without all new Act Motion Change and Transition in God unsearchably 3. God is and was and is to come Rev. 1.4 8. He is truly past truly present and truly to come and yet the same God but not in the same respects God as past is neither present nor to come God as present is neither past nor to come God as to come is neither past nor present God is essentially and yet freely related to all both Angels and Men as their Creator Upholder and Governour for ever this Relation was from Eternity future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. Between God and damned Men as Men there is eternal Relation as between Cause and Effect Between God and damned Men as damned there is no Relation at all but perfect and eternal Contrariety he is for ever blessed they are for ever cursed they do implacably hate him and he doth implacably hate them But he doth not hate them as they are Men For as Men they are eternally against their will the Work and Image of God who can in no instant hate his own Work and Image as such Against their will God doth lord and rule over them by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom and in them the Glory of his just Vengeance and Severity for Sin doth eternally shine forth and against their will they fulfil the divine Law by bearing its utmost Penalty 4. God as our Creator is the way to himself as our Redeemer our Sanctifier our Blessedness and End our All in all For unless we were by Creation Men we could not be redeemed holy and blessed Men. Yet is God no way the Author of Sin. We must not deny things plain because we cannot find out to Perfection things unsearchable and too wonderful for us Joh. 6.44 Rom. 11.33 Christ as Mediator is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Sin alienated from God and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works unless Christ as Mediator Advocate and Intercessor shall by his Grace reconcile us to himself as God we shall die in our Sins and perish for ever Rev. 22.13 Col. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.19 The Holy Ghost as Sanctifier is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Nature dead in Sin and full of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness unless the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier shall quicken our Souls with Spiritual Life and by heavenly Regeneration make us like to himself as God in Righteousness and true Holiness we can never enter into his Kingdom Joh. 3.3 5. 5. The true God is God the Father not Incarnate God the Son Incarnate God the Holy Ghost not Incarnate one God blessed for ever the Reward and Rewarder of all Elect Angels and Men for ever their Blessedness and the Author of their Blessedness their All in all And under God the exalted Manhood of Christ is Sole Supream over all both Angels and Men the First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 God as God is simply invisible But God as manifest in the Flesh and the fountain-Fountain-cause of all Good to Elect Angels and Men for ever is perfectly seen of all in Heaven Face to face and truly by Faith yet not perfectly of all the Saints on Earth God cannot be seen and known save by his own Light and gracious Manifestation of Himself Now God's first Discovery of Himself is in and by Creation accoâ—â—â—â—â— to his own Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus Antecedently to this he is not knowable by Angels by Men by Christ Himself as Man. Eph. 3.9 10 11. Joh. 1.18 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Tim. 6.16 CHAP. V. Of Adam in Innocency and the entrance of Sin into the World. 1. GOD created Adam in his own Image truly holy and like unto himself in heavenly Rectitude This heavenly Rectitude he lost by his Fall and it was renewed in him in part by heavenly Regeneration after his Fail but not perfectly while on Earth The state of Adam in Innocency was Supernatural and not Natural For God created all Things and consequently Adam by Jesus Christ according to the eternal Purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.9 10 11. This is cleaâ—â—â— matter of Faith and wholly Supernatural For of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus the light of Nature saith nothing at all God only is holy by Nature that is essentially holy like as he only is by Nature God Gal. 4.8 Adam was holy not by Nature but by Grace and heavenly dependence oâ— God. Which-Grace continued with him 'till he dissiking the Condition in which God made him and affecting to be independent Lord of his own Will chose rather to be ruled by himself than by the holy just and good Will of God. And so God did not necessitate his Fall nor deny him Grace to stand nor take his Grace from him But Adam by wilful eating of the forbidden Fruit did expel and put God's Grace from him and became the Author of his own Ruine 2. Adam needed heavenly Grace to keep him from inward lusting after the forbidden Fruit but not from outward eating of it Bare Lust as in it