it to consider him and stay on his Name as therein set forth seeking Satisfaction Rest Righteousnesse and Strength in him in such believing mindfulnesse and dependance on him and so believing on him as the Scripture hath said he is therein said to Eat him and Drink him or the Bread and Drink he giveth because therein the heart and mind is so stayed in him Isa 26. 5 and exercised with delight and well-pleasednesse about him and the things of him as to a tasting how Gracious the Lord is and proving the sweetness fitness and excellency of him in and according to the knowledge of him so Jeremy saith Thy words were found and I did eat them Jer. 15. 16. and because also in such spiritual eating a man certainly comes to taste prove and meet with such peace refreshing joy strength and blessedness in the first fruits of the Spirit as answers to the instruction and ground therein set before him as also follows in that of Jeremy thy word was to me the joy and the rejoycing of mine heart as David also professeth How sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter than Honey to my mouth Psal 119. 103 for the Word of God works effectually in them that believe and receive it as such 1 Thes 2. 13. unto them therefore that believe Christ is precious for so Christ comes to dwell in their heart in or by the Faith of him in what he hath done and is become for us and in the hope set before us in him yea he himself as so known believed by them is in their hearts by faith the hope of Glory the ground of it in what he hath done and the thing hoped for in what is further to be revealed and done by him Now faith is the evidence of things not seen as well as the confidence of things hoped for by it our fathers saw and rejoyced in the promises of the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow when both were yet afar off to come Heb. 11. with 1 Pet. 1. 10 11 12. And we have much more advantage to behold and rejoyce in him the works being finished which the Father gave him to do upon the earth and now the word of faith manifested the Preaching fully made known with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven yea therefore because the works are now actually finished as vertually they were from the foundation of the world because God hath raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification therefore being Justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also having now received the atonement as already made by his blood we have access by faith into this Grace in which we stand and rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God and not onely so but we glory in tribulations also proving a blessed fruit of them because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us in this Preaching of the Cross that when we were yet without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly c. see Rom. 4. 22. 24 25. with chap. 5. 1. 11. And so the eating his flesh and drinking his blood as we are now instructed to it since the works were finished in the Person of Christ which the Father gave him to do on the earth is signified to be in a believing mindfulnesse and remembrance of the Lords death as already actually finished and past and so of him in what he hath therein and thereby compleated in himself for us therein considering him in the infinite and abiding vertue and preciousnesse of that blood or death of his Cross as mightily declared in his being raised and glorified in that body by means thereof and as brought to us in the preaching of that his Cross with the evidence and demonstration of the spirit and power and so in seeking rest righteousness strength and rejoycing in him in and by such believing in him So likewise the Blood of Christ purgeth the Conscience through Faith in that his Blood Blood shed or death and not by shedding blood again or by doing or causing to be done or 〈◊〉 the â—ame oâ— like things in their persons that were done and suffered in his person for sin for to him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins while through his Name the heart is stayed on him in a believing mindfulness and remembrance of him in what he hath done and so closing with and considering him in what he is thereby become for Sinners he further powers out his spirit opening and making known his words and so sprinkling upon the heart his Blood viz. the discoveries and openings of his blood shedding or death the infinite vertue and pretiousness of it with the Father The Grace manifested in and through it and so makes the Truth even the Preaching of the Cross powerful in their so knowing it to make them free from the Law and from the Dominion of sin by it John 8 32. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Acts 20. 32. and 10. 43. with Heb. 9 14. and this the Apostle confirms by his experiment Rom 8. 2 3. for the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus which is no other but the Glorious Gospel with the Light and Power of Gods Spirit in it Rom. 1. 16 17. 2 Cor. 3. that sayes he hath made me free from the Law of sin and death and then speaking to the reason of that efficacy and the means by which it did it he shews that it was not by accomplishing those or like works in him as was finished in the Person of Christ in his being delivered for our offences and raised for our justification but in and by the opening and spiritual sprinkling on his Soul that Bloodshedding or Death and Sufferings of Christ for the Remission of sins and that in and through the Preaching of it shewing the pretiousness pertinency and fulness of that to the purpose for saith he What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit minding the things of the spirit who takes off the things of Christ that he hath suffered done and shewing them glorifies him as the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth compare it with Rom. 5. 1. 11. and chap. 1â—3 John 16. 8. 10. 13 14 15. and so the Lords death his once suffering in the flesh for sins the just for the unjust which as to the actual accomplishment or sustaining of it is over and past but for ever accepted and had in everlasting remembrance with the Father and in the Fountain of
sure these men have the imperfection of irrationality if they cannot understand this difference We accused John Whitehead for arguing against the Redemption of the body to be expected after death and for saying the Apostles had it before death W. and F. Here they fault us for not expecting the Redemption of the body and our discharge from sin till after death because we said also p. 10. that the nature of man in the Resurrection is discharged of sin which we spake of Christ made under sin and Law and death for us and in the Resurrection namely his resurrection discharged thereof sayes that any thing of our not being discharged of sin as to forgivenesse of it till the resurrection What grosse abuses be these But they plead for John Whiteheads corrupt sayings reproaching our W. and F. expecting the redemption of the body after death as contrary to the Saints expectations for they waited and groaned they say for the redemption of the body from under corruption when they were upon earth and the creature it self was to be brought into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God which state was witnessed by as many as were led by the Spirit of God who were sanctified throughout in body in Soul and in Spirit and put not redemption afar off till after death as they say we do Reply Oh monstrous blind corrupted stuffe one would think that all men that read these things should abhor to listen to these Preachers for first they bely the Saints in saying the expecting the redemption of the body after Death is contrary to the Saints expectation did not the Saints expect that after death their bodies should be raised incorruptible Did they look to have their bodies immortal incorruptible powerful and glorious before their death read 1 Cor. 15. and see if these men be not lyars in grain and wofully corrupt like Hymeneus and Phyletus that said the resurrection was past Phil. 3. 20. 21. 2 Tim. 2 17. 18. 2. They aequivocate in saying they waited and groaned for the redemption of the body from under corruption when they were upon earth in one sense it is true and in another false It is true while they were upon earth they exercised their patient waiting and expectation but false that they expected that the redemption of their body should be proved by them before death the redemption of it I say either from all the being of sin therein or to the being of sin in it till death we spake before and proved it from Ps 143. 2. for they say it s sown in corruption and raised in incorruption if it be sown in corruption when it dies then it is not redeemed from corruption before it die 3. That the Creature it self is to be brought into the liberty of the Sons of God is true but that that state was witnessed that is proved by as many as were led by the Spirit of God is false for the Apostle was led by the Spirit of God and so are the Sons of God but if they witnessed the Creatures being brought into the liberty of the Sons of God and the Redemption of their bodies from corruption how sayes he then that the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the Sons of God seeing what they waited for they did not see and prove and so could not witnesse it for if they see it why did they yet wait for it Rom. 8. 14. 19 20. 23 24 25. Why say they the creature it self shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and not rather is delivered from it yea and why say they expresly we that have the first fruits of the spirit even we our selves groaning within our selves wait for the Adoption the Redemption of the body for we are saved by hope c. Were not the Apostles led by the Spirit that had the first fruits of it And Paul sayes The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 2. And were not they sanctified throughout in Body Soul and Spirit at least in good measure And yet we see they did but wait for the Redemption of the Body they did not witnesse it as a thing which they had nor do we ever find them say they had it but they confound the Redemption of the body with the freeing it from sin in it as G. W. in his late dispute with J. H. declared himself alleadging Rom. 8. 2. his being set free from the Law of sin and death for proof that Paul witnessed the Redemption of the body when as Paul had that before he said he waited for this nor doth it prove any absolute freedom from the being of sin in his body Rom. 7. 26. shews So see all men how corrupt the Quakers be and how miserable out of the Apostles Doctrine and Faith And yet fourthly We say not that either we or the Apostles put Redemption far off till after death It is God that hath Ordered the Redemption there spoken of to be after Death that we might first bear the image of the Earthly in a vile Mortal body before we bear the Image of the Heavenly in a Glorious body it was their part and so is ours to groan after it and waite for it till the time of Christs descending from Heaven to change our vile body that it may be fashioned into the likenesse of his Glorious body was ever any mans body redeemed from Corruption and Death and Rottennesse before it died They may as well contradict the Apostle and say that which thou sowest is quickened before it die All men may see these be deniers of the Resurrection preached by the Apostles and therefore Teachers that are to be accounted accursed Gal. 1. 8. Note by the way Reader that these men never attempt to answer our Question propounded to them at both our former disputes whether that that shall rise a Spiritual body was ever dead surely they by their shunning it do declare that they do not believe it and therefore by consequence deny the Resurrection of the dead To our charge of them with Antichristianisme in intimately not confessing Christ come in the flesh while they make not the knowledge of him as so come the knowledge to Eternal Salvation but the knowledge of him after the Spirit as he was before the World was in Ed. Burroughs declaration of their faith which charge we managed against them and they could not make good their faith or prove it by Scriptures though they assayed it from 2 Cor. 5. 16. 1 John 1. 1 2 3. And therefore stood concluded Antichristians To this upon further thoughts they give now this answer That W. and F. To know Christ as he is the Power of God is to know him in the Spirit as he was before the World was and that we trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe but as he is
the same people in which they joyn with such as fearing the eclipsing of their own honour are offended that we should own no Father but God nor Doctor but Christ by his Spirit and by his Servants so Ministering his Epistle as that he himself is the writer of it so as each may have the certainty of his believing from Gods own Manifestation of it For because T. M. and others do hold that mens coming into Vnion with Christ and knowledge of peculiar interest in him and his priviledges is by the Holy Spirit in his Testimony of Christ inlightning their minds and discovering the peace made by his blood and life obtained by him And commending the love of God therethrough and what Christ hath done and is ready to do for sinners so as he thereby inableth them to discern and moveth them to believe in him And so such as through this Grace believe are right believers others not so And that this testified and manifested by Christ his own Spirit in the Word of Grace in which Christ manifesteth himself and his things as in John 14. 21. and 16. 14. 15. Therefore some in times past that were strangers to this Grace and did seek life in a Pharisaical Righteousnesse and by their strifes after such Righteousnesse to evidence and manifest to themselves and others not otherwise knowing that they were in a Gracious state and had unfeigned Faith And others that pretend Christ in men and the true Light in them but they know it not and that their Ministration unto men is not to bring out of darknesse into Light but to manifest to them the Light and Christ that were before in them to whom therefore that name of Manifestarians might more properly be given I say some such Nick-named them and reproached them with the Name of Manifestarians and amongst them Mr. Edwards in his Gangraena was pleased to vent his passion in that reproachful tearm since whose writing we have scarce ever met with it from any other till these three brethren in evil have therewith reproached the people taught by us yea and not content with that they add in a Parenthesis 3. And called by some Free-Willers and Independants in which they seem to except themselves from being of the some that so calls us yet will call in any some to their help to defame us rather then not to vent all their gall against us which what shews it but a great deal of envy fury and malice that could not be kept within narrower bounds possibly there be some that are Episcopal and some Parochical and some Congregational Teachers either of those that call themselves the Baptized party or of others that hold that man hath Free will by nature to spiritual good though we think scarce any will expresse themselves in such terms much lesse are all of any of those sorts chargeable therewith or may Independents and Free willers be used as conversible terms but as for us we disown it and our writings in publick testifie against it it is rather chargeable upon those men and all of them that hold every man hath the true light the good Seed and Christ in him from his birth and so consists of light and darknesse flesh and spirit c. And as for Independents we hold none properly so but God though in some sence they may be branded with holding themselves to be such as assume to themselves equality with God or think and hold that they have all their life strength and sufficiency from within themselves so as they need not to be taught or helped by any other nor acknâ—wledge any God or Christ without themselves as needful to be looked to or be depended upon for help and strength c. such as with the younger Son in the parable will have all in their own hand to live upon and not to depend upon his Father without and above him Luc. 15. and that submit not themselves to any Powers or Magistrates set over them but those things we disclame having our dependance upon God in Christ and in his way taking help of one another submitting to those over us in the Word of the Lord and to what Magistrates the Lord sets over us for his sake and therefore neither Free willers nor Independents as these would have us reproached though joyning hands therein with any some to cast an odium upon us But yet besides all these 2. In the same Title page they spit their rancor against J. Horn in a reproachful way calling him J. Horn a Priest in Lin and Priest Horn as in p. 15 they do the like to another whom they reproachfully call Priest Higginson in which they do not say as in the other reproaches called Priest or whom some call Priest but as being themselves in their malice and bitternesse the Authour of that reproach they themselves so call him which appears clearly to be done by way of bitter derision and reproach For the word Priest is either used 1. In a good sence as when the believers are called by the Apostle a Spiritual Priesthood 1 Pet. 2. 5. and he hath made us to God Kings and Priests Rev. 1. 6. and 5. 10. in which sence John Horn disownes not the name though not as he is John Horn but as a believer it way be given him but that 's a name of honour which their manner of expression argues they intend not to John Horn or to the other nor are they such Priests which they call John Horns Brethren against whom he bears witnesse Or 2. In a bad sence in which it must needs be a reproach and apparently uttered with some venome or spight as well as falshood on their parts for so they must either mean that John Horn is 1. A Priest of the Order of Aaron a Levitical Priest and then they say evidently false for their Office was to offer bodily bloudy and outward sacrifices for sin and to burn incense and they were distinguished from the Levites whose office was to Teach but not to offer sacrifice and burn incense and those Priests were types of Christ and since he hath come and offered up the acceptable sacrifice of his own body we have no more such Priests If they Reply that he may be called such a Priest because he receives Tithes We Answer That follows not if he did so for all were not nor are Priests that took or take Tithes the Levites took Tithes who were no Priests and many Gentlemen and others in our Nation take Tythes whom yet these men do not therefore call Priests and therefore that can be no good reason for such a Name given him Or they mean 2. A Priest in the Roman sence to make the body of Christ under visible formes and accidents as these men called Quakers do in a manner in their immaginations invisibly and to offer up a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and for the dead if so they know themselves to be lyars therein to For they
Epistle to the Reader as ours in which they shew their ignorance and deceit they be thus T. Moor say they affirmed That sin is a natural heritage in the beleevers while they be here To which T. Moor saith Ans This is falsly expressed his sayings were That sin is in the beleever as a natural heritage from Adam while he is in this mortal body And in noting this as erroneous they intimately deny the natural uncleanness of man by sin entring into the world by one mans sin and so that all have sinned in him and are fallen short of the glory of God in and unto which they were created Or else with the Papists imagine that its taken away by Baptism or Regeneration so as no more to be in men here But note that T. M. says its in them as a natural heritage from the first natural root fallen Adam in which is implied a distinction between what is the beleevers by nature as a son of the first Adam a man and what is his by grace as in Christ the second Adam and the Apostle tells us That by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and that it abides in the beleever after beleeving is plain in that Paul says sin dwelt in him even then when he says it was not he that did sin but sin in him Rom. 7. 17 20. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing there his natural heritage In which also he implies that in his Spirit was that that is good dwelling as also he after says vers 22. and that sin abides not in the beleever till death we find no Scripture saith but the contrary That no man living shall be justified in the sight of God if he enter into judgement with him Psal 143. 2. If no man living but by Gods not entring into judgment with him then no man living here is without sin for if there were though God did enter into judgement with him he should be justified for God certainly cannot in judgment or will not condemn him in whom is no sin so that their ignorance and error herein appears in accusing T. M. of Error herein 2. T. M. say they affirmed that their nature is restored in Christ speaking of their own nature and that their nature is a filthy nature and Christ took upon him their nature Ans This also is falsly expressed and perverted for his sayings were to this effect That the nature or kind of man is perfectly redeemed and restored in one for all even in Christ the second Adam while yet sin is in and death upon the Individuals or particular persons of men for whom such Redemption is obtained in and by Jesus Christ Yea even the beleevers body is yet vile while not changed by death and they all waiting for the redemption of the body but here they confound things together and deal deceitfully they might as well have taxed the Apostle of confusion for saying men by nature do the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. 14. and yet by nature are children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. The word Nature signifies diversly when we say our nature is restored in Christ we speak of the nature or kind of man as it is distinguished from the nature or kind of Angels and other creatures which whole nature by reason of sin committed by it in Adam was fallen under wrath and curse but being assumed by Christ who was made flesh and man and not in the nature or kind of Angels he hath redeemed it even mans nature or being which is ours too inasmuch as we are men and restored it to favour and fellowship with God in himself and yet we say our nature kind or being as in us not in Christ for the same common nature kind or being of man is in every man though in divers persons diversly is corrupt and filthy in it self by reason of sin in it Isai 64. 6. and death upon us further then purified and purged by him yet Christ took upon him our nature as before not as it is filthy in us by sin in it but as it was under bondage to death and ourse without filth in him he being sanctified in his conception so as to be the Holy One even in his Birth Luke 1. 35. whereas others are conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity Psal 51. 5. so that there is neither error nor confusion in what is said by T. M. hereabout but they have mis-related his sayings and therefore tax them because they agree not with their Errors concerning mans natural sinfulness called Original sin and the humanity of Christ denied by them 3. John Horn they say holds that they that had no guile in them had sin in them that every sin is not guile Answ T is well they dared not to put in David with him as holding the same error for he says that man is blessed whose sins are covered and to whom the Lord will not impute sin and in whose spirit there is no guile so then it seems some men in whose spirit is no guile have sins in them though covered and not imputed to them there needs no cover for what is not yet John Horn did not say that every one that had no guile in him had sin in him for he excepts Jesus Christ who neither did sin nor had guile in him not that Principle then but the contradiction of it is the Error 4. T. M. say they affirmed That the blood of Christ shed is not in his person in heaven but the vertue of it To which T. M. saith Ans That herein also they have altered and falsified his sayings which in Answer to their Question where the blood of Christ is was to this effect That the material blood was shed and the vertue or preciousness thereof or of his bloodshedding is now with the Father in the person of Christ in Heaven forasmuch as by means and for the worth thereof he is raised from the dead and entred into heaven it self there to appear in the presence of God for us having by it obtained life from the dead even eternal life and redemption for us Mind also Reader that they say p. 15. that they blame us not nor did blame us for not asserting that the bloodshed is in the body of Christ Why then note they this as a dangerous principle had T. M. so said 5. T. M. say they affirmed That the blood of Christ shed is the foundation of their faith but where it is they answered not nor could they tell Ans The forementioned Answer to their Question was first often given and urged else what meant their reply to it to this effect That the vertue of a thing cannot be separated from the thing it self that it may be where the thing it self is not in a present reall sensible existence or being the contrary to which was then proved as is shewed in the Book they pretend to answer And further T.
