Scripture was writ And yet did they not receive the Holy Ghost Could not that Law that Command that Word make Perfect Had Men Faith in Christ and could not that Faith save in their Days Monstrum horrendum Page 105. He tells us that Moses falls a declaring concerning the New Covenant Deut. 30. from ver 11 to 16. the Probation whereof he gives in the next Page both from Jer. 31. 32. and Rom. 10. 5 6 7 8 9. And in p. 107. thus hath it The Jews and People of Israel who lived in Moses's Time and were SAVED it was through Faith in this Word in this Prophet raised up in them in their Hearts not at a distance but nigh the Word is nigh in thy Heart And this is Christ in them the Hope of Glory the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations but was EVER made manifest in his Saints but in the latter Days more clearly c. p. 107 108. Query Had Men Faith in Christ the Word Was the Mystery ever made manifest in the Saints and yet was the Law within in sufficient to make perfect till since Christ was offered up in the outward Having transcribed many verses in 119 Psalm concerning the Word he queries p. 109. What Word this is whether the Letter of the Scripture oâ— that Word of Faith Paul and Moses long before spoke of and its effects upon David he tells us anon saying This quickned him this strengthned him this comforted him this taught him and made him wiser than his Teachers This was as Oyl unto him a Lamp unto his Feet and a Light to his Paths in this his Steps were ordered verse 133. in this he worshipped he prayed he sung Psalms and all his Springs were in this p. 111 112. But I query if the Law within made nothing perfect until the one Offering was revealed how came David by his Quicknings Strength Comfort Instruction Wisdom Light fresh Springs c For now we are got a step beyond proving that the Gentiles were savingly enlightned and by occasion administred from G. Keith driven to evince out of his former Writings that the Patriarchs before Christ was born and suffered had such a Law within them as did make them perfect Are these the Fruits of an imperfect Law to quicken strengthen c. or will he who once contended that many were saved and attained unto perfect Peace and Reconciliation with God in their Souls now deny it to David a Jew both inward and outward as he must do if the Law could not make perfect How is he confounded how engaged in what is and will be too hard for him Solomon comes next From what he â—â—ys of Wisdom's crying at the Gates in every City G. Keith queries Is not her crying c. the same with Jesus Christ his standing at the Door c. p. 113. And I query Whether to them that opened unto him even during that Administration he did not come in and Sup with them for G. Keith immediately quotes Rev. 3. 20. to adapt it to Solomons saying 2dly Whether such had the Holy Ghost And 3dly Whether the Law within such made them perfect in that Age G. Keith goes on thus The Gospel was Preached unto Abraham Abel Enoch Noah and to ALL BELIEVERS who lived before Scripture was writ in a Book and it was spoken into their Hearts by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and the Saints who then lived and were inspired of God preached the Gospel and the Gospel is the same in all Generations for it is the Everlasting Gospel Rev. 4. 6. But now the Declarations Discoveries and Manifestations of this one Gospel have been many and different under the Law more darkly in the Time of the Prophets more manifestly in the Time of the Apostles Yet more manifestly and yet all ONE GOSPEL and we preach no other but the same Everlasting Gospel which is the Power of God unto Salvation Rom. 1. 16. See p. 213. Now hence I query Whether the Gospel Preached unto Abraham Abel Enoch Noah c Were the Law within Abraham c And whether it made them perfect 2dly Whether these Believers who lived before Scripture was writ in a Book who had that inspeaking into their Hearts by the Spirit of Jesus Christ partook of the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Holiness of Adoption or Sonship or of the Spirit of Fear and Bondage only Were they Sons of Hagar or Sarah Of First or Second Covenant 3dly Whether those inspired Men who preached the Gospel which he allows to be the same in all Generations had ALL OF THEM the Doctrinal Knowledge and Faith of Christ Crucified and preached it to others And this I the rather urge for as much as Truth Advanced p. 42. he denies that Paul means the Gospel is the Power of God simply and abstractly considered without all Doctrine and doctrinal Knowledge and Faith of Christ Crucified All Saints have the same Spirit and Word of Prophecy in some measure more or less that the Prophets had who ever directed People to the same Spirit and Word in their Hearts from which they spake that they might in themselves hear the same Word and Spirit whereby the true Faith comes p. 221. Is this Spirit and Word saving Is it perfecting in all Ages Can a Man hear it and obey it and yet be without the Holy Ghost But hear him again This second Adam is called the quickning Spirit by whose quickning Vertue the Souls of ALL the Holy Men and Women were made and kept alive unto God as truly before he came in the Flesh as after for they did all eat the same spiritual Meat c. Which was Christ yea they did eat his Flesh and drink his Blood as TRULY REALLY in measure BEFORE he came in that Body of Flesh as the Saints have done since p. 227. To the same purpose he expresseth himself in p. 258. and in Way cast up p. 95. and in Rector Corrected p. 95. This shews what he once thought of the Holy Men and Womens Condition in those first Ages of the World who then only placed the difference in Degree not in Kind now will not allow more then Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness where Faith in Christ crucified is not revealed as well as that he concludes all before Christ was visibly offered under such an inward Law as made not perfect How he will reconcile such a State to that of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood let him look to In the mean while as he queries Truth Advanced p. 184. in his query 10. Can any Eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood who have not the Faith of him as he GAVE his Body of Flesh to be broken and his Blood to be shed for us So I query Could any do thus before it was given or broken Or had all those Holy Men and Women he spoke of even now so much as the Faith or Knowledge that it should be broken Having offered what Citations I at present
