the Tabernacle which was called the Holiest of all in the Old Covenant that the golden Censor and Ark of the Testament were put and the golden Pot which had Manna and Aaron's Rod that had budded and the Tables of the Testament and over the Ark the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-seat Heb. 9. Exod. 26. So the most excellent things were within the Veil tho' there was a Beauty and Glory also without it All which I doubt not were Shadows of the New Covenant and the spiritual Dispensation thereof in Christ Jesus in whom the most holy place of that divine Service and Worship in the New Covenant Sanctuary which the Lord has placed in the midst of his People is in the Spirit and in the Truth And all our spiritual Blessings and heavenly Treasures are in Christ Jesus who is our Sanctuary and Hiding-place And it is in the inmost or most inward and spiritual Dispensation of the New Covenant that Mercy and Forgiveness is receiv'd and Christ most livingly and effectually known to us and enjoyed and in him the most holy and heavenly Places wherein the true spiritual Believers sit down with him and as being washed from their Sins in his Blood by his Spirit are his Church and Sanctuary also and thereby have boldness to enter into the holy Place even by that new and living Way which Christ hath prepared for us through the Veil that is to say his Flesh Heb. 10. that we may follow him therein into Heaven it self And what entrance through Christ our Mediator we have here in measure received into this new and living Way and holy and heavenly Places in him we doubt not but it is to us an Earnest of a more full Enjoyment of Heaven and Glory hereafter with Christ Jesus our Fore-runner Leader and Captain of our Salvation we continuing faithful to the end in this his new and living Way as true and constant Followers of him God in his great Love and Wisdom has afforded several Dispensations one higher and more glorious than another in order to bring Man nearer and nearer to himself as that of the Law and of Shadows and Types that of the Prophets that of John the Baptist that of Christ in the Flesh and that of Christ in the Spirit and New Covenant which is higher more powerful and more glorious than the former and therein a more clear knowledge of Christ than in all the former wherein there was some Sight of him through Shadows and Veils but by his divine Light shining in our Hearts God is pleased to give us the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the Face of his dear Son Christ Jesus that we all with open Face as in a Glass may behold the Glory of God and be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. Ch. 4. 6 7. Now tho' our Adversary has made a deal of Dispute and Quarrel with us about calling Christ's Flesh the Veil as in Heb. 10. yet he is fain to grant That Christ's Body is called a Veil in relation to its Type the Veil of the Temple p. 262 263. but he 'll have this not to be in the Quakers Sense They call it a Veil that is saith he a Garment in contradistinction to its being Christ's Substance and of his Nature p. 262. Whereas its rather in contradistinction to its Being his Divine Natnre or to its being in the first place or principally or chiefly Christ himself who is the Son of God for whom the Body was prepared because he did pre-exit it or was in Being before he took upon him that Body even in his Father's Glory before the World began wherewith he is glorified However the Veil which was Christ's Flesh through which he set open the new and living Way we never deny to be Christ's Body or to be a real Body but own it was and never believed it to be a Fantastical Body as I have often said but that Christ the Son of God took upon him real Flesh and Blood of our Nature yet pure and incorrupt in him And as his Flesh was called the Veil it answers its Type or Figure i. e. the Veil of the most Holy Place or Oracle where God gave Answers 1 Kings 6. 20. 8. 6 8. 2 Chron. 3. 10 16. And these most Holy Places in the Tabernacle and Temple being Places of divine Service then peculiar to the High Priest to enter into their Antitype is in Christ Jesus the New Covenant where in the Spirit and in the Truth God is truly worshipped and meets with and speaks to his People even by Christ Jesus their High Priest who is present in the midst of his Church and Assemblies of his People the true and spiritual Worshippers who meet in his Name Spirit and Power whose Light and Truth brings its Followers unto his Holy Tabernacles Psal. 43. 3. And as to Christ's Substance and Nature what does our Opposer mean thereby How has he distinguished in this Point Christ has in him a divine Nature as well as that of Man which he hath also in the purest Sense But which is the greatest Is not the divine Nature the Deity in him greater than the Manhood As he said My Father is greater than all greater than I John 10. 29. Nevertheless as our great and only Mediator and Intercessor it was necessary he should be Man as he is the most glorious heavenly Man and as the Christ of God he is spiritually in us in his Saints and Members in some measure by his Spirit Light Life and Power even as the incorruptible immortal Seed in Man is of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and therein all true spiritual Believers do in measure partake of the divine Nature being born again of this incorruptible Seed The gross Calumnies cruel Mockeries false Stories and Perversions of the Author of The Snake in the Grass are therein so numerous together with his partial picking nibling mincing and carping at our Books which is so perverse and much on 't so silly that I confess many of them are waved in this Answer as not worthy of spending more precious time about them and I shall leave the said Author to the just Judgment of him that judghth righteously wishing his Repentance before it be too late And tho' he sculks and hides himself as if he were afraid or ashamed to own his Work with his Name to it so am not I of my Name or Vindication tho' I be and expect to be reproached and misrepresented for Christ's sake whose Servant I am George Whitehead A BRIEF EXAMINATION OF Some Passages IN THE Second Book of the Author OF The Snake in the Grass FALSLY STILED Satan dis-rob'd from his Disguise of Light Or The Quakers last Shift to cover their monstrous Heresies laid fully open WHEN I looked upon the Title of the said Book stiled Satan dis-rob'd from his Disguise of Light With this additional
's Great Myst. p. 7. extends this i.e. Infallible discerning Spirit to all and every of the Quakers To us says he every one of us in particular And this Light gavâ— us to discern between Truth and Error between every false and right way and it perfectly discovered to us the true state of all things p. 20. Upon perusal of the place quoted in the said Epistle I do not find that E. B. extends the gift of discerning to all and every of the Quakers nor the discovery of the true state of all things herein are his words and intention perverted tho' he confesses that every one has a true Light given by Christ but not that every one has attained to the same gift of discerning of Spirits and States Observe 1. E. B. personates the converted and faithful among the Quakers who walk in the Light which gives to discern between Truth and Error the Right and the Wrong way for whatsoever things are reproved are made manifest by the Light 2dly The perfect discovery of the true state of all Things He does in the place quoted restrict to the discovery of the Fall and restoration of Man and to what 's needful for Man to know i.e. in respect to Salvation Epis. to Gr. Myst. p. 7 8. We are not to suppose that By discovery of the true state of all things he intended to ascribe Omnisciency to us Creatures no more than the Holy Apostle John did in the like Expressions 1 John 2. 20. But ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all Things And verse 27. But as the same Anointing teacheth you of all Things and is Truth and is no Lye These were all things needful for their Salvation and preservation in Christ Jesus And herein in this divine Unction and the teachings thereof stands the Infallibility Certainty or assurance we plead for and not in Man's Will Wisdom Parts or Acquirements And as we keep in this Anointing received from the Holy One we receive its Teachings which are true and certain and so faâ— partake of Certainty or Infallibility in what it Teacheth being Truth and no Lye But if any go from this Anointing into the Will or Wisdom of Man or carnal Reasonings they go into uncertainty and so become fallible and subject to fall into Error erring from this certain Principle produceth Error both in Judgment and many times in Practice For 't is He that abideth in Christ that sinneth not 1 Joh. 3. 6. And those in whom this divine Aâ—ointing did abide who were taught by it As it taught them they did abide in him i.e. in the Son of God ch 2. 27. Who saith abide in me and I in you John 15. 4. I find this Author to the Snake in the Grass is very apt frequently to misrepresent our Friends Words which I cannot impute so much to his Ignorance as Envious design to make us as Infamous and Odious as he can As he had dealt by E. B. in the passage before he has in like manner serv'd Francis Howgil in his Preface to the Snake in the Grass p. 244. Which I did not so much search or remark in the foregoing Answer as since He charges F. H. with Blasphemy quoting p. 232. of his Works intitled The Dawning of the Gospel-day where he saith He that hath the Spirit of God is in THAT which is Equal i.e. as follows he that is join'd to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and the Unity stands in Equality it self Hence and on some other words curtaliz'd and mangl'd the said Author infers viz. 25. Having thus made themselves Equal to God in very Nature it is not strange to see them denying any other God or Christ but themselves they pull God out of Heaven c. Snake p. 245. These Blasphemous and general Inferences against the Quakers as they are utterly denyed by us I find no just occasion for them from F. H' s Words if truly cited and considered where he places the Equality between the Father Son and Holy Spirit That which is Equal he plainly speaks of the Spirit of God in the place quoted and by the Unity stands in Equality it self he means no other than that the Saints Vnity stands in Christ who is Equal with the Father according to Christ's own Prayer John 17. 21. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And verse 22. And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be One as we are One. And verse 23. I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one That F. H. places the Equality in the Son of God and on his part is evident by his following Words left out by the said Author viz. He that is born from above is the Son of God and he said I and my Father are one and when the Son is reveal'd and speaks the Father speaks in him and dwells in him and he in the Father Now though the Saints cannot claim to themselves that Equality the Son of God who is their Head hath yet who can in Truth deny their being made Partakers of the Divine Nature and Union in Christ Jesus and holy Spirit with the Father The account which this Author of the Snake hath given against Tho. Curtis p. 20 21 22. which he saith he has seen under the hand of W. Clark I do somewhat Question the Truth of divers Passages in it as whether T. C. is not therein mis-represented though I cannot from my own knowledge refute them yet 't is very strange that T. C. should be represented so very grosly Ignorant as in that said Account but I am sure 't is a gross Lye that the Quakers do hold or have always held these Heresies charged on him or that G. Keith should suffer him to be so foully expos'd in print if he was privy thereto I am apt to think 't was a piece of great Incivility as well as Ingratitude and Treachery against T. C. to serve him such an ill turn 26. That he would not lessen the Sufferings of the Quakers p. 13. is a notorious Falshood as his scoffing at and vilifying them and rendring many of them to have suffer'd for open and notorious Blasphemy p. 12. doth evince 27. That Mary Fell after she was Married to G. F. became the Mother of the Quakers Church p. 17. is a scornful Falshood we have not given her or any other Woman that Title though she and many more faithful Women have been own'd as Mothers in Israel but Jerusalem that is above the Mother of us all 28. That many of the generality of the Quakers do stick in the very bottom of that sink of Heresies which they have been taught and that their Leaders go about to justify excuse and pallitate them p. 18 These proceed from the Sink of his gross Calumnies and Malice 29. That the Quakers yearly Epistle directed to
