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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	person_n	scripture_n	trinity_n	3,376	5	9.9610	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47197	The way cast up, and the stumbling-blocks removed from before the feet of those who are seeking the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward containing an answere to a postcript, printed at the end of Sam Rutherford's letters, third edition, by a nameless author, indeed not without cause, considering the many lyes and falshoods therein, against the people, called Quakers, which are here disproved, and refuted / by George Keith ...	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.; Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661.	1677 (1677)	Wing K233; ESTC R19568	115,272	246

iron the fire in the 〈◊〉 answering to the God-head or eternall Word an● the iron it self burning and shining by the vertue an● power of the fire in it answering to the Man-hood 〈◊〉 Christ both which examples I judge to be useful and pertinent yet falling exceeding short of th● Mystery it self which is so great that is passeth● 〈◊〉 understanding of men and Angels The second particular is that we deny Christ 〈◊〉 be the second person of the Trinity 6. This is a meer quible about the invented words of mans wisdom which we deny albeit the truth of the thing it self we deny not but faithfully believe to wit that Christ as God is the second of the Three that bear record in heaven which three are the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are One as Iohn declared and we believe that these three that bear record in heaven are not three distinct natures and substances but the one in nature and substance not three Gods but One onely God not having three understadings three wills or three powers but one only understanding one only will and one only power 7. Yet they are three otherwise then in meer name operation or manifestation towards us onely being distinct in their relative modes or propertys so that the Father is not the Word nor is the Word or Son the Father allthough he be our Father nor is the Spirit that proceeds from the Father and the Son either the Father or the Son the Father is uncreated and unbegotten the Son or Word from everlasting is uncreated and yet begotten of the Father the Spirit is neither created nor begotten but proceedeth from the Father and the Son from everlasting the Father did not become flesh nor was born and crucified and rose but the Son or Word yet the Father is in the Son the Son in the Father the Spirit that proceedeth from them is was in them and with them from everlasting and is unto everlasting and whatever the Father doth the Word and Spirit do the same being one as in nature so in operation This Father doth all things by the Word and the Father and the word doe all things by the Spirit and yet as they are distinct in the manner or modes of being so also in the manner or modes of operation As the Father is first in the manner of his being so is he first in the manner of operation as the Son is second in the manner of his being so is he second in the manner of operation and as the Spirit is third in the manner of his being so is he third in the manner of operation Yet this priority is not a priority of time but of order for they were three before time even from everlasting and they all cooperat and work together And thus it may appear that we are sound in the faith as touching this great mystery and that we differr not in the matter or thing it self but onely as to the manner of expression which they themselvs grant is not by words divinely inspired as namely a Trinity of persons or three distinct persons Christ and the Apostles who declared of this mystery expressed it not in these termes of three distinct persons nor are these words recorded in Scriptures therefor we are not bound to expresse our faith in these unscripturall termes which the holy Ghost hath not taught nor indeed is there any need of those termes three distinct persons but rather they darken then explain the mystery which have occasioned not onely some of the vulgar but even some of them called the learned to erre grossely in their conceptions about the mystery it self as if the Father the Word and the Spirit were really three distinct substances each having a distinct understanding will and power and as if the word or Son were inferiour in nature to the Father and the Father greater then the Son as Origen is thought by some to have taught and as some do now teach and such although they affirme that the Word and the Spirit are di●tinct substances from the Father and that the Father is greater then they yet they do not acknowledg that the Word and Spirit are created or that they have their being from the Father by way of creation but only by way of emanation and they affirme that the Father is onely the most high God and the Word and Spirit inferiour unto him as being God onely by participation from and union with the Father and thus they think to defend themselvs as not being guilty of the Arian heresy whereas it was a branch of the Arian heresy to say that the Son or Word was not equall unto the Father But whither or not they be guilty of the Arian ●eresy sure I am they are in an error occasioned in great part by these unsound and unscriptural terms of three Persons in the Trinity for persons signify substances and not the modes or propertys of one Substance 8. And it is wel known that these words of Three Persons and 3 Hypostases have made great contention in former times and divers judged to be pious and learned men have denyed them and disputed against them as namely Ierome against three hypostases and Augustin disputeth solidely lib. 5. 