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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	evil_a	speak_v	treasure_n	3,744	5	10.2424	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47164	The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1691 (1691)	Wing K191; ESTC R21261	124,580	240

just Man and perfect in his Generation and Noah walked with God Another place they cite Rom. 3.9 Answ This place is as impertinently alledged as the former for it is plain that Paul there describeth the condition of Men both Jews and Gentiles as they are generally under the Law and before they have Faith in Christ as is clear from Verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law But no where can it be found in Scripture that there are none of these who are under Grace that are righteous Men and made free from Sin but the contrary is manifest which expresly testifieth of many righteous and perfect Men in their Generation both before and after Christ came in the Flesh who pleased God and were Men of good Hearts and good Lives and especially Enoch is recorded to have walked with God by Faith of whom nothing blame worthy is mentioned in any one particular And Christ speaking of good men saith A good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit and a good Man out of the good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth good things But to apply these words Rom. 3.9 and the following words to the Saints generally as these Faith publishers do sutes more with Ranters than sober Christians see and well consider the words from Verse 10. to Verse 19. There is none Righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that d●th good no not one Their Throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they have used Deceit the poyson of Asps is under their Lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness their Feet are swift to shed Blood Destruction and Misery are in their ways and the way of Peace they have not known there is no Fear of God before their Eyes O ye Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of New-England and Old How are ye not ashamed to apply these words to all God's true Saints Yea to the best that ever lived in the best state and to bring them as a proof against the possibility of the Saints perfection in this Life For if these Words do hold forth the best condition of the Saints that ever they were in upon Earth ye may as well say all Men yea the worst of Men are Saints or the Saints are the worst of Men and there is no difference of Men at all but all are equally wicked equally ungodly unholy unrighteous which is indeed the plain and express Language of Ranters Libertines Atheists some of whom to the wounding and loathing of my Soul I have heard so affirm But we cannot grant unto you that any of God's Saints are in that state and condition described by Paul in that place Rom. 3. from verse 9. to verse 19 and 20. which Words he citeth out of some of the Psalms of David describing the state of Men as they are in the fallen state and before the new Birth and spiritual Regeneration in Christ But thus to confound these so differing states is to confound Heaven and Earth yea rather Heaven and Hell and to soppose a concord betwixt Light and Darkness God and Belial Christ and Antichrist But let it be known unto you we can allow none of God's true Saints to be such as are there described by Paul Rom. 3. from verse 9. to 19. But it doth too much sute and quadrate with many of your supposed New-England Saints who have most bitterly and falsly accused God's Servants called in scorn Quakers and most cruelly whipped imprisoned and robed many of them and hanged some of them It may be well enough said of them indeed Their Throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they have used Deceit the poyson of Asps is under their Lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness their Feet are swift to shed Blood destruction and misery are in their ways c. Take this home to you and blame not me for the Application seeing ye make it your selves and judge it to be your own condition 5. And that the said Doctrin viz. The best of the Saints by the greatest Grace of God given in this Life cannot perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed and cannot be free from Sin for term of Life but must sin so long as they live and are only set free from sinning after Death as they expresly word it in answer to Quest 89. larger Catechism is not only warranted by any place of Scripture but is most expresly contrary to Scripture in many places and is quite opposite to the very Nature of the New Covenant and Gospel Dispensation and highly injurious to the Lord Jesus Christ tending to make void and of none effect the very end of his coming and to frustrate his exceeding rich Grace and also it is most wofully injurious to Mens Souls not only discouraging Men to press after Perfection in Holiness and Freedom from Sin but tending to encourage them in sloath and neglect to live and die in their Sins and yet for all this be Saints and immediately go to Heaven although they both live and die in their Sins And first That the said Doctrin is expresly contrary to Scripture see Rom. 6.18 Being then made