Lord's love and goodness at that time when I wrote that Book which was a time of great Suffering unto me being straitly confined in Prison where I met with divers Hardships and Severities from Men all which the Lord turned to my spiritual Advantage and the spiritual Comforts and Refreshments where withal the Lord was pleased to visit my Soul were exceeding precious unto me as they are at this day feeling at this present time these of the same kind and nature by the good Spirit of the Lord continued and renewed unto me notwithstanding of the unjust and uncharitable Judgment of my late Adversaries against me as if I were become a dry Tree yet my Soul is alive to praise God who hath preserved me to this instant in the midst of many great and deep Exercises and Tryals both inward and outward one of the greatest of which hath been and is the envy and rage of such who have risen up in great enmity against me for my telling them the Truth and my faithful opposing the Errors and Evils that I have found among them and my trust and Faith is in God through Christ Jesus that he will preserve me to the end and disappoint and frustrate all their False Prophecies bitter Curses and lying Divinations they have poured out against me and continue to utter both in print and private Letters they send to me for which I desire and pray sincerely unto God that he may give them Repentance and Forgiveness And being sensible and truly convinced that I had too far exceeded in the thoughts of my spiritual Attainments not only then but since therefore whatever passages are to be found either in this first Book or any other of my later Books that are justy offensive on the account of my going beyond the due Bounds of my real growth and spiritual and inward state in the Truth or of thinking of my inward Attainments and Calls Services Labours and Testimonies beyond what I ought to have thought or wherein either in this or any other of my Books I have seemed to my self or professed to others to have been acted by a purely divine impulse and motion to speak and write I do freely and most willingly retract and revoke it so far as any thing of the least mixture of mistake or untruth is to be found therein as I confess I have found some mixture in this Book and in other my Books And as in other things I acknowledge my Mistakes as to the People called Quakers in general so in this that was the general mistake among us that their chief Leaders led us generally into that the People called Quakers was the Church come out of the Wilderness But for divers Years past I have seen my Mistakes as to this and the great Defects Disorders Confusions and Imperfections I have found among them and especially the ignorance and great want of dne Qualifications in the generality of their Ministry have given just ground to judge far otherwise concerning them But yet I do affirm that I have found divers that go under that Name that have to my understanding and apprehension made a good progress in spiritual Experiences and other spiritual Attainments of Knowledge and Virtue And I do still continue in my real perswasion and belief that there was a good Work of God upon the Hearts of many of that People and his mighty Power did stir and operate in them as I hope it doth in some continue to do unto this day But greatly has the Power of Darkness and Error prevailed with many especially their Leaders in great part to mislead them and Presumption and Pride earthly Lusts and uncharitableness in so highly condemning others are Sins that did and do greatly prevail among them and hath brought a great Cloud of Darkness over many of them which I pray God to remove and cause his blessed Light to shine forth more among them and all others and that he would be pleased to knit and unite the Hearts of all that sincerely love the Lord to love one another and make them of one Heart and Soul that they may worship the Lord together in Spirit and in Truth that as the Lord is one all his People may be one which cannot otherwise be effected but by the more powerful Coming and Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ into their Hearts and inward parts to prepare them for his last coming in Glory without them to receive them to his Heavenly Kingdom Even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Amen But notwithstanding of the particular passages in that Book which I have retracted I adhere to my Testimony I have given in the same as in all my other Books as to Matter and Substance of many weighty things there delivered and the good Advice I gave to my Country-men in that Book I wish heartily they would duly regard Pag. 63. And this Prophet Jesus Christ is nigh unto us yea more nigh than all the Men or Books upon the face of the Earth And a little after And the Bride rejoyceth greatly because of the Voice of the Bridegroom himself And now we need not-say who will go down into the Grave and bring up Christ to us or who will ascend to Heaven to bring him down to us or who will go over the Seas and bring us tydings of him from Jerusalem when he suffered in the Flesh him whose Name is the Word of God we of a truth witness near us even in our Hearts so that we need not either ascend or descend or go fouth c. Here Note That this above-mentioned passage was brought by T. Ellwood in one of his late printed Books against me to parallel that Antichristian Doctrine of G. Whitehead who said in his Truth Defended Answer to W. Burnet The Quakers see no need of directing to pag. 110 111. the Type for the Antitype viz. neither to the outward Temple nor yet to Jerusalem either to Jesus Christ or his Blood knowing that neither the Righteousness of Faith nor the Word of it doth so direct Rom. 10. And a little after he saith And where do the Scriptures say the Blood was there shed for Justification and that Men must be directed to Jerusalem to it Light and Life pag. 59 60. But who seeth not that my Words have no such tendency as his but are of quite another importance as intimating that after we are brought to know God and Christ by the inward Teaching of God and Christ in our Hearts that perswadeth us that Christ suffered in the Flesh at Jerusalem and moveth us to believe the outward Testimony of the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ's Death and Sufferings we need not say who will go over the Seas and bring us Tydings of him from Jerusalem where he suffered in the Flesh for all sincere Christians are well satisfied with the Faith they have already of Christ by the inward Testimony of his Spirit in their Hearts that the Scripture-record of him is ture So
