and that therefore it was not good that Man should be alone to wit that his Wife should remain barren in him for the effect of their Fall was such that they could not multiply their Species in one Body as they mought have done if the Fall had not been And so as to that manner of propagating their Species or Kind they became unfit unfruitful which is by way of Allegory exprest by some My stick Writers that their Backs were joined together and their Faces averted i. e. turned the one from the other but when they were divided their Faces were set one to the other according to the words in Gen. 2. 18. I will make him an help as before him i. e. Face to Face so the Hebrew see p. 28. 29. This is indeed to refuse the Waters of Shiloah that go softly and to rejoyce in Rezin c. for these Monstrous Births have more place with him than what is truly solid and edifying And as Esau parted with his Birth right for a Mess of Pottage so such trashy Notions he can catch at while he disdains plain Jacob's Tents who is more for Heart than Head-food Thus shall I close my Animadversions upon him the former part whereof viz. all but the Conclusion have lain some time by me though undigested till now expecting when his restless Spirit would give occasion for them Now although he seems averse to answer us in Print where he hath abused us alledging want of time and ability of outward Estate yet inasmuch as he is still as industrious to make us a derision to Fools if he can or to stir up the Populace against us surely it will not be unbecoming us to wipe off his Obloquy and Detraction and declare what the Man himself thought when he was more himself and less agitated with Passion and Prejudice This is the scope this the aim of my present Undertaking not in ill will or vindictiveness to the Man but in defence of Truth and the Friends thereof which he hath calumniated J. P. A POSTCRIPT BY G. W. 1. HAD we first Condemned George Keith in Print as Guilty of gross Errour Hypocrisie Unbelief and afterward in Print Challenged and Summoned him to a publick Tryal before us at a Meeting appointed in our own time and place without his Privity or Concurrence as he has done by some of us he and others more indifferent who better know common Law and Justice than himself might have justly reflected upon us as very Arbitrary and Unjust Judges to be thus preposterous and extra-judicial in first Condemning and then Summoning Men to Tryal 2. Had we for some weeks aforehand raked in George Keith's Books to pick out Matters against him and only given him a General Charge of most Erroneous and hurtful Principles or of his self Contradictions or Calumnies against us contrary to the Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith and Relegion and then in Print Advertisement and Summons to a publick Trial i. e. to hear himself Charged and Proved Guilty without so much as affording him any Copy of the particulars of his Indictment or Charge before Trial or of the Books and Pages referred unto therein for a due preparation to answer as he has done against us I am perswaded he would not be so served or surprized but might have justly deemed this procedure very unfair precipitant and unjust 3. All which undue Arbitrary and Extrajudicial Proceedings and new Court of Judicature as erected by George Keith I with the rest of my Friends and Brethren concerned both as Men and Christians have refused and rejected and do protest against the same as unwarrantable both in the sight of God and just Men As Christians we are not to be subject to George Keiths Summons without God's Call nor allowed to gratifie his Ambitious Contentious Spirit or such as cause Divisions or Offences c. As Men we are obliged to have respect to the Civil Government and Peace and not to Countenance or Abet Strife and Contention in any Publick Meeting tending to Divisions and Confusions contrary to the Intent of the Law it self which is Enacted For the Ease and Liberty of Dissenting Protestant Subjects in the exercise of Religion and Religious Worship in order to unite them in Interest and Affection as the Words and Reason of the Statute are for which end only Meetings and Meeting Houses are tollerated and entred on Record and not for Stages of Contention 4. The first point in Difference between George Keith and my self that I remember and which I was really dissatisfied with was his Notion of Twelve Revolutions or Transmigrations of Humane Soulr whether of all or some of them passing out of one Body into another to have Twelve Intervals of Life to accomplish one thousand years on Earth Arguing from these Scriptures John 11. 9. Psal 90. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 8. and some others if I mistake not if he says I do let him give us a plain State of his own Notion herein which as I understood him was according to some passages in the Book of Two Hundred Queries concerning that Opinion of the Revolution of humane Souls For which Notion I am sure he argued in a Book of his in Manuscript which he shewed me before he went over into America and then would have had it Printed but I then in dislike to it and love to him disswaded him from Printing it yet he told me since his return he had brought it over with him but I suppose is afraid to Print it with his Name to it how he has covertly Writ and Discoursed in Favour of his Notion of the Revolutions or varied about it he and some others knows 5. I am not conscious to my self of Errour either in Reference to the Resurrection Christ's Satisfaction or Sacrifice or his visible coming again in his Glorified Body without us to raise the Dead at the great day of Judgment or of having denied the same as he has in that and other things unjustly accused and aspersed me in two of his late Pamphlets The one styled A True Copy p. 31. and the other Gross Errour p. 4 5 6 7 8. I say I am not conscious of denying Christ's coming again without us in his Spiritual Glorified Body c. By my Questioning some Anabaptists as William Burnet and John Newman about their Carnal Expectations of Christ's coming again in the Flesh tâ— be seen with their Carnal Eyes in opposition to his Appearance and Light within G. K. has dealt very unfairly by me in leaving out Blood and Bones after the Words Body of Flesh in my Answer to Newman and thus partially Cited by G. K. in his said Gross Error p. 3. And to prove me Guilty of Unbelief because I said We do not Read of a Third coming of Christ in the Flesh yet to be expected Hereupon seems his most colourable Charge against me but I think it no more proves me an Unbeliever in this point than himself for our not Reading of a third coming of Christ in the Flesh only Questions such a manner of his Coming and proves not me Guilty of Unbelief of his Coming in a more excellent manner viz. in great Glory in hir Spiritual Glorious Body For George Keith has confessed the Body of Christ to be wonderfully charged as to the mode and manner of its being it being no more a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones but a pure Ethereal or Heavenly Body like unto which the Bodies of the Saints are to be at the Resurrection Way cast up page 131. and endued altogether with Heavenly Qualities The Husk or Dressy part not the true Body c. as more fully in his Book stiled Gross Error p. 9 13. Now if Christ's Glorious Body be no more a Body of Flesh Blood and Bones as George Keith saith How should his Coming a third time in the Flesh or in a Body of Flesh and Blood c. be expected again to be seen by the World with their Carnal Eyes or Eyes of Flesh 6. George Keith's formerly Writing and Arguing against the continuance of Water-Baptism Altogether denying it to be commanded to the Apostles by Christ Matt. 28. and being but a Shadow buried with other Shadows not to be raised up again in a Book Intituled Quakerism Confirmed Printed 1676. Sec. 6. And his lately Writing and Arguing for the continuance of Water-Baptism as a badge of Believers Christian Faith and Profession and of Service to be continued in the Church by true Christians under the Gospel in his Book Intituled Truth Advanced Printed 1694. p. 173 174 175 c. Such his Wavering Variation Uncertainty and Inconsistency together with his great Envy in repreaching us in his Printed Books contrary to his own former Testimonies in Print shews he is now no Quaker nor Friend but Adversary to the People called Quakers Both John Whitehead William Penn my self and divers other Friends have patiently suffered under G. K.'s Abuse and Misrepresentations in Print for sometime I having writ a Letter to him to clear my Conscience in great plainness for which I suppose he Envies me the more I have hitherto forborn and do yet forbear to publish an Answer to detect him He being fallen into other Hands to deal with him and Load him with his own Fruitless Work for I find it no great Difficulty to Answer him And I believe that they i. e. T. Ellwood and J. Penigton have Conscientiously Opposed and Obviated his Injurious Attempts even about divers of those points Charged by him against us We now wait to see where he will Center after all his Hovering Waverings Turnings and Labouring to Gratifie our Adversaries London the 30th of the 4th Month. 1696. G. Whitehead FINIS See G. K's Suggestions True Copy p. 23.
of Rome or London is Rome or London or the Image of Caesar is Caesar or Bread and Wine is the Body and Blood of Christ Here this Rabbi who once boasted in his Serious Appeal p. 29. that he hath the Gifts both of sound Knowledge and Expression with manifold other Mercies bestowed on him hath foiled himself sorely This is too conspicuous not to be seen Darkness and Light being as reconcileable as these two contrary Positions In the one the Map of America may pass for America to usher in Water-Baptism in the other the Map of Rome or London must not for Rome or London in calling the Scriptures the Word And why I pray But that it served his purpose in the one case not so in the other This shews what Men pretending to sound Knowledge and Expression are when in Enmity against Truth and the sincere Professors thereof Again in p. 184. of Truth Advanced he Queries Qu. 7. Whether being Baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus doth always signifie being Baptized into the Power with the Holy Ghost And Qu. 8. Whether could any Men Baptize with the Holy Ghost or give the Holy Ghost but only the Man Christ Jesus This must be designed with respect to that Command Matt. 28. 