drying up the Tongue of the Egyptian Sea and he will make the Rivers Islands and dry up all their Pools And this shall be the Plague of Egypt and of all the Heathen that will not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no rain Zech. 14. And the true Worshippers are such as worship the Father in the Spirit and in the Truth he that hath an Ear to hear let him hear And the Lord is making Wayes in the Wilderness and Rivers in the Desart and the Wilderness shall sing for joy and the Desart shall blossom as a Rose and grow as the Lilly and this is the Lords doing by his own Arm that no Flesh should glory in his Presence who is confounding the Wisdom of the Wise and bringing the Understanding of the Prudent to nothing so that Babes and Sucklings shall say Where is the Wise Where is the Scribe Where is the Disputer Where is he that can count the Towers Hath not God made Foolish the Wisdom of this World the World by all their Wisdom know no God I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy sight Matth. 11.25 These things I have written for the vindication of the Truth and for the manifesting the Darkness of them that reproach and oppose it and them that live in it and for their Souls sake that have any true breathings or sincere desires after the true Knowledge of the True and Living God for to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent is Life Eternal Query 1. Whether there be any more Saviours of the Immortal Soul but one that is able to save it or to bring Salvation to it yea or nay If you say nay there is but one able to save and able to destroy as the Lord said Beside me there is no Saviour and there is no other Name under Heaven by which Men can be saved but Jesus Christ 2. Then whether the visible Person of Flesh and Bones be the only Saviour seeing the Apostle saith the Ingrafted Word is able to save the Soul and the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all Men And who was Enoch's Saviour and the Prophets who were before that visible Flesh and Bones was 3. Whether the visible Person of Flesh and Bones be the Ingrafted Word Or whether that Person hath appeared to all Men seeing that which bringeth Salvation hath I leave it to the Witness of God in you all to consider and judge For if you say the visible man with visible Flesh and Bones is the alone Saviour as you have said Then whether this visible man be in the hearts of People for the Apostle preached Christ the Word nigh in the Heart and in the Mouth and the Ingrafted Word is able to save the Soul so be did not preach a visible Christ with Flesh and Bones as you do but the Word which W. B. said was not Christ And Paul preached God that made the World c. that was not far from every one of us the Invisible God but you preach a visible man with Flesh and Bones at a great distance from all People above where the Sun Moon and Stars are as M. C. said his Saviour was which he owned for Salvation So let all People read with moderation and see how contrary these zealous Professors are to the Apostles of Christ who desired to know Christ no more after the Flesh And Christ said to such Ye worship ye know not what God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in the Spirit and in the Truth and God dwells and walks in his People according to his Promise 2 Cor. 6.16 4. And whether the Flesh which you call visible be not the Vail spoken of Hebr. 10.20 And whether the Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod that Budded and the Holiest of all were not within the Vail And whether that Vail in the old time was not a Type of this Vail through which this New and Living Way is consecrated for us read Hebrews 10. and understand what ye read 5. And whether such as were made to sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus who would know him no more after the Flesh were not come within the Vail where the true Bread was which nourishes their Souls up unto Eternal Life which the Manna was a Type of 6. And whether the Bodies of the Saints did not become the Temples of the Living God and did not he dwell in them and walk in them And he that knew not Christ in him was not he a Stranger to the New and Living Way and a Reprobate Or were the Heavenly Places in Christ where they sat above the Skyes 7. And when Matthew Caffen said his Saviour was up in the Heaven where the Sun Moon and Stars are which are visible without him Did he not then ask me where my God was that I worshipped and served And did I not plainly tell him before many People that he dwelt in me according to his Promise and that he was my Saviour And didst not thee M. C. cry out with a loud voice O Blasphemy just like the Jews against Christ and them that stopt their Ears against Stephen but did not I reply to thee Then call the Scripture Blasphemy nay thou may as well call the Lord Blasphemer for speaking so for they are his Words and Promise to his People I will dwell in them and walk in them I will be their God and they shall be my People Here all may see the Darkness and Blindness that is happened to these men who do withstand the Truth of God and his precious Promises as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses but their folly will be made manifest to all men as theirs was who call such Blasphemers who witness the Promise of the Father which Christ bid his Disciples wait for fulfilled But some may say If God and Christ and Justification and Salvation and all must be known within Then what Benefit have you by the Death and Sufferings of Christ And for what end came he into the World And what advantage have any People by these things Answ Much every may for first he in his Birth and coming in the Flesh was the opening of a Door though under a Vail to the Carnal Eye to see into the Mysteries of his Kingdom which was at hand as he told them as his being born of a Virgin and then being carried into Egypt and then being brought back again as also his being kept out of the Inn which was full of Guests in the dayes of Taxing and his being wraped in swadling clothes and laid in a Manger shewed his entertainment in the World and among the Professors of all sorts that saw not the Invisible Life but lookt at the visible appearance and so his Face was more marr'd then any mans and his form more then the sons of men And then in his Preaching he told for what end he was born and came into the World to bear witness to the Truth and so he fulfilled all the Types and Shadows and Sacrifices under the Law by his Offering once for all and ended them for ever and so a Body was prepared to do his Fathers Will who would nor have any more such Sacrifices and Offerings but a New and Living Way must be consecrated for the People through the Vail that is to say his Flesh which was offered up once for all so here all the outward Offerings which were many and often ended