be puffed up for one against another for who maketh thee to differ from another 1 Cor. 4. 6 7. What respectful language did Holy Mr. Brewen give to his own godly servants Remember Christians that there is neither rich nor poor bond nor free but all are one in Christ Jesus This indeed destroys not the civil differences God hath made between one and another Grace will teach the godly servant to give double honour to a Religious Master or Mistress the private Christian to a godly Magistrate or Minister It will teach the People to know them which labour among them and are over them in the Lord and admonish them and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake and to be at peace among themselves 1 Thes. 5. 12 13. and it will also teach Superiors to condescend to men of low degree and not to think of themselves above what they ought but with all lowliness meekness and long suffering to forbear one another in love keeping this way the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Eph. 4. 2 3. Direction V. This gentle language and respectful deportment would naturally and constantly flow from the Uniting Grace of Wisdom Humility and Love were they more exalted in the hearts of Christians Wisdom would allay those unchristian heats Prov. 17. 27. a man of understanding is of an excellent Spirit so we render it but the Hebrew signifies a cool Spirit the wisdom that is from above is gentle and easie to be intreated Iames 3. 17. Humility takes away the fewel from the fire of Contention only from Pride cometh Contention Prov. 13. 10. How dearly hath Pride especially Spiritual Pride cost the Churches of Christ Love is the very Cement of Societies the fountain of Peace and Unity it thinketh no evil 1 Cor. 13. puts the fairest sence upon doubtful words and actions it beareth all things Love me saith Anstin and reprove me as thou pleasest 'T is a radical grace bearing the fruits of Peace and Unity upon it Direction VI. Be of a Christ-like forgiving Spirit one towards another Eph. 4. 31 32. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Hath thy Brother offended thee how apt art thou also to offend thy Brother and which is infinitely more how often dost thou every day grieve and offend Jesus Christ who yet freely forgives all thy offences Remember Friend that an unforgiving is a sad sign of an unforgiven person They that have found mercy pity and forgiveness should of all men in the World be most ready to shew it Direction VII Be deeply affected with the mischievous effects and consequents of Schisms and Divisions in the Societies of the Saints and let nothing beneath a plain necessity divide you from Communion one with another hold it fast till you can hold it no longer without Sin At the fire of your contentions your enemies warm their hands and say aha so would we have it Your Prayers are obstructed Mat. 5. 24. First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift Edification is hindred Feaverish bodies thrive not Eph. 4. 15. God is provoked to remove his Gracious presence from among you Be of one mind saith the Apostle live in peace and the God of peace shall be with you 1 Cor. 13. 11. implying that their contentions would deprive them of his blessed company with them The glory of your society is clouded if ye have bitter envyings and strife in you hearts glory not Iames 3. 14. Glory not in your Church Privileges personal gifts and attainments whatever you think of your selves you are not such Christians as you vogue your selves for living in a Sin so directly contrary to Christianity The name of Christ is dishonoured You are taken out of the world to be a people for his name that is for his honour but there 's little credit to the name of Christ from a dividing wrangling people The alluring beauty of Christianity by which the Church gains upon the world Acts 2. 46 47. is sullied and defaced and thereby as I noted before conversion hindred and a new stone as it were rolled over the graves of poor sinners to keep them down in their impenitency Tremble therefore at the thoughts of Divisions and Separations St. Augustine notes three sins severely punished in Scripture The Golden Calf with the Sword Iehojakims cutting the Sacred Roll with a dreadful Captivity but the Schism of Korah and his Accomplices with the Earth's opening her mouth and swallowing them up quick Direction VIII Let all Church-Members see that they have Union with Christ evidencing it self in daily sweet Communion with him Lines drawn from a Circumference come nearest to one another in the Centre When God intends to make the hearts of men one he first makes them new Ezek. 11. 19. I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you And the more any renewed heart tasts the sweetness of Communion with God by so much it is disposed for Unity and Peace with his People Our frowardness and peevishness plainly discovers all is not well betwixt God and us Nothing so opposite to or abhorred by a soul that enjoys sweet Peace and Communion with Christ than to live in sinful jars and contentions with his people Return therefore to the Primitive Spirit of Love and Unity forbear one another forgive one another mortifie your dividing Lusts cherish your Uniting Graces mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine ye have learned and avoid them Rom. 16. 17. In a Word and that the Word of the Apostle in the Text I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment FINIS * Utinam tam consertis manibus compertam comprehensamque veritatem semel retiâ—ere possâ—mus quâ—m protinùs agnitam festivis oculis hilares exosculamur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chatta a Scopo aberravit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shaga 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tagna in Hiph * I am persuaded saith Mr. Gurnal some men take more pains to furnish themselves with Arguments to defend some Error they have taken up than they do for the most saving Truths in the Bible Austin said when he was a Manichean Non Tu eras sed Error meus erat Deus meus Thou O Lord wert not but my Error was my God Gurnal's Christian Armour part 2. page 36. †Cum unaquaeque Haeresis sui commenti parentem habeat Diabolum ac pudore tà m exosi nominis teneatur pulcherrimum quod super omnia est nomen Salvatoris profitetur Scripturarumque dictionibus amicitur Athanas. contra Arian * Take
more apt to catch in low-built thatcht Cottages than in high-built Castles and Princely Palaces the higher we go still the more peace The highest Region is most sedate and calm Stars have the strongest influence when in conjunction Angels tho legions have no wars among them and as willingly go down as up the Ladder without justling each other And the Most High God is the God of Peace let us also be the Children of Peace And I do assure the Persons with whom I contend That whilst they hold the head and are tender of the Churches Peace I can live in charity with them here and hope to live in glory with them hereafter I remain Reader thine and the Truth 's Friend John Flavell THE CONTENTS OF THE Causes and Cures c. THE Etymology and definition of the word Error Introd p. 2 3. The difference between Heresy and Error Introd p. 4. Twenty general Observations Disc. p. 7. Obs. 1. Truth is the object and natural food of the Vnderstanding p. 7. Explain'd and confirm'd P. 8. Obs. 2. Several sorts of Knowledge amongst which the supernatural knowledge of saving Truths revealed in the Scriptures is the best 9. Obs. 3. Vnto the attainment of Divine Knowledge out of the Scripture some things are naturally yet less principally requisite in the subject and something absolutely and principally necessary 11. As the irradiation of the mind by the Spirit of God the benefits of which 12. Obs. 4. Among the manifold impediments to the obtaining of true Knowledge and setling the mind in the truth and faith of the Gospel these three are of special consideration viz. Ignorance Curiosity and Error p. 13. Obs. 5. Error is binding upon the Conscience as well as Truth and altogether as much and sometimes more influential upon the Affections and Passions than Truth is 14. Obs. 6. 'T is exceeding difficult to get out Error when once it is imbib ' d and hath rooted it self by an open profession 15. Obs. 7. Men are not so circumspect and jealous of the Corruptions of their Minds by Errors as they are of their Bodies in times of Contagion or of their Lives with respect to gross Immoralities 17. Obs. 8. 'T is a great Iudgment of God to be given up to an Erroneous Mind 19. Obs. 9. 