FAITH IN GODS PROMISES THE Saints best Weapon OR The great Use and Availableness of Faith both for the support and growth of Saints in times most perilous Plainly discovering that the want of Faith in the way of Gods Promises is the great cause of the want of Gods Presence With several Considerations for the encrease of Faith that henceforth the Saints may by Faith so draw nigh unto God and in Faith so wait upon God as with certainty of receiving from him Whereunto is added something concerning the great Errour and Mistake of many men concerning the True Christ and how he is said to be in his People with other things very necessary to be known in order to Saints resisting the Temptation of the present Times Set forth as useful for all People but especially intended for the good of such as are returned to the Good Old Way of the Lord By MATTHEW CAFFYN of Horsham in Sussex And it is of Faith that it might be by Grace Rom. 4.16 LONDON Printed by S. Dover for F. Smith at the Elephâ—nt and Castle without Temple-Bar THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Christian Reader FOrasmuch as there are many among the number of Professors that have somewhat considerably laid out themselves in a Holy pursuit after the more excellent degrees of Christianity hoth frequently and fervently seeking the Lord in order thereunto who nevertheless yet remain short thereof and much below the desired estate to their great dissatisfaction even sometimes tending to the begetting such temptations as are of a very dangerous consequence These things therefore write I unto you whereby you may as some already have come to see that there is one thing yet much lacking even Faith to believe that God is a gracious Rewarder of them that seek him without which 't is impossible to please God For though it be true that men have alwayes spoken of and readily acknowledged Faith to be that which greatly engages Gods grace and goodness for their help yet Oh! how far have men been from living by Faith indeed so as to esteem Gods Promises their ALL in every condition and at all times Whereupon these also are to direct you unto such enlargednesse of heart in believing Gods Promises as may with certainty reach the prayed-for Blessings from God that so having sweet experience of Gods Faithfulness to your Souls you may be encouraged for the future and made able to say with the Saints of old I love the Lord because he hath heard my Supplications therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Psal 116.1,2 But as there are some who have diligently sought the Lord that for want of believing him to be a faithful Rewarder of such have notwithstanding been much without the things sought for so also there are some yea very many that are apt to say with Israel of old that no evil shall come unto them and very confident that the Lord is among them that have indeed no real ground to depend upon the Lord such and so great are their miscarriages to God-ward as that their seeming Faith and Confidence is rendred thereby to be meer imaginations groundless perswasions and so they found such as think themselves to be what they are not and so are deceived These are therefore also to discover and lay open their great miscarriages and corruptions even in such performances of theirs as are supposed by them to be the best of their actions that henceforth they may upon better terms draw nigh unto God even so as that they may enjoy Gods drawing nigh unto them which is the onely real cause of Soul-satisfaction True it is that the dayes wherein we live are perilous and much more may be yet sure may you be that no condition may possibly befal you wherein you may not by Faith so lay hold of Gods Promises as nevertheless to be greatly supported and inwardly comforted Wherefore above all things take the shield of Faith and in every condition let the gracious Promises of God be the ground of your hopes and no longer visible things that the presence of the invisible God may be with all certainty experienced by your Souls Which that you may is and shall be the Prayers of Your Brother in the Lord MATTHEW CAFFYN FAITH IN GODS PROMISES The Saints best Weapon IN the beginning when God made the Heavens and the Earth it seemed good in his sight to make and ordain Mankind to be head over all other his Creatures to whom he freely gave the glory of Paradise a present possession of happiness which he during his innocency enjoyed not as an inheritance first obtained upon conditional terms but as a free gift given him of God without any condition required of him in order to his first entrance thereinto Gen. 2.8,15,16 Which possession when he had lost by his traâ—…gression and thereby made himself and all his posterity subâ—… the first death such was the Fathers love as that he freely gave his Son in due time to dye for the world that is for every man Heb. 2.9 By means whereof was procured a Resurrection of all men from the first death with the gift of Eternal life and glory 1 Cor. 15.22 Mat. 19.14 Which gift of eternal and more excellent life was as freely given to Mankind now since his fall as was that first life of happiness in Paradise before his fall not upon terms or conditions nor any fore-seen Faith in or works of Righteousness done by the Creature but meerly and alone the goodness and richness of grace dwelling in God himself moving him thereunto which life of glory all mankind have right to and are in sure capacity thereof during their infancy wherefore