this Seed is This Seed and the Birth thereof by the Springing up of these Heavenly Powers and Vertues can and doth truly represent the Divine Power and Godhead being the express Image of God Ibid. Will he upon second thoughts divide the Holy Ghost from the Godhead as he must do if Men be allowed to have the one not the other That the Seed which truly represents the Divine Power and Godhead should spring up in Men and they without the Holy Ghost in the mean while Again By Vertue of what Covenant had the Gentiles this Priviledge Of that which made not the comers thereunto perfect Or of that whereby Grace and Truth came And what was the Effect of this Visitation to the Gentiles before Christs Incarnation where embraced would it bring them no further than the first Covenant to be Sons of Hagar c. Not to the filial Fear Love and other Virtues suitable to the Child of the New Covenant or free Woman Which he of late Appropriates to Believers in Christ Crucified c. Sarah said of old The Son of this Bondwoman shall not be Heir with my Son with Isaac Gen. 21. 10. And Abraham is commanded to hearken to her Voice ver 12. but G. Keith seems to think they may in some Revolution or other though they dyed Sons of Hagar To an Objection How can the Gentiles be either rewarded or punished seeing they have had no Law given them he saith The Apostle Answers that they had the Law inwardly though not as the Jews had it in an outward Administration and according to this Law they should be Judged and Accused or Excused according to their evil or well doing they had that inwardly made manifest in them which God had shemed unto them whereby they were condemned who did Evil and justified who did Well p. 28. And a little lower It is Evident that this Inward Principle was the very Principle of the Gospel in them in that Paul saith that God will render to every Man according to his Deeds in the Day when God shall Judge the secrets of Men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel i. e. the Gospel which he Preached Now if the Gentiles shall be judged according to the Gospel then the Gospel behoved in some measure to be manifest unto them for no Man shall be judged according to that which is not made manifest p. 28 29. Query Was this Gospel made manifest with or without the Holy Ghost Did it make perfect Is the Law within another or diffinct thing from the Gospel For he is very nice in his Distinctions yet all will not do his Contradictions are so thick and palpable Moreover the Apostle proceedeth to shew how the Gentile who followed not after Righteousness had attained to Righteousness even that of FAITH and yet the Jews missed of it p. 36. Is the Righteousness of Faith saving In p. 25. He desires the Reader to observe that the Grace held forth both in this place and all others aforesaid is the very Grace that is Evangelical being the Word of Faith and the Light which is to be believed in And what is Evangelical is perfecting I hope For I read not that the Gospel was weak though the Law was My Spirit shall not always strive WITH Man he renders IN Man calling it The very Salutiferous Spirit of God himself which created Man and ALONE hath Power to save or destroy him p. 52. and p. 53. It may still be understood saith he of that inward striving of the Spirit of God by which God did strive with them to CONVERT them that they might not be destroyed but saved Now let me ask him What Spirit is this Salutiferous Spirit This Spirit that brings Salvation Is it the Holy Ghost or not For Christ was not yet offered up in the outward Were those Ante-Diluvian Times without the Holy Ghost who obeyed that Salutiferous Spirit which strove with them Or were the Converts of those Days under no Law inward or outward that made perfect What converted them then Or what were they converted to G. Keith having set down the Opinion of the Arminians and Papists goes on thus We in Opposition to these Opinionists do aver this Universal Grace to be that very Evangelical Gospel and Saving Grace and not another through which it being closed with in Faith and Love Salvation is obtained p. 94. This he saith of the Grace but of the Law within both in Jew and Gentile he of late said it made nothing Perfect until the Faith of Christ come to be revealed c. Are they two That predicable of the one which is not of the other In his Looking Glass for Protestants Printed Anno 1674. wherein he Labours to shew the Quakers are the truest Protestants he compares W. Tindals Faith with ours in several respects His Fourthly is thus His Faith was that the Heathen once had the Spirit of God and that Pharaoh before his Heart was hardned had the Spirit of Grace and this is OUR FAITH saith G. Keith p. 28. Query Whether it be his Faith now Who must either distinguish between the Spirit of God the Spirit of Grace and the Holy Spirit and so make them two which are but one or else retract his saying the Gentiles had not the Holy Ghost who believed not in Christ crucified and raised again Now I come to his Book of Immediate Revelation c. Printed Anno 1668. and Reprinted with an Appendix Anno 1676. which tells us The Light reveals the whole Will of God he needs not go forth to seek a Law without him the Word is near in his Heart and in his Mouth and this is the Word of Faith to which Moses pointed the Jews and Paul the Romans p. 77. It seems then it was one and the same Word of Faith which Moses who was before Christ came in the outward and Paul who was after his Ascension pointed to the Work the same viz. it revealed the WHOLE Will of God And surely what reveals the whole Will of God doth it not enable to perform it according to Phil. 2. 