7. de Trinitate that the words Three Persons are not properly applicable to the Mystery it self although he doth not know what other names to give them and surely it is too great presumption and curiosity in any men to dive further into this mystery then what God hath pleased to reveal or to give names unto it which the Lord hath not given And yet it is more presumption and smelleth rankly of a persecuting spirit to impose upon others these words which the Spirit of God hath not taught nor left upon record in the Scripture and yet becaus we do not own these words of mans wisdom and spirit to cry out against us as blasphemers and as denying the true Christ whereas we believe in and do own the true Christ according both to his God-head and Man-hood more according to the Truth and Testimony of the Scripture then our accusers do as I hope in its due place to shew The Third Particular whereof he accuseth us is that we deny Christ to be a singular Person 9. But this is another quible like unto the former for I ask him What doth he mean by the word Person whether the God-head or both united If he place the personality upon the Godhead it resolveth into the second particular already cleared but the Word or Godhead of Christ is not properly a person but an invisible Power and Life if he place it upon the Manhood as united with the Godhead this is contrary to their own doctrin who teach that the Word did assume the nature of Man but not the person otherwise he would be two persons and thus they distinguish the personality from the nature of man but this is a most

a comfortable then 〈◊〉 is a true doctrin that we have the Man Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 near unto us in virtue of his Divine Life and Soul in his Divine Seed and Body extended into us and thus he is the Incarnat Word or Word made flesh ●welling in our flesh and is made like unto us for as we are flesh so he is flesh also but of a more excellent make or creation And thus he is the Bride●room and Husband of our Souls to whom we may approach and whom we may kiss and imbrace and handle with the hands of our Soul and whose glory we may behold even the glory of the Word made flesh and dwelling in us Whereas the glory of the Word as it was in God before it became flesh or cloathed it self with the heavenly Manhood no eye of Angel or Saint ever could or can behold for the Glory of the Word simply considered in God out of the Manhood of Christ is God himself without any middle or Mediator 8. And this none hath ever seen or can see no not the most glorious Angels but it is the Word made flesh or God made manifest in flesh to wit in the Heavenly Flesh or Manhood of Christ that is the alone proper and adequat object of the contemplation and enjoyment of the most glorious Angels as wel as of the most Holy Souls as Paul declared Great is the mystery of Godlyness God manifest in th● flesh c. seen of Angels Observe here it is not God simply but God manifest in flesh that is seen of Angels and is believed on in the world although he was both seen of Angels and believed on in the world long before he was manifest in that outward body of Flesh which was also a most glorious manifestation and excelleth in glory all the outward manifestations that ever were or shall be but the Angels and Saints did really see him before that nanifestation in outward flesh and the Saints do now really see him although his outward body and external person be not now present for us to behold 9. Yet the Word Incarnate or made flesh and called by Iames the Ingrafted Word we do really see for it 〈◊〉 in us and unlesse it were made flesh or incarnate it could not be ingrafted into us for all ingrafting or implanting requireth some simili●ude or analogy of nature and substance therefore we can not graffe an apple or cherry-graffe upon stone or iron or bare earth by reason of the great unlikenesse and distance of their natures and yet the Word simply and nakedly considered in God before it was made flesh is more unlike unto us and in nature more remote from us then an apple is from stone or iron Therefore to the end that the Word may be ingrafted into us and we again ingrafted into it the Word must be incarnate or become flesh as we are for all men are a sort of flesh and so called in Scripture in comparison of God that is purely a Spirit and though the Souls of men 〈◊〉 Spirits yet comparatively as unto God they are as it were flesh And thus the Word is become flesh that is to say hath advanced a step or degree nearer unto us then as it was in God before any thing was made and the Word was first of all made flesh to be the Root and Foundation of all other created beings and for which they are created 10. For it is a more noble creation then all things else and is 〈◊〉 this creation as the Apostle declared expressly Heb. 9 