the Senses or the whole Life and much less beget the Soul or give it its Life again nor that which comes from Hearing or Understanding viz. Faith And if for reading of Words or for hearing them Preached Men had Faith wrought in them and were regenerated it would follow that all those which heard Christ preach believed and that none of those who hear Sermons and read the Scripture are unregenerated and that all may be saved at the same cheap easy rate that Papists hope to be so that is for hearing Mass said and some few Ave Maries cryed about them when they die And Mr. Keith hath ill Luck to have met with so few Men that believe a he tells us Pag. 12. of his Reasons among so many Hearers for he reckons in that Place no more than 40 Persons brought over by his Preaching from Quakery to his Church 6. So that the Word in the Mouth being not that which begets and worketh Faith in the Soul it remains that the inward spiritual Word in the Heart and Soul is that which doth it being quick and powerful and sharper than any Sword piercing to the very Soul and inward Thoughts of the Heart Hebr. 4. 12. as Peter shewed it to be in the Case of Ananias and of Sapphira his Wife Act. 5. 3 9. to work powerfully there and stir up all the Powers of the Soul and the Body And this Word being Spirit and Life as Christ himself saith Joh. 6. 63. and a Spirit that giveth life and quickneth 2 Cor. 3. 6. it is therefore the only Word that liveth and begets the Soul again and it is on this Account of being a Spiritual and a penetrating Word represented by a Sword coming from the Mouth of Christ Rev. 1. 16. and with some known by the Name of the Sword of the Spirit Eph. 6. 17. And as it is that which was from the beginning with God Joh. 1. 2. it is also that alone which abideth for ever 7. The word of Faith which St. Paul and the Apostles preached and by which they begat Souls 1 Cor. 4. 15. Jam. 1. 18. was inward and spiritual in the heart Rom. 10. 8. and a Spirit for they were the Ministers of the Spirit that gives Life and not of the dead Letter or outward word that killeth 2 Cor. 3 6. Ministring to that Spirit which Christ himself ministreth Gal. 3. 5. that thereby Men might serve God in newness of the Spirit and no more in the oldness of the Letter of Scripture Rom. 7. 6. of the Doctrine of Baptisms of Repentance from dead works and other fundamentals as Mr. Keith doth call them and recommend pag. 10. of the Christian Religion or of the Doctrine of Christ which St. Paul exhorts to leave Hebr. 6. 1 2. and Mr. Keith to stick to And they preached the Gospel which is the Power of God Rom. 1. 16. and which being a Spirit they begat Souls again by 1 Cor. 4. 15. This Power being the same as the Power from on high which is the Holy Spirit Luk. 24. 49. Act. 1 5 8. and which regenerates Souls Joh. 3. 5. So that the Word they preach'd being Power and Spirit it is not the empty Word in the Mouth of Mr. Keith which they begat or became Fathers in God to Souls with but the inward spiritual powerful Word in the Heart of good Men which they stirr'd up and set a working by that which they received of Christ and which his Sheep heard therefore speaking through their Heart and Mouth John 10. 3 5. 8. If the Protestants become Fathers in God by preaching the written outward Word why may not the Popish Priests be so too by their Preaching But if Preachers become such by Preaching and Ministring the spiritual Word of Truth Pray to whom Fathers in God and whose Ministers are they that stand for another Word and countenance its Preaching It is strange Fathers in God should beget they know not how nor by what and if they know should keep their Trades to themselves and should not let Mr. Keith who hath deserv'd it so well at their hands know the Knack on 't I am afraid Mr. Keith will never spoil a Bishop but always remain a Tool Quaere Pray Mr. Preacher what 's Religion now a-days Answ It is nothing but Acting the Story of Christ and a Cloak with as many Facings as Parties or Sects for the Sophisters of each to carry on their Designs and for every Party to act their Non-sense under impudently to the face of those that know better things as the silly Papists did their Mass in King James his time Poor King to take his Priest-craft for a Religious Worship and to be thus put upon in his most weighty Concern by dull Souls more confined and less knowing than himself But tho' Kings pay dear for it and have paid so ever since the time of Jereboam who became a sad Example of God's Justice upon such 1 Kings 13. 