of the rending asunder or laceration of Christ's Body in Men for laceration implyeth division or separation of the parts asunder which cannot happen to the life of Christ in men Nor did or do I understand Christ to have Flesh or a Body in the Saints but only in an Allegorical and Figurative sence as when that of Christ which the Faithful perceive in them which they tast and which is to their Souls Meat and Drink whereby they are Spiritually refreshed and nourished is called in Scripture Milk Honey Bread Wine Oyl Fatness and the like all which are Names of a Bodily substance and therefore cannot be applyed to this Mystery but by way of Allegory and that for the defect of proper words P. The same Such a Dogma as this of Keith was entertained by Hereticks and published by Gul. Postellus a Frenchman of which Keith was not ignorant The Annot. Altho in some words and phrases I may seem to agree to these in this Author's esteem or others yet I no-wise agree in sense with them nor have I followed their words but the words and phrases of Scripture which the Hereticks used but wrested to a forraign and contrary sense to the Truth as if by the presence and inhabitation of God and Christ in Men these Men were deifyed and made God and Christ and the same honour were due to them as to God and Christ which never came into my mind yea I always abhorred such sort of Doctrine as not only Heretical but Mad and only proper to Men demented And as concerning Gulielmus Postellus I saw but little of his Writings at any time and what I saw I did not well understand for the obscurity of his stile and diverse things in him did not please me But what I have Writ concerning the Birth or Begetting and Formation of Christ in the Faithful I would not be understood to mean it in the sense of Hereticks but in the sense of Scripture Gal. 4. 19. which speaketh after this manner And in the sence of Augustine and Erasmus who both have Writ If Mary had not conceived Christ in her heart or Soul although she did bear him according to the Flesh she could not have been Saved by him Nor did I ever dream there was such an Union betwixt Christ and the Faithful as to make up one Person as the Soul and Body of Man make up one Man But such an Union I did and do understand betwixt Christ and the Faithful and betwixt God and the Faithful by Christ as is by the sincere Faith and Love of the Faithful begot and wrought in them by the Spirit of God Moreover that I have Writ some things of the Incarnate Word in the Faithful in my Book called The Way Cast Vp. I meant it no otherwise than Allegorically for I never thought that our corruptible flesh which we carry about is the Flesh of the Word but in an Allegorical sence I understand it as Origâ—n and other Ancient Writers by the Flesh of the Word of God Mystically speaking they understood the inward Life and Virtue of Christ which feedeth the Souls of the Faithful as the flesh of a Lamb or Calf feedeth the Bodies and by the like Allegory the same Life of Christ in the Faithful is called Bread but there is a shortness and disparity and that great in all these Similitudes which Life of Christ in the Saints is a certain influence or efflux from the Man Christ or from that fullness of life and Grace in him as he is without the Saints Glorified with the Father in Heaven But this efflux or influence flowing from the Person of Christ without the Saints into the hearts of the Saints too few Christian Teachers do acknowledge They confess indeed that Grace is given us of God for Christ's Merits and so they affirm that the Man Christ is the Moral Cause of the Grace which we have of God which is true But that the Man Christ sendeth down from Heaven the Influences of Grace the Divine Rain and Dew of Grace out of his fullness to few acknowledge for they understand the Grace of Christ to be nothing else than a certain quality after the manner of an accident inherent in the Soul And because it is the very being of an accident to be inherent in its subject therefore they will not own that it comes down from Christ out of Heaven In which I acknowledge I much differ from them in my Perswasion P. 280. Towards the end And these Books he took care to get Printed not in England but in Holland not consulting the Society of his Profâ—ssion nor letting them know it that they might not refuse their Consent The Annot. In this also he doth not well relate the matter of Fact I procured indeed two Books of mine to be Printed in Holland the one called The Way Cast up the other called The Way to the City of God not consulting the English Quakers I not being an Englishman nor living then in England nor the 2d days Weekly Meeting at London but I consulted the Scots Friends where I lived And notwithstanding that some London-Quakers of the Ministry accused both these Books to contain False Doctrine in some Articles yet George Whitehead recommended the first in Print and both George