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 dâ—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
infallible Assurance doth not belong so to the essence of Faith but that a true Believer may wait long and Conflict with many Difficulties before he be partaker of it see Chap. 18. Sect. 3. And it is yet as strange that they affirm That a Man without divine new Revelation which here they call Extraordinary although in their first Chapter they have denyed all new divine Revelation even since the Apostles can be infallibly assured that he is in favour with God the which Assurance they seem to ground upon the inward Evidences of the Graces of God and the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God But whether this be not a manifest Contradiction one while to assert the necessity of the inward Evidence of Grace and the Testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and another while yea with the same Breath to deny all inward Revelation of the Spirit and to say the Spirit worketh only effectively and not objectively and therefore is only medium incognitum assentiendi to wit an unknown Principle of assenting let the wise in heart consider and judge For seeing no place of Scripture telleth us that we have these infallible marks of God's Children and yet the Spirit doth tell or witness it to or together with our Spirits this certainly is a novum effatum or new Truth or saying no where either expresly or consequentially contained in the Scripture or if they say it is contained in Scripture at least consequentially to wit that J.D. or J.C. hath the infallible marks of a Child of God let him produce it or any for him which they shall never be able to do It is wonderful that these Men have such inveterate Prejudice against divine inward Revelation that rather than assent to so blessed and comfortable Doctrin they will run into the most palpable Non-sense and Contradiction And when they start from the Testimony of the Spirit as implying divine inward Revelation they run at last to the Testimony of a Man 's own Heart and Conscience not well considering that the bare Testimony of a Man's Heart and Conscience cannot infallibly assure him or if it could it is no divine Testimony but only human and therefore no true object of divine Faith 11. But as the least true measure of Faith as it is lively acted or excercised upon Christ inwardly revealed hath an infallible Assurance in it so this Assurance doth only reach to the present state of Faithfulness as it is continued in until it please God to reveal to the Soul that it shall be preserved faithful to the last which so high degree of Assurance many true Believers have not attained unto God reserving that to such as he counteth worthy to reveal the same But the first degree of Assurance to wit whereby the Soul is infallibly assured that for the present it is in the way and state of Salvation and as it abideth and continueth to walk in that living Way and Path it hath begun in it shall be eternally saved is a very blessed and comfortable degree and such as for which every Soul that hath it has great cause to praise God Nor doth this degree of Assurance hinder but that the Enemy of the Soul's peace may raise up Clouds and Fogs of doubting and unbelief which may for some time obscure that Assurance if the Soul be not duely watchful and diligent to retain the same CHAP. VIII Whether true beginnings of Sanctification can be fallen from totally And whether it is true that no Man by any Grace of God given him or to be given him in this Life can perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed 1. THat real and true beginnings of Faith and Sanctification or true and real Righteousness may be fallen from is clear from many Testimonies of the holy Scripture especially Heb. 6.4 5 6 7 8. Where first is described the state of some who do fall away what it was before they so do as 1 st that they were enlightned so as to have tasted of the heavenly Gift 2 dly to have been made partakers of the holy Ghost 3 dly to have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come and surely all this could not be without some real beginning of true Sanctification Secondly the state of such is described when or after they do so fall away that they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame and also the great danger they are in so that it is impossible to renew them again unto Repentance But how far this Impossibility doth extend whether to a simple Impossibility or only in some respect is not the present business to determin and to the same purpose the Author writeth Heb. 10.26 27 28. Thirdly The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 11. doth not only affirm that many Jews and People of Israel who were the natural Branches were broken off from the Root which Root is Christ by unbelief but warneth the believing Gentiles of their great danger also to be cut off if they did not keep in holy fear and watchfulness see Verse 20.21 22. Fourthly The Apostles Peter and Jude set before the Christians the fearful Examples of the fallen Angels and of the old World and also of the People of Israel who were saved out of Egypt to be a warning and caution unto them lest they should fall after the same manner Now the fall of