Reprobation rendring salvation impossible either to the greatest part or indeed to any part of Mankind and for the possibility of salvation to all Mankind So that who shall not be saved are left without excuse But this possibility of salvation cannot be understood without it be acknowledged that God has made some Provision of means whereby Men Universally are put under a possibility of salvation the means of salvation are both without Men and within Men the means without are chiefly Christs coming in the Flesh and his suffering Death for all Men and offering up himself a Sacrifice for all c. The means within are the inward Visitations and Illuminations of God by his Spirit inwardly convincing Men of Sin and moving them to Repentance and Conversion unto God and Christ And tho I have plainly enough in this my Book opposed that absurd Doctrine of absolute Reprobation yet An Election even of Persons as well as of the Divine Seed I have owned and that God doth visit such elect Persons with his Mercy that he never leaveth them till he hath gained them to himself which is a wonderful Discrimination of the free Love of God Viz. To them above and beyond others who are not saved See pag. 107 and in p. 108. allowing the common Translation of these words Acts 13. 48. And as many as were ordained to eternal Life believed I say we grant that as whoever believes are ordained to Eternal Life so whoever are ordained to Eternal Life do believe And pag. 109. I denied that Faith foreseen or something in the Creature was the moving Cause of God's Decree of Election And that I said Election was not without respect to Faith my sense is obvious viz. That Election respects Faith not as its Cause but as its Effect and as the means unto salvation so that whoever shall be eternally saved God hath chosen them to eternal salvation And in the same page 109. I own a more special giving according to John 6. 37. by Virtue whereof all that are thus given by the Father unto Christ shall come unto him and cannot but come to him II. Pag. 5. The spirit of Life from God is entred into the two slain Witnesses and yet shall more abuudantly enter Here Note this is said only by an Allegorical and Metaphorical Allusion What my sense of Scripture Allusions is see a little after § 4. III. Pag. 6. Forasmuch as they both deny That the Universal Light that is given unto all is the Light Evangelical or a Light for the Faith of the Gospel to rest in Therefore they viz. Papists and Arminians do not hold it forth as the Immediate Object of the Christian Faith 2dly They deny the way and manner of its Operation to be by Immediate Revelation 3dly They say This Light comes from Christ but Christ himself is not in man Here Note That divers of my late Adversaries among that Sect of Quakers with whom I have had a great Contest of late concerning some of the great Fundamentals of Christian Doctrine have from this passage sought to infer my Agreement with them so as to hold That the Light within was sufficient to salvation without any thing else and thereby not only excluding all outward helps and means of salvation but even the Man Christ Jesus and his Death and Sufferings and Sacrifice of himself from being necessarily concerned in our salvation as because I had said that this Light is Evangelical that is in every man and is the Immediate Object of the Christian Faith and so that Christ is in every man But all this doth not prove that I ever did hold that the Light within is sufficient to salvation without any thing else for I did always believe that Christ is our intire and compleat Saviour in both respects viz. both as he came outwardly in the Flesh and died for our sins and became a Sacrifice of a sweet savour unto God to make a Reconciliation betwixt God and us and also as he cometh into us and is in us as the Eternal Word but I never held that the Word alone was our entire and Compleat Saviour without his taking the true Nature of Man upon him And that I never did exclude him but that still both in this book and all my other books first and last I did respect him both ways viz. both within us and without us as our compleat and entire Saviour and the compleat and entire Saviour of all that shall be saved by him I can sufficiently prove and that I have so considered him in this very book I shall bring sufficient Evidence for thus I write p. 120. of this book That the sufficiency of the Light and Grace of Christ within doth not make void the use and benefit of his Outward Coming Obedience Death and Sufferings For they are not to be set in Opposition to each other as if the one did hinder the sufficiency or usefulness of the other both being sufficient and useful and necessary in their own kind and way consummating and being consummated in one another And p. 10. I say And as concerning the sufficiency of this Light unto salvation we do not understand it in Opposition to either the Necessity or Usefulness of the Outward Coming of Christ and his Sufferings and Death for our sins nor in Opposition to the service and use of any Teachings in the Outward that come from the spirit of God or any Outward things to be done or practised which his spirit leadeth unto And p 11. I say Neither do we assert That men