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A96978 Testimony for the son of man and against the son of perdition wherein is set forth the faith and obedience of Gods elect, testified by the mouth of the Lord, angels & men. With a true discovery of a bundle of equivocations, confusions, and hyprocisies, in those who call themselves preachers of, and to the light within all men; who yet are so far in darkness themselves, that they acknowledge not the scriptures and ordinances of Jesus Christ, so as to be directed by the one, to the obedience of the other. By Joseph Wright, a servant of Jesus Christ. Wright, Joseph, 1623-1703. 1661 (1661) Wing W3706; ESTC R229892 108,801 255

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little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psal 2. 10 11 12. O that all men would now consider and be wise in the Day wherein the Grace of God is tendered unto them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that they may know what to do when God riseth up and what to answer when he visiteth Job 31. 14. and take heed all ye that make Profession of Jesus Christ Watch and pray alwayes that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man Luke 21. 36. for then shall be that coming of Christ that end of the World and that eternal judgement both of the living and of the dead which never yet hath been accomplished notwithstanding the vain confidence of those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within c. That suppose that these things are past with them whose Doctrine having been shewed to be disagreeable to the Doctrine of the Scriptures concerning the Person of Christ and the Father Son and Spirit and the Light and the Ordinances of Christ and the Resurrection of the dead the coming of Christ and the end of the world It is time now to conclude this Chapter CHAP. III. That the so called Preachers of and to the Light within c. Preach not to the Creature man but to a supposed Seed or uncreated substance in Man which they call Christ and the eternal witness That the Creature man is the Subject to whom Salvation is to be tendred being in a lost condition by sin and for whose deliverance Christ dyed That the Spirits in Prison are the Spirits of those men and women which were disobedient in the dayes of Noah That Christ is a distinct person from all other persons of his Divine and Humane Natures That those comforts which are admininistred to the Disciples of Christ he accepts it as done to himself how believers are said to partake of the Divine Nature of Christ and that not a power onely in man but the whole man Spirit Soul and Body shall enjoy eternal happinesse as the Humane Nature of Christ now doth That the Creature man together with the Devils are the subjects of the Wrath of God And that the perfection spoken of in the Scriptures is that which the Creature man shall enjoy Of the deceits of those that call upon all men to look into the Light within while they Communicate their Doctrine and unclean spirit to them of their resemblance to birds in their Bel-candle and net the reason why they cry down Gospel Ordinances and how they Communicate that unclean spirito why they deny Baptism in Water and plead for Spirit Baptism why they require waiting in silence of their touching or taking by the hand and the effect thereof of their visits and of their so much preaching and Printing that the Light within doth not effect those things which they ascribe to it but the said things are effected by an unclean Spirit of their silent Meetings that several of their followers have confessed themselves possessed with the Devil and of the sad pranks he played in one that thought himself perfect Sect. 1 THat those that call themselves Preachers of and to the Light within all men Preach not to the Creature man but a supposed seed or uncreated substance in man is clearly discovered by their writings wherein they have these words viz. A Salutation to the Seed of God and by these and such like expressions viz. I speak to the Light in your Conscience which shall eternally witnesse c. Now if the Light in the Conscience shall eternally witnesse then that Light must needs be understood to be eternal for nothing can be an eternal witness but an eternal thing but God onely is eternal that is without beginning and without end man is a Creature that hath a beginning though he shall have no end but shall for ever be in tribulation or in rest as a reward of disobedience or as the effect of the Grace of God and his Gift thereby to him that believeth and obeyeth the Gospel Therefore no part of man is God or of the uncreated or eternal substance and they in preaching to an eternal thing preaches not to man that had a beginning and hath lost his first Righteousness but which I fear to speak even to God for when I have at their publick Meetings thus questioned the speaker What is it which thou speakest and Preachest too the Teacher hath cryed out in great hast calling all the persons that heard him speak to witnesse for him that he spake to the Light in their Conscience to the Seed of God c. Whereupon I have asked him What is that Light in the Conscience What is that Seed of God in its self I have then been answered that it is Christ as if Christ were not a person distinct from all other persons but onely a certain Spirit or Power in all persons and that his Death and Resurrection is accomplished onely in a Mystical not in a proper sence and having a great affection to vindicate this Mystical Allegation and to turn the minds of their Hearers from the plain Truth of the Gospel they Alledge a Scripture or two and infer from them that which never was intended by the Spirit of God in them from that Scripture 1 Pet. 3. 