he was sent to publish the universal love of God to mankind in a tender of life and salvation to all that believed and followed him the Light in all righteousness To abolish the shadows of the Law To confirm his Doctrine by Miracles and an innocent life and lastly to offer up his body to be crucified by wicked hands as a compleat Captain and perfect Example which is the fullest account of the ends of his coming enumerated by W. P. in his Book Intituled The sandy Foundation pa. 19. Thus shuffling out Him the Son of Man As having laid down his life a ransome for sins and as having offered up his body and shed his blood without the Gates of Jerusalem as the blood of attonement that speaks better things then the blood of Abel and as the one propitiatory sacrifice to take away sins denying him as having already abolished sin slain the enmity in himself so making peace as having made reconciliation purchased justification for remission of sins and obtained Eternal Redemption for sinners That all believers in all generations through this work so finished and perfected by him in his body of flesh might through faith in Him the Son of Man the Attoner receive that attonement for the remission of their sins and as a ground of hope to them after their being dead to be raised again unto life eternal by the resurrection of the dead unto all which the Holy Scriptures expresly Testifie and of all which this man speaks not one word but rather pleads against it agreeable to that Doctrine published among you speaking thus in a Book Intituled Sauls errand to Damascus pa. 8. Christ in his people is the substance of all figures types and shadows fulfilling them in them and setting them free from them But as he is held forth in the Scripture-letter without them and in the flesh without them he is their example or figure which is both one that the same things might be fulfilled in them that was in Christ Jesus But if thou tell me that thou hast mentioned an attonement a sacrifice a propitiation yet I say thou not having spoken of them as only of the Man Christ Jesus or of those ends in relation to us they are made mention of in Scripture may I not therefore account thee one with thy Partner G. W. who in the 12. pa. of his Part plainly expresseth himself in these words That Christ in his outward death was a ransome an attonement an acceptable satisfactory sacrifice to God a propitiation for mankind and to be a living Example through all not only to end the Law and Sacrifices without but to bring the believers beyond and through the ministration of death condemnation and wrath within into peace and union with God But which of all the Prophets or Apostles ever so wrote of a ransome an attonement a propitiation a purchase a price of our Redemption as of a work to be done in us as it was in Christ or that in these Christ was an Example to us that they might over again be effected in us or that Christ was a figure And which of all those Holy Men ever so wrote of a believers being brought through the ministration of death condemnation and wrath after the Example of the Man Christ as he not having already in his body of flesh born all these things for us and by his resurrection from the dead triumphed over all these things that were against us for us And which of all the Apostles so wrote of these things as thou hast done telling us that Christ did somewhat in the outward in order to our justification though our justification was not absolutely wrought thereby Now since in the Holy Scriptures this mystery of faith in the Man Christ Jesus for our Redemption and Salvation as already purchased by his obedience in the body of his flesh is plainly and fully expressed this new coyned mystery of faith in the light in your consciences or within you as it is within you and in every man as he comes into the world as your Saviour and obedience thereunto to be done and perfected in your bodies or within you by his Spirit and after his example as the cause of your justification for the remission of sins and the ground of your hope for eternal Life and salvation of the Soul and whole man I say this Doctrine of yours being another then that of the Apostles cannot take place but in them who having rejected the truth are therefore given up to strong delusions But as having a mind yet further to cavil In the 7. pa. thou argues thus Is not this confusion and contradiction to thy self first to say a man dead in sins unsanctified altogether a child of wrath and yet God is fully attoned perfectly reconciled to them I answer Were it not more honesty in thee to charge the Apostle then me who wrests not but only repeats the Apostles words saying we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son while we were yet enemies thou shouldst therefore clamour against the Apostle thus is not this palpable confusion and contradiction to thy self Paul to say of enemies while yet enemies so unsanctified persons God fully to be reconciled with such even while such dost thou think this clamour of thine will make void the Apostles plain positive assertion and shall we therefore say the Apostle was mistaken and is now corrected by G. K. But that thou mayst appear not so plainly to contradict the Apostle in the beginning of the 13. page thou tells me And though the Apostle saith while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son yet he adds much more shall we be saved by his life I answer Is it any wonder that thou unfaithfully repeats my words to make them speak what I intended not when thou dare do the same with the very Apostles words leaving that part of the sentence out which is most weighty against thee the Apostles words Rom. 5. 