free from Sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness And Chap. 8.2 3 4 5. and Verse 9. and Chap. 6.6 7 8. John 8.32 33 34 35 36. Ephes 4.13 Coloss 1.28 Heb. 7.19 Next God did promise in the New Covenant That he would pour clean Water upon his People and they should be clean from all their Filthiness Ezek. 36.25 c. and he would write his Law in their Hearts Jer. 31.33 and put his Spirit in their inward parts and give them a Heart of Flesh and a new Heart and a new Spirit and put his Fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from him And surely all this doth plainly hold forth a freedom from a total sinning and that daily in Thought Word and Deed. Thirdly The very end of Christ's coming was to save his People from their Sins and not in their Sins to put an end to Sin and to finish Transgression and bring in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 and to do or effect that which the Law could not do viz. to destroy Sin and him who hath the power of Death to wit the Devil that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.4 And the Lord said unto Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 My Grace is sufficient for thee But if it cannot preserve any Soul one day or hour or moment from sinning actually in Thought Word and Deed it cannot be understood to be sufficient and Paul said Where Sin did abound Grace hath much more abounded and he was able through Christ that strengthened him to do

is this righteous Law but in their Hearts And this righteous Law cannot be any natural Faculty of fallen Man which they confess is wholly defiled and corrupted and unholy and unrighteous 3 dly they confess That it is sufficient to leave men unexcusable sect 1. cap. 1. And therefore it is also sufficient to make men excusable who are diligent to frame their Life according to it and to say the contrary is to contradict the very instinct of common Justice that God hath put into mens Hearts 4 thly the Scripture saith that some of the Gentiles their Thoughts did excuse them in well doing as it did accuse them in evil doing Rom. 2.15 5 thly The Apostle Paul doth plainly distinguish it from the Conscience Rom. 2.15 the true Translation being Their Conscience co-witnessing or bearing a joynt Witness with that righteous Law or Principle 6 thly He calleth it the Truth and that which may be known of God which God hath shewed unto them which gave them the Knowledge of God and shewed them the goodness of God that leadeth to Repentance and also gave them to know the Judgment of God and revealed the Wrath of God from Heaven against them And because that many of them who knew God did not glorifie him as God nor were thankful therefore God gave them over to a reprobate mind and therefore they were not Reprobates from the beginning far less from all Eternity as these men alledg And therefore any Light or Illumination that these Gentiles had in them or that any men have in them is a new Gift and Grace of God and gracious Visitation of God unto them as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 5.18 Moreover that God himself doth inwardly speak to men generally in their Hearts both in good men and bad and is their Teacher and doth warn them yea and fore-warn them of Evil and Wrath to come and doth reprove and convince them of Sin is the Testimony of the holy Scripture in many places see Psal 94.10 Psal 50.1 16 to 22. Amos 4.13 Micah 6.8 Prov. 8.1 2 3 4. Job 28.28 Chap. 24.13 and 21.14 And it is a place greatly worth noticing Luke 12.20 God said unto him Thou Fool this Night thy Soul shall be required of thee And where did God say thus to him but in his Heart And therefore it hath been the way of God and ever will be to speak to men in their Hearts to call them and warn and fore-warn them of evil and danger and to perswade and incline them to that which is good And they who deny this as they belye God and say It is not the Lord that speaketh and calleth to men in their Hearts so they do a great injury and wrong unto men who instead of turning them to God's Teachings in their Hearts turn them away from them and they do ill deserve so great Wages of the People so to turn away the Ears of the People from God's inward teachings in their Hearts and from the Word of his Grace which is able to save their Souls And to conclude although the dispensations of the divine Grace be various and may be variously distinguished into a more or less number yet God and Christ and the holy Spirit are one and the one Author of all these various Dispensations and who-ever is faithful unto God in any of them is accepted in Christ and for Christ's sake and not otherwise And though the last which is the pure and perfect Christian and Gospel Dispensation is far more excellent and far surpassing either that among the Gentiles who had not the outward Law or that among the Jews and People of Israel who had the outward Law and the Prophets yet every one of them had their Glory in their day and that inward divine Dispensation that is now among the Gentiles who have not Christ as yet outwardly preached unto them hath its Glory and great Service and Blessing to them who are faithful to God in it and such who continue faithful therein to the end shall never perish