M. his Assertion was That as the blood of Christ is in heaven with the Father in the sense above expressed so it s the ground and foundation of our Faith it being that by means of which he is so and so we still say that the blood or sufferings of Christ and he through and by means thereof being raised from the dead and glorified in the same body in which he bare our sins without which his sufferings could have done us no good is the foundation of our faith it seems it is not of theirs and so they have not faith in his blood as the Apostles preached Rom. 3. 25. their faith is founded in something else and so they are men of dangerous Principles beware of them 6. T. M. They further say affirmed That the life of Christ is not in the blood of Christ whence they infer that the Foundation of our faith hath not the life of Christ in it Ans This also is a deceitful abuse and falsifying of his words which were in answer to their assertion That the blood of Christ is nothing else but the life of Christ the Spirit or power of God bringing those Scriptures for proof that speaking not so much as of man in his mortal state but of other mortal creatures say the blood is the life and the life of the flesh is in the blood Gen. 9. 4. Lev. 17. 11. In answer to which T. M. said that the life of Christs personal body which body they deny is not in or by the supply of material blood as the life of mortal creatures yet he said that the eternal life and redemption in Christ for us is the fruit of his blood being obtained by it So that their conclusion hath not the least colour from his saying but is contradicted by it for the material blood that was shed as to its present locallity or place of being as to its matter is not the foundation of our faith in whole or in part but his bloodshed or sufferings to the pouring out his soul to death for our sins and he by vertue thereof as is before said 7. T. M. affirmed say they again that the light wherewith Christ lighteth every man is both natural and spiritual Ans That Christ is the true light that lighteth every man coming into the world and that the light which he giveth or wherewith he lighteth them is all that is truly called light and good whether natural or spiritual we did and do assert as truth their denial of which implies an evil Principle held by them Viz. That they deprive Christ of the glory of being the Author and giver either of the natural light or good or of the spiritual 8. T. M. say they said That the person of Christ namely of flesh and bones is a quickning spirit and dwells in the beleevers by faith and to prove it he said that the Corinthians dwelt in the heart of Paul Ans There again they falsifie and pervert his sayings which were that the person of Christ that had and hath flesh and bones a person of flesh and bones we call him not that 's the term they put upon him by way of derision and reproach even Jesus Christ who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh is declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead even in the same body in which he bare our sins on the tree and he the second man the last Adam is made a quickning spirit which was answered against their seeking privily to insinuate to the people that that body of his flesh was abolished or annihilated so that now he hath not that body or possesses not his glory therein to shew the vanity and wickedness of their indeavours wherein it was urged that the manhood or body of his flesh is not annihilated by his becomming a quickning Spirit it being the man Christ Jesus the last Adam that 's made a quickning Spirit yea it s because this man continues for ever in the name glory of the Father for us that he hath an unchangeable Priesthood and is able to save to the utmost them that come to God by him God having given to the Son of man to have life in himself even as the Son hath life in himself As to the other part of the charge T. M. his saying was that its the man Christ Jesus as thus considered as a distinct person personally or bodily distant from them so as they are absent from him while they are at home in the mortal body that is and dwels in the beleevers heart by faith To their sensual scoffing at which as not being able to comprehend by their sensual imagination how such a thing might be such matters of faith being too high for them as even the least things in the wisedome of God are too high for a fool that seeks to be wise in himself we brought that of the Corinths and the Philippians being in the Apostles hearts by love 2 Cor. 7. 3. Philip. 1. 7. not to prove that Christ dwells in the beleevers hearts by faith that 's fully and plainly the assertion of the Scripture and needs no other proof Eph. 3 17. 2 Cor. 5. 7. But for illustration and discovery of the thing to the weakest of them whom they indeavoured to subvert to shew them how one might dwell in the heart of another and yet be personally distinct and as to bodily presence distant also 1 Thes 2. 17. But mind Reader that these men do flatly oppose the dwelling of the man Christ as a quickning spirit in the hearts of the beleevers by Faith which had they not been blinded with Antichristian Babilonish confusion they would not have done plainly therein without covert contradicting the Spirit in the Apostle that with so great earnestness prayed for the Ephesians That Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith but its manifest that these men know not what faith is but take it for a beleeving something of God or Christ from a knowing or experimenting it in themselves as the Devils believe James 2. 19. Which yet is not faith or having faith and their after abuse of and clipping 1 John 5. 10. in their p. 1. Gives occasion to think they take it so or for sense or sight as many of their words import but did they know that believing is the receiving a thing from a report and that every believing is not faith in Scripture account Prov. 14 15 2 Thes 2. 11. But the hearty believing of that report in which the true and saving Object of faith is set forth and brought nigh Isa 53. 1. John 7. 37 38. Rom. 10. 8 9 10. Whence believing receives the denomination of faith they would not thus have said and writ for those that are willing to understand this business we shall here take liberty to open what the Object of faith is which is often called faith though of many not believed and what
in his members and these two warring the one against the other but their arguing is like as if they should say the beleever hath no flesh or blood in his body because he hath a spirit in his body that hath neither flesh nor blood in it or that they be guilty of the imperfection of witlesness because they have something in them their gutts suppose that be witless and they are not divided from their nature they adde John said speaking of Christ as he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. and therefore that we have manifestly wronged them and the Apostles Rep. That we have either wronged them or the Apostles is false for that they hold what we said they do they deny not and that the Apostles so held they prove not the place they quote says not as Christ is without sin in himself so are we in this world no more then he saith as Christ is without a natural corruptible body or without pain ach or bodily death so are we in this world they may as well gather the one as the other from that saying and that the Apostle meant it not in respect of sinlesness as men is evident by comparing it with 1 John 1. 8. where he saith If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us we may not strain Scriptures beyond their scope nor may we say we are in every respect as Christ is either in himself or to the world or to beleevers Christ is God over all so are not the beleevers Christ is the second Adam a quickning spirit so are not the beleevers Christ is the only begotten Son of God so are not the beleevers on him The only begotten Son of God and they that beleeve on him are distinct and different persons Christ is the Saviour of the world so are not the beleevers not the Saviour though instruments of saving men Christ is the propitiation for our sins and for the sins of the whole world so are not the beleevers Christ is the Head and Husband of the Church so are not the beleevers but as Christ is so are the beleevers and in an eminent sense so were the Apostles in the world in the judgement knowledge account of the world as also in a measure set to be lights in the world But the main scope is that in respect of judgement account and estimate as Christ is so are we in this world for he says Herein is our love or love with us made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgement when we are judged of men here because as he is so are we in this world as to their receit approvement rejection or disapprovement we have our fellowship therein with him which also gives us strong consolation and confidence that when he comes to judge he will justifie us that were here condemned with him but what is this to their being sinless in themselves They add That they say not there is any perfection themselves without Christ who is their righteousness and they the righteousness of God in him Rep. That Christ is their righteousness c. is but their own testimony of themselves which we cannot receive because the true Christ whom we with the Apostles look for from heaven so to come again as they see him go up they say p. 10. they desire not the knowledge of nor doth their not saying that there is any perfection in them without Christ suffice to excuse them for its an Error to say that through Christ they have perfection in themselves so as to be perfectly sinless even the beleever in Christ though in Christ perfect is not as yet perfect in himself through Christ while here Paul though in Christ said he was not perfect nor had attained Phil. 3. 12 13. no not to be sinless Rom. 7. 20. 1 Tim. 1. 15. That Christ was manifested to take away our sin and in him is no sin we granted but added that its never said so of any else no where said by any of the Saints of themselves or of any of their brethren that they had no sin in them or were not sinners But they bid W. and F. mark how fairly we contradict our doctrine by telling its said indeed that he that abideth in him sinneth not and he that is born of God doth not commit or work sin because the seed of God abides in him neither can he sin that is commit work or yeeld up himself to sin because he is born of God which they render as inconsistent with our counting their maintaining a perfection of sinlesness in this life as a great error and say we would accuse the Saints or brethren with being sinners Rep. 1. Is this to accuse the Saints or brethren to observe what they have said or not said of themselves or one another If so then all are accusers of them that observe their sayings and so it seems they to avoid accusing of them observe them not If it be not then are they lyers and so not sinless that call our observing what they said or said not of themselves an accusing of them for we did no more in those sayings they have quoted as any impartial Reader may see 2. What we observed they said contradicts not what we noted they said not if they can find that they said of themselves or of their brethren that they had no sin in them or were not sinners they should produce it and prove us lyers if not then have they falsly charged us with self-contradiction These two contradict not John said He that abideth in him sinneth not and John said not he that abideth in him hath no sin in himself or is not in that respect a sinner or that any doth perfectly abide in Christ in every operation and act so as never to wander in his minde out of him Paul abode in Christ in the main and did not commit sin for he says It s no more I but sin that do it and yet Paul then had sin in him for he adds but sin that dwelleth in me Yea and said that with his flesh he served the law of sin and yet with his mind served the law of God Rom. 7. 20 25. Did Paul then contradict himself If yes then will we be counted contradictors of our selves also with him if no then neither do we contradict our selves but either they are ignorant of the nature of contradictions and so not perfect or else knowingly say falsly and so are vitious We then yet account what they maintain a great Error and yet say what the Apostle John said because he said not what they say that he that is born of God hath no sin in him but on the contrary If we say we have no sin in us we deceive our selves and yet they were born of God sure they beleeved Jesus to be the Christ and whosoever doth so is born of God 1 Joh. 5. 1. so that any that
lay any thing to their charge nor did God because he forgave justified and owned them through Christs death and intercession for them which he needed not to have made for them or been the propitiation for their sins had they had no sins then yea it was their abiding in the faith of Christ and living upon him as the propitiation for their sins in which they sinned not and the ceasing to live upon that as of no need for a man as having no sins for Christ to be the propitiation for is one way of going out from Christ into a mans self and so of not abiding in him not say we their sins were not destroyed as to the dominion of them over them much less that they were not freed from them through Christs mediation as to the imputation of them they were covered though they were there to cover they adde W. F. John did not say if we are not all sinners we deceive our selves but if we say we have no sin and have not sinned which if the little children that John wrote to that they might not sin had sin then John might say we have sin for he numbred himself with them as friends or those whose sins were forgiven and yet the yong men and Fathers he wrote to had overcome the wicked one and had the word of God abiding in them 1 Joh. 2. Rep. What confused deceitfull stuffe is this for 1. What doth that word which belong to and agree with And how come in those words or those whose sins were forgiven or how hang they with what went before them 2. Are they not all sinners that have sin and that have sinned What call they them then And if they had sin then how were they sinless as they plead 3. And what if John say not so yet Paul said of whom viz sinners I am the chief and said so When he wrote to Timothy and was an Apostle and James says in many things not onely we have sinned but in the presenttense we offend all are not offenders sinners 4. If the little children wrote to that they might not sin had sin what becomes then of their former argument from exhortations to be perfect or not to sin c. 5. And if John might thence say we have sin as numbring himself with them as friends what hypocrites be they then to fall so foul upon us because numbering our selves with the Nation we said we have neglected and long abused the truth But yet 6. How prove they that it was onely the little children that might have sin seeing James sayes in many things we offend all if we all then not the little children only for they were not all the body of them 't is but a presumption without proof that he onely numbred himself with the little children without any ground for it in themselves Nay it is contrary to what James saith 7. They say or those whose sins were forgiven why then be they not blind guides to say they whom the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin have no sin in them if those that had their sins forgiven might have sin in them they that had their sins forgiven had they not all forgiven and is not forgiveness of sin cleansing from sin and that cleansing too most properly from it which is by the blood of Christ Rom. 5. 9. And if persons that have all their sins forgiven may have sin who then may not that are here They imply the young men and fathers who had overcome the wicked one and had the word of God a biding in them but then 8. Had not the little children that had their sins forgiven them overcome the wicked one and had they not the word of God abiding in them They had the same thing in substance with the Fathers for the Fathers knew him that was from the beginning and the little children knew the Father is not the Father he that was from the beginning Were they children without the word of God abiding in them or without overcoming the wicked one David says he had hid the word of God in his heart that he might not sin against him and yet how often complains he of sin and praies to have removed from him the way of lying and implies that his eyes wandred after vanity and that his waies were not yet so directed as to keep his statutes and have respect to all Gods commandements What else means Oh that my waies were directed that I might keep thy statutes and then shall I not be ashamed when I shall have respect to all thy commandements Psal 119. 5 6. 11. 29. 36. And had not Paul overcome the wicked one when he sayes sin dwelt in him Nor James when he said in many things we offend all surely they had so that their reasonings are very aiery and without any proof from Scripture or any thing but their own authority to warrant them W. and F. To Prov. 20. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean they say this is not against them for they themselves do not say that they have made their hearts clean it being Chrsts work to cleanse and ever to have perfected them that are sanctified and Solomon saith the just man walketh in his integrity and the righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way Rep. They are shrewdly driven to their shifts for they durst not repeate the whole Scripture we all edged because they know not how to stare in the face of it and find out an handsome glosse to elude it what could they not think of one shift to evade that clause I am pure from my sin Yea their shift for the other is like Adams fig leaves for what though it be Christs work to cleanse yet the Apostles exhort believers to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit may not a man as well collect from thence that a man may cleanse himself from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit and so make his heart clean as from other exhortations to be perfect to infer that a man may be free from all inherency of sin here Again Peter saies seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and in such a sense who can say I have made my heart clean so as that I am pure from my sin And surely though Solomon saies the just man walketh in his integrity yet he speaks not of a just man that hath no sin or sinneth not for he saies there is none such upon earth Eccles 7. 20. Which Scripture next you shamefully elude for because it s said there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not they sâ—y W and F. Mark for there among those that were in their changeable State nor among them that are born of God for they cannot sin Rep. Ah fie for shame where speaks he of such a the◠〈…〉 in their changeablâ— State Doth not George Whitehead en 〈…〉 and doth the word
us or with any that know and believe the Scriptures but they imply That if Adam was under a covenant of works do this and live then he should not have lived when he was in innocency till he had done some thing to merit life Rep. The mistake of this is shewed above in that that covenant was not for the first giving but for the continuance of his life in the favour of God and that though he could not merit by any works and obedience was to be continued upon his working that that was good sinlesly otherwise he was to die as appeared in that he lost it by his sinning and fell under death from which that covenant afforded no Redemption as the covenant in Christ doth so that we have not spoken ignorantly as they charge us but the ignorance is found with them that confound what covenant Adam was under with what was given to the people of Israel for convincement of their sin when fallen The covenant of works or Law as given to fallen man in the hand of a Mediator entred because of transgression till the seed came and so was given with subordination to the covenant of grace even the grace of God in the Redeemer from the fall and the death that came by sin as the naturall death also did though they erroneously imply the contrary and no marvaile for if that death be by sin then there must be a Redemption out of that death and so a Resurrection of the body from it which seeing they deny how can they grant it comes in by sin and that the seed should Redeem the creature out of it So that herein also their iniquity and corrupt judgement is seen and the root of their deniall that the naturall death came in by sin namely their deniall of the Redemption by Christ from that death and so the Resurrection of the body from it as after will more appear so that here Reader we have a complication of errours in them Thus much to their defence of their first errour about their sinlesness let us see how they defend their second Our second charge of them was about the personall body of Christ in which he suffered which that it is ascended into Heaven the Heavens without all men and above the clouds opposed to the visible earth we say they would not be brought to acknowledge touching which whether we questioned severall times altering our words as they charge us let them judge that read our book But they say W. and F. We contradict our selves because we say that they said the same body that suffered was glorified at Gods right hand in heaven Rep. Nay not unless by that body and that Heaven we say they meant as we expressed in our question which we said they did not and they in their book clearly manifest the truth of what we therein said so that it 's but another falshood added to the former to say that we are stifled in our own confusion and another yet to say that we charge them ignorantly with what they meant for here they plainly say W. and F. It appears we hold Christ hath two bodies in telling of a mysticall body and not receiving that as in answer that his body is the Church the fulness of him that filleth all in all and in that from our words they say we would have Christ to have a body besides or distinct from the fulness of God when as the Scripture doth not say that Christ hath two bodies or that his body is a body of flesh and bones without the blood in it as they say we told them Rep. See here Reader did we ignorantly charge them that by the body they said was glorified in Heaven they meant his Church do not they here speak it out while they tax us with holding Christ hath two bodies because we say he hath his personall body in which he suffered and which he shewed to have flesh and bones in it as a Spirit hath not And is it more absurd for Christ to have in two senses a body or two bodies in different senses of the word body then for the believer to have two heads in two distinct senses hath not George Whitehead and the rest each of them their personall head in which they have tongues with which they smite them that are more righteous then themselves And if they were believers in truth should they not have Christ for their head too And why then may not Christ have a body of his own as a man the man Christ Jesus in which he shewed his Disciples flesh and bones and yet have a body mysticall or body signifying a Church society or congregation as he is the Ruler and Governour of them and in them by his Spirit And doth not the Scripture set forth both these to us as distinct bodies though those very words two bodies it hath not was it his body the Church in which he shewed his Disciples his flesh and bones hands and feet that were pierced with Nailes and in which he bare our sins on the tree And was it his personal body for which Paul filled up the remainder of the sufferings Col. 1. 24. Is there not expresly the body of his flesh mentioned Col. 1. 22. In which he reconciled us to God his now glorious body in the Heavens to which the body of his Church is to be fashioned into the likeness of it Phil. 3. 20. 21. And the body his Church Col. 1. 24. See here how these men broadly deny Christ as man and onely make him a Spirit filling the Church and so the Spirit and the Church to be Christ and is not that all the Christ they confess now to be And whereas they say we would have Christ to have a body besides and distinct from the fulness of God Col. 2. 9. We say we acknowledge a body in which dwells the fulness of the Godhead which we say is distinct from the fulness of the Godhead that dwells in it and is distinct too from the Church the fulness it is not said of God as God but of him that filleth all in all that is of Christ as Mediator in the power of God Ephes 4. 9 10. Yet that his body is a body of flesh and bones in Heaven without blood in it we determined not but that that body of flesh and bones or in which he shewed his Disciples flesh and bones is ascâ—nded up into Heaven and he as in it is glorified against which they reason thâ—â— W. and F. It 's not proper to say a body of flesh and bones is in the Heavens as if it were in many places at once for Heavens are more then one a silly reason for by that reason it 's not proper to say a body of flesh and bones is in the waters or a stone sinks in the waters for waters are more then one Heaven and Heavens are indifferently used in the Singular or Plurall number as water and waters be as we