Whitehead and William Pen at a Solemn Meeting of the Ministry held at London about the year 1678. defended it against the gainsaying of Three Ministers of Note among the Quakers diverse beside the Ministry and my self being present tho of late the same two men have risen up against me after a most offensive manner for my standing up to defend the same Heads of Christian Religion contained in these Books and generally confessed by all True Christians against these most ignorant men who opposed them in Pensilvania The which doth plainly demonstrate the great Hypocrise of these two men The Heads of Doctrine were chiefly Three on which these three Ministers above-mentioned accused my Book and me being the Author of it The first was that in my Book I had affirm'd That the same Body of Christ which was Nailed to the Cross and was Crucified and Buried Rose again and afterwards was taken up into Heaven The Second was That it is the Duty of all Christians to Pray to the same Jesus Christ who was then Crucified and to Worship and Adore him and by him our alone Mediator to Worship Adore and Pray unto God the Father The Third was That the most Holy Men in their highest Attainments of Holiness are to approach unto God with Prayer and Thanksgiving by the Mediation of the Man Christ Jesus But these three men above-mention'd who had divers others even of the Ministry who favoured their Errors did openly and boldly in that Solemn Meeting deny these Three Heads of Doctrine above specified and my other Book called The Way to the City of God cited by the Author in this History some of the People called Quakers when I was absent in
who extoll'd the Holy Scriptures paying all Honour and Deference to the same who yet would cry up and extol that Profession of Faith and Manners that they had suck'd from these very Scriptures And that they were so destitute and ignorant of that Holy Spirit that endited them and so great strangers to that Purity of Life and Conversation which is so oft recommended in the Scriptures Fox in this his Solitary Retirement proposed nothing else to himself but doing Service to others designing and purposing some time to be useful in Informing and Instructing not a few by undertaking a Publick Ministry for the Salvation of many And thus he reasoned with himself nay he said it was demonstrated to his Spirit from God himself that though School and College Learning the Natural and acquir'd Qualities and Gifts of the Mind those Arts Men call Liberal and Ingenuous and the Knowledge of Tongues were very useful Accomplishments and Adornments for a Theologue or any invested with that Sacred Office yet the Spirit of God was to be their chief Teacher and Conducter and the Operation of this Divine Spirit though without Learning is of more avail than Learning without the assistance of the Spirit However he did not so totally banish himself from all Company but that he admitted sometimes those that came to him nay and would sometimes of his own accord go to those he thought Men of Integrity and who seem'd to walk reverently towards God and confer with them Sometimes he called on the Ministers of the Gospel such as he thought fit or that he heard did excel in Doctrine and Piety and communicated to them his Sentiments He always so ordered his Discourse that what he spoke was about the condition or state either of Men in general or of Christians and this was the whole and the only Tenor and Context of all his Discourses that the condition of all those we call Christians was such as that all their Religion was in their Tongues in so much that their Ministers and Pastors who dispensed unto them the Divine Word were Men that minded nothing but making a discovery of their Learning and Knowledge and a slight discharge of their Office nay that proposing nothing to themselves but the bare external Reward were very Hirelings unto Men. This his way of Discoursing occasioned his unwelcom Reception among many There was at that time one Nathanael Stevens Minister of the Church at Dreton where George Fox was born who used not only to exspect George's coming to him but oft-times prevented him looking on him as one of his Flock and subject to his Discipline Whom therefore Fox as his Custom was had made his Reflections on him and his Parish accusing both the Minister and the Flock for being ignorant of Christianity and far estranged from it in their Lives vindicating himself to be the Restorer and Conducter appointed for the Recovery of fallen Religion Mr. Stevens would nevertheless leave him to himself as being neither grieved nor angry at him This same Year George went up and down from Town to Town supplying his Necessities in every place he came to with the Exercise of his Trade contenting himself with a little and not apprehensive of Poverty He was much troubled with Melancholy a Disease very incident and in a manner Natural to all that Nation which at that time increased mightily