demonstrated that the said Doctrine doth expresly without any far-fetcht Consequences contradict some Article of the Christian Faith the which remote and far-fetch't Consequences are not allowable among vulgar Christians however sincere because there may be a Fallacy or at least a great uncertainty in them but an Error in the Antecedent to wit That the Gospel and Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ as he was crucified for our sins and rose agian for our Justification and is our Elder Brother and high Priest in Heaven without us making Intercession for us is not necessary to be preached to the Nations for Remission of Sin and eternal Salvation to finish and perfect it is a most vile and abominable Heresie most worthily to be detested by all sincere Christians and the Assertors and Abettors of it most worthily to be judged No Christians yea worse than honest Heathens who have never had Christ preached unto them A further clearing of the Truth by a plain Explication of my Sence when I say That Faith in Christ Jesus not only as the Light in us but as he was and is Man without us and as he dyed for our sins and rose again for our Justification is necessary to perfect Justification and finishing the work of mens Salvation universally and by which I show and demonstrate That my present Doctrine concerning the Faith of Christ is well consistent with all my former printed Books and with R. Barclay's printed Books and particularly his Apology and with the Doctrine of our sound Friends and Brethren both aentient and lately raised who have declared their Charity towards all Pious and Conscientious Gentiles to whom the Gospel was not outwardly preached by the Ministry of men That they were not or are not excluded from Gods Mercy and Salvation although they have not had the express Historical Knowledge and Faith of Christ as Man without them either outwardly preached or inwardly revealed to them THe Explanation of my sence in this weighty matter I deliver in the following particulars viz. 1 st By Faith in the Man Christ Jesus without us which I assert to to be universally necessary to mens eternal Salvation I do not understand an express distinct Faith in Christ as being so necessary to all whereby all that were or shall be saved must necessarily have such a Knowledge and Faith of him as to these great and weighty Passages and Cases delivered prophetically concerning him in the Old Testament and Historically in the New Testament that were a fulfilling of the Prophecies of him such as 1 That he should come in the Flesh as such a precise Age or Time of the World 2. That he should be born at Bethlem 3. That he should be the Son of Abraham and David according to the Flesh 4. or That his Mothers Name should be Mary or his own Name Jesus 5. That the place of his Death should be Golgotha without the City of Jerusalem in Judea 6. That the manner of his Death should be by being crucified his Hands and Feet pierced and his Side pierced with a Spear 7. That he should be betrayed by Judaâ— and sold for thirty pieces of Silver and sentenced to Death by Pontius Pilate and accused and slain by the Jews and crucified betwixt two Tâ—iâ—ves whereof the one should be penitent and dye believing in him 8. That he should be laid in Sepulchrs where no mans ever lay that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea 9. That he should rise on the third Day and after forty days ascend into Heaven 10. And lastly That he should appear to the Women first of all after his Resurrection These and many other very weighty and great Cases Passages belonging to his outward Coming Death and Sufferings Resurrection and Ascention I do not say are necessary to be known and believed universally to mens eternal Salvation and this I have called in my former printed Books The Express Clear and Distinct Knowledge or Faith of his outward Coming see my Book called The Vniversal free Grace of the Gospel asserted pag. 117. printed in the Year 1671. and R. B. in his printed Apology and Theses printed in the Year 1676. calleth it as I do the distinct outward absolute Knowledge i. e. the perfect Knowledge of the outward History see his Latine Apology Thes 6. the which Doctrine as laid down by him in his 6 th Thesis he calleth an Hypothesis in that very place and others of our antient Friends who have writ in defence of the People called Quakers have called it the Historical Knowledge viz. as containing the knowledge of the above-mentioned Historical Passages and others the like for as concerning these great and weighty Passages Cases fore-told by the Prophets and Historically declared to be fullfilled by the Evangelists and Apostles concerning him many of the faithful knew or believed few or none of them before Abraham's Time and even after Abraham to whom Christ was promised to be his Seed and to come out of his Loyns the Doctrine concerning the Time and Manner of his Coming Death and Sufferings Resurrection and Ascention was gradually revealed to the Prophets from Moses to Samuel and from Samuel to David and from David to these who followed after as Isaiah Jeremiah and others and still the nearer the Time approached of Christs coming in the Flesh the Prophets did Prophecy the more clearly and expresly concerning him 2 dly I do with great Assurance