this Papal Quaker Answ This is False again for whilst we own a Life and Living by the Faith of the Son of God how can we disown his Righteousness that is made our's by Faith When 't is made ours we partake of it though it was without us in him before it was in us by him § XII Pr. Ibid. In this Quaking Account of Justification what hath this Quaker said more which the Council of Trent hath not determined to his hand viz. Council Trid. Cap. 3. Sess 6. Cum ea renascentia per meritu passionis ejus gratia qua justifiunt illis tribuatur Which he thus Englisheth Together with the New Birth through the Merit of Christ's Passion Grace whereby they are made Righteous is imparted to them Cap. 7. Sess 6. Justificatio est Sanctificatio Renovatio interioris hominis per voluntariam susceptionem gratiae As he interprets Justification is both the Sanctification and Renovation of the inward man by Grace received He should have said By the willing or free receiving of Grace Answ And what does our Adversary infer from hence but that Quakers and Papists agree together in the point of Justification by inherent Righteousness And yet he cannot deny but the Merit of Christ's Passion is confest to in the point But it seems he would not have the New Birth concern'd in the case or that Grace that makes us Righteous should be imparted to us and so included and joyned with the Merit of Christ's Passion in this great point of Justification or that Justification should be both the Sanctification and Renovation of the inward man by Grace received If these be not offensive to him why does he clamour against the Quaker for agreeing with the Council of Trent in this point as if his citing the Council of Trent having determin'd a point to the Quakers hand or which Quakers own though they never received it themselves and which he himself does not at all consute were enough to knock down the Quakers at one Blow Whence it follows that where the Council of Trent grants the Merit of Christ's Passion which the Papists place mens first Justification upon without Works Christ's Merit or deserving herein must be opposed because the Council of Trent and Papists hold it Is not this learned Logick Thus our Adversary has attempted to knock down the Quaker because the Council of Trent and Papists hold divers Errors but Papists render their own good Works after the first Justification strictly meritorious of Heaven which the Quakers do not therefore we must not hold any Truths which they intermix among their Errors but be branded derided for Papists Papal Quakers such kind of arguing savours more of an Atheistical Spirit than of a Christian And such measure have we from our Adversary But his main Design is to oppose the Saints being made Righteous by Grace imparted to them through Christ and to impose upon us a Justification or rather his false Imputation thereof without either Sanctification or Renovation of the inward man by Grace received seeing he has espoused the Cause of such as affirm Justification and Redemption of men while no good is wrought in them and that these are fulfilled or compleated WHOLLY WITHOUT THEM And yet to his own Confutation has granted that Righteousness must be imparted and retain'd in his 10th page but here because the Council of Trent has confest unto the New Birth and that the Grace that makes Righteous must be imparted to them rendring the Merit of Christ's Passion as a means thereof which is an Undeniable Truth I must be revil'd as a Papal Quaker and this Inherent Righteousness in the New Birth though wrought by the Grace of God opposed as to our Justification Thus my Adversary has not only Absurdly argued against me but Atheistically set himself against the Work of Christ inward by invalidating of it reckoning Persons justified Wholly without which must be whilst they are wholly Unjust and Poluted within or when no good is wrought in them else what does all his Quarrel against us amount to But he sillily goes on in his Comparison between Quaker and Papist as followeth Pr. Ibid. They do both disclaim the works of the Law before Grace received Ibid. Works not done in Christ the Seed do not justifie says the Canting Quaker Ibid. Justification is the Sanctifying of the inner man by Grace received say the Papists Ibid. The Righteousness by Faith is when the Law is performed in us by the Works of the Spirit saith the Quaker Ibid. By Grace received in the New Birth are we made Righteous say the Papists Thus the Light within which guides the Quaker to Scribble concerning Justification is nothing else but TRENT POPERY infused into them by subtil Popish Priests Answ We have nothing but his Comparison and Reviling here for Confutation The matter is answered before I would ask this man First If he does not disclaim the Works of the Law before Grace received Secondly If works not done in Christ do Justifie or render any Just If he says No why does he Scoff and Cry out Canting Quaker so saying they do not Thirdly Whether any do partake of the Righteousness by Faith without Christ's fulfilling the Righteousness of the Law in them according to Rom. 8.4 For it s them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit to whom there is no Condemnation and In whom the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled And this does not make void Christ's Passion or Suffering for man and fulfilling the Law in his Person without us for therein he was not only a Perfect Pattern of Righteousness but also came to condemn sin in the flesh and by his Sacrifice to make an Attonement and Pacification to stop the Wrath and suspend the severe Execution of the Law which man had incurred and to make way for Remission to us that we might be the more engaged to him to follow him in Spirit and come under the New Covenant terms But the Priest concludes with a notorious Falshood about what we write of Justification as being infused by Popish Priests This is a Wicked Slander for the work of the New Birth Being made inwardly Righteous by Grace received in Christ the sanctifying renewing the inner man by the holy Spirit these we never learned of the Popish Priests nor ever were we discipled by them but by the blessed operation of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ through Faith in his Name according to the Testimony of himself holy Apostles most plainly intimated in these Scriptures Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God John 3.3 5. And If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me said Christ to Peter John 13.8 And According to his Mercy he saved us by the Washing of Regeneration c. Tit. 3.5 6.