among them and was now become very common George complain'd that he was tormented without intermission with the terrible and mighty Tentations of Satan which drove him almost to despair insomuch that he sometimes wish'd for Death rather than Life And in every place he came to he made his Address to the Pious and Godly and sometimes to the Ministers of Churches complaining of his miserable condition imploring some help and comfort from them But when he had thus made known to them the anguish of his Soul some were not willing to undertake so difficult a Cure or thought it necessary to use Medicine for his Body as well as his Soul others advised him to have recourse to the Word of God Faith in him and serious and frequent Prayer for the removal of his Malady in fine he could meet with none that could give him any Satisfaction or Relief then would he as all such afflicted People use to do when they cannot meet with their desires rail against them brand them for unskilful and ignorant Physicians spreading Slanders and Reproaches against them up and down the Country From this time forth he wholly withdrew from all Society or Communication with the Visible Church and on Religious days went alone into the Fields or some retired place carrying along with him his 〈◊〉 and spending the day in Reading and Meditating Nay he spent the best part of his time in Study and Contemplation And both at that time and in the succeeding part of his Life he frequently told how he was at sometimes possess'd with the Divine Spirit how many Dreams and Visions came upon him what Answers he had from Heaven to his Petitions as also that many things foreseen by him and foretold to him were lock'd up in his Breast And that he was daily taught from above and instructed in what relates to the Doctrine and Life of a Christian sometimes in one part of it sometimes in another sometimes what was wicked and disallowable at other times what was good and to be sought after and all these things was he to teach and explain to Men as being sent of God for that purpose After this he grew and increased daily It happened not precisely at this time but a little after when he was Teaching at Nottingham for some things though distant in time are to be connected together having designed to comprise this History in as compendious Bounds as is possible that he was ravish'd into Paradise by the Spirit with a Flaming Sword where he was form'd like unto Adam such as he was while yet in Innocence so that he clearly perceived and understood the most profound and obscure things having the whole Creation laid open and explain'd to him how that Names were given to every Creature suited to their Natures Vertues and Perfections which made him advise with himself whether or no he should undertake the Profession of Medicine bending his thoughts and care to the exercise of the same for the good and benefit of Mortal Men. For it happened in Leicester that God discovered to him how far the Galenical Tribe was estrang'd from Divine Wisdom that Wisdom which contriv'd and fram'd all things so that it was impossible for them to understand the Natures and Constitutions of things But withal the Heavenly Oracle did likewise insinuate that it was possible to reform this corrupted Art and settle it on a surer Foundation if so be that Artists before they undertake to Administer Medicine to the Sick would first apply themselves to Divine Wisdom and then accommodate their Remedies according to its Rules Fox did in every
and to lay down his Life When he came to London he presently goes to their Meeting and there Preaches esteeming he could not otherwise satisfie his Conscience discharge his Duty and use the Gift which he had received which as soon as it was told the Mayor who was the same before mentioned away goes he with some of his Officers and Followers and lest he should do the same again which is not very much commendable in a Magistrate he Commands them to hale away the Man and forthwith thrust him into Prison which they do and put him into an horrid place full of filth and stench and so narrow that he could not well stand there with which Miseries after Eight Months he falls sick and his Disease increasing upon him daily he at length dies as he had lived supporting and comforting himself and his Friends who were not hindred access to him and so were present at all times with many words the sum and substance whereof was this I have hitherto preached the Gospel in this City freely and not to the burden of any and have often spent my Life therein and now in the midst of my Labours part with my Life for it and how true it is that I have truly and sincerely both acted and dealt in this matter is known to him who knoweth all things And thou O God hast then loved me when I was yet shut up in my Mother's Womb and I have loved them from my Cradle and have served thee from my Childhood and Youth to this very time to some good