10. being these much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life and what doth this make for thee the Apostle saith that while we were enemies we were reconciled in the time past and he spake truth although thou dares quarrel it as a contradiction and also the Apostle saith being reconciled in the time past we shall be saved by his life in the time to come as to be done although they were already reconciled and from this also thou dissents as I have already proved by thy own words page 16. speaking of the Soul yea and the whole man being saved within although the Apostle spoke truth that being reconciled we shall be saved by his life that as God raised him from the dead and as he now lives and shall die no more we also whom while enemies God reconciled to himself by the death of his Son we who since we believed having received that attonement shall after our bodily death be raised from the
grave and be made partakers of that salvation which through faith and hope we wait for while in the body for we are saved by hope And in the next words of that 13. pag. thou sayst to me And though thou uses this Scripture to prove that men are reconciled to God through the death of Christ excluding any qualification wrought by him in them yet it is but an abuse of the place though I only repeat the Apostles express words and mentioned no more then what is plainly asserted by them nor need I go further then thy own confession to alledge a more safe way of understanding that Scripture as where thou sayst although in the dayes of Isaias Christ was not then come in our flesh yet the Prophet speaks of it as a thing already done it being so in the purpose of God and so why may not Paul after this manner I answer Paul cannot be understood so to speak because the death of the Man Christ was past before he so wrote And if we should so understand these words of the Apostle it confirms that I asserted for as Christs sufferings spoken of by the Prophet Isaias as done in his time because according to the Scriptures and therefore my confession were what his band and his Counsel determined before to be done therefore they were in the fulness of time so really accomplished as God before determined thus if Paul spoke of Gods being in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son it being so in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world surely then when Jesus Christ came into the world to finish what the counsel of God before hand had determined he really actually finished and accomplished it or else the purpose of God was frustrate and Christ finished not what God before hand determined he should do and set him forth for to do which to assert either of God or Christ are alike impiously blasphemous Thy Partner G. W. in the 15. page of his Part saith This Doctrine tends to make a merry world in their sins But the Apostle as if of purpose to rebuke this spirit Rom. 6. 1. saith Shall we therefore sin that grace may abound God forbid and in another place The grace of God teacheth us to deny ungodliness And in the 16. page G. W. further argues thus Could that be an answer of divine justice so to take vengeance on the innocent and let the guilty go with their sins past present and to come and how can God then in justice execute wrath on any for sin I answer It is strange to find this man so very dark thus to argue against God! However he is reproved by the Apostle who saith in express words as if of purpose to check this cavelling spirit of the Man Christ He died the just for the unjust though in him was no guile found yet he was made sin and a curse for us though be had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he was smitten of God wounded for our transgressims the chastisements of our peace were upon him though we had turned every one to his own way the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all This man should thus answer the Prophet Isaias is that divine justice to take vengeance on wound sinite bruise the innocent and let the guilty go free And the Apostle asserts in so many words Thu Jesus Christ the righteous is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world may I not thence in truth assert Him to have been a propitiation for all sins past present and to come which since this man so much quarrels narrowing the extent of Christs death of whom it is written That He tasted death for every man Let him plainly answer God having so determined before the foundation of the world whether there was any necessity that the Man Christ Jesus should have been offered up as a sacrifice for remission of sins at all the Apostle tells us That without blood there was no remission which if so that if for the remission of every sin there be a necessity of that blood of attonement if he did not then when he was offered up attone for all sins must he then come again to be offered up again for those remaining sins not already attoned for by that one Sacrifice of his Body already once offered never to be offered