The Principles of Truth, by John Crook &c. p: 3, to 18.

MAny are the Reports that are abroad concerning this People, not only as to their Practices and Deportments, but also as to Doctrines and Beliefs. The former time having resolved and worn out, as being the Refuge of Lyes; but tho' the first be gone, yet the latter sticks with many, as not knowing what they hold as to Doctrine, some saying, They deny the Scripture, and the Resurrection of the Body, and all Ordinances, with the Man Christ, and his Death and Sufferings, and Imputation of his Righteousness, and Faith in his Blood, &c. Wherefore for the Satisfaction of all that would willing­ly be resolved, and know the Truth, I have written this short Ac­count of their Faith and Belief.

1st. We believe, That the God of all Grace has given a measure of Grace, or some Manifestation of his Spirit and Light thereof unto all men, who at some time or other do feel something in their Hearts and Consciences, that doth lust against the Flesh, and the Flesh against it, and that these two are contrary the one to the other, one lusting after Evil, which is Evil, and the other after good, which is good.

2dly, We believe, by this Gift, Grace and Inspiration of the Al­mighty, man only can come to know the true God truly, what he is, and how he works in the Hearts and Consciences of People, to re­generate them, and make them bear his Image.

3. We believe, That all the Errors and Mistakes about God, and the things relating to his Kingdome, sprang and arose from mens wandering from this Gift of God, into their own Imaginations.

4. We believe and know, That this Gift and Grace of God ap­pears in and unto all men, that all may be without excuse, accusing for the Evil, and excusing for the good, Rom. 2.15.

5. We believe, That wheresoever the Power of God is not known within, there the Gospel is hid and unknown.

[Page 10]6. Through this Gift, we believe, That Christ Jesus, the Son of God, was manifest in the Flesh in the fullness of Time: and this we know, by the same Spirit by which our Fathers believed he should come, and Abraham saw his Day, by the same we do believe he is come, and do see his Day, as also by the Prophets and Apostles Wri­tings, which Two-sold Cord is not easily broken.

7. We believe also, That this same Jesus hath God highly exalted and given him a Name above every Name, that whosoever believes on him shall not perish, but have Everlasting Life, and that there is not another Name, whereby any can be saved, than this Name of Jesus Christ: Nor is Remission of sins to be preached by any other Name.

8. We believe, That this Jesus dyed for or because of sin, and rose again for the Justification of those that believe in him, and that he thereby spoiled Principalities and Powers, and triumphed over them openly, and led Captivity captive in his own Person — It is not a Belief from the Letter only, that can give a man the saving Know­ledge of the Death of Christ, but he must have the same Power, in measure, working in him, to beget Faith in his Heart, that he may believe unto Salvation, as well as confess with his Mouth: And this man whoever he be, Bond or Free, that thus believes the Death of Christ, and its Satisfaction to God, cannot make it void, nor divide it, but will say, Here is a dying man, witnessing the Death of Christ, and nevertheless the same man living with Christ, and concluding, if Christ had not dyed, man must have perished in his Sin; This being the way found out by God to recover him.

9. By this Gift of God in our hearts, we further believe, That Christ Jesus rose again from the dead, and sits at Gods right Hand in a glorious Body. And we believe, that our low Estates and humble Bodies shall be made like unto his glorious Body, th ough the work­ing of his mighty Power, whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself; and that this Mortality shall put on Immortality. — And we believe, that Regeneration, or the believing in the Light of Christ within, doth not make void the Death and Sufferings of Christ without at Jerusalem, no more than believing the Scripture Testimony without, concerning Christs Death, makes void the Work of Regeneration & Mortification within; but as the Apostle saith in another case, so I say in this, For as the Man is not without [Page 11] the Woman, neither is the Woman without the Man in the Lord: even so is not the Death and Sufferings of Christ without at Jerusalem, to be made void, and of none effect, by any thing within; neither doth the Light within make th [...]t of none effect without, but both in the Lord answers his Will: For, though there is, and may be a Know­ledge and Belief of what Christ did and suffered without the Gates, in his own Body upon the Tree, and yet sin alive in the Heart, and the Work of Regeneration not known; yet it can't be so where the Light within is believed on, so as to have its perfect Work in the Heart, to regenerate and make all things New, and to be of God; this man can never make void what Christ hath done and suffered without: And yet this New Birth, or Christ formed within, and dwelling the heart by Faith, doth not limit or confine Christ to be only within, and not without also, but both within and without, according to the good pleasure of the Father to reveal & make him known; for he filleth all things, and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him, and yet is he at God's Right Hand, far above all Hea­vens, in a Glorious Body.