that they neither need nor seek any other ground of confirmation to their Faith either of an outward Voice from Heaven or from beyond the Sea from Jerusalem where he suffered yea a true Christian and sincere Believer who sincerely believes that Christ suffered for his sins at Jerusalem and has the Faith of it wrought in his Heart by the Spirit of Christ in him the Scriptures Testimony having been Instrumental thereunto hath not so great and absolute necessity of the Scriptures outward Testimony as that his Faith must be lost if the Letter of Scripture were quite taken away from him for though the Scripture be very useful and comfortable to him yet if persecuting Infidels should rob him of the Bible and all other Books it followeth not that they can rob him of his Faith And that this is the importance and signification of my Words above-mentioned is obvious to any intelligent unprejudiced Person But the Question in debate there betwixt G. W. and W. Burnet was not about the manner how the Saints are taught as whether more by an outward Teacher or by Christ their inward Teacher how to believe in Christ or whether the Spirits inward Testimony or the outward Testimony of the Letter of Scripture or any outward testimony of Men is the more necessary and greater ground of Confirmation to our Faith but whether the Quakers see need to direct men to Christ as he suffered at Jerusalem or to his Blood as it was there shed for Justification and as G. W. his Words further clear his sense he saith Where do the Scriptures say the Blood was there shed for Justification and that Men must be directed to Jerusalem to it I need not insist to show how unparalel altogether is the quotation he takes out of my Book to excuse the Antichristian Doctrine of G. W. But suppose I had been in the same Error with him doth my Error excuse his Error But how impudent a wrester of my innocent Words is T. Ellwood that to make me an Apostate from my former Principles he fains me so far to contradict my former Testimony that I am now for sending to Jerusalem to have Tydings of Christ brought from thence But to discover him to be a shameless Forger and false Accuser which are plain signs of his Apostacy from common Honesty in this as in many other particulars I tell him and all his Gang and Fraternity of False Accusers whose best Weapons to support their tottering Kingdom are Lyes and Calumnies I am now no more than ever for sending to Jerusalem to have Tydings of Christ brought from hence for I seek no other outward Testimony not need any other but that which began to be preached at Jerusalem by the holy Apostles of our Lord above sixteen hundred Years ago and from Jerusalem came to Britain and many other parts of the World and that the said outward Testimony is true I am fully perswaded by the inward Testimony of Christ the Living Word in my Heart which praised be God my preserver I am not gone from neither in Principle nor Practise but own it and embrace it with great joy and satisfaction that is infinitely more to me than all worldly treasure as much as at any time formerly and I hope shall so be for ever Therefore it is another absolute Forgery and Falshood in T. E. to charge me as he doth saying But now being gone from the Word in his Heart and turned against it c. But why doth he think I am gone from it and turned against it because I did blame G. W. his Antichristian Doctrine in saying It was contrary to Rom. 10. to direct Men to Jesus Christ as he suffered there and to his Blood as it was shed there for Justification Which is a gross abuse put upon Rom. 10. that doth direct us to Christ the Object of our Faith as he rose from the dead at Jerusalem where he suffered Death ver 9 10. If thou shall confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe with thy Heart that God raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved And as for T. E. his poor evasion in alledging it was a Typographical Error in G. W.'s Book To for For having formerly shewed the falseness of it he having used the Particle To in divers other places to the same effect and supposing it were to be read For mends not the matter I shall not any more insist on it here As touching divers passages quoted by my late Adversaries particularly Thomas Ellwood and John Pennington out of some other of my Books as The Way to the City of God The Way cast up Light of Truth in Answer to R. Gordon or any others of the like nature and importance which they have sought greatly to pervert and misconstructure on purpose to abuse me and make their credulous followers think my late Principles contradictory to my former touching Articles of Faith I see no present need nor cause to recite them particularly one by one or to rescue and vindicate them by any large Answer from their perversions and wrestings the passages themselves in great part as quoted by them abstractly considered