a Manuduction unto Christ Observe it then that all this while there was no other way of life given either in whole or in part beside the Covenant of Grace And therefore there was no inconstancy either in God's Will or in his Acts only such was his Mercy that he subordinated the Covenant of Works and made it subservient to the Covenant of Grace and so to tend to Evangelical Perfection And he that truly understands and considers what the Covenant of Works requires and how unable he is to perform it it being though ordained for righteousness and life an occasion of sin and death must needs see just cause to flie from Mount Sinai unto Mount Sion or from the Covenant of Works made with Adam to the Covenant of Grace made with Christ and to admire the unspeakable Wisdom and Mercy of God in suffering the Law to enter in Rom. 5.20 21. that the offence might abound that where Sin aboundeth Grace might much more abound That as sin hath raigned unto death even so might Grace raign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The Law then which was good was not made Death unto me God forbid But Sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good Rom. 7.13 that sin by the Commandment might become exceeding sinful Is the Law then against the Promises of God God forbid For if there had been a Law given which could have given life verily Righteousness should have been by the Law But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin Gal. 3.22 c. that the Promise by Faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe But before Faith came we were kept under the Law shut up unto the Faith which should afterward be revealed Wherefore the Law was our School-master to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by Faith But after that Faith is come we are no longer under a School-master For ye are the Children of God by Faith in Christ Jesus The obscurity of this Great Point of Theology which I am forced to be so long upon new Notions arising continually is chiefly occasioned as Origen imagineth by the indistinct Aequivocation of the Word Law in the Epistle to the Romans let that place be viewed where it is said The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 6.2 3. The Aequivocal Word Law for what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh That the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit May we not modestly say that the Word Law ascribed to the Concupiscence of the Flesh is not properly but abusively given As it is also in another Place Rom. 7.21 23. where he saith I find a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me for I delight in the Law of God after the Inward Man But I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of sin which is in my Members For if Lust be a Law and do bind it hath no Right so to do because Lust is not of force by God's Prime Institution from whence Law hath its virtue but by the occasion of his Justice in punishing the Fall of our first Parents thereby And hence is this Original way of sinning from our Lusts which we are led away with and deceived by though in themselves they are not naturally sinful but became exorbitant against reason and peccant upon forbidden objects by our own consent of Will and God's just Punishment therefore But when the Law of the Spirit of life is clearly meant to be the Gospel preached and alone having the Promise of the Spirit The Law that is weak because of the Flesh that is condemned by the flesh of Christ must needs be understood to be a carnal Law from whence Salvation can never be hoped But that Law by which Justification is had by them which walk after the Spirit and not after the Flesh is Spiritual whether it be the same for the Law of Nature perfected by Christ for the Covenant of Grace or diverse as commanded by Moses for the Covenant of Works When these things are rightly distinguished the difficulty whereof St. Peter as well as Origen complains is taken off for when the Apostle saith Rom. 2.14 That the Gentiles which have not a Law are a Law unto themselves doing by Nature the things contained in the Law shew the Work of the Law written in their hearts It is manifest that although we usurp the Appellation of the Law of Nature indifferently St. Paul doth abstain from giving the Name of a Law to that Light that is in us when he says the Gentiles had no Law but were a Law to themselves because the usurping of the Name Law belongs to the solemn Imposition of that name in the Law of Moses and to the Law of Nature and of sin but by Trope and Figure The Law of Moses is carnal in all men the Covenant of Works The Law of Christ is Spiritual in the Faithful before under and after the Law the Covenant of Grace Therefore the Institutions of Nature in Moses's Law are Scriptures and the Word of God no less than the Gospel but not binding as delivered by Moses but by Christ by whom they were made perfect Neither doth a Believer receive the Moral Law at the hands of Moses but altogether at the hands of Christ Though it be the same Law for Matter and Substance yet in the lowest grounds that was delivered by Moses yet Believers are not to receive it as the Law of Moses but of Christ in the highest perfections thereof For when Christ the Son of God comes and speaks himself Moses the Servant of God must hold his peace as Moses himself foretold A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your Brethren like unto me Act. 3.22 Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you And therefore in the Mount Tabor when Moses and Elias were departed and had given place the voice from Heaven came and said Math. 17.5 This is my Well-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye Him And though heretofore God hath spoken divers wayes and in sundry fashions to the World by his Servants the Prophets Heb. 1.2 yet now in these last dayes he hath spoken to us by his Son and this is he that we must trust to And they that believed in Moses must believe in Christ and they that believed before Moses did believe in Christ and they that believe after Moses must believe in Christ and so to the World's end For there never was nor will be
and saving Faith as shall be shewn hereafter Contrary unto this is our Covenanting with the Devil and the World To give our Souls to the Devil and the Flesh in giving away our Souls and Bodies for propriety and our Faculties and Estates for usufruct to these Enemies of God and our selves to our destruction and this is Infidelity and renouncing all Covenant or Communion with God So I give me and mine to God and God receives what I give and I am his So God gives Himself to me and I receive what he gives and He is mine And this is a perfect Covenant betwixt God and me and holds all the while I keep my Faith and true Allegiance unto him During the continuance of which Faith that maintains this League and Covenant betwixt God and my Soul Claim by Covenant I may claim all Gods Promises as my due with a holy boldness and he may challenge all mine and that we may first make and afterwards maintain and keep this our Covenant with God unto the end we have alwaies free access unto the Throne of his Grace for Grace sufficient to help us in the time of all our needs The CONTENTS First Covenant with Adam Second Covenant with Adam Resemblance of Covenants First Covenant inculcated from the Creation Second Covenant inculcated from the Creation Law written Spirit more plentiful in the Gospel Predestination of Rewards in Christ Men would be Gods to themselves Natural to have a God Natural to be in Covenant with God TITLE III. Of the distinction of Covenants Of the distinction of Covenants TO speak clearly and properly according to the Analogy of Faith concerning Gods two most eminent Covenants with Mankind Thus First Covenant with Adam I. The first Covenant that God made was with the first Man Adam in which was one Negative Commandment The Condition was to abstain from tasting of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil The Promise was to eat of the Tree of Life in the earthly Paradise and by the help thereof to live for ever The Threatning was if he did break this Law he should pass his time in labour and sorrow be shut out of Paradise and at last die the death This is not the same Covenant with that of Moses Law 1. Because the Condition was diverse To obey all the Commandments which God then gave Ten whereof he wrote with his own Finger the rest he dictated to Moses and commanded him to write them in a Book 2. Because the Promises were diverse To enjoy long life honour Friends plenty peace and victory in the Land of Canaan 3. Because the Threatning was diverse Stoning scourging hanging c. Second Covenant with Adam II. The second Covenant that God made was with the first Man Adam The Condition was Love to the Seed of the Woman Enmity to the Seed of the Serpent The Promise was That the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head Thou shalt break his head The Threatning was That the seed of the Serpent should bruise the Womans heel And he shall bruise thy heel This may not be the same Covenant with that of God in Christ 1. Because the Condition was diverse viz. Faith and Love 2. Because the Promise was diverse viz. Eternal life and in order thereunto Remission of sins the Holy Spirit Resurrection and Ascension 3. Because the Threatning was diverse viz. Eternal death The first Covenant Resemblance of Covenants may in part resemble the Covenant of Works by the Law of Moses because of a prohibition from one thing and a permission of all the rest because of a promise of one Earthly Paradise because of the threatning of a Bodily Death The second Covenant may in part resemble the Covenant of Grace by the Gospel of Christ Because of the condition of Love to the true Seed of the Woman which is Christ and of Hatred to the true seed of the Serpent which is the Devil because of the true breaking of the true Serpents head which is the Devil by the true promised Seed of the Woman which is Christ And because of the true bruising of the true seed of the Woman by the true seed of the Serpent But though there were Promises many and Covenants many yet in the Scriptures it is evident that there are but two Covenants of God eminently and properly so called which are I. The Law of Moses which is the Old Covenant of Works The Condition was Obedience to the whole Law The Promise was the Land of Canaan and Rest therein The Threatning was Temporal punishments and Death without mercy The Mediatour was Moses The Duration was till Christ should come in the flesh II. The Gospel of Christ which is the New Covenant of Grace The Condition was Faith The Promise was Life eternal in Heaven The Threatning was Death eternal in Hell The Mediatour was Christ The Duration was till Christs second coming in Glory Yet no body can deny First Covenant inculcated from the Creation but that the first Covenant of the Old Testament was hinted from the Creation for the Precepts in the Law of Nature written in the heart and for the Promises and Rewards due to the obedience of a happy life on Earth never to have end and for the Threatnings of Calamities and Death never to end And so also the second Covenant of the New Testament was hinted from the Creation in the revelation in part of a Spiritual Law Second Covenant inculcated from the Creation to those that did obey the Law of Nature and in the obscure revelation of spiritual and eternal Promises to those that embraced the carnal and temporal ones But still there was no Law written in Tables till Moses and still there was no full Revelation of the spiritual Law and of spiritual and eternal Promises till Christ came and wrote them perfectly by his Spirit in the heart Law written Therefore when the writing of the Law of Nature upon the heart was almost quite worn out by habits and practices of unnatural Evils and the universal Examples of Wicked men turning from God to Idols and walking after the imaginations of their own hearts continually God made a Covenant with the Children of Abraham by Moses for the performance of Carnal duties and fruition of Carnal rewards to lead them on farther and prepare them to the practice of spiritual Services and enjoyment of eternal Rewards which to them as to Children were represented and shadowed out by several Rites and Ceremonies and temporal Prosperities These lesser and weaker Commands and Promises God gave unto them for that time of their Minority and reserved the manifestation of his higher and stronger Commands and Promises till the fullness of time when all things should be made perfect Spirit more plentiful in the Gospel Therefore God sprinckled a lesser portion of his Spirit upon some before and under the Law according to their present capacities But afterward when
