in a Crucified Christ who was Lamb slain from the Foundation of the VVorld whereby Adam was to fall that sin might enter into the VVorld that Christ might suffer for sin that so Gods manifold VVisdom might be made known in Christ the words of the Texts are these Eph. 3. 9 10 c. And to make all Men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the Powers and Principalities in heavenly places might be made known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God according to his eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we have confidence and access by the faith of him Now take these Texts which way you please it is apparent that God created all things to manifest his VVisdom in a Crucified Christ whereby there lay a necessity that Adam must fall that sin might enter into the VVorld that God's manifold VVisdom might be made known in a Crucified Christ And it must be in a Crucified Christ if we consider the words That now unto the Powers c. VVhich was after Christ was Crucified and also verse 12. which saith In whom we have access by Faith in him and what signifies Faith in Christ without his Crucifixion Objection But say the Opposers that God Created all things to manifest his VVisdom in Christ as foreseeing that Adam would wilfully fall Answer Omnipotency is the cause of Omniseiency for we cannot foresee whether a Ship shall certainly arive to her Port by reason we have not the command of the VVind and Seas but God foresaw all things as having power to bring all things to pass If an equal power was given to Adam to stand or fall which way could his fall of a certain be foreseen especially before he was Created Let any Man consider this for 't is not enough to say that all things are possible with God as to make a Camel pass through the Eye of a Needle which is true all things are possible with God in things of that Nature for he could diminish the Body of the Camel but to foresee Adam's fall of a certainty when an equal power is to be nay is given to stand or fall I can plant no such Idea nor imagine or believe The cause of foresight in this case of Adam's fall must lie in Omnipotency or an ability of bringing the fall to pass so that if God of a certainty foresaw his fall he must have brought it to pass to which the Ship is an equal example Another Objection of the Opposers is this That God Created all things to manifest his VVisdom in Christ upon condition Adam wilfully fell Answer This Objection seems to deny God's foreseeing Adam's fall but upon condition he fell wilfully God would manifest his VVisdom in Christ if not he would not or could not do it If Adam had wilfully fallen and might have stood then his sin had been perfectly wilful and so Christ could not have rendred Satisfaction for sin but Adam's own death must have been both the punishment and satisfaction For Justice described in Moses's Law which Law Christ came to fulfil makes the Cause render the Satisfaction hence Adam's death was only a punishment but not a satisfaction for sin and Justice cannot be satisfied with the death of one Man for the Offence of another Objection If Adam's faâ—â— was inevitable it seems injustice to punish him at all for it especially by death I answer it would be so indeed were it not that Christ rendred the satisfaction to Adam by his Crucifixion and so in requital gives him Eternal Glory with himself thus God shews his astonishing power over Death for as Light destroys Darkness so Life entring into a dead Man destroys Death the same may be said of all sins which we have not power to avoid Objection You say there is no Freewill yet it is said if a Man should wilfully sin after knowledg given him and give an example of this from Scripture of the Man that pick'd up Sticks on the Sabbath day and was stoned to death without Mercy I answer To attribute Freewil to an Effect is more than the first Cause attributes to himself in that he cannot lie or be unjust and shall an Effect of that Cause do it Pharaoh would not let the Children of Israel go that is no Argument he could let them go this is not spoken that this Man who pick'd up Sticks had Freewil to avoid this contempt of the Law but that his Will being hardned by the Devil without any scruple of Conscience did freely break the Law yet this Man died without Mercy and no Sacrifice was allowed under the Law for his Pardon to save him in the Flesh from being destroyed much more if a Man had Freewill either to do the thing or avoid it at his own pleasure then there could be no Sacrifice at all not under the Gospel Babel's Tower seems to be a true Similitude of the Doctrine of Freewill for altho God had promised he would never drown the World again yet they fall to work to defend themselves against God if he should drown the World again But saith the Text God came down and confounded their Purposes So altho God hath declared that he will not the death of a Sinner and that his Son came to die for the Sins of the whole World and that he is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World and that there is no other Name given under Heaven whereby Men should be saved yet they place the hopes of their Salvation upon what they believe and do when they are able to do nothing Therefore God hath given them up to strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie 2 Thess 2. 