11. the words not of this 〈◊〉 should be translated not of his creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore some think fit rather to call it an emanation from God then a creation to speak strictly which I shall not dispute about for it rather is a strife about words then in the thing it self Now when I say that the Light Life and Spirit of the Heavenly Man Christ Jesus is not in us as in respect of its Fountain and Center or Spring but onely by way of emanation or participation we deriving it from that Central Light and Life that was in him that was born of the Virgin Mary 11. I do by no means acknowledg or understand that the Deity had onely its Center in that Man and from him doth ray into us for the most Blessed and Glorious Deity properly hath no center and rays distinct by way of emanation but rather is all Center according to that noted saying of Hermes Trismegist God is a Circle whose cent●● is every where and is no where circumscribed And therefore the Blessed Deity is as centrally and essentially in us as in the Man Christ Iesus 12. But still as in respect of union manifestation and operation and also in respect ●f communion and fellowship the Man Christ Jesus or Word Incarnate is the onely and proper middle and Mediator betwixt God and us so that where●● God is immediatly united with the Man Christ Jesus no other men or Angels have or indeed are capable to have an immediat union with God their union is onely mediat with God and so their communion and fellowship with him is but mediat also by the means of Christ Jesus although in respect of other means it is immediat And of this I found needfull once for all to acquaint the Reader to prevent his mis●●ke SECTION XII 1. How much more truely we own aud esteeme the Manhood of Christ then the Author of the Postscript or his Brethren 2. A testimony of Luther for the Man Christ his being every where 3. Another Testimony from those who imbraced the Aungustane Confession in that Treatise called Liber Concordiae that Christ as Man is really present with the Saints on Earth 4. The Lutherans grosse errour in the manner of this presence hath given occasion to many to deny the Truth it self becaus they could not understand the manner 5. The manner offered in this Treatise most consonant both to Scripture and Reason and almost to Sense 6. How Iohn saw the Son of Man in the midst of the golden candlesticks after his Ascersion 8. How Christ 〈◊〉 the ladder by which we ascend unto God 8. The Nephesch and Neschamah of Christs Soul distin●guished 9. Christ his spirituall coming in his Saints as the Son of Man Ma●th c 16 ver 28. 10. A Testimony of Calvin that Christ as Man doth sanctify us and give us Grace 11. Some testimonys from S. R. his Epistles that Christ is in the Saints not onely by his Gra●es but by himself 12. Another Testimony of Calvin 13. That S. R. speaketh of the Man Christ his being in the Saints 14. Many call that h●rrid blasphemy in us which they commend in S. R. and others of their own Teachers which is great injustice and partiality 15. Christ his knowing the heart of the Samaritan Woman and curing the woman of Canaan of her issue of blood proveth the extension of his Soul and Life or Spirit

aforesaid as he is the Heavenly Man 1. ANd thus it may appear how much more truely according to the Scripture and our own blessed experience agreeing most exactly with the experience of the Saints of old we own and esteeme of the Manho●● of Christ Iesus above whatever the Author of the Postscript or his Brethren did acknowledg who would exclude the Heavenly Man or Second Adam Iesus Christ altogether out of the very Saints whereas the Second Adam is the quickening Spirit that raiseth up both Soul and body into Life as Paul declared 2. And indeed Luther did conceive a most just indignation and zeal against them such as this Presbyterian is who exclude the Manhood of Christ out of the Saints and confine it to one place For thus he writeth in his Larger Confession of the Supper of the Lord. Absit autem ut ego talem Deum agnoscam aut colam ex his enim consequeretur quod locus spatium possent duas natur as separare personam Christi dividere quam tamen neque mors neque omnes diaboli dividere aut separare potuere Et quanti tandem obsecro pretii esset talis Christus qui unico tantum loco simul divina human● person● esset in omnibus voro locis dun●axat quidem separatus Deus aut divina persona esset sine assumptâ suâ humanitate In English thus Far be it from me that I should acknowledg or worship such a God for hence it should follow that place and space could separat the two naturs and divide the person of Christ which neither death nor all the devils could ever doe And I pray of what worth were such a Christ who ●n one onely place should be both a divine and humane person together but in all other places should be God separat or a divine person without his assumed humanity 3. And also those who embraced the Augustan confession in that Treatise called Liber Concor●●a where they give a new declaration of some articles in that confession upon the head concerning the person of Christ speak their mind very notably in these following words which expresse the very something upon the matter as to the generall that 〈◊〉 plead for Quare perniciosum error om esse judicamus