"life the light of men; and he is God over all, "bleffed for ever.""

Perverf. 11. The Quakers deny the human nature • of Chrift.'

Principle. We never taught, faid, or held, fo gross a thing, if by human nature be understood the manhood of Chrift Jefus. For as we believe him to be God over all, bleffed for ever; fo we do as truly believe him to be of the feed of Abraham and David after the flesh; and therefore truly and properly man, "like us in all things (and once fubject to all things, for our fakes) fin only excepted.

Of Chrift Jefus, his death, and fufferings.

Perverf. 12. The Quakers expect to be juftified and Saved by the light within them, and not by the death and fufferings of Chrift.'

Principle. This is both unfairly and untruly ftated and charged upon us. But the various fenfe of the word juftification, obliges me here to distinguish the ufe of it: for in the natural and proper fenfe, it plainly implies, making men just, that were unjust; godly, that were ungodly; upright, that were depraved; as the apostle expreffeth himself, 1 Cor. vi. 11. " And "fuch were fome of you; but ye are washed, but ye " are fanctified, but ye are juftified, in the name of "our Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God." In the other ufe of the word, which fome call a law-fenfe, it refers to Chrift, as a facrifice and propitiation for fin, Ifa. vii. 14. Mat. i. 23. Luke

John i. 1. Rom. ix. 5. i. 31.

as

as in Rom. v. 9. "Much more then, being now justi"fied by his blood, we shall be faved from wrath through him:" and John ii. "If any man fin, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jefus Christ "the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our "fins; and not for ours only, but alfo for the fins of "the whole world." Which though a truth, and most firmly believed by us; yet no man can be entitled to the benefit thereof, but as they come to believe, and repent of the evil of their ways; and then it may be truly faid, That God juftifieth even the ⚫ ungodly, and looks upon them through Christ, as if they had never finned; because their fins are for'given them for his beloved Son's fake.'

Not that God looks on people to be in Chrift, that are not in Chrift; that is, that are not in the faith, obedience, and felf-denial of Chrift; nor fanctified, nor led by his Spirit, but rebel against it; and, instead of dying to fin, through a true and unfeigned repentance, live and indulge themselves daily in it; " for they that "are in Chrift, become new creatures; old things are "paffed away, and all things, (with them) become "new." Wherefore we say, that whatever Christ then did, both living and dying, was of great benefit to the falvation of all that bave believed, and now do, and that hereafter shall believe in him unto juftification and acceptance with God: but the way to come to that faith, is to receive and obey the manifestation of his divine light and grace in their confciences; which leads men to believe and value, and not to disown or undervalue, Chrift as the Common Sacrifice and Mediator. For we do affirm, that to follow this holy light in the confcience, and to turn our minds, and bring all our deeds and thoughts to it, is the readieft, nay, the only right way to have true, living, and fanctified faith in Christ, as he appeared in the flesh, and to difcern the Lord's body, coming, and fufferings aright," and to receive any real benefit by him, as their only Sacrifice and ■ John iii, 20, 21. 1 John i, 6, 7. B

VOL. V.

Media

Mediator: according to the beloved difciple's emphatical paffages, "If we walk in the light, as God

is in the light, we have fellowship one with ano"ther, and the blood of Jefus Chrift his Son cleanf"eth us from all fin.*" And because this people fay, that Chrift's outward coming and fufferings profit not to their falvation that live in fin, and rebel against this divine light; fome have untruly and uncharitably concluded, that they deny the virtue and benefit of Chrift's coming and fufferings in the flesh, as a facrifice for fin. Whereas we only deny and oppose a false and dangerous application of them in and to a disobedient ftate. For we believe Chrift came not to save men in their fins, but from their fins; and that those that open the door of their hearts at his inward and Spiritual knocks, (to wit, the reproofs and convictions of his light and grace) have their "confciences sprinkled "with his blood (that is, difcharged from the guilt "of them) from dead works, to ferve the living "God:" and that fo far only as men come, by faith, repentance, and amendment, to be Chrift's, Chrift is theirs; and as he has an intereft in their hearts, they have an intereft in his love and falvation. That is, fo far as they are obedient to his grace, and take up his crofs, and follow him in the ways of meekness, holiness, and felf-denial, fo far they have an intereft in Christ, and no farther. And here, "there is no condemna"tion, indeed, to them that are in Chrift Jefus," because, fuch "walk not after the flesh, but after the