18 19. Where the Apostle saith Christ hath once suffered for sins c. being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit by which he went and Preached to the Spirits in Prison they do infer that the spirits here spoken of is Christ that is imprisoned in man kept under and held down in the Creature and Christ as they say being quickened in them they go and Preach to the Spirits which is Christ imprisoned in others which they endeavour to help raise up set at liberty and for further proof of this imagination they alledge Mat. 25. 36. Where Christ saith I was sick and in Prison and ye visited me c. Sect. 2 But in this their Doctrine and Practice of Preaching to the Seed of God to the uncreated or eternal witnes or substance which they call Christ imprisoned and not to the creature man it is evident that it is fearful blasphemy for it supposeth that that which they call Christ hath done iniquity else why do they say repent repent with many exhortations to depart from sin when they speak to that within which in their sence is Christ so that they Reprove Christ Exhort Christ Counsel Christ yea they say they speak to that of God in the Conscience which shall eternally witnesse c. so that they teach God Reprove God Counsel God Oh horrible Blasphemy who will not fear to utter it how contrary is this to the Doctrine of the Blessed Apostle Paul Romans 11. 34. WHO saith he hath instructed the Lord or WHO hath BEEN HIS COUNSELLOR Or who hath given to him and
the Lord shone round about them viz. the Shepherds and they were sore afraid And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people not to a supposed Seed or uncreated or eternal substance in man but unto man even unto all people for unto you saith he is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swadling cloaths lying in a Manger not lying within you but lying in a Manger which was not within them and suddainly there was with the Angel a Multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest on earth Peace good will towards men Luke 2. 9 10 11 12 13 14. This is indeed the Gospel of glad-tidings a Saviour for sinners for poor sinful man yea and so saith all the Prophets as many as have spoken have likewise declared these things viz. That God did send his Son to die for man to bear our sins and that God raised up his Son Jesus and sent him to blesse the Creature man in turning every one of us from our Iniquities it could not be to turn himself from his Iniquities for he had none He did no sin neither was guile found in his Mouth yet it pleased the Lord to put him to Grief for us and to lay upon him the Iniquities of us all See Acts 3. 26. Isa 53. 6. yea he was wounded for our Transgressions He was bruised for our Iniquities the Chastisement of our Peace was upon him and with his Stripes are we healed So that it is evident That that Doctrine which is not directed to Man but to a supposed Seed or uncreated Substance in man is not the Doctrine of the Gospel which tendereth Salvation to the Creature but a blasphemous Riddle which tends to the nourishing of Evil Thoughts viz. That the Eternal Witness or Substance stands in need of a Teacher and of a Resurrection out of a fallen or imprisoned Condition or to make Man exalt himself into the Place of God by imagining that something within him as a part of his Person is as Eternal as the Spirit of Holiness in Christ or else it tends to make the Creature man consisting of Spirit Soul and Body utterly to despair of Salvation Sect. 4 But now to Answer thy false Inferences which thou endeavourest to draw from these Holy Scriptures to maintain thy Opinion and Practise of Preaching not to man considered as Man but to a supposed Seed or eternal Substance in Man I say and testifie in the Lord That these Scriptures 1 Pet. 3. 19. Matth. 25. 36. teach nothing in the least to justifie such a Practice but that which is here held forth by the Spirit of God in the first Scripture is this viz. That by that Spirit which raised the Flesh of Jesus Christ from the Dead he had Preached by the Ministry of Noah to the Spirits of men which are now in prison not that he preached to the Spirits when they were in Prison nor that these Spirits are of the eternal and uncreated substance but the spirits in prison are the spirits of those men and women which Christ according to the Spirit of Holinesse did by his servant Noah who was assisted therewith preach unto before they were in Prison that is to say In the dayes of Noah when they were disobedient to the long suffering of God while the Ark was a preparing So that you cannot say the Seed of God was that which was preached to except you will say the Seed of God was disobedient or that they were in Prison when they were Preached