Rebellion Rebuked IN AN ANSWER TO A Scandalous Pamphlet ENTITLED The Quaker Converted to Christianity c. WRITTEN By one WILLIAM HAWORTH an Independent-Preacher in HARTFORD-SHIRE AND WILLIAM DIMSDALE a Young-man in the Town of HARTFORD a Professor and a Hearer of the said W. H. By the Friends of Truth who wish its Prosperity in True Love to the Souls of all People John Crook William Bayly They are of those that Rebel against the Light they know not the Wayes thereof nor abide in the Path thereof Job 24. 13. Printed in the Year 1673. William Haworth WHen I call to mind how I have seen thee some time since exercised in thy Spirit I cannot but admire the Fruit now brought forth after those weary Travels yet no other then what I lookt for in case thou abodest not in the Judgment which began to take hold of thy Fleshly Part the Father of Spirits then began in measure to work in thee but his Furnace proving so hot and there being so much Fewel in thee the Bryars and Thorns mustering up themselves in Battel against his Righteous Appearance as a Consuming Fire unto them all here thou escapedst fleeing for thy Self ish and Fleshly Life and thereby became unworthy of his Gospel and that Life and Immortallity that otherwise might have been brought to Light and manifest in and unto thee how far the Fleshly Reasonings about an outward Maintenance for thy self and Family influenced thy mind to retard and hinder this Inward Work of God by his Grace in and upon thee let his Witness in thy Conscience speak as also how the deadly Wound on thy Corruptible Part by the Sword of his Spirit came to be healed and thou that once was so low should now be climb'd up so high and thou that was once so broken and shattered should now become so whole and Righteous and thou which once spake so respectfully of the Light and Spirit within both publickly and privately should now become such an Enemy to it and Opposer of it Surely it is because thou hast broken his Banes and cast his Cords from thee by imagining a vain thing That thou shalt be saved without having the King of Zion to Rule in and over thee that came meek and low riding on that Wild Ass's Colt on which Man never rods Oh! how is thy Goard withered and thy Anger kindled because thy Will is crossed by the Lord and thou canst not accomplish thy own Ends by God's Wayes and Methods of proceeding against thee concluding that those Wayes are not Good nor those Dealings of his Righteous with his People because thy self could not measure them nor thy fleshly â—â—ll indure to be restrain'd by them taking thy Measures from thy own Conceivings of holy Scriptures weighing them in the false Ballance of thy natural Wisdom and Vnderstanding by which way the Apostacy first entred and doth still continue in and over all that have declined from and entertained distrustful Thoughts of the Light of Christ within which thy Epistle to the Book entituled the Quaker Converted is every where fraighted withal of which for thy own sake I am sorry having had Conference with thee and true Love in my Heart springing towards thee when thou wert little in thy own Eyes thou mayst remember how tender I was towards thee and I know the Good and Honesty in thee in that Day answered to my Love until my last Discourse with thee at Hartford where thou as well as others exceeded those Bounds of Coolness and Meekness which before in measure I found in thee the Cause of which I would have thee search out in thy self and possibly thou mayst find Interest and Reputation which thy Hearers had no small share with thee in that Heat and Distemper upon thy Mind at that time since which thou hast not only grown worse and worse towards the People of God called Quakers but also in thy own inward Condition having changed that wonted Gravity and Solidity in thy Deportment into a light vain lofty confident and presumptuous Carriage which divers have observed in thee and this thy Epistle abundantly proves to which I shall now Reply more particularly desiring that what I have written may be taken in true Love to thy immortal Soul as God bears me witness I intend it But if thou wilt yet more count me thy Enemy because I tell thee the Truth I shall commit the open Decision of the matter to him that judgeth Righteously and remain A Lover of the Immortal Souls of all Men John Crook A REPLY TO THY EPISTLE c. WHat thou meanest by the Church of Christ at Hartford whom thou call'st Well-beloved in the Lord I know not except those the Young-man pag. 6. of his Book calls most of them A Loose Wanton and Proud People that Adorn their Bodies more then their Souls At the very Entrance thou discover'st thy spirit to be fill'd with the sower Leaven of the Pharisees saying In