it is a necessary Maintenance and Livelihood to them that serve in the Church it may be retained or any other Stipend appointed that may be sufficient for their Maintenance be it more or less than the Tenth part But that there is any sacrificing Priesthood to whom it is due in the New Testament the old Payment of Tithes doth not prove neither did Christ himself our High-Priest ever make claim unto them nor his Apostles the Ministers of the Church but only a sufficient Living by the Gospel to be allowed of their temporal Goods to whom they ministred spiritual Goods 1 Cor. 9. 14. Gal. 6. 6. From all which 't is evident First That the Protestants in those Days did not esteem Tithes of divine Right for Gospel Ministers but abrogated by the Death of Christ but indefinitely allowed a sufficient Maintenance for them without restricting it to the Tenth Secondly Divers eminent Martyrs and others who were both Persons of Piety and good Fame are more full and plain in this Point against Tithes in the Gospel-day and times as John Wickliff VVilliam Swinderby VValter Brute VVilliam Thorp the Bohemians with other Christians mentioned in the Book of Martyrs did bear Testimony against Tithes and compell'd Maintenance by the civil Authority This of their opposing Tithes was made a principal Article against them by the Popish Bishops and Clergy as more largely and particularly appears in the 1st vol. of Martyrs in the Reigns of Richard II. Henry IV. and Henry V. And tho' with those Christian Martyrs and first reformed Protestants we are persuaded That Jesus Christ by his Suffering and Death hath abrogated Tithes and the Law that required them according to Heb. 7. and that his Ministry ought to be free and without any forced Maintenance yet 't is not our Business now strictly to dispute the Merits of that Case of Tithes being fully opened by other Hands as Fra. Howgill in his Great Case of Tithes and Tho. Ellwood in his Foundation of Tithes shaken and R. Richardson's Testimony against Tithing among Christians with divers others to which we refer the Reader And to shew how much this Adversary resembles a Son of the old pretended Mother Church in his Contempt and Scorn against some of the Protestant Reformers particularly against VVilliam Thorp p. 169. for esteeming their Priests or Gospel Ministers not to come of the Lineage of Levi but of Judah which can intend no other but as they come of Christ who came of the Tribe of Judah and not of Levi for this William Thorp is derided as shewing what a doughty Clerk he was And with Fulsom Stuff p. 170. our Adversaries saying Who told Thorp or the Quakers that our Priests came of the Lineage of Judah Are they Jews What fulsom Stuff is this quoth he No doubt William Thorp meant the true Priesthood of Christ descended spiritually of his Line and not naturally And does not Jo. Fox call him A valiant Warrier under the triumphant Banner of Christ and commend him as that the Might Spirit and Grace of God to a marvel appeared in him But this Popish Agent ironically renders him a doughty Clerk a fulsom Writer What fulsom popish Stuff is this Sn. p. 194. Traiterous Principles and Actions charged against the Quakers from 1650 to 1660. as also Blasphemies and Treasons Blasphemers and Traitors p. 196 197 198. Ref. We need but answer these with Negation and Detestation as being most foul Raileries proceeding from a Spirit of Persecution and deadly Malice which the righteous Lord will rebuke but has he not heard of some of the Clergy who have lately absolved Persons condemned of High Treason His quoting Bugg's Authority for these black Charges p. 199. shews his partial Credulity in not taking notice of our Answers to him As also our Answer to John Pennyman on the like Passages Entituled Christ's Lambs defended from Satan's Rage Sn. p. 199. He chargeth G. Fox and E. Burrough with Traiterous abetting of Oliver and the Rump Ref. This is very harsh and deny'd He forgets how the then Clergy abetted Oliver and highly applauded him and his Son Richard as their Moses and Joshua and shews as little regard to the Act of Indemnity in these Recriminations if they were true Sn. Yet in p. 204 205 206 207. 208. he not only gives a Recital of a cruel and bitter Petition and Charge against divers of the People called Quakers directed To the Right Honourable the Council of State as they were called by several of the Priests and others in Lancashire and printed in 1653. but also takes it for granted that the Persons charged were guilty of every part of the Charge p. 209. Observe Thus he has sided with the Persecutors of those Times who abetted and sheltered under that Government which no doubt he now esteems not Loyal and not only so but he appears very partial and credulous of their most bitter and malicious Charges which were then designed to stir up severe Persecution Sn. One of the Charges p. 202 203 205 206. That G. Fox professed and avowed That he was equal with God Another That he professed himself to be the Eternal Judge of the World Ref. Observe here the Man 's partial Credulity and Injustice again in taking for granted what persecuting Adversaries have long since unjustly suggested against a conscientious Sufferer without hearing his Defence where the said G. F. being charged by his Persecutors with professing himself to be equal with God positively denies the Charge as not so spoken as that G. F. was equal with God but confessed That the Father and the Son are one and that Christ and the Holy Spirit are equal with God Saul's Errand p. 5 6. And so to Christ Jesus both as he was of the Seed of Abraham and also as he was equal and one with the Father And do not these confess both the Humanity and Divinity of Jesus Christ Vid. Just Inquiry p. 12. Sn. p. 212. That the Quakere take the Name of God and Christ to themselves because of God's supposed dwelling in them And p. 213. Their pretence to Perfection equal even to the Perfection of God himself and that they all pretend to it Ref. We the Quakers so called positively deny all such presumption and these Charges thereof in their several Parts Pray when and where did ever the People called Quakers call themselves by those Names of God and Christ either because of God's Indwelling or for any other cause We deny the Charge as both blasphemous and confused God's indwelling in his People cannot render them God And though we do sincerely believe and own a perfection of a deliverance from Sin and of Sanctification and Holiness as obtained and wrought by Jesus Christ for and in true Believers in this Life yet we cannot pretend to any such equality of Perfection as that of God himself which in Wisdom and Power c. is infinite seeing we are Men and not God finite Creatures and not the Creator
of Wrath and Envy that he notoriously belies us in his Prayer in saying That they i. e. the Quakers will not pray for themselves He seemingly prays but rails and reviles as it were with one Breath both next before and after his Prayer Sn. p. 319. That thus the Quakers say That he Christ dwelt only in the Body of that Man Jesus as in a Vail but took not that Body into his own Person so as to become Hypostatically united to it Re. We are to seek herein as not knowing where the Quakers say these things of Christ and his Body which he took and dwelt in as if he took it not into his own Person so as to be really or substantially united to it we never understood that it did not properly belong to himself but to some other Person The Objection herein against us is not only some Perversion but frivilous and impertinent Tho' his Flesh is called the Vail yet 't was that he owned as his own Body being also called the Body of Jesus which was not a fantastical but a real Body and he who is the entire Christ the Man Jesus is not divided in Body or Spirit Nevertheless Christ the eternal Son of God was as to his divine Nature and spiritual Being as the spiritual Rock before he took on him that Body that was prepared for him Sn. p. 320. That the Quakers most expresly make Christ's outward Blood the Type and Figure of inward Blood shed spiritually in their Hearts Re. We know not what Author he has for this Charge However the Quakers really own Christ's outward Blood as a part of his precious and acceptable Sacrifice and we deny not but that Blood of his as well as the Water that came out of his Side with it had an allegorical and misterious signification as well as an outward and literal evâ—â— of the spiritual Blood and Water of Life which Christ our High Priest sprinkleth and really washeth our Hearts and Consciences withal which we hope no sensible Soul will say is an outward or literal Sprinkling or Washing but an Inward and Spiritual Sn. ibid. That the Quakers make Christ without but the History and the Light within the Mistery or Substance which the Christ without as a History or Shadow of it only pointed Re. The Quakers do not so make Christ they make him no otherwise than the Father has appointed and made him to be He is more than either the History or Shadow of the Light within he as in himself is the substance of all Shadows and fulness of Light and Life from whom we have received both Spirit Light and Life Pray how proves he that the Quakers call Christ without but the History or Shadow of the Light within We want proof of this Point Sn. p. 321. That this the Quakers have done viz. set up other Scriptures against those received by the Church beyond any that ever went before them Re. We positively deny this Charge What other Scripture have they so set up against those Let 's have plain Proof for we are wholly ignorant of any such thing Sn. p. 322. That none ever have so contemned and vilified the Holy Scriptures as they have done Re. This is still maliciously to reproach and odifie us with the same old reiterated Calumny We know none that esteem and own the Holy Scriptures more than we both in Faith and Practice by the assistance of the Holy Spirit from whence they came Sn. p. 323. That a Man bringing a Bible into the Quaker's Meeting-House in Grace-Church-street and reading part of a Chapter the 14th of St. Luke it being the Bible so moved