'T is a pernicious Evil to advance a mere Opinion into the place or seat of an Article of Faith and to lay as great stress upon it as they ought to do upon the most clear and fundamental Point 21. Obs. 10. Error being conscious to it self of its own weakness and the strong assaults that will be made upon it evermore labours to defend and secure it self under the wings of Antiquity Reason Scripture and high pretensions to Reformation and Piety 23. Obs. 11. God in all Ages in his tender care for his Churches and Truths hath still qualified and excited his Servants for the defence of his precious Truths against the Errors and Heresies that have successively assaulted them p. 25. Obs. 12. The want of a modest suspicion and just reflection gives both confidence and growth to Erroneous Opinions 27. Obs. 13. There is a remarkable involution or concatenation of Errors one linking in and drawing another after it 29. Obs. 14. Errors abound most and spring fastest in the times of the Churches Peace Liberty and outward Prosperity under Indulgent Governors 31. Obs. 15. Errors in the tender bud and first spring of them are comparatively shy and modest to what they prove afterwards when they have spread and rooted themselves into the minds of multitudes and think it time to set up and justle for themselves in the World 33. Obs. 16. Nothing gives more countenance and increase to Errors than a weak and feeble defence of the Truth against it 35. Obs. 17 Errors of Iudgment are not cured by compulsion and external force but by rational conviction and proper spiritual remedies 36. Obs. 18. Erroneous Doctrines producing Divisions and fierce Contentions amongst Christians prove a fatal Stumbling-block to the World fix their Prejudices and obstruct their conversion to Christ p. 38. Obs. 19. How specious and taking soever the pretences of Error be and how long soever they maintain themselves in esteem among men they are sure to end in the loss and shame of their Authors and Abettors at last 40. Obs. 20. If ever Errors be cured and the Peace and Vnity of the Church established men must be convinced of and acquainted with the occassions and causes both within and without themselves from whence their Errors do proceed and must both know and apply the proper rules and remedies for the prevention or cure of them 42. Divine Permission an occasion of Error 44. Which must be prevented by avoiding 1. A want of love to the Truth 45. 2. Pride and wantonness of the mind 46. 3. The neglect of Prayer ibid. Culpable Causes of Errors in men are 1. A wrangling humor at the pretended obscurity of the Scriptures p. 47. Cod's wisdom manifested in leaving some difficulties in the Scriptures 49. For the prevention of this cause these Rules following to be heeded and practis'd viz. R. 1. To expound all obscure Texts of Scripture according to the analogy and proportion of Faith p. 50. R. 2. Not to wrest Scripture from its general and common sense in favour of our preconceived Opinions 51. R. 3. When we meet with a difficult place of Scripture to search the Context throughly 52. R. 4. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other the Old on the New and the New on the Old ibid. R. 5. Observe the sense which the current of Expositors do agree in and which naturally agrees with the scope of the place 53 Cause 2. The abuse of the Liberty given by Christ to all his People to read the Scriptures and to judge of the sense of them by a private judgment of Discretion ibid. Remedy of it is to observe the limits which Christ hath set to this Liberty which Limitations are 1. A liberty to read and study but not publickly to expound and preach the Word 57. 2. Christians of different Abilities ought to study some parts of Scripture rather than others 59. Cause 3. Slothfulness in a due and serious search of the Scripture 61. How to find the institution of the Sabbath in the Scripture 64. How to find the institution of the Baptism of Infants there 65. Several Considerations to cure this slothfulness 67. Viz. A serious search of the Scriptures is our duty ibid. No action of ours that is not agreeable to God's will is acceptable to him 68. This is the path in which the wisest and best of men have gone before us 69. Every discovery of the Will of God obtain'd in this method is highly pleasant 70. Confirms our Faith 71. An impartial search into the Will of God will be a testimony of our Integrity and Sincerity ibid. Cause 4. Instability of judgment and unsetledness of mind about the truth
Gospel-Unity THe Text 1 Cor. 1. 10. open'd p. 410. A Duty and the Arguments inforcing it 410 11. Doctrine Vnity among Believers is a necessary Mercy and indispensible Duty 414. What Vnity among Believers is explained 415. Consists in a Mystical Vnion with the Head and a Moral Vnion among themselves ad 419. This Vnity desirable as it conduces 1. To the Glory of God 419. 2. To the Comfort and Benefit â—f Souls 421. 3. With respect to the World 422. Use. By way of Exhortation to Vnity 424. Motive 1. 425. Mot. 2. 427. Mot. 3. 428 Mot. 4. 432. Mot. 5. 433. Mot. 6. 436. Use 2. Direction 436. Direction 1. 437. Direction 2. 440. Ministers to mind their proper work ibid. The People to mind theirs 441. Direction 3. 442. Direct 5. 444. Direct 6. 445. Direct 7. 446. Direct 8. 447. A Table of the Scriptures Vindicated and Explained C C. stands for the Causes and Cures of Mental Errors Ap. 1. for the 1st Appendix Ap. 2. for the 2d Appendix Serm. for the Sermon of Gospel-Vnity GEnesis cap. 17. v. 7 8. Ap. 1. p. 233. v. 9 10. C. C. p. 65. Ap. 1. 225. Leviticus cap. 26. v. 40 41. C. C. p. 70. Ap. 1. p. 198. Numbers cap. 23. v. 21. Ap. 2. p. 363. Job 12. 11. C. C. p. 7. Psalm 58. 3. C. C. p. 3. 89. v. 30 31. Ap. 2. p. 374. Canticles 2. 6 7. Serm. p. 423. Isaiah 9. 16. C. C p. 136. Jer. 15. 16. C. C. p. 70. 50. v. 20. Ap. 2. p. 364. Mal. 3 16. C. C. p. 107. Matt. 15. 14. C. C. p. 88. Joh. 17. 23. Serm. p. 422. Acts 2. 38. C. C. p. 65. v. 46 47. Serm. p. 421. cap. 7. 38. Ap. 1. p. 199. cap. 15. 10. Ap. 1. p. 236. cap. 16. 2 3. Ap. 1. p. 226 229. Rom 1. 26. C. C. p. 19. cap. 4. 9 10. Ap. 1. p. 234. v. 11. Ap. 1. p. 220. v. 13. Ap. 1. p. 234. cap. 5. 17 20. Ap. 1. p. 189. cap. 6. 1 2. Ap. 2. p. 309. cap. 8. 28. Ap. 2. p. 389. v. 33. Ap. 2. p. 336. cap. 9. 4. Ap. 1. p. 203. cap. 10. 2. C. C. p. 102. cap. 11. 16. C. C. p. 65. v. 17. Ap. 1. p. 290. cap. 12. 2. C. C. p. 67. v. 6. C. C. p. 50. cap. 15. 5. Serm. p. 419. 1 Cor. 3. 12 13. C. C. p. 41. cap. 7. 14. C. C. p. 51. 65. 2 Cor. 3. 6 7. Ap. 1. p. 197. Galatians 1. 6. C. C. p. 154. cap. 3. 1. C. C. p. 118. v. 12. Ap. 1. p. 205. v. 17. Ap. 1. p. 176 229. cap. 4. 17. C. C. p. 102. cap. 5. 1. Ap. 1. p. 236. v. 23. Ap. 1. p. 230. v. 4. Ap. 1. p. 284. Ephesians 4. 14. C. C. p. 118 72 74. Philippians 2. 12. Serm. p. 424. Colossians 2. 6 7. C. C. p. 76. v. 10 11. C C. p. 66. cap. 3. 10. C. C. p. 8. 1 Thessalonians 4. 11. Serm. p. 440. 2 Timothy 4. 3. C. C. p. 90. Hebrews 5. 13 14. C. C. p. 59. James 4. 8. C. C. p. 74. 2 Peter 1. 12. C. C. p. 77. cap. 2. 1. C. C. p. 18 34. v. 3. C. C. p. 118. cap. 3. 16. C. C. p. 47 48. p. 51. p. 135. 1 John 2. 13. C. C. p. 59. cap. 3. 7. Ap. 2. p. 385. Jude v. 4. Ap. 2. p. 3 10. v. 13. C. C. p. 3. 73. v. 16. C. C. p. 46. CORRIGENDA PAge 10. l. 23. for you r. your p. 18. l. 23. for their r. there and l. 2 4. for as r. a p. 23. in the Margent r. tenetur p. 37. l. 23. r dissent in judgment p 51. l. 19. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 54. l. 22. â—or full liberty r. fullness p. 62. l. 19. r. sparsâ—m p. 72. l. penult r. wait p. 80. in the Marg. for assailed r. absolved p. 89. l. 7. for cary r. carry p. 120. l. 4. add wait p. 155. l 4 r. preventives p. 167. l. 19. r. temerity p. 249. dele as it is and add in its place in this sense ADVERTISEMENT THere is lately Printed a Book Intituled A Demonstration of the first Principles of the Protestant Applications of the Apocalyps together with the Consent of the Ancients concerning the fourth Beast in the 7th of Daniel and the Beast in the Revelations By Drue Cressener D. D. Printed for Tho. Cockerill A Blow at the Root OR THE CAUSES and CURES OF Mental Errors The INTRODUCTION FINDING by sad Experience what I before justly feared that Errors would be apt to spring up with Liberty though the restraint of just Liberty being a practical Error in Rulers can never be the cure of Mental Errors in the Subjects I judged it necessary at this Season to give a Succinct account of the Rise Causes and Remedies of several Mistakes and Errors under which even the Reformed Churches among us as well as others do groan at this Day I will not stay my Reader long upon the Etymology and Derivations of the Word We all know that Etymologies are no Definitions Yet because they cast some light upon the Nature of the thing we enquire after it will not be lost labour to observe that this word ERROR derives it self from three Roots in the Hebrew Language 1. The Frst word Primitively signifies to deviate or decline from the true Scope or path as Unskilful Marks-men or Ignorant and Inadvertent Travellers use to do The least variation or turning aside from the true Rule and Line tho it be but an hairs breadth presently becomes an Error We read Iudg. 20. 16. of 700. Benjamites who could every one sling stones at an hairs breadth and not miss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. and not err This by a Metaphor is applied to the Mind or Judgment of man and denotes the warpings thereof from the Straight Perfect Divine Law or Rule and is usually Translated by the word Sin 2. It is derived from another word also which signifies to wander in variable and uncertain motions You find it in the Title of the 7th Psalm Shiggaion of David a wandring Song or a Song of variable Notes and Tunes higher and lower sharper and flatter In both the former Derivations it seems to note simple Error through meer Weakness and Ignorance But then 3. In its Derivation from a third Root it signifies not only to Err but to cause others to Err also and so signifies a Seducer or one that is active in leading others into a wrong way and is applied in that sense to the Prophets in Israel who seduced the People Ezek. 13. 10. The Greek Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 takes in both these senses both to go astray and when put Transitively to lead or cause others to go astray with us Hence is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Planets or wandring Stars the title given by the Apostle Iude ver 13. to the false Teachers and Seducers of his time An Error then is any departure or deviation in our