unto for then they could neither have been obedient nor disobedient for in Prison they are as a reward of their disobedience which they acted when they were at Liberty and are kept in Prison for the said disobedience unto the great Judgement Day So that the Spirits were not in Prison when they were Preached to but disobedient they were at that time when once the long Suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Ark was a Preparing in which few that is eight Souls were saved by Water at that time when once the long-suffering of God waited while the Ark was a Preparing Then did Christ by the same Spirit by which his own Body of Flesh in which he was put to death was raised again from the dead Preach to them that were then Disobedient whose spirits are now in Prison and so shall remain till the great Day of Judgement when they in Spirit Soul and Body shall be punished with everlasting fire as a reward of their disobedience in refusing the Spirit of Holinesse by which God did strive with the old World an hundred and twenty Years Gen. 3. 6. So great was the Patience and long-suffering of God So unwilling was he that any of them should perish but rather that all of them should have repented Rom. 2. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 9. which when they utterly refused to do he brought the flood of Waters upon that ungodly World those that would not be turned by the strivings of Gods Spirit but refused that Grace which was so earnestly and affectionately tendred unto them as unworthy of any further offers of Grace were destroyed by the flood of Waters which overthrew their Carkasses and as the just Wages of their impenitency and unbelief their spirits are now reserved in Prison unto the judgment of the great Day of God Almighty when they with all other wicked men that live and die in impenitency and unbelief in spirit soul and body shall bear the punishment of their disobedience And then also the Angels which kept not their first Estate but left their own Habitation for which cause they are now reserved as in Prison in everlasting Chains under darkness Jude vers 6. shall be cast into the Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone where they and those accursed men and women that have been seduced by him shall be tormented for ever where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched Thus it is evident that the spirits in Prison spoken of in the Scripture abovesaid are not to be understood of the Spirit of Holinesse in Christ but indeed of the Unclean and Rebellious spirits of Men and Women who refuse the Grace of God when it is tendred unto them in the day of his forebearance and long-suffering Sect. 5 But thy inference from Mat. 25. 36. to justifie thy Opinion and Practice of Preaching not to man but to a supposed seed in every man which thou callest Christ imprisoned in man is also exceeding false and that which tends to the turning of the minds of men from the Person of Christ by whose Death and Resurrection accomplished in his own Body he hath wrought the Redemption of the Bodies of all others that believe in him to an imaginary spirit ●r
supposed eternal substance in every man as if not a person distinct from all other persons but a spirit or power in all persons were the Christ and as if the death of Christ were not accomplished in his own Body really but in the bodies of all men onely mystioally But this is the Testimony of Truth Christ Jesus the Lord is a distinct Person from all persons beside himself and such a person as there is none like him for He is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse Rom. 1. 4. and also the Son of David according to the Flesh so that he is truly and properly the Son of God before all Worlds and also in the fulnesse of time being made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. It was onely that Person that is the Son of Mary the Virgin never man was Son of a Virgin but He it is He onely that was conceived in his Mothers Womb by the Operation of the Holy Spirit not one man in the whole World was ever so conceived besides himself so that He and He onely is perfect God and perfect man in Nature and Substance no man else in the whole Creation is so it is He that hath two distinct Natures in one entire person no Person else hath the like in him and in him onely dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. in no man besides him dwelleth the Godhead in any measure bodily Now although all men in respect of their Substance and Christ in respect of one of his Natures or Substances that is to say His Flesh and Blood are of one Substance Heb. 2. 14. yet it doth not at all follow from hence that all men are Christ for they are all distinct persons from him they are many persons He is one Person Mat. 16. 13 14 15 16. Onenesse in nature doth not make onenesse in person a man and his wife are one in Nature yet they are two distinct persons and although all men in respect of their substance of Spirit Soul and Body and Christ in respect of his Humane Nature are one yet in respect of his Godhead they are not one for He onely is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse and was so from all eternity Rev. 1. 8. Phil. 2. 6. Heb. 9. 