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The Essence of the Deity (as I have said) hath not Measures properly in it self; but yet the Scripture alloweth us to speak of the Measures of the Spirit of God, which is one Essence, or Being with God: Which Measures in Us, and Fulness in Christ, are to be understood, in respect of Manifestati∣on.
And according to this Distinction of fulness and measures, that is warranted by the Scriptures, I deny thy Assertion; that who ever hath any measure of the Essence of God, hath the Whole or Ful∣ness; and the plain tendency of all thy work against us, is not only to rob the Saints of Christ, the Heavenly Man, but al∣so of the Holy Ghost, and consequentially of God; and then finally, of all Goodness, Vertue and Grace: And indeed, this is the real and naked tendency of the Doctrine of all those, who contend so earnestly against the real and proper in-being, or in-dwelling of Christ, in the Saints, as he is the Hea∣venly Man, and second Adam; to bring us at last, if they could, to deny that we have either God in us, or the Holy Ghost; for if the Essence of God, dwell only in Christ, and that Christ dwell not in us, then in∣deed it should follow, that we have nothing of God, and so nothing of the Holy Spirit, which is one Essence with him: and the end of this is plain down-right Atheisme; for if God himself be not present in men, nor the Holy Ghost, (which is one Essence with him) nor Christ, how can any thing that is truly Good be in us, who can work it; or being wrought, who can preserve it if God and Christ be absent? Surely nothing appeareth
unto me, more rampant Blasphemy, nor more gross Atheism, than to deny, that God is really present in all Men, and in all Things: For, how is God omni-present, if he be not really present, in and with all his Creatures? And if God be present in all his Creatures, then Christ is also present, because the ful∣ness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ. But seeing thou wilt not allow Christ, to have any further reach or extent, than the hu∣mane soul and body of any ordinary Man; and that the Fulness of the Godhead is con∣tained within that bounds of the ordinary stature of a mans body, and that essentially? is not this to limit the infinite God into a narrower place, or room, than the Souls of many brute beasts, which have larger bodies, manifold times, than the greatest body of any earthly man, and to confine him within the humane figure and shape of a man? yea, nothing is more plain, which is gross Anthro∣pomorphitisme, and the blasphemous Doc∣trine of Lodowick Muggleton. But further, I enquire, seeing thou affirmest, That the Es∣sence of God is only in Christ, and that whole Christ is contained within the or∣dinary dimensions of mans Body; and that Christ had neither Soul nor Body before Mary; Where was the Essence of God, from the beginning of the World un∣til
that time? For either it was somewhere, or no where; to say it was no where, no not in the Highest Heavens, is absurd; see∣ing God is said to dwell in the Heavens; and they are called Gods Throne; and Christ Taught his Disciples to Pray, Our Father which art in Heaven, &c. But again, on the other hand, if thou shalt grant, That the Essence of God was in Heaven, then that Heaven is as personally uni∣ted unto God, (by thy Doctrine) as ever Christ Jesus; and may as truly, and in the same sense be called God, the Son of God, God-man; the Creator of the World, and is the Object of Divine Worship. This, I say, is the necessary and infallible consequence of thy Doctrine, because thou sayest expresly, who ever hath the Essence of God in him, is as personally united unto God, as Jesus Christ; and may as truly, and in the same sense be called God, &c.