Now an objection will be made to the proposition, as I have just stated it, by some Christians, and even by those who do not wish to derogate from the spirit of God, (for I have frequently heard it started by such) that the Quakers, by means of these doctrines, make every thing of the spirit, and [100]but little of Jesus Christ. I shall therefore notice this objection in this place, not so much with a view of answering it, as of attempting to show, that Christiana have not always a right apprehension of scriptural terms; and therefore that they sometimes quarrel with one another about trifles, or rather, that when they have disputes with each other, there is sometimes scarcely a shade of difference between them.
[Footnote 100: The Quakers make much of the advantages of Christ's coming in the flesh. Among these are considered the sacrifice of his own body, a more plentiful diffusion of the Spirit, and a dearer revelation relative to God and man.]
To those who make the objection, I shall describe the proposition which has been stated above, in different terms. I shall leave out the words "Spirit of God," and I shall wholly substitute the term "Christ." This I shall do upon the authority of some of our best divines…. The proposition then will run thus:
God, by means of Christ, created the world, "for without him was not any thing made, that was made."
He made, by means of the same Christ, the terrestrial Globe on which we live. He made the whole Host of Heaven. He made, therefore, besides our own, other planets and other worlds.
He caused also, by means of the same Christ, the generation of all animated nature, and of course of the life and vital powers of man.
He occasioned also by the same means, the generation of reason or intellect, and of a spiritual faculty, to man.
Man, however, had not been long created, before he fell into sin. It pleased God, therefore, that the same Christ, which had thus appeared in creation, should strive inwardly with man, and awaken his spiritual faculties, by which he might be able to know good from evil, and to obtain inward redemption from the pollutions of sin. And this inward striving of Christ was to be with every man, in after times, so that all would be inexcusable and subjected to condemnation, if they sinned.
It pleased God also, in process of time, as the attention of man was led astray by bad customs, by pleasures, by the cares of the world, and other causes, that the same Christ, in addition to this his inward striving with him, should afford him outward help, accommodated to his outward senses, by which his thoughts might be oftener turned towards God, and his soul be the better preserved in the way of salvation. Christ accordingly, through Moses and the Prophets, became the author of a dispensation to the Jews, that is, of their laws, types, and customs, of their prophecies, and of their scriptures.
But as in the education of man things must be gradually unfolded, so it pleased God, in the scheme of his redemption, that the same Christ, in fulness of time, should take flesh, and become personally upon earth the author of another outward, but of a more pure and glorious dispensation, than the former, which was to be more extensive also; and which was not to be confined to the Jews, but to extend in time to the uttermost corners of the earth. Christ therefore became the Author of the inspired delivery of the outward scriptures of the New Testament. By these, as by outward and secondary means, he acted upon men's senses. He informed them of their corrupt nature, of their awful and perilous situation, of another life, of a day of judgment, of rewards and punishments. These scriptures therefore, of which Christ was the Author, were outward instruments at the time, and continue so to posterity, to second his inward aid. That is, they produce thought, give birth to anxiety, excite fear, promote seriousness, turn the eye towards God, and thus prepare the heart for a sense of those inward strivings of Christ, which produce inward redemption from the power and guilt of sin.