self is not Sin but all Lust in Man against the Spirit and after what the holy just and good God hath forbidden is very Sin before God tho not before Men Rom. 7.7 In such inordinate Lust the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental The Body by it self cannot lust at all the Soul as to its natural substance is the Image of God and in that respect it must needs be innocent But if the Soul be destitute of inward heavenly Grace it is then full of ungodly and worldly Lusts invisibly in respect whereof it is enmity against God and the Image of the Devil Joh. 8.44 Jude 18. Tit. 2.11 12. Rom. 8.7 3. The divine Law is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The sum of it is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy Self or A Conscience void of Offance both tomard God and toward Man. The divine Law considered outwardly as of old written in Tables of Stone and now in the Bible is man fold But considered inwardly as written in the Heart so it is only one as God is one because it consisteth by Conscience in each ones Bosom and Conscience in each Man can be but one Take away Conscience and Man is not Man but a Brute The nature of Conscience is to be under God and over Man as such it is a Law to it self Rom. 2.14 15. and the great Engine by which God doth govern the whole intellectual World. Adam while innocent was not under the Law and Covenant of Works For the Law of Works as distinct from the Law of Faith doth not exclude sinful Boasting Rom. 3.27 But there could be no sinful boasting in Adam while innocent The Covenant of Works gendreth to Bondage Gal. 4.24 But Bondage was not
Omniscient which only God is Finally it is a Point of Faith and the very sum of the Bible that since the Fall of Man all Religious Approach to God is to be in and through Christ only They which do otherwise are guilty of flat Idolatry CHAP. XV. Of the Scripture 1. THough heavenly Truth was not put into Writing outwardly till the time of Moses yet was it from the beginning supernaturally written in the Heart of Adam in Innocency and being extinguished by his Fall it was renewed in him in saving measure by heavenly Regeneration after his Fall and by this way kept safe in the inward Records of the Heart and transmitted unto the time of Moses When he by divine Appointment and Inspiration did first put heavenly Truth into writing outwardly this did not alter the intrinsecal nature of it For heavenly Truth as written in the Heart and in the Bible is but one and the same Truth diversly written perfectly in the Bible truly but not perfectly in the Heart of Man since the Fall and the entrance of Sin into the World. 2. Whether all the Books of the Old and New Testament as we reckon them be Canonical Scripture and whether every Word and Sentence therein be exactly translated this is not matter of Divine Belief nor doth Salvation lie on it so as to damn all that err herein but it is matter of human Science and Testimony as subservient to Divine Belief Human Science and Testimony considered as repugnant to Divine Belief is not Science and Testimony but a Lie Considered as subservient vient to Divine Belief so it is in a large sense truly divine and as divine it is infallible And thus the Scripture is the supream Judg and adequate Standard in Controversies of Faith. The sum of the Scripture is Repentance and Remission of Sins through Faith in Christ according to the eternal Purpose of God the Father not incarnate the Son incarnate the Holy Ghost not incarnate This is alâ— saving Evidence in one not as exclusive of things subservient but as supposing and comprizing them 3. With respect to Life Temporal and Human Converse Words are not Things but signs of Mens inward Thoughts and the great Arbiter of Speech is Use quem penes arbitrium est jus norma loquendi With respect to Life eternal and heavenly Conversation by Faith Words are Things and therefore we are commanded to hold fast the form of sound Words and Christ saith By thy Words thou shalt be justified and by thy Words thou shalt be condemned God hath set us a Standard for all our Words unto which none may add from which none may diminish under pain of Damnation The great Mystery of Godliness is The Word was made Flesh Joh. 1.14 1 Tim. 3.16 Rev. 22.18 19. Mat. 12.37 2 Tim. 1.13 Indeed where there is an agreement in Substance diversity in Speech for Peace-sake is to be born with But there can be no agreement in Substance without the Scripture as the sole supream Judg and perfect Standard as to all things concerning the Glory of God and the eternal Salvation of the Soul. If we go from this we shall not know where to fix a Foundation is laid for infinite proceeding and so for Atheism and Confusion of all things 4. There are who write that all Words that Man can speak of God at least except Being and Substance are improper or metaphorical But certainly this is a great Error For tho God be above all our Words and Expressions yet he is not above and contrary to Himself