Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste death for every Man 1 John 2.2 He is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But it is commonly alledged by the Adversaries of Truth that by All in these places is understood not all particulars but some of all sorts or all the elect To this I answer the word All must needs be as full and universal with respect to Christs death and the benefit of it as it is with respect to Adam's fall because the Scripture maketh a plain parallel betwixt all that die in Adam and all that Christ died for as in that fore-cited place 2 Cor. 5.14 If one dyed for all then all were dead Now if All only signifie Some in the first part of the verse the sense must run thus If one dyed for some or a few then all were dead This quite maketh void the Apostles inference for if Christ only dyed for some then only some were dead and not all Again in Rom. 5.18 the parallel is very plain As by the offence of one Judgment is come upon all unto Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all unto Justification of Life not that all are actually justified but the free gift is come upon them that they may be justified and so it is that the two sides or parts of Parallels are of equal extent Beside that the word All in Scripture doth most commonly signifie all particulars and therefore to restrict it in respect of Gods Grace and Mercy through Christ savours of a narrow Spirit and this narrowness of Spirit in Presbyterians and Independents is a great evil in them and maketh them so peevish uncharitable and cruel 2. And whereas they object against Christ his dying for all Men because he said he did not pray for the World and therefore he did not die for the World John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the World It may be very well granted that he dyed not for the World which he doth not pray for But what World is that It is not any part of Mankind as they are considered when first born into the World and having had a time to live in the World and a day of visitation wherein they might have repented and have been converted unto God but as having finally rejected the great Mercy and Grace of Christ after many tenders and offers of it until that the Lord hath wholly left striving with him by his Spirit in their hearts and then they become Reprobates and that World whereof Christ spoke when he said he prayed not for the World And therefore it ought to be well noted and considered that when it is said Christ dyed for the sins of the World it is only with respect to sins past or any other sins that Men may commit before the precise time and period of Gods leaving them and ceasing any more to strive with them when they are become perfected so to speak in sin and evil and are as the ripe Tares fit for burning having nothing remaining in them of any tenderness simplicity or sincerity or true Love to God or Man no grain of Goodness or Virtue nay not the least Seed but are wholly become as Dross after all the precious Mettal to the least grain is extracted or separated from it for such I say Christ hath neither dyed nor prayed And thus it may be with many and is with many before they die and concerning these John declared saying There is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it 1 Joh. 5.16 and this is that sin of final Unbelief and obstinate Impenitency wherein men may be permitted to live some considerable time before they die And this is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency but serveth greatly to clear the understanding of this weighty matter how Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and yet hath dyed for none of these Men after they have wilfully neglected that day of Grace and resisted the Spirit of Grace until he did altogether leave and forsake them And also it is to be considered that though Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and Mercy beyond which time they have not the benefit of his death and there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin unto them yet he hath not died with the same equal intention and degree of Love Kindness and Good-will for them who finally perish as for them who are saved nor are the gracious Providences of God and his dealings both inwardly and outwardly after the same way and manner towards all And therefore all who shall be saved at the end of the World have very great and unspeakable cause to praise God for his more abundant Mercy Grace and Love towards them in Christ Jesus and that he and not they did make them to differ from others yet none that perish can have any just cause to complain against God for when that that is sufficient is given to them they have no cause to complain But all who are saved God is pleased at one time or another that suiteth with his infinite Wisdom and good pleasure so to draw perswade move and incline them to come unto him and when come so to preserve them with him and in him or if at any time he suffer them to depart infallibly to reclaim them before the end that they shall certainly be saved and this the Lord can well do so as to put a difference betwixt Cattel and Cattel or Men and Men without their observation and so as neither to give unto the one any occasion of Presumption nor unto the other of Despair and without giving any greater measure of inward Grace although he may and oft doth give a greater measure to one than to another for he is free to give of his own as he pleaseth but only by suitable Providences and Dispensations and means of his own chusing the one may be taken and the other left the one gained and saved and the other not the inward Grace being the same both in kind and degree in some that are saved and in some that are not as the Parable of the Pounds and Marks plainly declare every Servant had his Pound or Mark which is an equal sum and some improved it and some not And of this more abundant Love of God towards Paul he himself taketh special notice with great Thanksgiving unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 16. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to Life everlasting And the like notice he taketh of the
