this cannot be true unless it be the same It that is the same Body which is spoke of in both Branches of the Comparison The Objection is in these words If the It in the Text be not the same Body how can it be callâ—d a Resurrection for that supposeth the same I Answer says Mr. Penn If a thing can yet be the same and notwithstanding Changed for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the Absurdity of it is rather out-done than equallâ—d by this Carnal Resurrection First the Church of Rome owes Mr. Penn thanks for so very kind a Representation of Transubstantiation as to make it stand upon a better foot than the Resurrection of the Body which is an Article in our Creed and receiv'd by the Catholick Church in All Ages Secondly This is answering one Objection with another But Thirdly as to his Objection Cannot he apprehend a thing to be Changed in many of its Qualities and yet remain the same in its Substance For that is the present Question Quite contrary to that of Transubstantiation which supposes a Change of the Substance the Qualities or Accidents remaining the same What does he think Was not Christ's Body Changed in his Transfiguration upon the Mount Was it not therefore the same Body or did Christ take a New Body That wou'd have been Death For after a Soul is Hypostatically that is Personally united to a Body their separation is call'd Death Unless he thinks that Christ took a Body no otherwise than as Angels have done that is not into any Hypostatical Union with his Person but only as a Cloak or a Veil which he might throw off and put on again without any alteration as to his Person And if so then Christ did not die upon the Cross more than upon the Mount that is He only put off that Bodily Garment but that was no Death more than an Angel is said to die when he lays down that Body which he took up only for an occasion But this will be discours'd of more fully in the Section concerning the Divinity of Christ In the mean time let me give an easie answer to the two Verses in the 15th Chapt. of the 1st Ep. to the Corinthians which the Quakers make use of against the Resurrection of the Body One is ver 37. Thou sowest not that Body which shall be The other is ver 50. That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Answ Flesh and Blood while Corruptible as ours is in this Life cannot bear the Incorruptible State of Heaven As it is express'd in the same ver in explanation of the Expression Flesh and Blood cannot Inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption Inherit Incorruption But our Corruptible Flesh will be changed in its Qualities and put on Uncorruptible Qualities and thus the Dead shall be rais'd Incorruptible and we shall be Changed for this Corruptible must put on Incorruption c. ver 53. c. The same Answer will serve ver 37. where the Apostle does Illustrate the Resurrection of our Bodies by the Resurrection of Grain that is sown in the Ground For the Body of such Grain is chang'd in its Qualities but not in its Substance The Grain must die or else it will not Fructifie or Rise again In this Death it loses something as the Husks but it retains the Substance which rises again much alter'd from what it was when it was sown for it rises in the Blade then the Stalk Ears and then the full Grain in the Ear. But to shew that the Substance is not alter'd in all this we find that every Grain rises the same it was sown if you sow Oats you expect not a Crop of Wheat And there is full as much Reason to say that God does Anew Create every year all the Grain that grows in our Fields without any respect to the Grain that was sown or any Natural Production from thence as that we shall receive totally New Bodies without any Relation or any part of the Body that was sown And as to Mr. Penn's mighty Wonder how a thing can be chang'd and yet the same which he cannot comprehend and compares to Transubstantiation it is so far from being any difficulty at all that it proves the thing that is changed to be the same because otherwise It were not changed If George be chang'd in Quality in the State of his Health or in Reputation this is a certain proof that it is the same George still But if William be chang'd this is no change in George So that a thing being chang'd proves it to be the same Nor is the greatness of the Change any Difference as to the sameness of the Person chang'd Death is a great change yet if VVilliam dies it is VVilliam even the same William that liv'd who dy'd and as sure it will be the same who shall rise again tho' undergoing another great change But I am now to tell you a very strange thing which I wou'd not believe when it was told