from their perverse glosses sufficiently serve to clear me that I remain constant to my former Principles with respect to these great Doctrines of the Christian Faith and will much more clear me if they be read and considered as they stand in my own Books so that I think it worth mentioning what an unprejudiced and judicious Person that had read their several late Books against me and the Quotations they have brought out of my Books to prove me changed in my Principles said both to some of themselves and also to me He was not one called a Quaker but of another Communion that instead of their thinking to do me a diskindness so as to prove me changed from my former Principles from those several Quotations they have brought out of my Books they have though contrary to their design done me a great Kindness for these very Quotations prove that I have been of the same Principles formerly that now they blame me for and which they commonly call Priests and Professors Principles And seeing I have in divers late Printed Treatises as in my Printed Letter to G. Croofe at the end of his General History of the Quakers and in my late Book called Antichrists and Saddnces detected given divers plain Explications of most of these and such like Quotations brought by them against me and shown the good Consistency of them with my present Faith it would be a superfluous labour to Reprint another Vindication of those Quotations from their Perversions And here in the close I acquaint the Friendly and Judicious Reader that if any of my above-given Explications seem to him in any degree strained beyond what the genuine sense of the Words will 〈◊〉 though I know not any one such I am freely willing that what he 〈◊〉 in any degree strained he may
Emendations of Passages in my Book called Immediate Revelation not ceased First Printed in the Year 1668. and Re-printed with an Appendix in the Year 1676. I. AS Concerning the Term Immediate Revelation in the Title Page of that Book at which some are offended and which some misconstrue to a wrong sense never intended by me as if thereby I did signify such a Revelation as did give us the Doctrinal knowledge and Faith of Christian Religion and Principles thereof without the Holy Scriptures or other outward means of Instruction to obviate this offence and mistake I recommend to the Reader what I have said from pag. 38. to pag. 42. of that Book Where I distinguish of means Intermitting and Transmitting and show that it is the Intermitting means that hinder the Revelation to be Immediate but not the Transmitting and the same distinction I use in my Book called Divine Immediate Revelation Printed in the Year 1684. But in other words as discontinued and continued Moreover how far I did own the Holy Scriptures to be a necessary means to give us the true Knowledge and Faith of Christian Doctrines and Principles I refer the Reader to my Book Divine Immediate Revelation p. 〈◊〉 Where I say And if we except these Doctrines and Heads of General Religion common to us with the Gentiles which are revealed both to them and us without Scripture of all which notwithstanding the Scripture doth abundantly testify all other Doctrines and Heads of the Christian Religion which is a special Religion more perfect and excellent than the General and perfecting the said General Religion in true Christians are made known to us by the Scripture-means the Holy Spirit inwardly inlightning and inspiring us that we may understand the Doctrines declared in the Scripture and may savingly apply them with true and sincere Faith to the salvation of our Souls And here Note that in the words above cited I did distinguish twelve years ago betwixt Gentile Religion and Christian Religion tho some call this a New Doctrine in me so to dislinguish And seeing the word Immediate Revelation is no Scripture Term tho Revelation is and that it is not well understood by many I can freely consent that the word Immediate be not pressed or imposed on any But I do constantly assert as I have formerly asserted that the inward sensible Communications and Enjoyments of God and Christ that the Saints have frequent Experience of are not only beyond all Demonstration of words but are oft received without all present use of words in a deep inward silence of the Soul II. That I blame them who say that the Scriptures are a filled up Canon and the only Rule of Faith and Obedience in all things and no more Scriptures or Writings to be given forth from the Spirit of the Lord. And pag. 4. That I said tho no NEW ESSENTIALS ARE to be added yet a New and fuller and clearer Testimony may be added concerning the same old essentials Here Note the words may be added as importing the possibility of such a thing But whether God shall be pleased to add to the Books of the Holy Scripture other Books of the same Authority in any time to come before the End of the World I Judge it is not safe for me to determine either in the Affirmative or Negative but that it is possible he may do it ought not to be questioned of But that any Mens Writings beside that of the Prophets and Apostles are of equal Authority with the Scriptures ought not to be granted and that all Doctrines of Men however so much Illuminated ought to be subjected to the Rule test and touchstone of the Holy Scripture and tryed by the same I do assert as formerly I have done still leaving Room to the Spirit to give particular Guidance to the Souls of the Faithful with respect to their inward State and directing them in Particular Cases and Affairs as to things in themselves Lawful and not forbidden nor Commanded in General by any positive Precept and that I said no New Essentials are to be added is sufficient Proof that I held the Scripture did contain all the Essential Doctrines of Christianity III. As to my blaming them who deny that there is an infallible way whereby to discern the true Ministers and Members of Christs Church from the false To this I say tho such a discerning of Spirits was given at times to the Prophets and Apostles and others extraordinarily endued whereby to know Mens inward States without regard had to their Fruits yet the general way that Christ has given us whereby to know Men is by their Fruits of words and works whether Good or Evil. And whatever inward sense or discerning any may pretend to have of another Mans Spirit being bad yet we find no warrant from Scripture to receive an Accusation against any far less a positive Judgment without plain evidence of matter of Fact against them by credible Witnesses 1 Tim. 5. 