that he should even so come again in like manner as they had seen him go up into Heaven for that was in a body with flesh and bones in it and was visible to the eye till a cloud received him out from their sight and that this you deny appears in what you have said before of the Church being his body onely and by what follows viz. That as he who is the Word became flesh so when the days of his flesh were finished he was translated into his own glory which he had with his Father from eternity and so the second Adam is a quickning Spirit for in those words you imply that his flesh or the substance of his body in which he bare our sins is ceased and so that his humanity or what he took of the Virgin and of the seed of David after the flesh is gone so as he is onely a Spirit without any human body but how then did the Apostle oppose Christ in his ascending into Heaven unto David Acts 2. 34 45. For by that David ascended as much as Christ for his Spirit went to God when his body went to the dust Eccles 12. 7. And it seems by your sayings Christs body is not ascended but by the Apostles saying Christ is opposed to David in ascending in what he David ascended not whose body he says is the sepulchre therefore it follows that the body of Christ is ascended and is taken up into glory and is called the glorious body of Christ to which the believers body is to be conformed and changed into its likeness not into the Churches likeness sure which as yet is much of it in a suffering state and not a glorious body yea the Apostle tells us that of the fruit of Davids loines according to the flesh Christ is raised up to sit upon his throne Acts 2. 30. Is he the man Jesus the Mediator of God and us the propitiation for our sins as a Spirit merely Or is he the man Christ as he is God in us or a Spirit in Union with his Church And is so as he the propitiation for our sins then he bare his own sins in his body and is the propitiation for himself seeing the Church is he or part of him his body that was offered up for us It 's true the second Adam was made a quickning Spirit yet abides a man and hath a glorious body dictinct from his Church to which our body is to be conformed even as Adam was a living soul yet had a natural body W. and F. To your question you aske us viz. Whether we believe that body the saints upon earth do discern and which the world cannot discern is a body of flesh and bones yea or nay We answer it 's the body that was broken for us and is to be fed upon by us as is plain in 1 Cor. 11. 24. 29. not discerning the Lords body it 's that that is remembred and communicated with in the supper of the Lord which ordinance you have denied in your queries to us and that body was the same that Christ shewed to have flesh and bones in it and in which he went up into Heaven as before think you the Church was given and broken for us and is the breaking of the Church that which we are to have communion with and remember as the matter of our seeding in that Ordinance Though the body mysticall of Christ his Church is also to be discerned by the believers and is not by the world but if the Church be the body discerned which in the supper we have the communion of and which was broken for us then the flesh of Christ which we eat is something of the Church the flesh and substance of the Church and so the Church is to eate itself what confused stuff is this that is insinuated by you to us But by the reason you give off your propounding that question viz. seeing we own the believers or Church to be the body of Christ and plead for another body of Christ distinct from them it 's plain without contradiction that you deny the personall body of Christ to be and abide in the Heavens and to deny the man Jesus to be the Object of the believers faith and why shamed you to speak out this so broadly at the dispute Was you then more bashfull and are since grown more audacious and impudent W. and F. They say It 's grosse confusion to say that believers are Members of Christs flesh and bones and then to say they are not flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone as if Christ had two bodies of flesh and bone one of which the saints are not Members when the Apostle says as much as they were flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone in saying no man ever hated his own flesh but nourisheth it and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church for we are Members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 3 30. Rep. Surely the grosse confusion is clearly in themselves here as is easie to demonstrate 1. They bely us in saying of us that we said what we said not viz. That believers are Members of Christs flesh and bones we said the Apostles preached that the believers are Members of his body of his flesh and of his bones neither the Greek nor the Latine as G. W. At least as to the Latine may know will bear that construction Members of his flesh and bones but Members of his body of that is out of his flesh and of or out of his bones ex carne ejus ex ossibus ejus 2. Is his Church flesh and bones said they not above that a body of flesh and bones cannot be said to be in the Heavens but if believers be a body of flesh and bones as they are if they be flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones must they not needs be then a body of flesh and bones in Heaven seeing they grant his body to be in the heavens yea to be the fulness of God that filleth all in all both in Heaven and earth is flesh and bones the fulness of God filling all in all both in Heaven and earth 'T is true that the Church consists of Members that each of them have personall heads and bodies of flesh and bones as men but are they flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone Is our flesh of Christs flesh and our bone of Christs bone How then hath not Christ flesh and bone of his own distinct from the body his Church if our flesh be flesh of his flesh and our bone be bone of his bone Doth not that phrase speak plainly of flesh and bones of his distinct from the Church which they say too is flesh and bone is not the confusion then in these men that deny Christ to have a body of flesh and bones distinct from his Church and then to say his Church is flesh of his flesh and bone of
the living God he was before the World was Reply But this too is false and fallacious for Christ is the Power of God as he was Crucified 1 Cor. 1. 22 23 24. and to know him so is not to know him as he was before the World was he was the Power of God before the World was but to know him as he was the Power of God before the World was is not the knowledge of him to Salvation To assert it is not to confesse but vertually to deny him as come in the Flesh The like we may say of the other phrase he is not the living God the Saviour of all men as he was before the World was for he is the living God now in the Manhood or as Immanuel God with us as made flesh and dead and raised but so he was not before the World was and as not the living God in mans Nature or Incarnate or promised so to be as such considered or as therethrough made manifest he is not since the fall the object of our knowledge to Salvation and though they say they do not deny his knowledge as in his flesh that is an Equivocal deceitful speech its evident what they say puts no necessity or grants not the sufficiency of the knowledge of him as come in the Flesh and so doth not confesse or magnifie it but exalts as sufficient that that was before and without it W. and F. They say When we can prove nothing against them and yet we have made good all our charge against them hitherto we have invented these lies against them that they may and can in their canting Language say he is manifest in England and is persecuted and dies and rises as well as in Judea and Jerusalem and that however they make no thing of his being born suffering and dying in the flesh and there they say they utterly deny us and charge us as forgers of lies for they never use they say such canting Language against Christ but own his sufferings in Judea and Jerusalem as he was a true offering and propitiation for the sins of the whole World whose sufferings were effectual both for the pacifying the Fathers wrath and for the reconciling the whole World as is witnessed by them who receive the power of his life which was manifested through Death to them that truly believed through Christs sufferings Reply To which we say that they use such canting Language we call for witness John Toldervy in his Foot out of the Snare where he tells of the Quakers turning all the Scriptures into Allegories as about Adam Moses Christ Jerusalem c. Which neither James Naylor in his Book against him contradicts or faults him for nor doth himself retract in what he write by way of submission to James Naylor in his Book called the Naked Truth yea and in a Letter to us George Whitehead saith that the Blood of Christ suffereth mark suffereth with Christ where he suffers marke its in the Present Tense for the prisoner which by the Blood of the Covenant is to be brought out of the Pit which can hold no water Now if Judea and Jerusalem be in men and Christ suffereth yet for the prisoner to be brought out by the Blood of the Covenant cannot they say Judea and Jerusalem are in England as well as any where Yea said they not above that that our faith is to be rooted out that is not grounded in Christs appearing in us Now if their faith be grounded in Christs appearing in them must it not be in Christs dying and crucifying in them if at all in his dying But indeed it is not grounded in his dying at all if it be in the knowledge of him as he was before the World was and so to what purpose say they or what do they but cant when they say that they own his sufferings in Judea and Jerusalem as he was a true offering and propitiation for the sins of the whole World and that his sufferings were effectual both for the pacifying the Fathers wrath and reconciling the whole World Let them tell us when they write again where that Judea and Jerusalem is whether it be not in them yea or nay by his sufferings at which they are reconciled to God how do they own any sufferings in Judea else Not as any thing their faith is grounded in unless they were sufferings in them and he appeared in them in those sufferings and so the Judea and Jerusalem where he appeared and suffered be in them seeing they root up the Faith otherwise grounded and how was his suffering in Judea without or any sufferings past effectual for the reconciling the whole World or pacifying the Fathers wrath and yet Christ suffereth for the Prisoner to be brought forth by the blood of the Covenant which prisoner we shall finde by their sayings afterward to be Christ too and what need of the owning him as so suffering if it be not the knowledge of him to Salvation but as he was before the World was when he suffered not They that consult with their Books may see but canting in all this for if we may believe what is printed as their Answer to the Cambridge Queries they justified Richard Hubberthorns saying that Christs coming in the flesh was but a figure which since I writ the former expressions I see not disowned but justified by G. W. in his answer to them with one or two filly frivolous pleas as how could Christ else be said to have been transfigured And did not he namely the Scholer he answers never read that Christ is the figure his Fathers substance c Which may serve to cheat silly men and women but if Christs coming was but a figure then not the true Pacifier of Gods wrath nor reconciliation of the World they also falsifie our saying in the last clause recited for it was not as they repeat it but thus however in the foresaid expression they make nothing of his being born suffering c. Those words in the foresaid expression are subtilly left out the better to hide their deceit in faulting us from those that have not their Books to compare their sayings with and we appeal to all whether if the knowing him after the Spirit as he was before the World was be the knowledge of him to Eternal Salvation they therein make anything to purpose of all his dying and suffering in the flesh Seeing those things were not done or suffered by him in the Spirit as he was before the World was W. and F. p. 13. They charge us with belying Geo. Whitehead in saying he alleadged 2 Cor. 5. 16. To prove that the Apostles did not know Christ as one that suffered in the flesh or to be in the flesh but it was brought they say against our knowledge which is Carnal and stands in Immagination and neither truly know Christ as he was in the flesh nor after the Spirit but contend against the knowing him as he was before
the World was Reply That we did not bely G. W. but they us the repeating those things that passed will evidence we urged that Ed. Burroughs foresaid passage confest not Christ come in the flesh and G. W. to justifie his saying alleadged that the Apostles thenceforth knew Christ no more after the flesh which to what purpose could it be if not to insinuate that to know him after the Spirit is to know him as he was before the World was and to know him otherwise viz. as one that since the World came and suffered in the flesh for men is to know him after the flesh Why else was he beaten from it and waved it upon our clearing it that it was the Apostles knowing him as one that dyed for all that led him to let go that knowledge of him after the flesh there denyed by him and therefore that knowing him as one that died was not the knowledge after the flesh Nor were we declaring or speaking about our knowing Christ one way or other when he brought it but against the knowledge they plead for as the knowledge to Salvation false it is therefore that he brought it against our knowledge of him which we matter not his reproaching of who is grievously and notoriously erroneous as hath been seen yea doth not his distinction here in his reproaching our knowing Christ as he was in the flesh or after the Spirit plainly imply that the knowing Christ as he was in the flesh is not with them the knowing him after the Spirit so that the knowing him after the Spirit is not the knowing him as come in the flesh contrary to 1 John 4. 2. by which they are discovered to be Antichristians if they judge them the same why do they distinguish and divide them It plainly implyes that the Spirit after which they know him doth not teach them to know him as he was in the flesh yea its plain too that by that phrase of knowing him after the Spirit in E. â—s Book is meant a distinct knowledge from the knowing him as come in the flesh and so makes that empty and lifeless seeing here they distinguish them as different so that their own words condemn them to them that are intelligent And whereas they say we contend against knowing him as he was before the World was and neglect Christ and so against the knowledge of the Glory of God as a knowledge to Salvation Herein also are they false for it is not against the knowledge of Christ as before the world was that we contend but against their making that knowledge the knowledge of him to Salvation nor said we we do neglect Christ though who can so worthily prize and serve him as in nothing to be guilty of the neglect of him We shall God inabling be more industrious to mind him manage his truth against these mens errors then we have formerly been much lesse is there either truth or knowledge but Ignorance and Confusion in their making the knowledge of Christ as before the World was the knowledge of the Glory of God for the Glory of God is his great goodnesse manifested and brightly shining forth in Christ sent forth and crucified for us Exod. 33. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 6. It is the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God that is in the Face of Jesus Christ as represented in the Gospel which preaches him crucified And so that Glory could not be known as he was before the World was for God was manifested in the flesh and not as before and without the flesh or respect to it so as to our Salvation Besides there is fallacy in saying the Spirit and Power in which the Apostles knew Christ and one another was before the World was for its one thing to say the Spirit and Power was before the World was and the object now manifested as now manifested by that Spirit and Power the knowledge whereof is to Salvation is Christ as he was before the world was and not as he was made flesh since the world Having made good these our charges of them we shall be briefer in the rest P. 13. Our distinction of the condition of the Nature of man as it is in the believer from what it is in Christ they charge with making it in the believers to be seperate from Christ To which we say we believe and say with the Apostle that the believer while in the body is absent from Christ but not seperate Yet we say his nature as in him is distinct from it as in Christ because in the believer its subject to infirmity and bodily Death in Christ it is not they deny the sinfulnesse of Nature commonly called Original sin contrary to Psal 51. 5. Job 14. 4. Rom. 5. 12. 18 19. And say that to make the believer to have two Heritages a Natural and a Spiritual is an old delusion of the Priests it seems then believers have no such Heritage as bodily weaknesse or Death or if they have it it s a Spiritual and not a Natural Heritage to them is it But we believe and so do all that know anything that the believer by Nature and after the Flesh as a man inherits one thing and after the Spirit as a believer another After the flesh and by Nature the Image of the Earthly and after the Spirit the Image of the Heavenly was not Paul one of the Priests that here they reproach for he taught such a distinction in 1 Cor. 15. 44. 46. 49. There is a Natural Body and there is a Spiritual Body is the believer heir to both by Nature or to neither of them Naturally Let them answer directly if they reproach that distinction which holds also in sin and Righteousnesse if the Priest Paul may be believed Rom. 7. 24. 25. For in his flesh he found the law of sin and had sin dwelling we suppose that was no Spiritual heritage and in his mind the Law of God we suppose that was not Natural and do not these men imply the same they condemn in saying the Believers witnesse a better Heritage then sin in their Nature Do they not imply that they witnesse that too though a better besides However may not believers witnesse that and yet witnesse also a better then that as Paul did Paul said in him in his flesh dwelt no good thing whence had he that Heritage and yet in his minde was the Law of God was not that a better Heritage W. and F. p. 14. To our charging them with denying the humanity of Christ they say changing our phrase They never denyed the Man Christ Reply If they deny him now to be a man and to have a humane Body then they deny his humanity which was it we charged them with and that they deny his having an humane body or any other then his Church is evident by what they said page 8. besides the Body his Church they grant him to have nothing more of man then he
not have done had he in no sense or in no good sense known God Thirdly Nor doth God at all reprove Elihu as speaking a misse in any thing of him as he did Job and his other friends So that the matter was not material onely it showed that I was forgetful and are not these men so too Or are they more then men Sure they would be thought so and not to be of them of whom James sayes my Brethren be not many masters that is be not censorious and harsh lording it over men as if you were without Spot or failing knowing we shall receive the greater condemnation for in many things we offend all the people must conceive that all they write and say is by infallible inspiration To this purpose was it that George Fox happening to come by a letter I writ in answer to G. W. in vvhich being the first draught of it upon some revievv finding some things spoken to in the substance of them in two or three places as I was occasioned by diverse passages of like import in G. Ws. Letter I had blotted out in one place 2. or 3. lines as sufficiently spoken to in another place and instead thereof write some other things that came to my mind that I judged meet now G. Fox finding this writes in the margin of my letter this or the like question whether what I had first written and blotted out I was led to write by the Spirit of God c. and yet in Geo. Ws. Letter there were many blottings out of words as for Ministry of sin which he had writ he blotted it out and writ sinful Ministry and in one place interlined a whole line are not these right Pharisees and Hypocrites that will fault failings of Memory and such corrections of mistakes as passe in us and therein glory and pretend to others as if all they writ and spake was by the Spirit and yet wherein they glory they are found even as we as is said by Paul of the false Apostles 2 Cor. 8. 11. As for God speaking against Eliphaz as not speaking of him the thing that was right as Job did it was after Job had humbled himself and confest his fault and God had forgiven him for before God faulted him also as not speaking rightly of him See else Job 38. 1. 2. and 40. 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him he that reproveth God let him answer it sure he that reproveth God doth not speak right of him So ver 8. wilt thou disannual my judgement and condemn me that thou mightest be righteous But again doth it follow that because Eliphaz spake not rightly of God in some things therefore he speak not right of the Angels or nothing at all right of God Is not this a right thing that he said of God that he doth great things and unsearchable marvilous things and without number and that he gives rain upon the Earth c. Job 5. 8. 9. Beside that what Eliphaz said of the Angels as charged with folly is related by Eliphaz rather as a thing revealed to him and said to him in a vision by a Spirit then as any saying of his own see else Job 4. 13. 14. 15 16 17 18. But would ye know why G. W. made this exception against my quoting of Eliphas his words it was because I said it was the good Angels way to abase themselves in Gods presence and not to proclaim themselves holy but God as not judging themselves pure in comparison of him whereas the evil Angels use to proclaime themselves as Gods and desire to be worshipped and because I compared the Quakers practice to that of the evil Angels and not of the good therefore George would put that off by saying those were Eliphaz his words that spake not aright of God but I mentioned also Isa 6. 2. 3. 4. which he fairly past over with silence thinking his exception against that in Job 4. and 15. was enough to blind his seduced Disciples eyes that they would never minde what Isaiah said as for my belying the Servants of the Lord as he falsely calls the Quakers in my Book and false Letters sent abroad into the Country as he charges me thou mayest judge of the truth of that Reader by the truth or falshood of these Quakers in all hitherto discovered it s no discredit to be called a lyar and deceiver by lyars and deceivers they say I have often belyed them and they could produce them t is well they do not produce them though but onely say what they can do thinking you will call them Masters therein and take it for a truth upon their bare say so But can you think their charity such to me as to have mentioned no one thing I have belyed them in if they had many to produce What they say about our probable Arguments on both sides about the reuniting of the blood of Christ with the body in his Resurrection needs no answering The impartial Reader of our Book may observe that there is onely mentioned what might be alleadged on either part of the question without any determinations and so that they say falsly that we guessed it either way that a School-boy could have given as good an answer as we gave above against which they are able here to except nothing save to dissemble it that we gave not that answer then is not very credible but if so it seems these Prophets could have given no better neither for they fault us not they say for not asserting it in the Body of Christ their revilings and reproaches we pass over in silence onely whereas amongst those probable arguments we said about that in 1 Cor. 15. So Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that in the changed state what was blood before might be changed into Pure Life and Spirit the thing or substance remaining though not in the same form of Blood which yet we conclude not but lest to the judgement of the able in the Church They say This is a meer dreame and one of J. Hs. divinations and contradicts Moors words for he said that the Life of Christ is not in his blood We Reply That it is a dream or divination of J. Hs. cannot be because it s not his assertion that it is so but so it may be for ought they or I can shew to the contrary nor contradicts T. Ms. words for if it be changed into pure spirit and life yet not in the form of blood which last words they crastily left out the better to deceive the simple and make it seem a contradiction then is not his life by that supposition in his blood in the sence he spake it in that is the life of his glorified body is in not in the Blood if it be not Blood but pure life and spirits so as to be nourished by the supply of blood as the natural body is the Scripture they allude to speaks of the mortal