us and working together with us This answer is but a meer presumption or Conjecture seeing they deny all inward Revelation and Inspiration of the Spirit which gave the Believers and Saints in former ages an infallible kowledge and assurance that they had the Spirit of God for the Spirit that they claim unto as they say doth only work in them effectively but not by way of object it is altogether an unknown mean or principle of operation it hath no proper light or evidence or demonstration of its own such as the Spirit that was in the Apostles is no infallible spirit that they have but fallible and therefore their Faith is fallible their Knowledge fallible their Hope fallible and every thing in them fallible dubious conjectural and uncertain and they only think that they have the Spirit of God and a spiritual knowledge of things and when asked they dare not say their thought hath any infallible assurance in it as all true assurance is Infallible yea some of them are so dark ignorant and blind that to me in my hearing have affirmed That the Apostle Paul was not infallibly sure that he had the Spirit of God bringing Paul's words 1 Cor. 7.40 I think also that I have the Spirit of God But according to his blind argument the holy Ghost is not infallibly sure for the same Greek word is applied to the holy Ghost Acts 15.28 It seemed good to the holy Ghost but this is blasphemous to think or affirm and I see not how they can clear their Doctrin of Blasphemy to say That they have the Spirit of God and yet to affirm That they have no Infallible Spirit The plain English of which is that the Spirit of God and God himself is fallible 6. But the great cause and reason why all true Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel should not only be truly godly and holy Men but also should be indued with some more than ordinary power of the holy Spirit and communications thereof not common to all Christians at least in degree though one spirit in all is That the Ministry of every true Minister of Christ is a Ministration of Grace of Spirit of Life and Power which doth emanate or flow forth from or through the Minister or Preacher as living Waters that emanate and flow from a living spring or fountain which reach and flow into the hearts and inward parts of the Hearers such as are sensible and whose hearts God is pleased to open to receive them and sometimes to the opening and making alive the dead souls and hearts of many hearers whereby not only many that are spiritually dead are made alive but the living are made more living and livingly refreshed and strengthened and though this can hardly or not at all be received by many yet thousands can witness it from living experience that they have felt streams of divine Life Power and Vertue to spring and flow forth from the Spirit of Christ in faithful Preachers into their souls and inward parts to their exceeding refreshing and strengthning in the inward Man and the Scriptures abundantly confirm it that so it was in the primitive times the Ministers of Christ were the Ministers of the Spirit and Power of God and the outward and audible Words that reached the outward Ears were only as a Conduit of Conveyance to convey and transmit that heavenly Virtue that flowed through them and therefore the Ministers of God are called in Scripture flames of Fire and their Words and Preaching have a divine and spiritual Fire and Heat in them that exceedingly warm and melt the cold and congealed Hearts of many Hearers and that Fire is a living Fire or Power of Life to quicken them And this was it that made the two Disciples going to Emaus say How did not our Hearts burn within us while he spoke to us by the way and opened the Scriptures unto us And when Christ preached to the People it is said he spoke with Authority that is Power and not as the Scribes and so did the Apostles as Paul declared That his Preaching was in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power And Christ and the holy Spirit spake in him to the People when he preached and so did it in all the other Apostles and Ministers of Christ and the Hearers who had and knew Christ in their own hearts had a Proof sufficient that Christ spoke in Paul by what they felt of that spiritual Vertue and Power that did flow forth through him in his Ministry And according to this Peter exhorted That he who ministers should minister of the Power that God giveth as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God So they ministred not only Words but Grace and Power and Life to the hearers And thus there is a communication of the Grace and Graces of God not only betwixt Ministers and Hearers but among all the Faithful who are as one living Body but many Members and every Member a living Member and ministring Life one to another as it is in the natural Body and this is that Communion of the Saints that the Scripture testifieth that they had together in the Spirit which did knit their Hearts together in Love