servants of God reconciled by Faith from the fountain of saving Grace which administers knowledge and strength to their performances And this Doctrine of Faith is propounded by way of confirmation of the Precepts or the Doctrine of manners upon four Reasons All which prove that the aforesaid virtues are to bee endeavored after Hath appeared Reas. 1. Because the Gospel of the Grace of God bringing salvation of all kinds to men being published and manifested hath appeared to all sorts of men Therefore it is meet that men of all sorts shew their thankfulness to God in an holy conversation prosecuting the foresaid virtues Vers. 12. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts wee should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Reas. 2. Because this Gospel of God doth not onely teach us what duties wee are bound to perform but also instructs us how to draw strength from the fountain of the Grace of Christ from his death and resurrection to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly as to our selves justly as to our neighbours and holily as to God Therefore ought wee to bee ready for the performance of these duties Vers. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. Reas. 3. Because wee expect eternal life at the second coming of Christ who is the great God one with the Father and the Holy Ghost and our Saviour Therefore it behoves us to bee armed and stirred up to follow after all the foresaid good works which God requireth of us Vers. 14. Who gave himself for us that hee might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Reas. 4. Because therefore Christ offered up himself for us that hee might effectually redeem us from the bondage of sin and purchase us to himself as a peculiar people that wee might follow after good works Therefore if wee would not have that Redemption to bee void as to us wee must of necessity forsake our sins and follow after the foresaid virtues and newness of life Vers. 15. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority Let no man despise thee Hee repeats the command of attending to his Doctrine willing him to insist upon these things i. e. That hee sharpen his exhortations and reproofs with Authority which Authority hee commands that no Professor despise and that Titus do nothing that may expose him to contempt CHAP. III. HEE proceeds to instruct Titus in his office to which end hee adds eight other Precepts Vers. 1. Put them in mind to bee subject to principalities and powers to obey Magistrates to bee ready to every good work Precept 1. That hee command all Christians quietly to give respect to Civil Order i. e. That they submit themselves to the supreme Magistrate and the inferiour Powers or Magistrates that they bee obedient to Civil Laws and shew themselves ready and chearful to every good work for the promoting of which Magistrates are appointed Vers. 2. To speak evil of no man to bee no brawlers but gentle shewing all meekness unto all men Precept 2. Of the duties of Charity towards any our of the Church or within it these duties are four 1 That they respect the credit and reputation of others speaking evil of no man 2 That they bee free from strifes and contentions 3 That they follow after moderation and equity being ready when need requires to part from their private right 4 That they bee gentle towards all even the worst of men Vers. 3. For wee our selves also were sometime foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another Hee gives two Reasons why gentleness should bee shewed towards some Reas. 1. Because wee before our conversion were such as they now are wee are all of us by nature upon many considerations to bee blamed yet wee desired to bee treated courteously and mildly by all Therefore let us deal accordingly with those who are not yet converted Hee sets down five diseases of our Natures 1 Wee were foolish because all the wisdome of men is meer vanity so long as wee know not God for wee are ignorant of the right rule and the true fountain and the due end of our actions 2 Disobedient Because men by nature do nothing of those things which either God or conscience command but that which pleases themselves 3 Straying viz. from the true way which leads to eternal life and being deceived with errours they go further off from God daily 4 Serving with delight divers lusts and pleasures which reign together and as it were by turns challenge a dominion over all the unregenerate 5 Wee were destitute of the true love of God living in malice and envy rejoycing in the hurt and sorry for the good that befalls our neighbour hating one another when all of us were most worthy to bee hated of God Vers. 4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Reas. 2. Because wee although perverse yet at length were converted by the Grace of God Therefore ought wee to use gentleness towards those that are unconverted and hope well of them who may possibly bee converted by the same Divine Grace Kindness Hee explains this reason and commends the grace that was shewed to us in our conversion and proves it by eleven Reasons Reas. 1. From the more remote cause viz. the goodness and kindness of God which rejoyceth to put forth it self for our advantage and to communicate good to us Reas. 2. From the neerer cause which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of God wherewith God is affected to man-kind above all other creatures Reas. 3. From the instrumental cause or the manner of revealing the Gospel