Ear rings and Ornaments they were faulted and Aaron too for their casting them off to make an Idol of and sure men and women had better wear such things soberly as these men Pharisaically condemn then make an Idol or false Christ or righteousness to themselves of their casting them off as they led them to do as the false Apostles led their Disciples to do with their observations of times and dayes c. VVhat they say of J. H. he leaves to the Lord to judge the truth of and as for condemning our selves in what we judge others we say we desire to judge our selves and them too in what we are guilty but not in what they foolishly fault us like the Pharisees superstitiously faulting Christs Disciples for things he faulted them not That the Deceivers and Subverters of Souls spake things that the peoples Consciences became in bondage to and many things that through the effect of the Law in their Consciences they could not deny but close with is falsly denyed by them For how else were they transformed into Ministers of Righteousness if they speak nothing suteable to the Letter of the Law of Righteousness so as that the Consciences of people bearing witness to the truth of some of their sayings might be brought to listen to them and receive also their delusions They say The Law in men is Light and it is the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that freeth men from the power of sin and death VVherein still they play the juglers for First neither doth the Apostles say the Law is in every man or in all the Gentiles but he sayes the effect or work of the Law Rom. 2. 14. Secondly The Apostle sayes The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus had made him free from the Law of sin and death not onely from the power of sin and death but from the law that convinces of sin and holds in bondage for it and sentences to death as Rom. 7. 4. Gal. 3. 13. and 4. 4. clearly shew even from under that Law that is in it self holy and just and good yet by reason of the flesh could not justifie or save Now these to hide their deceit seeing that had they cited the Apostles words they insinuate that something reproves of sin that is not Christ as we said they subtilly change his phrase and turn it into another thing How they set themselves masters in mens Consciences for all their feigned humility in denying that title we have before shewed often in this Treatise and therefore here shall wave it W. and F. They say They suffer much for righteousnesse sake and for bearing Testimony against unrighteousnes and we oft cause it c. Who do they here commend themselves and the Jesuites for we said to get themselves a party as the Jesuites do they expose themselves to some sufferings c. and they deny not for they know its true that the Jesuites do so too and think we they do not say its for Righteousnesse sake and for witnessing against unrighteousness and that they may thank the Teachers often for it T is likely the Quakers and they are either the same or of very great affinity yet both their ends shall be according to their works as well as other false Apostles and false Prophets who have exposed themselves too to great sufferings partly of voluntary devotion and will-worship and partly from people against their wills for their falshood as Baals Priests and Prophets did 1 Kings 18. 28. 40. 2 Kings 10. 25. Collossians 2. 20. 21. 22. W. and F. That we have not God nor abide in the Doctrine of Christ they endeavour to prove against us because we say we of this Nation joyning our selves with them as not without guilt have neglected Christ and long abused the Truth But we deny their inference for every neglect of Christ and abuse of his truth deprives not of God nor is accompanied with such transgression as not to abide in his Doctrine for who then should stand as Psal 130. 3. the Apostles had fellowship with God and Christ when yet they had sins to confess and so neglects of Christ and abuses of truth to be cleansed from for in every sin is some neglect of Christ sure and abuse of Truth in some degree or other and such things David Daniel Isaiah and others confessed in effect and yet in so doing that is confessing their sins kept in with God receiving daily forgiveness of them and cleansing from them and though they had some failings in the way yet they abide in it and transgrest not so as to leave the way It is the Deceivers and deceived Generation who leave the Doctrine of Christ for some corrupt mysterie and false imagination that are guilty of such transgressions and abide not in the truth nor have either Father or Son whatever their false boastings be or selfe justifications they are fallen from Christ and be accursed And G. W. knows that the Quakers were proved to be such in our late dispute with him to that purpose The Pharisee that pleaded no sinner was out of the Doctrine of Christ when the Publican that durst not look up because of his sins was nearer in it they that say they have no sin deceive themselves the truth is not in them and so they have not God and Christ when they that confesse their neglects of Christ and abuses of his truth shall find him faithful to forgive their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousnesse they are in Gods Doctrine and way to life when the others are far wide of it for he that humbleth himself shall be exalted he that acknowledgeth his sin shall find Mercy when he that hides and dissembles it and lifts up himself as if innocent is out of God and Christ and shall be abased and confounded The rest being frothy and disdainful reproaches we leave them to the judgement of the Lord and shall look to him to plead our cause against them which also blessed be his holy Name he hath in some measure done since the first draught hereof in our latter conflict with G. W. to his no small confusion and to keep people from their strong delusions and specious but most pernicious deceits having we trust so laid open their nakednesse that all that will may see their folly manifest and avoid them and all their Serpent-like windings and insinuations Nor fear we to proceed against them in Print for ought that they threaten us with or can do against us for the more they Print the more shall their folly be made manifest as the Spirit of God hath before signified 2 Tim. 3. 6 7 8 9. In the strength of God therefore and of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall stand against them and all their assaults that their printing can make against us blessing him that he hath counted us worthy who in our selves are most unworthy to be made his instruments to draw out
are as followeth For John Horn and Thomas Moor both Teachers who disputed against George Whitehead at Lin the 15. th day of the 7th month 59. A few questions of concernment for them or any that own them to answer directly 1. WHether do you own that Christ hath two Bodies one in Heaven and another on Earth yea or nay 2. Whether the body of Christ which is the sulnesse of God whereof the Saints are members is a Body of flesh and bones in the Heavens yea or nay 3. Whether did the body of flesh and bones wherein Christ suffered descend from Heaven into the lower parts of the Earth yea or nay Seeing no man hath ascended up to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven And it is the same that descended into the lower parts of the Earth that ascended far above all Heavens that be might fill all things Eph. 4. 9 10. Psal 68. 18. 4. What and where are the lower parts of the Earth whereinto Christ descended from his Father 5. And if he which descended into the lower parts of the Earth be a person of flesh and bones which ascended far above all Heavens what is that place he is in far above all Heavens which is not Heaven 6. Whether do you believe that all the Heavens are local places one above another and above the Firmament called Heaven yea or nay 7. Can a body of flesh and bone be both in the Heavens and far above them all and fill all things at one and the same time yea or nay 8. Seeing Thomas Moor did not own that Christs body is a carnal body in Heaven how is it that you say his body is a body of flesh and bones or a humane body without blood in it is not a fleshly body Carnal 9. Can any locall place containe that Glory which Christ had with the Father before the World was wherein he is Glorified 10. Where or how came Christ into the house where his Disciples were met after his Resurrection the doors being shut John 20. 19. 26. Have not some of you said that then his body being Spirituallized it glided in at the Key-hole of the door for so it hath been spoken concerning some of your way 11. Whether the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered persecution whose body was subject to hunger and afliction be not made a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. And yet his flesh and blood is so nigh to every true believer that his Flesh is his meat indeed and his Blood is his drink indeed 12. And if the Blood of Christ that was shed be the drink indeed and the purger of the Conscience where is that blood if not in Christs flesh as you affirmed Seeing that men must drink the Blood of Christ as well as eat his Flesh or else they have no life in them 13. And was the Blood of Christ that was shed seperate from his Body and then bearing Record in the Earth when John wrote these words in 1 John 5 8. 14. And how can the Blood of Christ either cleanse away from sin or give life to any if the Life of Christ be not in it as Thomas Moor affirmed 15. How many comings of Christ do you own seeing you yet have his second coming without sin unto Salvation to look for 16. What are these seeds that must every one have its own Body in the Resurrection and whether are they Natural or Spiritual 17. And must not every seed have a body of its own nature 18. And whether the wicked upon whom after Death Judgement is come whose souls are in Hell must afterward come out of Hell again to receive a second Judgement 19. Whether the receiving Bread and Wine to shew the Lords Death be to continue an Ordinance in the Church till the end of the World yea or nay 20. And whether doth the receiving Bread and Wine alone without an outward Passeover really figure forth the Death of Christ 21. And how must the life of Christ be shewen forth and when if People must receive Bread and Wine as a continuing Ordinance in this Life alwayes to shew forth the Death of Christ 22. What is your ground for sprinkling the Children of them you count believers have you ever a command from God or evident example for it if you have shew it 23. Whether do you own such Teachers as take Tythes or Preach for hire or for gifts and rewards yea or nay 24. What is the Soul of man which the Word of God is to save and what is the difference between the Soul and the Spirit seeing the word of God divides them asunder 25. Whether men must be justified by the same Righteousness of Christ in them which sanstifies them yea or nay 26. What is that Light with which Christ lighteth every man that cometh into the world which Thomas Moor said is both Natural and Spirituall Name one Light that every man is lighted with that is both Natural and Spiritual or else let your silence be an acknowledgement of your Ignorance touching the Light and that you have confuted your selves for Thomas Moor would not acknowledge that every man hath a Spiritual Light in him or is inlightned with a Spiritual Light But that every man should in due time be enlightned with such a Light when the seed is sown or by the Preaching of the Gospel what says he then to this the Gospel is preached in every Creature under Heaven Answer directly in simplicity without evading from these things propounded to you as you did evade and cavil at the dispute and Thomas Moor severall times fled from his own words and John Horn when you could not answer to our Question where the Blood of Christ is which you say is the foundation of Faith in his deceit asked us the same question again leave off such deceit for shame and come down to the simplicity of God in you and speak not evil of the things you know not And if you answer these questions send or give your answer to some of our friends in Lin to be conveyed to me Who am a friend to the Truth But a witnesse against all Deceit Hypocrisie and dead formality that is among you George Whitehead An Answer to the Questions forementioned THese Questions give so full intimation of their Antichristian Spirit and give us such occasion to discover it to others and so evidence the Truth of God in the great things of his Doctrine against their endeavours to make it void That since all the three forementioned have owned them as sent by them all We have judged it seasonable and tending to the profit of many that they may be saved to make them with this answer publick which answer is owned by John Horn and Thomas Moor senior and Thomas Moor junior And in it we desire the Readers to note that we direct not our speech to them because they have been already discovered and proved deceivers and
Antichrists and as such rejected by us But in this we apply our selves to the Reader in general intending herein a farther discovery of that mysterie of iniquity and spirit of deceit and Antichrist that works privily in and by them to a denying the Lord that bought them and that by a manifestation of the Truth without hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftinesse as they have done That so we may be instrumental in instructing the Ignorant strengthening the weak and edifying and preserving believers in their most holy Faith And if yet it might be to any of them in undeceiving the deceived that are already turned aside after Satan to follow the pernicious wayes of this spirit of Antichrist as found in this people called Quakers or in any other that appear not under that name or form with them for the same spirit is working in and walking in by many others 1. Que. Their first question is whether do you own that Christ hath two Bodies one in Heaven and another on Earth yea or nay Answ Here are two questions in this one Namely Whether we own that Christ hath two Bodies 2. VVhether one in Heaven and another on Earth and in both parts ambigiously propounded in such generall and doubtfull tearms as are capable of divers acceptations without declaring in what sence they use any of those generall tearms in the query so that it is not capable of receiving a single and direct answer as propounded by them For 1. The word body is used diversly in Scripture sometimes for divers members of flesh and bone compact together and united in one Person to one personal Head 1 Cor 12. 12. 14. 20. Rom. 12. 4. And in this sence the man hath a body of his own distinct from his wives and the woman a body of her own distinct from her husbands 1 Cor. 7. 4. Sometimes for divers persons compact together and united in one politick or mystical body under one Governour as their head or for such society union and fellowship made up of divers persons as in which they are joyntly set and compact together for the good of each other and therein for others benefit So the man and his wife are one flesh one body who yet in the sore mentioned sence of the word Body have each their distinct body of their own as we shewed see Mat. 19. 5 6. Eph. 5. 28. 29. 33. 1 Cor. 6. 16. So also divers persons united and set in order in a Common-wealth or corporation under one Head or Government so as each may serve for the good of the other and all joyntly for the good of the whole are one body not personall but politick where every member hath his particular personall body distinct from each other as Eph. 2 12. with Cap. 3. 6. In some answerable sence likewise the words the Body of Christ are used in Scriptures in a two-sold sence as to say 1. For that body of his flesh in which the Word was made flesh and came and dwelt among men on the Earth in which many members of flesh and bones hands and feet were united in one personal body even in that one body which as in the Counsel of God foreordained from the beginning so in due time was actually prepared for him when he came into the World by the gift and appointment of the Father in the power and operation of the Holy Ghost In which he was made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law and in which himself bore our sins on the Tree dyed and was buried and the third Day rose again and appeared oft to his Disciples and affirmed and demonstrated himself to be that very He in the same body having flesh and bones hands and feet which they before had seen yea the same in which while some of them beheld him he was taken up from them and carryed into Heaven and there compleated the offering up of himself in that his own Body once for all And in which he remaineth on the right hand of God in Heaven it self till the times of the Restitution of all things when he will come again and appear in the same body as visibly as he went up and in the Glory he now possesseth for us in Heaven with the Father Col. 1. 22. with John 1. 14. Heb. 10. 5. 10. with Mat. 1. 18 22. Luke 1. 34 35. and Gal. 4 4. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Luke 23. 46. 52. 23. and 24. 3. 6 7. 36. to the end John 20. Acts 1. 9. 11. and 3. 21. His body in this sence of the word is called the body of his flesh as distinguished from his body in such a sence as his Church spiritually and by Faith united with him are said to be his body see Col. 1 22. 24. And as distinguished from our personal bodies that while in this mortal state are vile the Body of Christ in this first sence as raised from the dead and exalted is called his Glorious Body Phil. 3. last 2. The same words the Body of Christ are also used to expresse to us a society or Congregation of many distinct persons united to him by Faith as their Head and Husband And so all those that by the love of God commended by the Holy Ghost through the blood of Christ and the Excellency of Christ discovered in the Preaching of his Crosse are Redeemed and drawn off from other objects and brought in to believe in him and so united by Faith to him and in love to him and one another to be ordered by the Royall Law These are his Congregation House or Church and so his Body whereof he in his personal body is the head And they each in their distinet personal bodies while here on Earth Spiritually and by Faith members of him in love and fellowship members also of one another Even as he that is joyned to a Harlot or Woman is one flesh and so they twayn are one flesh and so one body in a fleshly union or union in the flesh So in some answerable sence he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit and so of that one body in the unity of the Spirit Eph. 4. 3. 4. Yea even their particular bodies in this unity of the Spirit are the members of Christ and so of the one mystical body of Christ of his House Temple or Church yet each member hath his distinct personall body distinct from each other and all distinct from his personal body in which he is the head of his body the Church 1 Cor. 6. 15. 17. Eph. 1. 22 23. with Act. 20. 28. 1 Cor. 12. 13. 27. Rom. 12. 5. Again 2. To have may be diversly said As to say 1. A man may have something as part of himself and so our Saviour even after his Resurrection from the dead is said by himself to have flesh bones hands and feet so as a spirit hath not and so to have them as of the essence of
namely for societies or congregations of distinct persons united and gathered tother under one head or Governour And his having them be understood in the second sence of having mentioned namely by donation and Covenant as his Church or Spouses Then to the question we further answer That in such a sence he hath one body and no more forasmuch as he the Head and Husband to whom being joyned Spiritually and by Faith they are of his Mystical body is but one that body can be no more but one for to them all there is but one Head Husband and Lord They are all built upon one foundation even Jesus Christ himself he being the chief corner Stone in whom the building fitly framed together groweth into an Holy Temple in the Lord Eph. 2. 18. 22. So though there be many members and also many particular societies of believers upon Earth yet they all make but one body or general Assembly and Church of the first-born Yea all believers now living upon the Earth and all dead as to the flesh even all the dead in Christ that sleep in Jesus whose spirits are made perfect are but one body of Christ in that sence of the word body as Eph. 4. 4. with 1 Cor. 12. 12 13. with Ephes 2. 18. 22. Heb. 12. 22. 25. And this his body may be said to be partly in Heaven partly on Earth for there in Heaven with him are the spirits of Just men made perfect Unto whom also those unfeigned believers living upon the Earth are come by Faith which is the evidence of things not seen the confidence of things hoped for and so Spiritually and by Faith have their conversation in Heaven from whence also they look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change their vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his Glorious body So then the body of Christ is but one in any one sence of the word body though as the word body is used in divers sences he hath a body which is peculiarly called his Body or the body of Christ in two sences As the head of some believing women is spoken of in a threefold sence 1 Cor. 11. her personall head her husband and Christ yet in proper and strict speaking she hath but one head because her head is but one in any one sence of the word head but one personal head but one husband but one Christ yet her head in each of these sences is distinct yea every member of the Body of Christ the Church hath a personal head of their naturall body distinct from Christ the mystical head of them all So hath Christ a personal body and members called the body of his Flesh his now Glorious Body Col. 1. 22. Phil. 3. 21. Distinct from his body the Church Col. 1. 24. else he could be no meet or proper head for such a body or Congregation where every member hath a particular personal body and members distinct But take body in any one sence of the word Body and there is not two but one Body of Christ as before is shewed nor indeed are any of his Body the Church but such as are by Faith united and joyned unto that one Lord in that his one personal body now Glorified with the Father as their Head Lord and Husband Nor are the head and members divided but their union is spiritual and by Faith not sensual The head is the fore-runner and in that his own personal body in which he bore our sins and is the head of his body the Church He is already entred into Heaven whether the members in their particular bodies are not in a like sence entered but by Faith and hope do enter and so have their conversation in Heaven from whence they look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change their vile body that it may be fashioned into the likensse of his Glorious Body for here they walk by Faith and not by sight And while they are at home in the clay Tabernacle flesh or natural body they are absent from the Lord in a like sence as at home in the body they are not otherwise present with him now but in Spirit and by Faith Heb. 4. 3. 10. 14. and 6. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 6 7. Heb. 10. 37 38. Phil 3. 20 21. Col. 3. 1. 4. Such therefore are not of the true Church or body of Christ but of Antichrist as are vainly puft up with their sensual minde not holding the Head c. Col. 2. 18 19. And that these men are such appeares in their seeking to insinuate by this query and the rest that to believe and acknowledge that the man Christ Jesus continues even in that body of his flesh now Glorified with the Father as the Head of the Church in a personal being distinct from his body the Church and from every member thereof is to make Christ to have two Bodies one in Heaven and another on Earth and therefore they endeavour privily to make a nullity of his personal body the body of his flesh or to deny his still having it and possessing now in it that Glory which he had with the Father before the World was and so hold not the head forasmuch as he is not otherwise the Head of his Body the Church But as now he is in that personal body Glorified and because this man continues ever in that Name and Glory of his Father which through sufferings in the same Body he hath obtained for us that by him our Faith and Hope might be in God We have been the larger in this first Answer as well to help the weak in understanding things that differ or are distinct that so they may discern and approve things that are excellent as also to shew the corruptnesse of their way in confounding things clearly distinct and distinguished in the Scripture and seeking by such confusion to work their ends in deceiving the simple which also may further appeare in their following Queries and the more easily by the help of what hath been said in answer to this W. and F. Quest 2. Whether the Body of Christ which is the fulnesse of God whereof the Saints are members is a Body of Flesh and Bones in the Heavens yea or nay Answ This Question also is foolish and unlearned for besides that it privily pursues the same designe of denying the remaining of the being of the personal Body of our Lord Jesus Christ and that in the same way with the former by confounding things clearly distinct c. as aforesaid It also takes that for granted as the ground of it which is not granted by us in those expressions it being no where so expressed in the Scripture of the body of Christ in either sence Namely That the body of Christ is the fulnesse of God Of him in his own personal body in which he is the Head of his body the Church the Scriptures saith in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead
bodily Col. 2. 9. with Capter 1. 19. Not that his body is the fulnesse of God or of the God-head but that dwells in him bodily that so of his fulnesse we might receive And of his Body the Church he saith it is his fulnesse namely the fulness of Christ as he is the Head of a Body viz. of an union of many persons in one Body now although that head be God blessed for ever and he and the Father are one though distinct in respect of the manner of their being in the God-head and as so distinct as Christ is the Head of the Church so the Head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. So although Christ who is the Head of the Church be God yet the Church is not said to be his fulnesse simply as he is God but as he is the Head of the Church and that is as he is God man in one Person the Man Christ Jesus now raised from the dead and continuing ever with the the Father even as so considered he is the Fountain of all fulnesse for us and filleth all in all compare Ephes 1. 20. 23. with chap. 4. 8 9 10 c. and Col. 1. 13. 19. and 2. 9. 19. Heb. 7. 23 24 25. as so considered he is the Head of the Church and as he in that his personal body is the Head and Husband so the Church is his fulnesse even as Eve was Adams or as the Natural Body is the Heads fulnesse the Church is that in which is the fulnesse or compleating of him as he is the Head of a body viz. of an union of many persons in one body for so as we have shewed before he could not have a Body in such a sence had he not members many Persons united to himself as their Head Governour and Husband Further also their Querie is perverse and corrupt in that it intimately charges us as calling the Personal Body of our Lord Jesus Christ now Glorified a Body of flesh and bones which is a slander for it is not our expression but theirs used oft by way of derision and reproach of him and though possibly we may sometimes have let it pass without consideration or particular notice of it in some discourse that may have passed between us yet the expression we own not but say with the Scripture That the Personal Body of Christ hath flesh and bones hands and feet even the same in which he once suffered for sins the just for the unjust truly called the Body of his flesh and in that very body he is now glorified yea this we have divers times asserted to them in answer to such their deriding expressions and still do assert that the Personal Body of our Lord Jesus Christ for which we contend is not a body without a spirit which a body of flesh and bones may be yet we are so far from being ashamed of the Words of Christ and bearing the reproach cast upon his Glorious Body by them That as we know and believe as the Scripture hath said so we confesse that Jesus Christ was made of the Seed of David after the Flesh Rom. 1. 3. made of a woman Gal. 4. 4. and so took part of flesh and blood with mankind that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil c. Heb. 2. 14 15 16. and so he dyed as man mortal but he rose again the same body spiritual and immortal his Body not a spirit though spiritual yet truly a body yea the body of a man and in that sence humane The same he that dyed and was buried is risen and ascended having flesh and bones even such as before his ascention was seen and handled by his Disciples and so himself saith of himself and did walk speak and eat before them and shewed them his hands and his feet to confirm the same Luke 24. 36. 44. John 20. and 21. And while he blessed them and they beheld him he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven Luke 2. 50 51. Acts 1. 9 10 11. And as his Disciples that saw were blessed so he hath also pronounced them blessed that have not so seen and yet believe John 20. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 8. so that though we call not his personal body a body of flesh and bones yet believing his sayings we are not ashamed to confesse he hath flesh and bones though not carnal or mortal like mortal men whole life is in then blood and may be let out with a Sword and must die But his though humane yet spiritual and immortal and because of that suffered and done by him in that Body in which he hath overcome death and so received gifts in the man it s by way of Eminency and Peculiarity called his flesh and his bones and he in that body is in the Heaven of Heavens nor is there any but the Spirit of Satan in Antichrist that will move any to deny or reproach this as these do From all which considerations we refuse this Question as thus stated by them as foolish unlearned corrupt and prophane But yet for the help of the weak if it be queried what is that his Body of which he is said to be the Head and which is said to be his fulnesse as he is the Head Ephes 1. 23. We answer Not his Body in the first sence but in the second viz. not such an union of many Members in one Body as in which they are all united in one person or personal body but the union of many persons believers or Persons so imputed that have each a distinct personal Body in one mystical body Church or Congregation under that one head who hath also a distinct personal body of his own in which he is the head and also the Saviour of that his Body the Church see the Text Ephes 1. 22 23. with chap. 5. 23. 28. If it be further Queried whether the Body of Christ in this sence or his Body the Church have flesh and bones it s already answered 1. He who is the Head of it hath a distinct Body that hath flesh and bones now glorified in which he is the Head 2. The members also that are living on the earth have each their distinct personal bodies that have flesh and bones yea they are yet partakers of flesh and blood in weaknesse and mortality and their bodies vile Phil. 3. 21. Rom. 8. 10. 23. Heb. 2. 14. If yet further any Querie whether this Body be in Heaven it is likewise already answered The Head who is their forerunner is already entered and so they in him as in their head and with him by the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him he saith not them his own personal Body not theirs from the dead see Col. 2. 12. with Ephes 1. 20 21 22. and Chap. 2. 6. Heb. 6 19 20. with Chap. 4. 3. But they in their particular bodies are not so entered but while at home
in the flesh or natural Body in its mortal state are absent from the Lord as is shewed in the Answer to their first Queries nor are they meet so to enter for flesh and blood man in his present mortal and unchanged state cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption and they are yet dead though Christ be in them and the spirit made alive in a first fruits because of Righteousnesse yet the body is dead because of sin and so even they that have the first fruits of the spirit are yet waiting for the adoption that is the Redemption of the Body for their life is yet hid with Christ in God when Christ who is their life shall appear then shall they also appear with him in glory having their vile bodies fashioned into the likenesse of his Glorious Body 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8. Phil. 1. 23 24 and 3. 21. Rom. 8. 10. 23. with Col. 3. 1. 3 4. 1 Cor. 15. 50. 53. W. F. 3. Querie Whether did the body of flesh and bones wherein Christ suffered descend from Heaven into the lower parts of the earth yea or nay seeing no man hath ascended up to Heaven but the Son of man which came down from Heaven and it is the same that descended into the lower parts of the earth that ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things Ephes 4. 9 10. Psal 68. 18. Answ In this Querie is first an intimate acknowledgement though it may seem in a deriding way of Christs suffering in a Body of flesh and bones But the intention of this Querie with the following is to deny and reproach the acknowledgement of the Resurrection of Christ and his ascention into Heaven in that very body in which he suffered dyed and was buried in the denyal of which his personal Cross of sufferings is made of none effect The Apostles Preaching rendred vain and false and faith in him of no effect yea the general Resurrection of the dead is also herein denyed 1 Cor. 15. 13. 19. c. And to this purpose there is an Argument contained in this Querie by which they would inforce the denial of the foresaid acknowledgement of the Resurrection and Ascention of Jesus the Lord in that body of his flesh in which he suffered viz. That that body in which he suffered in the flesh did not descend from Heaven into the lower parts of the earth and therefore neither is that ascended up to Heaven seeing no man hath ascended up to Heaven but he that came down from Heaven c. So that here is more then a Querie even an Argument from their intimate and implyed denial of the descension of that body to inforce the denial of his ascention the corruption and foolishnesse of which we shall shew in our answer to the Querie to which we say 1. The Scriptures they mention give this plain answer That he even the Son of man came down from Heaven and descended into the lower parts of the earth which we believing do therefore confess as the Scripture hath said for although that his personal Body in which he was made man and became the son of man was actually prepared for him or the preparation of it was made in the earth according to that prophetical speaking of it long before in which by a word in the time past first another expression in the time to come following it is signified to be then vertually but not actually done the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a woman shall compass a man Jer. 31. 22. for he was made flesh of a woman John 1. 14. Rom. 1. 3. Gal. 4 4 and therein curiously framed in the lower parts of the earth Psal 139 15. And so as to the matter of his Body as of the Seed of David it was not before materially existent in Heaven otherwise then in the Counsel of God decreeing and fore ordaining it and power effecting it and word made flesh in it yet the Son of man is truly said to come down from Heaven to have come forth from the Father Because that Eternal Word the only begotten Son of God that was made flesh in that one body prepared for him and is now become the Son of man He came down from Heaven for the Word was in being before he was made flesh he was in the beginning with God John 1. 1 2. And that word not only took or entered into flesh but was made flesh verse 14. So as the Word that was in the beginning and the flesh which in due time he was made and so is not now in making is one person one Son who is both the Son of God and the Son of man yea the two natures that of God and that of man though distinct and not confounded are united in one person so as what is said of either nature may though not in respect of the nature yet in respect of person be said of both As for instance In respect of the nature of man and as man and as pertaining to the flesh which he was made he dyed 1 Pet 2. 24. and 3. 18. and 4. 1. not is dying or suffering in that personal Body of his Rev. 1. 18. yet in respect of the person and because of the union of the two natures in one person his sufferings or blood is truly called Gods own Blood Acts 20. 28. and so it s said God laid down his life for us 1 John 3. 16. so in this businesse the Son of man came down from Heaven in as much as he that person that is the Son of man the Eternal Word and onely begotten Son of God that was made flesh he descended and came forth from the Father and came down from Heaven Yea also when he was on earth in his Body and not as then in that respect ascended yet then when he as God the Son of God the word that was made flesh in Heaven with the Father yea likewise in the vertue and preciousnesse of his being the Son of man and what he had undertaken to do in that Body on the Earth John 3. 13. with chap. 6. 62. and 20. 17. had these men known and believed that very Jesus of Nazareth of the Seed of David Abraham c. after the Flesh to be indeed the Lord from Heaven God blessed for ever and yet also true and very man both in one person and so Emmanuel God with us or in our nature for us they would not have made this querie 2. But for further answer we add That the Scriptures alleadged by them give no ground for their Querie whither that body did descend from Heaven because they spake not in such phrase or manner of speech as might be limitted to one of the natures onely for he saith not simply it or the same thing that descended as they would insinuate but he or that person that descended he is the same that ascended up and the person that descended
as in beaven for there he appears in the presence of God personally in that his own body the body of his flesh in which he bore our sins on the tree not so in with or among them now but by his Spirit which he calls another Comforter as distinguished from his own person John 14. 16. 18. 26. They see him not as the Apostles and first witnesses Acts 1. 3. 1 Cor. 15. 5. 8. John 20. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 8. But in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit through their Doctrine They have him not with them as or in such a sence as they have the poor with them viz. in bodily presence Yea they are absent from him while at home in the body even in a like sence as aforesaid as at home in the body 2. Nor is he gone up into or received in Angels and so set on the Right hand of Power in them but passed and gone into Heaven far above all Principallity and Power Angels and Authorities being made subject to him Nor can Heaven in such places as forementioned mean any State of Glory or Dignity as distinct from the place where he possesseth it for it is said he shall descend or come down from heaven where he is now received till the restitution of all things 1 Thes 4. 16. Phil. 3. 21. Acts 3. 20. 21. But in respect of state of Glory he shall not descend he shall never more lay aside any of that Glory or Dignity he now possesseth for us or be abased or humbled for us as before But shall still sit on the Right hand of Power which expresseth the state of Glory and dignity he now possesseth for us which he shall still possess even when he comes down from heaven and appears personally on the Earth the second time Mat. 26. 64. Yea the words in the Heavens do plainly express the place where he now possesseth his Glory in the man as distinguished from the Glory he there possesseth with the Father which is expressed in other expressions distinct as his being set on the Right hand of God on the right hand of Power on the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in which he is now exalted and glorified in the man and that in the heavens or heaven it self as Heb. 8. 1. 1 Pet. 3. 22. And so in all such Scriptures as before by heaven and so by the heaven or heavens whether he is gone up and where he is received and possessed of that Infinite Glory in the body of his flesh for us is evidently meant according to the most direct and proper sence of the word the place or places on high where he is so received and appeares in the presence of God for us And to this we gave these demonstrations in our discourse in their hearing to which they have answered nothing 1. It is called Heaven it self Heb. 9. 24. To distinguish it from heaven after any figurative Typical or other sence of the word 2. He is said to be ascended up thither passed and gone into Heaven yea received and taken up Eph. 4. 10. Heb. 4. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 22. Mark 16. 19. Acts 1. 2. 9 all which expressions plainly import a place or places above whither he is so taken up Yea 3. It is likewise said that in being so taken or carried up he was parted from them Luke 24 51. And after that was no more so with them in the World John 17. 11. 12 13. Mat. 26. 11. 4. The Heaven into which he was taken up from his Disciples was the same or Heaven in the same sence as of which it is said the Apostles and disciples stood stedfastly looking towards it as he went up Acts 1. 9 10 11. 5. The same from whence he shall descend or come again in like manner as those chosen witnesses saw him go when he comes to restore all things in their individuals Acts 1. 11. and 3. 20 21. Phil. 3. 20 21. 1 Thes 4. 16. And that cannot be his Church for he shall not then go from them but come to them nor his Glory he now possesseth as before said for he shall not come from that but in it even in the Glory of his Father and with his Holy Angels But is evident to be onely the place or places on high where he now possesseth that Glory for us from whence he shall descend or come down againe still sitting on the Right hand of Power 6. It s that Heaven or heaven in such a sence as it is properly opposed to the Earth where and on which the former Priests served yea it is expresly said If he were on Earth he were not a Priest such a one as becomes us to have Heb. 8. 1. 3 4. and 4. 14. with Chapter 7. 26. In which its plain that he is not on Earth in his personall and bodily presence as he is in Heaven as opposed to the Earth And the necessity of his going away thither and being received and appearing there in the presence of God for us and of what usefulness it is to us and of what concernment the holding fast the acknowledgment of it is such as know the Grace of God in Truth do know something may be seen of it in Tho. Moor junior his Antidote pag. 41 42. and 43. And in his instruction to the living pages 39. 51. And they that deny it do deny Jesus to be the great high Priest yea they deny his being already come in the flesh so as that the works given him to do on the Earth in that his own body for the expiation of sin are finished as John 17. 4 5. with Heb. 1. 3. and 7. 26 27. and 9. 24 26. And so in sum deny Jesus to be the Christ and therein shew themselves lyars Deceivers Antichrists and are therefore and as such to be turned away from and held accursed by us 7. Que. Can a body of Flesh and Bones be both in the Heavens and far above them all and fill all things at one and the same time Yea or nay Answ Nay but the man Christ Jesus in that body of his flesh in which he bore our sins on the tree and hath flesh and bones now raised and gloryfied with the Fathers own self being ascended on high and set down on the Right hand of Majesty in the Heavens and so being with the Father and in his Name God over all blessed for ever He may from thence and in that Name Power and Glory fill all things and fulfill all things too as that Text also may be read in his time and according to his Word And the Text saith not that his body fills or might fill all things but he for whom God prepared that body and who in that body is ascended up far above all Heavens and is not now on the Earth in his Glorious personal Bodily presence nor saith it that he doth fill all things but he is ascended that he might fill or fulfill all things The
partaker for a time that he might die for us That through Death he might destroy him that had the power of Death c. 3. To their parenchesis or a humane body we further say Doth the Light in them tell them that carnal and a body of Flesh and Bones and a humane body is alwayes one and the same Let us see if it be not darknesse Humane is alwayes used for the Nature or kind of man as Gods Creature as distinguished from other kinds of Creatures And so a humane body is the body of a man one that is verily a man whether sinful and mortal or not so either the one or the other And so the Body of Adam in his Innocency was humane the body of a man he was verily man yet sinless and so not subject to or in a state of Death though capable of becoming Immortal or mortal but when by sinning he fell from God then he became sinfult and mortal And such are all that by natural propagation come from him as of and from him while in this body not changed by Death yet still humane the nature or kinde remains though degenerated and corrupt God made man upright and t is man still that hath sought out inventions and is become carnal sold under sin Ecles 7. 21. with Gen. 5. 1. 2. and Chap. 8. 21. But the second Adam our Lord Jesus Christ is not a carnal but Spiritual man even from the first of his being made man for though his Body prepared for and taken by him when the word was made flesh was humane of mankinde and so he was a very man Yet he came not by propagation from Adam but though made of a woman of the seed of Abraham and so of Adam of whom Abraham was yet it was in a supernatural way a work of new Creation by the operation of the holy Ghost in the womb of a Virgin that had not known man and was holy being anointed of God with the Holy Ghost and power even in and from his conception and Birth And so that holy thing even before born of her and when born and alwayes without sin yet not Immortal but for a time partakers of Flesh and Blood as the Natural Children of Adam and because therein he was made subject to our infirmities that came on us naturally or as a natural heritage from Adam by reason of sin yet without sin he was said to be made in the likeness of sinful Flesh and his body might be said in some sence to be made a natural body as being partakers with us of Flesh and Blood and so mortal though not in every sence or in a full sence as the naturall Children of Adam are Yet to esteem him sinful Flesh or his body a carnal Body even then when he was on Earth partakers of Flesh and Blood and suffered in the Flesh we account blasphemie much more to esteem his raised and Glorified body in Heaven a carnal body For in his Resurrection form the dead all that weakness and mortality of the Flesh that came on the Nature of man by the first Adams sin and fall which he for a time was subject to in being partakers with us of Flesh Blood it was put off from him that he should no more return to it And so his body is become in a full and Glorious sence Spiritual Gloriously filled with the Spirit of Life and Power yea Immortal a Glorious body he being therein glorified with the Fathers own self and all by vertue of that his once suffering for our sins in the Fâ—esh in which he shed his blood and therein powered out his Soul unto Death laying down his Natural Mortal and Adam-like Life in the Flesh that he might take it again in the Spirit and Glory of the Father by which he was quickened raised from the dead now no more to return to corruption Yet still this raised and Glorious body is humane the body of a man even the man Christ Jesus having Flesh and bones hands and feet which by way of distinction from others and eminency above them is called his flâ—sh and his bones And had these men believed either the great Mystery as now revealed that God was manifested in the flesh in the words being made flesh and dwelling amongst men or the Resurrection of the body of Christ that dyed they would neither have cavelled at the denying his body to be carnal as if it could not stand with the acknowledgement of this man continuing for ever nor have spoken so contemptuously of the Glorious body of Christ And so neither would they have added this following query Is not a fleshly body Carnal To which we further Answer 1. Fleshly and carnal do not alwayes signify the same thing in Scripture for we read of a heart of flesh and fleshly Tables of the Heart Ezek. 36. 26. 2 Cor. 3. 3. whereby fleshly cannot be meant carnal but tender and fit to receive his impression or writing as opposed to a stony hard or carnal heart And though sometimes such expressions as to be flesh or fleshly named after it may be used to signify the weakness and brittleness of the outward man or a helpless withering worthlesse and decaying state which may stand with carnality in Scripture sence though distinct from it because all flesh in its present state is as Grass and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the Field fading and withering but the word of the Lord that was made flesh who is the spiritual and heavenly man and he abides for ever Yea though also sometimes a fleshly Mind and fleshly Lusts are equivalent with carnal mindedness and lusts as Rom. 8. 5. to 8. Col. 2. 18. 1 Pet. 2. 11 Yet 2. To have flesh and to be fleshly or named after it is two things whether we take flesh as signifying the outward man or body of man that hath flesh and bones and that whether as natural from Adam or as raised from the dead for there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body and both have flesh though not of or in the same quality or if we take flesh as Signifying the natural Sinfulness or carnal mind as the word is used for both yet to have flesh in either sence and to be fleshly or named after the flesh are not the same nor alwayes meeting in the same person The Apostles did live and walk in the flesh or natural body yet did not war after the flesh nor was fleshly or carnal in their knowings speakings or actings 2 Cor. 10. 3 4. with chap. 1 12 13 and 5. 16. Gal 2 20. with Phil. 1 2â— 24. and yet also they had flesh in the last sence even natural sinfulnesse and carnality still dwelling in them in their flesh members or outward man as from Adam though they were not reckoned after it nor did walk in or after it but did mind and walk in and after the spirit and so were not carnal but Spiritual
And if to have flesh and to be fleshly be not the same nor doth the latter at all necessarily follow upon the former in mortal men How durst these men speak of them as necessarily one in him who is raised from the dead in the Glory of the Father and who saw no corruption as if his having flesh and bones should render him a fleshly man or body but that they are vainly puft up with their fleshly mind not holding the head c. Yea 3. Neither is his body a fleshly body nor any where by us or the Scripture so called for though sometime as we shewed it was subject to the weakness and infirmities of the flesh that are natural to us from fallen Adam and so in some sence might be said to be a natural body though he was therein made that which naturally he was not and that in a supernatural way as aforesaid and was therein as alwayes perfectly without sin yet taking part with us of flesh and blood that he might dye our death c. as before is hinted yet now being raised from the dead even that body of his flesh which God hath raised up from the dead is now in Heaven with the Father a spiritual heavenly and glorious body so as yet the bodies of any of his members on earth are not But their bodies also that now are vile and see corruption as his never did even the same that are now living on the earth or sleeping in the dust shall be raised by him in the first Resurrection at his appearing not carnal bodies or vile and corruptible as now they are but fashioned into the likeness of his glorious body when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Quest 9. Can any local place contain that Glory which Christ had with the Father before the world was wherein he is glorified Ans Nay but the heavenly places or places on high where he is received till the times of restitution may contain his Glorious Body though they cannot contain the glory wherewith he is glorified and which he possesseth therein for place cannot contain infinite power wisdom eternity glorious Majesty c. The heaven heaven of heavens cannot contain that glory of the Fathers own self which is the glory that Christ had with him before the world was and wherewith he is now glorified in the Body of his flesh how much less can earthen Vessels or Clay Tabernacles contain that Glory that is set above the Heavens we say the heavens cannot contain it so that it should not Shine forth and operate in heaven and in earth and in all places yet the heaven is his Throne the earth his footstool yea the heaven of heavens is that place of his habitation from whence he beholdeth all things and doth whatsoever he pleaseth in heaven and in earth and in all places 1 Kings 8. 27 Isa 66. 1. Eccles 5. 2. Psal 33. 13 14. And so the personal body of Christ in which he bore our sins on the Tree being now raised from the dead is received and taken up into heaven set down on the right hand of the Majesty and Power of God in the heavens and not now on the earth personally yet the heavens cannot contain his Glory from Shining forth to us and operating in and with us and in all things and places in the influences thereof because the fulness of the God-head dwells in him bodily and all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth yea because he is in heaven with the father therefore he is able to fill all things with the fruits of his mediation and influences of his power for if he were now on earthor had not been received up into heaven set down on the right hand of Majesty upon his finishing the Works the Father gave him to do on earth and offering up that spotless body of his flesh to God he could not have been such a Priest and such a mighty King of Righteousness Prince and Saviour for us and to us And therefore those that deny his being in heaven in that body of his flesh his now glorious body in which he is the head distinct from every body and spirit of his members and as their fore-runner entred before them as these Spirits in all their discourse and perverse disputings against it at least privily do and have done they do therein as much deny that Jesus is the Christ and so are the great lyars and Antichrists foretold to come in the last dayes that deny the Father and the Son And surely in frameing this query to that purpose not onely their wicked enmity against the man Christ Jesus as in the former appears but also in this their brutish folly to which God justly leaves them is so made manifest that all of any understanding in naturall things or things within the reach of mans reason may easily see it For in such things its evident not onely that the power excellency and efficacy of some man or men on earth may reach much further then his personal body or then the place in which that is yea the farther and the more fruitfully for his standing or abiding in some one place where he may be more profitable and fruitful to others then if he were personally with them according to which our Saviour instructs his Disciples in the necessity and usefulness to them ward of his leaving the World and going away from them to the Father to appear in his presence and stand in his Name for our help John 14. 2. 3. and 16. 7. 28 with Heb. 7. 8. 9. 4. 14. c. 1 John 2. 1 2. But farther also its evident to all that know anything and therein may be also some resemblance of this business that even the Visible Sun is placed in the firmament to run and keep its course there yet those heavens cannot contain its glory that it should not Shine to us and have its effects on the earth nor could it so generally Shine and have such Universal influences and effects if its body were not set or placed at such a distance from us Quest 10. Where or how came Christ into the house where his Disciples were met after his Resurrection the doors being shut John 20. 19. 26. Have not some of you said that then his body being spirituallized it glided in at the key hole of the door for so it hath been spoken concerning some of your way An. This hath two or three questions in it the two first are foolish and unlearned and to be avoided by us as where he came in or how it being not revealed otherwise or farther then thus That the same Jesus that dyed and rose did when his Disciples were in a house together come the doors being shut and stand in the midst of them even in that body of his flesh that saw no corruption having flesh and bones hands and feet the same body that was