Christ came and brought Life and Immortality to light he poured out a most plentiful portion of his Spirit upon all flesh and gave more Grace under the Gospel according to their present Receptibilities Tantae molis erat Divinam condere Gentem Thus by degrees Mankind arrived to the highest Revelations and Dispensations of Gods love by Jesus Christ Predestination of Rewards in Christ Therefore God from all Eternity intended and predestinated the Promises of his last Will and Covenant of Grace to be confirmed and executed by his Son Jesus Christ in the fullness of time which he had appointed by virtue whereof all that feared or do fear or shall fear God shall be rewarded of God in and through Christ from the beginning of the World unto the end thereof under all the former inferiour and imperfect adumbrations and Dispensations and under the present sublime and perfect substance and Oeconomy of the Gospel And so this everlasting great and true Covenant of Grace expressed in Gods last Will and Testament revealed by his Son Jesus Christ hath and doth and shall take full force and effect to all intents and purposes respectively to every faithful Soul all the World over for Grace and Salvation as they are able to receive it according to the measure of the dispensation of his mercy at all times God still accounting the will for the deed after the riches of his Grace according to what a man hath not according to what a man hath not and rejecting none that come unto him as well as they are able making them more able For in all Nations Act. 10.35 those that fear him and work righteousness are accepted of him And all this in Christ who is the Beloved with whom God is well-pleased and in whom and through whom God is and will be well-pleased with all men because by him he reconciled the World unto himself and so loved the World that he sent his only begotten Son into the same that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have life everlasting Thus it is demonstrated that there are two eminent distinct Covenants or Testaments the one of the Law and the other of the Gospel The Law is one Husband the Gospel another The Law is a School-master of Rudiments and Elements the Gospel a Doctour of Sciences and Perfections Repentance is not fully in the Law but in the Gospel yet often inculcated by the Prophets Adam Abraham and the Patriarchs had no better things promised expressly than Earth yet by faith they looked for better things which God by his Spirit though not in words had revealed yet obscurely and afar off Thus the Law given by Moses is stiled in Scripture the first Covenant the Gospel given by Christ is stiled the second Covenant 1. Thus it appears Corollaries That God gave a particular Command to Adam to try his obedience upon a promise of Life 2. That God made a Covenant with Adam and a promise of Christ so to the Patriarchs so to Abraham and so the Inheritance came by Promise not by Works 3. That God made a Covenant of Works to Moses in the Law called the first Testament formally made 4. That the Promise of Christ was made to Adam Abraham and the Fathers but it was not framed into a Testament till Christs death 5. That the Law of Nature was made to Adam and all his Posterity but it was not made into a Testament till Moses confirmed it by the blood of Beasts 6. That thus the Law of Grace was to the second Adam and all his Posterity but it was not made into a Testament till Christ confirmed it by his own blood 7. That many Covenants there were then of God but no Testaments save only the Old and the New 8. That before the Law the Promises of the Gospel were in part darkly revealed but never clearly and fully till Christ came 9. That the Precepts of the Old Testament were in express words but for external obedience in Moses Law but the Prophets hinted out Internal obedience 10. That the Promises of the Old Testament were in express words but for Temporal blessings in Moses Law but the Prophets hinted out Eternal Blessings 11. That both Precepts and Promises were spiritual and eternal by Christ 12. That that which the Scripture calls the Covenant of Works is Moses Law 13. That that which the Scripture calls the Covenant of Grace is Christs Law 14. That every Covenant is by Faith and mutual Promises of both Parties for Works to be done and Rewards to be had 15. That the Covenant of the Gospel is meer Faith in God promising and Man accepting and Re-promising not for Works to obtain Righteousness but for Faith alone 16. That Faith is not a credence or belief of story or trust but a Promise Covenant Affiance and Alliance He is a faithful Subject not that believes the Commands of his Prince to be true but that keeps his faith and Allegiance with his Prince 17. That there is a Reformation there is Shadow and Substance there are two Mediators two Laws two Priesthoods and two Services Two Temples two Altars two Sacrifices two Tabernacles An Expiation of Carnal and Spiritual Sins a Purification of Body and Soul a Carnal and a Spiritual Worship A general Correction and Amendment of all things in the most excellent State and Condition that can be imagined 18. That the First Tabernacle is fallen the old Priesthood turned from the Altar And into the Second and True Tabernacle of Heaven Christ the great High-Priest is entred 19. That all along the first Testament for the Promises made to Abraham and confirmed by the Death of Beasts and Birds for the Land of Canaan was in the Letter but mystically and eminently for Heaven in the Spirit 20. That the first Testament for the Precepts made to Moses was confirmed by the Death of Beasts for the Land of Canaan in the Letter but mystically and eminently for Heaven in the Spirit 21. That the Second Testament for the Promises and Precepts made to Christ was confirmed by the Death of Christ for Heaven 22. That the Gospel was not contained and comprehended in the Law as blended both together in one but is a distinct Thing from the Law subsisting by its self as Carnal and Spiritual Temporal and Eternal Life and Death Heaven and Earth are distinct Things 23. That the Law of Nature was before Moses's Law not loaded with so many Positive Precepts but that they were brought in afterwards upon the Promise of the Land of Canaan God then instructing them by a more familiar Conversation as occasion did offer 24. That Judaism is younger and different from Christianity Moses from Christ 25. That Salvation was by Christ who was to come before and under the Law and by Christ already come under the Gospel 26. That by the Publishing of the Gospel the original Law of God is not abrogated continuing still the Rule of all mens Actions but rather
should have been translated as Enoch or Elias were But of this let others judg while we hold with the wise Hebrew Wisd 2.24 Eccles 25.24 that by the envy of the Devil death came into the world and with the son of Sirach By a Woman was the beginning of sin and from thence we all die For God made not death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living for he created all things that they might have their Being and the Generations of the World were healthfull and there is no poison of destruction in them Wisd 1.13 c. nor the kingdom of death upon the Earth for Righteousness is immortal and ungodly Men with their works and words have called it to them Thus death came upon all the posterity of Adam by the Law of his original by which the Bodies that were extracted from him could not but be obnoxius to the same evils to which his Body was subject from whence for their substance and qualities they were derived For the benefit that might come to the Bodies of Men from the Tree of Life being taken away they remained fading and frail as Potsheards made of earth just like the Bodies of other Creatures Thus say the Rabbies and St. Cyrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As for the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they yet stick I say farther it is no strange Metonymie among the Hebrews and those that do hebraize to use the word sin for Punishment and therefore by a Metalepsis they are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sin who suffer any evill though without their fault as Gen. 31.36 Jacob answer'd and said to Laban What is my trespass what is my sin that thou hast so hotly pursued after me And Job 6.24 Teach me and I will hold my tongue cause me to understand wherein I have erred where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is interpreted by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by whom as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Luke 5.5 Act. 3.16 1 Cor. 8.2 Heb. 9.17 Rightly therefore St. Chrysostome speakes upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 St. Paul in the next verse renders the reason of this assertion That all Men therefore die because they are all descended from Adam Because they had no Law given them which for the breach thereof did threaten the punishment of death upon the transgressors He denyeth not but that sin was in the world from Adam till the Law was given as the sin of Cain and of those before the Flood of Cham Noah Sodom the Brethren of Joseph Pharaoh and others after the Flood but never no death menaced till Moses by his Law did inflict death for the more hainous offences because sin is not imputed and consequently not punished where there is no Law that is sin was not therefore imputed to any that it should be to them the cause of death to wit to every particular Man For God then did not punish each particular Man with death for their sin but he punished all Mankind and amongst them Infants and Children that were never guilty of any sin But the Law speaks to every person that sins saying That Soul shall die the death that is God him-himself would cut him off by death if either the Judges were ignorant of his crime that had deserved it or if they neglected to do their duty Nevertheless death reigned all that while strongly even from Adam to Moses which was a long time even two thousand five hundred Years and spared none no not those that never sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression that is that had committed no sin like unto that which Adam committed such as Abel Noah Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph And because the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is ambiguous and in some sense may be attributed to all therefore the Apostle distinctly explains himself concerning what kind of sin he speakes to wit of that sin which may be esteemed equal with that sin which Adam had committed for great sins use to be compared to the sin of Adam Hos 6.7 The judgment given upon Adam for his offence was Banishment from Paradise A curse upon the ground for his sake a miserable painful life and at last an everlasting death and this judgment was not personal only to determine with him but it was reall and hereditary to him and to his heirs for ever For as by his offence his innocency was corrupted so by his judgment his Posterity was tainted and his Blood stained For first none of his Children shall be heirs to that immortality and Blessedness which he once was to enjoy in Paradise Secondly all his Children shall be blemished and tainted to inherit the curse of Banishment misery and mortality which he incurred Thirdly this corruption shall not be remedied but by the extraordinary Mediation of Jesus Christ Recapitulation Thus the Jural or calamitous sinners are of four sorts The oppressed the blemished the distressed and the tainted And the word Sinner doth sometimes carry all these senses for sometimes one and the same person may be oppressed blemished distressed and tainted And the three first sort of sinners Legal Moral and Jural are not essentially different but that one and the same person may be a transgressor unkind and calamitous as the Gentiles were transgressors and improbous or unmerciful Rom. 1.29 being Filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness Full of envy murder debate malignity wisperers back-biters haters of God despiteful proud boasters inventers of evill things disobedient to Parents without understanding Covenant-breakers without natural aflection implacable unmerciful And they were calamitous and blemished being aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the world The Jews in the sight of God generally were as great sinners as the Gentiles but legally and morally What then are we better than they No in no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin Yet jurally they were not such sinners nor so calamitous as the Gentiles because they were not such aliens and strangers from God but had many reall rights and priviledges peculiar unto them as the Peculiar People of God Yet the right which the Jew had in God was but a puerile or servile right to be as Children in the condition of Servants under age in hardship under the Law From which state Christ came to emancipate and deliver them that he might advance them and invest them into a filial right of being the Sons of God In a plenage and fulness of years Gal. 4.2 3. Thus Men are sinners three several waies Most Men generally are transgressors and improbous or unkind and all Men universally are calamitous oppressed blemished distressed and tainted wherefore this last way Man as he is a Man is a sinner and over and above legally and morally sinful being actually transgressors
