Holy Unction that leadeth into all Truth whose Lips alone preserve Knowledge and therefore is it the Unchangeable Gospel-Rule to Believers And those who are thus freed or saved here from the Power Nature and Defilement of Sin are the alone Persons that are or shall be hereafter saved from Eternal Wrath and Vengeance the heavy Recompenee of Sin All this we understand by that Word Salvation and in this center the Great Glorious Prophecies and Performances of Christ. CHAP. V. The Second Question stated Particularly what is meant by Light It is a Principle that discovers the State of Man and leads to Blessedness THE second Question runs thus What is that LIGHT which leadeth to Salvation and if he pleaseth to give me leave I will add to this Question How doth It Lead to Salvation By Light I understand not the frequent Metaphorical Use of the Word as when Christ said 〈◊〉 the Lights of the World or as the Apostle Speaks Now are you Light in the Lord neither the meer Spirit or Reason of Man but that Glorious Sun of Righteousness and Heavenly Luminary of the Intellectual or Invisible World represented of all Outward Resemblances most exactly by the Great Sun of this Sensible and Visible World that as his natural Light ariseth upon all and gives Light to all about the Affairs of this Life so that Divine Light arises upon all and gives Light to all that will receive it about the Concerns of the other Life Such a Light I mean by That Light which inlightneth every man coming into the World and that leadeth those that obey it to Eternal Salvation The Scripture sayes no less John 1. In the Word-God was Life and that very Life was the Light of Men that inlightneth every man c. But to demonstrate it the most obviously that I can to the lowest Capacities I shall evidence the Nature and Virtue of this Light by the Holy Effects of it which is the HOW or the WHICH WAY it leadeth to Salvation This is so necessary in order to explicate the other that as the Tree is known by his Fruits so the True Saviour by his Salvation If then I can make it appear that the Light as obey'd in all its Discoveries and Requirings is sufficient to Salvation the Debate wil end and T. Hicks must yield to the Efficacy of the Light within I shall then by the Properties of the Light prove it Saving In order to which I shall begin with the first Step towards Salvation namely A Sight of the Cause of Damnation and from whom this most necessary Beginning must be taken viz. The Light within which I thus prove by Scripture CHAP VI. That the Light Within manifests Sin yea all Sin That Apostacy or Sin in any is no Argument against the Light but rather for it That the Additional Services of the Jews show No Imperfection in the Light but the People whose Minds were abroad If Insufficiency against the Light should be admitted of because of Rebellion and Wickedness in Mâ—…n the same would be objected against the Scriptures which overthrows our Adversary's Assertion concerning their Sufficiency THE Light with which Christ inlightens all Men manifests Sin as these Words import for every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be Reproved Implying That if they would have brought their Deeds to the Light the Light would have detected them and tryed them To which the Apostle Paul bears express Testimony in his Epistle to the Ephesians That whatsoever is Reproveable is made Manifest by the Light where the Universality of the Apostle's Assertion shows that nothing that is Reproveable is or can be excluded from the Search or Knowledge of this Light which takes in as well Thoughts as Words and Deeds So that nothing being Reproveable which the Light doth not first Manifest How obvious is it to every Understanding that if our Adversary believeth all Men to have committed Sin and so as that they know it which is Reproveable the Light must needs have been and be in all Men in order to such Manifestation and Conviction It is as much as if the Apostle had said Sin is that which Damns all Men now it could not Damn if it were not Reproveable and it could never be Reproveable if the Light did not Manifest and Condemn it as such So that our Adversaries affirming the Light not to be Sufficient to Discern all Sin is a flat Repugnancy and a down-right giving of the Lye to the Apostle For says the Apostle All things that are Reproveable are made Manifest by the Light But sayes Tho. Hicks All things that are Reproveable are not made Manifest by the Light Sober Reader dwell here a while and after a little paws tell me Who deals most Unworthily with the Apostle and the Holy Scriptures of Truth T. Hicks or the Quakers Obj. But T. Hicks objects with some others If there be that Light in all Men how comes it that all Men are not Convicted of their Disobedience and Duty as the Heathens of old and many Infidels at this day Did the Light in Saul reprove him for Persecuting the Church I Answer That this no way impugnes the Light although it greatly aggravates their Evil that so Rebell'd against it But that there were Heathens who became a Law unto themselves through that Light they had by which they did the things contained in the Law and were preferred far before the Circumcision that kept not the Law The Apostle Paul himself is very express in that known Passage to the Romans Nor are other Histories silent but loud in their acknowledgment of very Divine Attainments which by this Light several Famous Gentiles arrived at and for their Belief of One Eternal Being his Communication of Divine Light to Men and of an Immortality with their Strickt Conformity thereto are left upon Record by Credible Historians and their Praises not a little added to by after Ages even of those called Christians too Such are Reputed Pythagoras Timeus Solon Bias Chilon Anaxagoras Socrates Plato Antisthenes Xenocrates Zeno Antipater Seneca Epictetus and others But what if Jews and Gentiles at any time did Apostatize and particularly What if Saul persecuted the Church of God putting Disobedience for Duty Murder for Service Will it follow that the Light was Insufficient By no means but rather that Saul was Rebellious Stiff-necked Resisting the Holy Ghost as did his Fathers so did he and thus much the Words themselves show for he kickt against the Pricks Then it seems there were Pricks And where were they if not in his Conscience And what were they if not the Light of Christ within him which Manifests Evil and Reproves the Deeds thereof otherwise called that Son of God that to the Galatians he said It had pleased God to reveal in him though Paul knew him not nor his Voice of a long time his Eye being darkened and Ear stopt by the God of
So that a Sincere Faith in and Obedience to the Light of Christ as it shines in the Heart whereby to give the Living and Experimental Knowledge of the Glory of God unto the Creature is the Way to be Redeemed from Darkness and to be made a Child of Light or that there is Power and Vertue Sufficient in the Light to Ransom the Souls of such as diligently adhere to it from under the Power of Darkness For as the true Knowledge of God is Life Eternal so whatever may be known of God is manifested within which Manifestation cannot properly be without the Light whose peculiar Property it is to Discover Reveal or Manifest the Mind and Will of God to Mankind as saith the Apostle For whatsoever doth make Manifest is Light In him was Life and that Life was the Light of all Men But not therefore the Life of all Men Spiritually and Unitedly considered That was the peculiar Priviledge of those who Believ'd in it and walkt up to it There is a great Difference not in the Principle but in its Appearance to Man as Life and Light Such as believe in it IT What the Word-God who is that true Light as he appears to Discover or Illuminate the Heart and Conscience do really know and enjoy a new Nature Spirit and Life And in that Sense it may be said As the Life became the Light so the Light became the Life again Who so follows me shall not walk in Darkness but have the Light of Life Not that there is a Difference or so much as a Descent in Kind from Life to Light only in Operation with respect to Man For as it is the very Life of the Word in the Word it is the Light of Men and so much it is let them reject the Vertue of it if they will But as it is received and believed in It begets Life Motion Heat and every Divine Qualification suitable to the State of the New Birth And thus the Life of the Word which is in common the Light becomes the Life of every such Particular by communicating to or ingenerating Life in the Soul so that no more he lives but Christ the Word-God whom he hath now put on and who is become his very Life as well as Light that dwelleth in him Let not Men then in their Dark Imaginations with their Rob'd Knowledge from the Letter of the Scriptures themselves contend against the Sufficiency of what they obey not neither have seriously tryed the Power Vertue and Efficacy of it which brings Salvation to as many as are turned to it and abide in it And indeed so express are the Scriptures in Defence of the Sufficiency and Necessity of the Light to Salvation that it seems to have been the great Intendment of our Lord Jesus Christ in delegating his Disciples to preach his Everlasting Gospel viz. That they might open the Eyes of People and turn them from Darkness to the Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they might receive Remission of Sins and an Inheritance among them that are Sanctified through Faith that is in Me who ME that am both the Light of the World and the Power of God unto Salvation Now certainly the Eyes that were then blind were not the Natural but Spiritual Eyes of Men and such must the Darkness and Light be also blinded by the God of this World who raigned in the Hearts of the Children of Disobedience No Wonder then if the Light was not comprehended of the Darkness and that blind People did not see the Light but it plainly proves That Light there was though not seen Now the Work of the Powerful Ministry of the Apostles was To open the Blind or Dark Eye which the God of the World had blinded and then to turn them from that Darkness to the Light the Darkness was within so must the Light have been since the Illumination was there necessary where the Darkness had been predominant Consequently The Way to be Translated from Satan's Power to God to have Remission of Sins and an Inheritance with them that are Sanctified is to be turned from the Darkness in the Heart unto the Marvelous Light that had long shined uncomprehended to wit the GOSPEL which is called both the Light and Power of God The same Apostle in his Epistle to the Romans is more express concerning the holy Nature and Efficacy of the Light to Salvation when he thus exhorts them The Night is far spent the Day is at hand Let us therefore cast off the Works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light Let us walk honestly as in the Day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambring and Wantonness not in Strife and Envy but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof From whence I shall briefly remark three Things greatly to our Purpose and the Truths Defence in this Matter 1. That there is an absolute Opposition betwixt Light and Darkness as Darkness can only Vail the Light from the Understandings of Men So Light only can Discover and Dispel that Darkness Or thus That the Light Manifests and Condemns the Works of Darkness for what Communion hath Light with Darkness 2. That in the Light there is ARMOUR which being put on is able to Conquer the Darkness and Secure the Soul from the evil of it otherwise it would be very strange that the Apostle should exhort the People to put it on 3. That putting on the Armour of the Light and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ the Light of the World are Synonimous or one and the same thing for it is for one and the same End as may be observed from the Words Let us put on the Armour of Light and walk Honestly as in the Day not in Rioting and Drunkenness not in Chambring and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof I hope then Neither will it be disallow'd that Christ is that Light with which Men are Inlightned but more of that anon nor is that Light Men are exhorted to Obey a Naked and Insufficient but a Searching Expelling Powerful and Arming Light against Darkness and all its Unfruitful Works and consequently SAVING Thus the Beloved Disciple testifies very emphatically in his first Epistle where he gives us a Relation of the Apostolical Mission This then is the Message which we have heard of him and declare unto you That God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all if we say we have Fellowship with him and walk in Darkness we Lye and do not the Truth But if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Here is a brief Stating of the whole Great Case of Salvation 1. What God
Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him From whence I draw this Argument That if Man was made in God's Image then because God is Light Adam must necessarily have had of the Divine Light in him and have been the Image of that Light so long as he walkt and remain'd in It Since no man walks in the Light but he becomes the Child of Light And as the Apostle Paul expresseth it of such as were converted to that Light they had once erred from Ye were Darkness but now are ye Light in the Lord That is Through Obedience to the Light of the Lord. For any man then to say Adam had not Light were to suppose his Innocent State to be that of Darkness and instead of and being God's Image who is and ever was and alwayes will be Light he would have been wholy ignorant of him in whose Image he is said to have been created II. This Moses directed the Children of Israel to when he in God's stead recommended and earnestly pressed the keeping of the Commandment and Word in the Heart as we read in Deuteronomy For this Commandment which I Command thee this day is not hidden from thee neither is it far off It is not in Heaven that thou shouldst say Who shall go up for us to Heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it Neither is It beyond the Sea that thou shouldst say Who shall go over the Sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the Word is very nigh unto thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that thou mayst do it See I have set before thee this day Life and Good and Death and Evil. From whence I cannot but observe these Three Things 1. That the Commandment and the Word are so called by way of Excellency and Preheminence to all written Commandments or Words 2. That this Commandment or Word is Nigh even in the Heart of Man it self none need plead Distance or Ignorance 3. That the Setting Life and Good Death and Evil was and could only be in the Light within since without the Light how could they have Seen it Set before them And that it was in their Hearts the Lord so set those States before them the Verse immediately follows that wherein the Word is by Moses argumentatively prov'd as well as affirm'd to be in the Heart of Man Now I hope it shall not be injuriously done of me and I know who will bear me out if I say This Commandment is that which David spoke of when he said The Commandment of the Lord is pure Inlightning the Eyes and this Holy Word the same with that Word which he said was a Lamp unto his Feet and a Light unto his Path and not an other Word then what Paul call'd the Word of Faith which he preach't by which the Just live consequently a Saving Commandment Word or Light it was and is to such as Believe and Obey it III. The next Scripture I will urge shall be this For thou art my Lamp O Lord for the Lord will Lighten my Darkness Now if God was the Light and Lamp of that Day to such as regarded the Light cerainly then they had a Light and such an one as was Saving too unless we should Blasphemously Deny God to be either a Light or a Saving One who is most certainly both IV. Wicked Men were not without Light to Condemn them as Good Men ever had Light to Preserve them They are of those that Rebel against the Light they know not the Wayes thereof nor abide in the Paths thereof said Job In which Passage it is very obvious that Wicked Men have Light otherwise it would have been utterly Impossible for them to have Rebell'd against it Nay against THE LIGHT implying that it is the same Light in Nature with that which Righteous Men are guided by answerable to another Emphatical Passage in the same Book of Job Is there any Number of his Army and UPON WHOM DOTH NOT HIS LIGHT ARISE Certainly this Universality strongly pleads on the behalf of our Belief of the Light And if our Adversary would but venture to let it come close to his Conscience I cannot be so Uncharitable as to think he should not make some Acknowledgment to its Universality antecedent to the Coming of Christ. I omit to say much of its Efficaciousness at that time though one would think that Light alwayes gives to Discern a Good Way from a Bad one referring it to another place Only I shall observe how that Job expresly tells us and that when he was in his deep Troubles of Spirit O that I were as in Months past in the Dayes when God preserved me when his Candle shined upon my Head and when by his Light I walked through Darkness where it is most apparent that Job attributes his Salvation from the Darkness which stands both for Sin and Affliction unto the Light wherewith God had Inlightned him And certainly It had been utterly Impossible for those weighty things that are deliver'd in that Book of Job as well from others as from Job to have been known had not they been Inlightned and received very great Discoveries from that Light and Candle of the Lord in their Hearts For in all the whole Book I find not one Verse expresly cited out of any other Writings but what purely proceeded from Immediate Impulse and Inspiration of the Almighty which sayes the same Book gives Men Understanding V. To this Doctrine David was no Stranger who so very often commemorates the Light and the Divine Excellencies of it some few places I shall mention of those many that I might offer The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the Strength of my Life of whom shall I be afraid This weighty Passage of the Prophet is a lively Testimony to the True Light wherein David confessed what John call'd his Evangelical Message viz. That God is Light Next that not only God is Light but which doubtless was most of all to his Comfort HIS LIGHT The Lord is MY Light and MY Salvation As much as if he had said Because the Lord is become my Light I have known him to be my Salvation or him by whom my Salvation hath been wrought In short thus That God is My Salvation as he is My Light or as I have Obey'd the Lord My Light I have witnessed Salvation O! that such Professors of Religion in whom there is any Moderation would but be pleas'd to weigh What was David ' s Light What his Salvation and Who must needs have been his Rule at that time of the World of which he further speaks God is the Lord who hath shewed us Light Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Pathes I have not departed from thy Judgments for thou hast taught me This made him far