purpose and that with the greatest Fidelity and though this Body of mine returns unto the Dust yet I am conscious to my self and assuredly know that my Soul shall return from whence it came and that that Spirit which hath lived in me wrought in me ruled me and hath ruled in all will be diffused into Thousands I pray unto God that he would Pardon if it be his will the Sins and evil Practices of my Enemies And when he died winking as it were with both his Eyes he said Now my Soul resteth in her own Centre Fisher doth describe this Man 's untimely Death in a lofty style and according to his way in a Rhetorical and Tragical manner The Persecution of these Men was very hot the Year following in the City of Worcester Several Quakers were met together in the House of Rupert Smyth not for to Preach but to the intent they might Advise together concerning four Children the Death of whose Father had left them destitute of Sustenance and Education they chiefly considered what might be done lest the Children should come upon the Parish and that then as the Parish should have the charge of bringing them up so it would also take care to have them instructed in the Religion and Discipline of the same Presently upon this some Soldiers get together and having given no sign of their being sent rush upon them as upon a Rabble withstanding or despising the Government and with much Clamour and great Violence take Twenty Four of the Company and carry them to the places where they were wont to be put amongst Bawdy-house haunters for this now was come in fashion Ruffians Thieves and such sort of vitious notorious Offenders after some Weeks Smyth and a few other are brought before the Magistrates and examined they ask them whether they had taken the Oath of Allegiance And when they said they had not they ask them again whether they would now Swear according to their usual way of Interrogating of them in these Times They Answer That they could not swear for Conscience-sake and affirm a thing according to their forms and in such a manner but that otherwise they could sincerely affirm that they would discharge all their Duty towards the King and Government neither would they attempt any thing which tended to their dishonour and Incommodity neither would they do any thing for which they might justly be blamed But whilst that in this hearing there was no dispute about the Thing but the Mode and Circumstance thereof was only controverted and that the Quakers in the mean time held to their own way and stood covered the Magistrates laying aside the Dispute about Swearing they take up the matter of these mens wearing their Hats before them and urge that to stand covered before the Magistrate as it did here manifestly appear was a great derogation from the King's Honour and such and so great an Offence that it ought to be punished and that severely by the Court. To which Smyth wittily replyed Seeing that there was not only any appearance of no Crime no nor the least suspicion against them that they had lessened the Reputation of this King his Name Rule and Government in words or deeds it was a very trivial thing for them to urge that as a mark of it and seeing that the Hat is a Covering to the Head and that each part of the Body has his Covering and that none in his approach to others though they be Magistrates uncovers any other part of his Body and that his not doing so is not for all that taken as a mark of Contumacy and Disobedience it 's most strange Men should be bound by this Law and Religion about the Bonnet After this Reply there was Sentence pronounced against all of them that they should be detained in Prison because they refused to obey and be observant towards the King and irreverent towards the Judges As for Smyth they adjudged him to be out of the King's Protection to have his Goods Confiscate and brought to the Exchequer after this the rest of them were accused and partly because of their Meeting together and partly because they refused to Swear adjudged also to Prison the thing from a Hearing came to a Tryal the Evidence Swear to the Matter in the absence of the Criminals but the Witnesses disagreed very much one with another the whole Action of which the Accusation and Case was made up is found to be far otherwise than was thought to be the Judges hereupon were somewhat concerned what clear Answer they should give and what to determine concerning the Men at last they adjudge them to be carryed back to Prison At this time Francis Howgil a diligent Teacher among these People was taken from the Market-place where he attended his business by a Traveller and carryed before the Justices of the Peace that were met together in the next Inn These look askew upon the Man hesitate question him and at last come to that which they designed and require him to take the Oath of Allegiance he did at first in like manner delay as knowing their Tricks made no Excuse lest his going about to purge him of a fault might be esteemed as a fault but he afterward goes on whither they desired him and denyed that he could with a safe Conscience take the Oath And so was committed to Prison whence being brought before the Judges to
