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A42457	An antidote against errour concerning justification, or, The true notion of justification, and of justifying faith, cleared by the light of scripture, and solid reason, from several mistakes of the words, which misapprehensions prove the seeds of dangerous errours by ... Thomas Gataker ... ; to which is added, The way of truth and peace, or, A reconciliation of the holy apostles S. Paul and S. James, concerning justification by faith without works, Rom. 3.28, by works and not by faith only, Jam. 2, 21, 24, by Charles Gataker ...	Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.; Gataker, Charles, 1614 or 15-1680. Way of truth and peace.	1679 (1679)	Wing G311; ESTC R6785	56,240	74

considered two ways either as an act of God working in us or as a change thereby wrought upon us Conceiv we this by the like concerning conversion conversion may be taken two ways either as an act of God working in us or a change thereby wrought upon us and we shall find both together mentioned Jer. 31. 18. Convert me O Lord there is the act of God working in him and I shall be converted there is the change thereby wrought upon him In like manner may Regeneration be considered either as an act of God working in or on a man Jam. 1. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 3. and so sanctification is an effect or fruit of it or as a change wrought thereby upon him 1 Pet. 1. 22 23. and so it is a principal branch of regeneration whereof one main arm is illumination respecting the minde and understanding and sanctification respecting the wil and affections an other shooting out and dividing it self into many sprigs as sincere repentance the filial fear the tru love of God and the like all which and among the rest this faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. being branches of sanctification ar all holie dispositions and the acts issuing from them of no other nature or qalitie then the disposition or first act as the School termes it from which they proceed Seeing then that the habit of this faith whereby anie ar justified is an holie disposition such as makes the soul and person possest with it holie that purifies and sanctifies him that hath it and the acts of it conseqentlie such as proceed from an holie heart and a sanctified disposition it must needs follow that no wicked man no unregenerated and unsanctified person while he so continues can have the faith by the Apostle here intended And thus much shall suffice for the proof of the proposition I shal now proceed to the proof of the assumption That a man may beleiv the doctrine of the Gospel that Jesus Christ is the Sonne of God and the Saviour of mankind and yet be never a whit the holier but remain stil irregenerate and unsanctified is apparent For first the Devils as hath ben said and shewed before know and beleiv all this and that now doubtles as undoubtedlie as anie man living doth or can do and yet are no whit at all the holier for all that but remain stil as evil as ever they were yea manie wicked men limmes of the Devil have done the same And here why should I not name Balaam for one for did not Balaam know Christ yes undoubtedlie how could he els have Prophesied of him he had an heavenlie revelation a revelation from God concerning Christ that might be said of him that Christ himself said of Peter Mat. 16. 17. Flesh and bloud did not reveil this mysterie unto him but God himself that is in heaven tho he were not blessed as Peter nor sanctified therefore as he was But hear we Balaams own words Num. 24. 15-17 Balaam the son of Beor the man whose eyes were opened who heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the most High and saw the visions of the Almightie he saith I shal see him but not now I shall behold him but not nigh as if he had said The time shal come when I shal see the Messias the Savior of Israel I shall one day behold him but afar off so as I shal not be the better for my sight of him it will be little to my comfort There shal come a Star out of Jacob and a Rod or a Scepter shal arise or stand up out of Israel c. a plain Prophecie of Christ as all confes and is generallie acknowledged Yea mark we how far he proceeds Chap. 23. 10. Let me dye or Oh that I might dye saith he the death of the righteous and that my last end might be like unto his Balaam would never have thus spoken had he not beleived that if he did take the same cours that Gods people did who trusted in the Messias and yeilded themselvs up to be ruled whollie by him he might be saved by him as they were but for all that his beleif he would not nor did condescend so to do But leave we him and proceed to some other instances What is the sin against the Holie Ghost of which our Saviour Christ saith Matth. 11. 