the Scriptures and to my self within a few lines and thus hath thy partners also dealt with me For clearing whereof I refer the Reader to my own words in those places of my Book where they are mentioned as too long here to be repeated And to you as brethren in this iniquity I say might not such as your selves deal so with the Scriptures of Truth with the like out-cry and if so could it be reckoned less then a piece of deceit and it is the same in you to deal so with my words And I leave it with the impartial Reader to be considered whether it be equal dealing among men that while G. W. in the 13. Page of his Part chargeth it upon me as injurious disingenious and false in not giving a true account of the Principles of the Quakers which I undertook not and therefore I did not so much as mention that people that even in that same Book these men should deal so with my words in not giving a true account of what they plainly express though they have of their own accord taken it upon themselves to answer it But what answer can rationally be expected from these men who have not been so honest as to represent faithfully what I really and plainly published in that Testimony The next thing I observe is where thou clamours after this manner what Christ a propitiation for the sins of the whole world past present and to come and yet a generation pleading faith in it and not sheltered from the wrath of the Father thereby what incongruous work is this I answer the one propitiatory sacrifice of the body of Christ is not the less sufficient in it self to have been a propitiation for the sins of the whole world and so to have sheltered even all mankind from the wrath of the Father Gods love and this great propitiation set forth by him was large enough even for this though it prove not so to unbelievers and hypocrites The Apostle spoke truth 1 John 2. 2. of Jesus Christ the righteous he is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world and our Lord also spoke truth of himself John 3. 36. He that believes not the wrath of the Father abides on him and in effect I have expressed no more then what those Scriptures holds forth Hence I say who but one like thy self who dares even call the Scriptures themselves contradictory durst thus boldly reckon this doctrine of Christ and his Apostle incongruous In the end of the 2 Page repeating some of my words thou tels me there is a supposition and question of thy own forming and then presently thou concludes it a doctrine of some others and then thou adds it is a smiting of the Quakers in the dark I answer I did not assert that supposition and question to be a doctrine maintained by some others but I proposed them as necessary consequences of a Doctrine a little before mentioned in that part of my Book to wit of that doctrine which asserts that redemption is not of sinners that delight in sin but of a light or seed within to be raised and redeemed within to which the promise of redemption is which seed is the seed of Abraham to whom the promise is which Jesus Christ takes upon him after the flesh A Doctrine mentioned in a Book often printed and published by and among you called Love to the Lost pa. 46. 47 48. But that which thou dares not meddle with lest thy speech should bewray thee now I offer it to the understanding Reader whether this question may not pertinently be proposed to the maintainters of that Doctrine Is the Seed or Christ within so under condemnation and the Curse that he needs to be redeemed therefrom and if this Seed or Christ be not saved in every man doth it remain in some for ever under condemnation Thy Partner G. K. in the 16. Page answers thus We say indeed that the Seed suffers under fin and is to be raised from under it yet the soul yea and the whole man is also to be saved within but the seed is not for ever under condemnation for though for a time it suffers yet in the time appointed of God it is raised up in all yea in the most ungodly to minister in them wrath without mercy This Doctrine G. K. asserts but it agreeth not with the Scriptures speaking thus That Christ died for sinners the whole need not the Physitian but the sick for a good man one may even dare to die but Christ died for the ungodly By what Scripture can he prove that Christ died for a seed in man which needed redemption which seed is Christ in every man and that Christ suffers under sin in every man and is to be raised from under it for if so he came to redeem himself in every man who never consented to sin so not the man the sinner that was under condemnation and the curse and delighted in sin But consider the words of Isay Isa 53. 6. We all like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all and this Peter testifieth 1. Ep. 2. 24. He who did no sin his own self bare our sins in his own body on the Tree how expresly doth these Scriptures refute that assertion of G. K. neither can he show any Scripture to prove that the man Jesus Christ doth bear our sins but as he did bear them in his crucified body when he suffered for us the just for the unjust of which I shall write more fully in answer to G. K. his part And whereas he saith The Seed is raised in the most ungodly in Gods appointed time to minister wrath in them without mercy he should have expressed himself whether he understands by ungodly men and women and whether this Seed which he calls Christ or this ministration of wrath raised in them without mercy be after their bodily death for if so the worm in Devils and damned persons that never dieth is Christ in them G. K. should prove this confused Doctrine of his by the Scriptures or keep it to himself And since he saith the Soul is also to be saved within and the whole man what an imperfect account doth he express in this matter as if the full and compleat redemption and salvation purchased by Christ and in hope waited for by believers were only a salvation or a being saved from sin within wherein he is reproved by the Apostle Rom. 8. 