Deified made one with God and he one with them 2 Pet. 1.4 God hath given unto us exceeding Grace and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature They that hear the word of God and do it are my Brother Mat. 12. ult and Sister and Mother SECT VIII 2. A right to things in future 1. A right of Resurrection The wicked shall rise again but theirs is not of Right but to wrath Resurrection a curse as malefactors have right to Execution But the Justified have a right to the Resurrection as a mercy which God hath promised them for a farther right to Immortality and Glory Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath Eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day Joh. 6.54 Man's promise gives a right to the Benefit promised much more doth God's Joh. 11.15 I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live c. SECT IX 2. A right of Jurisdiction or Judicature Jurisdiction to sit as Judges at the day of Judgment There the wicked shall be condemned and the Justified shall judg them 1. By assisting Christ in the Judgment 2. By approving the justice of it 3. By testifying against the wicked and for the Godly Make you Friends of the unrighteous Mammon Luc. 16.9 that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting Habitations Make the Godly poor thy Friends for at the Great Judgment they shall be thy Judges and if thy cause go hard there they shall testifie of thy charity and so thou shalt be received St. Paul forbids the Justified to go to Law before unjustified Judges 1 Cor. 6.2 but rather before the Saints Because they have a right of Judicature at the day of Judgment Know you not that the Saints shall judg the World The Queen of the South and Men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment against the Generation of the Jews and shall condemn them SECT X. Glory 3. A right of Glory or Inheritance of God's Kingdom That is an Universal right to all God's Estate to all his Kingdoms and Blessedness which he himself enjoyes As the only Son and Heir hath a right to his Father's whole Estate For if God do justifie thee and incorporate thee into himself he doth thereby estate thee in all that he hath And God hath given thee Christ and his Spirit as an Earnest and Seal of this Inheritance And Christ himself as Executor of God's Will shall admit thee and put thee in possession at the last day who is gone before to prepare a place for us that where he is there we might also be Fear not little flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom Come ye Blessed Children of my Father Mat. 25.34 receive the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World 4. A right to the Righteousness of Christ i. e. to have all the benefit of it imputed to them For as by their Generation they have the burden of Adam's sin i. e. the guilt and pain of it cast upon them so by their Regeneration or Justification they have a right to Christ's Righteousness and the benefit and reward of it accrues to them i. e. All his active Righteousness whereby he suffered the Law and all his passive Righteousness whereby he suffered death is theirs done for them and in their stead to as full effect as if they had fulfilled all the Law in their own persons and had died for their own sins SECT XI Rights of Christ 5. A Right to all the Rights of Christ And they are so many and so great that neither eye hath seen nor ear hath heard neither can it enter into the heart of Man to conceive them We may touch one or two Hath Christ the right of a Son so hath a Christian to be the Son of God he by Generation thou by Adoption Christ thy Elder Brother the First born among many Brethren Hath Christ the right of a King is the Kingdom of Heaven his and doth he reign there Thou hast also the right of a King the Kingdom of Heaven is thine Math. 5. 2 Tim. 2.12 and thou also shalt reign there Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Col. 3.4 Hath Christ the right of Glory so hast thou When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory He shall change our vile Bodies Phil. 3. ult and make them like to his glorious Body And all because we are the Sons of God and if Sons then Heirs Heirs of God and Joynt-heirs with Christ And all Joynt-heirs have equal Rights 1 Joh. 3.2 Is Christ like God we are not so yet but we shall be like him When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is He a partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 so we not yet but shall be Like a Fee-feminine where all the Daughters are Co-heirs Like Land in Gavel-kind where all the Sons are Co-heirs SECT XII 3. The Degrees of Rights to these things The right of the Righteous is not equal all alike at all times but gradual SECT XIII 1. A right of Expectation of future things Expectation Acts 7.5 as Abraham had a right to Canaan Yet he had not so much in possession as to set his foot on no inheritance in it yet God promised that he would give it to him for a possession and to his Seed after him when as yet he had no Child This possession was to be four hundred and thirty years after So the Heir in his Minority hath right but he must stay for the possession till the time appointed of his Father This is our Hope that through the Spirit we wait for the hope of Righteousness by Faith Gal. 5.5 Job 14.14 All the daies of mine appointed time will I wait till my change come SECT XIV 2. A right of Supplication for future things Supplication for seeing these rights come not to us by Law but only by Grace we have no right of Petition to sue for them and claim them by Law because matters of Grace are not sued for and pleaded for as Dues of Law but pray'd for and stay'd for as Rights of Grace due only upon Grace So the Israelites after four hundred years were expired supplicated for their right to Canaan sighed cryed and groaned and God heard and remembred his Covenant with Abraham Ex. 223. So Students in Arts after the expiration of the time appointed and Exercises performed do humbly supplicate for Grace to obtain their Degrees The whole Creation groaneth and travelleth for their redemption from bondage and we also our selves that have the first fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.22 even we our selves groan
kind Mother and Mistress This Ishmael was born after the flesh of Hagar a young Woman and Abraham able to beget by her Isaak born after the Spirit of Sarah an old Woman and Abraham an old Man not able to beget but Abraham was supernaturally enabled Heb. 11.12 especially Sarah who was both old and barren 1. Ishmael typifies those that seek Justification by the Law or works 2. Isaak typifies those that seeks Justification by Grace or Faith They that seek Justification by works depend upon themselves and their own natural goodness or strength or the works of Law They who seek Justification by Faith depend upon God's Grace and free Promise ☞ Note here by the way that Isaak was a Type not of personal Election from all Eternity but of such as shall be justified by Faith in the Promise For the scope of the Epistle is in opposition to the Jewish confidence to prove that Justification is not by the Law So that the conceit of Election and Reprobation from this place is quite and clear Eccentrical from the scope and business which the Apostle aims at in this place 1. From whence I observe That the Mysteries of Salvation are declared not by words only but by Providences and Dispensations 2. That God without acceptation of persons may advance one above another in temporal benefits Acceptation of Persons hath place only in Judiciary rewards not in Dispensations of Grace and Mercy to eternal Rewards SECT XXXII Gen. 25.3 Jacob and Esau Besides that Allegory of Jacob and Esau denotes two Nations for the Text saith Two Nations are in thy womb and is by the Apostle applied to the Freedom of God preferring the younger Brother the Gentiles before the Elder the Jews Ro. 9.11 c. not upon any account of works For the children being yet unborn neither having done good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him that calleth it was said unto her The elder shall serve the younger As it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated But the Preferring of the Gentiles before the Jews was only upon the account of Faith by the which they were justified and the Jews could not be justified because they stood upon their works So Jacob and Esau were not Types of a Personal Election and Reprobation but of a specifical National Election and Reprobation whosoever how many or how few soever not to an Eternal but to a Temporal Inheritance 2 Sam. 8.14 For the Elder shall serve the Younger and so the Edomite did serve the Israelite v. 2 Sam. 8.14 Je. 60. 1 Chron. 18.11 13. And the Idumaeans revolted Psal 137.7 Ez. 35.5 10. yet were they subjects 1660 years Jacob signifies the People of the New Testament by Faith Esau signifies the People of the Old Testament by Works Object Gal. 3.17 The Covenant that was confirmed of God before in Christ the Law that was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannull that it should make the promise of God of no effect Solut. These words prove not that the Gospel or Covenant of Grace was before the Law or Covenant of works but before that solemn repetition or new Delivery thereof upon Mount Sinai When there was a Brief Transcript of it written and delivered unto Moses in Tables of Stone by God Rom. 5.20 Gal. 3 19 c. The Law entred that the offence might abound The Law was added because of transgressions till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made c. And that the Law or Covenant of Works was in being yea in force in the World before the publication of it from Mount Sion appears For untill Law sin was in the world Rom. 5.13 that is from the beginning of the World until the giving of the Law in words and writing from Mount Sinai And Consequently a necessity of the Law because where no Law is there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 but sin is not imputed where there is no Law that is Ro. 5.13 sin is not charged upon Men or punished nevertheless death reigned from Adam inclusivè unto Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression and consequently there must needs have been a Law without the breach whereof Men had not been obnoxious unto death Yea not only the Moral Law properly so called was extant in Men's hearts and delivered by Tradition but some particulars of the Ritual Law practised in the World before the delivery of the same Law much disused and forgotten to Moses in Writing upon Tables of Stone upon Mount Sinai As appears by the offering of Sacrifices of old and of the Sabbath and of Circumcision commanded to Abraham and his Seed and by the Marriage of the Widow of a Kinsman dying without Issue before the Law Yea the Law or Covenant of Works was as ancient as Adam and by transgression thereof he and all his Posterity incurred the guilt and punishment of Death Therefore the Law or Covenant of Works was the first born Testament or Covenant of Works made by God with Mankind And upon this account they who are of the Law i. e. who seek for Justification by the Law of works are resembled by Esau the Elder Son and they who expect Justification by the New Testament or Law of Grace i. e. by Faith are properly typified by Jacob the Younger Brother When God said to Rebecca Two Nations are in thy Womb ☜ and the Elder shall serve the Younger he mystically signified that his absolute will and purpose was never to own for Sons and Heirs of Heaven the People of the Elder Covenent i. e. those that should seek for Justification by the Law but to assign over those for Servants or Bondmen to his Children i. e. those of the later or younger Covenant who should seek the Adoption of Sons or Justification by Faith Thus God was pleased to declare to the World that his purpose according to Election might stand firme and unchanged and that he meant not to elect or make choice of those whom he should or would adopt by the rule of Works or by any rule that Men should commend to him or desire to impose or obtrude upon him but only by the Rule of his own most free gracious and wise pleasure which he hath declared to be the Rule of Faith Inasmuch as in equitable Right the making his own choice in this kind accrueth unto him as he is the sole Magnificent Founder of this Blessed Feast of Justification calling and inviting the World from all Quarters to come unto it For a Clench to keep this Interpretation from stirring The Prophet Malachi brings in God thus Saying Was not Esau Jacob's Brother Mal. 1.2 c. yet I loved Jacob and hated Esau and laid his Mountains and Heritage waste for the Dragons of the wilderness He gave Esau a lesser portion of an earthly