of such saith Christ Mat. 19.14 is the Kingdom of God till by their own personal transgressions they procure to themselves the severity of Gods wrath that is the second death which is Eternal John 3.19 Rev. 20.14 Under the desert of which death all persons quickly come all goes out of the way following the lusts and desires of the flesh which draws and vehemently inclines to its first estate of present pleasure ease and delight which mankind enjoyed while he stood in his first created estate without those many bodily miseries which now attends them which flesh and blood would fain be freed from and so it comes to pass that in all men in one measure or other according to every mans experience there ariseth such natural lusts and desires in the flesh as greatly provokes them to follow after these present things and too too often prevails with them to break the known Laws of God that something like to their first enjoyments might be attained but to follow the present glory of this life so as to delight in and love the same though once lawful for Adam in Paradise who undoubtedly might then as well love delight and take pleasure therein as Saints may take pleasure and delight in the heavenly glory when in the real possession
Name who notwithstanding yet come short and are much below that more excellent estate which they have longed for and which is certainly to be attained These are therefore to inform or remind all such that there is yet one thing much lacking namely Faith or the stedfast believing Gods Promises graciously made in order thereunto for they that come to God must believe not onely that God is or that he is diligently to be sought unto but also that he is a Rewarder of such as thus seek him mark you must believe saith the Apostle Heb. 11.6 shewing plainly that notwithstanding what measure soever of holinesse in point of conversation diligency of seeking or importunity of praying there is unlesse it be accompanied with faith in the Soul that God will reward according as he hath Promised all other virtues found in the Creature will not reach the desired Blessings from God For without Faith 't is impossible to please God To which also agrees the Advise of the Apostle saying let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of Faith c. Heb. 10.22 Moreover I will saith the Apostle that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 Shewing that it is not enough for men to lift up holy hands to God though attended also with Charity so as to be without wrath both which are very special things unlesse attended also with that more special vertue of Faith so as to be without doubting not enough I say whereby to reach the prayed-for Blessings from God for as 't is the duty of Saints alwayes to be ready to do Gods Commandements thereby to acknowledge and declare him to be the Supream and Almighty God so also 't is their duty alwayes to be ready to believe Gods Promises thereby to acknowledge and declare him to be a just and faithful God for they that receive his Testimony sets to their seals that God is true John 3.33 Both which being experienced by the Prophet David caused him boldly to pray and confidently to conclude that he should not slide saying Judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have also trusted in the Lord therefore I shall not slide Psal 26.1 Both which also being found in the Prophet Daniel did as it were fetch from God an extraordinary power for the stopping the Lyons mouths so as that he had not though among them the least hurt And why Because of his innocency towards God and man Dan. 6.22 and because he believed in his God ver 23. True it is that God hath promised his Spirit to them that ask him but 't is worthy all observation and I pray you to mark what kind of asking it is which the Promise is made to which you may observe from Christs own words where he saith What things soever ye desire when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them Mark 11.24 To which agrees Pauls Testimony to wit That we might receive the promise of the Holy Spirit through Faith Gal. 3.14 Plainly discovering what kind of Prayer it is Gods ears are open unto which I wish all your hearts may be open to consider even that it is the Prayer of Faith that reaches the Blessing from God whereby to strengthen the weak and sickly Soul for when Gods Promises shall be so magnified in the heart as that like Abraham there shall not be so much as a considering the deadness of its own body that is to say it s own weakness and inability to bring forth fruit to God but shall confidently relye upon his Promises considering that he is both able and willing to cause the barren womb to bear even the unlikeliest of men the base things of the world things that are not to confound the things that are even the Wise and Prudent of the World surely Gods ears are open to hear the Prayers of such they shall not go empty away but rather as 't is written shall be like the Tree planted by the waters that shall not see when heat cometh whose leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought neither shall cease from yielding fruit Jer. 17.7 .8 When Israel of old distrusted the help of the Lord and so went down into Egypt for help the Lord spake unto them saying In quietness and confidence shall be your strength Isa 30.2,3,15 Shewing that if Israel had been quiet so as not to have stirred for Egypts help but in confidence or Faith stayed upon the Lord he even the Lord would have