19 20. Go teach all Nations Baptizing them c. or else it were wholly incoherent here Therefore his Sense of that Text formerly I shall now confront him with We have good ground to believe saith he in Truths Defence Printed Anno 1682. that by Mat. 18. 19 20. the Spiritual Baptism only is meant because it is the Spiritual Baptism only which is called the Baptism of Christ in Scripture and is expresly distinguished from the Baptism of John with Water and certainly the Baptism which Christ Commanded was his own Baptism p. 133. Again Whereas he alledgeth we argue that Water Baptism is not meant Mat. 28. 19 20. because not exprest I say that Baptism with Water is not exprest nor by any true and just consequence is proved to be meant p. 134 135. And in p. 124 as well as in p. 23. of his Plain Short Catechism Printed in Pensilvania Anno 1690. he hath these words We say the Baptism of Christ is not with Water but with the Holy Ghost Thus much on this Subject Now to the Supper In Rector Corrected p. 60. he writes thus It the Sacramental Eating so called differeth not from the common and ordinary eating c. but only as to certain Circumstances which do not tye us nor indeed did tye them after the Substance it self came more clearly to be revealed which was the Spiritual Coming of Christ into their Hearts Qu. Could Men be moved to it as was instanced out of the Further Discovery p. 30. even now and no tye upon them therein And in p. 64. If any did not see unto the end of it we are to wait upon them and help them but not to Go Back again unto the Shadow from the Substance These things being once buried adds he are not to be raised up again as Augustin said of old touching the Legal Rites and Shadows Is this being moderate in his Judgment concerning them chiefly blaming the great formality c. to tell People we are to help them forward but not go back unto the Shadow and to rank them among the legal Rites and Shadows and things buried not to be raised up again Surely the most positive could not have given a more decisive Judgment against them But he hath more We cannot call it the Lord's Supper saith he because it is not any Command of the Lord to practise it after or beyond his Spiritual Coming We dare not observe the Traditions of Men as Divine Commandments p. 65. Is this to moderate again to deny it to be the Lord's Supper and call it the Traditions of Men which he dares not observe Or dares he upon second thoughts allow Men under the Gospel may be moved to observe the Traditions of Men Paul was of another mind when he forbad to Touch Taste or Handle them Col. 2. 21. But the case is altered with G. K. he must be a Sect-Master somewhere That he cannot be among the Quakers and other Professions will not receive him except he recede from our Principles touching those two great Ordinances as they are esteemed so that he had need be complacent with them though in contradiction to what he hath formerly asserted that after all his Rovings he may fix somewhere if any will so far suffer themselves to be deceived or imposed upon as to believe he can be true to them who hath been so false to us after thirty years Converse In Truths Defence p. 9. We Challenge him saith G. K. to instance any one External Ordinance or Appointment of God that is truly so which we are against For it is but only Humane Institutions and Abolished Shadows set up as Divine Ordinances that we oppose And would he now have us return to those Humane Institutions to those abolished Shadows which he hath declared to be such Is this to go forward or backward That time when Christ Suffered was the the Evening or last part of the Covenant Dispensation wherein he gave them a Sign or Figure suitable to that present Dispensation and was not to continue as a binding thing after the Gospel-Day or Dispensation should clearly break up p. 139. What Christ did at that time and bid his Disciples do until he came is no Gospel Ordinance because it was done in the Night or Evening of the Old Covenant Dispensation and consequently was to come to an end with it although for the weakness of some it was continued for a time until the darkness of the legal Dispensation should clearly vanish p. 140. That Commemoration of his Death until he should come did not oblige them longer than until that his Coming We say it is his Spiritual Coming in his Saints p. 142. There 's an end of it then if G. K. dare believe G. K. yet the Reader will find G. K. of another mind anon for in his 9th Position of his Book called Truth Advanced p. 174. wherein he treats concerning Water-Baptism and the Supper for the sake of such as he in the Title Page thereof says held the Head c. yet differ in some lesser matters he thus hath it Such Signs and Figures as do not signifie Christ to come in the Flesh c. but are Memorials and Significations that he hath already come May be and are of service to be continued in the Church And that Water-Baptism as Administred to Believers in Christ Jesus which he terms that other Baptism was a Badge of their Christian Faith and Profession he tells us before in his 6th Position This shews the Man knows not how to agree with himself But he goes on in Truths Defence p. 144 145. where pursuing his Argument about the taking of Bread and Wine he saith We cannot find it to be any Gospel Precept