34. Yet no Calves no King prevails in the Mouth of their Profets and of their Politicians who must have some Calvish Priests Ch. 12. 31. to preach a Calvish Worship that is fit for Calves only and for making of Men Calves that they may lead them like Calves and will prevail to the End whilst Kings learn nothing from them of God judging in the Earth Psal 58. 11. and disposing of Kingdoms giving them to whom he will and setting up over them even the Basest of Men. Dan. 4. 17. The Kings that knew God themselves not only serv'd him themselves but preached and reformed their Priests and Clergy themselves 1. King 8. 12 14. 2 King 23. 2. 2 Chron. 29. 5. Psal 51. 13. 119. 46. but all they that know him not give their Power to the Beast Rev. 17. 13. Kings might serve God by Proxy if they had none of that Word in the Heart which all Men have and could give God an account by their Priests and Favourites 9. It is the Spirit gives life quickneth 2 Cor. 3. 6. Joh. 6. 63. creates forms reforms and upholds all things living Gen. 1. 2. Psal 33. 6. 104. 30. and that begets Souls therefore Without it all things lie dead and return to their Nothing vers 29. Jam. 2. 26. and he is the conveyer of Life unto all Creatures The hand and the arm of God Joh. 12. 38. whereby he makes all his Works From him the First Man Adam received his Breath of Lives Gen. 2. 7. that is both of the Divine and of the Natural Life for note that the Hebrew Word is Chajim in the Plural not Chajah as it should be to signify Breath of Life And as Adam received the Life of his Soul from him so from him we must get it again and be born of it not from the material Word or dead Letter of Scripture God's Kingdom or Salvation as St. Paul saith is through it Rom. 14. 17. then we must be born again of it Joh. 3. 5. and be born
God dwelleth no more in Temples or in Churches made with hands Act. 7. 48. 17. 24. And will have a Spiritual Priesthood a Kingdom of Priests Exod. 19. 6. Such as the first Christians were 1 Pet. 2. 9. Anointed with the Spirit that being conform to him or Spiritual as he is they may walk in the Spirit Gal. 5. 25. and serve him in the Newness of the Spirit that gives Life and no more in the oldness of the Letter that Killeth Rom. 7. 6. 2 Cor. 3. 6. O House of Jacob come ye and let us live in Spirit and walk in the Light of God Isa 2. 5. Spiritualizing of Men is the true way to Greatness for Preachers and Believers and what Mr. Keith should do if he would be Great indeed Matth. 5. 19. But what he will never do till he become in earnest one of the Children of Light Except our Righteousness exceed that of the Clergy the Antient and Modern Scribes for Christ spake this for all times Mark 13. 37. and so meant it of the Scribes or Clergy-Men of all times we shall in no case Enter into the Kingdom of God Matth 5. 20. Wo be to us if we dont Exceed them and whilst we stand seeking the Law at their Mouth and waiting for their Oracles instead of passing from them as the Spouse in the Canticles 3. 4. 39. And truly they that argue against Spiritual Worship for the blind Ceremonies and Rites of the Jewish Church which had not yet the Spirit Joh. 7. 39. Heb. 11. 39. what ever Keith may argue for it in his two Sermons in Bottolph-lane May the 12th are no Ministers of Christ whose work is to set Men free from the Pedagogy and the Yoak and the Bondage of Carnal Ordinances Gal. 4. 24. and bring them to Perfection Heb. 6. 1 2. And the State of Liberty Rom. 8. 21. But of Anti-Christ only who resisteth the Spirit that he may set up the Calves and all the Works of the Flesh which come in with their Worship and bring Man from Perfection and the Spirituality to a Carnal state again and to the Jewish Heathenish and Popish Idolatry For it is one of the Works of his Father the Divil Joh. 8. 44. which Christ is come to destroy 1 Joh. 3. 8. to bring down Spiritual things from their spirituality to their materiality to a crust and an out-side that he may vail and cover from Men their inward Substance and make Man whose Soul and mind is already by the fall too much turned outwardly and running on outward things acquiesce in their out-side shells shadows and coverings and to remain as he is in the state he was born in like the Colt of a wild Ass Joh 11. 