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A33498 The books and divers epistles of the faithful servant of the Lord Josiah Coale collected and published, as it was desired by him the day of his departure out of this life. Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Collection of the several books of Josiah Coale.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Whore unvailed.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Vindication of the light within.; Parker, Alexander, 1628-1689.; Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.; Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1671 (1671) Wing C4751_PARTIAL; Wing C4760A_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; ESTC R23397 193,793 414

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by which he confessed Christ was the Word before he took Flesh by which also in effect he acknowledgeth That the Flesh that he took in the Womb of the Virgin was not Christ but the Flesh that Christ took thus much his own words import but I know he will not like to hear of it because it so deeply woundeth his own Cause And so after J. N. hath rumbled through many Non-sensical Arguments labouring thereby to prove That Christ is not really the Word of God but only comparatively so call'd c. he findeth another Objection in p. 56. brought against his Affirmation And is saith he in 1 Pet. 1.23 where the Apostle saith Being born again not of corruptible but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever Which Word saith the Objector is Christ and the great Reason that is urged is Because it liveth and abideth forever But saith he these words make nothing to prove this Word here to be Christ for saith he the Apostle saith in vers 25. The Word of the Lord endureth forever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you And from hence J. N. argueth That the Preachings of the Apostles according to the Gospel was that Word by which they were born again and which endureth forever Answ To which I answer as sometime before upon occasion have said There is a difference betwixt the the Thing Preached and the Preachings of the Thing and betwixt the Thing Witnessed or Testified of and the Testimony or Witness concerning the Thing So that although the Apostle by the Gospel which is the Power of God preached the Word and preached Christ yet the Preachings or Declarations of the Apostle cannot properly be called Christ who is without beginning of Dayes or end of Life nor can they properly be call'd the Word which abideth forever and so cannot be concluded to be that by which they were born again This Shift will not serve the turn of J. N. to perswade us That the Word which the Apostle preached was not Christ or that Christ was not that Word by which they were born again for when ever he preached the Word he preach'd Christ and yet his Preachings were neither the Word preached nor yet Christ but Christ preached was the Word by which they were born again which liveth and abideth forever as is evident by the Scripture before mention'd which proves a Block too heavy for J. N. to remove out of his way Again In pag. 57. he saith This Word cannot be understood of Christ because it is here called the Seed Answ Yet it may be understood of Christ and cannot otherwise be rightly understood of Christ because as the Apostle said Gal. 3.16 The Seed is Christ Again In pag. 58. he saith thus Neither do I go about to rob Christ of his Title but do acknowledge him to be called the Word of God comparatively as he is the Father's Mouth and speaketh the Father's words c. Answ Hereby we may perceive that J. N. will not own Christ to be the Word no more then in effect he owns the Prophets and Apostles to be the Word for he owns Christ to be the Word but comparatively and not really so and but as he is the Father's Mouth to speak the Father Words and so were the Prophets and Apostles the Father's Mouth and spoke his words as the Spirit gave them utterance So that if he was called the Word only because of that every one of the Prophets may be as well called the Word also because they were his Mouth and spoke his words But what Absurdities are these that J. N. runs into to make Christ not to be the Word really so I must needs acknowledge he exceeds in one thing all sorts of People professing Christianity that ever I spoke with or heard of for I never heard of any nor spoke with any but would acknowledge Christ to be really the Substantial Word though they will many of them plead for the Scripture to be the Word or as some stile it the Material Word also But J. N. affirms the Scriptures to be properly and principally the Word and Christ but comparatively the Word and not really so So that he out-strips all in promoting the Scriptures and in under-valuing Christ that ever I heard of and it is not his wresting of Scriptures and jumbling his own Intepretations and Imaginations amongst them that will effect his Design or will prove Christ not to be the Word of God really so nor yet to be Christ before he took Flesh c. For the Testimonies of himself and of his Servants concerning him which J. N. by his Imaginations labours to make of none effect will stand valuable and credible viz. That Christ who as J. Newman confesseth took Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin was the Word with God in the Beginning and that the Rock