me till I saw it And that is that Mr. Penn does understand that Long and Elegant Description of the Resurrection of our Bodies from the 35 ver of the 15. Chap. of the 1 st Ep. to the Corinthians only of the Spiritual State of the Soul in this Life The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication c. 1673. These are his own words p. 373. of his Book Quoted in the Margent and repeating ver 44. It is sown a Natural Body it is rais'd a Spiritual Body c. he adds p. 369. I do utterly deny that this Text is concern'd in the Resurrection of Mans Carnal Body at all I will recite it says he with the five following verses which he there sets down but for Brevity I omit them referring to the Chapter and having repeated them which speak of the Natural and Spiritual Body that the First Man is of the Earth Earthly the Second is the Lord from Heaven and that as we have born the Image of the Earthly that is of Adam in this Corruptible Life so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly that is at the Resurrection when our vile Bodies shall be made like unto Christ's Glorious Body but Mr. Penn p. 370. having repeated these verses goes on thus I say this doth not concern the Resurrection of Carnal Bodies but the two States of Men under the First and Second Adam Men are sown into the VVorld Natural so they are the Sons of the First Adam But they are Raised Spiritually through Him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are the Sons of the Second Adam who came to Raise up the Sons of the First Adam from their Dead to his Living the Natural to his Spiritual Estate But perhaps says he it will be objected that the 47. verse The first Man is of the Earth Earthly and part of the 9. verse We shall also bear the Image of the
be ought to do so and the Light within did not inform his Conscience To which George Replies in these words Did not Christ say that it was hard for him to kick against that that prickt him and was not that within him that prickt him Here is manifest Perverting of Scripture For Christ did not say that it was hard to kick against that that prickt him or that any thing prickt him The words which Christ spoke were these It is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks Acts 9.5 That is against the Power of Christ which wou'd be too hard for him if he strove against it as a Man that kicks against Pricks or Goads of Iron only hurts himself But G. F. Perverts the Text to make it bear this sense that the Pricks here mention'd were nothing else but the Pricks of St. Paul's own Conscience or the Light within his Conscience as the Quakers love to speak But whether there was any thing of this in the Case of St. Paul himself can best tell who said Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my self that I ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth And Chap. 22.3 4. That he was not only fully persuaded but Zealous in the Persecution of the Christians exceeding mad against them Chap. 26.11 Had he then any Pricks of Conscience or of his Light within against the Lawfulness of that wherein he was fully persuaded and Zealous Or cou'd he think verily that he ought to do such a thing if he had had but any the least doubt or surmise against the Lawfulness of it It will be very hard when all this is consider'd to make Sense of the Quaker Notion of the Light within Against which this Instance of St. Paul among many others stands as an irrefragable proof But it is strange that the Quakers shou'd arrogate to themselves such lofty Titles above all the rest of Mankind even to take to themselves the very Attributes of God upon the pretence of this Light within and yet allow that every Man in the World has it as well as themselves Indeed they make a Pretence from this Light within to excuse their Blasphemous pride while they assume all the Worship due to Christ whom they call this Light upon the account of His or Its Inhabitation in them And this was the very Ground and Foundation of all Idolatry viz. the suppos'd Presence or Inhabitation of the Divinity in their Images or in the Sun and other Creatures whom they Worshiped upon that only Pretence and as transferring the Honour to God Residing in them or Represented by them And this very Excuse do the Quakers give here Some of the Quakers Principles Sect. 32. G. Whitehead thus answering the Charge of Idalatry in their Adorations before-mentioned paid to G. Fox And as to his Fran. Bugg's Charge of Idolatries if not Blasphemous Names and Titles given to George Fox how proves he they gave and intended those Names and Titles to the Person of G. Fox and not to the Life of Christ in Him whereof He was