Spirit:" for we have feen a fhoal or fand here, that we fear many thousands have split upon, which we defire to avoid, and are earnest that others may beware of it alfo; viz. That because Chrift died a facrifice for the fins of the whole world, by which he put mankind into a capacity of falvation, and has given "every one a talent of grace to work it out by; they ' prefume upon the facrifice, and fin on, without a tho1 rough repentance, reformation, and converfion to

God; not dying, with Chrift, to the world, but living in it, according to the lufts and fpirit of it.' Such as thefe may be affured, that "where Chrift is gone,

they shall never come:" For, fays the bleffed apoftle, God fent his Son to blefs us, by turning every "one of us from the evil of our way." So that the contrite, humble, meek, and self denying people, are those that have the true and full benefit of Chrift's coming, fuffering, and mediation, and of all thofe holy ends for which God his Father anointed and gave him to the 'world, viz. to be the Way, Truth, and Life; Light, Leader, and Saviour; to be a King, Priest, Prophet, Sacrifice, Sanctifier, and Mediator; being fenfibly felt of all fuch to reign over their hearts; teach them God's royal law; give them faving knowledge; and to mediate, atone for, fanctify, and justify them in the fight of God his Father, for ever.

By all which it is evident, to any moderate enquirer, that we acknowledge Chrift in his double appearance; as, in the flesh," of the feed of Abra"ham," fo in the Spirit, as he is "God over all, "bleffed for ever." Wherein is a full confeffion both to him as a Bleffed Perfon, and as a Divine Principle of light and life in the foul; the want of which neceffary and evident diftinction, occafions our adversaries frequent mistakes about our belief and application of the fcriptures of truth concerning Chrift, in that twofold capacity.

For it is not another than that eternal Word, Light, Power, Wisdom, and Righteoufnefs, which then took flea, and appeared in that holy body, by whom they have received, or can receive, any true fpiritual benefit. They holding, light is ONLY from Him, forgivenefs ONLY through Him, and, fantification ONLY by Him. So that their afcribing falvation from fin, and death eternal, to him in this age, who now appears by his holy Spirit to their fouls, as before expreffed, cannot render him no Saviour in that age, or make void the end and benefit of his bleffed appearance then in the flesh on earth, or his mediation now in

glory, for thofe that believe in him in this age: whofe doctrine pierced, whofe life preached, whofe miracles aftonished, whofe blood atoned, and whofe death, refurrection, and afcenfion, confirmed that blessed manifestation to be no lefs than that of the "Word God

(the life and light of men) manifefted in the flesh," according to the apoftle Paul, for the falvation of the world: and therefore, properly and truly, was the Son of Man on earth, and is now as truly the Son of Man in glory, as the Head of our manhood, which shall alfo be glorified, if we now receive him into our bearts, as the true light, that leads in the way of life eternal, and continue in well-doing to the end.

Perverf. 13. Thus it is the Quakers set up works, and meriting by works, like the Papifts; whereby juftification by faith in Chrift is laid afide.'

Principle. By no means: but they fay, with the apostle James, chap. ii. "That true faith in Chrift cannot be without works, any more than a body "can live without a fpirit;" and that where there is life, there is motion; and where there is no divine life and motion, there can be no true faith; believing being a fruit of divine life. Nay, by the comparison, if they were separable, works being compared to the Spirit, they would have the better. The very believing is an act of the mind, concurring with God's working in or upon the mind, and therefore a godly work. And no fooner is true faith begotten in a foul, but it falls to working; which is both the nature, and, in fome refpect, the end of it.

Nor yet do we fay, that our very beft works, proceeding from the true faith itself, can merit; no, nor faith joined with them: because "eternal life is the

- John i. 4, 9. 1 Tim. iii, 16.

"gift