31 32. All manner of sinne and blasphemie shal be forgiven unto men but the blasphemie against the Holie Ghost shal not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come Is it not almost generallie by most Divines acknowledged that this irremissible sin is a sin always joyned with knowledge and what knowledge not a bare speculative or notional knowledg but a beleif of the truth of the Gospel accompanied with a malicious opposition thereuuto No man therefore can commit that sin but such an one as knows and beleives the doctrine of the Gospel which yet he malitiouslie opposeth and conseqentlie must needs have that Faith which these men would have to be justifying faith It was somtime the speech of a Reverend Divine that if Paul had had Peters knowledge when he opposed the Faith of Christ or Peter Pauls malice when he abjured his Master they had both them committed that unpardonable sin But Paul did what he did in ignorance and Peter what he did out of weaknes and both repented of what they had done which none of those that have committed that sin ever do Heb. 6. 6. In which place further the Apostle plainly intimates vers 4. 6. that men that have ben illightned with what think we means he but with the knowledge of Evangelical truths and have partaked of the Holie Ghost of the common graces of the Spirit and tasted of the heavenlie gift and the good word of God as those compared to the seed sowen on stonie ground that receiv the word with joy and beleiv for a time Matth. 13. 20. Luk. 8. 13. and the powers of the world to come may yet not fal onlie but fall utterlie away as those also in the Gospel Luk. 8. 13. yea not fall whollie off onlie but sin in despite of Gods Spirit Chap. 10. 26 29. and so sin that it 's a thing impossible for them to be restored again by repentance Chap. 6. 6. and what sin it is that is there so deciphered is no great difficultie to determine which albeit I dare not say that Judas committed for it seems avarice not malice that run him hedlong into that guilt of impietie little imagining it may be but that his Master would rid himself wel enough out of their hands unto whom he had betraied him as he had sometime before done the like Luk. 4. 29 30. John 8. 59. and 10. 39. and himself go away with their money the whiles yet it is verie likely that he beleived that concerning his Master to be tru that he preached unto others Howsoever the former instances shewing that wicked ones so continuing

AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST ERROUR Concerning JUSTIFICATION OR The True Notion of JUSTIFICATION and of JUSTIFYING FAITH CLEARED By the light of Scripture and solid Reason from several Mistakes of the words which Misapprehensions prove the seeds of Dangerous Errours By the late Reverend and Learned Divine THOMAS GATAKER of Pious Memory In a Discourse on Rom. 3. 28. too precious to be buried in Obscurity To which is added The Way of Truth and Peace OR A Reconciliation of the holy Apostles S. PAVL and S. JAMES CONCERNING Justification By Faith without works Rom. 3. 28. By Works and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 21 24. By Charles Gataker Rector of Hoggeston in the County of Bucks LONDON Printed by J. C. for Henry Brome at the Gun neer the west-end of S. Pauls 1670. Imprimatur Dec. 6. 1669. Rob. Grove R. P. D no Episc. Lond. à Sacris Domest To the Right Honourable CHARLES Earl of Carnarvon Lord Dormer Viscount Ascot Baron of Wing and Master of his Majesties Hawks My Lord THe whole Designe of this Dedication as to the Ground and End of it is so clearly transparent to those who know how Gods Providence hath set me a weak Labourer in the Lords Vineyard to work under the shadow of your Lordships protection that it is a superfluous waste of words and time to defend the presumption of this Address which without mine Apologie may be reasonably taken for a just expression of my duty It were moreover an unpardonable trespass against your Lordships quick Apprehension whose vigorous spirit is active and piercing in the observing of Occurrents if I should make a tedious Harangue to discover mine intentions in thus testifying the sense I have both of the common benefit which I enjoy together with other sons of the Prophets who dwell in safety under the sheltring and refreshing shade of your Lordships Patronage and also of those peculiar obligations laid upon me by your Lordships singular favour the repetition whereof in particular were impertinent but my publick acknowledgement in general is as decent as my private remembrance of them is perpetually and indispensably requisite I have onely a minde to wish that the product of my own Soyl which I pay as tribute unto your Lordship were as agreeable for the workmanship to the divine matter which I handle as the discourse it self is proper and as I humbly conceive suitable to your Lordships pious inclination For I cannot with silence pass by what I have