School-Learning and Fleshly Wisdom are able to attain to the knowledge of the Invisible God as it is written 1 Cor. 1.21 The World by Wisdom knew not God but this Apostle witnesseth that they viz. that wicked Generation had known God but did not like to Retain him in their knowledge vers 28. So then if the true knowledge of God cannot be Attained too by the Wisdome of this World which is not able to search into the Misteries of the Visible things as is plain by the Apostles words in the forenamed 1 Cor. 1.17 The World by Wisdom knew not God then its clear that they had another Teacher that Informed them in the knowledge of God besides the Visible Creation The next Scripture this said Priest undertakes to open is in Page 25. John 6.63 The Flesh profiteth nothing it is the Spirit that quickeneth About the Interpretation of which he seems to be greatly confounded not knowing what Flesh that is that profiteth nothing and what Flesh that is that is the Souls Food that came down from Heaven of which if any Man cat he shall live for ever So having opposed the pure Heavenly Light who is the Saints Teacher he himself is left in the Dark with which his own deceived Heart is Darkned So though he said these Scriptures did not appear to Answer the matter in Hand yet they are of good service to make manifest the Darkness of the Man And whereas Christ saith It is the Spirit that quickeneth after S. B. in his ordinary manner of turning and winding of that word at length brings forth this conclusion viz. though the Spirit be the Dead Souls quickner yet it is not the quickned Souls Saviour Rep. To me this seems as strange and as Dark and as confused a Sentence as ever I heard expressed by one that pretended himself a Wise-Man But herein is the Scripture fulfilled Job 5.13 He taketh the Wise in their own Craftiness For it seems very strange to me that any Man should be so Dark as to conclude that that Spirit that giveth Life doth not save from Death Now Man naturally is Dead according to the Word of God In the Day thou Eatest thereof thou shalt surely Dye and Death having got an Entrance into the World through Sin it passed over all Men because all have Sinned now Death got Entrance through the First Man Adams offence and Man now being under the Power of Death by what means doth Man come to Witness Salvation or Deliverance from Death but by Christ who is a Quickening Spirit which giveth Life to the Soul thus Captivated under the Power of Death which is Christ Jesus the Quickening Spirit which makes the Dead to Live and sets free from the power thereof as is Witnessed Rom. 8 2. So this is my Testimony for Christ Jesus who is the Lord from Heaven the Quickning Spirit who is the Resurrection and the Life and raises such to Life who are Dead and Buried in the pit of Death and Darkness and makes them to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so I say it is he and he alone who is the Saviour of Mankind to S. B. might see if the God of this World had not Blinded his Eye that the True Christ the Quickening Spirit saves as well within as without so that this Scripture was not mentioned in vain but plainly proves the Spirit of Christ Jesus in the Saints to be their Saviour both by delivering them from the Captivity of Sin and being delivered to preserve them from the Power thereof The next Speaker he saith was Patience Bullock who he said propounded a question to him Whether Christ could have saved us without his being God His answer he grants it and saith the Godhead gave the Efficacy and excellency to the Manhood and in the 28th Page he tells us that the humane Nature of Christ was the only matter of our Salvation contradicting the latter by granting the first Now S. B. what will the result of all this be unto thee will not all thy wicked Blasphemies against the Lord and thy revilings of the pure Light and the Dirt and Mire cast upon the Throne of God in Man now return upon thine own Head thy wickedness may be seen in this particular in many Pages of thy Book sometimes calling the Light a Glow-worm sometimes a cursed Gospel within Page 20. and frequently the Idol Light within but especially in Page 15. there thou art found to joyn both the Light which we know and is sure is a Measure of Gods Spirit in Man and the Conscience made tender by it which is his Throne in which he doeth chiefly manifest himself I say thou hast Joyned both together under a reproachful Term that Idol Light tender part within so casting Infamy and reproach at it So that which thou said of me in Page 5. viz. is truly come upon thy self for thy Throat is an open Sepulchre casting out abominable Stinck and Noisome unsavory scents in the Nostrils of God and all Godly Men. So with most reviling Speeches thou goest on charging the Light with Antichristianisme and Villany beyond all the Antichrists that yet hath appeared which ungodly charge is Recorded against thee in Eternal Record which thou shalt as surely feel the waight of it upon thine own Head as ever thou spoke it and so I leave thee to the farther Judgment of the mighty God whose Spirit thou hast Villified But to proceed to thy Inferrences upon Patience Bullocks question Page 29. Let me ask you this question Art not thou one of those Carnal Gospelers thou speaks of that rests in a bare Historical Assent that the Man Christ Jesus of Nazareth is the true and only Saviour while sayest thou they are in no degree partaker of the Divine Nature for certainly if thou wert in that Nature it would manifest it self otherwise then it hath done of Instance thy mocking Friends in thy House of worship in Devonshire Tribe calling one of the Friends Checker-work and when I reproved