up I will draw all men after me Where the Carkass is thither will the Eagles be gathered together Ye shall sit on twelve Thrones Ro. 6.5 judging the twelve Tribes of Israel The Saints shall judge the World If we have been planted with him in the likeness of his Death we shall also be planted with him in the likeness of his Resurrection Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the Baptism that I shall be baptized with Math. 20.22 Ye shall indeed drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and ye shall be baptized with the Baptism that I shall be baptized with and so they shall sit on his right and on his left in his kingdom for whom it shall be prepared SECT VI. Great mistakes about the two Covenants of God 1. The Law of Innocency or Works was made with Adam to do Gods will if not upon the least breach to die without hope of pardon upon Repentance 2. The Law of Grace was made with Adam to do Gods will if not to obtain pardon upon Faith and Repentance by Christ in whom God rendred himself reconcileable to deliver from death due by the law of Works This Covenant of Grace was renewed to the Patriarchs especially to Abraham David and the Prophets but especially manifested by Christ to all men The Errour of the Jewish Christians was to hope for Justification by the Covenant of Works without Faith Christ was the head Party in this Covenant made with Adam and all Mankind who are or may be the seed of Christ by believing and Christ by being born under the Law answers the Law by fulfilling it for all his Seed and takes away the Curse and brings in Blessedness by the Covenant of Grace SECT VII Covenant of Grace made with all men And that this Covenant of Grace was made with all men is demonstrated by these Reasons 1. Because the Parties of a Covenant must needs be certainly known who they are Parties of Covenants must be certainly known 1. God is known who promiseth the Reward 2. Mankind is known to whom the Reward is promised and who stipulate with God for it But if the Covenant was made with some of Mankind only and the rest excluded it cannot be certainly known who those are that are contained in the Covenant and who not Now it is most contrary to the nature of a Covenant to be struck with persons that are unknown or not certainly known because the Parties interested must certainly know themselves to be interested and others that have the same interest must certainly know their fellows that are parties with them in the same Covenant because all together they make but one party and God is the other And both these must know one another and understand one another and agree one with another and know the Terms of their agreement and be discernable from all others Therefore in all Covenants the names of the Covenantees are exprest Appellative names in Covenants that is either their Proper names or else Common names sufficient to express every individual by so that they may as plainly be understood who they are as if they were particularly named So in the Testamentary Covenant of God all with whom God Covenants and that do mutually covenant with God are expressed by the Appellative name of the Faithful in Christ These persons Adam and his Posterity did not understand what Covenant Christ their Head procured to be made for them nor what the condition was which they were to perform till they had a Being and the use of a Rational understanding But when they came to Adult age it was revealed unto them and they found not their proper but their appellative Names in the Bond and thereby had a determinate knowledge and were able to ensure themselves and each others that they were the true Parties that were to covenant with God and that they were bound so to do or else to forfeit their Blessing And from their understanding it came to their Wills to choose whether they would covenant with God or no and that it was their own fault if they did not because the terms were indifferently offered to them all And that if they did perform the Condition which Christ their Head had undertaken to make them capable to perform they should obtain the benefits purchased by him for them if not they must of necessity lose it and suffer the punishment expressed in the Bond. So in the Covenants and Testaments of men when there are many persons to covenant with one single person and those either in present or future being it is impossible to particularize every single person that is now alive or are yet for to come nor can any Will or Covenant contain them nor is it rational to set them down if they could but it is very sufficient to comprehend them all that are or shall be the Parties by some common name as of Heirs Executors Administrators or Assigns or of all honest painful and miserable persons in such or such a City or Country whereby they that are so qualified are undoubtedly the persons meant by the Testator or Covenanter in his said Will and Covenant and may lawfully claim the Legacies or Benefits intended for them and promised unto them SECT VIII A Publick person may stipulate for himself and all under his power Publick stipulation at present and that shall be when they come to be As a King for all his Subjects born or to be born A Head of a Corporation or Syndick for all the Citizens A Father for all his Children If this Publick person break the Covenant for himself and by himself he only is guilty for himself and by himself properly and really as to the sin but improperly and quasily and by act of Law his heirs or successors are guilty that is so accounted and therefore they really suffer the loss and penalty by their Fathers sin not enjoying the benefit which they should have had if he had not broken the Covenant for himself by act of Nature nor they with him by act of Law So that they suffer the shame and loss by being Sons to such a Father and are so far tainted in their blood and lessened in their heads but yet they may stipulate for themselves and be faithful and recover the honour and estate which they lost by their Father so far as in him lay If this Publick person keep the Covenant for himself he is only rewardable for himself properly and really as to the virtue of his keeping it and his heirs and successors are not really nor properly rewardable but quasily and by act of Law and therefore they are really rewarded and enjoy the benefit only by such act and constitution and have the honour of being Sons to such a Father are pure in blood and advanced in their heads If the heirs to those Publick persons actually break the Covenant
strengthned and enlarged to all those Precepts which are Positively commanded by Christ under the Gospel as the Perfection of the Law of Nature generally propounded to all mankind for Salvation and are therefore stiled a New Law Eternal Heb. 9.10 whereas the Old Law was to hold but till the time of Reformation 27. That this Dispensation by which the Fathers obtained Salvation before the Gospel was granted to them in consideration of that obedience which our Lord Christ had taken upon him to perform in the fulness of Time by a kind of Novation as the Civilians speak or Delegation or Renewing of Bonds or Assignation of Payments God accepting the interposition of Christs Satisfaction by way of Acceptilation for the Reconcilement of them and the Payment of their Debts 28. That this the New Testament doth manifest for the reason of the Salvation of those that died under the Old Testament 1 Cor. 10.1 c. I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren that our Fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same Spiritual meat and all drank the same Spiritual drink for they all drank of the same Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ 29. That they therefore that entred into a Covenant of Works to obtain the Lord of Promise as they did cannot be said to have entred expressly into a Covenant of Faith in Christ for obtaining the World to come No more than being baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea as they were that is into his Government into the observation of the Laws he should give in hope of the Promises he should give they can be said to have been baptized expressly into Christ and that profession which his Promises require Wherefore when he saith that the Rock was Christ his meaning is not immediately Christ and so to those that rested wholly in that Temporal Covenant of Works But as the Manna was Christ and Moses was Christ by the means of that Faith which then God received at their hands to wit the Assurance of everlasting happiness for them who under this Calling should as they were able sincerely tender unto God the Spiritual obedience of the Inward man not expressed but implied as well as the Carnal obedience of the outward man expressed upon those grounds which his Temporal goodness the Tradition of their Fathers and the Instruction of the Prophets afforded at that time Now I appeal to the sense of all Discerning men how they can be said to have that Interest in Christ which Christians have and therefore upon the same ground if there were no consideration of Christ in the blessings of Christ which they enjoyed Wherefore they are said also to tempt Christ who went along with them in that Angel in whom the Name of God and his Word was for the Land of Canaan and for Heaven too though they knew not that Christ nor Heaven distinctly Heb. 11.26 Heb. 13.8 So Moses counted the Reproach of Christ greater riches than the Treasures of Egypt for he looked at the Recompence of the Reward For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever St. Peter saith that the Prophets who foretold the Gospel searched diligently against what time the Spirit of Christ which was in them 1 Pet. 1.10 declared and testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glorious things that followed St. Paul saith that all Gods Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 Therefore there must be a Consideration of Christ in those Promises though covertly to them who under such Promises as they had did run the same Race which Christians have set before them And when St. Paul saith As by Adam all die Ro. 5.12.19 even so in Christ the second Adam shall all be made alive And by one man Sin entred into the World and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned And if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many For as by one Mans Disobedience many were made Sinners So by the obedience of one shall many be made Righteous It is evident that those and all other Benefits not only to the Israelites but to all that feared God and worshipped him did redound to them upon the consideration and account of Christ For there is no other name under Heaven given unto men whereby they can be saved but only by the Name of Christ And God is the great Benefactor and exceeding great Rewarder only in and for Christ So Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant That Death coming Heb. 9.15 for the ransome of those Transgressions which were under the old they that are called may receive the Promise of an everlasting inheritance Because those Sins which were redeemed only to a temporal effect by the Sacrifices of the Old Law as also those which were not redeemed at all by any Propitiation then were all by the Sacrifice of Christ redeemed to the purchase of the World to come Which is that which St. Paul saith that through Christ every one that believeth is justified from all those sins from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.29 For as the Law did not expiate Capital Offences so it expiated none but to the Effect of a Civil Promise Apoc. 13.8 30. That whereas mention is made of Names not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world We may not inferr safely that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world but was predestinated to be slain and his Death was virtual to all the faithful ever since the foundation of the world whose names were written under that Appellative in that book of Life of the Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1.19 20. Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times When Moses demands to be blotted out of Gods Book what can it be but the book of Christ in a Mystical sense And when St. Paul saith that Christ gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2.6 to be testified in due time what can be meant but that though he gave himself for all yet this was not to be testified till the proper time of the preaching of the Gospel yet he was a Ransom for all before And whereas the Author to the Hebrews argues strongly That if Christ should offer himself more than once Heb. 9.25 26. that then he might more than once have entred into the Holy of Holies and so must have suffered more than once from the foundation of the World that is before the end of the World he must needs suppose that he