12. a Beast that never attempts to rise up to Light and Life O how happy were Mankind if they had no such Priests Or if he were not by them compell'd to become a Beast Bestiae sint bestiae sed sinant bestiae hominem homo esse 40. Mr. Keith hath justified himself enough before Men but God when he judgeth Men will shew whether he be Wise Dan. 12. 3. This I will say for him he is as wise as he was when of the Presbyterian or Quaker Church or Party but that a good Bishoprick would much Clarify his Head or make of him a Virum Clariorem than he is the Mitre which is shaped like the flames it betokeneth Act. 2. 3. having a strange Energy from its configuration in brightning of obscure heads And I will lay with him that for all the Enlightning he hath newly received by becoming a Church-Man he cannot give an Account of the Necessity and Reasons why Christ being very God of very God left his Glory and died tho' I have said enough of that here in this Paper to shew him and direct him how to find out this Enigme FINIS
of God and of this spiritual Seed to have it remain in us 1 Joh. 3. 9. and have the Kingdom of God or life eternal in us Luk. 17. 21. The Seed it self which the Flesh is born and begotten of is a Spirit abstracted from the Soul and the Body of Parents which are but Men Much more then that of the Soul regenerated of God who is only a Spirit and the Father of Spirits Joh. 4. 24. Hebr. 12. 9. ought to be a Spiritual and not a Material Thing such as is the outward Word which Mr. Keith soweth about in Sermons and in Papers which Booksellers and Printers catch at so nimbly and put Impune upon the World 10. Now Christ himself is the word Joh. 1. 1 14. in the Heart and in the Mouth Rom. 10. 9. and being that same Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. by which God made all Joh. 1. 2 3. the World and all Things therein Hebr. 1. 2. and which upholdeth all things v. 3. and gives them their Light and Life Joh. 8. 12. 14. 6. it is he that begets Souls and he is the same also as the Spirit or Power which hath been shew'd to doe it Jesus being the same Word as Paul spake of v. 8. of Chap. 10. of Rom. and the same Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. as Paul saith the Gospel is Rom. 1. 16. And the Lord is that Spirit which Paul was Minister of 2 Cor. 3. 8 16. and when the Holy Ghost comes it is Christ that comes Himself Joh. 14. 16 18. And upon the whole Matter Christ being the Word of God that was from the Beginning Chap. 1. 2. and by whom all things were made and Emmanuel God in us Matth. 1. 23. dwelling in us for ever according to his Promise Joh. 14 17. except we be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. and the Holy Ghost himself he is the Word in the Heart that abideth for ever and of whom St. Peter meant the Faithful are born again Being upon this account called the second Adam that is the second Father or Begetter of Mankind and the Bridegroom infusing his spiritual Seed in Man and impregnating his Soul which becomes his Mother thereby and by the same means he becomes the Son of Man and is formed within Man Gal. 4. 19. And in short Christ and the Word and the Spirit are all one 11. And he is called the word in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reason because he is Wisdom Light and Understanding in God in the World and in the Soul In God he is the Wisdom and the Power 1 Cor. 1. 24. Will and Act For God having no Organs as Mouth or Hands his word is the thing it self that is done by his Power and Wisdom and having no other Will than his Power and his Act because Voluntas saith one Consilio nascitur and there is nothing but Sight no thinking nor consulting at all in the most Wise God his Wisdom Power Will Act are all one that is his Word In the World he is the Light Joh. 8. 12. and the Spirit that moved in the deep to form the Light Gen. 1. 2. and which the Wise and Pulcher ordo Mundi proceeds from And in the Soul he is both the Light of Nature in all and the Light of Grace that is the Understanding in some being natural in all granted to all at their Birth by the prerogative of their Essence or nature above other Animals enlightning every Man that cometh into the World Joh. 1. 9 This is what they call Reason And supernatural in the regenerated granted them of Grace again by the gift of the Spirit upon their Birth of Water And this is properly that which they call Understanding I say he is called the word because he is Light Understanding and Wisdom in us as well as in God Quicquid in nobis videt audit verbum Dei That Light and that faculty whereby we see and perceive and hear and understand things is the Word of God in us that is Christ and his Spirit Understanding comes from Christ 1 Joh. 5. 