it is I my self meaning your Lord and Master and likewise after his ascention Act. 22. 8. And I answered who art thou Lord and he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest to these many more might be added to evidence that by Lord in the Text above 〈◊〉 man hood of Christs person is to be understood at least not to be excluded For in ver 11. Christ saith I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last here Alpha and Omega are explained by the terms Of the first and the last that is to say the Lord Christ is the first to wit subsisting in the beginning with God and equal with the Father and the last having taken the 〈◊〉 of a Servant i. e. of the meanest man and so last in reputation Phil. 2. 6 7. Third part Which is and which was and which is to come the Almighty by the distribution of the threefold time is meant as Aretas and Brightman on the 4th verse the trinity of persons which is or I am as in the first part are here of the same import and do refer to the Father Exod. 3 14. and which was to the Son Joh. 1. ver 1. And which is come to the Holy Ghost Iohn 16. 8 13. The Almighty This last word of the verse denotes the omnipotency eternal essence and Godhead of Christs person the sum of both sc 1. 11. verses above do reveal unto us only two things 1. The union of the two Natures in the person of Christ namely that he was and is true God and true man in one person 2. The Trinity of persons in the unity of Essence Now Francis doest thou think that either of these things containing the true sense of the Texts alledged by thee will prove your cause That a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is the true Christ surely thou canst not be so bruitish as to think so but rather the contrary sc That it is the false Christ the Devil this Conclusion made Patience an impatient Bullock she being unable to forbear any longer calls to me What quoth she dost thou make our Christ within us to be the Devil To her I made Answer saying that I did solemnly and with much reverence as in the presence of God to whom I must shortly be accountable for my words declare that I do most assuredly know that a Quakers pretended Christ within him is the false Christ the Devil whom ye ignorantly believe in and worship and with whom ye will be damned in Hell if ye repent not to this most serious Declaration she made no reply at all But F. E. forthwith replied saying Thou hast no warrant from the Scripture thus to speak I told him that I had sufficient warrant from the Scriptures to make good what I had in the fear of God declared and forthwith I alledged the words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth himself Ioh. 8. 24. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins this Scripture silenced him likewise and thereupon I told him that the true Christ had stopt his mouth Let me here add some other Scriptures for some further warrant as Ioh. 3. 18. He that believeth not sc on the Son of God sent into the World ver 17. is condemned already that is he is as sure to be damned as if he was actually in Hell and in ver 36. He that believeth not on the Son sc boâ—n of Mary Luk. 1. 35 shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him likewise in Luk. 19. 14. And his Citizens hated him sc the Son of Man the Saviour ver 10 and sent a message after him saying we will not have this Man to reign over us let it be here well Noted that the true Christ calls those Citizens his Enemies and such Enemies as he would destroy ver 27. But those mine Enemies which would not that I the Son of Man ver 10. above should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me in Mark also Chap. 16. ver 16. He that believeth not sc on Jesus risen from the dead ver 9. shall be damned Now Frank didst not thou speak under the Power of Satan when thou didst so openly and confidently affirm that I had no warrant to speak as I did when I spake to thy fellow-Labourer in the work of the false Christ The next Bolt was shot by William Bullock and he tells us The Light makes manifest lifting up his voice lowder and lowder crying out tell me tell me the true and real meaning of those words the Light makes manifest I surely thought that his lowd Lowing and Bellowing was to prevent my asking of him where those words might be found in the Scriptures which I did forbear to ask because I knew his Answer sc t is Scripture Answ 1. I told him that he was at his old trade of mangling the Scriptures and then shewed him wherein namely that it was not the Light maketh manifest but whatsoever doth make manifest is Light which the â—ext made to appear in Eph. 5. 13. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever doth make manifest is light 2. By Light here we are to understand a Sin-reproving-light inasmuch as the latter part doth interpret the former part of the verse sc But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light i. e. by the Light of Scripture whence Paul argues thus for whatsoever doth make manifest in a way of Reproof is light sc Scriptural light as before for the written Scriptures are frequently described by Light Psal 119. 105. Thy Word is a Light unto my path Isai 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Here the written Word such was the Law and Testimony is the only manifesting and so determining-determining-light either for reprehension or satisfaction in cases of error and doubts and the reason of it is assigned by the Apostle 2 Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Reproof for Instruction or manifestation and hereunto agrees the words of our Lord and Saviour Joh. 3. 26 21. For every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved But he that doeth truth cometh to the Light that his deeds may be made manifest 1. By Light in these verses Christ understands the Doctrinal-light contained in the written Scripture of the New-Testament which was preached by him and his Apostles hence it is that the Lord Christ Joh. 8. 12. and his Apostâ—es Mat 5. 14 are called the â—ight of the Wonld 2. That this Light doth reprove ver 20. and manifest ver 21. well then William thy â—emâ—â—d is granted thee namely that the true and real meaning of the Text 〈◊〉 by thee is this to wit That the light of Scripture doth make reproved evils manifest or evils