quando Christo juxta humanitatem Majestas illa derogatur Christianis enim eâ ratione summa illa consolatio eripitur quam è promissionibus paulò antè commemoratis de presentiâ inhabitatione capitis Regis summi sui Pontificis haurire poterant Is enim promisi● non modò nudam suam divinitatem ipsis praesto futuram quae nobis miseris peccatoribus est tanquam ignis consumens arridissimas stipulas se● ille ipse homo ille qui cum discipulis loquutu● est qui omnis generis tribulation●s in assumpt● suâ humanâ naturâ gustavit qui eâ de causâ nobis ut hominibus fratribus suis cond●lere potest se in omnibus angustiis nostris nobiscum futurum promisit secundum eam eciam naturam juxta quam ille Frater noster es● ● nos caro de carne ejus sumus In English thus Wherefore say they we iudge it to be a hurtful● error when that majesty is derogated from Christ according to his manhood for by that means th● most great consolation is robbed from Christians which they could have drawn from the promises a little before mentioned concerning the presence and ●ndwelling of their head King and high Priest For he promised that not onely his Godhead should be present with them which to us miserable sinners is as a fire consuming most dry stubble but the same that man who spake with his disciples who tasted all kind of tribulations in his assumed manhood who for that cause can be grieved with us being also men and his brethren did promise that he would be with us in all our afflictions also according to that nature by which he is our Brother and we are flesh of his flesh 4. But the Lutherans conceit that the externall person of Christ not onely virtually but formally is in every place yea the wole in the whole and the whole of it in every part is so absurd and repugnant unto rational perception that from this many have taken occasion unjustly to deny the Truth it self becaus they did not see how this manner of the Lutherans of the ubiquity of the man Christ could consist with Reason 5. Whereas the manner offered by me is most consonant both to Scripture and Reason yea and almost to Sense it self for there are sensible examples by which we may illustrate the manner of it as namely that of the stream of Light that floweth from the candle and filleth the whole house while as the body of the candle it selfe is but in one place 6. And what doth that firy streame or river signify that issued and came forth from the Ancient of days but the extension of the Life and Spirit of Christ as he is the Heavenly Man And as John Rev. 1. describeth him is a wonderfully Great man even that Son of man whom Iohn saw after his ascension in the midst of the golden candlsticks even he that liveth and was dead ver 18. to shew that it was the Man Christ and he had in his right hand seven star●● which are expounded to be the seven Angels or Pastors of the seven churches This showeth it is not his externall person or outward body that is here described for it is impossible to conceive how he can hold a number of men in the right hand of his externall person Therefore by his right hand is signified his power as he is the great Heavenly Man which can wel hold all the men that ever were in the world 7. Also this wonderfull extension of the Spirit of Christ as Man in his Divine body and Seed is most clearly described hy Christ himself Iohn 1 51. Verily verily I say unto you hereafter ye shall see heaven opened and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man This is the Great and Heavenly Man Christ Iesus who is that Ladder which Iacob saw in his vision the top whereof reached unto Heaven and the foot of it reached the Earth But this can not be the externall Person of Christ and therefore it is the Spirit of Christ as he is Man or his Soul that is extended into us here upon Earth in his Heavenly body that he giveth us to feed upon by means of this Heavenly Ladder 8. But when I say the Soul or Spirit of Christ ● Man is extended into us I do not understand the Nephesch of his Soul but the Neschamah or Nisch●ah even that Divine Spirit of Life that God breathed into Adam and is that which Solomon calls the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly and Iames the Ingrafted Word and Iohn the Word mad flesh or Incarnate Word that dwelleth in us

a Christian indeed but a tast of the sweetness of Christ come and see will speake best to your Soul This plainly implyeth that Christ is present even to them who are not Christians indeed seing to tast of the sweetness of Christ is that onely which makes one who is not a Christian indeed to be a Christian. But beside all this I shall cite some express testimonys for Christ his being in the Saints See 1 part Ep. 43. It 's not for nothing that it 's said Coloss. 