13. and is not that Saving and Perfecting But he Queries What was this FOUNDATION of the Church of God before ever the Scripture was writ before Moses and the Prophets c Was it not Jesus Christ the Word which was in the Beginning Had it ANY OTHER Foundation And what gave them the Knowledge of this Foundation and builded them upon it when they had no Scripture And whereupon was their Faith founded By the hearing of what Word did they come by their Faith seeing then the Scripture was not writ It was even saith G. Keith the Word which came from God himself and taught them immediately p. 103. I may now Query Had the Church then a Foundation Were they built upon it even in Moses and the Prophets Days And was that Foundation Jesus Christ the Word And did they by hearing it come by Faith in Christ before the
proposed out of this Book the next that comes in course is The Way Cast up Printed Anno 1677. He there saith Paul takes notice of some among the Gentiles in the time of Heathenism who were a law unto themselves and did by Nature to wit the Divine Nature of the Word Ingrafted in them James 1. or by their own Nature restored and repaired by the Grace of God as Augustin Expounded that place the things contained in the Law And such was Socrates among the Grecians whom Justin Martyr in one of his Apologies did expresly call a Christian and classeth him with Abraham c. p. 44 45. Several things are Remarkable here one that in the time of Heathenism some Gentiles partook of the Divine Nature which hath been oft touched upon already 2dly That their Nature was repaired and restored by the Grace of God Qu. Was that Grace insufficient or imperfect Can Nature be restored or repaired by that which makes not perfect By any thing less than God's Holy Spirit 3dly That Justin Martyr classed such an one with Abraham and calls him a Christian 4thly That here he boggleth not at the appellation in this Book Printed Anno. 1677. Though he doth afterwards Anno. 1694. Saying in Truth Advanced p. 46. If they were real Christians they had some Knowledge and Faith of Christ the Messiah as he was to come in the Flesh But now the Man being altered no wonder that his Expressions vary If the Saints before Christ came outwardly in the Flesh had not Eat of the Flesh of Christ and Drank of his Blood they could not have had Life by him but they had Life by him and therefore c. p. 95. Christ hath Lived in all Saints as well before he came in the Flesh as to his outward Birth as since p. 100. Did he Live in them and did they Feed on him even before his outward Birth and yet the Law within Jew and Gentile not make perfect till after it Though the outward coming of the Man Christ was deferred according to his outward Birth in the Flesh for many Ages yet from the BEGINNING this Heavenly Man the promised Seed did inwardly come into the Hearts of those that believed in him and Bruised the Head of the Serpent and destroyed him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil the Stronger Man entering the House and dispossessing the strong Man and Casting him out p. 99. When the Head of the Serpent is bruised the Power of Death the last Enemy destroyed the Devil Dispossessed and cast out and the stronger enters Hath not the perfect Law the Law which doth make perfect taken place Again Thus the Word was made Flesh even from the beginning and dwelt in us as in ALL AGES and they beheld his Glory c. p. 103. Is this Indwelling where the Glory is beheld without the Holy Ghost or unable to perfect the Work Now I come to his Book Stiled Way to the City of God Printed Anno. 1678. where he saith Even at Mans Fall the Seed of the Woman was given not ONLY to Bruise the Serpents Head but also to be a Lamb or Sacrifice to attone and pacify the Wrath of God towards Man p. 125. Is this Bruising the Serpents Head attonement c. Witnessed where the Holy Ghost is not received Is not this State a Gospel State beyond Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness And where these Effects are wrought doth not the Seed of the Woman make perfect He tells us We are not too nicely to make a difference betwixt the Influence and effects of his outward and inward Sufferings but to understand them in a perfect Conjunction and that the End of his Sufferings in both was this viz. 1. Both to quench and allay the Wrath of God 2. to purify and Cure Men c. p. 139. Had G. Keith taken the Counsel he then gave he would not have so depretiated the Law within nor denied the receiving the Holy Ghost to the Conscientious Heathen to whom the outward was not revealed as he hath done of late His Book called Rector Corrected Printed Anno. 1680. Comes next There he denies not but that some rare and singular Gifts of the Spirit have been given unto some of these called Heathen some whereof have Prophesied of Christ and others uttered