thee for it as a thing unbeseeming thy profession thou answeredst wantonly saying why is not his Name White and his Hatt Black is not that Checkerwork This is no Fruit of the Divine Nature which is that which is Heir to the Kingdome but on the contrary it is a manifest Fruit of Ishmaels Nature scoffing thee at Isaac's Son and the Bond Woman which is to have no part of the Heavenly Inheritance several other things I might Alledge as truly gathered out of thy Book which I forbear here to mention and only content my self with some of those particulars Noted by thine own self as Signs or Fruits of the Divine Nature which are a Lively Faith and a Lively hope which both these do Manifest themselves where-ever they are by Holiness and Purity as we may Read in Acts 15.9 How that the Gentiles who Lived in the Heathenish Nature when they come to Receive the true and Living Faith it manifested it self by Purifying
A Bermudas Preacher Proved A PERSECUTOR Being a JUST TRYAL OF Sampson Bond 's Book ENTITULED A Publick Tryal of the QUAKERS c. Fraught with Fallacies False Doctrine Slanders Railings Aspersions Perversions and other Abuses herein Detected Disproved and Wiped off And that the True Christ is Owned by the People called QUAKERS plainly Made Manifest By those that have been more particularly concerned and Eye and Ear-Witnesses in the Dispute at Bermudas and those that have had the perusal of his Book which manifests it self The Wicked has digged a Pit for others and is fallen into it himself Psal 7.15 A Lying Tongue is but for a Moment Prov. 12.19 LONDON Printed by John Bringhurst at the Sign of the Book in Grace-Church-street 1683. To the Inhabitants of these Islands BERMUDUS A Testimony for the Truth and People of God called Quakers against the Reproaches Scandals and Slanders of Sampson Bond Who calls himself a Minister or Preacher of the Everlasting Gospel in the said Islands Friends and People all COnsider seriously your condition for it is exceeding Dangerous at present for the Everlasting state of your Souls is herein nearly concerned for he only that believeth shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned according to the Scripture Therefore Friends and People all be advised by him who is your Friend and take the Counsel of the Apostle in the 2 Cor. 13.5 Examin your selves whether you be in the Faith c. For through Faith alone you come to have an Interest in the Salvation purchased by Christ Jesus the Eternal Son of the Father who was in the Beginning with the Father as it is in Prov. 8. from 22 to 31. read them Verses and consider and weigh them well for this is he in whom your Faith must stand and not in another this is he whose delight is with the Children of Men and through whom the Wonderful love of God came to be made manifest unto the Sons and Daughters of Men in the Restoration after Man had run into Rebellion against God and lost that glorious Likeness or Image that he had at the first when God Breathed into him the Breath of Life through which he became a living Soul and so long as he kept in faithfulness to the Lord he kept his Dominion over the Creatures and his Habitation as in the Garden of God the Garden of his delight where the Trees of God did flourish and the Tree of Life in the midst thereof The Lamb was not slain then But when Man turned aside from following the Lord and hearkened to the voice of the Serpent then Death was known then was the Lamb slain when this World of Wickedness the Foundation thereof was laid by the Enemy then was Man cast out of the Paradise of God into the Earth which was cursed for his sake where the Thornes and Thistles is brought forth and the way to the Tree of Life stopped up for the Cherubim and the flaming-Sword was there which turneth every way that Man in the old Adams state cannot come neer to Eat or Tast of the Tree of Life Oh People Behold here is your state every one in Old Adam all separate from God from the Covenant of Life without God in the World even in the World of Wickedness in Death in the Curse this is your state and condition whilest you remain here untill you come to know a coming forth till you come to witness the Seed of the Woman to Bruise the Head of the Serpent to overthrow his Power who is the Prince of Darkness and is the chief Ruler in Man in the state of Disobedience So Friends it is high time for you to return to the Lord and consider even in this your Day the things that belong to your Peace before they be hidden from your Eyes for such a time will assuredly come to pass as ever it did upon the Old World they had a day when the Lord strove with them but they would not hearken but turned aside into the Evil Imaginations then their day passed over and the Spirit of the Lord ceast striving and the Flood came and destroyed them all except eight Persons so mind your time lest it pass over your Head ere you are aware and the Flood of Gods Wrath come and sweep you all away as it did them So all People come unto Christ Jesus the Gift of God and believe in him that through him you may come to witness Salvation For as the Servant of the Lord did testifie in Ages by past so do we witness the same there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby we may be saved but by Jesus Christ alone which is not the bare Outward Visible Appearance or Body only but as he was testified of by Gods faithful Witnesses even in that Age who although they did bear witness to the Outward Man or Body yet they did not exclude the Godhead when they said Act 2. Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God by Miracles and Wonders c. The same Jesus which ye Crucified hath he made both Lord and Christ Friends consider well this matter for this Scripture was brought by your own Minister against us and the Truth which we profess thereby to prove if he had been able that the Body without the Godhead or Jesus of Nazareth 〈◊〉 Humane Nâ—ture as he called it without the Spirit was the only Maâ—â—◠〈…〉 To which I answer It was the chief work of that day or time to bear witness to him who had been set at nought by the Chief Priests and Rulers and by the generality of the People whom they also put to Death even to the shameful Death of the Cross as it was written by the Prophet long before He was numbred with Transgressors c. For notwithstanding all the Miracles which he had wrought among them they would not believe that this was he that should come no more then People now adays can believe in his Spiritual Appearance but they were looking out in the Carnality of their Minds for another to appear according to their Imaginations as People are in this Age and Generation and will not receive the true Christ within them therefore the Witnesses of God in that day were the more engaged to bear so strict a testimony to his Bodily Appearance that this was he that was to come and they were not to look for another And so gives them plainly to understand that the Lord had exalted him into his Kingdom for he had made him both Lord and Christ whose Kingdom was not Carnal but Spiritual as he himself said my Kingdom is not of this World But did this Testimony deny the Godhead for consider by what Power were these Miracles done was it as he was meerly Man or by a higher Power See John 14.10 The Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works saith Jesus himself he there bearing witness to the Eternal power that dwelt in him And verily People if Mans
He is the true Light that enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World and Christ himself said He was the Light of the World Which things are true and his Light is truly felt and known in the Hearts of his Saints So our Testimony we are not ashamed to bring forth to the inward manifestation of the Spirit of Jesus by which we are inlightned and by vvhich the Gentiles are inlightned and is become the glory of Spiritual Israel the inward Jew whose praise is not of Men but of God And so Simeon's Words or Prophecy of him is fulfilled he is become a Light to the Gentiles and Israels glory He likewise names John 20 27. Then said Jesus reach hither thy finger c. And Thomas answered and said unto him My Lord and my God So this Scripture brought by him to prove his Argument hath quite overthrown it For by Thomas his confession the same Jesus who was the true and only Saviour of the World was God as well as Man and Christ did not at all reprove him for his Confession And if God then a Spirit and so is within as well as without As to the fourth of John 42. where he seemeth to say The Men of Samaria confest to the Man Christ only to this I answer it was the same Christ to whom Thomas confest and the same that was before Abraham was even he that whosoever saw truly to be the Christ saw the Father also So here having no ground to prove his Argument which the said S. B. calls Apostolical it doth at once fall to the ground The third Argument that this Priest uses to prove his Charge viz The Quakers Saviour within him to be the false Christ is in page 3. If the true Christ and our only Saviour did at once without us in and by his own crucfied Body on the cross finish and perfect the work office of a Saviour ithen a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is not the true Christ But the true Christ and our only Saviour did at once without us in and by his own crucified Body on the Cross finish and perfect the whole work and office of a Saviour therefore a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is not the true but the false Christ All which he grounds upon these Scriptures following Heb. 10.12 14. Heb. 2.14 1 Pet. 2.24 Eph. 2.15 16. Heb. 9.26 Eph. 5.2 Col. 1.22 Neither doth any one of these Scriptures prove the whole office of a Saviour perfected in his crucified Body at once upon the Cross Although I confess that the whole work of a Saviour so far as was of him required to be performed in and by that Body was perfectly performed and nothing wanting as pertaining to our Salvation But is this the whole office of a Saviour Is there nothing farther to be done Is the believing of this sufficient without sanctification Is it not the office of Christ as a Saviour to give rest and peace to such as he saves must he not redeem from under the power of Sin and destroy Sin in our mortal Bodys Is this no part of the office of Christ as a Saviour The Apostle Paul Rom. 8.2 testified to the work of the Spirit within saying The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free frrom the Law of Sin and Death Now this faithful Servant of the Loâ—d after he came to believe and was truly satisfied as concerning the work done by Jesus of Nazareth without him yet if you read Rom. 7. you shall see what a grievous complaint he makes concerning the Body of Death which still remained in him and of the Law in his Members that still made war against the Law in his Mind and captivated his Members to the Law of Sin and Death So that although the purchase was made the debt paid and remission of Sins obtained through the Death and Sufferings of Christ Jesus and also triumphantly manifested to the World by his Resurrection of which there were many Witnesses as the Apostle doth declare 1 Cor. 15. yet for all this the Enemy sought to keep his hold and Paul was so far sensible of the same that it made him cry out Oh Wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death