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A47145 George Keith's Fourth narrative of his proceedings at Turners-hall divided into three parts : detecting the Quakers gross errors, vile heresies, and antichristian principles, oppugning the fundamentals of Christianity, by clear and evident proofs (in above two hundred and fifty quotations) faithfully taken out of their books, and read at three several meetings, the 11th, the 18th, and 23d of Jan., 1699 before a great auditory of judicious persons, ministers, and others, more particularly discovering the fallacious and sophistical defences of George Whitehead, Joseph Wyeth, and seven Quakers of Colchester, in their late books on all the several heads contained in the printed advertisement : to which is prefix'd, the attestation of five ministers of the Church of England, to the truth of the said quotations, and a postcript [sic] / by George Keith.; Fourth narrative of his proceedings at Turners-Hall Keith, George, 1639?-1716. 1700 (1700) Wing K167; ESTC R2430 153,412 130

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Church who yet have not arrived to a sinless Perfection but are in that Time of Travel But what if they die in that Time of Travel before a sinless Perfection be attained G. VV. has passed a nibst severe and uncharitable Censure on them Voice of VVisdom p. 42 43. This sinless Perfection for that 's the true State of the Question all must come to witness who ever come to be saved for there is no unclean thing must enter into Christ's Kingdom therefore People must either expect Freedom from Sin in this Life or never Note Thus he has passed a most uncharitable and cruel Sentence nor only upon many who were in a sincere Travel towards Perfection and yet have not attained to a sinless Perfection before their Decease but also upon his deceased Brethren many of whom deceased as I judge he must confess while they were in the Travel towards it for Quakers commonly are not longer lived than other Men they die at all Ages young as well as old and many die that are but Novices in their Way And certainly G. Fox and E. Burr Fr. Hougel Rich. Hubb and some of their greatest Saints lived in great Ignorance Error and Unbelief in divers great Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and in great Uncharitableness towards such as differed from them and remained in these Sins to their dying Day shall we therefore be so uncharitable to them as G. Ws Doctrine is to conclude they are all damned and parished eternally God forbid we will be more charitable to them than his Doctrine alloweth But then again in Contradiction not only to G. F. but himself he pleads in his Voice of Wisdom That the Believers Works are perfect and God hath wrought all their VVorks in them citing Isa 26. 12. So these VVorks of God which true Believers witness are perfect and the Believers have ceased from their own VVorks which were imperfect and are come into God's VVorks which are perfect But then what saith he concerning them who are in the Travel towards Perfection Are not they Believers Have they no Faith Thus their Confusion is evident They do not consider that though the Work of Faith Labour of Love and Patience of Hope in Believers are the Works of God yet they are also the Works of those Men in whom they are wrought it 's they who believe who love and hope by God's Operation or working in them and therefore they being imperfect though God is a perfect Being and Agent their Faith Love and Hope are imperfect it being the Property of all Effects to be according to the weaker and more imperfect Causes according to that true Maxim Bonum ex integra causa malum ex quolibet defectu a perfect Effect must have all its Causes perfect But whatever Charity we may suppose they may have for their deceased Brethren they have little or none for any such who do not believe to the Hight of their Doctrine of a sinless Perfection before Death their Doctrine obligeth them to judge that none of other Societies are saved because they do not believe the Quakers Doctrine of Perfection before they die the contrary of which they call the Doctrine of Devils the which if any die and do not renounce before their Decease by the Quakers Principle they cannot be saved But some of them now begin to go into the same Road with others of other Professions and after a large Circumference wherein they have far departed from them who say That the Souls of Believers are at the instant of Death made perfect in Holiness yet return and say the same thing concerning their imperfect Brethren who are deceased and yet before their Decease arrived not to a sinless Perfection which if it may be allowed to imperfect Quakers may be as well allowed to others sineere Travellers towards Perfection many of whom no doubt have arrived to greater Perfection before their Decease than any among the Quakers Worthies of whose Perfection they so much boast who lived in great Error and Unbelief in the great Fundamentals of Christianity and Uncharitableness towards others and of whose Repentance for the same we never heard any Account Again G. F. in his G. M. p. 251. in Defence of his and his Brethrens sinless Perfection thus answers to that in Eccles 7. 