again And though this one propitiatory sacrifice once for all be sufficient in it self for the sins of the whole world yet such as receive it not but through unbelief reject him Christ saith of such The wrath of the Father abides on them they remaining still in unbelief the sentence of the Law Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which we written in the Book of the Law to do them remaining also in them because they have not received this attonement but putting that word of God spoken to them from them have judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life In the 7. Page I find another exception against this Doctrine of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 8 19. The Apostles words are Hath reconciled us viz. Vs who believe and are sanctified but of the world he saith reconciling so not reconciled yea in that same place he mentions a qualification on their part to be wrought by the spirit in order to their full reconciliation be ye reconciled to God I answer thou art here very hard put to it who though thou be a Master of Arts must be desired to ask the Boyes in the Grammar-School whether was reconciling and hath reconciled do not both denote a time past And if the Apostle spoke truth saying in the time past God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and if Christ also spoke truth of himself John 14. 4. I have finished the work the Father gave me to do then surely what God was doing in time past in Christ to wit reconciling the world to himself he finished it and so it is a work already done and perfected on God part And for that qualification mentioned by the Apostle on their part it confirms what I asserted and I have also affirmed it in my Testimony that in order to make the reconciliation with God already finished by Christ effectual in every man we are as a qualification required on our part as to receiving that attonement already perfected invited to be reconciled to God who in Christ Jesus is already reconciled to us even while enemies which qualification on our part is not the reason or cause of our reconcilation with God for the Apostle in the next words plainly points out to us the reason and cause thereof For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him here is the foundation of all our hopes the ground
thou denyes the true Christ I shall bring thy own words expresly denying that this light which enlightens every man that comes into the world is Christ and in the 17. page thou adds So John Preached him and so did others I answer thou should rather have added so G. F. Preached him and so have others among us called Quakers and this had been truly said as may be read in that Book already mentioned published by G. F. p. 16 19 20 22 45 47 94 102 279. And in another little Book published by G. F. Intituled A Catechism for Children throughout that Book But how dares thou write so of this holy man John or of any of the Penmen of the holy Scriptures who never so wrote of Christ neither canst thou show me one place of Scripture wherein it is asserted of Christ that the light enlightning every man that comes into the World as it is in every man as he is born of a Woman is he the true Christ and this thou must prove or thou proves nothing but asserts thy own and other mens vain aery notions It is true the Man Christ Jesus said of himself I am the light of the World but this proves not thy notion the light in every man as he comes into the World is he the true Christ Consider the words of Esayas 9. 2. The people that walk in darkness have seen great light they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death upon them hath the Light shined Compare this with Math. 4. 14 15. And Jesus departed into Galilee and dwelt in Capernaum that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esayas saying the people which sate in darkness saw great light Thus the man Christ Jesus in his Person by his Doctrine and Miracles where he came and abode was a light to them that sate in darkness and hence he said of himself While you have the light believe in the light yet a little while is the light with you I the Son of Man who as long as I am in the World am the light of the World must be lifted up and be glorified with my Father for I go to my Father but I will not leave you comfortless I will send the Comforter unto you who shall receive of mine and shew it unto you he shall glorifie me Hence the Man Christ Jesus being ascended and bodily glorified by the ministration of his Spirit in the children of Faith causeth the light of his glorious Gospel to shine in their hearts And further though it be said Christ is our life in God we live and move and have our being and Christ is all in all and through all wilt thou therefore assert that our life is Christ that the life in all is God that all in us is God This agreeth indeed with that Doctrine published by G. F. in his Book already mentioned Page 91 229. The soul is a part of God of his being divine infinite in it self without beginning that God doth not change nor the Soul and every one turned to the Light they shall see Christ who brings the Soul up to God whereby they come to be one Soul And this is the very root of Rantisme hence concluding the life in man and beast yea in every thing to be God and all to be one God at last denying the real individual