which as he waited he came to know a farther work of Salvation then that which was done at once without him in the Crucified Body of Jesus on the Cross for through the power of the same Jesus not another he became crucified also to the World and the World unto him and so being Crucified with Christ by which he felt himself Dead to Sin he also did pertake of his Resurrection and so received a new Life through the quickenings of Christ Jesus who lived in him and so was truly made alive unto God Gal. 2.20 So this is the very thing that the faithful whom S. B. doth scornfully call Quakers do testifie of viz of the work of the Son of God within and of his inward quicknings in our Souls by which we also are made alive unto God though we do not deny the work of Salvation wrought by the Man Jesus Christ without us in his own Crucified Body on the Cross but believe it every whit even as the Scripture doth declâ—re oâ— it And do resolve to wait in the inward manifestation of the Son of Gâ—d wâ—o is Light whom S. B. so often reproaches in his scandalous Book â—ith wicked and reproachful Names yet we are not ashamed to own him in â—is inward manifestation through whose Power we do certainly believe and truly expect to feel the Power of Darkness Sin and Death truly vanquished in us as well as for us as it is written He doth all our works in us and for us And so he becomes the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that do obey him so Christ saves not to halves as People imagin as to pay the price of the Redemption for such as are taken Captive by the Enemy of their Souls and yet leave them under his Power and Jurisdiction but to as many as believe Love and Obey him he redeems also from under the Power of Sin and Death and gives them dominion over it and so he becomes a perfect Saviour saving both within and without saving to the uttermost all that come unto God by him So these are they who are for ever perfected through the one offering even those that according to the will of God are sanctified through the Blood and Spirit of Jesus which the Saints do inwardly feel to cleanse them from the defilements of Sin So this I Judge to any rational and unbiassed Spiritâ— is sufficient to the Answer of S. B's 3d Argument by which he seeks to prove his Charge viz That a Quakers pretended Saviour within him as he is pleased to call it is not the true Christ but the false Sam. Bonds 4th Argument in page 4. If the true Christ and our only Saviour be in Heaven
the Light within a Quaker must be Born at Bethlehem Reply I could say more and yet speak truly of the work of the Light or Spirit of God or measure of Christ within then S. B. câ—n receive or understand but this I say I never said the Light in every perticular was the entire Christ for that were to make many Christs but I say that it is only a measure of that Christ who appeared in the Body that was â—orn in Bethlehem Again this Priest Page 9. In his answer to that Text 1 Tim. 3.16 said Nothing can be more Evident then this Disputant would have had the Hearers to believe that the God-head as distinct from Christ being a Man is the true Christ and only Saviour In answer to this and all other of his Wicked and false Accusations I say and testifie that I do truly and really give according to what I Understand and feel by the Inward Operation of the Spirit of Christ within according to the Testimony of Saints without as it is Recorded in the Scripture of Truth unto God his due and also what the Scripture doth declare of the Man or Body of Christ I also truly own So let his Lies and false Accusations return upon his own Head who shall assuredly feel the weight of them in the Day of the Lord. In Page 10. He clearly manifests his Ignorance and the Carâ—allity of his Mind for speaking there of the Apostle John's words 1 John 1. Vers 1 2 3. where he saith That which was from the Beginning mark diligently Christ in that Body was not from the Beginning which we have heard which we have seen which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life This he seems to affirm That the blessed Apostle did testifie that they had seen him and looked upon him and handled him viz the Word of Life by being in his company as dark a piece and as ignorant almost as I have heard drop from â—ny one that hath taken upon them to write in the defence of their Religion What! the outward Eye to behold the word of Life Doth not the Scripture say No Man hath seen God at any time Did not the Jews see the Body Yet they saw not God that dwelt in the Body For he that saw Christ saw the Father also according to Christs own Words to Phillip likewise Christ saith The hour cometh and now is when the Dead should hear the Voice of the Son of Man and they that heard should live But the Jews heard the outward Voice yet did abide in Death and Darkness where this Priests place is otherwise he never durst adventure to open his Mouth in Blasphemies against the clear manifestation of the Spirit in the Heart and Consciences of Men calling it an Idol even the Light of Christ who himself bore witness and declared That he was the Light of the World But now having begun to revile the Appearance of Gods Spirit What can put a stop to him but the Hand of Divine Justice Which will assuredly overtake him and he shall have a Reward from the Hand of the Lord. In Page Twelve This Sampson Bond accuseth us of Envy comparing us to the Jews who Contradicted the things spoken by Paul and Blasphemed To which I Answer Therefore art thou inexcusable O Man for wherein thou Judgest us thou thy self art Condemned even by thine own Judgment for the very thing thou hast laid to this Peoples