the Angels was a total falling away and so was that of Israel in the Wilderness who though they did eat that spiritual Meat and drink that spiritual Drink to wit the Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ as Paul expresly declared 1 Cor. 10. yet were overthrown in the Wilderness for their Idolatry Fornication and other great Sins they were destroyed of the Destroyer so that in that day God did swear against them they should not enter into his Rest see 2 Pet. 2. throughout compared with Jude and 1 Cor. 10. throughout Fifthly The Parable of the Seed that was sown in the stony and thorny Ground that sprang up and afterwards whithered did signifie as Christ expresly did expound it some that believed for a time and afterwards did fall away And this Faith was not altogether a false Faith otherwise it had not been blame-worthy in them to have left it or cast it away for it is rather commendable than reproveable to cast away what is false and hypocritical and not real Nor doth it argue that their Faith was not true or real that it sprang up in the stony and thorny Ground For many that are real and sincere Believers at their first believing feel their Hearts to be both stony and thorny Ground and yet with diligence and labour through the Power and Grace of God come to get their Hearts in
the sixth also seeing they believe it only to be but a Figure to wit that called the Eucharist And to say the truth they have not one whit more probability but rather less for the two Sacraments that they have reserved than for the other five that they have rejected And they have no cause to accuse the People called Quakers of Sacriledge for denying these two until they clear themselves of Sacriledge for denying five and give better grounds for reserving these two than as yet they have given 2. And as for Infants Baptism and sprinkling a Child of eight days or more or less on the Fore-head and call it Baptism it hath no footing in all the Scripture neither of Precept nor Practice as will easily appear by considering the places of Scripture they cite for it And first for Sprinkling on the Fore-head instead of Dipping they cite Heb. 9.10 to 22. But this Sprinkling was not of Water but of Blood and we do not read that it was only on the Fore-head and the Cups and Vessels that were sprinkled with Blood or Water were sprinkled all over and not in one single place And why did John baptize Christ by dipping into Water and others that he baptized if sprinkling on the Fore-head was sufficient in that day Next as to the baptizing of Infants they cite for it Gen. 17.9 Where God commanded Abraham that every Man child of his Posterity should be Circumcised and therefore every Infant of one or both the believing Parents are to be sprinkled with Water But this Consequence is meerly begged but nothing proved For the first we find an express command to Abraham For the second we find neither Command nor Practice in all the Scripture nor was the practice of baptizing Infants in use for an hundred of Years and more after the Apostles days among Professors of Christianity And let it be granted that Infants have a right to the Grace signified by Water Baptism it doth not therefore follow that the Figure or Sign belongeth unto them because they have also a right to Christ's Body and Blood and yet they confess the Supper is not to be administred unto them The next place they cite is Coloss 2.11 12. where Circumcision and Baptism are joyned together but neither the Circumcision nor the Baptism there mentioned is outward as is clear especially of Circumcision that is said to be made without Hands and therefore it is not the outward of the Flesh but the inward of the Heart and so is also the Baptism there mentioned verse 12. Buried with him in Baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the Faith of the operation of God Ye see here is nothing of outward Water Nor are all they who are baptized with outward Water either buried with Christ or risen with him but many still alive in old Adam and that too generally The next place they cite is Matth. 28.19 But this saith nothing of Water and if it were granted that Water-Baptism is understood as it neither is nor ought to be granted yet it will not prove that Infants should be any more baptized than taught seeing teaching and baptizing are joyned together Another place they cite is Luke 18.15 16. where Christ biddeth to suffer little Children to come unto him and forbid them not and that he blessed them and laid his hands upon them we read in Scripture but that he baptized them either with dipping or sprinkling we read not but on the contrary it is expresly said That Jesus himself baptized none to wit with Water see Joh. 4.2 Their last place they cite is Rom. 11.16 If the Root be holy so are the Branches but this doth not prove that Infants are more to be baptized than to have that called the Supper administred unto them And these Branches mentioned by Paul in that place Rom. 11.16 were really the unbelieving Jews that because of their Unbelief were broken off at that time yet the Root being holy to wit Abraham and the promised Seed Paul had hope of their conversion as many as did belong to God's election as he expresseth it verse 28. and these were not the immediate Children of Abraham but forty Generations after Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and therefore this Scripture saith as much for the aged unbelieving Children of unbelieving Parents if they have descended from any of their Fore-Fathers upwards of forty Generations that were Believers and if up to forty why not up to sixty and further Yea to Noah who is the common Father of all Men with whom God established his Covenant and with his Seed after him until the end of the World that all his Seed through Christ might receive the benefit of the same unless they do wilfully reject it of which I have said something already in Chap. 6. 