Wiser then his Teachers in the hidden Life and Mystery of things whereby David had long seen beyond all Types and Shaddows of the good Things to come to the very Substance it self from whence came his excellent Prophecies agreeing with that passage The Path of the Just is as the shining Light that shines more and more unto the perfect Day said the wise Man This strongly implies that David and not he alone but the Just of all Ages were attended with the Discoveries and Leadings of a Divine Light which as obey'd did make Just and alwayes lead in the Way of Salvation unless the Just Way was not the Saving Way and if it was certainly it is still for it is the Lord himself whom in Samuel's History he is recorded also to have called a Lamp as he here doth the Word which Moses said was nigh in the Heart that Men should obey it and do it This was the Word of Reconciliation in every Generation whose Holy Water washed their Consciences from Sin who heard andobey'd it Again that this Light was not confin'd to David or such Good Men take these two Passages Thou givest thy Mouth to Evil and thy Tongue frameth Deceit Thou sittest and speakest against thy Brother thou Slanderest thine own Mothers Son These things hast thou done and I kept Silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I WILL REPROVE THEE AND SET THEM IN ORDER BEFORE THINE EYES saith the Lord Again His Lightnings inlightned the World the Earth saw and trembled In which two places it will appear upon impartial Consideration that God hath inlightned the World and that as Light Difcovering the Works and Workers of Darkness he doth reprove the Inhabitants of the World set their Sins in order before them and cause such Guilty ones to Tremble at his so appearing which is expresly confirmed in that notable passage of the Prophet For Lo He that treadeth the Mountains and cleareth the Wind that makes the Morning Darkness and treadeth upon the High Places of the Earth and DECLARES UNTO MAN WHAT HIS THOUGHTS ARE THE LORD THE GOD OF HOSTS IS HIS NAME This the Psalmist was well acquainted with himself when he uttered these Words Whither shall I go from thy Spirit or whither shall I flee from thy Presence which plainly shows to us that the Spirit of the Lord and his Presence was every-where and that as Light discovering Darkness with respect to Mankind For the Question was not whether God by his Spirit was not every-where for that our Adversaries grant or he could not be God But whether it was possible for David to withdraw himself into any place where his Mind could not be sensible of the Eternal Spirit and Immediate Presence of God who is Light it self either as a Reprover Exhorter or Informer as the foregoing Words intimate O Lord thou hast searched me and known me Thou understandest my Thoughts afar off Thou art acquainted with all my Wayes Which however God might know them it stands firm that David could never have known God so as to see and behold them but from that Light and Spirit of which he sayes in the 7th vers following which I have already cited Whither shall I go from thy Spirit In short it must needs be evident to all unprejudic'd Readers that David had this Light within or Spirit of God present with him as a Reprover Informer or Comforter since it was impossible for him to be any-where without it Which may prove to us that however he lived above a thousand years before the Apostle Paul he very well knew the meaning of that Doctrine he preach'd to the Athenians God is not far away or at a Distance from every one of you Which truly known and experimentally witnessed not only as a Reprover but by an humble and holy reception of him into the Heart as King and Lord is the Glory of the Evangelical Dispensation where God dwells in his People as an Holy Temple and Tabernacles with them This is the blessed Emmanuel-state God with and God in Men. I might here to sub-joyn the Account we have of the great Illumination of Daniel and the Gentiles clear Acknowledgment of the same which they could never have done with that Seriousness and Conviction but from some glimps of the same Divine Light but that I shall pass over with several Passages of other of the lesser Prophets and conclude this Scripture Proof of the Gift of the Light and Spirit antecedent to Christ's coming in the Flesh and from Stephen's Testimony Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in Temples made with hands as saith the Prophet Heaven is my Throne and Earth is my Footstool what House will you build me saith the Lord or what is the Place of my Rest Hath not my hands made all these things Ye Stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Hearts and Ears ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your Fathers did so do ye And lest it should be objected that it was only in Stephen then and the holy Prophets of Old that both they and their Fore-Fathers resisted the Holy Spirit Remember Reader that weighty Passage in Nehemiah Thou gavest also thy Good Spirit to Instruct them and withheldst not thy Manna from their Mouth by which it is most evident that the Light of God's Spirit or the Spirit of God was given as well to the Rebellious as Obedient that it might as well condemn for Sin as lead into all Righteousness And since we are to suppose God's Spirit and the Light thereof to be sufficient to Salvation for God's Gifts are perfect in themselves and are given to accomplish their Ends perfectly from that Sin and Iniquity which the contrary Spirit draws into we may without any offence I hope conclude that during those many Ages before the Coming of Christ in the Flesh he did Illuminate Mankind with a sufficient measure of his Divine Light and Spirit CHAP. IX Another Objection that though the Jews had it it will not follow that the Gentiles were so Illuminated It is Answerd by several Scriptures In this Chapter quoted to prove that they were not exempted But had a measure of Light some Divine Seed sown in their Hearts some Talent given and that it was Sufficient T. Hicks's Challenge to give an Instance of one that by the Light within was Reproved for not believing that Jesus was the Christ is Answer'd Such as believed in the Light and walkt up to it did receive Christ when he came The high Pretenders were they who to Scriptures Opposed and Crucified him The Light from Scripture concluded Universal and Saving Obj. BUt here I expect this Objection having run our Adversaries unavoidably to it Very well Taking it for granted that what you have said in reference to a Saving Light or Spirit universally bestow'd upon the Jews THAT WERE A DISTINCT PEOPLE from the rest of the World under very many peculiar Rights
make thee Ruler over many things Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received One Talent came and said Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard Man Reaping where thou hast not sown and Gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy Talent in the Earth Lo there thou hast that which is thine His Lord answer'd and said unto him Thou Wicked and Slothful Servant thou knewest that I Reap where I sowed not and Gather where I have not strawed Thou oughtest therefore to have put my Money to the Exchangers and then at my Coming I should have received mine Own with Usury Take therefore the Talent from him and give it unto him which has Ten Talents For unto every one that hath shall be given and he shall have Abundance but from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he hath And cast ye the Unprofitable Servant into utter Darkness there shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth when the Son of Man shall come in his Glory and all the Holy Angels with Him then shall He sit upon the Throne of his Glory and before Him shall be gather'd all Nations and He shall separate them one from another as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats and He shall set the Sheep on his Right Hand but the Goats on the Left Serious Reader I have the rather repeated the Scripture at large because of that great Strength it carries methinks to the Conviction at least Confusion of that Narrow Spirit which confines the infinite Goodness of God and renders him whilst he is an Universal Creator but a particular Benefactor shutting up his Gifts within the straight compass of a FEW representing him thereby as partial as some Parents who they know not for what beside their own unequal Wills do frequently bestow their Favour indeed the whole of their Affection upon an Elected Dareling to the manifest though causeless Neglect of the rest But to speak the Truth of the matter the Over-fondness some bear to their own Opinions joyn'd with the Envy raised towards those who conform not to them has so emptied them of all natural Affection that looking upon God in that condition they dare to think him as unnatural as themselves For my part I have not a great while believ'd but that it rather rise from an Unwillingness in some that Dissenters from them should be saved thereby endeavouring a Compliance upon Necessity then that God had not been propitious unto all his Creatures For who sees not who can or will see that God is this Soveraign Lord that he made Mankind to be his Servants that these Three are representative of the whole and to the End they might not be Unprofitable Ones that he gave them Talents to improve against his Return that is against the Day of Recompence for which they are accountable that who improve their Talents may be rewarded and they who make no improvement of their Talents may be punisht with Eternal Separation from the Presence of God and all his Holy Angels I will conclude with these Five Observations 1. That God though it be his Soveraign Prerogative what he will give has given a Talent out of his Celestial Treasury unto every Man and Woman 2. That this Talent is in it self Sufficient but as the best Corn so this Talent put up into a Napkin must needs be Unprofitable yet that the Fault is in the Party Neglecting or Hiding of it not in it self 3. That those who improve not their Talent are most apt to charge God with Reaping where he Sows not as do those Professors we have to do with who make God to require an Account of all and yet deny in order to rendring up this Account with Joy that he has given all a Talent Sufficient thereunto 4. That the Eternal Estate of Men and Women as Sheep and Goats purely depends upon their Improving or not Improving of that Heavenly Talent wherewith God has indu'd them Lastly Neither is there any Shelter for these Parsimonious Men or their Hide-bound Faith under the Inequality of the Number of the Talents for it is not how many Talents are given but what Improvement is made of what is given Wherefore greater is his Reward who makes one Talent Three then his who of Ten advances but to Fifteen since the one makes but Half whilst the other makes Treble Improvement Blessed therefore are you all and will you assuredly be in the Day of the Lord's Recompence who disregarding the Vanities Pleasures Cares and Fleshly Religions of the World diligently mind your own Talent and are in the Pure Wisdom and Holy Counsel of the Lord making your daily Improvement of the same laying up Treasure in the High and Heavenly Place that is Durable and Everlasting V. This reasonable Truth is yet further manifest from the weighty Words of our Lord Jesus Christ For every one that doth Evil hateth the Light neither comes to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved To which I would add that of the Apostle Whatsoever is reproved is made manifest by the Light Certainly then unless Men will be so Unjust to God as to think contrary to Scripture and Reason He should let Millions of Men and Scores of Generations live in Sin without a Light to shew it them or a Law to limit them it must be yielded that they had Light and Law in their Hearts and Consciences by which they were Convicted of Sin and such as obey'd it led to work Righteousness since their Refusing to bring their Deeds to the Light was not an Act of Ignorance but Design because they knew their Deeds would be Condemn'd and they for them which loudly asserts that they both had a Light and knew they had it though they Rebell'd against it And if I should grant that whatever was reproveable was not made manifest unto them yet this will no wayes hinder the Capacity of the Light to do it 'T is evident That some things which the Gentiles did were reprov'd therefore they had the Light And if they had it not in all the Extent of its Revelation the Light was no more to be blamed then that Guide whose Passengers therefore could not arrive at their Journey 's End because they never would begin at least proceed Had the Heathens been Faithful to what they had of God in themselves and not been blinded by the Vain Idolatries and Superstitious Traditions of their Fathers they had more fully known and learn'd the Mind and Will of their Creator which some of those Gentiles notwithstanding did as will yet further appear VI. Thus the Apostle Paul teaches us to believe in that remarkable Passage of his in the first Chapter to the Romans For I am not Asham'd of the Gospel of Christ For it is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek For therein is
here inserted testifie X. ANTISTHENES one of Socrates's School expressing himself as it were Clem. Alex. Strom. L. 5 That thou mayst know that there is none like Me in all the Earth saith God Exod. 9. 14. 8. 10. Who in Heaven can be Compared unto the Lord who among the Sons of the Mighty can be Likened unto the Lord Psal. 89. 6. by way of Paraphrase that Prophetick Saying Whom have ye likened me unto saith the Lord thus speaks He is like none because no Man can know him from a Likeness or Image By which we may perceive he did not believe him to be an Image who could not be known by an Image nor any thing that could be seen with Carnal Eyes a Step beyond the Romanists that teach the Knowledge of as they darkly Fancy by Images XI PLATO also Schollar to Socrates and whom the Greeks for his Heavenly Contemplation and Pious Life surnam'd Divine gives us his Faith of God in these words God is FIRST ETERNAL I am the Alpha and the Omega the First the Last Rev. 22. 13. Thou art the Everlasting God Isa. 40 The Way of the Lord is Perfect Psal. 80 30. He is a Rock his Work is Perfect for all his Ways are Judgment A God of Truth and without Iniquity Just Right is he Deutr. 23. 4 For I am the Lord Isa. 45. 5 I Change not Mal. 3. 6. INEFFABLE PERFECT IN HIMSELF that is needing none and ever Perfect that is absolute in all Times and every way perfect that is absolute in every part Divinity Essence Truth Harmony Good Neither do we so name these to distinguish one from the other but rather by them all to understand one He is said to be GOOD because he bestows his Benefits upon all according to their several Capacities and so is the Cause of all Good FAIR because he is in Essence both More Better and Equal TRUTH because he is the Principle of all Truth as the Sun is of all Light Moreover God not having many Parts can neither be locally mov'd nor alter'd by Qualities For if he be alter'd it must be done by himself or some other if by some other that Other must be of greater Power then he if by Himself it must be either to Better or to Worse both which are Absurd From all these it Follows That God is Incorporeal and by all which it is evident how True and how Reasonable and how Firm a Belief Plato had of One Eternal Being and Father of all XII And Lyricus MELANIPPIDES praying saith Clem. Alex. Hear me O Father thou Wonder of Strom. L. 5. Exod. 1. 15 11. Psalm 136. 4 5 6. Men who alwayes Covernest the Living Soul This plainly preaches to us their Belief of One Eternal God XIII PARMENEDES Magnus as saith Plato in Clem. Alex. Sophista writes concerning God on Strom. L. 5. Thy Throne is establisht of Old thou art from Everlasting Psal. 93. 2. Jehovah is Everlasting Isa. 26. 4. this wise He is not Begotten neither is he lyable to any Death like a Chain whose Links are Whole Round and alwayes Firm and Void of a Beginning What was this but the Eternal God by whom all things were made the First and the Last XIV ZENO a Grave and Wise Philosopher who instituted the Way of the Stoicks but not of Vertue both the Cynicks and Stoicks mostly teaching such Doctrine as tended to good Life may well be said to have been the Followers of Socrates the ExcellentMan of his time only they a little differed themselves by some particular Severities too Voluntary which the Mild Serious and Unaffected Piety of Socrates gave them no Encouragement to though none of them trod in a more Self-denying Path then History tells us he walkt in This Zeno and his Disciples were Vigorous â—…sserters of One Infinite and Eternal God as by their Doctrines may appear Zeno tells us That God is an Immortal Being Rational Laert. Perfect or Intellectual in Now to the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the Only Wise God be Honour and Glory forever 1 Tim. 1. 17. The Rich and Poor meet together the Lord is the Maker of them all Pro. 22. 2. Come now let us Reason together saith the Lord Isa. 1. 18. Be ye Holy for I the Lord your God am Holy Levit. 11. 44. One God and Father of all of whom are all things Ephes. 4. 6. 1 Cor. 8. 16. Who is a God like Aristot. de Xen. unto thee Exod. 15. 4. The Almighty is Excellent in Power Job 37. 23. And his Kingdom rules over all Psal. 103. 19. Beatitude void of all Evil provident over the World and things in the World Not of Humane Form MAKER OF ALL AS IT WERE FATHER OF ALL. Again God and the Power of God is such as that it governs but is not governed It governeth all things so that if there were any thing more Excellent He could not possibly be God This was Zeno's Faith of God which I cannot believe that Tho. Hicks himself has so far abandon'd all Reason as to censure for False or Idolatrous that he Taught It as well as Thought It. Let us hear some of his Followers XV. CHRYSIPPUS also avers as his Belief of a Laert. de Ira Dei c. 10. God that the World was made by him consequently he believed there was one For if Lord thou art God which hast made Heaven and Earth and all that in them is Acts 4. 24. God that made the World Psal. 90. 2. All Nations are unto God but as a Drop to the Bucket and the Dust to the Ballance Isa. 40. 11 15. saith he there be any thing which can procrâ—…ate such Beings as Man indued with Reason is unable to produce that doubtless must needs be Stronger and Greater and Wiser then Man but a Man cannot make the Celestial things therefore that which made them transcended Man in Art Counsel Prudence and Power And what can that be but GOD Thus far Chrysippus the Stoick in reference to God But again XVI ANTIPATER a Famous Serious and Accute Stoick in his Discourse of God and the World declares Plut. himself to us after this manner Plat. phaed. God is a Spirit John Antip. de Mund. l. 7. 4. 24. In whom are hid all the Treasures of Wisdom Knowledg Col. 2..8 Of the Incorruptible God Rom. 1. 23. The Lord is Good to all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works Psal. 85. 9. God is not far away from every one of us Acts 17. 27. We understand by that which we call God A SPIRIT full of INTELLIGENCE or WISDOM a Living Nature or DIVINE SUBSTANCE Blessed and INCORRUPTIBLE doing good to Mankind PRESENT THROUGH THE WHOLE WORLD receiving several Denominations from the DIVERSITY OF HIS APPEARANCES and the various Operations and Effects of his Divine Power shewn therein Which kind of Evangelical Definition may very rightly induce us to
doth plainly witness For how can it otherwise be but that it should render God most propitious to all such as believe in Christ the Light of the World when it was but a lettiâ—…g of his only begotten Son's Sufferings turn to their account that should ever believe in him Yet doubtless greatly did it influence to some singular Tenderness and peculiar lâ—…egard unto all such who should believe in his Name among other of his weighty Performances for the sake of that last and greatest of all his External Acts the resisting unto Blood for the Spiritual Good of the World thereby offering up his Liâ—…e upon the Cross through the Power of the Eternal Spirit that Remission of Sin God's Bounty to the World might be preacht in his Name and in his very Blood too as that which was the most ratifying of all his Bodily Sufferings And indeed therefore might it seem meet to the Holy Ghost that Redemption Propitiation and Remission should be declared and held forth in the Blood of Christ unto all that have right Faith therein as saith the Apostle to the Romans Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood and to the Ephesians In whom we have Redemption through his Blood the Forgiveness of Sins c. because it implies a firm Belief that Christ was come in the Flesh and that none could then have him as their Propitiation or Redemption who withstood the Acknowledgement of and Belief in his Viâ—…ible Appearance which John tells us some denyed and withstood 2. That he came in order to the Remission Redemption and Salvation of the World 3. That his so Dying was both an evident Token of his Love and strong Argument of Confirmation of his Message and Work 4. That it might the better end the Jews Services by an Allusion to the Way of their Temporary and Shadowy Sacrifices as the whole Epistle to the Hebrews showeth 5. And that by bringing through the holy Light in the Particâ—…lar iâ—…to the Acknowledgment of and Belief in the Blood which was ratifying of that whole Appearance Men might be brought unto the knowing Christ after a more Inward and Spiritual Manner suitable to Christ's own Words It is the Spirit that quickens and the Apostle avers that the Lord from Heaven is that quickning Spirit by which Eternal Spirit he offered up himself without Spot Nor can any reasonably suppose that when Christ so spoak to his Disciples explanatorily of what he had obscurely and in Parables said to the Jews that he meant not something more hidden and Divine then what they and the Jews saw Yet that which hindred those Jews from the Knowledge or Benefit thereof was their Stumbling at him without a Confession unto whom they coâ—…ld never come into the Beholding or Experiencing of his Divine Life in them To conclude That Body was the Divine Lifes a Body hast thou prepared me therefore all that was done by that Body towards the Redemption of Man-kind was eminently the Divine Lifes yet because many times Actions are denominated from or appropriated to the Instrument as the next Cause though not the Efficient or most Eminent Cause therefore the Scripture speaks forth as indeed is the Propriety of both the Hebrew and Greek Tongues Parabol cally Hyberbolically Metaphorically the inward Substance and hidden Life of things by things more Exteriour and Obvious to the Sense to the End that such Mysteries might be the better accommodated to Vulgar Capacities Consider what I say with this Qualification that ultimately and chiefly not wholy and exclusively the Divine Life in that Body was the Redeemer For the Sufferings of that Holy Body of Jesus had an engaging and procuring Virtue in thâ—…m though the Divine Life was that Fountain from whence originally it came And as the Life declared and preached forth it self through that Holy Body so who did then come to the Benefit procured by the Divine Life could only do it through an Hearty Confession to it as appearing in that Body and that from a Sence first begotten by a Measure of the same in themselves This is the main Import of those Places Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation and in whom we have Redemption through Faith in his Blood For who is this H E whom God hath set forth and in whom is Redemption Certainly the same H E that was before Abraham the Rock of the Fathers that cryed Lo I come to do thy Will O God a Body hast thou prepared me which was long before the Body was conceived and born But may some say How is it then his Blood Why just as the Body is his Body Those who had Faith in that Blood believed his Visible Appearance inasmuch as they acknowledged that great Seal and Ratification of it to wit the Shedding of the Blood of His Body who came to save the World and who alone is the Propitiation Redemption and Salvation of all who had right Faith in that Appearance and Message so confirmed and therefore so often exprest by it as inclusive of all his whole Life and Sufferings beside And this is my Reason for it that it was impossible for any Man in that Day to confess to and believe in that Divine Light and Life which appeared in that prepared Body but from the Inward Discoveries and Operations of that Light with which Christ the Word-God who took Flesh had enlightened him However though the Apostles might then so express themselves thereby to assert and recommend unto the Faith of all that most Heavenly Manifestation and the great Love of Christ therein as the Visitation of the Heavenly Life through that prepared Body and the deep Sufferings of both for the World being True and Spiritual Witnesses thereof yet it was never intended that any should barely rest in that but press after the Knowledge of Christ by Faith in something farther and beyond that Body in which he appeared not excluding our Belief in that too They who knew Christ after the Flesh were to press after some more Spiritual Discovery of Him and who almost doted on his outward Manifestation it was expedient that they should be weaned from it to the End his more interiour and indeed beneficial Revelation of himfelf might be witnessed Faith in his Blood was requisite that they might confess him whose Body and Blood it was to be Christ who is God over all blessed for ever The great Question with the Jews Whether God was truly manifested in that Body of Flesh which they saw So that the Stress lyes in Confessing to the Divinity come in the Flesh otherwise they would have rejected not only the most signal Suffering of the whole Manifestation but consequently that It self To conclude we confess HE who then appeared was and is the Propitiation c. and in Him was Redemption obtained by all those who had such true Faith in his Blood But still it is to be understood that there must be