10. And we also believe the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust, the one to Salvation, and the other to Condemnation, according to the Judgment of the Great Day, and then shall every Seed have its own Body; for if the Dead rise not, we are of all men most miser­able. But because we dare not be so foolishly inquititive, as to say, With what Bodies do they arise, therefore do some say, We deny both the Resurrection of the Body of Christ, and of all that are or shall be Dead: But this also is false; for every man shall be raised in his own Order, but Christ the first Fruits, 1 Cor. 15.23. And we believe they shall be raised with the same Bodies, so far as Natural and Spiritual, Corruptible and Incorruptible, Terrestrial and Coelestial can be the same.

Pag. 40. of the same Book, by E. Burrough, And we believe, Even He that was Dead is alive, and lives for evermore; and that he Co­meth, and shall Come again to Judge the whole World with Righte­ousness, and all People with Equity, and shall give to every man according to his Deeds at the Day of Judgment, when all shall arise to Condemnation or Justification, he that hath done good shall re­ceive Life; and he that hath done evil, everlasting Condemnation.

Testimony for the Man Christ Jesus, pag. 4. cites W. Penn, where [Page 12] he speaks in the Name and Person of the Quakers, thus, We do believe the Man Christ Jesus to be glorified in Heaven: We do believe that holy Manhood to be glorified in heavenly Glory. See now how far the Qua­kers are from denying the true and real Manhood of Christ in Hea­ven, or disowning Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah. And we further add and confess, That the Same Man Christ Jesus, that suf­fered and was put to Death in the Flesh, and raised from the dead by the mighty Power of God, ascended into Heaven, Gods dwelling place, ascended both as to a change of Place and state of Glory: He is highly exalted in Power and Authority. Pag. 7. We have al­ways believed & owned the Man Christ Jesus, according to the plain History of him in Holy Scripture, as namely, That he was miracu­lously conceived by the holy Ghost overshadowing the Virgin Mary, that he lived an innocent & sinless Life, preacht powerfully, wrought Miracles, was crucified and put to Death, as concerning the Flesh, buried and rose again the 3d day, and was seen of his Disciples and many Brethren after he arose; and that the Same Body that was put to Death, was raised by the Power of God, & was a real Body really seen both before and after his Resurrection, and at his ascention also. So we confess the same Man Christ, not only to be still in being, but also glorified, and his Body to be a glorious heavenly and spiritual Body. And as to his being Man, We have one Mediator between God and Man, even the Man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 2. And God will judge the World in Righteousness by that MAN whom he hath ordained, whom he hath raised from the Dead, Acts 17.31. So th [...]t this MAN Christ did neither Vanish nor Perish in any thing Essential to him, ☞ either as to his SPIRIT, SOUL or BODY, but is highly exalted and glorified. P. 12. But if we shall be changed as to our low Body, and fashioned into a glorious and spiritual state, then is Christ as to his Body changed or translated into a far more glorious State than what it had when on Earth P. 13. as for those Objections against the Man Christ his being in Heaven, they are of W. Harworth's own framing, and not the Quakers; for where did they ever thus argue, viz. Ephes. 4.10. The Apostle saith he ascended far above all Heavens, ergo, Christ is not in Heaven as to his MANHOOD: Let him shew us that Book or Dispute wherein we have this Argument, if he can. Again, 1 Cor. 15. Flesh & Blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Hea­ven: Where do the Quakers argue from hence, that therefore Christ [Page 13] is not there, as to his Manhood: Let him produce Book & page for this, or forever be ashamed.—His Reasons to prove Christ now a Man in Heaven, do not reach nor touch us, the thing not being deny'd, but really believed and Confessed unto by us.

