of this visible Earth What that part was unless they will say it was that Mountain in Yorkshire he mentions where he had his Vision but surely that could not be Paradise for the Barrenness of it A third Evidence for me and against these Men that have given out this Book is William Shewen a great Man among them lately deceased who to perswade us of his Infallibility hath told us Treatise of Thoughts pag. 14. That he cannot write contrary to Scripture being in unity with them And pag. 19 20. plainly tells us That the Man was not deceived with the Beauty of an Apple or some other outward Fruit nor by the Talk or Perswasion of any Creature like our English Snakes as vain Man in his carnal Mind imagins So we see his Censure of G. Whitehead and J. Pennington that they are vain who have so imagined in their Carnal Minds How G. Whitehead will clear himself of this and many other gross Self-contradictions I leave to the Tryal Pag. 36. Their Abuse and Perverson is manifest in seeking to fix a Contradiction on me for affirming in my Book Help in time of Need That the Scriptures are not that Word to wit that living essential Word more than a Map or Description of Rome or London is Rome or London or the Image of Caesar is Caesar or Bread and Wine is the Body and Blood of Christ And for Querying Truth Advanced Que. 5. Whether it may not be said there is one Baptism as that there is one Land ca led America though the Map or Figure of it is also called America even as there is but one Spiritual Baptism with the Holy Ghost though the outward Baptism with Water is also called Baptism Now beside that this last is only a Query but let it pass for a Position let the Intelligent judge what Contradiction is here or least Inconsistency Contradictories can never be true but both these are true 1. The Scriptures are not that Living and Essential Word which is Christ this is a Truth that all called Christians acknowledge But that they may be called the Word as a Map of America is called America I never denyed but have oft said and which is agreeable to many Protestant Writers who have used such a phrase a Map or Scheme of the Gospel Nor is the Bread and Wine the Body and Blood of Christ though it be so called Now if these Men deny this to be a Truth they must hold with Papists that the Bread and Wine is really the Body and Blood of Christ 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 And after they have thus shown their own Folly and Ignorance in a scoffing Spirit they call me Rabby though its the known way of the Quakers not to call a Man Master that is in Hebrew Rabbi Matth. 23. 7 8. yet to Indulge a Scoffing Humour they will transgress their Rule Here this Rabbi say they hath foiled himself sorely But let the Intelligent judge whether they have not foiled themselves sorely all along their abusive and scandalous Book that excepting these Sound Passages and Testimonies they have collected out of my Books which greatly make for me and show that I am constant in my Principles as to the Faith of Christ contains little else than a heap of Falsities and Perversions But that they say He once boasted in his Serious Appeal pag. 29. That he hath the Gifts both of Sound Knowledge and Expression with manifold other Mercies bestowed on him In this they falsly accuse me for there is nothing in that place that either expresses or implyeth any boast in the least For whereas my Opponent had charged me with marveous Ignorance Falshood and Giddiness I said among other things I doubt not but judicious and impartial Readers who compare his Books and mine will have another judgment concerning me and acknowledge to God's praise the Gifts both of Sound Knowledge and Expression with his manifold other Mercies bestowed on m for which I desire to Praise him forever But to make it look like a Boast they leave out these last Words and also the foregoing Words and its evident I used these Words only Comparatively and not Absolutely for I never judged my self absolutely Infallible nor have been a Self-Praiser as too many of them are and I may now say let their Books who have appeared against me of late as W. Penn G. Whitehead T. Ellwood and others be compared with mine and I doubt not but judicious and impartial Readers will have another judgment concerning me than these my prejudiced Adversaries and acknowledge to God's Praise the Gifts of sound Knowledge and Expression that God hath given me for which I desire forever to Praise him but this I understand only Comparatively for I never had such thoughts of my self nor have but that the Sentiments of my Mind and Expressions of my Mouth and Pen in divers things may admit of Correction though as to the main every true Christian as well as I may say We have a Sound Knowledge and Faith And whereas they pass another Scoff upon me pag. 34. calling my Book Truth Advanced His bulky Book which is but of small bulk in comparison of the bulky Volumns of G. Whitehead W Penn and divers others I am not doubtful to say that Intelligent Readers who compare their great bulky Books with that one small bulky Book of mine will say there is more Sound matter of Doctrine in it and the Contents of it are more for Edification than in their great bulky Books Yet I have been so modest a thing I never found in any of them to acknowledge that in some things I may receive some Correction and better information See my Pref. Truth Adv. pag. 45. Pag 44. They quarrel my expounding Adam and Eve's hiding themselves among the Trees of the Garden to be in a Tree of the Garden and that one Tree may be well understood to be the divine Mercy or Clemency I had said in my Book Truth Adv. the Hebrew doth bear it in a Tree of the Garden pag. 25. But I must excuse their Ignorance in the Hebrew that they will not admit of this true Translation And 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 this is to think at least that Adam was an Anthropomorphit or Mugletonian as having such a gross Opinion that God had bodily Eyes as a Man and that an outward Tree could hide him from God And their Argument is as foolish against my saying That Tree might be the Divine Mercy or Clemency They say The Divine Mercy is in Christ Jesus and if they were got there when they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in
concerning Peter Bosse his retaking the Sloop without Force of Arms John Homes a Baptist Teacher and either then or some time not long after a Justice of Peace whose Name and Christian Behaviour is mentioned in the said printed Tryal in refusing to give Judgment against G. K. whithout hearing did write some English Verses which are these following One Quaker Master of a Boat With our small Fleet along did Float And tho he us'd not Sword nor Gun Yet with his Oars and with his Tongue He plaid his part exceeding well As these who were with him can tell P. 22. Whereas he makes me to say in one Book The express knowledg of Christ's Death and Sufferings as Man in the outward is not universally necessary to Salvation And in another That the express Knowledg of Christ's Death is universally necessary Answ In this he useth after his manner gross deceit and greatly abuseth his Reader and me also for tho he citeth a passage in one of my Books to prove the first viz. Presh and Indep Vis p. 133. Yet he cites no passage in any of my Books for the second that I can find tho I have narrowly searched but the only proof I can find he brings is that he saith p. 15. I furiously quarrel with Friends about it and confess it to be a main matter of Controversy with Friends there This is false I never had any Controversy with any whether the express Knowledg and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings be universally necessary to Man's Salvation so as necessary to be had by all and every one before Death But the true state of the Question betwixt them and me was and is Whether the express Knowledg and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings c. be not necessary to Salvation to all Professing Christianity and who have the opportunity and help of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament whereby to receive it the Holy Spirit inwardly co-operating to produce the Faith of it in them that hear or read that Doctrine as delivered in the Holy Scriptures and whether the Doctrine of Christ should not be Preached as he Died for our Sins and rose again c. as a main Doctrine of the Christian Religion in order to Salvation For I have always distinguished betwixt simple Heathens or Gentiles who have not the occasion to have the Faith outwardly Preached and those in Christendom under a Christian Profession