which hath no less graciously shined forth upon us and without our procurement than the Sun from whence the similitude of shining forth or appearing is fetch 't rises upon us without our help Reas. 4. From the next cause of our conversion which is the effectual manifestation of God as a Saviour made to us who as soon as hee manifests himself to our hearts not as our Judge to condemn us but as our Saviour to save us by this manifestation of himself hee draws our hearts to him and converts us Vers. 5. Not by works of Righteousness which wee have done but according to his mercy hee saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Reas. 5. By way of removing all our works and all merit in us which either went in time before our effectual calling or which could bee fore-seen and considered as if wee had done them Reas. 6. Expresly affirming that mercy is the cause of salvation Reas. 7. Making God the Author of the Sacraments or the external means of salvation and also the Author of our regeneration and so of the internal means whereby wee are
an oath because so the gravity of the matter required Therefore not out of any levity did hee defer his comming unto them Vers. 24. Not for that wee have dominion over your Faith but are helpers of your joy for by Faith yee stand Hence arises another Objection Therefore thou makest thy self Lord of our Faith as if thou couldest punish when thou wouldest Hee answers by denying any Mastery affirming the power of his Ministery and that to bee imployed to the benefit of the Church that timely Censures according to the Will of Christ being used those that repented might at length rejoyce Hee gives an account why hee denyed any dominion over their Faith because Faith is the bond of conjunction with Christ by which Faith wee stand fast in the Grace of God in right and title unto Christ in the possession of things present and in hopes of future good things Therefore Faith admits no Lord besides God it admits of men onely as Ministers and helpers CHAP. II. THere are two parts of this Chapter In the first hee proceeds in his Apology for his constant good will towards the Corinthians to vers 14. In the other hee begins his Apology for his Ministery to the end In the first to the former Arguments whereby hee proves that his mind was not alienated from the Corinthians hee adds eight signs of his good will towards them Vers. 1. But I determined this with my self that I would not come again to you in heaviness Sign 1. That the cause why hee changed his purpose concerning his comming to them was lest hee should bring sadness to the Corinthians at his comming being compelled more severely to correct their manners which hee did desire might bee amended before his comming Vers. 2. For if I make you sorry who is hee then that maketh mee glad but the same which is made sorry by mee Sign 2. That his sympathy was so much with the Corinthians that hee could not unless they were glad rejoyce neither moderate himself from sorrow so long as any one amongst them by reason of him remained sad Vers. 3. And I wrote this same unto you lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoyce having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all Sign 3. That the writing not onely of the former Epistle but also of this second was undertaken for this end lest if hee had come to those and had found them impenitent besides his sorrow for their sin hee might have been forced to a new sorrow which necessary severity would create both to them and himself Having confidence Sign 4. That hee was perswaded that his joy was matter of joy to the Corinthians themselves and their joyes were both to him and them common Vers. 4. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears not that you should bee grieved but that yee might know the love that I have more abundantly unto you Sign 5. That the former Epistle which necessarily was more sharp was not writ by him without tears and truly for that end that hee might testifie his ready mind towards them not that hee might make them sorry Vers. 5. But if any have caused grief hee hath not grieved mee but in part that I may not over-charge you all Sign 6. His friendly mind towards the Corinthians That the Apostle did esteem as nothing that heaviness which the incestuous person had created to him in comparison with that sadness which hee had caused to all the Corinthians Hee addeth in part because his grief was now turned into joy through the incestuous persons repentance Therefore by way of mitigation hee saith that hee added in part for the incestuous persons sake now a penitent lest hee should cast a burden on him already burthened in himself if hee should too much aggravate his sin Vers. 6. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many Sign 7. That now hee was ready to receive the penitent incestuous person into favour and so to give a proof of his lenity and meekness that it might appear that the former severity came not but from love and his desire of advantage to the Church of Corinth To which end hee declareth that the chastisement of this Incestuous person inflicted by the Authority of many i. e. the Governours of the Church the Church it self consenting after his repentance appeared was sufficient Vers. 7. So that contrariwise yee ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest perhaps such an one should bee swallowed up with over much sorrow That hee might shew his meekness towards the penitent Incestuous person hee adviseth that hee may by the Corinthian Church bee again received into favour for these six Reasons annexed Reason 1. Because they are bound to forgive the penitent and to comfort him no less than they were bound to excommunicate him being impenitent Lest perhaps Reason 2. Because otherwise it was dangerous lest hee should bee swallowed up with over much sorrow except they should now receive the penitent into favour again Vers. 8. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love towards him Reason 3. Because especially they were so desired by the Apostle they are bound to testifie their love towards him to wit by shewing themselves to have excommunicated that man not that they might destroy him but that by repentance they might save him Vers. 9. For to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you whether you bee obedient in all things Reason 4. Because by this means they were about to shew themselves obedient to the command of the Apostle in all things as before in excommunicating so now also by absolving him from the bond of excommunication wherein the Apostle did prove their obedience Vers. 10. To whom yee forgive any thing I forgive also for if I forgave any thing to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ. 11. Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for wee are not ignorant of his devices Reason 5. Because the Apostle for the sake of the Corinthians had granted him pardon and was about to forgive him Therefore it was meet that they for the Apostles sake should forgive this man also Get an advantage Reason 6. Lest through the craftiness of Satan the Church should suffer harm except now they should forgive him repenting for by ever much severity sinners may bee brought into desperation or a deparâ—ing from the Church because of Satan whose arts and deceits to do harm are not unknown to the Church Vers. 12. Furthermore when I came to Troas to preach Christs Gospel and a door was opened unto mee of the Lord 13. I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my Brother but taking my leave of them I went from thence into Macedonia Sign 8. His constant good will towards the Corinthians That
given him about restraining certain perverse Zelots of the Law and admonishing them that they teach no Doctrine diverse from that which is Apostolical In prescribing of which the Apostle chuses to use words of beseeching and intreating rather than to speak imperiously that hee might supply the stead of Timothy who could scarcely bee loosed from the most sweet society of Paul not for a time even by the intreaties of the Apostle Vers. 4. Neither give heâ—d to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in Faith so do For example Hee commands that Fables and Jewish Genealogies bee avoided i. e. newly devised opinions or traditions besides the holy Scriptures and curious speculations about unnecessary things such are very many Talmudical and Cabaliâ—tical such also are to bee found amongst the School-men Endless The Reasons of his admonition are six Reas. 1. Because those vain speculations are idle and endless whereof there is no use Which rather Reas. 2. Because they beget curious and contentious questions nor do they promote the knowledge of piety which lead unto God for edification proceeds not from probable and dubious questions but by the solid beleeving of the Word of God Vers. 5. Now the end of the Commandement is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and of Faith unfeigned Reas. 3. Because those Teachers that are wholly exercised in discussing of smaller matters which may bee fetched from the Law though they seem to bee carried with a Zeal to the Law of Moses yet they refer not the Law to its true end or to the proper scope of the whole Scripture which is that men by the Law being led to the knowledge of sin and deserved misery may seriously betake themselves to Christ by Faith unfeigned Charity This Faith hee describes from a three-fold effect 1 That true Faith in the propitiaâ—ory blood of Christ renders the conscience good or peaceable and quiet 2 That the conscience being now pacified Faith will not suffer that the heart bee any longer delighted in evil but rather endeavours after purity and that it may bee purged from all evil affections 3 That true Faith is not idle in that which is good but stirs up a man diligently to labour in the obedience of every Precept by love to God and men Vers. 6. From which some having swâ—rved have turned aside unto vain jangling Reas. 4. Confirming the former Because it is approved by the experience of some that unless Teachers abstain from their vain curiosities and intend more earnestly the edification of mâ—n in Faith and Charity they cannot but bee drawn away from the simplicity of Doctrine into vain babling for where there is vanity there verity is not Vers. 7. Desiring to bee Teachers of the Law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm Reas. 5. Because it is also known by experience that those ambitious Teachers while they affect a new kind of teaching and seek after applause from their knowledge of the Law betrayed their ignorance whilst they understood not the questions whereof nor the Arguments from which they disputed Therefore avoiding idle speculations Timothy was to take care that in the Apostolick Doctrine or the manner of teaching it no innovation was made by any one Vers. 8. But wee know that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully Hee answers an