23. We have the first fruits of the spirit waiting for the redemption of our body we are saved by hope we do wait in patience for it yet these Saints thus waiting for the redemption hoped for already witnessed in measure a being saved from sin within And for him to say the soul is to be saved how doth it agree with the Doctrine published by G. F. in a Book Intituled The great mystery of the great
grave and be made partakers of that salvation which through faith and hope we wait for while in the body for we are saved by hope And in the next words of that 13. pag. thou sayst to me And though thou uses this Scripture to prove that men are reconciled to God through the death of Christ excluding any qualification wrought by him in them yet it is but an abuse of the place though I only repeat the Apostles express words and mentioned no more then what is plainly asserted by them nor need I go further then thy own confession to alledge a more safe way of understanding that Scripture as where thou sayst although in the dayes of Isaias Christ was not then come in our flesh yet the Prophet speaks of it as a thing already done it being so in the purpose of God and so why may not Paul after this manner I answer Paul cannot be understood so to speak because the death of the Man Christ was past before he so wrote And if we should so understand these words of the Apostle it confirms that I asserted for as Christs sufferings spoken of by the Prophet Isaias as done in his time because according to the Scriptures and therefore my confession were what his band and his Counsel determined before to be done therefore they were in the fulness of time so really accomplished as God before determined thus if Paul spoke of Gods being in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son it being so in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world surely then when Jesus Christ came into the world to finish what the counsel of God before hand had determined he really actually finished and accomplished it or else the purpose of God was frustrate and Christ finished not what God before hand determined he should do and set him forth for to do which to assert either of God or Christ are alike impiously blasphemous Thy Partner G. W. in the 15. page of his Part saith This Doctrine tends to make a merry world in their sins But the Apostle as if of purpose to rebuke this spirit Rom. 6. 1. saith Shall we therefore sin that grace may abound God forbid and in another place The grace of God teacheth us to deny ungodliness And in the 16. page G. W. further argues thus Could that be an answer of divine justice so to take vengeance on the innocent and let the guilty go with their sins past present and to come and how can God then in justice execute wrath on any for sin I answer It is strange to find this man so very dark thus to argue against God! However he is reproved by the Apostle who saith in express words as if of purpose to check this cavelling spirit of the Man Christ He died the just for the unjust though in him was no guile found yet he was made sin and a curse for us though be had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he was smitten of God wounded for our transgressims the chastisements of our peace were upon him though we had turned every one to his own way the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all This man should thus answer the Prophet Isaias is that divine justice to take vengeance on wound sinite bruise the innocent and let the guilty go free And the Apostle asserts in so many words Thu Jesus Christ the righteous is a propitiation for the sins of the whole world may I not thence in truth assert Him to have been a propitiation for all sins past present and to come which since this man so much quarrels narrowing the extent of Christs death of whom it is written That He tasted death for every man Let him plainly answer God having so determined before the foundation of the world whether there was any necessity that the Man Christ Jesus should have been offered up as a sacrifice for remission of sins at all the Apostle tells us That without blood there was no remission which if so that if for the remission of every sin there be a necessity of that blood of attonement if he did not then when he was offered up attone for all sins must he then come again to be offered up again for those remaining sins not already attoned for by that one Sacrifice of his Body already once offered never to be offered again And though this one propitiatory sacrifice once for all be sufficient in it self for the sins of the whole world yet such as receive it not but through unbelief reject him Christ saith of such The wrath of the Father abides on them they remaining still in unbelief the sentence of the Law Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which we written in the Book of the Law to do them remaining also in them because they have not received this attonement but putting that word of God spoken to them from them have judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life In the 7. Page I find another exception against this Doctrine of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 8 19. The Apostles words are Hath reconciled us viz. Vs who believe and are sanctified but of the world he saith reconciling so not reconciled yea in that same place he mentions a qualification on their part to be wrought by the spirit in order to their full reconciliation be ye reconciled to God I answer thou art here very hard put to it who though thou be a Master of Arts must be desired to ask the Boyes in the Grammar-School whether was reconciling and hath reconciled do not both denote a time past And if the Apostle spoke truth saying in the time past God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and if Christ also spoke truth of himself John 14. 