Charge thou thy self art sound guilty of for thou at found contradicting the things spoken by Paul and left upon Record viz Christ his being or Appearance within as witnessed 2 Cor. 13.5 Gal. 2.20 and Chap. 4.19 Col. 1.27 And hast also Blasphemed his Inward Appearance calling it an Idol So with the Wicked and Sloathful Servant thou art justly Condemned out of thine own Mouth and so the Judgment wherewith thou hast judged me will redound upon thy self defend thy self as well as thou canst And Rom. 10.6 7 8. Which he keeps such a busle about turning and winding Serpent like yet except he could race the Words out of the Book it will stand a Witness for Christ the Eternal Word which Faith takes hold of and brings the Soul into Union with him who is nigh unto his in the Mouth and in the Heart So that his People feeling his presence in their Hearts are not ashamed to Confess him with their Mouths In the Sixteenth Page speaking of the 2 Cor. 13 5. Know ye not your own selves how that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates This Scripture he saith Wounds their new Coined Religion to Death and to make it appear he forms an Argument thus If the Light which is by Natural Generation in Reprobates coming into the World be not the true Christ then the Light that is in every Man that comes into the World by Natural Generation is not the true Christ But the Light which by Natural Generation in Reprobates is not the true Christ as above Ergo the Light which is in every Man which comes intâ— the World is not according to your selves the true Christ Reply I shall never fear wounding by a Weapon that never comes near me so this Argument of thine is farr enough off from wounding our Religion that it touches not neither comes near for I believe this Bond would be hard put to it to find that Quaker out that either writ or said that the light which is in every man by Natural Generation is the true Christ but he who is the true Lighâ— that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World is the true Christ but thy Natural Light we deny to be the Christ as well as thou dost knowing that whatsoever is Born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is Born of the Spirit is Spirit at which I doubt thy enmity is chiefly although thy Ignorance is not able to put a difference between the one and the other but here by the way take Notice that the Apostle doth not say Christ is not in Reprobates but that Reprobates do not know Christ in them by his Light to condemn them in Page 18. he saith that I said I abhor Hour-Glasses Answer This is also false I said not I Abhor them for they are serviceable for their proper use but I said I deny them as they use them His Words viz. His familiar the Glow warm Light within what Scripture has he for this is not a Blasphemous Character put upon the Light within Farther in the same Page I take Notice of another grand Lie and false accusation Namely that I doubted in my Discourse whether the Word took Flesh of the Virgin and in that Flesh dyed for all Men. But I account it but a light thing to be Belied or Evil spoken of by him who is not afraid to speak Evil of the Divine and Elect Seed Christ in the Saints calling it the Idol Light within as it follows in the same Page and
Name or Book whereby it might have been made manifest but in as much as he hath done neither I return it back upon him again as an Imagination forced upon his own Heart And as for that of George Fox concerning the Nature of Christ that it was not humane but Divine I have bore my Testimony agreeable thereto before and so leave S. B. to prove it by the Scripture which lies upon him as a necessity in as much as he hath laid it down as a necessary point of Faith One thing more of which he chargeth the Faithful Servant of the Lord G. F. is that he hath abused the Scripture 2 Cor. 5.11 For we which live are always delivered unto Death for Jesus sake that the Life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our Mortal Bodies Now the abuse charged on G. F. is that he reads it thus the Life of Jesus is manifest in our Mortal Bodies thereby making that present which the Apostle makes future at the Resurrection Answ The words might be doth not so much note the time as the end wherefore the Saints were always delivered up to Death even for that very end that the Life of Christ might be Manifest in their Mortal Bodies all that might Dye to the Flesh and to the World and Sin might no longer Live in them but that the Life of Jesus might be Manifest in their Mortal Bodies Now if G. Fox witnessing the fulfilling of this and did Testifie to the same how did he abuse the Scripture or belye the Apostles words as thou hast falsly charged him but it is plain thou hast wrested the Scripture in that thou say'st it is only at the Resurrection when Paul himself witnessed the same thing before he went out of the Body Gal. 2.20 And yet in contradiction Priest Bond saith in pag. 72. that the Body shall be raised Spiritual as Christs Body of Flesh and Bones after the Resurrection was Spiritual our Bodies shall not be raised Natural corruptible Bodies but Spiritual Incorruptible Bodies though the Body of Man be not Natural corruptible or Mortal Flesh and Blood and as saith unfit for the Kingdom of God but in the Resurrection the Body will not be so for it will then be Spiritual incorruptable immortal Flesh and Blood Priest Bond in this hath contradicted himself and is made to confess the Quakers Principles And for what thou hast to charge Isaac Pennington withal I believe he was a Spiritual Man and was better acquainted with Heavenly things then Sampson Bond and so could speak as he had known