3. And as for Water-Baptism in general we say it did only properly belong to John's Ministry and Dispensation and is expresly contradistinguished from the Baptism of Christ both by John and also by Christ himself for John did baptize with Water unto Repentance but Christ who cometh after John and was before him who is more worthy than John he baptizeth with fire and with the Holy Ghost and no doubt there was a spiritual blessing and Grace conveyed unto People by John's Baptism while it stood in force for God never ordained any outward thing but as it was rightly done in its day and season it had some spiritual blessing accompanying it as all the Sacrifices and Services of the Law And if any were raised up by the Lord as John was and could prove and instruct their being sent to baptize with Water as he was these to whom they should be sent ought gladly to receive it but to do it by bare imitation or a meer pretended Call which they cannot prove to be either mediate or immediate is great presumption yea superstition and to call that a Command of God which he hath given them no command to practise is to set up the Precepts of Men in the room of God's Commandments as the Pharisees did of old and is a taking of his Name in vain for which he will not hold them guiltless And they can never prove by all their art and skill that Water-Baptism is commanded by Christ Mat. 28.18 19. for all God's commands and precepts especially of publick institution relating to the Church are express in so many express Words and are not left to be gathered by uncertain and doubtful Consequences When God sent John to baptize with Water Water was expressed but in the Apostles Commission to baptize no mention is made of Water nor no words of Institution commanded to be used but the command is Go teach and baptize all Nations into the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost And the Name of either the Father or the Son or the Holy Ghost is most frequently if not always used in Scripture to signifie Power and Life as the Name of the
Works were finished from the Foundation of the World and therefore that seventh day doth signifie Christ Jesus the first and the last who is the alone true Rest and Sabbath of all the Faithful as he invited saying Mat. 11.28 Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you Rest And concerning this spiritual and divine Sabbath or Sabbatism it is said in Heb. 4.9 10. Therefore there doth remain a Rest unto the People of God for he that is entred into his Rest he also hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest c. And Verse 3. We which have believed do enter into Rest By all which it doth plainly appear that the New-Testament understandeth the Christian Sabbath not of any outward Day but of Christ which the outward Sabbaths of the Jews did by way of Allegory signifie and hold forth And lastly as to Matth. 5.17 where Christ saith he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it It is not to be understood that he came to keep up and perpetuate the Types and Figures of the Law but to put an end to them and in the room and place thereof to fulfil all the Righteousness Equity and Justice that they did signifie or hold forth which is as the Kernal Otherwise ye might argue as much for upholding the outward Circumcision as the outward Sabbath and that outward Sabbath was not the first day but the seventh day And whereas some plead that the 4th Commandment is altogether Moral as well as the other nine that were given forth immediately by the Mouth of the Lord unto the People and writ by his Finger on the Tables of Stone and therefore is perpetual and never to be abrogated If all this be granted it doth not prove that the first day of the Week is there commanded as these called Presbyterians and Independents would have it Nor can they who plead for the keeping of the seventh day of the Week for the Sabbath prove that the said fourth Commandment did enjoyn to the Jews the keeping of any outward or natural seventh day of the Week for their keeping the outward seventh day of the Week was enjoyned to them among the other Ceremonial Laws and Precepts as is clear from Exod. 16.23 and Chap. 31.13 14. where it is called a Sign to wit of that spiritual moral and perpetual Sabbath And therefore if it be granted that the fourth Commandment is altogether moral and perpetual it doth not follow that the seventh day therein mentioned is any outward day or that it enjoyneth any outward day for it can all be spiritually understood very well as the tenth Commandment Thou shalt not covet doth not enjoyn any outward thing but reacheth