grievous in such cases The CONTENTS Writing Testimony Confirmation Execution Christ the Executor Executorship conditional Flesh and Blood Christ's Assention Spirit 's Mission TITLE VI. Of the Confirmation of the New Testament NOW the New Testament though it were not written as was the Old with the finger of God upon Tables of Stone but was Nuncupative yet this Nuncupation was by God himself not by any Angel and that unto Christ himself only to be published and accordingly was published by him in his own Person and by his Spirit in the persons of the Apostles and their Disciples through the whole World and afterwards committed to writing by the chief of the Apostles and not only so Writing but written again after a better manner by the spirit of God himself upon the Tables of Mens Hearts Testimony And as for the Testimony given thereunto to prove it to be the Will of God Christ himself did testifie thereof with such mighty miracles as never had been done before Besides the unquestionable Holiness of his life and the solemnity of his death Which things were not done in a corner but in the full view of a greater Congregation than was at Mount Sinai for he preached in their Temple and Synagogues and did wonders in all Judea and suffered death upon Mount Calvary Mat. 27.51 At which time the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose The Sun also was darkned after an extraordinary manner when the Moon was at the Full. And after all this was added as the last and greatest Proof of all the glory of his Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven He saith therefore of himself John 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause I came into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth And the Apostle said of him 1 Tim. 6.13 Rev. 3.14 that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good Confession Hence he is called the Amen the faithful and true Witness the Martyr of the New Testament to testifie it with his Blood His death was not only a Testimony Confirmation but a Confirmation of the New Testament because his death doth wholly and for ever extinguish in him all will or power to revoke it and evidence that immediately from that Death God's Testament was ipso facto in force and began to take effect for the Justification of Mankind to all the Rights in that Testament contained by the Access of their Faith Thus the immortal God came as near to Death as he could by the Death of his Son in his Divine Nature immortal but made a mortal man to dye in his Father's stead and to demonstrate his own and his Father 's unconceivable Love to lay down his Life for Sinners Which thing deserves a perpetual Commemoration so commanded by Christ in the Holy Eucharist instituted by him for that purpose And as Wills are to be proved and confirmed Execution so they are to be executed and performed or else the Will it self is as dead as he that made it and so was made to no purpose The publick Wills of Legislators are to be put in Execution by sworn Magistrates or else the Law is in vain and a dead Letter And the private Wills of Testators are to be put in Execution by their Heirs or Executors covenanting and swearing so to do else the Will or Law of the Testator is frustrated Now of this New Testament Christ is the Executor or Mediator Christ Executor between God the Testator and the Legataries in the Will expressed to convey unto them from God as a Priest the Expiation of their Sins by his Sacerdotal offering up of himself to God in the Temple of Heaven and the Mission of his Spirit to cleanse their hearts and as a King sitting in the Throne of Heaven to rule his Church and protect them from their Enemies and to raise them up from Death and set them at his Right hand and at his left in heavenly places and as a Prophet to lead them into all Truth And Christ as an Executor and Mediator received to himself this benefit to be the universal Heir of God who was so by Nature and was so appointed by Grace to be Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 And for this purpose had all Power given unto him both in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 and universal honour also wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the name of Jesus Phil. 2.9 every knee should bow of Persons in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth For let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 and he hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them openly 1 Cor. 15.27 and hath put all his Enemies under his feet The Reason is because Christ's Executorship was conditional Reason 1 Executorship Conditional that is charged upon the Condition of his own Death he must dye before he can enter upon it and therefore dye that he may perform it because every Testament is a Decree of things to be done after Death and this Testament of God hath this strange Prerogative above the Testaments of men that it is confirmed by the Death of a Man who was God and that the Executor not the Testator dyes and that the Disposition of things to be had or done is made after the Death of the Executor who for that purpose rose from the dead that he might justifie the faithful to the Inheritance of Heaven A Cause quite contrary to the Testaments of men wherin the Testator only dies to confirm his Testament and the Executor surviving performs it Therefore as Christ the principal Heir was fitted to receive his Inheritance ordained for him in that Testament whereof he was Executor So we that are Christ's Co-heirs must be fitted to receive the same Inheritance ordained for us in that Testament wherein we are Legataries Reas 2 Flesh and Blood 1 Cor. 15.5 Joh. â— 14 1 Cor. 15.45 Heb. 2.9 2. Because Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of heaven And CHRIST the Word was made Flesh but afterwards he was made Spirit For the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit And JESUS who was made a little lower than the Angels for or by they suffering of Death was crowned with glory and Honour And so Christ was made perfect For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through Sufferings And though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him And so Christians they are first Flesh For that which is
Atheism being a canker in my Estate and theirs and a poyson to me and their Souls that I have not fed my self or mine at all or as I ought or provided for my self or them at all or as I ought that I have not taught my self or them at all or as I ought But especially let not an army of strangers and of miserable persons made so by me come in against me to rail and curse me or go to God with strong cries and tears to help them from the wrongs that I have done them or call for vengeance from Heaven upon me for the same O these are lowd and bitter cries O they rent the very heavens O they come up to the ears of God day and night O what should I do or whether should I go if these Fatherless Widows Strangers should come in against me which God forbid or if the very brutes and inanimate creatures should find mouths to clamour to men to God and to the world against me And all this while which is worse I should cry lowdest against my self in a wounded Conscience which who is able to bear Therefore what ever I do what ever I suffer let me not eat the bread that should nourish others and for want of which they curse and starve Let me not be cloathed with the fleece that should keep others warm and for want of which their nakedness is discovered and they die for cold Let me not shelter my self under the roof of another which should be his castle to save himself nor let me possess the goods or lands of others which they of right should use or enjoy In a word Let none be hurt lamed killed deformed oppressed robbed spoiled or undone by me let no such stain be upon my honour in this world nor no such clog upon my soul to press it down in the world to come But rather let me truly say to my comfort and credit Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded I am innocent from the blood of all men I have endeavoured to get and keep a good Conscience in all things void of offence to God or Man which will bring me peace to my latter end and to all eternity O Adam Adam What inevitable wrongs are done by thee by the miseries and deaths brought upon all thy Race if not the sins by thy example at least the imputation for thy sake What inevitable damnation hast thou brought upon thy self and all men had not the second Adam procured salvation for thee and all men O sinful and cruel men What sins and miseries have you brought upon your selves your families and countries by making them to sin by making them to suffer in peace and war in plenty and want in health and sickness O all ye Oppressours Ranters Rebels and Tyrants How much is the world the worse for you How much is the Church the worse for you What waste and havock and spoil have beastly prodigal and barbarous men made upon the good creatures of God ransacked rifled and preyed upon by your pride and wantonness The first Adam lost all right The second Adam recovered all right God created all right and truth and the Devil created all wrong and falsehood These are the two principles of right and wrong good and evil SECT XXXII Collect. Moral Honesty not doubted of 2 Therefore though many revealed truths of faith are called into question and many natural causes are doubted of yet we cannot if we be in our wits make any just scruple of moral honesty no body can deny it he must put out the light of nature if he do which cannot be A spade must be a spade and honesty is honesty when all is done whether we will or no and goes through the world A true man is the only man when all is done that hath honour and conscience in him his enemies themselves being Judges So there can be no difference about honesty that there is and ought to be such a thing But what that thing is and where to find it what is Right and Truth and Wrong and False we cannot we will not agree but call Right Wrong Lyes Truth Evill Good Darkness Light and é contra Every Man will be in the right a common sin to flatter our selves in sin to preach of it praise it pray for it inveigh against evill commend good but act against it Every Man is as his phancy and passion guides him as his party and interest lyes so he judges so he acts so do States and Kingdoms so do Churches too What shall we do in this case how shall we know Right from Wrong that we may do right I answer 1. God hath shew'd it unto us in the light of Nature if we will open our eyes to see it there it is in the common principles thereof very plain 2. Princes from God have shew'd it unto us in their Laws taken from the Law of Nature for our temporal good 3. Priests from God have shew'd it unto us in God's Laws revealed by the Apostles and Prophets for our spiritual good For the Priest's lips preserve knowledg and God's Law is to be enquired of from their mouthes for the good of the Soul 4. Physicians from God have shew'd it unto us in their skill what is for the Body 5. Lawyers from God shew it unto us in their wisdom what is good good for our Estates But in all we are deceiv'd and lose the Right while it is before us holding the Truth in unrighteousness SECT XXXIII Therefore every Man must see with his own eyes Collect. 3. Use Reason and hear with his own ears and understand with his own heart as well as he can and God will help him Let the world know that to assert Infallibility is a cheat and to set up Supremacy is a cheat and to impose Antiquity in all things is a cheat But right Reason humble and unbiassed not excluding frailties is no cheat He that seeketh findeth he that asketh shall have and he that knocketh at Wisdom's gate shall enter in SECT XXXIV Two Guides God hath given to all Men. Reason of Nature 1. Reason of Nature in common principles Quaedam Jura non scripta sed omnibus scriptis certiora saith Cicero There are some Laws which are not written but they are more certain than all the written Laws in the world This is the fountain of Right and it cannot at the same time send forth sweet waters and bitter This is the Treasure which God hath committed to the charge of every one to keep and improve SECT XXXV 2. Equity of conscience Equity of Conscience in common Conclusions drawn from the pure Truths These must guide us when positive Laws fail us Nec omne quod honestum est legibus praecipitur For not every thing that is honest is commanded by the Laws The reason is because Law-givers are not Diviners and Prophets to fore-see every contingent