which follow'd Israel was Christ before he took Flesh and that this Word which by the Gospel the Apostle preached was Christ which he preached and that the preachings declarations or words of the Apostles were not the Word preached and that the Word preached and not the Preachings of it was that by which they were born again and which lived forever and that the true Christ was the Son glorified with the Father before the World was and is without Beginning of Dayes or End of Life the Root of David and his Off-spring also the First and the Last the Beginning and the End and the Joy of many Generations the Quickening Spirit that dwells in his People the express Image of the Father's Substance whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain who is ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things who is the Light of the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel This is my Beloved and this is my Friend and he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear Concerning Christ Within being the true Saviour THe next thing he undertakes is pag. 60. to prove that the true Christ doth not dwell in any man as he is Christ but instead of so doing he goes about to prove that the Body of the true Christ that he took upon him and in which he suffered rose again out of the Sepulchre and that it doth not dwell in man and so as in divers things before he appears like one that beats the air or that loves to hear himself talk for he opposeth that which I know none affirm and affirms that which none that I know of deny for I know none that deny that his Body was raised out of the Sepulchre nor none that affirm that Body to dwell in man so that I am not concerned to take farther notice of those things though the true Christ which was the Rock that followed Israel in the Wilderness and that was the Son glorified with the Father before the World was for whom that Body was prepared to do the Father's Will in who is ascended where
was puting himself upon nevertheless the King would not hearken unto Micaiah but commanded that he should be put in Prison and fed with the Bread of affliction and with the Water of affliction c. and hearkned unto the lying spirit that was in the mouthes of his many Prophets who prophesied smooth things unto him and by them this lying spirit prevailed and caused him to fall before the Host of the King of Assyria Well I say I could heartily wish that it may not be so with thy Rulers and Magistrates Oh Nation as it was with Ahab and that they have not so far provoked the Lord by Persecuting and sheding the Blood of the Innocent as to cause him to seal his Decree against them or any of them as he did against Ahab and I could wish that it might not prove so which I have cause to believe it will that he hath given permission to the lying spirit to go in the mouthes of thy Priests and Prophets to perswade thy Rulers to go on in this Antichristian Work of Persecuting the Innocent and harmless People of the Lord thereby to fill up the measure of their Fathers Iniquities that so he may be avenged on them But Oh that thy Rulers had hearkned unto the Counsel of those whom God sent unto them who came not for filthy Lucre nor with flattering Speeches but in the Name of the Lord declaring his Counsel in plainness and faithfulness for thy good but Alas instead of hearing their Counsel they have done unto them as Ahab did unto Micaiah even put them in Prison and fed them with the Bread and Water of affliction and thereby they have provoked the Lord of Hosts So that without all controversie as I said before if thy Rulers persist and go on following the Counsel of those false Prophets into whose mouthes the lying spirit is entred to perswade them that the way to remove or stop the present Visitation of Gods Judgments which is Revealed in the midst of thee is to be severe in Persecuting and Banishing his despised and harmless People out of thy Borders I say if their counsel be hearkned unto and obeyed therein that lying spirit will certainly thereby prevail and will cause them to fall and none shall help them and they shall be broken with a perpetual breath and none shall bind them up Wherefore hearken unto this ye Heads and Rulers of the Nation of England the Land of my Nativity be not Proud nor stout hearted against the Lord but fear and dread the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth for he hath certainly a Controversie with you and he will not at all regard the lofty looks nor your proud Carriage for he will be reverenced wherefore humble your selves in Dust and Ashes in his presence you who have not quite sinn'd out your Day and put on Sack-cloth before him if so be there may be hope lest he break you in pieces as a Potters Vessel of Clay and there be none to save you And thus Oh England I have briefly and faithfully declared unto thee thy state and condition according as God shewed it unto me and the cause of thy present Calamities and of the future Judgments that threatens themselves and also the way in which they may in a great measure be prevented and the hot displeasure and indignation of the Lord be appeased in which thy Rulers may likewise see the state and danger they are in But yet I know many will not hear nor regard at all untill their desolation come upon 〈◊〉 yet nevertheless I shall be clear in that I have discharged my Conscience