4. I have finished the work the Father gave me to do then surely what God was doing in time past in Christ to wit reconciling the world to himself he finished it and so it is a work already done and perfected on God part And for that qualification mentioned by the Apostle on their part it confirms what I asserted and I have also affirmed it in my Testimony that in order to make the reconciliation with God already finished by Christ effectual in every man we are as a qualification required on our part as to receiving that attonement already perfected invited to be reconciled to God who in Christ Jesus is already reconciled to us even while enemies which qualification on our part is not the reason or cause of our reconcilation with God for the Apostle in the next words plainly points out to us the reason and cause thereof For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him here is the foundation of all our hopes the ground
of our confidence the reason why we are invited to be reconciled to God Jesus Christ who knew nosin was made sin for us a work already done and perfected the fruit and consequence whereof is that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Had not the first been done and perfected by Christ without us we had never witnessed the second within us They that sleight and reject the second really neither know nor believe the first they that oppose and reject the first they shut themselves out from the second Now to conclude this matter in the 13. Page as if thou hadst set thy self of purpose to print thy self-contradictions after a great deal of vain jangling thou confessest to the truth in plain words though against thy self and Partners therefore I shall sum up this Doctrine which I have according to the Scriptures affirmed and which thou contrary to the Scriptures hast cavelled against and denied in thy own very words We do willingly acknowledge the full and perfect redemption was in Christ while we were enemies but now since we believed we have received the attonement But I further take notice of thy next words in the 5. Page thus Our justification was not absolutely wrought by Christ as manifest in his body of flesh As if his outward body flesh and blood were the only sacrifice excluding the inward I answer neither do I assert that his flesh and blood was the only sacrifice for his soul was made an offering for sin so that thou shouldst have more fully exprest thy self herein For if thou understands by excluding the inward the inward works of the spirit as wrought within us then with thee Christ in offering up himself a ransome and sacrifice for sin is an imperfect unsufficient propitiation excluding those inward works as if these were a part thereof thou shouldst have spoken more plainly in this matter as doth one W. S. a Teacher among you in his Book Intituled A new Catechisme pa. 64. in these words As the Foundation and Principle of the Quakers We believe that Christ in us doth offer up himself mark that a work yet a doing a living sacrifice unto God for us by which the wrath and justice of God is appeased towards us and that through the Offering and Sacrifice of CHRIST the hand-writing of Ordinances which stood against us is blotted out mark that in the present time as now doing How plainly doth this man set himself to speak another Doctrine then that of the Apostles the sacrifice offered up to God for sin is called by the Apostle one offering once offered and therefore also is called the offering of the body of Jesus Hence the Apostle saith plainly 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. there is one Mediatour between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus mark that the Man Christ Jesus as Son of Man who gave mark that in the time past himself mark that not meekness humility patience or the like in every man but-himself a ransom for all hence Christ the Son of Man was the ransome for all And so it is Ephes 5. 