19. For if such a thing be given way to in any Society that Men shall be Judged to be of a wrong Spirit only by the pretended discerning of Spirits that some may claim without any real Proof or Evidence of words or works that are really evil the most innocent Men may happen to be Condemned and the most guilty justified And even to know Men by their Fruits is a gift of the Spirit and proceedeth from a true Spiritual discerning that is given Universally in some measure to all the Faithful tho they have not always such due use of it but they may be and are at times mistaken IV. This Seed groweth up into a perfect substantial Birth which is Christ formed within the Body of Christ his Flesh and Blood which cometh down from Heaven and giveth Life unto Man which eateth it and feedeth upon it and it is called the Body and Flesh and Blood of Christ because his Eternal Life and Spirit dwelleth in it immediately Here Note by this perfect substantial Birth I did not mean as I now do not any substance newly produced even as in the Generation of natural things as Plants and Animals no new substance is produced but only a vital Union of substantial Principles formerly existing so by Christ formed within I understood and do still understand that a measure of the pure Life of Christ cometh to be United to the Soul and the Soul to it after the Soul is duly purified and prepared for such an Union by which Union that Soul becometh a Member of Christ even as the Hand is a Member of a Man's Body by its having the Life of the Body in some measure united to it and by Virtue of that Union actuating that Member and making it living and sensible And whereas I did call that inward substantial Birth the Flesh and Blood of Christ I did so call it only by a Metaphor or Allegory for with such Metaphors Allegories and Figurative Speeches the Scripture aboundeth in treating
of the Spiritual and Divine Refreshments and Enjoyments of the Saints as when they are called Bread Wine Milk Honey Marrow and Fatness and a Feast of fat things But this Allegorical and Figurative sense of Christs Flesh and Blood ought not to divert our minds not take off our Faith from Christs Flesh without us that he gave to be broken for us nor from his Blood that he gave to be shed for us without us for the Remission of our Sins nor was it ever so intended by me Now that to believe in Christ as he gave his Body of Flesh outwardly to be broken for us and his Blood outwardly to be shed for the Remission of our Sins is the Eating of his Flesh and drinking of his Blood as well as the inward Enjoyment of his Life in us is clear from John 6. 29 35 40 47 48. According to which Augustin said concerning Eating Christs Flesh and drinking his Blood Quid paras dentem ventrem crede Manducasti i. e. VVhy preparest thou Teeth and Belly believe and thou hast Eat Christs Flesh and drunk his Blood V. Pag. 36. For we do freely acknowledge that such is our State and Condition as we are capable to run out and both think speak write and do things that are not only not infallible but may be wrong and false And pag. 37. So that this infallibility as it relates unto the Seed Birth and Spirit of God is absolute but as it relates to us is limited and conditional and is rather a possibility of not being deceived than an impossibility of being deceived Here Note seeing I have plainly acknowledged that not only I but we to wit any of us all may err why should I or any of us be ashamed or unwilling to own and correct any unsound or unjustifiable words that may have dropt from our Mouths or Pens by humane weakness or inadvertency or why should any be upbraided and reviled as Apostates and Changelings for so doing Also Note that the Calumny of such is sufficiently repelled who have falsely charged me as holding my self or others of the People called Quakers to be infallible which I never did tho I Praise God I am no Sceptick in Religion But do believe that both all sincere Christians and I have an infallible Faith and Perswasion touching the Fundamental and Essential Doctrines of Christianity yet in other things of an Inferior Nature I grant I not only may have erred but that I have erred and I desire to bless God that hath given me a Heart willing both to see and Acknowledge my Errors and to retract and amend them VI. Pag. 54. And tho I cite Scriptures and make use of them in arguing this Point yet I can truly say I have not my knowledge from them Here Note I say from them as being the efficient cause but I did not deny that I had my knowledge by them Instrumentally to wit the Doctrinal Knowledge and Faith I had of the Gospel Truths and Principles of Christianity for that is abundantly acknowledged in many places of my Book of Immediate Revelation as I have above mentioned therefore what I then held I still hold that I do own and acknowledge the Doctrinal Knowledge and Faith of the Principles of Christianity Principally to the Spirits inward