unto all Riches of the full assurance of Understanding Col. 2.2 And with such living instruments that are spiritually made alive unto God doth God work to make their Ministry effectual and fruitful to convert and beget Souls unto God and when begotten to nourish and feed them with the sincere Milk of the Word which Milk is not the outward Words but the Life that is in the Words For as in the outward God doth not work with a dead Man to beget outward and natural Children but with the living so it is with Men spiritually living with whom God worketh to beget Sons and Daughters spiritually unto God where God only properly and principally is the Father and Men but Instruments with and by whom he worketh and in order to this spiritual begetting of Sons and Daughters unto God by the Ministry of faithful Preachers God giveth unto them a spiritual and divine Seed which they convey in their words into the Hearts and Souls of their Hearers according to 1 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower And Isa 55.10 That it may give Seed to the Sower So that there is a divine and spiritual Seed in the Words and Preaching of a true Minister of Christ for the words are living Words and are not his but the words of Christ and of the holy Spirit that speaketh in him But he that speaketh Words as suppose Scripture-words and not by the Spirit of Christ speaking in him there is no divine Seed in the Words there is the form or body of the Words but there is no Soul or Life in them as he speaks them And these Men are like that Harlot which took hold of Josephs garment but himself she could not enjoy So many get the outward form of the words
live honestly and worthily as many Preachers at this day as well as formerly do both Work and Preach by turns and as they have freely received so they give freely and these no Man can charge them that they have made their Gospel chargeable as the Preachers both of Old and New-England have done who have put the People to great charge of many Thousand Pounds yearly and yet the People is not profited under them and they have by force taken or caused to be taken from many who did not hear them nor own them to be Ministers of Christ for which they have no president either in the Old or New Testament 11. And whereas they who plead That true Piety is not essential to a Gospel-Minister First bring Judas for a president to which it is easily answered first that it is said Judas fell from his Ministry by Transgression and therefore some time he stood and it is more than ever they can prove that Judas never had any measure of true Piety or Sanctification when Christ did first send him forth for although he might have covetous and evil Inclinations that doth not argue that he had nothing of true Sanctification according to their own Doctrin who affirm That a Man may have true Sanctification and yet have not only strong evil Inclinations but very evil Practices But 2 dly when Judas was called the pure Gospel dispensation had not taken place and did not until Christ rose from the Dead and gave the holy Ghost Next they say Christ told the People that the Pharisees sate in Moses Chair and he did not forbid them but rather encouraged them to hear them saying Do what they say but do not as they do To this it is answered The Pharisees and Scribes teaching belonged to the Law and so they pass from the true state of the Question which is whether Ministers of the Gospel need not true Holiness to make them true Ministers 3 dly They object Paul's words concerning some that preached Christ not sincerely and yet he said Christ was preached and therein he rejoyced To which I answer that doth not justifie their Preaching but it holdeth forth the great Power and Wisdom of God that causeth all things to work together for his own Glory and the good of his as when by Persecutions and Reproaches and Slanders and false Accusations and contending against the Truth the Truth doth the more spread and flourish as hath oft been known and therein God's Servants have rejoyced yet this doth not justifie these Persecutors Lyers and false Accusers CHAP. V. Concerning God his Decrees and Election and Reprobation and the general state of Mankind by means of Adam's fall and the Way of Restoration by Christ 1. IT hath been a common thing among both Presbyterian and Independent Teachers in Old and New-England to accuse the honest People called in derision Quakers of being guilty of Blasphemy against God and Christ and the holy Ghost for no other cause but that they express their Faith of the great Mystery of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost in Scripture words and have not freedom to use the words of Man's wisdom and that come only from the Spirit of Man and have not proceeded from the Spirit of God whereby to express and declare their Faith of so great and glorious Mystery And by means of this so great Accusation and others as false and injurious they prevailed with the Magistrates of New-England to cause to be put to Death three dear and precious Men-Servants of the Lord and one dear and precious Maid-Servant of the Lord beside many other cruel Sufferings inflicted upon others for which great Cruelty and Barbarity the Hand of the Lord hath been manifestly stretched out against them in manifest Judgments and Plagues that divers among them have since acknowledged And therefore let all Men know to whose Hands this may come that the People called Quakers never denyed but on the contrary faithfully believed and do still faithfully believe whatever is recorded in the