2. Who hath given himself an offering to God for us This man tells us that it is the foundation of the Quakers to believe Christ in us as spiritually manifested in us so not as Son of Man without us doth offer up himself a Sacrifice unto God for us This man saith The hand-writing of Ordinances which stood against us is blotted out as doing in us The Apostle said blotting it out and took it out of the way as done Thus he renders the Foundation and Principle of the Quakers to be another then that of the Apostles And such kind of doctrine doth thy Partner G. W. mention in the 14. and 15. Pag. of his Part in these words That in respect of our being renewed by the Spirit of Christ we are said to be purchased to God and in this sense it is said God hath purchased his Church with his own blood How darkly and confusedly doth this man write It is true by being renewed by the spirit within it comes to be manifest that we are these whom Christ hath purchased but that these works of the spirit wrought in us are the Ransome the Attonement the propitiatory Sacrifice or any part of it or the ground and cause of our being redeemed that I deny as contrary to the Scriptures Testifying the Sacrifice and purchase of our Redemption thereby to be a work done at once by the one offering of the Body of the Man Christ and in this sense it is said God hath purchased a work done and perfected his Church by his own blood whereas G. W. his confused doctrine renders this purchase as a work dayly doing in every generation in many bodies as every man comes to be renewed by the spirit And really this is in effect no less then in a more fine dress of new coyned words a bringing in another unbloody sacrifice like that Rome with this difference that is an offering of a piece of Bread which they say is the Body of Christ this new one is Faith and Patience and the like graces of the Spirit of God which these men say is offered up in us for us to God as a ransome an attonement and purchase of our Redemption Both agreeing in this that there is another offering another sacrifice dayly offered up for sin then that one sacrifice of the Body of the Man Christ Jesus crucified at Jerusalem then and there once offered up to God through the Eternal Spirit for the sins of the whole world In the 6. Pa. thou acknowledges That our salvation and justification hath a necessary respect to the death of Christ in the outward God baving so ordained it Now consider thy words that which our salvation and justification hath a necessary respect unto without the effecting thereof to wit the death of the Man Christ we could never have been saved or justified Now let G. L. and G. W. thy Partners in this work Testifie whether thou hast spoken the truth herein or not G. L. writes thus to me as is afterward mentioned in his Part It is not names and things done abroad but the life within that redeems the soul to God The death of Christ in the outward being a name and thing done abroad doth not saith G. L. redeem the soul to God he allows not but plainly excludes any such necessary respect our Redemption hath to Christs death in the outward G. W. in the 16. pa. of his Part tells me That it is a blasphemous opposing the Omnipotency of God and an undervaluing him as if he were no Saviour to assert any such necessary respect our Redemption hath to the death of Christ especially saith he while R. G. thinks God was so displeased and his wrath so stirred up that it would hold man captive in death unless Christ as Son of Mary should satisfie and answer this wrath and undergo this death Thus as it was said of
man as he is a man which also G. W. in pag. 6. seems to say of it And though man through his disobedience wholly lost fellowship and communion with God and hope of eternal life with a possibility under that Covenant of works through his future obedience of ever being restored yet he continued a man still even under all this loss and also enlightned by this Law though more darkly whereby he knew he had disobeyed his Maker and therefore was ashamed and hid himself and of which had he been utterly deprived he had ceased from being a man and so from being capable of condemnation or of receiving the promise of restoration of which he knew nothing by this enlightning remaining in him untill God published it to him by promising him the Messias the Womans feed to break the Serpents head for that Law as thou acknowledges pag 10. in these words only condemns him and gives him the knowledge of sin This Law or enlightning thus planted in mans nature by creation is by generation conveyed into every man as the comes into the world and is hence called by Solomon 20. Chap. Proverbs 27. verse The Spirit of man which is the Candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of his belly and of the spirit of man the Prophet 12. Zach. 1. writeth thus Thus saith the Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the foundation thereof and formeth the spirit of man within him hence this Law in every man as it is in every man is that which God hath formed therefore of it the Apostle truly and properly hath spoken they do by nature the things contained in the Law as being born of the seed and after the kind of man they are naturally or by nature men so being born of the seed of man they do naturally or by nature the things contained in the Law the work of the Law being written in their hearts as they are men hence this Law or enlightning in every man as he comes into the world being the formed spirit of man enlightned by him that made it Is not God that formed it the word by which the world was made as G. F. in that Book above mentioned pag. 185. asserts neither is it the word manifest in flesh as G. W. asserts pag. 3. So what pag. 6. he would have to be right reason in pag. 3. with him is God manifest in flesh Neither is it the end of the Law the Saviour the Mediator the Righteousness of God the foundation of God as G. F. in that Book already named pag. 9. 57. 102. 168. and 277. asserts for by these assertions the creature is and is worshipped instead of him the creator who is God blessed for ever wherefore if it be not too late I would have these men consider the words of the Lord spoken by Esayas 50. 