Law his right of assembly to him and his heirs for ever Deut. 23.2 who stand excommunicated For A Bastard shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord. As an Alien Forreigner or Stranger is disabled and debarred from the rights and priviledges of inheritances freedoms votes and other common benefits of the Laws Municipal which the Natives do enjoy So the Romans Greeks and other Nations inhabiting Judaea were by the Jews accounted and called sinners We are Jews by Nature and not sinners of the Gentiles Gal. 2.15 Because they were Strangers and Aliens who had no right equal with the Native Jews and Proselytes that were made free of their Nation As a villain or Bastard-born who is no actual transgressor against any Law yet by the Law of Nations is made a quasi Transgressor being wholly depersonated and degraded from the common Condition of a Man and depressed into the state of a Beast dead in Law having no Will nor Action nor Possession of any thing but is at the will and in the possession of his Lord subjected to all wrongs and excluded from all Rights having no Estate Office nor Suffrage must be no Witness can have no power to make a Testament Such was the state of Servitude a state of death not life Thus by the Law of God the Gibeonites were accursed Now therefore ye are cursed Jos 9.23 and ye shall none of you be freed from being bond-men and hewers of wood and drawers of water SECT VI. 3. The Distressed who justly according to the secret will of God Distressed for reasons best known to himself are afflicted with some notable and lasting misery such as the Blind and the Lame the Deformed the Lepers the Monster the Deaf and Dumb Innocents Fools and Frantick persons the proper objects of pity and compassion that neither sinned they nor their Parents but that the power of God might be seen and his Name glorified These are generally censured for sinners upon whom God hath layd such extraordinary calamities And so are such as suffer loss of Children Friends Honour Estate by storms and tempests by wars famines or any other fatal changes or chances in this world Such a one was Job yet a perfect and upright Man one that feared God and eschew'd evil yet Job's Friends erroneously condemned him for an hypocrite because so fearfully handled in his Person Children and Estate not considering That though sin be the cause of affliction yet it is neither the perpetual nor total nor sole cause thereof but that there are other good causes and considerations that flow from the secret and good will of God though they be hid from our eyes Thus those upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell were counted greater sinners than others because they suffered such things Thus those Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices were counted greater sinners than others because they suffered such grievous things Thus Lazarus a beggar and lying at the Rich Man's gate and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the Rich Man's Table Luc. 16.20 and was deny'd and the dogs came and licked his sores yet was he carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom Thus the Man Blind from his birth and sate and begg'd was judged either for his own sins or for the sins of his Parents to be made so miserable but it was that the work of God might be manifest SECT VII 4. The Tainted or stained in Blood Tainted who justly according to the will of God are made heirs to their Fathers misery either natural by hereditary diseases or ill conditions or legal by Confiscation of Goods Infamy Bastardy Slavery or other attainder or corruption of blood but especially for crimes of Treason or other high mis-demeanors against the Common-Wealth for which the Children of those Parents are debarred from being heirs to their Estate or Dignity Thus the seven Sons of Saul were hang'd in the Hill before the Lord for their Fathers cruelty against the Gibeonites 2 Sam. 21.9 Thus the Sons of Gehezi were made heirs to their Father's Leprosy which clave unto him and to his Seed for ever 2 Kings 5.27 Thus Eli's Sons were turned from the Altar for their Father's neglect besides their own enormities Thus for Achan's Sacriledg his Sons and his Daughters his Oxen and his Asses and his Sheep and all his Tent Jos 7.24 and all that he had were stoned with stones and afterward burnt with fire Thus the Children of Corah Dathan and Abiram and all theirs went down alive into the pit for the Rebellion of their Parents Thus the Children of the Ninevites should have been destroy'd whereof six score thousand could not discern their right hand from their left had not their Parents repented at the preaching of Jonah The CONTENTS Rom. 5.12 explained Recapitulation Accounting Adam's will not ours Levi's paying of tithes All mortal in Adam Righteous in Christ Immortal in Christ Every Individuum acts for it self Sinner legal Sinner moral Sinner jural Psal 51.6 explained Ephes 2.3 explained Soul a spirit Good most common Good lovely v. lib. 7. Tit. 3.2 Vol. Argumenta Laciniana TITLE II. Of Original Sin Rom. 5.12 Explained IN this rank are all the Sons of Adam who for his disobedience are made heirs of his mortality By one Man sin entred into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all Men for that or in whom all have sinned not actively by transgressing in his transgression but passively by being prejudicated in his judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his doom all Men were condemned to the state of transgressors These words In whom all sinned signify the same thing with those Vers 15. Through the offence of one many be dead and with these Vers 16. The judgment was upon one to condemnation and with these Vers 19. By one Man's disobedience many were made sinners And with these 1 Cor. 15.22 In Adam all die All which sayings amount to no more but this That by the sin of Adam he and all his Children were made mortal As by the sin of the Gibeonites they and their Children were made bound-slaves and by the sin of Gehezi he and all his Children were made lepers By one Adam sinning sin entred upon all Mankind and for that one Man's sin death came upon him and all Mankind by diminution of strength which caused grief diseases and death For though Adam was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. was made a living Soul not a quickning Spirit yet if he had continued to obey God he had ever remained alive in paradise and whether any higher condition was appointed to him is uncertain to us and was not certain to him Some think after a most long life God would have delivered him from the Body without any grief or pain which the Jews do not call death but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Osculum Pacis the Kiss of peace others think he
quarrelling and sit still and consider these points we should in time understand them sufficiently by our own experience better than they do that dispute of them daily We are prone to nothing but evil Object Flesh is prone to evil by exceeding the bounds of reason Solut. but Reason it self tends another way With my mind I serve the Law of God Rom. 7.25 Rom. 7.22 23. but with my flesh the Law of sin I delight in the Law of God after the inward Man but I see another Law in my members warring against the Law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of sin that is in my members Adam's faculties were corrupted so are ours Object Both true in a safe sense and if these safe senses were admitted Solut. all would agree but there is though not acknowledged Pride Interest and uncharitableness in the way that obstructs this universal good that would be both in Church and State But who can help it it must be born only wise Men and honest Men will be no slaves SECT III. We are made mortal in Adam Not actually by dying in his body and with his body Corol. 2. All mortal in Adam for we sprang from his body before dead but causatively by descent from his made mortal body As he sinned for himself so we sin for our selves Reason And as he died for himself so we die for our selves But his sin was not ours and his death was not ours but only the cause of our sin and the cause of our death Mortalis gignit mortalem Immortalis gignit immortalem Servus gignit servos Nobilis gignit Nobiles Fortes creantur fortibus Morbosi creantur à morbosis Infamis non gignit infamem Sed Peccator non gignit peccatorem Doctus non gignit Doctum Innocens non gignit innocentem In true and safe senses some Natural some Jural A Mortal begets a Mortal An Immortal begets an Immortal Cum grano salis Deus de Deo Servants beget servants Free-Men beget Free-Men Nobles beget Nobles Strength begets strength Weakness begets weakness Infamous doth not beget infamous But a sinner begets not a sinner A Learned Man begets not a Learned Man A virtuous Man begets not a virtuous Man SECT IV. Corol. 3. Righteous in Christ We are made righteous in Christ i. e. Accounted Reason 1 Christ's righteousness was not individually ours nor is our righteousness individually his nor can any person's qualities be communicated to another Reason 2 Nature made us in Adam Grace makes us in Christ Bodies were in Adam not Souls Souls are in Christ not Bodies One Man's will is not really in anothers Sin is in Soul not Body Death is in Body not Soul Righteousness is in Soul not Body We are born of the Bodies not of the Souls of our Parents SECT V. Corol. 4. Immortal in Christ Reason We are immortal in Christ by Christ's Body Christ's immortality was not individually ours as our immortality is not individually his But we are made immortal by his immortality 1 Cor. 15.22 As in Adam we all die so in Christ all are made alive Souls were not in Adam's Soul Souls are not in Christ's Soul Bodies are not in Christ's Body Our persons were not in Adam's person Our persons are not in Christ's person Our bodies seminally in Adam's body i. e. not to act in Adam but fast asleep in him as their cause Our Souls not at all in Adam's Soul but created apart and infused by God So the acts of Adam's body were not the acts of our bodies So the acts of Adam's Soul were not the acts of our Souls So the acts of Christ's body were not the acts of our bodies So the acts of Christ's Soul were not the acts of our Souls SECT VI. Every Individual body naturally acts for it self Every Individual Soul naturally acts for it self Corol. 5. Reason Every Individuum acts for its self Ez. 18. And is rewarded or punished for it self The Soul that sinneth it shall die Fathers eat sowre grapes Children's teeth not set an edge Every mortal individual is mortal for it self Every immortal individual is immortal for it self Every individual is good for it self Every individual is bad for it self So in a right sense 1. We are made Sinners by Adam's sin 2. We are made Righteous by Christ's Righteousness 3. We are made Mortal by Adam's mortality 4. We are made Immortal by Christ's Immortality If any Man can express these things better let him a God's Name I shall be glad to learn One Touch more and then I have done Adam's body the root and seed of our bodies Adam's Soul not the root nor seed of our Souls Adam's body acted for it self Adam's Soul acted for it self Our bodies act for themselves Our Souls act for themselves Ergo Adam's virtues were not ours Adam's vices were not ours Adam's rewards were not ours Adam's punishments were not ours Rules Unusquisque habet judicium pro semetipso Unusquisque habet voluntatem pro semetipso Unusquisque habet passiones pro semetipso Unusquisque habet actiones pro semetipso Every one hath a judgment for himself Every one hath a will for himself Every one hath passions for himself Every one hath actions for himself Individuals communicate not their actions or passions but are distinct as their persons Sin is not Nature Nature is not Sin Righteousness is not Nature Nature is not Righteousness The Close Natural actions of Body and Soul reach not beyond the person that acts them Moral actions extend not beyond the person that acts them Jural actions do extend beyond the persons that act them for punishment or reward by act of Law or Grace c. SECT VI. Once more and use it not I beg leave to review the triple distinction that I made of a Sinner Sinner Legal 1. A Sinner Legally is a transgressor and offender against the rules of the Law in not doing that right whereto the Law binds him and he that doth not right according to the Law he is unrighteous and a person unrighteous is a sinner Such sinners were the sinners of the Gentiles who lived in idolatry such a sinner was the Woman who washed the feet of Christ with her tears Joh. 7.37 and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed them and anoynted them with oyntment for she was an adulteress Such a sinner was the Woman taken in Adultery in the very act and was therefore brought by the Scribes and Pharisees unto Christ to be stoned to death John 8.3 4. And this kind of sinner who is a transgressor of the Law is opposed to the person who is legally righteous by doing that right which the Law requireth SECT VII Sinner Moral 2. A sinner Morally quoad mores is a Trespasser offending against the rules of Good manners of Humanity Equity Charity Mercy and Courtesy not dealing handsomly or kindly not doing that right whereto the rule of
