A Key (Penn)/Section VIII
OF CHRIST JESUS, HIS DEATH AND SUFFERINGS
[edit]Perversion 12: The Quakers expect lo be justified and saved by the Light within them. and not by the death and sufferings of Christ.
Principle: This is both unfairly and untruly charged upon us. But the various senses of the word justification oblige me here to distinguish the use of it, for in the natural and proper sense it plainly implies making men just who were unjust, godly that were ungodly, upright that were depraved: as the apostle expresses himself, And such were some of you but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus. and by the Spirit of our God." In the other use of the word, which some call a law-sense, it refers to Christ as a sacrifice and propitiation for sin, "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, ye shall be saved from wrath through Him. And "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Which, though a great truth and most firmly believed by us, yet no man can be entitled to the benefit thereof but as he comes to believe and repent of the evil of his ways, and then it may be truly said that God justifies even the ungodly, and looks upon them through Christ as if they had never sinned, because their sins are forgiven them for His beloved Son's sake.
Not that God looks on people to be in Christ, who are not in Christ, that is, who are not in the faith, obedience, and self-denial of Christ, nor sanctified, nor led by His Spirit, but rebel, and instead of dying to sin through true repentance, indulge themselves daily in it; for they that are in Christ become new creatures, old things are passed away, and all things become new. Wherefore we say that whatever Christ then did, both living and dying, was of great benefit to the salvation of all who have believed and now do, and who hereafter shall believe in Him. But the way to come to that faith is to receive and obey the manifestation of His Divine Light and grace in their conscience, which leads men to believe and value, and not disown or undervalue Christ as the common sacrifice and Mediator. For we do affirm that to follow this holy Light, and to turn to it, is the only way to have true living faith in Christ as He appeared in the flesh and to receive Him as sacrifice and Mediator.
We believe that Christ came not to save men in their sins, but from their sins, and that those that open their hearts to inward convictions of His Light and grace, have their conscience sprinkled with His blood from dead works, to serve the living God. And so far only as men come by faith, repentance and amendment to be Christ's, Christ is theirs, so far as they are obedient to His grace and take up His cross and follow Him in the ways of meekness, holiness and self-denial. There is no condemnation in them that are in Christ Jesus, because such walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. We have seen a shoal here which we desire to avoid, and are earnest that others may beware also; that because Christ died a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, by which He put mankind into a capacity for salvation, they presume upon that sacrifice and sin on, not dying with Christ to the world, but living in it according to the spirit of it. Such as these may be assured that where Christ is gone, they shall never come, for God sent His Son to bless us, by turning every one of us from the evil of our way.
For it is not another than that Eternal Word, Light, Power Wisdom, and Righteousness, Which took flesh and appeared in that Holy Body, by Whom they have received, or can receive any true spiritual benefit; Whose doctrine pierced, Whose life preached, Whose miracles astonished, Whose blood atoned, and Whose death, resurrection and ascension, confirmed that blessed manifestation to be no less than the Word God manifested in the flesh for the salvation of the world, and if we now receive Him into our hearts, as the true Light, that leads in the way of life eternal.