justified in God's sight Rom. 3.20 Moreover how is it true that as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous Rom. 5.19 If it be by every one 's own Obedience to the Law or Light within it is then not of one but of many and how doth Paul come to say He was made sin for us that knew no Sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 Also in vain then were all those typical Atonements and expiatory Sacrifices for Sin under the Law nor has Christ by one Offering put away sin c. by the Blood of his Cross Nor are all our Works whether internal or external excluded in point of Justification as Rom. 4.5 They say they are justified by the Righteousness of Christ but they mean the Righteousness wrought in their own Persons by their Christ within which is the Law within and so still 't is by the Law Their evil Doctrine renders the whole design of God in our blessed Mediator Jesus Christ in coming into the World in his taking our Nature on him and in his Body to work to bring in a Righteousness in obedience to the Law and in his Death c. vain and of none effect 3. They seek Justification by the Law i. e. by their Obedience to the Light within them which is as I said but the Law of the first Covenant or Law written in two Tables of Stone as to the Substance of it which is also much darkned 4. They justify the Jews who charged our Lord with Blasphemy for saying he was the Son of God and so made himself equal with God 5. They give spiritual Worship or Divine Adoration due to God only to a mere Creature The Quakers give no Divine Worship to Jesus the Son of Mary not to him but to a Christ within i. e. the Light or Law in their Hearts Pray read these Scriptures and I 'll conclude Thou shalt conceive and bare a Son and shalt call his name Jesus he shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Mark it which is Christ not the Light in him Christ signifies the Anointed the Spirit is the anointing I know saith the Woman of Samaria the Messiah shall come Jesus saith unto her I that speaks unto thee am he Joh. 4.25 26. Who do Men say I the Son of Man am But who dost thou say I am Thou art Christ there is his human Nature the Son of the living God There is his Divine Nature owned and upon this Faith this Christ as thus owned he says he will build his Church c. Mat. 16. Peter affirmed that God had made that same Jesus whom the Jews crucified both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 Paul affirms that all that would be saved must keep in remembrance what he had preached unless they believed in vain which was first how Christ died for our Sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and rose again the third day and that he was seen of many 1 Cor. 15.3 4. Can this be said of the Light within The true Church is built upon this Faith i. e. that Christ is the Son of Man made of a Woman and yet the Son of the Living God or God of the Essence of the Father or his Son by an eternal Generation who thought it not Robbery to be equal with God So that those Churches that are not built on this Faith are false Churches and their Teachers but Deceivers and Impostors O what an age are we in what Errors abound among us Beware Friend thou art not deceived And let such also take heed who tho they own Christ's Person yet deny Justification by his Righteousness i. e. his Active and Passive Obedience as the only matter or material cause of it but secretly bring in with others a Popish Doctrine viz. Justification by a new Law of Grace or by their Faith and sincere Obedience The Quakers may as soon be justified by the Law or Light within and the Jews by the Law written in Stone and the moralized Person by living a sober Life as they can be justified by their new Law For if righteousness come by the Law Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 by any Law either within us or without us contained in either the Old or New Testament If it be of Works it is not of Grace Rom. 11.6 all Works done in us or by us are excluded that all boasting might be excluded and God in Christ and free Grace exalted Now to the Father Son and Holy Ghost be Glory and eternal Praises for ever and ever Amen F I N I S. THere is in the press A short Survey of the Kingdom of Christ here on Earth with his Saints in which the New Heavens and New Earth the Restoration of all things and other important matters are clearly handled By way of Supplement to a Tract lately publish'd call'd The Mysteries of God finish'd by the same Author and proper to be stitch'd up with it Price 6 d
Book to tell us that he is of the same Faith with the Martyrs that suffer'd in Queen Mary's days which if he can bring one instance of any of the Martyrs in any of their Writings that exclude the Human Nature in union with the Divine from being the true Christ of God I will be willing to make a publick Recantation that I have greatly wronged the Quakers The true Christ was conceived in the Virgin 's Womb and lay in the Grave But he tells us that the Seed is one as saith the Scripture intending only the Divine Nature or rather the Light of natural Conscience in all Men Pag. 98. of his Christian Quaker and in the Margin of the Book he directs us to Gal 3.16 Now Reader let me desire thee in the Fear of the Lord and as thou wishest the Welfare of thy immortal Soul that thou seriously weigh this Scripture and see if thou canst find any thing in it for the excluding of the Human Nature from having a share to constitute Christ Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made He saith not to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy Seed which is Christ Here in this Scripture Abraham an eminent Believer