who have the occasion to hear it Preached to the former I have said the express Knowledg and Faith of that Doctrine is not necessary tho the implicit in some degree is but how much or what measure or degree of it is universally necessary I have never affirmed And that this is the true state of the question betwixt my Adversaries and me I need go no further for a Proof than from my present Adversary who makes it a great Error in me to say the Light within is not sufficient to Salvation without something else for if that be false the contradictory is true viz. The Light within is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else but the Death and Sufferings of Christ and his Blood outwardly shed and his Intercession for us in Heaven without us are all something else and if the Light within be sufficient without all these then there is no need to believe or Preach any of them but only and alone the Light within P. 24. He spends his Pages from 24. to 28. in some base insinuations against me about the 12 Revolutions and telling some Stories most of which are absolutely false and that little that 's true in any of them is not fairly nor duly related and which he brought no proof for but his own forfeited Credit or the report of such as are of as ill Credit as himself and known to have been prejudiced Persons against me P. 29. What he saith of my Praising the Quaker`s Doctrine to Cotton Mather in New-England was before that Party rose up aginst me in Pensilvania to oppose the same Doctrine I delivered in my Printed Books in answer to Cotton Mather which Doctrine they seemed to own and all my former Books were Approved of by most of the Ministers of best note in Pensilvania that were writ in Answer to Cotton Mather and his Brethren in New England before they were Printed so that it was a most astonishing thing to me to find how suddenly they who professed to own the Doctrine contained in these Books turned against the very same Doctrine after W. Stockdale had accused me of Preaching two Christs because I Preached Faith in Christ without and in Christ within therefore this sudden Alteration began in them and until I came to England and found the greatest part of their Teachers here in England and particularly G. Whitehead and W. Penn to favour and support those in Pensilvania whom I have sufficiently detected guilty of vile Errors I had but too good an Esteem for them wherein I confess I was mistaken and this put me on a further search into their Books which formerly I did not much Read and many of them not at all and what I did Read I did not so well consider and upon my further search I found sufficient cause to change my Judgment concerning these Men. But none can charge it on me that either by word or writing I ever agreed with them in those vile Errors which since I have discovered and reprehended in them so that this is no change or contradiction in any Doctrine or Principle of Faith and what change of Judgment I have of these Men they have the like of me and will readily confess they have been as greatly mistaken in me as I have been in them and therefore they can have no advantage against me in that respect And whereas he Insinuateth pag. 24. 25 26. That I have dropt here and there some passages in my late Books from which they cannot but conclude That either I did intend to conform Friends to some Doctrine of which by what follows the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions may be supposed to be not the least in his Eye or else to separate from them Some of which expressions he mentions out of my late Books Printed in Pensilvania all which were generally approved by Friends of the Ministry out of which he hath gathered them and if he thinks these Expressions will prove the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions he should have proved it by positive Arguments and not give simple Queries for Arguments all which I could easily Answer without the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions but that I have no mind to answer his curiosity or gratify such a prejudiced Adversary and he might much rather query whether G. F. did not hold the Doctrine of the Revolutions that hath said in some of his Printed Books before Languages were he was and his Charging the Blood of many that were slain above a thousand Years ago upon the People living in
justices but Criminal Judges a thing no where so practised that I know any where in Christendom beside But however whether G. K. was rightly informed in these Particulars or not that was not the Thing he was fined for but for calling Sam. Jennings an ignorant presumptuous and insolent man and saying he was too high and imperious in worldly Courts And this was and is well known to be a Truth And he since remains sufficiently under that Character And have not many called Quakers used greater liberty than all this to reprove the Pride of greater Men in Magistracy here in England in Times past under their sharp Persecutions And for a witness to it let the Trial of William Penn and William Mead Printed at London declare as well as other Printed Trials and Books not a few But it is but waste of Time and Paper to answer to all his Impertinencies One thing is greatly worth noticing That though these men showed great warmth to fine imprison and otherwse prosecute for some pretended Offences against them that were had they been real but small and had better become them to have passed them by being not against them as Magistrates but as Quakers and Neighbours Yet they did not only tolerate but support and countenance Persons guilty of blasphemous Speeches against both God and Christ and with an unbounded Liberty did abuse me in particular as well as my Friends one of them in a publick Meeting calling me Wicked Fellow another calling me Ranter wicked Man while I was in Prayer on my Knees in the Meeting And though they would not allow us to distinguish betwixt them as being Quakers and Magistrates yet they did so distinguish when they told us They were not for fighting as Quakers but as Magistrates which how apt and proper a distinction it was for them to use I leave to the intelligent to judge Page 46. He saith Now to be plain This is to shew That G. K. may be as well as others have been a man of great Knowledge in Chronology yet being led by a Wrong Spirit what doth it profit But how hath he proved that G. K. is a man of a Wrong Spirit What One Evil Thing hath he proved against me in all his book either in Doctrine or Conversation I know none Though I have proved him guilty of many And taking it for granted That G. K. on extraordinary great Provocations and Abuses did drop once or twice some unadvised yet true Expressions doth this prove him to be a man of a Wrong Spirit He hath been more ingenuous than all his Adversaries who have far exceeded him in heat and hard words to acknowledge it which I never knew that any of them did Page 47. He pretends he has got a great Advantage against me upon the Account of a Citation out of my book called Truths Defence page 169. which he recites though not so truly as is in my book But however as it is I agree to it as to matter and substance And though he saith Page 53. That they do not question that in the least that G. K. is of another mind now It is a false Insinuation I remain in the same mind still That I would have nothing urged nor pressed as Articles of Faith but what is delivered to us in plain express Scripture-words which is the substance of that large Citation And it is as false in him to say That this was so often desired but could not find place viz to take their Confession in express words for this we never refused but I said again and again We shall take your Confession in Scripture-words as many can bear me witness provided ye will condemn your Errors that are contrary either to express Scripture-words or to the plain and manifest Sense of them obvious to every intelligent Christian But this they would never do And whereas he querieth How know we that they have a Sense contrary to Scripture-words I answer They have sufficiently discovered it not only by One or Two unsound Expressions but multitudes of them as their Letters and Manuscripts there and the Printed Books here sufficiently prove And we need go no further for a Proof than the most gross and Antichristian Expressions and Sayings of Caleb Pusie himself in this very Treatise For whereas he hath plainly affirmed p. 15. ad finem That Jesus of Nazareth cannot be something else than the Light Power and Spirit within Now can there be any thing more contrary to express Scripture than this Assertion Was not