Malice of the Indep. Agent again rebuked, p. 17. The terms Natural and Earthly, as given to the glorious Body of Christ, were and are offensive to us—It must needs be a very glorious heavenly Body; and we believing such a change in the glorious Body of Christ, we do not thereby, (nor ever did) believe that the Body of Christ which suffered was annihilated, & that his Flesh saw Corruption: No such matter: May there not be then a very wonderful change in the Body and yet the Substance not annihilated nor destroy'd; nor does it fol­low from our not believing nor owning his Characters (of natural & earthly) on Christs glorious Body, that therefore nothing of that Bo­dy remains or is in being. P. 19. As if we allowed nothing of the Man Christ, either of Spirit or Body, to have a being (after his Re­surrection) to ascend; which is a horrid falshood; for though it was changed, and became excellent, refined and glorious, yet it follows not that it was annihilated.— Though Christ be God and Man in a most glorious Union and Power, yet the Manhood is not the Deity, nor the Deity the Manhood, yet inseperable in the heavenly Man, Christ, who is Lord from Heaven.

Pag. 23. Postscript by George Whitehead, in answer to W. H' [...] Q [...]eries. Q. I do but Query, what is become of that Flesh wherein He, (i. e. Christ) was manifested? Is that Flesh now in being? if so, where is it? in every place, or circumscribed in Heaven? Answ. That Flesh saw no Corruption, but was raised from the dead: Christ did rise in that Body wherein he suffered, and in the same ascended into the Heavens, where the Patriarch David did not, as to his Body, which is in the Sepulchre, Acts 2.29. And that very Body of Christ which was raised from the dead, how should it but be in being, seeing he dyed not again, according to Rom. 6.9. knowing Christ being raised from the dead, dyeth no more, Death hath no more dominion over him: his dying was only as to the Body, he was put to Death as concern­ing the Flesh, therefore the Flesh was raised from the dead. And it is so far circumscribed or encompassed in the Heavens as 'tis capable of, and as is proper to it; and tho' it be spiritual and glorious, yet a Body, and therefore not in every place where God is: To be Om­nipresent [Page 14] is only proper to God, and not to Bodies.

Q. How do they but deny the Manhood o [...] Christ, that say, the Body of Jesus is changed as to Substance, and his Soul is in every Saint? Answ. 1st, They do not deny the Manhood of Christ, that say, his Body is changed, as to the Quality and Glory of it, that it is a spiritual glori­ous Body, in a higher state than when on Earth under Sufferings: This is no annihilating of the Body: 2ly. That his Soul doth power­fully extend to, and is in every Saint, in some sence and degree: This must needs be, if it act tog [...]ther in Union with the Deity, in perfecting all good in us, as our Adversary has confessed, as also that it is virtually in the Saints: Tho' we grant, that it is in more fullness in himself than in as, yet of his fullness have we all received.

Q. They own, they say, the real Birth, Sufferings and Resurrection of Christ, but do they own his Intercession in his Manhood, as an high Priest in Heaven? Ans. Yes, we do; he is entred into Heaven it self, to appear in the face of God for us.— Note, That we referred him for a more full answer than we have given about Christs Manhood, to a Book entituled, The Way cast Ʋp, by G. Keith.

The real Quaker a real Protestant, by G Whitehead, p. 105, 106. Priest says, That two of his Neighbour Quakers told him, That Christs Body did vanish at his ascention, and that now he hath no other Flesh or Body, but the Flesh or Body of his People. Ans. I deny it to be the Qua­kers mind that Christs Body did vanish (so as to become annihilated) at his ascention: 'twas changed, and more glorified, but not vanisht. I am sensible that none in their right understanding or sence, would give him any such mistaken answer or account concerning the Body of Christ, that it so vnnisht as to become annihilated.—Christ has a glorious Body, most near and proper to himself, above and more excellent than all our earthly Bodies, like unto which he will change our low & humble Bodies.—P. 119. Christ hath a true and spiritual glorious Body, whereof the Saints are Members.

Pag. 108. Pr. The Qrs. do believe, that Christ, God Man, did never purchase the Redemption of any sinners by the price of his own Blood. Ans. We believe that Christ as Mediator, hath obtain'd eternal Redemp­tion for us, and that by his own Blood, that we might be sanctified & redeemed from all Iniquity, for which end he gave himself for us.

Pr. The Qrs. believe that deliverance from Condemnation is not by be­lieving in Christ who dyed to save Sinners, but by obeying the Light within. Answ. This is a Forgery again: Christ & his Light within are not [Page 15] to be divided in matter of Faith or Salvation: We never opposed Christ who dyed for Sinners, or Faith in his Name, by believing or obeying the Light within.