seen with huge satisfaction that as your Lordship hath had a share in Timothy's happiness in knowing the holy Scriptures from a childe which are able to make Thee wise unto salvation so It hath grown in knowledge by the advantage of Gods special endowment a capacious and tenacious Memory It is also a blessed and pleasing Rarity that in an Age of men sadly degenerate into Atheism who endeavour to forget that they are Gods off-spring and would fain be taken for the Mushrooms of Chance and are not onely sunk below Beasts in enormous sensuality but also fallen beyond the apostasie of the Devils in absurd Incredulity with a perverse ingratitude denying the Lord that bought them and with a sottish insolencie denying the God that made them your Lordship in the midst of this corrupt and crooked generation hath continued stedfast and unmoveable in the belief and profession of the general Principles of Religion upon which as a sure Basis all Justice and Civility are founded and particularly of the Doctrine declared and established by the Church of England with an equal aversion from Atheistical profaneness and from new-fangled pretensions to Religion Some have observed of us Islanders that we are very apt to vary our Fashions and have ascribed our Inconstancie to the changeable temper of our Air and the unstable complexion of our Climate I wish our Country-men were not as vainly and that more dangerously fickle in altering the Opinions of their Religion as they are mutable in the habit and mode of their Apparel I am sure the fault of this flitting and shifting humour is not chargeable upon the Stars Skie Air or other Elements which are all the innocent creatures of a good God and uneffective upon the wills of men But the shame and misery will light heavie at last upon these unballasted mindes unstable souls unwary followers of cunning seducers or itching affecters of novelty who delight to wander but forsake their own mercy while they trust in lying vanities To prevent the going astray or being misled from the way of Truth and peace of conscience which depends thereon in one main point of Christian Religion I have published a Piece of my Father of pious memory which tho imperfect because a mortal disease cut off the thred of his meditation first and shortly after of his life drawn forth to fourscore years within a few weeks yet is as I suppose a very useful Foundation on which any Christian exercised in the study of Scripture may build the same superstructure which the Author would have raised if God had granted him a little longer use of light To this I have subjoyned a short Discourse of mine own composure tending to the explication of S. Paul and S. James their doctrine concerning Justification for the removal of a stone of offence the seeming contrariety between the blessed Apostles which some weak Christians have stumbled at and some scoffing enemies of Christianity have taken up to cast at the head and wound if it were possible the credit of the Gospel And I hope that the precious Relick premised will adde weight and value to mine Offering which I tender in all humility first as a Peace-offering to the Church of God and I present it to your Lordship as a cluster of that Vineyard whereof I am an unworthy Dresser devoutly praying that your Lordships benign influence on the Lords inheritance may be recompensed from on high with the plentiful distillation of all blessings upon your Lordship and your Lordships whole Family most worthy of Honour to which I am resolved as well as engaged to remain in all faithful observance My Lord Your Honours most devout Orator and most humble Servant CHARLES GATAKER THE PREFACE To the Christian Reader BEcause I stand accountble for the increase of Books when the world seems to be overcharged already with the number and bulk of them even to the wearying of the Readers flesh and spirit I desire thee with candour to receive this brief Account of my publication of these ensuing Treatises The God of truth and of peace which two Titles are the most resplendent Gems in the Crown of Gods glorious Attributes hath commanded us to embrace and maintain with equal love and zeal the Truth and Peace Since also both these are the Legacies of our blessed Saviour bequeathed to his Church by his Testament sealed with his bloud certainly every sincere Christian is concerned in both but the stevvards of the mysteries of God are yet more

