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A47188 The true copy of a paper given in to the yearly meeting of the people called Quakers at their meeting-place in Grace-Church-street, Lonon, 15 day of the 3d. month 1695. By George Keith, which was read by him in the said meeting, by their allowance. With a brief narrative of the most material passages of discourse betwixt George White-head, Charles Marshal, and George Keith, the said day, and the day following, betwixt George White-head, William Penn, and Francis Canfield on the one side, and George Keith on the other; ... Together with a short list of some of the vile and gross errors of George Whitehead, John Whitehead, William Penn, their chief ministers, and now having the greatest sway among them (being of the same sort and nature with the gross errors charged on some in Pensilvania) most apparently opposite to the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion ... And a proposition to VVilliam Penn, to prove his charge, that G.K. is an apostate. Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 1695 (1695) Wing K220; ESTC R220379 30,855 34

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Meeting endeavoured to hinder my speaking in Meetings so closly speaking one after another and sometimes making signs and pulling by the Coat to stand up and speak on purpose to prevent my speaking and on a First Day at Whitchart-Court Meeting W. Bingely and Sam. Walldenfield broke up the Meeting before its usual time as is well known VV. Bingely or some other crying out pass away Friends after I began to speak which occasioned a great disorder and confusion in the Meeting And is it not a great shame and scandal that it should come under publick observations to makes signs one to another by pulling him by the Coat or Sleve to stand up and speak which occasions many to say The Quakers can transgress their Principle when they have a mind by speaking whithout a motion of the Spirit when they obey the outward Sign and Motion of another to speak as if the Spirits inward motion did ansver to the beck of their outward Motion and have we not blamed it in other Professions for one to say to another Brother do ye Pray as being an Argument such did not attend to the motions of the Spirit of God in themselves and to be sure no more do they among us who give signs one to another to speak in Meetings Fifthly Whereas it is said by some and particularly by John Vaughton and Iohn Field which I think they will not deny and can be proved That those who denied me in Pensilvania their denying me and disowning my Ministry was enough for Friends to deny me here and that there need no more for Friends to deny me here for friends here and they who denied me in Pensilvania are one and they own their Judgment in disowning me to be a true Judgment and effectual Now if this be so and that it be your Sence how is it that this was not expressed in that Paper called A true Account given out at the last Yearly Meeting and that Friends generally Joyned with me in Prayer about the time of the last Yearly Meeting and were uncovered when I Prayed and that they recommended it to Friends to be Tender and Kind to me and to avoid all public and apparent Reflections on both sides But if it had been their Judgment that I ought not speak in Meetings it had been improper to adv●●e me to avoid all Publick and apparent Reflections for he that sayeth nothing in Publick cannot be said to Reflect Sixthly seeing divers owned by you as Members of your Society both in City and Country do still own me as a Friend of Truth and my Ministry and Testimony and others disown me and a third sort are in suspence and doubt concerning me I desire you to be plain and express in giving your unanimous Sense and Judgment concerning me either to own or disow me in such plain and express Terms as may leave no room for any doubt of your meaning and what paper ye give out concerning me let it be signed with all your Hands that give Judgment in the Case and not laid on the Clark that it may appear all present are Unanimous in the said Judgment But ye cannot give out any Paper of Judgment against me for any new matter since the last yearly Meeting until after ye have given me a fair oportunity to answer to all that my Accusers bring against me Nor can ye in Justice permit such who have sufficiently Discovered themselves to be prejudiced against me either to be Witnesses against me or to sit among you and give Judgment in the Case nor can it be reckoned a duely Constitute Meeting if any owned by you to be Friends be kept out and Excluded from hearing and seeing and giving Judgment in the case and the Meeting consined to a select number of Ministers and two sent from every County this cannot be owned to be any True Free and Duely Constitute Meeting where all or any that desire to be present and give their Judgment are Excluded and is plainly contrary to the Doctrine delivered by R. B. in his Annarchy and generally approved by Friends Now the persons