20. There is not a just Man upon the Earth which doth good and sinneth not This just this wise Man upon the Earth which doth good and sinneth not that was the Estate of the Law which Christ is the End of who is a greater than Solomon who is the just and Righteousness it self and makes Men free from Sin Note that G. F. in Contradiction to his own Gloss in the same Page to prove a sinless Perfection brings the Examples of Job and David both which were long before Christ came and to prove David's sinless Perfection he brings David's Words and David said He had seen the End of all Perfection Is not this a rare Proof for a sinless Perfection But if G. F. did not mean Christ without but Christ within to be the End of the Law As this is a false Gloss on Paul's Words so that imports that Solomon was not come to the Light within him which G. F. calls Christ within but how then could Solomon pen such Books of the Scripture which the Quakers confess to have been writ by Divine Inspiration if Solomon had not come to the Light within him But let us hear another as nonsensical Gloss of G. VV. on the same Place Voice of VVisd p. 18. Eccles 7. 20. Ans The Conversation of the Saints is in Heaven Eph. 2. 6. Philip. 3. 20. And they are redeemed from the Earth and from the Vanity where Solomon saw all things in the Days of his Vanity in which all were Sinners Note Is this any Proof that the Saints such as Paul who writ these Words were not real Men upon Earth And is not G. W. a Man upon Earth so long as he eats drinks sleeps c Thus we see how they pervert the Scriptures to prove their sinless Perfection for if G. W. will own he is one of these just Men on Earth that Solomon writes of he must confess himself to be a Sinner if he will not own himself to be a just Man upon the Earth yet he must allow his Body to be upon Earth unless he will say our Sight deceives us when we see him in the Streets and then either his Body is no Part of him or if it be it hath Sin and consequently he also hath Sin if he will own his Body to be a Part of him But let us yet again hear another nonsensical Gloss of G. F. to maintain his and his Brethrens sinless Perfection on the Words of James In many things we offend all G. M. p 309. Mark saith G. F. In the many things we offend all but we are come to the one thing Christ Jesus the End of the many things and in him there
had only opposed the Doctrine of the glorified Saints in Heaven not being perfect which is a most deceitful Evasion by mistating the Controversie R. Hub. here is not disputing against the Papists who maintain a Purgatory but against a Protestant Author who did hold That all the deceased Saints are perfect with a sinless perfection but it doth not therefore follow that they do not in that sinless state hope for the Resurrection of their Bodies which yet is R. Hubb.'s inference by which he doth plainly discover his and his Brethrens infidelity in that great Article of the Christian Faith viz. the Resurrection of the Body Again in Coll. p. 275. he gives us his sense of the Resurrection The Seeds he saith are but two in the whole World viz. the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent having each Seed its own Body and in every one until the one be cast out and every one of these two Seeds in every Man shall arise in its own order the one shall rise unto everlasting Life the other unto Condemnation Christ the Seed made his Grave IN the Wicked and IN the Rich in his Death and out of that Grave shall rise with his Body unto everlasting Life if thou canst receive it thou may'st be satisfied Are not these Words horrid Perversions of Scripture and containing abominable Blasphemy Again G. F. in his Distinction betwixt the Two Suppers p. 20. saith And the Apostle said that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Unjust and for Preaching the Resurrection of the Dead namely Christ Jesus he was called in question Acts 24. 15 21. And in p. 21. quoting 2 Tim. 2. 17 18. he saith But Hymenaeus and Philetus concerning the Truth erred who said that the Resurrection was past already such overthrew People from the Faith that stands in Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life through which Faith they attained to the Resurrection and had their vile Bodies changed and made like unto his Glorious Body Note How he perverts the Scripture both in words and sense the Scripture words Who shall change our vile or low Bodies respecting the time to come at the Resurrection of the Dead but he saith they attained the Resurrection and had their vile Bodies changed as a thing already fulfilled Also he makes the Resurrection that Paul Preached in the Acts 17. 18 22. and 23. 