their Indignation that one of the chief of them snatched the Bible out of his Hand and thrust him along the Gallery down several Steps Re. We know no such Indignation or Action shewn by any of us against the Bible nor against any Person because thereof neither do we believe it let the Author prove it if he can We disown any such Indignation either against the Bible or any Person meerly because thereof Possibly some publick Disturber might by some or other present be gently turned out of Doors not because of the Bible but because of some offensive turbulent Behaviour Sn. p. 325. That upon pretence of the Light within the Devil the grand Deceiver drew them away from reading of the Scriptures c. discovers their preference of their own Writings to the Holy Striptures Re. We deny both these as utterly false scandalous and relative to many more Lies of the same kind in this Point Sn. p. 327 328. That they give all the threatning Discouragements that can be to deter any from reading of them Re. This is as gross and notorious a Falshood as the rest Sn. p. 330. I can saith the Opposer name those that now stand high among them who did before many Witnesses of the principal Quakers not stick to say That Paul was dark and ignorant and that they saw beyond him Re. We know none either High or Low among us that ever so said of Paul therefore let him produce his many Witnesses to prove who those were that so said that Paul was dark c. or otherwise for ever be ashamed of such odious Defamations Sn. p. 335. That Simon Magus was the Father of the Quakers Socinians and all the rest of the Anti trinitarian Hereticks Re. A gross Calumny against the Quakers rendring them a Sorcerer's Children But they deny both Simon Magus and all Sorcerers and the Devil the Father of Lies and all such as would persuade People to buy the Gift of God the Gospel for Mony The Quakers are as opposite to such Simony as Light is to Darkness Sn. p. 338. That E. Burrough pag. 47. determines clearly That the Scriptures are not now of any Authority at all to us at this Day Re. He perverts E. B.'s Words We find not such a determination of his but where he speaks of that not being a Command from God to me which he commands to another he intends this of special Commands that were to some as to Baptize and Preach the Gospel as he immediately explains it and not of general Commands of Duty incumbent upon all nor against the Authority of the Scriptures it being the Holy Spirit that makes them authoritative and binding and enables Men to live accordingly who are led by the same Spirit Sn. p. 342. That G. Whitehead in his serious Apology p. 49. prefers not only their Writings but their Ex tempore Preachments and even all whatsoever they speak upon any Account to the Holy Scriptures themselves Re. He very perversly wrongs G. Whitehead in all these Expressions for there 's not a word of preferring our Writings to the Holy Scriptures much less of all whatsoever we speak thereto but a preferring the Holy Spirit and its immediate Teaching in Man to the Letter of Scripture and preaching in the true sense of the Spirit with divine Authority according as Christ did
to that which is of God and from him and mentions not the Quakers in the place Sn. p. 52. Great Mystery p. 248. again quoted viz. All THAT have the Son and the Holy Ghost have THAT which is equal in Power and Glory with the Father and this all the Quakers say they have Re. That the Son and Holy Ghost are equal in Power with the Father and that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the Dead dwells in the Saints we see not this to be such a monstrous Heresie Are not the Son and Holy Ghost of the same Substance with the Father And have not the Assembly at Westminster confessed as much as G. F. says Yet the Quakers do not say they have the Holy Ghost in fulness but in measure Sn. p. 53 54 55. Sect. 7. Of the Quakers making their Soul of the same Person and Substance with God quoting Great Myst. p. 247. p. 90 91. 273. Of Christ's dwelling in the Saints Of that which came out from the Creator Of the Soul that came out of him c. Re. 1. The Case herein is both mis-understood and mis-represented against the Quakers They do not so make their Souls of the same Person and Substance with God I know no such Expressions used by the Quakers 2. There 's a mis-understanding also of G. F. in the Case about his questioning Is not that a part of God which came out from God and of his Being as God breathed into Man the Breath of Life and he i. e. Man became a living Soul to which Words G. F. expresly refers We always understood him to intend That this Breath of Life which made Man a living Soul was that divine Breath or Spirit of Life which came out from God and of his own Being for otherwise how should Man thereby become a living Soul Which clearly distinguisheth the Creature Man to be that living Soul that was so made by that Spirit Breath and Life which proceeded from his Creator and which some term the Soul of the Soul So that the Soul of Man abstractly considered was as truly created as Man himself tho' that divine Inspiration or Breath of Life whereby the Soul had its Being Life and Immortality be Increated and of God himself for we ever distinguished between the Soul of Man and that which saves it Note That his 2d 4th 8th 9th Sections are not particularly pointed at being in Substance comprehensively and sufficiently answered in divers Answers to the rest and in our Just Enquiry the same things being often repeated in his Book as about Carnal Weapons Damning all the World the Soul and Immediate Revelation Sn. p. 69. Sect. 10. As they place Infallibility in every single Quaker so they confine it not to Matters of Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things to know all Men's Hearts and all Things in the World by their inward Light without being told by any Re. Here 's a great Mistake in these Accusations 1. Such a personal Infallibility as to know all Persons States and Things in the World we pretend not to for that were for Man to pretend Omnisciency which is only proper to Almighty God The Man 's egregiously out in confounding Infallibility with Omnisciency The Infallibility or Certainty own'd by us originally is in the Spirit and Light of Truth given by Christ Jesus and not consisting in Persons their humane or natural Parts yet we must confess to the Glory of God that the Spirit of Truth doth infallibly teach and lead them into all Truth who truly obey it and gives them certain knowledge in Matters of Faith and Salvation Sn. p. 81. They turn and wind this Infallibility of theirs at such a rate that no Man can I am sure I cannot know what they mean by it Re. Where 's then the Blasphemy Here 's manifest Contradiction to what he hath said before about extending the Quaker's Infallibility to all Persons and Things and to know all Mens Hearts and all things in the World c. which is to pretend to Omnisciency which is only proper to God who only is Omniscient Silence had better become this occult Adversary's Ignorance than to reproach or vilifie us about what he knows not Sn p. 83 84. The Strength which God has given to our Bodies is as sufficient to climb up to the Skies as the Wisdom or Light which he has given to our Souls was sufficient of it self to have found out the redemption of lost Man by the Incarnation and Satisfaction of Christ to God's Justice for our Sins or if found out to have paid that Price and to have accomplished that whole wonderful Oeconomy of our Salvation by our own Abilities and then he goes on thus confusedly so very insufficient is the Light within us even tho' followed to the utmost by its own Strength to carry us to Heaven Re. This is to deny any divine Wisdom Light Word or Power to be given to our Souls as if they could live and immortally subsist without the divine Logos or Word in them which in Scripture is called The Ingrafted Word which is able to save the Soul and consequently to carry us to Heaven 't is therefore great Darkness to oppose the sufficiency of this Light this Word or Christ within or to oppose his Incarnation Sufferings Satisfaction or our Redemption obtained by him as our Mediator to this his own inward Light Power and Appearance for as truly as Christ Jesus as our blessed Mediator has obtained eternal Redemption and Salvation for us so truly doth Christ Jesus by his Light Life and Power make us Partakers of that Redemption and Salvation and to know the Oeconomy Law or Rule of his House and Family as we obey him therein that we being reconciled by his Death might be saved by his Life The divine Logos the Light or Spirit of Christ is as able now to discover what Christ hath done and suffered for our Redemption as it was to shew the Prophets his Sufferings and the Glory that should follow Sn. p. 84. And therefore the Quakers preaching up the sufficiency of the Light within as all of them but the Separatists do is not only highly derogatory to the satisfaction paid by Christ for our Sins but it is blasphemous in ascribing to Our Selves a Power sufficient to work out our own Salvation Re. There are two gross Mistakes in these Passages 1. The sufficiency we ascribe to Christ his Light and Life within is not any derogation to his Satisfaction Attonement or Ransom given and paid by him without us for Sins and Sinners no more than Christ's own exhorting Men To believe in the Light that they might become Children of the Light or the Apostle's to a receiving the ingrafted Word which was able to save the Souls could be derogatory to his blessed intention and end in his Suffering and Sacrifice for Mankind but the contrary Christ by his Light and Life within leads to know and experience the
not in the Paths of it Job 24. 13. And though there 's no Sin against the Light or Backsliding from it without some Conviction at one time or other yet 't is possible for some to presume to sin rebel and shut their Eyes so long until they become stark blind and hardned in sinning and past feeling in Rebellion and given over to hardness of Heart and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie and so to Damnation and Destruction yet however clouded all this while the Light in them remains in it self pure certain and an infallible swift Witness against the Rebellious who love Darkness and the Works thereof rather than the Light which is come into the World Mens thinking themselves to be in the right when mistaken p. 174 175. having their Understandings darkned will not destroy all or any of the Quakers certainty which they have in the true Light as they believe and walk therein P. 176 177. It was hard for Saul to Kick against the Pricks and that is against the Power of Christ which would be too hard for him if he strove against it as is confest No doubt that Power reached his Conscience when awakened and convicted consequently those Pricks which that gave him were then in him and that Power or Holy Ghost which Stephen's Persecutors and Saul also resisted when he kept their Garments while they stoned him and consented to his Death was near them to convict and condemn them for their Persecution and Cruelty but their Fury Wrath and Violence would not permit them to adhere or submit to the strivings thereof for they always resisted the same Holy Spirit as did their Fathers Acts 7. 