hateth Errors Rev. 2. 6. the God of Order and hates Confusions and Schisms in his Church 1 Cor. 14. 33. is yet pleased to permit Errors and Heresies to arise without whose permission they could never spring And this he doth for the tryal of his Peoples Faith and Constancy and for a spiritual punishment upon some men for the abuse of his known Truths and by the permission of these Evils he advanceth his own Glory and the good of his Church and People Augustine answers that Question Why doth not God since he hates Errors sweep them out of the World Because saith he it is an act of greater power to bring good out of evil than not to suffer Evils to be at all Satan's Design in Errors is to cloud and darken God's Name and precious Truths to destroy the Beauty Strength and Order of the Church But God's ends in permitting and sending Errors are 1. to plague and punish men for their abuse of Light 2 Thess. 2. 11. For this cause God shall send them strong Delusions c. 2. To prove and try the Sincerity and Constancy of our hearts Deut. 13. 1 3. I Cor. 11. 19. And lastly By these things the Saints are awakened to a more diligent search of the Scriptures which are the more critically read and examined upon the tryal of Spirits and Doctrines by them 1 Ioh. 4. 1. Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits And Rev. 2. 2. Thou hast tried them that say they are Apostles c. The Prevention Though Heresies and Errors must for the Reasons assigned break forth into the World and God will turn them eventually into his own glory and the benefit of his Church yet it is a dreadful judgment to be delivered over to a spirit Error to eb the Authors and Abetters of them this is a judicial stroke of God and as ever we hope to escape and stand clear out of the way of it let us carefully shun these three following Causes and Provocations thereof 1. Want of love to the Truth which God hath made to shine about us in the means or into us by actual illumination under the means of knowledge 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they received not the love of Truth God gave them up to strong Delusions They are justly plagued with Error that slight Truth False Doctrines are fit Plagues for false Hearts 2. Beware of Pride and Wantonness of Mind 'T is not so much the Weakness as the Wantonness of the Mind which provokes God to inflict this Judgment None likelier to make Seducers than Boasters Iude 16. Arrius gloried that God had revealed some things to him which were hidden from the Apostles themselves Simon Magus boasted himself to be the mighty Power of God The erroneous Pharisees loved the praises of Men. When the Papist reproached Luther that he affected to have his Disciples called Lutherans he replyed Non sic ô fatue non sic oro ut nomen meum taceatur he disdain'd that the Children of Christ should be called by so vile a name as his 3. Beware you neglect not Prayer to be kept sound in your Judgments and guided by the Spirit into all Truth Psal. 119. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander or err from thy Commandments This do and you are safe from such a judicial Tradition The First Cause We shall next speak of the Causes of Error found in the evil Dispositions of the Subjects which prepare and incline them to receive Erroneous Doctrine and Opinions and even catch at the Occasions and least Sparkles of Temptation as dry Tinder and amongst these is found 1. A perverse wrangling Humour at the pretended OBSCURITY of the Scriptures The Romish Party snatch at this Occasion and make it the proper Cause when indeed it is but a pickt Occasion of the Errors and Mistakes among men They tell us the Scriptures are so difficult obscure and perplext that if private men will trust to them as their only Guide they will inevitably run into Errors and their only relief is to give up their Souls to the conduct of their Church whereas indeed the true Cause of Error is not so much in the Obscurity of the Word as in the corruption of the mind 1 Tim. 6. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 8. We do acknowledge there are in the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3. 16. the sublime and mysterious nature of the matter rendering it so and some things hard to be interpreted from the manner of expression as indeed all mystical parts of Scripture and Prophetical predictions are and ought to be delivered The Spirit of God this way designedly casts a veil over them till the proper season of their revelation and accomplishment be come Besides as the Learned Glassius observes in Paul's style there are found some peculiar words and forms of speech which ordinary Rules of Grammar take no notice nor give any parallel Examples of as to be buried with Christ to be baptized into his death to which I may add to be circumcised in him c. There are also multitude of words found in Scripture of various and vastly different Significations and accordingly there is a diversity and sometimes a contrariety of senses given of them by Expositors which to an Humourist or quarrelsome Wit gives an occasion to vent his Errors with a plausible appearance of Scripture-consent And indeed Tertullian saith Non periclitor dicere ipsas Scripturas ità dispositas esse ut materiam subministrarent Haereticis The Scriptures are so disposed that Hereticks may pick Occasions and those that will not be satisfied may be hardened See Mark 4. 11 12. But all this notwithstanding the great and necessary things to our Salvation are so perspicuously and plainly revealed in the Scriptures that even Babes in Christ do apprehend and understand them Matth. 11. 25. 1 Cor. 1. 27 28 29. And though there be difficulties in other points more remote from the foundation yet the Spirit of God is not to be accused but rather his Wisdom to be admired herein For 1. this serves to excite our most intense study and diligence which by this difficulty is made necessary Prov. 2. 3 4 5. the very Prophets yea the very Angels search into these things 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. 2. Hereby a standing Ministry in the Church is made necessary Nehem. 8. 8. Eph. 4. 11 12 13. So that to pretend Obscurity of Scripture to be the culpable cause of Error when indeed the fault is in our selves this is too much like our Father Adam which would implicitly accuse God to excâ—se himself he laid it upon the Woman which God gave him and we upon the Scriptures which God hath given us The Remedies The proper Remedies and Preventives in this case are an heedful attendance to and practice of these Rules Rule I. Let all obscure and difficult Texts of Scripture be constantly examined and expounded according to the
