charges against us hath he dealt deceitfully like him who is the Father of lyes and lyars who when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of himself and not as a rational man and in very many things he hath absolutely wronged our Principles and Practises and charged as apparent falshoods upon us as ever was as hereafter is made manifest to the shame of him that was the Authour of the said lying Book called A Testimony for the Son of man c. and the shame of all such false Spirits as own him in his work We see that God hath appeared in Judgement against you and your way and a line of confusion is come over you since that so many of you especially of your Leaders have set themselves in their envy and malice against us who are in the Power of Truth what do you think that spreading your railing and false Books against us will gain you favour from the prophane world and be any means to rescue you from persecution or suffering under the powers of the earth Do you think to save your selves by reviling the Innocent as some of the Leaders in your way have gotten themselves out of Prison by swearing contrary to Christs Doctrine after they have been imprisoned for denying to swear when so many of our friends were in prisons for refusing to swear for Conscience sake to Christ And not onely so but several of them who have long been reputed eminent in your way have like Men-pleasers written to vindicate swearing and oaths as treacherous men both to God to their own Consciences and to his Innocent and Conscientious people such as you have reviled and bespattered with reproaches in the Book here answered who would be loath to be so treacherous to God and their own Consciences as many in your way have been whatever we suffer either from you or from the persecuters in the same envious spirit which is among you And yet this know that we had not publisht this against any of you had we not had that great occasion given us by this piece of wicked work which Joseph Wright your Defender hath brought forth wherein we who preach the Light of Christ within are not onely slandered and bespattered with his lyes and calumnies as men but also the Truth of God which we are in and suffer for is blasphemed belyed and perverted even in the sight of our enemies in vindication whereof we were necessitated to give this forth and to deal thus plainly with your Principles which are published by your pretended Defender otherwise we could have been silent as from medling with you in this kind for it is no pleasure to us to bestow so much labour upon such a heap of confusion and absurdities as I. VV. his work is nor to upbraid you with your confusion and weaknesse in what you professe especially since you are as in a suffering state and like to suffer as we are if you be true to your Principles and conscientious towards God in what you know or professe but you may see the urgent occasion given against us and the Truth for what we do in this thing And though I.VV. does not name the word Quakers by name yet it is all one as if he had done it whilst he so often in general words upbraids such as preach the Light within for we called Quakers are known to be the people he all along so peevishly smites against seeing that we are known so generally to own and preach the Light within as the Saints of old did and in that Light of Christ in us we see Light and therein are as a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid and are in that Truth and Life which will out-live our opposers and persecuters and do know that power manifest in us which out-shines all the dead and empty forms professions and traditions of all who are out of the life and power of godlinesse and in that hath the Lord given us strength and the spirit of understanding to see beyond and to stand over our opposers and the envy and subtilty of the Serpent in such as rise up in Judgment against us Glory to our God for ever and ever And now we come to some of the heads of Joseph Wrights matter in charge against such as preach the Law and Light within CHAP. I. Concerning the Light within and Christs coming in the flesh and dying for all men J.W. his first charge is in these words viz. The first thing I lay to thy charge whosoever thou art that preachest up the Light within men requiring all People to mind the light which is within them is this That thou dost deny that Christ which dyed at Jerusalem and denyest Jesus Christ come in the flesh and thy spirit is the spirit of Antichrist c. And the first proof for his charge is in these words viz. 1. Because in all thy preaching teaching and declaring thou never makes mention of Christs dying for the sins of the world nor that he tasted death for every man thou art altogether silent in this Doctrine of Christs dying for man in the body of his flesh c. And his second proof is in these words viz. 2. Because as is thy word of mouth even so is thy writings for amongst them all and in them all there is not one line which teacheth that Christ did dye for the sins of the world and freely laid down his life as a ransome for sinners c. Answer As his charge is