14. the spirit of man though it be the most excellent part of man yet it is but a Created Substance the Spirit of Holinesse in Christ is an uncreated Substance a being without beginning and without end So that although Christ was in all things made like unto his Brethren sin excepted yet as he is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holinesse he is not like his Brethren that have beginning of dayes and end of life but like his Father of the same uncreated Substance and of the same eternity even without beginning and without end and as Christ did in our Nature suffer yet not in ours but in his own Person so he is pleased to account that which is done to his Disciples as done to himself because it is done to one of his Natures though not to his person but to the Persons of his Disciples who are not therefore Christ for the Disciples are not that person that is the Christ neither have they as they are persons those two Natures that Christ hath neither are they that one Person that Christ is neither are they in a mystical sence called Christ but as being in Covenant and in Communion with that one Person which is the Christ who is the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness and the Son of David also according to the flesh which no man besides him is from all which the sence of the Scripture Mat. 25. 36. is clear viz. That man having one of the Natures of Christ viz. Flesh and Blood and being in Covenant with him by becoming his Disciples that good or that evil which is done unto them Christ declares it as done unto himself not that it was done to his Person as the Question of the Righteous vers 37. and the Answer of the King vers 40. do evidently manifest whereby the folly of those that wrest this Scripture to prove that Christ Preacheth to the Spirits when they are in Prison or that those Spirits are Christ that the Christ is onely a Power or Spirit in every man and not a distinct Person from all men beside himself or that Christ hath onely one Nature and not two dictinct Natures in one Person or that the Humane Nature which dyed was not Christ according to the Flesh which also was quickened again by Christ according to the Spirit of Holinesse Rom. 1. 4. or that these two Natures Spirit of Holinesse and Flesh Son of God and Son of Man in one Person is not the true Christ distinct from all other Persons of men though they be the Disciples of Christ I say the folly and blasphemy of those that wrest this Scripture to defend those vain conceits or to gain-say those Glorious Truths which are discovered laid open and made manifest for Christ in his affirmations I was an hungred and ye fed me Naked and ye cloathed me Sick and ye visited me in Prison and ye came unto me and the like did not affirm these things to be administred to the eternal Substance but to the whole created man Spirit Soul and Body especially to the sensitive Soul which standeth in need of Food Mat. 6. 25. and to the Body which being naked hath need of cloathing as also the Spirit of man which being in trouble hath need of comfort But it cannot be said that the Power Spirit or eternal Substance in man distinct from the Spirit Soul and Body of man is hungry thirsty a stranger naked sick or in prison neither did Christ affirm these comforts to be administred to his own Person consisting of these Divine and Humane Natures which as the Spirit of Holinesse was ever free from such infirmities so also the Humane Nature of his Person hath been free from hunger cold and nakednesse ever since his Resurrection from the dead so that the true meaning of our Saviour is this viz. That forasmuch as the Humane Nature of Christ is one in substance with the Nature of man-kind and because the Disciples of Christ are in Covenant with Christ their Head and Lord therefore that which is done to them in Feeding Cloathing Harbouring c. the Lord takes it as done unto himself because it is done to one of his Natures though not to his Person and because it is done to the Persons of his Disciples which are in Covenant with him as the 40. verse makes it evident And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Thus this Scripture also is vindicated and those false inferences which false teachers have endeavoured to draw from
In the Paradise of God was he placed of all the Trees of the Garden excepting onely one was he allowed to eat and amongst those which he was allowed to feed upon and even in the midst of the Garden was the Tree of Life whereof if he had eaten before he transgressed he had no doubt continued for ever in that blessed estate and condition of Righteousnesse and true Holiness wherein he was made Gen. 3. 23 24. But he soon lost that blessed estate and condition and by sin made himself and his posterity exceeding wretched and miserable for of a Son of God he became a son of Satan a child of Wrath Ephes 2. 3. he defaced the Image of God and got unto himself the Image of Satan for he took the Devil for his Father by following his counsel for his reward the man Adam by transgression became like the Devil that is to have the knowledge and experience both of good and evil Behold saith the Lord God the man is become like him For it is observed that the Hebrew word may and ought so to be rendred for man became like the Devil by sin from us viz. the Devil to know that is to experience good and evil Gen. 3. 