he cannot be the Author of Sin he is not God improperly and metaphorically God is good and there are good Angels and Men both these are true and proper But in the sense that God is good essentially independently inderivatively the Author of all Good so none is good but God Every Creature as dependent on God is good and useful to his Glory and the Salvation of his Elect by Christ But the whole Creation as compared with God is as nothing it is less than nothing and Vanity Isa 40.17 18. All Words importing Excellency and Perfection and no way importing Imperfection and Impiety do agree to God simply incomparably transcendently eternally infinitely most truly really and properly and not at all to Angels and Men as compared with God. Dat propriae similem translata metaphora vocem Things heavenly and eternal may be set forth by worldly and temporal Similitudes But so that things heavenly and eternal are the Standard Judex sui obliqui Thus Christ's Flesh as eaten by Faith is Meat indeed and his Blood as drunk by Faith is Drink indeed not metaphorical rhetorical verbal improper and imaginary Food but most real heavenly solid substantial divine transcendent incomparably excellent and eternal Food for the Soul and all worldly and temporal Food for the Body as compared with and repugnant to it is not Food at all but Dung Loss and Damnation eternal but as subservient to it it is true and proper Food for the Body God's good Creature and worthy of Thanksgiving 5. The fountain-Fountain-cause of so much doleful Contention among Christians touching Religion is their leaving the Simplicity that is in Christ and guiding themselves by that Philosophy and School-Sophistry which the Scripture calls vain Deceit 2 Cor. 11.3 Col. 2.8 Philosophy considered as subservient to Life Eternal by Faith in Christ is not Philosophy but Christianity largely taken Philosophy considered as repugnant to Life Eternal by Faith in Christ is damnable Impiety the Mother of Herefy and Division that Wisdom which is from beneath which is earthly sensual and devilish Philosophers as such treat of Godâ— of Man of Being of Truth of Good of Unity of Vertue of Nature of Relation of what not not as Christians but as Philosophers not by the Light of Faith in Christ but by the Light of Nature which in Points of Faith is very Darkness And so the whole Doctrine of Philosophers as such is false a meer Building without a Foundation Because Christ is the first and the last in all true Knowledg as being God the Son incarnate and God is All in All. This Philosophers as such be ignorant of and do not build Science upon Christ the sole Foundation of Science by Faith 1 Cor. 3.11 and so they err in the Foundation and all the Science of Philosophers as such is false Science repugnant to Faith in Christ CHAP. XVI Containing a Confutation of sundry Errors held by too many School-men Philosophers and Divines of all Parties by which Controversies are kept up and perpetuated Error 1. THE Man Christ is God in the Concrete but not the Manhood of Christ in the Abstract Before the Incarnation Christ was simple uncompounded impartial and but one Nature After Incarnation he is not simple but compounded and consisteth of two distinct Natures as two essential Parts Confutation The Man Christ is indeed God yet not as he is Man And the Manhood of Christ
be had An open Door is the necessities and willingness of the People with protection or connivance of the Magistrate if possible 3. In Ordination God in Christ confers the whole Office as principal and supream by his Word And the Person or Persons ordaining confer the whole Office as instrumental and subordinate Therefore it is not in the power of Men to ordain whom and how they please because they ordain not as Lords but as Stewards they have no power touching this matter but what is simply ministerial subordinate and dependent If therefore God's Word for substance do not go along with the Ordination it is null and void and the same holds good as to Suspending Degrading Silencing and Prohibiting of Ministers from doing the Ministerial Work. Every Minister to be ordained ought to be a faithful Man and able to teach others also 2 Tim. 2.1 For which cause those unto whom it pertaineth to ordain and impose Hands ought to use all possible Care and Circumspection and to lay Hands suddenly on none without due Exploration He may be a valid and justly authorized Minister who is not truly Godly And yet he that is not truly godly can have no sound Comfort in his Ministry as being in a state of Damnation his Ministry may profit others tho not himself But yet all Care is to be used that Persons to be ordained be truly godly so far as Man can judg and that also they be able to teach the People and by good Doctrine guide Souls in the way to Heaven 4. No Power on Earth may impose a Minister upon a People against their just liking For what is against Justice is against God. And no People may refuse a Minister tho unjustly imposed on them when