Teachings and to the Holy Scriptures and other outward means of Instruction Instrumentally VII Pag. 57. Jesus Christ himself who spoke to them in the days of his Flesh Face to Face did his words reveal him or his Father unto them c. Here Note I show how there is need of Internal Revelation to give the Knowledge of Christ as he came in the Flesh and therefore it appeareth I did then believe as well as now I do believe that the Knowledge of Christ as he came in the Flesh was needful to salvation even to all Mens salvation who ever shall be saved either express or implicite else why should I plead that it was needful to be revealed by the Spirit VIII Pag. 60. Seeing the Knowledge of Christ after the Flesh was not sufficient not to be rested in but they were to look for a better c. Here Note that as it will appear from the foregoing and following words in that Book by the Knowledge of Christ after the Flesh I did not mean the Knowledge of him as he came in the Flesh but that knowledge that the Disciples and Apostles had of him by their outward sight and hearing of him or by what they could know of him by the meer Actings of the mind without Internal Divine Illumination But the true saving knowledge of him is a Spiritual Knowledge of him as he came in the Flesh and dyed for us so as by the Inward Revelation of the Spirit of God the mystery of his Death and Sufferings is opened to us and the end and intent thereof with the great Blessings and Benefits we receive by him IX Pag. 63. The Glorious Gospel of Christ is not the words the best of Scripture words Here Note that whereas I say the Glorious Gospel of Christ is not the Words even the best of Scripture Words It appeareth sufficiently from what I have at large discoursed on that Head in that Book of Immediate Revelation from pag. 55. to 71. My sense was that the words of Scripture are not Principally and chiefly the Gospel are not the Principal thing of the Gospel which I expressly mention pag. 69. And I call the Light of Christ shining in the hearts of the Faithful The Principal thing that giveth the true Knowledge of God which if Mens minds were come to and begot into it their Reading in the Scriptures and other Exercises in the leadings of this would be useful and serviceable in their place But as the Scripture words without the inward Life Spirit Light and Grace is not the Gospel so nor is the Spirit and Light barely and abstractly considered without the Words and Doctrine the Gospel In the full and adequate sense of the VVord Gospel which signifieth glad tydings and cannot be conceived without some form of Words and Propositions that consist of words inwardly conceived and cannot be outwardly Preached without some form of words outwardly expressed And certainly when Paul said Rom. 1. 16. That the Gospel was the Power of God unto salvation To every one that believeth he did not think that the Gospel was a form of words without the Power of God inwardly revealed for he said to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1. 5. For our Gospel came not only unto you in word only but in Power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance and 1 Cor. 4. 20. For the Kingdom of God is not in VVord but in Power And that by the Kingdom of God is sometimes understood in Scripture the Gospel is clear from Math. 13. Mark 4. Luk. 8. Treating of the parable of the Sower and is generally acknowledged by Christian Writers But when Men commonly call the words of
called Mary really and truly according to the flesh And his Birth thus after the flesh as he was born of the Virgin at Bethlem in Judea I did always believe as I do at present so believe was really intended and foretold in these words Gen. 3. 15. And as Mary was the immediate Mother of Christ according to the flesh so Evah who was the Mother of all Men was his Mother remotely But the Allegorical sense of Christ's Birth or Formation in the Saints is warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity By Scripture as Mat 12. 50. Rev. 12. 2. 5. And by Antiquity for Augustin first and long after him Erasmus said If Mary had not born Christ in her heart or soul he could not have been her Saviour tho she had born him in her flesh But this Allegorical Allusion of Christ's Birth in the Saints I did not ground on Gen. 3. 15. but on Mat. 12. 50. and Rev. 12. 1 5. And how and in what sense I understand the Birth of Christ in the Saints I refer to the 4th Paragraph of this Section XX. Page 254. And this is as proper a Death as when a man dieth for when a man dieth his soul dieth not in it self but it dieth unto that Fellowship it had with the body by reason of the Vital Union betwixt it and the body being broken Here Note I acknowledge this passage is not safely worded therefore I retract it For tho I had very safely asserted That the Life af Christ viz. The Principle of the Divine Life in men never dieth in it self but only as to men when they commit great and heinous sins whereby they are said to quench the spirit and crucifie the Son of God afresh to themselves after they had known a divine quickening yet the Union betwixt the soul and body of a man being broken is more properly a Death the other I take to be understood rather figuratively than proper For when the Vital Union betwixt Soul and Body is broken the Soul doth wholly cease to act in that body while it is dead But Christ ceaseth not oft times to act in a dead soul but doth oft act in it by sharp Reproof and Conviction for its sin and also by new and fresh Visitations of his Life and Love in order to quicken and renew it again Moreover the Soul and Body of a Man are so united that they make up one Person but so are not Christ and the Soul united as to be one Person for that would