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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30895	An apology for the true Christian divinity, as the same is held forth, and preached by the people, called, in scorn, Quakers being a full explanation and vindication of their principles and doctrines, by many arguments, deduced from Scripture and right reason, and the testimony of famous authors, both ancient and modern, with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them, presented to the King / written and published in Latine, for the information of strangers, by Robert Barclay ; and now put into our own language, for the benefit of his country-men.; Theologiae verè Christianae apologia. English	Barclay, Robert, 1648-1690.	1678 (1678)	Wing B721; ESTC R1740	415,337	436

though we should extend that of the Revelation beyond the particular Prophecy of that book it cannot be understood but of a new Gospel or new Doctrines or of restraining man's Spirit that he mix not his humane words with the Divine and not of a new revelation of the old as we have said before The Fourth Proposition Concerning the Condition of Man in the fall All Adam's posterity or mankind both Jews and Gentiles as to the first Adam or earthly man is faln degenerated and dead deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward Testimony or Seed of God and is subject unto the Power Nature and Seed of the Serpent which he soweth in mens hearts while they abide in this natural and corrupted estate from whence it comes that not only their words and deeds but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God as proceeding from this depraved and wicked Seed Man therefore as he is in this state can know nothing aright yea his Thoughts and Coneptions concerning God and things Spiritual until he be disjoyned from this evil Seed and united to the Divine Light are unprofitable both to himself and others Hence are rejected the Socinian and Pelagian errors in exalting a Natural Light as also the Papists and most of Protestants who affirm that man without the true Grace of God may be a true Minister of the Gospel Nevertheless this Seed is not imputed to Infants until by Transgression they actually joyn themselves therewith for they are by Nature the Children of Wrath. Who walk according to the Power of the Prince of the Air and the Spirit that now worketh in the Children of disobedience having their conversation in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind Eph. 2. § I. HItherto we have discoursed how the True knowledg of God is attained and preserved also of what use and service the Holy Scripture is to the Saints We come now to examine the state and condition of Man as he stands in the fall what his capacity and power is and how far he is able as of himself to advance in relation to the things of God Of this we touch'd a little in the beginning of the second Proposition but the full right and through understanding of it is of great use and service because from the ignorance and altercations that have been about it there have arisen great and dangerous errors both on the one hand and the other While some do so far exalt the light of Nature or the faculty of the natural man as capable of himself by virtue of the inward will faculty light and power that pertains to his Nature to follow that which is good and make real progress towards Heaven And of these are the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians of old and of late the Socinians and divers others among the Papists Others again will needs run into another extream to whom Augustin among the Antients first made way in his declining age through the heat of his Zeal against Pelagius not only confessing men uncapable of themselves to do good and prone to evil but that in his very Mothers-womb and before he commits any actual Transgression he is contaminate with a real guilt whereby he deserves eternal Death in which respect they are not afraid to affirm that many poor Infants are eternally damned and for ever endure the Torments of Hell Therefore the God of Truth having now again revealed his Truth that good and even Way by his own Spirit hath taught us to avoid both these extreams That then which our proposition leads us to treat of is First What the condition of man is in the Fall and how far uncapable to meddle in the things of God And Secondly that God doth not impute this evil to Infants until they actually joyn with it that so by establishing the Truth we may overturn the errors on both parts And as for that Third thing included in the proposition it self concerning these Teachers which want the Grace of God we shall refer that to the Tenth Proposition where that matter is more particularly handled § II. As to the First not to dive into the many curious Notions which many have concerning the Condition of Adam before the fall all agree in this that thereby he came to a very great loss not only in the things which related to the outward man but in regard of that true Fellowship and Communion he had with God This loss was signified to him in the Command For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2.17 This death could not be an outward death or the dissolution of the outward man for as to that he did not dye yet many Hundred Years after so that it must needs respect his Spiritual Life and Communion with God The consequence of this fall besides that which relates to the fruits of the Earth is also expressed Gen. 3.24 So he drove out the man and he placed at the East of the Garden of Eden Cherubims and a Flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life Now whatsoever literal signification this may have we may safely ascribe to