Truth fully clear'd in our Friends Books whereby he seems to have been one of them and since turn'd about from his Presbytery to the now Church of England for his own Interest yet retains his old Enmity And why is he now in 's old Age so disturbed and angry against the Quakers What 's the matter now Is he afraid to lose some of his Benefactors seeing he directs his Scheme to those of his own Neighbourhood and all others who are newly made or endangered to be made Quakers But he takes not the Course to oblige them that mean honestly by his abusing an innocent People in Print Fourthly Many Things are very unfairly and partially Cited by him leaving out the most material which are for Explanation of the Matters charged which we do not find but our Friends Books themselves which he quotes sufficiently and plentifully clear Others he has taken upon Trust against us out of our Adversaries Books without any impartial Enquiry what we could say for our selves or representing our Answers thereto But selfish Temporizers are commonly the most envious and apt to pervert Truth Now let 's examine his severe charge of Vnchristianity and Antichristianity against the Quakers ancient Friends in the several Instances given by him the said S.F. D.D. as he stiles himself that we may see what contrary Divinity he is Doctor of Charge 1. Is against our deceased Friend Ed. Burroughs viz. That God is a Spirit not distinct nor far from living Creatures for in him they live move and have their Beings Observation The Doctor 's deeming this Antichristian is to tell us he believes the contrary i. e. That God is not a Spirit That he is far from living Creatures Distinct or divided from them c. This being in his first Charge may be thought to be his Chief but his Divinity herein is expresly contrary to the Doctrin of our Lord Jesus Christ who Testified that God is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 and please to take the words not distinct to intend not divided or separate as E.B. intended and has explain'd That God is not far from his living Creatures and we see no Reason to render this Doctrin of God's Omnipresence either Antichristian or Unchristian but him to be both who so renders it For doth not God fill Heaven and Earth with his Presence and uphold all Things by the Word of his Power Jer. 23.24 Heb. 1.3 In whose hand is the Soul of every living Thing and Breath of all Mankind Job 12.10 And in him we live move and have our being Acts 17.28 If this Doctor had either known God or his Power and Omnipresence truly or seriously consulted holy Scripture he durst not have rendred such Doctrin either Antichristian or Unchristian Charge ibid. Against E.B. That the nature and glory of the Elect differs not from the nature and glory of the Creator The Elect are one with him enjoying his glory c. Obs. These being also put under the Title Vnchristianity or rather Antichristianity we may take this Doctor as holding the contrary i. e. That the nature and glory of the Elect differs from the nature and glory of the Creator That the Elect are not one with him in his nature that they enjoy not his Glory contrary to Christ's own Testimony John 17.21 22 23. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us c. And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one And see 2 Pet. 1.4 That by these you might be Partakers of the Divine Nature Tho' we be Creatures still yet by the work of God's Grace and making good to us his precious Promises we are in some measure Partakers of his Divine Nature being Partakers of Christ Heb. 3.14 and so far united unto and in Union with him and is not this divine Nature the nature of the Creator Charge 2. Against our ancient Friends G.F. and R. Hubberthorn Of the Soul coming from God and returning to God again as of his Being c. And E. B's saying when dying Now my Soul and Spirit is Centered into its own being with God Obs. Here the Doctor has