crucified nailed to the Cross and pierced with a Spear as himself then did expresly demonstrate to Thomas see vers 27. This revealed we believe to be true because spoken by the Truth of God that cannot lie But where or how he came in further then revealed in his Testimony already given we desire not to be wise in knowing or carnal in seeking sensually to immagine for secret things belong to the Lord our God but things revealed unto us c. Deut. 29. 29. To the last we say None of us have said as is related nor matters it what hath been said concerning some of our way that 's not the onely falshood that hath been forged concerning us by some of their way They might have heard such imaginations and inquisitions reproved by us as too sensual in seeking to bring down the great things in the Revelation of the Mysterie of God manifested in the flesh to the sensual mind or comprehension and favouring of pride and vanity of mind in desiring to be wise above what is written and so we still look upon them and therefore own no such thing But believing the Scriptures and the great power of God and that the Body of the Lord Jesus risen from the dead is Glorified with the Fathers own self we know he could come in where how he pleased whether there was any such way for him or no and needed no passage to be opened or made or for him Yea further also we are assured that even the Children of the first Resurrection when they shall attain to that Resurrection of the dead and have their bodies that now are vile fashioned into the likeness of his Glorious Body they in those very bodies bâ—ing Spiritual Immortal Powerful Incorruptible shall be equal to the Angels who cannot be hindred from passage by any corruptible things as Doors Walls or the like but can make their own passage through any such obstacles more easily then mortal bodies through the air And why should it be thought a thing incredible that the Creator of all things should make mans nature partaker of such Glory It is so onely to the sensual and carnally minded who do therefore err not knowing or believing the Scripture and the great Power of God And that these are such appears by this manner of questioning Do they not secretly imply in this question that such a thing could not be done according to the proper and natural sence and import of the words unless some mortal man can tell where or how And do they not therein signifie that they count the plain sence and cleare import of the Evangelists words to be a lye And that either Christ had not a Body having flesh and bones after his Resurrection as himself said or if he had he could not come into the house and be in the midst of them the doors being shut and so by rendering the expressions of the Holy Ghost such as can have no truth in them in their litteral sence and plain import but are rather a cunningly devised fable they would insinuate a necessity of seeking the truth in some fancied moral or Allegorical interpretations of theirs Besides they intimate pride and high thoughts of themselves for sure they would have us think they are so wise above what is written that they can answer their own Querie what lesse can be thought in their thus propounding it to us But till they have answered the Questions put to Job chap. 38. we will not believe them for we know neither they nor any other mortal man can by searching find out the Almighty to perfection Job 11. 7 8. nor yet find out the Work of God from the beginning to the end Eccles 3. 11. no not the Works of God done under the Sun Ecles 8. 17. He is no true believer on God that will believe no more of his Works then he can tell how where and in what manner they were done and he is foolish and proud that conceives himself able to demonstrate to reason every such thing in every Work of God Quest 11. Whether the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered persecution whose body was subject to hunger and affliction be not made a quickening spirit 1 Cor. 15. 49. and yet his flesh and blood is so nigh to every true believer that his flesh is his meat indeed and his blood is his drink indeed c Answ This Question also may be divided into two parts 1. Whether the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered c. be not made a quickening spirit 2. The following part is in the form of a proposal yet is signified to be part of their question by the interrogatory point it is thus And yet his flesh and blood is so nigh to every true believer that his flesh is his meat indeed c To the first part VVhether the same Christ c. be not made a quickening Spirit We answer Yea he is or rather to use the expression of the Scripture he was so made for he is not now making or to be made so And further we say We truly believe and propofess without hidden things of dishonesty That it is the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered c. Now that was the word made flesh and so Christ of the fruit of Davids Loyns after the flesh who had both Spirit and Body and if he were without either now he could not be the Christ much lesse the same Christ yea the Scripture quoted by them 1 Cor. 15. 45. saith That as it was the first man Adam that was made a living Soul so it is the second Adam that was made a quickening Spirit And therefore as the first Adams being made a living Soul hindred not his having a natural body yea it was the man that was made so so neither doth the second Adams being made a quickening Spirit hinder his having a Spiritual and Glorious Body that yet hath flesh and bones yea it s the man Christ Jesus the second Adam Christ of the fruit of Davids loyns after the flesh that was made both Lord and Christ and so a quickening Spirit It is the same Jesus that suffered so in the same body in which he once not onely suffered but suffered for our sins and bore them on the Tree the just for the unjust c. which also is more then they include in their acknowledgement of his Sufferings it is this Jesus who was both dead and buried whom God hath raised up and made both Lord and Christ They would seem to grant that the same Christ who in the dayes of his flesh suffered c. is made a quickening spirit yet privily deny it while they confesse not Jesus to be the same and very Christ that was so made which they do not while they acknowledge him not to be so made in the same body of his flesh in which he once so suffered For the Name Jesus alwayes
signifies Christ as come in the flesh and so takes in that body of his flesh upon the taking whereof that Name was given him as is before noted yea he whom God hath raised from the dead and made both Lord and Christ and so a quickening spirit is said to be Christ of the Seed of David after the flesh Rom. 1. 3 4 with Acts 2. 30. 36. the same that dyed and was buried 1 Cor. 15 3. 4 45. The last Adam as also before is hinted in not confessing which they privily deny what they pretend to grant and their seeming grant is like John VVhiteheads concerning the Resurrection of Christ who at our meeting with him at Gedney pretended to believe that the same Christ that took flesh in a body prepared for him of the Seed of Abraham and David and in that body served and suffered for at a time that the same Christ was raised and glorified with the Fathers own self And yet then would by no means acknowledge though oft intreated and urged to speak plainly to the Question that he was raised and did live again and continue for ever in the same body in which he so served and suffered or that the same body that then once in the last ages suffered and was hung on the Tree was raised again from the dead and is now alive for evermore yea at last he deneyed that the same dead bodies of men that dye in Adam shall be raised and made alive again from the dead that even the same that sleep in the dust of the earth shall come forth of their Graves by Christ and so consequently that Christ is raised for if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised for Jesus Christ was dead and buried as before we have shewed So then their immagination or meaning in this equivocal grant appears to be this That the same Christ that had a body distinct from all other in which in the dayes of his flesh he suffered is now raised ascended and gone out of that body of his flesh into some imaginary spiritual being which in that body of his flesh he could not be made yet that in that his spiritual being he is in the bodies or bodies and souls of divers persons working doing or suffering the same things in them which were typically or as a Pattern suffered and done in that body of his flesh and so they neither confess him already come in the flesh or as having finished that his coming in the flesh or first appearing to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and so the works the Father gave him to do on the earth in that his once suffering for sin nor do they confesse yea they deny Jesus to be the very Christ who is made a quickening spirit and therefore we have laid down our answer plainly and distinctly that it s not onely the same that had a body and therein once suffered but also that it s he in the same body of his flesh in which he once suffered for sins even the same Jesus whom they crucified slew and hung on a Tree that God hath made the Lord and Christ and so a quickening spirit and have explained and confirmed our answer in the expressions of the Scripture quoted by them that its the last Adam c. of which they take no notice for that fully shews the fulnesse and ungodlinesse of their immagination which therefore we again desire the Reader to mind viz. that that Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 45. speaks of two Adams the first Adam the last Adam so then they were both men and had each the personal body of a man when those things there spoken of were verified in them yea so expresly called vers 47. the first man the second man It was the first man Adam that was made a living Soul and so it is the last Adam the second man that was made a quickening spirit The Lord formed the body of the first Adam of the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Gen. 2. 7. and man became a living Soul the breath of Life did not annihilate the body formed of the dust but enlive and quicken it by possessing it and defusing it self in and through all the parts and members of it so that that breath of Life and the body of the man united the man became a Living Soul it is not said it or the breath of life became so but the man upon Gods breathing in that breath of life he even the first man Adam became a living Soul And had he abode in that uprightnesse and innocency in which he was made he might have lived for ever but as there was then none dead for him to quicken so neither was he fitted for such a work so that when he this first man Adam not keeping his first estate but seeking out inventions sinned and fell from God under the Sentence of and into a state of death and Separation from God and so death passed upon all men and they are all partakers of flesh and blood forasmuch as all have sinned in that offence of one they must all have been shut out and perished for ever in that losse and misery if God had not found out and prepared a second man Adam and made him a quickening Spirit for as by man came death so by man also the abolishing of and resurrection from the dead such was mans condition by reason of sin entered and overspreading the nature and death already passed on him in the Sentence of God that without another man a second Adam in whom Gods Truth might be fulfilled and his Justice satisfied in the punishment of sin death of the sinner and through whose Sufferings by his overcoming death the Righteousnesse of God might appear and shine forth therein we could not have been quickened or made alive Therefore for the recovery of fallen man that he might not be utterly expelled or shut out in the first death and banishment but such Redemption wrought and obtained for him that through the Redeemer he might be saved and that they might be all in due time made alive or raised from the first death to appear before the judgement Seat of their Redeemer therefore God found out and prepared a second Adam and made him a quickening spirit Now this second Adam was even his onely begotten Son the Word that was in the beginning with God and so before the first Adam and he by whom and for whom the first Adam and all things were made that were made the proper Lord and Heir of all things for he onely was able and meet to undertake such a work and to have help laid upon him for us but he was made flesh of a woman and so made man the second Adam in the fulnesse of time once in the end of the World and that by a wonderful work of new Creation by the Grace Gift and Appointment of the Father and by the Operation
of the Holy Ghost as is foreshewed and so was the Lord from Heaven Heavenly even when he was made flesh in that body so prepared for him yet very Man made of the Seed of David after the flesh and therein partaker with us of flesh and blood and so like to natural fallen sinful men from birth to death in all things except sin This second man the last Adam because he so humbled himself in that body prepared for him to that purpose God hath raised from the dead and exalted with his Right hand and Glorified him with his own self in that body in which he bore our sins with the Glory he had with him as his onely begotten Son before the World was and therein actually made him in a full and Glorious sence a quickning Spirit to quicken and raise others as is fore-shew'n So that his being made a quickning Spirit no more Annihilates his risen and Glorified body having flesh and bones from being truly a living Spiritual and personal body then the Breath of Life did Annihilate the first Adams body yea without that body he is not the man Jesus Christ us he is affirmed to be that was so made whereas if he were onely a Spirit without the body of a man the assertion must have been contrariwise thus He that was the last Adam is now the quickening Spirit and not Adam But the Text serves not these mens turn for it saith The first man Adam was made a living Soul the last Adam who is also called the second man ver 47. was made a quickening Spirit Nor was or is there any other man made a quickening Spirit but He in that his own personal body onely the second and last Adam or publick man who being made perfect through sufferings offered up himself once for all through the offering up of which body of Christ we are sanctified Heb. 10. 5. 10. For it pleased the Father that in all things he might have the preheminence that in him all fulnesse should dwell even the fulnesse of the God-head bodily Col. â— 1â— 19. and 2. 9. T is of his fulnesse that his members receive and that of this measure which they here receive from him they have it in earthen vessels and though by what they receive from him and are made in him their spirit is made alive for Righteousnesse sake yet the body is still dead because of sin and so vile while in this Mortal state that is while not changed in the natural bodily Death that in the Resurrection it may be fashioned into the likenesse of his Glorious body John 1. 14. 16. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 7. Rom. 8. 10. 2 Col. 3. 3 4. Phil. 3. 2. The second part further shews their Ignorance and being void of judgement in the things about which they query as also their sensualnesse not having the Spirit 1. Their Ignorance and being void of Judgement appeares in their saying and yet c. Or notwithstanding that he is made a quickening Spirit yet his flesh and blood is so nigh to every true believer that his flesh is his meat indeed c. In this saying and yet they imply that his being made a quickening Spirit renders it more difficult to understand that his flesh should be meat indeed and his blood drink indeed whereas our Saviour when he had affirmed his flesh to be meat indeed and his blood to be drink indeed and some thought it a hard or difficult saying John 6. 55. 60 c That he might demonstrate and make it more easie to their understandings he saith what and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life in all which he signifies as is more fully opened by the Apostles after his having finished the works the Father gave him to do on the Earth that even the flesh of Christ as in its mortal state and so all his abasement and sufferings for us in the flesh could not have profited us and so not have been bread of life for us if he in the same body of his flesh the Son of Man had not risen from the dead ascended and offered up himself to his Father in and by the Power of the Eternal Spirit according to that 1 Cor. 15. If Christ had not risen from the dead even Jesus Christ of the seed of David after the flesh that was dead and buried we had been yet in our sins and the Preaching of him and Faith in him had been vain But he being in due time by means of his once suffering in the flesh for sins quickened raised from the dead and Glorified by the Power of the Eternall Spirit and so made a quickening Spirit He therefore in that body of his flesh which saw no corruption and so his once suffering in the flesh for sin by means of which he was so Glorified is spiritual meat indeed the Bread of Life and was vertually so before but is now fully made so for us and also manifested so to us by that Spirit that raised him from the dead breathing in and present with the Preaching of his Crosse in which Preaching the preciousnesse of his Crosse is commended in this that he that suffered is raised and Glorified in the same body and now appearing in the presence of God for us by vertue of which it is made in the Preaching of it Bread of Life indeed and so his words declaring him that once suffered in the flesh to be so raised and glorified as aforesaid are Spirit and life as also Rom. 10. 9. These men therefore are of no Judgement concerning the Faith forasmuch as that which our Saviour gives as the Reason why his flesh is meat indeed and his Blood drink indeed namely that God would give him Glory as the fruit of it they imply at least as a thing rendering it more hard to be understood yea secretly they imply it as a reason against the understanding Christs flesh and Christs blood that is meat indeed and drink indeed according to the plain import of his words And so in this implication they signifie not onely as we have noted of them upon the first part of this question that in his being made a quickning Spirit they fancy a nullifying of the real being of that Body of his flesh in which they grant he once suffered but also that by his flesh and his blood which is meat and drink indeed they mean not that flesh once given for the life of the World nor that blood once shed for the Remission of sins or his once suffering in the flesh to the sheding of his blood as also more plainly appears in their next question 2. Their sensuality not having the Spirit appeares at least if we consider their sence of its being nigh in their saying that the flesh and blood of Christ is so nigh to
every true beliver that his flesh is his meat indeed c. In which they imply that it cannot be meat to them and so not fed upon by them except nigh to them and explain not themselves in what sence they mean nigh which had been very needfull in such a case when they lay so much stress upon its being nigh especially seeing the expressions are not found in the Scripture that the flesh and blood of Christ is nigh to every true believer much less that its being nigh is the cause of its being meat and drink unto them the Scripture saith that the word of Faith which the Apostles preached the Preaching of the Crosse declaring Christ to be risen from the dead was made nigh to them in and through the Preaching of it even so in their mouth and and in their heart that it might be believed and confessed by them but he saith not that the flesh and blood of Christ was nigh to every true believer yea doubtlesse even that flesh and blood of Christ vertually of which our Saviour speaks was meat and drink indeed Spiritually and by Faith to Abraham and other true believers in Moses and the Prophets times and yet they received not the promises in which they were actually brought forth and manifested but saw them afar off and rejoyced in them We say therefore seeing the expressions are not found in the Scripture there was the more need for them to have explained in what sence they mean that it is so nigh them which though they do not yet the whole question compared with the former yea the following Question more clearly shewes their meaning to be that except the flesh and blood of Christ be nigh them as to time and place in a present sencible being it cannot be meat drink indeed to them By which it appears that that which they mean by the flesh and blood of Christ which is meat and drink to the believer it is something alwayes in a present sencible being nigh to with and in them in which they shew themselves sensual not having the Spirit living by sence and not by Faith which is the evidence of things not seen as also the ground or confidence of things hoped for We shall here therefore for the help of others and that none may be beguiled with inticing words positively assert and shew by the Scriptures 1. What is meant by Christs Flesh and Christs Blood that is meat and drink indeed 2. How or wherein that was actually so made and from what reason it is evidenced to be such meat and drink indeed 3. How and by what means it is brought to us that it may be fed on by us 1. By his flesh and his blood when mentioned together and so by each and either of them when expressed by it self as the Bread or Drink of Life is meant Jesus Christ and him crucified himself as come in the flesh and having finished the the works the Father gave him to do on the Earth in his whole abasement and humiliation in which he once suffered for sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us to God Our Saviour comprehends both his flesh that is meat indeed and his blood that is drink indeed in those sayings the Bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the World I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven and the Bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the World John 6. 33. 48. 50 51. Whence also both the eating and drinking in the Supper of the Lord is appointed to be done in remembrance of him Now remembrance implyes something actually done finished and passed through in and by him as he is the object of remembrance which is therefore alwayes to be remembred because of its infinite and abiding vertue and usefulnesse he being by means thereof made both Lord and Christ and so that which is remembred and shewed forth is the Lords death the whole abasement humiliation and sufferings sustained and finished by him in that body of his flesh the Crosse of Christ with the glorious ends vertues and preciousnesse thereof 1 Cor. 11. 24 25 26. Therefore the whole Gospel of Christ is called the preaching of his Crosse even of Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1. 17. 18. 23. and 2. 2. Yet in the distinct mention of his flesh and his blood there is some distinct considerations of him and him crucified or of the Crosse of Christ as he is so and by means thereof the Bread of God signified to us And that both in his Humiliation and sufferings and in the ends of them and their powerful efficacy with the Father to those ends for us First Distinct things considerable in his Humiliation and sufferings for us and so by his flesh as distinguished from his blood is meant His whole abasement in being made flesh and sufferings in the flesh unto the shedding his blood or laying down his Life even all that sustained and endured by him in the dayes of his flesh or weaknesse for he was crucified through weaknesse of which he was made partaker that therein he might be capable of suffering and dying our death as well as that he might bear our infirmities and sorrowes And so his taking mans Nature or kind in being made flesh of a woman so as in that preparation of his Body he took part of flesh and blood like as the Children of men are partakers of it as the fruit of sin and so was made in the likenesse of sinful flesh subject to all our infirmities that came on us by reason of sin yet without sin in that body of his flesh therefore his flesh so prepared and given him of the Father was meet to be given by him for the Life of the World whereas in our flesh as we are partakers of it in its mortal state there dwells no good thing therefore nothing that can be done or suffered by us in our flesh is in it self clean or meet to be offered in sacrifice to God But his flesh as distinguished from and in some sence opposed to our flesh as we in our particular persons are partakers of it and so his humbling himself to be made flesh in the likenesse of our sinfull flesh and to come as a weak and dispicable man in the form of a Servant and being therein made a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs and giving his flesh to be broken bruised torn wounded and pierced for our transgressions this is that which God hath accepted and therefore crowned him with this Honour when made flesh and in that body of his flesh lower then the Angels even partaker with us of flesh and blood that his sufferings unto death and so his death in the flesh should be by the Grace of God for every man therefore his flesh is meat indeed for us even his flesh given for the Life of the World his body