Jesus of Nazareth a real man consisting of Soul and Body in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and who above measure was filled with all fullness of Grace and Truth And is that Body and that Soul and that Fullness nothing else but the Light within us Oh Abominable Nonsense and Perversion and Contradiction to Scripture and all true Reason He may as much say The great body of water in the Ocean with the Channels and Places that receive it is nothing else than the River Thames and that little narrow Tract of Earth in which it runs And at this Rate whatever is declared of Christ as born at Bethlem or conversing with his Disciples in Judea teaching them and working mighty Signs and Miracles among them And lastly Crucified on the Tree of the Cross at Golgotha must be understood of nothing else but the Light Power and Spirit within If this be not as great and gross Ranterism as ever was among men I leave all sober Christians to Judge Again seeing he pretends so much to express Scripture let him tell me 1. Where doth the Scripture say That Jesus of Nazareth is nothing else than the Light Power and Spirit within I am sure it is no where to be found in the Holy Bible but in Antichrist's Bible it may be found and is found 2. Where doth the Scripture say That the Light within is sufficient to salvation without any thing else or that it is an Error to say The Light within is not sufficient to salvation without something else Which Two being contradictory if the one be false the other must be true 3dly Where doth the Scripture say it is sufficient to Eternal Salvation only to believe and obey the Light within without all Knowledge and Faith of Christ Crucified and raised again seeing the Scripture plain contrarywise makes it the Terms of Salvation in great part to confess with the mouth and believe with the heart that God hath raised Jesus from the Dead Rom. 10. 9 10. 4thly Where doth the Scripture say The Blood that was shed without the Gates of Jerusalem is not that Blood whereby we are justified which was John Humphreys Assertion a Minister in Pensilvania which we could never get him nor any of you all to condemn and no wonder for G. W. in his book Light and Life hath said as much 5thly Where doth the Scripture say The bodies of the Saints at the Resurrection shall be
Christ is said by Paul to have been kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of faith Rom. 16. 25 26. Now what is made manifest but expres And what is kept secret but implicit So that this very distinction which my ignorant Adversaries blame in me as new and odd is the very distinction of Paul in equivalent terms And seeing they will not allow that distinction as applied to the Knowledge of Christ without us of express and implicit it is plain they hold that not any Knowledge not the least grain of the knowledge of Christ without men is universally necessary to Salvation neither express nor implicit which how Antichristian and Unscriptural it is I leave to all true Christians to judge But why will they not allow it as well with respect to the knowledge of Christ without us as of Christ within us Will they say that Men may be saved without all knowledge of Christ within either express or implicit If yea then we shall see what ignorant Persons they allow shall be saved and what a prodigious Ignorance they establish If nay then they must answer me with the same distinction in the same terms or in terms equilvalent and if they use that or any other the like distinction it shall be found new enough to them at least as new or rather much more new as that I have used in this case nor needs G. Whitehead blame me for using new Distinctions seeing both himself and William Penn have used them in several Cases to serve a turn a phrase they apply to me pag. 19. as in excusing Geo. Fox his saying Christ is not distinct from the Saints the Soul is a part of God And when they excuse Is Pennington's saying ' Can outward Blood cleanse And George Whitehead his excusing his former Sayings in divers of his old Books ' that Christ is not in all Men. He comes off with this distinction of late saying ' He is not in all Men unitedly or by union Which distinction I used not only in my Book of Universal Grace which was written in the Year 1669. though not printed till the Year 1671. but also in my Answer to the Thirty Queries sent by the Bishop of Aberden expresly mentioned in the Preface to Robert Barclay's Answer to VVilliam Mitchel in his Preface to it called Truth cleared of Calumnies The which Answer of mine to the said Thirty Queries was given in the Year 1666. before R. B. printed any thing or before he was a Quaker And I the rather mention this my Answer to these Thirty Queries because in these chief things which my Adversaries charge me to be changed in my Faith is the same now as it is there declared as well as in my other Printed Books which Answer I have in Manuscript writ 30 Years ago Copies of which are in several Hands and which I shall be ready to show to any sober Enquirers And what pittiful unsound and odd as well as new Distinctions hath G. Whitehead used to excuse G. Fox his saying Your Gospel Matthew Mark Luke and John are Dust and the Serpents Meat He saying It was to be meant of the Ink and Paper which would turn to Dust. But who did ever call the Ink and Paper the Gospel or who did ever think that the Serpent which is the Devil doth eat Ink and Paper Oh for shame let these Men cease to blame me for new Distinctions when they have made so many False and Nonsensical new Distinctions more Foolish than ever were heard of And his excusing Solomon Eccles Blasphemy in saying The Blood that came out of Christ's Side was no more than the Blood of another Saint Behold his most Unlearned and Foolish Distinction inconsistent with and contradictory to that known great Principle of the People called Quakers That Christ dyed for all Men and shed his Blood for all His meaning was said G. Whitehead as to Papists and you viz. Baptists whose Minds are Carnol But another idle impertinent Cavil they make against the distinction of express Knowledge of Christ's Death c. and implicit is ' That I use that Word express as a word of Course and of no ' Force as when I said That many of Adam's Posterity suffer disadvantage by his ' Disobedience who never knew it expresly But that ever any perished by Adam's Sin who never knew it either expresly or implicitly as they alledge seeing they bring no proof of it I reject as false and fictitious It is evident from the Heathen Philosophers Writings and particularly from Plato that they knew at least implicitiy the Fall of Man and the degeneration of Mankind in general for Plato not only mentions the Fall of Man but Tò 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an imbred Evil in Men that is born with them And how can any Impartial Reader that reads my Books when I so oft caution restrict and limit the Words on that subject with the term Express and at other times with the Words clear Distinct Knowledge and at other times with the Words Historical Outward Knowledge all which and the like Words R. Barelay hath used in several Places of his Apology after my Method and divers Years after I used that Method of Expression and I well know we were of One Mind in that thing and I published his Latin Theses in Holland first of all and carried them over with me out of Scotland at his desire whereof I can bring sufficient Witness and we used to Discourse together frequently on that Subject and both of us on purpose used these Cautions and Restricted Words as express clear distinct historical outward and in the outward viz. in the outward History or Letter to signifie that we did not intend that any were saved with Eternal Salvation without all Knowledge or Faith of Christ without though without the express they might and still may where it is not revealed And they are as Nonsensical and Ignorant in seeking to marr my Distinction by falsly alledging I have marred it by their dictator-like saying There is no Medium between knowing very darkly in Vails and Figures implicitly in a very obscure Degree and not knowing at all pag. 15. But to confute their Ignorance let any Man of common Sense answer me Is there no Medium between knowing very Darkly and not knowing at all Is the Particle or little Word very Superlative in the highest Degree or is it not rather Comparative Is there no medium betwixt a Mans being very ignorant and knowing nothing at all If there be none then by George Whitehead's Logick who hath either writ this Book that I answer or approved it because he is very Ignorant as I have sufficiently proved he knoweth nothing at all But surely the most ignorant may and do know some things therefore G. W. is as ignorant in true