11. Behold all ye that kindle a fire that compass about your selves with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled this shall ye have of my hand ye shall lie down in Sorrow And although by this Law or enlighting in every man he is capable to receive the glad tydings of the Gospel when preached to him through the promised seed of the Woman yet it is not he the promised seed neither is it the light of the Gospel shining in our hearts by faith as G. W. would have it to be pag. 6. Neither is it Christ within the hope of glory nor the word of faith nor the ingrafted word within that is able to save the Soul though it be that which receives it and where it abides when received though thou seems so to assert in thy Book Yet neither thou nor any of you have proved or can prove what you have so asserted by the Scriptures of truth And although by this Law in every mans nature the eternal power and God-head may be known by the things that are made and equity and sobriety among men may be observed yet the glorious Gospel shining in our hearts by faith is not thereby discerned although G. W. pag. 6. so affirmeth of it asserting as much as if right reason in every man as becomes into the World by natural generation discerneth the light of the glorious Gospel which if so why is the word of faith preached how comes faith by hearing and indeed to what end was the Comforter the spirit of truth promised and sent to reveal this Mistery and how is it foolishness to the wisdom and reason of the Greeks But I find it not so asserted in the Scriptures of truth of this Law in every man as he comes into the World that it discerneth or discovereth to man the purpose of grace that was in God before the world began preached to Adam foretold by the Prophets typified under the Law pointed out by John the fore-runner whom last of all his Apostles preached as do all his Ministers in all Ages proclaiming this message of Gods love to the world not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life all in one joynt voice pointing to this Jesus the Son of Mary this Son of man with an Hosanna to this Son of David and to none before him or to any ever since Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world a voice not heard among you of the Man Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary as now existing outwardly bodily without us but applyed by some among you to meekness humility and the like within you Therefore not the Law in every man as he comes into the world but the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus shining in the hearts of Believers manifests to them the Saviour Jesus and Salvation through faith in him That being graven in the heart of a man as he is a man this being revealed only by that Spirit which the world never saw nor can receive as the Apostle plainly asserts 1 Cor. 2. 9 10 14. And hence these Laws are not therefore one and the same because both of them are written in the heart the one being within man as he is a man the other as he is a believer And as these Laws are different so the teachings of them differ hence the Apostle saith doth not even nature it self teach as being far below the teachings of the new Covenant the teachings of this Law in every man either as in every man or as outwardly administred leading no farther then as it was said of old eye for eye tooth for tooth what you would not men should do unto you that do ye not unto them But when he came who brought in a better Covenant a more glorious Law even that of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus he preached a higher Doctrine But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you
that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved But that this Law in every man as he comes into the world is this word of faith that I deny and thou hast not proved it for Faith comes by hearing not by natural generation And further concerning the seed which is Christ the Apostle 3 Gal. 16. saith To Abraham and to his seed were the promises made he saith not to seeds as to many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ thus Christ as he is the seed of Abraham is the one seed to whom the promise belongs what the promis was we have it in the 8. ver in thee shall all the nations be blessed in the 3. Acts 25. Peter mentions this promise as spoken of that Jesus whom the Jews delivered up in the presence of Pilate not otherwise do I find in Scripture Jesus Christ called the seed to whom the promise belongs And this unscriptural Doctrine the Light in every man as he comes into world to be Christ a seed within hath hatched among us of late these and such assertions from among you the light the seed within is Christ then I am he that speaketh Then Hosanna The Son is equal with the Father I witness the Son in me so I witness equality with the Father the light in me is Christ Christ is the word by which the world was made then it was said of Christ that he was in the world and the world was made by him the world knew him not so it may be said of this Prophet G. F. as is said by S. E. in his Paper intituled the Quakers challenge pag. 6. Christ is the way the truth and the life Christ is in me and must he not say where he is I am the way the truth and the life he that hath the same spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead is equal with God Jesus Christ the Mystery passed before the same spirit takes upon it the same seed where it is manifested as is mentioned in the Book intituled Sauls errand to Damascus pag. 7. 