unto them from time to time according as God required me 〈…〉 if they perish in their gain sayings and 〈◊〉 neckedness their blood will be upon themselves and upon them who caused them to err Postscript WHen the good will and loving kindness of God who wills not the death nor destruction of any hath been largely manifested unto a rebellious and stiff-necked Generation of people in striving with them by his good Spirit and when he hath oft reach'd unto them with the visitation of his Love and called unto them by the mouthes of his Servants Prophets and Messengers to repent and turn every one from his evil way that they might be healed and find mercy with the Lord and yet they will have no regard thereunto but refuse to be reformed and continue still in their rebellion against the Light of his good Spirit in their hearts and despise hate persecute and despitefully use the Servants and Messengers of God whom in tender mercy love and good will he sent unto them I say after the long suffering and loving kindness of God hath been so largely and on this wise manifested unto a rebellious and stiff-necked people who so evilly requite his love to them is it not then justice in the Lord to cease striving with them and to give them up to hardness of heart and to seal his Decree against them in his wisdom to find out a way that their eyes may be closed and their hearts hardned least they should see and understand and be converted and healed that so it may come upon them according to that Prophetical saying of Solomon viz. He that oft-times is reproved and stiffneth his neck shall suddenly be cut off and that without remedy Wherefore now consider Oh Nation of England is not this the very state of many of thy Inhabitants at this day hath not the love and good will of God been largely manifested to them in that he hath long strove with them by his good Spirit in their hearts and hath not his immortal Word of Life been plentifully declared amongst them even to the uttermost of thy borders every way hath it not been line upon line and precept upon precept unto them even by the mouthes of his faithful Servants and Prophets whose cry in thy Streets hath oft and long been Turn ye turn ye from your evil wayes why will die c And did they not declare that Gods dreadful Judgments were nigh to be revealed upon them that would not repent and turn from the Abominations against which they testified But alas few at all had regard thereunto but many lookt upon it as an idle Tale or as a whimsical Imagination and refused to hear and fear even as Jerusalem did in the day when Christ would have gathered her and therefore now in the Justice of God is his Decree gone forth and sealed against many of them as it was against Jerusalem and his righteous Judgments which was threatned and prophesied of by his Servants and Hand-maids is begun to be revealed amongst them and in the midst thereof he hath in his wisdom found out a way to blind their Eyes and to stop their Ears and to harden their Hearts least they should see and hear and understand and be converted and healed for as Job said He taketh away the perfect and the wicked and because it is so
the Name of the Lord and for God that the Spirit of Christ doth not nor never did admit or allow of persecution or of destroying mens lives about Worship and Faith towards God neither are any of them true Christians whatsoever they profess that are found so doing For it is not a bare profession of Christ and of zeal for his cause and crying up Ordinances c. that makes people true Christians or that gives them acceptance with God or will make them well-pleasing unto God But that which makes a man a true Christian is his obedience unto that Spirit which baptizeth into the true Faith by which Righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.33 and into Christ who is the Author of faith and will bring him to have the mind of Christ as the true Christians had and will make him partaker of his divine nature and will teach him to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and to do to all men as he would they should do unto him which is according to the Law and Prophets that Christ came to fulfil And indeed there is nothing that can bring a man into this true Christian state but only the working and operation of the Spirit of Christ in his inward parts which all ought to obey and submit unto For the persecuting Jews who were uncircumcised in heart and ears and did alwaies resist the holy Ghost they professed as great Zeal for God and his Cause as the Apostate Christians now do and they look'd for the coming of the Messiah of whom all the Prophets prophesied and professed they would Adore him and Reverence him c. and said That if they had been in the dayes of their Fathers they would not have slain the Prophets Mat. 23.31 who prophesied of the coming of Christ and so they had seemingly a great Zeal for God and his Truth But alas a Murdering spirit was found in them for notwithstanding they professed That they would not have kill'd the Prophets yet they kill'd the Son who was the end of the Prophets And although the Prophets signified the Time when Dan. 9.24 and the Place where the Messiah should be born Mic. 5.2 yet when he was come according to the Prophets which they profest these Professing Jews would not own him nor receive him John 1.11 because he reprov'd their Hypocrisie