and now the Offering is in Righteousness in that which exceeds the Scribes and Pharisees and the true Worship is now as he said in the Spirit and in the Truth And so as they offered the Blood of Bulls and Goats and such like things in their Sacrifices for Sin and Transgression so Christ at his Death and Suffering offered up a Body of Flesh and Blood which was prepared as I said to that end of his Father So he did his Fathers Will with which he was well pleased saying This is my beloved Son hear ye him so that God is in Christ reconciled and out of him there is no Reconciliation nor acceptable Sacrifice And now all must hear him who said I am the Way the Truth and the Life and I am the Light of the World belive in the Light whose name is called The Word of God which his Ministers in his stead preached nigh in the heart and in the mouth and forbid saying who shall ascend up into Heaven to bring him down or descend to fetch him up c. but the Word of Reconciliation they had and this they preached that People might come to Christ and be reconciled to God and their Fellowship was with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ and the Blood of Christ did clense them and yet they desire to know him no more after the Flesh But these things are Parables to the Wise men of the World Therefore I may conclude as the Apostle did Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory 1 Tim. 3.16 And so he is out of your sight who deny the Light within for that gives the knowledge of his Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ as ye may read 2 Cor. 4. and 6. THE END
Discourse which ye would not receive as satisfactory to you so ye may as well be unsatisfied and contend with Peter and Christ and Paul and the Scriptures of Truth throughout as with us about the word visible and call them Sophisters and Blasphemers as thou M. C. calledst me when I spake their words without adding or diminishing as may appear hereafter And again see the Testimony of John a Servant of God who bare record of the Word of God and of the Testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw Rev. 1.1 2. and in chap. 7. vers 14. And he said unto me these are they that came out of great Tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb he doth not say in the visible Blood of the Lamb they have washed their Robes So though you thus exclaim against us in these things and brand us with Heresie c. yet we have and do see whose eyes the Lord hath opened more for us then are or ever shall be against us for we have the Witness of God and of all his faithfull Servants and Ministers and the Testimony of his own Son on our side and if ye had understood their Words and Writings which ye so much talk of ye would easily understand our Faith and Principles concerning these Matters but as Christ said in those dayes concerning the zealous outside Professors so say I now I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent of the World and hast revealed them to Babes c. And much more might be spoken as to this particular of the Blood of Christ but in the mouthes of two or three Witnesses let these things be established which when people come to understand aright with a spiritual discerning they will not cry out against us that we deny the Blood of Christ and trample the Blood of the Covenant under our feet as these men have done through their ignorance the Lord give them Repentance and forgive them for they know not what they do for the Blood of the Covenant is that which sanctifieth and without holiness or sanctification no man shall see the Lord and this we do not trample on or count an unholy thing but do praise the Lord that bought us that we are made witnesses of it and do acknowledge our Salvation as the Apostle Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus did to the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 2.13 to be through the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth Thus were they chosen from the beginning to Salvation as ye may read And these thing we do not count unholy but do prize and esteem them more then all the visible perishing things in the whole World though you have thus belyed and reproached us The second Query and Charge 2. BVt do you own Salvation by the Man Christ that was born of the Virgin Mary and that was baptized of John in Jordan and that preached in the World and was crucified dead and buried and rose again the third day and ascended into Heaven and there sitteth at the Right-hand of God and shall come again to judge the World now mark If we speak the Truth in the uprightness of our hearts and say yea to all this it doth not at all satisfie them but they further proceed with terms beyond what is written But do you believe in the visible Man Christ with flesh and bones which the People fastned their eyes on when he read in the Book of Isaiah So that Christ Jesus was a visible Man with Flesh and Bones as he himself said to Thomas A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see me have so they did see him after he was risen from the dead and this was visible Do you Quakers own Salvation alone by this visible Person Christ Jesus for we believe you do not because you preach up a Light within and not the visible Man Christ for Salvation and so we publish you to be them that deny the Lord that bought them and so are of Antichrist and false Prophets This was the sum of Matthew Caffen's Question and Charge in that late Discourse against us who makes it his work to revile the Truth and them that do witness it revealed in the inward parts where God doth require it Psal 51.6 Answer The former Part is here answered already with a word of Truth yea and as to the latter part thereof I have this to say That we do not deny but own and believe that he was the Son of God and the true Christ and the Saviour of the World that did appear to his Disciples and did eat and drink with them and talk with them after he was risen from the dead who said A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see me have and all that is or was spoken and written by the Prophets and Apostles of Christ concerning him what he was or what he did or said we do really believe without any equivocating as some of you usually charge us with and with reservations to which we may say as the Apostle If our Gospel be hid or reserved it is hid to them that are lost whose minds the God of this World hath blinded that do not believe lest the Light of the Glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them read 2 Cor. chap. 4. throughout you that talk against the Light within and understand what ye reade and what ye are crying out against it 's no less than the Son of God if you will believe Paul who witnessed the Son of God revealed in him and Christ the Son of God said I am the Light of the World But as to your