of God.  And except this be the case, the Quakers conceive some of the passages, which they suppose to relate to this subject, not to be so satisfactorily explicable as they might be rendered.  For it is said of Abraham, that he saw Christ’s day.  But as Abraham died long before the visible appearance of Christ in the flesh, he could neither have seen Christ outwardly, nor his day.  It is still affirmed that he saw Christ’s day.  And the Quakers say they believe he saw him inwardly, for he witnessed in his own spirit, which is the same thing, the redeeming power of the spirit of God.  For as the world was made by the spirit, or by the word, which is frequently interpreted to be Christ, so these terms are synonimous, and often used the one for the other.  The Quakers therefore believe Abraham to have experienced in a very high degree the power[61] of this inward redemption.  They believe also that Job experienced it in an extraordinary manner.  For he asserted that he knew “that his redeemer lived.”  But Job could never have said this, except be had alluded to the powerful influence within him, which had purified his heart from the pollutions of sin.  For being as early as the time of Moses, he could never have seen any of the sacred writings which mentioned Jesus Christ as a redeemer, or the person of Jesus Christ.

[Footnote 59:  In the same manner Jesus Christ having tasted death for every man, the sacrifice, or outward redemption, looks backwards and forwards, as well to Adam as to those who lived after the Gospel times.]

[Footnote 60:  1 John. 3. 9.  Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.]

[Footnote 61:  The Quakers do not deny, that Abraham might have seen Christ prophetically, but they believe he saw him particularly in the way described.]

The Quakers also consider David, from the numerous expressions to be found in the Psalms, as having experienced this inward redemption also, and in the same manner as they conceive this spirit to have striven with Abraham, and Job, and David, so they conceive it to have striven with others of the same nation for their inward redemption to the time of Jesus Christ.  They believe again, that it has striven with all the Heathen nations, from the foundation of the world to the same period.  And they believe also, that it has continued its office of a redeemer to all people, whether Jews, Heathens, or Christians, from the time of Jesus Christ to the present day.

SECT.  IV.

Proposition of the new birth and perfection, as hitherto explained in the ordinary way—­New view of the subject from a more particular detail of the views and expressions of the Quakers concerning it—­A new spiritual birth as real from the spiritual seed of the kingdom, as that of plants or vegetables from their seeds in the natural world—­And the new birth proceeds really in the same progressive manner, to maturity or perfection—­Result of this new view the same as that in the former section.