Analogy or proportion of Faith which is St. Paul's own Rule Rom. 12. 6. Let him that prophesieth i. e. expoundeth the Scripture in the Church do it according to the proportion of faith The Analogy or proportion of Faith is what is taught plainly and uniformly in the whole Scriptures of Old and New Testament as the rule of our Faith and Obedience Whilst we carefully and sincerely attend hereunto we are secured from sinful corrupting the word of God Admit of no sense which interfereth with this proportion of Faith If men have no regard to this but take liberty to rend off a single Text from the body of Truth to which it belongs and put a peculiar interpretation upon it which is absonous and discordant to other Scriptures what woful work will they quickly make Give but a Papist liberty to take that Scripture Iam. 2. 24. out of the frame of Scripture A man is justified by works and not by faith only and expoâ—â—d it without regard to the Tenor of the Gospel-doctrine of Iustification in Paul's Epistles to the Romans and Galatians and a gross Error starts up immediately Give but a Socinian the like liberty to practise upon Iohn 14. 28. and a gross Hâ—resie shall presently look with an Orthodox face Rule II. Never put a new sense upon words of Scripture in favour of your preconceived Notions and Opinions nor wrest it from its general and common use and sense This is not to interpret but to rack the Scriptures as that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 2 Pet. 3. 16. Interpretis officium est non quid ipse velit sed quid censeat ille quem interpretatur exponere as Hieron against Ruff. speaks We are not to make the Scriptures speak what we think but what the Prophet or Apostle thought whom we interpret In 1 Cor. 7. 14. we meet with the word holy applied to the Children of Believers that word is above 500 times used for a state of separation to God Therefore to make it signify in that place nothing but Legitimacy is a bold and daring practising upon the Scripture Rule III. Whenever you meet with an obscure place of Scripture let the Context of that Scripture be diligently and throughly searched for 't is usual with God to set up some light there to guide us through the obscurity of a particular Text. And there is much truth in the Observation of the Rabbines Nulla est objectio in Lege quae non habet solutionem in lâ—tere There 's no scruple or objection in the Law but it hath a solution at the side of it Rule IV. Let one Testament freely cast its light upon the other and let not men undervalue or reject an Old Testament Text as no way useful to clear and establish a New-Testament Point of Faith or Duty Each Testament reflects light upon the other The Iews reject the New-Testament and many among us sinfully slight the Old But without the help of both we can never understand the mind of Godâ— in either 'T is a good Rule in the Civil-Law Turpe est de Lege judicare tota lege nondum inspectâ We must inspect the whole Law to know the sense of any particular Law Rule V. Have a due regard to that sense given of obscure places of Scripture which hath not only the current sense of Learned Expositors but also naturally agrees with the scope of the place A careless neglect and disregard to this is justly blamed by the Apostle 1 Tim. 1. 7. Cause II. A Second evil temper in the Subject disposing and inclining men to receive and suck in erroneous Doctrines and Opinions is the ABVSE of that just and due CHRISTIAN LIBERTY allowed by Christ to all his people to read examine and judge the sense of Scriptures with a private judgment of discretion This is a glorious acquisition and blessed fruit of Reformation to vindicate and recover that just Right and gracious Grant made to us by Christ and the Apostles out of the injurious hands of our Popish Enemies who had usurped and invaded it The exercise of this Liberty is at once a Duty commanded by Christ and commended in Scripture 'T is commanded by Christ Iohn 5. 39. Search the Scriptures saith Christ to the people 1 Cor. 10. 15. I speak as to wise men judge you what I say And the exercise of this private judgment of discretion by the people is highly commended by St. Paul in the Bereans Acts 17. 11. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so This Liberty is not allowed in that latitude in any Religion as it is in the Christian Religion nor enjoyed in its full liberty as it is in the Reformed Religion whose glory it is that it allows its Principles and Doctrines to be critically examined and tryed of all Men by the Rule of the Word as well knowing the more it is sifted and searched by its Professors the more they will be still confirmed and satisfied in the truth of it But yet this gracious and just liberty of Christians suffers a double abuse One from the Popish Enemies who injuriously restrain and deny it to the people Another by Protestants themselves who sinfully stretch and extend it beyond the just degree and measure in which Christ allows it to them The Pope injuriously restrains it discerning the danger that must necessarily follow the concession of such a liberty to the people to compare his superstitious and erroneous Doctrines with the Rule of the Word St. Peter in 2 Pet. 1. 19. tells the people they have a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto they do well that they take heed Certainly the Pope forgot either that he was Peter's Successour or that ever St. Peter told the people they did well to make use of that liberty which he denies them Mr. Pool tells us of a Spaniard that used this expression to an English Merchant You people of England said he are happy you have liberty to see with your own eyes and to examine the Doctrines delivered to you upon which your everlasting Life depends but we dare not say our souls are our own but are commanded to believe whatever our Teachers tell us be it never so unreasonable or ridiculous This is a most injurious and sinful restraint upon it on the one side And then Secondly 'T is too frequently abused by stretching it beyond Christ's allowance and intendment upon the other side when every ignorant and confident person shall under pretence of liberty granted by Christ rudely break in upon the Sacred Text distort violate and abuse the Scriptures at pleasure by putting such strange and â—oreign senses upon them as the Spirit of God never meant or intended How often have I heard that Scripture Micha 4. 10. They shall be brought even to Babylon confidently interpreted for almost but not full hâ—me
Conduct of the Spirit and in all your addresses to God pray that he would keep them chast and pure and not suffer Satan to commit a rape upon them Plead with God that part of Christ's Prayer Iohn 17. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth Rule IV. Live in the conscientious and constant practice of all those Truths and Duties God hath already manifested to you This will bring you under that blessed Promise of Christ Iohn 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God Satan's greatest successes are amongst idle notional and vain Professors not humble serious and practical Christians Caus◠XI Having considered and dispatched the several internal Causes of Error found in the evil dispositions of the seduced as also the Impulsive Cause viz. Satan who fits suitable baits to all these sinful humours and evil tempers of the heart we come next to consider the Instrumental Cause employed by Satan in this work viz. the FALSE TEACHER whom Satan makes use of as his Seeds-man to disseminate and scatter erroneous Doctrines and Principles into the minds of Men Ploughed up and prepared by those evil tempers forementioned as a fit Soil to receive them The choice of Instruments is a principal part of Satan's policy Every one is not fit to be employed in such a Service as this All are not fit to be of the Council of War who yet take their places of Service in the Field A Rustick carried out of the Field on Board a Ship at Sea though he never learned his Compass nor saw a Ship before can by another's direction tug lustily at a Rope but he had need be an expert Artist that sits at the Helm and steers the course The worst Causes need the smoothest Orators and bad Ware a cunning Merchant to put it off Deep-parted Men are coveted by Satan to manage this design None like an eloquent Tertullus to confront a Paul Acts 24. 1. A subtil Eccius to enter the List in defence of the Popish Cause against the Learned and Zealous Reformers When the Duke of Buckingham undertook to Plead the bad Cause of Richard the third the Londoners said They never thought it had been possible for any Man to deliver so much bad Matter in such good Words and quaint Phrases The first Instrument chosen by Satan to deceive Man was the Serpent because that Creature was more subtil than any Beast of the Field There is not a Man of eminent parts but Satan courts and sollicites him for this service St. Austin told an ingenious but unsanctified Scholar Cupit abs te ornari Diabolus The Devil covets thy Parts to adorn his Cause He surveys the World and where-ever he finds more than ordinary strength of Reason pregnancy of Wit depth of Learning and elegancy of Language that is the Man he looks for These are the Men that can almost indiscernably sprinkle their Errors among many precious Truths and wrap up their poisonous Drugs in Leaf-gold or Sugar Maresius notes of Crellius and his Accomplices That by the power of their Eloquence and sophistry of their Arguments they were able artificially to cloath horrible Blasphemies to allure the simple And like the Hyaena they can counterfeit the voices of the Shepherds to deceive and destroy the Sheep There is saith a late Worthy an erudita nequitia a Learned kind of wickedness a subtil art of deceiving the minds of others Upon which account the Spirit of God sometimes compares them 2 Pet. 2. 