his time in the City of Leichfield as he declareth in his Journal and how he went in Blood a great way and was commanded to pull off his Shoes c. This and some other like passages has occasioned some to think G. F. favoured the Revolutions but I do not say he did And whether the Disciples did not hold that Doctrine that said Master who hath sinned this Man or his Servants that he was born blind and many other places of Scripture there are on which he might as much and much more query concerning the Revolutions as any expressions he hath mentioned of mine as well as he might query concerning the Revolutions all Friends generally who hold That God hath given to every one a day of Visitation wherein he may be saved and that a Time of God's long suffering is extended to every one wherein he may repent and be Converted seeing many Dye in the Morning as it were of their Age without all signs of Conversion and have had but little Time given them between their Birth and Death wherein to Repent And as to his Question If an honest Indian or Poor infant dye without that outward Knowledg c. He quite misseth the matter I never affirmed the absolute necessity of an outward Knowledg universally to Salvation besides that properly all knowledg is inward and not outward the subject of it being the mind and understanding that is inward And seeing it is certain that there are honest men both among Indians and them called Christians that are not born again I return his own Query upon him to Answer what becomes of them when they dye seeing without being born again there is no entring into the Kingdom of God and what becomes of many called Quakers and others that before they dyed had no signs that they were arrived at that high state of a sinless perfection for tho Friends have earnestly contended for the Doctrin of Perfection as attainable by the Grace of God in this Life yet they have generally acknowledged that many in whom the work of Sanctification is begun have not as yet arrived to that state but have many sinful imperfections remaining in them and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit now let him tell me or any for him what becomes of such when they Dye and I may give him the like Answer or some better what becomes of honest Indians when they Dye if he or they say they who are in measure Sanctified but not Perfected in Sanctification before they Dye are made perfect in Holiness at the instant of Death tho this Answer Friends have blamed when given by those against whom they have contended yet if they think fit to allow of it as current now as it will in great part end the Dispute about Perfection and Answer the great Objection about the Popish Purgatory so it is as valid to Answer that Question What becomes of honest Gentiles that before they Died had no Knowledg nor Faith of Christ Crucified to wit that it is given them at the instant of Death by the internal Operation and illumination of the Holy Spirit But if any say this Answer is more alledged than Proved I reply it hath the same probability in the one case as in the other P. 30. To prove my inconsistency and contrariety with my self in the Doctrine of the Resurrection with a most blasphemous presumption he finds fault with Scripture Doctrine it self and like a scoffing Sadducy or rather Atheist goeth to fix a contradiction on the Scripture it self for thus he brings me in contradicting my self that which riseth is the mortal that puts on immortality and the corruptible which puts on incorruption citing my Book called A Testimony against that absurd Opinion p. 3. But in another place p. 10. he citeth me saying The Flesh that is mortal and corruptible is not that Flesh that shall be raised up immortal and incorruptible And citing my Book called Truth Advanced he brings me saying of that which riseth That it is a pure noble part that consumeth not nor corrupteth And then he querieth If that which riseth be the corruptible p. 31. how is it that that which riseth is incorruptible and corrupteth not again Now Reader I desire thee to notice how he quarrels not so much with me as with the Scriptures to prove a contradiction in them for my saying That which riseth is the Mortal that puts on Immortality and the Corruptible that puts on Incorruption this is plain Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 53. For this Corruptible must put on Incorruption and this Mortal must put on Immortality And for the next Citation which he makes a contradiction to the former it is also most plain and evident in the Scripture The Flesh that is Mortal and Corruptible is not that Flesh that shall be raised up Immortal and Incorruptible for the Scripture saith Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. And surely that is the Flesh that is Mortal and Corruptible And p. 37. That which thou sowest thou sowest not that Body that shall be And v. 42. It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption c. And to his question which implyeth a negation and opposition to plain Scripture I answer That which riseth is incorruptible and corrupteth not again because it is made incorruptible and immortal by the mighty Power of God and to question the immortality and incorruptibility of the Bodies of the Saints after they are raised from the Dead is to suppose that they shall dye again and has this necessary consequence that they shall sin again for the wages of sin is Death But this contradicts the Testimony of Christ and all his Holy Prophets and Apostles and is a plain Introduction to Epicurism and Atheism And that I said in my Book Truth Advanced which he findeth fault with as being a contradiction that that which riseth is a pure noble part that consumeth not nor corrupteth This I say still and is no contradiction for in my Book in that very place cited by him p. 113. I bring a similitude of a grain of Corn which very Similitude the Scripture bringeth to demonstrate the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 37. Now all but fools and idiots know that as there is a Grain of Corn that corrupteth and turneth to Earth or Dust so there is another part in it that is more Noble that corrupteth not but by the corruption and dissolution of the other part is as it were set out of Prison and gets a new Life and Multiplication and as true Philosophy and right Reason and Ocular Experience teacheth that the generation of one thing followeth the corruption of another yet there is something in the new generated thing that was in the old corrupted thing so every Husbandman that has common sense knoweth that his Seed which he soweth doth not all perish or rot in the ground but a part remaineth in every Grain that multiplieth except in some extraordinary
the putting on the New Man is nothing else but the putting off the Old Man and so at this rate the Scripture is vain and false which doth distinguish them as much as betwixt the putting off a filthy Garment and the putting on a new clean Garment But if on better consideration he be ashamed of his rash Assertion and come to acknowledg that the Soul by Regeneration not only is purified from Sin but wonderfully changed and transformed from Natural or Animal to Spiritual from Earthly to Heavenly and yet the same in Substance let him acknowledg that the mighty Power of God through Christ that thus hath changed the Soul retaining the same substance can and will change the low Body of a Saint and fashion it like the Glorious Body of Christ as the Scripture plainly Testifieth Phil. 3. P. 34. But nothing will satisfy him unless I can demonstrate how a Natural and Corruptible Substance can be turned into a Spiritual one Well if I can demonstrate that this actually was done will that satisfy him I fear his unbelief will still harden his Heart against this excellent Doctrine of holy Scripture But however I will try a little more to Convince him The Food which our Saviour received into his Body was it not before he received it corruptible or to use his Phrase a Corruptible Natural Substance Yea surely it was and what part of that Food became part of his Body and Flesh it was turned or changed into incorruptible for as his Flesh saw no Corruption so without all doubt it is at present an incorruptible Substance which G. W. after his former wrangling hath acknowledged Malice of the Indepen Agent p. 17. P. 34. His wrangling and quibling from his own gross misunderstanding of some places of Scripture helps him nothing as that David slept with his Faethers and saw Corruption Acts 13. 