concerning Peter Bosse his retaking the Sloop without Force of Arms John Homes a Baptist Teacher and either then or some time not long after a Justice of Peace whose Name and Christian Behaviour is mentioned in the said printed Tryal in refusing to give Judgment against G. K. whithout hearing did write some English Verses which are these following One Quaker Master of a Boat With our small Fleet along did Float And tho he us'd not Sword nor Gun Yet with his Oars and with his Tongue He plaid his part exceeding well As these who were with him can tell P. 22. Whereas he makes me to say in one Book The express knowledg of Christ's Death and Sufferings as Man in the outward is not universally necessary to Salvation And in another That the express Knowledg of Christ's Death is universally necessary Answ In this he useth after his manner gross deceit and greatly abuseth his Reader and me also for tho he citeth a passage in one of my Books to prove the first viz. Presh and Indep Vis p. 133. Yet he cites no passage in any of my Books for the second that I can find tho I have narrowly searched but the only proof I can find he brings is that he saith p. 15. I furiously quarrel with Friends about it and confess it to be a main matter of Controversy with Friends there This is false I never had any Controversy with any whether the express Knowledg and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings be universally necessary to Man's Salvation so as necessary to be had by all and every one before Death But the true state of the Question betwixt them and me was and is Whether the express Knowledg and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings c. be not necessary to Salvation to all Professing Christianity and who have the opportunity and help of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament whereby to receive it the Holy Spirit inwardly co-operating to produce the Faith of it in them that hear or read that Doctrine as delivered in the Holy Scriptures and whether the Doctrine of Christ should not be Preached as he Died for our Sins and rose again c. as a main Doctrine of the Christian Religion in order to Salvation For I have always distinguished betwixt simple Heathens or Gentiles who have not the occasion to have the Faith outwardly Preached and those in Christendom under a Christian Profession who have the occasion to hear it Preached to the former I have said the express Knowledg and Faith of that Doctrine is not necessary tho the implicit in some degree is but how much or what measure or degree of it is universally necessary I have never affirmed And that this is the true state of the question betwixt my Adversaries and me I need go no further for a Proof than from my present Adversary who makes it a great Error in me to say the Light within is not sufficient to Salvation without something else for if that be false the contradictory is true viz. The Light within is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else but the Death and Sufferings of Christ and his Blood outwardly shed and his Intercession for us in Heaven without us are all something else and if the Light within be sufficient without all these then there is no need to believe or Preach any of them but only and alone the Light within P. 24. He spends his Pages from 24. to 28. in some base insinuations against me about the 12 Revolutions and telling some Stories most of which are absolutely false and that little that 's true in any of them is not fairly nor duly related and which he brought no proof for but his own forfeited Credit or the report of such as are of as ill Credit as himself and known to have been prejudiced Persons against me P. 29. What he saith of my Praising the Quaker`s Doctrine to Cotton Mather in New-England was before that Party rose up aginst me in Pensilvania to oppose the same Doctrine I delivered in my Printed Books in answer to Cotton Mather which Doctrine they seemed to own and all my former Books were Approved of by most of the Ministers of best note in Pensilvania that were writ in Answer to Cotton Mather and his Brethren in New England before they were Printed so that it was a most astonishing thing to me to find how suddenly they who professed to own the Doctrine contained in these Books turned against the very same Doctrine after W. Stockdale had accused me of Preaching two Christs because I Preached Faith in Christ without and in Christ within therefore this sudden Alteration began in them and until I came to England and found the greatest part of their Teachers here in England and particularly G. Whitehead and W. Penn to favour and support those in Pensilvania whom I have sufficiently detected guilty of vile Errors I had but too good an Esteem for them wherein I confess I was mistaken and this put me on a further search into their Books which formerly I did not much Read and many of them not at all and what I did Read I did not so well consider and upon my further search I found sufficient cause to change my Judgment concerning these Men. But none can charge it on me that either by word or writing I ever agreed with them in those vile Errors which since I have discovered and reprehended in them so that this is no change or contradiction in any Doctrine or Principle of Faith and what change of Judgment I have of these Men they have the like of me and will readily confess they have been as greatly mistaken in me as I have been in them and therefore they can have no advantage against me in that respect And whereas he Insinuateth pag. 24. 