admirer of Knowledge and Learning and to reason with her out of the Book of Plato concerning this Platonical Doctrine and came that length with her that both he and she embrac'd the same opinion for a truth and because Keith was oftimes present at their Conferences they bring him in also to take share in the same opinion Which being made known to the Quakers Helmont who was a stiff Defender of his own Opinions which they look'd upon some of them as Dangerous Innovations others as foolish Errors and Distracted Notions became suspected and hated by them upon which he bids farewell to them and all their Society proceeding not only to Vindicate his Opinion but because he thought it yet rude and unpolish'd to refine and adorn the same instructing himself again and again out of the Jewish Writings of what might be serviceable to his Design digesting his Thoughts into this Form which I give you a Draught of in as few words as possibly I may Before the Souls are united to their Bodies they exist in another World after they are united to the Bodies each of them has its day of the Divine Visitation after One Thousand Years given to it for this End that by absolute Holiness and Sanctification it may prepare for Eternal Felicity But if it abuse the Goodness of God that it may expect to be condemn'd to that long and terrible Punishment which God hath prepared for them at the expiring of this their set Time But this Space of a Thousand Years is not continued and undivided but distinguish'd and circumscribed by Twelve Revolutions or Circnits of the Soul into the same Body except unto some of the Saints who are purg'd and sanctified enough in the first or second Cireuit And these Returns happen after Three Hundred Thirty Three Years and Four Months But while they are out of the Body they do not advance or proceed in Piety therefore if they be good it goes well with them if ill they fare the worse Those Souls which before the Death of Christ were translated from this Life and were not saved when they return to their Bodies may obtain Salvation through the Gospel of Christ But those since the Death of Christ to the End of the World that have not heard of the Gospel shall return again to their Bodies all at one time and in one place and then shall hear with their Ears the Tidings of the Gospel and obtain Salvation if they believe After that the Saints return to the Earth the First Resurrection shall be and all the Saints shall live upon Earth a Thousand Years without any Sin even as Adam in the State of Innocence and after the Example of Adam they shall be born of Virgins being begot of God their Father Then the Second Resurrection shall follow when the Saints shall after the Example of Christ the Second Adam be made perfect and consummated in their Heavenly Bodies And lastly The Felicity and Bliss of the Godly shall be Eternal but the Punishment of the Wicked shall be Finite and at length terminate in an End But I return to Keith I am firmly perswaded that Keith receives and entertains these Positions if not all yet at least the chiefest and most material of them though he would not discover his Mind in these Points unto any save those that are his Secretaries and Trustees or that seem a little wiser than the rest But he is not the only Favourite of these Doctrines there be others among them that are as fond of them as he tho very few so that they are far from being universally receiv'd by all the Society Nay the Quakers shall not long tolerate any Abertors of such Principles to continue of their Society if it be true what I have oftimes heard from some of their principal Members I have taken occasion to express my self more largely upon this point not only for sake of the Quakers but also of those who when they hear or read of these propositions and the books that treat of the same as not a few are curious to do are ignorant what is the original and beginning of these opinions and thus are ready to Judge of the whole matter amiss After this time William Penn joyn'd himself to the Society of the Quakers who after his fathers Death becaine Governour of Pensilvania a Man famous all over England and renown'd even among forreigners that are not quite ignorant of the English affairs by whose accession to that party counsel assistance diligence and activity the interest of the Quakers was much enlarg'd and amplified not indeed all of a sudden but by degrees It shall not therefore be improper according to my method of describing these great Men which we have follow'd from the beginning to subjoyn an account of the occasion and manner of his Conversion to this Religion his Love and Zeal for it and of his Wit and Conversation William