Objection Therefore are thou against the divine Law who so earnestly rebukest the Teacherâ— of it The Apostle answers that hee did not at all detract from the Law reproving those that abuse it but rather commends and teaches the right use of the Law Vers. 9. Knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and prophane for murderers of Fathers and murderers of Mothers for man-slayers 10. For Whore-mongers for them that defile themselves with man-â—ind for men-stealers for lyars for perjurâ—â— persons and if there â—ee any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine 11. According to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust Hee confirms the Answer with three Reasons The first is from the end of the Law or the Legal Covenant so far as it is opposed to the Gospel the Law is established not that the faithful justified by Faith in Christ should bee justified by the Law as the perverse Teachers of the Law intended but that the unrighteous and unbeleevers as are all wicked and prophane persons condemned by the Law might acknowledge their unrighteousness and deserved condemnation repent and flye unto Christ Therefore the Apostles Doctrine detracts nothing from the Law According Reas. 2. All sins which are forbidden by the Law are also prohibited by the sound Doctrine of the glorious Gospel and all the duties which are commanded by the Law are earnestly urged and taught in the Gospel so much as concerns the performance of our obedience unto God the demonstration of our thankfulness and the proof of the sincerity of Faith in the fruits of holiness Therefore the Doctrine of the Gospel detracts nothing from the Law Committed Reas. 3. I an Apostle to whom the Gospel of God in himself most blessed and the Author of all blessings towards us is committed do no less urge this wholesome doctrine of Sanctification and all good works which in the Law are commanded than any Zelot of the Law although not to the same end Therefore the Apostolical Doctrine nothing at all detracts from the Law The Second Part. Vers. 12. And I thank Iesus Christ our Lord who hath enabled â—ee for that hee counâ—ed mee faithful putting mee into the Ministery The second part of the Chapter follows which contains the vindication of the authority of his Apostleship against those that denied it or in consideration of his fore-acted life did lessen it and that with thanksgiving for the Grace that was bestowed upon him Seven Reasons are laid down of his thanksgiving All which prove that his Apostleship is in no wise to bee disparaged Reas. 1. Christ by the grace of his Spirit hath strengthened mee an infirm man and heretofore a slave to sin the Devil and the world appointed an Apostle by him that as a leader I should with an invincible courage stand up for the defence of the Gospel against all the insulâ—â—tions of the world the flesh â—nd the Devil Therefore thanks are to bee given for my confirmation in the Apostleship so little reason is there that any thing should bee detracted Accounted mee faithful Reas. 2. Christ hath endued mee being appointed an Apostle with the gifts of his Spirit and hath so far honoured mee that hee made and accounted mee his faithful friend who would commit to mee the Gospel to bee dispensed to the souls of his Elect Therefore my authority is not to bee disparaged Hath appointed Reas. 3. Christ the Lord hath placed mee in the Ministâ—ry i. e. in
would bee esteemed either by God or men true Beleevers or not of the number of hypocrites yee ought to beware of Apostacy or seducers Vers. 20. But yee have an unction from the holy One and yee know all things Reas. 6. Yee are furnished with necessary gifts and the aid of the Holy Ghost that yee might know all saving opinions and so might shun the seduction of Apostates Therefore yee ought to beware Vers. 21. I have not written unto you because yee know not the Truth but because you know it and that no lie is of the Truth Reas. 7. Answering an objection I do not accuse you of ignorance by admonishing or writing to you but therefore I exhort you to constancy that I may know that you have known the Truth and are delighted in it Therefore yee ought to hearken to my exhortation And that no lie Reas. 8. Yee being admonished of the Truth may easily discern a lie which viz. being examined by the rule of Truth doth in no wise agree with it Therefore yee ought to hearken to my exhortation for this end that yee may examine and reject that which is false Vers. 22. Who is a lyer but hee that denieth that Iesus is the Christ hee is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Reas. 9. Those that seduce men from the true Doctrine of the Gospel are the greatest lyers amongst men as the interrogation intimates because they in some way or other deny Jesus to be the Christ for they do not acknowledge such a Christ as the Father offers to us in the Gospel For they openly or secretly invade either his person or his natures or the proprieties of his natures or his offices or his virtue or his efficacy or grace or truth or his glory Therefore yee ought to beware of seducers Hee is Reas. 10. All seducers who draw hearers from Christ in any one Article are Antichrists both denying the Father and the Son and so overthrowing the true Religion and the foundations of Religion with their lies because there is no true God out of Christ For in him dwells all the fulness of the God-head Therefore yee ought to beware of seducers Vers. 23. Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father Hee confirms this reason from the inseparableness of the Father from the Son that no man can have the Father for his God who any way denies the Son because God hath given himself to bee enjoyed wholly by us in Christ and hee is sought for in vain elsewhere or by any other way than wherein hee hath manifested himself to us in Christ who as the image of the Father represents and offers to us whatsoever is necessary or profitable to bee known of the Father to salvation and on the other side whosoever give due honour to Christ as to the Son of God acknowledging him such as hee hath manifested himself in the Scriptures doth also acknowledge the Father and esteem him for their God Vers. 14. Let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you yee also shall continue in the Son and in the Father Reas. 11. The truly antient and onely Truth of God alwaies constant to it self is this which I exhort you to hold which viz. ye have heard from the beginning of the Gospel not onely preached Christ but also promised and declared by the Prophets in the Scriptures Therefore yee ought to retain that Truth and here hee openly brings forth what hee aimed at or the Exhortation If it shall remain in you Reas. 12. If yee have retained the Doctrine delivered to you by Christ and his Apostles according to the Scriptures yee shall remain in the society and friendship of God the Son and the Father Therefore yee ought to beware of seducers Vers. 25. And this is the promise that hee hath promised us eternal life 26. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you Reas. 13. God upon this condition hath promised us life eternal if wee retain stedfastly the Doctrine of Christ Therefore yee ought stedfastly to continue in the Faith and obedience of Christs Doctrine and beware of seducers who do their indeavour to withdraw you from the Truth And here again the Apostle professes openly his aim in these Arguments Vers. 27. But the anointing which yee have received of him abideth in you and yee need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things and is truth and is no lye and even as it hath taught you yee shall abide in him Reas. 14. That yee may bee kept from seducers yee are fortified with manifold defences For first as for external doctrine yee have received from Christ an unction or the holy Spirit who inwardly teacheth you and confirmâ— you in the Truth of the Doctrine of Christ every one in his measure Secondly That Spirit remains in you who are faithful and is not taken away from beleevers Thirdly Yee have no need of any man that may teach you any thing besides that which the Spirit of Christ hath taught in the Scripture and hath confirmed in your hearts yee have onely need of Exhortation that yee abide in Christ as the Spirit or Unction speaking in the Scriptures and that which is in the Scriptures confirming in your hearts and further instructing you out of the Scriptures doth teach you in all things necessary to salvation which Spirit is Truth i. e. the very truth of the Scripture Which is truth A confirmation and not a lye but a refuter and hater of lyes Therefore yee ought stedfastly to abide in Christ as the Spirit according to the truth of Scripture hath taught you and to beware of seducers Vers. 28. And now Little Children abide in him that when hee shall appear wee may have confidence and not bee ashamed before him at his coming Reas. 15. Whosoever they bee that do not persevere in the Faith of Christ neither abide in communion with him furthermore whatsoever they are in the esteem of men they shall with shame depart from the judgement fear of Christ. But on the contrary those that persevere in the Faith shall confidently stand before him Therefore yee ought stedfastly to abide in the Faith of Christ and beware of seducers Vers. 29. If yee know that hee is righteous yee know that every one that doth righteousness is born of him Exhort 5. Which hee will prosecute in the former part of the following Chapter viz. that they endeavour after Righteousness or that they follow after holiness The Arguments of the Exhortation are fifteen Argum. 1. Confirmed from the testimony of their conscience Hee that endeavours after Righteousness is born of God who is righteous and hath the testimony of his Adoption and Regeneration Therefore endeavour after Righteousness CHAP. III. THe parts of the Chapter are two In the first hee prosecutes the remaining Arguments
is to bee perfected which is the summe of the Gospel 2 The second Reason The necessities of the Church being in danger by seducers which urged him to write this Epistle These things being premised hee propounds the scope of the Epistle which is that they would by all means indeavour to preserve the Apostolical doctrine to themselves and posterity from the corruption of seducers Sound Doctrine hee calls the Faith viz. to bee beleeved because it contains all things necessary to bee beleeved unto salvation Once delivered to the Saints hee saith Because with one consent all the Apostles fully and perfectly delivered the same Truth according to the Scriptures written before concerning salvation to bee obtained by Faith in Christ that they might have an immutable rule for obtaining eternal life and without addition or diminution to bee observed to the coming of the Lord. For this Faith hee wills them to contend because the Flesh the Devil and the World and the servants of Satan which are in it will never cease to oppose this Truth so that of necessity it lies upon all true Beleevers to maintain an irreconcileable war with these Vers. 