felt and received them in Spirit which is a Mystery to every Natural Man for the Wisdom of this World with all the acquired parts that it can Furnish the Natural Man withal cannot know or Receive the things of God because they are only known and received in the Spirit But it had been a great point of Wisdom in this Priest to have been still and quiet and not to speak Evil of the things he knew not neither understood but he that thus will rail against the Light of Christ which the Saints believe in will not spare his Disciples Thus have I searched over the first part of his Book which concerns his first charge wherein I have noted some of the abuses Slanders Blasphemies Confusions and soft contradictions of S. B. and according to the Measure of Light I have Received briefly answered the same I shall now pass on to the Second charge viz. that the main end of the Quakers Meeting in these Islands is to make the Lords Christ his Holy Spirit his Angels and Apostles all Lyers and false Witnesses of God And to make good this his Ungodly false charge against us he lays down this for his Foundation viz. That we are G. Fs. Disciples and therefore that this is our Principal that the Light is in us which he calls pretended Light is our true Christ Teacher Rule and Guide to be heard believed in walked unto and obeyed as the only Saviour to give Remission of Sins and Salvation with God to which he said we consented from whence he draws down this conclusion viz. That we did thereby Grant that the end of our Meetings is to Teach a denial of Jesus Christ of Nazareth the Man approved of God to be our true and only Saviour which Teaching said he is to make the Lords Christ his Holy Spirit his Angels and Apostles all Lyers and False Witnesses of God Reply The Ground of this his charge is of the same Nature with the former because we confess to the Spirit within which is Light and therefore he concludes that it must needs follow that we do deny the true Christ which he concludes to be the Man Jesus without without having any respect to any thing that dwelt within or at least without any Respect to the Spirit of Christ whose Office it is to cleanse the Soul from Sin and so consequently doth save and Redeem from under the power of Death Reply This his charge is absolutely false for our Hearts viz. The Hearts of the Faithful amongst us is truly set to serve the Lord and our main end is truly to Worship him in Spirit and in Truth and if in the Indeavours of our Hearts to bring this our end to pass and for want of a true understanding in the Scripture we had mist of the thing must it needs be charged on us that it was our main end so to do I believe few that have any tenderness in them will believe thee But on the other Hand it is Manifest that the Man Jesus did declare himself the Light of the World Joh. 8.12 and so to be believed in Chap. 12 46. now as Man barely understood how could he be the Light of the World which Light is a Heart searching Light Rev. 2.23 therefore it must be understood in the Spirit and he declares himself one with the Father Joh 10.30 in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodyly who was before Abraham John 8. and it was the Godhead the Invisible power for which the Body was prepared and this power dwelling and acting in the Body was that which unheld it in this great work of Mans Salvation and it was through the excellency worth and power of the Indwelling Spirit which was one with the Father which the Invisible Eye only could behold by which the satisfaction was made and the purchase of the Heavenly Inheritance obtained by whom Remission of Sins Justification Sanctification and Everlasting Redemption is obtained this is he in whom we confess to be our true and only Saviour in whom we believe And in as much as he did direct his Disciples that after his departure they should wait for his Spirit which the World could not receive then no more then they can do now which saith he dwelleth with you and shall be in you and this Spirit was to be waited for even by his Disciples that had been taught by him and he was
to be their Guide and their Instructor and their Leader and in the Spirit they were to Worship the Father and this is the word of Faith even Christ the begetter of Faith in the Heart and must be believed in and obeyed and walked up to according to his Inward Moons and requirings which always moveth and leadeth into the things that is good and maketh manifest the Evil and reproveth for it and this is not received by Natural Generation but by the Inspiration of the Almighty which is Light which shines in our Hearts and gives the knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ and this Spirit Life and Power dwelt in the Son of God without measure but in the Saints in measure and this is he by which the Saints are Sanctified and do receive full assurance of the everlasting unchangeable Inheritance and this is wrought by degrees by the same Spirit by which the Saints are continually given up to Death to dye to Sin to dye to the Flesh to dye to the World that the Life of Jesus may be made Manifest in their Mortal Bodies And the Manifestation of this Spirit being given to every Man to profit withal and we believing that every Man hath Received a Measure of this pure Light according to Joh. 1.9 therefore do we direct People to turn in their Minds to this Heavenly Principle this Heart searching Light that makes Manifest Sin and Transgression and leads the Soul out of Captivity from under the Power thereof and these things we declare and Exhort People to submit unto the same for herein only is the true Spiritual Worship witnessed And now S. B. what wilt thou