22. For God is Pure and Holy the Devil is impure and unholy God cannot behold the evil of sin with approbation the Devil cannot behold good with approbation see Heb. 1. 13. therefore saith Christ to the Jews Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it John 8. 44. So that man by sin being in condition become like the Devil for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. that so the substance of Adam might be redeemed out of that lost condition whereinto it was fallen by transgression and be so secured in happinesse for the future that it should not fall again from it that this might be effected it was necessary that the eternal Word the second Person of the Trinity should take the substance of Adam into personality with himself that those two Substances the eternal Word and the Substance of Adam might be one in Personality that so the obedience of Life and suffering of Death of the Substance of Adam in the Person of Christ might be of such infinite worth and value with God that for the merit of it he might set free the same Substance of Adam in all other persons also from that bondage and misery whereunto they are fallen by the transgression of Adam and of themselves for the Substance of Adam in the Person of Christ fulfilling the Law and then also that Substance being made a curse and suffering the Sentence of the Law due to the World of sinners not to Christ that sinned not the world of sinners are put into a capacity to be delivered according to the condition of the New Covenant from that wrath and Curss unto which they are fallen by the transgression of the old and first Covenant which fallen condition is called in Scripture the old man or Adam which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts Ephes 4. 22. The body of sin Rom. 6. 6. The members which are upon the earth Col. 3. 5. The Law of sin in the Members Rom. 7. 23. The Flesh the carnal mind Rom. 8. 7 8. and such like all which do set forth that miserable estate and condition into which the Substance of Adam is fallen by sin on the contrary that condition which the Substance of Adam had before he sinned and to which it is restored in the Person of Christ is called in Scripture the new man which after God is created in Righteousnesse and True Holinesse Ephes 4. 22. The Law of the Spirit Rom. 8. 2. The Spiritual Mind Rom. 8. 6. The new man which is renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Col. 3. 10. and such like Now the eternal Word taking hold of the Substance of Adam and uniting it unto personality with the uncreated substance and the created substance keeping the condition of the first Covenant that is to say exact unsinning obedience that substance of Adam in the Person of Christ is as Pure and Holy as Just and Righteous as it was in Adam before he sinned but that the same Substance of Adam in all other persons also might be redeemed from that miserable estate viz. guilt of sin power and dominion of sin and from the punishment justly due unto the world of sinners that substance of Adam in the Person of Christ that knew no sin underwent the Sentence and Curse of the Law that so the same substance in the persons of others might be set free not by their performing the condition of the first Covenant for it is impossible that they that have sinned should be justified by that Covenant which requires exact unsinning obedience but by their performing the condition of the second Covenant which is Repentance Faith and Gospel-obedience which those that have sinned may through the assistance of Gods Spirit perform upon condition of which Repentance Faith and Gospel-Obedience the Lord giveth unto them both pardon of their sins past and also such help and assistance by his Spirit that those that thus enter into Covenant with him may be enabled to walk more agreeable to the rule of the spiritual and holy Law of God Rom. 7. 12 14. than any man or woman out of Covenant with him by all their own strength and endeavours now since the fall of Adam can possibly do yea Jesus Christ doth so assist those that are in Covenant with him that with their minds they may be enabled to serve the Law of God though through the warring of the flesh against the Law of their mind they are somtimes captivated to the Law of sin in their members See Rom. 7. 22 23 24 25. Now so far forth as persons come to be in Covenant with Christ and are enabled by him to walk according to his direction so far forth are they said to have Christ formed in them that is to say to be brought into a blessed estate and condition of freedom from the guilt of sin of freedom from the power and dominion of sin of assurance of redemption from the first death and of deliverance from the second death and so by Christ to be entituled unto eternal Life so that if the created substance of Adam in the Person of Christ though by the power of his uncreated substance doth set free the same created substance in the persons of others from that miserable estate and condition into which that substance is fallen by sin and transgression and also entitle that substance unto eternal life It may well be said of all