1 27. Christ in you the hope of glory I will be content of no pawn of heaven but Christ himself And 2 part Ep. 1. I have good confidence Madam that Christ Iesus whom your Soul throug forrests and mountains is seeking is within you Many more testimonys may be cited but these may suffice to prove that this great Seer in the Presbyterians account did believe that not onely the Graces and Comforts of Christ are in the Saints which are as it were his train and attendants but that he himself is in the midst of them And if it be replyed that by Christ his being in the Saints he meant is God not as Man as we understand it 12. To this I answer 1. God or the Word or Logos singly considered is not Christ but the Word incarnate or the Word made flesh and planted in us For Christ signifyeth Anoynted and it is the Man Christ that is Gods Anoynted and indeed we can not see nor tast nor smell nor feel of the naked Deity of Christ nor converse with Christ simply as God but as God-Man or the Word incarnate and the Presbyterians commonly teach that there is no accesse to God nor communion with him but through the Mediator Christ Jesus as Calvin himself teacheth for thus he writeth on the Hebrews cap. 1 ver 2. That God is no otherwise revealed to us then in Christ for there is so great a brightness in the essence of God that it blindeth our eyes till it shine upon us in Christ. Whence it followeth that we are as blind men to the Light of God unless it shine to us in Christ. By this it is clear that Christ importeth somewhat beside the essence of God which is his Manhood or as he is the Word incarnate But 2. The Presbyterians now adays would not onely exclude Christ as Man but even as God out of his Saints for they are greatly offended at Iohn Owen an Independent Teacher who in his book on the Perseverance of the Saints hath affirmed that the Holy Ghost himself doth really indwell in the Saints so that not onely the graces and gifts of the Holy Ghost but he himself is an indweller in them and is united unto them and they to him and for this Caudry a Presbyterian hath found fault with him And 3. I shall produce some of S. R. his own words and leave them to the Reader whether they do not hold forth somewhat of the truth of that which I plead for although I believe he had not a distinct and explicite understanding of it See 2 part Ep. 38. I know said he God is casten if I may so speak in a sweet mould and lovely image in the person of that heavens-Iewel the Man Christ and that the steps of that s●eep ascent and stair to the Godhead is the flesh of Christ the new and living way Surely these words import no lesse but that Christ as Man although not as to his external person yet in some other mysterious way is present with the Saints on Earth seing they can not see God as in himself but as he is to be seen in that lovely image of the Man Christ whose flesh is the steps and stair to the Godhead And therefore we must have that flesh in us else we can not ascend to any true communion with him in our hearts 13. But again see a more express testimony that the Man Christ is in the Saints buddeth forth blossometh and beareth fruit in them part 3. Ep. 13. But the Plant of Renown the Man whose Name is the BRANCH will budd forth again and blossome as the rose and there shall be fair white flourishes again with most pleasant fruits upon that Tree of Life a fair season may he have Grace Grace be upon that blessed and beautifull tree under whose shaddow we shall sit● and his fruit shall be sweet to our tast Again see 3 part ep 8. Iesus that flower of Jesse set without hands getteth many a blast yet withers not becaus he is his Fathers ●oble Rose casting a sweet smell through Heaven and Earth and must grow and in the same garden with him grow the Saints Now I would ask the Author of the Postcript Do these words of S. R. hold forth a false Christ or another Jesus then the 〈◊〉 Jesus the Son of Mary If they do not then why doth he accuse the Quakers as holding another Christ onely becaus they speak of Christ in them as formed in them budding and growing and bringing forth fruit of Life who is the Plant of Re●own the BRANCH the Tree of Life the incorrup●ible Root the Seed and Word Ingrafted And surely it is impossible to understand how the Man Christ Jesus casts a sweet smell through Heaven and Earth if he is not present both in Heaven and Earth Again see 1 part Ep. 127. If Christ b●d and grow green and blossome and bear seed again in Scotland and his Father send him two summers again in one year and bless his crop O what cause ●ave we to rejoyce in the free salvation of our Lord and to set up our banners in the Name of our God! I have cited these passages the rather becaus many Presbyterian Teachers as wel as others when they hear or read such words as proceeding from us namely that Christ is a Seed or Plant of Life in us growing sprouting budding blossoming and bearing fruit and that this Heavenly Seed and Plant is a tender Plant as he is so called in Scripture that is bruised and wounded by mens sins and hindered to bring forth fruit in them that give place to sin but groweth strong and becometh exceeding fruitfull in all them that joyn to it and love it and deny those things that are contrary to its nature such as all kinds of sin are then they cry out horrid blasphemy this is to deny the true Christ of God the Son of Mary 14. But if these expressions be found orthodox in S. R. I hope they are not blasphemous in us seing we hold forth no other Christ Jesus but the same that all the Saints believed in and was of Mary and David according to the flesh and before them and the Father and Lord of them according to the Spirit who is the Saints hiding-place in all ages as it is written Isaiah 32 2. And the man to wit the Man Christ shall be as an hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers