lusts will ye do Now this father makes use of a twofold mother to beget men in wickedness besides their own lust which when it is intised and drawn away by temptation conceiveth and bringeth forth sin Jam. 1 14 15. The first is the lying word and promises with which he deceiveth men as he did Eve saying Gen. 3.4 5. Ye shall not dye for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be openâ—d and ye shall be as Goâ—s knowing good and evil The second is the false Synagogue which through Satans help begets men in a false faith religion and worship Thus the Lord speaks to Ammi or his own people which were in the false Synagogue of Israel or the 10. tribes Ho. 2.1 2. Say unto your brethren Ammi and to your sister Ruhama plead with you mother plead for she is not my wise neither am I her husband let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her fight and her adulteries from between her breasts c. On the other hand in the work of the new birth as God is our father so the word of truth is our inward mother Jerusalem or the Church which is begotten from above is our outward spiritual mother Ja. 1.18 Of his own wil begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kinde of first fruits of his creaturs Gal. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all Come we now to enquire which of these mothers David here speaks of Not of his natural mother doubtless for as his father Isai which signifies a gift was a pious man in Israel so no doubt is to be made but his mother was a godly matron and being both of them well grown in grace ere they begot this their youngest son they were more likely to convey grace and holiness if that be communicable then sin unto him since at this age they must needs be well grown in goodness and very mortified persons But that it was the lye or lying promises of Satan with the folly therein contained by which he was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin as our first parents were and all their faln posterity have been since procreated no man of wisdom will doubt And this is here the more evident to be Davids meaning because in the next verse following he by way of opposition having now hope after his late fall to be holpen up again speaks of a new Spiritual Father and Mother saying verse 6. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me know wisdom which wisdom is a mother and hath her children Mat. 11.19 But wisdom is justified of her children as the lie and folly or Belial hath her brood likewise unto whom the Lord speaks thus Isai 57.3 But draw near hither ye sons of the Sorceress the seed of the Adulterer and of the whore So we read often of lying children or the sons of the lie and of the sons of Belial yea David himself attributes his sinnes to his folly 2 Sam. 24.10 saying I have done very foolishly Of these two Solomon speaks thus Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way but the folly of fools is deceit and Prov. 15.21 Folly is joy unto him that is destitute of wisdom and the Apostle saith the like Gal. 3.1 5. Objection It is said Psal 58.3 That the wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies Answer First we may here take notice that the Prophet speaks not this of all men but of the wicked onely Secondly it must needs bee the womb and birth of iniquitie and not the natural birth of which he here speaks For otherwise how can men go astray or speak lies so soon at they are born The 6. Objection Ezek. 16.3 The Lord speaks thus unto Jerusalem Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite and thy Mother an Hittite Answer The Lord doth not here upbraid the Jews with the corruption derived from our first parents but with wicked poslutions learned from the Canaanites although the name Amorite serves fitly to represent the Divel with his lying promises for it signifies a vain-talker or man of words as the name Hittite sets forth the soul that is prostrate to him The 7. Objection Paul confesseth thus much concerning himself and the Jewes Ephes 2.3 Among whom we all likewise had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh serving the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Answer it is one thing to be sinners from our first Nativitie and another in time to become the children of wrath by our personal fall and actual disobedience which also coming to pass in our natural man and by his desault we may truly be said by nature to be the children of wrath especially when sin by custom becomes a second nature unto us Yet doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated by nature import no more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is really and truly such by disobedience as the same word signifies Galat. 