Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A56122
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The true Christ, and the Quakers Christ compar'd in a letter sent to Mr. Richard Hardcastle. Wherein is a short review of some things asserted by the Quakers in their Norfolk-disputation with the clergy, &c. 1698. By Robert Prudom.
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Prudom, Robert.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing P3882; ESTC R220565
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14,151
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28
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Redemption was wrought out in the state of Christ's Humiliation performed by him as God and Man in Union the two Natures in that Person being concerned in this Work Isa 53.11 12. He shall see of the Travail of his Soul and shall be satisfied By his Knowledg shall my righteous Servant justify many for he shall bear their Iniquities Therefore will I divide him a Portion with the great and he shall divide the Spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his Soul unto death and he was numbered with the Transgressors compared with 1 Tim. 2.16 And without controversy great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit The first Scripture gives us an account how the Manhood was concerned in the Work in suffering for Sinners and therefore he should see the travail of his Soul in bearing part in that Honour due to the Redeemer The second Scripture shews us how the Divine Nature perfumed his Sufferings in order to their acceptance with the Father for the Persons for whom he suffered 2. The Work of an Intercessor is performed now in the state of his Exaltation by this Christ who is God and Man the two Natures of God and Man being concerned in the Work Rom. 1.4 And declared the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness which was his Divine Nature by the Resurrection from the dead by whom we have received Grace and Apostleship that is the Qualifications for that great Work belonging to that great Office Acts 2.32 33. This Jesus hath God raised up whereof we all are Witnesses Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear 1 Tim. 2.6 For there is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and Men the Man Christ Jesus Thirdly The Holy Ghost's work within being subservient to the blessed Mediator without and leading to the Father through him brings the Soul into an experimental Injoyment of the Father Son and Holy Ghost John 15.26 27. But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father He shall testify of me And ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning What was the Sum and Substance of the Apostle's Doctrine Even to recommend this Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ in his Person and Sufferings to Sinners Rom. 10.9 If thou shalt confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved What is the Sum and Substance of the Holy Ghost's Work within Even to accompany this outward Declaration of the Gospel opening the Understanding of poor Sinners letting them see the need of a Saviour inabling the Heart to close with him and by faith to lay hold of that Grace which comes from the Father through him The inward Discovery of the Father and the Sons Love to us is by the Spirit and it is the Spirit 's work to kindle the Fire of Love more and more in the Souls of Saints by which through the blessed Mediator they are inabled to offer up their Souls to their heavenly Father Fourthly The two Ordinances of Baptism and the Supper do represent unto the Faith of Believers what Christ hath done for them because they both point at his Person and what he hath done in his Human Nature buried in the Grave for them held forth by Water Baptism Doth Bread and Wine support by feeding upon it the outward Man So doth the Flesh and Blood of the Man Christ through that Vertue which the Divine Nature puts into it tend to feed the Inward My Flesh saith Christ is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed 1 Cor. 11.26 For as often as ye eat this Bread and drinks this Cup speaking of the Supper-Ordinance ye shew the Lord's Death till he come Doth it point at him that died and is risen and come in Spirit then until he come must refer to his second personal Appearance as a glorified Man to judg the World Acts 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all Men in that he hath raised him from the dead In the next place I come to speak of this Spiritual Christ as he is worshipped by this poor deceived People called Quakers who are greatly imposed upon by their Leaders for want of bringing their Writings to be seriously examined by the Holy Scriptures And first as to his Person we have him in their Writings represented as a Spirit and as such Divine Honour given to him 2ly The Work of Redemption not brought in a way of satisfaction to Divine Justice for sin but in the way of the first Covenant of Do this and live i.e. Obey the Light within and live 3ly Acceptance with God not bottom'd upon a Mediator without us but an interceding Spirit within First as to his Person we have him in their Writings presented as a Spirit and as such Divine Honour given to him This appears pears in the most of their Books but I shall at this time only mention two the first taken out of the 14th Page of this Book which is An Account of a Dispute betwixt the Clergy of the Diocess of Norwich in December 98. and the People called Quakers Speaking of the Priests For do they not of malice rail upon the Truths of God's Word manifestly perceived and as Enemies thereunto persecute the same in charging so many Blasphemies upon the Light within for the Light within is Christ William Pen 's Christian Quaker pag. 97 98. The Body of Christ is not so much as in any one and consequently the Seed of the Promise is an holy and spiritual Principle of Light Lise and Power that being received into the Heart bruiseth the Serpent's Head and because the Seed which cannot be that Body is Christ as testify the Scriptures the Seed is one and that Seed Christ and Christ God over all blessed for ever We do conclude and that most truly that Christ was and is the Divine Word of Light and Life that was in the beginning with God and was and is God over all blessed for ever In answer to these Paragraphs it is evident and plain that whatever confession is made by this People of the Lord Jesus Christ as born of the Virgin Mary they do not intend that the Body which was formed in the Womb of the Virgin by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost doth share with the Eternal Word Creator in the constituting of Christ and partakes with the Divine Nature in Divine Honour and yet this poor deluded Man who hath been an Instrument to lead many sober Persons into grievous Errors hath the Confidence in his
