known in the World 'till Sin brought it in Adam in Innocency was not a Slave but a Son even the Son of God Luke 3.38 And his Obedience was not servile and from meer Fear but it was Filial and with perfect love to God as his most good and bountiful Maker altogether lovely to such as love and be like unto him in heavenly Innocency and never forsaking them 'till first they forsake him The Law of Works considered as subservient to Life eternal is not the Law of Works but the Law of Faith in the Hearts of godly Men in Christ Jesus The Law of Works considered as repugnant to Life eremal is not the Law of God but the Law of Sin and Death in the Hearts of ungodly Men Rom. 3.27 Heb. 8.10 Rom. 8.2 4. Adam began to be the Figure of Christ Rom. 5.14 the Head of Mankind and a publick Person not 'till after his Sin Repentance and Pardon when God gave him Children and thereby made him the first Parent and so a Head and Root to all his lineal Off-spring in a natural way to his own Children immediately to the rest of the World remotely For look as the first Adam doth by natural Generation communicate human Nature to all his lineal Off-spring and begetteth Sons and Daughters in his own Likeness after his Image whereby they differ in kind from Brutes So the second Adam Christ Jesus doth by supernatural Regeneration communicate divine and heavenly Nature to all his spiritual Off-spring and begetteth Sons and Daughters like unto God in Righteousness and true Holiness whereby they differ in kind from the ungodly World. The whole Off-spring of Adam doth justly suffer temporal Punishment for his first Sin For in Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 Rom. 5.12 Temporal Punishment is well consistent with eternal Joy. But Punishment eternal no one can possibly suffer save for his own Sin never truly repented of 5. God considered as Law-giver doth neither will Sin nor permit it but doth simply nill hate and forbid it and doth all that in him lies to prevent it and the eternal ruine of all both Angels and Men. God considered as above Law yet not contrary to it doth innocently uphold Angels and Men in natural Being while they do of their own accord sin against him And so he doth after a wonderful and unsearchable manner willingly permit Sin and he wills his own Permission of it but he doth not will Sin For all that God doth will he doth will perfectly and without all deceit If God do thus will Sin then he must needs love and be Author of it as truly as he is of Holiness Which is very Blasphemy CHAP. VI. Of Justification 1. JUstification and Righteousness is either Legal or Evangelical Legal is that in the Consciences of the Damned So far as when on Earth they did well refrained from Sin spake Truth and were useful to human Society God by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom will for ever justify and acquit them and lay nothing to their Charge But because they were ungodly and never soundly repented had in them transcendent Vice held it fast to the last in their Hearts and took it with them into Eternity therefore the same Conscience in their Bosom cannot but against their Will for ever justify and acquit God and filence and condemn themselves Evangelical Justification and Righteousness is that by Faith in the Consciences of the Elect. God for the sake of Christ doth by the Gospel through Faith freely and fully pardon all their Sins acquit and set them free from Guilt eternal and from all Curse and Punishment legally due for Sin and then through the same Faith doth regenerate and sanctify them and doth inwardly sentence pronounce judge and esteem them to be what really by his Grace they are truly penitent perfectly pardoned evangelically just and worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven for Christ's sake 2. In Justification by Faith God doth of unjust make us inwardly just but not sinless so as was Adam before his Fall or as the Saints now in Heaven are But the most holy Man while on Earth hath Sin in him and sinneth in all he doth which Sin according to legal Justice deserves Damnation but not according to Justice Evangelical for it is sincerely repented of and so it is not imputed to us but fully pardoned for Christ's sake The eternal Penalty is pardoned and that being abolished all other Penalty becomes medicinal and sanctified and as sanctified it is not Penalty but Priviledg and Gain to the Soul and as such is truly eligible and desirable by a wise Man tho as it is irksom and painful to Nature so it is not desirable but patiently to be born 3. Between Justification and forgiveness of Sin there is this romarkable difference A finless Person may be justified but a sinless Person cannot be pardoned A sinless Person may be falsly accused and by just Sentence cleared and acquitted from that false Charge and so justified Thus God himself is justified but God cannot be pardoned Psal 51.4 Rom. 3.4 Luke 7.29 35. 1 Tim. 3.16 It will for ever remain true that David once was a Sinner a Murderer an Adulterer but as now he is in Heaven he is by Grace for ever sinless and impeccable and so is above Pardon and cannot need it as the whole need not the Physician Justified he may and shall be for ever and most solemnly before all at the day of Judgment but pardoned he cannot be Sin once done cannot by it self be undone but by Grace Evangelical giving us Repentance and Pardon through Faith it may and really is undone and unsinned 4. The Righteousness of God in Christ is through Faith really imputed to us and inherent in us and it could not at all be imputed to us were it not by Faith inherent in us In renouncing all our own Righteousness as dung and loss that we may have compleat and eternal Righteousness even the Righteousness which is of God by Faith in Christ it is manifest that we do not renounce our very renouncing and our very Faith in Christ In order of Nature we are first acquitted and set free from Guilt eternal through Faith this is Gospel-justification Afterward yet in the same instant as to time and through the same Faith we are regenerated and sealed with the holy Spirit we love God and do good Works this is Sanctification Eph. 1.13 Thus Justification by Faith is the rise and spring of Sanctification Articulus stantis cadentis Ecclesiae they are truly distinct and yet not asunder while on Earth 5. Evangelical Justification may be considered two ways either as a Gift or as a Reward Considered as a Gift so it is simply free and freely given of God in Christ by the Gospel and no way merited by us but we by Faith do humbly penitently fiducially obediently thankfully and stedfastly receive it and it becomes ours And thus from first to last we are justified by
Faith without Works according to St. Paul. Considered as a Reward so it is bestowed upon none but the truly penitent obedient regenerate merciful lovers of God and his Saints and such as by godly Sincerity and heavenly Righteousness through Grace difference themselves from the ungodly and impenitent World and all such do evangelically merit Justification before God for Christ's sake And thus from first to last we are justified before God by Works and not by Faith only according to St. James According to legal merit God deals with all the Devils and Damned he renders to them according to their Deeds exacts from them the last Mite and shews them no Mercy According to Evangelical Merit he deals with the Mâ—â—hood of Christ and with all elect Angels and Men. This kind of Merit is the Image of that transcendent Worth and Merit which is in God the more we have of it we are the more like to God and abound in loving serving and praising God saying Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory The more we do for thee the more we are beholden to thee for of thine own it is that we give thee God rewards his own Grace and Righteousness in his Saints and renders to them according to their Deeds CHAP. VII Of Satisfaction for Sin. 1. LEgal Satisfaction for Sin is that of the Devils and Damned who suffer eternally of due desert and thereby make legal compleat Satisfaction and Amends to God for all their own Sins to the last mite God considered as Lawgiver hath no pleasure in the death of the wiched but that he turn from his way and live But if he shall in no instant turn then God considered as the Righteous Judg of all the World hath perfect pleasure in his eternal Damnation as adequate legal Compensation and Amends for his Wickedness in no instant truly turned from Evangelical Satisfaction for Sin is that of all the Elect in Christ by Faith they through his Grace with godly Sorrow unsin and undo all their Sins give Glory to God by a face confession of them with grief hatred and shame execute holy Revenge upon themselves humbly beg pardon freely forgive others renounce all legal Merit lay hold upon the Promise of Eternal Mercy in Christ become new Men sincerely obedient to God and his Glory in the World. Thus doing they please and satisfy God evangelically and render themselves truly worthy in a Gospel-sense of pardon of Sin Justification and Life eternal as promised by God and parchased by Christ and prepared for them before the Foundation of the World. 