a Partaker Innocency against Envy p. 18. This as I said before is the same Excuse that the Heathens and Romans give for their Idolatries Secondly By this Rule Every Quaker may be Ador'd with Divine Honour and all the Attributes of God given to him because of his Light within or the Life of Christ in him Thirdy I will shew in Sect. 17. That they allow of Divine Honour to that Man Christ Jesus upon no other account than as G. Whitehead allows it to G. Fox that is because of the Residing of the Divine Word in Him And they distinguish it from his Person as Here from G. Fox's for as they express it They can never call the Bodily Garment Christ And they do own that the Name Christ does belong to every Quaker as well as to Jesus that is to both only upon the account of the Light within which they call the Divine Word or Christ All which shall be prov'd in its place Let me here only observe what an Uncouth and Preposterous piece of Humility it is to deny the Title or Civility of Master or of their Hat while at the same time they Worship one another with Divine Honour and bestow upon themselves Titles far above what any Angels since Lucifer durst pretend to to be even Equal with God of the same Substance and the fame Soul with Him and grudge not to apply all the Attributes of God to the Light within them and to themselves for its sake Thus transferring the Honour of God unto Themselves SECT XIII Of the Resurrection of the Body THis the Quakers do positively deny Mr. Penn makes Non-sense of it Reason against Railing 1673. p. 138. and worse He compares it to Transubstantiation nay to the Alcoran In short says he if the compleat happiness of the Soul rests in a re-union to a Carnal Body for such it is sown then never cry out upon the Turks Alcoran for such a Heaven and the Joys of it suit admirable well with such a Resurrection If the Reader thinks as I did when I first read this that Mr. P. meant this only of such a gross Conceit of the Resurrection as if our Bodies shou'd be in the same frail condition as now addicted to Sensualities If the Reader think thus as I did for what else cou'd any one think he will be to his astonishment undeceiv'd as I was in reading of what follows 2dly No Christian ever held that there was not a great Change of the Body in its Qualities at the Resurrection It is sown in Weakness in Corruption it is rais'd in In-Corruption and in Power c. And therefore if Mr. Penn meant no more than as abovesaid he wou'd dispute against no Christian But alas as you will find they deny any Resurrection at all of that Body which is sown that they leave wholly neglected for ever in its Dust Some of them suppose a perfectly New Body will be made for the Soul But others that the Soul it self is the Spiritual Body which is mentioned 1 Cor. 15.44 and consequently that there is no other Resurrection than at each particular persons death when the Soul which they call the Spiritual Body is freed from the Natural Body never more to meet again And in consequence of this these believe no General Resurrection no nor some of them any End of the World every Man's Resurrection being as they suppose perfected at his Death But let us return to Mr. Penn. In his Book above Quoted in the Margent Reas against Rail p. 134. he is answering this material Objection That if it be a New Body which is made for the Soul then there is no Resurrection of the Body For that does not rise again which never lay down And when St. Paul says 1 Cor. 15.42 speaking of the Resurrection of the Body that It is sown in Corruption and It is rais'd in Incorruption c.
Ghost Which is Blasphemy And this must be the consequence if when Christ gave them his Commission to Baptize all Nations the Spiritual and Immediate Baptism with the Holy Ghost be meant and not the Ministerial and Mediate Baptism of Water And as this Outward Baptism with VVater was an Ordinance Instituted as a Means of Grace whereby the Inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost was convey'd it was therefore the Form appointed of Admission into the Society of the Church and thereby giving a Title to all the Privileges and Promises which are annexed to it And likewise it was a Publick and avowed owning of our Christianity Upon all which accounts it was necessary even where the Inward Baptism with the Holy Ghost was already attained As St. Peter said Acts 10.47 Can any Man forbid Water that these should be Baptized who have Receiv'd the Holy Ghost as well as we And St Paul tho' Converted and Instituted immediately from Heaven was Commanded to be Baptized with VVater And it is very observable that among those things wherein St. Paul was