and Freedom affirm as God hath perswaded me and opened it out of the holy Scriptures to me That the Faith of all the Faithful from the beginning of the World was in Christ as he should be that Seed of the Woman that should bruise the Head of the Serpent and whose Heel the Serpent should bruise which was the first Gospel Promise that the Lord himself preached to our first Parents after the Fall and though this Promise was not committed to writing so far as we know until Mosâ— who was the first â—on man of holy Scripture yet it was without all doubt faithfully delivered and preached by Adam to his Children and by the faithful of their Children such as Seth to their succeeding Posterity even until Noah and if it was lost again it was restored to Abraham for we have good cause to believe that the Church of God from the beginning of the World hath never failed in the Earth universally to this Day nor will to the end of the World however at times it hath been much obscured and hid both under the Old and New Testament And by this Seed of the Woman is to be understood the Man Christ with the spiritual inward blessings of Grace Light and Life flowing from him and though the outward Name Jesus and Christ is sweet and comfortable to every true Believer by the Spirit of Christ that knoweth it yet it is no more simply necessary than the other above-mentioned weighty Circumstances concerning him the Saviour and Redeemer of the World who should be born
of the Faith of Christ as he was crucified and raised from the dead without us its being necessary to Salvation bringing for it Rom. 10.9 whereof many are Witnesses And to saâ— This Faith is necessary to such to whom it is preached to make them Christians and perfectly to justifie sanctifie and save them but not to such Pious Gentiles to whom it is not preached as if they could be perfectly Christians and perfectly justified perfectly sanctified and perfectly wholly and fully saved without it this most evidently doth contradict the Scripture that holdeth forth the necessity of its being preached that it may be received in Gods ordinary way of working for which see Luke 24 46 47. Acts 4.10 11 12. cap. 10.43 44. cap 11.14 cap. 13.46 cap. 28.28 compared with vers 23. Rom. 3.30 cap. 8.2 3 4 cap. 16 25 26. Ephes 3.4 5 6. 1. 13. Col. 1.21 22 23 26 27 28. And surely if the Gospel and Faith of Christ both outwardly and inwardly was not necessary to be preached to the Nations to Salvation then Christs Command to the Apostles to preach it was a superfluous and unnecessary work and in vain was it that so many Thousands should suffer Martyrdom and Killing for that Faith and the preaching of it And at this rate the Gospel and Faith of Christ both without us and within us is not only an unprofitable but a burdensom Yoke of Bondage laid on People by having it preacht to them seeing they could have been good and perfect Christians without it if they had never had it preached to them and could have been perfectly justified perfectly sanctified and perfectly saved without it in their meer Gentile state which is a plain overturning and overthrowing the Christian Religion Faith and Gospel and an evident confirming what the Adversaries of Truth have cast upon us the People called Quakers That their Christianity is nothing else but refined Paganism or Gentilism but I hope all the sincere hearted and true Lovers of Christ are and will be otherwise minded and stand up with holy Zeal to assert their true Christianity and Christian Faith and Religion to be altogether another thing than the most refined Pious Gentilism and differing from it as much as Gold differs from Brass or as the Light of the Day differs from the Light of the Night and that principally because they have the true Knowledge and Faith of Christ as he dyed for them without them and rose again and is gone into Heaven there making intercession for them c. and also living and ruling in them conforming them to his Death and Resurrection which they could not have without the Faith of him as he was outwardly crucified and raised again But if any say The Gospel and Faith of Christ as he dyed and rose again tho' not absolutely necessary to perfect mens Salvation yet is very profitable to facilitate and make the Work the more easily and speedily to be done I Answ If not necessary it may be concluded not profitable nor of service to make the Work more easie for wherein is it more profitable not being necessary for in all other things that are not absolutely necessary but profitable and serviceable the profit service is apparent as when a man may labour the ground to raise Corn with Hoe and other Instruments without plowing or a man may go from one place to another by walking without riding or sailing but no such thing is apparent in this case as if the necessity of the true Knowledge and Faith of Christ both without us and within us which cannot be divided be once laid aside that it cannot be supposed to be profitable but rather it ought to be concluded both unprofitable and hurtful as enjoyning more Precepts relating to God to our Selves and to our Neighbours than the Gentile Dispensation did or doth and for this cause it is that Christianity excelleth Judaism and is far more profitable and serviceable to perfect our Salvation as containing fewer