20. and he is the Light of Men. Joh. 1. 4 9. and from the Spirit he sends Ch. 16. 17. to Guide Men into all Truth V. 13. to teach all things Ch. 14. 26. and to search even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. understanding comes likewise Understanding is the word in the Heart The Light whereby the Mind conceiâ—â— in the Heart and sends forth the Spirit thence into the Mouth is the Woâ—â— not the combined Syllables nor the sound which the Air makes in the Thrâ—â—â— and in the Mouth The Heart conceives from the Light that riseth there the flash at every pullation and sends it into the Head whence returning to the Heart it is sent with the Spirit that issueth out of the Flash into the Tongue to move it the Tongue moving beats the Air in the Throat and in the Mouth according to those Organs which articulates its sound and forms the out spoken word and speaks forth the conception So that the Light the Spirit and the Conceit or notion is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the word That which the vulgar call Words being nothing but vo ces an articulated Noise and a combination of divers Sounds or Syllables by the Spirit from the Heart and neither the thing conceiv'd nor the Spirit expressing or speaking it forth themselves 12. To conclude Understanding Reason and Light in the Soul is from the Spirit of Christ the word of God Christ himself of whom we are born again and who worketh Faith in us From him and from his Spirit the hearing of Faith proceeds For Understanding as was said before proceeds from them and hearing in the Scriptures signifyeth Understanding as in that place where Christ saith he that hath Ears to hear let him hear c And Faith is one of the Gifts and Effects of the Spirit 1 Cor. 12. 9. No Faith without Conversion and no Conversion without Understanding Matth. 13. 15. By Hearing we Believe Turn or Convert and what we understand not we neither do nor believe Intelligere ipsum credere est by your leave Mr. Keith and Madam Rome No implicite Faith avails When God openeth our Hearts or gives us Understanding we believe as Lydia Act. 16. 14. and confess with our Mouth Rom. 10. 9. and come and shew our Deeds as Zacheus Luk. 19. 8 9. and those which burned their Learned Books did Act. 19. 18 19. and Faith is dead without Deeds Jam. 2. 26. So that to have Faith we must Understand in the first place and so have Understanding and the light of Christ's Spirit or Christ himself within us All which if we can obtain from the outward word Preached Mr. Keith is in the right but then Christ died in vain for he died to get us the effect of the Promise which is the Holy Spirit Luk. 24. 49. Act. 1. 4 5. from which Understanding comes 13. Therefore since we
must have Christ as a Spirit within us to Understand and Believe we must know him not only without us in that Body that died upon the Cross to fulfil all Righteousness and reconcile us to God Rom. 5. 10. that thereby having access V. 2. Hebr. 4. 16. we might obtain his good Gift to wit the Holy Spirit Matth. 7. 11. Luk. 11. 13. but within us in Spirit since he cannot enter in and dwell there in Flesh and Blood tho' he should work the Miracle of the Transubstantiation and Mr. Keith should plead for an outward Christ or a Christ without us as hard again as he doth in his Reasons about the 26th page Henceforth we know Christ no more saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 16. after the Flesh And as a Spiritual Christ forming the Kingdom of God by his Spirit Rom. 14. 17. within us Luk. 17. 21. Especially seeing that he is glorified again with the Glory which he had before his Incarnation Joh. 17. 5. and sits in that Majesty which belongs to God alone Hebr. 1. 3. Rev. 3. 21. and into which Flesh and Blood cannot pretend to enter 1 Cor. 15. 50. Christ being to die but once Rom. 6. 9. Hebr. 9 28. took our Flesh and Blood once to bear our Sins in it and now having done with it he appears the second time without Sin to Salvation and therefore in the Spirit Salvation or God's Kingdom being in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. to them that look for him so and are no more concerned with his Flesh or his Body since he comes in the Spirit that is since his Ascension and Glorification Joh. 7. 