is that blood if not in Christs flesh as you affirmed seeing that men must drink the blood of Christ as well as eat his Flesh or else they have no life in them Answ They have hitherto intimated their corrupt minde against the personall and now Glorious body of Christ and against the heavens in which it is as onely designing to cast him down from his Excellency now they proceed to imply and privily cast out their venom against the blood of Christ as if that blood that was shed is personal sufferings to the sheding of his blood and death of the Cross were not the drink indeed and purger of the conscience for so in their supposition they imply that as a question whether that blood of Christ that was shed be the drink indeed c. And then frame their following question of purpose to deny or make it void from being so for if it be so say they then where is it c In which as in the former they imply that men cannot eat his flesh and drink his blood except it be in a sencible being present with them nigh to or in them and so consequently deny that blood of his Cross that was shed for the Remission of sins to be the drink indeed and the purger of the conscience because it is not now shedding and so as much deny his flesh that was broken and the preparing and giving it to be bruised wounded and broken for our transgressions to be meat indeed because those works and sufferings therein are finished and past and not doing or to be done over again in that person or any other and so cannot be in a present or sencible being nigh to in or with any man 2. They still to cast reproach upon it further imply that if that blood that was shed be the drink indeed and so consequently if that body of his flesh be meat indeed then the eating or drinking must be in a natural or sensual manner like as natural meat and drink is eaten and drunk For this they fully signifie the blood that was shed cannot be drunk except in its material being it be in Christs flesh or somewhere else nigh to men in a present material existence For if that blood that was shed say they be the drink indeed then where is it if not in Christs flesh as they say we affirmed but they say falsly for we oft declared that as the Blood of Christ is the bottom ground or foundation of our Faith or that by means of which he is so and so as it is the drink indeed c. Even so it is in Heaven with the Father even in Christs personal Glorious Body But that is not in a material and mortal existence or being of it in his flesh and with it as here he was partakers of Flesh and Blood but in the infinite vertue and preciousness of its being shed and so his sufferings once suffered in the flesh are for ever accepted and remembered with the Father and his Body Glorified and immeasurably fil'd with the Eternal Spirit yea he therein made a quickening Spirit for and to us and all by means of his death the vertue and preciousnesse of which remains for ever and so the Fruit of it and grace in and through it which also as we hinted before may be called his Blood as being the Fruit of it and things procured and purchased by it But then also in this their reproach 3. That which they add as a Reason why Christs Blood that was shed must be in his flesh if it be the drink indeed c. Namely that men must drink it shewes their folly for the necessity of drinking his Blood can be no Argument that his Blood is in his flesh as before it was shed for as so it was in a materiall being in his flesh and mixed with it it cannot be drunk in a sensuall or naturall way of drinking as they would signifie it must if that be the drink indeed it is rather to be drunk as shed and powered out for us We read of eating flesh with the Blood in it a thing forbidden in the Law but of drinking Blood in the flesh we read not but in their nonsencical language Yea 4. In the whole of this question they imply an immagination that there is some other Blood of Christ besides that which was shed or his Blood shedding and death once suffered in the flesh and that that other Blood is the drink indeed and the purger of the conscience and so consequently that there is some other flesh or Body of his flesh besides that which was broken for us which and not the former is the meat indeed And so they in their immagination make void his once suffering in the flesh in that one body so prepared for him as before as of no abiding vertue or efficacy with the Father for the taking away our sins and so for the Spiritual feeding of the believer now to this they render the Crosse of Christ of no effect that they may lift up something else in the name and place of it For further answer therefore to this Question and for the help of others we here add to what former demonstrations we have given of the flesh of Christ that is meat indeed and of his Blood that is drink indeed 1. That there is no other flesh of Christ that is meat indeed but that one Body of his Flesh that was prepared given and broken for us even his Flesh that he gave for the Life of the World nor any other Blood of Christ that is drink indeed but that Blood or death of the Cross that shedding of his Blood and powering out his Soul unto death which he once suffered in that his own Body for our sins without which we could have had no remission of them that he obtaining by it plenteous Redemption even the forgivenesse of sins might therein also seal and confirm the new Testament of precious promises and become himself in the man the Mediator of it and so an high Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck It is onely his being made flesh in that one Body prepared for him and his works and sufferings finished in that his own body in which he appeared once in the end of the World to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself which the Father hath found out and accepted as a ransom or price of Redemption for sinful and fallen mankind and by means of which he hath given him glory in that his own Body in which he so Suffered that our Faith and Hope might be in God and therefore also it is onely that Cross of Christ because of the infinite grace therein testified which is commended and shed abroad by the Holy Ghost in his evidencing it as already past as to the actual enduring and suffering it in that in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly c. Rom. 5. 5. 10. and because of the Infinite vertue and
preciousness thereof for our help which is shewed in the discovery of him as now raised from the dead in the same body in which he Suffered those things and standing by means of that his death the prOpitiation for our sins and our advocate with the Father c. as before in which all True Believers have the ground of their peace rejoycing and hope and so in Christ Jesus all other rejoycings are fleshly and after the sensual mind whence the Apostle determined not to know any thing among believers but Jesus Christ and him crucified not crucifying or often Suffering from the foundation of the world yea God forbid that we should rejoyce in any thing save in the Cross of Christ by whom the world is crucified to us and we to the world for the Preaching of that is to them that perish foolishness but to us that are saved the Power of God 1 Cor. 1. 18. 24. and 2. 2. Heb. 9. 25 26. and Gal. 6. 14. 2 That such things as are done and past as to the actual accomplishment of them long before Men had their particular beings in the world yet may be spiritually fed on by those Men and so eaten and drunk in a like sence as in which the flesh and blood of Christ is said to be eaten and drunk though not remaining in a present or sencible being to them or otherwise then in the virtue and fruit of then this might be shewed in other things mentioned in the Scripture as Types and patterns of this as the Lords passing over the houses of the Children of Israel in Aegypt when he smote the Aegyptians was to be remembred and rejoyced in throughout their Generations and therefore that day to be kept for a memorial a feast to the Lord by an ordinance for ever Exod. 12. 12 14 27. So we also are instructed to keep the feast of rejoycing in Christ in thankful commemmoration of what he hath done for saith the Text Christ our Passover is sacrificed not sacrificing or daily and often offering himself but this he did once that is the ground of our rejoycing in him evermore he is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. Again Gods dividing the Sea by his strength and breaking the heads of the Dragons in the waters and so the broken heads of Leviathan even Pharaoh and his host as broken and destroyed in the Red Sea was given for meat to the people inhabiting in the Wildernesse Psal 74. 13 14. though yet Pharaoh and his host was not in a present sensible being near that people all the time they were meat for them nor yet their drowning or destruction actually done in their sight or before them all along but once finished and therefore so worthy to be remembred and such matter of feeding and rejoycing to them in after ages Psal 81. 5. 10. and 78. and 105. and 106. but it is so clear in this which is the Truth and fulnesse of all those Types and Patterns namely the flesh of Christ and the blood of Christ and so evident in what is already said of it that more need not be said to shew and prove that that flesh of Christ even the words being made flesh in the similitude of sinful flesh and so his whole abasement and sufferings in the flesh the dayes of which are past Heb. 5. 7. 1 Pet. 3. 18. and so his blood his sufferings even to blood to death in the flesh which as to the actual accomplishment and sustaining of it is now past and finished yea therefore because his sufferings and death is so finished that he is in the virtue and bye means thereof raised and glorified in the same body for us as is before shewed so that he can die no more therefore is his flesh meat indeed and his blood drink indeed the Lords Death worthy for ever to be remembred and rejoyced in himself in the Infinite Grace of it and everlasting Virtue and Fruit of it that Bread of God the Bread of Life c. As aforesaid But for a little further demonstration how such a thing may be and is that even his personal Sufferings and Abasement in the flesh and so the Lords death may be eaten and drunk now so long after the actual accomplishment and sustaining of it is past as also that it might be so before its manifestation or coming forth into actual and sensible being for he did not often Suffer for sin from the Foundation of the world but once in the end of the world as Heb. 9. 26. 1 Pet. 3. 18. For some further demonstration of this we say We shall here add a word or two to shew what the eating his flesh and drinking his blood is or how and in what manner it may be eaten and drunk and so how the Blood of Christ purgeth the Conscience The eating and drinking here is not naturally or bodily with the mouth but mentally with the Mind Spirit or inner man and that not in or by a sensual immagination or apprehension of seeing feeling or proving the works Sufferings or things that are the bottom matter of feeding and rejoycing to the heart as acted in them or in the present time before them but it is by faith as Ephes 3. 16 17. yea the eating and drinking is an act and exercise of faith as opposed to sight or sence we walk saies the Apostle and so the Just shall live Rom. 1. 17. Heb. 10. 38 by faith not by sight and so the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself note that he saith not is giving or giveth but gave himself for me the love that was manifested in that unspeakable gift and perfect offering of himself already prepared and perfected and so those works already finished on the earth through which that love is still manifested and commended are mentioned as the bottom ground of his faith and so matter of his feeding so that though the Apostles had seen the Lord yet they did not now live by that sight but by faith as opposed to sight yea blessed are those that have not so seen and yet believed saith our Saviour And the Apostle Peter saith That even those that were partakers of like precious faith with them yet had not so seen him as they had done but did believe and rejoyce in him though now they see him not John 20. 29. 1 Pet. 1. 8. and it is in such believing on him as the Scripture hath said that himself and him crucified and so his flesh and his blood is eaten and drunk as may be seen in John 6. 35. with chap. 7. 37 38 39. A man believing in and with the heart the record that God hath given of Christ that is receiving withal acceptation loving and closing with it according to the understanding given him as a good and faithful saying letting it dwell in him and so having his heart exercised in it and by
not in it as Thomas Moor affirmed Ans They wrest Thomas Moors words as is shewed in the reply to them pa. 3 and 4. therefore we shall say the lesse to it here What he said was by way of return to their saying that the life is in the blood as applying it to Christ in answer to which he spake to this purpose That those sayings Gen. 9. 4. Levit. 17. 11. 14 are spoken of other mortal Creatures distinct from mortal man and though it may be truly affirmed of mortal man also as to the natural life of the Body Yet it neither is nor can be truly affirmed of him whom God hath raised from the dead that his life which he now liveth by the power of God by which he was raised from the dead is in or by the supply of material blood as the natural life of the natural and mortal body is for in him being raised from the dead all mortality is put off But that the life he now liveth by the Father and in the Power of God for us is by means and in the virtue of his blood or death in the flesh once suffered for our sins by which he hath obtained eternal redemption and life into himself for us and is the Mediator between God and men the Apostle and High Priest of our Profession And that the life he giveth to the World is by virtue of that his Blood And the life he giveth to them that feed on him by faith is not onely by virtue of it but in the Spiritual discoveries of it and love commended through it in the Preaching of his Cross as before shewed this he also then and still affirmeth as also is shewed in our former Answers Quest 15. How many comings of Christ do you own seeing you have his second coming without sin to salvation yet to look for Ans Hitherto they have played the part of the false Christs foretold by our Saviour Mat. 24. 24. privily denying the Lord that bought them as 2 Pet. 2. 1. in the excellency of his personal Body and the works finished by him in that his own Body on the earth and in his infinite fulnesse and glory by means of death possessed by him for us in that body raised from the dead that so they might make way for their lifting up something else in the name anâ— place thereof as Mat. 24. 5. And now they proceed more plainly to act the part also of the false Prophets there also foretold vers 11. 23. 26. scoffing at â—he promise of his second coming his glorious personal appearing as it is owned and acknowledged by all that believe through and according to the Apostles Doctrine as that which is yet to be looked and waited for all the time of this present World 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. 10. 12. with Tit. 2. 12 13. plainly implying they have it not yet to look for and so intimately saying Lo here or lo there in this or that present operation or sensual imagination Christs appearing the second time without sin to salvation and so consequently the resurrection is already made and past to them as Mat. 24. 23. 26. with 2 Tim. 2. 18. Nor is this any more then is expresly affirmed by them in their pretended answer to J. H. and T. M. Junior called A brief discovery of the dangerous Principles of J. H. and T. M. c. where page 9. They say That the Saints which then were alive remained unto that coming of Christ spoken of 1 Thes 4. 15. and Phil. 3. 20. 21. The groundlesnesse falsenesse and wickednesse of which is shewen in the reply to it see the fuller discovery of the Dangerous Principles and lying spirit of the people called Quakers page to which we refer the Reader And here also that we may further shew by the Scriptures the Truth of God reproached by them and manifest the folly and wickednesse of their spirit we further answer to this question 1. There are comings of Christ in a divers sence mentioned in the Scripture for there are comings of Christ in respect of which it is said he came unto his own even to Israel after the flesh to gather them c. often from the beginning of their being a people John 1. 11. Mat. 23. 37. yea he was in the World and went by his Spirit in the ministration of Noah to the Spirits of men then John 1. 5. 10. 1 Pet. 3. 19 20 And there are comings of Christ in such a sence spoken of in Scripture as in respect of which it is said he appeared and came into the World not often but once in the end of the World personally to Minister and to give his life a ransome for many and so to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Matthew 20. 28. 1 Pet. 3. 18. with Heber 9. 26. There are providential comings of Christ to men both more particularly and more generally and that both in more then ordinary demonstrations of his power and goodnesse in special mercies and blessings as John â— 11. and in like manifestations of his severity in some great and signal corrections or judgements as Rev. 2. 5. and 3. 3. There are also spiritual comings and manifestations of himself to men severally in their several times to the opening and enlightening the blind minds and moving sinners to repentance Isa 50. 2 with c. 42. 1. 7 and 55. 1. 6. 1 Tim. 2. 6. and to the quickening refreshing and satisfying the souls of such as hear and receive his sayings with the further discoveries openings tastes and operations of his goodnesse such as John 14. 16. 18. 21. 23. Rev. 3. 20. and of his comings in both these sences there are more then can be numbred nor of these read we of first or second so called but then there are also personal and bodily appearances and comings of Christ into the World or his coming into the world and appearing on the earth in a real body prepared for him spoken of in the Scripture and called the comings and dayes of the Son of man of Christ of the Seed of David after the flesh and of these a first and a second The first was when that Body of his flesh was prepared for him in the womb of a Virgin when the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman c. wherefore when he cometh into the world he saith A body hast thou prepared me Lo I come c. Gal. 4. 4. Heb. 10. 5. 10. And so he once in the end of the World and not often from the foundation of the World appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself even by and through the offering up his body once for all which was therefore prepared for him that he might therein be capable of doing and do the Will of the Father for the Redemption and sanctification of sinful men even that he might in that body finish the Works the Father gave him to do on
earth and offer up himself a perfect and for ever acceptable Sacrifice and abide a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck The second of these and that so called is when God shall send us from Heaven the same Jesus Christ that was made of the Seed of David after the desh even him whom they Crucified slew and hung on a Tree whom God raised up whom the Heaven must receive till the restitution of all things And so when he the Son of man shall appear on the Earth where he was before humbled even to death made sin and a curse for us when he shall appear in the same body in which he so suffered in his own Glory which he obtained for us by sufferings and now possesseth for us and so in the Glory of his Father and with his holy Angels without sin or any such imputation or fruits of it upon him as in his first appearing was born by him for though he knew not sin yet he was then made sin for us When he shall so appear in his Glory to the utmost Salvation of those that look for him and restoring the Creation from under the bondage of corruption under which now it groans yea to raise and judge all men at that his appearing and Kingdom and subdue all things to himself Acts 1. 1â— and 3. 19 20 21. Mat. 16. 27. and 25. 31. and 26. 64. 1 Thes 4. 16. Phil. 3. 21. Heb. 9. 26. 28. Now of these personal comings of Christ into the World their queries should mean because they speak of his second coming as one of them about which they query how many we own and his second appearing so called must be an appearing in such a sence as in which he once appeared and but once before that and therefore cannot be understood oâ— his appeâ—â—rances or comings in the formentioned sences but in the latter only But this we know they cannot own any such coming of Christ in such a sence a second time or after his once suffering in the flesh they may have an immagination of his appearing or coming in the flesh often and in other persons and bodies after as before he did appear in that one personal body but they can have no expectation of his appearing again from Heaven in that body of his flesh his now Glorious body and in the glory now possessed by him for us because they believe not that this man continues for ever nor believe they any such Christ that is the very and the onely Christ that now hath a personal body of his own distinct from all other Spirits and bodies and is therein not on Earth but in the Heavens and therefore can have no expectation of any such coming of his from thence Their question therefore if plain according to their principles and to what they design to deny and make void should have been Whether we still expect a second or another personal and bodily coming of Christ into the World or other then hath been already accomplished and is or may be fulfilled in all ages in Divers persons To which our answer is Yea with much thankfulnesse to God and rejoycing in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory we do and though they scoff at us for it he shall appear to our Glory that so look for him and they shall be ashamed But to their Question as it is having thus distinguished the comings of Christ in divers sences 2. We further answer that of personal and bodily comings of Christ into the World we own two and no more the one past the other yet to come 1. The first was not ofâ—en from the foundation of the World but once in the end of the World Four thousand years and upwards from the Creation and yet now long since for it was in the dayes of Cesar Augustus when Herod was Deputy King of Iudea and when Cyreneus was Governour of Syria and when there went out a decree from Cesar that all the World should be taxed and all went to be taxed every one to his own City Luke 1. 5. and â— â— 4. c. And his coming into the World was on this wise his body in which he was made flesh of the seed of David and came into the World was prepared for him by the Immediate and wonderful operation of the Holy Ghost not in the mind but in the womb of a woman a Virgin and not in any other womb he was made of a Woman of one not of many a Woman that had not known man Mary a Virgin of the house of David espoused to one Joseph a Carpenter a man distinct from other men who yet had not taken her to wife and feared to take her after she was found with Child till he was informed by an Angel that that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost and his Name should be called Jesus for he should save his people from their sins of her he was born at Bethlehem where his birth was providentially ordered that the Scripture might be fulfilled and so in his Birth of Mary he came not into any man or woman but into the World and unto men And as his conception and Birth of Mary was foretold by an Angel so when born his Birth in a Stable in Bethlehem was declared and he that very person then and so born of her proclaimed though then a Babe to be Christ the Lord by Angels with great rejoycing and when eight dayes were accomplished for the circumcising the Child his Name was called Jesus which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the womb and when about a moneth after his birth they presented him to the Lord in the Temple he was witnessed unto by old Simeon to whom it had been revealed by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death till he had seen the Lords Christ He then coming by the Spirit into the Temple when the Parents brought in the Child Jesus took him up in his arms and said Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation even the Lords Christ c. Likewise by one Anna a Prophetess who coming in at that instant gave thanks likewise to the Lord and spake of him even that Child Jesus to all them that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem Luke 2. After this he was carried by Joseph with Mary his Mother into Egypt till the death of Herod who sought to slay him and to that end slew all the male Children in Bethlehem but slew not him which he had certainly done in slaying them if he had been in every or any of them personally or as in that body of Jesus but he was not so he was carried into Egypt and after brought back by his Father and Mother into Nazareth of Galilee that the Scripture might be fulfilled which saith he shall be called a Nazarene and there dwelt with them sometime whence also he was called Jesus of Nazareth
and grew in body and waxed strong in Spirit fil'd with Wisdom and the Grace of God was upon him Mat. 2. 13. to the end Luke 2. 39 40 c. And when in that body of his he was twelve years old going up with his parents to Jerusalem when they returned he tarried behind them Which he could not have done if personally or essentially in them as in that his own body and after seeking him three dayes with sorrow at last they found him not in themselves or in other persons but in the Temple sitting in the midst of the Doctors and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them which was part of his abasement and service and his mother hid or kept not his body within her womb any more after born of her but his sayings in her heart And after John the son of Zachary and Elizabeth his messenger had been preparing his way Baptizing and Preaching the Baptisme of Repentance he himself came the Text saith not into but unto John to be baptized of him And when he was Baptized the Heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from Heaven saying not of John but of Jesus This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased a like voice after in his transiguration before three of his Disciples they heard from Heaven not speaking of them but of him whence they said that he not they received from God the Father Honour and Glory when there came such a voice to him from the Excellent Glory 2 Pet. 1. 17 18. with Mat. 17. 1. 5. And so John his fore-runner having both seen and heard professed not himself but this Jesus to be the Christ and pointed to him not as in himself or as in other men but as a distinct person standing not in every of them but among them the beholders though they knew him not and proclaimed him to be and called men to behold him as such the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World John 1. 19. 36. and 3. 26. 36. After this the same Jesus of Nazareth manifested himself and walked up and down more openly and generally among the Jewes Preaching the Gospel and doing good calling and choosing Disciples and was approved of God amongst Friends and Enemies by miracles and signes which God wrought by him in the midst of them such as none before him ever did nor after any like works but in his Name but he was hated of the Sadduces that denied the Resurrection of the dead of the Pharisees that trusted in themselves that they were Righteous and by their means of the chief of the People and of many of the inferiour also At last they arreigned and falsly condemned him and delivered him to Pilate and so to the Gentiles to be Crucified and he was by them hung upon the Tree and Crucified and when dead was buried by two Honourable persons not in themselves but in a new Sepulchre which was sealed and watched by Souldiers that he might not be stolen away unto all which the Father delivered him and he gave himself for our sins But he in the same body that was dead and buried even Jesus of Nazareth rose again the third day and was witnessed by Angels to be risen and not to be there in the grave the emptinesse of which place the orderly lying of the cloathes witnessing the same And then he appearing to his Disciples shewed himself alive in that very Body having the very same flesh and bones hands and feet though now in another quality viz. Spiritual Immortal in which they had foreseen him Mortal then he acquainted them with the ends necessity of his Death and Resurrection and shewed opened to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself opening their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures gave them the Gospel which he had received from his Father Commission with commandment to Preach it make it known out of the Scriptures of the Prophets to all Nations for the obedience of Faith and having prayed for their Sanctification fitnesse to that service and for blessing on all that after should believe through their word he also promised his Spiritual presence with them in that Ministration to the end of the World After which while he blessed them and while they beheld he was parted from them in that body of his and ascended and was received up into Heaven and according to his promise did soon after send down and powre out upon them the Holy Ghost to furnish and enable them to their Ministry And so he hath already come in the flesh and perfected all that he was to do in his own body in his first coming as all that read and believe the record God hath given of his Son and caused to be written for our instruction may plainly and more fully discern Nor was this coming of his ever so seen nor but by Faith of any before those times no though it hath been desired by many of them Mat. 13. 16 17. Luk. 10. 23 24. But by Faith they saw it and rejoyced John 8. 56. with Heb. 11. 1. 12. Nor yet hath it ever been so seen of any since the Apostles so saw it and him 1 Cor. 15. 5. 8. and Chap. 9. 1. with Chap 4. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Nor will he ever come in that manner to suffer and do over those things again so to be seen John 16. 10. Rom. 6. 9 10. Acts 13. 34. But these things are written concerning him even this Jesus that we may believe that he is the Son of God the Lords Christ and that believing we may have life through his Name John 20. 31. And so our sight is onely in believing by Faith as Heb. 11. 1. 3 Yea they are pronounced blessed that having not seen him so as the Apostles did yet have believed John 20. 29. In which believing to understand and know him to have come in the flesh and to have done and to be that for us as the Testimony recorded declareth is to know him not after the flesh or carnal and sensual mind but after the Spirit according to the Testimony he hath already given of him and in his Light and Power shining and working in and with that Testimony by which onely these things now not so seen as before are made evident plain and powerfully nigh that they might be believed with the heart and confessed with the mouth and still made further precious to and effectual on them that believe 2 Cor. 5. 14 15 16 17. c. Rom. 1. 16 17. and 10. 6. 9 10. And whosoever now boast of having otherwise seen his first coming his appearance and Manifestation in the flesh is a lyar Yea neither is this Jesus who is the very Christ now in that his own personal body in the World we have him not
generation or sort of men have finished their course as well as they But after this the Judgement even after this appointment of the whole kind once to die is fulfilled on all generations then will be the general final and Eternal judgement And though those that now sleep in Jesus and have suffered with him shall have their judgement come upon them their Kingdom glory given them to possess first before the rest of the dead yet that will not be till the time and state of the Resurrection of the just that have suffered with him for they shall first rise from the dead neither will that be till the beginning of that great day of Christ when the dayes of sufferings and trouble to that generation will be ended So that the judgement that properly so called as distinguished from other Judgements in this life that are temporal and reversible even the Eternal judgement that is after death it is in the time and state of the Resurrection for there shall be a General Resurrection of both the just and unjust in which they shall come forth to their judgement and that shall be to both at the hour or day of Christ even at his appearing and his Kingdom Acts 24. 15. John 5. 28 29. 2 Tim. 4. 1. and so much also appears in that which follows Heb. 9. 28. where after he hath said as it is appointed to men once to die but after this the judgement he adds as a remedy against the evil that otherwise might be unto men in that death or that judgement following so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation now as his first appearing to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself answers to the first death and misery and was effectual that by Christ we should be saved from perishing in it and that through him we might be saved so his second appearing without sin to Salvation answers to the judgement after death and is such as by it all those that now through his grace bringing salvation to all men in due time do look for him shall be saved from wrath through him even from the wrath to come when it shall come forth in that judgement so as they shall stand in the judgement even before the Son of man when he appears and the second death shall have no power on them yea they shall then be saved to the utmost by that his appearing yea he shall then appear to their salvation in that judgement which implies his appearing the second time to be first and the judgement after death following upon it at that his appearing and his Kingdome to come upon men in the time and state of the resurrection as before is shewed compare with the forementioned Scriptures Heb. 6. 2. Rev. 20. 12 13. Again their folly is manifest in taking up a sence of the Word Hell from some common contradions without examination as if in every place it signified that place and state of torment in which the wicked are to be punished for ever after the passing of the Eternal judgement upon them whereas they might have known the word Hell is used in Scripture generally for that which is deep and low obscure and dark And so 1. Sometime for the Grave or disappearing state of death whence t is often translated grave from which and from the power of it there is a redemption and deliverance though no man can redeem himself c. Psal 49. 8 9. 15. and 89. 48. Job 17. 13. 16. with Hos 13. 14. 2. Sometime for any such distress or misery as threatens death and as in which a man is in darknesse that he can see no way out or how deliverance should come out of which yet there may be deliverance though he see not how as Jonahs being in the Whales belly Jonah 2. 2 3. c. see also Psalm 86. 13. 88. 6. and 116. 3 4 c. 3. Sometime for that place and state of darkness and separation from God into which the Spirits of ungodly sinners that dy in their sins are cast and shut up from the time of their departing out of the body unto the judgement of the great day for when the body returns to its dust then the spirit returns to God who gave it Ecles 3. 21. and 12. 7. by him to be appointed to its proper place by whom the Spirits of Believers such as die in the Lord are received into Paradise a place and state of pleasure and rest in heaven under the altar on which the perfect Sacrifice was offered sometimes called Abrahams bosom t is such as in which they are from the time of their departure out of the flesh or body with the Lord made perfect so much as the Spirit without the body is capable yet still waiting for the redemption of the Body and Glorious Kingdom promised And so likewise by him the Spirits of the disobedient that persisted in the refusal of him till their sin was finished are when they depart out of the body at the death of the body driven away shut cut from his presence shut up as prisoners in some place and state of darknesse where they are reserved to the judgement of the great day Prov. 14. 32. Isa 24. 22. 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. And this is called hell Psal 9. 17. Luke 16. 23. Rev. 20. 13. that hell that follows or goes along with the first death Rev. 6. 8. That might have been an everlasting Prison to the Souls or Spirits of all mankind had not Christ abolished death by his appearing and obtained a release of all Mankind unto him and the Keys of Hell and Death into his hand But now by him that Hell going with or pertaining to the first death as in this last sence is onely appointed for a prison for all the ungodly in which they shall be reserved as in chains of darknesse to the judgement of the great day where also they are fil'd with unspeakable horror and torment in their spirit in the remembrance and sence of what they have lost and for what lying vanities and what they must shortly and for ever suffer in soul and body together reunited And out of this Hell there shall be such a deliverance as may be resembled by the deliverance of Prisoners to judgement so Rev. 20. 13. John 8. 28 29. in which yet they are not delivered out of darknesse but still in a state of separation from God and the Light of his countenance brought forth to receive their bodies that slept in dust and in them to receive their final conviction and judgement Again 4. Sometime and but seldome the word Hell singly but Hell fire is used for that wrath to come the lake of fire prepared for the Devil and his angels which is to man the second death into which they are not cast while the body is held in the grave and
would rise and cannot he wants power he would do the will of the Father but cannot it seems till the power reach to him and so he may say too as Paul said To will is present with me but how to perform what I would I find not If the power be the Christ then how was Christ there where he lies burthened with corruption in man and making his grave with the wicked before he was begotten for the power is not begotten in all that Christ is in as a suffering seed and so he suffers before he be begotten and he by whom all things were made is in some men and yet his power not begotten which when it reaches to the seed it rises in it by degrees surely as men in whom he is give way to him 5. Yea here we may see the reigning of their Christ too and of his Saints with him in that they say in some he suffers and in others he reigns and is known to be Prince of Peace Is Christ divided then or doth some part of him in some suffer and other part reign in others it seems he hath neither done dying nor been at any time without his Reigning and his to Reign with him so that here we have the Mystery of their Religion 6. Nay what is this seeds rising but the Redemption of the body with them for as for the Redemption of any Natural body of man from the Natural death on them or judgement on them after that death they plainly deny it onely they talk of a seed shall rise and what is that but this seed that they say Christ takes after the flesh 7. Note here also how this their imagined Christ differs from our Christ the true Christ witnessed to and Preached in the Scriptures for their Rock is not as our Rock their Christ as our Christ themselves being Judges Deut. 32. 31. with their Book pag 10 our Rock is God in Christ and so our Lord Jesus Christ between whom and their Christ consider these differences 1. Our Christ is that Holy and Innocent man that was born of the Virgin Mary and lived in his personal body upon the Earth in the dayes of Augustus and Tiberius Cesars amongst the Jews And who in that body of his was crucified or nayled on a Tree died and was buried and rose again the third day and appeared in the same body to his Disciples after which he in that his body left the World ascending up from the Earth into the highest Heavens where he is Glorified with Gods own Self the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily He being God over all blessed for ever This is he whom these perverters deny and jears at as having the form and body of a Man and set up another thing in his stead that hath neither personal head hands nor feet flesh or bones proper to himself but an imaginary seed within every man desiring to follow after God and be free from sin which they call the Light the Christ the Power of God c. 2. Our Christ in a personal body of his own distinst from and out of our bodies bare our sins to and on the Tree or Crosse and so in that body died for our sins and in the same body rose for our justification that we believing in him might be justified by his Blood and accepted in his Righteousnesse and from thence have sin die in us and we dying to sin might live to Righteousnesse These plead for a Christ without any body of man distinct from others or out of them but a certain seed with an imaginary flesh and blood dying and beating sin in every man and rising where the Power reaches to it in men having no other body but what is in some men dying yea in every man in its time and in some men rising but not in all 3. Our Christ in his said body did once and but once in the last Ages of the World little more then one thousand six hundred years since suffer and die and rise again and can now therein die no more death hath no more dominion over him but he is alive for evermore in that body Glorified in the Heavens which these perverters deny But their Christ is alwayes suffering and so dying in some men and rising in others and reigning in some and so hath been alwayes dying and rising in mâ—n from the beginning of the World and so will be to the end their words plainly enough import as much 4. Our Christ by that his death once suffered and in his Resurrection in that his body that body once in sacrifice offered up to God hath overcome Death and the Devil slain the enmity and taken out of the way all that was contrary to us redeemed us from the curse of the Law obtained eternal Redemption for us and received the immeasurable fulness of the Spirit in the man and for men and is become Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption being by virtue of all his foresaid sufferings and sacrifice the propitiation for the sins of the whole World of man kind the Mediator of God and men that all that believe in him may by Faith be reckoned after him and receive of the virtues hereof a first fruits of the Spirit making their Spirits liâ—e for Righteousnesse sake and giving them the hope of the fulness in Soul and Body at his coming again to be enjoyed by them for which they wait of all which these Perverters make nothing as James Naylor writ to a certain Gentleman by way of reproach Thou lookest to be saved by a man that dyed 1600. years ago this is that they scoff at giving out in their words that the death they mean of is not the death of a man in a Mortal body which was Natural and must have dyed they say though sin had never been But the death they mean is the death of the Seed or Christ that is alwayes dying and rising sometime in one and sometime in another which death and resurrection they extol and account the other but a shadow and figure of 5. Our Christ being in his glorified Bodie in the Heavens the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily by his spirit draws in many to believe in him of whom he in his Personal body is the Head and they the Members are one spiritual body or Corporation But these Perverters denying that their Christ hath any Personal body made but one Body in and of all and that the Seed sure for the Natural Bodies of themselves and others they say must die and never rise again and therefore sure they are in their account no part of Christs Body that must live ever and sure that Seed is no Personal Body but a conceited spirit that is within them with a conceited flesh and blood in them to This is the fulnesse of God they say whereof they are every one of them in this Seed the Members such an Idol was scarce ever in any Generation
of men set up before 6. Our Christ is by his Word and spirit and the riches of his Grace in the hearts of his people by faith quickening and inlivening them which these perverters deny and jeer at and say Their Christ in all the reality of his Body with his Flesh and Blood is wholly within them for so some of them have said even sensibly bearing their sins in them though not willingly as Christ bare ours on the Tree but desiring to be free and so is rising in them and reigning in Glory So as the Redemption and Resurrection of the Body others wait for these say they have in this body within a pleasing fancy 7. Our Christ will come again personally in his own Glorious Body and every eye shall see him in which coming he will not by degrees or one after another but at once together in one moment in the twinkling of an eye change the surviving and raise the dead bodies of all that sleep in Jesus so as they shall be all mortal and meet him in the air and appear in Glory with him freed from all Hunger Persecution Sorrow and death for ever and blessed in the enjoyment of him with whom they shall reign for evermore and when he is set on his Throne he will gather all Nations before him raising all men not leaving out these Deceivers but all shall appear before his Judgement Seat even those that rebel against him and in this day deny him then shall they acknowledge him Lord and his People that have now confest him the beloved of the Lord when themselves shall be judged by him and sent into the Lake of Fire c. all which coming of his and the Resurrection of the dead and judgement after death the bodily death is by those Perverters also altogether denyed they owning no other coming of Christ then some of them enjoy now nor other Resurrection then is now sometime of one and sometime of another and yet they of them that enjoy the Resurrection of the body they talk of sometime bunger and feel pain and cry out of Persecution and must die the bodily yea and rise again to the second death too 8. Our Christ hath by his spirit so fully discovered himself in the Testimony of the Gospel that is the written verity that in and according to the plain import of the saying thereof he is to be known so far as we may know him till his coming again and by and wit that the Holy Spirit doth witnesse of him to and teach the hearts of the believers and they from the same spirit and according to the same Gospel do conside in him confesse him and hold him sorth to others and for that are opposed by these perverters Of whose Christ and their Doctrine of him though whatever is said of the true Christ or of his Church in the Scripture they apply to their false Christ and to themselves as if they meant no other Christ nor faith then the Scriptures speak of perverting them to that end Yet the scripture writing indeed speaketh not but to the condemnation overthrow and confusion thereof warning all believers not to hear or follow them nor receive them to house nor bid them God-speed But hold them accursed beware them and avoid them as Wolves false Apostles and Reprobate concerning the Faith Such the Doctrine and Principles which these men call the truth which indeed is errour and darknesse let the Scriptures be compared 2. For the manner of their managing and maintaining their doctrine let these particulars amongst divers others be noted 1. They come in their own name or authority boasting of themselves and witnessing to and of themselves and so obtruding things upon men not by and in the light and evidence of the spirit in and according to the Scriptures as the true Apostles use to do but upon their own authority and the authority of their sayings and witnessings which therefore they say also are of equal authority with c. Better than the saying of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures as appeares by George Whiteheads answers to the Cambridge Queries To this purpose is their saying in their Title Page that what they have written and made manifest in their Book is they say by the Truth they say not which is in Christ or in the Gospel of Christ but which is in George Whitehead John Whitehead George Fox the younger to which three witnesses in their own names We oppose the three in Heaven the Father the Son or Word and the Holy Ghost and the truth that is in and is witnessed by them much of this their way of self-witnessing and obtruding things in their own name word or authority the Reader may see in their Book p. 8. 13. 18. 20 21 22 23. 26. In which they are such as the false Christs and the false Prophets of whom our Lord said to the Jews if another come in his own name him ye will receive John 5. 43. And like the Idol worshippers and preachers of whom the Lord says by the Prophet Isaiah that they were their own witnesses Isa 44. 9. And though they say the Lord saith yet they do therein as the false prophets affirming the Name of the Lord to their own words dreames fancies or deceits as in Jer. 23. 16. 25 26 27. Ezek. 13. 7. As we might also instance in some they have said of that they were Priests and Hirelings and took Tythes that were never exercised in such away as a certain woman said of Thomas Moor junior at Glentworth in Lincoln-shire and George Fox said in Bury Goal of one Disbrough brother in law to Joseph Hagger being a trads-man in London yet they pretended that they speak by the Revelation of the spirit of them in which their imposture and deceit was made manifest 2. When they do quote Scripture they usually pervert and corrupt it altering leaving out something or adding thereto corrupt and false glosses we may instance some few particulars in their book against us As 1. Alleadged 1 John 5 10. He that believeth hath the witnesse in himself bâ—ing out on the Son of God without which it is not true for the Devils believe yet have not the witnesse spoken of in 1 John 5. in themselves Jam. 2. 19. 2. They alleadge 1 John 4. 17. as he is so are we in this World to prove that they are without sin here as well or much as Christ is though its evident that contradicts the Apostle himself who says 1 John 1. 8. If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves touching which quotation because they make some specious use of it to deceive the simple We shall note some things here further about it for the help of the weak let the Reader mind then that 1. He saith not as he was besore the World was so are we in this World for so he was glorified with the Fathers own self equal to God and in his forme the same with