to the Heart and inward part only and is altogether Spiritual And as the last Commandment of the second Table is altogether spiritual so why may it not be said that the last Commandment of the first Table is altogether spiritual And even the mystick Writers among the Jews do acknowledge that not only the seventh day mentioned in the fourth Commandment but all the six days signifie spiritual Days and Mysteries as well as the seventh of which I shall not particularly enlarge at present A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. THE Burden of the Word of the Lord that came unto me on the twenty first day of the fourth Month 1688. in the Town of Boston in New-England to declare it unto Boston its Inhabitants and to the Inhabitants of New-England who have been or are concerned in opposing and hardning their Hearts against the inward appearance of God and of his Son Christ Jesus in the Hearts of his Servants and in the Living Testimonies they have born unto you to call you to believe in the Light of his Son Christ Jesus who hath enlightned you all and every one of you and to turn you from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God Oh! Repent Repent for your great Sins and Transgressions of all sorts that ye have committed against the Lord and against his holy and divine Light and Gift in all your Hearts and especially Repent of your great Hypocrisie all Teachers and People of Boston and New-England every where who call your selves Christians and have a Name to live but are dead who draw near unto God with your Mouths and honour him with your Lips but have removed your Hearts far away from him and who have the Name of Christ oft in your Mouths and think to cover you with his imputed Righteousness while ye are ignorant of his Life and holy Power Spirit and divine Nature in your Hearts and while ye are daily crucifying the Lord of Glory afresh and putting him to open shame and treading under Foot the Blood of the Covenant as the holy Scripture declareth concerning some that professed Christ Jesus in former Ages And this is the state of many of you yea of the generality of you both Teachers and People of Boston and New-England of all sorts a few Names excepted whom the Lord doth honour and they shall walk with him in White although ye have sought to dishonour them And this I have seen from the Lord in that pure Light of his that maketh all things manifest and before which all things are naked and bare which Light ye generally despise and reject and blaspheme calling it A meer natural Light and insufficient to lead unto God and the Children of it ye have hated reproached and mocked with cruel Mockings whereby ye have sufficiently declared your selves to be born after the Flesh and not after the Spirit Oh ye Blasphemers against God and his Temple which is his Light and them that dwell therein Repent repent of your Blasphemies and hard Speeches and hard Thoughts against Gods inward appearance by his holy Word Light and Spirit in all your Hearts And Repent of all your Pride Vanity Folly Excess in Meats Drinks and Apparel who though ye profess your selves to be more pure and more purely reformed than other Churches so called yet in the sight of God ye are nothing better but many of you worse and the Sin of Sodom which was Pride and Excess and fulness of Bread is the Sin of many of you especially of the richer sort Oh unthankful Nation Do ye thus requite the Lord who are Jesurun like that since ye waxed fat have kicked against the Lord and are gone from that Tenderness Sobriety and Simplicity that was among you and your Fathers sometime ago Oh! how quickly have ye degenerated and departed from the Lord of whom ye have made and still are making a great Profession The anger of the Lord is ready to break out against you yet more than formerly unless ye Repent And though his Hand hath been manifestly stretched out against you in manifest Judgments and especially in
we say they are not the only Rule nor being compared with the inward Rule of God's holy Spirit are they above it but inferior and under it and ought only to be used in Subordination to it And if the Scripture were the only Rule as our Adversaries say then all poor Heathens should have no Rule nor Law and consequently no Sin nor Judgment which is false And we deny not but the Scriptures are a means of our enlightning as God the Father of Lights is pleased to cause his Light to shine unto us in our Hearts in the serious and faithful hearing reading and meditating on the Scriptures c. but not otherwise even as the Air or Windows of a House are means of letting in the Sun 's light to us but if the Sun shine not neither the Air nor Window can give us light 2. That they denyed the Manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ and affirmed that as Man he is not in Heaven This is a notorious false Charge which they can never prove And in this Treatise in several places I have given a large Testimony to the Man Christ Jesus in Heaven and how he is the Object and Foundation of the Christians Faith as the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh Death and Sufferings c. is inwardly opened revealed and applyed by the holy Spirit in Men's Hearts 3. That they deny the Resurrection of the Dead This is also a