this Relation which follows you may see some of the Quakers Rotten Opinions c. Answer In common Understanding then their Opinions must once have been Sound but now are decay'd Thy following words taste of the same Leaven still like those Pharisees that said Christ was a Sinner when he had opened the Blind Man's Eyes let God have the Glory so say'st thou Let Christ have the Glory for bringing the Young-man amongst you Again thy words are None of those that went out from you were properly of you had received the Gospel that you believe no it is not possible for any to receive it truly and forsake it Answ What that Gospel is which you believe it concerns you to search that it be not another Gospel Gal. 1. 6. then the Apostles preached for there were those that perverted the True Gospel and turned it up-side down and wrested their Sayings to their own Destruction and others departed from that Faith which Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast 1 Tim. 1. 19. And is not the Gospel call'd the Power of God Rom. 1. 16. and the being led away by Sin and Lust a Departure from or Denyal of the Power as 2 Pet. 3. 17. where the Apostle exhors the Beloved that knew the Truth of the Gospel to beware lest they also should be led away with the Error of the Wicked The Young-man was fully of the Quakers Way Spirit Faith and Principle Answ Thy Mistake also in this is very gross as may appear by the Answer to the Young-man's Book in this Particular Thou say'st The Young-man was an Honest Quaker true to his Perswasion as Luther said of himself before his Conversion c. Answ Then what are they either Converted from or to that are not true to their Perswasion Examine thy self and thy People whether you in all things are true to your Perswasion If nay then you are not yet come so far as the Honest Quaker by thy own Confession Thou sayest The little time he hath had for Proficiency in
the Knowledge of the Gospel might discourage thee from making his Book publick c. Answ I wonder at it seeing thou saidst before that it is not possible for any to receive it truly and forsake it which if he hath not done thou speakest unadvisedly with thy Lips in saying It s an Experience which the Lord in rich Mercy gave him whom thou also callest Dear Elect Child and sayst Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this to him but our Father which is in Heaven But how can he that thus Contradicteth himself agree with the Truth in others Again Oh! that every one of you my dear Brethren and every one in Hartford had the Knowledge of Christ thus distinctly formed in you till which thing be the Soul of him to whom Christ hath committed you as his Charge shall Travel in Birth and be in Pain Blessing God that his poor Labours have not altogether been in vain as to this matter Answ What is that Travel and Labour worth that brings not to the distinct Knowledge of Christ And what a Church is that and what a Pastor is he and how can they be Dear Brethren in Truth in whom the dictinct Knowledge of Christ is not yet formed Thou sayst That thy daily Prayers to Christ is that we all meaning thy Brethren in the Ministry may be made able Ministers of the New Testament Answ Then it seems you are not yet so by thy own Confession therefore be silent till you are made so Thou sayest You have but Law and Gospel to preach Answ Where in all the New Testament dost thou find the Apostles preaching the Law and saying They were sent to preach the Law But a Dispensation of the Gospel was committed to them and they were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter or Law but of the Spirit But why dost thou divide between Law and Gospel as if they were not one in their End and Nature saying The Law for the Conviction of Sin c. and yet thou call'st it Spiritual Answ The Spirit is said to Convince or Reprove the Unbelieving World John 16. 8. Jude 15. saith He shall Convince all that are Vngodly of all their Vngodly Deeds c. Again The Law is said to be perfect converting the Soul and making Wise the Simple Psalm 17. 