2. God can in no instant pardon and save Persons in their Sins without Heavenly Repentance and he cannot but pardon and save all those who do in any instant by his Grace and free Gift in Christ though Faith sincerely turn from all their Sins to God and become new Men. And yet he faveth the Penitent and damneth the Impenitent freely and willingly and not against his Will. Like as God is necessarily holy just and good yet freely so 3. Evangelical Repentance considered as evangelical is not Punishment but Priviledg and the sweetest Mercy a Sinner can possibly partake of as being Rep 〈…〉 unto Salvation never to be repented of it is a divine and heavenly thing and the Image of God as he is the perfect hater of all Sin and the just and merciful Avenger of it by renewed Conscience his Aâ—ent in the Breast of Penitent Souls Evangelical Repentance considered as Repeatance is proper Punishment as consisting in penitential Remorse Shame Sorrow Contrition Self-loathing and a sort of Revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 None of this should have been if Sin had not been and all this is irksom and painful to Nature and all pain in a large sense is proper Punishment Therefore Repentance is fitly called Poenitentia importing pain smart and penance for Sin. 4. The Debt which we as Men owe to God is sinless Obedience The Debt which we as Sinners owe to God is Heavenly Repentance and in default thereof Eternal Damnation This Debt Christ neither did nor could pay for neither can a sinless Person repent nor can he suffer eternally All the Elect in Christ through Faith do in their own Persons pay the Debt of Gospel-Repentance and so evangelically punish themselves prevent eternall Punishment save God the labour and obtain perfect and free Remission for Christ's sake and evangelically fulfil the Divine Law Rom. 8.4 But the Impenitent by holding fast their Sins do render them unpardonable and their case incurable Where publick Confassion of Sin is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by divine Law there it may not be exacted nor Money by way of Commutation the taking of Money in such case is unrighteous gain 5. Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us he bore our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us all but so that he was altogether sinless God could not hate him nor be displeased with him nor repute him a Sinner nor impute Sin to him nor lay upon him more than Corporal and Temporal Punishment in order to his own eternal Exaltation and Glory at God's Right-hand The Pain endured by him did differ in kind from the Pain of damned Men in Hell and from the Pain of guilty Persons on Earth and was no degree thereof For both these do suffer deservedly for their own Sins but Christ being sinless could not deserve to suffer Indeed his Persecuters and Murderers did repute him a Sinner and imputed grievous Sin to him and God did unsearchably permit their Sin but he did no way will and approve it The Soul of Christ was full of sinless Sorrow and his Body was full of Pain and yet it was all but bodily Suffering his Body being dead his Suffering was at an end The Body by it self cannot suffer at all cannot feel Pain the Soul of Christ being sinless could not suffer spiritually but his Soul suffered in and by his Body in respect of his Body he was crucified and died More than Corporal and Temporal Punishment needed not for all the finally impenitent do against their will satisfy for all their own Sins legally and all the truly penitent do through Faith satisfy God evangelically and obtain perfect Pardon and Salvation as purchased for them through the Corporal and Temporal Suffering of God the Son incarnate crucified in respect of his Body CHAP. VIII Of Faith. 1. FAith as opposed to Sight is the way to Faith as opposed to Deceit As Faith is opposed to Sight so there is no Faith in Heaven there they see face to face As Faith is opposed to Deceit so there is no perfect Faith but in Heaven In Men ungodly is no degree of Heavenly Faith In all godly Men there is a degree of it in some more in some less but short of Perfection in all God
is faithful and to be so is to be full of Faith Truth Veracity and Fidelity in opposition to Perfidiousness Unfaithfulness Deceit and Lies Now all the blessed Saints and Angels are perfectly like to God as he is faithful and true and so must needs have in them perfect Faith Fidelity and Truth Deut. 32.20 2 Thes 3.2 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.7 Prov. 20.6 1 Cor. 13.12 2. As Faith is opposed to Sight so through it we understand discern apprehend perceive embrace and receive spiritual good things spiritually through it we repent of Sin love obey and please God we receive come to trust in and rely on Christ we obtain Pardon Justification and right to Life eternal we overcome Satan and the World and walk with God in Holiness and Comfort on Earth till we come to Heaven where Faith is turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition Faith as thus opposed to Sight is most truly properly and scripturally reckoned counted and imputed to us for Gospel-righteousness before God all the while we are militant in this World. 3. Faith in God may be evidenced shewed declared proved and spiritually demonstrated by heavenly Regeneration and good Works 1 Cor. 2.4 but it cannot be defined For what is defined is finite but God is infinite and infinite as such cannot be finite Believe God we may define him we may not To define is to limit and to limit God is great Sin Psal 78.41 He that hath holy Faith in God knoweth better by inward feeling and Self-perception the true nature of it than any human Definition can inform him There cannot be a Definition of Definition Either then Faith in God is the Standard of Definition or Definition is the Standard of Faith in God. If the former then Faith in God is above Definition more plain than it and is not reducible to it If the latter then there can be no Faith in God because he is Infinite and as such cannot be defined Exact Definition consisteth of somewhat general and somewhat special but all in saving Faith as such is special and peculiar to the Elect and nothing in it common to them with the Reprobate Temperance Justice Chastity Faith in the unregenerate Man as in themselves are proper Graces and Vertues but as relied on for Life eternal without heavenly Regeneration they are no otherwise Graces and Vertues than as a dead Man is a Man or an adulterous Wife is a Wife they are but the Corpse of Graces and Vertues and therefore they differ in kind from Temperance Justice Chastity Faith as in the regenerate Man and are no degree thereof 4. Faith is in no Faculty but it is seated and rooted in the Heart and through it we understand and will spiritual things spiritually Understanding and Will in Man are truly distinct but not distinct Faculties they are the Image of God in whom is unsearchable Unity and Diversity but no Faculties God doth willingly understand and understandingly will and so doth Man. Every intellectual Act of Man is the Act of the Soul or Man and not of this or that Faculty Faith as opposed to Sight is not an Act but through it we act holily It is not a Work but through it we work Righteousness It is not Obedience but through it we obey and please God Heb. 11. Rom. 1.5 16.26 5. Look what Reason is to the human Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth rational and intellectual Acts differing in kind from the manner of Brutes that is Faith to the regenerate Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth holy and supernatural Acts differing in kind from all the Acts of Men unregenerate and ungodly as such Certainty of Faith is proper Certainty of Sense yet not of bodily Sense common to us and Heathens but of heavenly and spiritual Sense through Christian Belief which Heathens have not Unto true believing Souls God's Word is sweeter than Honey and sharper than a two-edged Sword in their Hearts Psal 119.103 Heb. 4.12 Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 That is he whose Heart is not purified by Faith in Christ in him Sin reigns and carnal Dubitation is Lord in his Soul and though the thing done by him as in it self be lawful yet if he doubt whether it he lawful or not to him it becomes unlawful through the Error of his Conscience not purified by Faith. An erroneous Conscience considered as erroneous connot bind for as erroneous it is not Conscience but the Error and Abuse of it But considered as Conscience under God and over Man so it doth truly bind to all Duty and against all Sin and Error Whatsoever is not of Faith is of Infidelity and consequently of Sin. CHAP. IX Of Love to God and Self-love 1. SIncere Love is to love God because of his first Love to us 1 Joh. 4.19 For this is to love him as indeed he is our Maker our Redeeemer our Sanctifier our Reward and Rewarder our God and Portion for ever our All in All dearer to us than we are or can be to our selves and to love him under any other notion is to love an Idol and not God. Self-love considered as repugnant to Life eternal is self-destroying Vice and the common Character of all the ungodly 2 Tim. 3.1 2. Self-love considered as subservient to Life eternal is in a large and true Sense heavenly Self-denial and the true Love of God as good to our Souls in Christ Jesus eternally Prov. 9.12 Luke 9.23 2. Vertue is truly lovely for it self but then the highest Vertue is to love and be like unto God and God is not at all lovely unless he be essentially and yet freely the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and no Reward short of God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness can content the holy seeking Soul. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable To say I would love God though there were no Heaven and I would hate Sin though there were no Hell is in effect to say I would love God though he were not at all lovely and I would hate Sin though it were not at all hateful and abominable Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 15.19 3. The chief End of Man is but one as God is one Subordinate Ends indeed are many but as subordinate they are not Ends but regular means conducing to the End. The Supream End of Man is eternal Salvation or God himself as enjoyed in eternal Felicity Eternal Salvation is not an End subordinate to the Glory of God but God's Glory is his Will as fulfilled in the eternal Salvation of all the Elect by Faith in Christ God is our Salvation and our Saviour our Blessedness and the Author of our Blessedness No Man can will his own Annihilation as a means to God's Glory for a Man as such is the Image and Glory of God and the eternal extinction of God's Glory cannot be a
means to God's Glory for that is no means which destroys the End and is repugnant to it Indeed the damned in Hell do will and desire their own Annihilation but not as a means to God's Glory for that is a holy and regular Will and Desire but no holy and regular Will can be in the damned Moses and Paul could not without Sin wish to themselves eternal Pain and more than barely Temporal For eternal Pain consists in implacably hating and being hated of God eternal Self-tormenting Anguish for Sin and the never-dying Worm This no Man in his right Wits can wish to himself 4. Man's chief End is not to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever This indeed is Man's Duty but Duty as such is not the chief End but eternal Felicity as the Reward of Duty Christ as Man when on Earth did perfectly glorify God and had Fruition of him in perfect Love and yet he was not in Joy and Felicity when in his Agony and upon the Cross but in the way to it and for the Joy and Felicity set before him as his supream End he endured the Shame and Sorrow of the Cross Heb. 12.2 Now what is not the supream End in one instant can in no instant be it because it is the same for ever Those in Hell do against their Will for ever glorify God by bearing his just Vengeance for Sin. We glorifying God through Faith by sincere Obedience on Earth God's Promise is to reward and crown us with eternal Blessedness in Heaven And it is this and this only which is the chief End and supream Good of Man as comprizing all Good in one beyond which nothing is desirable 5. God is not loved at all unless he be loved incomparably Tho he be good better and best yet not in a way of strict Comparison but in a transcendent Sense wherein words are to serve things and not things words Indeed ungodly Men are said to love Pleasures more than God. But the meaning thereof is not that they love God a little and Pleasures more but they love Pleasures with all their Heart and God but as subservient Now God as subservient to Lust and Pleasure is not God but an Idol and Idolatry is not Love but ungodly Lust As Happiness means Ease Pleasure and freedom from Pain Misery and troublesom Want so all Men naturally desire to be happy But as Happiness means beholding God's Face in Righteousness and being satisfied with his Likeness Psal 17.15 So it is wholly supernatural known and desired of none in this World save only the Regenerate through Faith in Christ Men ungodly neglect so great Salvation and say unto God Depart from us Heb. 2.3 Job 21.14 The Heaven and Happiness desired by them is a sensual Paradise and perpetual Epicurism this really is not Heaven and Happiness but a Lust or Idol clothed with the name of Heaven and Happiness The sincere desire of Grace as such is not the Grace desired but it is an infallible proof of a gracious and godly Man as being accompanied with sincere Performance and Endeavour and is indeed it self holy Reformance before God. There is in God delight to Love Deut. 10.15 and in all blessed Saints and Angels and there is in all true Saints on Earth sincere desire to love God perfectly but no such thing as love to love this is not true Love but adulterous Lust He that loves to love doth not love God but himself No godly Man dare Sin For he that dare Sin is presumptuous and treads Conscience under Foot. The least degree of true Godliness and holy Love to God doth sincerely yet not perfectly mortify hate expel and war against all Sin and desires to be by Grace sinless and impeccable A Person may sincerely love God and yet through errour and mistake say he doth not and may have godly Assurance and yet complain as if he had none Psal 77.10 Psal 22.10 1 Cor. 12.15 16. CHAP. X. Of the Image of God. 1. CHrist considered as God is the essential substantial and increated Image and Form of God the Father by Nature not by Grace Christ considered as Man exalted at God's right Hand is by Grace not by Nature the Image of Himself as God Equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost in a special and peculiar Sense above all both Angels and Men and yet he is but one Image of God rightly conceived as he is but one Christ Phil. 2.6 Col. 1.15 Heb. 1.3 9 13. The Divine Essence as it is in God the Father begetteth the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son Yet will it not hence follow that there are two Divine Essences but only that the Divine Essence as it is in God the Father unbegotten is not the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son begotten Which is certainly true For Unbegotten and Begotten are eternally divers and distinct This eternal Generation of God the Son is not a Work of God but it is the Nature of God the Father and had been if there had never been Work of God. God the Father is not Autotheos of and from Himself and therefore God the Son is not God simply is and cannot but be and simply to be is to be God. Exod. 3.14 The Creature simply is not but the Creature as such is dependent on God