6. to be Christ himself perverting our Saviour's words who called himself the Resurrection and the Life to a literal sense which as is obvious to all intelligent Persons contain a figurative sense to wit the metony my of the Cause getting the Name of the Effect as is frequent in Scripture and in all Authors as when God is call'd in Scripture the Saints Hope and Confidence and Salvation i. e. the Author and Cause of their Hope Confidence and Salvation Tenthly Concerning the Quakers Notion of the Light Within THE true Doctrine and Sense of the Light Within as a Divine and Supernatural Gift of God given to all faithful Christians of whom it is truly said as David said concerning himself The Lord is their Light and their Salvation and also that Christ the Eternal and Essential Word who was in the beginning with God and was and is God is that true Light that doth enlighten every Man that cometh into the World even Heathens and all Individuals of Mankind with a common and universal Illumination Discovery and Knowledge of certain moral Principles of Justice and Temperance and also of some general knowledge of God as the great Creator and Ruler of the World and of some general moral Duties towards him as such whether by certain innate impressions preventing the exercise and actings of the rational Faculty or by exciting and awakening the rational Faculty of the Soul as it is enlightned and assisted by God Almighty as the primary Cause and by the works of Creation and of general Providence as secondary Causes whether one or both of these ways is not so necessary at present to determine is a Doctrine well warranted by Scripture and consented unto by the generality of Professors of Christianity and which I not only consent unto but highly value as an excellent Principle labouring daily by the Grace of God practically to improve whatever true Light within I have both Common and Special and I hope ever I shall so do and so I pray that God may enable all and me to do the same But the Quakers Notion of the Light within held in general by them and authentickly received from their Principal Teachers particularly G. F. G. W. E. Bur. and others is extremely contrary to the Holy Scriptures and also to the best dictates of our rational Faculties to which no divine Light either within Men or without Men can contradict To show which hath been a principal part of my business in all the the three Meetings above-mention'd and is the same in all the three Parts of this Narrative the which contrariety I intend to show in a short Scheme of their absurd unscriptural as well as irrational Notions of what they call the Light within which upon due examination will be found to be Darkness and not Light within 1. It 's natural to Man to have a Supernatural Light W. P.'s Prin. Christ p. 15. 2. There is no natural Light in Men Prin. Christ p. 30. There are not two Lights in Men p. 31. Thus he allows no distinction betwixt natural Reason which is a good and true Light and Gift of God to Men and the Light of Faith given to all true Christians and the Light of prophetical Inspirations given to the holy Prophets and Apostles but confounds them by making them all to be one and the same thing whereas they are all very distinct tho' all coming from one Fountain and Author God the Father of Lights 3. Man at his coming into the World hath a Light from Christ which is more than Conscience G. F.'s G. M. p. 209. 4. And seeing the Light is but dim in Heathens and Christians and Prophets and Apostles by Prin. Christ as above-quoted no Man has or ever had any other Light but what he had at his coming into the World 5. The Light within not only true Christians but within all Men Heathens Turks Jews is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else G. W.'s Antid p. 28. Thus the Man Christ without us who is both God and Man and his Death and Sufferings and Blood outwardly shed and Mediation for us in Heaven are all excluded from being so much as concurring Causes of our Salvation 6. The Light within every Man litterally understood without any Metonymy is God Christ the Holy Ghost the Unction or Anointing is blinded in some by the God of this World G. F. News out of the North p. 19. is Crucified Imprisoned Slain in wicked Men and its Blood is shed in them and that is the Blood that they trod under feet see
not witness the Word to be made Flesh once but art one of the Antichrists and Deceivers which John speaks of that are entred into the World which cannot confess Jesus Christ come in the Flesh and therefore thou queriest whether the Word was made Flesh any more or oftner than once Which Query comes from thy dark polluted Mind who is out of the Light And p. 30. And when thou canst witness the Word to be made Flesh once then thou wilt know whether the Son of God was made of a Woman any more or oftner than once But thou art the Dragon that would devour the Man-child which the Woman has brought forth who shall rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron Note some Expositors on the Book of the Revelation have by the Woman understood the Church and by the Man-child the Life of Christ or Christ formed