11. The Almighty saith Let us reason together Isa 1. 18. So that where the Scripture is silent if we act or believe according to reason we are excusable in Christ and have a Plea for what we do or believe and better cannot be expected from us And therefore according to Reason again I thus argue It passes my Understanding neither can I six such an Idea in my Imagination how an equal Power or Ability could be given to Adam to stand or fall since from a deep Consideration of the Property of a Cause and an Effect here below we find that an Effect hath such a close nay cemented depenâ—â—â—ce on its Cause that without it it ceases its Motion So that if Adam an Effect could have Power given him to move in himself to will and to do whereby there must be a Separation between the Cause and the Effect as a Weight separated from a Clock then we may as easily conclude that this whole Fabrick of the World may remain in all Circumstances that it is now in if the first Cause were ceased to be So that'tis as easy to conceive an Effect or Man can
interpreted from the Original Tongues because by understanding the Mysteries of them he is able to unite them in Sense one with another And when they will not unite their Interpretation is false All Scripture is true if rightly interpreted therefore in Disputations one Scripture cannot be brought to contradict another Therefore they must be united in Sense or no Satisfaction can be drawn from them Our Saviour spoke to the Jews in Parables that seeing they might not see Mat. 13. 13 14. And without a Parable he spake nothing unto them Mat. 13. 34. Now Parables are not Realities but Blinds to darken the Truth so that if plain places of Scripture be understood we have no occasion to mind Parables for they must agree to those plainer Texts I call those plain Scriptures that are not Parables So that all terrible Places of Scripture concerning Hell Fire must be brought to Rom. 9. and Rom. 11. or they will never be united in Sense one with another which is the reason of so many Religious in the World Now for Example I will unite some of them Let us observe the distinction between the Children of the Flesh which are all Men in the Flesh and the Children of the Promise which are the Souls of all Men or glorified Persons and then 't is easy to unite the Scriptures And this is that which St. Paul calls comparing Natural Things with Natural Things and Spiritual Things with Spiritual Things The Children of the Flesh these are not the Children of God but the Children of the Promise are accounted for the Seed Rom. 9. 8. And seeing 't is proved that notwithstanding Israel in part die in Unbelief yet they are saved then there must be two Everlastings the one as long as this Life endures the other Everlasting to all Eternity which is plain for the Troubles of the Body are everlasting or for ever to the Body that is so long as the Body remains under its present state of Flesh and Blood But the Everlasting of the Soul in Glory shall eternally abide without end And therefore Hell-Fire or Damnation which in Scripture is termed the Punishment for Unbelief can be nothing but the Sufferings of this Life and not an eternal tormenting in Hell-Fire after this Life So that the Goats are the Children of the Flesh and the Sheep the Children of the Promise and so are the five foolish Virgins the Children of the Flesh the five wise the Children of the Promise Mat 25. wherein observe there were just so many Foolish as Wise Understand the same as aforesaid of the Loaves and Wheat Mat. 13. 26 c. As for the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus it sets forth God's Power and Terror and shews the Inability of Abraham to bring the Rich Man to him Now Abraham was he whom the Jews depended on and Christ here insinuates himself as in other places to be of greater Power than Abraham to save them And so John the Baptist doth the like saying Think not within your selves to say ye have Abraham for your Father for God out of these Stones can raise Children to Abraham As in Adam all die in the Flesh so in Christ are all made alive by the Promise in the Spirit 1 Cor. 15. And so no Adulterer Fornicator or Vnbeliever as they are in the Flesh shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus Christ is the Saviour of all Men especially of those that believe 1 Tim. 4. 10. By a Figure we say in a Fever or by any thing else that is warm as hot as Fire And so in Rev. 14. 