say Wilt thou judge this is to deny Christ or to make him a Lyer who was truly God or to make the Holy Spirit a Lyer to whom we thus Testifie or to make the Angels Lyers who Testified to him as a King whose Kingdom was not of this World or to make the Apostles Lyers who bare so large a Testimony to his Spiritual appearance I know and am sure had thou received thy Message from the Lord or ever walked in the Path of the Righteouss thou wouldst have had another Message to declare then any yet I can see come from thee Now all the Scriptures that S. B. brings to prove his charge they are such as proves the same Jesus to be the Saviour who was one with the Father And however these Testimonies of Christ the Spirit the Angels and Apostles seems to speak of the outward Man yet thereby we cannot understand it any otherwise then as he was the Christ and Saviour of the World who dwelt in the Father and the Father in him and the words he Spoke they were not his but the Fathers that sent him But he goes on to Revile the Light with his common term of Idol which Idols and Idolatrous practises was ever hateful unto God But the more he Reproaches it the more he doth heap up Vengeance upon his own Head to be Executed upon him in the day of the Lord. The next thing to he considered was a Sentence of Scripture Spoken by Will Harriot in denyal of the Priests false charge concerning our Mâ—etings saying The Apostle Travelled in Biraâ—h for the Gallations till Christ was formed in them which words he Spoke without naming Chap. and ver for which he derides him and calls him Impertinent Simpleton and with all he Glories that he could readily point at the Chap. and ver to which I answer is this any point of Religion Is it any matter of Salvation Is it nor rather a chief part of thy Trade which thou hast been Exercised in more then twenty years and peradventure Received for thy Hire several hundred pounds worth and this is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and agreeable with the Practise of Balaam who Loved the wages of Unrighteousness now it were a shaâ—e for thee Trading with the Scripture so long and not to have thy Trade perfect The Scripture was Gal. 4.19 The which Scripture this Reviling Priest makes use off to Reproach the Light thus If when Paul writ to the Gallations Christ was to be formed in them then the Light in every Man the Quakers Rotten Principle which is in every Man by Natural Generation he saith is not the True Christ Rep. In defiance of this Heavenly Principle I say thou art an Ignorant Man for this Light is of a more Noble Birth and Generation for it is of Gods own begetting and so not of a Flâ—shly Generation for that which is Born of the Flesh is Flesh but that which is Born of the Spirit is Spirit And it is one thing to have this principle in them and another thing to be in Union with it it is one thing to have it in a Man and another thing to be formed into its likeness now none can Witness the formings of Christ in them but such as do receive Christ the Light they and only they receive Power to become Children of the most High God even they that believe in his Name which is the Power by which Christ Jesus was raised up from the Dead and such who by Faith lay hold on the Power the Word of Life the quickning Spirit by which the Saints are begotten again into Christs Nature and Christs own Nature raised up in them and so is Christs Word fulfilled you in me and I in you And thus to know Christ is not to deny the Body which suffered and Rose again for the Saints which Testified of the Man did also bear Witness to the Spirit which was their Guide and Leader and Instructer and Saviour and Saved them from the Body of Death and Power of Darkness and Law of Sin and Mortified Sin in them and their Vile affections which were upon the Earth was Subdued by the Spirit of Christ and they came to know him to be the quickning Spirit quickning and Enlivening them and raising them up to sit in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so Old things were Witnessed to pass away and all things to become new new Nature Will new Assertions new Desires new all New The next thing to be considered is his Ridged sencering of Will. Harriot with his Fellow Seducers as he calls them Pag. 59 60 61. In which he shews his Persecuting Spirit in passing such a Sentance as Whipping for no other Transgression then to deny such a Doctrine as is not truly grounded upon the Scripture and not only so but in divers particulars contrary to the Scripture And for this he takes the Scripture for his Rule Joh. 2.13 And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the Temple those that Sold Oxen and when he had made a Whip of small Cords he drove them out of the Temple and said unto them make not my Fathers House a House of Marchandice Now Mark what ground hath he or can he rightly gather from hence to punish a Man with Corporal punishment for matter of