Precepts than the Law under Judaism did and at this rate it would follow because Gentilism containeth fewer Precepts than Christianity therefore Gentilism is the more profitable doth more facilitate mens Perfection who are under it even as an Artist that can perfect his work with fewer and less chargeable Tools Instruments is the most perfect and is worthy of most praise but because all the Precepts of Christianity are spiritual and given us by God and Christ to bring us to that spiritual Perfection that the Law either of Judaism or Gentilism simply considered could not do the Law being weak through the Flesh and so could not make perfect therefore it is that on that very account Christianity is the most excellent Dispensation both for its Spirituality and giving more plenty of Precepts than Gentilism did or doth for as Christianity hath more plenty of Precepts that are highly spiritual and tending to a more high and spiritual Perfection than Gentilism so it hath more plenty of divine Grace and of Life to enable them who are under it to perform them whereby they attain to the Perfection designed But this Doctrine That the Gospel Faith of Christ both outwardly and inwardly is not necessary to perfect the work of mens Salvation doth most manifestly contradict the whole current of holy Scripture and is a most pernicious and pestiferous Principle altogether tending to the dishonour of God and Christ and contradicting his holy and divine Attributes of Mercy and Justice Wisdom and Power and to the deceiving the Souls of men that credit it to lead them into the Pit of Destruction and therefore ought to be with all godly and fervent Zeal witnessed against and reproved notwithstanding of the foolish and idle Clamours of the Ignorant and Self-conceited and Self-willed Men that oppose it whatever their Pretences be either in Prejudice of the Doctrine of the Revolutions so called or any other whatsoever for the Faith and Gospel of Christ as he is both without us and within us which cannot be divided being one of the greatest of Truths how can it infer any Erro or dangerous and hurtful Consequence either relating to the Revolutions or any things else and if any either do not or cannot see but that the necessity of the Faith and Gospel of Christ crucified and raised c. in order to perfect Salvation must needs infer the Necessity of the Doctrine of the Revolutions at least after some sort but not as vulgarly understood I do say it is more tollerable to admit the Consequent than to deny the Antecedent for the Consequent in respect to the Antecedent is but a matter of small Moment whether true or false I meddle not at present to determine and if an Error is but of an inferiour degree and is rather an Error in that call'd Philosophy than in Divinity and is rather a mistake in Opinion grounded upon a pretence of Reason than any Error in the Faith unless it can be
that hath for its Object the Man Christ Jesus our alone Mediator without us in whom the Fullness dweâ—eth as well as the â—â—â—ature â—f him inwardly revealed in us and without this Faith in God the Father and in the Man Christ Jesus without us and in the Fullness that is in him as the greatest and most principal Object of our Faith I can own none to be true Christians or Believers in Christ Jesus who are the Children of God by the Free-woman Jerusalem from above let their Pretentions be ever so great to Christ as the Light in them As for Justin Martyr his calling Socrates a Christian Socrates might have had the Faith of Christ according to the Substance of it then but obscurely revealed and so might Pythagoras and Plato who conversed with Jews for the least measure of the Light of Christ in every true Christian to whom the Gospel Day of Châ—iâ—â— is dawned doth most necessarily draw and lead the Soul's Faith Love and Devotion to the Man Christ without them and to God the Father as dwelling in him most abundantly and gloriously that so God out of Christ our alone Mediator may continually supply us aâ— out of a most rich Treasury and Store-house with all new and fresh Supplies Aids and Assistances of his divine Grace Light Life and Spirit to serve him acceptably and to enjoy the indwelling of God the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit in our own Hearts and Vessels daily more and more abundantly as our Faith Love and Devotion is thus daily and continually exercised upon him Nor is there any real danger by so believing or by so preaching to draw the Minds of People from the Gift of Christ in them this at most is but the Abuse or evil Use of this Doctrine as the best of Doctrines have been and may be abused which all ought to watch against but indeed the real proper and necessary direct tendency of such Doctrine rightly improved is to bring People still more and more to the Gift of Christ in themselves and to the more abundant enjoyment of him as the Scripture Testimony and the Experience of Thousâ—nds and ten Thousands do sufficiently confirm But such who preach Faith only in the Light within calling that Light Christ as they have learned by hear-say or reading and yet are ignorant of that great Mystery of Christ without us they neither know Christ within nor believe in him as such for though Christ the true Light be in all men both Believers and Unbelievers