and as compared with him it is as Nothing yea less than Nothing and Vanity Isa 40.17 18. Sin indeed is absolutely simply and eternally of it self exceeding sinful Joh. 8.44 Rom. 7.13 But God is not Sin. He is simply First and simply First is from none 2. As to Life Temporal ungodly Men as Men are the Image of God no less than godly Men. Thence Murder is so great a Sin because thereby contrary to the Law and Light of Nature the Image of God in Man as to this present Life is extinct a living Man is turned into a dead Corpse and no 〈…〉 dead can be the Image of the living God Gen. 9.6 As to Life 〈…〉 eavenly Conversation by Faith only godly Men and Women 〈…〉 Image of God and ungodly Persons are the Image of the Devil As to Conjugal Society the Husband is the Image and Glory of God and not the Wife he being her Head 1 Cor. 11.3 7. In respect of natural Generation Parents are the Image of God and not Children In respect of domestical Rule and Government Masters are the Image of God and not Servants In respect of earthly Soveraignty Kings and supream Civil Rulers are the Image of God and not Subjects Saints Triumphant as Triumphant and by Grace impeccable are the Image of God so as Saints Militant are not Damned Men as Men and intellectual Beings are against their Will the Image of God for ever because they do against their will fulfil God's Law by bearing the eternal Penalty thereof due for their Sin. 3. The Soul is truly a Spiritual Substance and yet truly material not to our bodily Senses outwardly
not then the Infant will outlive the State of Infancy and will live and die ungodly and perish in which Case his Baptism will be an everlasting Witness against him it being supposed that his Conscience was privy to it Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace which Covenant importeth God's Purpose to give Perseverance and Salvation to all the Regenerate and to Regenerate such and so many as he from Eternity foresees will by his Grace and Free-gift sincerely believe And yet while Unregenerate they are in a State of Damnation As to Life Temporal and Humane Society on Earth ungodly Men have Power over their own Will and Liberty to act or not to act as themselves list and they can if they will refrain from all Sin outwardly and do all Good outwardly and be blameless before Men. But as to Life Eternal and Heavenly Conversation they have no Power they are dead in Sin under the Power of Satan their Power is Impotency Sin hath Dominion over them they are not Lords but Slaves and lorded over by their Lusts and if God shall not prevent them with his Heavenly Grace it is certain that they will never deserve it Therefore the first step to Salvation is holy Despair thereof by all that we of our selves can do without God's eternal Grace in Christ And look what is First in Divinity that same is Last even All in All. CHAP. XIII Of the Lord's Supper 1. LOok as all in God is God without Parts and Composition So all in the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Supper Considered as a Supper so the whole is visible Food for the Belly eaten and drunk with the Mouth outwardly Considered as the Lord's Supper so the whole is invisible Food for the Soul eaten and drunk with the Heart inwardly There may be the Lord's Supper without saving Belief but not without Belief For he that believeth not makes God a Liar and by Consequence the Sacrament a Lie also 1 Joh. 5.10 2. There is no Change at all of the Elements by Consecration but only Religious Use If the Religious Use of Things do necessarily infer a Change in the Things used then God must needs be changed and then he is not God. We use God's Name religiously and God's Name is God Himself as named by this or that Name Jehovah Lord God. I am the Lord that is my Name Isa 42.8 What Change is by Consecration is in the Communicants not at all in the Elements Consecration importeth in all Godly Communicants a real Heavenly Change as to Conversation Conversion from Sin to God they are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 This heavenly Change they evidence exercise and shew forth at the Lord's Table in religious partaking of the Elements in Remembrance of Christ crucified All Change in the Elements by Consecration is simply repugnant to intellectual Sense in all Men and is therefore simply incredible 3. These Words This is my Body as understood without Christian Faith are false and absurd But as understood through Christian Faith they are indeed mysterious yet Superlatively plain true apt and proper The Lord's Supper is truly a Figure as is Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 yet not a Verbal and Rhetorical Figure common to Us and Heathens but a Divine Celestial and Mysterious Figure instituted by Christ and not understood without Christian Belief which Heathens have not In Points that concern us as Men in common with all the World Christ spake with the Vulgar and so as to be understood of very Heathens But in Points mysterious and Supernatural as is the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper he spake above the Vulgar and so as not to be understood aright without Faith which Heathens have not Ungodly Communicants considered as Ungodly do not eat Christ's Body but inwardly contemn and shut their Hearts against it And thus their partaking doth differ in kind from the inward partaking of the Godly But Ungodly Communicants considered as Communicants do with their Mouth outwardly eat the Bread which is really and not chimerically yet sacramentally and symbolically the Body of Christ no less than do Godly Communicants outwardly And thus their partaking is the same for kind with the partaking of the Godly 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. 4. Unto worthy Communicants the Lord's Supper is the Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood the holy Memorial of his Death heavenly Nourishment for the Soul a sure Pledge Seal Sign and Token of Pardon of Sin Perseverance and Life eternal and a Divine Engagement to Watchfulness and holy Fear of Apostacy No Godly Man doth partake unworthily he may partake not so worthily as some do but the least degree of true Godliness doth produce a degree of worthy communicating differing but in measure and degree from the most Godly Communicants Unto unworthy Communicants the Lord's Supper through their own Sin is a Seal of their Damnation if they die without sound Repentance And in the mean time it layeth a Divine Bond and Engagement upon them instantly to repent If their Repentance by God's eternal Decree be future then the Lord's Supper is a Divine Sign and Seal that it is future If their Repentance be not future then they will die in their Sins and perish and will remember with eternal Self-tormenting Anguish in Hell their partaking without Godly Sincerity Those who contend that Men Unregenerate sin less in not coming than in coming to the Lord's Table do yet expresly grant But yet they that do come unworthily and unwarrantably do find that there which tendeth to their Conversion and frequently effecteth it Mr. B. in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments pag. 31 32. And they who contend that the Unregenerate sin less in coming than in not coming do yet hold and contend that the Persons so come must be adult baptized orthodox and not heretical free from enormous Crimes and Scandals before Men. The bare Elements as distinct from the Word can neither convert nor confirm But the Word as distinct from the Elements and giving being to the whole Sacramental Service may through God's Grace prove effectual for sound Conversion of the Unconverted and certainly will be effectual for building up of the Converted 5. The Flesh and Manhood of Christ is under God the prime instrumental Cause of Life eternal to the Godly in all Ages through Faith As such his Flesh is heavenly Meat and his Blood is heavenly Drink and we through Faith do really and not chimerically spiritually and not corporally eat and drink it What is eaten in that it is eaten must be really present For no Man can eat a thing that is absent There is Relation between the Manhood of Christ and the whole intellectual World as between sole Supream under God and Subjects This Relation is real and not imaginary eternal and not temporal From Eternity it was future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. What is eternal is truly infinite above all Predicaments and consequently above Time and Place