counts all such Faith and Worship Imagination made of Men or a meer lifeless Imitation He prefers one Sight begotten from a Sence of God's Work in the Heart beyond the longest Prayers in that State He leaves them all walks as a Man alone fearing to offer God a Sacrifice that is not of His own Preparing He charges all other Faiths and Worships with Insufficiency and meer creaturely Power which are not held and performed from an holy Conviction and Preparation by the Angel of God the Light of his Presence in the Heart and Conscience therefore goes he forth in the Strength of his God against the Merchants of Babylon Woes and Plagues are Rightly in his Mouth against those Buyers and Sellers of the Souls of Men He is Jealous for the Name of the Lord And therefore dares not speak Peace unto them neither can be put into their Mouths but testifies against all such Wayes Freely he received freely he gives Thus is this Man Unravel'd Unreligion'd Unbottom'd as to his former State wherein he was Religious upon Letter Form Mens Traditions Education and his own Imagination He is as a Man quite undone that he may be made what he should be Thus is he convinced of Sin and of Righteousness too and the Joy he once had when he girded himself and went whether he would is now turned into Sorrow and his Rejoycing into Hoâ—…ling He has beheld God in the Light and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes Sin that was pleasant once in the Mouth he finds bitter in the Belly and that which the World esteems worthy their Care he flies as a Man would do a Bear robbed of her Whelps Sin is become exceeding Sinful to him insomuch that he cries out who shall deliver him He labours greatly and is very heavy loaden He is not willing to fly in the Winter but is resolved to stand the Tryal For this Man not only brings his former Deeds to the Light and there suffers Judgment to pass upon them but patiently takes part in that Judgment who was so great an Accessory to them Nor doth his Obedience conclude with the Sentence given against past Sins and himself that committed them but most patiently endures the Hand of the Lord till his Indignation be overpast and till that which condemned Sin the Fruit hath destroyed the very Root of it which hath taken so deep hold in his Heart and the same Spirit of Judgment that condemned Sin be brought forth into perfect Victory over the very Nature and Power of Sin This Judgment is found in the Light therefore do the Sons of the Night reject the Knowledge of its Wayes and the Children of the Day joy greatly in its Appearance But neither is this all that makes up that Good Man who obeys the Light For a compleat Son of Light is one that has conquer'd and expel'd the Darkness 'T is true he was once Darkness but now Light in the Lord because he hath been turned from Darkness to the Light and from Satan's Power unto God who is Light it self and with him is his Fellowship continually This is the Man who in the Way of the Light hath met with the Inward Cleansing for having been purged by the Spirit of Judgment and the Spirit of Burning otherwise called the severe Reproofs Stroaks and Terrors of the Light in the Conscience he has ever a Watch set up in his Heart A Thought must not pass which has not the Watch-Word but at every Appearance he cries Stand if a Friend and owned oâ—… the Light who is the great Leader given of God for that Purpose then he lets It pass otherwise he brings It to the Commander of the Conscience who is to sit in Judgment upon It. Thus is Christ the Light King Judge and Lawgiver And by this he grows strong increaseth with the Increases of God Yet he often reads the Scriptures and that with much Delight greatly admiring the exceeding Love of God to former Ages which he himself witnesseth to be true in this and many things are opened to his Refreshment So is the Light the Just Man's Path that in every Age still shined brighter and brighter in which the cleansing Blood of Jesus Christ is felt to cleanse from all Sin Thus doth he bridle his Thoughts so that his Words and Actions offend not Above all he is often retired to the Lord loves Fellowship with him waits for dayly Bread not in his own Words Strivings or Will but emty of Thoughts or the Peace or Comfort that is drawn or imagined from thence he silently waits to feel the Heavenly Substance brought into his Soul by the Immediate Hand of the Lord for it is not fetching in this Thought or remembring the other Passage in Scripture or calling to Mind what has been formerly known but every Immediate Word that proceeds from out of the Mouth of God that can satisfie him In short He that obeyes the Light is thereby taught to deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to be Sober Righteous Patient Humble Meek Upright Merciful Forbearing Forgiving Peaceable Gentle Self-denying Constant Faithful and Holy because the Lord his God is Holy Thus have I given a brief Account as well what HE is not as what HE is that is Obedient to the Light within which is Christ's Appearance in the Heart whose Holy Blood is felt to Cleanse Attone and Save all those who believe and abide therein CHAP. VI. The Discourse hithertoo 〈◊〉 up and concluded with an Exhortation to all Professors of Religion espâ—…cially our Opposers I Will sum up the whole of this Discourse into these few Heads I. That Salvation is to be saved from Sin first and Wrath consequentially He shall save them from their Sins II. That Christ the Word-God has enlightened all Mankind not only aâ—…ter his Coming in the Flesh but before And that the Light has ever been Sufficient as well as Universal to lead to God all such as have obeyed it as by its Properties and Effects is demonstrated III. That the Difference betwixt the Time of the Law and that of the Gospel as generally distinguisht was in Manifestation not in Nature God might be as much more propitiouâ—… and bouâ—…ti ui to the last Ages be it that they were better able 〈◊〉 receive such extraordinary Discoveries or that it waâ—… the alone good Pleasure of his Soveraign Will as he was to the former Ages yet that he gave them a Sufficiency of the same Divine Light to conduct them through the World to Eternal Blessedness IV. That Jews and Creeks Heathens and Christians agree in this V. That still the Preheminence is given to Christ's Manifestation in Flesh both generally and particularly that being both the Fulness of Time and Fulness of Discovery which put an end to the Types and Figures and Carâ—…al Coâ—…mandements by shewing forth an Abrogation and Consuâ—…tion of them all in the Substance it self In which State they are not needed but in Comparison thereof
Mankind What more excellent Judgment can be given then that men quit their Contentions about Notions and Opinions and betake themselves to the Practice of that which God hath already shewn unto them as spake both the Prophet Micah 6. 8. and the Apostle Paul Rom. 1. 19. And if any thing be revealed to one more then another let the rest judge in the Spirit or be silent till God manifest more to them in order to Right Judgment 'T is good to try all things but we must have something to try them by and what ought that to be but the Spirit that searcheth the Anointing that teaches all things which is Truth it self Here Mankind will live in Love having at least Natural Affections now lost by the Bâ—…rbarity of some of their cruel Religions and a Judgment oâ—… things will be made not from the Rash Partial Short sighted a d Froward Mind of man but that eternal Light and Spirit that never erred which however disgustful to some Protestants in this Age was no False Doctrine in the Account of John Philpot and Bp. Latimer two great Founders of the Reformation The first in his Answer to the Bishop of Chichester reproving his Confidence about true Faith in Christ saying These Hereticks take upon them to be sure of all things they stand in Let him doubt saith John Philpot of his Faith that listeth God give me alwayes to believe that I am sure of true Faith and Favour in Christ. The second in his Answer to a Knight objecting the Uncertainty of Man in what he calls Truth thus recorded by J. Fox Your Friends deny not but that certain Truths are communicated to us according to Capacity But as to my Presumption and Arrogancy either I am certain or uncertain that it is Truth that I preach if it be Truth why may not I say so if I be uncertain why dare I be so bold as to preach it And if your Friends be Preachers themselves after their Sermon I pray you ask them Whether they be certain and sure they preach the Truth or no and send me word what they say that I may learn to speak after them If they say they be sure you know what follows if they say they be unsure when shall you be sure that have so doubtful and unsure Teachers Let not Protestants for Shame judge us for owning a Doctrine that is confessed to and confirmed by some of the Worthiest of their own Ancestors viz. That an Infallible Judgment in things necessary to Salvation is both possible and requisite and that God communicates it by his Spirit to the Souls of men The Conclusion TO Conclude Immanuel a word suited not only to that Appearance but whole Dispensation imports God nigh to or with men The Tabernacle of God is with men he will dwell in them and walk in them they shall be all taught of me and in Righteousness shall they be established And this admits not of any Book or literal Rule or Judge to come between that in-dwelling Light Life and Wisdom of God and the Soul as its Rule of Faith and Life And because it is the unutterable Goodness of God to People in these latter Dayes as the Sum of Scripture-Prophecy thus to make known himself we are incessant in our Cries unto them that they would turn in their Minds now abroad and taking up their Rest in the Externals of Religion that they may hear his Heavenly Voice and Knocks and let him in and be taught of him to know and do his Will that they may come to be experienced and expert in the School of Christ For never Man spoak and taught as he livingly speaks and teaches in the Consciences of those who diligently hear him and are willing to be taught of him the Knowledge of his Wayes The Priest was Outward but he is now Inward the Law Outward but it is now Inward And he is no more a Jew that is one outward nor that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose Praise is not of Men but of God Which is so far from lessening the Scriptures of Truth that unless this be man's Rule and Judge in the reading and believing of them he can never either understand them or keep the things therein contain'd aright And indeed as before I have expressed I cannot but say That Man whilst unregenerated setting his Wit and Wisdom to fathom and comprehend the Intention of the Holy Ghost in many of those Writings hath occasioned that Confusion Darkness and perplext Controversie that now so lamentably pesters the World In which State for all the External Imitations of the Ancients in some temporary and visible Parts of Worship I am to tell such from the Spirit of the Lord God of all Truth they will never be accepted The utmost of that literal Knowledge historical Faith and outward Religion is at best but the Old Heavens that are to be wrapped up as a Scroul the Old Wine and Bottle that belong not to the Kingdom and Man's holding true Words in an unregenerated and unrighteous Nature where he may cry Lord Lord but shalâ—… never enter into the Rest that is Eternal For under such a Faith and Religion Envy Wrath Malice Persecution Pride Passion Worldly-Mindedness c. may and do live yea and are cloaked as with a secure Cover from the Stroak of God's Spirit insomuch as when any are moved of the Lord to decry such fair and hypocritical Shews of Religion they are reputed Rash and Censorious and presently a Plea must he made on this wise Do not we follow the Commands of the Scripture Did not such and such do so and so Never regarding from what Grounds the Performance springs whether it be according to the Rule of the NEW or OLD Creature buâ—… abuse and vilifie us for making such Distinctions as if the Prayers Preachings Singings outward Baptizings and Suppings c. of Men in their own Spirits Strength and Will were required and accepted of God for Evangelical Worship Thick Darkness and dangerous Presumption Thus are Men out of the Way concerning both Faith and Practice and the true Rule and Judge of them They make the former to lie in an Assent of the Understanding to such Propositions and in the performing of some visible Parts of Religion in their own Spirits and Wills which is far from the Immanuel-State And the latter to be the Scriptures which is but an Account of those Things which others were ruled to and directed in by the Holy Spirit before they were ever recorded or made Scripture and not another Rule or Judge can so regulate For as the Faith and Experience so the Rule and Judge of that Faith and that Experience must be one God by his Spirit begets Faith God by his Spirit rules Faith and governs the Life of his Children for
the Lord of Glory for it would have given them a Sence and Knowledge of him there were those that grieved and vext the Holy Spirit within would it therefore be a good Argument to say that his Spirit was no sufficient Rule And to what thou sayst of Jesus Christ as come in the Flesh a Person prophesied of born at Bethlehem p. 11. we never said the Light in every man was Christ under these Considerations though Christ considered as the 〈◊〉 enlightens every man Spiritually and Divinely Both John the Baptist and John the Evangelist gave a higher Proof and Testimony of Christ then this you Baptists give When John Baptist said he is preferred before me for he was before me and John the Evangelist saith In the beginning was the Word c. this was Christ. Sect. VII His Madness and Self-Contradiction about the Light TOuching our obeying the Commands of the living Word in us for this thou accuseth us with a mental and mystical Reservation which thou sayst indeed is no other then a meer mystical Romance p. 10. For which the Lord rebuk ethy Prophaneness and Irreligious romancing against the Word and Light within Also thy Blasphemy is very manifest in accusing what we said of the Light within as to the Miracles Wonders or Works wrought by it to be no more then what the Apostle spake of the man of Sin 2 Thes. 2. 9. and also what may as well prove Mahomet to be the true Christ as the Light in us p. 11 12. Here again thou actest the Part of a Bedlam against the Light in us which else-where thou hast confest to be Christ for that he is the Life and Light of Men and is not this Christ the Messiah They that have believed in his Light within and so truely made Tryal of it do know that wrought by it which never was wrought either by the man of Sin or Mahomet for to believe in this Light is the Way to become Children of it the Way to see Darkness and the Power of it to vanish and so to have Sathan overcome by the Power of Christ received in the Light and this did never the Man of Sin nor Mahomet therefore thy Instance herein is most Blasphemous And if we be accountable for every Dispensation of Light according to its kind and degree p. 13. of what kind is this Dispensation of Light that 's given in common unto Mankind thou hast sufficiently answered to thy own utter Overthrough in pag. 36. viz. T. H. Yet all this is no Disparagement to the Light within to say that God doth make any thing more known of his Will than is or can be known by this meer Light within for 't is but to say that each degree of Light is serviccable to its End Reply Where now Mark that the Difference about the Light that is given in common to all and more peculiarly manifest to some is not in the Nature and Kind of it but in Degree and surely the Degrees of the Light do not alter the Property of it The divine Light is one and the same Throughout all Ages both in the time of the Law Prophets of Christ coming in the flesh which was to exalt his mannifestation in Spirit And now in the fulness of time shining forth in a more glorious and powerful Manifestation the same Light hath shined forth more and more throughout the several dispensations of God which were all for the Exaltation and bringing forth of the Light in its degrees and Manifestations of Glory and Power But what Account wilt thou give to God for thy so much undervaluing that Degree of Light that he hath given unto all Mankind as thou hast done One while in judging it a misguiding Light another while comparing our Tstimony of it to the man of Sin Mahomet c. Another while it is so dis-esteemed by thee as not sufficient to discover or reprove Persecution and killing the Disciples and yet we must be acountable to God for it What mean and confused Thoughts thou hast of it the Impartial Reader may easily judge by the tenor of this thy most contradictory Discourse But they who experienced the Increase of Light in them the Superaddition of divine Revelation p. 12. the shining of the Light more and more unto the perfect Day their being changed from Glory to Glory it was through the diligent Improvement of that Degree of Light that sure Word of Prophesie shining in their hearts and not by opposing and disparaging of it as thou hast done in thy Pride and Darkness which covers thee who art one that stumbles at the Ingrafted Word through thy Disobedience In which thou wouldst have us to believe the Light within to be not sufficient to guide unto Salvation while thou hast not followed it to experience the good End of its Guidance as we have done Thou pretends to know what it cannot do but â—…elst us not what it can do and to what end it will lead if truely obeyed Nor what will become of those that improve it who have not the Scriptures or Historical Relation of Christ as come in the Flesh wherein thou art deficient and difingenuous in all thy Work Sect. VIII Christ as the Rock of Ages and the Intent of his coming in the Flesh not known to Baptists while they oppose his Light within T. H. JEsus Christ was a Person of whom there were many Prophesies which should be fulfilled in him p. 11. If this Light within be the true and only Christ then why was there so many Sacrifices in the time of the Law tipifying Christ to come since Moses and the rest of the Children of Israel had a Light in them If you say the Light within was not the Messiah then you deny your Principle If it were what Significancy could there be in those Types respecting Christ to come p. 12. Answ. Thou thinkst thou hast caught us in a learned Dilemma here but what amounts the tenour of it to but to tell us either that the true Christ was not in being in Moses and Israels time or that he was not in them for if he were thou questionest what Significancy could there be in those Types But here thou art very dark for though Christ's Manifestation did differ both in degree and manner of Appearance and though when in the Fulness of time he came to fulfil the Prophesies and Types of him the Power and Glory of the Father was more fully and eminently and signally manifest in him then in any before and the Light more shone forth exemplarily in him yet it follows not that the true Christ was not in being in Moses and in the Prophets time or that his Light was not in some Degree manifested both before under and since the Law If the true Christ was in being and in any degree manifest his Light needs must but the true Christ was in being from Everlasting and in time universally shining and manifest in some degree