Instructed thus Immediately from Christ he tells us 1 Cor. 11.23 That one was the Institution of the Lords Supper Upon which he lays so great a stress that he charges grievous Diseases sent among the Corinthians and Death it self ver 30. and even Damnation ver 29. upon their Neglect and Abuse of this Holy Mystery How then wou'd he have Censur'd the Preaching down this and the other Sacrament of Baptism as Carnal and Hurtful things And let me here seriously mind them and Admonish others how their Neglect of the Outward Ordinances and Signs has lost to them the Reality and the thing signify'd For it had been impossible for any who had been kept in the constant Use and Practice of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to have forgot Christs Outward Dying and shedding of his Blood or to have turn'd it as many of the Quakers have done to mean nothing but his Spiritual Suffering within us and that Himself is nothing else but The Light within us Of this you have seen some proof already but you find more in Sect. 17. I say how cou'd any who frequently us'd to shew forth the Lord's Death by the visible Representation of it in the Sacrament of the Holy Communion by the Bread Broken like his Body and the VVine Powered forth as His Blood was upon the Cross how cou'd any who had practis'd this and seen Persons daily Baptiz'd into Christ 's Death How cou'd such a one ever have so much as Imagin'd How cou'd it ever have come into his Head to Spiritualize away the. Literal Humanity and Sufferings of Christ No It cou'd never have been done But the Enemy having once deluded Men into a neglect of the Outward Signs and Seals Pledges and Means of Grace whereby God Guarded and Fenced the Soul and Spiritual part of his Religion as a Kernel is by the Shell in which it grows the Devil having stoln from us the Body or Outward part of Religion the Soul soon disappear'd and left behind it a noisome Carcass of Religion For Religion can no more live and be preserv'd to us here while we are in the Body without Outward and Corporal Means than the Soul can live to us here while we are upon the Earth without our Body and hence the Corporal Service the presenting our Bodies as a living Sacrifice c. is call'd our Reasonable Service Rom. 12.1 And whoever goes about to separate the Bodily from the Spiritual Worship does as much Murther Religion as he that should separate a Man's Soul from his Body This is so necessary and plain a Truth that those who take upon them to abrogate the outward Institutions of Christ do at the same time Invent and set up others of their own as has been before observ'd Sect. 11. of the Quakers Institution of VVomens Preachings and VVomens Meetings at the same time that they threw off as Carnal the Sacraments of Christ's Institution SECT XV. Concerning the Satisfaction of Christ HErein the Quakers are direct Socinians For they positively deny the Satisfaction And this is no less a distinguishing Doctrine of the Socinians than their denying the Trinity and the Divinity of Christ. Mr. Penn Blasphemes it as both Irreligious and Irrational Reason against Railing 1673. p. 90. 91. 92. 93. His Arguments are the old Socinian Job Trot tho' I believe he knew it not only Good Wits jump'd For in his Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication c. Printed the same year 1673. p. 413. He vindicates himself from an Imputation he says had been cast upon him for being a Socinian upon occasion of his Book call'd The Sandy Foundation shaken and says That he had not at that time ever read any one Socinian Book in all his Life if so much as lookt into one And if he had known this to have been Socinianism he wou'd not in his Winding-Sheet Printed 1672. have upbraided T. F. and H. H. so often with the reproach of being Socinians Sect. 1. Their belov'd Socinianism Socinian Agency the Spirit of Socinianism try'd according to that Discovery it has made of it self in their Lamentable yet Converted Agent Hen. Hedworth his Grim Socinian Cavils burston'd with Folly and Revenge 2. This Anti-Scriptural Socinian 7 The Scriptures Socinianiz'd 8. This Giddy-headed Socinian c. And yet Mr. Penn does it seems without knowing it perfectly Copy after these Socinians in all his Arguments against the Satisfaction of Christ As that there was no need of any Satisfaction to God's Justice for our sins That it is not call'd Unjust to Forgive a Debt without any Satisfaction thus confounding the Notions of Justice and Mercy for all Forgiveness proceeds from Mercy But Justice cannot Remit the least Farthing Else it were not Justice And what is Inconsistent with the Nature of Justice is Inconsistent with God for