immediately after his Death and while his Body hung dead upon the Cross his Soul was with God in Triumphant Joy. In Memory of Christ's Resurrection we rightly observe the Lord's-Day as a Day appointed by God for solemn Religious Worship both publickly and privately The fourth Commandment considered as repugnant to Life eternal by Faith in Christ is meer Judaical Righteousness damnable Impiety and no Command of God But considered as subservient to Life eternal by Faith in Christ so it was typical of Christ's Rest in the Grave and as typical by his Resurrection it was to cease and have an end and in the room of it comes the Lord's Day as the joyful Day on which our Lord rose from the Dead and â—â—th begotten us unto a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Thus the fourth Commandment by Faith in Christ is not abolished but established Rom. 3.31 4. At the Day of Judgment there shall be a perfect opening of all the Good that was in the Wicked and of all the Sin that was in the Righteous not for the Shame and Terrour of the Righteous nor for the Honour and Comfort of the Wicked but that all may have according to their Deeds and it may appear to all that God did not like and approve Sin in his own and that he did not condemn and drinke what was good and commendable in the Wicked that so the Righteous may for 〈◊〉 rejoice in God's Praises and the Mouths of the Wicked may for ever 〈◊〉 This perfect opening shall be by Conscience as God's 〈…〉 in each ones Bosom 5. Eternal Felicity considered as 〈…〉 of no Degrees Thus all both Saints and Angels in 〈…〉 and all in Hell be equally miserable For greater 〈…〉 thâ—n Eternal there cannot possibly be Eternal 〈…〉 admitteth of Degrees For God as he is the Righteous 〈…〉 the World cannot but by Conscience as his Agent in the 〈…〉 and Men eternally difference as between the Righteous and the 〈◊〉 and between the more Wicked and the less Wicked so also between the more and the less abundant in the Love and Service of God and 〈…〉 according to their Deeds Thus the Manhood of Christ hath a 〈…〉 of Glory than the Angels and the Angels who never linned than the Saints and eminent Saints such as Prophets Apostles and Martyrs thâ—n ordinary and common Saints Thus there is perfect Unity and perfect Diversity sweetest Harmony and sweetest Variety no one hath cause to complain no one hath cause to boast he that hath least hath no lack and he that hath most hath nothing over God is All in All and Eternity is All in All. Set aside Eternity and Heaven and Hell Holiness and Sin Angels and Men are meer Dreams and Notions God may do with his own what be pleases but he cannot deny himself and overthrow his own Name Kingdom and Glory And therefore he can in no instant annihilate or eternally torment a holy Man For so to do is not Power but Impotency not Dominion but Tyranny and the abuse of it God's Dominion is by his Will and not against it his Will is essentially and yet freely holy just and good But it is repugnant to infinite Holiness Justice and Goodness to annihilate or eternally to toâ—â—ent a Holy Man. CHAP. XIX Of the Way of Peace 1. TWo Things as I conceive do greatly conduce to Unity and Peace among Christians touching Religion A clear explication of Gospel-Truth and forbearing one another in Love. The former I have endeavoured in the foregoing Chapters and among Persons truly consciencious a clear explication of the Truth is in effect the whole Cure. The latter it is not in my Power to procure Yet this one thing well weighed may do much towards it that Persons eminently Godly may ignorantly hold an Opinion in it self heretical and against the Foundation of Faith and yet not hold it heretically and so as do the Ungodly The reason is because Heavenly and Fundamental Truth is not by way of Syllogism and Human Argumentation Major Minor and Conclusion common to us and Heathens but by way of Holy Likeness to God through Christian Faith which Heathens have not He then who holds one Divine Truth with Holy Belief is thereby free not from all Errour but from all reigning Errour No Errour is safe and yet no meer Man since the Fall of Adam is wholly free from all Errour and every Godly Man is in a safe State not because of his Errour but because Heavenly Truth and not Errour reigns in him 2. The Apostles for some time were in an Errour touching the Nature of Christ's Kingdom which Errour as in it self considered did by consequence overthrow the Kingdom of Christ and yet as it was in them it was no reigning Errour Acts 1.6 The Apostle Peter was in an Errour touching the difference between Jew and Gentile which Errour considered nakedly as in it self was destructive of true Godliness because it did by consequence infer God to be partial unrighteous and a respecter of Persons And yet Peter in this instant was eminently godly Act. 10.34 35. There is no such thing in God as Major and Minor Premises and Conclusion Antecedent and Consequent because all in God is God And therefore there can be no such thing in the Image of God For as all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Therefore no Man is to be counted an Heretick and damnably Erroneous barely because he holds an Opinion in it self Heretical and by Consequence against the Foundation of Faith all the while he doth sincerely hate and detest and disown the Consecouence of his Errour not discerning that it is justly deducible from it There is great difference between ignorantly holding an Errour and bowing to an Idol or worshipping a false God. 3. If Christian Princes and Supream Civil Rulers in their several Dominions would according to their Duty and as becomes nursing Fathers to the Church see with their own Eyes and upon hearing the Arguments and Allegations on both sides wisely and impartially discern between what is plainly contained in God's Word and what is not but is only School-Sophistry and vain Philosophy corrupting Men's Minds from the simplicity that is in Christ and serving only to create Strife and to make plain things obscure and would enjoin all sides to insist upon and unite in plain and wholsome Truth evident by its own intrinsick Light to the Conscience of each Godly Man through Faith and either to cut off and forbear all further Disputes or manage them in Love and in the Spirit of Meekness we should soon see an End of Controversies concerning Religion In the mean time it concerns us all to get and keep well grounded Certainty through Faith of our own Salvation and earnestly to contend for this Faith. This Certainty is by way of special Revelation For all Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall is either Principal and Special or Subservient and Common Special and
Christendom Or the Nature of CHRIST's KINGDOM OPENED And the chiefest Difficulties in DIVINITY CLEARED In order to ending the Controversies among Christian PHILOSOPHERS SCOOL-MEN and DIVINES of all Parties London Printed for the Author 1687. The PREFACE 1. THE Kingdom of Christ is not twofold one as he is God the Son and the other as he is Mediator but it is simply one as Christ is one admitting of just conception but no division Because Christ is not Mediator between God and Men strictly as between two Parties in a worldly and human Sense common to us and Heathens but in a heavenly divine and transcendent Sense through Christian Faith which Heathens have not The Manhood of Christ doth neither add to nor diminish from God But it is the Organ or Instrument by which God the Son as equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost doth in the fulness of Time according to his own eternal Purpose purchase the Church with his own Blood is the Saviour of all Men specially of those that believe and doth reign and rule over the whole intellectual World for ever without all change in God and without all merit in Angels and Men antecedently to the eternal Purpose of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 2. Angels Princes Pastors and Parents are instrumental in the work of Redemption but not so as is the Manhood of Christ This is principally and specially instrumental as being the Manhood of him who is by nature