Penn his father was Vice-Admiral to the English Navy a prudent and grave Man who behav'd himself so in the midst of the Distractions and Dissensions in the Government that according to the Divine Religion he was faithful and honest to his Neighbour This father having design'd his Son who was not born to him but to his Country and to the Common-wealth for some publick Remarkable Station in managing publick concerns not for being merely intent upon raising and encreasing his private fortune took care to have him well instructed in all Divine and humane Offices and sent him afterwards to the University of Oxford that among the rest of the young Gentlemen of that place he might exercise his mind with the study of Learning and liberal Arts. Then afterwards he went to France and staying sometime at Paris appear'd frequently at the French Court. At this time being yet very young he gave great testimony both of his stoutness and continency defending his Life boldly from the assault of an Enemy and a Fencer who sought to slay him but withal sparing the Life of this his Adversary when it was in his power to have kill'd him Having return'd to his own Country he went into Ireland where he heard many things of the Quakers and not being altogether an Enemy to their Doctrines and Conversations he freequented their Meetings This was the year sixty six and of his Age twenty two It happen'd that when he was present at their Meeting the Magistrate of the place came and took both him and the rest of the company Prisoners But he was so far from being frighten'd by this sudden and unexpected accident or from being tempted to withdraw from their party and profession that even in Prison he applied his mind more eagerly to their opinions after having understood of them more fully what were the peculiar properties of these Men either in Doctrine of Conversation The father was ravish'd with Admiration and not a little angry at his Son who was the only hope and comfort of his parents and who
Men denoteth their Union with those Men in whom they dwell but there is no Union nor Communion of God and Christ with evil men and unbelievers P. 279. So Christ so God by Christ is in all Men and dwelleth in all Men yea in all Creatures The Annot. See the Correction above given P. The same Chrisst and God set or go down Latineword occidit in Men but not every way The Annot. If by the Latine word occidit he understandeth it in that sense as the Sun is said to set or go down in the West or to arise or come up in the East it is in some manner tolerable But if by that Latine word occidit he understandeth as if God did dye in any Men I do not acknowledge that ever I said or Writ nay nor either thought any such thing But on the contrary when Thomas Fitzwater said in his Prayer at the yearly Meeting in Philadelphia these words O God who dyed in us and hast risen in us I did publickly in the Meeting reprehend him as speaking Blasphemously So far was it from me that I never thought any such thing for God is every way Immortal Indeed the Man Christ who is God was Born and Dyed but not as God but as Man But if at any time I have said that Christ is Crucified in any one I did no wise understand it so as that he suffered in the least as God but as that Seed of God siffereth in Men by their sins which Seed of God belongeth to Christ as a certain member of Christ mystically speaking for if the Saints and Believers are called the Members of Christ in Scripture Why may not this Seed of God much more be called so Because by that Seed the Faithful become the Members of Christ and are united with him mystically and spiritually Pag. The same And that seed is a substance a particle of the Invisible and spiritual substance of the Son of God and the Divine Man The Annot. That the Seed of God in the Faithful is a substance I own that I have affirm'd and I do still affirm it But I said not as I do not now say that it is a Particle of God nor doth the Author fix this upon me But that I said that Seed of God was a Particle of Christ the Divine Man I would not be so understood as if it were a Particle that could be divided or separated from Christ in that manner as a Corporeal Particle can be divided or separated from the Body whose part it is for it is undividable from Christ its Fountain as the Beams from the Sun P. The same So the Saints from all Ages have eat the Flesh and drank the Blood of Christ The Annot. That the Life of Christ in the Saints and Faithful is called the Flesh and Blood of Christ according to Joh. 6. 54. 