makes the Conquest over sin God said only Noah was a just and pâ—rfect man Job was perfect and upright and dost not thou here pervert the Scripture who saist contrary to the Lord And yet thou saist so then the perfect man is the upright and sincere hearted man and how can he be upright and sincere hearted and have a Cursed Root of Bitterness in him And we never did affirm that Job or any did own their own perfection but the perfection which is of God and Christ Priest Bond saith to prove Resurrection F. E. said that the Scripture saith that which thou sowest is not that Body which shall be Priest Bond saith Wool died in Scarlet is the saâ—e Wool for substance as it was before c. Page 72 73. And then in Page 75. Priest Bond confounds all again who saith in the Resurrection the Bâ—dy will be Spiritual Incorruptable Immortal Flesh and Blood And in Page 69. Priest Bond saith Stephen saw Christs humane Body of Flesh and Blood Priest Bond saith The Quakers say that the Body of Christ was not raised from the Dead and that no mans Body should be raised from the Dead These are horrid Lies Page 69. And Page 71. Priest Bond saith that Francis Eastlack saith We do deny the Resurrection of the Dead But his Lies are sufficiently said though he basely abuses the Quakers in saying we deny the Resurrection of the Dead or the Resurrection of Christ but we do not look upâ—n Priest Bonds words to be any slander and therefore we do not matter what he saith And we say the same that did descend did ascend and is glorified in his glorious and Spiritual Body at the Right hand of God who will change our vile Bodies and make it like unto his glorious Body Priest Bond saith Had not Christ a real humane mankind Body after he Rose Page 68. And in Page 75. In the Resurrection the Body will not be so it will be spiritual incorruptable immortal flesh and blood But Priest Bond how dost thou make this hang together Humane Mankind Body yet Spiritual body Immortal flesh and blood Page 56 and 67. Thou usest many lying Arguments that the Quakers should not believe the record that God gives of his Son namely that Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God c. The Lamb of God which takes away the Sins of the World these are all horrid Lyes which Priest Bond makes his Refuge But how doth Priest Bond believe in Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World Who saith The Saints shall not bâ— made free from all Sin in this Life and there is in all true Believers a Cursed Root of bitterness not cast out Death only makes the Conquest over Sin Then how doth Christ take away the Sins of the World and make an end of Sin And Priest Bond hath not proved in Page 66. his Baptizing of Children with Water and that outward Water is one of the three Witnesses spoken of by John and W. W. the Quaker said both Baptisme and the Lords-Supper was within Priest Bond saith It is supposed so hot with two Wives this is like Priest Bonds base Spirit for is not Baptisme with Fire and the Holy-Ghost within and doth not Christ say I stand at the Door and knock and if any Man will hear my Voice and open the Door I will come into him and sup with him and he with me Is not this Supper within Revel 3. Therefore how dare he say that the Quakers deny both the Sacraments and hath not proved that outward Water and outward Wine to be a Sacrament nor the Word Sacrament a Scripture Word Priest Bond saith That the Spirit as such never Justified any Saint from Sin in the Sight of God much less such as F. E. was who never had the Spirit of God In this Priest Bond hath shewed his Rash Ignorance of the Scripture for God poureth out of his Spirit upon all Flesh Acts 2. and Joel 2. And doth not God Justify his People from Sin by the Spirit of Faith which Faith is the Victory in which Faith they please God and have access to him And Priest Bond thou saist Paul infers though we have known Christ after the Flesh yet henceforth know we him no more 2 Cor. 5.16 Priest Bond saith in Page 64. The Flesh i. e. after worldly greatness and honour Creature Pomp and Dignity in which sence Flesh is understood in Reader dost thou think this meaning of Priest Bond is right concerning Jesus of Nazareth the Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World for did Christ ever receive the Worldly greatness and Honour Creature Pomp and Dignity Doth not Christ say He was not of this World He testified against this World that their Works were Evil. Priest Bond saith All such as stand in a Covenant of Works as the Quakers do And yet in Page 61. W.W. confesses to Christ in them the hope of Glory the Quakers are in the Covenant of Grace the Light and Life which Light thou Blasphemously calls an Idol as in Page 64. Priest Bond brings Jeremiah Chap. 25. God is at Hand c. And Psalm 139.7 8. David saith Whither shall I go from thy Spirit c. If I make my Bed in Hell behold thou art there c. So Priest Bond saith The Deity filleth all places Creatures and things in Heaven Hell the Sea and the Earth But Priest Bond doth the Deity fill the Devils in Hell in whom there is no Truth If he fills all things in Heaven and Hell Is not the Deity Truth Page 63 Priest Bond saith Christ made a Scourge of small Cords and Whipt sundry persons that sold Doves in the Temple in Page 59.61 Why should the Lawful Magistrate Scruple to follow Christs example to whip W. H. the Quaker We believe that Priest Bond would have the Magistrates to be Whipping like the New-England Priests but we hope the Magistrates of Burmudas will be wiser But S. Bond would be at whipping Doth not he deserve to be Whipt who calls Christ a Devil and his Light within an Idol Priest Bond thou saist in Page 57. They do in their Meetings and Aims make the Angels and the Apostles of Christ Lyers These are all horrid Lies for we own Christ Jesus according as the Angels and Apostles have declared him more than Priest Bond. And Priest Bond saith again As if the Lord Christ had said all Men are Flesh and Blood so dull sighted and blind that they could never have received his Truth by any Study or Observation it comes only by Gift and Revelation John 6.62 Peter saying to Christ Thou art the Son of the living God And yet in page 55. Priest Bond contradicts himself and saith that Christ was both seen and heard with the bodily eyes and ears of a Woman with whom he conversed What Priest Bond without the Gift and Revelation did she know him to be the true Christ and if