7. So that Law and Spirit are frequently used as Terms that signifie the same thing and if thou Experimentally knewest the Spirituallity of the Law thou wouldst not go about to divide them or quarrel with us about them But hence hath risen the Mistakes of many viz. because they have found several Names or Terms in Scripture therefore concluded they must needs intend several things while it is frequent in Scripture to intend one and the same thing under several Names as Father Son and Spirit have several Names given to them yet one in Nature or Beeing several Ministrations divers Operations c. and yet all by one and the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12. We know the Spirituallity of the Law in the Apostle's Sense is the inward Convictions of the Spirit manifesting also God's holy Will and Commandments requiring perfect Obedience thereunto which man finding himself unable to do then the Sword or Law of the Spirit slayes him and he dyes being made willing so to do by God's Power or Law within though Self and Flesh cryes out to escape here thou fledst and savedst thy Life But into this Death thou must come if ever thou enterest into God's Kingdom the Talking of it will not serve in this State the Dead hear the Voice of the Son of God and live and his own Arm being then revealed raiseth up this Dead Man when no Eye so much as pittied him his Condition being so hid and unknown to all living in his former Estate then he gives Thanks from the very inward of his Soul to God through Jesus Christ crying out now as in a holy Triumph That there is no Condemnation now to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after thâ— Spirit Rom. 8. 1 2. where that Ransomed Captive renders the Reason of his Joy viz. because the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the Law of Sin and Death Mark How he attributes that to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which before he ascribed to Jesus Christ as having an inward Sense and Feeling both of his Saviour and the Salvation come to his poor Soul thereby Thou either Ignorantly or Enviously if not both affirmest That whoever hath tasted that the Lord is Gracious never takes up with the Quakers Christ Oh! that the Gospel were studied by us more and preached by us more Answ The Quakers Christ is the Lord 's Christ as is shewed before the same that deliver'd Paul from his wretched State And if thou hadst understood what thou saidst immediately before concerning the Blood of Christ which thou call'st as Oyl poured into the Gashes of Conscience thou wouldst not have spoken thus sleightingly if not blasphemously of the Quakers Christ For all the Tasters and Feelers inwardly know him to be God's own Arm revealed when no Eye else pitties them But thou with many more have the outward words concerning these things yet are inwardly and experimentally Strangers to the Life and Vertue of them in your own Hearts and Consciences which Knowledge the Quakers account with the Apostle to be the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Oh vain man Dost thou think by thy Fleshly Study and preaching from the same to Advance the True Christ Nay but Man and Self instead of Christ and his Righteousness For the Gospel is a Mystery and the true Preaching of it Foolishness to all that Perish and the Things of it are the Heavenly Things themselves searched out only by the Spirit of God for they are too deep for Man's Will Study or Wisdom to find out Therefore cease from thy own Study and wait in the Silence of all Fleâ—â— for the pouring forth of the Spirit which only can open the Mysteries of Christ and his Righteousness and shew them unto thee Thou say'st We are to conceive of God according as the Scriptures set him forth to us Answ But the Scriptures contrariwise condemn all Man's Conceivings saying Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive what God hath laid up for them that love him The Scriptures are true as God means them not as Man by his Conceivings interprets them and the Understanding of every True Disciple must be opened by Christ before he can rightly know them as 't is written He opened their Vnderstandings that they might undâ—rstand the Scriptures for until then they are a sealed Book both to the Learned and Unlearned Isaiah 29. 11 12. Thou utter'st many words about the Confession of Sin as if the Quakers were against the Confession of Sins to God
c. Answ We own the holy Scriptures which say If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Vnrighteousness c. 1 John 1. 9. But Confession of Sins ought to be performed from the Sense of the Evil of Sin upon the Conscience and not out of Formality and Custom only as most do Yet we say where the Heart is sprinkled with the Blood of Christ from an Evil Conscience at that time and whilst remaining so Thanksgiving is proper to be given to God for Praise is comely for the Upright And such know the Blood of Christ to be a speaking Blood it speaketh saith the Apostle c. causing that Soul that is washed with it alwayes to be mindful of it and truly to prize it For the Ransomed shall pass with singing when the Hypocrites shall remain in Bondage notwithstanding their daily Confessions Thou say'st Jesus Christ of Nazareth c. brougbt this Righteousness c. Answ If thou believest that none were really saved or made Righteous by the Righteousness of Christ till then or after that time thy Faith is contrary to Scripture which calls Christ s Righteousness an Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9. 