and their Murdering spirit John 8.40 but they Crucified and Slew Him And this is the very State of the Apostate Christians this day For who is there now amongst them but will profess as great Love to Christ as the Jews in Christ's dayes did to the Prophets who prophesied of him and who is there now among'st them but will say Had we been in Pilate's dayes 〈◊〉 would not have crucified Christ nor delivered him up to be crucified as the Jews said of the Prophets yet notwithstanding their so saying they do as the Jews did for now in this day of his spiritual appearance which they profess they look for and expect they are found persecuting of him in his Members under the sam̄e pretence that the Jews persecuted him in their day viz. as a Blasphemer c. And so the Persecutors were in all ages blinded by the godd of the World who was a murtherer from the beginning and though they could see the iniquities of their fathers and predecessors in persecuting and killing the Prophets yet the envy of their hearts was such that they could not see their own iniquities in persecuting and slaying the Son who was greater than the Servants whom their fathers slew so as I said before it is not a profession of Christ and his Ordinances or zeal for his cause that makes people true Christians neither is God Worshipped upon any of those mountains where the persecuting and destroying one another is but the Worship of God consisteth in obedience to that Spirit of Truth which condemns all those works of darkness and cruelty and in his own Mountain of Holiness where nothing hurts nor destroys Isa 11.9 And such is the Father now seeking to worship him that will worship him there and is now gathering his Sheep from off the barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day of Anchrist's reign and where the Wars and Fightings are even to his own Holy Mountain where they shall learn war no more Isa 2.4 And this is the work that the Envious and Murtherous one opposeth and bestirs himself with all his force and might in his Instruments of Cruelty and Men of War arming of them with all kind 〈◊〉 weapons that possibly he can form to fight against this Appearance and Work of God for so it hath been that since we who are reproachfully called Quakers were raised up to be a people to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord and of the working of his Spirit and Power we have alwayes been even as a Butt for all the Archers of Babylon even from every Mountain to shoot at and our sufferings have not been only in our persons and estates as the spoyling of our goods and scourgings and cruel mockings and imprisonments many unto death as this Nation to her anguish must be made to know but even all sorts of Babylons Merchants or they that trades in every part of her or within her Subburbs have oft made it their business to write and print against us endeavouring thereby as much as in them lay to render us odious to our own Nation and to Nations about us under pretence that we were Papists and Jesuits and that we propagated Jesuitical Principles c. but they being almost if not altogether weary of that work finding it to be to no purpose for the truth which we profess hath still got ground and flourisheth through all these things now at last the Papists or Jesuits themselves who I perceive have a secret hope of a day once more in this Nation they begin to put out their heads and to print against us and so both Protestants and Papists even every head and horn of the Beast after whom the whole World wonders are found pushing against the Lamb and the Saints Rev. 17.14 For of late a certain Pamphlet accidentally came to my hands written by a perfect Roman Catholick who subscribed his name A. S. in which he seems to shew himself sensible of the great distractions that are throughout the whole Christendom about the true way of worship and concerning the true Church and first states a Question viz. which is this Church c. and afterwards makes it his business to prove the Church of Rome to be this true Church and that by divers Arguments by him stated in a Syllogistical manner And I also finding the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet therein smiting at the People of God called Quakers and endeavouring to render them odious by affirming they are led by a deluding spirit c. I found my self somewhat concerned to return a brief reply
said he they are continually doing the Works of the Devil and are his children and consequently cannot truly call God Father I answer therefore the Church of Rome cannot call God Father for she is and long hath been doing the works of the Devil the Murderer as before proved therefore she is of her father the Devil and cannot call God Father in Truth and in Righteousness Then A. S. rambles through several other particulars in which he controverts with Sectaries c. whose cause I am not concerned to plead only this small hint before I have given to prove the Church of Rome one of those Sects who cannot speak the fore-mentioned words truly and so I shall leave the Sectaries with whom A. S. controverts to plead their own cause for the thing that was chiefly in my heart when I took in hand to write this brief Reply was to prove the Church of Rome not to be the true Church and the Chief Arguments by him Produced to prove her the True Church I have already in brief answered Again A. S. in his 6th Chapter makes it his business to prove the Church to be the Judge of all controversies in matters of faith and saith That not every man nor human reason nor the private Spirit nor the Bible is this Judge and to prove it he quotes Matth. 