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the onely Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ. The Arguments of his Exhortation are nine whereof most of them are taken from the sins and punishments of seducers Argum. 1. Which proves that the Apostolical Faith is to be diligently preserved from the corruptions of seducers which was once committed to the Church Because the danger was great by reason of seducers who had privily crept in as adversaries to this Doctrine Whom hee so describes that each part of the description might serve to this end For 1 The manner of insinuating their errour to the Brethren was latent and private for before they could bee well observed by indirect waies and means they closely instilled their errours into the minds of some 2 Not without the divine decree were they permitted to follow their own devices for the sifting and winnowing of the Church For in the holy and eternal Counsel of God they were reprobated and destined that through their sins they should come to this condemnation no less câ—rtainly than if their names were written in a book 3 They were ungodly touched with no sense and reverence of the Divine Majesty either to serve him or beleeve in him 4 The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ or the Doctrine of Grace which is set forth in the Gospel to this very end that men denying all ungodliness might live holily they directly perverted to a quite contrary end and turned it into an occasion of all lasciviousness and carnal delights 5 Indeed in their doctrine and deeds they denied our onely Lord and Master and our God Jesus Christ whom hee calls the onely Lord God not excluding the Father and the Holy Ghost but creatures and feigned Deities Therefore against these seducers the purity of the Faith is to bee preserved Vers. 5. I will therefore put you in remembrance though yee once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the Land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that beleeved not Argum. 2. God destroyed the unbeleeving Apostate Israelites in the wilderness after they were brought out of Egypt Therefore warned by their examples yee ought to beware lest seduced yee perish with others Vers. 6. And the Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation hee hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day Arg. 3. God hath condemned the Apostate Angels cast out of Heaven to eternal destruction by an irreversible decree Therefore the faithful should beware of Apostasie lest they also perish Vers. 7. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire Arg. 4. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them after they had given themselves over to fornication and filthy lusts with which these Impostors polluted themselves and for an example to those that should come after cast them into eternal fire You must beware therefore of these Impostors which may draw you into the like sins and punishments Vers. 8. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and speak evil of dignities Arg. 5. Because these Impostors are as vessels fitted to destruction whom God in like manner will destroy the reason whereof hee gives from nine or more sins which reigned in them From which their fruits as so many marks they shewed forth themselves to bee openly known and discerned 1 The first vice of these Libertines was That deluded with dreams they defiled the flesh that is to say they securely gave themselves over to lust and other hainous sins by their diabolical inchantments they were bewitched in their minds and consciences as if they had been taken with a dream 2 The second vice was They were adversaries to Civil Government not enduring any kind of Magistracy or Dominion but heaped up reproaches and evil speakings upon those honourable Ordinances of God even as at this day wee see in the carriage of the fanatick Anabaptists Vers. 9. Yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil hee disputed about the body of Moses duâ—st not bring against him a railing accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee Hee amplifies this vice from Michael the Archangel his disputing with Satan about the body of Moses that his sepulchre might not bee known to the Israelites who would superstitiously have worshiped his reliques being dead whose words they despised while hee was alive Hee durst not or could not by reason of his sanctity cast such reproaches upon Satan as those Hereticks did upon Magistracy It was enough for the Archangel to say The Lord rebuke thee or restrain thy purposes From whence the Apostle fetched this history they vainly inquire who acknowledge the Scriptures to bee of divine inspiration Vers. 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves 3 The third vice That seeing they were ignorant of divine ordinances Christian duties and of all spiritual things not only void but uncapable yet impudently they dare to belch out their blasphemies against those things 4 The fourth vice they are taxed with is That those things which naturally they know as sensitive animals in them they deport themselves below the very beasts and prompt themselves to all lust and intemperance Vers. 11. We unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the errour of Balaam for reward and perished in the gain saying of Core 5 The fift vice That when the curse of God is