4.8 Howbeit when ye knew not God ye did sert vice unto them which by nature are no Gods The 8. Objection But the grand objection which our opposites bring is that of Rom. 5.12 c. where it is said That by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed over all men for that all have sinned Unto which we first answer in the general That this Chapter seems to be one of those places unto which Saint Peter aludes 2 Epist 3. Chap. vers 16. saying In which to wit the Epistles of Saint Paul are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction For here are seven things rightly understood by few but perveretd by many First the Justification of faith whereby we have peace with God verse 1. Secondly the time of our small strength in the natural man when we first fell through the power of temptation Christ dyed in us and for us v. 6. Thirdly the love of God then in letting his Son die for us and not destroying us v. 7 8. Fourthly the bloud of Christ through which we are justifie by faith v. 9. Fiftly the death of Christ or rather his like death through which we are reconciled to God v. 10. Of all which we shall speak in their due places Sixthly that one man Adam in us through whose disobedience all are made sinners And lastly That one man Christ in us through whose obedience many shall be made righteous which two Adams are not onely paralleled and opposed here with their fruits and effects but in many other Scriptures likewise
whereof take these few John 1.13 Which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit 1 Cor. 2.14 15. For the natural men perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned But the spiritual man discerneth all things but is discerned of none 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive and verse 45 46 47 48 49. As it is written the first man was made a living soul but the second Adam was made a quickening spirit Hewbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and then that which iâ— spiritual The first man is of the â—â—rth earthy the second mâ—n is the Lord from heaven as is the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthly so must we bear the image of the heavenly c. More particularly we answer That this one by whom sin entred into the world is not meant our first parent Adam but our own earthy or natural man which is called Adam and Edom from the earth of his foundation For the apostle shews that Adam our progenitor was not the original or first sinner 1 Timothy 2.14 For Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression according then to your Doctrine the apostle should have said By one Woman sin entred into the world But you hear before how Solomon Eccles 7.29 and the Lord himself Hos 14 1. scribe our fall to our selves This is yet clearer out of the 14. verse here where the apostle speaks of some who sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression but makes mention of none that sinned in him where he had fair occasion to speak of it yea if he had been of your belief he had committed a grievous neglect totally to omit it in silence Secondly here by the world into which sin entered we must understand the world of fallen and corrupt men as our Saviour doth Joâ—n 3.16 17. and John 15.17 18. and not all mankinde as you do c. Thirdly by death is not meant the bodily death which doth not presently ensue upon our fall no more then it did upon our first parents but a death unto righteousness or the life of innocencie with the contrary body of sin and so obnoxiousness to eternal death is hear meant Fourthly these words and death passed upon all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are thus to be rendered in as much or so far forth as all have sinned and as Moses in the 14. verse is not he that was the Lawgiver but the work of the Law drawing us to God so neither is this man the litterall Adam For Paul here saith That death reigned from Adam to Moses which must be understood necessarily thus from the fall of our natural Adam till the work of the Law came For otherwise the extent of the reign of sin should reach from the first man to the last and not to Moses onely Which thing the 13. ver holdeth out more plainly that he meant by Mose the Law For it is there said That until the Law sin was in the world which must be conceived that until the work of the law sin is in the world that is likewise in the faln corrupted men undiscovered which is plain from the latter part of the 13 verse where it is said sin is not reputed nor regarded as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and so Coverdel translates it and not imputed when there is no Law for that is false that sin was not imputed when there was no Law extant for it was imputed to Cain Gen. 4. and he was punished So to the old world and they punished Gen. 6 so to Babels builders and they punished Gen. 11.7.8 so it was imputed to Sodom and Gomorrab and they punished Gen. 19. when there was none of Moses law extant but it is a very truth that sin is not reputed not regarded when there is no work of the Law discovering sin unto the man so St. Paul saith of himself Rom. 7.9 that he was alive without the Law and verse v. he saith he had not known lust but by the Law and Rom. 3.20 it is said that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin Thus you see how death raigned from Adam to Moses yet not from the first individual Adam to Moses the Law-giver but in the 2. part of the 14 ver it is not affirmed that any sinned in the first individual Adam for he saith Some finned not after the similitude of Adams transgression over whom notwithstanding death reigned Now that expression hinteth these two things First Some sinned like Adam not in Adam others sinned not after the similitude of his transgression but some other way as after Esau's transgression Hebr. 18.16 17. or the like according to that Eccles 7.29 Surely if the Apostle had beleeved any such thing as the raigning of death over all men by the first mans sin he would not have omitted that and onely mentioned from Adam to Moses for all may perceive his main designe is from verse 12. to the 15. to set forth the inlet and extent of deaths reigning over sinners therefore he would have used the fullest and plainest expression serving to that purpose but the 19. verse is more plain against universal corruption by the first mans disobedience for there the Apostle useth the word many and saith by one mans disobediene many not all were made sinners Therefore all fell not in the first individual Adam If any yet reply That many in that place is tant ' amount and equivalent to the word all We Answer That then by the same reason the word many in the latter part of the verse must have the same latitude allowed for the Apostle setteth down a full comparison of equals in that verse here the verse must be thus interpreted That as by one mans disobedience all were made sinners so by one mans obedience all are made righteous If any yet reply and say By one mans obedience all that repent and beleeve are made righteous then by the same inter retation By ones mans disobedience all are made sinners that imitate him and sin like him after the similitude of Adam 's transgressions Thus all men may see there is nothing gained by interpreting the word many by a Synecdoche for all are made sinners by one mans disobedience for the latter part of the verse must have the word many so explained which to affirm namely that all are righteous by Christ by an absolute and uniuersal Justification is accounted as detestable an Heresy as it hath been hitherto to deny that
fal for so they then begin to be True it is that the great wickedness which the Psalmist complains of in his enemies and the persecutors of Gods people Psal 14 1 2. and Psal 36.1 2 c. as also that which Isaiah confesseth to God Chap. 59.2 3 4 c. is to be sound in too many and that not alone in those that are meer strangers unto God but in many members of the visible Church and therefore the Apostle applies those sayings to the Jews to prove them guilty of sin and death as well as the Gentiles Rom. 3.9 10 But though it must of necessity be granted which the Apostle affirms there afterwards Rom. 3.23 That all both Jews and Gentiles since the fall have sinned and come short of the glory of God Yet it will not follow from hence that all are alike deeply corrupted as they imply And this is your second mistake in this Section Lastly Whereas you say in the close of this Section That all actual transgressions do proceed from this original corruption of which you here speak It is false undoubtedly For Satan tempts men to many sins whereunto they have no previous inclination and suggests unto some of Gods servants such blasphemies as they abhor so far are they from being natural or familiar to them cannot that subtile powerful adversaries now tempt men aswel without corrupt inclinations as he did our first parents in their innocency Lastly to take a view of your fifâ—h Section you do not only affirm gross untruths there but seem to contradict your selves also As first That this corruption of nature doth remain in the regenerate during this life of which afterwards And then you adde Though it be in Christ both pardoned and mortified What do you say brethren Is it mortified by Christ and yet doth it remain Secondly Is it pardoned and yet doth it abide still in us For the first of these must it remain in us all our life time when then must it be quite purged out Must it be done in Purgatory hereafter or must men carry the remainders of sin with them into Gods Kingdom whereinto no unclean thing can enter Rev. 21.27 Surely you did not foresee what a world of absurdities would follow hereupon Must we not be implanted into the similitude of Christs death his total death that we may be implanted into the likeness of his resurrection Rom. 6.5 Certainly as the pattern was not a bare wounding or an half death in Christ so must our mortification be no less then a full death likewise Can Christ also be frustrate of the end of his coming who gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Ephes 5.25 26 27. Since this washing as the Apostle speaks must be by the water of the word surely it must be effected in this life Thirdly Is corruption a thing so well pleasing to God and his Chirst that he will not depart with it or wholly lose the presence and society of it See 2 Cor. 6.14 15 16. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial and what agreement hath the temple of God with Idols Is not sin and corruption an enemy to Christ as well as death Now the Apostle faith That the last enemy which shall be destroyed is death If death then be the last enemy then of necessity sin must be destroyed before But since you are wont to object many things against this Let us take a view of your objections First you say That as the Canaanites were left to prove the faith and obedience of the Israelites Judg. 3.1 so the Lord in the beginning of our regeneration leaves many corruptions to exercise our faith love and obedience likewise Answer It is true that they are left at the first for that end But would the Lord have them alwayes to continue in us On no For as the Lord was displeased with his people Israel for permitting those Nations still to dwel among them when they should have subdued them or cast them out Judg. 2.1 2. so will the Lord be highly offended with us if we roote not out these wicked Nations through the help of his Christ 1 Cor. 15.25 It is certain that David a man after Gods own heart subdued all the Canaanites so that when Solomon succeeded him there was neither enemy left nor evil occurrent 1 King 5.4 And so hath Christ the promise that all his enemies shall be his foolstoole Psal 110.1 Acts 2 34. Yea he is given to us for our final deliverance from them and conquest over them Luk. 1.71 John 3.8 Secondly You say That corruption is lest to keep us humble least we grow proud Answer If all corruption were purged out what should become of pride Are not the Angels and Saints in Heaven most humble Thirdly you alledg that which Salomon speakes 1 King 1.48 's For there is no man that sinneth not Answer peradventure it may be granted that there is no man that ordinarily lived to mans estate who hath not often sinned Christ excepted Howbeit it doth not follow from hence that the regenerate shall always do so for St. John 1 Epist cap. 2. ver 1. writes to the Saints not to sin see also cap. 4. vers 17. Fourthly You are wont to urge that place Prov. 20.9 who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Answer First that kind of interrogation doth not always imply a nullity but sometimes a paucity onely as Isa 53.1 who hath beleeved our report Secondly No man can say that he hath done this by his own strength Fifthly Some also object that place Prov. 24.16 the righteous falleth seven times and riseth again Answer The words following shew that this is to be understood of affliction not of sin which words are these But the wicked fall into mischief Sixthly That place Eccles 7.20 is much insisted upon For there is not a just man in the earth which doth good and sinneth not which place may be three wayes answered and yet the saying hold true First That though there were no such man in Solomons time being the infancy of the Church yet after-times might bring forth many such when a fuller dispensation of grace should come James 4.6 and Hebr. 11.40 God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be made perfect Secondly It is not improbable that there hath been no man in any age Christ excepted who hath not sinned or done that which is good continually as we said before Thirdly There is an Earth of sin and corruption in which there is no man but sinneth often Colos 3.5 Martifie therefore your members which are upon earth Fornication Vncleanness
contradict your selves in other places yet you have here and there your illegalities and mistakes also in this Chapter In your first Section you truly say That God gave to Adam and all his Posterity such a Law and covenant of works as you describe with power and ability to keep it And is he not the same God still in wisdom mercy and justice requiring nothing at any mans hand but what he will enable him to doe by his preventing or assisting grace if hee seek it In your second Section you say and that truly That the Law given to Adam being the same in effect with the Moral Law delivered upon mount Sinai continued to be a perfect rule of Righteousnesse Nor must the Israel of God think to obtrude upon the Lord any other acceptable righteousnesse for ever then is therein required and described Deut. 6.24 25. And the Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as it is this day And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to doe all these Commandments before The Lord our God as he hath commanded us Psalm 119.144 the righteousnesse of his testimonies is everlasting For the performing of which righteousnesse because it was become impossible to the fallen Man Christ is freely bestowed upon us Rom. 8.3 4. And so it is the end and drift of the law to send us unto Christ to seek our power wisdom and righteousnes from him Rom. 10.4 Gal. 3.22 23 24. But whereas you say in the end of that Section That the four first Commandments contain our duty toward God and the six last our duty to Man Perhaps it will prove a distribution more common then sound For as the whole Law is spirituall Rom. 7.14 so it seems first to require duty toward God in all the ten Commandments and then to call for Service toward men in the second place For the first four Commandments which St Augustine and some of the Ancients reduce to three only your selves doe not deny it Let us then take a view of the rest Doth not the fifth Commandment enjoyn us first of all to honour our heavenly Father and the Wisdom or Hierusalem from above our spirituall Mother 1 Sam. 2.20 For them that honour me I will honour Mal. 1.6 If I then be a Father where is mine honour Matth. 