very God. Christ considered as God is by Nature not by Grace the only begotten Son of God the Father Christ considered as Man was by Grace not by Nature the Son of Himself as God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost in a special and wenderful Sense neither by Creation as Adam and the Angels nor by Adoption as the Saints nor by natural Generation but by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin And yet he is but one Son of God rightly conceived as he is but one Christ Considered as Man his God is our God his Father is our Father elect Angels and Men are his Brethren and Fellows but so that he as Man exalted at God's right Hand in all things hath the preeminence is anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows he is the First-born among his Brethren and of every Creature that is of all created Beings the most excellent and next unto God in heavenly Majesty and Glory Col. 1.15 Rom. 8.29 Heb. 1.8 11. Joh. 20.17 3. The Man Christ and the Manhood of Christ is God Omniscient Omnipatent Omnipresent Independent Infinite Adorable yet not as it is Man and Manhood but as it is by unsearchable Vnion that Person who is in different respects both God and Man. To adore Christ as Man is Idolatry to adere Christ as God the Son incarnate equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost is Christian Piety In adoring God the Son incarnate the Word made Flesh we do indeed adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ and yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is in a wonderful Sense that Person who is God the Son incarnate As I write with a white Pen yet not as it is white but as it is a Pen He that is a Husband baptizeth yet not as he is a Husband but as he is a Minister The good God doth damn the Wicked yet not as good to them but severe yet just So we rightly adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is God the Son Incarnate That holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Luk. 1.35 Heb. 1.6 Mat. 2.11 Rev. 5.9 to 14. Joh. 14.1 4. Divine Nature as Divine can in no instant be Human Human Nature as Human can in no instant be Divine But the Divine Nature as it is in God the Son became in a wonderful Sense Human The Word was made Flesh Joh. 1.14 All the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in Christ Col. 2.9 And the Human Nature as it is in Christ became in a wonderful sense Divine that Man who is Equal and Fellow with God Zech. 13.7 Phil. 2.6 Therefore by St. Augustine lib. de Ovib. it is called Divine Humanity and Human Divinity Which Saying learned Sadeel doth highly approve De verit Human. nat Christi c. 5. Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in Favour with God and Man Luk. 2.52 And was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.10 Had he not so increased be must always have been an Infant And yet the Manhood of Christ was in no instant imperfect and defective When New-born his Manhood had all the Perfection it mas capable of in that instant but not all the Perfection designed for it at twelve years of Age. When twelve years old he had all the Perfection he mas capable of in that instant and so in every Successive instant unto the time of his Passion Which being reserved for the last he did patiently undergo and so by Death fulfilled and finished all the Humiliation-work which God gave him to do on Earth Joh. 17.4 and 19.30 5. All true Science is by reducing things to some First beyond which there is no further proceeding Now Christ is the First and the Last in Religion Rev. 1.8 11. All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg are hid in him Col. 2.3 He is the Truth Joh. 14.6 He who holds this one Truth doth inclusively hold all saving Truth in this one But he who denyes and resists any one Truth plain and evident to his Conscience hath no saving Truth in him Every Errour is not Sin but every Errour touching Religion is very Sin against God and so it must needs be against the Foundation of Faith and Piety either directly and immediately or remotely and consequentially He that is an Heretick doth against his Conscience love Errour and rely on it for Life Eternal and so his Errour is his Idol And yet the love of it doth blind his Conscience and extinguish the Light of Christ so that he cannot savingly discern his Errour and the Turpitude of it he is therefore self condemned CHAP. I. Of Divine Predestination 1. WHOM God did foreknow would by his Grace and free Gift in Christ sincerely believe them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Life Eternal and whom he did fore-know would through themselves be ungodly and so continue them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Damnation Eternal The Divine Fore-knowledg and Purpose according to which God doth predestinate Men to Life Eternal is from everlasting but the Divine Predestination according to that Fore-knowledg and Purpose is not from everlasting but in the instant when God creates and forms us in our Mothers Womb. Which Predestination lies hid as a secret in God's Bosom until it shew it self in Heavenly Calling and Election And then doth God elect Men to Salvation when he gives them Faith in Christ and thereby pardons their
Sin and seals them with his holy Spirit and renders them truly godly elect and precious in his sight and severs them from among the ungodly World as to Life Eternal 1 Pet. 1.2 20. Rom. 8.29 30. Acts 13.48 Jude 4. Prov. 16.4 Gal. 1.15 16. Jer. 1.5 2 Pet. 1.10 Eph. 1.11 2. Indeed we are said to be chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the World Ephes 1.4 But that is because Election in Christ is from Eternity future and things future are as present to God who calleth those things which be not as tho they were Rom. 4.17 What is future is as real and certain as what is present yet as future it is not in present being but to come and most surely will be Therefore Election in Christ is no otherwise from Eternity than Faith is For to be chosen in Christ is to be in Christ to be in Christ is to be a Christian A Christian without Faith in Christ is simply impossible Therefore no Faith in Christ no Heavenly Election But God gives Faith to Abel and not to Cain and thereby doth difference Abel from Cain 1 Cor. 4.7 Ephes 2.8 9. Mat. 13.11 And Abel through the same Faith doth renounce and repent of all his Sins and chuse the way of Truth and sincerely covenant his Soul to God and so under God and by his Grace in Christ through Faith Abel is from first to last laudably and rewardably active and instrumental in his own Regeneration and Perseverance doth save himself and doth difference himself from Cain Gal. 6.4 Acts 2.40 1 Tim. 4.16 Deut. 30.19 Psal 119.30 Luke 10.42 Heb. 11.4 3. God worketh Regeneration ever by his Word because his Word is Truth and there cannot be Heavenly Regeneration without Heavenly Truth as the immortal Seed thereof John 17.17 1 Pet. 1.23 In the same instant as to time God doth of naturally unwilling unholy and dead in Sin make us supernaturally willing holy and alive unto Righteousness by Omnipotent Grace in us unsearchably neither contrary to the Intrinsick Nature of the Human Will nor dependent on it but above it and so the Will is not destroyed but fanctified and saved This Omnipotent Grace in us is a Divine Effect produced by God after the Counsel of â—â—s own Will which is the same for ever and can have no new Act Eph. 1.11 James 1.17 There is in all the godly Divine Omnipotency like as there is Divine Nature and the Life of God 2 Pet. 1.4 Eph. 4.18 I 〈◊〉 do all things through Christ which strengthâ—neth me Phil. 4.13 Omnipotency as it is in God is the Divine Effence simply independent and admitteth of no degrees Omnipotency as it is in us is the Image of God a divine Effect simply dependent and admitteth of degrees but so that he who hath the least degree cannot but be a sincere Convert and truly godly and yet he is freely and willingly so Regeneration is entirely Gods Gift and entirely our Duty and so we do the whole through God's Grace in Christ for God cannot do our Duty or any part of it and we without his Heavenly Grace in Christ can do nothing heavenly and supernatural 〈◊〉 is Regeneration Joh. 15.5 4. God's free Grace in Jesus Christ is the Fountain-cause of Predestination and