25 26. That I have dropt here and there some passages in my late Books from which they cannot but conclude That either I did intend to conform Friends to some Doctrine of which by what follows the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions may be supposed to be not the least in his Eye or else to separate from them Some of which expressions he mentions out of my late Books Printed in Pensilvania all which were generally approved by Friends of the Ministry out of which he hath gathered them and if he thinks these Expressions will prove the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions he should have proved it by positive Arguments and not give simple Queries for Arguments all which I could easily Answer without the Doctrine of the 12 Revolutions but that I have no mind to answer his curiosity or gratify such a prejudiced Adversary and he might much rather query whether G. F. did not hold the Doctrine of the Revolutions that hath said in some of his Printed Books before Languages were he was and his Charging the Blood of many that were slain above a thousand Years ago upon the People living in
other bodies in substance from what they were here on Earth which this Caleb Pusie hath affirmed 6 thly Where doth the Scripture say The Regeneration or Conversion of the Soul is only a purification from sin as the washing of a body besmeared with dirt when cleansed is a Purification and not a Transmutation as Caleb Pusey hath also affirmed as above And though I remain still in the same mind That no Article of Faith should be urged on any but what is contained in plain express words of Scripture or so agreeable to express Scripture as the common sense of all mankind that hears Scripture words must acknowledge as though it is not said in Scriptures That Egypt Arabia Palestine Mesopotamia are Places without us yet common Sense tells us so Yet I see not why I should be so confined to express Scripture words in things that I require no Man to own or believe as Articles of Faith but leave them to their Liberty and others take their Liberty to use great variety of other words and I think I may say it without vanity the manner of my Preaching and writing has been full as much Scriptural as to Phrase as most of the Preachers and Writers among the Quakers As for his querying pag. 56. where are the express Scripture words that say The four hundred pieces of Silver that Abraham Purchased the Burying Place with signifies four hundred Vertues I Answer The Scripture saith that as much though not expresly yet implicitly as it saith The Treasures we are to lay up in Heaven are Spiritual and Divine Vertues which are the true Riches and the Wells that Abraham Digged and Isaack signified the Spiritual Wells of Water within them and Egypt signified the power of Darkness and Canaan that slowed with Milk and Hony signified the Kingdom of God for the Old Testament abounds with such Allegories But if any do not believe my interpretation by way of Allegory on that place of Scripture while they and I own the literal Sense or any others of the like nature I am far from urging it upon them but leave them to their free Judgment and as God shall be pleased to Enlighten them For there are many things both in my Book called Truth Advanced so reproachfully mentioned by him and in many other of my Books wherein I may possibly differ from others in Judgment yet I leave them to their Liberty to Dissent as I desire to be left to my Liberty to believe as I judg God has perswaded me But such as differ from me so far and so wide as this Person doth Caleb Pusie and these of the Second Days Meeting that have Countenanced and Approved his most Antichristian Doctrines directly contrary to the great fundamentals of Christianity affirming Jesus of Nazareth to be nothing else but the Light within and saying The Light within is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else so Excluding our Lord Jesus of Nazareth his Death and Sufferings his Resurrection Ascension Mediation for us in Heaven all which are something else than the Light within from being concerned in our Salvation I can by no means own them to be my Christian Brethren but esteem them to be worse than Mahometans and than other Sober and Honest Heathens or Gentiles for their opposing so great Truths so plainly exprest in Holy Scripture and it is not the Light in them but gross Darkness that leads them into these abominable Errors and the very Spirit of Antichrist Possesses them and they are such Antichrists concerning whom John Testified 1 John 2. 18. and 1 John 9. 