sanctification the other making it all one with remission of sinnes I shall now proceed to the examination of some others who amisse also as I suppose give it a double or a complicate notion and of these also there are two divers parties The former is of those that would have justification to consist partlie in remission of sinnes and partlie in sanctification and the renovation of the inward man So the Fathers of the Councel of Trent seem at least to determine where they say Sess. 6. c. 7. of justificat Est ipsa justificatio non solum peccatorum remissio sed sanctificatio renovatio hominis interioris unde homo ex injusto justus fit that is justification it self is not onlie remission of sins but sanctification also and renovation of the inward man whereby of unjust a man is made just And so Bellarmine also de justific lib. 1. cap. 2. Justificatio impii constat ex remissione peccati infusione gratiae Justification consists of remission of sin and infusion of grace Or as some others remissione peccatorum infusione justitiae sive gratiae sanctificantis In remission of sinnes and infusion of righteousnes or sanctifying grace And howsoever Bellarmine charge Calvin with fraudulent dealing in his Antidote against the Doctrine of the Councel of Trent Sess. 6. in saying Caussam Justificationis faciunt duplicem c. that the Fathers of that Councel make a twofold cause of Justification as if we were just partlie by remission of sinnes and partlie by spiritual Regeneration Yet the words of that passage above recited seem to intimate no other and Bellarmine himself besides what out of him before in Chap. 6. of the same Book before pointed to terms remissionem peccati donum renovationis utramque partem Justificationis Remission of sin and the gift of renovation both parts of Justification concerning which see Wotton more largelie de Justificat part 2. lib. 2. cap. 6. Yea throughout the whole Chapter his main intendement is as himself propounds it to prove from Scripture Reason and Autoritie Justificationem non consistere in sola peccatorum remissione sed etiam in interna renovatione that Justification consists not in remission of sins onlie but in inward Renovation also Tru it is that in the restauration and restitution of man fallen from God and the conversion and reconcilition of man unto God both these are done both sin is remitted and the soul is sanctified But in neither of these to speak distinctlie and properlie doth Justification consist as hath of either ben shewed and if in neither severallie nor in both of them joyntlie 2. Others and those also of our own would have Justification to consist partlie in remission of sinnes and partlie in imputation of righteousnes And I pass by that which Bellarmine in the place before mentioned cites out of Calvin where having charged him to have dealt fraudulentlie as before was observed with those of Trent in saying they made a twofold cause of Justification whereas they say elswhere that there is one onelie formal cause of Justification he retorts the charge upon Calvine himself who howsoever in that place of his Antidote he affirm Vnicam simplicem esse Justificationis caussam that there is one onlie single cause of Justification yet elswhere to wit in his Institutions lib. 2. cap. 11. sect 2. doth in expres words affirm Justificationem in peccatorum remissione ac justitiae Christi imputatione positam esse that Justification consists in remission of sins and imputation of Christs righteousnes Which form of speaking manie others of our besides him use But Calvines meaning is not as the Cardinal would have it that these were two several causes or two distinct parts of Justification remission of sinnes and imputation of Christs righteousnes but he joines these two together as two argumenta consentanea the cause and the effect the one being the ground and foundation of the other His words are these Nos Justificationem simpliciter interpretamur acceptionem qa nos Deus in gratiam receptos pro justis habet eamqe in peccatorum remissione ac justitiae Christi imputatione positam esse dicimus We interpret Justification simplie or singlie acception or acceptation whereby God accounts us for just being received into grace and we say that it consists in remission of sins and imputation of Christs righteousnes Tru it is that Polanus who also cites this place of Calvine both in his Partitions lib. 1. and in his Theses de partib Justificat tho he say Justificatio un●ca est Justification is but one addes sed ejus partes duae sunt but of it or of Justification there are two parts which Calvine sayes not remission of sins and imputation of Christs righteousnes which latter he defines ben●ficium Dei a benefit of God whereby he vouchsafeth to account as ours Christs obedience c. Whereby he sustained the pains of sin for us even as if we had sustained the same our selves which words of his implie that imputation to be rather the ground then anie part of Justification Leaving Calvine therefore and those that use the like expressions we shall applie our selves for the present onelie unto those who make remission of sins and imputation of righteousnes two distinct parts of Justification So Ludovicus Lucius in his Christian Theologie Justificatio est tum peccatorum ●emissio tum justitiae imputatio il●a qa Deus omnia