the consequence of placing the Rule of Faith Knowledge of God and Salvation only upon the Scripture and not upon the Light of Christ within Pr. Ibid. Vnto the Law and the Testimony is no Rule for Children to walk by Page 65. By no means the Law and the Testimony mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah may now be our Rule Hath not this man Quaked to purpose Answ He still wrongs and abusively derides the Quaker for children are not so taught that the Law and the Testimony is No Rule for them to walk by whether it relate to the Law and Testimony of God as outward in Scripture or inward in the Heart whether to the Law and Testimony of God by Moses as in Tables of Stone or to the Law and Testimony of Christ as in fleshly Tables of the Heart we cannot say of either that 't is no Rule at all for every Command or Precept from God or Christ whether it be upon outward or inward Record is a Rule in it self for Instruction by the Spirit 's Assistance The Law and Testimony as given by Moses and as in Tables of Stone were a Rule to Israel after the Flesh yet not to exclude the Word nigh them even in their Hearts or their hearkening to the Voice of God for that was through all Dispensations The Law and Testimony of the New Covenant written in the Hearts of spiritual Christians under the Guidance of the holy Spirit must needs be their Rule now who Worship God in Spirit And further the Commandment which is a Lamp and the Law which is Light and the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophecy are not only the Principal Rule in the Hearts of Spiritual Christians who are the Evangelical Israel and Inward Jews but also of more Universal extent as to Nations then the Scriptures are For when even those Gentiles who have not the Law and yet do by Nature the things contain'd in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the work of the Law written in their Hearts Rom. 2.14 15. So that the Scripture could not be their Rule who had it not but the Law and Light of God and his Christ in their Hearts And the Law and the Testimony within contain the Substance and Truth of what 's written in Scripture and will the more clearly and livingly appear and be read in the Heart as the Vail of Darkness Sin and Corruption in man is removed and taken away in his Conversion and coming into the New Covenant Dispensation On the words To the Law and to the Testimony I would Query If this Testimony could be the Books of the New Testament which this Prophet Isaiah referred them then to No sure how could they when those Books were not then written Yet whoever obey and follow the Law and Testimony of the SPIRIT of Life in Christ Jesus within such cannot Oppose Slight nor Invalidate any thing of holy Scripture but have real Union therewith and be in the Life Practice and Fulfilling thereof Pr. Ibid. The Spirit that doth infatuate the Quakers is the foolish Guide whom this Quaking Father would have his Child to follow Answ What Blasphemous Folly is this against the Spirit of Truth which the Quaker would have the Child yea and all Men to follow which 't is Horrid Blasphemy to charge with being an Infatuating or Foolish Guide whereby he hath also abused and slighted Christ's Testimony and the Scriptures which testifie of the Spirit of Truth to guide into all Truth Pr. Ibid. This Quakers Faith to undermine the Scriptures to render them good for nothing for saith he the Spirit alone is to be minded in all things therefore the Scriptures to be minded in nothing Answ He hath herein abominably belied the Quaker and perverted his words though he himself has cited but a few Lines before in the same page 36. viz. The Scriptures are a true Testimony of what the Saints were made Witnesses of This is no undermining nor rendring them good for nothing Again from minding the Spirit alone in all things it follows not that the Scriptures are to be minded in nothing He might as well have said that nothing else upon any account is to be minded but the Spirit alone howbeit that the Spirit alone is to be minded in all things as the Principal and most Eminent Rule is true yea 't is to be minded even in the reading Scriptures or else they cannot be rightly understood Pr. p. 37. The Quakers ill Spirit is to be minded in all things this alone is the true Discerner betwixt Truth and Falshood but pity those poor Children that have no better guide to follow Answ When the Quakers speak of the Spirit of Truth this Priest will have it the Quakers Ill Spirit thus he Blasphemously perverts still But that the Spirit of Truth is both the true Discerner and Giver of true Discerning betwixt Truth and Falshood I suppose he dare not deny S. XVI Pr. pag. 38. As for those Priests that do warrantably use the Common Prayer-Book either in the King's Chappel or else-where to speak this Quakers mind or sense they are a company of dull Ignoramusses they cannot pray at all a sad Case except it be in the Quakers Dumb Meeting or amongst those that are acted by the Spirit of the Hat Answ The Quaker so called was speaking of such Priests and Teachers as pray not with the Spirit nor with Vnderstanding and of some that cannot pray at all but as they have Made Prayers by others in a Book to read and such it seems he renders those Priests in the King's Chappel and else-where so dull as that they cannot pray without Book for he has made the Application with such a Reflection As for our Meeting which he Scornfully terms Dumb we therein wait upon God in his holy Fear and have regard to the Motions of his good Spirit in his Worship and Service both in our inward Attention Meditation Souls breathings unto God Preaching Praying to and Praising our God who is a Spirit and to be Worshipped in Spirit Truth I take his telling of the Spirit of the Hat also to be in Scorn and Contempt nothing at all of any serious Sence or Argument in it he should have explain'd himself therein Pr. p. 39. According to this Quaking Rant is not the King's Majesty basely reflected on Hath he not a dull Clergy to minister in his Presence Is not this Church whereof he is a Nursing-Father in a bad Cafe Answ I think this Priest hath Reflected on the King and his Clergy to purpose while he has rendred them such as do not pray with the Spirit or as cannot pray without Book for such was our Friend writing of about which this Priest takes all this occasion And why does he call the King a Nursing-Father of the Church He rather means as he would have him the Nursing-Father of the Clergy that they may feed upon the Fat