this Paradise a mystical signification and truly account it that Spiritual Communion and Fellowship which the Saints obtain with God by Jesus Christ to whom only these Cherubims give way and unto as many as enter by him who calls himself the door So that though we do not ascribe any whit of Adam's guilt to men until they make it theirs by the like acts of Disobedience yet we cannot suppose that men who are come of Adam naturally can have any good thing in their Nature as belonging to it which he from whom they derive their Nature had not himself to communicate unto them If then we may affirm that Adam did not retain in his Nature as belonging thereunto any will or light capable to give him knowledg in Spiritual things then neither can his posterity For whatsoever real good any man doth it proceedeth not from his nature as he is a man or the Son of Adam but from the Seed of God in him as a new visitation of Life in order to bring him out of this natural condition So that though it be in him yet it is not of him and this the Lord himself witnessed Gen. 6.5 where it is said he saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually which words as they are very positive so are they very comprehensive Observe the emphasis of them First there is every imagination of the thoughts of his heart so that this admits of no exception of any Imagination of the thoughts of his heart Secondly is only evil continually it is neither in some part evil continually nor yet only evil at sometimes but both only evil and always and continally evil which certainly excludes any good as a proper effect of mans heart naturally For that

another argument from these words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2. where he so positively excludes the Natural man from an understanding in the things of God but because I have spoken of that Scripture in the beginning of the Second Proposition I will here avoid to repeat what is there mentioned referring thereunto Yet because the Socinians and others who exalt the Light of the Natural man or a natural Light in man do object against this Scripture I shall remove it ere I make an end Obj. They say The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be translated animal and not natural else say they it would have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which they seek to infer that it is only the animal Man and not the rational that is excluded here from the discerning the things of God Which shift without disputing the word is easily refuted neither is it any wife consistent with the scope of the place for Frist The animal life is no other than that which Man hath common with other living Creatures for as he is a meer Man he differs no otherwise from Beasts than by the rational Property Now the Apostle deduceth his argument in the foregoing Verses from this simile that as the things of a Man cannot be known but by the Spirit of a Man so the things of God no Man knoweth but by the Spirit of God But I hope these Men will confess unto me that the things of a Man are not known by the animal Spirit only i. e. by that which he hath common with the Beasts but by the rational So that it must be the rational that is here understood Again the subsumption shews clearly that the Apostle had no such intent as these Mens gloss would make him to have viz. So the things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God according to their Judgment he should have said the things of God knoweth no Man by his animal Spirit but by his rational Spirit for to say the Spirit of God here spoken of is no other than the rational Spirit of Man would border upon Blasphemy since they are so often contra-distinguished Again going on he saith not that they are rationally but spiritually discerned Secondly The Apostle throughout this Chapter shews how the wisdom of Man is unfit to Judg the things of God and ignorant of them Now ask these Men whether a Man be called a wise Man from his animal Property or from his rational If from his rational then it is not only the animal but even the rational as he is yet in the natural State which the Apostle excludes here and whom he contradistinguisheth from the Spiritual v. 15. But the Spiritual man judgeth all things this cannot be said of any Man meerly because rational or as he is a Man seeing the Men of greatest reason if we may so esteem Men whom the Scripture calls wise as were the Greeks of Old not only may be but often are Enemies to the Kingdom of God while both the preaching of Christ is said to be foolishness with the wise Men of this World and the wisdom of this World is said to be foolishness with God Now whether it be any ways propable that either these wise Men that are said to account the Gospel foolishness are only so called with respect to their animal Property and not their rational or that that wisdom that is foolishness with God is not meant of the rational but only the animal property any rational Man laying aside interests may easily Judg. § IV. I come now to the other part to wit that this evil and corrupt seed is not imputed to Infants until they actually joyn with it For this there is a reason given in the end of the Proposition it self drawn from Eph. 2. for these are by nature Children of Wrath who walk according to the prince of the power of the Air the Spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Here the Apostle gives their evil walking and not any thing that is not reduced to act as a reason of their being Children of wrath and this is sutable to the whole strain of the Gospel where no man is ever threatned or judged for what iniquity he hath not actually wrought Such indeed as continue in iniquity and so do Homologat