I do particularly except against either to be Evidences against me or Judges in my Case being manifestly prejudiced are Will. Penn Will. Bingely George Whithead John Vaughton John Field Sam. Waldenfield Seventhly What Sentence ye pass concerning me I desire you to make it Publick and let me have a true copy of it with your particular Rasons of your censure what it is either in matter of Doctrine or matte of Life and Conversation that moveth you to pass any Hard or severe censure against me if so ye do and not to give such bare general Reasons as some use against me without all Proof or Evidence in mattr of Fact against me as that I am of a wrong Spirit Contentious se●king to break the Peace of the Church c. And lastly I desire to know your sence of these words in the Paper called A true Account of the Proceedings given out about the time of the last yearly Meeting wherein they advise me to clear the Body of the People called Quakers and their Ministers from these gros Errors charged on some few in America If ye mean by the Body only the Faithful I have done it formerly in my Printed Books declaring I never charged the Body of Faithful Friends but if ye mean by the Body the generality and such generally who are under the same Prosession and not denied by them I tell you plainly it is a most unjust and unfair thing to require it of me because as I know not one of many hundeds of that People in many places whether they be sound in the Faith of these Doctrines or guilty of these gross Errors charged on some in America so to my certain knowledg some here even in England are guilty of divers of these gross Errors which I offer to prove out of their Printed Books and suppose any of them have corrected their Judgment since their Printed Books yet until they correct their Books by as publick a Testimony as they have published their Errors they are liable to be blamed for these Errors And seeing I know not any thing that any have against me of Just Occasion why I should be disowned by you or my ministry but that the great occasion many take against me is my zealous and conscientious Opposition to vile Errors opposite to Fundamental Doctrines and Principles of Christianity which I have sufficiently proved divers guilty of in America and of which I offer to prove some sufficiently guilty of here among you and owned by you and for my conscientious refusing to hearken to the Advice or suppose command of them that would injoyn me to clear the Guilty which neither God nor any good man will do without Repentance and disowning their Errors and my conscientious discharge of that part of a Gospel-Ministry in reproving vile and gross Errors in Publick Meetings and rescuing many places of Scripture from
which convinced me and was in Unity with Faithful Friends but it was my desire that both I and all of us might more come down to God's Witness in our Hearts and if they did so they would do Justice impartially and to be sure he needed very much to come down out of his Height And for his saying he had a mind to come to my house and deliver his Message he had time enough for a Year past to have once visited me but he never did and if he hapned to pass by me in the street scarce to look to me though his former Acquaintance but with scorn and disdain so that I looked on his present Exhortation very unseasonable especially after his many Curses and False Prophecies poured out against me in divers Publick Meetings since the last Yearly Meeting as is known to many And a little after the Meeting desired me to withdraw which I did When I came before them the next day after some silence Geo. Whitehead began and made a long Speech repeating what he had said the day before and adding new matter he said He was not forward to be the Speaker but it being laid upon him by the Meeting he was willing He said I had not only given great dissatisfaction by my Printed Paper called The Causless Ground and by my Reflecting on Friends Testimonies in Publick Meetings and refusing to hearken to Friends Advice to clear the Body of the People called Quakers and their Ministers from those gross Errors c. but by the Paper I had given in Yesterday I had greatly increased the dissatisfaction in Friends against me I charging Ancient Friends in the said Paper and who have been always owned by Friends as Faithful Ministers with high Charges and not them only but the Second Days Meeting also and had taken upon me to Judge Ancient Friends and Brethren and the Second Days Meeting yea and all Friends that will not say as I say And for me to oppose my self thus generally to Friends and judge them all as I had done was a great dissatisfaction and did bespeak or prove me very far declined from Friends and from a true inward sense of Truth After he had spoke a great while to the same purpose but chiefly finding fault that I had excepted against some of the most Antient and most approved Friends of the Ministry as not being worthy either to be my Judges or so much as Evidences against me after some