that have received this Light and spirit of God and have given themselves up unto it to obey it and so are become servants of Righteousness do receive at once a full and sufficient measure for the whole course of their lives but only sufficient for the present state condition opportunity and case to preserve protect and defend them from all Evil so that the Creature must be continually exercised in a perpetual dependance and waiting upon the Lord to receive the renewed and fresh Influences of his Divine Life and Light according as its present state condition and necessity may require there being no security of the soul out of this dependent waiting receiving frame And whereas my late Adversaries have much blamed my distinguishing betwixt a first and second Ministration of the Spirit and Light within given to both Jews and Gentiles calling the first Legal and that of the first Covenant the second Evangelical being that of the second Covenant and for my saying That none were justified by the Law or first ministration of the spirit or Light within and their Obedience thereunto but thro' Faith in Christ And they call this distinction New Doctrine and say therein I do contradict what I have formerly delivered in this book But for the Reader 's satisfaction I recommend to him if he please to read what I have writ in that very book from p. 8. to p. 10. where he will
called Mary really and truly according to the flesh And his Birth thus after the flesh as he was born of the Virgin at Bethlem in Judea I did always believe as I do at present so believe was really intended and foretold in these words Gen. 3. 15. And as Mary was the immediate Mother of Christ according to the flesh so Evah who was the Mother of all Men was his Mother remotely But the Allegorical sense of Christ's Birth or Formation in the Saints is warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity By Scripture as Mat 12. 50. Rev. 12. 2. 5. And by Antiquity for Augustin first and long after him Erasmus said If Mary had not born Christ in her heart or soul he could not have been her Saviour tho she had born him in her flesh But this Allegorical Allusion of Christ's Birth in the Saints I did not ground on Gen. 3. 15. but on Mat. 12. 50. and Rev. 12. 1 5. And how and in what sense I understand the Birth of Christ in the Saints I refer to the 4th Paragraph of this Section XX. Page 254. And this is as proper a Death as when a man dieth for when a man dieth his soul dieth not in it self but it dieth unto that Fellowship it had with the body by reason of the Vital Union betwixt it and the body being broken Here Note I acknowledge this passage is not safely worded therefore I retract it For tho I had very safely asserted That the Life af Christ viz. The Principle of the Divine Life in men never dieth in it self but only as to men when they commit great and heinous sins whereby they are said to quench the spirit and crucifie the Son of God afresh to themselves after they had known a divine quickening yet the Union betwixt the soul and body of a man being broken is more properly a Death the other I take to be understood rather figuratively than proper For when the Vital Union betwixt Soul and Body is broken the Soul doth wholly cease to act in that body while it is dead But Christ ceaseth not oft times to act in a dead soul but doth oft act in it by sharp Reproof and Conviction for its sin and also by new and fresh Visitations of his Life and Love in order to quicken and renew it again Moreover the Soul and Body of a Man are so united that they make up one Person but so are not Christ and the Soul united as to be one Person for that would make every Saint to be Christ The Union betwixt the Soul and Body of a Man is a Personal Union whereby every Action of the body is chargable upon the Person according to that true Maxim Actiones sunt suppositorum i. e. Actions are of Persons as what the hand doth the Man whose hand it is is justly said to do it whether Good or Evil. But the Actions of Mens Souls in whom Christ is are not chargeable upon Christ for as Christ is no wise chargeable with the least Sin that the Soul Acteth so when the Soul repenteth and believeth c. That is not Christ that repenteth and believeth in that Soul Christ indeed is the Author and chief efficient cause of true Repentance and Faith in believers but he is not the subject of reception This excellent Union betwixt Christ and true Believers is compared in Scripture to that Union betwixt the Head and the Body the Vine and the Branches the Foundation and the Building but it is better felt by the Faithful than it can be defined by the best of words for it is unspeakable and yet is incomparably short of that Union that is betwixt the Godhead and Manhood of Christ which is a Personal Union So that the Man Christ is God yet so that the Manhood is not the Godhead And the Union betwixt Christ and Believers is by their Faith in him and Love to him by which Faith and Love as they are United to his Spirit and Measure of his Life and Grace in them so thereby they are United to the Man Christ in Heaven and to that fullness of Grace that dwells in him as every Member of the Body as it is United to the Life in that Member so it is to