the sins of their Fathers God will visit the iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children Is it not strange then that men should entertain an opinion so absurd in it self and so cruel and contrary to the nature as well of God's mercy as justice concerning the which the Scripture is altogether silent But it is manifest that Man hath invented this opinion out of self-love and from that bitter Root from which all errors springs for the most of Protestants that hold this having as they fancy the absolute decree of Elections to secure them and their Children so as they cannot miss of Salvation they make no great difficulty to send all others both Old and Young to hell For whereas self-love which always is apt to believe that which it desires possesseth them with a hope that their part is secure they are not solicitous how they leave their Neighbours which are the far greater part of Mankind in these inextricable difficultys The Papists again use this Opinion as an art to augment the esteem of their Church and reverence of its Sacraments seeing they pretend it is washed away by Baptism only in this they appear to be a little more Merciful in that they send not these unbaptized infant to Hell but to a certain Limbus concerning which the Scriptures are as silent as of the other This then is not only not authorised in the Scriptures but contrary to the express tenor of it The Apostle saith plainly Rom. 4.15 Where no Law is there is no transgression And again 5.13 But sin is not imputed where there is no Law Than which Testimonies there is nothing more positive since to infants there is no Law seeing as such they are utterly uncapable of it the Law cannot reach but such as have in some measure less or more the exercise of their understanding which infants have not So that from thence I thus agree Sin is imputed to none where there is no Law But to infants there is no Law Therefore sin is not imputed to them The Proposition is the Apostle's own Words the Assumption is thus proved Those who are under a physical impossibility of either hearing knowing or understanding any Law where the impossibility is not brought upon them by any act of their own but is according to the very order of nature appointed by God to such there is no Law But infants are under this physical impossibility Therefore c. Secondly What can be more positive than that of Ezek. 18.20 The Soul that sinneth it shall die the Son shall not bear the Fathers Iniquity For the Prophet here first sheweth what is the cause of mans Eternal Death which he

deeds but only of his own pleasure and if he hath also decreed long before they were in being or in any capacity to do good or evil that they should walk in those wicked waies by which as by a secondary means they are led to that end who I pray is the first author and cause thereof but God who so willed and decreed This is as natural a consequence as any can be And therefore although many of the Preachers of this doctrine have sought out various strange strained and intricate distinctions to defend their opinion and evite this horrid consequence yet some and that of the most eminent of them have been so plain in the matter as they have put it beyond all doubt Of which I shall instance a few among many passages I say that by the ordination and will of God Adam fell God would have man to fall Man is blinded by the will and commandment of God We refer the causes of hardening us to God The highest or remote cause of hardening is the will of God It followeth that the hidden counsel of God is the cause of hardning These are Calvin's expressions God saith Beza hath predestinated not only unto damnation but also unto the causes of it whomsoever he saw meet The degree of God cannot be excluded from the causes of corruption It is certain saith Zanchius that God is the First cause of obduration Reprobates are held so fast under Gods Almighty decree that they cannot but sin and perish It is the opinion saith Paraeus of our Doctors that God did inevitably decree the temptation and fall of Man The creature sinneth indeed necessarily by the most just Judgment of God Our men do most rightly affirm that the fall of man was necessary and inevitable by accident because of Gods decree God saith Martyr doth incline and force the wills of wicked men into great sins God saith Zwinglius moveth the robber to kill He killeth God forcing him thereunto But thou wilt say he is forced to sin I permit truly that he is forced Reprobate Persons saith Piscator are absolutly ordained to this twofold end to undergo everlasting punishment and necessarily to sin and therefore to sin that they may be justly punished If these sayings do not plainly and evidently import that God is the Author of Sin we must not then seek these Mens opinions from their words but some way else it seems as if they had assumed to themselves that monstrous and twofold will they feign of God one by which they declare their minds openly and another more secret and hidden which is quite contrary to the other Nor doth it at all help them to say that man sins willingly since that willingness proclivity and propensity to evil is according to their judgment so necessarily imposed upon him that he cannot but be willing because God hath willed and decreed him so Which shift is just as if I should take a Child uncapable to resist me and throw it down from a great precipice the weight of the Childs body indeed makes it go readily down and the violence of the fall upon some rock or stone beats out its Brains and kills it Now then I pray though the body of the Child goes willingly down for I suppose it as to its mind is uncapable of any will and the weight of its body and