'Tis attributed to the Spirit, 2 Theff. ii. 13. God bath from the beginning chofen you to Salvation, through Sanctification of the Spirit.

'Tis also afcrib'd to the Blood, 1 John i. 7. The Blood of Jefus Chrift his Son cleanfeth us from all Sin.

AND to the Water. Ephef. v. 26. That be might fan&tifie and cleanfe it, thro the washing of Water by the Word.

THUS the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood, are fynonymous Terms when applied to Sanctification, or inward Cleanfing of the Soul from the filth of Sin. Their Oneness is excellently exprefs'd by the Apostle John; There are Three that bear Witness in Earth, the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood, and thefe Three agree in One. The Original is, is Tçes eis fo v sow, which Beza renders, Hi tres unum funt, Thefe three are one Thing. If our Opponent will yet affert, that outward material Water, and outward material Blood, are the fame with the Spirit, let him produce plain Scripture Proof to fupport fuch Affertion.

As then we believe the Meritorious Blood, and Sufferings of the Man Jefus outwardly on the Crofs without us, do cleanfe from the guilt and obtain Remiffion of Sins that are past, fo alfo that. the fame meritorious Blood, Death and Sufferings, were Inftrumental to procure the Gift of the Holy Spirit, which cleanses us from the filth of Sin. And this our Adverfary himself acknowledges to be the TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

PAGE 134. He afferts, It was Chrift's cut•ward Blood of which he faith, except a Man • drink

• drink he hath not Life in him. John vi. 53. For fays he, the Figure is in the Word Drink, not that we were literally to drink the very mateterial Blood of Chrift, but to feed upon it in our Hearts.'

THAT the Word drink in this place is not to be taken literally our Opponent grants; and that the Blood here fpoken of, is not outward human Blood, we have a far greater Authority, that of Christ himfelf, who when his Difciples, as well as the Jews, fuppofed he had spoken of his outward Flesh and Blood, to remove their Mifapprehenfion, plainly tells them, ver. 7. It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the Flesh profiteth nothing; the Words which Ifpeak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life. This Interpretation, wellconfidered, may convince our Opponent of Rafbnefs, in calling it an unchristian Notion, to put the Figure on the Blood, as if that were only Figurative, and not the true material Blood which Christ outwardly fhed for us on the Cross, fince it is founded both on Scripture and the highest Reafon. Nor does the afferting of the Spirituality of that heavenly Meat and Drink, by which the Souls of the Faithful are nourished and fupported, and which whofo eateth and drinketh of hall live for ever, in the leaft Degree tend to overthrow the Foundation of the Chriftian Faith concerning the meritorious Virtue and Efficacy of Christ's outward Blood Shed outwardly for us on the Cross, but rather to confirm and establish it.

THE Vicar's next Queftion is, 'Do not the Quakers tell us, that by Chrift's inward fhedding his inward fpiritual Blood of his God‹ head within us, they mean only his inward fhedding abroad in our Souls the holy puri

N

fying

6

fying Life and Virtue, which is in him as the Word God, and as which he is the Life of the World?" He Anfwers, Yes, and cites W. P's Chriftian Quaker p. 57, 101. But that W. Penn there tells him any fuch Thing, we find not; nor indeed do we remember to have found in any Quaker Writer the exprefs Terms he has here used; he too often catches up a mistaken Senfe of their Words, and then reports in his own that they told him fo. However, that there is an holy purifying Life and Virtue in Christ as he is the Word God, and as he is the Life of the World, is a Truth our Opponent dare not deny; but feems to admit, that the inward Spiritual Life of Chrift, is that by which we are renewed and fandlified, and have an Intereft in the Merit of his outward Blood fbed outwardly for us; which is the very Sense of the Quakers, who acknowledge, as well as himfelf, Christ's outward Blood fhed outwardly for us, to be the Blood of Atonement, and whereby alone we have the Remiffion of our Sins.

He then puts together thefe Queries, p. 136, What do you think of the faying that Chrift in us offers up himself a living Sacrifice to God for us, by which the Wrath of God is appeafed to us? And that Chrift offers him⚫ felf in hisChildren, in the Nature of a mediating Sacrifice? And that Chrift's Offering is of <farther Extent than that of the Outward, as he fulfills the Law inwardly, and appeafeth the Wrath and Condemnation of it?

For the first of these Queries, he cites William Smith's Cat. p. 12. For the Second W. P's Rejoinder p. 85. and for the Third G. W's Light and Life, p. 44.

To

To the two firft, let us hear W. Penn, who in anfwer to Faldo quoting William Smith's Words, and faying, If this can be the Blood of Christ hed at Jerufalem, on the Cross of Wood, it is a most incredible Mystery, replies,

(2)THERE is no Difficulty, Friendly Reader, in unfolding his pretended Myftery, if the Query unto which the Anfwer was made be confidered, which was this, What is your Faith concerning Chrift in you, as a Mediator? Which relates not to the Blood of Chrift fhed upon the Crofs of Wood: Wherefore to make the Answer deny Remiffion of Sins to be declared by Chrift's facrificing of his Body on the Crofs, (which was no part of the Queftion to be answered) is like all the reft of his injuftice towards us: If the Anfwer had rejected that facrifice, we fhould have condemned it, as much as he hath abufed it; but unless he denies that Chrift offers himself in his Children in the nature of a mediating Sacrifice, W. Smith's Words are fo far from denying the Blood of Chrift fhed upon the Crofs of Wood, that he muft allow them to be found in themselves; for Chrift is a Mediator, and an Atoner in the Confciences of his People, at what Time they fhall fall under any Mifcarriage, if they unfeignedly repent, according to 1 John ii. 1, 2.

To the Third; G W's Words are, • ThisOffering is of farther extent than that of the Outward, for he makes his Soul an Offering for Sin, and he is the Propitiation, not for our Sins only, but for the Sins of the whole World. Mark, he is the Propitiation in the prefent Time,. N 2

(z) Works, Vol. 2. p. 410, 411.

and

and feeing there remaineth no more a facri'fice for them that wilfully finned, therefore there does remain a Sacrifice for them that do ⚫ not wilfully Sin, the true Knowledge, and living Senfe of which Chrift does fulfill,(as the Law inwardly) appeaseth the Wrath and Condemnation of it, and raises Life in that Soul that has lain under the Sentence of Death within it felf."

'

So that the plain import of W. Smith's, W. Penns's, and G. Whitehead's Expreffions are no more than this, that Chrift, as he continues a Priest for ever, fo he was, is, and remains to be, the one Offering, Sacrifice, and Atonement for Sin, and that, as our Opponent fays, p. 137. There fball be no more need of any other Ex·piatory Sacrifice or Offering whatsoever. But it doth not follow, that he must offer himself Millions of Times, as our Adverfary p. 136. extravagantly expreffes himself.

PAGE 138. He tells us, that the Scripture's Speaking of Men's crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh, Heb. vi. 6. is quite another Thing than Chrift's Offering up himself as crucified within them, for appeafing the Wrath of God against them. In which he manifeftly perverts W. Smith's Words aforegoing, by adding the Term crucified, and abuses the Quakers by infinuating that they urge that Text to prove what his Perverfion would make them affert,

He then proposes this Question, When does the Scripture ever fpeak of Chrift's making Satisfaction to the Juftice of God for our Sins? And in Answer thereto, would infer, that tho' the Scripture does not ufe that Word, yet fince it expreffes the fame Thing in Effect,