some Divine Sayings that could proceed from no other Principle but the same Divine Spirit that was in the Christians p. 50. Qu. Is this Divine Spirit the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Holiness which these had while to Cornelius he allows only a great Measure of Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness had these a Law within them that made perfect which of late he will not admit to Jew or Gentile until Christ the one Offering was Revealed For it seems they had the same Spirit the Christians had How should this be if the Holy Spirit was Peculiar to the latter Days to them who believed in Christ Crucified c. For that not being done the benefits Annexed and Apropriated thereto could not be received Again that these generally had so much as a belief that the Messiah should come and suffer and rise again is what will stick hard upon him to prove if he dare assert it especially considering that the Disciples who conversed with Jesus were even after his Resurrection so far from believing it either Explicitely or Implicitely a late phrase of his that they disbelieved it and it seemed to them as idle Tales Lu. 24. 11. Yet if that were granted that all these had this belief of the Messiah that he should come c. Yet if he will believe himself which he hath small cause to do Considering his windings and twistings of late they could not have that holy Spirit which the Christians had that Holy Spirit being as he saith peculiar to believers in Christ Crucified not in Christ to be Crucified In the same Page he quotes a saying of Seneca thus There is a Holy Spirit in us that Teacheth us as we Treat him So here 's a Heathen hath outstript G. Keith by confessing to more than a great Measure of Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness even to the Holy Spirit in the Gentiles And that G. Keith may find to his Sorrow one Day Again God gave his Holy Spirit to instruct them and the Spirit in the Jews made them to believe in Christ as well before he was Born in the Flesh as since and therefore he is called the Spirit of Faith as being the Author of it in all them that believe p. 150. Is this Consonant to his saying Truth Advanced p. 70. Nor is it any where to be found that any received that Holy Ghost which Christ promised particularly to the Believers in him but such only who believed in him even Christ Crucified and Raised again Will he distinguish between Gods Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost or make two Holy Ghosts He queries Was not the Spirit of Christ in Moses And Christ the Lord
Books lye upon him unanswered to which he gave grounds to expect an Answer he saith First Some of their own Church have sufficiently answered to shew the badness of their Cause in that censure they gave against T. Ellwood c. If this were true that some had done so for they are nameless and at most give but their own Censure and that but to a Passage or two have they answered the Book in Print Or if they had would that excuse G. Keith How willing is he to shift when pinched and to lay hold of any Twig like a drowning Mâ—n a Comparison he once used to evade making good his Charge But he hath a Secondly viz. that he hath offered to Answer them Viva voce at a Meeting alledging there is no end of answering them in Print that few will be at the Pains to compare Book with Book and that the Charge is too great for him But why did he begin then with Printing and not rather have exhibited his Charge at first Vivâ voce if he esteemed that the best Method of Debate But to do it now when he hath drawn us into the Press and to expect we should do so too is preposterous Nay why doth he now answer me in Print seeing so few will be at the pains of comparing Book with Book c. as he alledgeth and that he so lately proposed a Vivâ voce vindicating himself against me in his winged ADVERTISEMENT tagg'd to the Tail of Pegasus but that he is so hampered with a bad cause that he knows not which way to turn My Quotations in the Book he now pretends to Answer were 1. His vindicating our Principles from our common Adversaries 2. His Contradictions in several Doctrinal Parts To the first he Answers Such as I did think were their Principles I did formerly vindicate Nay this will not shelter him it was such as he KNEW to be so and that from twenty eight Years Converse both Publick and Private with the most Noted and Esteemed among them in many Places of the World in Europe and America as he told C. Mather and I cited him Serious Appeal p. 7. And among the rest were some of those very Books of G. Whitehead and W. Penn out of which he hath since pickt Quarrels brought in his Book of The Christian Faith c. â—s Sound and Orthodox and to convince our Opposers that it is and hath been our constant and firm belief to expect Salvation by the Man Christ Jesus that was outwardly Crucified at Jerusalem as in Title Page and p. 16. So that he now freely acknowledging p. 22. of this Book his shortness and mistake with respect to the Principles of the Teachers among the Quakers universally and the Principles of G. Whitehead and W. Penn as it is to introduce a slander so iâ— of no weight The like he had said Exact Narrative p. 61. and would have me to takâ— that for an answer to my Book called An Apostate Exposed but I shall not so excuse him but put him upon answering the Book If thaâ— alone might have served why did he not pâ—â— me off so here and give me no further answer to this Book of mine I am now defending against his Remarks Nor was I most uncharitable to him in alledging as I did in my Last p. 10. and he in part Cites here that he manifested great hardness who had so large so long so near and intimate Converse among Friends now all of a sudden to give the lye tâ— all this and deduce some of his pretended Probations out of the Books he had so newly commended and recommended For that is a trâ—â— State of the Case He goes on in said p. 22. maiming a Quotation of mine out of him and then insulting over me I had it thus Seeing this true Faith is wrought in Gods ordinary way by Preaching therefore the true Faith of Christ Death and Sufferings ought to be one of thâ— first and chiefest Things that every true Minister ought to Preach there he stops with an c. but had he quoted the rest his Cavil had been out of Doors which was thus and build up his Hearers in in order to bring them to Communion with God and Christ in Spirit and that they may witness God and Christ to dwell in them Upon this he vaunts saying It is my Lot to have to do with Men that have neither so much true Logick nor common Sense as to understand what a true Contradiction is then descanting upon the Words ONE OF THE FIRST he adds a little lower It is no Contradiction to say G. Whitehead was one of the first Quakers G. Fox was the first Quaker Well I hope before I have done with him further to manifest as little as I pretend to Logick that he hath really contradicted himself and that not so much from the Words he so plaies upon as upon what follow viz. and build up his Hearers in Order to bring them into Communion with God and Christ and that they may witness God and Christ to dwell in them If this be true that the Faith of Christs Death and Sufferings is that which brings into Communion with God c. the building up therein that whereby they witness God and Christ to dwell in them then to be preached before the inward but if it be true that the Knowledge of Christs inward coming is the more needful and in the first Place as being that by which the true and comfortable use of his outward coming is alone sufficiently understood as he asserted Way to the City of God p. 3. and I cited him in my p. 12. Then the Inward to be Preached before the Outward And this is a Contradiction But for the better understanding of the Case the Distinction betwixt General Religion and Christian Religion he saith is to be considered which Distinction I have used adds he in my Book called Divine Immediate Revelation and Inspiration c. Answ I am beholden to him for this Reference out of a Book I had not read before for it not only helpeth me to fresh Passages in General but even here it makes for me not for him For in p. 45. he saith The Scriptures do witness abundantly concerning such an experimental and spiritually sensible Knowledge of God which is perceived in a most inward Union and Communion of the Soul with God and in a certain intellectual and spiritual Contact or Touch of which not only Plato and Plotin and others among those called Philosophers but the Apostles among the Christians have largely made mention Hence I query What Religion theirs was that of Plato Plotin and the Heathen Philosophers General Religion or the Christian Religion Again what the most inward Union of their Souls with God that spiritual Contact or Touch that spiritual sensible Knowledge of God he allows them to have witnessed was it with or without the Holy Ghost seeing as yet Jesus was not so much as born in the Outward In p. 23. He saith It most evidently appears from the express Words of my Book of
Keith against Keith OR SOME MORE OF George Keith's Contradictions and Absurdities Collected out of his own Books not yet Retracted upon a Review TOGETHER WITH A REPLY TO George Keith's Late Book Entituled The Antichrists and Sadduces detected among a sort of Quakers c. By JOHN PENINGTON A Double-minded Man is unstable in all his Ways James 1. 8. They that observe lying Vanities forsake their own Mercy Jonah 2. 8. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Meeting-House in White-Hart Court in Gracious-Street 1696. ERRATA PAge 4. line 7. f. as r. or p. 14. l. 27. r. Evangeliâ—â—â— p. 21. l. 30. f. the r. that p. 22. l. 32. r. those p. 24. l. 28. r. Propose p. 28. l. 27. f. teacheth r. treateth p. 29. l. 18. f. the r. that l. 25. r. never l. 29. r. p 70. p. 31. l. 30. r. and honest p. 32. l. 17. r. outwardly p. 33. l. 1. r. promise p. 34. l. 1. f. they r. that p. 40. l. 4. after that delâ— which p. 41. l. 15. f. and r. to l. 29. f. outward r. outer p. 59. l. 21. r. hearers in in order p. 61. l. 2. f. as r. or p. 64. l. 7. r. Penington's l. 17. f where r. whence p. 65. l. 21. f. on r. in p. 66. l. 24. f. these r. those p. 77. l. 13. r. Rector's p. 80. l. 14. r. believed l. 20. f. on r. in p. 81. l. 3. r. who and goes on p. 89. l. 3. r. hold p. 101. l. 4. f. 127. r. 117. p. 106. l. 1. r. as well as p. 112. l. 27. f. would r. could p. 120. l. 27. r. asketh if that p 123. l. 10. f. the r. â— at p. 131. l. 31. r chargeth p. 139. l. 24. r. this which he calls p. 145. l. 4. f. an r. and l. 9. r. Popery p. 146. l. 22. for ad hucr adhuc l. 33. r. vorten KEITH against KEITH OR Some more of George Keith's Contradictions and Absurdities ALthough G. Keith blame us in his Advertisement p. 3. for heaping Book upon Book against him to which himself gave the Provocation alledging want of Time and Ability of outward Estate of whose Sincerity therein the Reader may judge by his cutting out new Work of late in his twelve Penny Narrative yet he continuing to abuse us in Print 't is fit we should there also vindicate our Holy Profession from his unjust Defamations And having to do with an unstable Adversary I had collected and digested a List of some more of his Contradictions and Absurdities upon a review which I now make introductory to the Reply wherein if I exceed my wonted Brevity know the variety of Subjects occasioned it These I shall divide into two Heads making his own Assertion in Way to City of God Printed Anno 1678. The Title of the First his Absurdities and Contradictions promiscuously Collected out of his Book called Truth Advanced Printed Anno 1694. the Second And then enter upon defending my Self and Friends from his late false Charges in his late Book stiled The Antichrists and Sadduces detected among a sort of Quakers c. 1. That through the coming of Jesus Christ in the inward even before he was unwardly come as manifest many were saved and attained unto perfect Peace and Reconciliation with God in their Souls Way to City of God p. 125. And the Method I shall take here shall be first to set down what I find in his later Books and then confront him out of his former and that the rather for that in his Serious Appeal Printed Anno 1692. p. 21. he saith Let but the Reader see my own Words in my Printed Books and well consider them and if he have but a little sound Judgment he will easily find I have not contradicted my self in ANY THING Upon this Issue I am willing to leave it with the Considerate and Judicious though perhaps G. Keith will allow none to be such but who say as he saith and begin with the Christian Faith c. Vindicated c. Printed Anno 1692. where he with others thus deliver themselves Though we do affirm that all conscientious and honest Gentiles such as Cornelius was before the Faith of Christ was preached to him have some measure of Light from Christ to enlighten them and are under some Administration of the Spirit yet it is but the first Ministration until the Knowledge and Faith of Christ as he died for our Sins and rose again c. be spiritually received And such who have the true and saving Knowledge and Faith of Christ as he dyed and rose again without them are ONLY Christians and Sons of God of the free Woman having receiving the Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry Abba Father But who have not this Faith of Christ crucified and raised again outwardly spiritually receiv'd and wrought in them by the Spirit of Christ Whether they have or have not heard Christ outwardly Preached unto them are at BEST however Just and Conscientious to the just Principle of God in them not under the second and more peculiar Ministration of God's Spirit that makes Men worthy to be esteemed Christians but are only under the first and such are held under the Custody or Safeguard of the Law shut up unto the Faith that is afterwards to be revealed as Paul declared Gal. 3. 23. And the State they are in under this first Ministration is to them as the City of Refuge was to the Man slayer under the Law Christian Faith p. 6 7. This Notion of the City of Refuge c. I having met with in other Books of his and touched upon in mine Entituled People called Quakers cleared c. as smelling of the Doctrine of the Revolution of humane Souls though G. Keith doth not care to hear of it and contrary to the Scriptures particularly Eccles 11. 3. and Heb. 9. 27. I refer to what hath been said there p. 33. and go on In his Book without date called Truth and Innocency Defended he saith None are justified by Christ but through Faith in him as he dyed for them and rose again c. For he that believeth not is condemned already and therefore the Ministration of the Law whether outwardly writ on Tables of Stone or inwardly writ on Stony Hearts is the Ministration of Condemnation preparing for Christ and leading unto Christ and such who are under the Law let them be ever so obedient just and conscientious because they have sinned and are not perfect are held under it shut up as in a Custody or Safeguard as the Manslayer in the City of Refuge and are not perfectly justified but are under Fear their Thoughts Accusing and Excusing for though they are excused or accused or to say justified in some good things done by them yet that can be no perfect Justification because their State is imperfect p. 19 20. By his Obedience unto Death and precious Blood he hath procured and purchased for us that in ward Principle of
related to his being Preached as Crucified to the Jews so the MORE GENERALLY as a Light to the Gentiles was also restricted to the so Preaching him yet with this addition that G. Keith then allowed it yet further that it was more generally Preached to both Jew and Gentile A Contradiction had been more excusable than such a deceitful Cover His Secondly cites no Page of mine in particular but hath a general reference from p. 15. to 33. which gives him scope to skip as he pleaseth They perversly infer saith he from my words that whereas I formerly made the knowledge and Faith of the History of Christs outward coming not Essential to Religion now I did make it Essential This he accounts Palpable Forgery denies any of the citations I bring prove it and at last recurs to his late distinction of implicit Knowledge and Faith But this is a meer begging of the question that who were saved by the inward had ALL of them the implicit Faith and Knowledge of the outward not brought till of late whatever he pretend of his understanding it so all a long and is impugned by me p. 14 15. particularly from Luke 24. 