most false charge which they can never prove But because we deny their Carnal Conceptions of the Resurrection and hold us to Scripture-words which is most safe therefore they have so belyed us And for the more satisfaction of the Reader I refer him to a little Book called The Principles of Truth published by some noted Men of the Quakers in which Book it is expresly affirmed That we to wit the Quakers believe that the same Body which is laid down shall be raised up at the Resurrection of the Dead as much as a natural Body can be the same with a spiritual Body on an earthly Body can be the same with a heavenly Body according to the Scriptures Testimony it is sown natural but raised spiritual and the Glory of the Heavenly is one and the Glory of the Earthly is another And this may satisfie any sober enquirer And Paul writing concerning the Resurrection of the Dead saith That is not first which is Spiritual but that which is Natural or Animal and afterwards that which is Spiritual 1 Cor. 15.46 and vers 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Hevenly He that readeth let him understand 4. That an absolute Perfection in Holiness or Grace is attainable in this Life 5. That they placed their Justification upon their Patience and Sufferings for their Opinions and on their righteous Life both which are grosly false Charges and the contrary of which I have shewed in this Treatise at length in their proper places 6. They allowed not nor practised any civil Respect to Magistrates Parents c. This also is grosly false there are divers other ways sufficient whereby to shew both our Civil and Christian Respect to Magistrates and Parents c. without either doffing the Hat or cringing and that both in Words and Gestures There are only two other things which he chargeth that we grant to be true but deny them to be either damnable or corrupt Doctrin but affirm them to be truly Christian one is That all Men ought to attend to the Light within them to be the Rule of their Lives and Actions But if this be corrupt and damnable Doctrin he accuseth his own Brethren who in their Confession of Faith say That there are many Sins that Men commit against the Law or Light of Nature as they call it which are the more hainous And surely that is a Light within them and is e'en so far a Rule of Life containing as is commonly acknowledged the Substance of the ten Commandments see their answer to Quest 151. larger Catechism But we do not say That that general Illumination that is in all men many of whom have not the Scriptures is a Rule to oblige them to believe and receive these great Mysteries of Christianity declared in the Scriptures which they who have not the Scriptures have not revealed unto them The other is That we deny the use of Oaths But this is no corrupt but truly Christian Doctrin which saith Swear not at all Mat. 5.34 It is a marvelous thing that these Men have no other ways to oppugne the Quakers but by grose 〈…〉 Lies and false Calumnies and 〈◊〉 Abuses like unto the ways that ever the 〈◊〉 sort of the Adversaries of Truth have used against the true Witnesses of it It had been more Manly and seemingly Christian for Increase Mather and Nath. Morton or any others of their Sect or Society fairly to have stated the Quakers Principles and then to have gone and refuted them by the best or strongest Arguments they could find But this none of them have done nor did I ever see to this day any one Writer that did write against the Quakers that did fairly state their Principles but miserably belyed and abused them either by affirming things to be their Principles which were not or by so unfairly representing and wresting the Words of our honest Friends by their Addings and Diminishings that they could not at all acknowledge them as such All which is a manifest Evidence of the weakness badness of their Cause as well as of that evil Conscience that is in them when they use such unlawful ways and means to defend themselves or to oppugne others Read and well consider Ezekiel 9.3.4 1 Cor. 5.2
process of time so changed and renewed that they become good Ground and bring forth good Fruit to the end So the more stony and thorny that the Heart is the more labour is to be used to make it good which by the Grace of God may well be done Sixthly The Parable of the ten Virgins five whereof were foolish hath the same signification for these five foolish Virgins had some Oyl in their Lamps but not being wise to get enough they spent what they had and so their Lamps went out for though they had Oyl in their Lamps otherwise their Lamps could not have gone out yet they had not in their Vessels as the wise Virgins had and so when they were called at midnight to meet the Bride-groom they had no Oyl at all neither in their Lamps or Vessels see Mat. 25. from Verse 1. to 12. Seventhly It is expresly said Ezek. 18.24 and 26 27. When a righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity he shall die And again when the wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness and doth that which is lawful and right he shall live And Eighthly The example of David is a most clear Instance who fell from his Integrity by these two great and capital Sins of Adultery and Murther and brought Death upon him and had not God renewed