24. Isa 45. 17. Micah 5. Yet we believe Salvation only by that Jesus which witnessed a good Confession before Bontius Pilâ—tâ— c. For answer to the Heathens Knowledge of God's Vengeance and Sight in the Deity c. I refer the Reader to the Reply to the Young-man's Book but for thy own Knowledge of it I find thee like the Pharisees of old fleeing from the Wrath to come by casting all God's Vengeance upon Christ an Easie Way if thou couldst so eâ—cape it by imagining his doing and suffering God's Pleasure to be reckoned thine by a bare Belief of it wholely without theâ— Here we differ in our Account I say according to Dan. 9. 24. speaking of Christ to finish Transgression and to make an Eâ—d of Sin and to make a Reconciliation for Iniquity and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness c. I know and believe Salvation by the Imputed Reckoned and Real Everlasting Righteousness of Jesus Christ brought nigh which in the Fulness of time was manifest in and by him and in due time really made mine by the Work and Application of his Spirit in my Inward Parts and that God is well pleased or satisfied in and with him in whom I am accepted and not for Works of Righteousness that I have done nor yet for the Works sake only or quatenus Works though wrought in me by his Spirit but in and for the sake of him that works all our Works in us and for us according to Isa 26. 12. But thou believest to be saved by a Righteousness wholely without thee Reckoned but not Real which Righteousness Christ wrought One Thousand Six Hundred Years since not that we undervalue that Righteousness nay cursed is he that so doth really no nearer to thee then the place where he personally lived and dyed Now it is the great Lord of all that must view both our Accounts for the Goods we have received of him Mat. 25. 14. therefore I leave them both to him to determine which is Right This may serve for Answer to much of thy Epistle touching this Subject For Proof of thy Belief thou sayest We are made Righteous in the same way he was made Sin but he was not made Sin by Inhesion or really as thou speakest else-where for he knew no Sin therefore by Imputation Answ The same Way when Christ knew no Sin nor was any Sin inherent in him must we then be made Righteous without either knowing or enjoying any real Righteousness in us as this Comparison holds forth But did not Christ Really suffer and bear our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree Did not he suffer under the Burden thereof upon whom the Iniquities of all were made to meet But besides if we are made Righteous in the same way in all things that he was made to be Sin for Sin is mention'd in the Abstract then we must be without or free from all manner of Good as he was without or free from all manner of Sin or Evil which destroyes the Doctrine of Sanctification the New Creature c. where all things are of God In the next page save one thou affirmest That the Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in our Minds is our own Righteousness 1st Because our Souls are the Subjects of it And 2dly Because it is really in our Minds therefore ours and yet in this place thou sayest Christ is really our Righteousness as thy self interprets Jehovah Tsidkenu What! one while he is really Righteous and another while not Real but Reckoned I would not wrong thee but thy words are plain but more of this afterward Thy calling William Penn a Novice manifests only Pride in thy self but is no Proof against him and the truly Considerate will account thy Charge upon him to belong to thy self till thou hast confuted his Arguments Thou sayest If Christ Jesus had the Guilt of Sin really charged upon him c. Answ What! dost thou suppose the Innocent Lamb of God to be really guilty of Sin What Blasphemy is this What! really guilty of that which thy self sayest he really neither did nor had Yet thou bring'st Scripture to prove it saying What else is to be understood by that 2 Cor. 5. ver ult For he hath made him to be Sin for us who knew no Sin c. Thou usest many words to prove the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness to Men while in Sin and Rebellion against God As if Contraries while in Contrariety could at the same moment of time be in perfect Unity O vain Man Doth not the Apostle James Chap. 2. Vers 20. say That Faith without Works is dead c But I have spoken my Experimental Knowledge and believe according to Scripture of this Subject before and may have Occasion to touch at it hereafter In the next place thou bring'st forth thy own strange Conceivings about Man's own Righteousness for Error is seldom alone Thou say'st Our own Righteousness consists in those Gifts and Vertues which the Spirit of God works in our Minds and we express these outwardly in the Observation of the Moral Law in our Walkings amongst Men. Answ This is such a Heap of Confusion that I remember not the like The Scripture calls what is wrought by the Holy Spirit in us the Vertues of Christ 2 Pet. 1. 