universal against all that preach up the light within it is both false and slanderous as also all his proofs for it so that he might as well have said that the light of Christ in all men and the Doctrine of Christ which directs to it doth deny Christ and his coming in the flesh when as on the contrary all who truly own and believe in the light of Christ-in them by it they come to be led to the knowledge of Christ from whence it comes and to the power of his death and the vertue of his life which none can truly know but as they are led by the light of Christ within which giveth the Knowledge of the Glory of God and of those things that are freely given to us of God and Christ said believe in the 〈…〉 t that you may be children of the light John 12.36 Did Christ herein deny himself or his coming in the flesh as falsly J. VV. accuseth all that preach the light within and in that we are included in his proofs as never mentioning Christs tasting death for every man either in our Preaching or writings in this he hath notoriously belyed us as thousands may witness against him who have heard us both Preach up and contend for the free Grace of God to all men and thereby that Christ tasted death for every man and dyed for all men and gave him self a ransom for all to be testified of in due time Heb. 2.9 1 Tim. 2.6
2 Cor. 5.14 1 John 2.2 Which also as a testimony against J. W. in many of our Books vindicate the free Grace of God in Christ to all men and his dying for all as in a Book Intituled The Voice of Wisdom by G. W. page 12. and at large in a Book Intituled Rusticus ad Accademicos by S. F. in both which Priest Danson is answered and his pleading against Christs death for all men and his free Grace to all confuted as also in a Book called A brief Discovery by G.W. as in many more Books of ours the free Grace of God to all and Christs dying for all men is declared Also J. W. his third Proof for his said charge against all that Preach the light within is as false as his former where he laies down these words to wit Thou dost not gather men and women into Communion with Christ by Faith teaching them to believe in Jesus Christ c. Which thing he himself who hath openly opposed the light of Christ in all and counted the Doctrine of it a stratagem of Satan is guilty of and not we that own the light for it is the light that brings into communion with God and his Son Jesus Christ for they that say they have fellowship with him and walk in Darkness they lye and do not the truth but they that walk in the Light are in the true fellowship and faith and know the Blood of Christ to cleanse them from all sin Also J. VV. his charging us with gathering by works and not by Faith in warning all people to look to the light within and such as receive this Doctrine with being as ignorant as heathens and absolute infidels in this hath he slandered us and shewed himself to be an Infidel who sees not the light within 〈◊〉 owns it for the Infidels were such as in whom the God of the World did blind their minds from seeing the light of the Glorious Gospel which shineth in the heart and giveth the knowledge of the Glory of God to them that believe in it and so works without Faith we deny but the works that are wrought in the Faith and in the light we own and though J. W. hath so much warned people from looking to the light within as that which must bring them to reconciliation and justification yet in pages 124. and 125. he hath contradicted his matter against the light within for there he speaks of being set free and justified by performing the condition of the second Covenant as Repentance Faith and Gospel Obedience which those that have sined may perform through the assistance of Gods Spirit c. as also he saith so far forth as Persons come to be in Covenant with Christ and are enabled by him to walk according to his direction so far are these said to have Christ formed in them that is to be brought into a blessed destate of freedom from the guilt of sin of freedom from the power and dominion of sin of assurance of redemption from the first death and of deliverance from the second and so by Christ to be Intituled to Eternal Life c. Now how should those who have sinned perform the condition of the second Covenant through the assistance of Gods Spirit or come into the True Faith and Gospel obedience and to know Christ formed in them unless that Gods Spirit or Light be known or owned within and if those that have sinned may come to this state of Faith and Obedience and freedom from the guilt and power of sin by the Spirit of God then a measure of this Spirit or light is given to all men without exception seeing that the sinners themselves are not exempted from it according to J. W. his own words and thus hath he grosly confounded himself in his own while rayling against the Preaching up of the light within and another while confessing to the Spirit of God or light even in the wicked J. W. his fourth Charge is thus viz. Thou which Preachest that all men should mind the light which is within them dost deny the Christ of God which dyed at Jerusalem because thou hast said to