3. to cunning and cheating Tradesmen who have the very art to set a gloss upon their bad Wares with fine words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they buy and sell the people with their ensnaring and feigned words And sometimes he compares them to cunning Gamesters that have the art and sleight of hand to Cog the Die to deceive the unskilful and win their Game Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And sometimes the Spirit of God compares them to Witches themselves Gal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you How many strange feats have been done upon the bodies of Men and Women by Witchcraft But far more and stranger upon the Souls of Men by the Magick of Error Iannes and Iambres performed wonderful things in the sight of Pharoah by which they deceived and hardened him and unto these false Teachers are compared Such a Man was Elymas the Sorcerer who laboured to seduce the Deputy Sergius Paulus though a prudent Man Acts 13. 7 8 9 10. Oh full of all subtilty and all mischief thou Child of the Devil saith Paul unto him The Art of seduduction from the ways of truth and holiness discovers a Man to be both the Child and Scholar of the Devil But as the wise and painful Ministers of Christ who turn many to Righteousness shall have double Glory in Heaven so these subtil and most active Agents for the Devil who turn many from the ways of Righteousness will have a double portion of misery in Hell The Remedies The proper Remedies in this Case are principally two Remedy I. Pray fervently and labour diligently in the use of all God's appointed means to get more solidity of Judgment and strength of Grace to establish you in the Truth and secure your Souls against the cunning craftiness of Men that lye in to deceive 'T is the ignorance and weakness of the people which makes the Factors for Error so successful as they are Consult the Scriptures and you shall find these cunning Merchants drive the quickest and gainfullest trade among the weak and injudicious So speaks the Apostle With good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 harmless weak easie Souls who have a desire to do well but want wisdom to discern the subtilties of them that mean ill who are void both of fraud in themselves and suspition of others Oh! what success have the Deceivers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their fair words and sugared speeches sweet and taking expressions among such innocent ones And who are they among whom Satan's cunning Gamesters commonly win the Game and sweep the Stakes but weak Christians credulous Souls whom for that reason the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children The word properly signifies an an Infant when 't is referred to the Age but unskilful and unlearned when referred as it is here to the Mind So again 2 Pet. 2. 14. They that is the False Teachers there spoken of beguile 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unstable Souls Souls that are not confirmed and grounded in the Principles of Religion Whence by the way take notice of the unspeakable advantage and necessity of being well Catechized in our youth the more judicious the more secure Remedy II. Labour to acquaint your selves with the sleights and artifices Satan's Factors and Instruments generally make use of to seduce and draw Men from the Truth
Right of Believers Infant-seed to Baptism you have altogether adventured it the second time with the consent of your Partizans upon the three Hypotheses which if I mistake not I have fully confuted and baffled in my first Answer But if my brevity occasioned any obscurity in that I hope you shall find it sufficiently done here Mean time you have given and I accordingly take it for granted that our Arguments for Infants Baptism stand in their full strength against you 'till you can better discharge and free your dangerous Assertions from the Errors and Absurdities in which they are now more involved and intricated than before The weaker any thing is the more querulous it is If Scripture-Argument and clear Reason will not support the Cause I undertake I am resolved never to call in passionate Invectives and weak Evasions for my Auxiliaries as you have here done The Lord give us all clearer Light tenderer Consciences exemplary Humility and Ingenuity Vindiciarum Vindex OR A REFUTATION OF THE Weak and Impertinent Rejoinder OF Mr. PHILIP CARY Wherein he vainly attempts the defence of his Absurd Thesis to the great abuse and injury of the Laws and Covenants of God AND must I be dipt once more in the Water-Controversy 't is time for me to think of undressing my self and making ready for my approaching Rest and employ those few moments I have to spend in more Practical and Beneficial Studies for my own and the Churches greater advantage And 't is time for Mr. C. to reflect upon his past Follies which have consumed too much of his own and others time without any advantage yea to the apparent loss and injury of the Cause he undertakes to defend When I received these Sheets from him in vindication of his Solemn Call I was at a stand in my own Resolutions whether to let it pass without any Animadversions upon it as a passionate Clamor for a desperate Cause or give a short and full Answer to his confused and impertinent Rejoinder But considering that I had under hand at the same time the foregoing Treatise of the Causes and Cures of Mental Errors and that though my honest Neighbour discovers much weakness in his way of Argumentation yet it was like to meet with some interested Readers to whom for that reason it would be the more suitable and how apt such Persons are to glory in the last word but especially considering that a little time and pains would suffice as the Case stands to end the unseasonable Controversy betwixtâ— us and both clear and confirm many great and weighty Points of Religion I was upon these Considerations prevailed with against my own Inclination to cast in these few Sheets as a Mantissa to the former seasonable and necessary Discourse of Errors resolving to fill them with what should be worth the Reader 's time and pains As for the rude Insults uncomely Reflections and passionate Expressions of my discontented Friend I shall not throw back the dirt upon him when I wipe it off from my self I can easily forgive and forget them too The best men have their Passions Iam. 5. 17. even Sweet-briers and Holy-Thistles have their offensive Prickles I consider my honest Neighbour under the strength of a Temptation It disquiets him to see the Labours of many years and the raised Expectations of so great a conquest and triumph over men of Renown all frustrated by his Friend and Neighbour who had done his utmost to prevent it and often foretold him of the folly and vanity of his Attempt Every thing will live as long as it can and natura vexat a prodit seipsam But certainly it had been more for Truth 's honour and Mr. C's comfort to have confessed his Follies humbly to God and have laid his hand upon his mouth The things in controversy betwixt us are great and weighty viz. The true nature of the Sinai Laws in their complex body the quality of God's Covenant with Abraham and the dispensation of the New Covenant we are now under These are things of great weight in themselves and their due Resolutions are at this time somewhat the more weighty because my Antagonist hath adventured the whole Controversy of Infants Baptism upon them I have in my Vindiciae Legis c. stated the several Questions clearly and distinctly Shewn Mr. C. what is no part of the Controversy and what is the very hinge upon which it turns desired him if he made any Reply to keep close to the just and necessary Rules of Disputation by distinguishing limiting or denying any of my Propositions that the matters in Controversy might be put to a fair and speedy issue But instead of that I meet with a flood of words rolling sometimes to this part and then to another part of my Answer and so back again without the steddy direction of Art or Reason There may for ought I know be some things of weight in Mr. Cary's Reply if a man could fee them for words but without scoff or vanity I must say of the rational part of it as the Poet said of the overdressed Woman Pars minima est ipsa Puella sui 't is the least part of it To follow him in his irregular and extravagant way of writing were to make my self guilty of the same folly I blame him for I am therefore necessitated to perstringe them and reduce all I have to say under three general Heads I. I shall clearly evince to the World That Mr. Cary hath not been able to discharge and free his own Theses from the horrid Consequents and gross Absurdities which I laid to their charge in my first Reply but instead thereof in this feeble and unsuccessful attempt to free the former he hath entangled himself in more and greater ones II. That he hath left my Arguments standing in their full strength against him III. And then I shall confirm and strengthen my three Positions which destroy the Cause he manages by some further Additions of Scripture Reason and Authorities which I hope will fully end this matter betwixt us But before I touch the Particulars two things must be premised for the Reader 's due information 1. That the Controversie about the true nature of the Sinai Laws both Moral and Ceremonial complexly considered is not that very Hinge upon which the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism depends that stands as it did before be the Sinai Laws what they will We do not derive the Right of Infants from any other Law or Covenant but that gracious Covenant which God made with Abraham which was in being 430 years before Moses his Law and was no way injured much less disannulled by the addition of it If Abraham's Covenant be the same Covenant of Grace we are now under the Right of Believers Infants to Baptism is secured whatever the Sinai Convenant prove to be Which I speak not out of the least jealousie that Mr. Cary hath or ever shall be able to prove it to be