been their strength and Salvation so as that they needed not to have feared though an Host had risen up against them but alas because of their unbelief God could do no mighty work of deliverance for them for said they We will flee upon Horses and ride upon the swift and therefore God in his wrath and great displeasure against them said That those that should pursue them should be swift a thousand of them should flye at the rebuke of one and the shadow of Egypt should be their shame ver 3 16 17. and he would wait that he might be gracious ver 18. If peradventure when they had tasted of his Judgements they would thenceforth believe in him and confidently relye upon him that so he might be their strength So much to do hath Faith with the powerful Vertue of the Lord it being the Lords pleasure that it should as that when the Woman that had an issue of blood twelve years was cured by means of the Vertue that was in Christ he casts her Cure upon her Faith saying Daughter thy Faith hath made the whole Mark 5.34 So likewise the Sanctification or Cleansing of the heart is ascribed unto Faith Acts 26.18 Yet not in the least as if Faith of it self or in its own strength could sanctifie or cleanse any heart or cure any mans body for that is the proper work of that spiritual Vertue and Power which is in the Lord but inasmuch as the good pleasure of his good Will is that the same powerful vertue shall serve for the cure of none but such as shall touch him by Faith whereby to draw the Soul-healing Vertue from him therefore 't is said that through Faith men are sanctified and kept by the Power of God through Faith to Salvation So tha notwithstanding the readiness and great willingness that there is in God to cure the distempered and diseased Souls as his many Promises and gracious Protestations in order thereunto plainly declares yet unless they shall make selious and â—…arty Applications unto him together with a holy dependance upon him and a serious waiting in Faith for the same they may nevertheless remain very much out of frame and greatly unhealthful in their Souls there being not ground otherwise for the Lord the great Curer of Souls to say Sons and Daughters your Faith hath â—ade you whole When the Church of the Hebrews were likely to faint in
their Minds the Apostle being greatly desirous of their holding out could find no better way it appears then mightily to presse them to a close dependance upon God by Faith and therefore he begins his account from Abel who through faith obtained witnesse that he was Righteous and being dead yet speaketh and so down to Enoch Abraham and the rest of the Fathers and Prophets who through Faith obtained a good report wrought Righteousness obtained Promises mentioning many other also as well extraordinary as ordinary deliverances obtained by Faith and yet he mentions not all he could touching the Power of Faith for himself saith That the time would fail him to tell thereof Heb. 11. Now what less is there to be learned by this so large an account of the Apostle touching Faith then that Faith is somewhat more concerned in the receiving spiritual Power and Divine Light from God in order to their standing and thriving in his way than any other thing on the Creatures part whatsoever As elsewhere the Apostle mentioning divers pieces of Armour wherewith Christians are to be attired not one of which but that is of special concernment yet saith the Apostle Ephes 6.16 Above all things take the sâ—…ld of Faith wherewith you shall be able through the Grace handed to the Soul by Faith to quench all the fiery Darts of the wicked for none of them that trusteth in the Lord shall be left desolate saith the Prophet Psal 34.22 So much doth Faith carry the sence and scope of the Gospel-Covenant as that sometimes the Apostles called it the Faith as you may read Jude 3. Act. 6.7 Gal. 3.23 And it is of Faith mark it I pray that it might be by Grace Rom. 4.16 Now then if it be so that mens prayers to God though never so many or largely performed renders them not happy but that their happinesse consists in their receivings from God what they have prayed for and that the way proposed by God wherein persons may come to receive from him is not onely for them to lift up Holy hands to God but that also they be without doubting that is to say such as believe that they shall receive what they have sought for it remains a weighry work for every Gospel-professing Soul well to consider of what nature and kind their applications have been which they have made to God considering that his grace and goodness is no otherwise engaged for their Souls help but as they shall rely and depend on him to receive the same by Faith which considered and believed as true may well remove all doubts and suspicions concerning the way of God which sometimes arise in the Professors thereof upon the account of so little received from God for undoubtedly the Lords hand is not shortned his way he hath not left his Promises thereunto are Yea and Amen in the Lord but alas How short have men been in coming up to the terms of his goodness That part of Gods Word which consists of Commandments men indeed have been somewhat busied about but as for that part which consisteth of Promises Oh how little hath it been minded they have been indeed often read of and sometimes talked of But how are they that have seriously pondred them and in their hearts magnified them so as to wait in and live upon them counting them all things to