11.19 But Wisdome is justified of her children so Luke 7.35 Gal. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is from above is free which is the Mother of us all Prov. 7.4 Say unto Wisdom thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman Doth not the sixth Commandement forbid spiritual murther in the first place to wit the killing of Christ the quenching of the Spirit and the destroying of the inward messengers and motions Jam. 5.6 Ye have condemned and killed the just one and he resisteth you not Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 Quench not the Spirit Thus the Apostles complaines of the Apostates that they crucifie afresh the Son of God and put him to an open shame Heb. 6.6 Doth not the seventh Commandement first prohibite spiritual whoredom against God Hos 4.15 Though thou Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah offend Jam. 4.4 Yee adulterers and adulteresses c. Doth not the eighth precept first restrain us from theft and robbery against God Malac. 3.8 Will a man rob God but ye have robbed me Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit sacriledge See Act. 12.22 in Herods example Doth not the ninth also first inhibit a false testimony against the Lord Jeremy 5.12 They have belyed the Lord and said it is not he 1 Cor. 15.15 Yea and we are found false witnesses of God c. Yea though the tenth commandement may seem to lay restraint upon us only in the behalf of our neighbor yet who hath so neer vicinity to us as God in whom we live move and have our being so that not only an open these against him in taking that which belongs to him as Achon did but even to assume or once desire that which belongs unto the Lord is impious as we see in Herod who took and consequently affected the glory that was due to God Acts 12.22 23. Nor doth the Lord want a house Isa 56.7 Mat. 21.12 13 14. Nor is he destitute of a wife Ezek. 16.8 And I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine See Re. 2. or of men servants and maid servants Psa 116.16 Truly O Lord I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid Nor is he without his Oxen and Asses 2 Cor. 9.10 Mat. 21.1 2 3 4 5. which if they be alienated from him in our desires it is a sin of concupiscence-against the last Commandement So that it is most true in this regard which Saint James speaks chap. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole low and yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all for any one sin against God breaks all the Commandements It is Idolatry witcheraft murther adultery c. 1 Samuel 5.15.23 And as the six last first oppose sin against God so the four first in the second place restrain sins against man Thus we may not impose a false God upon our neighbor nor set up a false worship before him nor swear falsly to his hurt nor by prophaning the Lords Sabbath or everlasting rest before our neighbor insnare his soul And what we speak of the negativepart is true of the affirmative or possitive throughout all the Commandements so that the great duty of love to God and our neighbor seems to run through the veins of every Commandement And as these two are inseperable in the new creature so the whole Law by the Apostles own Testimony is fulfilled in this one Commandement Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self Rom. 13.8 Gal. 5.14 which cannot hold true except the Lord be our first neighbor who is to be loved in the first place and surely if we should not offer that wrong to God which we would not admit were we in his stead we should not sin as we do In your third Section you set not forth the whole extent of the Ceremonial Law which was to represent Christs inward death and sufferings as well as his outward He being the Lamb slain in us from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 and to be a document unto us shewing how we must follow him unto eternal life Howbeit you seem to go too far in saying It is wholly abrogated now under the new Testament for though the costly and burthensome yoke thereof is taken from the Gentiles yet some part of it by the words of the Prophets may remaine in use among the Jews after their calling and restauration Isa 66.23 And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before