36. And that of Job I have said of Corruption thou art my Father If he will take these Scriptures strictly and literally he must as much contend against the Immortality of the Soul as the Resurrection of the Body the Mortal Body of Man is truly said to be Corruptible because it consists of two heterogeneous parts the one Noble the other ignoble to wit the Husk Dross or Cortex and after the Separation of the Noble from the Ignoble it is not corrupt but pure yet at the Resurrection it is raised up to an higher Dignity and made immortal and incorruptible as it neither shall nor can return to be united with that drossy part again and so is truly incorruptible as well as immortal But he will not leave off until as the Man-Eater or Anthropophagus eateth Mans Flesh he Eat or swallow up with his devouring Throat thereby thinking to destroy it the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body And he joyneth with Atheists and Sadducees here in arguing against the Resurrection of the Body being the same in Substance from the Man-Eaters And to my Answer to their Objection from the Man-Eaters he Replyeth first Repeating some of my words but omitting the Explanatory part I shall therefore cite them as they are in my Book p. 118. Truth Adv. I say Allowing there is a great change or renewing of the gross material and visible Parts of Mans Body yet the Radical Body or Radix and Principal Substance of the Body remaineth the same and is of a durable and lasting Nature and tho it may be encreased in Man while he liveth yet it is not diminished nor the parts of it separated asunder and tho Man-Eaters may Eat the gross part of Man's Body yet that more subtil and invisible part they cannot nor can that which belongeth to one be given to another hence by way of Allegory and Metaphor it is called Bone in Scripture Isa 66. 14. From this most nonsensically he infers That I affirm the Man-eaters Eat the Accidents of Man's Body but not the Substance and will needs have it the same or equally absurd with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation But this sort of quibling comes partly from his gross ignorance and partly from the perversion and prejudice of his Spirit for I neither said nor thought that the Man-Eaters eat only the Accidents but I distinguished betwixt the Radix and principal Substance of Man's Body and that which was but the drossy part which is also a substance and if he deny it to be a substance to wit the Dross or Drossy part of any Body which is frequently separated from the Noble Volatile part by Chimical Operations and otherwise he is guilty of the Popish false Notion of Transubstantiation and not I for the Dross is frequently separated from that more Noble Substance that it was mingled with and if he says that Dross is not a Substance but an Accident then here is the Popish Doctrine affirmed by him with a witness But let this Miller-Philosopher who as the Shooemaker goeth beyond his Last so goeth beyond his Sphere of Knowledge in all his undertaking against these great Truths of the Christian Faith tell me doth he think that a Man-eater can properly speaking eat Iron Silver Gold Lead if he swallow it down will it not go forth at the draught with the Excrement and yet is no part of the Excrement This is a thing usually known that some to save their Gold from Robbers have swallowed it down but did they eat it If he say nay then I say to him no more can a man-eater eat that radical and principal substance of a Saints body to make it a part of his body for as every body has a distinct seed so the Radix of every body is a distinct Radix P. 36. But behold the man's great hypocrisie after all his so much contending against the Resurrection of the Body and charging the Scripture it self with inconsistency and contradiction yet he has the impudence to say we firmly believe there shall be a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust And again he saith We do not think it a necessary business to be curiously prying into the manner of it Neither saith he do we find the Primitive Christians come to any Result about what their Bodies should be But this is a plain Contradiction to the holy Scripture That the Primitive Christians believed and all true Christians do now believe which saith This corrrptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality Now what is this mortal It is not the Soul which he thinks I suppose is not mortal therefore it must be the Body And concerning the manner of it the Scripture is very plain and express It is sown natural it is raised spiritual it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown in dishonour it is raised in honour P. 36. But he goeth on still querying 1. If it was the common belief of the Primitive Christians that the very same matter and substance of this corruptible
knowledge of God and some true fear and reverence of him and also to some true knowledge and sense of their sinful state and condition and that they are liable to the Wrath and Displeasure of God for their Sins all which are in good order previous or prior to the true Christian Faith which is a Faith in Christ crucified and therefore may be Preached before that Faith But that the Christian Faith it self may be received by Preaching that Faith is one of the first things that is to be preached as being one of the first Principles of the Christian Religion as is clear from these Scriptures Acts 20 21. where Repentance towards God and Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ are joined together as first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ compared with Heb. 6. 1 2. And these Ignorant Men so deeply Prejudicod against the Preaching of Christ Crucified to wit G. W. and J. P. as being one of the first things needful to be Preached and Faith in him in Order to make Men true Christians might by the same Silly Sophistry and Quibling accuse Paul and John contradicting each other and inconsistent yea the Holy Ghost himself who did inspire them both in what they wrot For whenas Paul told the Corinthians when he Preached the Gospel unto them 1 Cor. 15. 3. that he delivered unto them First of All Note these Words first of all that which he also received how that Christ dyed for our Sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day c. And yet John Preached not that the first thing but began with Preaching the Word that was in the beginning and how in that Word was Life and the Life was the Light of Men and that Light was the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 1. to 9. But in this there is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency betwixt Paul and John for John begins with that Principle of Doctrine that is necessary to General Religion and to the Knowledge of God as Creator Paul begins with the Preaching CHRIST Crucified as one of the first things necessary to Christian Religion and the knowledge thereof And such Order is necessary in teaching Practical Arts and Sciences as in order to teach Astronomy some first Principles of Arithmetick and Geometry are necessary to be taught in the first place as to add and substract in Arithmetic c. And to make a Perpendicular Line or draw a Paralel to bisect an Angle c. Yet none of these are properly Principles of Astronomy as it is a peculiar Science But the first Principles of Astronomy are not to be taught before Arithmetick and Geometry but after them And so the first Principles of Medicine are to be taught after the first Principles of the Physicks and thus the first Principles of Christian Theology are to be taught after the first Principles of Ethicks or Ethology which was the Gentile Religion and which did teach many true and excellent things of God as is to be seen in Aristotle's Ethicks who wrote of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. something Divine in Man by which he could live virtuously and yet who but he that is no true Christian himself will say that Aristotle's Ethicks or Socrate's and Platoe's Morals are enough to teach the Christian Theology Thus I hope I have made it appear that as my Adversaries have not proved me inconsistent with my self so they have proved themselves inconsistent with true Christianity and no true Christians in their Principles but Heathens and falling short of Heathen Morals in Falsly accusing the Innocent a Vice contrary to true Morality The second part of their Charge in pag. 10. is That I did formerly hold that Christ's Inward coming saves where the Outwardis unknown But here they are guilty of gross Forgery and Perversion first of Forgery seeing they cite no passage in any of