credentium peccata corumqe reatum simul paen●● propter satisfactionem Christi pro illis condonat eisqe non imputat haud secus ac si nunquam ab eis peccatum fuisset c. Ista qa credentibus perfectam Christi justitiam ac sanctitatem ita acceptam habet ut propter illam justos ac sanctos reputet ac si illa ipsis iness●t atqe ab ipsis praestita esset Justification is both remission of sins and imputation of righteousnes that whereby God pardons all the sins of beleivers for the satisfaction made by Christ for them as if they had never sinned this whereby unto those that believe he accounts and accepts the perfect holines and righteousnes of Christ as if it were in them and had been performed by them Yea thus beside others not a few Bishop Downham of Justification lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 16. but with some difference from those other There ar two parts of Justification the one the absolving from the guilt of sin and damnation the other the accepting of a beleiving sinner as righteous unto life And tru it is that wheresoever God justifies a sinner in and for Christ there he remittes sinne and there he imputes righteousnes Act. 13. 38 39. Rom. 4. 6 7. Howbeit this exposition of the term Justification seems faultie as wel as the former and that two ways 1. With the most of them it draws remission of sinnes into the verie nature of Justification whereas remission of sinne is a divers and distinct thing from Justification

reallie answer it as we use to say of a partie or his suretie upon payment made or satisfaction given that he hath answered the debt For the word here used even in the form here used is taken in a notion of answering Ezek. 14. 3 6. yea and that of a real kind of answering as by inflicting there so by sustaining here by taking vengeance in the one place by giving satisfaction in the other either of w ch by the term of payment we ar wont to expres Now where ful satisfaction is made and accepted for the the breach or transgression of a Law the Law is not thereby repealed or abrogated but it is rather thereby manifested to be firm and of force to oblige those whom it concerns either to the strict observation of it or to a just compensation in some kind or other made for default therein committed and this hath our Saviour Christ in our behalf exhibited For howsoever I dare not run out so far as to affirm as manie do that our Savior suffered the verie self-same torments partlie in his Agonie and partlie on the Cross that the damned souls suffer and those that have interest in the merit of his sufferings should have suffered in Hell much les that he suffered such an high degree of torments in those few howers while he hung on the Cross as did in the intension and extremitie thereof ad pondus for weight answer and was adeqate unto all those penalties made up into one Mass and comprised in one lump that unto all eternitie the whole multitude of Gods elect for all whose sinnes he satisfied were to have endured the power of his Deitie supporting and enabling his humane nature thereunto since that Christs humane nature in which the satisfaction was to be made and was made being but a finite creature could not be capable of admitting such an infinite weight of torment as such a masse of endles suffering must of necessity have amounted unto albeit for the allay hereof that were allowed which a learned man of eminent parts from Picus and Scotus suggests that unto the sinnes of the penitent because they are broken off by repentance an infinit penaltie is not du which yet seems to want sound ground of proof from Gods word wherein the Apostle speaking of the sinnes of the faithful who had now cast off the service of sinne saith in general their 's not excluded the stipend of sin or the pay du to it a militarie term is death and that eternal death is intended appeares by its opposite everlasting life said there to be Gods Donative as Tertullian wel renders it being a term of the like nature with the former that is his larges or free gift such as the Roman Generals besides their pay used to confer upon their Souldierie and tho granted would hardlie withdraw weight enough to make a finite creature capable of it within so narrow a stint of time as some three howrs could make up I conceiv that keeping our selves within the bounds of Christian sobriety in this profound mysterie we may safely say that Christs humiliation through the whole cours of his life and his sufferings as wel in Soul as in Bodie in his whole humane nature consisting of both neer upon his death together with his death in that manner inflicted and sustained the eminencie of the person being even God as wel as Man that was content to expose and abase himself unto al this Phil. 2. 