God is not only Just but He is Justice it self Justice in the Abstract the Highest and most Adequate Notion of Justice What room then is there for God's Mercy If he be all Justice where is his Mercy Answ God's Attributes do not Fight or Contradict one another They Magnifie and Exalt one another Thus God's Justice is Magnified in that it Exalts Full and Adequate Satisfaction His Wisdom is Magnified in finding out such Means as to do it And his Goodness or Mercy is equally Magnifi'd in affording those Means And all these are fulfill'd to the utmost that is Infinitely in the wonderful Oeconomy of our Salvation by the Satisfaction paid to God's Justice for our sins in the Sacrifice and Death of Christ which because of his Divine Nature was Full and Adequate Satisfaction and by his Human Nature the Satisfaction was paid by the same Nature which offended But upon the Socinian and Quaker Scheme one of God's Attributes must Fight with and Conquer the other one must subdue and beat down the other and his Justice must quit the Field to his Mercy This is
Christ did Inspire the Person of that Man Jesus in an higher measure than other Men. But they deny any proper Incarnation of Christ that is that he was made Flesh or that He and Jesus were one Person Yet they allow Jesus to be call'd Christ from the Dwelling of Christ in him But for the same Reason they take the Name Christ to themselves and say that it belongs to Them as well as to Jesus from the same Dwelling of Christ in Them as was in Jesus They say that Christ did raise up the Body of Jesus from the Dead but they say not that Christ did carry it up with him into Heaven So that tho' there be a Christ now in Heaven that is as he was before his Descent upon Jesus as he is the VVord of God yet they do not confess that there is any Jesus now in Heaven or any where else they know not what is become of him or what Christ did with that Body of his after he had rais'd it from the Dead They say there is no Christ without them no other Christ but what is within them They allow him now no other Body but their own they call themselves his Body that is the Church And as they give him no other than a Mystical Body so they Spiritualize all his Life and Death to his Spiritual Living and Dying within them As one of their Preachers Pray'd at a Solemn Meeting O God who was Crucify'd Dy'd and rose again in us And G. Fox says That if there be any other Christ but he that was Crucify'd within Great Myst p. 206. he is the False Christ this Christ that was risen and Crucify'd within Devils and Reprobates make a talk of him without And he disputes against those who say That the Man Christ that was Crucify'd his Body is now in the Presence of his Father Gr. Myst p. 211. or that Christ is absent from them the Quakers as touching his Flesh p. 210. and p. 254. they that profess a Christ without them and another Christ within them here is two Robert Gordon was the first among them that I find who taught the Orthodox Faith in this point of the Divinity of Jesus and his Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins by which he purchas'd Redemption for us through Faith in him as outwardly suffering Death for us upon the Cross and now Personally Reigning in Heaven and not only as a Light within us Tho' he denies not that Light within but strongly asserts the necessity of it as it is an influence sent from the Spirit of Christ into our Hearts to guide and enlighten us but not the very Christ it self and the only Christ and Saviour as the Quakers Impiously do Blaspheme denying any other at all The Book wherein Rob. Gordon taught as above-said he Entituled A Testimony to the true Saviour or Jesus Christ of Nazareth as having already purchas'd Redemption for us in the Body of his Flesh and revealing it within us by his Spirit It was Printed in London in the year 1670. Against this wrote George VVhitehead with three other Quakers And Rob. Gordon Published an Answer to every one of them severally which was Printed 1671. and call'd Christianity Vindicated And in R. Gordon's Reply you will find the abominable broad Blasphemous Heresies which these Quakers did hold as p. 20. That Christ was never seen with any Carnal Eye nor his Voice heard with any Carnal Ear. Hereby says Gordon plainly denying him to be the Son of Man And p. 21. You neither confess nor Preach him Christ as a Man but as a Light in that Man Christ and as a Light in every Man as it is in every Man as he comes into the World And p. 30 Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the VVorld a Voice not heard among you says Gordon of the Man Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary as now perishing Outwardly Bodily without us but apply'd by some among you to Meekness Humility and the life within you And p. 33. The Light the Seed within is Christ then I am he that speaketh then Hosanna The Son is equal with the Father I witness the Son in me so I witness Equality with the Father The Light in me is Christ Christ is the VVord by which the VVorld was made then it was said of Christ that he was in the VVorld and the VVorld was made by him and the VVorld knew him not so it may be said of this Prophet G. F. as is said by S. E. in his Paper Entitled The Quakers Challenge p. 6. Christ is the VVay the Truth and the Life Christ is in me and must not he say where he is I am the VVay the Truth and the Life He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the Dead is Equal with God Jesus Christ the Mystery passed before the same Spirit takes upon it the same seed where it is manifested as it is mentioned in G. Fox's Book Entituled Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 7 8. Here you see them making themselves Equal to God by their having the true Christ in them Now see them for the same reason Preferring themselves before that Man who was called Christ they make that Man Christ and all that he suffer'd and did to be but a Type or Shadow of what is really perform'd in them by the true Christ as you may see in Gordon's Testimony to the true Saviour above Quoted p. 36 37. The same things are fulfilled in thee speaking to the Quaker that was figured in him Christ But tell us plainly says he p. 37. is that one Sacrifice of the Crucify'd Body of our Lord once offered to bear the sins of many a Pattern and Figure of things to be done over again in us the Blood without Typifying Life and Spirit within Is this Sacrifice so weak so empty a thing that it is a Pattern and Figure having nothing in it self but as Painting to another to wit this Light enlightning every Man How are you beguiled does Gordon Reason with them to Preach up the Light enlightning every Man that comes into the VVorld for the true Christ to cry up a Light within to cry down the Blood without to Preach him as an Example to cast out the Atonement to speak of him as a Figure pointing at this Light within as the abiding Substance p. 40. Denying him to have any Real Outward Individual Glorified Bodily Existence in his Father's Kingdom The Preaching of a Christ without them they call old Beggarly stuff and those who have formerly Preach'd him as without us tho' Prophets or Apostles to be Low and Carnal in their day according to their Cant which he there Repeats See more Quotations of this sort in T. C's Animadversions above-mentioned p. 35. Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly deny'd That this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye This is in p. 5.
words Our Ministers do not teach that the Name of Jesus and Christ belong to every Member in the Body or Church as Amply as to Christ the Head And that you may take notice of it the word Amply is put in a different Character in old Black Letters lest you shou'd mistake and think that George was Christ as Amply as Jesus That was modest indeed But then George Thou art Christ as well as Jesus tho' not so Amply and then your first Art above Quoted which calls Jesus the Christ means no great matter but is rank Sophistry and Dodging and casting a Mist before the Eyes of poor deluded People For I have that Charity for a great many of your Followers as to think that they do not know those Depths of Stan and that Mystery of Iniquity into which thou and others have led them And out of which thou dost not desire to Rescue them but to bind them faster in it by this thy Equivocating and Jesuitical Confession of Faith As Article 2. where you confess with the Socinians Christ's coming in the Flesh That is as before explain'd taking Flesh upon him as a Veil or Garment but not in the Language and true Sense of the Scripture That he was made Flesh John 1.14 that is took it into his Person and joyn'd it in a Personal Union with his Divine Nature so that as it is express'd in the Athanasian Creed as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ. If you had believ'd what is contain'd in these words you wou'd not have scrupl'd setting it down in these words which must have given the best satisfaction if it had been your design to have given satisfaction without any reserve for that wicked Heresie which you wou'd seem not to plead for yet in such words as you might easily afterwards explain to mean nothing against it Article 7. You say We own no such saying as that the Holy Doctrine or Divine Precepts of Scripture is either