the Head and to the Life that is in the Head and as all the Members in the Natural Body are United both to the head and to each other so all the faithful are United to Christ and to one another The Reader that is willing to know my sense further as to these weighty matters above-mentioned relating to Christs Birth or Formation in the Saints and their Union with him may read if they please my Appendix to the General History of the Quakers by G. Croese Printed at London this present Year 1696. SECT II. Containg diverse Explanations and Emendations of Passages in my Book called The Universal free Grace of the Gospel Asserted Printed 1671. TItle Pag. Proved by many infallible Arguments in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of Truth Here Note That I had the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth on my side in diverse of the Arguments I have used in that Book I still believe but whereas on a further consideration and more mature Judgment I find diverse Passages in that Book that need correction therefore I Acknowledge my Weakness and Rashness in ascribing all the Arguments in that Book and my whole way of Arguing on that subject to the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth and I freely and most willingly retract that clause both here or any where else in any of my Books where I have used it so far 〈…〉 have ascribed any saying or Passage to the Spirit of 〈…〉 that is not according to the Testimony of the Holy 〈…〉 the Spirit of Truth leads into all Truth and into 〈◊〉 but Truth therefore whoever ascribes whether I or any Man else any untruth or Inpertinency or undue Application of Scripture to the Spirit of Truth however unwittingly they so do as what I did was unwittingly they do greatly Err and Sin in so doing And my sin and error herein I freely confess trusting in the Mercy of God for Christs sake for the pardon of that and all my other Sins I. Pag. 4. That God by an Eternal decree hath wholly passed by the most part of Men and left them in Darkness without any Light to shine in their Darkness that can possibly at any time Lead them out of it Doth not this discourage People Here Note That it is this which I mainly opposed in my Book Viz. The decree of absolute reprobation making salvation impossible to the greatest part of Mankind And on the other hand I earnestly plead for the Universality of the Light Word Grace and Spirit of God towards and upon all In a day of Visitation for making salvation possible unto them compared with p. 110. And in this Testimony I remain against that absurd Doctrine of absolute
application of these places of Scriptue to the inward Principle as to what it did or doth discover and reveal universally in men and particularly in such of the Gentiles to whom the Gospel was not outwardly preached for upon a more diligent search into the holy Scripture I find that in all places in the New Testament where the word Gospel is used it signifieth the Doctrine of salvation by the promised Messiah that was outwardly to come and did come in the true Nature of Man together with the spiritual blessings that men were to receive by him of which the inward principle of God's Grace Light and Spirit within both in general to all and in special to believers in a more excellent degree and manner of Operation and Influence is but a part Yet I confine not the Gospel even in this sense to outward preaching by the Ministry of Men or Books for it was preached to Adam and Eve after the Fall by God himself and so was it to Abraham and Job and so it is probable it has been to divers even to some Gentiles singularly favoured without the Ministry of Men though in God's ordinary way it is preached by the Ministry of Men God himself by his Spirit and divine Influence inwardly accompanying the same to work the true Faith of it in the Hearers Therefore whatever Doctrine Men preach or have at any time preached the great Subject whereof is not the promised Messiah to wit the Crucified Jesus as the main Foundation of all the Spiritual Blessings of Light and Grace and divine Influences of the Spirit within it is not the Gospel in the proper full and adequate Sense and Signification of it as the Scripture useth it And as concerning that place in Colos 1. 23. and other such places as I have noted above though the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft properly Translated in yet not always and there is no cause so to Translate it here but rather to for the Apostle Paul in that place means the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Crucified and the Grace and gift of the Holy Spsrit given of God to Men through him as it was preached by him and the other Apostles and Evangelists in that clear and bright Dispensation of it that was then given And though it was not at that time actually preached to all Men nor to all Nations yet because it began then so to be preached and was certainly to be preached to all Nations and will be so preached before the end of the World therefore after the Prophetical Phrase of Scripture That which was to be done is said to be done VIII Pag. 43. And that it hath pleased the Lord to send his Son into the world both in the outward and inward in a weak and low