them in every condition Hast thou then O thou that out-strippest some others in thy zeal after spiritual things hast thou I say often visited the Throne of Grace as a work most pleasant to thy Soul beseeching the Lord to draw nigh to thee in the large givings forth of his Grace to thy Soul well knowing that without it all thy drawings nigh to him is nothing and hast thou there waited in the sight of the worth and excellency thereof and so in the sence of thy great need of the same thy Soul as it were fainting and thine eyes like the Prophets failing for the Word of God that is the Word of his Promise to be fulfilled to thy Soul saying with him in thy Soul-longings after the desired Bread from above to refresh and strengthen thy Soul born anew from above when Lord wilt thou comfort me Psal 119.81,82 I say hast thou thus waited upon God and art thou yet often with God in thy most solemn and serious Meditations O do but now give the Lord who waiteth to be gracious being as willing to do good as thou art desirous of good give the Lord I say ground to say to thee as once the Woman of Canaan Matth. 15.28 O man great is thy Faith and then O then will the Lord readily say to thee Be it unto thee even as thou wilt according to thy faith be it unto thee But if otherwise the account will be a sad and doleful account even that the Lord could do no mighty work of love for thee because of thy unbelief Matth. 13.58 Mark 6.5,6 O that all were wise that bear the name of Saints even with the Wisdom which is from above So that the bare knowledge of these things or the much talk or preaching of them to others might not be their satisfaction but that all would rather carefully and speedily endeavour to know and be satisfied that they themselves doth so wait upon God by Faith and consequently doth so receive from him which to know and experience within is real cause and ground of peace and Soul-satisfaction In order whereunto even that Faith may grow and flourish in your Souls consider O Friends whether we are not to believe that a Son shall be given when God hath promised it without giving the least heed to what the deadness of body on either hand may say Rom. 4.19,20 Are we not to believe that the promised Seed shall be as the Stars for multitude when God hath spoken it Gen. 15.5,6 notwithstanding all the fleshly opposition arising from the Commandement to slay Isaac the onely promised Seed from whence the multitude should come forth Are we not to believe that the Israel of God shall be brought into the good Land flowing with Milk and Honey when God that cannot lye hath spoken it notwithstanding all the gain-sayings of the red Sea before and the Egyptian Host behind Are we not to believe and confidently to expect a great plenty even a measure of fine Flower for a shekel and two measures of Barly for a shekel and that so soon as to morrow when the Lord God hath spoken it 2 Kings 7.1 notwithstanding the many and great oppositions and contrary speakings of this dayes poverty even that an Asses head is sold for fourscore pieces of Silver and the fourth part of a Cab of Doves dung for five pieces of Silver Chap. 6.25 And was not unbelief in this Promise the cause of sudden Judgement taking hold upon the mighty man upon whom the King leaned Chap. 7.2,19,20 Are we not to believe that the mighty Hosts of the Midianites and Amalekites who for
with as its constant companion a serious and constant waiting to receive from God what is prayed for alas there may be by you words uttered proceeding from a meer notion which may be exercised as upon narrow search may be seen to find out words and expressions and to utter them in such a way manner as may to the eyes and ears of men render you fervent and zealously affected after the things prayed for rather than from any real and internal sence begotten in you of God leading you up nearer to God your words may be importing more longings after Grace than really is in you and greater desires and larger affections after the Wisdom and Power of God than indeed and in truth is in you your words may be importing also more detestation of sin and transgression than may be true from your hearts and if so What shall I say of this Is it an acceptable service in the sight of God Nay it is in truth a speaking lyes before the Throne of Grace a dead work timely to be repented of Moreover when you for some time neglect Prayer probably are somewhat troubled but then coming to a more frequent practice thereof you thereupon put the trouble from you and seem to be satisfied though for a long time you experience no answer to your Prayers which proves that your satisfaction is not in that which is bread indeed Yea doth it not prove that either yet you have not attained unto the New Birth or if you have that it is now even languishing and almost senceless for that if in health will not be satisfied with asking for the bread which is from above unless it also receive it no more than the birth which is after the flesh will be satisfied with asking for outward bread unless it be also received and enjoyed within Moreover when you joyn with others Praying in publick it may be a small occasion as a persons coming in or going out or the like trifles presently causes the ear to listen and the eyes to gaze up and down which if so account not that an acceptable approaching to God What no more reverence in speaking to the Almighty No more sence of your conditions and of the necessity of receiving from God to keep