time of silence in great coolness I replied to him It cannot be expected That I can Reply to every thing particularly in this long Discourse of G. W. It were better to speak but to one thing at once I cannot remember all the particulars but so far as my Memory serves me I shall endeavour by God's assistance to answer to some of the chief things I deny that I have as yet judged all Friends I reserve to my self a Judgment of Discretion as a private person the due priviledg of every true Christian but why is it thought such a crime in me to lay my Complaint before this Meeting against some particular persons who have greatly injured me and abused me and why ought not my Complaint to be heard against them as theirs is heard against me The Advice of that called the Paper of the last Yearly Meeting was that Friends should be tender and kind to me and to avoid Reflexions on both sides It will appear to be great partiality only to examine whether I have kept to this advise or transgrest it and not also to examin impartially whether these that have reflected on me in Publick Meetings and have interrupted me in my Testimony in Meetings and falsly accused me as VVilliam Penn some Weeks ago did at Ratcliff Meeting calling me in the open Meeting Apostate and an Enemy to Truth and Friends Have I not just cause to except against such as being either Judges or Evidences against me and particularly against thee George VVhitehead whom I can sufficiently prove greatly prejudiced against me And as for that other part of the Advice said to be given by the last Yearly Meeting viz. That I should clear the Body of the People called Quakers and their Ministers charged on some in America to this I have some things to say and first I would have you to consider that Advice is one thing and Command is another even as Paul distinguisheth in the case of single Life when he giveth his Advice or Judgment but no command in that Case 1 Cor. 7. 25 40. And surely Paul was not so severe to disown them that gave not obedience to his Advice and I know no Church nay not the Church of Rome that is so severe as to disown them that will not hearken to her Advice simply if they obey her Commands I find not that the Yearly Meeting Paper so called gave me any Command in this case and therefore no Transgression But again as I have declared in my late Paper to you I want to know what ye mean by the Body of the People called Quakers and their Ministers if only the Faithful I never charged them and have again and again cleared them in print but if ye mean all that go under the same profession of Quakers not di●owned by you I say that is a most unfair and unjust thing to require of me for as I know not one of many hundreds of that People in divers Places nor their Faith whether it be sound or unsound in these matters so to my certain knowledg some of great note among you yea here sitting before me pointing to W. Penn George Whitehead and John Whitehe●● but not mentioning their Names are guilty of some of those gross Errors charged on some in America and how can I clear them that are thus guilty until they Correct these gross Errors in their Printed Books that are standing Evidences against them and what Justice could I expect that these being the leading men at the last Yearly Meeting should fairly or sufficiently Condemn these mens gross Errors in Pensilvania charged on them when they themselves are guilty of the same as I offer to prove out of their Printed Books never retracted by them But by this my free Discourse many in the Meeting began to be very uneasy After I had ended George Whitehead began again and resumed some Heads of my Discourse he told the Meeting the word Advise had a twofold signification one when it was relating to an indifferent matter another when it related to that which was a Command of God to wit to keep in Unity with Friends and in Charity and Peace and not to break the Peace of the Church by contentions and exposing Friends to the World Next as to my Question about what they meant by the Body of the People called Quakers he wondred I could pretend ignorance in that seeing I had Printed divers Books in defence of the Body of that People and had answered the Books of Adversaries against
Ratcliffe and Haranging against me as I was told in my Absence at the last Yearly Meeting which some present greatly blamed And some putting VVilliam Penn in mind to give an Account to the Meeting of his manner of Opposition to me at Ratcliffe Meeting and what just cause he had so to Treat me He began and told the Meeting what he spoke by way of Opposition to me at Ratcliffe was not till after I have abused not only him and Friends there present but had abused Friends in general and had distinguished my self from them by saying of them they did put such a gloss on that place of Scripture 1 John 1. 