3. Every Spirit that Confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God And this is that Spirit of Antichrist c. For notwithstanding their seeming confessions to him yet seeing they own not Justification by his Blood outwardly shed and Salvation by Faith in him as he Dyed for us and Rose again their Faith and Confession is vain and Hypocritical G. K. London the 2d of the 4th Month 1696. Some REMARKS on John Pennington 's late Book entituled The People called Quakers cleared c. and G. Whitehead his Postscript Shewing some of their gross Perversions Flashoods and Groundless Calumnies against G. K. Pag. 3. THeir blaming me for appointing a Meeting to which their Consent was neither sought nor made Necessary Answ They got timely Notice a Month before-hand and were desired to be present and why might not I appoint a Meeting without their Consent to Detect their Errors and to show the Unjustness of their Sentence of Excommunication against me as without my Consent they appointed a Meeting to Excommunicate me I desired them again and again in former Prints to consent to Time and Place yea to appoint Time and Place and I should stand to their Appointment But they still refused Offenders use not to consent to their Tryal P. 3. Their charging me with Spleen and Malice I reject as false and fictitious P. 4. Their telling of two Books lying on my Hand unanswered and my having given them Ground to expect an Answer to two of them Answ To the first some of their own Church have sufficiently answered to show the Badness of their Cause in that Censure they gave against Thomas Elwood which was read at the Meeting at Turner's-Hall 11th of the 4th Month. 1696. and is Printed in the Exact Narrative pag. 46. To the second and all the other I answered at that Meeting and have sufficiently detected their Abuses Fallacies Perversions as well as False Doctrines though I have a great deal more in reserve But all impartial Men will clear me of any blame in not answering them in Print when I have offered to Answer them viva voce at a Meeting for there is no end of answering them in Print and they can and do more securely Forge Pervert and Abuse their Readers and me also in Print because they know few will be at the pains to compare their Books with mine to see who is innocent or blame-worthy But Face to Face and by Word of Mouth it is easily made apparent and beside as I have formerly told to print Books to answer all their Books is too great a Charge for me P. 4. They alledge ' I have vindicated their Principles from their Common Adversaries Answ Such as I did think were their Principles I did formerly vindicate but most of them which I did think were their Principles I have found of late were not their Principles though I retain them still as mine and I challenge them or any Man to prove that ever I did vindicate any of these four abominable Principles which I have proved G. W. and W. P. guilty of at the late Meeting 11th 4th Month 1696. and whereof the late Printed Narrative gives an Account And though they alledge I have changed my Principles yet they have not made it to appear nor I believe they ever shall that in any one Article of the Christian Faith that are
yet the one Cause is not the other therefore their Argument is as vain and false as who did argue the little Mustard-Seed causeth the Herb Mustard to grow and the Earth in which it is sown causeth it to grow and the Sun and Rain cause it to grow therefore that little Seed is the Earth is the Sun and is the Rain Our Salvation and cleansing from Sin dependeth on divers Causes 1st chiefly on God who gave his Son to Dye for us 2dly on Christ who shed his Blood outwardly to cleanse us from Sin 3dly on the Spirit Life and Grace of Christ inwardly given us helping and enabling us by a Living Faith to apply the Merit Virtue and Efficacy of that Blood of Christ outwardly-shed for our Salvation and cleansing both from the guilt of Sin and the inward filth and stain of it But before I finish my Answer to this Head let me give Notice to the Reader of several gross Perversions Falsities and Abuses they put on my Sound Words cited in their several pages on these last Heads from pag. 15. to pag. 33. First in pag. 16. they pervert my Plain Words where I said Though Prophets and Apostles preached him as in the Form of a Man yet they preached him also and that more generally as a Light to the Gentiles yea and to Jews also Where they put a false and perverse sense upon the Word more generally as if I did signifie by it more frequently which I did not but by more generally I did and do understand that his Inward Appearance by his Light and Grace in Men is and ever was more general than his Outward Appearance in the outward and visible form of a Man therefore what was in it self more general they Preached it to be so but this doth not infer that they Preached him more frequently within Men than without them for if they preached as they wrote in their Writings where once we read of Christ within we read some Scores of times of Christ as he was outwardly manifest was Born Dyed Buried Rose again Ascended and is gone into Heaven where he remains our Advocate and Mediator with the Father Secondly They perversely infer from my Words that whereas I formerly made the Knowledge and Faith of the History of Christ's outward coming not essential to Religion now I did make it essential But in this they are guilty of palbable Forgery for as none of the citations they bring prove it so I do not remember that ever I so said or writ but the Knowledge and Faith of the History is one thing and the implicit Knowledge and Faith of Christ as he is without us is another thing and therefore for them thus to confound thing so differing argueth great Ignorance or Prejudice and however it argueth great Falsity and Unfair Dealing Thirdly That they make it an Inconsistency and Contradiction in me to have formerly said Cornelius was a Devout and Religious Man one whose Prayer God heard and yet of late to have said Cornelius had not the Holy Ghost in his