G's Terms viz. That God-man purchased and compleated Reconciliation Justification c. with God at once without us which I could not own to be a Scripture-Phrase or good Sense Hereupon instead of any Convincing Confutation the Priest flies out in Railery and Reviling at his wonted rate Pr. viz. That God purchased of God an old Socinian Cavil Thus the Light within is at unawares singing the old Cuckoes Song Thus the Quakers Ignis Fatuus c. What a blind pitiful Elf is this Quakers Light within that it cannot discern Redemption by Christ God-man as purchase made without us Answ Though he has herein revil'd me with Socinianism and a Cuckoes Song and shamefully blasphemed the Light within as an Ignis Fatuus a blind pitiful Elf c. This makes nothing to my Conviction but shews that this Proud man glories in his Shame Blindness Scorn and Blasphemy which is no convincing Argument Let him call it what he will I am not yet convinced that the Phrase viz. God-man purchased and compleated Justification with God at once without us is either Scripture-Language or good Sense why does he not produce us Scripture for it for it renders God in the first place as the Agent purchasing or buying Justification c. of God himself and so over-looks and confounds or mis-placeth his Mediators Office which as Man through God's Help he performed as God hath said In a Day of Salvation have I helped thee he was made lower than the Angels in respect of his Sufferings yet God the Father helped and supported him even in his Sufferings for Mankind Again If the Father's Kindness to Mankind was no whit inseriour to the Son's Kindness or that they were both alike kind to Man as 't is not to be doubted then it was in the freeness of the Father's Love that Christ came to redeem or purchase lost Man to God It was by the Grace of God that he tasted Death for every man and became a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Savour to God But where the Priest sayes God-Man purchased our Redemption of God this supposes him as God to be the chief Agent in purchasing Redemption of God Can this mean any otherwise than that either God did so purchase or buy this of himself or else that Christ as a God inseriour to the Most High God did buy it of him which so much borders on Socinianism denying the Deity of the Son of God or that he is the Most High God that I cannot be thus Socinianiz'd For though Jesus Christ be both God Man in absolute and wonderful Union yet those Works and Sufferings of his in the Flesh which concern'd Man's Reconciliation Eternal Redemption and Salvation with Respect to his Merit and Dignity therein they all related to Christ as Mediator between God and Man and as such he is called the Man Christ Jesus and in these Considerations he is made inferiour to the Father as he said My Father is greater than I We have one Mediator between God and Men even the Man Christ Jesus It was as Man that he dyed and gave himself a Ransom for all and it was by this One Man Jesus Christ that the Grace and Gift of God hath abounded unto many as by man came Death so by man came the Resurrection of the Dead this is Scripture Language and accordingly Redemption by Christ as his giving himself for us to Redeem us from ALL Iniquity from the Vain Conversation from the Earth c. is truly owned by us Pr. pag. 14. God the Son made Man purchasing our Redemption of God the Father by the price of his own Blood as God Intâ—rnate Answ Now he has mended the matter 't is as he was made Man that he purchased or rather obtained our Redemption By his own Blood he entered once into the Holy Place heb 9.12 having obtained eternal Redemption for us And this Redemption that he obtained for us was our Deliverance and Freedom from under Sin Death and Condemnation as the following words clear it For if the Blood of Bulls and Goats sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how MUCH MORE shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God Furge your Conscience from Dead Works to serve the Living God Hence it most clearly follows that that Eternal Redemption which Christ obtained for us by his Blood and Sacrifice without us must be partaken of and enjoyed within us by a real purging and sanctifying of our Conscience as before And since Remission of Sins Redemption and Justification are attributed to the Blood of Christ as Means or Cause thereof through Faith it follows that though these were obtained by the Sacrifice of Christ without us they are effected and compleated by him within us for our absolute discharge from the Guilt of Sin Condemnation and Curse by a real Purging our Consciences and Purifying of our Hearts by a true Faith in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby we partake of the Effects and Benefits both of his Merit and Sufferings outward and his effectual Work inward to our Salvation from Sin and the sad Effects thereof He hath obtained Eternal Redemption for us he hath gotteâ— the Power thereof for us that we might have it and enjoy it through his effectual Work in us in setting us free from the Bondage of Sin and Corruption and this allows not that men are compleatly justified and redeemed while no Good no Qualification is wrought in them by any Light or Spirit whatsoever as R. G. affirmed and whose Cause this Priest has espoused and therefore 't is Chargeable upon him wherein they have at once justified the Unclean the Wicked the Unbelievers the Unconverted the Impenitent c. and excluded the Light and Spirit of Christ Faith Repentance Conversion Sanctification Humility Sincerity c. which are Inward Qualifications and Fruits of the holy Spirit from being conterned in this great Work and State of Justification and Redemption contrary to Christ's own Testimony Except I wash thee thou hast no part with me Pr. pag. 15. This Quaking Proteus turn'd into a Socinian shape It s still no less than unscriptural that God-man hath purchased all of God without Farewell to the received Doctrine of the Church of England Answ Quaking Proteus a Fabulous Flout and Falshood The Quakers greatly differ from the Socinians both touching the Deity of Christ and his divine Light in man and Perfection in this Life as owned by Quakers not by Socinians The Doctrine of the Church of England allows of no such Doctrine as that Persons are compleatly justified while no good is wrought in them by the Spirit of Christ and that under the Pretence of God-Man having purchased all of God without For even E. Still Treat pag. 270. Stilling fleet in his discourse of the Sufferings of Christ against Socin Crel counts it an Opinion which few who have consider'd these things do maintain
and none need to think themselves obliged to do it which is that Christ paid a Proper and Ridgid Satisfaction * Let my Adversar reconcile his Doctrine to this of Christs Satisfaction as held by the Presbyterians where he sayes That Satisfastion made by Christ God-Man to God the rathers Justice is a precious Gospel-Truth Is not this such a Notion as Edw. Stillingfleet here opposeth for the Sins of Men considered under the Notion of Debt and that he paid the very same which we ought to have done c. And further saith If the very same had been paid in the strict sense Ibid. p. 271. there would have followed a Deliverance Ipso Facto for the Release immediately follows the Payment of the same c. But we see that Faith and Repentance and the Consequences of those two are made Conditions on our parts in order to the enjoying the Benefit of what Christ hath procured And he further argues and saith We are to consider that these very Persons assert that Christ Paid all for us Ibid. p. 272. and in our Name and stead c. But above all things it is impossible to reconcile the Freeness of Remission with the full Payment of the very same It is impossible the same Debt should be fully paid and freely forgiven And he counts that they give the Church's Adversaries too great Advantage who hold this Opinion built upon a Mistake that Satisfaction must be such a strict Payment However let it be noted That seeing Faith and Repentance and the Consequences of both are made Conditions on our parts in order to the enjoying the Benefit of what Christ hath procured It follows that Justification and Redemption are not compleated wholly without us or that men are justified and redeemed while no Good no Qualification is wrought in them by the Spirit and