Election to Life eternal but God predestinates no Person to 〈◊〉 and he reprobates no Person eternally save for his own Ungodliness in 〈◊〉 instant truly repented of and breeding the never-dying Worm To be ungodly is to be reprobate to every good Work Tit. 1.16 2 Cor. 13 5â— Jer. 6.30 As then God doth by his Grace of ungodly make many godly 〈◊〉 so he doth by the same Grace of reprobate make many elect and all the Elect in Christ he keeps from final Apostacy Christ considered as Man is himself elect Isa 42.1 Christ considered as God the Son incarnate equâ—â— in respect of his Godhead with the Father and the Holy Ghost Phil. 2. â—â— is the Author of Election 5. In God there is necessarily Self-kowledg and Self-knowledg is boâ—â— Act and Object Therefore no Man is the Object of God's Eternal Presciâ—nce and Decree But God from Eternity doth know love and delight in himself as purposed in time to make Adam holy to permit his Fall to give him Repentance and Pardon through Faith to give him Childrenâ— first Cain and then Abel to permit their being born equally in Originally Sin and to give Repentance and Salvation to Abel and not to Cain 〈◊〉 supposed all these things are from Eternity future and Abel through God's Grace will most surely be penitent and saved and Cain through himself will most surely be sinful impenitent and damned and yet they are no Object at all of God's Eternal Prescience and Decree God cannot go out of himself for an Object to terminate his Knowledg and Will upon because he is simply Independent and the same for ever His Omnipotent Word or Saying Let this and that be is the producing of it without all new Act Transition Motion and Change in God Gen. 1.3 9 11. Psal 148.5 CHAP. II. Of Perseverance and Certainty of Salvation 1. ADam being created in perfect Integrity might well love God though not sure of his Perseverance But unto fallen Man in whose Conscience reigns Guilt eternal the holy and Sin-avenging God is not at all lovely in that condition Fear and flee from him as his Judg he may love and draw nigh to him as his gracious God and reconciled Father in Christ he cannot till by Sin-pandoning Grace in Christ through Faith his Conscience be set free from Guilt eternal and in the room thereof be planted godly hope of Life eternal Every degree of this Hope must needs have with it intrinsecally a degree of godly Certainty and infallible Assurance of Perseverance and Salvation because it is Hope in God who is Truth it self and cannot lie Therefore it is called assurance of Hope an Anchor of the Soul both sure and stedfast better Hope by the which we draw nigh to God Heb. 6.11 19. and 7.19 In respect of this better Hope it is that Christ is said to be the Mediator of a better Covenant Heb. 8.6 2. As to Life Temporal and all things worldly and transitory uncertainty may suffice because true Happiness doth not consist therein and no Man can be sure of living another hour But as to Life Eternal as good never a whit as never the better nothing short of divine and heavenly Hope thereof can suffice to fallen Man. Now if the perseverance of all in whom is divine and heavenly Hope in Christ be not infallibly future and a thing that will most surely be in God's good time and through his Grace in Christ then there is no difference between heavenly and worldly Hope Hope in God and Hope in Man Faith in Christ and Infidelity Adam in Innocency could have no divine Hope of his Perseverance but only perfect Assurance that God would not forsake him if he did not
but to our Faith inwardly For the Opposition is not between Spiritual and Material but between Spiritual and Carnal 1 Cor. 3.1 and 9.11 Rom. 15.27 Spiritual Invisible and Eternal Things are incomparably and transcendently Material they are the Matters of God and of greatest Consequence and Importance to our Souls through Faith. The Soul is not the Form of Man but the Body is the Form of Man and the Soul is the quickening Life and Spirit In beholding a Corpse and dead Man we behold the Form and Appearance of Man but we do not behold the Soul. The Soul is the Image of God and therefore it cannot consist in a dead Form. Rom. 2.20 2 Tim. 3.5 4. Soul and Body are truly distinct as Principal and Instrumental the inward and the outward Man but they are not two essential and compounding Parts of Man. For Man is the Image of God who being without Parts and Composition so must needs be his Image As all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Every Man as to his natural Substance is simply a Man and not a Brute and therefore he must needs be uncompounded For to be simply a Man and yet compounded is a Contradiction Indeed the Body by it self consists of many Parts It will not therefore follow that it is onely one Part of Man. For if it be one only it is not many Gal. 3.16 As to Life Eternal the Soul is the Man not as excluding the Body but the Welfare of the Body is bound up in the Eternal Welfare of the Soul. If the Soul be safe all is safe If that be lost all is lost and the Man is undone for ever As to Life Temporal the Body is the Man not as excluding the Soul but as it is in and by the Body that Man doth visibly live and converse on Earth as a Man and not a Brute and the Body being dead the Man is dead as to this present Life And therefore not one Part of Christ but Christ Himself in respect of his Body was crucified dead buried and lay in the Grave Come see the place where the Lord lay Mat. 28.6 5. Every Artificial Image of Christ as God is an Idol and every Artificial Image of Christ as Man is Superstition and if adored then it is Idolatry Christ as Man is holy and Holiness may not be set forth by a dead Image or Picture Only holy Men and Women in this World as holy are the Image of Christ as he is Man. Rom. 8.29 Any other Image of Christ as Man is a lie and not the Image of Christ Christ is truly a Man but withal a special Man differing in kind from all other Men because he only is by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin He only is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World He only as Man is exalted at God's right Hand above all both Angels and Men They may be set forth by an Artificial Image or Picture but so may not Christ as Man. The only true setting forth of Christ as Man is by the Word and Sacraments through Faith because as Man he differs in specie in kind from all other Men. CHAP. XI Of the Church and Commonwealth 1. THE Holy Catholick Church which we believe as distinct from the elect Angels consists of the whole number of God's Elect in all Ages not as exclusive of what is good and commendable in Hypocrites Hereticks Apostates and Heathens but as liking and loving all that is good and lovely in whomsoever This Church began in penitent Adam and Eve they two were the first Church of the redeemed Upon the increase and multiplication of new Converts and Souls regenerate more were added to the Church successively like as when an Infant is born into the World there is one more added to the Society of Mankind Acts 2.47 The Apostles Commission was not to make a new Church differing in substance from what had been before and was in being at the time of Christ's Ascension but to preserve that Church which he left on Earth and by Apostolical Preaching and Endeavours to enlarge and add to it and so to make Jew and Gentile one in Christ Jesus Outward Variations suited to the Exegencies of the Church in its Militant State do not alter the intrinsecal Nature Essence and Unity of the Church which is the same for substance in all Ages But because Abel is the first who died in Faith and of whose Righteousness there is express mention therefore the Holy Catholick Church is fitly reckoned from him 2. The Church and Commonwealth are not two independent Societies but the Church as such is a holy Commonwealth simply dependent upon God through Christian Faith as to Life eternal And upon the Prince as sole Supream under God over all in his Dominions as to Life Temporal and Coercive rule by the Sword. Look as Homo being a Man includes Animal being a Living Creature So the Church includes human Society as being nothing but Mankind sanctified by Faith in Christ The Power and Authority of Christ as Man exalted at God's right Hand over all is simply dependent upon God And therefore all the Power and Authority of the Church must needs be simply dependent ministerial and subordinate and whatsoever Church claims to it self Power simply independent by that very claim it is proved to be Anti-christian that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition who exalts himself above God and above the Prince his Vice-gerent on Earth 2 Thess 2.3 4. 