me when I have made as large a confession of Christ as I now have done that I am ignorant of Christ c. Answer What a silly Reason is this against those that Preach that all should mind the light within as if he had said that because he has made a large confession of Christ therefore he is not ignorant of him when as the Devil who favours not the things of God hath been made to confesse Christ and many do confess Christ in words as largly as J. W. and yet are ignorant of him and of the Power of his death and Sufferings as J. W. is whilest he shews him self an enemy to the Light of Christ which we own and we do not deny either the coming of Christ or his suffering in the flesh as we are falsly accused by this reviler neither do we deny Christs reconciling of the world nor teach any thing contrary to that of Rom. 5.10 2 Cor. 5.19 as J. W. hath implicitely accused us for we know and Preach reconciliation through Christs death and Salvation through his life whose life is the light of men and this is not any establishing of our own Righteousnesse as falsly we are accused neither are we strangers unto the Doctrine of Justification by the Grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood but how are any justified by the Grace of God whilst they deny the light within for is not the light of Christ within the free gift of his Grace which hath appeared to all men and which by his Righteousness hath come upon all men Rom. 5.18 Titus 2.11 Which Righteousness is received where the light of Christ within is obeyed and he thereby made known to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood and we who are come to own this in the true Faith are come to self-denyal and to deny self-righteousness contrary to J. W. his false accusations against us who Preach the light within Who also saith in his twelfth page But self must be denyed and self righteousness which is of the Law yea when men have done all whatsoever they are commanded they are to say with humble hearts they have done but what was their duty c. Answer What an Ignoramus is this man who puts no difference betwixt Self-righteousness which is to be denyed and the doing whatsoever we are commanded which is our duty as if he had said in denying self-righteousness you must deny your duty or that self-righteousness is mens duty when as that which brings men to do their duty to God in obeying his commands is of God and though man as in the Servants state may abase and humble himself yet that Principle of Faith which brings him to do his duty is to be esteemed
the flesh is it then improper to say the seed which is Christ came in the flesh and was in that person that was born of the Virgin Mary seeing that as he was so manifest in the flesh he was the true Christ without any of J. W. his blind distinctions who after he hath granted that the spirit of holinesse in that person is the Son of God by eternal Generation he saith that the humane nature also of that person is the Son of God by temporal Generation and yet there are not two Christs but one c. Did you ever hear such Doctrines as these which are all one as if he had said that the Spirit of Holinesse and humane nature are both one or that Divine and humane are both one when as they are two distinct things that which is humane is of the earth as the first man was as Humane is of Homo which comes of Humus the ground of which man was made as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Humanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra aut Humus but that which is Divine is from above as Christ is who is Lord from Heaven Now though this Christ in time took part of that which the Children had viz. flesh and bloud Heb. 2.14 yet we never read that Humane nature is Christ nor that the flesh and bloud is Christ by temporal generation for to assert that is all one as to say that Christ who is Lord from Heaven took upon him Christ in time but Christ in the flesh we read of and own neither do we read in the Scripture that the soul of Christ is a humane soul for is not his Soul divine and immortal What is humane and immortal both one Or hath he two Souls in one body or person of such differing kinds And if the humane nature be Christ and all mankind be of the same substance with Christ according to that nature as J. W. saith page 116. Then it followes that the humane or earthly nature of all mankind is Christ and then they that would know Christ and be saved by him they must own their earthly or humane nature to be Christ or the Son of God and look to be saved by it did ever the Apostles preach such a Christ as this they that cannot see J. W. his ignorance of Christ his nature soul and spirit they are in grosse darknesse Now though we deny J. W. his unscripture-like and blind distinction from which it follows that either there must be two Christs in one person or else that humane and divine are both one which no ingenuous person will own and though we deny his vainly imagining a humane or carnal Christ like himself yet still we own the true Christ according to the Scriptures who according to the flesh was of the seed of Abraham and David and according to the Spirit is declared to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection and that he was the word which was made flesh and dwelt in the Disciples John 1.