39. Touch me not saith he himself Joh. 20. 17. that is be not concerned with me whilst in Flesh and Blood because I am not as yet ascended and Glorifyed and cannot yet give you Gifts Eph. 4. 8. viz. the Gifts of the Spirit of which see 1 Cor. 12. or come to you in Spirit the Holy Ghost being not given till after the time of his Ascension on High Joh. 7. 39. he being not till after ready to answer the end of his coming in the Flesh to wit to bring upon them the Promise of the Father or the Gift of the Spirit the shedding of which Spirit was the fulfilling of that same Promise as hath been said Luk. 24. 49. Act. 1. 4 5. 2. 17 23. Touch me not know me no more therefore in the Flesh saith he for when I come to you a second time to save you to answer expectation and the end of my coming it shall not be in the Flesh which I have died in but in quite another form to wit that of a Spirit capable to comfort you or to give you Strength and Life Joh. 14. 18 28. in a more Spiritual from than at my Resurrection and my Transfiguration when my gross Body of Flesh it self Shined like the Sun Matth. 17. 2. and passed through Doors and Walls Joh. 20. 19 26. 14. And mistake me not Reader I do not mean that Christ in puting off Flesh and Blood hath put off Humanity that is the Human Nature for then he were no more Christ that is to say God and Man a Concrete of both Natures or the Human nature Anointed with the Divine But he remains Christ or God and Man to Eternity For God's works are Eternal He being the most Wise God whose Purpose and Power stands Nothing but the Devils works the corruption and defects introduced in the World being to be destroyed And we must know Christ as Christ or as God and Man that is as a thing distinct from God or as a Person distinct from the Trinity it self to obtain Eternal Life or else he had never said that it is Life Eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sends John 3. 17. Distinguishing Christ from God as a Person subsisting besides and apart from God But this I say that Christ hath put off his Flesh and Blood as being Accidental and not at all Essential to Man or Humanity For the first Father Adam was not Created with it but fell in it by his Lust which by Attraction drew in the Elements that took hold of him and Transmuted him made of Isch a shining Man such as he was an Adam that is a Man over-cast with dark clouds from Ad a mist and so got this Monstrous Shape And if it were Essential to Man or Human Nature God would never destroy it as he will certainly do 1 Cor. 6 13. to deliver the Faithful from the Body of this Death and its restraint and bondage into the glorious liberty of God's Children Rom. 7. 24. 8. 21. 23. Man shall put it off himself to rise with a Spiritual 1 Cor. 15. 44. and Angelical Body Luke 20. 36. that shall Shine forth as the Sun Matth. 13. 43. as it did before the Fall when Adam was as yet Isch or shining from Esch fire So that Christ as King of Men possessing Eminently all the Perfections to which Human Nature can pretend hath put off that which makes Isch Adam a dark beastly man contemptible and miserable Isa 53. 3. Rom. 7. 24. And his State and Condition ought not to be supposed since his Glorification worse than that of Man himself 15. But to clear another Riddle that is how the Anointed or the Christ or Messiah is the same Quatenus God with the Anointing Spirit I must do a bold thing which Reverend Mr. Keith will doubtless Bless himself at that is Contradict his Church and Athanasius his Creed shew that Athanasius and his Church are mistaken one in rendring by Person the Greek word Hypostasis and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Substance and the other in Saying not confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance For the Substance of the Three in the Godhead is the same and is to be confounded and their Essence or Nature or their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divers so ought to be divided And the word Hypostasis which they render by Person doth signifie a Substance and can bear no other Sense a Substance being that which Substat accidentibus which is the very meaning and signification of the word Hipostasis ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Substo Substituor the Hypostasis being the Subjectum or the Ground of the Three in the Godhead And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Essence as being the Participle of the Verb Esse in Greek 16. Then to make Persons in God is absurd and impious there being no such thing as Persons in the Godhead for a Person is a thing that Subsisteth of it self without any dependance even of that very thing it is a Relative to as a Son can well Subsist altho' his Father be dead But here in the Trinity the Father doth not Subsist without the Son and Spirit nay and is not before them Beginning but with the Son being but a Relative Property to God the Son there being in the Godhead that is