7. The Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin and by charging Friends in general and saying he would prove it out of their Books that they denied That the Blood of Christ's Humanity did with God Expiate for Sin and said VVilliam Penn though I was much spent in the Meeting by my former Testimony yet after he had so abused Friends in general I was raised up in such a Transport so that I was carried beyond my self not knowing whether I was sitting standing or kneeling but I was in no Passion the glorious Power of God which I felt did so Transport me that I confess I gave Judgment against him and saw no need of staying till a Quarterly or Yearly Meeting should Judg him seeing he had Judged us all and plainly distinguished himself from us at which I confess I was much moved and had scarce patience to hear him assert such gross Falshoods and to father his Transport of sinful Passion upon the Spirit of God which God forbid I should ever do And after William Penn had done I replied That was most abominable in him and blaspheming though not against the Holy Ghost I hope to father his most sinful Passion calling it a Transport upon the Glorious Power and Spirit of God a thing but too familiar with him and many others of his Associates It could be no Divine Transport falsly to accuse me of that whereof I was not guilty But he gives you a most false Relation in matter of Fact He saith he did not oppose me and judg me until after I had not only abused him and Friends there present but had abused Friends in general and had distinguished my self from them by saying of them They did put such a Gloss on that place 1 John 1. 7. The Blood is the Life and that Life is the Light within But I neither charged him nor any called a Quaker at that time for putting such a Gloss upon that place though I can sufficiently prove That both he and others have put that Gloss on it at other times And though I said I could prove out of some of their printed books That they did not own That the Blood of Christ's Humanity was that which did with God expiate for sin yet I charged only some particular persons called Quakers but not the people in general therefore his Information was false in the main In the Conclusion of my Discourse with them among others Francis Camfield pressed much That silence should be made and let any who were dissatisfied with the Last Years Judgment declare their dissatisfaction and if they did not they were not honest men To which I replied Although it passeth for a Proverb Silence is Consent yet ye know it is not always true How oft in Meetings when things are carried by a prevailing Faction or Party against Truth Right and Justice Persons will be silent through fear of displeasing yet are not satisfied but go away grieved and wounded and this ye are not ignorant of what sayest thou to it Francis Camfield knowest thou not that it is so FINIS A Short List of the Vile and Gross Errors of Geo. Whitehead John Whitehead and William Penn c. Friendly Reader I Design only to give thee at present this short List of these mens gross and vile Errors opposite to some of the Fundamental Doctrines of Christianity reserving a more full Account of both their Errors and some others in high esteem with them to another Opportunity with a due and impartial Correction of them wherein I purpose also God willing if he shall be pleased to prolong my Life and Health and afford me his Gracious Assistance impartially to publish together with the said Correction some short Explications and also Emendations where I see need of some Words and Passages in my former Books for upon a Review of my former books as the Book of Immed Revel the Book of Universal grace the Rector corrected and Truth defended I freely acknowledge I have found some Passages and Words that not only need some further Explanation but even in some part an Emendation and Correction And I thank Almighty God that has not only given me to see them but has given me that humility of heart and Love to Truth and Regard to the Salvation of Souls that I can freely both acknowledge and correct my former mistakes after the Example of some Worthy Ancients And had these men that are turn'd my so implacable Enemies for my zealous and free opposing such gross Errors that I found them here as well as others in America guilty of and which those in America had suckt in out of their Books had but had the l●●e Huminity and Love to Truth and Regard to the Honour of God and Salvation of Souls instead of hating and excommunicating me for my Opposition to those Errors they would have loved and embraced and encouraged me and gone before me in their good Example to have openly corrected them But Old Self prevailing in them would not permit them to do any such thing a plain Evidence they Love the Praise of men more than the Honour of God and Salvation of Souls and the Conceit that they had begot the People generally into that all what they preached and printed was from the infallible Spirit and that they were altogether of a sound Mind and Judgment in all parts of Christian Doctrine tending so much to support their Praise and high Esteem and Admiration among their too credulous Followers being to be