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his death as concerning the flesh and his Resurrection and Ascension according to the Scriptures of Truth we own and that he is Glorified with the Father in the same glory which he had with the Father before the world began and as in that state his nature body soul and spirit are spiritual divine and immortal at the right hand of power for as he had power to appear in the transfiguration and after his Resurrection to appear in divers forms and amongst the Disciples when the doors were shut John 20. so now he being glorified with the Father in that his transcendent glory he is in a further state then in the dayes of the flesh when his body was subject to hunger cold or other sufferings upon earth and he is not to be supposed to be like unto corruptible man or a Christ of the same substance with sinful polluted men though he be the same Christ still the same to day yesterday and for ever not divided and is the same that descended into the lower parts of the earth who is ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things with his fulnesse who hath said that no man hath ascended up to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven which is in Heaven John 3.13 Eph. 4.9 10. Psal. 68.18 J. VV. saith p. 27. what do they lesse then say I am Christ which say I speak to the Light in thy Conscience which shall eternally witnesse me what mean they by this word me which they say is eternally to be witnessed is there any thing that is eternally to be witnessed but the eternal God and his Son Jesus Christ Answ. If J W. did not know what we mean that is to be eternally witnessed as appears he did not then he should not have judged us with directing people unto our selves or with saying we are Christ therein he hath judged us falsly for that which is eternally to be witnessed is Christ who speaketh in us Mat. 10.20 2 Cor. 2.17 4 5. 13.3 who may speak in his own name and such as would stop his mouth from speaking where he is manifest are of Antichrist And also J. W. his accusing us with not confessing that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh and with onely saying he is come into our flesh c. These are as false as the rest of his slanders against us and therein hath he contradicted himself for before he accused us for saying that Christ is the seed spirit or Light in that man which was born of Mary what then do not we confesse Christ come in the flesh and must we deny Christ come in our flesh Then seeing that Christ come in the flesh is a general word not onely including that body which he took upon him in the womb of the Virgin but also the flesh of all his people who are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone Eph. 5.13 And the following of the Light within thereby to attain unto Righteousnesse doth not at all render the death of Christ in vain as J. W. imagines for the Saints in walking in the Light knew the bloud of Christ to cleanse them from all sin and purified their souls in obeying the Truth through the Spirit 1 Pet. 1.22 1 John 1.7 And this was not any making of the death of Christ in vain but by the Light or Spirit of Christ a witnessing the end fulfilled in them for which Christ suffered that they might live unto him and how should any hear Christ in all things Deut. 18.15 Acts 3.22 as J. W. saith unlesse they follow the Light of Christ within for wch preaching J. W. in his rage hath called us men of Belial p. 30. so what grosse ignorance and confusion is he in And as for Christs saying if the Light that is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse Mat. 6.23 This hath relation to that
20.4 to Query What part of man is it which is capable of being beheaded Is it not the Body Therefore the bodies lived c. When as that of Rev. 20.4 speaketh onely of the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and the Word of God so that his reason is as if he had said that because the souls of them that were beheaded lived therefore their Bodies when they were beheaded lived when as the souls and that which was beheaded are spoken of as distinct things viz. the Souls of them that were beheaded so that where the Scripture mentions the souls as including the whole man or men as Gen. 46.27 which J. W. cites this will not prove his absurdity and the like reason for his dream about the bodies hath he in page 70. from Luke 16. of the rich mans being tormented which torment he saith is to be vnderstood to be upon the body of the rich man from his desire that Lazarus might be sent to dip his finger in Water to cool his tongue a part of his Body c. Wherein I.W. sheweth himself both ignorant of Parables and mysteries wherein he hath implyed as if the rich mans body was then in hell when he was so tormented when as Christ saith The rich man dyed and was buried and speaks that of Lazarus the rich man as in the time past then where was that Hell out of