a pure Adam's Covenant of Works but to prevent Mistakes in the Reader 2. It must be heedfully observed also that how free gracious and absolute soever the New Covenant be for God forbid that I should go about to eclipse the glory of Free-grace on which my Soul depends for Salvation yet that will never prove Abraham's Covenant to be an abolished Adam's Covenant of Works unless two things more be proved which I never expect to see viz. First That Abraham and his believing Posterity were bound by the very nature and act of Circumcision to keep the whole Law in their own persons in order to their Justification and Salvation as perfectly and perpetually and under the same penalty for the least failure as Adam was to keep the Law in Paradise Secondly It must be further proved That Abraham and all his believing Off-spring who stood with him under that Covenant whereof Circumcision was the initiating Sign were all saved in a different way from that in which Believers are now saved under the Gospel for so it must be if the addition of Circumcision made it unto them an Adam's Covenant of Works But this would be a direct contradiction to the words of the Apostle speaking of them who were under the Covenant of Circumcision Acts 15. 11. But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ we shall be saved even as they If he say they stood indeed under that Covenant as a pure Covenant of Works but were saved by another Covenant and so for many Ages the Church of God stood absolutely under the Covenant of Works and at the same time under the pure Covenant of Grace the one altogether absolute and free the other wholly conditional and though these two be in their own natures inconsistent and destructive of each other yet so it was that all the Saints for many Ages were absolutely under the one and yet purely under the other shall I be then censured for saying he speaks pure contradiction Possibly my Reader will be tempted to think I abuse him and that no man of common sense can be guilty of such an horrid Absurdity I must whatever respect I have for Mr. C. once more tell him before the World that this is not only his own Doctrine but that very Doctrine upon which he hath adventured the whole Cause and Controversie of Infants Baptism which I therefore say is hereby become a desperate Cause And this brings me to my first general Head viz. I. First That Mr. Cary hath not been able to free his Thesis from this borrid absurdity but by strugling to do it hath according to the nature of Errors entangled himself in more and greater ones Mr. Cary in p. 174 175. of his Solemn Call was by me reduced to this Absurdity which he there owns in express words That Moses and the whole body of the People of Israel were absolutely under without the exception of any the severest penalties of a dreadful Curse and that the Sinai Covenant could be no other than a Covenant of Works a ministration of death and condemnation and yet at the same time both Moses and all the Elect were under a pure Covenant of Gospel-grace And if these were two contrary Covenants in themselves and just opposite the one to the other as indeed they were we have nothing to say but with the Apostle O the depth c. This Reader is the Position which must be made good by Mr. Cary or his Cause is lost Deformed Issues do not look as if they had beautiful Truth for their Mother No false or absurd Conclusion can regularly follow from true Premisses But hence naturally and necessarily follows this Absurdity I. That Abraham Moses and all the Believers under the Old Testament by standing absolutely under Adam's Covenant of Works as a ministration of death and condemnation and at the same time purely under the Covenant of Grace as Mr. C. affirms they did must necessarily during their lives hang mid-way betwixt Life and Death Justification and Condemnation and after death midway betwixt Heaven and Hell During life they could neither be justified nor condemned Justified they could not be for Justification is the Soul 's passing from death to life 1 Iohn 3. 14. Iohn 5. 24. Upon a man's justification his Covenant and State are changed but the Covenant and State of no man can be so changed as long as he remains absolutely under the severest Penalties and condemnation of the Law as Mr. C. affirms they did Again Condemned they could not be seeing all that are under the pure Covenant of Grace as he saith they were at the same time are certainly in Christ and to such there is no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. nor ever shall be Ioh. 5. 24. He that believeth shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life What remains then but that during life they could neither be perfectly justified nor perfectly condemned and yet being absolutely under the severest Penalties of Adam's Covenant they were perfectly condemned and again being under the pure Covenant of Grace they must be perfectly justified And then after death they must neither go to Heaven nor Hell but either be annihilated or stick mid-way in Limbo Patrum as the Papists fancy betwixt both No condemned Person goes to Heaven nor any justified Person to Hell His Position therefore which necessarily infers this gross Absurdity is justly renounced and detested by Learned and Orthodox Divines The Learned and Acute Turrettine the late famous Professor of Divinity at Geneva proving that the Sinai Law could not be a pure Covenant of Works brings this very Medium to prove it as a known truth allowed by all men The Israelites saith he with whom God covenanted were already under Abraham's Covenant which was a Covenant of Grace and were saved in Christ by it therefore they could not be under the Legal Covenant Nemo enim simul potest duoâ—us foederibus totâ specie distinctis subesse because no man can be under two Covenants specifically different at the same time as these two are That Great and Renowned Divine Mr. William Strong gives four irrefragable Arguments to prove that no man can stand under both these Covenants at the same time which in co-ordination actually destroy and make void each other If the First Covenant stand there is no place for the Second and if the Second stand the first is made void And this saith he will fully appear if we consider the direct contrariety in the terms of those two Covenants For 1. the Righteousness of the first Covenant is in our selves but the Righteousness of the Second is the Righteousness of another 1 Ioh. 5. 11. 12. 2. In the Covenant of Works acceptation is first of the Works and afterwards of the Person Gen. 4. 7. but in the Covenant of Grace the acceptation is first of the Person and then of the Work Gen. 4. 4. 3. The First Covenant was a Covenant
that the want of a due observation of this plain Scripture-distinction betwixt God's free and absolute Covenant made with Sinners in Christ and our Covenants with God by way of return thereunto is the true reason of all our mistakes about the true nature of the Gospel-Covenant whilst we jumble and coâ—found together that which the Scriptures do so plainly distinguish To your first Answer I say It is true the Scriptures do distinguish betwixt Covenant and Covenant that of Works and that of Grace It also distinguishes the same Covenant of Grace for substance according to its various administrations into the Old and New Covenant It also distinguishes betwixt the promissory part of the same Covenant of Grace and the restipulatory part not as of two opposite Covenants as you distinguish them Gen. 17. but as the just and necessary parts of one and the same Covenant It also distinguishes betwixt Vows made by Men to God in some particular Cases and the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and them But what 's all this to your purpose Or in what point doth it touch my Argument You desire me to cast mine eye upon Ezek. 16. and Psal. 89. I have done so and that impartially and do assure you I admire why you produce them against my Argument That in Ezek. speaks of the enlargement of the Church by the accession of the Gentiles to it and the sense of those words seems to me to be this That this enlargement of the Church is a gracious addition or something beyond what God had ever done in his former dispensations of the Covenant to that People And for Psal. 89. I know not what you meant to produce it for unless it be to prove what I never denied That notwithstanding our failures in duty towards God God will still keep his Covenant with us though he will visit the Iniquities