8. which of all the Saints of old ever so spoke or wrote But herein among you are fulfilled the words of our Lord saying fals Christs shall arise and many shall say I am Christ Lastly I do also acknowledge that Men and Women who are of the Faith of Abraham are called and are the seed of Abraham And thus they are the brethren and Sisters of our Lord who that he might be their Elder brother a real man took part of flesh and bloud by being the one seed of Abraham and David according to the flesh And this agreeth with the whole tendency of the Gospel viz. that man not only something in man fell from God through disobedience that men thus dead in sins and trespasses who delighted in sin needed Redemption not something in men that never consented to sin that the redeemer of Man was and also is a real man not only something in man Thus having answered thy chief Objections against my Testimony and by asserting the plain ' truth according to the Scriptures clearly manifested how far different from and contrary unoâ— the foundation The Apostles and all the Saints of old built upon for Salvation that Doctrine is which thou hast declared of I find thee in the 15. pag. framing a pretence whereby thou mayest seem to go off with some credit telling me that I made a man of straw and then knocks him down that my Book is almost wholly spent in proving that which none of you deny to wit that Christ is come in the flesh suffered and died But this is such a pitiful covering that thou mayest be seen through it by the weakest discerning as not able to deal with the strength of that which I have Testified unto as indeed it is too hard for thee for as I have already told thy partner A. R. that was not any part of my work no not in any part of all my Book But since thou seeks a hole to creep out at I am willing to let thee go only in love to thee I advise thee to search 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 darkning and denying of the joynt Testimony of all the holy men of old to the true Saviour and to Salvation through faith in him And that thou mayest be delivered from this dangerous snare and yet build up in thy self and others those truths which by this thy work thou hast opposed and contradicted is the hearty desire of thy Friend R. G. GAWEN LAWRIE I Am next to deal with thee whom I also find joyned with the rest against my Testimony and I am to remember thee that thou hast thrust thy self among this Company by communicating to others my private Letter written to thee as my Friend without my knowledge or consent thence to bring forth in print what could be squeezed out of it to my disadvantage tending as my words are forced to speak to no less as you say then an owning another Mediatour or Saviour then Jesus Christ of Nazareth but who or what that other Saviour is I am not told But to let thee and others know that I am not ashamed of what I have written to thee and that I am able to free my self from that groundless aspersion through thee cast upon me I have here set down what was most material in those Objections thou didst send me in writing against my Testimony with my answers thereunto and let the impartial Reader judge which of us either pleads for or against Jesus Christ of Nazareth as being the true Christ and our only Saviour In thy Letter thou writes these words I find thy mind in this Book abroad gathering in the comprehension what thou fancies and hast heard of others so heaps up confusion and contradiction what will avail thee or me that we know abroad of things done abroad nothing at all if ever thee or I come to know true peace we must come to know the life that quickens it is not names nor things done without but the life within that redeems that purgeth that sanctifies that quickens the Soul to God Now consider what is testified by the Prophets and Apostles concerning the the man Christ Jesus without them a name and thing abroad concerning whom and what he did for Man-kind thou sayest it being a name and thing done abroad redeems not the Soul to God avails nothing at all while these Saints of old prophesied of pointed out spoke of and believed in him for Redemption they saw and believed and left it upon Record to us and their report is true that we also who have not seen might believe and be blessed and in effect in that one word thouhast made the coming death sufferings and Resurrection of the Man Christ and that one sacrifice
sufficiently vindicated these truths testified unto by me from the cavils of this man according to the Scriptures who either ignorantly or wilfully jumbles these things confusedly together not dividing the word of truth aright And hence it is that he reckons it erroneous in me and a contradicting opposing and invalidating the inward operations of the Spirit of God within which is falsly charged upon me To assert of the Messias the man Christ Jesus of Nazareth that he finished transgression made an end of sin brought in everlasting righteousness fulfilled the Law abolished condemnation Curss and death condemned sin in the flesh took part of our flesh and in it destroyed death and him that had the power of death abolished in his flesh the enmity so making peace that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the Cross And all this for sinners ungodly unjust enemies even while enemies so no good wrought in them by any light or spirit whatsoever so as to have purchased or perfected that blessed work all which and much more being the express Testimony of