an hereditary bondage to be drudges about the Temple Now therefore ye are cursed and there shall none of you be freed from being Bond-Men Jos 9.23 and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God Such sinners are all they who are made heirs to the misery of their Parents those transgressors whose punishment the Law makes hereditary to pass upon themselves and consequently to descend unto their Children As the Sons of Achan Jos 7.24 25. who for their Father's Sacriledg were stoned to death in the Vally of Achan And the seven Sons of Saul who for their Father's cruelty were hang'd in the Hill before the Lord 2 Sam. 21.9 And the Sons of Gehezi 2 Kings 5.25 if he had any who for their Father's bribery were to be heirs of his Leprosy And all Mankind who for the transgression or Legal sin of Adam are made Quasi-trespassers or Jural sinners to be afflicted with death and mortality For by one Man's disobedience many were made sinners Rom. 5.19 i. e. Quasi-trespassers or Jural sinners to lose the right of Paradise and Blessedness And this Jural Sinner is opposed to an owner Lastly such sinners as are oppressed by force fraud or colour of Law who are criminated by calumny and suffer death by an unjust Sentence as Bathsheba and Solomon in case Adonijah had prevailed for the Kingdom had been made sinners 1 Kings 1.12 Otherwise it shall come to pass when my Lord the King shall sleep with his Fathers that I and my Son Solomon shall be counted offenders Such a sinner is a Man who in dangerous times when terrible ones watch for iniquity is made an offender for a word Is 29.21 And with all Religious reverence be it written such a sinner was Jesus Christ who though he be very true God and true Man the truest and justest Man that ever lived who did no sin nor spake no guile yet he suffered as a sinner For He poured out his Soul unto death Is 53.12 and was numbred with the transgressors He was made a Quasi-transgressor and so handled God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin i. e. he who really was no sinner 2 Cor. 5.20 was made a Quasi sinner and was afflicted as a sinner Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us i. e. he who really was not a curse was made a Quasi-curse and was afflicted as if a cursed person These three several sinners the Legal the Moral and the Jural are not three opposit sorts of sinners so contradistinct that the one is repugnant to the other or that one sense excludeth the rest but they are different degrees of sinners whereof the one may be without the other and yet so consistent that they may all concurre in one and the same person For Christ was a sinner Jurally only but no way Legally nor Morally And Dives was a sinner Morally only not Legally for we read not that he was a transgressor against the Law nor Jurally for he had great Possessions But in the sight of God Men are sinners all three waies Legally Morally and Jurally being transgressors against the Law and offenders against Equity and Aliens Forreigners and Strangers to the rights priviledges and inheritances of the Kingdom of Heaven whereto Man as Man and as the Son of Adam hath no right interest or claim but is born and stands in the state of a Quasi trespasser and Quasi sinner Adam was created upright i. e. not a transgressor Legally nor a trespasser Morally and he was created an owner for upon his creation God gave him a humane right of Dominion over Fish Foul and Beasts But by virtue of his creation he had no Supernatural or Divine right for he had no right to Paradise and the Blessings thereof For when Adam was created Paradise was not yet planted but after the creation of Adam follow'd the plantation of Eden and God by putting Adam into Eden did further justify him for unto that right which was at first given him by Nature God superadded another right by Grace in setling and seating him in Paradise And this right was hereditary to him and his heirs But Adam by his transgression in offending against the Law of Paradise made himself a transgressor and all his heirs Quasi trespassers For the punishment or curse upon him for his transgression was his ejection and mortality which ejection and mortality descended also to all his Posterity For according to God's Contract with Adam and according to the rule of Equity and Reason sueing the Blessing was hereditary to him and his heirs therefore the curse also became hereditary to him and his heirs This affliction of Man or his ejection from Paradise and his mortality that now he is born to no divine inheritance but is born an out-cast from God's Blessing born a mortal Creature that must necessarily die this is the condition that makes Man a Quasi-trespasser and puts him into the state of a Jural sinner and this Quasi-trespasser or Jural sinner is the Man who in the next verse shall be justified by the Faith of Jesus Christ For the Person who is the proper subject of Justification is Man considered as a Jural sinnner not excluding his legal or moral sins from which he is also justified yet they unto his justifying are but accidental for although legally and morally he were never so righteous yet unless he be justified he cannot be saved for he is still a Jural or Quasi sinner 1. Because he is not a sinner actively by committing any act of sin as were the two former sinners who were offenders legally and morally by acting against Law and Equity but he is a sinner passively by suffering that loss or pain which is inflicted on him who is a sinner actively For the Verb Sinning is sometimes put passively for suffering as Gen. 31.39 That which was torn of Beasts I brought not unto thee I bare the loss of it where the Hebrew word is Chata i. e. I sinned for it 2. Because he is not a sinner really in whom sin is inherent but putatively to whom sin is imputed and who being innocent is reputed a delinquent and put into the state of a sinner that he may suffer that affliction which is the usual punishment of a sinner As the Beasts which the Law declared unclean were not in themselves unclean really and inherently but imaginarily and putatively for uncleanness was therefore imputed unto them that they might be forborn as if they had been really unclean 3. Because the fact which constituteth a Man thus a Quasi-sinner to be miserable and wretched is no act of his own but is either the act of some Law which justly imputeth unto him that sin whereof some other is guilty or is the act of some adversary who unjustly imputeth and chargeth upon him that sin whereof he is not guilty
that he may suffer for it as if he were guilty Hence the Quasi-sinner is termed by the Apostle a Constituted or Made-Sinner Rom. 5.19 as By one Man's disobedience many were made sinners where in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. were constituted ordained or appointed sinners And hereto other vulgar Translations agree for the Italian hath it constituted sinners and the French rendred Sinners i. e. put into the state or condition of sinners to be Quasi sinners For in respect of the Tense none of the Verbs in that verse are of the Preterperfect Tense but all Aorists and Indefinite And seeing the two first are not rendred Preterperfectly thus Sin hath entred and death hath passed but Indefinitely thus Sin entred and death passed Therefore accordingly the Translation had been more suitable if the last Verb also had been rendred Indefinitely thus For that or in whom all sinned And in respect of the sense the words In whom all sinned carry the same sense with those Through the offence of one many were made sinners That the difference between them in the concrete is not essential and necessary but accidental and contingent for they are not so opposite and contrary as that the word being taken in some one sense should therefore exclude all the rest but the senses of the word are only diverse i. e. so different that one sense may be without the other and yet so consistent that they may all concur in the same word For the word Sinner doth carry sometime only one of those senses sometime two and sometime all three and when the senses are plural sometime they are equal sometime some one of them is more eminent so that one and the same person may be a transgressor improbous and calamitous And this Sinner shall be justified by his Faith in Jesus Christ as shall next be declared But before I leave this business which comes not in Play every day and it may be will never present it self again I shall crave leave to set one Spell more to the matter in hand Here is sin and death pretended in the pot haeret lateri Lethalis Arundo Adam sinned and we sin and die Omnes eramus in illo uno cum ille unus nos omnes perdidit We were all in the loyns of that one Man when that one Man sinned and slew us all So we sinned and died before we were born and all is put upon our first Parents score and Adam is made guilty of the Sins and Deaths of the whole World Our Natural and original weakness of being liable to Sin and Death I call not into question for so it is undoubtedly But that it came upon us by our Will when we had none because we were not I cannot understand the Grandees of the Church those great Names have frighted us into such an opinion for many Centuries of years and we have made it a cloak to cover and excuse our transgressions by our fall in another Man So willing are we to take so much pains to make the way to happiness narrower and the way to death broader than it is and sin and death as irresistible as God himself Magna pars humanarum querelarum non injusta modò materia sed stulta est The complaints the world maketh are for the most part unjust and void of reason Omnes nostris vitiis favemus quod propriâ facimus voluntate ad naturae referimus necessitatem We are all tender and favourable to our own sins and what we have done by the pleasure of our own Will we lay them at the door of fate and necessity and put them upon God and Nature till we are speechless and our complaints end in curses and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth SECT IX Lord what a noise hath this Original Sin thus stated made amongst the Sons of Adam O wretched Men that we are so we groan it out and there is a kind of Musick in the sound which we hear and we delight in it and carry it along in our mind and so become wretched indeed even those miserable sinners which will ever be so When this Lion roareth all the Beasts of the Forrest tremble we hear the noise of it and do not know whence it cometh nor whither it goeth we feel and fear it but none of us knoweth what it is When we are Infants we do not know that we are so no more than the Tree doth that it groweth we cannot discover what poyson we brought with us into the World but poyson'd we are and understand not how nor in what as it is the nature of some poyson to have no sensible operation for some years but breaks forth at last into swellings and putrified sores and not throughly purged to our lives end In the dawnings and breakings forth of our Reason we understand little more than the rod and smart it bringeth with it In our riper age our Blood runneth hot in our veins then do we act over that with some sense and feeling which our Nurse pratled unto us and servants read to us with a licentious tongue and wanton behaviour in our Nonage and express those Rudiments and principles at last as perfectly as those old Gray-headed Atheists that taught them And having acted wantonness revenge and love of this world to ease our selves cast them all upon Adam and in effect upon God This was the best Crown wherewith our Mother crown'd us in the day of our Conception She taught us from the beginning that we suckt it from her breasts as she and all her Fathers had done before her who were forced to sin by a violent hand that first thrust us into that deadly path Indeed the Old Man that old Sinner is glad to hear of another Old Man worser than himself although he never intend to crucify him nor well understandeth what he is no more than the vulgar do Anti-Christ or the Devil God bless us but that the one is a Beast that hath horns and hoofs and the other sawcer eyes and claws and a cloven foot Multitude of years though Age be talkative yet many times know no more of this so much famed sourse of dealy poyson than the youths that are but of yesterday even they who have been brought up in Nob in the City and University of Priests in the Vatican can tell no more what to make of it than the Breeder of Bullocks or he that holdeth the Plough The Anabaptists in the daies of our Fore-Fathers called it Somnium Augustini St. Austin's Dream Some make it a Sin some a punishment only some make it both some the want of original Righteousness some the habitual obliquity of the Will others have made it the Image of the Devil There be that conceive all the Faculties of the Soul and Body even the whole Essence of Man to be corrupted and a Mass of evil molded up into a Man There be that make it an Accident and
