Pamphlet I query what difference betwixt the Nishmah of his Soul and the Center of it Answ. As great as betwixt the Spring and the Stream and the life and vertue that is in the Root and a measure of the same in the Branches so great is the difference betwixt the Center of that Nishmah and the ray or emanation of it into us which yet is one and the same Substance or Essence with it Pamphlet Look into Buxtorfs Lexicon you that are Schollars and there you will see that this curious distinction of Nephesh and Nishmah is ground less and a little after for the same word is used of the beasts and fouls and creeping thing that were destroyed by the Flood Gen. 7. 22. Answ. That the word Nishmath or Nishmah at times is used indifferently or commonly to signifie the breath or life of any living Creature doth not hinder but that at other times and that more frequently it hath a peculiar and singular signification even as the word Ruach signifieth at times indifferently any ordinary Spirit good or bad as also the wind and so doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek Spiritus in Latine and Spirit in English and yet also it hath a peculiar signification at other times to signifie the Divine Spirit of God and Christ and thus also many other words have both a common and peculiar signification as the words El Elohim Bara and others And unto Buxtorfs Authority I oppose the Testimony of others better skilled and namely the Author of the Apparatus in Librum Zohar part 1. p. 542 and p. 600. And that which is of more Authority then all Humane Testimonies I oppose unto him the Scriptures Testimony in diverse places which I have Cited in my book as namely Gen. 2. 7. Prov. 20. 27. To which I shall adde Job 32 8. The Inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding where the same Hebrew Word Nishmah or Nishmath is used that is in Gen. 2. 7. And surely whoever shall duely consider that Scripture Gen 2. 7. How that-the Lord God breathed in Adam the breath of Life and he became a living Soul and shall compare it with 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first man Adam was made a living Soul the second or last Adam was made a quickening Spirit If he have the least sense of that quickening life of Christ Jesus that made the first Adam a living Soul cannot but acknowledge that that breath or inspiration of life which made Adam a living Soul was something more excellent and living then his own Soul which he received from Christ Jesus the second Adam who is the image of the invisible God after whom he was made for it was this breathing in or inspiration of Life that made him a living Soul Namely living unto God Whereas he was a Soul afterwards when he Transgressed but not such a living Soul for in the day he did eat of the forbidden fruit he dyed and remained no more a living Soul unto God in Holiness and Righteousness after the image of him that created him And indeed that this breath or inspiration of Life was not Adams own Soul but a Divine substance diverse of those called Fathers of great Note do earnestly contend Hilarius saith on Psal. 118. expounding these Words And he breathed into him the breath or Spirit of life and man was made a living Soul Inspirationi ergo huic Preparatus sive formatus est per quam Natura Animae Corporis in vita perfectionem quodam inspirati Spiritus foedere contineretur Scit in se beatus Paulus duplicem esse Naturam cum Secundum interiorem Hominem delectatur in Lege c. In English thus Man therefore being prepared or formed unto this inspiration by which the Nature of the Soul and body should be contained within a crtain Covenant or bond of the inspired Spirit Blessed Paul knoweth that there is a Twofold Nature in him when according to the inward man he delighteth in the Law of God Again Cyrillus Alexandrinus on 9. John saith expresly that the breath of life which God breathed into Adam was not the Soul of Adam but a Divine substance Non est igitur factum divinae Substantiae Spiraculum anima hominis sed animato potius homini proprietati Naturae utrisque anima dico atquae corpore Consumatae quasi Sigillum Naturae suae Creator Spiraculum vitae id est Spiritum Sanctum infixit c. Which is in English thus The breath of the Divine substance was not made the Soul of man but rather man being already indued with a Soul and the property of his Nature being consummated both in Soul and Body the Creator fixed in him as it were the Seal of his own Nature That is the Holy Spirit The which Holy Spirit he also calleth the Spirit of the Son and the Divine Nature and indeed without all doubt God breathed into Adam the Holy Spirit but this Holy Spirit being one Essence or being with God dwelleth in the fulness of it in Christ the second Adam and therefore Adam could not be a partaker of the Holy Spirit but as he was also a partaker of the second Adam whose Nishmah or Soul hath the Holy Spirit in it as being its most immediate Temple or house and therefore the fulness of the God-head is said to dwel bodily in Christ because Christ is as the body or house that most immediately receives that fulness to Communicate of the various measures of it unto others for the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Body is said to be derived from a word which signifieth a House or Lodging or Habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that the fulness of the God-head dwelling in Christ as in its most immediate and proper Habitation as the Soul of a man dwelleth in its body no man can partake of God but as he partakes of Christ in whom that fulness dwelleth Pamphlet Animad 20. I desire the Schollars to call to mind how this Notion of the Soul of Christ in all suits with Platoe's of the anima mundi Answ. Cyrillus Alexandrinus and others do Judge that Plato by his anima mundi did understand that which the Scripture calleth the Holy Ghost for as the Scripture speaketh of three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost Plato likewise spoke of three namely the good the mind and the Soul and the Good he calleth the one and the Father the Mind he calleth the Son as being generate of the Father both which answer unto the Father and the Son which the Scriptures Testifie of and therefore they conclude that by that he called the Soul he did understand the Holy Ghost And that Plato had learned this mystery of the Three from the Egyptians who had learned it from Moses But that he had wrongly understood it himself for he seemeth to call them Three Gods as being distinct in a threefold being
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