holy Scriptures of that great Mystery to wit that God is one and that the Father the Son and the holy Ghost is that one only true and living God the Creator and Upholder of all and Lord and King of all visible and invisible things and that the Father is begotten of none the Son is begotten of the Father from everlasting and before all Time and the holy Ghost hath proceeded from the Father and from the Son from Everlasting and before all Time and that the Son is God manifest in Flesh who came in the Flesh in the fulness of time as the Scripture declareth and that the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Apostles preached that dyed for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and is ascended and gone into Heaven is that alone Son of God and the only begotten of the Father in whom the fulness of the God-head dwelleth bodily and the Lord Jesus Christ in the intire and perfect nature of Man consisting of Soul and Body is gone into Heaven and is in Heaven and that his Body that was crucified and buried did not see Corruption but was raised on the third day and after forty days did ascend and was glorified according to which glorious Body of the Lord Jesus Christ we believe that at the Resurrection of the Dead our Bodies shall be changed and be made like or conform Acts 1.11 and that the same Jesus who is ascended and was taken up into Heaven shall so come in like manner as they did see him go into Heaven 2. And as concerning God we believe that he is a Spirit infinite unchangeable and incomprehensible omniscient omnipotent and omnipresent infinitely wise holy powerful good merciful and gracious just and righteous that he is Light and Love and whatever the Scripture doth declare of him we faithfully believe although this Name of him to wit Light the Faith-publishers at Westminster have altogether omitted in their Confession whether heedlesly or designedly that I leave but it seemeth they knew little of him if any thing at all by that Name and yet it was the Message that the Apostles heard from him and declared unto Men that God is Light and that he is in the Light to wit in Christ who is the Light of Men and that if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have fellowship one with another and the Blood of his Son Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin 1 John 1.5 6 7. And indeed it suits most with their Doctrin that all inward divine Revelation is ceased either to conceal or deny that God is Light as to us and in us or in any of his Saints or that Christ is Light to and in his Saints for the nature of the Light yea of all true Light is to reveal and make it self manifest by it self as well as other things and this description the Apostle Paul giveth of it Ephes 5.13 Whatever maketh manifest is
them which did suffice unto that present time and state Secondly in that God did chuse the Line of Jacob and his Posterity out of whom Christ should be born after the Flesh and also the Apostles and that out of Jacob the Gospel should go forth and be preached to all the World 3dly That the Nation that should come of Esau should really become Servants and Tributaries to the Nation of Israel and this was fulfilled in David's time and was also a Figure of another thing to be spiritually fulfilled And therefore this Election doth not infer any Reprobation of Esau or his Posterity as to their eternal estate no more than when David said 1 Chron. 28.4 5. The Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my Father for he hath chosen Judah to be the Ruler and of the house of Judah the House of my Father and of the Sons of my Father he liked me to make me King over all Israel and of all my Sons he hath chosen Solomon my Son So here are divers Elections first Judah out of all the Tribes secondly the Family of Jesse out of the Tribe of Judah thirdly David out of all the Sons of Jesse and fourthly Solomon out of all the Sons of David and yet no absolute Reprobation of any that were not so chosen as to their eternal state And because many of the People of Israel were proud because of this choice and preference that God made of their Nation above the Nation of Esau so as to make them a Church to himself when the Nation of Esau was not so favoured for Reasons best known unto God and for that cause did conclude that they were always to remain a People singularly favoured of him above all other People from first to last To beat down this vain Conceit of theirs Paul telleth them first that they are not all Israel which are of Israel Secondly that as God did prefer and make choice of the Nation of Israel to be a gathered People and Church unto him before the Nation of Esau and that without any regard to their Works or to the Works of their Fathers but for some other hid Cause and Reason in the depth of Gods secret Counsel so God could as freely yea and would prefer the poor Gentiles who were no People to be a People unto him and a Gospel-Church to become true Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ when in the mean time the bulk and body of the Nation of Israel should be rejected and cast off at least for some time from having any such dignity and favour a Remnant only being reserved according to the Election of Grace Rom. 11.5 and this Paul proveth at large from Verse 25. of that 9th Chapter to Verse 33. and doth further prosecute it in the two following Chapters Verse 25. c. As he saith also in O see I will call them my People which are not my People and her beloved which was not beloved And verse 30. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after Righteousness have attained to Righteousness even the Righteousness of Faith but Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness because they sought it not by Faith c. So we see how Paul maketh the Parallel that as God once preferred or chused Jacob's Nation before the Nation of Esau so again he preferred and chused the Gentiles that had no good Works to recommend them and to move God to make that choice out of his free Mercy before the People of Israel and of these Gentiles no doubt many of them did belong to the Posterity of Esau and also of Ishmael yea of Cain for there is an express Promise made to the Remnant of Edom and of all the Heathen upon whom his Name is or shall be called Amos 9.12 And it is but a Remnant also of Israel that is saved until the fulness of the Gentiles come in and then all Israel to wit the true Israel which is not all who are of Israel after the Flesh shall be saved see Rom. 9.27 and 11.5.25 26. And lastly it is to be again considered that what God spoke unto Rebecca before the Children were born not having done Good or Evil did not so much regard the singular Persons of Jacob and Esau as their Posterities as is clear from Gen. 25.23 And the Lord said unto her Two Nations are in thy Womb and two manner of People shall be separated from thy Bowels and the one People shall be stronger than the other People and the Elder shall serve the Younger So we see here the words are said of the Nations of Jacob and Esau and not the Persons of them for we read not any where that ever Esau in Person served Jacob but only in his Posterity as was fulfilled in David's time when the Edomites became Tributaries to the People of Israel Nor was it said before the Children were born Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated as it is commonly alledged but many hundred Years after he was deceased And if it had been so said it could not prove an absolute rejection either of Esau or his Posterity as to their eternal state for God is said in Scripture to hate all evil-Doers and yet many Evil-doers repent and obtain Salvation and therefore Hatred doth not signifie absolute and final hatred either in God or Men For it is said Jacob loved Rachel and hated Leah that is he loved Rachel more And Christ said He that hateth not Father and Mother for my cause is not worthy of me that is he that loveth me not more than Father and Mother And therefore to conclude this whole passage in Rom. 9.11 12. doth not prove the absolute Reprobation of either Esau or of his Posterity because many of Esau's posterity had a Promise of Salvation as is already proved from Amos 9. And if Esau had been an absolute Reprobate the Scripture would never have said that Isaac by Faith blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come Heb. 9.20 And that Faith was the Substance of things hoped for and had a regard to the spiritual Blessing of Esau and of his Posterity for though Jacob got the first Blessing yet Esau got the second and their two Blessings did not differ in Substance but in some weighty Circumstances of order and time and Isaac prophesied in Esau's Blessing that he should have the fatness of the Earth and dew of Heaven the same but the order inverted with Jacob's blessing and that in process of time he should be a free People to wit in Gospel days signified by these words Gen. 27.40 And it shall come to pass when thou shalt have Dominion to wit in Christ in Gospel days in thy Posterity that thou shalt break his Yoke from off thy Neck And so we find that divers Mark 3.8 Idumeans that were of Esau followed Jesus and Jacob's putting on Esau's goodly Rayment signified
great Love of God towards the believing Ephesians and Thessalonians for his chusing them and so for all other Believers of all other Churches and People that God had chosen them from the beginning and for this he said he laboured and endured all things even for the sake of the Elect that they might be saved 2 Tim. 2.10 And as it is the great work and end of all faithful Ministers to gather Gods elect every where scattered so of the Angels Mat. 24.31 and so also of Christ Jesus according to John 6.39 cap. 10.27 28 29. Isa 43.5 6 7 8. Rom. 11.7 And thus we find a great difference betwixt some that were invited to come to the Supper who when they refused were no more called but sentence passed against them that they should not taste of the Supper and others that were compelled to come in Luke 14.23 24. not by using any violent Compulsion but by infallible Perswasions and Motions of his Spirit of Love and Grace that shall infallibly prevail with them Nor doth this give to any Man the least occasion either to presume or despair as by saying Either I am elected or not if not elected I cannot be saved for that doth not follow and yet it is most true that either a Man shall be saved or he shall not being contradictory Propositions whereof the one is always true and the other not But this doth not infer that he who shall not be saved could not be saved And seeing no Man certainly knoweth that he shall not before he discover it by his final Impenitency therefore it is the wisdom of every Man to improve with all diligence that inward Grace and all outward means and helps afforded him the which if he do according to his ability he shall infallibly be saved And though it is most true that there is a certain number elected in Christ Jesus the elect Head and Foundation and corner Stone living and precious that is infallibly known unto God which make up a compleat intire and perfect