Covenant of grace a Ro 4.11 Ge 17.7.10 immediately instituted of God b Mat â—8 19 1 Cor 11. to represent Christ and his benefits to confirme our interest in him c 1 Cor 10 16. 1 Co 11.23 25 26. Gal 3 17. as also to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the world d Ro 15.8 Exo 12.48 Gen 34 14 and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ according to his word e Ro 6.3.4 1 Cor 10.16.21 II. There is in every Sacrament a spiritual relation or sacramental vnion between the sign and the thing signified whence it comes to pass that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other f Gen 27.10 Matth. 26.27 28. Titns 3.5 III. The grace which is exhibited in or by Sacraments rightly used is not conferred by any power in them neither doth the efficacy of a Sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it g Rom 2.28 29. 1 Pet. 3.21 but upon the work of the Spirit h Mat. 3.11 1 Cor 12.13 and the word of institution which contains together with a precept an authorizing the use thereof a promise of benefit to worthy receives i Mat 26.27 28. Mat 28.19 20. IV. There be onely two Sacraments ordained by Christ our Lord in the Gospel that is to say Baptism and the Supper of the Lord neither of which may be dispensed of any but by a minister of the word lawfully ordained k Mat. 28.19 1 Cor. 11.20 23. 1 Cor 4.1 Heb 5.4 V. The Sacraments of the Old Testament in regard of the Spiritual things thereby signified and exhibited were for substance the same with those of the new l 1 Cor 10.1 2 3 4. CHAP. XXVII Of the Sacraments in General examined IN this your general Doctrine of the Sacraments you have in a general manner kept the road of truth though here and there you deviate following your misleading guides but first we allow you the retention and use of the word Sacrament though not found in the Scriptures because the thing thereby signifyed is frequent there and the term hath not onely been long retained in the Church but was at the first borrowed from a military oath obligeing the Souldier to obedience and faithfulness towards their general to express our like oligations to God and his Christ Then as to your several Sections we take no acceptions at all to your second but must crave leave to certifie you somewhat in most of the other As first in the first Section where you setting forth the ends of the Sacraments do put that in the last place which was the first and principal end of their institution that is solemnly to engage men to the service of God in Christ for it is evident that Circumcision was ordained for that end mainly Gen. 17.10 This is the Covenant which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee that every man child among you shall be circumcised Deut. 10.16 Circumcise therefore the fore-skin of your heart and be no more stiff-necked Jer. 4.4 Circumcise your selves to the Lord and take away the fore skin of your bearts ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem the like we finde written concerning the Passover Exod. 12.17 And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread for in this self-same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt therefore shall ye observe this day in your generatious for ever 1 Cor. 5.8 Therefore let us keep the feast not with the old leaven neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth And as the Sacraments of the Old so those of the New Testament are instituted to instruct us in duty also Hence Baptism is called the Baptism of Repentance Mark 1.4 And Christ in the institution of the Lords supper saith do ye this in remembrance of me 1 Cor. 11.24 and verse 26. As oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup shew ye the Lords death till his coming viz. That spiritual coming which he promised John 14.19.23 Howbeit we do not deny but that spiritual benefits are to be expected in the performance of these duties so the repentance taught by Baptism hath remission of sins annexed to it Mark 1.4 and the spiritual body and blood of Christ of which we shall have occasion to speak in the 29. chapter are in the Sacraments of the Lords Supper assured to those that are mindful of his death and suffer with him in resisting temptations by which they are enabled to hold out and overcome when they are tempted but these benefits are signified and sealed unto us but conditionally and in the second place onely Your third use of that distinction between the people of God and the world we also allow but you have omitted one main end which the Lord had in instituting the Sacraments which was thus even by degrees to build up his Tabernacles of righteousness that was fallen down to wit the first part of it in Circumcision the second in the Passover as also in the Lords Supper and the third in his breathing upon his Disciples and saying unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost John 20 22. For which last end both the feast of weeks in the Old Testament and Baptism in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost were instituted in the new especially that third part of Baptism Secondly Whereas you