3. The Church is not two Universal and Particular Invisible and Visible but the Church is simply one as God is one admitting of just Conception but no Division It is one Whole or Universal as comprizing all the Parts But one Whole or Universal as distinct from all the Parts is only Notion and Conceit as a Man in the Moon or Castle in the Air a meer Chimera We see those Men and Women who are the Church Militant but that which makes them the Church Militant we do not see but believe The Church is plain and manifest to those who believe as the Sun at Noon-day is to seeing Men But he who believeth not makes God a Lyar 1 Joh. 5.10 and God being made a Lyar the Church must needs be made a Lyar too 4. It will not stand with Christian Faith Hope and Love to live divided in Heart and Conversation from any the least Member of Christ and true Christian who is evidently and apparently so so far as Man can judg We cannot be more holy than God more pure then Christ Whom he receives we are to receive or we cannot expect to be received by him The Communion of Saints is an Article of Faith unalterably fixed by God as to the substance of it and it consists in Christian Faith Hope and Love These are to the Church and every Member thereof what the Soul is to the Body But saving Christian Faith Hope and
Love we are to become all Things to all Men and bear all Things rather than rend and divide the Church by nefarious and lewd Schism Ungodly Christians considered as Ungodly are not Christians and Members of the Church But Ungodly Christians considered not as Ungodly but as Christians are a sort of Christians and Church-Members and are not meer Heathens and Persons without They are of the Church and yet they are not the Church Rom. 9.6 5. Loyalty is a Fundamental in Religion as without which human Society cannot subsist and no human Society no Religion Human Society cannot subsist without some to Rule and some to be Ruled If the Ruled may resist and rise in Rebellion against their lawful Rulers set over them by God Mankind is no longer a Society but a Rout and a Foundation is laid for endless War Desolation and Confusion of all Things The Nature of a Fundamental in Religion is to expel its Contrary as Light doth Darkness As then no Man can in the same Instant be both Godly and Ungodly So can no Man in the same Instant be both Loyal and Disloyal Loyalty is not Loyalty unless it be so out of Conscience either Natural and Common such as may be in Heathens and Men not Regenerate or Supernatural and Special such as is in the Regenerate He that is only Loyal out of Self-ends and for Worldly Interest is not Loyal before God. Human Law considered as Human cannot bind the Conscience But considered as subservient to the Divine Law so it is in a large Sense Divine and as Divine it binds the Conscience For all that lies in us we are to live peaceably with all Men. Yet where the Thing enacted and enjoyned is not intrinsecally necessary to the publick Good there a Man hath his choice whether to do the thing or to pay the Penalty In no case may we resist Authority Supream and Subordinate In no case may we obey Man against God. Therefore when no way is left but either we must Suffer or Sin we must patiently and meekly Suffer and lay down our Lives rather than resist or allow the least Sin. CHAP. XII Of Original Sin the state of Infants and their Baptism 1. AS to Life Temporal there are in the Soul Habits distinct from Act and by frequent Acts Men get a Habit. But as to Eternity there is no such Distinction For the Soul as being a spiritual and immortal Substance is the Image of God and is therefore ever in act invisibly From the time that it is first formed in the Womb it ceaseth not to live a Life differing in kind from Brutes and while in the Body is still upon its way to Eternity and either it is Godly and so in the way to Heaven and invisibly active for God or it is Ungodly and so in the way to Hell and invisibly active against him 2. If God shall give unto Adam after his Fall Children by natural Generation and shall not also give them inward heavenly Grace and supernatural Regeneration it is most certain that inwardly and invisibly they will be Graceless and Unregenerate As Graceless and Unregenerate they are Unholy dead in Sin and full of enmity against God and so dying it is above me to prove that they have not in them the never-dying Worm This Original Sin in Infants is neither from God nor from Adam nor from their immediate Parents but it is wholly from themselves inwardly and unsearchably neither by natural necessity nor after the similitude of Adam's Transgression Rom. 5.14 but by legal Necessity Which is a sort of Necessity innocently and unsearchably permitted by God but not willed by him and is not avoidable by either Parents or Children without supernatural Grace in Christ Jesus Even as ungodly grown Men in their Sleep while their Sleep lasteth are unavoidably and inexcusably ungodly 3. The adequate ground of Hope concerning the whole Off-spring of Adam is Divine Election in Christ Jesus If we bottom it not entirely upon this we must needs bottom it upon Reprobation there being no middle or third imaginable Elect and Reprobate as Godly and Ungodly divide all the World. And to bottom Hope of Salvation upon Reprobation is to destroy Hope All the Infants of Godly Parents both or one dying in meer Infancy we may well think are elect and saved as a Part of that holy Catholick Church which consists of the Elect in all Ages And of this Baptism to me seems to be a sacred Sign and Seal 1 Pet. 3.21 Ungodly Christians as hath been said considered not as Ungodly but as Christians are a sort of Christians and not meer Heathens The Infants of such being brought unto us by the Parents or some other Christian in their stead themselves being reasonably letted with desire to have them baptised I conceive it is our Duty as we are Christ's Ministers in Obedience to his Command Mat. 28.19 20. Well suiting with the Grounds of Faith the approved Practice of the Church before Christ's Incarnation the Words and Example of Christ touching Infants Mark. 10.13 14 15 16. and the Practice of the Apostles in baptizing Housholds to baptize there Infants And if they shall be taken away in meer Infancy by Death we may well think that they also are Elect and Saved and that of such also is the Kingdom of God. Though the Parents have not Godly Sincerity yet a sort of Sincerty they have and they do really and not dissemblingly desire Baptism for their Infants and are truly glad of it Either some Infants are eternally elect and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly or not If yea can any Man forbid Water that these should not be baptized which are eternally elect and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly as well as grown Men Act. 10.47 48. If not then all Infants are eternally reprobate and damned the Infant Jesus not excepted Isa 42.1 Luk. 1.35 4. The Contempt of Baptism is damnable in the Contemners but Infants cannot contemn it Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.17 The Gospel that is Life eternal through Faith in Christ is simply necessary for all Persons in all Places at all Times from the Fall of Adam to the End of the World But so is not Baptism If the Person die inwardly holy and regenerate as he may though not baptized he is undoubtedly saved 5. If the baptized Infant be not inwardly holy and regenerate as all are not then I conceive it is not in a State of Salvation it is not set free from Guilt eternal yet is its Baptism as ordained of God and dispensed by his Minister neither Nullity nor Mockery but a Divine Bond Oath and Covenant laid upon the Infant to be what all the Off-spring of Adam by God's Law indispensably are bound to be truly holy and God's faithful Servant Either its Regeneration is future or it is not If yea then Baptism is a sure Pledg Seal and Token that it is future If