Thy servant in the Lord Jesus Christ, though less than the least of all saints,
JOHN BUNYAN
FOOTNOTE:
1. The word 'quakers' must not be misunderstood as referring to the society of friends, but to some deluded individuals calling themselves quakers; the friends were not formed into a society for some years after this was written—Ed.
THE EPISTLE WRIT BY MR. BURTON, MINISTER AT BEDFORD
TO THE READER,
Reader, thou hast in this small treatise, set before thee, the several pieces of that great and glorious mystery, Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh: And if thou art enlightened by the Spirit of Christ, here thou mayest see by that Spirit how Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Son of Mary, is both true God and true Man, both natures making but one Christ, one Jesus, as Philippians 2:5-9 where speaking first of his being God, and then of his taking upon him the nature of man; afterwards in the 8th and 9th verses, he saith, he (meaning this Jesus) humbled himself, &c., and God (meaning the Father) hath highly exalted him, &c. speaking of both natures God and man as together making but one Christ; who is the Saviour, and is to be believed and trusted in for salvation not only as God, but as man also; and those who do not thus make him the object of their faith, will surely fall short of pardon of sin, and of salvation; 'through this man [speaking of Christ as crucified at Jerusalem] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins' (Act 13:38). And saith he, there is 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Tim 2:5); and this discovers the damnable errors of those commonly called Socinians, who on the one hand deny him that was born of the Virgin Mary to be true God as well as true Man: And this is also quite contrary to those commonly called Familists, Ranters, Quakers, or others, who on the other hand either deny Christ to be a real Man without them, blasphemously fancying him to be only God manifest in their flesh; or else make his human nature with the fulness of the godhead in it, to be but a type of God, to be manifest in the saints, and so according to their wicked imagination, his human nature was to be laid aside after he had offered it up on the cross without the gate at Jerusalem, contrary to Acts 1:1-3, 9-11 compared with the last chapter of Luke, vv 39, 40, 50, 51 where it is clearly held forth, that the man Christ rose again out of the grave, with the same body which was crucified and laid in the grave, and was taken up above the clouds into heaven with the same real body, and that he shall again descend form heaven in that same glorious body of flesh, as Acts 1:9-11. And this sure truth of Christ being the Saviour and Mediator, as Man, and not only as God, will also shew serious believers what to think of some, who though they will not (it may be) deny that Christ is a real man without them in the heavens as well as God, yet do own him to be the Saviour only as God, first dwelling in that flesh that was born of the Virgin, and then dwelling in saints, and thus both beginning and perfecting their salvation within them, and so indeed do hold Christ as Man, to be only (I say to be only) the saved or glorified one of God, together with the saints his members, only something in another and more glorious manner and measure than the saints; and these high flown people are in this very like to Familists and Quakers, undervaluing the Lord Jesus Christ, God-man, and though they may speak much of Christ, yet they do not rightly and savingly lay him for their foundation.
Now as a help against all these dangerous things, thou hast here the main things of Christ laid down before thee briefly, and fully proved by the scriptures:
First, Of his being true God out of flesh from eternity, and then of his taking flesh, or the nature of man upon him in the womb of the Virgin, and so his fulfilling the law, his dying for sins at Jerusalem, his rising again without, his ascending into heaven without, and not into a fancied heaven only within, as some say; his interceding in heaven for all his, and his coming again in his body of flesh to judge the world. And if thou art yet in a state of nature, though covered over with an outside profession, here thou mayest find something (if the Spirit of Christ meet thee in reading) to convince thee of the sad condition thou art in, and to shew thee the righteousness thou art to fly to by faith, and to trust in for salvation, when convinced of sin; which is a righteousness wrought by that God-man Jesus Christ without thee, dying without thee at Jerusalem for sinners: here also thou mayest see the difference between true and false faith. If thou art a true believer, as these things are the foundation of thy faith, so they may be of great use for thee to mediate upon, and to exercise thy faith in, particularly in mediation, and in this way to seek daily for a higher faith in these truths, to be given into thy heart from heaven; and there is a great need of this, for though these truths be commonly known amongst professors to the notion of them, yet very few know or believe them aright: nay, it may well be said in this age, that, if the faith of the true saints was well sifted, and tradition, notion, and the apprehensions of their own reason and fancy was sifted out, most of them would be found to have very little knowledge of, and faith in, these common truths.
Secondly, These truths being put thus together, and plainly proved by the scriptures, may be a great help (through the Spirit concurring) to strengthen thee against all those damnable heresies which are spread abroad, which deny the Lord Jesus Christ either plainly, or more cunningly and mysteriously. And