in true Belidvers by way of Allegory and Metaphor only as is above noted but they never understood that Christ strictly speaking without-all Allegory or Metaphor was ever begotten or born in time but once or was ever made of a Woman but once viz. when he was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the Womb of the Virgin and born of her But the chief Teachers among the Quakers such as G. F. G. W. and W. P. and E. B. hath made Christ's Birth of the Virgin Mary and his Death and Sufferings and Blood shed without them the Type and Allegory and Christ born within crucified within them risen and ascended within them the Reallity and greatest Mystery as is above proved Like to this is another Passage in G. Whiteheads Jacob found in a desert Land p. 6 7. And in Simplicity I was made to wait upon God and to endure the Cross of Christ though for a Time and Times the Enmity of the wicked one was strong against me within and without seeking to devour that Seed which thro' the Word of the Lord was begotten in me And the Misteries of God and his Kingdom was revealed in me who brought me out of Darkness through the Wilderness where the Man-child was preserved for a Time and Times and half a Time from the Wrath of the Dragon who would have slain the Man-child But now is he arisen in his Power and Zeal and the Prince of the World is cast out and he is born which is the everlasting Counseller the Prince of Peace quoting in the Margin Isa 9. 6. who hath sent War and the Fire and the Sword into the Earth Note This I find was generally their manner of preaching and writing both at their first Appearance and long after to tell People that Christ was begotten in them born in them crucified dead and buried risen and ascended into Heaven within them and that every one in order to eternal Salvation must know Christ thus begotten and born in them crucified dead buried risen and ascended and this inward Conception and Birth of Christ c. they made the greatest Mistery and Reallity whereof Christ as born without in the Flesh was the Figure and a facile Representation to use W. P's Phrase in the case of what is to be transacted in us thus they did represent the inward Work of Regeneration to be a greater Mistery than God manifest in the Flesh viz. in that Body of Flesh that was born at Bethlehem as W. P. hath expresly affirmed as is above quoted And by this high sublime Doctrine which they gave forth to be given them by immediate Revelation from Heaven though it was no other but what G. F. had from some old Ranters and Familists who had it long before him They did mightily magnifie themselves above all others and cried out against all others as dark ignorant Sots Deceivers and Antichrists who denied Christ come in the Flesh because they did not receive this wild Notion they had got from Ranters and Familists That Christ was born crucified dead buried risen and ascended in them and though while I was with them I was not altogether ignorant that they had such Phrases and Methods of Speech as I had read in some of their Books yet I thought they understood it only by way of Allegory and Metaphor as Origen Augustine c. Some others of the Fathers both Greek and Latine used the like allegorical Phrases and which I my self have partly used in some of my former Books only by way of Allegory and Metaphor But I appeal to all who shall but impartially consider what I have above quoted out of their Books whether they will not judge and say that these Teachers of the Quakers whose Words I have quoted plainly import quite another thing than an allegorical Birth Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ in them even that which is real without an Allegory Metaphor or Figure for as G. F. said in Saul's Errand Christ's Flesh is a Figure and Christ in his People is the Substance of all Figures and consequently of that Figure also Besides if they meant it only by way of Allegory and Metaphor why did they cry out against all others as Antichrists Deceivers blind and dark Sots who did not receive this their Notion but opposed it as antichristian But if they had plainly told that they meant it not otherwise but by way of Allegory and Metaphor I know none that would have opposed them in that case But as in some other things after the Quakers have made a great Compass and yet return to say the same with others from whom they differed so in this very thing after all that G.W. as much as any had formerly contended for Christ begotten and both within suffering within his Blood shed within being a Sacrifice within Men to appease the Wrath of God and giving much more to Christ thus born within suffering within his Blood shed within than to Christ born without this Blood shed without being a Type of his Blood shed within Yet in his Judgment fixed printed 1682. which was 26. Years after his Jacob found in a desert Land printed 1656. above quoted he turns all that he had formerly writ and contended for Christ born within suffering within desiring to be freed from Sin into an Elegancy of Speech the Property and Effect being put for the Cause which is no more nor other than what all Christian Teachers and Expositors affirm For this hear what he saith in answer to his Opponent Jeffery Bullock who charged the Quakers with false Doctrine in saying That God's Appearance is to his Son Jesus Christs and for the begetting and bringing him forth in the Sons and Daughters of Men the which Doctrine said J. B. I do deny To this G.W. after some foregoing Words answereth in his Judgment fixed p. 330. This innocent Birth which God by his Spirit brings forth in the Sons and Daughters of Men who truly believe relate to them and their Souls as begotten and born of the immortal Seed by the living Word so that this Birth is not Christ Jesus What say the
Quaker Zealots to this flat Denial of his own and his Brethrens former Doctrine and yet this without any Change in him he is the same infallible G. W. still for he is that incorruptible Seed and Word of Life which begets Forms and brings forth the Soul of Man into his own Nature and Image and so he renews his own Image in Man that believes in his Power and so Christ may be said to be formed in us as in a misterious and elegant way of speaking the Property and Effect being put for the Cause for Christ in himself hath all Power in Heaven an Earth given to him and it hath pleased the Father that all Fullness should dwell in him Again in Judgment fixed p. 322. We deny the Doctrine that the Word GOD is in Bondage or Captivity in the Sons and Daughters of Men but only that there is a Seed of God and of Christ that is opressed and suffers in many by reason of Transgression A Seed of God is commonly our Phrase and Terms in this case And p. 124. These are certain Allusions and Elegancies Note this is expresly contradictory to what he hath frequently printed in his other Books particularly to what is at great length quoted above out of his He-goat● Horn p. 8. and his Brief Discovery p. 21. where he calls the Seed that suffers within People and that desires to be freed from Sin Christ and the Lamb that was slain that is worthy to receive Power and Wisdom and Riches and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing Now if by Christ the Lamb that was slain within the Seed that suffers within and desires to be freed from Sin c. G. W. does not mean Christ really and strictly speaking but will have it to be a misterious and elegant way of speaking the Property and Effect being put for the Cause so that by the Seed Christ in Men according to his Explication in Judgment fixed just now given he meaneth only the created Souls of Men as begotten and born of the immortal Seed then how will this agree with his making the created Soul as begotten and born of the immortal Seed to be the Lamb that was slain who is worthy to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing Rev. 5. 12. which is a Doxology of divine Praise and an Act of divine Worship given to that Lamb by Angels and Saints and seeing according to G. W's Explication here given in his Judgment fixed the Seed that is born in them suffers in them slain in them is neither God nor Christ and yet had divine Worship and Honour given thereto by Angels and Saints It follows that according to G. W. divine Adoration is due to regenerated Souls of Men or at least to something in the Souls of regenerated Men that is neither God nor Christ but a meer Creature which is abominable Idolatry and yet justified here by G. W. in his Judgment fixed compared with his He goats Horn. I cannot understand how G. W. can clear himself here unless he should tell us of another elegant way of speaking that is to give to this Allegorical Christ Jesus born within them the Lamb that was slain within them an allegorical divine Adoration and Worship and that it was only this allegorical divine Adoration that the Saints and Angels gave to this Lamb slain within Men Rev. 5. 12. But how nonsensical and idle any such Gloss would be I need not shew and yet I suppose it is the best he can find But again that not only a Seed of God suffers in Men by their Sins but that God and Christ as God suffers in Men by their Sins in plain Contradiction to what he has delivered in his Judgment fixed is evident from his Divinity of Christ p. 55. 5● where he hath these following Words in Opposition to T. Vincent who had affirmed That Christ as God did not suffer but only as Man VVhereas saith he T. V. had affirmed That Christ as God could not suffer As to his saying That God cannot suffer is in one Sense not true though he intended as to Death yet the Spirit of God hath suffered and hath been grieved by Man's Transgressions And for this he cites Isa 63. 10. Amos 2. 13. Hos 11. 8 9. Psal 95. Gen. 6. 6. Psal 78. 40. Isa 1. 7 13. and Isa 43. 