of his Covenant-pâ—ople with a Rod. To your second Answer That we are to deliberate the terms and count the cost with respect to those duties which are in order to the participation of the full end of the Covenant in glory by which I suppose you mean Self-denial Perseverance c. I have no Controversy with you about that Our Question is Whether there be no deliberations required of or to be performed by men who are not yet in Christ by justifying Faith but under some preparatory works towards Faith And whether at the very time of their closing with Christ there be not a consent of the Will unto those terms required of them If you say there be as by the places I alledged it evidently appears there are then you yield the point I contend for If you say they are not before or at the time of believing to consider any terms or give their consent to them by word or writing such an Answer would fly in the very face of those Scriptures I produced for then a man may be in covenant without his own consent he that deliberates not consents not non consentit qui non sentit And therefore you durst not speak it out for which modesty I commend you and so leave me with half an answer not touching that part viz. Antecedent deliberations which were concerned in this Argument And now let your most partial Friends judge Whether from this performance of yours you have any just ground for that vain boast which concludes your Answer viz. That the Covenants themselves which those Privileges are bottomed on are now repealed and that there is no room left for any other Argument to infer the Baptism of Infants at least I shall willingly commit it to the judgment of all intelligent and impartial Readers Whether Mr. Cary hath any real ground in this performance of his for such a Thrasonical Conclusion such a vain and fulsome Boast I find that with like confidence he hath also attempted a Reply to Mr. Ioseph Whiston a Reverend Learned and Aged Divine who hath accurately and successfully defended God's Covenant with Abraham against Mr. Cox and doubt not if Mr. Cary and his Party have but confidence enough to expose it to the publick view and to adventure the Cause of Infant-baptism upon it the World will quickly see an end of this long-continued and unhappy Controversy which hath vexed the Church of God and alienated the Affections of good Men and that the Wisdom of Providence hath permitted and over-ruled this last Attempt to the singular advantage of the Truths of God and tranquillity of good Men whose concernment at this time especially is rather to strengthen their Faith and heighten their Encouragements from God's gracious Covenant than to undermine it when all things beside it are shaking and tottering round about them And now Sir for a Coronis to all those things that have been controverted betwixt us about the Covenants of God and the right of Believers Infants to Baptism resulting from one of them which I have asserted and argued against you in my first Answer and you have silently and wholly pass'd over in your Reply hoping to destroy them all at once by proving God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. to be a pure Adam's Covenant of Works I judge it necessary as matters now lie between us to give the Reader the grounds and reasons of my Faith and Practice with respect unto the Ordinance of Infant Baptism and that as succinctly and clearly as I can in the following Theses which being laid together by an unprejudiced and considerative Reader will I think amount to more than a strong probability That it is the will of God that the Infant-seed of Believers ought now to be baptized But here I must remind the Reader and beg him to review what I have said before in thâ— third Cause of Errors That to arrive to satisfaction in this point requires a due and serious search of the whole Word of God with a sedate rational and impartial mind comparing one thing with another though they lie scattered at a distance in the Scriptures some in the Old Testament and some in the New Bring but these things to an interview as we do in discovering the change of the Sabbath and we may arrive unto a due satisfaction of the Will of God herein This I confess calls for strength of mind great sedulity attention and impartiality and yet what man would think all this too much if it were but to clear his Childrens Title unto a small Earthly Inheritance I intend not to give the Reader here an account of all the Arguments drawn from several Scripture Topics by the strenuous Defenders of Infants Baptism but to keep only to the Arguments drawn from God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. which is the Scripture mainly controverted betwixt us You affirming boldly and dangerously that Covenant to be no other than an Adam's Covenant of Works and I justly denying and abhorring your Position upon the grounds and reasons before given which you neither have nor ever will be able to destroy Now
which the initiating Sign was one and a chief one too as ever the natural Branches that were broken off that is the Iewish Parents and their Children did or might have done And to deny this as before was noted is to straiten Covenant-privileges in their farther progress Thesis VI. Suitably hereunto we find that no sooner was the Christian Church constituted and the Believing Gentiles by Faith added to it but the Children of such Believing Parents are declared to be foederally Holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. and the unbelieving Iews who were superstitiously fond of Circumcision and prejudiced against Baptism as an injurious innovation are by the Apostle perswaded to submit themselves to it Acts 2. 38 39. assuring them that the same Promise viz. I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee is now as effectually sealed to them and their Children by Baptism as it was in the former Age by Circumcision And that the Gentiles which are yet a far off whenever God shall call them shall equally enjoy the same Privilege both for themselves and for their Children also We also find a Commission given by Christ to the Disciples Matt. 28. 19 20. To disciple all nations baptizing them c. from which Discipleship Infants ought not to be excluded Acts 15. 10. Yea we find that as at the institution of Circumcision Abraham the Father and Master of the Family was first circumcised in his own person and then his whole houshold Gen. 17. 23 24. Answerably as soon as any person by Conversion or publick profession of Faith became a visible Child of Abraham that person was first Baptized and the whole Houshold with him or her Acts 16. 33. 15. 'T is unreasonable to put us upon the proof that there were Infants in those Houses it being more than probable that in such frequent Baptizing of Housholds belonging to Believers there were some Infants but if there were none 't is enough for us to prove from their foederal holiness 1 Cor. 7. 14. and the extent of God's Promise to them Acts 2. 38 39. If there had been never so many Infants in those Housholds they might and ought to have been Baptized How the true sense and scope of the two last mentioned Scriptures are maintained and vindicated against Mr. Cary's corrupt glosses and interpretations see my Vindiciae Legis Foederis pag. 90. 91. We do not lay the stress of Infants Baptism upon such strictures as the Baptizings of the Housholds of Believers or Christ's taking up in his Arms and blessing the little ones that were brought to him These and many other such things found in the History of Christ and Acts of the Apostles have their use and service to fortify that Doctrine But if we can produce no example of any Believer's Infant Baptized the merit of the Cause lies not in the matter of fact but Covenant-right For our Adversaries themselves if we go to matter of fact will be hard put to it to produce us one instance out of the New-Testament of any Child of a Believing Christian whose Baptism was deferred or by Christ or his Apostles ordered to be deferred until he attained the years of maturity and made a personal profession of Faith himself Thesis VII The change of the Token and Seal of the Covenant from Circumcision to Baptism will by no means infer the change or diversity of the Covenants especially when the latter comes into the place and serves to the same use and end with the former as it is manifest Baptism doth from Col. 2. 11 12. as hath been I think sufficiently argued against Mr. Cary 's glosses and exceptions pag. 100 101. of my Vindiciae Legis Foederis The Covenant is still the same Covenant of Grace though the external initiating sign be changed For what is the substantial part of the Covenant of Grace now but the same it was to Abraham and his Seed before Is not this our Covenant of Grace Heb. 8. 