6-8 being duelie weighed was such and so great as God deemed in Justice eqivalent unto and wel worthie to weigh down whatsoever was reqisite to the discharge of the debt of all those that had interest therein For as for that which the same Autor subjoins and some other also have therein concurring with him that the worth and excellencie of Christs person was onlie to make the passion availeable to manie but was not at all to dispens with the continuance nor the grievousnes of his pains and that if it might dispens with anie degree of extremitie of punishment due to sin it might dispens also with two and so conseqentlie with all seems to ty and stint Gods justice to over-strict terms and the worth and value of Christs sufferings to such a precise rate as their private estimation shal deem fit to assign it As on the other side they seem to raise it to an higher estimate then there appears good ground for and to control Gods wisdome in the disposing the means of procuring mans justification in such manner as he hath designed and in such a measure of sufferings and humiliations as he assigned Christ to undergo who stick not to affirm that the least drop of Christs bloud was of so infinite a valew as was sufficient to make a ful satisfaction to Gods Justice for the discharge of the sinnes of the whole World Which if it were tru then the bloud shed in the Circumcision of our Saviour had been sufficient to have answered Gods Justice and to have made a ful compensation to whatsoever the law of God could in utmost rigor have reqired on the part of all that had ever transgressed it And so all that Christ afterward either did or endured and his death it self the upshot of all had been superfluous and needles which how it will consist with the wisdome of God and love to his Sonne I shall leave to be deemed by others of deeper reach then my self Howsoever Christ having of his own accord become our suretie and undertaken the discharge of our debt and it being at the choise of the Creditor or Partie wronged even according to Law to reqire satisfaction of the debt or compensation of the wrong done either from the Debtor and delinquent himself or from his Suretie as it is a favor and mercie in God to forbear the exacting it of us who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of no abilitie unable utterlie to perform it Rom. 5. 6. so it is not against but according to his Law even that Law unto which we were obnoxious for the breach of it to exact of our suretie a ful compensation for all our transgressions In a word that Justification is an act of Justice and not a matter of free favor or meer mercie alone appeers evidentlie from the verie term to Justifie whence it is deduced whither we consider it in its native notion or in its ordinarie use For 1. In its native notion and proprietie the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek as also whatsoever term we can frame in Latine or English to answer in anie du analogie unto either of these two it doth and must include a notion of Justice in it For howsoever we trulie affirm that neither of those the Hebrew or Greek term do necessarilie intimate a making just save in such sens as hath formerlie ben hinted and might therefore in Latine be rendred by the word justare derived from justus

that which is commonlie termed Historical Faith but of some learned writers rather by a fitter term Dogmatical Faith because it respects not so much the Historie of the Scripture in general or of Christs life and death in particular as the doctrine contained in the word or that more specially concerning Christ laid down in the Gospel Some difference indeed I find herein between the Papists and those of ours the one makeing Gods word in general the object of this Faith the other restraining it to the promises of the Gospel but the difference is not great and this latter is included in the former Now tru it is and must of necessity be granted that this Dogmatical Faith or such an act of Faith as it implies is a necessarie antecedent of justifying Faith and layeth a ground and foundation for it But that it is the verie justifying act of Faith with most of our writers and teachers I cannot admit and condescend unto yet not because that the Popish partie mostlie maintain it for even the Papists hold manie truths in common both with us and other orthodox Christians nor because the most of ours oppose and impugn it for we make no meer mans or mens judgement the ground of our faith but because I deem it unsound and repugnant to Gods word My reasons ar these 1. That Faith which the Devils and damned Spirits may have cannot be justifying Faith or the justifying act of Faith For justifying Faith is a most pretious Pearl 2 Pet. 1. 1. a special gift Eph. 2. 8. and grace of God as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports Philip. 1. 