3 5. And Paul Rom. 8. saith To be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace Then according to thy Interpretation we must have Life and Peace in our own Righteousness Thus like the Foolish Woman dost thou build a House and pull it down with thy Hands For take away the Gifts and Vertues which the Spirit of God works in our minds and what remains but a Body of Sin and Death and thoughts only Evil continually and yet Man as bold
and confident as if he needed nothing for all true Sense flows from the Spirit and all it works in us is but our own Righteousness sayst thou and to be all Glorious within as is spoken of the King's Daughter Psalm 45. 13 is to abound in our own Righteousness according to thy Interpretation And 2 Pet. 1. 5 8. speaking of the Vertue of Christ saith He that lacketh these things is blind and contrariwise it maketh them in whom these Vertues abound that they are neither barren nor unfruitful in the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Wâ—at is this less then the calling Christ Belzebub And what follows but that he has a Devil viz. And we express these outwardly in the Observation of the Moral Law in our walking amongst men So the worse people are and the looser they walk the greater Right they have unto the Righteousness of Christ and in a better Condition to receive it then those that from the Sense of the Evil of Sin turn from it because say'st thou this is properly our own Righteousness which consists in those Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in our Minds c. Is not this Rantism in the highest Degree And for the Moral Law Christ is so far from repealing of it that in Mat. 5. he binds it closer and faster to his Disciples For of old it was said Thou shalt not commit Adultery but by him Thou shalt not Lust c. And of old Thou shalt not Kill but by him Thou shalt not Hate c. But remarkable is Mat. 7. 13 14 15. where he commands doing as we would be done by and calls it the Straight Gate fore-seeing that False Prophets would preach another Broader Way and Wider Gate therefore the next words say Beware of False Prophets c. And at present thou art one of them O that thy Eyes were open to see it Thy Reasons are as Ridiculous as thy positions one is because it is called your Faith and our Righteousness and your Love c. Answ By the same Reason Christ himself must be our own Righteousness for he shall be call'd The Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. 6. And their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord Isa 54. 17. And 1 Cor. 1. 2. Christ our Lord c. And the Scripture saith He that dwells in Love dwells in God and this Love is shed abroad in the Hearts of the Righteous do they therefore dwell in their own Righteousness Oh thick Darkness Another Reason thou givest is because our Souls are the Subjects of this Righteousness 't is really in our Minds therefore ours Answ What wouldst thou have to be the Subjects of true Righteousness Is it not our Souls that are saved Do not they and we by them reap the Benefit of Salvation And is not that the Subject of Righteousness which is saved by it And by the same Reason the Grace of God must be our own Righteousness because our Souls are saved by it and the Subjects of it It is said God loves Truth in the Inward Parts and that he will write his Law in our Hearts thou sayest All that is in our Inward Parts is our own Righteousness though wrought by the Spirit of God which is said to lead into all Truth Therefore by thy Conclusion God saves us by our own Righteousness But the Ground of thy dislike of the Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in our Minds which thou callest our own Righteousness is because it is really in our Minds therefore ours What! a Christian and an Enemy to Reallity What! a Spiritual-Man and an Opposer of those Gifts and Vertues the Spirit of God works in our Minds calling them our own Righteousness What! must the Poor in Spirit the Meek the Mourner the Hungerer and Thirster the Merciful the Pure in Heart the Peace-maker c. deny their Blessedness which they must do if these be their own Righteousness according as thou affirmest they are viz. Those Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in their Minds What! must they turn from