63. is not otherwise so said than Allegorically and by a Metaphor as when it is called Milk Wine Oyl Fatness Bread I grant also that the Saints in all Ages have eat the Flesh and drunk the Blood of Christ in the common sense of Protestant Writers understanding by the Flesh of Christ his outward Flesh and by his Blood his outward Blood but so that they did not eat his Flesh and drink his Blood by the mouth of the body but by Faith according to these excellent words of Augustine Why said he preparest thou the Teeth and the Belly to eat Christ's Flesh Believe and thou hast eat it And I do not think that ever I said that the inward Blood of Christ was that Blood which by way of Atonement doth reconcile us to God But I alwayes believed and still I so believe that the Blood of Christ which reconcileth us to God by way of Atonement is that most holy Blood of his most holy Body outwardly shed which Blood was a necessary part of the Sacrifice of Christ which he offered for our sins joyned with his most holy Obedience and his most great Dolors and Sufferings both of his most holy Soul and Body P. 280. And often by the Infamy and Tearing asunder of his Body he is so afflicted with grief and suppressed as if he were nailed to the Cross The Annot. I do not remember that ever I said or Writ such words or so much as thought them I own that I have Writ that Christ or the Life of Christ in some manner or respect is Crucified in men when they commit heinous Sins who have formerly experienced Christ after a sort to live in them but all this is to be taken with a grain of allowance and in a sober sence Nor did I ever think that Christ suffereth such griefs in men as he suffered when he was nailed to the Cross when he did bear on him the weight of the Sins of the whole World but this I did mean that the life of Christ as it were doth so suffer in some men committing heinous sins as the life of man suffers when a Finger or a Toe of his Body is wounded with a mortal wound but that suffering is neither such nor so great as when the Head or Heart is mortally wounded Again it is one thing for a manss Finger to be killed and far another for his Head and Heart to be killed And whatsoever is the Suffering of Christ in some men I do neither think nor remember that either by Word or Writing I affirmed that Christ's Sufferings in any men were or are in any part or degree Propitiatory or by way of a Propitiatory Sacrifice I know some have so Writ viz. that Christ in men offereth up himself a Sacrifice to pacifie the Wrath of God but I have publickly shewed my Offence and witnessed against it But still I acknowledge and perhaps somewhere I have so Writ that the Life of Christ in the Faithful is not a Propitiatory Sacrifice but as an Heavenly and Divine Incense most sweetly smelling before God P. the same Thus Christ as he is that Divine Man is to be worshipped and adored by all but not as outward born of Mary The Annot. In this also he doth not rightly ascribe such Doctrine to me as if I deny'd that Divine Worship were due to the Man Christ outwardly Born of Mary for I have plainly Taught the contrary particularly in my Book called The Way cast up which Book I suppose this Author has both seen and read therefore I the rather think strange that he should attribute such Doctrine to me for in that Book I set down some words of Prayer to the Man Christ who suffered without us calling him Son of David and in this point I did dissent from many called Quakers and I still dissent But this I also affirm that the Divine Worship which we give to Christ is so to be directed to Christ our alone Mediator that by the Man Christ it may be directed to God and doth ultimately terminate in God Also he doth not aright ascribe to me that Doctrine
well Bnt that in some of my Writings I had said somewhat of the Existence of Christ the Heavenly Man before he assumed Flesh in the Womb of the Virgin I see not by what just manner he would fix it on me that I held a Two-fold Humanity of Christ as if there were Two Men Christs the one Heavenly the other Earthly and Corporeal unless by such a method of Arguing he would infer from the Scripture it self that every Man is Two Men as consisting of a two-fold Humanity Because Paul after a Mystical-way familiar to the Jews Writeth of an inward and outward Man And perhaps by such manner of Arguing one given to quibbles of arguing might study to prove out of Scripture that many men have four Humanities for beside that the Scripture speaketh of our inward and outward Man which are Soul and Body it speaketh also of the Old Man which we are bid put off and the New Man which we are to put on But if this Author or any other charge me with an Error in this point that I hold that the Mediatory Soul or Spirit of Christ did exist before he assumed Flesh it is not enough with bare words to blame me for Error without solid Argument but let them produce solid Arguments if they have any to convince me and solidly answer my Arguments I have brought from Scripture by which I judge I have proved my Assertion Nor am I singular in that case that I believe that Christ the Mediator did exist before he took flesh although not in whole yet in some part and respect even from the Beginning of the World to wit in respect of his Mediatory Celestial Soul and Spirit for diverse