in all other Beings the fire light and spirit to be the same in substance and one and the same spirit so it is in God likewise but eminently that is in a more sublime manner as for Illustration sake is felt in the Peace and Joy and burning of the Conscience when after a long conflict of grief horror and despair called the fiery Tryal 1 Pet. 4. 12. Light breaks out in the dark Soul and it hath Light and gladness Esth 8. 16. God being a pure Spirit free from Passion and all that the Spirit is subject to both in Man and in the World where being mixt with Water for there is not an Atome of it unmixt in the World or it would soon enflame it and reduce it to Ashes it becomes Corporeal and hath the three Dimensions except in the Soul of Man which is not all of this World and not only a spirit but the spirit of Spirits that actuates all Spirits and is their Form and their Soul doth act most transcendently and is not confined to the same Laws Order and Rules as created Spirits are in propagating themselves Neither do I suppose that the heat of the fire was manifested in God as it is now in the Sun for God as God is the Good meer Love Light Joy and Delight inwhom there is no darkness fierceness or austerity 1 Joh. 1. 5. 4. 16. and in him therefore is no fire and heat perceptible anger and austerity but in the Creature only when it departs from the Light and the Love of Paradise But the Scripture teaching us that God is an angry God and a consuming fire we may believe that in God is the root of the fire serving as the Gall in Man and Acids in sweet Liquors to exacuate the Light and Love of his blessed State Love and Light being the State in which God aquiesceth Matth. 13. 17. Being not properly God in the Father and Spirit but in the Light of the Son in whom he is well pleased And St. John saith that the World being the Image of God as well as Man and his Soul represents the Trinity or bears witness by three things which all Men may see therein in one and the same subject to wit in the first Spirit infused into the Deep of the Trinity in God for he saith they bear witness to the Father to the Word and to the Holy Spirit which is the whole Trinity and Paul saith that by the World and the Things which are therein we may not only find out but clearly see the God-head Rom. 1. 20. that is God in Unity in the still Eternity and all the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2. 10. such as is the Trinity And I believe we may for I see it my self 21. And I see through the World not only the Trinity but the Coeternity of the three Appearances that as no Light can exist and subsist without Fire and neither without the Air So in God there is no Son nor Father without Spirit nor no Spirit without Light but all three appear at once from the very beginning of God's Manifestation Joh. 1. 2. And I see there likewise the Generation of God God generating himself and being generated and introducing himself by his Beams and his Efflux at first into the Great World next into the little World and thirdly when both were fall'n deprav'd and corrupted into the Seed of a Maid there to supply the Office of the Spirit in Mans Seed and to beget the Man God Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all things from Corruption Rom. 8. 21 23. And fourthly and lastly by the Mediation or the Mean of that Man God into the Soul of all those that look for him in Spirit Hebr. 9. 28. and know him spiritually 1 Cor. 2. 24. 11. 29. Secundum modum tamen recipientis in each that is as every one doth evacuate himself or set himself in order or prepare himself for it Act. 13. 48. But most superlatively in his third introduction his Efflux the Holy Ghost which Christ was Conceived by bringing with him at that time all the might of the Father and the virtue of the Light the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily Col. 2. 