and those that are of the same Faith with him are promised eternal Happiness by God here is the one Seed by way of eminence set above all the rest but then mark it well this one Seed shall be thy Seed Abraham Moreover he is said to be the Seed of David according to the Flesh Reader make use of thy Understanding and judg whether by thy own Seed Abraham be meant a Principle of Light Life and Power or is meant that Man which the Virgin Mary brought forth in the Land of Judea and who was seen with natural Eyes if the latter be meant thou mayst then see the door by which an erroneous Spirit hath led so many from the Foundation of Christianity But saith William Pen The Body of Christ is not so much as in any one And another Quaker saith The true Christ was never seen of bodily Eyes Answ See 1 Cor. 15.1 2 3 4 5 c. and what Christ faith to the Man whose Eyes he opened Joh. 9. Dost thou believe on the Son of God To whom he replyed who is he Lord See our Saviour's Answer Thou hast both seen him and he it is that speaketh to thee Also God sware to David that of the Fruit of his Loins according to the Flesh he would raise up Christ to sit upon his Throne Will they render God guilty of Perjury it must be so if Christ be not truly of David's Seed according to the Flesh See Heb. 12.1 Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a Cloud of Witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the Sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God This Cloud of Witnesses are the Saints from Abel recorded in the 11th Chapter who in the Promises of a Saviour to come through the Spirit 's Work upon the Heart were by Faith led to behold him and inabled to anchor upon the Immutability and Unchangeableness of the Promises concerning him so often renew'd in the Old Testament unto the Fathers so that this poor deceived Man William Pen doth not distinguish betwixt a personal Injoyment of him within and an Injoyment of him within by Faith If a personal Injoyment of him within were intended then indeed it would exclude the Human Nature from sharing with the Divine Nature in constituting Christ but the Scripture when it speaks of Christ it speaks of him as personally absent but present by Faith and by his Spirit and with this agree the Experiences of Saints Phil. 1.23 For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better compared with 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory Our dear Lord in that visionary Discourse which he gives of himself to John in Rev. 1.17 18. doth with great clearness hold forth his two Natures to us Fear not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Was the Eternal Word the Divine Nature of the Lord Jesus ever dead if not he is speaking of his Human Nature I have staid the longer upon this Head that I might clear up the Foundation of Christianity and vindicate the Son of God in that Honour which is confer'd upon him as God-man against this Erroneous Spirit which notwithstanding the pretence of the setting up of a spiritual Kingdom is from their own confession as to the Work upon the Heart no other than the first Covenant Light which gives no discovery of the Gospel Dispensation and which a Mahometan or Indian hath in common with them Sam. Fisher's Testimony of Truth exalted p. 696. as recorded by Squire Edwards in his Book of Baxterianism Barefac'd Is the Light in America then any more insufficient to lead its Followers than the Light in Europe Asia or Africa the other three parts of the World I have ever look'd upon the Light in all Men since I began to look at it in myself as one and the same Light in all Fisher saith true for the experience of the Quakers and the sober Gentiles Socrates Pythagoras and others of them if compared will answer one another as Face answers Face in a Glass with this difference Satan in the poor Quakers sheltering himself under the Convictions of the Law doth by deceivableness seek to rob the Son of God of his Honour nay of his Person 2ly We have this spiritual Christ or Light in all bringing in the Work of Redemption not in a way of satisfaction to Divine Justice for sin but in a way of the first Covenant Obey and live Mr. Barclay a Scots-Quaker in his Apology for the People call'd Quakers p. 91. compar'd with p. 90. The Light within takes away all ground of despair in that it gives every one ground of hope and certain assurance that they may be saved neither doth feed any in security in that none are certain how soon their day may expire and therefore it is a constant Incitement and Provocation and lively Incouragement to every man to forsake evil and close with that which is good compared with William Pen's Christian Quaker p. 97. The Serpent is a Spirit Now nothing can bruise the Head of the Serpent but something that is also internal and spiritual as the Serpent is In answer to these two Paragraphs I say that the drift of these Words turns the Work of Redemption quite out of