not any immediate stroak of my hand who perhaps am at a great distance makes it die whether is the Child or I the proper cause of its death Let any man of reason judg if Gods's part be with them as great yea more immediate in the sins of men as by the testimonies above brought doth appear whether doth not this make him not only the Author of sins but more unjust than the unjustest of men § III. Secondly This Doctrine is injurious to God because it makes him delight in the death of sinners yea and to will many to die in their sins contrary to these Scriptures Ezek. 33.11 1 Tim. 2.3 2 Pet. 3.9 For if he hath created men only for this very end that he might show forth his Justice and Power in them as these men affirm and for effecting thereof hath not only with-held from them the means of doing good but also predestinated the evil that they might fall into it and that he inclines and forces them into great sins certainly he must necessarily delight in their death and will them to die seeing against his own will he neither doth nor can do any thing § IV. Thirdly It is highly injurious to Christ our Mediator and to the efficacy and excellency of his Gospel for it renders his mediation ineffectual as if he had not by his sufferings throughly broken down the middle wall nor yet removed the wrath of God or purchased the love of God towards all mankind if it was afore-decreed that it should be of no service to the far greater part of mankind It is to no purpose to alledg that the death of Christ was of efficacy enough to have saved all mankind if in effect its vertue be not so far exended as to put all mankind into a capacity of Salvation Fourthly It makes the preaching of the Gospel a meer mock and illusion if many of theseto whom it is preached be by an irrevocable decree excluded from being benefited by it it wholly makes useless the preaching of Faith and Repentance and the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threatnings as being all relative to a former decree and means before appointed to such which because they cannot fail man needs do nothing but wait for that irresistible snatch which will come though it be but at the last hour of his Life if he be in the decree of Election And be his diligence and waiting what it can he shall never attain it if he belong to the decree of Reprobation Fifthly It makes the coming of Christ and his propitiatory Sacrifice which the Scripture affirms to have been the fruit of Gods love to the world and transacted for the sins and Salvation of all men to have been rather a testimony of Gods wrath to the world and one of the greatest judgments and severest acts of Gods indignation towards mankind it being only ordain'd to save a very few and for the hardening obduring and augmenting the condemnation of the far greater number of men because they believe not truly in it the cause of which unbelief again as the Divines so called above assert is the hidden counsel of God certainly the coming of Christ was never to them a testimony of Gods love but rather of his implacable wrath And if the World may be taken for the far greater number of such as live in it God never loved the world according to this Doctrine but rather hated it greatly in sending his Son to be crucified in it § V. Sixthly This Doctrine is highly injurious to mankind for it renders them in a far

by some citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will appear though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostacy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures Testimony as it hath pleased God to reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and comprehended in the Thesis it self yet I shall a little more fully explain the state of the Controversie as it stands betwixt us and those that now oppose us § III. First then as by the explanation of the former Thesis appears we renounce all natural power and ability in our selves in order to bring us out of our lost and faln condition and first Nature and confess that of our selves we are able to do nothing that is good so neither can we procure remission of sins or justification by any act of our own so as to merit it or draw it as a debt from God due unto us but we acknowledg all to be of and from his Love which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance Secondly God manifested this love towards us in the sending of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour and having made peace through the blood of his Cross that he might reconcile us unto himself and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God and suffered for our sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God Thirdly then forasmuch as all men who have come to man's estate the Man Jesus only excepted have sinned therefore all have need of this Saviour to remove the Wrath of God from them due to their offences in this respect he is truly said to have born the Iniquities of us all in his Body on the Tree and therefore is the Only Mediator having qualified the Wrath of God towards us so that our former sins stand not in our way being by vertue of his most satisfactory Sacrifice removed and pardoned Neither do we think that remission of sins is to be expected sought or obtained any other way or by any works or Sacrifice whatsomever though as has been said formerly they may come to partake of this remission that are ignorant of the History So then Christ by his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God even while we are Enemies that is he offers reconciliation unto us we are put into a capacity of being reconciled God is willing to forgive us our iniquities and to accept us as is well expressed