appearance that he might show forth the more abundant glory in that which was so low and weak in appearance to prevail over the greatest power that stood in his way for thus doth the Seed of the woman bruise the Serpents head Here Note That I did not place our Salvation wholly upon Christ's inward appearance but upon God his sending him both in the outward and inward to bruise the Serpents head And that I did not understand that the bringing Men simply to the inward Principle so as only to believe in the Light Word or Spirit within was the bringing them to the Christian Faith but that it was a proper means by way of preparation and introduction in order to the gathering of People into the true Faith of Christ which is the whole aim and scope of my fifth Argument in that Book from P. 88. to 94. where note these words p. 92. And this will bring People naturally to own the Scriptures and things therein declared to own Moses and the Prophets to own the Dispensation of God to the Jews in that day and to own Christ in the Flesh his miraculous Birth his Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension together with the wonderful end and design of God therein c. And this Method I very well approve of still for as the knowledge of Christ the Word Incarnate or made Flesh presupposeth some knowledge of God and of his Word so to preach to People that are ignorant of God and of his Divine Perfections that there is a God and what his Divine Perfections are is very proper and necessary that they may be brought into some true knowledge of him which they cannot be brought into without some Divine Illumination of the inward Principle the Internal Word and Light But all this is an introduction and preparation to dispose the Souls and Hearts of Men to receive the Christian Faith and Religion and is not the Explicite Christian Faith it self no more than the Porch that leads into the House is the House though it may be said to be a part of it as in the definition of a Man that he is a living Creature or Animal is not his true definition but the Genus of it which is but a part at most but when the difference is superadded that he is a Rational or Intellectual Living Creature that is his true definition And so the true definition of a true Christian and sincere Believer in Christ is he who not only believes that there is a God and that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God c. but that the Word was made Flesh and that the Son of God by Eternal Generation became the Son of Man by a miraculous Generation in time and so is both God and Man and yet not two Sons of God but one not two Christs but one This is the true Christian Explicite Faith like a Tree spreading forth its boughs and branches together with the other great Truths of the Christian Doctrine delivered in the Holy Scriptures with rich and precious Fruit to which the implicit Faith in some Virtuous Gentiles may be compared to that same Tree when it was in the Seed or but a little sprung up into the Bud or Blade as Christ compared the Kingdom of God to wit the Evangelical Dispensation Mark 4. 26 27 28 29. Compare this with what is above quoted out of that Book p. 6. § 3. of this Section and with what is said p. 61 of that Book VIII P 63. Which peice of silver betokeneth the divine principle c. Luke 15. 8. Here Note This undue Application is Retracted and Corrected above in the first Sect. § 13. And in fine although I firmly remain in my Faith and Persuasion of the Truth of that great Principle of the Universal Love and Grace of God making Salvation possible to all Men and that in order thereunto Christ hath Inlightened every Man that cometh into the World which universal Illumination is an universal Benefit that all Men have by his dying for them as is largely urged by me particularly from p. 31 to 34. in that Book and in divers other places and
be required of us to be done that is sin in the sight of God to wit that is any breach of any positive express command of God Pag. 71. citing my Book called Help in time of Need concerning the Antichrist mentioned 1 John 2. 18. this is Antichrist who denys Christ the Son come in the Revelation of himself in the Heart for that coming of Christ in his Bodily Appearance at Jerusalem Antichrist will not does not deny seeing to confess him so come will never harm his Kingdom provided Christ's Kingdom be not set up in the Heart Here Note These foregoing Words For that coming of Christ in his Bodily Appearance at Jerusalem Antichrist will not does not deny I Retract as unsafely worded for though a sort of Antichrists may not deny but confess in Hypocrisie to Christs outward coming as also they may confess in Hypocrisie to his coming in Mens Hearts yet I am satisfied the true meaning of these words 1 John 2. 18. compared with 1 John 4. 