my Books where I express these Words where the Outward is unknown and seeing by their Words where the Outward is unknown they mean Christ's coming without us I say they are guilty of grosly perverting my Words and Sense as if I did hold that Christ's inward coming saves with Eternal Salvation without all knowledge of Christ's outward coming and in contradiction to themselves they grant I have distinguished betwixt the express or explicit Knowledge and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings in order to Eternal Salvation and the implicit Knowledge and Faith of it asserting this last but not the first as universa'ly and indispensibly necessary They object against this distinction idlely and falsly that it is said by me pag. 14. ' That the distinction betwixt explicit and implicit is a late distinction But the place of my Book cited by them saith no such thing But I mention how in divers of my late Books I have distinguished betwixt the express and implicit Knowledge and Faith but this proves it not to be a late distinction for it is an antient distinction and sufficiently implied and understood in my oldest Books when I treat on that subject for whereas they confess that I have used the Word express in my oldest Books that proveth that I did then make that distinction though I did not express the other term of implicit which though not expressed yet was really understood by me as in many cases it is enough to express the one Term or Member of a distinction as when we call a Man a rational Creature though we express not the Word Irrational yet we sufficiently distinguish betwixt a Man and a Bruit that Man is rational and a Bruit is irrational and when I say some or many things commanded us are jure divine this sufficiently implyeth and intimateth to any of common sense that some things may be commanded us that are not jure divino but jure humano yea all things done and practised by the People called Quakers are not jure divine as themselves confess therefore as jure divino implieth the other term of the distinction when not expressed viz. jure humano so the term express implieth the other term implicit though not expressed And though my ignorant Adversaries would make their ignorant Followers think this is only a new and odd distinction of mine yet all true and Orthodox Christians do hold it as well as I and have used it as they do at present and hath its Foundation in Scripture for when Paul said Ephes 3. 6. That the Mystery how that the Gentiles should be fellow Heirs and of the same Body and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men as it is now revealed unto his Holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit he plainly implieth this distinction for in other Ages yea in all Ages it was at least obscurely and implicitly made known but not expresly as in Paul's Age and the Ages succeeding and that Great Mystery of
by their Censure it is evident they think none such to be found in all Christendom but themselves who hold the Head and build on the true Foundation for thus they say VVhich whosoever pleases to bestow the reading on will see whose Communion he labours to insinuate himself into next as holding the Head and only differing in some lesser Matters But unless they be so Unchristianly uncharitable as they too evidently show they are as to judge none in Christendom differing from them in Profession to hold the Head or are sincere Professors of the Lord Jesus Christ but they only Why should I be blamed for owning my Christian Communion with them in things that are not simply unlawful Ought I not to be of David's Mind who said I am a Companion of all them that fear thee c. But more particularly as to the Case of Water-Baptism and the Supper as I have freely declared of late Years viva voce so now as freely I publish it in Print That I am not ashamed to own my general Mistakes I have been under concerning divers Places of Scriptures particularly relative to Water-Baptism and the Supper as Matth. 28. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 26. and some other places of Scripture relative to some other matters especially in the Misapplication of some places to prove certain Truths which these places did not prove a thing but too common to many Writers and to none more than to some called Quakers for though every place of Scripture prove some Truth yet every place proves not that Truth in particular which some may bring for to prove it and I am so far from being ashamed to publish this Confession that I have great Peace and Joy in it and I also declare that I am justly ashamed that I have been so long deceived and byassed with such weak Arguments as both they called Friends and I have used being too much influenced and byassed by their pretended authority to perswade and draw away the Minds of People from the true Sense of these places of Scripture And the Arguments that we have mostly used against these two things are so weak that they have the same force against the Bible it self and all Books and outward Testimonies and outward acts of Worship and therefore are void in themselves for seeing they have no force against the latter they have as little against the former However I continue in my faithful Testimony against the abuse of these things and the dead empty and formal way that too many practise them and except the Lord be found to bless and accompany them who use them with his Power and Spirit they are but as empty Shadows and Shells But who find the Lord to bless them with his Presence I judge them not and in this I am not singular for divers of good Note among the People called Quakers even Preachers have said the same or equivalent as particularly John Crook and Robert Barclay And it can no more be an evidence of my Apostacy to correct my former Mistakes on these two places of Scripture Matth. 28. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 26 Which mistakes of mine were That I judged the Apostles were not commanded to practise these things and did not practise them by Command but by Permission of which I am now convinced of the contrary more than it will prove John Crook an Apostate which they will not dare to say who hath owned the same viz. ' That the Apostles and Primitive Believers did do these things by Command And J. N. in his Love to the Lost hath said as much Yea both J. N. and Stephen Crisp allow the practise of the Supper at this Day to weak Believers as is evident from their Books in Print Pag. 43. They blame me for opposing it as an Error That the Garden of Paradise was some part of this visible Earth and for my saying the Hebrew Word translated to dress signifies to Work in it blaming my saying It cannot be well understood that it needed Dressing after the manner of our common Gardens Now whereas G. Whitehead hath approved this Book and boasts that I have fallen into other Hands to deal with me c. Let us see how their Hands at present agree Ye see they blame me for opposing it as an Error that the Garden of Paradise was some part of this Visible Earth and will needs have that it needed Dressing after the manner of our common Gardens But in plain Contradiction to this G. Whitehead in his Printed Book called A Serious Account in 35 Reasons c. Giveth this as one of his 35 Reasons why the People called Quakers have left the Men called Priests pag. 23. Reas 9. Also the Priests Ignorance and Gross Darkness saith he hath appeared who have affirmed That the forbidden Fruit which the Serpent tempted Eve to eat of was an Apple From which Dream of theirs the picture of a Snake and an Apple in its Mouth in a Tree with the Image of a Man a Woman are set up at the beginning of Bibles and in many other places from which some have imagined that the Serpent which beguiled Eve was a Visible Creature or Beast of the Field which for that time had power to speak and to present an Apple to deceive Eve withal when as God said to Man and Woman before the Fall Behold I have given you every Herb hearing Seed which is upon the face of all the Earth and every Tree in the which is the fruit of a Tree yielding seed to you it sha'l be for Meat Gen. 1. 29. and the fruit of such a Tree that beareth seed is an Apple So that could not be the Forbidden Fruit And the Serpent was that which tempted Man from the Simplicity of the Truth and through subtilty led him out from the Innocency and Life wherein God had placed him to feed upon the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge which was desirable to the Carnal or Woman's part that was not content with the pure innocent and simple Being wherein God at first placed Man over the rest of the Creation Now 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 as an Apple or any other visible Fruit growing on this visible Earth and seeing he gives this as a Reason why he left the Men he calleth Priests And it is now his own Faith by the same Reason all the Quakers should leave him In the next place let us hear what G. Fox saith in that famous Book called his Journal pag. 17. ad finem Now saith he was I come up in Spirit through the Flaming Sword into the Paradise of God all things were new c. I appeal to all Intelligent Readers whether G. F. did mean by the Paradise or Garden here any part of this Visible Earth And if any think he meant it of any part