existences of Angels Saints Devils or wicked men in eternity and what these notions terminate in is sufficiently known Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye the earthly bodies perish and the Spirit Soul or Life of every thing comes to be all one Soul in God and so God is all in all And although it hath been said by some among you that these termes Christ is the Light and the Light in every man is Christ are convertible termes yet that is apparently fals and deceitful Philosophie for if so then what might be truly and properly spoken of the one might be also so spoken of the other for so it is with all propositions convertible And hence as it was truly and properly spoken of the man Christ our onely Saviour and the true Christ who is the Light of the world that he was born at Bethlehem that he was hanged on a Tree and gave up the Ghost might also be truly and properly spoken of the Light in every man that comes into the world as it is in every man which is most absurd I also acknowledg that it is said 1 John 1 9. of Christ Jesus That was the true Light which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illuminat enlighteth every man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 venientem coming into the world for so it is in the Greek in the present time enlighteth every man coming into the world and thus it agreeth with the purpose in the preceeding verses there was a man sent from God whose name was John he was not that Light but was sent to bear witness of that Light thus testifying not onely of John the Baptist as Lighted by him whom he was sent to point out but that every man coming into the world to bear witness unto him Is also Lighted by him Christ Jesus who is the true Light although it be true that every man that cometh into the world as he is a man born of the seed of man through natural generation is enlined by Jesus Christ as he is the Word that made the World yet the Apostle hath not asserted it in this place of Scripture neither doth he here say that there is a Light in every man or that the enlighting in every man as he cometh into the World as he is a man is He the true Christ and it is a most miserable wresting this Place of Scripture to force it to speak thus that there is a Light in every man as he comes into the world by natural generation as an elect seed in him which is the true Christ and mans onely Saviour and thou hast belyed this Holy man in saying of him that he so preached to wit the Light or enlighting in every man as he comes into the world is He the true Christ In the 14 Pag thou mentions these words But that Law and nature by which the Gentiles did the things contained in the Law thou wilt not have it to be the Law and Nature of Christ but some other thing but what thou tels not I answer I said in the words of the Apostle 2. Rom. that it is the work of the Law written in their hearts and in every man as he cometh into the world whereby they which had not the Law to wit in Tables of Stone did by nature the things contained in the Law these not having the Law were a Law unto themselves It is a Law or enlightning planted in Mans nature by that word which created him a Man and without whch he differeth not from a beast hence it is not improperly called by some that universal reason that is in every
man as he is a man which also G. W. in pag. 6. seems to say of it And though man through his disobedience wholly lost fellowship and communion with God and hope of eternal life with a possibility under that Covenant of works through his future obedience of ever being restored yet he continued a man still even under all this loss and also enlightned by this Law though more darkly whereby he knew he had disobeyed his Maker and therefore was ashamed and hid himself and of which had he been utterly deprived he had ceased from being a man and so from being capable of condemnation or of receiving the promise of restoration of which he knew nothing by this enlightning remaining in him untill God published it to him by promising him the Messias the Womans feed to break the Serpents head for that Law as thou acknowledges pag 10. in these words only condemns him and gives him the knowledge of sin This Law or enlightning thus planted in mans nature by creation is by generation conveyed into every man as the comes into the world and is hence called by Solomon 20. Chap. Proverbs 27. verse The Spirit of man which is the Candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of his belly and of the spirit of man the Prophet 12. Zach. 1. writeth thus Thus saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the foundation thereof and formeth the spirit of man within him hence this Law in every man as it is in every man is that which God hath formed therefore of it the Apostle truly and properly hath spoken they do by nature the things contained in the Law as being born of the seed and after the kind of man they are naturally or by nature men so being born of the seed of man they do naturally or by nature the things contained in the Law the work of the Law being written in their hearts as they are men hence this Law or enlightning in every man as he comes into the world being the formed spirit of man enlightned by him that made it Is not God that formed it the word by which the world was made as G. F. in that Book above mentioned pag. 185. asserts neither is it the word manifest in flesh as G. W. asserts pag. 3. So what pag. 6. he would have to be right reason in pag. 3. with him is God manifest in flesh Neither is it the end of the Law the Saviour the Mediator the Righteousness of God the foundation of God as G. F. in that Book already named pag. 9. 