Charge I say further That we own Salvation by no other Christ then him the true Apostles preached nor no other Gospel or Name under Heaven by which men shall be saved but by Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday to day and for ever And for the word visible its yours and not Christs nor his Apostles nor mine and so I leave it out and keep to the Form of sound words as the Apostle exhorts and not meddle with it lest I add to his words and he reprove me but he that took upon him the likeness of sinful Flesh and the form of a Servant and was found in fashion as a Man and made in the likeness of Men being in the form of God thought it not robery to be equal with God this Christ Jesus we own and witness Salvation by and by no other Phil. 2.6 7 8. And though Christ Jesus spoke at that time and upon that occasion of his Flesh and Bones that they might believe that it was he that was risen from the dead whom the chief Priests Scribes Pharisees and Elders had caused to be crucified which before he had declared to
them and so upbraided them with their unbelief in that particular yet we need not be upbraided with unbelief by any as you have done saying We deny the Resurrection of the Body but we do really believe that Christ is risen from the dead and entred into his Glory according to the Scriptures who said to his Disciples at the Supper I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom and that after he was risen from the dead he would go before them into Galilee So these things they did witness fullfilled according as he had said Whose Cup of Blessing which they blessed was it not the communion of the Blood of Christ c. 1 Cor. 10.16 And did not his Blood clense them from all Sin as they walkt in the Light in which their fellowship and communion was 1 John 1.7 read with understanding in the Fear of the Lord. And so mark your great Argument upon what occasion he thus appeared and spoke A Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see me have Did he thus speak that his Disciples should alway look after Flesh and Bones to appear amongst them and to be with them and comfort them for ever Or did he not appear to them in another form And last of all did he not appear to Paul who was called Saul as to one born out of due time And how did he appear to him mark When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me c. Object But here may an Objection rise Did not Paul see that very Person or Body or visible Christ that the rest saw even the visible Flesh and Bones that Thomas felt the print of the Nails and the hole of the Spear after he was risen from the dead c. Answ Suppose he did for he shewed himself so to Witnesses and not unto all yet Paul and the rest of the Apostles and Christ after that did not talk so much of Flesh and Bones and not at all with the word visible as you do but on the contrary as Paul himself said after God had revealed his Son in him Henceforth know we no man after the Flesh yea though we have known Christ after the Flesh yet now henceforth know we him so no more 2 Cor. 5.16 Mark he speaks as well in behalf of all them that so knew him as of himself though they had been witnesses of his so appearing Now if Christ should so come and appear as you say with visible Flesh and Bones or after the Flesh as you look for him Paul would not know him nor the rest of the Apostles of Christ who were Eye-witnesses of his Majesty and Glory Would they do well then Would not they deny the Lord that bought them then For he said We know him no more henceforth though we have known him after the Flesh and speaks not so far outward as your word visible Is Paul and the rest of the Apostles of Christ of your Judgement or of the Quakers let Gods Witness in you all answer Would ye receive such into Fellowship with you that do say as Christ did The Flesh profits nothing it s the Spirit gives Life when they look so much at his outward Person or Fleshly appearance in that Body And if the Apostles and Christ do well to speak after this manner Why do ye then brand the harmless Quakers so called with Heresie who speak and own the same things that they did and not contrary As you may read at large in the Scriptures of Truth how they all preached The Kingdom of God within and the word nigh in the heart and in the mouth and that none shold say in their hearts Who shall ascend up into Heaven to bring Christ down c. And God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 But we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us verse 7. And said David Psal 45.13 The Kings Daughter is all glorious within And who is this King's Daughter but they whom God is their Father who said I will dwell in them and walk in them I will be their God and they shall be my People 2 Cor. 6.16 And this is our Message That God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and the Light within giveth the Knowledge of his Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ and this Glorious Treasure is in Earthen Vessels And know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 And I have hid thy Word in my heart and thy Word is a Light to my Feet and a Lanthorn to my Paths said David he did not say the Scripture nor the visible Flesh and Bones was a Light to his Feet but the Word in his Heart And in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and God was the Word in him was Life and the Life is the Light of Men c. And David said The Lord is my Light and my Salvation Psal 27.1 And Isaiah said The Lord shall be unto thee an Everlasting Light Isa 60.19 And said the Apostle Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty that is where he dwells and walks as he said and there is one Lord and his name one and Jesus is Lord who said I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life and if they have it it must be within them or in them And again said Christ who is the true Light Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through the Truth that they may all be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us see how this comes to pass I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one c. Here is the Father and his Son in his People as God said He would dwell in them and as Christ said My Father and I will come and make our abode with him that keeps his sayings And this is the Language of the Scriptures and he that is with you shall be in you c. and the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies here they all preached the Light within and Christ within if ye can understand and God in his People And manifold more might be instanced to prove their Principles and Doctrine whom you call Blaspemers but the World shall know that our Testimony is True in the day at hand as I told some of you when ye so fiercely contended against and spake evil of the things ye understand not And when