10 11. From whence I again argue That the Disciples themselves were so far from having an implicit Faith in Christ that he should Dye and rise again that they disbelieved it It seemed to them as idle Tales and they believed them not and that even after he had sent them out two and two and the Devils had been subject to them Chap. 10. ver 1 and 17. If the Reader be disposed to cast an Eye back to my p. 15 to p. 33. he will yet more evidently see I have not wronged him and perhaps be convinced wherefore G. Keith dropped them To his Thirdly Wherein he repeats his Notion concerning Cornelius not having the Holy Ghost in his Gentile-State c. as it hath been largely treated of in this very Tract under my first Head I referr thereto Yet he persisting p. 29. to deny the Holy Ghost is in Wicked Men or the pious Gentiles and that none have it but Believers in Christ crucified and yet acknowledging the Word near to be Christ an Administration of the Gospel to be given in all Ages of the World the Spirit the same the Rule the same the Faith the same see Universal Grace p. 8. Immediate Revelation p. 107 108. Truths Defence p. 70. forecited shews he would divide Christ from his Spirit and is contradictory A further instance whereof take out of his Book of Divine Immediate Revelation p. 63. where he saith Cornelius received the Spirit immediately and yet obtained it FURTHER by means of Peter's Preaching Whereas now he denieth he had the Holy Ghost in his Gentile-State But it is become habitual to him since he turned from Truth to contradict himself and his former Writings To my Question Whether any Prayer is heard by God but what is put up by his Spirit He Answers Nay but Servants and Pious Gentiles such as Cornelius was in his Gentile-State may be and are helped to Pray by the Spirit having the influence of the first Ministration of the Spirit which though remotely Preparatory yet doth not instate the Soul into Union with the Spirit c. Whence had he this Or how doth he prove that Mens Souls are not in Union with the Spirit when helped to pray by the Spirit Surely as there are Degrees of Ministration so there are Degrees of Union and Degrees of Acceptance Diversities of Gifts but the SAME Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 4. But he goes on And were not my Adversaries extream blind and ignorant they might understand how the Apostle calleth one and the same Spirit the Spirit of Servitude and the Spirit of Adoption Rom 8. 15. Doth he bring this for or against himself If the Spirit in the Son and the Servant be one and the same Spirit it must be the Holy Spirit It is Everlastingly Holy in its self Holy in every Operation and Ministration in Man but in Degree the Administrations differ the Law must be passed under before the Sonship is known it is the Spirit of Holiness in every step so denominated from its Effects though the Sonship is not the first step He goes on These Mens arguing that Men may be Eternally Saved c. who have no Faith or Knowledge of Christ without them do sufficiently declare what Heathens they are and of what little value they make the Faith and Knowledge of Christ Crucified and that their Religion is nothing but Deism c. Answ We do not believe that that Faith is not necessary to Salvation to us to whom the means of knowing it is offered but the contrary But that where it is not revealed it is not of Necessity unto Salvation G. Keith hath granted There it is more than Deism yea Christianity for believing in the Light they do believe in Christ See Universal Grace p. 117. and p. 30. In his Fourthly he cites a Passage of mine imperfectly out of Rector Corrected p. 150. and then makes his flourish To a Question of the Rector of Arrow whether the Light within sufficiently tells us that the Messiah is come born had real Flesh dyed c. G. Keith Answers that it doth teach That there is a God that created all things that he is most Holy Just and Wise a plentiful Rewarder of them that fear him c. and that these are AS NECESSARY Truths as any c. See my p. 22. Upon this I argued and G. Keith hath dropt both Quotation and Argument If the Holy Ghost be given ONLY to the one Faith not to the other surely that one Faith must needs be the most necessary Faith Now to the other part that many who never had the Scriptures yet if faithful to the Light whether they have not been accepted have not believed in the Light by believing in Christ who is the Light he queries But where is my Contradiction here Answ Even in what I have cited above and he hath craftily left out He goes on Did I ever say That Men may believe in the Light or Christ within and never at any Time from first to last believe in Christ without either explicitely or implicitely For this they bring no Proof and I believe they cannot saith he Answ It was not the Rectors Question Whether they that dyed without it and had it not at first should have it at last in some other Revolution Perhaps neither of them dreamt of that Distinction when the Book was wrote Nor whether they should have it explicitely or implicitely but whether the Light doth sufficiently tell it He should in his Answer have made that Distinction if he would have it allowed him now but instead of that to an indefinite Question he gives an indefinite Answer asserting there are Truths as necessary that it doth teach and that they that believe in the Light believe these necessary Truths thus revealed believe in Christ and are