24 25. Note Here the State of the Controversie betwixt G. VV. and T. V. was not about a metaphorical suffering of God but a real which is here affirmed by G. VV. in Contradiction to what he has said in his Judgment fixed as above quoted And because G. VV. in his Judgment fixed p. 322. blames Jeffery Bullock for his dealing unfairly and fallaciously with charging it on the Quakers for preaching and printing That the Seed Spirit Word or God is both in Prison Bondage and Captivity and to be quickned raised c. withal adding That the said J. B. hath not produced any Book of ours or our Friends wherein this Doctrine is printed Surely G. VV. had a very treacherous Memory or writ this against his own Conscience seeing he had writ so expresly himself in his former Books as is above quoted out of his He-goats Horn his Brief Discovery and his Divinity of Christ all which were in print before J. B. gave this Charge against them And as to his Distinction betwixt God or Christ and a Seed of God or Christ that is oppressed and suffers in Men by their Sins as if it were not either God or Christ that thus suffers in Men by their Sins this is contradictory to G. W's own former Doctrine who brought Amos 2. 13. to prove that God suffers in Men by their Sins viz. not metaphorically by that Figure commonly called Anthropopathia but really which was the only State of the Controversie Behold I am pressed under you as a Cart that is full of Sheaves Now seeing this must be understood literally and strictly according to G. W. it must be a very great Suffering that he thinks God suffers in Men by their Sins that may be said to amount to an Oppression which yet he denies is applicable to God in his Judgment fixed And seeing the Seed within that is slain he would have it in his He-goats Horn to be the Lamb that was slain Rev. 5. 12. to whom the Angels gave divine Worship he must needs own that Seed to be Christ and that Christ to be God and consequently not only that God suffers in Men by their Sins but is slain in them or else confess Idolatry to be lawful But that the Seed that is within Men that W. Penn will have to be the promised Seed of the Woman that bruiseth the Head of the Serpent is Christ and God over all blessed for ev̄er more Take his express Words in his Christian Quaker p. 97 98. The Seed of the Promise is an holy and spiritual Principle of Light Life and Power that being
work by the Spirit 's help that are meritorious of Justification But this will not excuse them from Popery for even Bellarmine a great Popish Author and the other Popish Authors plead only for the merit of such good Works which merit by Condignity as wrought by the help of the Holy Spirit assisting them And his Sophistry is as dull in his drawing an Argument from 1 Cor. 1 30. That Christ is made unto us of God Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption therefore that Believers are justified by an Infinite Righteousness wrought in them and that Christ is formed in them Gal. 4. 19. And thus he will have Christ as held forth in that Text 1 Cor. 1. 30. not to be Christ God-Man without us from and by whom we receive Justification and Redemption and also divine Wisdom and Sanctification by his holy Spirit that he sendeth into our Hearts and by his holy Doctrine outwardly taught us but Christ formed in us he will have to be all this unto us Judgment Fixed p. 330. and Christ formed in us is the Seed and the Seed is God over all blessed for ever as above-quoted both out of G. W. and W. P. But what then is become of his Exposition that he gave in his Judgment Fixed above-quoted That this Birth viz. Christ formed in true Believers is not Christ Jesus for he is that incorruptible Seed and Word of Life which begets forms and brings forth the Soul of Man into his own Nature and Image and so Christ may be said to be formed in us in a Mysterious and Elegant way of speaking the Property and Effect being put for the Cause Thus we see how he wavers to and fro betwixt So and No and No and So sometimes This and sometimes That and sometimes neither This nor That a Phrase that S. F. used to some of his Opponents but very justly apply'd to G. W. But differing senses and meanings are more tolerable for a Man to put on his Words than plain contradictions and especially in Matters Fundamental as these are Next let us hear what W. P. hath said on the Doctrine of Justification and how J. Wyeth in his Switch defends him W. Penn in his Serious Apology p. 148 gives the charge of his Opponent thus That we deny Justification by the Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us wholly without us and therefore deny the Lord that bought us W. P. Answers And indeed this we deny and boldly affirm it in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which does now deluge the whole World What saith Jos Wyeth that hardy Champion to this Switch p. 238. Yes it is still true and that we do deny and boldly affirm to be the Doctrine of Devils and for our so denying and affirming we have the warrant of Holy Writ wherein is abundantly testifyed of the Spirit of Christ in Man to which he must be obedient in order to his Justification for which he quotes Rom. 3. 24 28. Rom. 5. 1. Titus 3. 