by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation And therefore the Apostle in the next verses treats them in Christs stead to be reconciled to God intimating that the Wrath of God being removed by the obedience of Christ Jesus he is willing to be reconciled unto them and ready to remit the sins that are past if they repent We consider then our Redemption in a two fold respect or state both which in their own Nature are perfect though in their application to us the one is not nor cannot be without respect to the other The first is the Redemption performed and accomplished by Christ for us in his Crucified Body without us The other is the Redemption wrought by Christ in us which no less properly is called and accounted a Redemption than the former The first then is that whereby man as he stands in the fall is put into a capacity of Salvation and hath conveighed unto him a measure of that Power Vertue Spirit Life and Grace that was in Christ Jesus which as the free Gift of God is able to counter-ballance overcome and root out the Evil Seed wherewith we are naturally as in the fall leavened The second is that whereby we witness and know this pure and perfect Redemption in our selves purifying cleansing and redeeming us from the power of Corruption and bringing us into unity Favour and Friendship with God By the first of these two we that are lost in Adam plunged in the bitter and corrupt Seed unable of our selves to do any good thing but naturally joyned and united to evil forward and propense to all iniquity servants and slaves to the Power and Spirit of Darkness are notwithstanding all this so far reconciled to God by the death of his Son while Enemies that we are put into a capacity of Salvation having the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace offered unto us and God is reconciled unto us in Christ calls and invites us to himself in which respect we understand these Scriptures He stew the enmity in himself He loved us first seeing us in our blood he said unto us live he who did not sin his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree and he died for our sins the just for the unjust By the second we witness this capacity brought into act whereby receiving and not resisting the purchase of his death to wit the Light Spirit and Grace of Christ revealed to us we witness and possess a real true and inward Redemption from the power and prevalency of sin and so come to be truly and really redeemed justified and made righteous and to a sensible union and friendship with God Thus he died for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and thus we know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to us This last follows the first in order and is a consequence of it proceeding from it as an effect from its cause So as none could have enjoyed the last without the first had been such being the will of God so also can none now partake of the first but as he witnesseth the last Wherefore as to us they are both causes of our Justification The first the procuring efficient the other the formal cause Fourthly we understand not by this Justification by Christ barely the good works even as wrought by the Spirit of Christ for they as Protestants truly affirm are rather an effect of Justification than the cause of it But we understand the formation of Christ in us Christ born and brought forth in us from which good works as naturally proceed as Fruit from a Fruitful Tree It is this inward Birth in us bringing forth Righteousness and Holyness in us that doth Just●fie us which having removed and done away the contrary Nature and Spirit that did bear rule and bring condemnation now is in dominion over all in our hearts Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in them do enjoy him wholly and undivided who is The LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Jer. 23.6 This is to be cloathed with Christ and to have put

173. concerning the Lord's Prayer 245. to pray without the Spirit is to offend God 249 369. concerning the Prayer of the will in silence 256. see Worship Prayer the Prayers of the People were in the Latin Tongue 207. Preacher see Minister Preaching what it is termed the Preaching of the Word 211 218 233 234. to Preach without the Spirit is to offend God 249. see Worship it is a permanent Institution 291. it is learned as another Trade 218. Predestinated God hath after a special manner predestinated some to Salvation of whom if the places of Scripture which some abuse be understood their objections are easily solved 97. Priest under the Law God spake immediately to the High-Priest 14 27. Priests see Minister of the Law 187. 188 205 220 221. Profession an outward profession is necessary that any be a member of a particular Christian Church 183. Prophecy and to prophecy what it signifies 215 216. of the liberty of prophecying 217. Prophets some Prophets did not miracles 198 199. Protestants the rule of their Faith 30. they are forced ultimately to recur unto the immediate and inward revelation of the Holy Spirit 36. what difference betwixt the execrable deeds of those of Munster and theirs 30 31 32 33. they make Phylosophy the hand-maid of Divinity 50. they affirm John Hus prophecyed of the Reformation that was to be 57. whether they did not throw themselves into many errors while they were expecting a greater light 83. they opposed the Papists not without good cause in the doctrin of Justification but they soon ran into another extreme 130 131. they say that the best works of the Saints are defiled 136. whether there be any difference between them and the Papists in superstitions and manners and what it is 184 185 197 198. what they think of the call of a Minister 188 189 190 