yet only true Believers in him who believe in him as he dyed for us and rose again and is ascended c. truly know him the Light and Life in them and have the true Comfort and Enjoyment of him every way and of all his Blessings and benefits and such Preachers and Ministers who have this Faith of Christ wholly and Fully it is no indifferent thing to them to have it or preach it for as they daily live by it so they daily labour in Word and Doctrine to preach it for the Hearers Salvation and for bringing them to know Christ in them as Thousands can witness with me that had we not believed in Christ without us aâ— he dyed and rose again and had we not been perswaded that Christ dyed for us and rose again that God and Christ might dwell in us and that we might receive the inward and spiritual blessing and Benefit of him in our hearts we had not believed in him nor known him as in us And such Preachers who say as some do whom I have heard to my grief and sorrow That men may be saved in Gods ordinary way aâ— for Example the Indians here in America or any else-where without the Faith of Christ as he dyed for us and rose again by their honest and sober Living according to the Reâ—uirings or Dictates of the Light in them and that not only so as to witness a beginning but a perfecting the work of Christianity and Salvation in them They are not like to be at great pains to preach Faith in Christ crucified and raised from the Dead either to Indians or any others or to encourage others to do it for this Faith not being necessary where or to whom it is not preached the effectual way to make the Faith of it wholly an indifferent and unnecessary thing is not at all to preach it but bury it in Oblivion as some would do and so to bring our Posterity to be Indians or Heathens and as it was almost quite buried and forgot by too many â—igh Pretenders to the Light within And if God in his infinite Mercy in those American Parts where we have but few Bibles and very few other Books perused by many among us that teâ—ch the necessity of this Faith had not raised a Godly Zeal in some to revive and raise up this most precious and necessary Doctrine concerning the Faith in Christ both Without us and Within us the Faith and Reâ—â—membrance of it would have been in probability lost in many Families in a little time especially iâ— being rarely preached by many high Pretenders to the Light within and if at any times mentioned by them not hold forth as the necessary Object of Faith but rather as occasional as other Historical-Things of Scripture and â—o this the Conceit that some have that the Scriptures are not Instrumental to our Faith and Knowledge the Light or Spirit being the only means c. as some say and to preach Christ without us is to lead People to know Christ after the Flesh and to bring them from the Spirit to the Letter but the great and indispensible Necessity of Preaching it is that it may be believed to Eternal Salvation for it is not only necessary to be believed because preached but because it is necessary to be believed universally in some measure therefore it is necessary to be Preached so that the very cause of its Preaching is the Necessity of the Faith it self in order to finish the Work of mens Salvation universally even as men gather Materials of Stone and Timber to build and the Building is not necessary for Materials but the Materials are necessary for the Building This as the necessary Effect That as a necessary Antecedent in an ordinary way 4 thly And thus it manifestly appeareth how there is no Contradiction nor Contrariety betwixt the present Doctrine I Preach or Print and any of my former printed Books nor betwixt my dear and worthy brother and Friend R. Barclay nor any of my dear and worthy Friends and Brethren who have said That Pious and Conscienious Gentiles are not excluded from Gods Mercy or Salvation who have not had the express Historical Knowledge and Faith of Christ revealed to them by distinguishing first betwixt the Express Knowledge and Faith of that great Mystery and the Implicit Faith and Knowledge of it for to deny the Necessity of the express Faith c. is to affirm the
necessity of the Implicit or Implyed Faith The Express Knowledge and Faith respecting those particular Cases Passages and Circumstances above mentioned or any others recorded in the Scriptures Historically related in them This Express Knowledge and Faith I say neither was nor is indispensibly necessary to all men but such only to whom it is revealed or preached yet is most profitable and comfortable to all to whom it cometh The Implicit Knowledge and Faith of it respecting Christ as he was to come in the Flesh suffer Death for the Sins of the World and be a Sacrifice unto God for their Reconciliation and rise again for their Justification so that the Substance of the Doctrine hold forth in that Promise Thaâ— the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Head of the Serpent c. and in the Sacrifices and other Figures of the Law and in the Figures and Types of the outward Creation as inwardly opened to mens reasonable Understanding by the divine Light of the Word in them might suffice to such who had no more given them or by what other means and helps whether both outward and inward or only inward as at the instant of Death