Gentile estate although he had a great measure of Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness But this is no real Contradiction although it may seem so to their Ignorance and Darkness it is easie to show out of Scripture that none had the Holy Ghost or are said to have the Holy Ghost but Believers in Christ Crucified who did witness that special Office of the Holy Ghost to sanctifie them by giving them the Holy Faith in Christ crucified And though the Holy Ghost is holy as well in his Nature as in his special Office of sanctifying them who witness his indwelling in them and union with him yet he is commonly called so in Scripture by virtue of his special Office and â—nfluence in the Hearts of Believers and therefore as he is not said to be the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit in wicked men so nor in pious Gentiles or in such only as are but as Servants and under the first Ministration of the Spirit and G. Whitehead's distinction how Christ is not in all men will serve in this case as well for me as for him to wit by Union which I think was mine in Print before it was in Print his according to which as Christ is only said to live and dwell in true Believers in Christ even CHRIST Crucified and none but such have Christ by a real Interest in him and right to him as a Woman hath to her true Husband So none but true Believers have the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of Christ to wit by Union Right and Interest for that is only the Portion of Children not of Servants as it was said of Abraham he gave Gifts to the Children of Keturah but he gave All to wit the Inheritance to Isaac so God giveth Gifts to such as are but only Servants in his House but giveth himself and his dear Son and Holy Spirit to be the Inheritance of his Children And as to their Question which they think in their Ignorance is unanswerable ' Whether any Prayer is heard by God but what is put by his Spirit I Answer Nay but Servants and Pious Gentiles such as Cornelius was in his Gentile state may be and are helped to Pray by the Spirit having the Influence of the first Ministration of the Spirit which though remotely Preparatory yet doth not instate the Soul into union with the Spirit that being reserved for the second Ministration of the Spirit that is more noble and enableth the Soul that hath it not only to Pray more effectually and acceptably but also to perform all other Acts of Love and Obedience And were not my Adversaries extream blind and ignorant they might understand how the Apostle calleth one and the same Spirit in them who are but Servants the Spirit of servitude so the Greek and in them who are Sons the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 18. 5. And elsewhere he distinguisheth thus calling the one the Spirit of Fear and the other the Spirit of Power of Love and of a Sound Mind 1. Tim. 1. 7. Which are thus distinguished not in Nature and Being but in Office And here let it be noted how by these mens arguing That Men may be eternally saved perfectly sanctified and endued with the Holy Ghost who have no Faith or Knowledge of Christ without them do sufficiently declare what Heathens they are and of what little value they make the Faith and Knowledge of Christ crucified and that their Religion is nothing but Deisne under a Mask Disguise of a Christian Profession Fourthly They make it an Inconsistency and Contradiction in me to have said pag. 22. That many who never had the Scriptures if they have been faithful unto God in what he hath revealed unto them by the Light of Christ in them who dare or can say that they have not been accepted yet not without Faith in Christ in some measure for they that believe in the Light believe in Christ who is that
his time in the City of Leichfield as he declareth in his Journal and how he went in Blood a great way and was commanded to pull off his Shoes c. This and some other like passages has occasioned some to think G. F. favoured the Revolutions but I do not say he did And whether the Disciples did not hold that Doctrine that said Master who hath sinned this Man or his Servants that he was born blind and many other places of Scripture there are on which he might as much and much more query concerning the Revolutions as any expressions he hath mentioned of mine as well as he might query concerning the Revolutions all Friends generally who hold That God hath given to every one a day of Visitation wherein he may be saved and that a Time of God's long suffering is extended to every one wherein he may repent and be Converted seeing many Dye in the Morning as it were of their Age without all signs of Conversion and have had but little Time given them between their Birth and Death wherein to Repent And as to his Question If an honest Indian or Poor infant dye without that outward Knowledg c. He quite misseth the matter I never affirmed the absolute necessity of an outward Knowledg universally to Salvation besides that properly all knowledg is inward and not outward the subject of it being the mind and understanding that is inward And seeing it is certain that there are honest men both among Indians and them called Christians that are not born again I return his own Query upon him to Answer what becomes of them when they dye seeing without being born again there is no entring into the Kingdom of God and what becomes of many called Quakers and others that before they dyed had no signs that they were arrived at that high state of a sinless perfection for tho Friends have earnestly contended for the Doctrin of Perfection as attainable by the Grace of God in this Life yet they have generally acknowledged that many in whom the work of Sanctification is begun have not as yet arrived to that state but have many sinful imperfections remaining in them and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit now let him tell me or any for him what becomes of such when they Dye and I may give him the like Answer or some better what becomes of honest Indians when they Dye if he or they say they who are in measure Sanctified but not Perfected in Sanctification before they Dye are made perfect in Holiness at the instant of Death tho this Answer Friends have blamed when given by those against whom they have contended yet if they think fit to allow of it as current now as it will in great part end the Dispute about Perfection and Answer the great Objection about the Popish Purgatory so it is as valid to Answer that Question What becomes of honest Gentiles that before they Died had no Knowledg nor Faith of Christ Crucified to wit that it is given them at the instant of Death by the internal Operation and illumination of the Holy Spirit But if any say this Answer is more alledged than Proved I reply it hath the same probability in the one case as in the other P. 30. To prove my inconsistency and contrariety with my self in the Doctrine of the Resurrection with a most blasphemous presumption he finds fault with Scripture Doctrine it self and like a scoffing Sadducy or rather Atheist goeth to fix a contradiction on the Scripture it self for thus he brings me in contradicting my self that which riseth is the mortal that puts on immortality and the corruptible which puts on incorruption citing my Book called A Testimony against that absurd Opinion p. 3. But in another place p. 10. he citeth me saying The Flesh that is mortal and corruptible is not that Flesh that shall be raised up immortal and incorruptible And citing my Book called Truth Advanced he brings me saying of that which riseth That it is a pure noble part that consumeth not nor corrupteth And then he querieth If that which riseth be the corruptible p. 31. how is it that that which riseth is incorruptible and corrupteth not again Now Reader I desire thee to notice how he quarrels not so much with me as with the Scriptures to prove a contradiction in them for my saying That which riseth is the Mortal that puts on Immortality and the Corruptible that puts on Incorruption this is plain Scripture 1 Cor. 15. 53. For this Corruptible must put on Incorruption and this Mortal must put on Immortality And for the next Citation which he makes a contradiction to the former it is also most plain and evident in the Scripture The Flesh that is Mortal and Corruptible is not that Flesh that shall be raised up Immortal and Incorruptible for the Scripture saith Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. And surely that is the Flesh that is Mortal and Corruptible And p. 37. That which thou sowest thou sowest not that Body that shall be And v. 42. It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption c. And to his question which implyeth a negation and opposition to plain Scripture I answer That which riseth is incorruptible and corrupteth not again because it is made incorruptible and immortal by the mighty Power of God and to question the immortality and incorruptibility of the Bodies of the Saints after they are raised from the Dead is to suppose that they shall dye again and has this necessary consequence that they shall sin again for the wages of sin is Death But this contradicts the Testimony of Christ and all his Holy Prophets and Apostles and is a plain Introduction to Epicurism and Atheism And that I said in my Book Truth Advanced which he findeth fault with as being a contradiction that that which riseth is a pure noble part that consumeth not nor corrupteth This I say still and is no contradiction for in my Book in that very place cited by him p. 113. I bring a similitude of a grain of Corn which very Similitude the Scripture bringeth to demonstrate the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 37. Now all but fools and idiots know that as there is a Grain of Corn that corrupteth and turneth to Earth or Dust so there is another part in it that is more Noble that corrupteth not but by the corruption and dissolution of the other part is as it were set out of Prison and gets a new Life and Multiplication and as true Philosophy and right Reason and Ocular Experience teacheth that the generation of one thing followeth the corruption of another yet there is something in the new generated thing that was in the old corrupted thing so every Husbandman that has common sense knoweth that his Seed which he soweth doth not all perish or rot in the ground but a part remaineth in every Grain that multiplieth except in some extraordinary
knowledge of God and some true fear and reverence of him and also to some true knowledge and sense of their sinful state and condition and that they are liable to the Wrath and Displeasure of God for their Sins all which are in good order previous or prior to the true Christian Faith which is a Faith in Christ crucified and therefore may be Preached before that Faith But that the Christian Faith it self may be received by Preaching that Faith is one of the first things that is to be preached as being one of the first Principles of the Christian Religion as is clear from these Scriptures Acts 20 21. where Repentance towards God and Faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ are joined together as first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ compared with Heb. 6. 1 2. And these Ignorant Men so deeply Prejudicod against the Preaching of Christ Crucified to wit G. W. and J. P. as being one of the first things needful to be Preached and Faith in him in Order to make Men true Christians might by the same Silly Sophistry and Quibling accuse Paul and John contradicting each other and inconsistent yea the Holy Ghost himself who did inspire them both in what they wrot For whenas Paul told the Corinthians when he Preached the Gospel unto them 1 Cor. 15. 3. that he delivered unto them First of All Note these Words first of all that which he also received how that Christ dyed for our Sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day c. And yet John Preached not that the first thing but began with Preaching the Word that was in the beginning and how in that Word was Life and the Life was the Light of Men and that Light was the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world John 1. 1. to 9. But in this there is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency betwixt Paul and John for John begins with that Principle of Doctrine that is necessary to General Religion and to the Knowledge of God as Creator Paul begins with the Preaching CHRIST Crucified as one of the first things necessary to Christian Religion and the knowledge thereof And such Order is necessary in teaching Practical Arts and Sciences as in order to teach Astronomy some first Principles of Arithmetick and Geometry are necessary to be taught in the first place as to add and substract in Arithmetic c. And to make a Perpendicular Line or draw a Paralel to bisect an Angle c. Yet none of these are properly Principles of Astronomy as it is a peculiar Science But the first Principles of Astronomy are not to be taught before Arithmetick and Geometry but after them And so the first Principles of Medicine are to be taught after the first Principles of the Physicks and thus the first Principles of Christian Theology are to be taught after the first Principles of Ethicks or Ethology which was the Gentile Religion and which did teach many true and excellent things of God as is to be seen in Aristotle's Ethicks who wrote of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. something Divine in Man by which he could live virtuously and yet who but he that is no true Christian himself will say that Aristotle's Ethicks or Socrate's and Platoe's Morals are enough to teach the Christian Theology Thus I hope I have made it appear that as my Adversaries have not proved me inconsistent with my self so they have proved themselves inconsistent with true Christianity and no true Christians in their Principles but Heathens and falling short of Heathen Morals in Falsly accusing the Innocent a Vice contrary to true Morality The second part of their Charge in pag. 10. is That I did formerly hold that Christ's Inward coming saves where the Outwardis unknown But here they are guilty of gross Forgery and Perversion first of Forgery seeing they cite no passage in any of my Books where I express these Words where the Outward is unknown and seeing by their Words where the Outward is unknown they mean Christ's coming without us I say they are guilty of grosly perverting my Words and Sense as if I did hold that Christ's inward coming saves with Eternal Salvation without all knowledge of Christ's outward coming and in contradiction to themselves they grant I have distinguished betwixt the express or explicit Knowledge and Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings in order to Eternal Salvation and the implicit Knowledge and Faith of it asserting this last but not the first as universa'ly and indispensibly necessary They object against this distinction idlely and falsly that it is said by me pag. 14. ' That the distinction betwixt explicit and implicit is a late distinction But the place of my Book cited by them saith no such thing But I mention how in divers of my late Books I have distinguished betwixt the express and implicit Knowledge and Faith but this proves it not to be a late distinction for it is an antient distinction and sufficiently implied and understood in my oldest Books when I treat on that subject for whereas they confess that I have used the Word express in my oldest Books that proveth that I did then make that distinction though I did not express the other term of implicit which though not expressed yet was really understood by me as in many cases it is enough to express the one Term or Member of a distinction as when we call a Man a rational Creature though we express not the Word Irrational yet we sufficiently distinguish betwixt a Man and a Bruit that Man is rational and a Bruit is irrational and when I say some or many things commanded us are jure divine this sufficiently implyeth and intimateth to any of common sense that some things may be commanded us that are not jure divino but jure humano yea all things done and practised by the People called Quakers are not jure divine as themselves confess therefore as jure divino implieth the other term of the distinction when not expressed viz. jure humano so the term express implieth the other term implicit though not expressed And though my ignorant Adversaries would make their ignorant Followers think this is only a new and odd distinction of mine yet all true and Orthodox Christians do hold it as well as I and have used it as they do at present and hath its Foundation in Scripture for when Paul said Ephes 3. 