51. Which Resistance of theirs implies the Spirit 's secretly striving with them and giving Counsel against their Wickedness and Cruelty for how can there be always a resisting that which either is not or moves not or counsels not O therefore the same Holy Spirit and Light of it was in them in some measure moving and striving with them to persuade stop and reclaim them from those destructive Courses and Enormities they had chosen And here we may observe how he excuses the Ministry where People are not converted by it he deems it a very bad Argument to blame the Ministry for Mens being Evil may proceed from their own Perversness and not from the Fault of the Ministry Pref. p. 57. May we not retalliate such Argument for the Light within That 't is a very bad Argument that the Light within is either insufficient or fallible because Men are Evil or blind or mistaken Which may proceed from their own Disobedience or Perverseness and not from any defect or fault in the Light given them And when Saul thought with himself that he ought to do many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth and was zealous in persecuting and imprisoning the Christians and exceeding mad against them Acts 26. 9 10. 11. This was in his blind deceived State when a Follower of the persecuting Priests and the more blinded by such blind Guides as hate the true Light and oppose it For as Paul saith I persecuted this way unto the Death binding and delivering into Prison both Men and Women Acts 22. 4. For many of the Saints I shut up in Prison having received Authority of the High Priests and when they were put to Death I gave my Sentence Acts 26. 10. So that the Priests were very ill Instruments to influence and misguide him in Persecution and Cruelty contrary to the Light such his Blindness Madness and injurious Persecution against the Saints to Imprisonment and Death being expresly contrary to the Law of God without them and within them in Scripture and Conscience Will any be so blind as to suppose God did not afford them so much Light as to shew them such gross Iniquities and Injuries to others who were innocent How impertinent and senseless then is the Man's Question viz. Had Paul then any Pricks of Conscience or of his Light within against the lawfulness of that wherein he was fully persuaded and zealous p. 177. No doubt he had so much Light in him as would both have prickt him for and shewn the Unlawfulness of his Persecution and Cruelty against the Saints if he would have inclined his Mind to it for Counsel and not to the Priests who encouraged him in Persecution against the Christians which they persuaded him to and not the Light They helped to make him so mad against the Saints as he was but Christ the Light whose Power prickt him made him wise when converted and tho' 't is possible that in his Hurry and Fury to Persecution he might not at that very instant feel the Pricks of the Light in 's Conscience yet it swiftly pursued him and seiz'd him when Christ had wonderfully put a stop to him and his Letters and Errand from the High Priests to persecute the Saints Tho' the Candle of the Wicked may be many times put out 't is lighted again For how oft is the Candle of the Wicked put out How oft is Destruction upon him If it be often put out 't is often lighted And therefore all these things seriously consider'd we do not see it any hard Matter to make sense of the Quakers Notion as he calls it of the Light within nor that this Instance of St. Paul can stand as any irrefragable or other Proof against it or our Testimony for that true Light which inlightens every Man coming into the World John 1. 4 9. Because many are blinded by the persecuting and covetous Priests and many shut their Eyes against the Light and many love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil and the Candle of the Wicked is often put out But they shall all find it hard to Kick against the Pricks even in their own Consciences as 't is confessed even in the English Annotation in the Margin on Acts 9. 5. It is hard for thee to Kick against the Pricks i. e. to resist God when he pricketh and soliciteth our Consciences therefore such prickings are within All which truly consider'd 't is no difficulty to make Sense of the Quaker's Notion as he calls it of the Light within p. 178. seeing 't is according to the express Sense of Holy Scripture-Testimony thereof and the Sense which the Light gives all them that truly regard it Christ being the Light of the World that inlightens every Man coming into it that whosoever believe in his Light and follow him the Light might not abide in Darkness but have the Light of Life and become Children of the Light Neither doth our Adversary's Instance of St. Paul or others stand as any irrefragable Proof against the Light within or the Quakers Notion of it as he vainly supposeth p. 178. Unless it be a good Argument that because some Men are blind and others shut their Eyes there 's no Sun in the Firmament giving Light into their Houses We find no better Proof or
the least Farthing with the aforesaid Discourse and then see how he 'll reconcile his Notion thereunto In Sect. 16. Concerning the Holy Trinity he saith The Quakers and Socinians acknowledge a Three but deny a Trinity which is to confess the same Thing in English and to deny it in Latin for Trinitas is only Latin for Three He mistakes the Quakers They do not deny the Three either in Latin or English but really own the holy divine Three in Heaven tho' their being rendred distinct and separate Persons by some of our former Adversaries we have conscientiously questioned as unscriptural Terms Our Adversary adds They cannot tell what Three they are if not Three Persons p. 219. This is a Mistake we can safely tell what to call them in Scripture Language That they are Three that bear Record or Three witnessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Witnesses in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One John 1. 5. These are the Father Son and Holy Spirit which are essentially One or One in the Divine Being Our Adversary further saith The Quakers who own the Divinity of Christ are under greater Difficulties than the Socinians who deny the Divinity of Christ p. 219. 'T is well he now grants the Quakers own the Divinity of Christ But how well this agrees with much of his Book against us let the serious Reader judge And we know no Difficulties we are under herein The Man imagins and would obtrude Difficulties upon us from his own Terms which are none of ours as that there is but One Person in the Godhead which are none of our Words Much less his Muggletonian Consequence That God died and that Christ was his own Father to whom he pray'd upon the Cross. We know no real occasion given by the Quakers for him to draw such Absurdities upon them or to be afraid of such Distinctions and Salvo's at the bottom of the Quaker-pretences as impertinently he prates against them exposing his pretended Fears instead of Proofs And what if G. F. opposed Chr. Wade's calling The Holy Ghost a Person And if he said The Scriptures do not tell the People of Three Persons c And yet confessing the Father Son and Holy Spirit to be always One Does it follow That the Quakers do not acknowledge that there were Three in Heaven before Christ was born as he saith it seems p. 220. And then to aggravate the Matter against G. F. That he means One Person as Muggleton does p. 220. What if the Quakers think the Term Three Persons too low an Epithite or Character to put upon the most Glorious Blessed Three that bear Record in Heaven Can they be to blame herein When they aim at giving more Honour to them in a true Scripture sense than they think the Term Persons imports yet still owning the Holy Divine Three in Heaven and that they were before Christ was born contrary to what 's unduly suggested against us For the Father the Word and Holy Spirit were concerned both in Divine Wisdom Power and Goodness in forming preserving and governing both the Old Creation and the New By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth Psal. 33. 6. So here 's the Divine Holy Three forming and compleating the first Creation And the Gospel was commanded to be preached in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost that Men might truly believe and know the Work of God by his dear Son and Holy Spirit unto their everlasting Salvation Peace and Comfort For God so loved the World that he hath given his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life John 3. 16. And Jesus answered and said If any Man love me he will keep my Word and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and will dwell with him John 14. 23. And ver 26. The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance which I have told you And Ch. 15. 26. But when the Comforter shall come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth of the Father he shall testifie of me And 1 Joh. 4. 13 14. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit And we have seen and do testifie That the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World All which may evince how scripturally we own a Trinity or Holy Three in the Deity Our Accuser tells of what unimaginable Excesses Enthusiasm may drive Men to and that all should beware of that desperate Shelve upon which both our Church and State have suffered miserable Shipwreck p. 221 222. Here he disparages his own Church whereby we may beware of embarking in such a â—raz'd wreck'd Vessel as here he represents her He excepts against the Words not distinct from which G. F. intends in a sort of common Acceptation That the Son is not divided or separate from the Father p. 222 223 224. Tho' 't is true in one Sense the Father Son and Holy Ghost are not essentially distinct as to their divine Being which is but One they are but One God but in respect to their Properties of Relation as Father Son and Holy Ghost as such they are distinct but not divided nor separate either in themselves or Work of the Old or New Creation yet not Three Gods nor Three distinct Creâ—tors but One God and One Creator Passing by divers Impertinencies and Absurdities under this Head to conclude We know no People professing a Deity in Christendom that more sincerely and livingly believe and confess a most glorious Scripture-Trinity or Holy Three the Father the Word or Son and Holy Ghost than we the People called Quakers do believe and confess to the Praise and Glory of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Our Accuser's 17th Sect. Concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ is full of Falshoods Perversions and Misconstructions 1. He begins with this Falshood viz. The Quakers Heresie in this is taken from the Socinians They say Christ took Flesh but no otherwise as they explain it than as Angels assumed Bodies c. Which is notoriously false against the Quakers who confess and believe That Christ the Word took real Flesh a real Body and not a meer Apparition nor a Fantastical Body and so they have often declared both in Print and Preaching 2. That they allow not always that Christ did inspire the Person of that Man Jesus in an higher measure than other Men. False and perverse again God did inspire the Man Christ Jesus higher than all other Men he received the Spirit not by measure but in fulness he was anointed with the Oil of Gladness above all his Fellows All other Men even the best are inspired