191 192 196 197 198 199. it's lamentable that they betake them to Judas for a Patron to their Ministers and Ministry 205. their zeal and endeavours are praised 206. of their School-divinity 210 211. of the Apostles and Evangelists of this time 217. whom they exclude from the Ministry 219. that they Preach to none until they be first sure of so much a year 221. the more moderate of them exclaim against the excessive Revenues of the Clergy 224. tho they had forsaken the Bishop of Rome yet they would not part with old Benefices 226. they will not labour 227. whether they have made a perfect Reformation in worship 231 232. their worship can easily be stopped 251. they have given great scandal to the Reformation 272. they deny water-baptism to be absolute necessary to Salvation 285. of water-baptism 299 300 301. of the flesh and blood of Christ 308 309 310. they use not washing of feet 320. how they did vindicate liberty of Conscience 341. some affirm that wicked Kings and Magistrates ought to be deposed yea killed 342. how they meet when they have not the consent of the Magistrate 248 249. of Oaths and Swearing 372 373. Psalms singing of Psalms 275. Q Quakers i. e. Tremblers and why so called 117 242. they are not contemners of the Scriptures and what they think of them 38 40 41 48 49 50 54 55 89. nor of Reason and what they think of it 91 92. they do not say that all other secondary means of knowledg are of no service 9. they do not compare themselves to Jesus Christ as they are falsly accused 88. Nor do they deny those things that are written in the Holy Scriptures concerning Christ his conception c. 89 141. they were raised up of God to shew forth the Truth 83 84 115 116 126 212 243. their doctrin of Justification is not Popish 129 134 151 158. they are not against meditation 248. their worship cannot be interrupted 250. and what they have suffered 249 252. how they vindicate Liberty of Conscience 346 347. they do not persecute others 349. Their adversaries confess that they are found for the most part free from the abominations which abound among others yet they count those things Vices in them which in themselves they extol as notable Vertues and make more noise about the escape of one Quakea than of an hundred among themselves 351 352. they destroy not the mutual relation that is betwixt Prince and People Master and Servant Father and Son nor do they introduce community of Goods 352 353. Nor say that one man may not use the Creation more or less than another 353. R Ranters the blasphemy of the Ranters or Libertines saying that there is no difference betwixt good and evil 167. Reason what need we set up corrupt reason 23. concerning Reason 30 92 93. Rebekkah 241. Reconciliation how reconciliation with God is made 136 to 141. Recreations see Plays Redemption is considered in a twofold respect First performed by Christ without us and secondly wrought in us 134 135. it is Universal God gave his Only begotten Son Jesus Christ for a Light that whosoever believeth in him may be saved 67 68 103 104. the benefit of his death is not less Universal than the seed of sin 67. there is scarce found any Article of the Christian Religion that is so expresly confirmed in the holy Scriptures 71 72 73 74 75 76. this doctrin was Praached by the Fathers so called of the first 600 years and is proved by the sayings of some 78 79. those that since the time of the Reformation have affirmed it have not given a clear testimony how that benefit is communicated to all nor have sufficiently taught the Truth because they have added the absolute necessity of the outward knowledg of the history of Christ yea they have thereby given the contrary party a stronger argument to defend their precise decree of Reprobation among whom were the Remonstrants of Holland 68 80 81 82. God hath now raised up a few illiterate men to be dispensers of this Truth 89 90 116 117. this doctrin sheweth forth the Mercy and Justice of God 83 84 96 97. it is the foundation of Salvation 84. it answers to the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threats 84. it magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ 84. it exalts above all the Grace of God 84. it overturns the false doctrin of the Pelagians Semi-pelagians and others who exalt the Light of Nature and the freedom of man's will 84. it makes the Salvation of man solely to depend upon God and his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be of himself 84. it takes away all ground of Despair and feeds none in security 85. it commends the Christian Religion among Infidels 85. it sheweth the Wisdom of God 85. and it is established tho not in words yet by deeds even by those Ministers that oppose this doctrine 85. it derogates not from the attonement and sacrifice of Jesus Christ but doth magnifie and exalt it 89. there is given to every one none excepted a certain day and time of