7. and concludes then not wholly without us Note Here J. Wyeth acts the dull Sophister as much as his Elder Brother G. W. by perverting the true state of the Question as is their frequent manner The Question is not What is necessary by way of Instrument or Instrumental Application or Preparatory Condition in order to Justification such as Faith and Repentance for such are granted to be necessary in order to Justification as the stretching out the Hand is necessary to receive an Alms or free Gift and the opening the Mouth is necessary to receive Food but the true state of the Question is What is the procuring and purchasing Cause of our Justification before God by way of Merit or the Meritorious Cause of our Justification whether the Righteousness of Christ that he wrought without us by his Active and Passive Obedience above Sixteen Hundred Years ago Yea or Nay If Yea surely that is wholly without us but this says W. P. and J. W. is a Doctrine of Devils and G. W. chargeth T. D. with ignorance and false Doctrine for affirming it as above-quoted and yet it is the very plain Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures Isa 53. 4 5 11 12. Rom. 3. 21 22 23 24 25 28. Rom. 4. 4 11. Rom. 5. 18. Gal. 3. 22. 2 Cor. 5. 21. There are other Arguments which W. P. useth in his Serious Apology some of which I shall mention not to refute them for the least Child in Christianity may do that but to show his Error one of which is Death came by actual Sin not imputative therefore Justification unto Life comes by actual Righteousness and not imputative Another is This speaks Peace to the Wicked Another is Men are Dead and Alive at the same time by this Doctrine Note He perverts the state of the Question his Opponents do not say That Wicked and Unsanctified Persons are justified but if none be justified but who are Perfect vvith a Sinless Perfection and have not the least impurity then neither W. P. nor any Quaker ever vvas or is justified for vvhatever they boast of their Sinless Perfection their vile Errors Pride and Uncharitableness as vvell as other their Imperfections demonstrate the contrary Another of his Arguments is against our Justification by Christ's Righteousness without us Our rejoycing must be in our selves and not in another thus perverting Paul's Words Gal. 6. 4. But let every Man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself and not in another But doth this exclude our rejoycing in Christ Jesus our Head who to be sure is another O sad How contrary to this is Philip 3. 3. For we are the Circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the Flesh by this Argument of W. P. he for himself and his Brethren whose Faith he pretends to deliver renounces all Rejoycing as well as Faith and Righteousness in Christ without us yea and in Christ within them also for Christ within them if he be within them is Another Dare W. P. or G. W. say Christ in W. P. or G. W. is W. P. or G. W. But whereas G. W. in his Printed Paper above-quoted call'd A Few Positions c. saith We highly do value and esteem his Christ's Sufferings Death Precious Blood and whole Sacrifice for Sinners For a Proof of his Insincerity and Sophistry in this I shall produce some following Quotations what G. W. means by his Precious Blood and whether he put the due value upon Christ's Blood that was outwardly shed or upon another sort of inward Blood I cannot say of his and his Brethrens inventing but what they received from Familists and Ranters tho' they pretend to have it by immediate Inspiration to wit an inward Blood that is the Atonement and Sacrifice for Sin which Blood G. W. will not allow to be the
G. W. so to charge W. B. and mistate the Controversie between W. B. and him nothing but deceit it self could invent such a forgery in G. W. as this to charge it on W. B. as if he had either said or thought that the Meritorious cause of Man's Justification was laid by him upon the Act of the Soldier that thrust the Spear into our Saviour's Side for neither did he say it nor can it be gathered from his Words by the least shadow of any just Consequence his Words being thus as G. W. cites them The shedding of the Blood upon the Cross that was let out by the Virtue of the Spear being thrust into his Side was the Meritorious cause of Man's Justification See Light and Life p. 64. The shedding of the Blood c. is the true English of the Latin Words Effasio Sanguinis which being A Noun Verbal hath a Passive as well as Active signification and that W. B. meant it in the Passive signification and not in the Active as with respect to the Soldiers Act is evident from the Words both of Jer. Ives and also of W. B. quoted by G. W. Light and Life p. 64. he quotes Jer. Ives saying My Brother Burnet meant Christ's Passion and not the Act of wicked Men. And again G. W. quotes W. B. saying Yes Brother it is proper to say It was Christ's Act to shed his Blood His meaning is obvious to any impartial Reader that it was Christ's Act freely to give his Blood to be shed for the remission of our Sins as he said himself no Man taketh