6. That the Mystery how that the Gentiles should be fellow Heirs and of the same Body and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of Men as it is now revealed unto his Holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit he plainly implieth this distinction for in other Ages yea in all Ages it was at least obscurely and implicitly made known but not expresly as in Paul's Age and the Ages succeeding and that Great Mystery of
gross Errors of some called Quakers in that Province which were designed to have been Sold in single Books and dispersed through City and Country for a general Service But the Quakers here at London gave large Money to the Man that had them that they might get them all into their Hands on purpose to suppress them as accordingly they did and hinder the Service of them and these very Books generally lie in these Mens Custody suppressed unto this very Day and some of them have burned others have torn and trod under Feet in open view Books that have opposed their vile Errors Advertisement WHereas there is lately Printed a Scandalous Libel against me with this Title Master George Keith at Turners-Hall in Philpot Lane London in 1696. contradicting c. Signed only with two Letters W. C. wherein he laboureth in vain to prove my Inconsistency and Contradiction betwixt my Book of Immediate Revelation and the late Exact Narrative the Author of which Scandalous Libel seemeth to profess himself to be a Member of the Church of England but his Speech bewrayeth him to be a Counterfeit and rather one of that Gang and sort of Anti-Christ Quakers above-mentioned seeing he doth so eagerly patronize them against the known Doctrine of the Church of England as well as of all true Christians I give this publick Intimation that I desire this W. C. to appear and meet me at any convenient time at our Meeting-place at Turners-Hall which time I allow him to appoint and give Notice of before-hand and I doubt not but by God's Assistance to prove him guilty of divers Forgeries and palpable Falsities Perversions and Wrestings of my Sound Woros contained in his said Scandalous Libel together with his base Reflexions and False Surmises against me And if he refuse this my fair Proposal it will be manifest he is a Cowardly Spirit and smiter in the dark and as well Unmanly as Unchristian thus in a Clandestine way by palpable Falsities and Perversions to seek to deceive his unwary Readers and to divert me from a Business of greater Concern by his trifling And I judge no Impartial Observer of the state of this Controversie betwixt my open and professed Adversaries G. W. and W. P. and others of their party and me will think me obliged to Print Answers to such Clandestine Enemies and Smiters in the dark or to regard their Nameless Libels which might prove as much an Unprofitable as an Endless Work I also desire the Friendly Reader to take notice that the Corrections and Explanations of some Passages contained in my former Books which I have freely declared did need Correction in some things and Explanation in others are in great part already given in this Treatise and indeed the greatest Mistakes that I find I have been under were my mis-understanding these places of Scripture Matth. 28. 19. and 1 Cor. 11. 26. and others the like places relating to these outward Practices of Baptism and the Supper which in the foregoing Treatise I have freely acknowledged and this may suffice at present to silence the Clamour of such that cry out I should first acknowledge my own Errors before I charge others with their Errors For as I had done it in general in the first place so since I have done it in particular in great part and may yet more fully do it as God shall be pleased to give me an Opportunity But I bless God I have no such Errors to retract or correct as my Adversaries have for put all my Mistakes and Errors together in one Bundle and they will not weigh the one thousand part of the weight that one of these four Errors do weigh that I have proved my Adversaries guilty of both in the Exact Narrative and in this fore-going Treatise and in other late Treatises And were but my Adversaries so sincere and ingenuous to acknowledge either in general or in any particulars wherein they have been mistaken and need to correct their Sentiments it would give great Satisfaction to many as well as to me But this they will hardly do nay it is impossible they can do it so long as they seek to keep up in their credulous Followers their esteem of their Infallibility and beside to own that they are changed from their former Sentiments would be either to acknowledge themselves as great Apostates as they now charge me to be for some small change in me touching lesser Matters or rather to clear me of that foul Charge of Apostacy they have so invidiously cast upon me And it is great dis-ingenuity in them and Hypocrisie to