Light from Christ Jesus the Way out of the Fall the second Adam receiving the Light they receive Redemption and Sanctification whereby their Spirits Bodies and Souls are sanctified Great Mystery p. 91. Note here still that he plainly distinguisheth between the Soul and him that redeems and sanctifies it so that the Soul or Spirit of Man is neither God nor Christ but as much inferior in Subordination to God and Christ as the Creature Man is to the Creator or that which is saved and redeemed to him that saveth and redeemeth The sum of what 's said amounts to this candid Account about the Soul viz. That the Soul and Spirit of Man is not the very Being of God nor a part of God though the original Life of the Soul which came out from God is immutable and infinite there is a divine and infinite Life in the Soul of Man which we would have you be sensible of This is the Life of Lives the Soul of Souls the Being of Beings by which the Soul of man is made to subsist in its Being and Immortality whether in the Kingdom of Glory or Pit of Darkness although this original or divine Life in the Soul stands clear and free from both the Guilt Torment and Anguish that comes upon every Soul of Man that does Evil. Every Soul must appear before the Lord in its own proper Image and Nature which it hath born been under and received while in the Body having been subject either to the Spirit and Power of God or to the Spirit and Power of the wicked one wherein it s capable of either being a Vessel of Mercy and Love or a Vessel to hold Wrath and Anguish according to what it doth here love and effect and contract to it self whether Good or Evil. Therefore as it s commanded Take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently c. love the Lord thy God with all thy Soul c. and then thou wilt know Christ to be the Salvation of it The Scripture speaks variously of the Soul and as in divers States and Conditions viz. 1. Of the Soul of God which is Immutable 2. Of the Soul of Man and that 1. Of the Righteous which really pertake of the divine Nature 2. Of the Wicked which pertake of the Nature of Enmity And these differ in their Affections the one being to Good and the other to Evil. Mention is made of the Soul as under the Power of Sin Death and the Grave by man's Disobedience and Fall and of the Soul as quickned raised up and delivered or saved by the Power of Christ the living ingrafted Word Sometimes the Soul is mentioned as including the whole man sometimes as distinguished from the Body sometimes it s esteemed as the Life and sometimes the Spirit or Breath of Life and an active Soul inspired and there is a State wherein the Word of the Lord is said to divide asunder betwixt the Soul and Spirit Now if you do not own a divine Seed or unchangeable Principle of Life in the Soul I query of you 1st Do you or did you ever know your own Souls 2ly What the Soul is in it self and distinct from the Body 3ly What and where is that to be known that is to change the Souls and so the whole man's Affections from Evil to Good while man remains in this Life 4ly Do you own the Souls Immortality that it doth not dye with the Body Do not some of you Baptists hold that the Soul dyeth with the Body and sleeps in the dust of the Earth untill both arise together 5ly Whether Man doth not subsist in his spiritual Being and Parts with a spiritual Capacity and spiritual Sences having a Sense of perpetual Gain or Loss when his Earthly Tabernacle is put off 6ly Whether the Spirit of Man doth not return unto God that gave it to receive its Judgment and Reward 7ly Whether Man must not be born again here of an Immortal and Incorruptible Seed in him if ever he enter into God's Kingdâ—…m or enjoy Glory hereafter 8thly Whether it be not more necessary for you to wait in humilily to know this immortal Seed in you and to be born thereof then to puzzle your Brains and to busie your Thoughts either about the Questâ—…on how and with what Body are the Dead raised Or how your Souls shall be invested hereafter If you remain here in the Enmity slighting and contemning the Light within or the immortal Principle or incorruptible Seed within as T. H. doth scoff and ridiculously droll at our Testimony for it you 'll be clothed with perpetual shame and Contempt hereafter God knows how to reserve the Unjust to the Judgement of his great Day to be punished as both Divels fallen Angels and wicked men are reserved You need not question in what Bodies or Vessels for that you shall be vessels fit to hold inevitable Wrath if here in time you repent not But if you repent and return to the Lord God and love and serve him with all your Souls it will be well with you hereafter God will provide well for you And the Glory wherewith his sanctified Ones shall be invested And of that House wherewith Righteous Souls shall be cloathed upon is beyond the reach of humane Capacities Thoughts or Imaginations of men And you who are contending and quarrelling about your carnal Bodies have not had so much as a Vision of the Glory of the Saints hereafter nor of the Gloriousness and Spirituality of their Body who are as the Angels of God in Heaven Sect. XII The Neck of the Baptist's Cause broken by his own Concession to the Light within in which Christ and his Testimonies are effectually received T. H. HOw could you call the Light within Christ if some Scriptures had not mentioned Christ in you that he is the Life and Light of Men Give me an Instance of any Person in the World that never had Acquaintance of the Scriptures that ever called the Light in every Man by this Name If none can be produced then the Scriptures must be your Rule for this p. 22. Answ. Thou hast said enough in not only granting the Light within to be Christ but also in confessing that he is the Life and Light of men which while he is really so to men this is sufficient for them to call him as he is and appears to them Is it not therefore great Ignorance to imply him an insufficient Rule for men to give Testimony of him while he is a sufficient Rule and Light to them for their Supply and Life in him And what if they cannot call him by all those Names by which he is called in Scripture while they feel him in Vertue and Power to be really what he is called according to their Enjoyment of him It s true we having the Knowledge of him as our Life and Light we must needs reverently own and make use of those Testimonies in Scripture which concur with our Knowledge of him
the Body of Man c. 7. The Resurrection 8. The Light the Sufferings and Work of Christ. 9. The Baptists Ordinances Shadows c. 10. Knowing Christ and his Coming Reign and Deity 11. Their Erroneous and Groundless Distinction between the Light of God and the Light of Christ. 12. Turning to the Light within 13. Christ as at the Right hand of Power 14. Perfection 15. The Light within distinguished from an Historical Knowledge 16. The Baptist's unlearned Question TO THE READER Serious Reader THe implacable Enmity of divers Baptist Teachers against us our present Liberty and Prosperity is very obvious by their several perverse confused Pamphlets although the sad Experience and Fruitlesness of Coertion has not been shewn by their Valour They have Cause rather to be abased and humbled for their timerous obscuring themselves many of them in the late stormy times then now either to boast or thus come croaking out in warm Weather with Blasphemy and Revilings against the Light of Truth or us its Children As also for their many Divisions among themselves contrary to this Man's pretended Order and Communion of him and his Brethren of their baptized Churches as in pag. 53. being divided about Principles and Doctrines as some of their Leaders and Chieftains preaching up a personal Election others general Redemption some for Christ's dying for all others for his dying but for a few some for the Jews Seventh-Day Sabboth others opposing it some holding the Souls mortality with the Body others the Immortality They should have been reconciled among themselves before they had thus appeared in Print against us called Quakers for as yet we have no consistent matter from them to deal withall Lux Exorta Est OR THE LIGHT SPRUNG UP IN THE Despised Quaker With Evident Testimony against the Darkness and Prejudice of the Old Anabaptist I. Concerning the Light within THe Light or Life of the Eternal Word which is the Light of men Joh. 1. 4. is spiritual and divine as is that Word and therefore able to direct man his Way out of Sin and to give him Power against it what Cruelty and Partiallity doth he therefore like the partialminded Electioners reflect upon God in saying that this Light or Illumination of the Eternal Word leaves man like the Priest and Levite in his Blood and Wounds and yet how manifestly is this contradicted in his granting That by this Light Mankind may come to understand there is a God and also their Duty as he is their Creator Now this their Duty is both truely to love obey and sear him as also the man grants the Light to convince them of Sins and teach them to do unto all men as themselves would be done unto and that if the Heathens do follow the Light they are enlightened withal by the glorious Creator they would shine forth in the Principles of Morality and just Living p. 9. Now then it appears that this Light in all men can both teach them their Duty to God and one another so then it would teach them both to begodly and just Then the Question is whether all that are so taught and are such be they called Heathens or others be not in Reality Christians Can a man be godly and not a Christian Surely if the Heathens do mind and follow so much Light as God has given them they shall be saved for is there any more required then what is given Or doth God condemn Men for not improving more then he gives them How can they then be inexcusable or left without Excuse before him Observe again that this Opposer is not only cruel in leaving men in their Blood and Wounds though they follow so much Light as is given them but he is greatly confounded about the Light in all men one while calling it The Substance of the Law of the first Covenant p. 11. another while saith That Law was a more glorious Ministration and did convince of Sin more clearly then this Light p. 10. whereas the inward Convincement or Conviction does not arise from the Law meerly as written without but from the Law or Light as received from God in the Heart another while he calls it the Spirit that God has formed in man Zach. 12. 1. The Candle of the Lord p. 9. Let the ingenuous Reader judge how this man is shattered in these his Contradictions Inconsistencies and Variations and how plainly he hath broke the Neck of his own Cause in confessing that the Lord Jesus as the eternal Word enlightneth all men for Jesus Christ and his Light as the eternal Word is the divine and highest Light II. Concerning Redemption Justification c. HE is very inconsistent in his Saying that Redemption and Justification have been fully compleated and finisht by our Lord Jesus for â—…s once for all and that the Debt is paid and Satisfaction made p. 14. while yet he grants that Ignorance and Unbelief as Chains and Fetters bind many in Satan's Kingdom p. 14. for did you ever know of any so fully in a redeemed and justified Estate while so actually under Satan's Chains and Fetters in his Kingdom Or that any should be thus detained in Prison so long after the Debt is paid and Satisfaction made as he imagines But in this Notion of Satisfaction he appears very short and shallow though it be not a Scripture Phrase as T. Danson grants Synops. p. 19. and though it depends but upon some Notions of Law as Dr. Owen saith Declar. p. 150. Now that all mens Debt should be so strictly payed or such a severe Satisfaction made to vindicate Justice by Christ in their Stead which God never imposed upon the Son of his Love and that for Sins past present and to come as some say how inconsistent is it Besides the gross Liberty this gives to Sin how agrees it with his teaching them to pray Forgive us our Debts Math. 6. 12. for what needed that if they be all fo strictly paid in their Stead Howbeit that Christ in another or more acceptable Sence was a most satisfactory Offering and Sacrifice for Man-kind for a sweet smelling Savour to God Ephes. 5. 2. this we confess and own and that he tasted Death not only for some but for every Man and is a Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World And that Men are not justified nor all their Debt payed in their Stead while they are actually in Chains in Satan's Kingdom see this Man's Concession to his own Confutation touching the Power of true Conversion that is taught by Christ and his Ministers viz. That a man must repent that true Repentance is a through Change of the mind and that it consists in 1 A clear Sight and Sence of Sin 2 Godly Sorrow in the Sence and Burthen of it 3 In utter Abhorrence and forsaking of it And also Faith is required and must be wrought with Power in the Hearts of the Penitent c. p. 15. 16. Mark then here is some Debt for men to pay
those few mentioned namely for Christ saith he sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel So he did not thank God for neglecting part of his Commission in baptizing so few but partly to prevent their wrong Use thereof and chiefly because his Commission did not extend to Water-Baptism And as to his Allegation to prove that the Word not is not alwayes used as an absolute Negative p. 27. he cites Joh. 6. 27. Labour not for the Meat that perisheth but for the Meat which endureth c. If the Occasion of these Words be minded not will prove an absolute Negative in this Place Jesus speaking to them that sought after him because they did eat of the Loaves ver 20. and were filled for which end they ought not to have sought after him And admitting his Instance in Adam that he was not deceived namely that he was not first deceived taking in the Word first from the Verse before this is altogether impertinent unto his Purpose about Paul's not being sent to baptize there being no such Discovery that Paul was sent at all to baptize as there was of Adam's Transgression but the contrary in that Paul expresly said Christ fent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel V. Of the Anionted TO his saying the Word Christ signifies one Anointed accounting it absurd to say the Spirit or Anointing is Christ p. 37. I answer are not the Father the Spirit and the Word one Christ as the Son of God is God's anointed And is it not granted that he was the Son of God by eternal Generation And fo was before he took upon him that Body prepared for him called the Lord 's anointed Psal. 2. 2. which Word Anointed sometimes relates to his being set up or exalted as King yet have I set or anointed Hebr. my King upon Sion the Hill of my Holiness ver 6. As also to his being endued or anointed with Power from on high which Power is that divine Unction and in that Christ is called the Power of God and the Wisdom of God 1 Cor. 1. 24 He may as properly be called the Anointing as where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty now the Lord is that Spirit this Anointing is not an outward Unction nor outwardly received upon the Flesh or Body but being a divine Unction of Glory and Power from above it s inwardly and spiritually received by an immortal Seed and Birth born from above as that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit As for his Term Humane Nature and Glorious Unity between the divine and human Nature p. 36. he talks he knows not what besides Scripture-Language the Word human is not applicable to Christ in Glory by the Scriptures but originally relates to the Earth and so to the Body of man as coming thence But Jesus Christ was the Anointed as he was the Son from the Father's Substance which he was before he came in the Flesh or took upon him that Body that was prepared for him and the Anointed and Saviour by the divine Power given him when in that Body upon Earth though more highly exalted or anointed as ascended far above all Heavens and exalted in the Father's Glory the Anointed and Saviour also as revealed and formed in the Saints Gal. 4. 19. the Anointed as set up from Everlasting the Anointed both in Sufferings and in Glory the Anointed both as he came in Flesh and as coming and revealed in the Spirit in his People and his Name by which Life and Salvation comes and is given is his divine Nature and Power to which his Name relates that is above every other Name One thing this man H. G. and his Brethren stumble at and at which his Soul is wounded as he saith p. 30. is that Christ was never seen with an outward or rather carnal Eye which H. W. is accused of sor saying The Eternal Son of God was never seen with any Carnal Eye to which I say they should have been so ingenuous as to have considered the Intent of these Words and more candidly to have construed them thus Christ as the eternal Word the Lord from Heaven the only begotten of the Father in his spiritual Discovery as the Image of the invisible God and Brightness of his Glory cannot be seen with a carnal Eye Flesh and Blood hath not so revealed him the saving Light of Christ never was nor can be reached with the carnal Eye he that seeth the Son and believeth on him hath everlasting Life Joh. 6. 40. and as saith the Son of God he that seeth me seeth my Father also Joh. 12. 45. and 14. 9. but none can see the Father with a carnal Eye therefore none could ever see the eternal Son with their carnal Eyes in this Sence of seeing which extends to true Knowing Joh. 8. 19. and 14. 7. though many did see the Body or Person of Christ in the Dayes of his Flesh wherein he was crucified and put to Death the Jews â—…nd Persecutors saw him in that Sence with their outward Eyes when they did neither truely see nor know him to their Salvation it being the Spirit that quickneth and such a Sight of Christ as that of his Body or outward man no reasonable man can be so absurd as to say it was not obvious to the Bodily Eyes and as absurd for any to imagine that any of us should intend otherwise Now these Baptists Faith concerning the Son of God according to their carnal Discourse of him may be modelized into this or the like Argument viz. If Jesus Christ the Son of God be also the Son of man glorified on the right Hand of God in Heaven then he consists of human Body of Flesh and Bones as some say or of a body of Flesh Blood and Bones as others say But he is the Son of man glorified c. Ergo he consists of a human Body either of Flesh and Bone or of Flesh Blood and Bones in Heaven Ans. I deny their varied Consequence as inconsequent for Christ was called the Son of man in a higher Sence then this human earthly or carnal Sence which they represent him in in that he himself said no man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven even the Son of man which is in Heaven Joh. 3. 13. and what if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before it is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh perfitteth nothing Joh. 6. 62 63. who will affim that as he came down from Heaven or as he was before in Heaven he so consisted of a carnal human Body either made up of Flesh and Bone or of Flesh Blood and Bone in their gross and carnal Sence John the Baptist had not such mean Thoughts of Christ as these carnal Baptists have for John said he that cometh from above is above all he that is of the Earth is earthly and speaketh of the Earth he that cometh from Heaven is above