hold them are guilty of Heresy and bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 2. The Socinians say that Christ is a mere Man and that he had no Being or Existence before he was conceived and born of the Virgin and so utterly deny he is the Most High God The Arians assert Christ was the first and most glorious Spirit which God made and that Spirit they affirm as I think did assume our Nature in the Womb of the Virgin We have also other Hereticks raised up among us who I hear are headed by one Matthew Caffin and swarm in Kent and Sussex who seem to favour the Arians but with this difference these seem to say that that Spirit was converted into a sort of Flesh or was made Flesh in the Virgin 's Womb but partook not of her Substance so that they deny both his Divine and Human Nature viz. affirm that he is not God of the Essence of the Father nor Man of the Substance of Mary not the Most High God tho he be a God yet a lesser or Demi-god a God by Office only and not God by Nature The Eutichians hold that the Divinity or Godhead was turned into Flesh and this I hear Câ—ffin once asserted The Quakers say that Christ is the Light which is in all Men the same in Turks Pagans as those called Christians which is nothing more nor less than an inward quality of Light flowing from Christ considered as Creator Job 1.1 2 3 4 5. and it is the Substance of the Law that was given to Israel which Law the Gentiles having not in that Ministration in two Tables of Stone have it written in their Hearts Rom. 1.15 Now evident it is that all these deny the true Christ or Christ of God i. e. God-man or God with us God in our Nature I having only now to do with this last sort shall add a little more to discover their deceit who whilst they pretend to own him to be the Christ who died on the Cross it may appear evident to all they mean no such matter for they own no other thing to be Christ but that Light which is in all Men which is no body of Flesh True they own that which died was his Body i. e. Christ dwelt eminently in him but that Body faith Pen is in no Man ergo that can't be the Christ in his Sense which is incapable to dwell in Men. Now Reader consider that Christ was one of our Brethren and that the Divine Nature took on him the same Flesh and Blood the Children have Heb. 2.14.15 that he was Abraham's Seed and the Seed of David according to the Flesh and tho David's Lord as to his Divine Nature yet David's Son as to his Human Nature and so the Root and Off spring of David But if what these Men say be true then Christ did not die for that could not be the Christ that died because that Body could not be in any Man Christ being only a Spirit in their judgment Paul says Christ died according to the Scripture I might mention I think 30 or 40 Scriptures that affirm that Christ died for our Sins and that he that died was the Son of God because his Human and Divine Nature make but one Person We say such a Man died but we do not mean his Soul died so we do not say the Divine Nature died that was impassible yet it is as true that Christ died as to say that Thomas or John died But now did the Light within die Did that bear our Sins on its Body on the Tree Did the Light within shed its Blood to satisfy God's Justice Was the Light within conceived and born of the Virgin crucified dead buried and raised again Did the Light within ascend to Heaven and sits now at the Father's right hand to make intercession for us All this is affirmed in the Holy Scripture of the Christ of God therefore the Quakers Christ is none of God's Christ 1. The Quakers say they own him to be the Christ that was born of the Virgin yet affirm the true Christ is the Light within all Men and that he was never seen with any outward bodily Eyes and that that Body was called Christ because the true Christ was in him Why then may not they be called Christ for he they say is in them Is it not strange they should give such a plausible Confession of their Faith as is written in the beginning of this Letter and yet do often declare quite contrary Doctrine viz. What good can a Christ without do us Let us mind the Light within that is enough for us and not trouble our selves with a Christ without See Margaret Everard's late Sheet page 2 3. who was a great Preacher among them for many years but is now saved out of the Snare of the Devil Also further she says They call the preaching Christ without Wisdom and feeding upon the Tree of Knowledg and Scripture-notions and that they did not mind Scripture-notions 2. They say they believe the Scriptures to be of Divine Authority yet deny them to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice 3. They say they own Baptism and the Lord's Supper yet deny Water-baptism and condemn breaking of Bread and drinking of Wine in remembrance of Christ's Death and call both carnal and beggarly Elements 4. They say they deny not Justification by Christ but own it But we do deny say they Justification by that Man or Person that died that his Righteousness wrought without us should justify us Thus Pen. 5. They say they own the Resurrection of the dead yet deny that that Body that is buried in the Grave of the Earth shall ever rise again they mean other things and like the Papists have their Equivocations and mental Reservations Secondly And as they who deny Christ to be God and Man in one Person do deny the Lord that bought them so from hence it follows they must be guilty of other Heresies nay of Idolatry and Blasphemy also viz. 1. They deny Christ's Satisfaction and the Imputation of his Obedience or Righteousness as the material Cause of our Justification before God as apprehended by Faith alone because his Satisfaction depends on the Worth and Dignity of his Person he being God in our Nature 2. They assert Unless we become Doers of that Law which Christ came not to destroy but to fulfil as our Example we can never be justified before God nor say they let not any fancy that Christ hath so fulfilled it for them as to exclude their Obedience from being requisite to their acceptance but only as their Pattern Pen's Sandy Foundation p. 26. If it be our own Righteousness by keeping the Law that justifies us why do they call this the Righteousness of Christ who as they say only kept the Law as our Pattern and Example and how is it then true which Paul affirms i. e. By the Righteousness which is of the Law no Flesh can be