contradicted if they should acknowledge their former Errors and unsoundness of Faith in these great matters This is the Pinch and Difficulty at present and rather than acknowledge their Fallibility and gross Mistakes and pernicious Errors touching Fundamental Doctrines they resolved to cloak and cover all these gross Errors both of them in America as well as their own and the more safely to hide themselves they now begin to Preach contradictory to their former books in divers things but will not own any self-contradiction pretending there is none But withal they mightily charge me with my Contradictions to my former Books To which I can and do thus answer 1. If in any things or words I do contradict what I have formerly Printed I am willing most freely and cordially to correct my former mistakes for
them which Friends well received and encouraged me therein and yet after all this to pretend to be Ignorant what was meant by the Body of the People called Quakers was to him very strange But however he would tell me what they meant by the Body First they meant none who had broke themselves off from Friends by their evil Contentions and Strivings and walked not in Charity and Peace with Friends But by the Body they meant all who walked in Unity with Friends in the same Profession with them and were Charitable and Peaceable and here he spake much in Praise of their Unity that had been preserved among them notwithstanding of the endeavours of many to break it To this I replyed thou mistakes the Case George Whitehead I refused not to hearken to the Advice of Friends so far as it was a Command of God but so far as it advised me to do what is contrary to God's Command I own I ought to Live in Unity Charity and Peace with sound and Faithful Friends but it is no breach of that Unity to reprove Errors publickly Preached in our Meetings and to rescue many places of Scripture from the Perverse and Corrupt Glosses of Ignorant Men and if contending for Truth and hard words be an Argument of want of Charity none have been greater contenders than many of the People called Quakers not only amongst other Professions but even among themselves before they disowned one another The Advice given me to clear the Body of that People of all gross Errors when I know so many guilty even such among you as are owned most to be in Unity is a most unjust thing to require of me and if for this I must be disowned I shall rest well satisfied Next as to the sense of the Word Body of the People called Quakers I have been a Preacher and Writer among that People and a Labourer among them these thirty years past and I never understood that all deserved to be called the Body that did but outwardly profess Unity with Friends I am not such a Novice as not to know that it was the Sense of many Friends as well as my sense that many Professed Truth with us and made a Profession of Unity that were not in it and were not in the Possession of the Life and Power of Truth whereof they made an outward Profession And as for the Unity of them here away that some so much boast of there is no such great cause so to glory and boast of Unity One thing G. VVhitehead much insisted upon of my being changed or at least so appearing since the last Yearly Meeting for then I seemed to be very much concerned and desirous not to be broken off and disjoynted from Friends but now it appeareth to him and others that it is a very indifferent thing with me to be disowned by Friends To this I replied That he did in that as in other things mis-represent the Case it is no matter of indifferency to me now but of great weight and moment both with respect to you and me first with respect to you if God should permit you to be so blinded as to disown me without any just cause on my part but simply my bearing my Faithful Testimony to the Doctrine of Christ and against the gross Errors of some among you this to me is no indifferent thing on your Account next as to me That is no matter of indifferency for if I be disowned by you for well doing as I shall be very sorry for you so I shall greatly rejoyce on my Account because of the Spiritual Advantage I hope to receive thereby relying on the Faithful Promise of Christ Matth. 5. 11 12. About this time there being a great Commotion in the Meeting by reason of my free and bold Speech which some are pleased to call Passion and Railing VVilliam Penn stood up desiring Friends to keep down to the Sense for by that they were to judg of this Disorderly Spirit or Person who had accused George Fox and other Antient Friends Writings and may be said he he may pick up some things here and there in them to Criticise upon After he had done I said to him William Penn Thou may be ashamed so falsely to Accuse me in the face of the Meeting I said nothing of George Fox nor had I him at present in my Remotest Thoughts I only mentioned some here present but George Fox is not here at least visibly present and for your pretending to Judg me by your sense without giving me any fair Tryal or bringing