your minds more close to God In the true fear of God consider these things Neither think to say within your selves because you sometimes praise God and give thanks unto his Name that therefore you have ground to believe the Promises of God reaches you for this may you do as Israel did and yet far from that kind of praising God which God accepts of and which glorifies his Name which proceeds from a true knowledge and sence of mercies received and so hearty desires thereupon to set forth his praise you being it may be onely led forth to speak words of praise possibly the very same which the sensible man doth from a naked apprehension that such a thing is spoken of in the Scriptures and that others do so and therefore you cannot quiet Conscience unless you do so too and it may be herein also utter expressions importing a greater and larger receiving from God than indeed and in truth you have received which to do is hypocrisie and iniquity Neither think to say within your selves because you sometimes read the Holy Scriptures that therefore with what is above said you have ground to believe the Promises reaches you for so did the sinful Jews do yea thought that they had in the Scriptures Eternal Life who nevertheless were such to whom Christ said How can ye believe that receive honour one of another John 5.39,44 And may I not say to you touching this your practice as touching the rest of your performances That is to say when you read not then are you disquieted but when you sometimes read then the trouble is removed and you at quiet though little or no experience of profit reaped thereby which is the proper end thereof should you not even as your principal care when you read Commandements have an eye open within to see whether you have obeyed them and kept close to them yea or nay And when you read Promises to consider whether you have or still do believe them with all the heart yea or nay Most surely this becometh such as wait for the real substance of things Neither think to say within your selves Because when you at any time sin against God you can remember that there was something within you that testified against the sin and opposed it and so judge your selves in Pauls condition Who did that which he would not that therefore you have ground to believe the Promises of God reaches you as well as they did Paul for alas how great may be your mistake herein the ground of your confidence of being in Pauls condition it may be no more than what the Drunkard may have to say that he is in Pauls condition who purposing to go to a merry meeting is warned by his Friend not to go who nevertheless with full purpose of heart goes and is drunk with the drunken yet may he say and truly too that he was warned not to go and that his friend opposed it which may be is all you can say even that the Word of God in your hearts testified against the sin which you were tempted unto who nevertheless with full purpose of heart committed the sin without the drawings back and contradictions of any regenerate part in you but onely the knowledge you have that such and such things are sin and evil contradicted it which even the wicked and abominable in some measure have Which if so you are not able to say with Paul from sure experience that your inward man delighted in the Law of God Rom 7.22 And that you were carried captive to the evil by the Law in the members ver 23. And that you were overtaken with sin Gal. 6.1 And not that you overtook sin though possibly you may have these words in your mouths but alas if they are not true as to your condition you do but deceive your selves thereby thinking your selves to be what you are not Neither think to say within your selves Because you do nothing but that you are able to shew some seeming ground and reason for your so doing that therefore you have ground to believe Gods Promises reaches you for that you may be able to do as could Saul and the people with him for their sparing the best of the Sheep and Oxen and yet nevertheless live after the flesh the which whosoever doth shall die eternally My meaning in many cases of this nature more clearly you shall understand by this one instance namely A certain carnal man beholding a very new and curious fashion in matter of Apparel presently falls in love with it enters into Bed and commits Adultery therewith but having received some Light from the Word that Saints should not fashion themselves according to their former
Sacrifices and sprinkling the blood thereof that Jesus Christ should be slain and his blood shed as the glorious substance thereof all which part of the Fathers Law was and is of no effect God thereby bearing false witness to the world if the Eternal Spirt which dwelt in the visible Man and which the Apostles afterwards received in them be the Christ which Spirit never was slain nor never had blood to shed but let God be true and all these men lyars Fifthly Because he most plainly is said to be the Christ Ordained of God to be Judge of quick and dead to whom all the Prophets gave witness he I say with whom the Apostles did eat and drink and that after his Resurrection from the dead Act. 10.38,41,42,43 which must needs respect the visible Man Sixthly Because the true Christ blamed his Disciples when they supposed him to be a Spirit saying to them Handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luke 24.37,38,39 Seventhly Because the true Christ was seen with visible and carnal that is fleshly eyes for 't is