were they armed with Truth and Righteousness they needed not have complained of want of due preparation its odd and a new sort of Language for one called a Quaker to tell us of his not being prepared the Scripture saith 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready always to give an Answer to every Man that asketh you a Reason of the Hope that is in you When I was most falsly and uncharitably accused by John Voughton John Field and Thomas Ellwood at the Yearly Meeting 1694. I sought no Particulars of Quotations and Pages referred unto nor did any intimate to me before-hand the particular Passages in my Books that they justly excepted against I intirely relyed on the Assistance of God to help me what to answer to the many false Accusations and Perversions that my Accusers used against me and I found him a present help to me I had offered in Print before to Tho. Elwood that he would appoint Time and Place and I would stand to his Appointment And I make the same Offer to you again I freely allow you to serve me as I have served you Give out your Advertisement in Print appoint your Time and Place and let me have your Charge without your Proofs until we meet and then bring them forth against me I premise God permitting to meet you provided the Meeting be free and open to all Sober Persons A POSTSCRIPT Containing an Earnest Expostulation with the most Pious and Learned whether in the Church of England or among other Protestant Dissenters and a serious Invitation unto them to employ some of their Time and Labour by their Pious and Learned Writings to oppose and refute those vile Errors boldly avowed and publickly broached in the late Printed Books of some Leading Men among a Gang and sort of Quakers IT may seem strange how it comes to pass that while so many Pious and Learned Men are judged to be found in this Nation not only of the Church of England but among the Dissenters and Nonconformists there are found so few among them all that do imploy their Gifts to oppose such Vile Errors as are boldly and avowedly promoted among a sort and Gang of the People called Quakers not only as bad as any Popery but much worse than the worst of Popery in divers respects and I am confident if such Antichristian Errors and Heresies were but the tenth part so avowedly broached in the City of Rome or any where else in Popish Countries these esteemed Watchmen among them would be more alarmed to oppose them by Word and Writing than most among Protestants do which would seem to cast a great Reflexion on the Protestant Churches if some able Men and of good esteem among them both for Piety and Sound Knowledge be not awakened to bestow some of their time and labour by their Writings to oppose such Vile Errors and such a Work would be so far from unbecoming the ablest and most valuable Persons in this Nation for Piety and Learning that it would turn much to their Honour and real Advantage to bestir themselves in this Work It frequently happeneth that Books are more valued and the Contents of them the more regarded and considered and the more universally read and recommended that Persons of publick Note and Fame when Pious and Learned are the Authors of them And whereas many of the chiefest Teachers and Leaders among the People called Quakers have formerly with great boldness provoked such as have differed from them to publick Disputes viva voce and have oft gloried over them who refused to answer them that their Cause was bad and that they had not Truth on their side and in these days there was no such Cry to be heard from them as now That such publick Disputes will offend Authority and break the Civil Peace yea how oft have some of their Teachers assaulted the National Ministers in the Face of their Congregations and provoked them to dispute with them and on their refusal have cryed out against them to be Fugitives and Hirelings when the said National Ministers way of Religion and Worship was approved by Authority and that of the People called Quakers was not Would it not therefore be a most equal reasonable and commendable Practise for any Persons of true Piety and solid Learning moved with the Zeal of God's Glory and love of Truth and with a Holy Indignation against these Vile Errors that are publickly avouched by some Leading Men among the Quakers as appeareth both by their former and later Printed Books and with a tender Compassion to the Souls of so many Thousands in this Nation that are in danger to perish by the Infection of these Errors openly and publickly to call them forth to a publick Hearing and to press them by earnest Perswasions to retract and condemn those vile and damnable Errors contained in their Books or if they continue to justifie them to refute them openly in the Face of their own Meetings and in the presence of them that do so much admire and follow them And thus to serve them at they have served others and with what Measure they have met to others with the sone to mete to them again And it would be a Commendable and Praise-worthy thing for the Civil Authority to encourage such a Practise throughout the Nation that Men of true Piety and solid Learning might be allowed and Countenanced to Refute these Vile and Abominable Errors of these chief Teachers and Leaders anong them called Quakers in their Meeting-Houses at the end of their Meetings or at other fit times Surely such a Practise as this as it is no ways inconsistent with the Civil Peace and Liberty of Conscience granted to Dissenting Protestants notwithstanding of the idle Clamour of such Men who have an Evil Conscience and a lad Cause would be more effectual to Preserve the True Protestant Christian Religion in these three Nations than all the severe ways in former times used against then of Fines Imprisonments c. And though it is far from me to desire the least Suffrings to come on these Mens Persons or Estates yet if such a zeal were raised in them bearing Authority in this Nation to give order that all such Books of them called Quakers as can readily be found as great store of such there are that contan such Vile and Abominable Errors to the dishonour of the worthy Name of Christ and the Christian Religion and the great danger of many Souls be diligently searched and examined by the most Pious and Judicious Persons in the Nation and after due search and Examination be found guilty that by publick Authority all such Books may be suppressed and witnessed against I may freely say these Men should have no just Cause to Complain that their Books should be so dealt with for they have done the like to Books that have opposed their gross Errors witness a Parcel of Books writ by me some Four Years ago that came to London from Pensilvania opposing the