such Commands given forth by our Yearly Meeting but only a tender Caution to such that have acted contrary to their former Principle and Practice to the injuring of their own Souls and endangering their own and other Lives c. As touching some Ship-masters esteemed Quakers carrying Guns in their Ships mentioned in the said Meeting 1693. our Christian Principle and Innocency is cleared in the Epistle in these Words viz. Dear Friends YOU very well know our Christian Principle and Profession in this Matter both with respect to God and Caesar and that because we are Subjects of Christ's Kingdom which is not of this World we cannot Fight John 18. 36. yet being Subjects of Caesar's Kingdom we pay our Taxes Tribute c. according to the Example of Christ and his Holy Apostles relating to Christ's Kingdom and Caesar's wherein we are careful not to offend Mat. 17. 27. 22. 20 Rom. 13. 6 7. being also very glad and much satisfied in the many Testimonies given at the Meeting of our Friend's Innocency quiet and peaceable Behaviour under the outward Government as becomes our Christian Principle and Profession Sn. p. 115. Whatever a Quaker dictates if it were to depose the King and set up their Vniversal Monarch and to assert by Arms their own Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth if they should abrogate any or all of our Laws or any thing else whatever their Arbitrary Enthusiastical Spirit shall suggest to them this must not be looked upon as any thing that is human but as the very Words of God c. Ref. These are very bitter invidious and calumnious Suggestions and cruel Jealousies of a high Nature as if this poor Libeller eagerly thirsted after our Blood But the Matters thus suggested are so gross that we need say little to them but commit our innocent Cause to him that judgeth righteously and bless his Name we converse with no such Spirit as would suggest or excite to any such pernicious wicked hurtful or treasonable Things or Actions as here suggested against us as our peaceable Conversation ever since we were a People hath demonstrated Sn. p. 122. That in the Answer to F. Bugg's Impeachment they i.e. the Quakers would persuade us That all they have said against the Payment of Tithes was only meant by them to the Popish Clergy but by no means against the Right of the Church of England to their Tythes c. Ref. This is partially and wrongfully stated Our Answer to F. Bugg plainly shews our conscientious Dissatisfaction with Tithes in general and the forcing thereof now in this Gospel-day by any Clergy whatsoever as not consistent with the practice of Christ's Ministers or Testimony of divers Martyrs who not only testified against the Popish Clergy forcing the Payment of Tithes but also against Tithes and Temporalities themselves and against the secular Power 's imposing or forcing them Tithes being abolished under the New Covenant and by Christ's new Law See William Thorp's Discourse at large on this Subject 1. vol. of Martyrs fol. 700 708. in King Henry IV. his Reign Old Impression Sn. p. 133. Their Principles destructive to all Government c. Ref. This is a general very gross and invidious Aspersion Our Principles are Christian and peaceable and our Conversation among Men and toward the Civil Government is and hath been a manifest Indication thereof as well as our publick and frequent Testimonies and Prayers to Almighty God for Rulers and People and when any of us have testified against the abuse of Government and corruption of Governors and against them for the same this could not be destructive of any just or good Government Sn. Highly asserting Tithe or the Tenth part to be of divine Right viz. As God's Tribute God's Tithe due to the Evangelical Priesthood to that Order of Priesthood after the Order of Melchisedeck as a Tribute to God a part of God's Worship peculiar to God Tithes of God and to confirm his Jure Divino Claim of Tithes p. 175 176. That several Kings of England who had then the sole Right and Property in all the Lands of England have anew dedicated by particular Vows as Jacob Gen. 28. 22. all the whole Tithes of the Lands of England to God and signed Charters and Grants of the same tendered upon their Knees at the Altar of God in presence and with the approbation of the Lords and Estates of the Land with heavy Curses and Imprecations upon themselves or any of their Successors who should recal the same or incroach in any part upon the said Tithe of God and upon all who should receive such Grants from them or assist them in such Sacriledge and the same have been confirmed by several Acts of Parliament And he further adds That to maintain the Sacrilegious Impropriations which the Pope had made of the Secular Clergy to indow their Monasteries which Henry VIII instead of restoring did yet more sacrilegiously impropriate to the Laity p. 164 165 169 170 171 173 175 176 177 to p. 189. Ref. Pray observe the nature and import of these Passages as they are thus truly collected how like a dutiful Son of the Mother Church as that of Rome is called this Man looks How strenuously he argues for the divine Right of Tithes and how he would renew the sense of the heavy Curses of Popish Kings denounced upon themselves or any of their Successors who should either recal the same or incroach in any part upon the Tithes and upon all Assisters in such Sacriledge as he calls it But it seems King Henry VIII would not be bound by any of the said Curses no more than by the Pope's Supremacy I think the Man has out-done the Rhemists and other Jesuits and Popish Priests in these Aggravations to fasten the said Curses not only on Henry VIII but upon all the Impropriators and Receivers of such Grants as aforesaid though the Rhemists and he agree as to Tithes being Jure Divino as in their Annotations on Heb 7. They say That the Payment of Tithes is a natural Duty that Men owe to God in all Laws and to be given to his Priests in his behalf for their Honour and Livelihood and that Jacob promised or vowed to pay them Gen. 28. And that Abraham specially giving them to Melchisedeck plainly thereby approveth them or their equivalent to be due to Christ and the Priesthood of the New Testament much more than either in the Law of Moses or in the Law of Nature and for Tithes due to the Clergy of Christ's Church c. See now how exactly this Churchman and these Rhemists agree in this point of Tithe But that the Reformed Protestants and divers eminent Protestant Martyrs were of the contrary Judgment concerning Tithes hear First what Dr. Fulk saith in Answer and Opposition to the Rhemist recited Annotation on Heb 7. viz. The Payment of Tithes as it was a Ceremonial Duty is abrogated with other Ceremonies by the Death of Christ but as
Therefore 't is a great and gross Lie to say of the Quakers They all pretend to such Perfection and Equality As it was also likewise answered in the said Just Inquiry into the Libeller's Abuse as followeth p. 12. It 's therefore a gross Slander implied against the Quakers that 't is their Boasting Doctrin or Principle that they or any of them are equal with God because they partake of his Spirit that raised Jesus from the Dead and of the divine Nature and Image they pretend to no such Equality or Principle neither doth G. F. but the contrary he denies it of himself or any other Creature as that any Creature should be equal with the Creator as in his Great Mystery fol. 127. and we abhor any such Boasting Sn. p. 216 217. That most of all are they inraged against G. Keith for Preaching up the necessity of a Christ without and that the Light within is not sufficient to Salvation without something else that is Christ Jesus without us suffering and dying outwardly for us Ref. 1. The first part is not true We are not offended at G. K.'s preaching Christ or his Suffering and Dying without us truly considered But 2. at his undervaluing the Light within as not sufficient to Salvation or not sufficient without something else seeing G. K. confesseth That the Light within in a true sense is God and Christ the eternal and essential Word as in his Antichrists and Sadducees p. 23. Surely Christ within and Christ without are not two Christ's Christ without is not another Christ than Christ within tho' his being without and within are in different manners By the Light within being sufficient to Salvation or to bring Salvation we mean able to save as the ingrafted Word is able to save the Soul yea even where the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a little Leaven which leavens the whole it bespeaks its Vertue and Efficacy surely then God and Christ the eternal and essential Word is all-sufficient and able to save Man from Sin Wrath and Damnation nevertheless God hath respect to Christ Jesus his Mediation Suffering and Dying for us in his so saving us but that God and Christ the eternal Word of God within who cannot be divided are absolutely sufficient and able actually to save and deliver Men from Sin and the Wrath to come and so do ought not to be questioned we being reconciled by the Death of Christ are saved by his Life The Light and Life of Christ within cannot be without Christ no more than the Light of the Sun can be without the Sun or a Stream without a Fountain the Light and Life of Christ within us hath livingly made us Partakers of the Fruit and Benefit of his Suffering Death and Resurrection without us and as much has been asserted of the Light within and sufficiently thereof by G. K. as any of us in his former Books How he is shaken and varied in this and some other Points we may refer to his Vniversal Grace and Immediate Revelation and other Books as also to the Remarks made on them and his latter Books by Tho. Ellwood John Penington and the Moderate Church-man Sn. p. 218 219. That Christ's making an outward attonement and satisfaction for Sin by an outward shedding of outward Blood they i. e. the Quakers turn all this to a meer Allegory tending only to an inward Christ that is their Light within to spiritual Blood shed inwardly in their Hearts Ref. 1. We are injuriously and wrongfully accused in this Charge We do not turn Christ's outward Suffering Sacrifice Blood or Attonement made for Sin thereby into a meer Allegory as if there had been no such thing in reality both outwardly and literally this is far remote from our Intentions thus to allegorize away all these to the Inward as if no Christ had outwardly been or suffered for Mankind 't was never our Opinion 2. Yet deny not but it has been and still is our sincere Belief and Persuasion as well as our Experience in measure that all Christ's Sufferings and Sacrifice his Cross his Blood and Water shed without had a misterious and allegorical Meaning and interpretation as well as a literal in them who are crucified with him and really washed from their Sins in his Blood and there is his spiritual Blood and Water as well as the outward for all that is spoken of the Blood of Christ in Scripture is not to be taken only in a literal sense Sn. p. 219 220. That this inward Christ they make to be the Archi-Type of which that Man Christ Jesus was but the Type Figure c. Ref. 'T is a new Notion imposed upon us that we make Christ as inward the Archi-Tipe chief or principal Type for Christ who is not divided is the substance and end of all Tipes and Figures and therefore 't is not true in it self nor of us That the Man Christ Jesus was but the Type or Figure for it hath pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell in him which Tipes Figures and Shadows are far short of Sn. p. 220 221. That this Doctrin which he charges against the Quakers makes no more of Christ Jesus than a good Example as a Man who had a great measure of the true Christ and that the Body of that Man Christ Jesus he has now thrown off and is no more a Man Thus saith he has the Devil in the Quakers totally destroyed Christ's Humanity as in the Socinians he has taken away his Divinity Ref. Here are five notorious Falshoods contained in this Charge against the Quakers In opposition to which we say our Belief and Doctrin is That Christ Iesus was and is more than a good Example he was also a most acceptable Sacrifice and Saviour in whom we have Life and Salvation through Faith in him his Name and Power 2. He received the Spirit not by measure but in fulness and that he is the true and very Christ of God 3. That the Man Christ Jesus has not thrown off his own particular Body for 't is a most glorious Body 4. And Christ himself a most glorious heavenly Man in Soul and Body 5. The Devil is a great Enemy to all faithful Quakers and hath no place in them by the Power of Christ they have overcome that wicked one and he cannot destroy Christ's Humanity or Manhood 't is blasphemous to affirm it tho' he persecute the Seed of the Woman and bruise his Heel this Seed shall bruise his Head and hath done it and will destroy the Devil and his Works from having any Power or Dominion where Christ the promised Seed is truly received and reigns Sn. p. 222. That they make themselves equal to Christ Jesus yea to be Christ preferring of themselves before him p. 224. Ref. These gross Lies and blasphemous Calumnies are utterly denied being also refuted before We have abundance of such Stuff reiterated in the windings and turnings of this Snake in the Grass Sn. p. 239. That