and thus to limit and circumscribe God and his Light or Shining to be so and in like manner as the Sun and its Beams doth maniâ—…est such gross Apprehensions of God as he did before in expecting to see him with bodily Eyes And this relates to the old Heresie of the Anthropomorphites or Monks in the desarts of Aegypt as also to that of the present Mugletonians who imagine God to be a personal or bodily Existence circumscribed as to place denying him to be an infinite Spirit yet thus far I will admit of his Simile by a Reason of the contrary that as the natural created Sun immediately sends forth its Beams or Rayes which are natural and do influence the Earth with the Vertue of the Sun so the eternal increated Spiâ—…itor Word doth shine and shew forth its own immediate increated divine Light and Vertue in the Hearts and Souls of Man-kind as the Sun is natural and created so is its Light or Shining and as God the eternal Word is increated and super-natural so is his immediate Shining or Light in the Hearts and Souls of Man-kind and as a man's Eye is directly set towards the Sun in the least Beam thereof shining through any Crevis into any Dungeon Cell or other oscure place it sees directly to the Sun it self so the Eye of the Soul being directe dtowards God by the least Appearance of his divine and immediate Shining or Illumination therein it hath a Sight of God and the Soul thereby comes to seel of his Vertue and Power in waiting upon him And for this man to conclude that this Light of the eternal Word cannot teach and reveal unto man the Lord Jesus Christ p. 50. is to deny Jesus Christ to be the Word or that true Light that enlightneth every Man whereas his Illumination directs man immediately to himself as its eyed and minded As also he is as narrow shallow and partial in concluding the Light will not reveal unto man his Saviour without the Help of the Scriptures p. 50. this is a strange undervaluing of the Light of Christ what then did the Scriptures proceed from Was it not the Light And what shall become of all those Nations and People that have not the Scriptures if this be true It is none of our Assertion that Christ in his Death and Sufferings was but only a Pattern or Example of that which must be wrought over again in us for though we own him to have left an Example yet he was more then an Example and he did not only end the Types but was a Sacrifice and Offering for Man-kind and opened the new and living Way giving Testimony of God's free Love towards all and making Way for the enforcing of the new Testament or Covenant of Life But yet that either all or any men are cleansed or justified or saved meerly by the outward Sufferings Crucifixion Death or Blood shed of Christ the Scripture proves not but by Christ himself and his Blood Life Spirit and Power nor yet that men are acquitted or saved by their outward Application thereof And this man to his own Confutation confesseth to the Power of Christ s Spirit being risen in us for our Sanctification and Renovation as well as Christ was raised from the dead for our Justification p. 54. then all is not fully doneby his Death without them but both the End and Mystery of the Cross Sufferings and Death of Christ without 〈◊〉 be known and fulfilled within see Philip. 3. 10. although this man seems not willing to hear of Christ's being a Pattern or Example of that which must be wrought over again in us p. 50 yet in Contradiction to this he saith The Lord Jesus Christ hath wrought Redâ—…mption and Salvation for me and revealed this by his Word and Spirit and 〈◊〉 it in me p. 52. it s well that in any Measure he is made to grant to this inward Work of Christ. IX Further about their Ordinances His pleading for their shadowy and carnal Ordinances to continue under this Notion viz. Under his Shadow I have with the Spouse sat down and his Fruit is and hath been sweet unto my tâ—…ste p. 53. This is a very impertinent Instance and altogether improper to reckon Bread Wine and Water-Baptisin that Shadow of the Souls Beloved to wit Christ that the Spouse sat under seeing the Lord himselâ—… saith I will be a Shadow from the Heat and a Refuge from the Storm And we are so far from believing these his carnal Ordinances to be the direct Shadow of the Souls Beloved in that neer Sence that we look upon him he is yet to prove them Appointments Institutions and Ordinances of Christ or of Necessity to continue in the Church notwithstanding his spiritual Coming and Revelation which he hath not much less that they are spiritual or of a Spiritualness as he saith p. 59. and 60. which he hath manifestly contradicted in granting They are but the Sign the Shadow the Shell and Christ the Substance p. 53 54. For my part I don't look upon either John's Baptism or the Supper of Christ and his Disciples at which they had the Passover to be Institutions and Ordinances originally appointed by Christ or enjoyned to all that should succeed in the Gospel and true Church but rather though they were not directly enjoyned by the Law of Moses as we say modo forma yet that they did more naturally relate to that former dispensation of Shadows then to that of the Gospel and new Covenant and that John's Baptism was rather for a Consummation of the Jews divers Sprinklings and Washings under the Law comprehending them in order to end them and Christ's eating of the Passover and drinking with his Disciples Luke 32. to be as a Consummation of the Jews Feasts under the Law viz. that of the Passover and others according to the Relation given at large concerning the Ecclesiastical Rites of the ancienâ—… Hebrews by T. Goodwin in his Antiquities of the â—…ews called Moses and Aaron p. 86 87 88 89 90 91. and 〈◊〉 and Christ saying As often as you do this is not a â—…ommand and This do in Remembrance of me and 〈◊〉 the Lord's Death till he come does limit a time for its Discontinuance for till he come must either respect his next Coming or render not only his coming after he was risen but his spiritual Coming and Revelation in his Saints no Comings which were absurd and Auti-Christian and there was a time to shew forth his Life as well as his Death Hiâ—… saying The Sign and thing signified God hath joyned together p. 54. is again contradicted by his granting a Personmay find a Shell and have no Kernel in it p. 54. To which I add That God hath so joyned the Sign or Shadow and the Substance together as so to continue I deny or that the Scripture any where so saith but as for these Baptists Shells Husks and Shadows they are both dry and empty and the Lord is
the Law in the Letter or as outwardly written And if this Immediate Light be not of a saveing Property what Light is And for what end is it given universally to Man-kind That they may be saved or onely to condemn them 2. Christ's enlightning all men as the Eternal Word and that with a spiritual Light flowing from himself as the Eternall Word Enlightening It is not with the Letter which killeth and Cannot give Life but with an Immediate Illumination or Influence of Light from himself which can both kill and make a live it hath both the Law or sentence of Death in it to the transgressor and quickning Vertue and Gospel in it to make alive to God and minister Life and Justification from God to them that truly obey it 3. This immed iate Light or Shining from Jesus Christ as the Eternal Word is neither the Letter of the Law nor created nor yet natural as Anabaptists use to say but as the Eternal Word enlightning man and the Life which was in him being the Light of Men is therefore a Light and Law which can give Life which the Law as in the Letter could not it being the Life it self that was in the Eternal Word H. G. The great Darkness of these Men who cry up Light and Power within this Wile of Satan and Cheat of Anti-Christ p. 31. H. G. Contradiction The Lord Jesus Christ as the Eternal Word enlightneth all Men this Light is the Substance of the Law the Candle of the Lord it doth convince of Sin p. 8. If Heathens follow it they would shine in just living the Work of Faith with Power I do mantain that Faith is required and must be wrought with Power in the Heart p. 15 16. G. W. Animad What horrible Blasphemy is it then to term our crying up the Light and Power of Christ within the Wile of Satan and Cheat of Anti-Christ and how plainly hereby confuted We have Cause to look upon those Heathens that follow the Light or Gift of God within to be more godly and better Christians then many of these Baptists H. G. Rep. Your Lyes and Ignorance I say the Darkness of these Men who cry up Light and Power within is great and I did say in p. 31. I should make appear this Wile of Satan and Cheat of Anti-Christ that is to say the Evil Doctrine and Principles of yours And do I contradict this in affirming there is a Light in all Men called the Candle of the Lord and in owning the Inward Work of Faith with Power upon the Heart c. p. 4. G. W. Answer Hath he not before evidently made their crying up Light and Power within the Character of the great Darkness and this the Wile of Satan and Cheat of Anti-christ You that understand Grammer and common Sence mark the Tenour of his Words and how he shuffles to cover this Blasphemy and Contradiction to his confessing that the Lord Jesus as the Eternal Word enlightneth all Men and this is our Principle though now he placeth the great Darkness Wile of Satan and Cheat of Anti-Christ upon our Doctrine and Principles without Exception concerning the Light within and thus still ensnares himself in his Confusion as also in one while affirming that this Light in Man is the Substance of the Law or first Covenant another while that it is the formed Spirit in Man Zach. 12. 1. which is called the Candle of the Lord as in his 9th pag. of his first Book Where note that by seeking to obscure his gross Contradiction before he is run into another viz. One while calling the Light of the Eternal Word in every Man The Substance of the Law of the first Covenant yea now the Ministration of Death or Letter that killeth from 2 Corrinth 3. 6 7. cited by him another while he calls this Light in every man A Spirit that God hath given or formed in Man you who can distinguish between the Law or Letter of it written in Table of Stone and the Spirit of Man Judge if this Anabaptist be not plainly contradictory to himself herein for is the Spirit of Man and the Law written both one and the same thing And while the Spirit of Man is confest to be the Candle of the Lord it s lighted by his Divine Word or Fire The Lord hath lighted my Candle II. The Sufficiency of the Light within to reveal God Christ c. HEnry Grigg again shuffles and beggs the Question thus viz. Do not you say that this Light which is in every Man that cometh into the World is God is Christ is the Holy Spirit or Blessed Comforter and a Saving Light and that it will convince a Man of every Sin and Transgression and lead into all Truth c. Answ. He here questions the things which in his 18th pag he affirms The Quakers speak of the Light within viz. That it is the Divine Essence the Lord Jesus Christ the holy Spirit c. But I ask him where or in what Book and page do the Quakers speak all this of that Measure or Gift of Light that is in every man he deals disingenuously in not citing our own Books and Pages for these Words that we might consider further thereof seeing the Stress of his Charge lies so much on them which though we assert it to be a divine Light of God and Christ and holy Spirit which are one and omni-present filling Heaven and Earth over all and through all God unlimitted in his Presence which to man is an Enlightning Presence yet God and Christ is not revealed in all for he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not yet his divine Light or immediate Shining in Man is manifest by measure or Degrees as man is capable to receive it the least degree whereof is saving to them that obey it and tends to direct and draw Man towards God who is the absolute and alone Saviour and he and his Light in men are inseparable whose Salvation is manifest by degrees as his Light or Grace in man's Heart is which hath taught us to wait and to look for that blessed Hope and the glorious apprearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Measure or Manifestation of this Light and Grace which immediately directs and leads to this Appearance of the great God and our Saviour must needs therefore be saving And because God or his Son in his infinite Fulness and Knowledge as in himself cannot be contained in man in that the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain God it follows not therefore that the Measure and Manifestation of his Light in Man is not convincing sanctifying or saving whilst it is confest to be a Light or Illumination of Jesus Christ as the Eternal Word enlightning all Men and Women If the infinite Fulness or Giver of this Light cannot be contained in Man yet God hath promised to tabernacle with Men and to dwell in them it follows
Heaven I say yes and these three are one and is not Christ the Saviour that Word which is one of the three which are but one divine Being Thing or Substance though revealed under several Considerations and Diversities of Manifestations and Degrees of Discoveries yet all one divine Life and Being as God is the Word the Life the Light and so is Christ and the holy Spirit is Life to the Righteous and so is Christ the Way the Truth and the Life In him was Life and the Life the Light of Men the Life affordeth Light to all and the Light Life to all that obey it and in it follow Christ such receive the Light of Life and come to walk in the Light of the Living as the Light of Life is received unto Justification and Peace the holy Spirit is received in that glorious Ministration as Comforter after a State of Desolation and Sorrow of whom Christ said He shall receive of mine and shew it unto you Joh. 16. 13. H. G. Did the true Saviour die on the Cross or not Answ. Yes as concerning the Flesh but not as concerning the Spirit or most noble Principle by which he was impowred to his Work of Salvation H. G. I affirm once again That neither the Comforter viz. the holy Spirit nor the Deity of our Lord Jesus distinct from his Manhood or human Nature could be the Saviour and Mediator which dyed on the Cross c. pag. 7. Answ. This is a meer impertinent Shuffle to prove the holy Spirit could not be the Saviour he now tells us that neither the holy Spirit nor the Deity distinct from his human Nature as he calls it could be the Saviour that dyed who of us ever affirmed that his Deity or holy Spirit dyed But seeing the holy Spirit or Deity dyed not with the Flesh of Christ that was crucified then the whole Saviour did not dye but what he calls the human Nature But if we take his Words according to his Doctrine before for Proof that the holy Spirit or Comforter cannot save or be the Saviour only thus viz. Neither the Comforter the holy Spirit nor the Deity of our Lord Jesus distinct from his Manhood or human Nature could be the Saviour This were all one as to tell us that God cannot be the Saviour or that God cannot save if the holy Spirit or Deity be God he should rather have said that the Manhood could not save without the holy Spirit divine Power or Deity which alone is sufficient and only that which is felt and experienced in Man to effect his Salvation and Deliverance from the Power of Sin and Satan Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord and my Servants whom I have chosen that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am he before me there was no God formed neither shall there be after me I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour Isa. 43. 10 11. There is no God else beside me a Just God and a Saviour Chap. 45. 21. And we both labour and suffer Reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men specially of those that believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. And how is God especially known to be the Saviour but in saing man from Sin Unrighteousness and all Guile I will mention the loving Kindness of the Lord c. For he said Surely they are my People Children that will not lye so he was their Saviour Isa. 63. 7 8. Now consider whether it be not grosly erroneous to suppose the holy Spirit oâ—… Deity cannot save or is so deficient distinct or in it self whereas though God was manifest in Flesh God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself the Divinity and human or earthly Nature were alwayes distinct and is not God omnipotent To the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and ever Amen V. How the Light in Man is a Gift and H. G' s distinction between the Meritorious and instrumental Cause of Salvation examined H. G. ARt thou not able to distinguish between the Giver and the Gift between the Fountain and the Stream p. 7. Answ. Yes I do distinguish between the Giver and the Gift between the Fountain and the Stream between the Fulness and the receiving thereof Grace for Grace buâ—… while the Distinction between God and the Gift of his Spirit or between Christ and his Light within seems to be no more then between the Fountain and the Stream how grosly erroneous is it to conclude either that the Spirit cannot be Saviour or that the Light of Christ is not saving For that 's all one as to say that either the Stream is not the same Water with the Fountain or that the Stream cannot wash because not the Fountain or Fulness who in his right Wits will believe this H. G. But again it appears thou distinguishest not between the meritorious Cause of man's Salvation and the Instrumental the killing of the Sacrifice and the sprinkling of the Blood c. p. 7. 8. Answ. Where doth the Scripture make this Distinction or say that the killing of the Sacrifice which he must mean of Christ is the meritorious Cause of man's Salvation Such like blind distinctions are fit to darken Knowledge and blind Peoples Minds and how gross and unchristian is it to place such a Merit or Worth upon that murtherous Act of killing the Sacrifice if he mean Christ as his Discourse implies For though Christ Jesus by that inherent Holiness and original Righteousness and Grace of God in him offered and gave himself up to suffer and tasted Death for every Man yet the crucifying and killing him according to the Flesh was an Act of Murtherers and Persecutors who by wicked Hand put him to death so that the Dignity and Worth was in Christ and on his Part through all his Sufferings and not in the Act of killing him by wicked Hands nor on their Parts howbeit the Sufferings and Death of Christ were of great value with the Father and his Power did appear through all to the bruising the Serpents Head And if it be the Work of the Spirit to sanctifie and renew us is not this a saving Work And doth not this bring us to receive the Attonement and to enjoy Peace Who follow and obey this Spirit for a Reconciliation through the Death of Christ and being saved by his Life and so the Work of Christ in saving and redecming man from Iniquity and in making Attonement Peace and Union between God and Man however these be directly pointed at made way for by the Suffering and Death of Christ yet they were inwardly revealed effected and fulfilled by the Spirit or Life of Christ where the Word of Reconciliation is received in the Heart For Christ's Appearance and Suffering in the Flesh did really and directly point at those spiritual Ends which are for man's Eternal Advantage to be fulfilled by his Appearance in Spirit VI.
The Lord's Supper in the Type and in the Anti-Type the Shadow and Substance distinguished H. G. THe Ordinance of the Lord's Supper you call Bread and Wine p. 19. H. G. Contradiction The Sign the Shadow speaking of their Ordinances the Substance being Christ p. 53 54. G. W. his Animadversion Your pretended Lord's Supper then is no more then Bread and Wine the Sign the Shadow and therefore their Continuation of no Necessity in the true Church which hath received Christ the Substance Thus far he cites my Words and leaves out what follows The living Bread who spiritually communicates his Flesh and Blood or Fruit of the heavenly Vine without your Shadows and this is our Lord's Supper that we pertake of and our Baptism is spiritual 1 Cor. 12 13. Ephes. 4. 5. and as in 1 Pet. 3. 21. It s said to the which also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anti Type that now saveth us even Baptism agreeth His Contradiction before is between his calling their Bread and Wine the Lord's Supper now remaining in full Force and yet confessing them to be the Sign the Shadow and that the Substance is Christ. If that you call the Lord's Supper be a Shadow as of Christ to come it cannot be that Lord's Supper which remains in full Force where he is come to sup together with them who have received him in as being the Substance which ends the Shadows but H.G. Attempts to reconcile his Contradiction by speaking of sitting down under Christ's Shadow p. 9. When as its very obvious that his Sence of Christ's Shadâ—… here much differs from his Sence of their pretenâ—…ed Supper being a Shadow of Christ the Substance as to come whereas Shadow is metaphorical in the one real in the other for were it good Doctrine to say You must sit down under Christ's Shadow till he come Or that Christ is not come to his Church while she sits down under his Shadow or that your Bread and Wine as a Sign and Shadow of Christ the Substance is that very Shadow of his that the Church is alwayes to sit down under while upon Earth Whereas what he saith of sitting down under his Shadow is taken out of Canticles 2. 3. As the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my Beloved among the Sons I sat down under his Shadow with Delight and his Fruit was sweet to my Tast See how plain it is that the Simile here is takeâ—… from sitting down under the Shadow of an Apple-Tree and eating of the Apples Were it good Sence to say I must sit down under the Shadow of an Apple-Tree and eat the Fruit thereof until the Tree come when both Tree and Fruit are then present And so is Christ with his Church when she sits down under his Shadow and pertakes of his living Fruit where then there is no Necessity of your outside Shadows And yet H. G. in contradiction to his confessing their Ordinance to be the Shadow he is still imposing upon his Opposer That the Practice of it is to be kept up in the same manner as Christ the Night before he â—…e was betrayed instituted p. 9. But I ask do you Baptists observe and keep a real Supper in the very same manner that Christ then did with his Disciples Be plain and ingenuous herein have you the Passover at a real Supper And have you the Cup both before and after Supper as Christ and his Disciples had Luke 22. 15 16 17 18 19 20. And was all this either an Institution of Christ or of Necessity to continue in the Church When as what Christ saith of the Passover to wit I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God verse 16. The like he saith of the Cup I will drink no more of the Fruit of the Vine until I drink it new with you in the Kingdom of God Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 25. and Luke 22. 16 18. Doth not this shew as much a discontinuance of he Cup as the Passover And there 's no mention of Christ's taking Wine or the Cup after his Resurrection either to continue confirm or re-inforce it as a commemoration of his Death when he sat at Meat with them and took Bread and blessed it and brake and gave them that their Eyes were opened and he was known of them in breaking of Bread after he was â—…isen Luke 24. 30 31. Joâ—… 21. 13. Howbeit H. G. is pleased to cite Acts 2. 42. and Chap. 20. to prove that the Lord's Supper and the Practice of it is to be kept up in the same manner as Christ did the Night before he was betrayed I ask again do you Anabaptists practise it in the same manner And have we not the more Reason to deny your Practice if it be not in the same manner as pretended here Whereas in Acts 2. 42. its said They continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers wherein is no mention either of the Wine the Cup the Supper or Passover also it s then said that all that believed were together and had all things common and sould their Possessions and Goods ver 44 45. Now if what they did must be binding to Posterities because practiced why do not the Baptists imitate those Believers in this of selling their Possessions c But were it not a very preposterous Way of arguing to conclude a continuance of Commands and Duties from Practices And in Acts 20. 7. Upon the first day of the Week the Disciples came together to break Bread and that Paul had broken Bread ver 11. according to Christ's Practice after he was risen And in 1 Cor. 11. Paul gives a Recitation both of the Bread and Cup that Christ gave in the Figure to shew the Lord s Death till he did come as also of the Substance to wit the Body and Blood of Christ which he was a Partaker of in the Mystery but as the Corrinthians were too carnal and Envying and Strife and Divisions were amongst them and some lyable to Idolatry 1 Cor. 3. 1 3. Chap. 10. 14. and 11. 17 18 19. the Apostle said I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal so as then they had not the clear Sight of Christ as the Substance or Mystery of his Body and Blood and the very Stress Drift and Scope of the Apostles Testimony was to exalt the Substance and Mystery and to bring them into a spiritual Mind and State for which see also 1 Cor. 10. 14 15 16 17. and in 2 Cor. 13. 5. he saith Examine your selves whether ye be in the Faith prove your selves know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates Now Jesus Christ is confessed to be the Substance when your pretended Lord's Supper is but the Sign the Shadow or the Figure If his saying This is my Body be but a figurative Speech according to the