gross Errors of some called Quakers in that Province which were designed to have been Sold in single Books and dispersed through City and Country for a general Service But the Quakers here at London gave large Money to the Man that had them that they might get them all into their Hands on purpose to suppress them as accordingly they did and hinder the Service of them and these very Books generally lie in these Mens Custody suppressed unto this very Day and some of them have burned others have torn and trod under Feet in open view Books that have opposed their vile Errors Advertisement WHereas there is lately Printed a Scandalous Libel against me with this Title Master George Keith at Turners-Hall in Philpot Lane London in 1696. contradicting c. Signed only with two Letters W. C. wherein he laboureth in vain to prove my Inconsistency and Contradiction betwixt my Book of Immediate Revelation and the late Exact Narrative the Author of which Scandalous Libel seemeth to profess himself to be a Member of the Church of England but his Speech bewrayeth him to be a Counterfeit and rather one of that Gang and sort of Anti-Christ Quakers above-mentioned seeing he doth so eagerly patronize them against the known Doctrine of the Church of England as well as of all true Christians I give this publick Intimation that I desire this W. C. to appear and meet me at any convenient time at our Meeting-place at Turners-Hall which time I allow him to appoint and give Notice of before-hand and I doubt not but by God's Assistance to prove him guilty of divers Forgeries and palpable Falsities Perversions and Wrestings of my Sound Woros contained in his said Scandalous Libel together with his base Reflexions and False Surmises against me And if he refuse this my fair Proposal it will be manifest he is a Cowardly Spirit and smiter in the dark and as well Unmanly as Unchristian thus in a Clandestine way by palpable Falsities and Perversions to seek to deceive his unwary Readers and to divert me from a Business of greater Concern by his trifling And I judge no Impartial Observer of the state of this Controversie betwixt my open and professed Adversaries G. W. and W. P. and others of their party and me will think me obliged to Print Answers to such Clandestine Enemies and Smiters in the dark or to regard their Nameless Libels which might prove as much an Unprofitable as an Endless Work I also desire the Friendly Reader to take notice that the Corrections and Explanations of some Passages contained in my former Books which I have freely declared did need Correction in some things and Explanation in others are in great part already given in this Treatise and indeed the greatest Mistakes that I find I have been under were my mis-understanding these places of Scripture Matth. 28. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 26. and others the like places relating to these outward Practices of Baptism and the Supper which in the foregoing Treatise I have freely acknowledged and this may suffice at present to silence the Clamour of such that cry out I should first acknowledge my own Errors before I charge others with their Errors For as I had done it in general in the first place so since I have done it in particular in great part and may yet more fully do it as God shall be pleased to give me an Opportunity But I bless God I have no such Errors to retract or correct as my Adversaries have for put all my Mistakes and Errors together in one Bundle and they will not weigh the one thousand part of the weight that one of these four Errors do weigh that I have proved my Adversaries guilty of both in the Exact Narrative and in this fore-going Treatise and in other late Treatises And were but my Adversaries so sincere and ingenuous to acknowledge either in general or in any particulars wherein they have been mistaken and need to correct their Sentiments it would give great Satisfaction to many as well as to me But this they will hardly do nay it is impossible they can do it so long as they seek to keep up in their credulous Followers their esteem of their Infallibility and beside to own that they are changed from their former Sentiments would be either to acknowledge themselves as great Apostates as they now charge me to be for some small change in me touching lesser Matters or rather to clear me of that foul Charge of Apostacy they have so invidiously cast upon me And it is great dis-ingenuity in them and Hypocrisie to blame me for saying I did not know they held such Principles till of late times for it is certain that as these their Erronious Principles were unknown to me which I call Anti-Christian and Sadducean so what they call my Presbyterian and Priestly Principles were unknown to them or if they did know them they were great Hypocrites if they judged them false not to discover them before now For whereas now they commonly say I hold Priests and Professors Principles I know no such Priests and Professors Principles that I now hold but I am able to prove I have held them ever since I came among the People called Quakers as touching all the Articles of Faith commonly called the simpliciter credenda and wherein I am changed in my Judgment as to the Sense of these places of Scripture relating to Baptism and the Supper I can prove my agreement with some of chiefest Note among the People called Quakers therefore for that I am no Apostate Some of the Chiefest of these False Contradictions the foresaid Libeller hath unjustly charged upon me that prove him extreamly Ignorant or wickedly Impudent Pag. 5. That an Unbelieving Iew is no Christian That a Believing Iew in Moses time was a Christian That which makes one a true Christian is the Spirit of Christ the anointing in him Faith in Christ without us wrought by the Spirit of Christ in us is universally necessary to make Men true Christians Pag. 6. The History or Historical and express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified is not universally necessary to make Men true Christians Some Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified though not the Express and Historical yet Implicit is universally necessary to make Men true Christians The Manifestation of God in the Flesh of Christ and his Incarnation is a greater Mystery than mens Regeneration Christ's inward Ministry and Teaching by the Spirit in our Hearts is more than his outward Ministring and Speaking was to them who outwardly heard him and saw him Pag. 7. Christ crucified in whom the Fulness dwelleth is a greater Mystery than Christ in the Gentiles Jesus Christ revealed in Man is the Foundation of the true Church Note I did not say Christ only within c. Pag. 8. Christ without us as he is both God and Man the Emmanuel as well as his inward Appearance in us is the Object of Saving Faith The Internal Revelation of Christ is the formal Object of Faith Note His Ignorance in not understanding the distinction betwixt the material Object of Faith and the formal Object also betwixt the objectum formale quod and objectum formale quo maketh him think the two above-mentioned Passages to be Contradictions but for his Instruction I send him to R. B. his Apology on that Head and his and my Answer to the Students of Aberdene Pag. 11. The wisdom described Prov 8. is Christ the very fulness of God Note His abominable Forgeries and Falsities in saying I give all these Names he mentions p 11 to the Light within which is a notorious Falshood as the Reader will see that will be at the pains to view the several pages he refers to for though some of these Names I give to the Light within yet not all of them but some I give to Christ as he is both God and Man and I divers times in that same Book and near to these places that he cites call the Light within a Measure of that Fulness of Life and Spirit whose Fulness is in the Man Christ without us The Light in us is the Voice of Wisdom the Path of Wisdom a Measure of that Fullness See my Book Immediate Revel pag. 117. 243 245. Mary was the Mother of Christ according to the Flesh and in that respect Christ is the Seed of the Woman in the literal sense of Gen. 3. 15. And as in all his Instances he grosly prevaricates so he is guilty of most gross Forgery in saying That I Allegorize his Birth in the Flesh and his Miracles Crcucifixion and Resurrection But his Ignorance proceeds from his not understanding to distinguish betwixt an Allegorical Allusion warranted by Scripture and turning the true Literal Sense of places of Scripture into an Allegory so as to destroy or make void the Literal Sense which I have proved G. W. guilty of But this Libeller has proved no such thing on me and he is most shamefully deceitful in saying the Word away we must justly drop on both sides I having accused G. W. that he hath Allegorised away Christ's Births Burial Resurrectionn and proved him guilty of so doing in my Narrative by Allegorising away the Literal Sense of these places of Scripture Isaiah 9. 6 53. 9. and 1 Cor. 15. 8. Believers are the Mother of Christ in an Allegorical Sense not grounded on Gen 3. 15. but on Matth. 49. 50. and Rev. 1â— 5. And in this Allegorical Sense Christ is formed in the Saints Gal. 4. 19. and by his Power in them he the Seed of the Woman bruiseth the Serpent's Head London the 24th of the Month called July 1696. G. K. ERRATA Pag. 9. line 29. for servants read parents p. 11. l. 17. after is r. a part in p. 22. l. 50. r. ad finem p. 26. l. 11. after books r but think that I did so distinguish p. 29. l. 40. r. deisme p. 34. last line for general r several p. 35. l 47. r. Man and Woman Of Christ Crucified Citing Way cast up p. 113. false quot true quot p. 131. * That was Peter Bosse Note These few Lines are but a small part of many more English Verses made by the said John Homes that he spread abroad having this Title The Fighting Quakers Expedition in Pensilv