make every Saint to be Christ The Union betwixt the Soul and Body of a Man is a Personal Union whereby every Action of the body is chargable upon the Person according to that true Maxim Actiones sunt suppositorum i. e. Actions are of Persons as what the hand doth the Man whose hand it is is justly said to do it whether Good or Evil. But the Actions of Mens Souls in whom Christ is are not chargeable upon Christ for as Christ is no wise chargeable with the least Sin that the Soul Acteth so when the Soul repenteth and believeth c. That is not Christ that repenteth and believeth in that Soul Christ indeed is the Author and chief efficient cause of true Repentance and Faith in believers but he is not the subject of reception This excellent Union betwixt Christ and true Believers is compared in Scripture to that Union betwixt the Head and the Body the Vine and the Branches the Foundation and the Building but it is better felt by the Faithful than it can be defined by the best of words for it is unspeakable and yet is incomparably short of that Union that is betwixt the Godhead and Manhood of Christ which is a Personal Union So that the Man Christ is God yet so that the Manhood is not the Godhead And the Union betwixt Christ and Believers is by their Faith in him and Love to him by which Faith and Love as they are United to his Spirit and Measure of his Life and Grace in them so thereby they are United to the Man Christ in Heaven and to that fullness of Grace that dwells in him as every Member of the Body as it is United to the Life in that Member so it is to the Head and to the Life that is in the Head and as all the Members in the Natural Body are United both to the head and to each other so all the faithful are United to Christ and to one another The Reader that is willing to know my sense further as to these weighty matters above-mentioned relating to Christs Birth or Formation in the Saints and their Union with him may read if they please my Appendix to the General History of the Quakers by G. Croese Printed at London this present Year 1696. SECT II. Containg diverse Explanations and Emendations of Passages in my Book called The Universal free Grace of the Gospel Asserted Printed 1671. TItle Pag. Proved by many infallible Arguments in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of Truth Here Note That I had the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth on my side in diverse of the Arguments I have used in that Book I still believe but whereas on a further consideration and more mature Judgment I find diverse Passages in that Book that need correction therefore I Acknowledge my Weakness and Rashness in ascribing all the Arguments in that Book and my whole way of Arguing on that subject to the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit of Truth and I freely and most willingly retract that clause both here or any where else in any of my Books where I have used it so far 〈…〉 have ascribed any saying or Passage to the Spirit of 〈…〉 that is not according to the Testimony of the Holy 〈…〉 the Spirit of Truth leads into all Truth and into 〈◊〉 but Truth therefore whoever ascribes whether I or any Man else any untruth or Inpertinency or undue Application of Scripture to the Spirit of Truth however unwittingly they so do as what I did was unwittingly they do greatly Err and Sin in so doing And my sin and error herein I freely confess trusting in the Mercy of God for Christs sake for the pardon of that and all my other Sins I. Pag. 4. That God by an Eternal decree hath wholly passed by the most part of Men and left them in Darkness without any Light to shine in their Darkness that can possibly at any time Lead them out of it Doth not this discourage People Here Note That it is this which I mainly opposed in my Book Viz. The decree of absolute reprobation making salvation impossible to the greatest part of Mankind And on the other hand I earnestly plead for the Universality of the Light Word Grace and Spirit of God towards and upon all In a day of Visitation for making salvation possible unto them compared with p. 110. And in this Testimony I remain against that absurd Doctrine of absolute
application of these places of Scriptue to the inward Principle as to what it did or doth discover and reveal universally in men and particularly in such of the Gentiles to whom the Gospel was not outwardly preached for upon a more diligent search into the holy Scripture I find that in all places in the New Testament where the word Gospel is used it signifieth the Doctrine of salvation by the promised Messiah that was outwardly to come and did come in the true Nature of Man together with the spiritual blessings that men were to receive by him of which the inward principle of God's Grace Light and Spirit within both in general to all and in special to believers in a more excellent degree and manner of Operation and Influence is but a part Yet I confine not the Gospel even in this sense to outward preaching by the Ministry of Men or Books for it was preached to Adam and Eve after the Fall by God himself and so was it to Abraham and Job and so it is probable it has been to divers even to some Gentiles singularly favoured without the Ministry of Men though in God's ordinary way it is preached by the Ministry of Men God himself by his Spirit and divine Influence inwardly accompanying the same to work the true Faith of it in the Hearers Therefore whatever Doctrine Men preach or have at any time preached the great Subject whereof is not the promised Messiah to wit the Crucified Jesus as the main Foundation of all the Spiritual Blessings of Light and Grace and divine Influences of the Spirit within it is not the Gospel in the proper full and adequate Sense and Signification of it as the Scripture useth it And as concerning that place in Colos 1. 