in Luke 17. 21. Christ doth not mean the Kingdome of glory in Heaven but the Kingdome of the Gospel Preached by himself and his Apostles on Earth to which he answered nothing In the next place F. E. doth as I suppose expect some Answer to his reflection on me at the end of his tedious Discourse afore signified sc That I had not in any thing which was said by me he meant in the four Arguments proving the first part of the charge made any mention of Christ as God to be the Saviour Answ Bold Man who art thou that â—â—achest the Apostles of Jesus Christ yea the Holy-Ghost himself how to speak who were the faâ—thful Witnesses that proved all which was said by me in those four Arguments and that I might prevent which I foresaw such carpings I barely repeated the Apostles express words mentioning in a manner no more then what is plainly asserted by them what dost thou then but under colour of reflecting on me reflect upon the holy Apostles themselves Alas poor Man had it not been more honesty in thee to have thus charged the Apostles then me who wrested not but only repeated the Apostles words for the confirmation of the alledged Arguments thou shouldest have clamoured against the Apostles thus there is not a word by them mentioned of Christ as God to be the Saviour and wouldest thou not hadst thou thus done have been as bold as blind Bayard It s most evident that the Apostles preached Christ as Man Not but that he was and is also God to be believed in for the remâ—ssiâ—n of sins both to the Jews and to the Gentiles so that thy quarrelsome reflection on me is in effect a manifest denying the Testimony of the Apostles joyntly testifying of the Man Jesus Christ of Nazareth to be the only Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the World reconciledworld 2 Cor. 5. 19. for there is no other Man Name or Thing ever in Scripture called the Lamb of God which takes away sin but the one Man Jesus Christ and so it is Recorded by Christs witness bearer Joh. 1. 29. 30. One would now think that the very mentioning of these things were enough to refute them with whom the Scriptures of God have any credit But what shall I say unto thee Francis I would in true love only to thy distressed Soul advise thee to search as in Iohn 5. 39. the Scriptures for I find thee very ignorant of the truth as testified in them and hence asserting new notions which thou hast received from other men which tend to the darkening and denying of the unanimous Testimony of all the holy Men of old to the true Saviour Jesus of Nazareth and to Salvation through Faith in him and that thou mayest be delivered from the dangerous snare of the false Christ the Idol-light within is the hearty desire of him whom for his Faith in and to the truth thou hast opposed William Bullock was the next Disputant to prove That a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is not the false but the true Christ And thus he Argued saying That which may be known of God is manifest in them and tâ—en stâ—pt Therefore I prayed him to tell us were thoâ—e words repeated above were to be found he readily told me sc in Rom. chap. 1. ver 19. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them 〈◊〉 was the only Proof named by them I further demanded of him what he inferred from this Text of Scripture but because he lookt as if he understood not what was meant by that demand I requested him to frame some Argument from the Text alledged by him to prove the matter in hand but all in vain a Syllogisme being as great a Monster to him as Jesus Christ of Nazareth Thereupon I did declare That the Apostle did not there understand the word God to signifie Christ God Man and as for the phrase in them it is interpreted to them as in the very next words in the same verse sc For God hath shewed it to them likewise Paul doth tell us both how and where God shew'd them this as in ver 20. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead which Godhead alone is not to be understood for God-man Christ the only Saviour in a word The mind of the Spirit in these two 19 20. verses sc is no more but this namely that the eternal power and Godhead was manifested in i. e. shewn to the Gentiles unconverted by the things that are made or created from the creation of the World this being the true state of the Text above how they could prove the thing to wit That a Quakers pretended Saviour within him is the true not the false Christ for which they were brought surely none but young and old Bullocks or such as are of that kind can understand I expected some reply from this Disputant to the substance above asserted but instead of a reply he urged another Prool this was their manner even all along that thereby they might â—loaâ— their weakness and insufficienâ—â—â— for returns saying The flesh profiteth nothing it is the Spirit that quickeneth Upon his inversion of the order of the words I desired him to name the Chapter and verse where the words as he had spoken them might be found but he did it not I then named both viz. Joh. chap. 6. ver 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing He again refusing to frame an Argument Therefore to the Text. 1 Answered 1. If these words were to be understood in this sence sc That the Lord Christ on the account of his body of flesh profiteth nothing to Salvation but it s the quickning spirit within that is the only Saviour Then what interpretation wouldst thou put upon Christs words in the same Chapter ver 53. foregoing Then Jesus said unto them verily verily I say unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye have no life i. e. Spirit ver 63. ult in you or wilt thou make Christ who is the wisdome of God 1 Cor. 1. 30. guilty of contradiction and so a Lyar to which he replied nothing save that he had spoken Scripture which necessarily engaged me to reconcile those Scriptures to the understanding of the hearers which I endeavoured thus Joh. 6. 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth i. e. the soul of man naturally dead in sins Eph. 2. 1 5. the words exclude all endowments qualifications or excellencies in the natural man from this soul quickening work hereunto agrees the words of our Saviour in the end of the 63d verse above The words that I spake unto you they are spirit and they are life that is to say the spirit of faith is the souls life or special quickening so that the