the Gospel-Channel and takes down the two main Pillars upon which it stands which was a transferring our Sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ and his Righteousness upon us 2 Cor. 5.21 For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the Righteonsness of God in him What ground of hope and certain assurance of Salvation their obedience to the Light which convinceth of sin will afford them if they could but have a view of their state in the glass of the holy Law of God deserves their most serious consideration For upon their own Principles without Perfection no Salvation and yet hardly any of them so hardy as to say they have attain'd it Their Doctrine may sute a Self righteous Person but will not go down with a heavy-laden Sinner neither a humble Saint both these by Faith are led to close with the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation and cannot but acknowlege it their Mercy that they have such good security in another when they find so little in themselves To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness The Persons that come for Salvation in the Gospel-way come to Christ as sensible Sinners and as such to the Footstool of Grace and yet at the same time are pressing after a sincere Obedience in a way of Duty yet sensibly attended with much Imperfection The Apostle in Heb. 2.14 tells me it is by the death Christ that Satan's Power is taken away which I take to be a bruising of his Head a Door of entrance into Heaven being thereby open'd another way than by Man's imperfect Obedience Heb. 10.19 William Pen's blind Reason is as opposite to Faith as Light and Darkness and sees not how Gen. 2.15 points at the blessed Jesus as a representative Head overcoming Satan for all his mystical Body Thirdly This spiritual Christ placeth our acceptance with God not upon a Mediator without but an interceding Spirit within William Pen's Christian Quaker p. 101. As at any time disobedient Men have hearkened to the still voice of the Word that Messenger of God in their Hearts to be affected and convinced by it as it brings reproof for Sin which is but a fatherly Chastisement so upon true brokenness of Soul and contrition of Spirit that very Principle and Word of Life in Man hath mediated and atoned and God hath been propitious lifting up the Light of his Countenance and replenishing such humble Penitents with Divine Consolations So that still the same Christ Word God who hath inlightned all men by Sin is grieved bearing the Iniquities of such as sin and reject his Benefits but as any hear his Knocks and let him in he first wounds and then heals afterwards atones mediates and reinstates in the holy Image behold this is the state of Restitution In answer to William Pen. If Scripture-Authority may take place we may see here how the Mediatorship of the Lord Jesus Christ as God-man now in his exalted State at the right hand of the Father is invaded by a lying Spirit the Apostle in Eph. 2.18 saith Through him we both Jew and Gentile have an access by one Spirit unto the Father As the Holy Ghost is sent forth from the Father through the Intercession of the Son as God-Man now at his right hand in Glory so his Work is subservient to the Mediator The Apostle Peter acknowleges the Spirit to be sent this way and how the Manhood of Christ was concerned in sending him Acts 2.32 33. This Jesus hath God raised up who in the former Verses he tells us was laid in the Sepulcher whereof we all are Witnesses Therefore being exalted and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth that which we now see and hear The Apostle to Heb. 7.24 25. incourageth Persons to go to God the Father by Faith through this blessed exalted Mediator and that because they have this Incouragement of his continuing in his Priesthood and that his Intercession is of such a prevailing nature that those that come to him shall be saved to the uttermost by him But this Man continueth ever I shall now draw a few heads in order to compare William Pen's Christ and the true Christ one with the other William Pen's Christ is a Spirit within the Saints Christ is an exalted God-man in Heaven who by his intercession with the Father hath the Holy Ghost now on Earth subservient to him to manifest him to the Hearts of his People William Pen's Christ is a Spirit who bears the Iniquities of his People within the Saints Christ bore the Iniquities of his People without in his Body upon the Cross at Jerusalem and now bears their Persons before the Father in Glory William Pen's Christ is already come and with Contempt treads down the two Ordinances of Water-Baptism and the Supper which the true Christ left his Church until his second personal Appearance The true Christ is yet to come and when he comes as saith the Apostle in 1 Thes 4.16 shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first and that we may know whereabouts we are take a view of Christ's word 's Mat. 24.26 he is in the secret Chambers believe them not A Christ within set up to oppose a Christ without and to bear away those Insigns of Honour due to the true Saviour For the scene that is acted next I leave to the Reader 's Meditation ver 27. For as the Lightning cometh out of the East and shineth unto the West even so shall the coming of the Son of Man be Take but a serious view of the Books of the People call'd Quakers and we may clearly see that whatever Confessions they may make towards Gospel-Truths in agreeing with other Christians it is but as a Blind or Cover to keep those spiritual Delusions which they are carried away withal from being discovered It may be thought that I have suck'd in some prejudice against their Persons but the Searcher of hearts knows 't is otherwise it s only in sincerity and faithfulness to God who hath to the praise of his rich Grace inlightned my Soul with Gospel-Light and Love to their Souls and the Souls of others that I deal thus plainly with them And so what I have written I recommend to thee my Friend in particular and all others who may come to the fight of it search it throughly by the Holy Scriptures only let me tell thee the Author hath no Eloquence to allure thee it is only the Truth in its native Beauty that he presents unto thee so that it is the truth it self that must take thee if thou be taken and not the manner in which it is presented POSTSCRIPT NO Errors are more dangerous than to deny the Lord that bought us for such are damnable and they that