and though it be not purely and throughly Christian and Evangelical but rather more Legal yet it is also partly Christian and Evangelical and the pure Gospel Dispensation is hid within it as a Wheel within a Wheel or as the most holy place was hid within the outer Court and there to wit in that first Dispensation Christ as it were lieth as in swadling Cloathes and though the Jews do not know him as he is there yet such as the Wise men from the East do both know and honour him as the King of the Jews yea as King and Lord both of Heaven and Earth who is in all and through all and over all blessed forever Amen CHAP. VII Concerning Justification and the Nature of true Faith whether Assurance is of the Nature of it 1. WHen the Scripture saith God justifieth the Vngodly Rom. 4.5 It is not to be understood that he doth justifie them in their Ungodliness but from it as the like manner of Speech is used Acts 13.39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses For seeing according to the Law of God He that justifieth the Wicked is an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 God himself can do no such thing as to justifie a wicked or ungodly man in his Ungodliness 2. As it is only the true believer who hath Faith in Christ Jesus whom God justifieth so it is only he who is truly sanctified and regenerated or born again of the Spirit of God whom God doth justifie who are called the Seed of Israel Isa 45.25 In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory For as a Rich Man when he dyeth by his Will or Testament leaveth his Goods or Riches not to Strangers but to his own Kindred as his Brethern or Children and to his Wife so our Lord Jesus Christ hath left by his Will and Testament when he dyed his Spiritual Goods to wit Remission of Sin Justification Adoption and Eternal Life only to his true spiritual Kindred to wit his Brethren who are born from Above and spiritually related unto him who are the true Children of God by spiritual Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost and who are his true Church and Body and of his Flesh and Bones according to Ephes 5.30 3. And therefore not only Faith but true inward Sanctification and a thorow inward renewing into the Image of God and Conformity of the whole man unto the Image of the Son of God is a Condition and Qualification necessarily required in order unto mens being perfectly justified in the sight of God and as no man is justified but who is sanctified so no man is any more or further justified than he is sanctified 4. According unto which God doth justifie men not only by Faith in Christ but by a real inward Righteousness or Holiness which he doth beget in

will have none of the Graces of Christ without himself and if the Graces did come unto him without Christ he would send them away the Gate or way they came And as for the other Scriptures they cite they prove indeed that the Lord Jesus Christ is but one and there is none else nor is any man or men or Angels equal to him which we most cordially believe but they say not in the least nor by any just consequence can it be gathered that the Saints do not partake substantially of God And to shew the great inequality betwixt Christ and the Saints not only in the measure and degree but in the manner or kind of partaking of the holy Spirit which is one Substance with God Christ the Son hath God and the holy Spirit without any middle or mediator betw●●t the Father and him but the Saints only have and enjoy the Father and the holy Spirit through Christ the Mediator and together with him and in him And this I hope will satisfie all sober and impartial Men to clear the Doctrin of the Quakers that it is according to Scripture 4. Next as concerning the Decrees of God these Faith-publishers say That God hath unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass yet so as neither is God the Author of Sin nor is Violence offered to the will of the Creatures Whereby it plainly appeareth they hold that God hath ordained and decreed all manner of Sins and Blasphemies Adulteries Thefts Robberies Homicides Regicides c. which is abominable and blasphemous Doctrin with a witness They need not blame the Ranters seeing they are so fully one with them in Doctrin for that is one of the worst Doctrins that the Ranters have That God doth all and hath unchangeably ordained and decreed all things both good and bad for certainly whatever God hath ordained and decreed to come to pass he is the doer of it for he executeth that is bringeth to pass all his own Decrees as they confess in their large Catechism Ans to Quest 14. and that they say yet so as God is not the Author of Sin they say it indeed and so many of the worst sort of Ranters but how they clear their Doctrin of so unavoidable consequence they have not told the World nor ever can they sufficiently clear it And for the Scriptures they bring as especially Ephes 1.11 That God worketh all things after the counsel of his own Will here is nothing mentioned of the sins of Men and Devils It is plain both from Reason and Scripture that by all things must needs be understood all his own Works and not the Sins of Men and Devils which he is not the Author of as when we say every wise Man doth all things by