which he that was in it could see Lazarus in Abrahams bosom betwixt Abraham and which Hell there was a great gulf fixed And what was it in the rich man then that let him see Abraham and Lazarus a far off Did he see them when he was in Hell with bodily eyes yea or nay And as for I. W. his Comparison page 55. of the Wheat arising out of that very Seed and that very Kernel which was sown even so saith he shall it be in the Resurrection from the Dead the Natural and Visible bodies of those that believe in Christ although they shall not be raised as they are sown yet they shall be raised out of the Grave c. This is contrary to Iob. 7.9 and 1 Cor. 15.37 and this his Comparison doth not paralel his matter intended and asserted unless he can prove that the Bodies of all that are deceased or die are so reserved and their substance remain in the Earth or Sea where they die as the Wheat that is sown which brings forth its own Body which absurdity no rational man will believe though herein he hath contradicted himself for the same grain of Wheat that is sown is not that Body or Ear that grows forth and said the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.37 Thou sowest not that Body that shall be though every Seed shall have its own Body which who knows the mystery of the differing Seeds they come to know the Body of each which are of the Nature of those Seeds they belong to and there is also a Natural Body and a Spiritual Body which are distinct things as there is a first man and a second man which differ and so there are Terrestial Bodies and Bodies Caelestial which are discerned and the state of each distinguished where that Body which is Spiritual which differs from that which was Natural is discerned and seen and this is hid from all blind and empty Professors who are in their Dreams and Imaginations imagining that they shall see God with their Carnal or Visible Eyes and by such imaginations have in the long night of Apostacy blinded the simple and begot them into a blind Faith and Hope which stands not in the Power of God nor the Seed which is Christ which is risen to destroy and to root out the evil Seed which has been sown in the night by the envious one whose work they are in that oppose the good and where proves J. W. by Scripture that man that was made of the dust of the Earth had not in his Body dyed or returned to dust had he not transgressed as in page 61. Must not all things return to their Center For shall not the Bodies of the Just return to dust who are redeemed from Transgression and washed from sin by the Blood of Christ What was that death that Adam dyed in the day he eat of the forbidden fruit seeing that his Body lived hundreds of years after that CHAP. IV. Concerning what we appeal to in men and the Subject of our Exhortations And J. W. his gross Lyes and Slanders against us about these things WHereas J. W. hath accused us of Fearful Blasphemy for speaking to the Light in the Conscience or to the Seed of God in men Which saith he supposeth that that which they call Christ hath done Iniquity else why do they say Repent repent with exhortations to depart from sin c. So that he saith They reprove Christ exhort Christ councel Christ yea they say they speak to that of God in the Conscience which shall eternally witness so that they Teach God reprove God counsel God Oh horrible blasphemy thus far J. W. page 98. c. Answer What abominable falshoods gross mistakes are these against us for as we are manifest in mens consciences in the sight of God so we appeal or speak to his Light in them as our witnesse which beareth Testimony to what we say and do not make that Light the subject of our exhortations or reproofs but the Creature that is to be turned to Christ and his light within neither is the Light ever reproveable or guilty of any evil but that which transgresseth it And this light we appeal to as our witness for the Truth even in the wicked who rebel against it and we are a good favor to God even in them that perish And so his charge against us as not Preaching to the Creature man when we appeal to the Witness of God in men is exceeding false and foolish For cannot men appeal to any thing as a witness for Truth and true Judgement but they must make it the Subject which they reprove or appeal against What gross ignorance is this J.W. is in And is not the Truth where ever it is Preached manifest to that of God in mens Consciences and in our speaking or appealing to the light of Christ in mens Consciences we do not suppose that Christ is saved by our Preaching nor that he is in a fallen condition as impudently this Baptist hath accused us in page 99. And whereas he seems so much to be offended that any Doctrine or Ministry should be directed to the Seed of God in man or that Salvation should be tendred to that he hath manifested himself wholly ignorant of the Seed of God in that state as a Seed For do not the Promises of God belong to the Seed and when the Spirit of Promise moves any true Witnesse to declare them are they not to be directed to the Seed which they belong to should the Prophets mouths have been stopt when