Dust Death or the Serpent's Meat But you say that wicked Men have Perverted the Scriptures That no Body can deny to You. But what then Is the Holy Word of God therefore become Death and Serpent's Meat because you have made it Death unto your selves God forbid says St. Paul Rom. 7.13 in answer to the same Argument which you bring Wherefore the Law is Holy and the Commandment Holy and Just and Good tho' the Vnlearned and the Vnstable wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But what was it you call'd Dust and Serpent's Meat Was it nothing else but the Ink and the Paper Did any Body ever say that These were not Dust Or is that any part of the Contest betwixt us Was it the Ink Only and the Paper of which you doubt as before Quoted in the Quakers Refuge whether Moses or Hermes was the Pen-Man Thou meanedst verily which of them made the Pen that was all upon the word of a Quaker Was it the Pen or Ink of which you doubt that some of it was not spoken by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit And whether some of it was not spoken by the Grand Impostor Some by False Prophets and yet True some by True Prophets and yet False The Ink or Paper are neither True nor False but the Doctrine only which is written in them And therefore George notwithstanding all thy mealy Modesty it is It is indeed George it is the very Doctrine of the Scriptures which you Blaspheme as Dust and Death and Serpent's Meat on purpose to bring Men off from trying your Pernicious Heresies by those Sacred Oracles and to make your Followers trust wholly to your New Light within in comparison of which it is that you vilifie the written Doctrine and Precepts of God which are most opposite to all your Gross Delusions it is not the Ink nor the Paper that you quarrel at No they do you no hurt But it is the Law and the Testimony according to which written Word if any do not teach the same Holy Scriptures do Instruct us it is because there is no Light in them Isai 8.20 No Light George Mark that Your false Pretences to the Light within is here over-rul'd and to be measured by the written word without These are hard sayings to the Infallible Friends And it was for the sake of these and such like Texts which Detect and Explode the miserable Ignorance and Blasphemy of these Pretenders to Light which made Thee Friend George in this same Book to which Thou hast prefix'd Thy abovesaid Affirmative Confession of Faith p. 28. Excuse and Justifie the Diabolical Suggestions in the Quakers Refuge against the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures by saying that it Question'd but of some of the Scriptures not all as I have shewn before But now come George we are near an end and we know not if ever we shall meet again tell me in the Plain Downright Honesty and Simplicity of thy Light within Didst Thou mean no more by this but that only some and not all the Ink was thick and muddy and fit for Serpents Meat and that only some Sheets of the Paper or Parchment or Barks of Trees on which they wrote in ancient time and might write the Scriptures for ought thou knowest was course and ugly Is all thy Malice only against those base Printers or VVriters who Prophane the Letter by poor sneaking Impressions and provide not good Ink and Paper If thou thinkest all this to be Railery not becoming thy Gravity See I pray thee if it be any thing more than what thou settest forth as the very true and only Reason for those vile Epithets which thou and thy Friends do bestow upon the Holy Scriptures of God And be asham'd and blush if thou canst for that Silly and Childish come off with which thou Gravely undertakest to Banter all Mankind as if all your Ignominies and Contempt cast upon Scripture were to be understood only of the Ink and Paper Nor is thy salvo more Ingenious in the Eleventh Article of thy aforesaid Creed wherein thou endeavourest to reconcile the Heretical Notions of thy Sect against the true Incarnation of Christ calling his Body a Figure Veil c. It is really say'st thou contrary to our Faith and Principle to make Christ Jesus himself only a Figure a Veil or Garment Here the word only as the word Amply in the tenth Article is put in great Black Letters to shew the stress thou layst upon it And to discover thy Sophistication thou sayst That Christ Jesus is not only a Figure or a Garment Not only No more is a Cloak or a Veil It is not only a Garment for it is Cloath or Stuff and may be put to many other uses There is no one thing in the World that is only one thing It may be taken under more considerations than one But this as I observ'd at first of thy Equivocating manner is but a Negative Confession