9. he having not received the Holy Ghost by Measure Joh. 3. 34. And if thou hadst my Spectacles which I cannot lend thee Science is the Gift of God not of Man nor of the Schools thou wouldst see and believe it also as well as I without the help of Scripture for thou wouldst understand it and to understand is to believe Intelligere ipsum credere est 22. And thou wouldst see and believe therefore that the Son of Man as the Son and Light of God is the same as Gods Spirit and comes with the Holy Ghost bringing with him in his Wings or the Efflux of his Light Health and Life or Salvation Mal. 4. 2. being the same in substance and being not a Person or subject distinct from them But that as the Son of Man or Emmanuel God in Man or as the Human Nature anointed with the Divine he is as much a Person subsisting a part from God tho' in an undivided manner as the Church from him and as the Beams from the Sun as Man and the World it self And thou wouldst see how he is the First Born of the Creature or of the whole Creation Col. 1. 15. not of every Creature for that Translation is false the only begotten Son of God and dwelling in God the Father and God in him Joh. 1. 1. 14. 11. and how he is one with God Ch. 10. 30. and not only one with him but the most Bright Glorious and Excellent of the three Essences of the Godhead the Light or Oyl of gladness which he is anointed with Ch. 1. 9 14. Hebr. 1. 9. And yet less than the Father who Quatenus the Godhead is greater than the Person of Christ or of God and Man Joh. 14. 28. In fine how as God and Man he becomes the Son of Man not only of one Virgin but of all the Virgin Souls that will make themselves Virgins or dis-impregnate themselves of the Lusts and Affections they are fill'd with from their Youth Matth. 24. 19. till Christ is form'd in them Gal. 4. 19. that is before their new Birth of Water and of Spirit And the Head and the Spring Head and the Fountain of Mankind Eph. 1. 22. Col. 1. 18. instead of the first Adam where all the Sons of Adam must re-enter and die in become as dead as Water Rom. 6. 4. and as one Water with him that they may be born again of him and of his Spirit and as the Brooks of the Spring become partakers of his Nature and his Righteousness And as such that is as Head over all things to the Church Eph. 1. 22. he deserves tho' but a Man or however God and Man that every Knee of Things both in Heaven and in Earth should bow and fall at his Name Phil.
and arguing against it as taking it for granted that the Quakers make of it the same as he doth himself and allow no distinction between it and the other This he saith pag. 11. whereas the first Covenant and the Righteousness of it could never be fulfilled by all the Wit and Power comes from the Light of Nature without that by Grace in Christ And the Quakers Practice shews that this is but a Cavil For they not only pretend to more Light than all men have before they are enlightned that is to say to more than any Man hath from Nature but think that they are the People Joh 12. 2. which hath engrossed Wisdom and God's Spirit to themselves and teach that all men must come to their Light to be saved Whereby it appears they make of their Light within much more than of the Light of Nature and than Mr. Keith would make us believe they take it for What their own Light really is I will not determine But it is a great Mistake to allow no more to that which they call the Light within than to the Light of Nature For the Point is not whether the Light they actually have be that they pretend to have but if that Light which they call by the Name of Light within be that which they say it is viz. above the outward Word And what is the falsity or the right or the wrong of their Pretences to Truth and to us more than is that of so many other Sects which we take no Notice of that we should be concerned against it for Mr. Keith But his End is not so much the detecting of Errors and Lyes as to make a Noise to be taken notice of so any thing serves his Turn to build a Quarrel upon a great Part of his Sermon being all upon himself having so little of his Text that except he and his Church be the Text he preach'd upon we may very well call it a Text without a Sermon a Sermon without a Text whereof the Application is to be made from Matth. 19. 