say in your third Section That the efficacy of a Sacrament doth not depend at all upon the piety and good intention of him that doth administer it you therein speak very unadvisedly For wheras the efficacy of a Sacrament is either obligement unto duty or the assurance of grace and help are not both obstructed by him that administers it if he be ignorant and not able to declare the Mystery of the Sacrament or if he administers the same in a profane and absurd manner or to other ends then it is ordained for or being a wicked person hath his prayers for efficacy rejected And on the contrary do not the spiritual abilities of the Minister his piety and fervent payers conduce much both to the edifying of the people in that service and the drawing down a blessing upon himself and them therein Thirdly Though we must grant you in the fourth Section that there are but two proper and compleat Sacraments in the New Testament yet there are many as it were semi Sacraments to be found there which are holy signes instituted by God in the time of the Gospel or before of which some represent our duties some the grace of God and some both such is the washing and wiping of the Disciples feet John 13.4 15. Secondly The anointing with oyl such as were sick and to be healed by the Disciples and Elders of the Church Mark 6.13 And they cast
then for you to have pressed the necessity of the first resurrection for all fallen and corrupted men Revel 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power CHAP. XXXIII Of the last Judgment GOD hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ a Acts 17.30 to whom all power and judgement is given of the Father b Joh 5.22 27. In which day not only the Apostate Angels shall be judged c 1 Cor 6.3 Jude 6. 2 Pet 1.4 but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts words and deeds and to receive according to what they have done in the body whether good or evil d 2 Cor 5.10 Ec 12.14 Rom 2.16 Ro 14.10 12. Mat 12.36 37. II. The end of Gods appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect of his justice in the damnation of the Reprobate who are wicked and disobedient For then the righteous go into everlasting life and receive the fulness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the Lord but the wicked that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast into eternal torments and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power e Mat. 25.31 to the end Rom 2.5 6. Rom 9.22 23. Mat 25 2â— Acts 5.19 2 Thes 1.7 8 6 10. III. As Christ would have us to be certainly perswaded That there shall be a day of judgement both to deter all from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity f 2 Pet 3.11.14 2 Cor 5.10 11. 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. Luke 21.27 28. Rom 8.23 24 25. so will he have that day unknown to men that they may shake off all carnal security and be always watchful because they know not at what hour the Lord will come and may be ever prepared to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly g Matth 24 36 42 43 44. Mark 13.35 36 37. Luke 1â— 35 36. Rev 22 20. Amen CHAP. XXXIII Of the last Judgement Examined THis argument de rebus novissimis is a good subiect for you and us to close with but as you want some light in the beginning so we cannot commend your discerning or Judgement in your end You by your Scriptures to which you referr us confounding so many kinds and times of Judgment very different in themselves First you might have observed that Christs office of Judicature is twofold the one in the Saints and the other outward over all persons of Angels and men The former of these his inward and spiritual office Christ executes two wayes at two distant times yea in two several degrees The first is when he judgeth betwixt them and their spiritual enemies and not only delivers his servants from them but guideth and ruleth them according to his Lawes and Will Thus as types of Christ Othnicl Gedion Jephtha and the Judges of old were said to judge Israel and sutably hereunto David speaks thus of Christ Psal 72.4 He shall judge the poor of his people he shall save the children of the needy and break in peices the oppressors and Christ himself saith John 12.31 Now is the judgement of this world now is the Prince of this world cast out Christs second way of judging in his Saints is when he riseth up in them in fulness of light and power after they are dead with him in which day and coming of his he manifests unto them truth and errour light and darkness life and death yea every Councel of their own hearts even as the light of the Sun laies all open to the eye 1 Cor. 4.5 Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God for this very cause the Apostle would have all men forbear judging till that time but not until the general day of judgment now the outward judging of Christ is either in this life or the other in this life he judgeth and punisheth persons nations yea and sometimes the whole earth as he did in the daies of Noah After this life he first judgeth every man at his death Heb. 8.27 It is appointed unto all men once to die and after that cometh the judgement and then as you have here set it forth all men and Angels at or in the last day Thus then is a manifold day or time of Christs coming to judgement spoken of Matth. 