Pious men even among Protestants have affirmed the same no less than some Jewish Doctors and also some Gentile Philosophers had the same perswasion for because they did observe that the highest and lowest beings in the Universal Creation were joyned by certain middle Beings hence they concluded very agreeably to Reason that there was some mediatory Being i. e. a Mediator betwixt God that infinite and infinitely high Being and Mortal Men who being compared with God are justly to be esteem'd but as dust and ashes before him as indeed the Saints did express the same and especially that excellent and most humble Man Abrham called in Scripture the Friend of God the Father of the Faithful and Heir of the World did so humble himself before God that he called himself dust and Ashes P. 446. Then according to that Dogma to inculcate this unto all that Christ as he was Born of Mary is united with the Divine Nature and so is present with his Light and with his Life in all the Children of God The Annot. And here also he doth not rightly declare my Faith for by the Presence of Christ in all the Children of God I do not understand that the External Person of Christ or the Body which was Born of Mary is in them nor yet the Soul of Christ in respect of its center or of the fullness of virtue which only and alone dwelleth in the External Person and Body of Christ that was Born of the Virgin But this I say as the like I have said many years ago and have Writ in diverse of my Books published in Print that a certain ray or substantial influence is derived from out of the Man Christ in Heaven and floweth into the hearts of the Faithful after such manner as the Beams of the Sun that are truely substantial come out form the Center of the Sun and pass into the Earth and the Fruits of the Earth to make them grow and come to maturity the which similitude and diverse others the Scripture frequently useth as that of the Vine and Branches the Head and Members of Man's Body P. 455. They publish a Book which they call The Plea of the Innocent against the false Judgment of a Guilty Man The Annot. For a guilty Man read guilty Men for the word guilty is as well Plural as singular and in the Title of our Book we understand the word guilty in the Plural for there were Twenty eight Men guilty in giving forth that false Judgment P. 459. That Keith called another Man of the Magistracy by such a Name that Englishmen doubt of its signification The Annot. Every Englishman almost knoweth what is intended by that Name or Word answering to the Latine word Nebulo or Nequam which word Nebulo is derived from the Hebrew word Neâ—al as those who are skilfull in the Hebrew and Latine affirm which is of the same signification and is given in Scripture to False Teachers and to other bad Men. And let the Impartial Judge whether that Person was not worthy of such an Appellation who though professing himself a Christian did affirme boldly to me before diverse Witnesses that he did not expect to be saved by that which died at Jerusalem to wit the Man Christ that was Crucified at Jerusalem Surely if a Jew had said this it had been more tolerable but that one called a Christian and reckoned of the First Rank among Christians should spue out his Filth so Blasphemously against the Saviour of the World and so wickedly might have moved any Christian having the least grain of true Faith not only to call him so but somewhat more hard And the same Person did vehemently urge me at that same very time I so Named him that I would submit my Self and my Faith to that Meeting wherein I so called him in that Question Whether God was present in all his Creatures Some in that Meeting and these even Ministers openly denying it for so he spoke to me because I refused to submit my Faith and Conscience in that Question to the Determination of that Meeting Will thou not submit to the Church Doth not the Spirit of God speak in the Church Doth the Spirit speak in Trees because I had affirmed that the Spirit was in Trees What more I pray doth the Church of Rome presume yea I know not If she doth presume so much that if she determineth that there is no God or which is the equivalent that God is not every where present her Members must stand to her Determination And because I refused to submit my Faith to the Determination of that Meeting in that Question Whether God be present in all his Creatures that Meeting would not give any Judgment in the case And as I heard afterwards that man was of the Magistracy but obscurely put in and known to few and not at all to me as such nor was he any Magistrate in that place when I spoke that Word And I observe that this very Author in this History P. 376. hath called a certain Frenchman a Papist who had sometime ago writ some false things against the People called Quakers by the like name to wit Nequam impurum hominem A Knave and filthy Man And I doubt not but he doth remember how frequently