9 10. They that receive the Mark of the Beast shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone and yet in the Chapter before no Man must buy or sell but what hath the Mark of the Beast And he shall cause all the Rich and Poor Small and Great Bond and Free to receive his Mark So then who shall escape Rev. 13. 16. But some will say this is meant all that buy and sell c. that do not believe shall be cast into the Lake So that Believers are not cast in such as had or have such Faith as the Apostles had We grant then that Unbelievers are cast in So are Israel in part they die in Unbelief yet are they saved as hath been proved So that by Fire Brimstone and Fire Everlasting Fire and such terrible Expressions figurates the Sorrows of this Life or some Finite Suffering and also that there are two Everlastings In the 20th Chapter of the Revelations is mention made of a first Resurrection and a second Death As for the first Resurrection 't is the first and last and but one and the same Since in the 4th verse the Souls of the Martyrs that had not worshipp'd and received the Mark of the Beast lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years And the 6th verse they that have part in the first Resurrection the second Death hath no power on them for as Christ our Head arose from Death to Life and became the First Fruits of them that slept So shall all Mankind have but one Resurrection And our Blessed Saviour Mat. 22. 30. saith that in the Resurrection they shall be like the Angels of God in Heaven Neither doth he make any distinction between Believers and Unbelievers And in the 32d verse of the same Chapter saith God is not the God of the Dead that is of the Flesh but the God of the Living that is of all Souls These Souls shall live and reign with Christ not only a thousand Years but for ever Hence there can be but one Resurrection Again it is said in ver 7. the rest of the Dead lived not till the thousand Years were finished Hence those that live and reign with Christ till the thousand Years are finished and for ever are part of those that are dead in that the Text saith the rest of the Dead lived not till the thousand Years were finished So that those which are in Heaven as touching the Body are dead and the rest of the dead are Men living in the World in the Flesh and shall never live as Children of the Promise Now let us examine what this second Death is which so affrightens Men This is described in the 14th and 15th Verses And Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire This is the second Death And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire The first Death then is the Death of Man in the Body the second Death is the casting of Death and Hell into a Lake of Fire But who are those that are cast into this Lake Why all Men whose Names are not written in the Book of Life And who are those but Unbelievers c. and such are the Children of the Flesh as Israel that die in Unbelief yet as they are the Children of the Promise are they written in the Book of Life Thus the Exposition of this 20th of
him that he should deny him thrice before the Cock crew which he did and then the Cock crew John 18. 27. The Scripture was fulfilled by the Murder of the Infants Matth. 2. Which therefore was fore-ordained by God in that this Murder was foreseen so long before even in the days of Jeremiah about the beginning of the 70 years Captivity Now according to Reason which ought to be our Rule for what we believe and so renders us excusable in Christ if Christ had not the Power of bringing this thing to pass of Peter's denying him exactly thrice and that a Cock should crow immediately upon it how came Christ to foresee this By this we may observe also that the Devil which compell'd Peter so exactly was only an Instrument commanded and limited by God to do it But many will say this was to set forth Peter's Weakness and Self-Confidence and that he ought to have relied on Christ for his Protection I answer To such kind of Ends as this was all Sin entailed or compelled on Man therefore Freewill is a dangerous Doctrine For by our discerning of Sin in our selves we see God's Holiness and not to depend on our Strength but by seeing the dreadful though temporal Punishment for Sin we see God's Terrors and Wonders whereby we learn to know him the more Death is made the Wages of Sin that God's Power over Death that astonishing Power might be experimentally and better discerned for as Light entring into a dark place destroys the Darkness of it so when we are dead and raised to Life again Death is destroyed So that Death is not destroyed by Death for then 't is still Death but when Life enters into Death as Life into a dead Man then Death is destroyed as Light destroys Darkness So that by this we shall experimentally know God to be the God of Light and Life by his Power over Death and Darkness By the Knowledg of Evil as well as by the Knowledg of Good we became as God in Knowledg in that Point behold the Man is become as one of us to know Good and Evil. There are many Scriptures that give light to this Doctrine I have hardned Pharaoh's Heart he shall not let them go Exod. 4. 21. and St. Paul draws a general Rule Rom. 9. from this particular Example Therefore he hath Mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And God says of Ahab Who will perswade Ahab to go and fall at Ramoth Gilead the lying Spirit said I will the Lord said Go thou shalt prosper 1 Kings 22. 22. Judas inevitably betrayed Christ and destroyed himself The Lord said unto Shimei Curse David 2 Sam. 16. 10. If the Prophet be deceived I the Lord have deceived that Prophet and I will destroy him Ezek. 14. 9. But I have proved that Men are predestinated and compelled to die in Unbelief before they were born which proves one of the chiefest Foundations of Sin it being also one of the greatest Sins in that Damnation is its Punishment to be an Infirmity Yet all Men in general not one left out whether good or evil Believer or Unbeliever but what shall be perfect in Faith and good VVorks after this Life and shall be saved which is proved in the first Book this second Book being chiefly to prove â—â—â—â—n Infirmity and determined by God to set forth his Attributes I shall put an end to this with the words of the Prophet Comfort ye comfort ye my People saith your God speak comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her Warfare is accomplished that her Inquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her Sins Isa 40. 1 2. FINIS
that die in Unbelief then there must be two Eternals or Everlastings in Scripture the one as long as this Life endures the other after this Life to all Eternity But now to proceed with Rom. 9. 9. This is the Word of Promise At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a Son Sarah had none but Isaac typifying Christ this then is the figurative Promise the real Promise is Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and to his Seed were the Promises made He saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and to thy Seed which is Christ And indeed by no other Name can we be saved The Law of Moses is called the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8. 2. it discovers Sin and brings us under Sin in that we cannot keep it and inflicts Death if we break it but in one Point Now what is this but that we might be Heirs to the Promise or Gospel This Seed Promise Gospel or Christ was preacht to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the Law of Moses was given at Mount Sinai Gal. 3. 17. So that the Inheritance by this Seed Gospel Promise or Blood of Christ is by Glorification and not here in the Flesh as St. Paul saith If we have hopes of Christ only in this Life then we are of all Men most miserable For Paul was a great Sufferer in the Flesh as being whipp'd ston'd in Death 〈◊〉 c. Add to this that unbelieving Israel are saved tho they die in Unbelief then is it clear that the Children of the Flesh which are not the Children of God are Men in the Flesh let them be either Good or Evil and that the Children of the Promise which are truly the Children of God are the Souls of all Men that ever were are or will be not one excepted of what Nation soever or of what Belief in their glorified State All Authors have miss'd of this Distinction between the Children of the Flesh and the Children of the Promise which is the cause of so many Volumes in Divinity yet the Scriptures could not be made plain and easy and indeed it is Error that fills Volumes when Truth will lie in a little Compass A farther Illustration of what hath been said both by Reason and by uniting the Scriptures in Sense one with another bringing them to the 9th and 11th of the Romans which is a Key to unlock the rest And I shall also answer some Objections Object 1. If all Men are saved 't is an Encouragement to commit Sin I answer He that fears is not made perfect in Love 1 John 4. 18. That is he doth not believe God to be an Infinite Goodness St. Paul takes notice of our Salvation concluded and agreed upon before the World began not for any Works that we could do but according to his own Purpose and Grace which was given us in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 1. 9. And these great Mercies of God moved him to please him the more Rom. 12. 1. as being a reasonable Service Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 14. 