Wisdom and wise Counsel none is so foolish as to put this gloss upon it that he doth all foolish things It is an approved Maxim and Rule Verba sunt intelligenda secundum subjectam materiam i. e. Words are to be understood according to the subject matter It is worthily granted and acknowledged that God worketh all good things all Virtue and Goodness is of him all good Thoughts Words and Works c. But all Sin is of the Devil and evil Men as John said Whosoever committeth Sin is of the Devil and the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life is all of the Devil and not of the Father And as Christ said The Devil when he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own It is also granted that when any commit Sin the power whereby they act is of God but when they Sin they abuse that Power and also whatever Sin cometh to pass is not without God's permission and that is not a bare permission but a most holy and wise ordering and bounding of it to his own Glory And as to Acts 2.23 a main place that Ranters and Presbyterian and Independent Teachers abuse and wrest as they do other Scriptures to their own Destruction if they repent not it giveth them no strength at all For it saith Him to wit Christ being delivered by the determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledg of God ye have taken c. So we see that he was delivered or exposed unto them by the determinate Counsel of God but that they did kill him by the determinate Counsel of God the Scripture saith not For to deliver is one thing and to slay is another Our worthy Friends that were put to Death at Boston in New-England they delivered up their Lives freely into the Hands of these Murtherers and so did many of the Martyrs not accepting deliverance and yet they did not kill themselves as these bloody Persecutors use to alledge And that it s said God hardneth whom he will His hardning is not the making their Hearts hard with infusing any evil Spirit into them but that he justly with-draws his good Spirit from them for great Sins formerly committed and so leaveth them to harden their own Hearts As it is said That Pharoah hardned his Heart And thus do many sober and judicious Protestants understand the Words 5. Again as concerning Election and Reprobation first as to the Election and Predestination of the Saints unto eternal Glory and Happiness whatever the Scripture saith of it or of any other Doctrin we do readily believe and acknowledge it as That God hath chosen the Saints in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the World that they should be holy and unblamable before him in Love Ephes 1.4 and Rom. 8.29 For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conform to the Image of his Son c. and whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified And what Christ said to the Disciples Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and appointed you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain Joh. 15.16 and 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins and vers 19. We love him because he first loved us A most sweet and comfortable Testimony as all the other But we no where find in all the Scripture that God hath Reprobated any part of Mankind before the foundation of the World nor is it said that Men hate God because he first hated them and because God hated them he made them on purpose to damn or destroy them and decreed and ordained them to sin that he might take occasion thereby to damn them No such thing at all is found in the holy Scriptures nor can be gathered from them by any just consequence for although it be allowed that Gods purpose and holy Will concerning them that finally perish is from before the foundation of the World for there is no new Will or Purpose in God the Thoughts and Counsels of his heart being from everlasting as himself is yet that Will of God regardeth and considereth them that

the World without them or from the natural and mortal part in them that we plead a freedom from for it is readily granted that such Temptations may and do follow the best Men and therefore they ought to watch against them and resist them the which if they do and that they no wise joyn and consent to Temptation it is not sin unto them according to that saying of an Ancient Non nocet sensus si desu Consensus i. e. the sense of the Temptation doth not hurt if the consent be not given unto it 5 thly The Seed or Principle of Evil tho' it remain in the mortal or natural part at times move to evil Thoughts and Desires c. yet not being in any wife joyned nor consented unto neither outwardly in Word or Deed nor inwardly in the least Thought or Desire or delight and love of the Heart yielded unto nor obeyed is not imputed to be Sin unto Men who do not joyn to it nor obey it even as the Seed and Principle of God's Grace of Truth Holiness and Righteousness that is in the Hearts of wicked Men and oft moveth in them to turn and convert them unto God from the evil of their ways yet not being consented or yielded unto nor obeyed by them it is not in that case their Righteousness nor doth it make them in any respect righteous unless they joyn and yield unto it in true Obedience 6thly It is not the same degree and stature of Perfection