29. And being so it is consqentlie such an endowment as those damned Spirits have not nor ar capable of But this beleif either of the word of God in general or of the doctrine of the Gospel concerning Salvation by Christ in particular even the Devils themselves may have and have That there is a God the Devils saith James beleiv and tremble Jam. 2. 19. they beleiv there is a God and beleiving that beleiv withal that he is a tru God and that his word is tru did they not beleiv it they would not tremble and indeed what is the reason why wretched Atheists wors herein then the Devil tremble not at Gods word but because they beleiv not that there is a God or that the word is the word of a God or that it is a word of truth yea even the Devils as they beleiv a God so they beleiv a Christ too So themselvs professe I know who thou art say they speaking to Christ even that holie one of God Mark 1. 24. and again What have I to doe with thee Jesus the Sonne of the most high God Mark 5. 7. and yet further if this be not sufficient thou art 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Christ or that Christ the Sonne of God Luk. 4. 41. what more in this kind could or did Peter say Matth. 16. 16. compare Peters confession there and the Devils here and see if not in substance onlie but in terms also they be not the verie same Hereunto might be added that Act. 16. 17. where the Spirit of divination in the Damsel possessed therewith avouches of Paul and Silas These men are the servants of the most high God who shew unto you the way of salvation he confesseth that the doctrine taught by them was the way whereby God had appointed that men should be saved It is apparent hereby that even the Divels may have yea and have that faith which these men affirm to be justifying faith and which yet in truth it cannot be But against this Argument some exceptions have ben given me by some which I shal endeavor to remoov The first exception taken by a young Divine having some employment in the Citie about the time when I delt in this argument was this that it followed not because the Devil thus spake of or unto Christ that therefore they beleived him to be so as they said they might speak it in a colloging way as did the Herodians Mat. 22. 16. when coming to tempt and entangle him they say Master we know that thou art tru and teachest the way of God trulie without respect of or regard unto the person of anie which yet it may justlie be doubted whether in truth they beleived and so may it be of what the Devils are related to have said For answer whereunto I shal not stand to discusse what likelyhood hereof there is whether the speech of the one and the other be alike or whether the Devils came at those times when those things were uttered by them on purpose as the Herodians did to tempt and entangle Christ. But I answer directlie 1. That it canot be but that the Devils must needs know as much as there they do confes To make it evident by an instance suppose the Grand Signior or Turkish Emperour holding as at this day he doth in captivity the subjects of divers Christian Princes and States not a few some one of those Princes whose subjects he so holds should undertake an expedition wherein he would go himself in person for the deliverie of his subjects so deteined enter upon his territories defeat him subdu him release his captives and set them at libertie take the Captiver of them captive and lead him in triumph were it now possible but that the tyrant thus dealt with should know that this Prince who had done all this were the deliverer of his people It is the verie case here The Divel the Prince of darknes the God of this world held in thraldome and servitude the greatest part of the world our blessed Savior comes he defeats him Luke 10. 18. dispossesseth him John 12. 31. disarmes him rifles him Luk. 11. 21 22. rescues men dailie out of his hands and bands Colos. 1. 13. leads him captive Eph. 4. 8. triumphs over him Colos. 2. 15. and is it possible that this spiritual tyrant so defeated disarmed dispossest despoiled bereaft of his prey and purchase captived triumphed should not know and beleiv this Jesus Christ by whom all this was done to be the Savior and redeemer of mankind it is a thing utterlie impossible and scarce credible that anie man should make qestion at all of it But 2. to put this out of qestion what some scriptures say that the Devils acknowledged others of them expreslie say that they knew so Mark 1. as vers 24. it is related how the Divel in the man possest said to Christ I know who thou art so vers 34. it is said of those fiends which Christ cast out that he would not suffer the Divels not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to say but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak becaus they knew him they professed not onlie to know him but they knew him indeed and more fullie yet Luk. 4. 41. when they made that confession of him before mentioned it is said Christ rebuked them and would not suffer them to speak