the ungodly Abraham was justified in the righteousness of Christs person when he had some ungodliness in his own person a Believer is compleat in Christ bodily Col. 2. 8 9 10. when he hath some incompleatness in his own body In a word these things do clear this Truth Namely To be cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ is to be understood for a cleansing from all the guilt and passive fruits and effects of sin but not for a cleansing as in your sense from all the movings and actings of sin in or by us while in this World which the following verses make most plain for even they which are by the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed from all sin ver 7 8. They have sin and in ver 9. ought to confess their sin Now Francis upon the whole it doth appear that the Patterns cut out by thee do still come short of the measure which plainly argues thou art not as yet thy Crafts-master yea this was manifested by thy Answer to this Question to wit Quest Whether the Saints was cleansed from all sin by the water of regeneration or by the blood of justification Thy Answer was by the Water which gave occasion to sundry persons to laugh at him But he endeavoured to compose them saying it is no laughing matter but indeed matter of melting pity that thy seduced Synagogue of Libertines should be led by so blind a Seducer The next after F. E. was William Bullock again alledging But a Body hast thou prepared me which he repeated again and again and then most earnestly called upon me tell me what is meant by Me for whom that body was prepared and what that body prepared was the same was as eagerly required by Francis Eastlack and William Harriot The place of Scripture intended by them was Heb. 10. 5. But a Body hast thou prepared me I Answered By Thou God the Father is meant by Me the Godhead of the Son by a Body prepared the Man hood united to the God-head of the Son And hereunto agrees the â—ormer part of the 5th verse Wherefore when he Christ God-man cometh into the world he saith Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not or didst not desire and therefore were refused by God it being impossible that they should purge sin ver 4. For it is impossible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sin But a body hast thou prepared me meaning to receive and do his Fathers will in taking sin away Joh. 1. 20. Goâ— the Son having now taken and put on the body oâ— flesh prepared for â—im as above he now undertakes the great work of satisfying Goâ—s Justice for sin and so to take away sin saying ver 7. Lâ— I come to do thy Will O God And why he tells us In the volume of the Book it is written of me i. e. in the Record of thy Decree from everlasting is clear for it that I am he whom thou O Father hast instituted and ordained to do thy will for the taking away of sin For ver 10. By the which will we are sanctified or saved through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all So then the body offered in the 10th verse was the body prepared in the 5th verse But the body of Jesus Christ offered was a real man-kind body as the Spirit of Truth witnesseth Ver. 12. But this Man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sin for ever sat down on the right hand of God here hence it is manifest that the very offering of the body of Jesus Christ could not have saved us but by the will and ordination of the Father who prepared that body for Christs hanging and dying on the Crosse had not delivered us from the pains of the eternal death unless it had been written in the volume of the book It s most sure all that our Lord Christ did or suffered in his Soul and Body for us had not satisfied the justice of God for sin if God had not appointed that Christ his Son made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. should be sent forth to come into the World to do and suffer those things for the satisfying his juctice to the taking away of sin upon the whole I did inter that the true Christ and our only Saviour must necessarily 〈◊〉 both without and above us Here I made some pause to invite a Reply but they were silent at which I much marvelled inasmuch as sundry of the â—â—â—ding Quakers had imprinted so many corrupt glosses on those words it may be 't was forgotten as the Preface notes But a body hast thou prepared me As thus The Body prepared say they was prepared in Heaven and broughâ— by Christ into the Virgins Womb which body they call a Mystical Invisible Spiritual Heavenly body of Flesh and Blood and withal that the Mystical Invisible Body still the Idol light Christ within is the â—rue and only Saviour whose Birth Death Resurrection and Glorification is only Mystical and Invisible Hence as I suppose it is that George Fox in his Folio Book intituled the Great Mystery page 71. asserts That Christs Nature is not humane which saith he is earthly the nature of the first Adam Answ I would gladly knâ—w of this Fox whether Humane doth not rather signifie a Man-kind nature consisting of Soul and Body It s true we read 1 Cor. 15. 47. compare Gen. 2. 7. the first Adam was of the earth earthly in regard of his body not his soul which God formed out of the Earth But the word humane comprehends both Soul and Body which is much more then Earthly or Earth Simply litteral-material Earth Again whereas he adds the second man is from Heaven To which I Answer The second Adam or Man is the Lord from heaven as above 1. Because Christs Man kind nature was conceived in Mary by the power of the Highest overshadowing her Luk. 1. 35. 2. The true Christ is stiled the Secona Man because the first Man was his figure Rom. 5. 14. likewise in the Geneologie Mat. 1. Christ is said also to be partaker of the same flesh blood that the children were partakers of Heb. 2. 14 but the flesh and blood which the Children were partakers of were real visible humane or man kind flesh and blood not Mystical Ivisible flesh and blood Besides this Title sc Th. Son of Man is frequently attributed to Jesus Christ in the New-Testament as in Mat. 8. 20. The Foxes have holes but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head also in Mat. 10. 23. 11. 19. 12. 8. c. The Lords Christ is called the Son of Man which is to shew the truth of his humane mankind Nature it being lineally descended from David according to the flesh and therefore Christ is stiled the Son of David Luk. 20. 41. Moreover he hath the appellation of the Son of Man in reference to his participation with our humane Nature in all