Reallity and lay hold of Imagination from real Enjoyments and Possessions to conceived or imagined Apprehensions Who ever besides Hypocrites were Enemies to Reallity VVho ever besides the Vitious Debauched Proud and Letter-learned Pharisees withstood and opposed the real Gifts and real Vertues that the Spirit of God really works in our Minds This is a Doctrine so contrary to the very Tenure and Scope of Scripture that it may well be called A New-invented Fable which all sober People must needs abhor the very Thoughts of It is very strange that 〈◊〉 Reality of a thing should make it nothing worth for our own Righteousness is said to be as Filthy Rags And thou sayest Because the Gifts and Vertues of the Spirit of God are Really in our Minds therefore our own Righteousness The sum of the Matter seems to be this That our Heads and not our Hearts our Bodies and not our Souls our own Conceivings and not Reallity our Imaginations without and not the Gifts and Vertues of the Spirit within our Minds are the Subjects of true Righteousness according to thy Account Another Reason thou givest to prove the Gifts and Vertues afore-mentioned to be our own Righteousness because we put forth the Actions wherein this Righteousness consisteth both internal and external is it not we that believe and we that repent and that we are said to pray Answ By this Argument its best neither to believe nor repent nor pray because these are but our own Righteousness and the more we do them the heavier are we loaden with the Filthy Rags of our own Righteousness These things manifest thy Estrangedness to the VVork of Regeneration and Helpings of the Spirit of God A Heavy Charge upon all the Prophets and Apostles of Christ who were obedient to these inward Gifts Vertues and Motions of God's Holy Spirit For by thy Account they did but obey their own Righteousness in what they did they knew and understood that their Hearts was but as the Pen of a ready Writer as David speaks And must there be nothing written spoken or acted because the Spirit makes use of Men and Women to do these things but if they do it it must be charged upon them as their own Righteousness doth the yielding of the Members of our Bodies Instruments to the Holy Spirit of God to act by according to the Exhortation therefore make all its Performance in us our own Righteousness while the Scripture saith 'T is not I that Live c. but Christ Lives in me Neither is it we that speak as we are kept truly Silent out of all our own Thoughts but the Holy Ghost in us Mark 13. 11. Thou say'st Our Righteousness is but the Righteousness of meer Mâ—n c. and yet before saith It consists in the Gifts and Vertues the Spirit of God works in our Minds See thy Confusion from thy own words Thou say'st One
Righteousness is Perfect and Compleat the other is Faulty Imperfect Incompleat as to degree Answ Thou wouldst make them two in Nature and Kind the one from Heaven the other on Earth the one Christ's the other ours and yet say'st its incompleat as to degree then they must be one in Kind for degrees varies not Kind or Nature So 't is manifest thou knowst not what thou say'd such is thy Confusion No marvel while thou errest from the Form of sound words calling it A Righteousness Contrived Where findest thou such a word in Scripture Sometimes calling Faith our own Righteousness And again saying Without Faith it is impossible to please God as if Man could please God by Man's Righteousness c. Thou say'st The Quaker goes about to make his own Righteousness to stand c. Answ Thou art the Man that goest about to make thy own Conceivings as thou speakest of God and Christ and his Righteousness by using Unscriptural Words to make good that Righteousness which thy self saith is not real Must not thou needs wonder and perish for want of the True Righteousness of Christ Thou sayest The Young-man may now engage without any Peril any Quaker in England Answ This is like Goliah's Boast but let not him that putteth on the Harness boast as he that putteth it off I suppose others if not thy self will be of another mind when you have impartially perused the Reply to the Young-man's Book to which I refer the Reader to judge of his great Ability or rather his Confused Indigested Thoughts concerning the Mysteries of God and Christ Thou writest to thy Brethren to be greatly Incouraged c. in reducing others in the same manner Answ How can any be Encouraged to Reduce others by their own Righteousness which thou sayest the Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in our Minds are And if it be but in the same manner that the Young-man is reduced such Confusion will never turn to your Reputation among the Sober-minded Whereas thou sayest The