saith is in his sinning and then as if he purposed expresly to shut out such an opinion he assures us the Son shall not bear the Fathers Iniquity From which I thus argue If the Son bear not the Iniquity of his Father or of his immediate Parents far less shall he bear the iniquity of Adam But the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of his Father Therefore c. § V. Having thus far shewn how absurd this Opinion is I shall briefly examine the reasons its Authors bring for it First They say Adam was a publick Person Obj. and therefore all men sinned in him as being in his loins And for this they alledg that of Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned c. These last words say they may be translated in whom all have sinned To this I answer That Adam is a publick person is not denyed and that through him there is a seed of sin propagated to all men Answ. which in its own nature is sinsiul and inclines men to iniquity yet will it not follow from thence that Infants who joyn not with this Seed are guilty As for these words in the Romans the reason of the guilt there alledged is for that all have sinned Now no man is said to sin unless he actually sin in his own person for the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may very well relate to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the nearest antecedent so that they hold forth how that Adam by his sin gave an entrance to sin in the world and so death entred by sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. upon which viz. occasion or in which viz. death all others have sinned that is actually in their own person to wit all that were capable of sinning of which number that infants could not be the Apostle clearly shews by the following verse Sin is not imputed where there is no Law and since as is above proved there is no Law to Infants they cannot be here included Their second Objection is from Psal. 51.5 Obj. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Hence they say it appears that Infants from their Conception are guilty How they infer this consequence for my part I see not The iniquity and sin here Answ. appears to be far more ascribable to the Parents than to the Child It is said indeed In sin did my mother conceive me not my mother did conceive me a sinner Besides that so interpreted contradicts expresly the Scripture before mentioned in making Children guilty of the sins of their immediate Parents for of Adam there is not here any mention contrary to the plain words the Son shall not bear the Fathers iniquity Obj. Thirdly They object that the wages of sin is death and that seeing Children are subject to Diseases and Death therefore they must be guilty of sin Answ. I answer That these things are a consequence of the fall and of Adams sin is confessed but that infers necessarily a guilt in all others that are subject to them is denyed For though the whole outward Creation suffered a decay by Adam's fall which groans under vanity according to which it is said in Job that the Heavens are not clean in the sight of God yet will it not from thence follow that the Herbs Earth and Trees are sinners Next Death though a consequent of the fall incident to mans earthly Nature is not the wages of sin in the Saints but rather sleep by which they pass from death to life which is so far from being troublesome and painful to them as all real punishments for sin are that the Apostle counts it gain To me saith he to die is gain Psal. 1.21 Obj. Some are so foolish as to make an objection farther saying That if Adam 's sin be not imputed to those who actually have not sinned then it would follow that all Infants are saved But we are willing that this supposed absurdity should be the consequence of our Doctrine rather than that which it seems our adversaries reckon not absurd though the undoubted and unavoidable consequence of theirs viz. that Many Infants eternally perish not for any sin of their own but only for Adams iniquity where we are willing to let the controversie sist commending both to the illuminated understanding of the Christian Reader This error of our adversaries is both denied and refuted by Zwinglius that eminent Founder of the Protestant Churches of Zwitzerland in his Book De Baptismo for which he is anathematized by the Council of Trent in the fifth Session We shall only add this information that we confess then that a seed of sin is transmitted to all men from Adam although imputed to none until by sinning they actually joyn with it in which seed he gave occasion to all to sin and it is the orignal of all evil actions and thoughts in mens hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the 5. of the Romans i. e. in which death all have sinned For this seed of sin is frequently called Death in the Scripture and the body of death seeing indeed it is a death to the Life of Righteousness and Holiness Therefore its seed and its product is called the old man the old Adam in which all sin is for which cause we use this name to express this sin and not that of original sin of which phrase the Scripture makes no mention and under which invented and unscriptural Barbarism this notion of imputed sin to Infants took place among Christians The Fifth and Sixth Propositions Concerning the Vniversal Redemption by Christ and also the saving and Spiritual Light wherewith every man is inlightned The Fifth Proposition GOD out of his Infinite love who delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner but that all should live and be saved hath so loved the World that he hath given his only Son a LIGHT that whosoever believeth in him shall be saved John 3.16 Who inlighteneth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And maketh manifest all things that are reprovable Eph. 5.12 And teacheth all Temperance Righteousness and Godliness And this light lighteneth the hearts of all in a day in order to Salvation and this is it which reproves the Sin of all Individuals and would work out the Salvation of all if not resisted nor is it less Universal than the Seed of Sin being the purchase of his death who tasted death for every man For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ all shall be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 The Sixth Proposition According to which Principle or hypothesis all the objections against the Universality of Christs Death are easily solved neither is it needful to recur to the Ministry of Angels and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the Doctrine and