blame me for saying I did not know they held such Principles till of late times for it is certain that as these their Erronious Principles were unknown to me which I call Anti-Christian and Sadducean so what they call my Presbyterian and Priestly Principles were unknown to them or if they did know them they were great Hypocrites if they judged them false not to discover them before now For whereas now they commonly say I hold Priests and Professors Principles I know no such Priests and Professors Principles that I now hold but I am able to prove I have held them ever since I came among the People called Quakers as touching all the Articles of Faith commonly called the simpliciter credenda and wherein I am changed in my Judgment as to the Sense of these places of Scripture relating to Baptism and the Supper I can prove my agreement with some of chiefest Note among the People called Quakers therefore for that I am no Apostate Some of the Chiefest of these False Contradictions the foresaid Libeller hath unjustly charged upon me that prove him extreamly Ignorant or wickedly Impudent Pag. 5. That an Unbelieving Iew is no Christian That a Believing Iew in Moses time was a Christian That which makes one a true Christian is the Spirit of Christ the anointing in him Faith in Christ without us wrought by the Spirit of Christ in us is universally necessary to make Men true Christians Pag. 6. The History or Historical and express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified is not universally necessary to make Men true Christians Some Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified though not the Express and Historical yet Implicit is universally necessary to make Men true Christians The Manifestation of God in the Flesh of Christ and his Incarnation is a greater Mystery than mens Regeneration Christ's inward Ministry and Teaching by the Spirit in our Hearts is more than his outward Ministring and Speaking was to them who outwardly heard him and saw him Pag. 7. Christ crucified in whom the Fulness dwelleth is a greater Mystery than Christ in the Gentiles Jesus Christ revealed in Man is the Foundation of the true Church Note I did not say Christ only within c. Pag. 8. Christ without us as he is both God and Man the Emmanuel as well as his inward Appearance in us is the Object of Saving Faith The Internal Revelation of Christ is the formal Object of Faith Note His Ignorance in not understanding the distinction betwixt the material Object of Faith and the formal Object also betwixt the objectum formale quod and objectum formale quo maketh him think the two above-mentioned Passages to be Contradictions but for his Instruction I send him to R. B. his Apology on that Head and his and my Answer to the Students of Aberdene Pag. 11. The wisdom described Prov 8. is Christ the very fulness of God Note His abominable Forgeries and Falsities in saying I give all these Names he mentions p 11 to the Light within which is a notorious Falshood as the Reader will see that will be at the pains to view the several pages he refers to for though some of these Names I give to the Light within yet not all of them but some I give to Christ as he is both God and Man and I divers times in that same Book and near to these places that he cites call the Light within a Measure of that Fulness of Life and Spirit whose Fulness is in the Man Christ without us The Light in us is the Voice of Wisdom the Path of Wisdom a Measure of that Fullness See my Book Immediate Revel pag. 117. 243 245. Mary was the Mother of Christ according to the Flesh and in that respect Christ is the Seed of the Woman in the literal sense of Gen. 3. 15. And as in all his Instances he grosly prevaricates so he is guilty of most gross Forgery in saying That I Allegorize his Birth in the Flesh and his Miracles Crcucifixion and Resurrection But his Ignorance proceeds from his not understanding to distinguish betwixt an Allegorical Allusion warranted by Scripture and turning the true Literal Sense of places of Scripture into an Allegory so as to destroy or make void the Literal Sense which I have proved G. W. guilty of But this Libeller has proved no such thing on me and he is most shamefully deceitful in saying the Word away we must justly drop on both sides I having accused G. W. that he hath Allegorised away Christ's Births Burial Resurrectionn and proved him guilty of so doing in my Narrative by Allegorising away the Literal Sense of these places of Scripture Isaiah 9. 6 53. 9. and 1 Cor. 15. 8. Believers are the Mother of Christ in an Allegorical Sense not grounded on Gen 3. 15. but on Matth. 49. 50. and Rev. 1â— 5. And in this Allegorical Sense Christ is formed in the Saints Gal. 4. 19. and by his Power in them he the Seed of the Woman bruiseth the Serpent's Head London the 24th of the Month called July 1696. G. K. ERRATA Pag. 9. line 29. for servants read parents p. 11. l. 17. after is r. a part in p. 22. l. 50. r. ad finem p. 26. l. 11. after books r but think that I did so distinguish p. 29. l. 40. r. deisme p. 34. last line for general r several p. 35. l 47. r. Man and Woman Of Christ Crucified Citing Way cast up p. 113. false quot true quot p. 131. * That was Peter Bosse Note These few Lines are but a small part of many more English Verses made by the said John Homes that he spread abroad having this Title The Fighting Quakers Expedition in Pensilv