Spirit and so opposite to Infallibility is none of Christ's consequently no Christian. And he does but follow his own fallible Spirit being prompted on by the Father of Lies in what he writes against us consequently of no Credit therein so like one of those false Prophets that follow their own Spirits and see nothing But then severely to aggravate the Matter against us poor Madmen in his esteem he 'll needs have it That the height of our Self-advancement is to be equal even to God to be one Person Substance and Soul with God And he does not think that any Human Government can be secure of Men in whose Power it is to screw themselves up to such blasphemous heights of Enthusiasm p. 169 170. We Answer 'T is better to be mad Men and Fools than to be screwed up by the Father of Lies to such a height of Malice and Outrage as this insulting and railing Rabshekah appears to be puft up in When did ever the Quakers so advance themselves to be one Person Substance Soul with God and equal even to God We positively deny the Charge and the Words themselves but only as we are united or joined to the Lord we are one Spirit and give this Person leave to secure such Persons in Bedlam if he can find any among us that he can plainly prove to hold the same as he charges And therefore his insinuating such presumptuous Blasphemies against the Quakers in general to render them so highly obnoxious and the Government insecure of them this is highly and deadly malicious and he might as well have taken one Step further to have shewn his Teeth and have told the Government what he would have done with the Quakers how he would have them dealt with to be secure of them whether he would have them closely Confin'd Hang'd or Banish'd for take our Word his Charge is very high against them and implies no small Reflection upon the Civil Government for so kindly suffering and indulging such extreamly pernicious mad Folks as he has over and over rendred the Quakers which serves but to evince the Folly of his own Fury and Madness against a peaceable innocent People P. 153. Sect. 11. To his ridiculing Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings c. 1. We do not institute Womens Preachings as he saith but leave them free to the Gift and Call of God 2. Neither hath he proved that they are universally and perpetually forbidden to speak in the Church by that 1 Cor. 14. 34 35. The Apostle Paul did not intend to make void God's Promise of the pouring out of his Spirit upon Sons and Daughters to prophesie Joel 2. 28 29. Acts 2. 17 18. No he allowed Women to Pray or Prophesie when so divinely indued and inspired thereunto 1 Cor. 11. 5 13. 3. Our Scoffer tells us of the Prelacy of Womens Meetings which he calls an Invention never heard of in the World till G. F. cobled it out As for the Term Prelacy 't is his own given in his Scorn and Ignorance As for our Womens Meetings what has the Scorner against them or their Services more than his own Ignorance and Scorn We know Them and their Help and Service to be truly Christian and Charitable consequently to be of the Lord their Intent and Service being to be helpful in their Places for promoting true Christian Charity and Religion in Life and Practice and particularly with regard to Fatherless and Widows among us that they may not be neglected but Visited and Ministred unto in their Afflictions for their necessary Relief and Comfort And these Meetings are very expedient and convenient for Intelligence among them of such Objects of Charity and Compassion There were Deaconesses as well as Deacons in the Primitive Christian Churches 4. This Church-man has no reason to deride or contemn our Women's Meetings we charge not his Church with our Poor tho' we help to Relieve the Poor of his Church both Parish-poor and Beggars to his and their Shame be it spoken who blindly ridicules our Christian Care and Charitable Methods in this Matter In Sect. 12. concerning the Light within That the Light which lightneth every Man coming into the World being the divine Word the Son of God is not natural Reason or Conscience but above both and enlightneth both is true because divine and universally in every Man and therefore we do not by Virtue of this Light advance our selves above all Mankind nor damn all but our selves as is falsly suggested against us p. 171. But as we are turned and converted from Darkness unto this Light the Lord hath advanced us above what we our selves were in our natural and unconverted State and above all others who yet remain in that state To the Question Whether a Man can sin while he follows this Light p. 172. Answ. No nor in his truly following it And that he cannot leave the Light without knowing it or being followed with Judgment and Conviction thereof by the Light is true also Whence it does not follow that there can be no Sin of Ignorance as is wrongfully inferred p. 173. For there are Sins of Ignorance before Conviction and Conversion whilst Men walk in Darkness being ignorant of the Light that shines in it and their Minds estranged from it but after convicted or Conversion in measure if they backslide in Heart and leave the Light they cannot be left altogether ignorant of their backsliding because they shall be left without Excuse who either through their impenitent hard Hearts treasure up Wrath to themselves or backslide in Heart or wilfully sin until judicially hardned after they have received the knowledge of the Truth 1. Because of God's universal Call and Visitation by his Light and Free Grace in Christ to Sinners 2. Because of his swiftly pursuing the Wicked and all them that forsake him by his Spirit of Judgment For these and other Causes they are all inexcusable before him and the Light will pursue them even to Hell as it did the rich Man when in Hell he lift up his Eyes Luke 16. 23 28. To what our Opposer objects from these Scriptures Luke 23. 34. John 16. 2. 2 Thess. 2. 11. Mat. 6. 23. Acts 3. 17. 1 Cor. 2. 8. thence inferring against the Infallibility of the Light within and saying There can be no such Mistake as our Saviour supposes Mat. 6. 23. If the Light within be infallible and that every Man has it and that no Man can leave it without knowing of it p. 174. To all which we Answer That some Men's Ignorance of their Master's Will others wrong Thoughts others being given up to strong Delusion to believe a Lie others greatly mistaking Darkness for Light and then how great is that Darkness of theirs These can be no Proofs against the Infallibility of the Light it self nor of the Light within being fallible but of their own Transgression Disobedience and Rebellion against the Light Who know not the ways of the Light because they abide
reproachful Title Or The Quakers last Shift to cover their monstrous Heresies and being By the Author of the Snake in the Grass I did suppose it to be the Second Part to the same Tune or much of the same Nature with the former full of Bitterness and Scorn by the reviling Title and no fair Reply to T. Ellwood's Answer and so it appears and I expect will be made farther appear if T. Ellwood deems it worth the while to undertake it But that which appear'd most strange to me and some others was in the Title of the said Book it is thus declared Which also may serve for a Reply as to the main Points of Doctrin to Geo. Whitehead 's Answer to the Snake in the Grass to be published the end of the next Month if this prevent it not Which appeared very strange to me and the Man 's presumptive Falshood the greater I having a great part of the Copy of my Answer to The Snake in the Grass in my Hands when I first saw these Words in Print and the rest of my Copy then in the Printers Hands which we did not hear they lent him to make Reply to and when I lookt over his Book I neither found any repetition of my Answer nor Reply thereto However he 's so confident and boasting in his own Work that he takes it for granted That not only the Quakers are put to their last Shift but also that this pretended Reply to T. Ellwood's Answer to G. Keith's Narrative may also serve for a Reply to G. Whitehead's Answer to The Snake in the Grass Which would seem a cunning Piece of Divination indeed to Reply to a Book before he sees it or knows it But if he will still have his said Reply a sufficient Reply thereunto he may go on in 's own Conceit and save himself a further Labour of Replying lest he give himself the Lie by giving the World to understand that what he has said may serve for a Reply to Geo. Whitehead's Answer may not serve for a Reply However he seems to have taken upon himself a heavy Task in being an Advocate for George Keith and more heavy to reconcile the Contradictions charged upon him by Tho. Ellwood John Pennington and his Brother Edward and partly for Baptists and Presbyterians and all against the Quakers in his Reply but very partial in carping at our Words and Answers in many places without taking notice of the unwarrantable Expressions Absurdities and Contradictions of our Adversaries and yet in general Terms excuses them but in no small Contradiction to himself and the sad Account and ill Characters he has given in his Snake in the Grass 2nd Part Sect. 3. pag. 17. 