Quakers keep people in perfect Popish Slavery Answ The Quakers knew no Bondage and Slavery like the Bondage and Slavery of Sin which you believe all men must continue in term of Life But I refer the Reader to the Reply to the Young-man's Book for a farther Answer to this Particular Thou sayest As high as Heaven is above the Earth so far is that Spirit of the Faith of Jesus in you above the spirit of Antâ—christ that is in them viz. Quakers Answ How now Is your own Righteousness grown so mightily Hast thou forgotten that thou calledst the Gifts and Vertues that the Spirit of God works in your Minds is but your own Righteousness And what good can your own Righteousness do you But take heed of the Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost lest Francis Spira's Condition become thine or Madness and Distraction befall thee My Soul could even pitty thee because if thou Repent not of these and like Passages as that the Quakers Spirit is a Spirit of Delusion and their Doctrine Antichristian c. God's Displeasure will kindle as a Fire to burn thee up amongst the Bryars and Thorns that muster up themselves in Battel against him and his ever-blessed Appearance in Spirit and Power in the Hearts of that Poor Despised People For I testifie in the Amen that God hath and doth bless the Faithful amongst them and they shall be blessed And in Vain do the Heathen Rage and such foolish Imaginary Back-sliding People as thy self Imagine a Vain Thing For their Redeemer lives and the Shout of a King is amongst them even the King of Sion sitting upon his Holy Hill Halelujah for evermore Postscript William Haworth OH that these Smitings may be as Balm for they are the Words of a Friend to thy Poor Lost Soul as at present thou art Oh! feel them feel them and be not Wrath because of them lest the Gate of Mercy forever be shut against thee I. C. AN Additional Postscript THE Enemy of Man's Soul knowing how Destructive the Inward and Experimental Knowledge of Christ is unto his Kingdom and Government hath in these late times stirred up many Instruments both in their Preaching and Printing to prejudice the Minds of the Simple-Hearted against it as the Pharisees of old stirred up the Devout Women against the Apostles our Enemies suggesting therefore that the Quakers must needs deny the Man Christ c. For Prevention of his Wiles and Information of all that desire to know the Truth as it is in Jesus I have published this short Testimony Concerning Jesus of Nazareth that was born at Bethlehem c. I know not any of us that ever so much as questioned the Truth of the History as recorded in Holy Scripture concerning Jesus of Nazareth c. But setting aside the Envy of our Adversaries their Mistakes about us arise from our affirming That the bare Historical Knowledge of this Jesus of Nazareth will not save the Soul of any Man without the Light of the Spirit of Christ opening Man's Vnderstanding that he may know the Mystery of God the Father and of Christ as the Apostle saith Col. 2. 2. and Ephes 3. 4. That ye may know mine Understanding in the Mystery of Christ and 1 Tim. 3. 16. Without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh c. Mark 4. 11. Christ said to his Disciples viz. To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God but unto them that are without all things be done in Parables Therefore we declare a Necessity for the Light to be first turned to and received before this Jesus can be savingly know Which Doctrine is also confirmed to us by Experience in that we had as others now have while in that Nature by which all are Children of VVrath the Historical Knowledge and Belief of Jesus of Nazareth yet we wanted the Light of the Knowledge as the Apostle excellently calls it 2 Cor. 4. 6. Bare Historical Knowledge being a dark dead Thing until the Light give Life to that Knowledge Concerning the Righteousness of this Jesus of Nazareth c. We believe and testifie That this Jesus of Nazareth wrought out or fulfilled all Righteousness in his Obedience both in Doing and Suffering the Holy Law and Will of God and that this Righteousness so wrought out and fulfilled was not for himself but for or because of all such as truly seeing they have no Covering or Righteousness of their own flee unto and lay hold of him and his Everlasting Righteousness by a True and Living Faith And do further testifie That this Choice Rayment of Christ's Righteousness is not brought forth and put upon the Back of any Prodigal while he remains in the Far Country feeding amongst the Swine but at or upon his Return to his Father's House Luke 15. 22. And such Poor Naked Starved Undone Sinners as in themselves seeing their own Righteousness to be as a Menstruous and Filthy