Dignity of our Lord Jesus More particularly we have made Confession of those reigning Abominations in our own Souls and in the Churches of that light Spirit living short of the true Sight and Sense of God's Majesty in his Churches and among his Saints from whence proceeds that Vanity and Carelesnes which doth so much attend them We have bewailed that wretched worldly Spirit that plucks down the Saints from their Excellency and leaves such Blackness upon them which renders them so uncomely in the Eyes of Men. We have bewailed that Coldness and Deadness that is upon our selves and upon the Churches that Formality in holy Duties that Indifferency and that Laodicean Spirit that is fallen in upon us while we have been crying let him make Speed and hasten his Work that we may see it let the Counsel of the Lord come that we may know it and all this while we have been drawing Iniquity with Cords of Vanity having been in a great Measure as without the Sense of the Work so without the true Travil of Soul which this Work should put us into the Crown is fallen from Sion's Head by Reason of her Iniquity we have been bewailing personal Iniquity Congregational Iniquity National Iniquity Family Iniquity Closet Iniquity we have by Search found poor Sion as it were without Soundness from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot ful of Bruises and putrified Sores your own poor Souls are in Distress Heaven and Earth seem to frown Oh! come down sit in the Dust and weep bitterly before the Lord for all your Abominations you have but as it were played with God you have not trembled in his Presence you have been wanton before him having been without the Terrour of his Majesty therefore you have confessed and have delighted to word it out with the Lord Oh! how often have you mocked God It appears already how God takes it at your Hands We have begged him to save us yet this once more and truly we tremble the Hope that is in Israâ—…l lies in your putting from you that accursed Thing Oh! now if you would pursue this Worldliness this Coldness and Sloathfulness your personal Neglects your Family Neglects how doth the World as a Canker eat out your Affections to the Lord Jesus eat out your Time your Strength your Zeal while you have been asleep in the Lap of this Daâ—…ilah your Locks have been cut off and you are but as other Men whoever beholds you may say what singular thing do ye Now then lay to Heart these crying Abominations the World is too beautiful this hath bewitched you have fallen before your Enemies this Iniquity hath been apparently written upon your Fore-heads witness your Remissness in Meetings your Neglect or the poor Saints Ministers of Christ whose daily Complaints and Addresses are living Monuments of this reigning Abomination your Cruelty to Servants Children exacting all their Labours but take no Time to counsel them instruct them that are without Christ that miserable Estate wherein they are this hath made Professors Families so dry useless and unprofitable this Sin eats out all of that divine Sweetness of regenerating sanctifying Grace We have mourned in that we have had so great a hand in this Trespass in not bearing so faithful a Testimony against it in our Ministry but slavish Fear of being accounted selfish or the like hath stopt our Mouth until the Mouth of this Iniquity hath almost devoured the poor Churches of Christ That of Sloathfulness and Carelesness another reigning Evil They are Evils rooted deeply in the Heart it is hard to get them out They are Sermon-Proof and Epistle-Proof so strong that they have wrested all Weapons out of the hands of Saints and Ministers that have been formed against them Now we desire we may no longer rest in a Testimony of Words but proceed to take some effectual Course that Sin or Sinners may be purged out of the house of God in order to this we desire the Churches that they would set some day or dayes a part wherein they may bewail the Iniquities and Pollutions oâ—… Zion before the Lord also that the Ministring Brethren would without Respect of Persons bear their constant Testimony warning every one to fâ—…ee from these Abominations Another Evil we had Thought to have spread before you for want of Opportunity we shall now omit yet desire you to lay it to Heart THE Presbyter's Antidote TRYED Or Stephen Scandret with his Antidote against Quakerism Proved a PHYSICIAN of No Value AND The Truth plainly asserted and vindicated in divers Weighty Points against both the Imperfect and corrupt Work of S. S. and his Masters the Assembly of Divines so called who sat at Westminster in the long Parliament's Time and of the general Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland about their Confession of Faith which was first printed at Edenburg and after reprinted at London Anno 1651. G. W. Ye are all Physicians of no Value Job 13. 4. Printed in the Year 1673. THE Presbyter's Antidote TRYED c. CHAP. I. A Comprehensive Account concerning the Rule the Light and Scripture Explaining both â—…ur sense of the terms and S. Scandret's together with the Assemblies Confession about the Scriptures BY the word RULE we understand 1st The Power of Government and Authority to order and rule in the Sense that in the first Creation the greater Light was set to rule the Day Gen. 1. 16. or for the Rule and Order of the Day So in the new Creation the divine Light of Christ the Son of Righteousness doth govern and rule in the Order of his Everlasting Day in the Souls of the Righteous the Path of the Just being this shining Light which shineth more and more until this perfect Day 2ly So this divine Light is truly the only Rule for its being most eminent above all outward Rules and Prescriptions â—…or its Power Glory Virtue Order and Government as Rule of Life in all the Children of Light The only trying and discovering Rule for its manifesting whatsoever things are reproveable Ephes. 5. 13. whether they be Spirits Works or Words and he that doth Truth cometh to the Light that his Deeds may be made maniâ—…est that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. 3dly By only Rule An universal manifest publick Standard â—…or Truth and Righteousness in the Consciences of all People and Nations and against all Sin Wickedness and Unrighteousness and so is the S piritual and Divine Light of the Son of God in whom was Life and the Life was the Light of Men Joh. 1. 4. whose Life is Supernatural Increated and Incorruptible Christ the divine Word being that true Light that inlightens every Man coming into the World vers 9. 4thly Concerning that heavenly Gift or divine Manifestation within which was the Saints Rule of Life the Apostle Paul thus speaketh 2 Cor. 10. 13. But
Sins past and that through Faith in the Name and Blood of Christ which hath a secret Influence upon the Soul and sprinkleth the Conscience from dead Works in order both to Pardon and Justification upon the Act of living and true Faith in Christ yea Christ as the one Offâ—…ing Sacrifice and Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World which puts away Sin consecrates makes true Believers holy and declares God's Coming near to Man in Kindness I say Christ as thus considered hath an inward Influence and Effect upon the believing and penitent Soul to bring it near to God and render it capable of receiving Mercy and Forgiveness and of seeling the Pardon and Peace upon true Conversion from Sin and Evil yea I further testifie that God looks upon and hath a regard to every Appearance and Effect of his Grace and Spirit in the Heart Soul even from the very first Act of Faith springing up and budding of Grace to the highest Growth thereof even from Davids Repentance to his Songs of Deliverance from Niniveh's believing God and repenting to his Peoples walking in Newness of Life from the Prodigal's Return to his Father's House to his abiding therein yea the first Appearance of true Tenderness Remiss and Brokeness of Heart or godly Sorrow for Sin the Lord hath Regard to the Creature for the sake thereof still from the Respect he naturally hath to his Grace and Spirit that works these in Man To this Man will I look saith the Lord that is poor and of a contrite Spirit and trembleth at my Word The Work of Christ or Grace in the Heart from the Beginning to the Accomplishment thereof is acceptable to God because of the Dignity of him that worketh it and not from any Dignity or Worth of the Creatures own but only the Creature is accepted as in Christ we are accepted in the Beloved and it is for Christ's sake that God forgiveth us and not meerly for our own Howbeit it is so far as we are related to Christ and have an Interest in him and his Righteousness by a living Faith that God owns and looks upon us in a Way of Acceptance he respects his own Image in us and doth not justifie acquit or accept Men only upon the Account of Christ's Sufferings and Acts of Obedience as done in his Person for if he did then were all Men justified for whom Christ dyed and that was the whole World all Men in general he tasted Death for every Man yet his Obedience and Sufferings in the Flesh had a good End and Effect be being through all both acceptable and prevailing with God for the good of Mankind we must needs partake of the Benefit and Effects thereof in our Souls so far as they have an Influence upon us by the Life and Power of Christ considering the Travel of his Soul through all his Sufferings which were inward as well as outward his Soul being made an Offering for Sin and his making Intercession â—…or the Transgressors was that Men might be influenced with a real Sence and Sorrow under their own Sin and be made sensible of Christ's Sufferings and Travil of Soul and know the Fellowship thereof and so be made conformable to his Death through the Operation of his Spirit and Life in them as that they may be raised up in the Likeness of Christ's Resurrection in Dominion and Triumph over Sin and Death and not plead Christ's Satisfaction and Righteousness only as in himself in their â—…ead to absolve or justifie the Guilty whom God will not clear nor acquit the Wicked Christ's Righteousness will not excuse any in Unrighteousness for he was a holy Example as well as a Sacrifice and Propitiation and he that saith he hath an Interest in Christ's Rightcousness or that he abideth in Christ ought to walk as he walked Now the Question is not Whether Christ was a most Satisfactory Sacrifice or well-pleasing to the Father for that is undeniable He was the Delight of the Father's Soul who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour Ephes. 5. 1 2. But In what State and Condition are we acquitted pardoned and justified of God and in what Nature whether as fallen sinful guilty Persons in our selves and that meerly by the Sufferings of Christ in his own Person which were finite without respect to his Work in us Or as Converted Believers Sanctified Obedient new Creatures in Christ accepted and so justified in his own Righteousness as real Partakers thereof The latter is the Justification and Imputation which I plead for and not the former I would not have Men flatter themselves nor one another in Sin and Darkness with Christ having done all paid all satisfied God for all Sins past present and to come and that in their stead nor to think themselves thereby absolved acquitted and justified in their Sins and fallen Estate for such Doctrine hath streâ—…gthned the Hands of many Evil-Doers and made many Hypocrites who are yet to undergoe a Sence of the Judgments and Terrors of the Lord and to know Repentance from deadWorks before they receive Forgiveness of Sins past or Jesus Christ as the Attonement or their Peace for he came in the Likeness of sinful Flesh that he might condemn Sin in the Flesh before Man be justified from it If the Question be What is it that gives us Interest in Christ's Righteousness Or upon which it is imputed or reckoned to us He answers Our Faith Rom. 10. 10. If the Question be What will evidence our Faith to be living and sound Faith He answers Our sincere Obedience to the Law Jam. 2. 24. You see then how that by Works a man is Justified and not by Faith only we are Justified by Works as Evidencing our Faith living by Faith as giving Interest in Christ's Righteousness by Christ's Righteousness as constituting â—…s Righteous c. p. 91. The Reader may see I take the better part of his Confession as well as the worse He hath truly confest here 1st That it is our living and sound Faith that gives us Interest in Christ's Righteousness and upon which it is imputed or reckoned to us 2dly That our sincere Obedience to the Law or Works of Faith doth evidence our Faith to be living and sound from whence it follows that none are Justified but who are in a living and sound Faith in Christ and sincere Obedience to his Law Therefore Justification was not effected or compleated without us by Christ's Sufferings or Death in his Person for he dyed for our Sins but rose again for our Justification which is effected even in bringing forth in us the Answer of a Good Conscience nor art thou either Justified or pronounced Righteous in the Sight of God whoever thou art who art a guilty Person a fallen Creature accused by Moses unsanctified unregenerate Impure see how manifestly the Man hath contradicted himself in these Passages one while in Justifying the guilty or
tender Mercy can and doth afford Remission upon true Repentance and his Justice can pronounce him â—…nocent that is purged from the Nature Root of Sin washed from Iniquity Have Mercy upon me O God according to thy loving Kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercy blot out my Transgressions wash me throughly from mine Iniquity c. Psa 51. 1 2. They whose Transgressions are thus blotted ouâ—… who come thus to be washed and saved through the Washing of Regeneration such come thus to be justified by his Grace can be pronounced Innocent as being washed and sanctified and such have the Demand of a good Conscience And though Pardon and Justification look not back at the unconverted State with Severity but with Remission upon Conversion yet they require what God's Covenant doth afterward to the End of our Dayes that is not to live in Sin but in Christ's Righteousness The Grace or Favour of God teacheth us that denying Ungodliness and wordly Lusts that we should live godly and soberly in this present World Tit. 2. 12. To be invested with Christ's Everlasting Righteousness p. 93. is the very Thing I plead for and if in Reality the Man stood to this the Controversie would soon have an End And he further assents to Truth viz. If this Righteousness be not put on by Faith we are not invested with any Thing for which God should declare or pronounce us Righteous From whence observe That we must be invested with Christ's Everlasting Righteousness if God pronounce us Righteous Take Justification and Imputation in this Sense and then we differ not in this Matter but how well this agrees with imputing and reckoning Guilty Condemned Fallen Creature JUST or INNOCENT only on the Account of Christ's Sufferings and Death while such condemned Creatures are invested with Sin and Guilt and not with Christ's Everlasting Righteousness Will his telling us of Christ's Death imputed p. 97. make up the Matter 'T is true Christ is our Surety and that of the new Testament or Covenant 1st For that without him we can pay no Debt nor truly obey or fulfil the Terms thereof on our Parts but in and through him that strengthneth us 2dly Of the New Testament also in fulfilling the Promises belonging thereto for all the Promises of God are Yea and Amen in him David describes the Blessedness of the Man to whom God imputes Righteousness without Works saying Blessed is he whose Iniquity is forgiven But then S. S. is not pleased to take notice of but overlooks the following Words viz. Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity and in whose Spirit there is NO GUILE See Psal. 32. 1 2. If it were only a Man thus qualified that the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness and Justification were pleaded for we should not have this Controversie but should agree That the Man in whose Spirit is NO GUILE is blessed He is the Man whom God pronounceth Just and Innocent his Transgression is forgiven his Sin is covered And though it is said God imputes Righteousness to him without Works yet 't is to be understood it is not without a sincere Obedience because that in his Spirit there is no Guile and then without what Works 1. Not without the Work of living Faith 2. Not without yielding true Subjection or Obedience unto God in his spiritual Requirings or Law of Faith for Abraham did not only believe God but by Faith yielded â—…o obey him Without what Works then but the Work of the Law of Works as wrought by the Flesh or stâ—…nly Jew by which no Flesh shall be justified I mentioned Câ—…rcumcision and others that were Types or Signs wherein the Righteousness of Faith doth not consist see Divin of Christ p. 64 65. in which this Point is opened and cleared But to this S. S. objects viz. He errs calling the Ceremonial Law a Law of Works in giving this the Lord gave a Law of Grace to his People p. 94. Rep. If the Ceremonial Law be not a Law of Works but a Law of Grace he should have been so Ingenuous as to have told us what the Law of Works is which the Apostle distinguisheth from the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. as he dâ—…th between justifying Faith and the Deeds of the Law as wrought and boasted in by the literal Jews And whether the Law of Works be some Law inferiour to that of Circumcision other Types But to shew S. S. his Error in denying the Ceremonial Law as he calls it to be the Law of Works let him consider that after the Apostle excludes Boasting not by the Law of Works and concludes a Man is justified by Faith without the Deeds of the Law he saith Is Hâ—… the God of the Jews only Is He not also of the Gentiles and that it is by Faith that God justifies both the Circumcision and the Uncircumciâ—…on and that Faith was reckoned to Abraham â—…or Righteousness not in Circumcision but in 〈◊〉 and that he received the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which he had yet being Uncircumcised that he might be the Father of all them that beâ—…ieve though they be not Circumcised c. See Rom. 3. 28 29. and Ch. 4. 10 11. Gal. 2. 16. and 3. 2 5. and 4. 10. And â—…urther If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing ch 5 2. From all which 't is plain 't is no Error to say the Law of Works as opposed to the Law of Faith is that enjoyning Circumcision and other Signs and Shadows these the Works which are not imputed unto Justification nay I shall further grant that all Man's Works or working whatsoever before a living Faith are neither available nor accountable unto his Justification with God and on the other Hand that a true and sanctifying Faith and believing in God from a Sence of his living Word or holy Command in the Heart is accounted for Righteousness to him that so believeâ—…h before he hath performed his actual Obedience even while in the Faith he is passively waiting upon God as being ceased to do Evil that he may receive Strength to act Good even while he is so believing and waiting and breathing to the Lord and saying draw me and I will come after thee lead me and I will follow give me Strength and I will walk in thy Wayes come let us walk in the Light of the Lord c. knowing that it is the Power of God that begets living Faith and thereby changes and sanctifieth the Mind unto a living and sincere Obedience and this Faith is the Giâ—…t of God a Fruit of his own Spirit and therefore accounted of by him and reckoned unto us I would not make the Scriptures speak that God imputes Works wrought by us without Works by us as S. S. falsly accuseth me p. 94. But rather that God imputes his own Works in us without any self-Works wrought by us and accepts us in the