8 9. Therefore it 's the Sum of all that is expected from us and what can we endeavour more and farther to do The Fear of Hell cannot perswade us to the highest Duties of Christianity which is Love to God with all our Hearts from whence flows our Love to our Neighbour as our selves and to do Good to those that despightfully use us Therefore the Fear of Hell is a hindrance to perform the highest Duties of Christianity perswading us there must be FREE WILL Love thinks no Ill to the Object it loves and as Love is the Price of Love by that Object it is accepted Grace and Mercy must draw us to this Love of God if we believe he is so Good and Merciful to save all Men we have the greater reason to love him but on the contrary if 〈◊〉 believe that he is so severe to punish Finite Sins with 〈◊〉 and Eternal Punishments and that he will never be 〈◊〉 we cannot have so great Affections towards him 〈…〉 in Persons under Despair who are always crying out against him for his Severity And it is evident from Robbers Drunkards Swearers Murderers c. that 't is not the preaching Hell to them but the want of Grace that they do not reform Hence the preaching of Hell makes not Men the better and Grace will do the work much better by Love if it please God to give it otherwise no Good can be wrought upon us If I deny FREE-WILL whereby I must account it reasonable and just for all Men to be saved then the Abuses and Affronts of my Neighbours I can with ease pass by as knowing they have not the rule of themselves So that the Effects of denying FREE WILL and allowing all Men to be saved draws our Affections perfectly to God and our Love and Charity to our Neighbours which are the highest Duties in Christianity and a better Hypothesis than the Doctrine of FREE-WILL which is the Fountain of Enmity and Persecution Well let us farther consider how reasonable it is for all unbelieving Israel to be saved When our Saviour was on the Cross he said Father forgive them they know not what they do and Christ that prayed for them was as able to save them as he was willing in that he prayed for them Israel had a Zeal to God Rom. 10. Now they that have a Zeal to God would do any thing for the best that they were sensible of And Nature in all things is for its Interest Who willingly would act against it The Jews zealously crucified Christ as a Blasphemer and did not the Jews think it for their Interest to believe in Christ Can we be so foolish as to imagine they would not rather believe if they could Thus Unbelief in Israel tho unavoidable to them till the Fulness of the Gentiles be come in yet this Sin of Unbelief is term d their own as all Sins are tho they are unavoidable in that Damnation also is the Punishment for it And so Israel thou hast destroyed thy self Hosea 13. 9. Our Saviour wept over Jerusalem and said How would I have gathered you as a Hen gathereth her Chickens but you would not Mat. 23. 37. And how should they be gathered when the things which belonged to their Peace which was Faith was hid from their Eyes Luke 19. 42. Now with what Argument Men can place FREE-WILL in an Effect passeth my Understanding for I am sure no Example can be brought for it Many are apt to say that the Scriptures are not rightly interpreted from the Original Tongues I answer Many Hebrew and Greek Words may signify divers things but their Interpretation must be according to the Sense of the Text and that Text must agree to other Texts and then the Interpretation is true And none but a Man taught the Misteries of the Scriptures by the same Spirit that Indiced them can discern when they are truly
create himself as govern himself or have a Power given him so to do But God worketh in us both to will and to do Phil. 2. 3. It is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you Mat. 10. 20. In all Human Things it is so which are Examples of Things Divine we can reach no farther and therein we are safe teaching us to trust perfectly in God and throughout the Scriptures those that trusted in him God never failed them but relieved their Necessities and moved in them to walk in his Ways for an Effect moves directly as the Cause moves it as the Spring doth the Wheels of a VVatch as the Artist doth set the Spring and why it must not be so between God and Man the Reason is yet to be given by the Opposers That which is free is not bound if I had Freewill what occasion have I to require a farther assisting Grace I observe likwise that Hell-fire was not threatned to Adam nor to his Posterity after him in case he fell Which argues firmly that his Fall was ordained before or else no such Punishment intended for that was the only time to have it threatned if ever intended But I know no such reason for Man to be so sollicitous about Adam's fall since I am satisfied it is the same thing for me to be ordained or compelled to commit Sin as to be subjected to it through Adam's Ofsence for through all my Endeavour I cannot avoid my Nature falling in Adam or my Subjection to Sin by his Fall heither was I the cause of his Fall The Scripture is a Mystery and little Satisfaction as to Freewill can be drawn from it For though St. Paul said as before that he was carnal sold under Sin and the things he would he could not perform yet it is said James 1. 