Judgment fixt, by G. Whitehead, in answer to Jeffery Bullock, viz. You (Quakers) do preach both Salvation and Justification, and also Con­demnation by the man Christ the Son of God, as other Professions do, and this Doctrine I would have you to prove, because you preach Salvation by Christ the Light within. It is no where written that we shall either be justified or condemned by that Christ which dyed without the Gates of Je­rusalem, but it is written, by Grace are ye saved, and by the Light of the World are ye condemned, &c. Ans. Thou that canst not recon­cile (or see the consistency of) Salvation by the Man Christ Jesus, And by his Light within, art gone from his Light, into Imaginations. Why hast thou not better observ'd the Gospel preacht by the Angel of the Lord, to the Shepherds concerning Christ Jesus, For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The true Christ of God is but one, tho' he hath appeared in divers man­ners, both in the Flesh and in the Spirit; he is the Light, he is the Way to the Father, he is the Saviour, he is the one Mediator between God and Man, even the Man Christ Jesus, the heavenly glorious Man, the Man that was promised to be for a hiding place, who in the days of his flesh said, I am the Light of the World: This our one Lord Jesus Christ is our Light, Life and Salvation; he is Judge of quick and dead, that Man by whom God will judge the World in Righteous­ness. See also Tit. 2.11. where the saving Grace of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all Iniquity, &c. are testified of; & therefore Salvation by that Christ, through hi [...] Grace, are not inconsistent, pag. 326.

Flesh & Blood of Christ, by I Pennington, (Preface) I have often heard them (the Quakers) own Christ both inwardly & outwardly; yea, I heard one of the Antients of them thus testifie in a publick Meeting many years since, That if Christ had not come in the Flesh in the fullness of time, to bear our sins in his own Body on the Tree, and to offer himself up a Sacrifice for Mankind, all mankind had utterly perished. p. 16. Glori­ous was that appearance and manifestation of his Son in the flesh, precious his Subjection & holy Obedience to the Father: His giving himself up to death for sinners was of great esteem in his Eye: It was a spotless Sacrifice, of great value, and effectual for the Remission of sins, and I do humbly acknowledge unto the Lord the Remission of my sins thereby.

Rob. Barclay's Apology, p. 94, 95, 96. We do not intend to equal our selves to that holy Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, nor to destroy the reality of his present existence; for tho' we affi [...]m that Christ dwells in us, yet not immediately, but mediately; he is the Head, and we the Mem­bers; now as the Soul of man dwells other ways, and in a far more immediate manner in the Head and Heart, than in the hands or legs; so God dwelleth otherwise in the Man Jesus, than in us. We also freely reject the Heresie of Appollonarius, who deny'd him to have any Soul, but said, the Body was only acted by the Godhead. As also the Er­ror of Euryches, who made the Manhood to be wholly swallowed up of the Godhead; wherefore as we believe he was a true and real man, so we also believe, that he continues so to be glorified in the Heavens, in Soul and Body, by whom God shall judge the World in the Great and General Day of judgment. We believe all those things to have been certainly transacted, which are recorded in the holy Scriptures, con­cerning the Birth, Life, Miracles, Sufferings, Resurrection & Ascention of Christ, and we also believe, that it is the Duty of every one to be­lieve it, to whom it pleases God to reveal it; yea, we believe it were Damnable Ʋnbelief not to believe, when so declared. And we be­lieve that the Remission of sins, which any partake of, is only in and by virtue of that most satisfactory Sacrifice, and no otherwise.

His Vindication of Apology, p. 89. I do believe that the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was crucified at Jerusalem, was again rais­ed by the Power of God, in which glorified Body the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth. Pag. 189. We are falsly charged with denying the outward appearance of Christ, the real existence of Heaven and Hell as a place without us, the Last and General Judgment, the Resur­rection of the Body; for we really believe these things.

Much more might have been cited out of the Writings of our An­tient Friends, but this may suffice at this time to convince our Op­posers, that it hath been, and is, the firm Belief of the People call'd Quakers, to expect Salvation by the Man Christ Jesus, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified for our sins, and rose again for our Justification, ascended into Heaven, and ever liveth to make Inter­cession for us. Faithfully Collected, and Recommended to purusal, by