Light of Christ for Faith and Repentance are some Good wrought in us thereby Pr. Ibid. No such thing discoverable by the Light within any Quaker as that the Godhead and Manhood were joyned in one Person who suffered was dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a Sacrifice not only for Original Guilt but also for all Actual Sins of Men. Ibid. The Quakers deny Christ to be God-Man in one Person Answ 'T was discoverable by the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets that Christ should be called the Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa 9.6 as also by the same Spirit and â—ight of it they did soresee his Sufferings as Man and the Glory that should follow and that thereby as a Sacrifice he should make a Reconciliation for Iniquity and also that he should bring in Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9. And accordingly God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself and it is as in Christ who is truly God and truly Man inseparable that God and Men are reconciled and in Union but not so out of Christ in their Unbelief Sin and Transgressions § X. Pr. Ibid. If this with his Fellow-Quakers were enjoyned by the King's Majesty the Defender of the true Faith to subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles then by their declaring their unfeigned Assent and Consent but to the two first Articles thereof their False Christian Paint would soon fall off these Saints Seed People Answ This man 's Hypocritical Paint is greatly defaced by his Scoffing and Flouting and shamefully Belying us therewith We hope to approve our selves True Christians Saints and People of God when he and such Temporizing Hypocrites and Scorners shall be had in universal Contempt for their Wickedness As to the two first Articles if that will either quiet him or he thinks it may make for him I can assent and subscribe to the substance of the two first that is To the One Living and True God infinite in Power Wisdom and Goodness the Maker and Preserver of all things and the Father Son and Holy Ghost as of one Substance Power and Eternity And to the Son his being the Word the very Eternal God of One Substance and that he took Man's Nature in the Virgin Mary and that so he is one Christ perfect God and Man who as Man truly suffered was crucified dead and buried and so became a Sacrifice for Reconciliation between the Father and us This without any Equivocal or Reserved Sense I can freely consent to let my Adversary make what he can of it Qr. G.W. Now if Professors come not to feel and experience these Things or Works of Christ viz. Reconciliation Redemption Salvation Justification fulfilled within them they are but meer empty Professors and Talkers of them without the true Life and Power of Christianity and true Religion Priest answers p. 16. They are Quakers in Heart ill principled in Christianity who do not see plainly how this Quaker 's Spirit hath put him upon playing the Sophister as well as an Ignoramus in it Answ Here he counts us Ill principl'd in Christianity Sophisters and Ignoramus's for asserting that Reconciliation Redemption Salvation Justification must be fulfilled within as much as to tell us that Professors possess the true Life and Power of Christianity without having these Works of Christ fulfilled within them as if they were all wholly compleated without them without respect to the Work of Christ within them This is still his old Antinomian Notion which he would father upon the Church of England but how contrary not only to Scripture but also to the Seventeenth Article of the Bishops concerning those who are Chosen in Christ let the serious Reader judge The words in the said Article are these viz. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's Purpose by his Spirit working in due season they through Grace obey the Calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like the Image of his Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk Religiously in good Works and at length by God's Mercy they attain to Everlasting Felicity Here is as much said for me as I can desire to this Adversary's Confutation discovering not only his Abuse of the Quakers but of his own Church in his pleading for a Justification of men wholly without them so wholly excluding the Works of Christ from within leaving them under the Dominion of Sin and Satan But this is not all but also in the said 17th Article there are these words viz. And such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the Works of the Flesh and their Earthly Members and drawing up their Minds to High and Heavenly Things fervently kindle their Love towards God How plain is it that here is Confession to the working of God's Spirit even to the feeling if it within Obedience to his Calling being made Sons of God conformable to the Image of his Son c. included in the State of Justification contrary to our Adversary's
And also see 1 Cor. 6.11 where both Washing Sanctification and Justification are said to be in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God And even Erasmus in his Paraphrase on Acts 13.38 39. saith expresly Through this same Jesus each man without respect of any Person or else offence hath Righteousness or Justification and Innocency profferred unto him so that he believe the Promises of the Gospel Note Surely then these are profferred to be received Therefore this Adversary's saying That the Quakers have a Pâ—pe in their Bellies and that the Quaker his Lines are hammered out upon his Popish Anvil as in pag. 22 24. These are some of his Abominable Scurrilous Slanders such Temporizers as he are more like to have a Pope in their Bellies that for their Bellies can Temporize Change and Turn their Coat in Religious matters And how like a Popish Incendiary has he acted in rendring the People called Quakers so guilty of Popery as if he had a Design to carry on for the Popish Interest either by endeavouring the Quakers Destruction because of their opposition to Popery or else by encreasing the Number of Papists by adding the Quakers thereto or rather falsly rendring the Popish Interest far bigger than it is Besides he grosly mistakes as well as shallowly argues about Popery in his rendring some Truths which the Council of Trent held to be Popery whereas Popery is the Gross Erronious Idolatrous and Superstitious part of their Doctrine and Religion and not any Scripture-Truths that they hold But this man it seems where they hold the New Birth and the Renovation of the inner man c. as necessary to our Justification this he 'll deem Popery because held by the Council of Trent But further Though Christ dyed for all all are not Partakers of the blessed Ends and Benefit thereof but those to whom it is communicated for unless in Adam they were faln and degenerate so as to dye in their own Injustice unto Righteousness they should not be unjust so unless they be regenerate in Christ they should never be justified and live to him Council of Trent chap. 3. Sess 6. Vnless they were born again in Christ they should never be justified Then it follows because that Regeneration is given to them by the Merit of his Suffering by Grace received whereby they are made Righteous What Protestant ever denyed this that only the Regenerate had the Benefit of Christ's Sufferings and that Regeneration was given freely and that thereby they were made Righte ous or Sanctified or Repentance wrought in them and Newnes of Life