23. and other such places as I have noted above though the Greek Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is oft properly Translated in yet not always and there is no cause so to Translate it here but rather to for the Apostle Paul in that place means the Doctrine of Salvation by Christ Crucified and the Grace and gift of the Holy Spsrit given of God to Men through him as it was preached by him and the other Apostles and Evangelists in that clear and bright Dispensation of it that was then given And though it was not at that time actually preached to all Men nor to all Nations yet because it began then so to be preached and was certainly to be preached to all Nations and will be so preached before the end of the World therefore after the Prophetical Phrase of Scripture That which was to be done is said to be done VIII Pag. 43. And that it hath pleased the Lord to send his Son into the world both in the outward and inward in a weak and low appearance that he might show forth the more abundant glory in that which was so low and weak in appearance to prevail over the greatest power that stood in his way for thus doth the Seed of the woman bruise the Serpents head Here Note That I did not place our Salvation wholly upon Christ's inward appearance but upon God his sending him both in the outward and inward to bruise the Serpents head And that I did not understand that the bringing Men simply to the inward Principle so as only to believe in the Light Word or Spirit within was the bringing them to the Christian Faith but that it was a proper means by way of preparation and introduction in order to the gathering of People into the true Faith of Christ which is the whole aim and scope of my fifth Argument in that Book from P. 88. to 94. where note these words p. 92. And this will bring People naturally to own the Scriptures and things therein declared to own Moses and the Prophets to own the Dispensation of God to the Jews in that day and to own Christ in the Flesh his miraculous Birth his Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension together with the wonderful end and design of God therein c. And this Method I very well approve of still for as the knowledge of Christ the Word Incarnate or made Flesh presupposeth some knowledge of God and of his Word so to preach to People that are ignorant of God and of his Divine Perfections that there is a God and what his Divine Perfections are is very proper and necessary that they may be brought into some true knowledge of him which they cannot be brought into without some Divine Illumination of the inward Principle the Internal Word and Light But all this is an introduction and preparation to dispose the Souls and Hearts of Men to receive the Christian Faith and Religion and is not the Explicite Christian Faith it self no more than the Porch that leads into the House is the House though it may be said to be a part of it as in the definition of a Man that he is a living Creature or Animal is not his true definition but the Genus of it which is but a part at most but when the difference is superadded that he is a Rational or Intellectual Living Creature that is his true definition And so the true definition of a true Christian and sincere Believer in Christ is he who not only believes that there is a God and that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God c. but that the Word was made Flesh and that the Son of God by Eternal Generation became the Son of Man by a miraculous Generation in time and so is both God and Man and yet not two Sons of God but one not two Christs but one This is the true Christian Explicite Faith like a Tree spreading forth its boughs and branches together with the other great Truths of the Christian Doctrine delivered in the Holy Scriptures with rich and precious Fruit to which the implicit Faith in some Virtuous Gentiles may be compared to that same Tree when it was in the Seed or but a little sprung up into the Bud or Blade as Christ compared the Kingdom of God to wit the Evangelical Dispensation Mark 4. 26 27 28 29. Compare this with what is above quoted out of that Book p. 6. § 3. of this Section and with what is said p. 61 of that Book VIII P 63. Which peice of silver betokeneth the divine principle c. Luke 15. 8. Here Note This undue Application is Retracted and Corrected above in the first Sect. § 13. And in fine although I firmly remain in my Faith and Persuasion of the Truth of that great Principle of the Universal Love and Grace of God making Salvation possible to all Men and that in order thereunto Christ hath Inlightened every Man that cometh into the World which universal Illumination is an universal Benefit that all Men have by his dying for them as is largely urged by me particularly from p. 31 to 34. in that Book and in divers other places and