according to Job 33.22 23. God was or is pleased to afford beyond our reach for we know but part of his ways which are most equal and yet are far above our thoughts and much more as the Heavens are above the Earth 2 dly By distinguishing Salvation begun and Salvation finished and perfected and the two-fold inward States Ministrations and Births which are both of God and Christ the first making men at best Servants of God or Sons by the Bond-woman or the Law of the first Ministration and this may he had without all Faith of Christ as come in the Flesh and this beginneth a good Work of God in men and may be called Salvation begun and may be compared to Corn or Fruit in the Blossom the second making men Sons of God by the Free-woman and receiving the Spirit of God and Christ as it is a Spirit of Adoption and may be compar'd to Corn or Fruit in the Kirnel and this is never had nor never was had without the Faith of Christ and the Faith of Christs Doctrine as to the substance of it to wit that God was to save men by a Saviour who should be both God and Man and as Man should dye for our sins and rise from the dead and thereby overcome the Power of Death first in his own Person and last in his Members this is the substance of the Gospel-Promise and Doctrine comprehending in it an inward enjoyment of God and Christ to all who have the true Faith of him as to the Substance of it from the beginning of the World implyed and folded up in that first Gospel-Promise concerning the Seed of the Woman and that the promised Seed of the Woman should be both God and Man as the Faith of all the faithful from the beginning of the World is demonstrated from Eve's words expressing her Faith at the Birth of Cain Gen. 4.1 I have got the Man the Lord the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is one of the greatest Names of God so doth Luther in his High-Dutch Translation of the Bible translate that place and so doth the English Cann and so doth the Hebrew bear it which yet hath not this sence as if Eve had been so for mistaken as to imagine that Cain should be the Messiah or Saviour of the World as some have thought she did so miserably Mistakeâ— but as was common to faithful Men and Women to do to give Names to their Children sâ—gnifying their Faith of some great Blessing that they expected afterwards to come or some great benefit formerly received thus Rachel called her first born Joseph i. e. joyned with respect to Benjamin that was born divers years afterwards and Joseph named his two Sons Names that did not relate to them but to himself and Eve named Abel that signifieth Vanity not with respect to Abel who was the first Martyr for the Faith of Christ but with respect to the vanity of Mans miserable state by sin 5 thly And that the Faith in Christ as he dyed for us and rose again to reconcile us unto God is altogether necessary to mens perfect Justification and Salvation is evident from this that as Paul reasoneth and proveth most clearly both in his Epistle to the Romans and Galatians By the Work of the Law no Flesh is justified but by the Faith of Christ â—or the Law worketh Wrath and by the Law is the Knowledge of Sin and the Law saith Cursed is every one that abideth not in every thing to do it that the Law saâ—th And this was not only the outward Law among the Jews but the inward Law or first Ministration of Light both in Jews and Gentiles for as Paul said He had proved both Jews and Gentiles to be all under Sin so that every Mouth is stopped and the whole World is guilty before God for none but have sinned at one time or another and one sin bringeth Wrath and the Curse on him that hath sinned and no Obedience can remove this Wrath or Curse without Christ who became a Curse for us and gave himself a Ransom for us and paid the Debt of our sins for us the Just suffering for the Vnjust And some are justified by Christ but through Faith in him as he dyed for them and rose again c. for he that believeth yet is Condemned already and therefore the Ministration of the Law whether outwardly writ on Tables of Stone or inwardly writ on stoney Hearts is the Ministration of Condemnation preparing for Christ and leading unto Christ and such who are under the Law â—et them be ever so Obedient just and Conscientious because they have sinned and are not Perfect are held under it shut up as in a Custody or Safeguard as the Man-slayer in the City of Refuge and are not perfectly justified but are under fear their Thoughts Accusing and Excusing for though they are Excused or Accused or to say justified in some good things done by them yet that can be no perfect Justification because their state is imperfect and therefore for that all have sinned all have absolute Necessity to flee to Christ and lay hold on him by Faith as he dyed for us and rose again and hath by his Obedience unto Death purchased for us Remission of sin and eternal Redemption and Salvation and Life Eternal without which Faith as to the Substance of it there is no Remission of Sin nor perfect Justification nor Salvation and to say otherwise is to contradict the whole current of Scripture and to preach another Faith and Gospel than Christ and the Prophets and Apostles Preached and therefore is not to be received but rejected if an Angel from Heaven should preach it G. K. FINIS