Faith and Love forasmuch as the outward Coming Sufferings and Death of Christ may have and hath a true and real Influence upon them who know it not expresly For seeing he hath tasted Death for every Man and given his Life a Ransom for all it cannot be but that it should have an influence upon all As many of Adams Posterity suffer disadvantage by his Disobedience who never knew it expresly so why may not many receive an Advantage by Christ the second Adams Obedience even in the outward who never knew it expresly Yea certainly they have for how many THOUSANDS have been saved before Christs coming in the outward who knew it not expresly And many who knew something of it it was but very Darkly and under Vales and Figures Yea the very Disciples did not for a good Time know of his Death and yet they had both Faith and Love in some measure Seeing then that some had Faith and Love ☞ to God and WERE SAVED without the express Knowledge thereof before he came outwardly why not also after his Coming where his Coming outwardly hath not been Preached nor Revealed Yea hath not God a way of saying Infants and the Dumb and Deaf who have not that express Knowledge For now Christ is inwardly come in a Seed of Life and Light in all which is the Word of Reconciliation by which Men may be reconciled with God And indeed we find that this is ONLY the true and effectual way of knowing the Use and Work of his Coming and Sufferings and Death in the outward by turning and having our Minds turned inwards unto himself near and in our Hearts in the Holy Seed to know by an inward Feeling and good Experience his Doings and Sufferings in us by being made conformable thereunto He hath no way to come off here but by playing upon the Word Express and so he doth in his Answer to Samuel Jennings Further Discovery p. 16. where he saith As concerning the indispensible Necessity of Faith in Christ as he dyed for us and rose again as universally necessary to Salvation how and in what Sense I have affirmed I have fully explained in divers of my late Printed Books relating to our late Differences where I have distinguished betwixt the Express or explicite Knowledge and Faith of Christs Death in order to Eternal Salvation and the implicite Knowledge and Faith of it asserting this last but not the first as universally and indispensibly necessary It is truly said by him that the Distinction betwixt Explicite and Implicite is a late Distinction and indeed to serve a turn for in his former Books I find it not though the Word Express be used as where he said even now that many of Adams Posterity suffer disadvantage by his Disobedience who never knew it expresly where it is a Word of Course and of no Force seeing even of them that knew it not at all neither implicitely nor explicitely there have perished But he hath marred his own Distinction and blockt up his own way in acknowledging many of them who knew something of it that it was very Darkly and under Vales and Figures while others who are excepted from them the many thousands he saith were saved before Christs Coming in the outward cannot be truly said to know it either explicitely or implicitely there being no Medium between knowing very Darkly in Vales and Figures implicitely in a very obscure Degree and not knowing at all Yet even these as well as those were saved and he pursues the instance to Infants Deaf and Dumb as well as to the Dâ—â—ciples of Jesus who had Faith and Love in some measure even while ignorant of his Death For the Words of Mary Magdalene c. Seemed to them as Idle Tales and they believed them not Luke 24. 10 11. Again what means his saying that the express Knowledge of Christs outward Coming ought to be highly valued in its place if he did not allot an higher place to the Knowledge of the Inward and that he doth so is further manifest from the Concession he makes that Men have been saved without the express Knowledge of the one but not of the other for he avers it to be only the true and effectual way of knowing the Use and Work of his Coming in the outward But not to dwell here I shall now cite him out of his called Light of Truth Triumphing p. 6. in these Words May not the Benefit of Christs taking on him the Form of a Man redound unto many who do not expresly know it they having a true Light within them even as a diseased Person may receive Benefit of a Cure applied to him though he hath not an express Knowledge of all the Names and Ways how from first to last it hath been prepared and even as many have suffered hurt through the Disobedience of the first Man to wit Adam who have not known expresly that ever such a Man was or the manner of his Disobedience So why may not even many receive Benefit through the Obedience of Christ in the outward who have not known expresly his outward Coming and Sufferings Otherwise Adams Disobedience were more Effectual for Mans Destruction than the Obedience of Christ were for his Salvation One Instance more I shall bring out of this Book and then betake my self to another It is p. 17. where he saith 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 If this be true and G. K. believe it his Cavil against us nameless Bull p. 10 11 for not so frequently Preaching Christ without as Christ within is quite out of Doors For if they who lived before and in the age in which it was accomplisht and where that belief was opposed yet more generally preached him as a Light why is he so offended with us for doing so where the outward is so universally received and believed except that he lists to be Contentions Now let us hear what he once termed the necessary Parts of Religion what not and see if he knows how to agree with himself there It is in his Appendix to Immediate Revolation p. 229 230. These Parts necessary to the being of Religion are those without which Religion cannot subsist they belonging to the very Being and Life of it The other Parts are those which belong unto the Intireness or Fulness of it yet so as true Religion may be without the express Knowledge and Belief of them And according to this I say The Knowledge and Belief of the History of Christ his outward Coming Birth Life Death Burial Resurrection c. Are such Parts of our Religion and Faith as serves to make up the Intiredness or Fulness of it That the historical Knowledge and Faith is not an essential part of true Religion is manifest because as some not having true Religion may have the historical Knowledge and
Faith so some who were truly Religious did want it as is clear in the Case of that Devout and Religious Man Cornelius whose Prayers God heard and yet he knew not the History of Christ nor of his Death and Sufferings till it was Preached unto him by Peter And the very Disciples themselves while they followed Christ outwardly knew not that he was to die for some time and yet in that time of their Ignorance of this weighty Matter were truly Religious It is a hard Matter for this Man to say any thing but he must interfere his former and later â—â—ritings looks askew upon one another as if they did not belong to the same Author He finds fault in his Causeless Grounds p. 1. with some for altering the Titles of his Books and giving new ones particularly to one this new Title The Christian Quaker or George Keith's Eyes opened As if the Name Christian Quaker were peculiar to me saith he Or as if I had been formerly blind till of late Days and then tells us Whatever he hath delivered in any of his late Printed Books touching either the Resurrection of the Dead or any other Principles of Christian Doctrine hath been his Faith ever since he came among the People called Quakers viz. upwards of thirty Years past He is like to be tried before we part But this I here observe that in the above recited Appendix Cornelius is represented as a Devout and Religious Man one whose Prayers God heard Yet in Truth advanced p. 45. a Book Printed Anno 1694. he will not allow him or the faithful Heathen who had no Knowledge nor Faith of Christ Crucified and raised again to be true Christians at all Nay p. 70. he reckons it among the dangerous and hurtful Errors to assert that Men may have that Holy Ghost that was given to Believers in Christ Crucified c. Without all Knowledge and Faith of Christ Crucified For he adds It is not said that Cornelius had the Holy Ghost in his Gentile State although he had a great Measure of Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness Now I would fain know of him Whether any Prayer is heard by God but what is put by his Spirit The Apostle Paul was of another Mind Rom. 8 26. And I doubt not but G. K. hath been so once Himself tells us p. 46. Some have asserted that Pythagoras Socrates and Plato and other Gentile Philosophers who had some Measure of Uprightness and were in some Measure faithful to what was inwardly Revealed unto them were Christians as Justin Martyr and some other Ancient Writers have asserted This he saith he will not positively contradict but adds If they were real Christians and were worthy of that honourable Name they had some Faith and Knowledge of Christ the Messiah and Saviour of the World as he was to come in the Flesh But I ask waving the Definition of a Christian wherein their Charity exceeds his Whether a Man in his pure Gentile State devoid of the Holy Ghost hath the necessary Parts of Religion hath that without which Religion cannot subsist as to the Being and Life of it the Terms of his Position above and if so it will necessarily follow that the Holy Ghost only makes up the Entireness and Fulness of it but is not Essential to the Being and Life of it which is an hurtful Error indeed If not Cornelius by having those Parts necessary to the Being of Religion had the Gift of the Holy Ghost and out of this Dilemma let him Extricate himself if he can In the mean time I go on to the next Citation out of the same Appendix p. 232. In them who have not the Scriptures the Spirit and Light of Christ sufficiently teacheth them the Parts of Religion absolutely necessary without the Scripture to which Parts the History of the Scripture doth not belong as is said and they who do faithfully improve the Knowledge of those necessary Parts although they want the History it sufficeth unto them for Salvation Hence I Query Whether the Spirit and Light of Christ being the Teacher such may be said to be without the Holy Ghost And whether any thing less then the Holy Ghost in some Degree sufficeth to Salvation But there is another Blunder of his yet behind I do most willingly grant saith he p. 242. that the Preaching of Christ without us in his Birth Life Suffering Death Resurrection Ascension Intercession c. is a very considerable part of the Doctrine of the Gospel yea more than the skin is a part of the Body of the Man yet it is but an integral Part such as the Hands and Feet of a Man without which a Man may subsist but not as an entire and compleat Man and so may true Religion and Christianity subsist without the History of Christ in the Letter to wit in the Mystery of the Life of Christ in the Spirit and yet even here where the History is wanting the Mystery or inside of Christianity is not without its skin or outside namely an outward Confession unto God Waving the unaptness of the Simile for no Man can subsist without his Skin without Hands or Feet he may I observe he here admits of a Christianity without the History of Christ in the Letter What becomes then of his late Position That if they were real Christians they had some Faith and Knowledge of Christ the Messiah as he was to come He that pretends that upwards of thirty Years he hath been the same Man may cast an Eye back upon what he hath said Reasons and Causes p. 31. viz. That Faith in Christ Jesus as he came without us in the Flesh and died for our Sins c. is necessary to make a true Christian The same he tells T. E. Seasonable Information p. 29. and assigns it as the chief point of Doctrine wherein the Controversie lay between them of the other side and him Is this Man fit to engage in Controversie with others that knows not his own Mind But this is not all it seems where the History is wanting the Mystery may not nay it is not without its outside if there be an outward Confession to God though there be never a Word of Christ his Death Sufferings c. Yet once again let me Query Whether where the Mystery is known the Holy Ghost be received or not To a Question of the Rectors of Arrow whether the Light within sufficienly tells us that the Messias is come or indeed that he was promised that Jesus born of Mary is he that he had real Flesh Dyed c. G. K. after an Enumeration of what the Light doth teach viz. That there is a God that created all things that he is most Holy Just Wise c. a Plentiful Rewarder of them that serve him c. concludeth thus These and divers other Truths as necessary as any doth the Light of Christ teach and hath taught in many who never had the Scriptures and 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 Light Rector Corrected p. 150. c. Printed Anno 1680. From whence two things are observable First That G. K. thought then there are Truths as necessary to be Believed as the Coming of the Messias his Incarnation Death c But if the Holy Ghost be given only to the one Faith not to the other surely that one Faith must needs be the most necessary Faith Secondly That a Man may believe in the Light consequently in Christ and yet Christs coming in the outward not revealed to him is what G. K. here allows These are what Citations I think fit to offer under this Head What may tend to a further enlargment upon it I refer till I speak of the Gentiles being savingly enlightned And now shall shew how as Captious as G. K. hath been of late against our Order and Method in Preaching the Gospel since he hath varied his own he hath Advocated for it and commended it 2. Inward Principle to be Preached in the first Place and the Effects thereof This is the true Method and Order saith G. K. Way to the City of God p. 156 157. which the Lord hath taught us to hold forth unto People whereby they attain unto Holiness and come to know the great End and Use of his Christs outward Coming viz. in the first Place to point and turn their Minds unto the Light of Jesus Christ who hath enlightned them and every one and hath sown a Seed of his Light Life and Spirit in every one unto which Seed they should give the most inward of their Hearts whence then in due time such a measure of Light and Life ariseth therein as gives them both truly to know Christ and to follow him In his Book of Universal Grace Printed Anno 1671. he saith This is the true and Only Method which should be used by Preachers for the bringing People into the Faith and Acknowledgment of the Christian Religion First to enform them of this Universal Principle what it is and turn them towards it and so as Wise Builders to lay this true Foundation in its proper Place And this will naturally bring People to own the Scriptures and things therein declared to own Moses and the Prophets to own Christ in the Flesh his Miraculous Birth his Doctrine Miracles Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension together with the wonderful End and Design of God therein to own the Evangelists and Apostles and finally to own the same as it is now again revealed in this day after the Apostacy p. 92. This is good Method and Order in the Preaching of the Gospel p. 93. Now hear what is not good Method and Order But to come saith he p. 93. to the Nations that have not nor do own the Scriptures and but few of the things therein declared and press them to believe the Scriptures and own them as the Words and Oracles of God in the first Place without first directing them to the great Word and Oracle of God in their own Hearts is most contrary unto the true Method and Order of the Gospel and against all true Method and Order held in the Knowledge of things natural which always proceeds from the more known to the less And to speak the Truth hence it is even for want of this true Order in Preaching of the Gospel that Men have had so little success hitherto Compare this with Nameless Bull p. 10 11. forequoted 3. That the Gentiles were savingly Enlightned who knew not the History of Christs outward coming c. G. K. tells us in Truth Advanced page 42. Whereas Paul saith That the Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation he doth not mean that it is the Power of God simply and abstractly considered without all Doctrine and Doctrinal Knowledge and Faith of Christ Crucified And p. 44. I do positively affirm saith he according to Scripture that Eternal Life and Salvation is only to be had through the Faith and Knowledge of Christ Crucified c. See more from p. 38. to p. 57. And in Further Discovery p. 16. That I have affirmed saith G. K. that this Faith is indispensably necessary to all viz. in order to Eternal Salvation to Believe in Christ as he Died for us and Rose again I freely own it that I have so affirmed and do still so affirm Again p. 18. We are Sanctified through a living Faith in Christ as he Died for us and that Faith is necessary to Men's Regeneration and Sanctification as well as to Remission of Sins and therefore is necessary to all And a little lower He cannot give me an instance of any that ever knew the Mystery of Christ within but also knew in some measure the Mystery of Christ without compare this with my Citation even now out of Appendix page 242. And again To suppose saith he a Faith in Christ that doth not respect his outward coming in the Flesh and Death and Sufferings but only and alone that inward common Illumination that is in all Mankind is to set up an Unscriptural and Antichristian Faith opposite to the true Christian Faith To these I shall add another out of Seasonable Information p. 30. viz. The Work of Sanctification is ascribed in Scripture to Christs Blood and Sufferings as well as to his inward Appearance and to both indispensably necessary and to Faith therein Now although he hath sufficiently contradicted these sayings in what hath been cited already and particularly Appendix p. 242. Rector Corrected p. 150. c. yet he having more of them I shall bring some out of his Book of Universal Grace There was such a Principle in them the Gentiles whereby they did the things contained in the Law Therefore it was a Principle of the very saving Light and Life of Jesus Christ which is that Divine Nature mentioned 2 Pet. 1. 4. Thus far p. 28. Now let him tell me whence this Divine Nature was influenced if not from the Divine Spirit or Holy Ghost which lately he would not allow to Cornelius but only a great measure of Gentile Sincerity and Righteousness But he goes on p. 29. thus These Gentiles did the things contained in the Law so that they were excused yea and justified and did receive the reward of Glory Honour and Peace in so doing In divers of these Gentiles the Seed was raised that 's beyond Gentile Sincerity without the Holy Ghost sure which is that Divine Nature or Birth by which they did the things contained in the Law and so were justified by him c. But it seems some were ready to Argue then as he hath done since that there can be no justification without Faith in Christ but these Gentiles had not Faith in Christ therefore c. to which
of the sufficiency of the Light within Further Discovery p. 16. I shall therefore to avoid his attacking me in like manner barely give an instance or two out of his Book called Truth Advanced and leave it to the Reader to judge His Answer to an Objection That Adam Died not that day he Sinned but lived many years after he divides into three Heads His last is this As it is observed by some saith he neither Adam nor any of his posterity living a compleat thousand years which in Scripture signifies sometimes a day Psal 90. it may be said he lived not a whole day p. 23. Now that this is a Principle of the Revolutionists is plain to all that know their Principles and that it is his is also manifest in that he gives it as one of the answers to the Objection What Can he hold to nothing But be self-inconsistent in every thing Again p. 42. he saith Who are under the Law and obey it according to what their Ability doth reach they are held there as in a Custody or place of Safety as the Man-slayer in the City of Refuge in the time of the Law till the Faith come to be Revealed This word till the Faith come to be Revealed is a plain indication of his Notion though he dare not desend it for they dying in this City of Refuge when should the Faith be Revealed to them except in some other Revolution Some had a measure of Sincerity and Uprightness under the Law or Legal Dispensation both of Jews and Gentiles who had not the Faith and Knowledge of Christs Death and Resurrection and all such were in a state of Safety for that present time so that had they died in that State they could not have perished even as the Manslayer was safe in the City of Refuge p. 43. This is again a Token that he leans to the Revolutionists whose this is not to the Scriptures that say In the place where the tree falleth there it shall be Eccles 11. 3. See also Heb. 9. 27. where it is said It is appointed unto Men once to die but never twice to die for he adds But after this the judgment This with my Animadversions above are what I propos'd to close this Head with and come to the next Fourthly Of Christs and the Saints Glorified Bodies I shall give one instance that his Notion herein is of late as gross as other Professors whom he hath formerly oppos'd and confront him by a passage or two out of a former Book of his and so leave it In Truth Advanced p. 111. he saith Paul distinguisheth between the Belly and the Body saying God will destroy the Belly but he doth not say he will destroy the Body For seeing after the Resurrection of the Dead Men shall need none of the Meats of this corruptible World nor shall they need a Belly to put them in as Guts and Draught or any gross parts as Men have now This shews he hath very Carnal Conceptions of the Resurrection at present like those Sadducees who Erred not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God Matt. 22. 29. Now let 's see his Sentiments formerly in his Book called Rector Corrected We do believe saith he p. 23. That we also shall be raised up to have an Immortal Spiritual and Glorified Body like unto him This Virtue is not any visible thing nor is the Glorified Body of Christ visible Flesh Seeing the Body of Christ is Glorified and wholly Spiritual as the Body of every true Believer shall be at the Resurrection how can it be visible Flesh And Christ the second Adam is called in Scripture the Quickning Spirit but not visible Flesh Therefore in this thou dost grossly Err and needest Correction said G. K. to the Rector and so say I to him Again p. 54. Is not Christs Body a Spiritual Body which he hath now in the Heavens Seeing the Body of the Saints at the Resurrection is raised Spiritual according unto the Glorious Body of Christ shew a Syllable that Christ hath any other Body but that which is Spiritual Had G. K. retained these Sentiments when he wrote his bulky Book styled Truth Advanced he needed not have told us of Belly Guts and Draught They do not Symbolize with a Spiritual Body nor indeed with Spiritual Senses But as is the Man so is his Communication Fifthly Concerning Water-Baptism and the Supper It is so hard for G. K. to be consistent with himself in any thing that even here he falters That the Non-observing of the outward Baptism and Supper hath been one Characteristick of our Profession wherein others have differed from us they must be very little Conversant with us who do not know That he once concurred with us in our Testimony relating thereto is what will appear anon At present I shall shew how I find him now For he would now persuade us he hath been very easie in the point all along It is known by my former Printed Books saith he in his Further Discovery p. 30. I have been moderate in my judgment concerning both Water Baptism and the Supper in the outward use of Bread and Wine chiefly blaming the great formality in Mens practising these things and resting in the outward practise of them but not universally judging or concluding that God neither did nor would move any by his Spirit to practise them since the Apostles days but rather allowing it might be possible that some were or might be moved Thus far G. K. And in his Truth Advanced p. 173. he makes some Positions and Queries concerning Water-Baptism and the outward Supper tending as he saith to Love Peace and Unity among all the sincere Professors of the Lord Jesus Christ who hold the Head and build on the true Foundation and yet differ in some lesser matters Which whoever pleases to bestow the reading on will see whose Communion he labours to insinuate himself into next as holding the Head and only differing in some lesser matters at the same time when no Epithets are black enough upon his quondam Friends whom he sometimes boasts he hath been upwards of 30 years amongst For my part I grudge them not such a Proselyte nor do I think they will be fond of him but what is before me is to give the Reader a taste that here as well as in the Instances above the Man is wavering and fluctuating In p. 183. of Truth Advanced qu. 5. he thus interrogates Whether it may not be said there is One Baptism as that there is one Land called America though the Map or Figure of it is also called America even as there is but one Spiritual Baptism with the Holy Ghost though the Outward Baptism with Water is also called Baptism To this he shall make answer out of his Book stiled Help in the time of need Printed Anno 1665. p. 65. Though the Scripture declare of this Word saith he yet they are not that Word more than a Map or Description