18. both of Presbyter Anabaptist Independent Quaker c. as all under Enthusiasm of Rome's dressing in several Shapes and Forms and as a plentiful Harvest of Rome 's reaping c. But now he can advocate and take part with any of them against the Quakers like some mercinary Soldier of Fortune I do not intend to spend much time here to Answer his said Reply though 't is no great Difficulty to do but to take notice of a few Passages in it wherein I and some others are concerned and injurionsly dealt with therein 1. My excepting against that made Expression Co-creator as used by the Baptist telling of God being Co-creator with the Father I confess I am no more reconciled to the Expression now than I was when first I questioned it as unscriptural whereby I never intended not to allow the Word to be God or to the Son of God as I am most injuriously accused p. 2. For divers of my ancient and first Writings in Print shew the contrary that I own the Word to be God and Creator too But the Phrase God Co-creator with God I think still implies Two Creators and consequently Two Gods 'T is not the Particle co with in this Case will excuse the Matter for co or con is simul together as Co-workers Co-partners which are more distinct Agents than one But the Creator is but one God one Word one Spirit and so one Creator But this invented word Co-creator was brought by the Baptists for proof That the Light in Man wherewith the word God as Co-creator lighteth every Man is the Light of Reason the Light of Nature c. consequently but a created Light which I deny Seeing that it is the same Life that was in the Word that was the Light of Men John 1. 4. What good Doctrin or good Sense were it then to say That the word God was Co-creator with the Father of his own Life Light and Power And no better Sense can I make of the Baptist's Notion of the Light in this Case nor of this Man 's excusing him Besides a learn'd and more moderate and ingenuous Person has lately made the like Exception against the word Co-creator in a printed Paper called Reflections upon some Passages in G. Keith 's Narrative where he saith It seems to me that the word Co-creator might justly be rejected by G. Whitehead being a word neither us'd in the Holy Scriptures nor by any of the ancient Councils and it seems to import a Conceit that there are Two Efficients of the Creation one having a creative Power distinct from the other Yet withal he is pleased to give this gentle Reflection on me by the way Tho' G. W. has not spoken with that Caution and Accuracy which he should have us'd in a Matter of so grand Importance which I do the more easily bear from him because of his Moderation Suppose that in some Passages in some of my former Writings as to the Circumstance of Words or Expressions there may be some Deficiency or want some Explication or Distinction or something dubious and the Particulars thereof were shewn me I hope I should not be wanting to give my Explication to the Satisfaction of the Moderate and Ingenuous As to the Matters intended by me I know the Lord gave me a true Sense and Sight by his Power in my young and early Years he having inclined my Heart after him from my Youth I bless his Holy Name The same Person whom I cited before goes on viz. I do not conceive that he i. e. G. W. denies either the Divinity or Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ The Father is Creator the Son Creator the Holy Ghost Creator and yet they are not Three Creators but One Creator Thus he Consequently not properly called Co-creators for that would imply Three Creators And I think I might more warrrantably oppose the same than my Adversary imply Three intelligent Beings in the Godhead by his definition of a Person that every intelligent BEING is a Person that is the meaning of the word Person saith he p. 5. Whence it follows That if there be Three distinct Persons in the Deity they are Three distinct intelligent Beings unless he 'll argue as one of his Brethren did They are not Three Substances
therefore Three Persons Another having given Aquinas his definition of a Person as being an individual Substance of a rational Nature which is neither the part of another nor upheld by another But now if they be not Three Beings nor Three Substences how well have these Men defended a principal Article of their Faith Seeing the Father the Word and Holy Ghost are owned by Christians to be One Being One Substance therefore not Three Beings nor Three Substances My speaking of Christ as the only begotten of the Father and for his Divinity as he was the Brightness of the Father's Glory and express Image of his divine Substance and thereupon questioning T. Danson where doth the Scripture say That his Soul was created This Question is no Determination that it was or was not Christ as God his Soul was increated As Man his Soul or Spirit was not the Deity but formed and assumed by the Word The Word or Son of God who made the Worlds was not a Creature because he made all Creatures Though he took upon him a most pure and perfect Soul and Body he took upon him the Seed of Abraham that he might in both Soul and Body suffer for Mankind and sympathize with us in bearing our Sorrows and carrying our Griefs and that his Soul might be in Travel for us and made an Offering for Sin and poured out unto Death Isa. 53. By my said Question I chiefly eyed his Divinity considering him as he proceeded and came out from God and as he was glorified with the Father before the World began Upon the whole my Adversary's Charge of Heresie upon me and the Quakers against the Incarnation of Christ p. 2. as also his Author G. Keith's publick Aspersions That G. W. disowns Christ to be God and denied him to be Man Narr p. 16. These are to tell the World That we own no Christ at all Wherein as they have both grosly wrong'd my Intention Principle and publick Testimony I am persuaded G. K. has wronged his own Conscience and that he must needs know the contrary of me in this and some other things for which he is accountable to the just God For by questioning the Words created or human Soul I did not thereby intend to deny Christ to be truly Man as is unduly insinuated against me p. 2. but rather to own That tho' Christ was truly Man in Soul and Body yet that his Soul was more divine than any other Mans or Mens and therefore he may be said to be a most divine Man and more of the divine and increated Life in his Soul than in any other Man's whatsoever and that therefore the word human as it relates to the Ground or Earth from which the Body of Man was taken I might suppose was too low or mean a Character or Epithite to give to the Soul of Christ or to his spiritual glorious Body either and I hope I deserve not blame in this while I was careful not to lessen the Glory or Dignity of the Son of God as he is the Lord from Heaven by not allowing him to be from beneath or Earthly either in Soul or Body in his glorified State and I am perswaded that some so much insisting upon the word Human Soul and Body of Christ gives the Socinians more advantage than my pleading for his Divinity and Heavenly glory both as God and Man To my Question to Robert Gordon I think there 's no real Cause for Offence to be taken at it if the Occasions ministred by him were Impartially taken notice of which they are not by this partial Adversary As R. G.'s great Ignorance both of the Light and Saving-work of Christ in Man excluding Christ's work of Salvation and Justification c. as all done and finished without Man even when no good is wrought in Man and pleading for Imperfection and Sin in Man in so much that Geo. Keith charged the said Gordon with 18 corrupt Doctrins and above 20 Lyes and false Accusations in the conclusion of my Book Entituled The Nature of Christianity in the true Light asserted Printed Anno 1671. And yet this officious Adversary takes his part excusing him in defence of G. Keith against us as he has done also in his Snake in the Grass which is such a piece of confused Mixture and Medley as I have seldom ever met withal My Question to R. Gordon as Cited Dost thou look for Christ as the Son of Mary to appear outwardly in a bodily Existence to save thee If thou dost thou mayest look until thy Eyes drop out before thou wilt see such an appearance of him And what proof is made of this against me But that I do not acknowledge that Christ has now the Body of a Man or will come in that Body to Judge the World Answ. Neither do I deny it If I do not acknowledge it in this Passage I do in many others namely that Christ as the Heavenly Man has his own proper glorious Body wherein he will come to Judge the World at the last day And therefore do not hold that Christ has no bodily Existence or being without us as G. K. accuseth me Narr p. 16. He wrongs me in this as in divers other things But upon R. Gordon 's pretending a perfect Justification and Redemption of Sinners without them when no good is wrought in them and yet granting that Christ's appearing the second time is without Sin to Salvation But then his deferring this till the Resurrection of the Body this I confess was so offensive to me that I put the said Question the reason whereof appears more at large in my said Answer Nature of Christianity p. 29. It being always my Judgment with many others that Salvation from Sin should be expected in this Life and Christ's second appearance for that end also mentioned Heb. 9. 28. That this ought not to be put off till the last day but expected even in this Life as in the Apostles days There were those then that looked for him to whom his appearance the second time without Sin unto Salvation was promised and the true Believers were not disappointed of their expectations in that weighty matter As many have been who have expected to see Christ's outward coming in Person with their carnal Eyes to save them Besides 't is true in Fact that those carnal Eyes of many fail them drop out or rot before they can see Christ's outward appearance or coming in the last day to Judgment And G. Keith himself as well as I have charged false and corrupt Doctrin upon Robert Gordon particularly in his asserting That Redemption Justification and Reconciliation is finished and compleated by what Christ did and suffered outwardly and not in our Persons and without the help of any thing to be wrought in us Artic. 6 8 12 of his Charge against Gordon Nature of Christianity p. 70 71 72. And why now I should be accused by G. Keith or his Advocate for the words before to