him again by Repentance and restored him he had dyed in his Sins and perished and this fall of his was total though not final because God restored him before he dyed But to say as these Faith-publishers say and affirm That no Men once sanctified in the least measure can fall totally from their Sanctification though committing Murder and Adultery as was the case of David see Cap. 17. Sect. 1. and Cap. 11.5 of their Confession nor from their Justification is not only a most false and pernicious Doctrin but a most wonderful piece of Confusion For if he that is both Murderer and Adulterer in the very act and remaining in that or these Sins without Repentance for some time are really Saints and justified then who may be said not to be Saints Or what difference is there betwixt the Saints and no Saints betwixt the godly and the wicked good men and evil men If a man that is both Murderer and Adulterer be a real Saint and a justified man then the worst of men may generally believe they are true and real Saints and ye cannot convince them of the contrary For by what means can they be convinced thereof Tell them of their Sins Lying Stealing Drunkenness Swearing Murther and Adultery none of all this according to this wicked Doctrin doth prove them to be no Saints or that they have not true Faith and therefore if they die in these gross Sins they must go to Heaven immediately because they shall die in Faith they shall die sanctified and justified men than which I know no greater Confusion and daubing with untempered Morter and sewing Pillows under Peoples Arm-holes like the false Teachers of Old and prophecying smooth things unto People in their Sins and flattering them yea imboldning and encouraging them to Sin And no doubt many are wofully imboldned and encouraged to run into Sin and excess of Sin by such poysonous Doctrin that these false Teachers feed them with that is like sweet Poyson that though it be sweet to the Flesh yet it kills the Soul Doth not the Scripture say The Soul that sinneth shall die and the Wages of Sin is death And as every Sin doth in some measure kill the Soul so great Sins such as Murder and Adultery than which we can hardly suppose any greater unless that unpardonable Sin of Blasphemy against the holy Ghost do wholly kill and destroy the Soul insomuch that if any such Soul ever be saved it must be by a new Creation and renewing and of this David was well sensible when after God was pleased spiritually to visit and awaken him again he prayed unto God saying Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Psal 51.10 And thus according to these false Teachers there is no mortal Sin that any Soul once quickned in the least degree can commit and the same Sin that is mortal in the unbeliever is not mortal in him that once was a believer as Murder Adultery yea Incest or worse is no mortal Sin in one and yet is a mortal Sin in the other Doth not this loose the reins to all sorts of Wickedness and make God a respecter of Persons and Faith a sort of Proof that though men once having Faith commit the worst sort of Sins as Murder Adultery Incest Rapine yet their Faith is a sort of proof unto them that none of these Sins doth or can kill them They are still Saints for all this and justified in the sight of God and if Saints then good enough to be your Church-Members yea Members of the Independent or Congregational Church Why what doth hinder but they are as real and lawful Members of the Church as any others And if Murderers and Adulterers while such are still Saints and qualified to be your Church-Members it is no wonder that your Church be large and have a great number of Members It is no great difficulty to be a Member of that Church when a Murderer an Adulterer can be a Member of it Is this your pretence to Reformation And why ye estimate your Church more holy than the Church of Rome But is not your Church and Doctrin in this respect much more unholy For the Church of Rome saith All gross or great Sins as Fornication Adultery Murder and the like are really mortal Sins in all that commit them without respect of Persons and whoever commit such Sins are fallen from their state in Grace And so saith the Scripture 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The which Kingdom of God is a state of Grace as well as of Glory And here we see the Apostle Paul maketh no distinction betwixt one that hath formerly believed and one that hath not believed but without distinction or respect of Persons he concludeth in general against them all that while such they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God But according to this Westminster and New-England Confession of Faith Fornicators and Murderers and Adulterers that have at any time once believed do still inherit the Kingdom of God to wit a state of Grace which is in a true sense the Kingdom of God and is frequently so called in Scripture And thus it doth most evidently appear that their Doctrin in this particular is Antichristian and contrary to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures And to say that Murder or Adultery in him that hath once truly believed is not a mortal or killing Sin but is a mortal Sin in him that hath not believed is not only to make God a respecter of Persons in the worst sense