any New matter against me either in Doctrine or Practise to prove against me Face to Face by plain external Evidence in you so doing ye will make your selves Ridiculous in the face of the World we are here set as upon a Stage before God Angels and Men and if ye pass any Judgment against me by your pretended inward Sence ye will be sufficiently discovered what unjust men ye are And I say to thee William Penn it became thee not so to abuse me in an open Meeting at Ratcliffe calling me an Apostate and an open Adversary to Truth and Friends I am thy Elder Brother and was a Preacher among the Quakers before thou was a Quaker though thou and some others of latter years have lifted up the Heel against me William Penn replied Thou boastest of thy Antiquity which I should not do were I in thy case I Answered I boast not of my Antiquity but by thy own words and the words of G. W. Antient Brethren should be Regarded and not run down by others of latter years as thou and others seek to do though ye have nothing justly against me I intend not to let it pass thy publickly accusing me to be an Apostate but to put thee to make it good in the Face of the Nation that is his own Character not mine for I can prove him in the Apostacy from some of the chief Fundamentals of the Christian Doctrine VVilliam Penn Replied He would Answer me in the Face of the Nation So let this his promise be remembred the event I hope will prove it how badly he will acquit himself I told him he had sufficiently shown his prejudice against me and how unsit he was to be my Judg. Then he began to tell in great heat what he had born of me even more than what he might have born of Fifty Persons of my greatness But I contend not with him in Greatness but in the cause of Truth which is greater than all his Greatness not only Fifty Fold but Infinitely and how much he had Laboured to qualify Friends towards me in order to a Reconciliation and how he had Writ in my Favour to them in Pensilvania This last I acknowledged to be True but how real he was in his favour either then or since time has sufficiently discovered having Opposed me and Accused me in several Private Meetings as well as of late Publickly at
I never judged my self absolutely infallible but as my own former books have plainly declared I did judge both my self and all others now Living liable to mistakes and I far rather upon Divine Illumination and sound Conviction contradict my former books than persist in any known Error But 2dly Upon the most impartial search that I have made I find not any cause to correct either my Judgment or Books as touching any of the great Doctrines and Principles of the Christian Religion nor do I know that I am of another Faith in any One Principle of Christian Doctrine contrary to what I believed ever since I went under the Profession of a Quaker so called The Words and Passages generally if not universally that I find cause to correct not being so much relating to the Truth of Principles of Christian Doctrine as to some places of Scripture unduly applied to prove or defend things that were Truths but did not really prove these Truths either by express words or yet by any real and true and proper consequence or Relative to some other Lesser and more Circumstantial Matters But as to the Fundamental and otherwise great Articles of the Christian Faith I think my gracious God that I have been well preserved and have not found any thing in any of my former or latter books contradictory to any One Fundamental Doctrine of the Christian Faith and I wish I had not found too much just Cause to blame others for their great Errors in Fundamental Doctrines and had they been so humble as to have Corrected their own Errors I had not thus exposed them and if any shall judg it to be an Act of Prejudice or Malice in me thus to Expose them after due warning given in private to most of them and after they have thus publickly disowned me I have this comfort that they judg a miss of me and that nothing of Prejudice or Malice hath moved me to this undertaking but love to Truth and Men and next to the Honour of God the regard to my Christian Name and Reputation which these men have sought to slay and by so doing to expose me and my Family to outward want and necessity but I trust in God's Mercy their design will be disappointed and God will in due time clear me of that cloud of unjust Infamy they all seek to cover me with and that he will plead my righteous Cause for to him I do commit it But now to proceed to give the short List I promised All sincere Christians believe that by that bloody Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross through Faith in him they are cleansed from their sins and that by the Blood of Christ by which true Believers are said both to be Justified and Sanctified is to be understood the real and true Blood of Christ's Body that suffered on the Cross which George Whitehead calleth Visible and Material Blood and positively denieth that the Saints are cleansed by that Blood and giveth