Iniquities But be not deceived God will not be mocked such as you sow such shall you reap Whereas S. S. accuseth G. W. with saying Satisfaction is not needfull Quoting Divin of Christ pag. 62. And then cryes Such Blasphemy is this Man not affraid to utter the Lord Convince and Humble him To thee S. S. I say Thou hast wronged me those are none of my Words the Lord humble thee for thy belying me thiâ—… is not the first time If thou or any Reader do but moderately view my Book and Page quoted by thee it will plainly appear that to say Satisfaction is not needfull are none oâ—… my Words for t is very plain that I have not denyed that Satisfaction that was in Christ but have objected aga nst the manner of their stating it and sinful tendence of their Notion about it as 1st Against their making Satisfaction the Effect of God's full Revenge or the Execution of Vindictive Justice as their Phrase is on his Innocent Son thereby to clear the Guilty 2dly I have distinguished between God's Chastisement and Revenge 3dly That the Intent and End of God's Peoples undergoing his Chastisements or Correction according to Jer. 10. 24. Heb. 12. 9 10 11. And their partaking of the Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings is that they might be Partakers of his Holiness live and reign with him 4thly I have plainly told my Opposers That if Man continue in Rebellion against Christ rejecting his Love and Grace his Sufferings and Satisfaction will not free them from the Severity of God nor from the Execution of his Judgment which is committed tâ—… Christ c. Divin of Christ p. 62 63. The Truth of what I have written in the said Book in the Plaineness and Simplicity of it stands over the Subtility of my Opposers and remains unanswered and instead of an honest or moderate Answer this Man does but pervert curtaile tautologize nibble and pick at my Words and abuse me He doth not so much as seriously take notice of the stress of my Objections but over and over imposeth his Opinion and brings a very unfit Instance for God's judging it meet to punish all Sin or that all our Sin is punished in his Son without Cruelty c. where he saith If God doth damn the Impenitent if he damns the fallen Angels he is cruel We say No he is Just But is this and his punishing your Sins in his Son to the full a fit Parallel Let the unprejudiced Reader judge And then he grosly imposeth and begs the Question again viz. And for that person who is God to suffer a temporal Death though in his human Nature only this is of infinite Value an infinite Abasement a stroke of Infinite Wrath for had not God's Wrath against Sin been Infinite he would not thus have struck a Person of infinite Worth and Dearness to him interposing as a Surety between him and us miserable Sinners for â—…od in our Nature to suffer what he did this is more then for Men or Devils to suffer God's Eternal Wrath or Revenge this Wrath more clearly shines in the Infinitude of it in thus smiting * the Brightness of his Glory and Express Image of his Person * then in the eternal Damnation of Men and Devils in the unquenchable Flames of Hell Rep. This strange Language against God and Christ I shall need to â—…ay little about let them that know the holy Scriptures see how unlike them it is only I may query and demand of him 1st Where do the Scriptures say That God suffered a Temporal Death as a Stroak of Infinite Wrath 2dly That in Infinite Wrath he struck a Person of Infinite Worth and Dearness to him 3dly That this Wrath more clearly shines in the Infinitude of it in thus smiting the Brightness of his own Glory c. then in the Eternal Damnation of Men and Devils c. If I should conclude this both Blasphemous and Unscriptural Language that thus sets God at variance with himself or as smiting and punishing himself c. S. S. perhaps would be ready to cry out Oh Blasphemy and charge it upon me though it be his own the very Tendence Nature of his own Doctrine The Matter is fully answered and refuted before Again Where do the Scriptures say that God punished the Surety Christ for our Sins and for a time poured forth his Wrath upon him for our Iniquities p. 108. I am sure the Scripture he cites sayes the contrary of him Isa. 42. 1. viz. Behold mine Elect in whom my Soul delighteth Could he then pour forth his Wrath upon him for your Iniquities Oh! be ashamed of such Doctrine Could either the Chastisement of our Peace on him his bearing the Sin of many or carrying our Griefs be the Father's pouring forth Infinite Wrath upon him That it is for Christ's sake that God doth pardon upon Repentance is very true 't is well he Grants this upon Repentance and it is for Christ's sake for all the Good that is revealed or wrought in us that is acceptable to God as true Faith Repentance Obedience real Righteousness c. is all of Christ and brought forth by him in that Soul that is pardoned and Justified in him or accepted in the Beloved But how God's Forgiveness of the â—…ebt or Pardon of the Offences agrees with the Surety's full Payment and Suffering the Punishment Wrath deserved I leave to the understanding Readeâ—… to judge Or how Christ should make Intercession for them that come unto God by him if all their Debt were payed and Punishment undergone appears not especially where the Surety's Payment and Suffering is supposed in this case to be Infinitely of more Value then if the Debtor himself had payed and suffered all because of the Surety's Infinite Dignity and when if the Payment and Satisfaction of Law were thus strictly and severely made neither Law nor Justice could admit that the Debtor should lye in Prison as many do under Satan's Chains of Darkness lyable to Wrath and Vengeance but he should be both discharged and delivered ipso facto But we see it otherwise Many are yet in the Prison-House in Satan's Chains who yet may be loosed and Christ ever lives to make Intercession for them that come unto God by him The Man mends not the matter in what follows Obj. Christ Having purchased Salvation for us at the Hands of Justice by his Intercession he Obtains the Purchase at the Hands of free Grace and so applies it to us Rep. Oh strange Justice or rather Revenge fully paid satisfied but Grace yet to be so much interceded or solicited to this renders Grace more Severe then the Condemnation of the Law and Inferiour to Revenge And what Division would this make in God and between Christ and Grace it renders him Inferiour to Earthly Princes and his Grace below Common Justice among Men For supposing a Subject had forfeited his Inheritance to his Prince by Rebellion
Lord and because thereof to be written in the Earth therefore it follows that if People abide with the Lord he will both abide with them and their Names shall not be blotted out of the Book of Life nor shall they be written in the Earth And this also evinceth that they are not by Name as particular Persons either absolutely elected to Salvation nor reprobated to Damnation but on Condition of abiding with or forsaking the Lord. Arg. 4. All that are chosen do infallibly believe in time and partake of Christ's Righteousness Acts 13. 48. As many as were ordeined to Eternal Life believed Rom. 11 7. The Elect have obtained it therefore some particular Persons were elecâ—…ed for if all were Elected all would infallibly believe c. Answ. This is also a very frivolous dull and impertinent Argument and wholy misseth the State of his Proposition and the Controversies between us In the first place he begs the Question while he intends it to particular Persons as eyed and absolutely designed particularly from all Eternity to Salvation c. whenas the Question is not Whether those that are chosen through Sanctification do infallibly believe nor Whether Election which iâ—… in the Seed doth not in due time extend to particular Persons For those Persons or People who are true Believers are come into the Elect Seed being ingrafted into the trâ—…e Root are in the Election which obtains the Inheritance And as true Belief Faith and Obedience are the Terms upon which Life Eternal is promised and received so on the same Conditions Life is freely teâ—…dered in the Son of God to all Man-Kind yea to the whole World God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Liâ—…e for God sent not his Son into the World to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved Joh. 3. 16 17. This plainly cuts off that Opinion of a secret Decree and absolute Design from Eternity against the greatest Part of Mankind for their Destruction for it cannot be consistent with him to have so decreed Damnation from all Eternity â—…or those he â—…roffereth in time to save by his Son upon Believing Obeying and therefore as to that of Acts 13. 48. some have it thus And they believed even as many as were ordeined or fitted for Eternal Life which may not oppose Christ's Testimony before Whosoever believeth on the Son shall have Eternal Life which is promised not as meerly respecting particular Persons but that Condition on which 't is universally tendered as namely to be accepted in a living Faith and sincere Obedience But some more Ingenuous and as much learned as this Man affirm that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated Acts 13. 48. ordeined signifies well appointed set in good Order prepared or disposed So as many whose Hearts were prepared or well-disposed viz. in a Willingness of mind and right Order of Spirit having true Desires sor eternal Life believed as the good Ground or honest Heart that received the good Seed so as it took Root And as when Lydia heard the Aâ—…ostles God opened her Heart that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul Acts 16. 14. And as Barnabas exhorted the People that with Purpose of Heart they would cleave unto the Lord Acts 11. 23. Here was a true Preparation in them both for Believing and Eternal Life And further from that of Acts 13. 46. it is evident that both the Word of the Lord was preached and Life Eternal tendered to those Jews who rejected it or put the Word of God from them and judged themselves unworthy of Everlasting Life Wherefore surely God did not from all Eternity either absolutely design them as particular Persons to Damnation or to pass them by for that End for he did not pass them by without taking notice of them but gave them notice of the Way of Life and Salvation tendring it to them by his Spirit in his Messengers which had been a Contradiction to himself if he had from Eternity absolutely decreed the contrary But the envious Jews opposing and rejecting the Word of God judged themselves unworthy of Everlasting Life wherein they rejected their Hope which was of the Lord therefore their Destruction was of themselves whereupon Paul and Barnabas said Lo we turn to the Gentiles for so hath the Lord commanded us saying I have set thee for a Light of the Gentiles that thou shouldst be for Salvation unto the Ends of the Earth and thereupon the Gentiles were glad c. vers 47. So that here was universal Grace and Salvation preached and tendered to all as that which God had foretold and promised who did not exclude any from the Benefit thereof nor was any hindred from Life and Salvation but who excluded themselves being such as judged themselves unworthy of Everlasting Life Arg. 5. Jacob was a particular Person and loved before he sect 4 had done any Good according to God's Purpose of Election Answ. He hath herein wrested the Scripture for it doth not say that Jacob was then loved and Esau hated before they had done Good or Evil as he renders the Words for then it may be asked what he hated Esau for before he had done Good or Evil Did he hate him for nothing Surely no but what was said before they were born or had done Good or Evil was by Way of Prophecy The Elder shall serve the Younger what is this to their Eternal States Jacob had no need of Esau's Service in Hell And then to the following Words as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated where was it written and how doth it relate to Jacob and Esau Doth it relate to them meerly as particular Persons under such a Limitation of Election and Reprobation from Eternity or rather to their Posterities as under such different Qualifications of Love and Hatred Could God absolutely determine to hate any particular Persons meerly as Persons without respect to either the good or evil Qualifications or Works as before they had done Good or Evil This were blasphemously to render him in Enmity against his own Works as if he had made Man or forced him into the World unavoidably to destroy aâ—…d damn him to all Eternity whereas the Mercies of God are over all his Works a great and principal Part whereof is Mankind And as for that which is written oâ—… his loving Jacob and hating Esau it is in Malchie 1. Their Posterities were called by their Names that People of the Edomites who succeded Esau who was called Edom * both in Name and Nature Gen. 36. 19. whom Men should call the Border of Wiâ—…kedness which could not be till they were wicked and haâ—… acted Wickedness These were they against whom because of tâ—…eir Wickedness God had and against such stâ—…ll 〈◊〉 Indignation forever and hereupon his Decree is abâ—…olute against the
was further urged against him And he that abideth in Christ sinneth not doth not commit Sin in whose Spirit is no Guile To this he answer So far as Regenerate and acting from the Regenerate part they do no Iniquity This is such Tautologie or as good sense as to say they do no Iniquity so far as they do no Iniquity whereas the Words are positive and plain They are undefiled in the way they keep his Testimonies they walk in his wayes Whereas he still insers the Saints are not perfectly free from Sin for when Paul did NO Iniquity Sin dwelt in him and yet in that State Paul said The Evil that I do I would not Did he do Evil and yet no Iniquity or was Victory over and Freedom from that Evil not attainable by him in this Life What Evil did he live and dye in or what Sin must remain in him now being deceased till the End of the World S. S. Nor will G. W. say I suppose no Man is Regenerate but who is perfectly free from Sin To this I say according to his own words before As while the Saints are Persecting they are not perfected so there is a Regenerating and a Travailing in Birth before Regenerated and born again Of Rom. 8. 1. he saith This intimates there is Flesh in such though Guilt is Removed Herein is a two-fold Error couched 1st Implying the Guilt removed while the Sin it self remains as if a Man could commit Sin and not be Guilty of it 2dly He confounds Sin and Flesh and renders them Inseparable whereas he grants in the Scripture before there is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not aâ—…ter the Flesh but after the Spirit He perverts Job 9. 19. and 1 Jâ—…h 3. saying If I sin as do the wicked with Allowance here he adds WITH ALLOWANCE for it is plain if I Sin then thou markest me whosoever is born of God doth not commit Sin It is not Doth not commit Sin with Allowance as do the Wicked And the Saints on Earth enjoying Communion with God and Saints in Heaven as he saith is not a Communion in Sin neither is the Being of Sin according to the Will of God in Heaven which is prayed for so to be done in Earth If he grant it our Duty to be Perfect or perfectly to obey while he denyes Power or Possession for that End his Work is Weakness it self and inconsistent with it self God is no such Hard Master as to enjoyn Impossibilities upon us or to require Obedience beyond the Power he gives Will he say None are Sanctified that have any Sin in them I say according to his Concession before There is a Time of Sanctifying as well as Perfecting before the Work be effected which ought to be throughout in Body Soul and Spirit If he cleanseth away all Guilt from Believers and the reigning Power of Sin in this Life Why should the Being of Sin remain till the next He hath waâ—…hed us from our Sins in his own Blood before which there is a time of having Sin 1 Joh. 1. 8. yet said he My little Children These Things write I unto you that ye sin not chap. 2. 1. Can the Work of Faith and Grace be sinful He answers Faith it self can be imperfect therefore the Work of Faith Lord I believe help my Unbelief Imperfection is Sin Perfection is Duty p. 67. Rep. By the same Reason Unbelief is Sin but Faith is Duty They ought not thus to be confounded nor Unbelief which is the Creatures Defect imputed to Faith which is the Gift of God a Fruit of his Spirit therefore pure as he confesseth to his own plain Confutation The Work or Thing wrought is alwayes perfect for its Part Nature or Kind the least Draghm of Grace true p. 68. From whence it follows that true Faith is pure in its kind and not sinful nor having Sin mixt with it though it doth grow and encrease Degrees of that which is of a pure or perfect Nature do not alter its Property And the saving Work of the Spirit is carried on by degrees His citing 1 Thes. 3. 10. praying that we might see your Face and perfect that which is lacking in your Faith p. 68. This proves not true Faith to have Sin in it but that in some there might be something lacking in it as to Growth and Increase of Effects and which some read thus FULFILL that which is lacking It is not that we might add more Purity to your Faith but more Joy Comfort Refreshment Edification c. unto you in the Faith for Imperfection where it imports only the Want of full Growth or Maturity of that which in its kind is pure is not Sin and Imperfection and Sin have not the same Signification for Imperfection as it relates to a Thing or Work not fulfilled or finished it implies a Work begun and they who have known the Work of God begun in them and Faith in his Power they dare not plead for Sin nor cast it upon God as his good Pleasure that the Being of Sin should not be removed in this Life but know that the good Pleasure and Will of God is their Sanctification and therefore wait upon him for the perfecting of it His accusing David with having Failings in the End of his Dayes and asserting the Perfection of his War-like Attempts not of his Graces p. 68. This Accusation against David he hath neither proved by Scripture nor shewed what Failings he had in the End of his Dayes nor yet that his Graces were imperfect for God was the Lise and Grace of all his Graces and he said God is my Strength and Power and he maketh my Way perfect 2 Sam. 22. 23. And were not his inward War-like Attempts against his Soul's Enemy both perfect and succesful as well as his outward Did he not confess to the Lord Thou hast also given me the Shield of Salvation and said He is the Tower of Salvation and in his last Words He hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation 〈◊〉 Sam. 23. The Means for a Man to have his Way made perâ—…ect is to know the Lord to be his Strength and Power a strong Tower and Salvation Thus he is known to them that truly wait upon him If in this Life our Work be not to let Sin reign not to obey it in the Lusts thereof p. 68. why should we either commit Sin or the Being of it remain in us when we have received Power so far to subdue it and bring it under And if the Lusts of it be not obeyed but watched against they will be subdued so far as Sin may neither be brought forth nor have a Being If the Operation or working of the Spirit â—…e alwayes perfect he working by infinite Wisdom and Power p. 68. though the saving Work thereof be not presently fulfilled in all those Degrees of Perfection it is to attain unto
the Bodies that have done Good or Evil must receive their Reward accordingly which Proposition is the Antecedent is evident by 2 Cor. 5. 10. and then the Consequence is firm c. Rep. He hath manifestly perverted the Text it doth not say The Bodies must receive their Reward accordingly though in some Sense it may be granted according to their temporal Actions But we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the Things done IN his Body according to that he hath done whether it be Good or Bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. And but a few words before he saith We are coâ—…fident I say and willing rather to be Absent from the Body and to be Present with the Lord ver 8. Wherefore he knew that they were Capable both of a Being and Reward with the Lord when absent from the Body and that as when in the Body they had found Acceptance with him they received the Deeds done in the Body when out of it to Dye being Gain unto them Every man's Works shall follow him the Nature of them shall remain in him whether it be Good or Evil that he Lives and Dies in The Soul spiritually hath its proper Organ Vessel or Body wherein either the Habit of Good or Evil Holiness or Filthiness cleaves to it and wherein accordingly it retains either Mercy or Wrath Love or Hatred from God when the earthly Mansion or House is destroyed turned to Dust as it was there being a House or Cloathing that cleaves more closely to the Soul then Dust can and it will come to pass that he that will be filthy must be filthy still and he that is Holy let him be Holy still Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give every man according as his Work shall be Rev. 22. 11 12. Rom 2. 6. And therefore Wo will be to their Souls who reward Evil to themselves and whose Souls delight in their Abominations and Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile but Glory Honour and Peace to every man that Worketh Good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Rom. 2. 8 9 10. But to procced to T. D's further Proof of his Antecedent and Consequent which to Ordinary Readers he saith may seem inconsequent by which then he must be more then an ordinary Writer The Place he cites is Mat. 22. 31 32. T. D. For the surther Proof of Antecedent and Consequent I shall first explain the Terms of Christ's Argument c. The Place is Mat. 22. 31 32. As touching their Resurrection from the Dead have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living And it is added Luk. 20. 38. for all live unto him This Passage he thus explains viz. 1. To be a God to Abraham notes a Covenant-Relation Answ. True and then it follows that they who are in this Covenant-Relation are those that live to him whom he is the God of Wheresore Abraham Isaac Jacob and all Partakers of the same Covenant live unto God in Union of Spirit and with the Spirits of all Just Men though in a more full injoyment of Glory hereafter as Abraham c. is not dead because God is his God and he in Possession of Eternal Glory 2. Not the God of the Dead He saith that might be meant either of them who are Dead simply or of them that are so dead as that they shall never return to Life not in the former Sense therefore in the Latter Are we therefore as by this to read the Words thus viz. God is not the God of the Dead that are so Dead as that they shall never return to Life but of the Dead that shall return to Life And then what are those Dead that shall never return to Life Or those Dead that God is not the God of if the Living and Dead must all be applyed to the Outward or Earthly Bodies But had he been sensible of his Sense before that to be a God to Abraham and so of the Living notes a Covenant-Relation and that Christ speaks of such as shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection Luk. 20. 35. he might have understood that the Dead whom he is not the God of are such as are Strangers to that Covenant-Relation and live not to God however their Souls be Immortal 3. But of the Living that is saith he of them whom God intends to restore to Life or whose Bodies live potentially not only of them whose Souls live actually for all Live to him c. If the Living must intend the terrestrial Bodies of Abraham Isaac and Jacob then that Denomination Living is given to those that are truly Dead as he saith and then I ask if it be good Doctrine or proper to say that all those dissolved Bodies do live unto God Whereas in Christ's words there is no mention of their Elementary Bodies but that the Dead are raised and that he is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and these were they that Lived unto him who were counted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection And it is further evident that when the Saducees who said there is no Resurrection Angel nor Spirit asked Christ about the Wife whose of the Seven She should be in the Resurrection their Thoughts were carnal and upon the Carnal or Earthly Bodies which Christ's Answer did not gratifie in his asserting the Resurrection as to the State of the Righteous after this Life He said The Children of this World marry and are given in Marriage But they which shall be counted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead neither Marry nor are given in Marriage Neither can they dye any more for they are equal unto the Angels and are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection Luk. 20. 35 36. 1. Note here first That he speaks of a Resurrection-state in the World to come wherein the Children of God so much excel in their Beings as that they are equal unto the Angels whose Bodies are not such as these Earthly ones of the Children of this World wherein they Marry but in that World they are in another Capacity more Sublime and Spiritual even Equal unto the Angels whereby Christ doth not only assert the Resurrection and an Immortal State but also the Spirituality and Glory thereof far Transcending this earthly State and Body 2. As thus considered it is plainly implied that there are but some that are counted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection that is the Children of God who live unto him as Paul saith if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Phil. 3. 10 11. Now therefore to apply this Resurrection to the