3. respects principally the coming of Christ in the Flesh as he outwardly suffered in that Body of Flesh and consequentially the spiritual Blessings and Benefits we have by that same among which is his Spiritual coming into our Hearts and though a sort of Antichrists and men of an Antichristian Spirit may confess in hypocrisie to Christ's outward coming yet they neither do nor can confess to him as he did outwardly come in sincerity of Heart And it is the sincere Confession from the Heart to Christ as he outwardly came in the Flesh and to all the spiritual Blessings that men receive by him as of his Light Spirit and Grace in them that is the Confession there meant for every one that truly viz. with sincerity of heart so confesseth him come in the Flesh whose Confession floweth from a Living Faith in him is of God and whosoever doth not so confess him but deny him so come is of Antichrist and this denyal of Christ come in the Flesh may be several ways as 1st to deny that he who did so come is the Christ and thus the unbelieving Jews did and do deny him 2dly To deny that he who did so come was and is both God and Man and that as such he is the Salvation of men in whom they are to believe and whom they are to call upon and worship with divine adoration and thus the Mahumetans do deny him and many who go under the Name of Christians who deny that the man Christ is their Salvation and the Object of Faith and adoration 3dly To deny the virtue and efficacy of his being a Sacrifice by his Death for the Remission of the sins of all Men who ever shall be saved from the begining of the World to the end of it 4thly To deny that all the Light and Grace and divine Influence of the Spirit that any Man have or ever had is by Jesus Christ who hath purchased and procured it unto them by his most holy and perfect Obedience unto Death and in these three respects my late Opposers among the People called Quakers are guilty of denying Christ come in the Flesh as I have sufficiently proved against them in divers printed Books particularly in my Narrative of the Proceedings at Turners-Hall the 11th of the 4th Month 1696. and in that called The Antichrists and Saddnces detected For whatever seeming Confessions they give to the Man Christ without them while they place Mens whole Salvation upon an inward Principle and plead that Men may be saved eternally without all Knowledge and Faith of Christ without them either express or implicite As they do particularly in that Antichristian and Abusive Book containing many Antichristian Principles and false Accusations against me called Keith against Keith for which I purpose God willing ere long to call them to an Account All their seeming Confessions is but a Judas Kiss and a plain betraying the Christian Cause into the hands of Infidels Jews and Pagans Pag. 195. Nor doth it follow that because Confession in the adult is necessary to Salvation that therefore Baptism with Water is seeing confession of the Truth may well consist without Water-Baptism namely in a Holy Conversation and profession of Christianity with the Mouth as the Apostle said With the Mouth Confession is made to Salvation Here Note 1. I still adhere to it with all charitable Christians that Baptism with Water is not of equal necessity with Faith and Confession unto Savation for many of the Martyrs did nobly confess to Christ who were put to cruel Deaths before they could be Baptized and in that and in all other cases where Baptism cannot be duly had the votum Baptismi i. e. the desire of Baptism is judged equivalent to Baptism by all charitable Christians 2. That I said Confession in the adult is necessary to Salvation by this it doth appear that it is no new Doctrine in me so to affirm this Book of mine having been in Print for sixteen Years past and which was approved by the Second Days Meeting though in contradiction to what they then approved they have of late greatly blamed me as guilty of broaching a new Doctrine among the People called Quakers for my saying It is a necessary Duty that every one among the Quakers should give a Confession of their Faith to Christ and his doctrine in the fundamental and essential parts thereof before they can be owned to be Members of a Christian communion This they extreamly cry out against knowing that such a thing would discover the vile Errors that are lodged among them But until they do this whatever great and high pretences they make to be the Church of Christ and the only gathered Church they can never be justly esteemed a Church of Christ In my Book called Truth 's Defence c. pag. 104 105. and as for the Word Immediate Revelation seeing it is not any Scripture-phrase no not in the case of the Prophets and Apostles so far as I can remember if the thing it self were granted to wit That God doth inwardly reveal and speak his Mind or shew his Glory and glorious Presence in his Children as he did in and to his Saints of Old so that the Saints do hear see and perceive also tast and savour and feel after God himself as he reveals himself in his Son by the Holy Spirit the Controversie about the Name or Phrase should soon be at an end Here Note That sixteen Years ago I was for holding up no Controversies about the name or term Immediate Revelation though many among the People called Quakers have earnestly and fiercely contended for that term and some of them no doubt will much blame me that I do not now contend for it But why did they not blame me then for my not contending about it are they become of late more Eagle-sighted to see this and other things they judge to be errors in my Books which they formerly did not see or at least gave me