divers Reasons of his positive denial all which are most false and absurd First because that Blood is not in being giving for his Authority W. Burnet pag. 40. of his Book 2dly Because the Blood that came out of Christ's Side when peirced by the Spear was not shed by Christ the shedding of it was no Act of Christ but of a wicked Soldier and therefore not Efficacious or Meritorious for remission of Sin or cleansing from Sin 3. Because as the New Covenant is inward and Spiritual so is the Blood of the New Covenant but so was not that Material Blood and the material Blood of the Beasts that were Offered in Sacrifice under the Law was not a Type of that material Blood that was shed upon the Cross for that were to say one Type was a Type of another See G. VV. his Book called The Light and Life of Christ within in Answer to W. Burnet a Baptist Teacher And this Antichristian and wretched Doctrine he giveth out as the Quakers Principles withal telling the Quakers see no need of Directing men to 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 viz. at Jerusalem shed for Justification and that men must be directed to Jerusalem to it See his pag. 38. 39 59 60. Agreeable to this is that Doctrine published by W. Penn in his Part of the Christian Quaker p. 97. This Seed said he viz. the one Seed Christ as he calleth him there must be Inward and Spiritual since one outward thing cannot be the proper Figure or Representation of another nor is it the way of Holy Scripture so to teach w● the outward Lamb shows forth the inward Lamb the Jew outward the Jew inward If this be not as plain a denial of Christ to be any outward Being having any bodily Existance without us I know no English He goes on at a most Antichristian rate to prove that this Seed of the Woman that bruiseth the Serpent's Head was not Christ's Body or what he had from the Virgin strictly considered as such 2dly Saith he It is clear from hence the Serpent is a Spirit now nothing can bruise the Head of the Serpent but something that is also Internal and Spiritual as the Serpent is But if that Body of Christ were the Seed then could he not bruise the Serpents Head in all because the Body of Christ is not so much as in any one and consequently the Seed of the Promise is an Holy and Spiritual Principle of Light Life and Power that being received into the Heart bruiseth the Serpents Head and because the Seed which cannot be that body is Christ as testify the Scriptures the Seed is one and that Seed Christ and Christ God over all Blessed for ever we do conclude and that most truly that Christ was and is the Divine word of Light and Life that was in the beginning with God and was and is God over all blessed for ever But as it is readily granted by all true Christians that Christ is God so by Christ as he is called the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of Abraham in whom all Nations of the Earth are blessed is understood Christ not as he is God only or the word only for it is wonderful blindess or inconsiderateness to say God is the Seed of the Woman or the Seed of Abraham without any respect to the word becoming Flesh or taking Flesh But it is neither the Body of Christ strictly considered nor the Soul of Christ strictly considered without the Godhead nor the Godhead strictly considered without the Soul and Body of the Manhood of Christ that is the Seed of the Woman or Seed of Abraham but the Godhead and Manhood joyntly considered and most gloriously united And his third Argument
is as unchristian as the other two viz. because the Seed bruised in good measure the Serpents Head in the Holy Men and Women of all Generations before that outward appearance this is a Truth but the Consequence he draws from it is a notorious Falshood and a most Antichristian Doctrine viz. That therefore the Seed of the Woman and the promised Seed of Abraham figured by the Types and Figures of the Law as the Pascal Lamb c. was not any outward thing or person but an Holy and Spiritual Principle of light Life and Power and at this rate Christ was not a Lamb without nor a Man without but a Lamb within and Man within And though he pretendeth to overthrow his Adversaries Opinion viz. Some called Baptists and others yet he Fighteth against his shadow by limiting the question by the phrase strictly considered for I know no Baptist that ever said the Body strictly considered i. e. without the Soul of the Man Christ and without the Godhead is Christ or that promised Seed of Abraham and Seed of the Woman And though Christ did not become the Seed of the Woman according to the sense of that place of Scripture Gen. 3. until the fulness of time that he was made of a Woman yet seeing that Divine Power that inwardly did destroy the Power of Sin and Sathan in true Believers in him that was promised to come was the real Power of him that was to come and the gift of it was the real purchase of his most Holy and Perfect Obedience unto Death when he came it is truly said That he bruised the Serpents Head in all true