little ventilation that the foregoing is only a Query he will let it pass for a position and adds 1. The Scriptures are not that Living and Essential Word c. But that they may be called the Word as a Map of America is called America I never denied saith he The more unsound man he the mean while say I especially he having confessed they are no more so then Bread and Wine are the Body and Blood of Christ Therefore what he would turn upon us viz. That if we deny this to be a Truth we must hold with the Papists rebounds upon himself 2. That though there is but one Spiritual Baptism yet that the outward Baptism with Water is also called Baptism is also true for John's Baptism with Water is called in Scripture the Baptism of John saith he Answer And so there were divers Washings oâ— Baptisms and the Doctrine of Baptisms in those Daies see Heb. 9 10. and 6. 2. Although the Christians had but one which himself once acknowledged to J. A. of Leith when he told him We do not say as the Papists that there were two Baptisms with Water one of John another of Christ Truths Defence p. 124. But not it seems he can both say it with the Papists and defend it so uncertain a man is he Expostulating with him I added Here this Rabbi who once boasted that he hath the gifts both of sound knowledge and Expressions with manifold other Mercies bestowed upon him hath foiled himself sorely At this he excepts first against the word Rabbi alledging it is in a Scoffing Spirit and that it is the known way of the Quakers not to call a Man Master Answer I used it as the Characteristick of what he covets to be to wit a Sect Master and as such it suits him His next Cavil p. 37. against the Word foiled himself sorely he leaving to the Intelligent to Judge I do so also Yet is he willing to forestall his Judgment wherein I shall not imitate him Then to vindicate those words sound knowledge c. From savouring of Boasting he alledgeth that to make it look like a Boast I left out these last words for which I desire to Praise him for ever and the foregoing viz. his being Charged by his Opponent with Marvellous Ignorance Falshood and Giddiness To the first I say The Pharisee stood and Prayed thus to himself God I thank thee that I am not as other Men Luk 18. 11. The Pharisee thanked God G. Keith desired to Praise him for ever To the second Let another Man Praise thee and not thy own Mouth a Stranger and not thy own Lips Prov. 27. 2. He Objects against my calling his Book of Truth Advanced a Bulky Book But this I did not as representing it a bigger Volumn than many good Men have writ but that it was all Bulk not to edification but such gear as I have given the Reader a tast of already under my second Head I now return to his p. 35. where he alledgeth that I blame him for Opposing it as an Error That the Garden of Paradise was some part of this Visible Earth He left out And that Mans Food both for his Soul and Body was to have been Paradisical to which he gives no other answer than some citations and inferences out of G. W. G. F. and W. S. That G. W. and W. S have writ against them who have affirmed that the forbidden Fruit was an Apple the Serpent a Creature like our English Snares from which Dream of theirs the Picture of a Snake and an Apple in its Mouth in a Tree are set up at the beginning of Bibles c. Hence he argues p. 36. If the Trees of the Garden were not Visible and particularly the Tree of the forbidden Fruit as G. W. saith it was not then to be sure the Garden by his Judgment was not Visible c. Answer â—â— doth not follow that man was not in a Visible Garden any more than it would in the Metaphor wherein Nathan expressed David's Sin with Bâ—â—â—shebah under the Parable of an Ew-Lamb For as it would be an undue inference that David Uriah c. Were not Visible Persons upon this Visible Earth because it would be gross ignorance and darkness to think Nathan spake of a material Ew-Lamb so in this case it is as absurd to conclude G. Keith's Notions that the Garden of Paradise was not some part of this Visible Earth that man's Food before the Fall was to have been Paradisical and the Cloathing with the Skin and Flesh of this Frail Mortal and corruptible Body received but since the Fall as in Truth Advanced p. 16. 18. and 27. are backed by these Friends not allowing the gross Interpretation and Conception upon Gen. 3. What he adds out of G. Fox's Journal which he tauntingly calls that Famous Book where it is said I was come up in Spirit through the Flaming Sword into the Paradise of God is very idle For as there being a Mystical Canaan doth not imply there never was an outward one So there being a Mystical Paradise doth not imply there never was an outward Paradise To defend his Exposition of Adam and Eve's hiding themselves among the Trees of the Garden to be in a Tree of the Garden and that that one Tree may be well understood to be the divine Mercy or Clemency whereupon I replyed The divine Mercy is in Christ Jesus and if they were got there methinks when they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden they should not have been afraid for they were already safe G. Keith p. 37. after a repeating his having said that the Hebrew doth bear it in a Tree of the Garden and a reflecting upon my ignorance in the Hebrew a Language I never pretended Skill in for it is the application that I mind adds Are they not carnally minded to think that Adam thought he could hide himself either among the Trees of an outward Garden or in any one Tree of it so as God might not see him Answer Adams thoughts I shall not dive into but if he thought to hide himself from the wrath of God even in a Tree of the Garden according to G. Keith's Exposition he found himself mistaken But how Natural it is for fear and guilt to take undue and precipitant Courses which in a sedate frame they could not propose to be sheltered by instances in Isai 2. 19. Hos 10. 8. and Rev. 6. 15 16. declare where men are said to go into the Holes of the Rocks and Caves of the Earth for Fear of the Lord to say to the Mountains Cover us and to the Hills Fall on us to hide themselves in the Dens and Rocks of the Mountains that they might hide them from the Face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Did these men thinks he reckon God could not see them there Or were they not in a Terrour and