57. 102. 168. and 277. asserts for by these assertions the creature is and is worshipped instead of him the creator who is God blessed for ever wherefore if it be not too late I would have these men consider the words of the Lord spoken by Esayas 50. 11. Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compass about your selves with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled this shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in Sorrow And although by this Law or enlighting in every man he is capable to receive the glad tydings of the Gospel when preached to him through the promised seed of the Woman yet it is not he the promised seed neither is it the light of the Gospel shining in our hearts by faith as G. W. would have it to be pag. 6. Neither is it Christ within the hope of glory nor the word of faith nor the ingrafted word within that is able to save the Soul though it be that which receives it and where it abides when received though thou seems so to assert in thy Book Yet neither thou nor any of you have proved or can prove what you have so asserted by the Scriptures of truth And although by this Law in every mans nature the eternal power and God-head may be known by the things that are made and equity and sobriety among men may be observed yet the glorious Gospel shining in our hearts by faith is not thereby discerned although G. W. pag. 6. so affirmeth of it asserting as much as if right reason in every man as becomes into the World by natural generation discerneth the light of the glorious Gospel which if so why is the word of faith preached how comes faith by hearing and indeed to what end was the Comforter the spirit of truth promised and sent to reveal this Mistery and how is it foolishness to the wisdom and reason of the Greeks But I find it not so asserted in the Scriptures of truth of this Law in every man as he comes into the World that it discerneth or discovereth to man the purpose of grace that was in God before the world began preached to Adam foretold by the Prophets typified under the Law pointed out by John the fore-runner whom last of all his Apostles preached as do all his Ministers in all Ages proclaiming this message of Gods love to the world not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life all in one joynt voice pointing to this Jesus the Son of Mary this Son of man with an Hosanna to this Son of David and to none before him or to any ever since Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world a voice not heard among you of the Man Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary as now existing outwardly bodily without us but applyed by some among you to meekness humility and the like within you Therefore not the Law in every man as he comes into the world but the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shining in the hearts of Believers manifests to them the Saviour Jesus and Salvation through faith in him That being graven in the heart of a man as he is a man this being revealed only by that Spirit which the world never saw nor can receive as the Apostle plainly asserts 1 Cor. 2. 9 10 14. And hence these Laws are not therefore one and the same because both of them are written in the heart the one being within man as he is a man the other as he is a believer And as these Laws are different so the teachings of them differ hence the Apostle saith doth not even nature it self teach as being far below the teachings of the new Covenant the teachings of this Law in every man either as in every man or as outwardly administred leading no farther then as it was said of old eye for eye tooth for tooth what you would not men should do unto you that do ye not unto them But when he came who brought in a better Covenant a more glorious Law even that of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus he preached a higher Doctrine But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you
that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved But that this Law in every man as he comes into the world is this word of faith that I deny and thou hast not proved it for Faith comes by hearing not by natural generation And further concerning the seed which is Christ the Apostle 3 Gal. 16. saith To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made he saith not to seeds as to many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ thus Christ as he is the seed of Abraham is the one seed to whom the promise belongs what the promis was we have it in the 8. ver in thee shall all the nations be blessed in the 3. Acts 25. Peter mentions this promise as spoken of that Jesus whom the Jews delivered up in the presence of Pilate not otherwise do I find in Scripture Jesus Christ called the seed to whom the promise belongs And this unscriptural Doctrine the Light in every man as he comes into world to be Christ a seed within hath hatched among us of late these and such assertions from among you the light the seed within is Christ then I