18.17 where Christ said tell the Church c. Answ To which I answer That the Judgement of the true Church of which Christ is Head in matters of Faith I do not deny for being governed in all things by the Head Christ to whom all Judgment is committed John 5.20 the Judgment thereof must of necessity be Ture for the Strength of Israel cannot Lye and ought for to be submitted unto by all But the Church of Rome being not the True Church she being not Governed by the invisible Head Christ to whom all Judgment is committed as before proved Therefore she is not Judge of Controversies in matters of Faith And the True Church to whom Christ said He that Heareth you Heareth me were such as heard Christ and in whom the Spirit of the Father spake Mat. 10.20 But the Church of Rome doth not hear Christ as hereafter I shall prove therefore they who hear the Church of Rome do not hear Christ But surely when A. S. began this work of deciding Controversies he had forgotten that the Church was the only Judge in that particular and not every man nor the private spirit for had he considered that he being but a particular man would not have undertaken the Churches work as appears by the Title of his Book he hath for he calls it A brief Decider of all Controversies in matters of Faith which Book we have cause to judge is his own only work and not the Churches in which we find him condemning himself for the thing which he is doing for as appears by his aforesaid Title himself undertakes to decide controversies and in his 6th Chapter he affirmeth ' That the Church is the only Judge or decider of all controversies But this is that his confusion may the more appear as it hath done in many other things as may be seen in this small Treatise and surely if the Pope have no better Servants then A. S. to do his work for him he had better keep them idle than to employ them in such a work for in the end they will bring more shame to him than they will honour for such like confusions and other abominations have already made the very name of the Pope an ill favour to all true Christians And one thing more in A. S. his 6th Chapter I cannot well omit to observe where he said The spirit inspireth when he will and you hear his voice but cannot tell whence from God or the Devil he doth come or whither to Heaven or to Hell he doth go and then saith So is every one that is born of the spirit and to prove this he quotes Luke 9.55 where Christ said Ye know not what Spirit ye are of Now consider the blindness and ignorance or else the wilful wickedness of A. S. who jumbles a deal of Scriptures together blasphemously wresting of them to his own destruction or at least to the destruction of his own work in hand thinking thereby to blind the minds of people and with his good words mixed with blasphemies and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple as his Predecessors have done in the long night of Apostacy which hath been over all Nations since the Apostles days But it s in vain for him to strive to accomplish his end for the Day is dawned unto many and there is an eye opened in many thousands in this Nation of England that gives them to see over and beyond all this Babylonish or confused trumpery and stuff and have a feeling of that which was before Babylon was and shall out-last Babylon to the praise of God and to the glory and honour of his Name who is blessed for ever Well Although it was so that Christ said unto his Disciples You know not what spirit ye are of yet consider the time when he spake these words was it not before they were born of the Spirit although called to be Apostles for Christ said unto them you must be born again John 3.7 8. and that he would send them the Spirit of which he said they must be born which shall lead them into all Truth John 16.13 and he did not say as A. S. doth that they should not know whence from God or the Devil the Spirit came or whither to Heaven or to Hell it went Oh horrid blasphemy in A. S who saith so is every one that is born of the Spirit as much as to say that he that is born of the Spirits knows not whether he be from God or the Devil or whither he shall go to Heaven or to Hell Oh wickedness indeed Christ said no such things as A. S. doth although that blessed worthy saying of our Saviour and Lord Christ was and is very true viz. Marvel not that I say unto you that you must be born again for the wind bloweth where it listeth and men hears the sound thereof but cannot tell from whence it cometh nor whither it goeth adding even so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3.7 8. Mark they that were born of the Spirit were unknown to the World for said the Apostle after they were born again the World knows us not So although they were in the World and men saw them yet the World knew them not no more than they knew from whence the wind came and wither it went which they heard the sound of and indeed so is the state of the True Church in the World at this day And the Apostles did know from whence the Spirit came and of what Spirit they were after they received the Spirit of Truth and were born of it for Christ told them John 14.16 That