still very shy to be kept they can hardly be lookt upon or handled they are desultorious and slippery and long to be gone from us But God sticks by us and delights to dwell with us A Servant abideth not in the house Joh. 8.35 but the Son abideth for ever Wisdom invites and courts all to her embraces O ye simple how long will ye love simplicity and ye fools delight in scorning Get wisdom get understanding wisdom shall preserve you understanding shall keep you Put her on as a Robe as a Crown as ornaments of gold and pretious stones and keep her as thy life God is not lapt up in the Ephod for the Priest alone nor wrapped up in the Diadem for the Prince alone All are equally concerned to enjoy God as well he that groveleth on the dunghil as he that sits on the Throne as well the dweller in the smoky Cottage as the Lord of stately Palaces The Gospel is preached to every Creature his Messengers are equally sent to the Captains and Scribes as to the common Souldiers that sit on the Wall God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Christ disdained not the society of Publicans and Sinners and the Kingdom of Heaven is pressed into by all sorts and the violent take it by force SECT XIII Good lovely 3. Because Good is lovely and amiable to all and praised by the worst because Nature teacheth all Men to reverence Virtue though they choose the contrary It striketh an awe into those that scorn it A Man of God a Magistrate carries such gravity in his Countenance and habit and Majesty in his life and Calling that his presence will daunt the stoutest Atheists and Ranters and stop their oathes and lewdness till Cato be gone they start at him and beg of him to depart out of their coast and pray him not to come among them to torment them The preaching of Paul of Justice and Judgment made Felix tremble Bonum tunc vincit cum laeditur tunc intelligitur cum arguitur When good is most opposed she conquers most and is then understood when she is reproved so hard a thing it is to loose the Instinct of Nature which when put by will come on with the greater force to our greater conviction and shame in refusing that good which is so obvious and easie to be practised and hunt after that evil which is more remote and painful to be performed Herod was troubled to cut of John Baptist's head because it was unjust and dishonorable yet for his Oath 's sake and those that were with him and to please a wanton Damsel in Point of Honour falsely so called he commanded it to be done contrary to his conscience and was troubled after he had done it when hearing of the famous works of Christ he cryed out it was John the Baptist that was risen from the dead Christ's innocency evicted Pilate's heart while his tongue condemned him saying to the People Be it as you require And yet he could not but say I find no fault in this Man The malice of Tyrants raged against the Martyrs to kill them while their innocency acquitted them even in the Judgments of their murtherers fain would they have spar'd their lives if they would but conform to their idolatrous courses so contrary to nature for an Idol is nothing there is no reason in Nature for it nor in many other things which unreasonable and unnatural Men presume to do Wicked Men are glad when they can get companions in their sins and glory most when for fear of torments they can bring godly Men over to their ungodly courses thinking thereby to strengthen themselves in their sin and to salve their own sores and lull the loud cries of their conscience condemning them for what they do What Traitor ever praised Rebellion and what Devil will not commend a Saint Let me die the death of the Righteous saith the most profane and let my last end be like unto his yet they will not give themselves leave to do that which in reason they allow to be good and just so strongly are Men confuted by themselves and so powerful is the Law of Nature in all Men. Besides what satisfaction ever had any wicked Man in his wicked courses Eat drink and be merry take thine ease let loose the reins to all licentiousness beat at every bush crown thy head with Rose-buds before they be withered taste of all the delights of the Sons of Men will this do in the midst of laughter the heart is sorrowful Vanity of vanities saith even Nature it self all is vanity and vexation of Spirit Nothing can fill the heart but God nothing can comfort but a good conscience Lastly to make all sure remember that undeniable principle of Reason mentioned in the first Book and first Title of the first Volume to be written with Letters of Gold and to be engraven in the Rock with the point of a Diamond for ever which is this That every Action that is in our Power to do or not to do is imputable to us and may justly be imputed to us by God or Man But on the contrary every Action that is not in our power to do or not to do is not imputable unto us nor can be justly imputed to us by God or Man That is not of debt to the hurt of any but of Grace it may be imputed for their good For favours may be imputed where they are not due But sins and plagues can never be imputed but only where they are due The Rule is unquestionable It is impossible rightly to lay the guilt of sin upon any Man unless he by his own individual Act of will hath made himself guilty of the transgression of a known Law If this be true then consider what rightly follows Vide l. 7. T. 3. of Christ's feudal Kingdom Sect. A publick person c. SECT XIV Argumenta Laciniata Aculeata 1. God pardoned Adam's sin upon his repentance Ergo he suffered not for it any more than a temporal death which was threatned him how then shall his Children be unpardoned and suffer any more than a temporal death threatned in Adam to all his posterity 2. Our Birth is involuntary and without our knowledg how then born in sin involuntary and unknown except God by decree included our knowledg and wills by interpretation How can these things be No being no life no Action no Understanding no Will. Then we must charge God who makes us consent before we were or could consent 3. Our will was fast asleep in its causes The cause of our will is God's will not Adam's will The Soul is immediately created and infused by God Ergo was not in Adam's Soul 4. God did not punish the Devils but for their own most perfect choice why are Men punished for no choice 5. If Adam had notice of the Law what notice had we
and for everlasting Heb. 13.8 When St. Peter saies That the Prophets who foretold the Gospel searched against what time the Spirit of Christ that was in them declared and testified before hand the sufferings of Christ and the glorious things that followed 1 Pet. 1.10 When St. Paul saith That all Gods Promises are Yea and Amen in Christ 2 Cor. 1.20 Methinks it is strange that a Christian should imagine that there was not consideration of Christ in these promises under which they ran the race of Christians Nor could St. Paul say As by Adam all die so by Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 Nor could the comparison hold between the first and second Adam Ro. 5.12 19. if that life which I have shewed Christ restores Christians to were given to the Fathers before Christ without consideration of Christ Nor could the Apostle otherwise say That Christ is the Mediatour of the New Covenant that death coming for the ransom of those transgressions that were under the old they that are called may receive the promise of an everlasting Inheritance Heb. 9.15 But because those sins which were redeemed only to a temporal effect by the sacrifices of the old Law as also those which were not redeemed at all by any were by the sacrifice of Christ redeemed to the purchase of the World to come Which is that which St. Paul tells the Jews Act. 13.29 That through Christ every one that believeth is justified from all things which they could not be justified of by the Law of Moses For as the Law did not expiate capital offences so it expiated none but to the effect of a civil promise And though we construe the words of St. John Apoc. 13.8 Whose names are not written in the book of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World out of the same sense repeated Ap. 13.8 Not that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world but that their names were written in his book from the foundation of the world yet inasmuch as it is called the book of the Lamb that was foreknown from the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 19. When Moses demands not to be written in Gods book when mention is made of it in the New Testament it must be the book of Christ in the mystical sense And when St. Paul saith that Christ gaeve himself a ransom for all A testimony for due time what can he mean but that though he gave himself for all yet this was not to be testified till the proper time of the preaching of the Gospel And what is this but that though this is testified only by the preaching of the Gospel yet he was a ransom for all Which reason suffers not the same term All Heb. 2.9 Ro. 3.23 to be restrained from that generality which it naturally signifies Lastly when the Apostle argues that if Christ should offer himself more than once that he might more than once enter into the Holy of Holies he must have suffered oft from the foundation of the World that is before the end of the World in which he came indeed Heb. 9.25 26. he must needs suppose that he suffered for all that were saved before the Gospel For what pretence can there be that he should suffer for sins under the Gospel before the Gospel more than that the High Priest before the Law should expiate those sins which were committed against the Law by entring in to the Holie of Holies And here you may see that I intend not to affirm that all that were saved under the Law though in consideration of Christ did know in what consideration Christ should be their salvation as Christians under the Gospel do But to refer my self to the determination of St. Augustine and other Fathers and Doctors of the Church that they understood it in their Elders and Superiors the Prophets of God and their Disciples the Judges of Israel who were also Prophets and the Fathers of several ages of whom you read Heb. 11. Who being acquainted with the secret of Gods purpose were to acquaint the people with it so sparingly and by such degrees as the secret wisdom of God had appointed These things thus premised I do acknowledge and challenge the act of God in dispensing in the execution of his original Law and bringing the Gospel into effect instead of it not to be the act of a private person remitting this particular interest in the punishment of those sins whereby his Law was transgressed But the Act of a Master of a houshold or the Prince and Soveraign of a Commonwealth which you please disposing of Mankind as his Subjects or Houshold Servants c. Dr. Taylor Rule of Consc 2 Book p. 319. I do not here intend a Dispute whether Christ hath given us Laws of which neither before Moses or since there are no foot-steps in the Old Testament for I think there are none such but in the letter or Analogy they were taught and recommended as before But this I say that some excellencies and perfections of Morality were by Christ superadded in the very instances of the Decalogue These also were bound upon us with greater severity are indeared to us by special promises and we by proper aids are enabled to their performance And the Old Commandments are explicated by new Commentaries and are made to be Laws in new instances to which by Moses they were not obliged And some of those excellent saying which are respersed in the Old Testament and which are the dawnings of the Evangelical light are now part of the body of light which derives from the Sun of Righteousness In so much that a commandment which was given of old was given again in a new manner and to new purposes and to more eminent degrees and therefore is also called a New Commandments c. v. 3. Book c. 3. p. 555. Idem 2. B. c. 3. p. 469. In the Religion of the old World the Religion of Sacrifices and consumptive oblations it is certain themselves did not choose by natural reason but they were taught and enjoyn'd by God For that it is no part of a natural Religion to kill Sacrifices and offer to God Wine and Fat is evident by the Nature of the things themselves the cause of their institution and the Matter of Fact that is the evidence that they came in by positive Constitution For Blood was anciently the sanction of Laws and Covenants Sanctio à Sanguine say the Grammarians because the Sanction or establishment of Laws was that which bound the life of Man to the law and therefore when the Law was broken the Life or Blood was forfeited But then as in Covenants in which sometime the wilder people did drink Blood the gentler and more civil did drink Wine the blood of the Grape So in the forfeiture of Lands they also gave the blood of Beasts in exchange for their own Now that this was less than what was done is certain and therefore it