27. Such is this worthy Divine's good Conversation in Christ 33. Should he not as a Divine have treated exprosesso of a good Conversation What St. Peter means by it and that it ought to be as in the presence of God like that of the old Seers or Believers Elijah 1 Kings 17. 1. Enoch Gen. 5. 24. Noah Ch. 6. 9. and others Heavenly or in Heaven Phil. 3. 20. and not upon Earthly things V. 19. as becometh the Gospel Ch. 1. 27. which forbids Preachers to go from one Sect to another or from a Poor Benefice or Parish to a better but to be contented with what such Sect can afford Luk. 10. 7. and bids them to bear the Cross Matth. 10. 38. or to put their Will and Mind in the Sufferings of Christ not into Honour and Praise Joh. 5. 44. and to Fight and help others to stand Fight and overcome the Nations Rev. 2. 26. that is those Lusts rise and War in their Members Jam. 4. 1. and carry the Soul Captive and to put off the old Man that they may put on the New and become a New Creature Eph. 4. 23 24. Nothing but the new Creature and the Regeneration which makes such avail in Christ Gal. 6. 15. and to Fight and overcome to Sanctify Purify and evacuate by Faith the Heart of all that fills it is saith Paul 1 Thess 4. 3. the Will of God what he requireth of us and would have Preachers to teach Avoiding foolish Questions which gender nothing but Strifes 2 Tim. 2. 23. yet of all this very little or nothing in Keith's Sermons but disputes and contention which Create a Confusion and every evil Work Jam. 3. 16. for outward Ceremonies and about the outward word Regenerating of Souls to wit of such an outward and superficial new Birth as is that which Mr. Keith is acquainted with of late What will avail his Hearers and others at the last day to know his Learned Reasons for a set form of Prayers and all the Formalities of the now Church of England 34. Surely a Man may serve God work Righteousness overcome and be regenerated without changing or turning or going from Sect to Sect and thereby be accepted with God as Cornelius Act. 10. 35. and so be of the true Church and of the true Religion in any Sect or Nation And I am full perswaded Mr. Keith had done as well in point of Conversation to stay amongst the Quakers or amongst those other Sects which he was a Member of before he turned Quaker And to let his Light so shine amongst them that they might see and imitate his good Works Matth. 5. 16. as to plead for Baalim that is for the Lords Bishops and the dead and outward word against the Living Spirit which they maintain hath ceased since the Primitive Christians as Dr. Hicks his Sermon at St. Marys in Oxford and the Vicar of Westham's before My Lord of London Printed with approbation of Superiors shew they do as to Print pag. 10 and 11. that the Word or Light within whatsoever worth or force they may ascribe unto it doth not teach the Mystery of the Incarnation for instance to the Wise men without the help of Scripture and as to curry favour with Men in hope of getting an equivalent to that which maketh the Priests Heart glad Judg. 18. 18. 20. for St. Paul did not do so when he Preached the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 6. and hath left him a Warrant for Preaching quite otherwise Gal. 1. 8. Pray if it be not lawful for the Members of your Church to rejoyn themselves to Rome because it enjoyns many gross errors in its Worship as you alledge in your third Sermon pag. 25. is it not lawful for those who see the same in your Church to keep where and as they are 25. If an enlightned Conscience be the only good Conscience for he makes Light pag. 6. the best ingredient of it it seems he hath himself had no good Conscience hitherto before this last Turn of his for he was not enlightned till then as he confesseth pag. 14. where he saith but now with a good Conscience being farther I bless God enlightned I have declared for and joyned in Communion with her the Church of England And I see not which way he can pretend otherwise for in a Treatise of his called Help in time of need in the 54. pag. he saith the word of command from the Lord which filled me with Heavenly Joy and Comfort came to me the 30th day of the 10th Month called December saying shew to the People of Scotland several particulars seen there which he now unsaith And in 78 79. pages of the same he saith further and now whether ye will hear or whether ye will forbear I declare unto you in the Name in the Power and in the Authority of the Living God that the day that 's the coming of the Lord in the