10. I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And in what words was Abraham's Covenant expressed Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee This makes Abraham's Covenant sealed to him and his Seed as truly and properly the Covenant of Grace as that which Baptism now seals to Believers and their Seed The rash ignorance of those that affirm God may become a People's God in the way of a special interest by virtue of the broken and abolished Covenant of works rather deserves sharp reprehension and sad lamentation than a confutation which nevertheless out of respect to my Friend Mr. Cary I have given it in its proper place in this Rejoynder I hope by this time I have made it evident That the defenders of Infants Baptism as it is established upon God's Covenant with Abraham Gen. 17. have not so mistaken their Ground as Mr. Cary hath by his endeavours to carry that Covenant as an Adam's Covenant of Works through such a multitude of other errors and absurdities as he draws along with it in his way of reasoning A Postscript to Mr. Cary. SIR I Resolved not to disturb my mind with your passionate provoking Language at least whil'st I was busily employed in searching for Reason and Argument two scarce Commodities amongst heaps of vain and fulsome words Nor will I now imitate your folly and rudeness lest I become an Offender whilst I am to act the part of a Reprover When I read your Title A Iust and Sober Reply and presently fell in among rude insults silly evasions and such inartificial discourses as follow in your Book I began to challenge you in my thoughts for matching such bad stuff with so fair and lovely a Title But a second thought quickly corrected the former for I considered no Man living could justly forbid the Marriage betwixt your Book and its Title since there is not the least kindred or relation between them Had your Answers been just you would have observed the Rules of a Respondent which you have not done And if they had been sober you had never been so free in your reproaches and sparing in your Arguments as you have been Is this the Man of whom it is said in the Epistle to his Solemn Call That his Lines are free from reflection and reproach towards those of the perswasion he contends with Is this my old friendly Neighbour It calls to my mind the Italian Proverb God keep us from our Friends and we will do what we can to keep our selves from our Enemies And though you act the part of an Enemy you shall be my Friend whether you will or no. If you will not be my Friend out of Love I will make you so by a good improvement of your Hatred I have been musing with my self what might be the true cause of all your
rage against my Book One while I thought it proceeded from want of discretion that you were not able to distinguish betwixt an Adversary in a Controversie and an Adversary to the Person but thought every blow that was given to your Error must needs be a mortal wound to your Reputation But Sir how close and smart soever my Discourses against your Errors be I 'm sure they are more full of civility and respect to you than such a Reply as you have made deserves And if in exposing your Errors your Reputation be expos'd you must blame them for occasioning it and not me Some times I thought it an effect of your Policy that when followed close and hard put to it you endeavoured an escape this way Camero speaking of this kind of subtilty in his Adversaries saith Faciunt quod quarundam ferarum ingenium est ut foetore graveolentiâ— defectae jam viribus ac fractae venatorem abigunt Some cunning Animals as Foxes c. when pursued at the heels drive away both Dogs and Huntsmen with their intolerable stench And Hierom long ago told Helvidius his Adversary Arbitror te veritate convictum ad maledicta converti being vanquished by Truth he betook himself to ill Language After the same manner you act here being no longer able to defend your self by solid and sober ratiocination you trust to your faculty in crimination Bad Causes only drive Men into such refuges In a word I am satisfied nothing but your extravagant zeal for your Idolized Opinion could have thrown you into such disingenuous Methods and Artifices as these The Ephesians were quiet enough till their Diana began to totter Your passionate Outcries signify to me something is touched to the quick which you are more fondly in love with than you ought When one told Luther what hideous Out-cries his Enemies made against him and how they reviled him in their Books I know by their roaring said he that I have hit them right You tell me in your Reply p. 24. That you perceive I have a mighty itch to find out your Absurdities I wish Sir you were no more troubled with the itch after them than I am after the discovery of them Had I affected such Employments I could easily have gathered three to one out of your Book more than I did And have represented those I gather'd much more odiously and yet justly than I did But Friendship constrain'd me to handle them because yours as gently as I could I might have justly charg'd you from what you say p. 174 175. of your Solemn Call where you place all the Believers on Earth without exception of any under the Covenant of Works as a ministration of Death and Condemnation and the severest Penalties of a dreadful Curse I might thereupon have justly charg'd you for presenting to the World such a monstrous Sight as was never seen before since the Creation viz. A whole Church of condemned and cursed Believers This I might as well have charged upon your Position and done it no wrong I could tell you from what you say p. 76. of your Reply That God doth indeed in the Covenant of Works make over himself to Sinners to be their God in a way of special Interest but it being upon such hard terms that it is utterly impossible that way to attain unto life c. I could justly have told you That these Passages of yours drop pure nonsense upon the Reader 's Understanding as if Salvation were impossible to be attain'd by the same Covenant wherein God becomes our God and makes over himself by way of special interest to us Had I had an itch to expose the Burlesque and ridiculous Stuff which lies obvious enough in your Book I should then have told your Reader That according to your Doctrine how opposite and inconsistent soever the two Covenants of Works and Grace be yet the same Subjects viz. Believers may at once not only stand under them both but that the same common Seal viz. Circumcision equally ratifies and confirms them both for you allow in your Call p. 205. That it sealed the Covenant of Grace to believing Abraham and yet was a Seal of the Covenant of Works yea the very condition of that Covenant as you frequently affirm it to be Vide p. 81. of your Reply and Passim I could as easily and justly have told you That the most malicious Papist could scarcely have invented a more horrid Reproach against our famous Orthodox Protestant Divines than you I dare not say maliciously but ignorantly have done when you charge such men as Mr. Francis Roberts Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick and indeed all that assert the Law complexly taken to be an obscurer Covenant of Grace that they comprize perfect doing with the consequent Curse for non-performance and believing in Christ unto life and salvation in one and the same Covenant This is an intolerable abuse of yours p. 5. of your Reply They generally assert the Law in that complex sense and latitude you take it to be a true Covenant of Grace though more obscurely administred and that the distinction of the Covenants into Old and New is no parallel distinction with that of Works and Grace or Christ's and Adam's Covenant Your publick recantation of the Injury you have done the very Protestant Cause herein is your unquestionable duty yet scarce a due reparation of the Injury In a word I cannot but look upon it as a discovery of your great weakness That when you meet with such a difficulty as poses your Understanding and you cannot possibly reconcile with your Notion as that of Paul's circumcising Timothy and you affirming that the very act of Circumcision did in its own nature oblige all on whom it pass'd to the perfect observation of the Law for Righteousness You will rather chuse to leave the blessed Apostle in a contradiction to his own Doctrine than to your vain Notion For what do you say p. 95. of your Reply That however the case stood in that respect this is certain c. It also argues weakness in you to insist upon aggravate jeer and reproach at that rate you do p. 83. of your Reply For the mistake and misplacing of one Figure viz. Gen. 12. for Gen. 17. as if the merit of the whole Cause depended on it The like I may say of your charging me with Nonsense for putting Gen. 17. 7 8. for Gen. 17. 9 10. when yet you your self p. 205. of your Call tell us That Circumcision was appointed as a Sign or Token of the Covenant Gen. 17. 7 8 9. What pitiful Trifles are these to raise such a mighty triumph upon When Dureus accused our famous Whitaker for one or two trivial verbal Mistakes Whitaker return'd him the same Answer I shall give you Benè habet his in rebus non vertuntur fortunae Ecclesiae 'T is well the Case of the Church depends not upon such Trifles For a Conclusion I do seriously wâ—rn all men to beware