By Grace we are saved saith Paul through Faith and that not of our selves it is the Gift of God This Man appears in this Point an Adversary to the Papists and Protestants that are not Libertines And the Charge is true against him that the Papists untruly bring against the Protestants viz. of Libertinism And at this rate he may as well invalidate much of the Doctrine of the Church of England so much applauded by him for that she holds the same Truths which in divers things the Church of Rome holds and both have recourse in many things to the same Authors and Fathers for their Assertions And in this very Case of Justification inwardly the Rhemists in their Annot. on Rom. 3.22 cite St. Augustine speaking thus The Grace of Christ doth work our Illumination and Justification inwardly also De Pec. Mer. l. 1. c. 9 10. And again He giveth to the Faithful the most secret Grace of his Spirit which secretly he poureth into Infants also And again They are justiâ—â—ed in Christ that believe in him through the secret Communication and Inspiration of spiritual Grace whereby every one leaneth to our Lord. And again He maketh just renewing by the Spirit and Regeneration by Grace And also a Person of note who lately wrote the Book entituled The Middle Way of Perfection with indifferency between the Orthodox and the Quaker he vindicates us in this very Point of Justification as it is from the Charge of the Law and the Charge of the Gospel confessing That our Faith and Repentance is our Righteousness in regard to the Gospel but Pardon of Sin together with this Righteousness so both into universal Justification p. 5. And also pleads for God's justifying us by this Righteousness that is by Faith and Evangelical Obedience And farther saith he I do not find that the Scripture doth denominate or pronounce any one Righteous or a Just Man from one end to another upon any other account then his doing Righteousness As also saith That calm Protestants grant the Constitution of a real true Righteousness according to the Covenant of Grace pag. 15 16. And grants A having the Righteousness of a perfect Heart for Justification and yet no man justified but by the Grace of God through the Redemption which we have in Christ Jesus pag. 26. And also consesseth That we have their Divines on the blind side and that the Orthodox are quite out that will have any justified without a Righteousness that is perfect according to the Law that justifies him i. e. the Law of Grace pag. 26. And confesseth also on St. Augustine Aug de Spir. et Lit. That 't is possible for a Man to attainto such a perfection as to live without Sin by Grace or the special Assistance of God's Spirit granting it also to be our Duty But our Adversary tells us That it is an old Popish Trick to assert Justification by Works of the Spirit p. 23. Thus he still persists in his Antinomian Libertine Sin-pleasing Principle to shut out the Work of the Spirit from Justification that Impure and Poluted Persons may be deemed Just and Righteous under the Notion of Imputation contrary to the most Moderate and Learned of all sorts both Protestants and others and contrary to what 's before-cited out of their 17th Article for the Spirit 's working in due season and mortifying the Works of the Flesh And I would know where ever any Protestant Writers of note did charge the Council of Trent with Popery on the two Passages before cited out of the said Council against us As also contrary to many Passages in the Common-Prayer or Service Book as in their Absolution to be pronounced by the Priest viz. That Almighty God hath given Power to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being penitent the Absolution and Remission of their Sius he pardons and absolves all them which truly repent and unfeignedly believe c. Wherefore we beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his Holy Spirit that those things may please him which we do at this present and that the rest of our Life hereafter may be Holy But with what Heart or Faith can our Adversary thus pronounce or pray when he neither believes a Pureness of Life nor grants Repentance and such unfeigned Belief to concern our Justification while he shuts out the Works
of the Spirit there as he hath done surely he pronounceth and prayeth what he believes not but from the Teeth outward And also let it be noted how Inconsistent our present Adversary is with the Sermon preached before the Lords in Parliament upon the Fast day February 4. 1673. by Herbert Bishop of Hereford where after he has exclaimed against the Vice Debauchery Pride and Luxury the abominable Lust Excess and Superfluities of our Times he earnestly presseth and urgeth upon their Consciences For Humiliation Weeping Mourning Fasting mortifying their Carnal Bestial Lust that so God from his Mercy-seat might look down with Compassion upon them and pardon all their Crying Sins and then God would Bless them c. Here he did not preach Pardon Peace Blessing or Justification to them if they continued in Sin And further plainly saith Now that Sin is more hateful unto Christ than any Sufferings is evident because he endureth all these to take away Sin Christ could endure the greatest Torment in the World but cannot endure the least Sin for Sin is not only hateful but a flat Contradiction unto God for God is Holiness Can we be such ungrateful Beasts such savage Wolves such cruel Tygers such bloody Monsters as yet to crucify him afresh and put him again to open shame God forbid But let us rather scourge and crucifie the old Man that hater of this our blessed Saviour Thus sar the said-Bishop with much more of this kind of his Sermon aforesaid I am perswaded if the Bishops did see and rightly consider much of my Adversaries writing and what Sin-pleasing Antinomian Notions he would father upon the Church of England they would conclude that he had need to preach a Recantation Sermon or otherwise that he deserves to be degraded and Excommunicated I have quoted the more against him of matter owned by the Protestants and Church of England because he brags so much of that Church as if she would shelter him in all his Deceits and Abuses § XIII Pr. p. 25. In this Quaking Ramble we find too much abominable Doctrine viz. 1. No Hosanna due to Christ as the he Son of M ary no existing Bodily without us 2. Jesus the Son of Mary is not God our Saviour 3. That Jesus Christ is not the Son of the Substance of the Father Answ In all these this Envious Priest hath most shamefully abus'd and perverted my Words as may apparently be seen in the Book Entituled The Nature of Christianity c. pag. 40 and 41. As First About No Hosanna a falshood For I confess'd that the multitude cried Hosanna to the Son of David Matth. 