Body yet seeing none knoweth that great Mystery who is in any danger to abuse it it is great folly for any Man to presume that he is safe or upon a bare supposition which can infer no positive conclusion to resolve to be in any respect negligent And he that by the Grace of God doth know both his calling and election that knowledge hath its proper tendency to make him the more diligent to abound in all due Obedience and Thankfulness which is the only way to retain the knowledge of it after it is once obtained And the said above-mentioned Dilemma is as idle and foolish as who would argue I shall live for a Month or Year to come or I shall not if I shall not I need take no care to save my life seeing I shall die If I shall I need take no care for without taking care I shall live for seeing both these parts of the Argument are but Hypothetical they can infer no positive Conclusion But as to a Mans Salvation the only safe and sure way of arguing is this If I use the Grace and Means that God hath given me I shall infallibly be saved and if I do not use them I have no ground to expect that I shall and therefore let me with all diligence that is possible make use of them But the Doctrin of absolute Reprobation that maketh Salvation or the effectual use of the means absolutely impossible to many thousands yea as they say to the greatest part of Mankind is a most woful and miserable Discouragement unto People 3. The Lord Jesus Christ by means of his Death hath procured unto all Men both Jews and Gentiles as the fruit and effect of his death an inward Principle of divine Grace Light Life and Power that is the free Gift of God unto them in the hearts of all Men together with subordinate and concurring outward Means and Helps more or less but sufficient unto all Men whereby they may be saved one time or another before the end of the World and the ordinary outward means of Salvation is the preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ even Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified for our Sins and rose again for our Justification by qualified Men or failing of them by reading or hearing read the holy Scriptures by which after a sort the Prophets Apostles preach unto all men or failing of these outward means God supplying them by his inward Teachings and Revelations in mens hearts and some other secret ways and manners of his divine Providences Dealings and Dispensations unknown to most Men For the proof of the first part see Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the offence of one Judgment came upon all Men to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all men unto Justification of Life the which Righteousness of one is the active and passive Obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the free Gift is come upon all The which free Gift is called Grace and the Gift of Righteousness and is expressed in this Chapter by four sundry Greek Words in the Greek Text as Charis Charisma Dorea Dorema all very significant see further John 1.9 He was that true Light that lighteth every Man that cometh into the World And he is called The Light of Men John 1.4 and John 8.12 I am the Light of the World he that followeth me shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life And Tit. 2.11 12. For the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us to deny Vngodliness c. And Verse 13. Looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of that great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Ephes 3.6 That the Gentiles should be fellow Heirs and of the same Body and partakers of his Promise in Christ by the Gospel Col. 1.26 27. The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations but now is made manifest to his Saints to whom God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of this Mystery in the Gentiles which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory And Rom. 10.8 The Word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart and that is the Word of Faith which we preach And verse 6 7. He understandeth it of Christ which Moses preached in the People of Israel Deut. 30.14 And because this great Mystery which was in the Gentiles was much hid in the time of the Law and in all Ages of the world until Christ came in the Flesh both in Jews and Gentiles as Paul called it The Mystery hid from Ages and Generations therefore the Psalmist Psal 67.2 prayeth saying That thy Way may be known upon Earth thy saving Health or thy Jesus Hebr in all Nations For he saw that it was in them but as it were hid and vailed according to the weakness and darkness of that Dispensation and therefore he prayed
infallible Assurance doth not belong so to the essence of Faith but that a true Believer may wait long and Conflict with many Difficulties before he be partaker of it see Chap. 18. Sect. 3. And it is yet as strange that they affirm That a Man without divine new Revelation which here they call Extraordinary although in their first Chapter they have denyed all new divine Revelation even since the Apostles can be infallibly assured that he is in favour with God the which Assurance they seem to ground upon the inward Evidences of the Graces of God and the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God But whether this be not a manifest Contradiction one while to assert the necessity of the inward Evidence of Grace and the Testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and another while yea with the same Breath to deny all inward Revelation of the Spirit and to say the Spirit worketh only