they shall seize upon their Bodies and Tear them and Dragâ—… them to the Judgment Seat and there is none to Rescue and Deliver them 3. The Third Antecedent to the Judgment of the Wicked will be their Meeting one with another O what an innumerable Company of Rebels and Traytors and Villains will then be got together How fiercerly and horribly will they look one upon another And if they speak what Language of Hell will there issue forth of their Lips They may meet with their old Companions and Fellow-Sinners but it will not be like such as they now call Meetings of Good Fellowship when they get together in a Tavern Ale-house or someHouse of Wickedness to Drink and Sing and Daunce and Sin and make Merry in the pleasing of their Flesh they shall not then have Ale and Wine and Women and Musick or any Incentives to Mirth and tensual Pleasures O the Angry Countenances the Wicked will have on that Day O the Angry Speeches How will they Rage and Storm at one another p. 52. O the Horrible Noise that will be amongst the Damned Crew when they are got together It may be from Words they fall to Blows and Tear one anothers Hair and Spurn at one anothers Bellies and Bite one anothers Flesh and even Claw out one anothers Eyes we cannot conjecture so much of the Misery of the VVicked as will be on that Day p. 53. Friends will be together at that Day as at other times Some will be in Churches together it may be Ministers preaching and People hearing as you are hearing me this Day Suppose that the Heavens should just now open and you should hear the Sound of the last Trumpet then all you that are Believers would immediately be caught up into the Clouds but all you that are Impenitent and Unbelievers would be left behind VVhat Terror would fall upon you to see us caught away from you It may be some of you might come hanging about me and others when you see us arrayed in shining Garments O take us up along with you VVhat will you leave us behind Alas what can I do for you then p. 54. I came with Oyle often to Sell from my Lord and Master and you might have had it for nothing you might have bought it without Money and without Price but then you â—…leighted and refused all Proffers of Grace which were made p. 56. Alasâ—… VVhy do you hang about me with Tears and VVeeping VVhat can I do for you now Can I carry you all up with me in my Arms If all of us together could hand and help some of you up into the Air with us and bring you into the Presence of our Dear and Glorious Redeemer with what Confidence could you stand before him with what Face could you look upon him when you are so Black and Filthy VVould not your Looks betray you to be none of our Number Would not your black and Trembling Joynts speak what you are Could we carry you up with us If you should lay hold on us would not the Angels snatch us out of your Arms or would not Devils tear you away from us pag. 58. The Saints are all risen and have put on their Glorious Attire and we are called for It is your own Faults that you did not help to fill up this Number p. 59 The whole Innumerable Company of Saints shall attend Christ in white shining Garments with Bodies like unto Christ more Beautiful and Glorious then the most spendid Attire can make them pag. 66. The Accusers of and Witnesses against the Wicked they will be 1. God 2. Men. 3. Devils 4. Themselves First God's Justice will arraign the Wicked before the Judgment-Seat of Christ p. 78. 2. God's Goodness and Bounty and Patience will accuse them 3. God's Omniscience will be a Witâ—… ness against the VVicked at the Day of Judgment pag. 79. 1. Ministers will be the Accusers and VVitnesses against the VVicked p 80. 2. The Godly Friends of the VVicked will be their Accusers and VVitnesses against them 1. The Believing Husband will then accuse and witness against his Unbelieving VVife pag 83. 2. The Believing Wife will then accuse her Unbelieving Huâ—…band p. 84. 3. Believing Parents will VVitness against their Ungodly Children p. 85. 2. The Ungodly Friends and Companions of the VVicked will at that Day be their Accusers and witness against them 3. Devils will be the Accusers and VVitnesses against the VVicked p. 86. 4. The VVicked will be accused by themselves their own Thoughts shall accuse them in the Day when God shall judge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ their own Consciences will accuse them and be as a Thousand Witnesses against them They will find all their Sins registered in that Book and that Book will then be opened and they will not be able to deny one word of what they shall find there recorded Concerning the Conviction Suppose that this very Day were the Day of Judgment and in this very Church were the Judgment-Seat that here were a great white Throne and the Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon it in his Glory with Millions of Holy Angels about him and all the Saints in white at his Right Hand and on his Left all the VVicked gathered together into one Body as it will be at the Last Day And the Judge should cry with a loud Voice Bring the Prisoners to the Bar Bring the Sinners to Judgment p. 87. and so summon and convict particular Sinners 1. Come forth all ye Ignorant Persons who have not known the Father nor me nor the Mysteries of Salvation who lived in Darkness and loved Darkness and hated the Light leâ—…t your Deeds should hereby have been reproved had you an Ear and yet not hear so as to learn Had you an Eye and yet not see so as to understand And if you were Naturally Blind had not I Eye-salve Could not I have opened your Eyes was I not willing Did I not stand in the Gates to call upon you How long ye Simple Ones will you love Simplicity and Fools haâ—…e Knowledge Turn unto me and I will pour out my Spirit upon you and make known my VVords unto you Have you neglected me through Ignorance Is not your Fault double because you have neglected Knowledge too Did not you hate Knowledge and therefore disregardâ—… Did not you love Sin and therefore shunned the Light which would have discovered it and disturbed you in your wicked Courses Have you liked Darkness so well and is it not 〈◊〉 then that you should go to the Place where there is Blackness of Darkness forever TAKE THEM DEVILS BIND THEM HAND AND FOOT 2. Come forth all ye Sloathful Unprofitable Persons Had not ye Talents committed to you for my Use and Service and what have ye done with them did you bury them in the Earth p. 88. 89. Did not Hell gape for you long ago and Devils long for
Lucid they namely the Bodies of the Angels are with which the best of them are invested as truly that of Exod. 3. 2. Acts 7. 30. which answers well to that of Hebr. 1. 7. The Bodies of the more Glorious Angels are Igneous and Lacid That also is a remarkable Example of the Lucidity of the Bodies of Angels which we have Acts 12. where while Peter was sleeping betwixt two Souldiers in the Prison bound in Chains the Angel of the Lord is said to come upon him and a Light to shine in the Prison c. I will add one Instance more which is Dan. 10. 5. where the Angel that instructed Daniel is thus described Then I lifted up mine Eyes and looked and behold a certain Man cloathed in Linnen whose Loins were girded with fine Gold of Ophaz his Body was also like Beryl and his Face as the Appearance of Lightening and his Eyes as Lamps of Fire c. This Appearance certainly of this Angelical Shape is Fiery Lucid and Glorious It is manifest that they are very Luminous and Glorious Whoever is invested with such a Body as is reserved for the Sons of the Resurrection will be if he please to shew himself thus Lucid and Glorious of which I shall want no more Examples then that one of our Saviour Christ's Body for all ours at the Resurrection are to be made like to his Glorious Body and how Lucid and Angelical his Body was after his Ascension into Heaven may appear from Apocal. 1. 13. where one like unto the Son of Man is said to be cloathed with a Garment down to the Foot and girt about the Paps with a Colden Girdle his Head and his Fair to be white like Wool as white as Snow that his Eyes as a Flame of Fire and his Feet like unto fine Brass as if they were burning in a Furnace and his Voice as the Sound of many VVaters a sharp Two-edged Sword came out of his Mouth and his Countenance was as the Sun shining in his strength This Body I think is sufficiently Lucid and expresly and almost exactly conformable to that of the Angel which appeared to Daniel as any one may observe that listeth to compare them The like Appearance of our Saviour seâ—…meth to be also Apocal. 10. where an Angel is said to be cloathed with a Cloud with a Rain-Bow on his Head and his Face to be as the Sun c. I will add his Appearing to an out of the Heavens as he was going to Damascus Acts 9. that suddenly there shined round about him a Light from Heaven c. above the Brightness of the Sun Chap. 22. 6. 26. 13. Which again doth not only assure the Reality but the exceeding great Splendor of the Corporeal Presence of Christ which is also agreeable to that in Apocal. And his Countenance was as the Sun shining in his Strength Out of all which I hope it is plain enough that as our Saviour hath said That the Sons of the Resurrection do become iâ—…so facto Angels in Condition as well for the Splendour and Constitution of their Body as their Immortality The Body of our Saviour after his Refurrection being so accurately answerable in Light and Glory to the most illustrious Appearances of Angels in either the Old or New Testament and this alone one would think might be sufficient to assure us of the Lucidity or Luminosity of the Body of Christ as also of all our Resurrection-Bodies For the Spirituality of this Body see 1 Cor. 15. 44. It is sown a natural Body it is raised a spiritual Body there is a natural Body and there is a spiritual Body c. I think it is most reasonable to understand the Resurrection-Body to be called Spiritual not for that it is actuated by a Spirit for the Soul is a Spirit that actuates the natural Body but for that the Body it self is become spiritual which I must confess Calvin seems abhorrent from but meerly out of his Ignorance in Philosophy for he reprehends those qui substantiam corporis putant fore spiritualem c. Calvin seems to be afraid of the Opinion of the Body being spiritual as implying a substantial Change c. There is not any Inconvenience to admit that the Resurrectionâ—… Body is a spiritual Body that is to say that the Contexture of it is of more subtil Parts then those that constitute the Earthly Bodies pag. 498. And so he distinguishes between that Terrestrial Statue or Body that Adam had and the Spiritual Bodies of those that are made conformable to the last Adam and to his Glorious Condition Such as are not of a stupid and Statue-like Condition of themselves but of such a Nature as hath an Activity in it self and doth most wonderfully contribute to the most lively and most divine and enlarged vitall Operations of the Soul â—… In this Manner hath he gâ—…ven his Distinction upon the Words It is sown a Natural or Animal Body it is raised a Spiritual Body The Resurrection Body is Heavenly or Celestial as the first Man is of the Earth Earthly the second Man is the Lord from Heaven as is the Earthly such are they that are Earthly and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly and as we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly And then it follows But this I must tell you Brethren That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God not that they shall only have Heavenly Bodies in a moral Sense or spiritual Meaning Bodies in which they shall be Heavenly-minded For such Slips as these and dilute Sences are very Dangerous c. but that they shall have an Heavenly Body in that Sense that Adam had an Earthly which was not called an Earthly Body for that he was Earthly-minded in it but because his Body was of an Earthly Substance Really and Physically Heavenly not only Morally we shall be such in our Corporeal Constitution as our Celestial Lord is in his we shall bear his Image of Heavenly Glory and Brightness not only in a Moral but Natural Sense nor can I imagine how Interpreters could be carried so forcibly off from so obvious and true a Sense had it not been by reason of some false Pre-conceptions in Philosophy that had corrupted their Minds and perverted their Judgments namely the Hypothesis of Ptoloâ—…e and Aristotle By an Heavenly Body I would understand an Angelical Body That the Heavens are fluid according to the most ancient and divinest Philosophy as the very Notation of the Hebrew word intimates Our Resurrection-Bodies will be furnished with the Seeds and Principles of Light and Splendour and be more Beautiful and more full of Lustre and Glory then the Heavenly Matter it self as that part of the Earth which becomes an humane Body is more precious and beautiful then the Earth it self before it be modified into a Frame fit for the Functions of Life So that whether we
3 One God and Father of all 1 Cor. 8. 6 Now to the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the Only Wise God be Glory c. 1 Tim. 1. 17. The Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee 1 Kings 8. 27. 2 Chron. 6. 18 What House will ye build me Acts 7. 49 God dwells in the Light 1 Tim. 6. 16 To whom will ye liken God what Likeness will ye compare unto Him Isa. 40. 18 25 God is a Spirit John 4. 24. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. 2. Lact. Fals. Rel. 1. 5. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1. But to us there is but One God the Father of all of whom are all things 1 Cor. 8. 6. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth read on Job 38. 4 And the Earth was without Form read the Chapter in which is declared God's Making and beautifying Heaven and Earth and all Living Creatures therein Gen. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. and so to the end Thou Lord madest the Heavens and the Earth and all that in them is Acts 4. 24. August cir Del. 8. Tim. de De Anim. Mund. The Pure in heart shall see God Mat. 5. 8. He dwelleth in Immortality no Mortal Eye can approach or behold him 1 Tim. 1. 16. One Thing have I desired of Thee O Lord to behold the Beauty of the Lord Psalm 27. 4 The Things of God knows no Man but the Spirit of God but God hath Reveal'd them to us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2. 10 11. 1. 13. Is Christ divided 1 Cor. 1. 13 And I heard a great Voice saying THE TABERNACLE OF GOD IS WITH MEN. He that Overcometh shall Inherit all things I will be his God and he shall be my Son Revel 21. 3 7. Jambl. * Jamblich * De Anim. Mund. In the Beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God John 1. 1. The Word is nigh thee in thy Heart and in thy Mouth Rom. 10. 8. I dwell in the High and Holy Place with him also that is of a Contrite and Humble Spirit Isa. 57. 15. Ye are the Temples of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you 1 Cor. 2 16. Whatever may be known of God is manifested within for God shews it unto them Rom. 1. 19. Valer. Max. 7. 2. Lay up Treasure in Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust can Corrupt nor Thief break through and Steal Mat. 6. 20. This Treasure hath God put into Earthen Vessels 2 Cor. 4. 7. Fear not for the Lord thy God it is that doth go with thee he will not fail thee nor forsake thee Deut. 31. 6. In all their Afflictions he was Afflicted Isa. 63. 9 The Lord is a present Help in the time of Trouble Psal. 46. 1. * Oedip. Tyr. Shall not the Uncircumcision that is by Nature if it fulfil the Law judge thee who by the â—…etter and Circumcision dost transgress the Law For he is not a Jew that is one Outward implying such as keep the Law is one Inward Rom. 2. 27 28. And the Word of God nigh in the Heart shall abide forever Isa. 40. 8. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. 5. Plutarch de Gen. Socr. There is a Spirit in Man but the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth Understanding Job 32 8. 2 Tim. 2. 22 25. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Children of God Rom. 8. 14. * In phaed. God is Light 1 John 1. 5. In thy Light 〈◊〉 we see Light Psalm 36. 10 God is not far from every one of us for in him we live move and have our â—…eing for we are also his Off-sping as certain of your own Poets have said Acts 17. 27 28. One of whom was Arabus whom the Apostle quotes as speaking Truth and imployes it against them to prove a True God and to introduce his Gospel which if it shewed their Apostacy it also implies that there had been Heathens rightly apprehending of God else surely the Apostle would never have cited the Poets Saying for a Confirmation of his own Doctrine * Enead 1. cap. 1. For the Lord God is a Sun a Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good Thing will he withhold from them that trust in him and walk uprightly Psal. 84. 11 12. For God hath shewed it unto them Rom. 1. 19. Clem. Alex. Strom. L. 5. A Manifestation of the Spirit is given unto every one to profit withal 1 Cor. 12. 7. One God and Father of all who is above all and through all The Lord is Good unto all Psal. 145. 9. Leg. Alleg. L. 1. The Things of God knoweth no Man save the Spirit of God 1 Cor. 2. 11. I will put my Law in their Minds and write them in their Inward parts I will be their God and they shall be my People Heb. 8. 10 11. Plut. Dion Prus. Because whatever may be known of God is manifest within for God hath shewed it unto them but because they liked not to retain God in their Knowledge God gave them up to vile Affections Rom. 2. 19 26 28. Dis. lib. 1. cap. 14. O Lord thou hast searched me thou understandest my Thoughts afar off Whither shall I go from thy Spirit Psal. 139. 1 2 7. We have a more Sure Word of Prophesie 2 Pet. 19. The Lord hath shewedun to thee O Man what is Good and what he doth require of thee Micah 6. 8. In him we Live Move and have our Being Acts 17. 28. Such as Men Sow such shall they Reap Gal. 6. 7. That was the true Light which Inlightneth all Mankind John 1. 9. * Senec. Epist. 41. * De Benef. c. 17. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men Rev 21. 3. He that dâ—…clareth 〈◊〉 Man his Thoughts the Lord the God of Hosts is hiâ—… Name Amos 4. 13. Wâ—…ite ye have the Light walk in the Light that you may be the Children of the Light God is Light John 12. 26. 1 John 1. 5. * â—…pist 8. * Epist. 31. * If Angry Tho. Hicks will please to inform himself of the Reasons that induced Justin to turn Christian he will find the Light Within acknowledged to be the Efficient Cause thereof for it was the Principle of God in his Conscience that continually pleaded the Christians Cause within him and who at last overcoming Justin Believes in Christ and Dyes for him too Now what Disgrace is this to the Light Within Liv'd after Christ Ann. 123. 1543. years since Apolog. Liv'd after Christ 190. Admon ad Gent. Strom. L. 5. Clem. Alex. in Admon ad Gent. Liv'd Ann. 195. Liv'd about Ann. 203. Liv'd about Ann. 315. De Cult Ver. Lib. de Ira cap. 2. Liv'd about Ann. 325. Athanas. cont Gent. Liv'd about Ann. 3 80. Liv'd about Ann. 393. Liv'd about the Year of the World 3313. before Christ about 630. years which is 2330. years since Thou therefore which teachest another teachest thou not thy self Rom. 2. 21. Love thy