13. That God tempteth no Man to evil but every Man is drawn away by his own Lust Here we may be very well satisfied that Lust is termed our own though it cannot be avoided And this is plain since the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary one to the other that we cannot do the things we would Gal. 5. 17. And Christ commands us in the Lord's Prayer to pray to our Father in Heaven that he would not lead us into Temptation If God doth not lead us into Temptation or suffer it by his own Consent why doth he teach us to pray him not to lead us into Temptation Objection If Sin be an Infirmity why is it punished I answer To make Man more sensible of his Sins or Infirmities and in that we take the more notice of the Perfections of the Almighty as his Holiness and his Power in punishing Sin for we endeavouring to escape the Punishments of Sin we endeavour the more to avoid Sin whereby we take the greater notice of Sin or our Infirmities But I deny eternal Punishment for Sin after this Life its Punishment being here on Earth that we might become as God in Knowledg of Good and Evil and so learn to prize our future Happiness the more Sin and its temporal Punishment is then very necessary and both determined by God And there is no Justification in the Blood of Christ without a Commission of Sin for Christ came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance and so consequently no Glorification Objection We have Freewill to do Evil of our selves but not to do Good I answer The Evil or Sin is an Infirmity We must then do Evil because we have not Freewill to do Good seeing we must be doing either Good or Evil. Objection If Sin be an Infirmity and so unavoidable it is in it self pardonable what then did Christ die for and if no Hell-fire what did he save us from I answer It hath been proved that the Jews Unbelief is an unavoidable Sin therefore an Infirmity But that which Christ saved us from was an eternal reducing us into the same Nothing that we were before the Creation which Death if Adam had fallen wilfully must have been his Punishment and Satisfaction for Sin For Hell-fire was not threatned under the Name of Death for Death is without Sense or Feeling but an eternal Torment in Fire is a tormented Life in which is both Sense and Feeâ—â—ng And this is easy to believe if we consider that there is a vast difference between Hell-fire and Death to be threatned to Adam Sin is the Breach of God's Commands though through Infirmity in the Creature yet determined by God and unpardonable in iâ— self but through the Blood of Christ and good Reason for it for God created all things to manifest his Wisdom in Christ Eph. 3. 9 10. He gave us the Law by Moses whereby we may discern the difference between Good and Evil Jusâ—â—â—â— and Injustice and this Law being broken unavoidably by Man as God determined it was necessary to set forth his own Holiness to satisfy this Law so determined to be unavoidably broken by Man Hence he himself comes down from Heaven and fulfills this Law by his Death rendring Satisfaction for Sin From whence flows a Reconciliation between God and Man in Christ's Blood God not intending to be reconciled but by Justice satisfied deseribed in the Law of Moses And this stands to reason that the chief Cause of the Breach of Justice must render the Satisfaction to Justice he being made perfect by suffering which is an undoubted Proof that Adam's Fall was fore-ordained and he fell unavoidably Otherwise also for Sin the Death of Adam must as well render the Satisfaction as be a Punishment Objection Sins may be wilful and in that Sense they may be avoided yet the Death of Christ may satisfy for them he paid our Debtâ— I answer The Law of Moses in setting forth the Property of Justice or Equity commands Life for Life Eye for Eye of the Cause offending Goods nor Money in this Case will serve And he that determined this to set forth Equity or Justice must force one to be destroyed by another as the innocent Children in Matth. 2. 16. or otherwise he could not have rendred the Satisfaction since none but the Cause can do it So then I say if Freewill were in Man nothing but the eternal Death of Man could render Satisfaction to Justice or this Law of Moses which requires the Cause only to render Satisfaction And what hurt is this to us when the present Troubles are but the encreasing us in the Knowledg of God and his Terrors whereby we learn to prize our Happiness hereafter Now if Christ's Blood will satisfy for for all sorts of Sins all sorts of Sins must be Infirmities and not wilful by wilful I mean that it lies in the Power of the Creature either to commit Sin or avoid it at his pleasure But I have sufficiently proved Sin an Infirmity but however I will take notice of St. Peter Our Saviour told