no notice of then why do they blame me that I have both of late seen and noticed divers Errors in their Books which formerly I had not seen for want of due examination nor noticed Pag. 170 171. Now if this were but received among those called Christians that nothing should be required by one sort from another as an Article of Faith or Doctrine or Principle of the Christian Religion in common to be believed but what is expresly delivered in the Scriptures in plain express Scripture-terms of how great an advantage might it be to bring a Reconcilement among them and to beget true Christian Unity Peace Love and Concord Here Note Some of my late Opponents have brought this place against me to prove me guilty of a contradiction by my late practise of what they call my Imposing on them Unscriptural Creeds and Terms as when I told them they must believe in Christ without them for Salvation as well as in Christ or the Spirit of Christ within them they have blamed this as Unscriptural and have queried me for express Scripture to prove Christ without and a Heaven without and a Resurrection without and a Day of Judgment without to whom I have Answered them by again querying them Where do they find express Scripture for an Earth without or Sun Moon and Stars without us or a Land of Judea without or a Moses or David without us For though the Word without is not expressed yet it is so easily and universally understood in all these cases as if it were expressed And I still adhere to my former Advice that nothing be required by one sort from an other as an Article of Faith or Doctrine in common to be believed but what is expresly delivered in the Scriptures in plain express Scripture terms yet not so as every Word must be exprest in so many Letters and Syllables when there is no necessary occasion for it for it may suffice if a truth be exprest in such plain and easie terms as are equivalent to Scripture terms as when we say Christ was born at Bethlehem we mean that Bethlehem was a place without us and also that Christ was born without us and I confess it had been as little needful to have mentioned Christ without us or Heaven without us c. as Judea without us or any other place had not that wild Notion of many who own no Christ without nor Heaven nor Resurrection nor Day of Judgment without but only within occasion'd it Pag. 191. The sacrifice of Christ's Death did truly extend for the Remission of Sins past from the beginning of the World Hence ALL THE BELIEVERS that lived under the Law and Prophets and BEFORE THE LAW were saved by FAITH IN CHRIST and had their Sins pardoned not by the Offering of the Blood of Bulls and Rams but by the Blood of Christ who was to dye for them and in whom they believed and dyed in Faith as is clear out of many places of Scripture and especially the Epistle to the Hebrews and by virtue of Christ's Death and Offering once for all Men all have had or have or shall have a Day of Visitation and offer of Grace through Christ even these who lived before Christ came in the Flesh in that prepared Body as well as others and therefore all who finally perish and are lost in whatever Age or Time of the World they lived they must be accountable to Christ who is judge both of quick and dead and Lord of both and they shall be punished with Fire of Hell for neglecting and despising the Salvation offered by him And although this is a great Mystery and hard to be uttered how this Gospel Invitation and Visitation cometh unto all and how all shall be accountable unto the Man Christ Jesus on the score or account of his dying for them Acts 10. 42. Acts 17. 31. Yet seeing the Scripture is so plain and clear for it it is better to believe it than curiously to dispute how or after what manner it comes so to be Here Note 1. These foregoing Words published by me in Print sixteen years ago prove that I did not place our whole Salvation upon an inward Principle excluding the Man Christ Jesus from being jointly concerned with his Light Grace and Spirit in men as many called Quakers now do 2. That I then held that all who were saved in any Age of the World were saved by Faith in Christ as well before he came in the Flesh as since and that by Faith in Christ I meant the Man Christ who is both God and Man who in the fulness of time came in the Flesh and shed his Blood for the Remission of their sins is obvious to any intelligent Reader therefore my late Adversaries among a sort of Quakers are most injurious to me and false Accusers of me who call this a new Doctrine of mine to affirm that all who ever were saved or shall be saved with Eternal Salvation were saved by Faith in the Man Christ either express or implicit even him that was in the Fulness of Time crucified for them And it is but a trifling and nonsensical Objection in them to argue against it that they could not believe in Christ crucified before he was crucified for it was one and the same Christ that was to be crucified and who was crucified in the fulness of time the same yesterday to day and forever who is the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World and a Priest forever and who therefore by virtue of the Sacrifice of himself that was to be slain in the fulness of time made Peace betwixt Believers and God as well before he came and suffered for the Sins of men as since and on whose Account they had Remission of Sin and the Holy Ghost to sanctifie them and none had the Holy Ghost by union and indwelling but such as had some degree of Faith in Christ either express or implicit as not only this Book called Truth Defended but all my Books that treat on that subject plainly shew and particulary my Book called The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches all which I refer to the Reader 's serious consideration And though my late Adversaries among the Quakers find great fault with divers passages in the Book last mentioned especially for asserting the necessity of Faith in Christ crucified universally either express or implicit for Eternal Salvation yet that Book before it was printed in America had the approbation of them called Friends in the Ministry in Pensilvania and was so well approved by the Quakers here at London that some caused it to be Reprinted and it was publickly sold in a Quakers Shop in George-Yard in Lumbard-street nor did I ever hear any exceptions against it from any of them in England until our late differences betwixt them and me began And whereas I had formerly said none but such who have Faith in Christ crucified or who was to be crucified had the