the Conscience are Spiritual and Mysterious as the New Covenant it self is which they belong to and these things known in And this is the New and Living way which Christ set open through the vail of his Flesh Heb. 10. Let him receive this who can And if our Adversary and his abetters know no more of the Mystery of Christ's Blood or Work of purging and sprinkling the Conscience than their profession and application of the Material Blood without the sanctifying Spirit and Operation of it they may remain long enough with defiled Consciences and full of Envy and Malice That precious outward Offering and Blood of Christ outwardly shed has long been greatly abused by misapplication and the holy design and ends thereof perverted by carnal Professors to indulge themselves in Sin and Disobedience against Christ during Life Now laying aside the Baptist's Argument aforesaid I do grant that the Material Blood whereby all things under the Law were purged as it had the very Image of the Material Blood of Christ that was outwardly shed it was Typical thereof And that Blood of Christ including his whole Sacrifice argued by the Apostle to the Hebrews as the Antitype answering and fulfiling the Types thereof and which were not only Types of that Blood and Sacrifice as outwardly offered but also a shadow of the inward and spiritual sprinkling purging and sanctifying of the Conscience by Christ our High Priest with his Blood and Spirit of Grace The good things to come which the Law had the shadow of but not the very Image of them were Heavenly and Spiritual things Heb. 10. 1. But the Law had the very Image or Resemblance of the Material Blood of Christ that was shed in that it had material Blood of Sacrifices one Blood resembles another therefore that Material or Natural Blood outwardly shed was not those Spiritual and Heavenly things which the Law had the shadow and not the very Image of The Material and Typical Blood whereby all things were purged under the Law was sprinkled on them by Moses and the High-Priest therefore 't is Christ our High Priest who sprinkles and effectually purgeth the Conscience which he doth not Literally but Spiritually in which work his Spirit and Power is livingly concerned as the efficient Cause and his Blood and whole Sacrifice in preparing and making way for and obtaining Redemption and Remission of Sins received upon true repentance on our parts It 's said How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. The value efficacy and fruit of his offering himself without spot to God is greatly or principally placed upon the eternal Spirit and so is the work of Sanctification and effectually purging the Conscience both from dead works and the pollution of Sin That which inwardly and effectually purgeth the Conscience and sprinkles the heart from an evil Conscience is the Spirit the spiritual Vertue Blood and Life of Christ that actually purgeth and cleanseth them from all Sin who truly walk in his light which has the sanctifying life and vertue in it There was a kind of expiation and purging by way of Sacrifice under the Law and old Covenant yet the Consciences thereby not purified nor made perfect But the Expiation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purgation or Cleansing Heb. 1. 3. That 's made and prepared by Christ himself and his Sacrifice and the Covenant of Grace and Mercy wherein that work of Grace is fulfiled Sealed with his own Blood this reacheth the Conscience to a real purifying and perfecting thereof by the Spirit and Power of Christ. By one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified whereof the Holy Ghost also is witness to us Heb. 10. 14 15. Therefore that Expiation made by that most excellent Offering without us is fulfilled by the Spirit in the work of Sanctification within us We are delivered from the outward Law and the Curse of it by the Body of Christ but are made free from the Law and Sin of Death by the Law of the Spirit and Life in Christ Jesus Ro. 7. 4. 8. 2. To that of Act 20. 28. The Church of God which he purchased with his own Blood Hereupon the Man has some slight flings at me but makes very little work on 't As to my saying The Blood of God which is God's own Blood and whereby his Church is purchas'd must needs be spiritual and the Covenant of God is inward and spiritual and so is the Blood of it consequently both Mystical I did not hereby hold that God is either Material or has a Material Body or Blood but the contrary that his own Blood whereby his Church is purchased is more than the Material or Natural Blood of Christ that was shed though that was a part of the Sacrifice offered for Man's Redemption neither dare our Adversary say that Blood could be properly called God's own Blood unless he holds that God has a material Body and Blood no more than the Annotation thereupon which saith Of God's own Blood that which appertaineth to Christ's humanity is attributed to his Divinity because of the Communion of properties and union of the two Natures in one Person Which Notation or the Terms of it I shall not now dispute But I 'le take leave to explain my self farther for the spiritual vertue and mystery of God's own Blood and the Blood of his everlasting Covenant the Blood of sprinkling therein c. wherehy God has purchased his Church God's own Blood was no less than his own dear Son Christ himself It was a manner of speaking the Blood put for the whole Offering the innocent Blood that Judas betrayed was Christ himself Mat. 27. 4. And the Ransom or Price given for Man's Redemption was Christ himself who came to give his life for the Ransome of many Matt. 20 28. And he gave himself a Ransome for all Men to be testified of in due time 1 Tim. 2. 6. God spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all There 's a twofold work in the Redemption that is by Jesus Christ 1. By the Sacrifice and Mediation of Christ general for all Men. 2. By his Power Spirit and Life actually freeing and delivering the truly believing Soul from Sin and from the Nature and Being of Sin and Condemnation because thereof in which sense God's Church was purchased with his own Blood and in which last and special sense my Answer was intended as not only by the natural or outward Blood shed but principally by the spiritual Blood or Life of Christ Jesus God's sparing not his own Son but delivering him up for us all includes the whole Sacrifice of Christ in Soul and Body which were offered therefore God's own Blood is such an high and elegant Phrase as bespeaks the great love of God in Christ as the whole Ransom and Price of
Man's Redemption both outwardly and inwardly outwardly by the Ransom given by Christ's Sufferings and Sacrifice and inwardly by the operation of his Life Power and Spirit which Mystically is that precious Blood that is opposed to all corruptible things which redeems from the vain Conversation from all Iniquity and effectually washeth and clcanseth us from our Sins purgeth and sprinkles our Consciences c. And farther to Answer to Types and Shadows under the Law of shedding Blood and sprinkling c. That God according to his Mercy saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Titus 3. 5 6. And I 'le sprinkle clean water upon them and wash them from all their filthiness saith the Lord. And the Blood of sprinkling which the spiritual believers were come unto has the same effect And if the name of Water be attributed to the Spirit as it is Jo. 7. 38 39. Light and Life The name of Blood may also which is not to Allegorize away or invalidate the outward Blood or Sacrifice of Christ or any part thereof yet the Mystery thereof we may not deny but confess And according to the answers I have given for the Blood of Christ and the Mystery thereof our deceased Friend and Brother Robert Bercley expresly agrees whose Testimony therefore I am the more willing to cite because G. Keith has approved of his Works p. 60. R. B's Testimony in his Works p. 10. follows in these words viz. This Blood speaking of the Blood of Christ that is healing c. is known and felt within to wash and purge the Conscience for Christ as he is within is not without his Blood which is Spiritual even the pure Blood of the Vine and is that Wine of the Kingdom which is inwardly felt to wash and to refresh which he gives to them who know not distinctly the outward shedding of his Blood as it was many hundred years ago and which many are ignorant of who have heard much of the outward shedding of his Blood but know not the Blood as shed and poured forth in them to sprinkle their Consciences from dead Works for it is a Mystery sealed up from all who stand in opposition to his Light within But there mark thy own Words saith he to his Opponent The Plaster must be applyed er'e the Sore be healed Must not then saving Grace be applyed er'e the Soul be Converted or Healed And R. B. treats much more largely concerning the Flesh and Blood of Christ to the same purpose as before cited for the Blood of Christ as 't is Spiritual and Mysterious c. p. 494. 495 496 497 498. upon his thirteenth Proposition of his Apology and in page 494. He has recourse to Agustin viz. § II. The Body then of Christ which Believers partake of is Spiritual and not Carnal and his Blood which they Drink of is Pure and Heavenly and not Humane or Elementary as Augustin also affirms Ps. 98. Except a Man Eat my Flesh he hath not in him Life Eternal And he saith The Words which I speak unto you are Spirit and Life understand spiritually what I have spoken Ye shall not Eat of this Body which ye see and Drink this Blood which they shall spill that Crucifie me I am the living Bread which have dscended from Heaven He called himself the Bread who descended from Heaven exhorting that we should believe in him c. Unto which I further add for Illustration That the pure Blood of Grapes promised to Judah and Israel Gen. 49. 11. Deut 32. 14. was Typical of this spiritual Blood and Fruit of the Heavenly Vine Christ Jesus which truly relieves and comforts the afflicted and sorrowful Soul that comes unto him And also the Milk and Honey the Butter Oyl and Wheat and other Temporal Blessings which were in the promised Land were all Types of Christ and the spiritual Blessings received in him in his Kingdom and Heavenly Canaan And the Oyl and Wine which the Compassionate Samaritan poured into the Wounds of the Man that was wounded by Thieves and left half Dead Luke 10. 34 were also Typical of the healing Vertue Life and spiritual Blood of Christ Jesus which he graciously poureth into many wounded Souls As concerning the word Personality and Personal Existence as applyed to God and Christ I have sometimes questioned as also the word Humane as ascribed to the glorified Body of Christ which is spiritual and also to his Soul or Spirit for these reasons 1. Because imposed on us by some Adversaries without Scripture proof of those terms and not to Question Christ's glorious Manhood for in that sense I admit of and sometime may use the word Humanity either for Man or for the Good Nature and disposition of Man as of the word Trinity for Three being not willing to maintain contest about Words but to mind the thing intended thereby 2. Because false Arguments have been drawn thence against Christ and his Light in Man 3. Because of the carnal Imaginations of too many thereof who under pretence of expecting Christ to come again in the Flesh in the same manner as he was on Earth and to be seen with their carnal Eyes neglect the introversion of their Minds to Christ's inward appearance in Spirit 4. Because whilst Men feed upon such Notions and Imaginations of Christ excluding him out of their Hearts they exclude the living and Heart-purifying Faith of Christ so that their Faith is but Dead and Fruitless whilst such seem to adore Christ as only an outward Christ or as wholly without them and not in them instead of opening the Door of their Hearts unto him to let him in they harbour and indulge their own Corruptions Pride Scorn Envy and Covetousness c. in their Hearts out of which proceed all these bitter Reproches Revilings and Calumnies which we meet with this Day as heretofore In all my former questioning their unscriptural terms who profess the Scriptures to be their only Rule ascribed to God and Christ I never designed to deny his being our Mediator as Man nor to oppose his coming in Power and great Glory in his gloryfied spiritual Body to Judge the Quick and the Dead in the last Day tho I have sometimes shunned controversy on that Point and about the Resurrection and last Day of Judgment Urging not to put the day of the Lord afar off nor to neglect the present day of their Visitation and Judgment of Christ by his Spirit and Light within them The Question how are the Dead raised and with what Body come they forth I have often waved as unnecessary as well as unwarrantable being reprehended in some 1 Cor. 15. 35 26. I being willing to acquiesce in the will of God in that matter to give a Body as it pleaseth him and to every Seed it s own Body as proper thereunto ver 38. One thing I would be better understood in Not having