21.9 And ask'd if Hosanna be not Save now I beseech thee only I shewed R. G. his mistake that it was the Multitudes that cryed Hosanna to the Son of David which he placed upon his Apostles and all his Ministers in all Ages whereas they all confessed his Deity as well as his Manhood his being the Son of God and the Root as well as the Off-spring of David Yet I condemn not their Hosanna to the Son of David who in simplicity of Heart cryed so But yet that there is an higher Expression of Honour to him with respect to his Deity and as the Eternal Son of God and David's Lord according to his own Testimony when he questioned the Pharisees and Scribes who called him the Son of David viz. What think ye of Christ whose Son is he They said unto him The Son of David He said unto them How then doth David in Spirit call him Lord saying The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my Right Hand till I make thine Enemies thy Foot-stool If David then call him Lord how is he his Son And no man was able to answer him a Word neither durst any man from that day forth ask any more Questions Mat. 22. and Mark 12.35 36 37. Did Christ herein deny himself to be the Son of David or of his Seed according to the Flesh no sure no more have we What I writ as before was in relation to the Honour due to Christ as the Eternal Son of God which the Pharisees allow'd not of though they confessed him to be the Son of David but were offended at his owning himself to be the Son of God John 10.36 and 19.7 The Jews charged him with Blasphemy and said He ought to dye because thereof Secondly The Priest has most shamefully belyed me by inferring upon me a denial of the Deity of Jesus Christ as if I denied him to be God our Saviour which is a gross Lye for I have in plain words confest that the holy Prophets Apostles and Ministers pointed and testified unto Jesus Christ both as Man born of the Virgin to his coming in the Flesh Nat. Chri. pag. 40. and unto his Divinity and manifestation in Spirit Thirdly The Priest hath abominably belyed me in charging this Doctrine upon me that Jesus Christ is not the Son of the Substance of the Father * Which also he sets down in his 10th Article as the Quakers belief p. 147. whenas I have plainly confest his Divinity and the main drift of my Discourse is that he may be chiefly honour'd and worshipped as in respect to his Deity Divine Power and Glory as the Eternal Son of God For that Hosanna and Adoration Claim of Salvation which some pretend only to Christ as the Son of Mary or to him as the Son of Mary only this I was not satisfied with because it excludes his Divinity from that honour chiefly due thereto And it was hereupon that I asked R. G. the Question If he had so considered Christ to be God the Saviour or the Son from the Substance of the Father Which I asked not to deny him in either of these 't was far from my thoughts but only to shew my Opposer his mistake in attributing all to him only as the Son of Mary Thus far was I from denying the Deity of the Son of God or his being of the Substance of the Father from everlasting before the World was As also I shewed Mark 6.3 that they who called Christ the Carpenter the Son of Mary and were offended at him did not shew that honour and respect to him that Peter did who said Nat. Christ p. 51. Thou art Christ the Son of the living God though this can be no Denial of his outward Birth of the Virgin Pr. pag. 26. They deny that the Son of Mary is to be worshipped as God Answ We do not divide Christ though we distinguish between his Godhead and Manhood viz. That though he be perfect God and perfect Man yet inferior to the Father touching his Manhood as is confest in the Liturgy And if any of us have denied that meerly consider'd as the Son of Mary he is to be worshipped as God I think we should not be rendred Offenders nor yet Deniers of his Manhood on this occasion for men more Wise and Learned than our Adversary
And 2 Cor. 3.6 Who also made us able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit And whether the words Carnal Commandment and Carnal Ordinances related to no part of Scripture Heb. 7.16 9 10. And whether no part of the Scripture or Writing of Moses or any else was intended in this term Letter But consider all Scripture as it signifies Writing ought there not to be a distinction made not only between the Writing and the matter written but much more between the Writing and the Spirit Life or Substance declared of in the Writing Concerning Baptism he defends his practice very poorly whilst he intends Baptizing or rather Sprinkling young Children in his telling us That the Church of England is grosly mistaken this Quakers Doctrine hath Quaked the Doctrine of the Church of England into a meer delusion p. 78. And why so but because the Quaker saith The Baptism we own is the Baptism of Christ there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism from Matth. 3.11 Ephes 4.5 6. Collect. J. P. p. 67. Now this Priest proves not that Baptizing with Water muchless that Sprinkling Infants is this one Baptism we have only his Say so or his Belief for it or that Sprinkling Infants is a sign of Regeneration whereby as an Instrument the baptized are grafted into the Church p. 78. He produces us no Scripture-proof for it Pr. pag. 78. This Quaker hath very mean Thoughts of the Lords Supper he counts it but the Worlds Communion As for the Bread broken which is the Body of Christ this Quaker calls it the Bread which the World breaks he speaks abominably of this Bread blessed and broken calling it Carnal Natural that it passeth out of the Body c. Bread and Wine but the Husk and Shadow without p. 79. Answ It appears by this that he deems their Bread and Wine Spiritual Supernatural the Substance the Bread the Body of Christ and then by this the Wine must be the Blood of Christ when blest or consecrated by the Priest Which is rank Popery all one with the Doctrine of Transubstantiation as the Rhemists in their Annot. on Matth. 26. affirm a Consecrating the several Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ the Bread into his Body a part as betrayed broken and given for us the Wine into his Blood a part as shed out of his Body for remission of Sins and Dedication of the New Testament Which is their professed Transubstantiation or changing the Substance of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ according as our Adversary tells us That the Bread broken is the Body of Christ He has left the Doctrine of the Antient Protestants and Protestant-Martyrs who did not own any such Change of the Elements of Bread and Wine but only that as a Sign or Figure of the Body of Christ crucified they were received as a grateful Comemoration of Christ's Death and Sacrifice for mankind But this Adversary is offended that the Bread and Wine should be counted Natural nothing it seems will serve him short of their being the Body and Blood of Christ according as the Rhemists also on Luke 22.19 say Although sense tell thee 't is Bread yet it is the Body let Faith confirm thee judge not by Sense after the words of our Lord let no doubt rise in thy mind of the Verity of Flesh and Blood there is no place to doubt c. See how exactly our Adversary agrees with these Papists in saying The Bread broken is the Body of Christ as before By which he hath now more fully manifested his Popish Spirit especially if he means as he spoke as both repugnant to the Faith of all true Protestants who either look upon these outward Elements to remain the same in themselves in Substance both at and after the words of Consecration and no more than Signs Shadows or outward Mementos at most or look upon them as a Figure or Shadow of the Spiritual receiving of Christ's Body and Blood in the Mystery to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood by Faith as he is the living Bread that comes down from Heaven who gave his Flesh for the Life of the World For there is an Inward and Spiritual Supper of the Lord as well as there was an outward which they partake of who hear the Voice of the Son of God and open the Door of their Heart unto him that he may come in and Sup with them and they with him according to his