24. and 25. Chapters and elsewhere First His particular coming to every man at his death Matth. 24. Secondly His coming to judge and punish the nation of the Jews Matth. 24.23 which came to pass about 38 yeers after his death Thirdly His coming to punish the fals proud and Apostate Jerusalem of the Gentiles a work now in hand Matth. 24.3 20 36 37. Fourthly Christs inward and spiritual coming promised to his Apostles and Disciples John 14.19 20. and spoken of 1 Corinth 1.7 Heb. 10.36 37. Jam. 5.7 which spiritual coming of his was after a time to cease in the Church by reason of mens Apostacy and the departure away from the true faith Luke 17.12 The daies will come when ye shall desire to see one of the daies of the Son of man and shall not see them Fifthly There is Christs second coming and his spiritual entrance into his Church in the same kinde called also the day of the Lord of which 2 Thes 2.2 in which the man of sin the son of perdition that mystery of iniquity should be revealed yea and destroyed by the brightness of his coming which coming of his brings the Gospel with it that was to be preached unto all Nations Matth. 24.30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory and he shal send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet the Gospel aforesaid and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds which time is by Zachariah described to be a gracious time chap. 12.10 11.12 and wished and longed for by St John Revel 1.7 22. This seems to be that blessed time wherein Christ shall come in the spirit but not in the body as many Chiliasts dream to errect a Kingdom throughout the earth in the hand of his Saints Dan. 7.13 14 27 28. which kingdom shall continue a thousand years Rev. 3.4 5 6. yea some are so bold as to say that this comming of Christ is the great day of judgment spoken of Acts 17.30 and elsewhere wherein Christ cometh spiritually with all his Saints to give a true and upright sentence concerning all spiritual things good and evil for which purpose they alledge that text 1 Thes 3.13 But St. John describes another judgement which shall follow after the thousand years are ended Rev. 20.7 8.15 which seem to be that very judgement which you aim at in this chapter And so sixthly and lastly There is Christs day or time of his last coming to keep a great and general Assizes Thus much in reference to your first Section especially In your second Section we admit your reasons produced to shew why there should be such a judgement with the proceedings then and the several events by you set forth and the rather because you there in the manifestation of the glory of Gods justice against there probates seem to lay their own condemnation upon their own disobedience and demerit and no way ascribe it to Gods absolute preterition or soveraignty to the want of means or sufficient grace for their effectual calling as you have done heretofore Lastly For a peaceable and friendly conclusion we grant you that which you assume in your third and last Section namly that Christ would have us certainly perswaded of a general judgement to deter all men from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly yet would he have us as well assured of our personal and particular going to judgement for the same ends so he would not have us ignorant of his spiritual coming but hope thereupon prepare our selvs thereunto 1 Thes 5.23 and though to take away security make us watchful he would have the day and hour both of our particular and his general judgment unknown unto us yet by such foregoing tokens and Characters as he hath set forth in his word we should learn to know his approaching judgements and commings and order our selves accordingly Matth. 24.32 33. Now learn a Parable of the Fig tree when its branches are yet tender and pntteth forth leaves you know that summer is nigh so likewise you when ye shall see all these things know that it is neer even at the door Against your 15. Article by you revised and here published we have not much to say but what hath been spoken upon those heads and should have had the less if you had left them all standing in statu quo prius And therefore we will here exhibite no articles against them as being more Orthodox then your selves though you hold them not for oracles We have here endeavoured to follow the Councel of St. Jude verse 3. Earnestly to contend for the faith which was once given to the Saints If any will be contentious against the truth we have no such custome nor the Church of God 1 Cor 11.16 But beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the onely Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power Now and ever Amen Jude 20 21 24 25. FINIS