am he that speaketh Then Hosanna The Son is equal with the Father I witness the Son in me so I witness equality with the Father the light in me is Christ Christ is the word by which the world was made then it was said of Christ that he was in the world and the world was made by him the world knew him not so it may be said of this Prophet G. F. as is said by S. E. in his Paper intituled the Quakers challenge pag. 6. Christ is the way the truth and the life Christ is in me and must he not say where he is I am the way the truth and the life he that hath the same spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead is equal with God Jesus Christ the Mystery passed before the same spirit takes upon it the same seed where it is manifested as is mentioned in the Book intituled Sauls errand to Damascus pag. 7. 8. which of all the Saints of old ever so spoke or wrote But herein among you are fulfilled the words of our Lord saying fals Christs shall arise and many shall say I am Christ Lastly I do also acknowledge that Men and Women who are of the Faith of Abraham are called and are the seed of Abraham And thus they are the brethren and Sisters of our Lord who that he might be their Elder brother a real man took part of flesh and bloud by being the one seed of Abraham and David according to the flesh And this agreeth with the whole tendency of the Gospel viz. that man not only something in man fell from God through disobedience that men thus dead in sins and trespasses who delighted in sin needed Redemption not something in men that never consented to sin that the redeemer of Man was and also is a real man not only something in man Thus having answered thy chief Objections against my Testimony and by asserting the plain ' truth according to the Scriptures clearly manifested how far different from and contrary unoâ— the foundation The Apostles and all the Saints of old built upon for Salvation that Doctrine is which thou hast declared of I find thee in the 15. pag. framing a pretence whereby thou mayest seem to go off with some credit telling me that I made a man of straw and then knocks him down that my Book is almost wholly spent in proving that which none of you deny to wit that Christ is come in the flesh suffered and died But this is such a pitiful covering that thou mayest be seen through it by the weakest discerning as not able to deal with the strength of that which I have Testified unto as indeed it is too hard for thee for as I have already told thy partner A. R. that was not any part of my work no not in any part of all my Book But since thou seeks a hole to creep out at I am willing to let thee go only in love to thee I advise thee to search the Scriptures for I find thee very ignorant of the truth as testified in them and hence asserting new notions which thou hast received from other men which tend to the darkning and denying of the joynt Testimony of all the holy men of old to the true Saviour and to Salvation through faith in him And that thou mayest be delivered from this dangerous snare and yet build up in thy self and others those truths which by this thy work thou hast opposed and contradicted is the hearty desire of thy Friend R. G. GAWEN LAWRIE I Am next to deal with thee whom I also find joyned with the rest against my Testimony and I am to remember thee that thou hast thrust thy self among this Company by communicating to others my private Letter written to thee as my Friend without my knowledge or consent thence to bring forth in print what could be squeezed out of it to my disadvantage tending as my words are forced to speak to no less as you say then an owning another Mediatour or Saviour then Jesus Christ of Nazareth but who or what that other Saviour is I am not told But to let thee and others know that I am not ashamed of what I have written to thee and that I am able to free my self from that groundless aspersion through thee cast upon me I have here set down what was most material in those Objections thou didst send me in writing against my Testimony with my answers thereunto and let the impartial Reader judge which of us either pleads for or against Jesus Christ of Nazareth as being the true Christ and our only Saviour In thy Letter thou writes these words I find thy mind in this Book abroad gathering in the comprehension what thou fancies and hast heard of others so heaps up confusion and contradiction what will avail thee or me that we know abroad of things done abroad nothing at all if ever thee or I come to know true peace we must come to know the life that quickens it is not names nor things done without but the life within that redeems that purgeth that sanctifies that quickens the Soul to God Now consider what is testified by the Prophets and Apostles concerning the the man Christ Jesus without them a name and thing abroad concerning whom and what he did for Man-kind thou sayest it being a name and thing done abroad redeems not the Soul to God avails nothing at all while these Saints of old prophesied of pointed out spoke of and believed in him for Redemption they saw and believed and left it upon Record to us and their report is true that we also who have not seen might believe and be blessed and in effect in that one word thouhast made the coming death sufferings and Resurrection of the Man Christ and that one sacrifice