that God requireth of every one but according to that measure and degree of Grace and Light that God hath imparted to every one to some more to others less but to every one sufficient to the present time and state For he that was faithful in the improving his two Talents to make them four was accepted although he made them not ten as he that was faithful in his five and made them ten and they were both proportionally rewarded hence we read of good and holy Men who are said to be perfect in their Generation according to the Light and Grace that God gave them in their Day and Age. And the high Priest that had on his Breast the Vrim and Thummim that signifieth Lights and Perfections was a Type of Christ our great and only high Priest who hath the Vrim that is Lights and the Thummim that is Perfections and distributeth of these Lights and Perfections variously towards his Saints and Children but to all sufficiently And so the degree of Perfection and perfect Obedience ought to answer to the degree of Light and Grace that God giveth through Christ unto every one and he who is faithful in that degree though he hath not the same equal degree and measure that another hath is perfect in that respect and the Child in the Child's state is perfect being faithful to the Grace and Light that is given him and if he die in that state he is safe and cannot perish as well as he that is a Man in Christ and is come up to the spiritual stature and growth of a spiritual Man So that Faithfulness in the Work and Service of God is that which doth render a Man perfect in the sight of God according to the ability of Light and Grace received whether in the state of a Child Young-man or Elder in Christ And thus I have gone through all the twelve particulars which I charged on the four Teachers whether Presbyterian or Independent at Boston and have given them not only my Assertions but my Arguments against their false and pernicious Doctrins that do not feed but starve and kill the Souls of them that believe and receive them CHAP. IX Of the Constitution and Government of their visible Church who are called Presbyterians and Independents or gathered Churches 1. THe visible Church they define to be or to consist of all those throughout the World that profess the true Religion together with their Children see Confession Cap. 25. Sect. 2. where it doth plainly appear that they require no other qualification to constitute or make the Members of their visible Church but a Profession of the true Religion So that nothing of true Piety or Holiness nothing of the Spirit of God nothing of an inward Possession of Christ or his Life and Power or Grace or heavenly Presence and Appearance is requisit to constitute any Members of their visible Church and thus though all the Members of their visible Church were gross and notorious Hypocrites and meer empty Formalists having only a Form of Godliness without the Power of it they are sufficiently qualified to be their Church-Members yea notoriously slanderous Persons notoriously Lyars Deceivers Drunkards Adulterers Thieves Murderers are qualified Members of their Church for all these and the worst of Men may profess the true Religion It is strange that Independents so called require no more but to profess the true Religion to make People Members of their Church Why did they formerly separate and set up Churches apart not only from the Popish and Episcopal but from the Presbyterian Churches so called if a Profession of the true Religion be enough to qualifie Persons to be Church-Members of their Church Do not those profess the true Religion as well as these called Independents Yea Do not the Presbyterians profess the same Religion in all parts with these called Independents and differ nothing from them but in some small Circumstances of Discipline Government and the like 2. We find no such Church in all the Scripture owned to be a Church of God or Christ that the outward Form or Profession of true Religion doth make a Church of God or Christ But on the contrary these who have the Form of Godliness but have not the Power of it and deny the Power the Scripture bids turn away from them For of this sort are they which creep into Houses c. see 2 Tim. 3.5 6. And consequently these can be no true Church of Christ And as for the distinction of the Church visible and invisible it may be owned in a sense but not in that sense given by them as if to profess the true Religion was sufficient to make a People to be a true visible Church of Christ For the invisible Church and the visible do not differ in Substance or Nature but in some circumstances of Time Places and outward Actions And it may be well allowed that a Company or Assembly of truly holy Men and Women meeting together at certain Times and Places that are known to People among whom they dwell and calling together upon the Name of the Lord and teaching and instructing and edifying one another every one using his spiritual Gift of Ministration whether in Praying or Prophecying to the Edification of the whole may be called a visible Church insomuch that they appear in external or outward and bodily Works and Actions that are visible But as the Body without Life or Spirit is dead and cannot properly be called a Man