Testimony in Rev. 3.20 Yet we acknowledge the Sign and Figure in its place and day but the Mystery or thing signified is greater and more Excellent Pr. The Letter or the Scripture is Dust the Serpents Meat which they food upon Answ This he falsly infers and casts upon J. Parn. whenas there is no such passage in J. P's words but that Those who pretend to study Divinity and go among Ignorant People and sell that which they have studied and got into the Brain and those who receive it get it into the Brain and so they live upon Dust which is the Serpents Meat Collect. J. P. p. 78 79. Hence its evident that he did not term the Scripture Dust but the Hireling Priests studied Brain-Notions or Knowledge Whereas the Priest appears in a great Rage and in Cruel Mockery against J. Fernel for his plain dealing with the Magistrates Heads and Priests of England as where J. P. saith For the Testimony of this true Ministry some of us are Imprisoned some Stoned some Stocked Whipped and shamefully intreated as Vagabonds Deluders Wanderers Raisers of Sedition c. and esteemed not worthy to live in the Nation both by Priest and Rulers who are out of the Commands of God and are Vagabonds and Fugitives from God who go in the Way of Cain and Envy and murder the Innocent Collect. J. P. pag. 80. As also where he saith We own Magistracy in its place for whilst there is Transgression there must be a Law and while the Devil hath Power over Man there will be Transgression The Law was given forth to curb Evil-doers c. And true Government according to the Law of God is Serviceable in its place and all Magistrates who fear God and hate Covetousness and are guided by the Light of God in the Conscience and execute the Law in its place without partiality and respect of Persons such are serviceable in their place and this we own and honour and are subject for Conscience-sake J. P. Collect. p. 81 82. These Passages the Priest has left out in his Citation except the first Line and then goes on citing viz. They neither know how to rule or govern who are guided by their own Wills such rule with partiality and respect of Persons and give forth Laws in their own Wills Persecute the Righteous encourage the Heathen c. Upon these and such passages before cited the Priest shamefully inveighs against and belies the Quakers
James Parnel's Books that in reading them over he found Cramben his Coctam he might have forborn this for shame in this case For as for Reiterations Repetitions and Tautologies of worse stuff than Colewort twice boild I never read any that surpassed him especially any of his Coat that stuff'd up a Book so big as his with so much Scoffing Jeering trifling and impious Reiterations with so little shew of Reason as he hath done which shews after what an Ungodly rate he has spent his Time and Study and how therein he has been attended and prompted with a Diabolical Spirit to inveigh like one mad with Envy against the Light of Christ within Perfection partaking of the Divine Nature and Unity of the true Church § XXXII Pr. pag. 122. Take heed to the Light of God within you this is only a Whim of the Qrs. Brain which hath no Foundation in any Apostolical Writings In Scripture we find mention made often of Christ the Light and sometimes of Christ in you But take heed to the Light of God within you this is only the Quakers false Doctrine Answ Look here he can scarce write a Paragraph without scoffing at the Qrs. Thus he inveighs against taking heed to the Light of God within he sayes It has no Foundation in any Apostolical Writings But see the man's Contradiction as well as his Ignorance herein He confesses that in Scripture we find often mention made of Christ the Light and sometimes of Christ in you and has this no Foundation in the Apostles Writings If Christ be the Light and Christ within must not he be taken heed unto and followed as he is manifest within even in them that believe in his Light as he has taught but if God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Must we not then take heed unto his Inshining Light in our Hearts when he shines in our Hearts to give us such Knowledge I had not repeated so much of this Man 's reiterated trifling and scornful Contradiction and Opposition to Truth but that his Folly may the more be seen and remain on record against him â—r Ibid. To be one in the Eternal Vnity smells strong of Parnel 's Partakers of Christ's Divine Nature that God is with us manifested in the Flesh all which is Abâ—â—inable â—lasphemy Answ As for Eternal Unity among Christ's Followers did not he pray for it John 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us And this partaking of Christ's Divine Nature offends the Priest still but his Folly therein is sufficiently detected before which now he greatly adds to in accounting it Abominable Blasphemy to say God is with us c. How then is Christ called Immanuel God with us And hath not God promised to dwell and walk in his People And were not the true Believers given up to suffer with Christ and to be delivered up to Death for his sake that the Life also of Jesus might be manifest in their mortal Flesh And doth not the Spirit of Christ dwell in true Believers and quicken their mortal Body to yield their Members as Instruments of Righteousness to God that Christ may dwell in their Hearts by Faith that they might know the Love of Christ and be filled with all the Fulness of God For which End Paul bow'd his Knees unto the Fathers of our Lord Jesus Christ see Ephes 3.14 to the end Pr. p. 124. Christ Jesus his Body is one which is his Church behold except the Church which is Christ's Mystical Body our Saviour hath no other Body Answ The Priest takes occasion for these words from a Passage he cites out of a Book called Truth 's Defence which as he cites it is That the Body of Christ is but one and he is the Head of the Body which is the Church Whence he infers our Saviour hath no other Body which is but his own Narrow Construction For it follows not from saying the Body of Christ or his Church is but one that Christ hath no Spiritual or Glorious Body peculiar to and of himself whereof the Church contains Members For what 's more plain than where it s said For as the Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body so also is Christ 1 Cor. 12.20 Then that all those many Members and that one Body of Christ whereof they are Members make upone Body collectively and joyntly in Christ and that the Church and Members of Christ as joyn'd to him and his Body to make up one Body in universal Union and Fulness of Christ Jesus so as all are joyned to him and Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bone this makes us one Body where there is likewise one Christ who takes in and comprehends with him both his own Glorious Body like unto which the Body of the Saints Lowness was to be fashioned Phil. 3.21 and all the Members thereof who are joyned to him in that Mysterious Union that is between Christ and his Church as he is the true Vine and they the Branches And granting still that Christ has a Glorious Body most near proper to himself above and more excellent than all our Earthly Bodies like unto which he will change our Low and Humble Body 't is not improper to say The Body is one and hath many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body Now are there many Members yet but one Body 1 Corinth 12.20 And there is one Body and one Spirit Ephes 4.4 Therefore a plurality of Bodies and Members may be truly called one Body in that Mystical or hidden Union that is between Christ and his Church for any Collective Body consisting of many People may be called one Body though this be far inferiour to the heavenly Union between Christ his Body and Church Lastly How can true Believers who are many be said to be One Bread from their eating of that one Bread which is Christ even of his Flesh which he gave for the Life of the World or be said to be Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bone from their Union with him or his Church be said not only to be his Body but the Fulness of him that filleth all in all if in this Bread his Flesh Body and Fulness Christ's own Body be not so included and his Church therewith so nearly united as All comprehensively to make up One universal Body in the Fulness of Christ for how should his particular Body be excluded out of his Fulness and yet there are those who discern not the Lord's Body who eat and drink unworthily and so eat and drink their own Damnation But this Priest still proceeds in his Envious Attempts telling
same as to Miracles or to equalize themselves therein with the Apostles though God hath wrought Wonders and Miracles among them and by some as Instruments in his hand Art 78. That to redeem and make free from Sin is done with the Body of Christ which we have told you is the Church A Perversion still as if the Church only did redeem and free it self whereas 't is Christ in and with his own Body that redeems his Church which is that Body of his whereof he is Head Though he has an intire peculiar and glorious Body yet the Church as united to him and Members of his Body comprehensively make up one Indivisible Body in the compleat and mysterious Union and Fulness of himself § 32. Art 81. That that man looks upon Christ with a Carnal Eye that looks upon him to have a true Body Which is a lying Forgery still Christ hath a true and Spiritual glorious Body whereof the Saints are Members in the spiritual and mysterious union wiâ—h himself § 32. Art 83. That Fellowship at the Lords Table is very wicked Is also a perverse falshood for ye cannot eat at the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils Covetous Priests and Wicked People though they have the Sign or Shadow yet are short of the Lord's Table and partake not of the Flesh and Blood of Christ nor of his Supper while they shut him out of their Hearts § 16. 25. Art 89. That Vnquakeriz'd Christians do worship an unknown God A Forgery still none of our Terms or Creed but false and fleshly Christians do so Worship § 31. There are divers more Forgeries Perversions and Falshoods in the Priests Articles which for brevity's sake I omit and shall now give the Reader an Account according to my second Proposition before stated of some Truths set down in the Priests Articles which are not according to his Faith he having given them all the Title of the Quakers Vnsound Faith And thus I proceed viz. Pr. Art 2 3. Now we Quakers do believe that the Spirit alone doth give true discerning that the Light within ought to be the Rule of our Faith and Practice Answ We do believe that the Spirit of Truth is all-sufficient for those Ends 't is given for and leadeth into all Truth that true discerning of Spirits is a Gift of this Spirit and that we ought to walk in the Light of Christ Jesus and his Spirit as the chief Rule of our Faith and Practice which things it seems this Priest does not believe he believes not that the Spirit alone doth give true Discerning or that the Divine Light thereof ought to be his Rule He believes the Scripture to be the Rule of Life without the Light within as he has told us p. 120. § 14 15. Pr. Art 21. We Q. believe that we are to mind the Spirit alone in all things Answ We do believe we ought to mind the Spirit of Truth in all things both in reading Scripture for a true understanding thereof and in our Words and Actions but this Priest does not believe he ought to be so mindful of the Spirit his mind is more upon Flesh than Spirit § 14 15 23. Pr. Art 34. We Q. do believe that the Name Sunday is Heathenish that every day is the Lord's day Answ Then this Priest does not believe the Name Sunday is Heathenish or proceeded from Heathens or that every day is the Lords thus ignorant he has shewn himself § 20. Pr. Art 35. We Q. believe that they are no truly faithful Christians who deny that there is a perfect freedom from all manner of Sin to be had in this Life that their Faith is not the true Faith if it doth not cleanse them from all their Sins Answ This Priest therefore believes that they are truly faithful Christians and in the true Faith who deny a Perfect freedom from Sin in this Life and whose Faith does not cleanse them from their Sins which is contrary to the Belief and Faith of truly faithful Christians who know the Heart-purifying Faith and the Blood of Christ to cleanse them from all Sin and such could say He hath washed us from our Sins in his own Blood But 't is not done in this Life saith the Priest When then In the Life to come it must be But Where must it be in a Purgatory between Heaven and Hell That 's Popish Doctrine § 21. and 28. Pr. Art 36. We Q. do believe that the Scripture is not the Light nor the Word nor the Life nor the Judge nor the Rule nor the Guide nor the Tryer of Spirits Answ This being also included in the Qrs. unsound Faith by the Priest we must take it for granted that he believes the Scripture is the Light the Life the Judge †Contrary to Psal 50.6 Isa 33 22. Acts 10.42 Heb. 12.23 James 5.9 the Rule the Guide the Tryer of Spirits which Terms by way of Eminency most properly belonging to God to Christ to the holy Spirit to the divine Light * John 1 c 11.25 c. 14.6 might not the Priest as well have told us that the Scripture is God and Christ § 22 23 § 14 15. Pr. Art 37. We Q. do believe that the People and Teachers are Ignorant of Christ who seek Life in the Scripture where it is not to be found Answ So then this Priest therefore believes that Eternal Life is to be sound in the Scriptures and they who seek it in the Scripture do know and find Christ the Light and Life Eternal therein which is contrary to Christs own Testimony John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye THINK ye have Eternal Life and they are they which testifie of me but ye will not come to me that ye might have Life § 22 23. § 14 15. Pr. Art 50. We Q. do believe That they are all Heathens and no Christians who are so baptiz'd i. e. with Water and cannot witness the other Baptism i. e. the Baptism of Christ Answ This Priest then believes that they all are no Heathens but Christians who are Baptized or Sprinkled with Water when Infants though they cannot witness the Baptism of Christ at such an easie rate can he make Christians contrary to Christs own Testimony If I do not wash thee thou hast no part in me and except a man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God § 16. 25. 29. Pr. Art 51. We Q. do believe that Sacramental Bread so called is Natural that the Cup is such like and that which they call the Lords Supper is a Shadow Answ This being also included in the Qrs. Vnsound Faith we may take it for granted that the Priest does not believe that the Bread and the Cup which they call Sacramental and the Lords Supper are Natural Carnal or Shadow What then that they are Supernatural Spiritual the Substance the Body and Blood of Christ yea That the Bread broken