the Prophets and Apostles concerning him and the work effected by him for sinners thou G. W. art justly reproved by them as having manifested thy self a plain denier of them and thy work is seen in the light of Christ Jesus and by it the Spirit that leads thee so that these Scripture words thou steals out of the writings of the Apostles cannot cover thee from being discerned while thou dost not plainly and honestly mention what is intended by them writing as thy manner is in thy works darkly and confusedly thereby the more easily to deceive And this is so plain in all this thy work that to mention it in every place would prove tedious I would therefore only have the Reader consider thy words in the 12. p. thus God sent his Son to save man from sin and death whose sufferings sacrifice mediation intercession and offices with the blessed effects thereof within we own and witness according to the Scriptures of truth as inwardly revealed I own and acknowledge that the blessed effects of Christs sufferings Sacrifice and Offices are to be witnessed within as inwardly revealed But how confusedly dost thou write If what is inwardly revealed within us be the effects of the death sufferings sacrifice mediation intercession and offices of the Son of God then there is a cause of those effects as previous and antecedent to them to wit his sufferings and sacrifice which is therefore necessarily finished perfected and accomplished by him for us without us in his Crucified body before the effects thereof could be witnessed or revealed in us And this is that which I plead for and thou hast opposed as do also thy partners speaking other whiles of an attonement a sacrifice a Mediation to be done by Christ within us for us and at another time speaking of the blessed effects of them to be witnessed within and therefore only mentioning these words of the Prophets and Apostles to catch simple Souls thereby among a people where the Scriptures have had and have some credit while you really speak another Doctrine then that testified unto by those Holy Men of old by these and such expressions But were you to Preach among a people to whom the report of the man Christ Jesus the Son of God his Sufferings and Sacrifice is not conveyed would it be accounted necessary by you to Preach Remission and forgiveness of sins through that man and that one Sacrifice of his Crucified body and the hope of the Resurrection from the dead unto eternal life through faith in that man even the same Jesus whom the Jews Crucified and whom God raised from the dead and that he is both Lord and Chrst and that there is no other Saviour and no other Salvation but through faith in that man and no other ground of hope or confidence of ever being saved but through that sacrifice already offered up and that perfect obedience by him already performed to the will of the Father What you would Preach to such is manifest by your Doctrine and by such like words from among you that you would Preach to the Indians nothing but what they knew already However to him the man Christ Jesus the Apostles testified as Saviour and through him they preached Remission of sins and the Resurrection of the dead To the unbelieving Greeks with whom the Testimony of Moses and the Prophets had no credit and so they Preached to them what they knew not before strange Gods say they one Jesus that was dead whom they preached to be alive and Remission of sins the Resurrection of the dead through faith in him May we know say they what this new Doctrine thou preachest is In the 18. pag. thou expressest thy self thus This man thinks that he is gotten beyond reason in his Paradoxes every rational man may see his darkness herein to conclude the believer in warfare and imperfections in the body and in Victory in perfection in Christ which is all one as to say he is in Christ and out of Christ perfect and imperfect at the same instant I answer there are Scripture Paradoxes relating to the Mystery of the Gospel which mans wisdom and reason which is foolishness with God cannot comprehend hence to the wise Greeks Philosophers and Stoicks the Preaching of Jesus and the Resurrection from the dead and of the day in which God will judge the World by that man whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead I say this Doctrine those wise rational men counted Paradoxes gotten beyond reason saying of Paul what will this babler say he sets forth strange Gods because he preached to them Jesus and the Resurrection But I do acknowledge that among those Paradoxes this is one a believer lives at one and the same time in a twofold state by faith he is a man in Christ Jesus in him he is compleat while according to sense he is a man in the flesh subject to infirmities and death in the body he hath a Law of sin in the Lord he hath put it off as he walks by faith he is in rest victory and perfection as he walks by sight he is in labours warfare and imperfections hence the Apostle testifieth 8 Rom. 23. we who have received the fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within ourselves waiting for the Redemption of our body for we are saved by hope but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man sees why doth he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities hence also faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Thus the Believer is in a state of hope and faith having received but the earnest of the inheritance not the full fruition not as if already perfected is daily pressing