they cannot without general inconvenience and hazard of the publick Peace remedy themselves For of two Evils the lesser is to be chosen Provided the imposed Minister be Orthodox and not Heretiâ—â—â— tolerable and competently able for the Work in some measure But Heretical Schismatical Idolatrous and Wolvish Pastors and Ministers the People are bound to forsake and turn from Where Ministers Residence is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by Divine Law there needs no Human Dispensation and the exacting of Money in such case is unrighteous Gain The principal Work of Ministers and the substance of so much Church-order and Discipline as is incumbent on them as Ministers to perform and see to consists in labouring in the Word and Doctrine in preaching the Gospel in giving heed to Doctrine to Exhortation to Reproof to Admonition and Instruction publickly privately in season out of season Where this is not the substance of the Ministerial Work and Discipline is wanting Where this is all the rest will easily follow so much as is necessary and what is not necessary is better forborn 5. The Church is no Church of God unless she have just respect to time and place for publick Worship and she is equally no Church before God if she prefer time and place and bare assembling for publick Worship before Christian Faith Hope and Love and Edification therein As the Sabbath so Time and Place were made for Man and not Man for them And therefore the Church is to meet in one two or three or more places at the same time according as it shall be for Edification And look as it is a good Argument for Infant Baptism the Primitive Patern is baptizing whole Housholds and therefore in baptizing Infants we keep to the Primitive Patern Infants being a necessary part of Housholds So I should think it a good Argument against the Congregationalists The Primitive Patern was that all the Christians in a City be one Church particular and therefore if now every Christian City be one particular Church tho the Christians in it are so many as to make a hundred or two hundred Congregations at the fame time the Primitive Patern is kept Act. 14.23 Tit. 1.5 It is not the place which make the Church but the Church makes the place Every Christian Nation as such is a Church governed invisibly by God through Christian Faith according to the Scripture and governed visibly by the Prince as sole Supream under God over all in his Dominions by the Sword. Tho God do make use of Pastors and Ministers in the guiding and governing of his Church yet he himself is sole Lord over the Couscience and only his Voice is to be heard in the Church and Pastors and Ministers have no Authority but what is Temporal and yet it differs in kind from the Authority of the Prince and Magistrate The Church Militant consists of Mortal Men and Mortal Men can have no Authority Immortal and Eternal Pastors die no less than Princes CHAP. XVIII Of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell everlastingly 1. IF Sin had not been Death had not been and yet Death unto Elect Men through Faith in Christ is rather Life than Death as being through God's Grace the way and passage to Life Everlasting They die who die eternally But they who by Death pass into eternal Joy immediately in respect of their Souls and whose Bodies rest and as it were sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection and then shall awake and be raised glorious immortal spiritual like the glorious Body of Christ may be said rather to live than die 2. The Resurrection of the wicked is truly from the Merit and purchase of Christ and specially the Resurrection of the Just The Resurrection as in it self is a Priviledg and Blessing That it proves otherwise to the Wicked is from themselves not from Christ As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 3. As Heaven is it into which Christ ascended when he left this World so it is a proper place created and made by God distinct from Earth and Hell. As Heaven means the Saints everlasting Rest prepared for them from before the Foundation of the World so it is not a place but a state of Felicity and Joy above both Time and Place and all that Man's Heart can now conceive yet not repugnant and contrary to Time and Place For it is God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness Hence it follows that the Spuls of the Godly by Death do all of them pass into eternal Happiness immediately For eternal Happiness not being a place but a state and the Godly by Death passing into Eternity there can be no imaginable instant in which they are not with God in eternal Felicity Only they do innocently long for the Resurrection and rejoyce in the sure hope thereof Psal 16.9 10.11 With respect to the Eye of Sense outwardly the Triumphant State of Christ began not till he rose from the Dead and it was compleated by his Ascension and fitting at the Right-hand of God in Glory With respect to the Eye of Faith inwardly his Triumphant State began