effectively and not objectively and therefore is only medium incognitum assentiendi to wit an unknown Principle of assenting let the wise in heart consider and judge For seeing no place of Scripture telleth us that we have these infallible marks of God's Children and yet the Spirit doth tell or witness it to or together with our Spirits this certainly is a novum effatum or new Truth or saying no where either expresly or consequentially contained in the Scripture or if they say it is contained in Scripture at least consequentially to wit that J.D. or J.C. hath the infallible marks of a Child of God let him produce it or any for him which they shall never be able to do It is wonderful that these Men have such inveterate Prejudice against divine inward Revelation that rather than assent to so blessed and comfortable Doctrin they will run into the most palpable Non-sense and Contradiction And when they start from the Testimony of the Spirit as implying divine inward Revelation they run at last to the Testimony of a Man 's own Heart and Conscience not well considering that the bare Testimony of a Man's Heart and Conscience cannot infallibly assure him or if it could it is no divine Testimony but only human and therefore no true object of divine Faith 11. But as the least true measure of Faith as it is lively acted or excercised upon Christ inwardly revealed hath an infallible Assurance in it so this Assurance doth only reach to the present state of Faithfulness as it is continued in until it please God to reveal to the Soul that it shall be preserved faithful to the last which so high degree of Assurance many true Believers have not attained unto God reserving that to such as he counteth worthy to reveal the same But the first degree of Assurance to wit whereby the Soul is infallibly assured that for the present it is in the way and state of Salvation and as it abideth and continueth to walk in that living Way and Path it hath begun in it shall be eternally saved is a very blessed and comfortable degree and such as for which every Soul that hath it has great cause to praise God Nor doth this degree of Assurance hinder but that the Enemy of the Soul's peace may raise up Clouds and Fogs of doubting and unbelief which may for some time obscure that Assurance if the Soul be not duely watchful and diligent to retain the same CHAP. VIII Whether true beginnings of Sanctification can be fallen from totally And whether it is true that no Man by any Grace of God given him or to be given him in this Life can perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed 1. THat real and true beginnings of Faith and Sanctification or true and real Righteousness may be fallen from is clear from many Testimonies of the holy Scripture especially Heb. 6.4 5 6 7 8. Where first is described the state of some who do fall away what it was before they so do as 1 st that they were enlightned so as to have tasted of the heavenly Gift 2 dly to have been made partakers of the holy Ghost 3 dly to have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come and surely all this could not be without some real beginning of true Sanctification Secondly the state of such is described when or after they do so fall away that they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame and also the great danger they are in so that it is impossible to renew them again unto Repentance But how far this Impossibility doth extend whether to a simple Impossibility or only in some respect is not the present business to determin and to the same purpose the Author writeth Heb. 10.26 27 28. Thirdly The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 11. doth not only affirm that many Jews and People of Israel who were the natural Branches were broken off from the Root which Root is Christ by unbelief but warneth the believing Gentiles of their great danger also to be cut off if they did not keep in holy fear and watchfulness see Verse 20.21 22. Fourthly The Apostles Peter and Jude set before the Christians the fearful Examples of the fallen Angels and of the old World and also of the People of Israel who were saved out of Egypt to be a warning and caution unto them lest they should fall after the same manner Now the fall of the Angels was a total falling away and so was that of Israel in the Wilderness who though they did eat that spiritual Meat and drink that spiritual Drink to wit the Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ as Paul expresly declared 1 Cor. 10. yet were overthrown in the Wilderness for their Idolatry Fornication and other great Sins they were destroyed of the Destroyer so that in that day God did swear against them they should not enter into his Rest see 2 Pet. 2. throughout compared with Jude and 1 Cor. 10. throughout Fifthly The Parable of the Seed that was sown in the stony and thorny Ground that sprang up and afterwards whithered did signifie as Christ expresly did expound it some that believed for a time and afterwards did fall away And this Faith was not altogether a false Faith otherwise it had not been blame-worthy in them to have left it or cast it away for it is rather commendable than reproveable to cast away what is false and hypocritical and not real Nor doth it argue that their Faith was not true or real that it sprang up in the stony and thorny Ground For many that are real and sincere Believers at their first believing feel their Hearts to be both stony and thorny Ground and yet with diligence and labour through the Power and Grace of God come to get their Hearts in