believers in all Ages And thus having shewed the Antichristian Doctrine of these 2 great Champions that have appeared against me to give out this Nameless Bull of Excommunication in some Particulars that are Fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith I shall in short present to the Reader 's View the Antichristian Doctrine of the Third Champion John Whitehead not only contradicting the plain Doctrine of the Holy Scripture in a Fundamental Article of Faith but also contradicting his Brother William Penn for William Penn saith the Body of Christ is not so much as in any One but John Whitehead saith indeed That Christ hath a Body or is in a Body suitable to his Spirit consisting of heavenly flesh and bone and doth not deny that Christ has any Body now beside his Church but he confesseth he hath several times denied that Christ hath now a body of flesh and bones circumscript or limited in that Heaven which is above and out of every man on Earth See pag. 40 41. of that book called The Quakers Refuge the Postscript of which is here cited And he saith plainly Wheresoever the Spirit and Life of Christ is that is in the body of Christ and thus as he owneth that Christ has a body that is not the Church yet he owneth no other body beside his Church that is circumscript and out of every man on Earth And yet not only W. P. saith The body of Christ is not so much as in any One a plain contradiction to John Whitehead But George Whitehead in his Printed Postscript in answer to W. H. queries in the book called The Malice of the Independent Agent Rebuked saith concerning the flesh of Christ that was raised from the Dead it is so far circumscribed or incompassed in the Heavens as it 's capable of and as is proper to it and though it be spiritual and glorious yet a body and therefore not in every place where God is To be Omnipresent is only proper to God and not to bodies See how like Sampson's Foxes though tied by the Tail their Faces look contrary Again In the Collection of Stephen Crisp's Treatises commended and signed by George VVhitehead John Whitehead Francis Camfield John Vaughton VV. Bingley John Field my chief opposers and adversaries and others ye have these following gross and absurd passages most offensive to Christian Ears concerning Christ's Generation in time and expiation of sin by his Blood In his Treatise called The Backslider Reproved being a Reply to one Robert Cobbet he blameth the said R. C. for affirming pag. 194. that to be the Seed of Promise which came by Generation of and from the Properties of Mary He further adds Is not that the Seed of Promise mentioned in Isaiah 9. 6. who is called the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace And what is Mary the Mother of God this will please the Papists well and where is thy Scripture to prove that Jesus the Saviour was Created And pag. 197. he saith But indeed we never believed him to be produced by Coagulation as R. C. doth nor by the Generation of and from the Properties of Man in Mary for then some might have declared his Generation which the Scripture saith who can do Obs 1. It is denied here by S. C. That that was the Seed of Promise which came by Generation c. This is plain contrary to Matt. 1. 1. The Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ the Son of David the Son of Abraham 2. As it is Evident from Scripture so it is the consent of all sound Christians That Christ was the Son of God by an eternal Generation before the World began and the Son of Abraham and David by Generation in the fulness of time and though this Generation was Miraculous yet it was of and from Mary therefore he is said to be made of a Woman 3. His denying that Jesus the Saviour was Created or calling for Scripture to prove it doth sufficiently prove that he understands Christ only to be God and wholly excludes the Manhood of Christ from being Christ or any part of him 4. That Prophecy in Isaiah 9. 6. Unto us a Child is Born c. which is a plain Prophecy concerning Christ's Birth in the fulness of time he plainly denieth it to be understood of Christ as he was born of Mary 5. I believe with all sound Christians against Jews and all Infidels that he who was born of Mary is that Child or Son given who is both God and Man and yet one Lord Jesus Christ and though none can fully and in all respects declare either the Generation of Christ before the time of this World was or his Generation in the fulness of time yet in some degree and respect it hath been declared both by the Prophets and Evangelists and Apostles but none ought to declare it but Holy Men to whom it hath been in some measure Revealed 6. I find that not only S. C. but G. W. quarrels with that Expression calling Mary the Mother of God as if it were Popery But are they wiser than the Holy Ghost who giveth these Names to the Child that was to be born according to Isaiah's Prophecy wonderful Counseller the mighty God c. Again in the same Treatise pap 192. concerning the Blood of Christ's Humanity he saith And then again