written the eyes of all them that were in the Synagogue were fastned on him to wit Christ and sure I am that the Quaker cannot imagine from any show in the Scriptures that these had any other eyes as invisible and spiritual eyes because 't is said also that all they in the Synagogue were filled with wrath and thrust him out of the City Luke 4.20,28,29 Eightly Because he is declared in the Holy Scriptures to be Jesus Christ who was Circumcised which were also a false account if the Quakers opinion were true namely That the Eternal Spirit in the Man and not the Man was the Christ Ninthly Because the Eternal Spirit which dwelt in the Man Christ which afterwards the Apostles received in them is called another Comforter and that by Christ himself which would not come unto the Apostles unless he the true Christ went away John 14.16,17 16.7 Tenthly Because 't is said Jesus Christ lift up his eyes to Heaven and Prayed to God his Father John 17. Both the action and the manner thereof shewing that the visible Man is the Christ And besides if the Quaker shall suppose that 't was the Eternal Spirit in the visible Man Christ that prayed and that the same Eternal Spirit is one essence or being with God the Father and Christ his Son without distinctions I then would demand of them two things first Who it was that the Spirit Prayed unto And secondly For what he prayed or what he stood in need of Elevently The Eternal Spirit which was given to and received by the visible man cannot be the Christ that is in English Anointed because he is said by the Apostle to be the Anointing with which the Saviour was anointed as 't is written how God anointed Jesus that is the Saviour of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit Act. 10.38 If the Eternal Spirit as Spirit was anointed I would know with what and wherefore Twelfthly Because the true Christ even Sions King is said to come sitting and riding upon an Ass meek and lowly who also in lowliness washed the Disciples feet all which proves that the visible man is the true Christ Zecha 9.9 Mat. 21.5 John 13.14 Object Henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him so no more Answ What Paul intends by these words I verily believe but that Christ is departed from and without that outward body of flesh which once was visible on Earth and so not to be known after the flesh that is not now having that body of flesh this indeed I believe not First Because that then and upon the very same ground we are to know henceforth none amongst men to be the Children of God but such onely as are departed from and without their outward bodies of flesh and where those men are or what kind of men they are I verily know not I thus speak because in like manner as the Apostle saith Henceforth we know Christ no more after the flesh so also he saith even in the same words that henceforth know we no man after the flesh if true in one then in both but that it is untrue in one you have hereby a weight of reason forbidding that the other is also untrue consider the Scriptures forbidding it As Secondly Because those that were of the number of Gods Elect in Ages past Waited for the Son of God from Heaven who was raised from the dead 1 Thes 1.4,10 Now sure I am that 't was the visible body of flesh which was dead and so raised from the dead that which was raised from the dead the Saints of God waited for and therefore they ceased not to know Christ as having the body of flesh which once he had though both they and we believe that 't is glorified Thirdly Because the same Apostle that speaks these words is so far from such an opinion of undervaluing the fleshly body of Christ as that he tells the Church they were reconciled to God in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1.21,22 And surely neither Paul nor the Church was at any time to cease knowing or honouring that through which they were reconciled to God His flesh is meat indeed and his blood drink indeed and although in one sence it profited nothing yet such is it in another sence as that whosoever eateth and drinketh the same that is believeth in the Lord John 6.35 shall never hunger nor thirst And therefore for the constant remembrance thereof we have that Ordinance of Breaking Bread which surely was never instituted to hold forth an unprofitable thing But true it is That neither Christ nor men are to be known after the flesh and how once men were known after the flesh is plain from the same Apostles words as thus We are the Circumcision which worship God in Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh wherein if any might trust I more saith Paul Now what he means by this is manifest to wit being Circumcised of the Stock of Israel of the Tribe of Benjamin an Hebrew of the Hebrews c. Phil. 3.3,4,5 But he well knowing that the Ministration of the Law under which persons were thus known after the flesh then done away and a more glorious Ministration in being which forbids men to plead we have Abraham to our Father we are his Children after the flesh of the Stock of Israel of this or that Tribe and therefore let us be Baptized and known among you according as you may read the Pharisees did Mat. 3.7,8,9 Paul I say well knowing this declared that he had no confidence in the flesh as in reference to himself neither henceforth would he know any other man after the flesh as once during the time of the Law men were known and accounted even the Children of Promise in respect of temporal enjoyments being such