my Life from me I lay down my Life and I take it up again Without all doubt though Christ was not Active to Kill himself by any Bodily Act of violence that he did to himself yet his giving up his Blood to be shed and his Life to be taken away was a most noble act of his Soul and Will who by a most noble act of Obedience and Resignation to the Will of God for the Salvation of Men gave up his Blood to be shed for that the shedding of Christ's Blood was necessary for remission of Men's Sins and their Justification before God is clear from his own words This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood shed for the remission of the Sins of many and as the Scripture saith Without shedding of Blood is no remission so that had not Christ's Blood been shed Men's Sins could not be forgiven and yet what but deceit it self can infer from this That the merit or stress of remission of Sin or Justification is laid upon the act of the wicked Soldier that thrust his Spear into our Saviour's Side Note again Seeing G. W. hath imposed such a Forgery upon W. B. without any just ground as if he had placed the Merit of Men's Justification upon the act of the wicked Man that thrust the Spear into our Saviour's Side By the like forgery he may charge the Church of England with the same absurdity though most unjustly for in the Prayer immediately before Baptism in the Office of Baptism for those of Riper Years she thus Prays Almighty everliving God whose most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our Sins DID SHED OUT of his most precious Side both Water and Blood and gave Commandment c. Here we see it 's said that Christ SHED OUT of his most precious Side both Water and Blood Can therefore G. W. from thence infer that the Church of England believeth that she layeth the Merit of remission of Sin and Justification upon the act of the Soldier or that Christ by any act of Violence killed himself or commanded others to do it and if no just consequence as this can be gathered out of the Church of England's Words nor can they from the Words of W. B. that are of the same importance But it 's no wonder that G. W. will have the shedding of that Blood which came out of Christ's Side when it was pierced to be only the Soldiers act when T. Elwood in his Truth Defended p. 99. denyeth the Blood that came out of Christ's Side and its shedding after he was Dead to have been to compleat the Offering for this he saith and again repeats the same Words and justifies them in his pretended Answer to my first Narrative p 220 221. This offering up himself and giving himself a ransom for all included all his sufferings both inward and outward and made it a compleat and perfect Sacrifice in which his Blood was comprehended and concerned as well as his Flesh before his Side was pierced by the Spear for he had pronounced that great Word Consummatum est it is finished had bowed his Head and given up the Ghost before his Side was pierced with the Spear This is not only contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England as above quoted in the Office of Baptism but of all Orthodox Christians throughout the World who teach according to Scripture That the Water and Blood that came out of our Lord's Side after his Death was a special part of the Offering as well as his Death and the wounds in his Hands and Feet and the Blood that came out of them before his Death which gross Error of T. Elwood is the Error of the Second Days meeting at London who approved his Book and of G. W. who professeth the same Faith with them is deservedly censured and refuted in Satan disrob'd p. 47. His Body pierced and his Blood shed after his Death were truly and properly a part of the Sacrifice as much as what he suffered before he expired As the legal Sacrifice was not compleated by the Death of the Beast but by the Burning of it and offering the Blood afterwards that was shed and those who reject that Blood do mutilate his Sacrifice and render it ineffectual to themselves Note again How neither G. W. nor the Colchester Quakers in their Some Account c. give any answer to what was objected against him out of his Light and Life p. 61. Though quoted by them p. 15. Where he positively asserts That to seek our Saviour above the Clouds and Firmanent i. e. to pray to him as he is in Heaven without us above the Clouds and Firmament is contrary to the Righteousness of Faith Rom. 10. 6. And to look to the Blood that was shed at Jerusalem for Justification is contrary to Deut. 30. 13 14. and Rom. 10. which seeking or looking to Christ and his Blood as is above-quoted and proved was not by any outward or bodily act but by Faith and yet even such seeking or looking is denyed and opposed by G. W. and his Colchester Quaker Brethren But whereas G. W. doth argue so much and so frequently against that Blood that was outwardly shed by the Spear its being the meritorious Cause of Justification because that Blood is not to be found at Jerusalem for it 's not in being says W. B. as G. W. quotes him