the ordinary way of Generation and that the menstruous Humour was held in Scripture to be such a filthy and unclean thing which is called The Fountain of her Blood Levit. 20.18 hath the same signification also the Circumcision of Children on the eighth day And it s said in Job 25.4 How can Man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman To wit in the ordinary way of Generation And here the natural state of Man is declared before his spiritual Regeneration in Christ Jesus And though that was said by Bildad one of Job's Friends yet it is confirmed by Job himself Chap. 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one But this Seed or Principle of Sin and Corruption is not charged or imputed unto Men until they joyn and consent unto it and actually obey it as is clear from Rom. 5.13 For until the Law Sin was in the World but Sin is not imputed when there is no Law Now when is it that there is no Law but in the time of Infancy wherein Children are not capable of any Law or of doing Good or Evil any more than when in the Womb For until Children begin to have the use and exercise of their reasonable understanding so as to know the Right hand from the Left according to Jonah 4.11 they cannot be understood to be under the Law But to say that any Infants are eternally damned for that first Sin and without any actual Sin or Transgression of theirs committed in their own Body is expresly contrary to Scripture that saith The Soul that sinneth shall die and every one shall receive according to the Deeds done in the Body good or evil and he that soweth to the Flesh shall reap Corruption as he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap Incorruption and Life eternal And therefore none shall finally perish or be lost for that first Sin according to Scripture but for their actual Disobedience here in this World and their final Unbelief and Impenitency For as concerning the Judgment and Punishment of the first Sin it was immediately inflicted after the Fall to wit the Death of all in Adam But Christ the second Adam by his death for all that died in Adam doth give unto all his free Gift that cometh upon all unto Justification of Life and thus the Plaister is as broad as the Sore and the Medicine as universal as the Disease and it is not simply the Sin or Disease but the refusing and rejecting the Medicine and Physician that is the cause of any Mans final destruction And how or in what manner Adam's Children and Posterity were concerned in that first Sin whether only by Imputation as some say or by real Participation as others say the Wise in heart may easily judge Let it suffice at present to say that Adam's Children being his Branches and he their Root they do really partake with him both in the defilement and also in the promised Seed in order to their Restoration for when God said to Adam In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die his Children and Posterity were included So when God said I will put enmity between thee to wit the Serpent and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Their Children and Posterity are equally included for Adam after his Fall being restored and made an holy Root as is generally acknowledged as Paul declareth If the Root be Holy so are the Branches and if the first Fruit be holy the Lump is also holy And as God promised unto Noah and to his Sons Gen. 9.8 And behold I establish my Covenant with you and with your Seed after you His Branches are holy with him to wit not actually but by having a Seed or Principle of Holiness put in them derived from Christ the second Adam who is that promised Seed whereby they are made capable of becoming Holy by improving the same and this is that federal Holyness which all the Children of Adam and Noah have that is all mankind which is more encreased or diminished but not totally abolished in any as the immediate Parents are found more or less actually holy for the more that any sin that noble Seed and Principle of Holiness both in them and in their Children is the more clouded and vailed every Sin that a Man committeth until it be purged and done away being a vail over that noble Seed And God renewed the promise to Abraham to make him the Father of all Nations and Families of the Earth and that in him they all should be blessed and in his Seed not that this should be fulfilled by his being their Father according to the Flesh or in the way of carnal Generation but through Christ who is the Seed of Abraham by whom the Blessing and Grace of God was to come upon all Rom. 4.16 17. and in this respect Abraham is called the Father of us all as it is written I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he believed God quickening the Dead and calling the things which were not as though they were to wit the Dead in Adam are all in due time quickned by Christ the promised Seed of Abraham that they may all become the Children of Abraham through Faith in Christ Jesus for by virtue of Christ's Death and the Promise made to Adam Noah and Abraham these three general Fathers all Adam's Posterity are holy in a Scripture sense not actually but in capacity to become actually Holy through the holy Seed given unto them and put into them as they come to close and joyn with it in true Faith and Obedience And this doth well answer to Peter's Vision whereby all manner of four footed Beasts of the Earth and wild Beasts and creeping things and Fowls of the Air which God had cleansed all Nations of Adam are understood Acts 10.12 13 14 15. CHAP. VI. More particularly and largely concerning the way of Restoration by Jesus Christ his dying for all and giving unto all sufficiency of Grace and means of Salvation whereby they may be saved ACcording to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all Men but especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 and he is called the Saviour of the World John 4.42 and the Saviour of the Body Ephes 5.23 and that he hath dyed for all Men is the express Testimony of the holy Scriptures in divers places 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them 1 Tim. 2.4 5 6. God will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man
how in Gospel days the true Believers of Jacob and Esau should become one Body of a Gospel-Church and in this Body they of Esau should be as Hands but the Voice is Jacob's that is the Word of God in the preaching of the Gospel should be sounded out of Jacob's Line to wit from the Prophets and Apostles who were of Jacob. And there is no ground from Scripture that Esau as to his Person was not saved yea Luther and Moller and Oecolampadius all famous Protestants in their day judge rather that he was saved and the whole passage of Jacob and Esau beside that it hath its historical fulfilling is a Figure of two inward Seeds and Births none of which are reprobated but the other preferred But if some alledge Heb. 12.17 to prove that absolutely Esau was rejected and did perish because it s said He found no place of Repentance though he sought it carefully with Tears I answer that doth not prove his final rejection but only that he could not be heard to have that first Blessing recalled which was already given to Jacob. 6. Where now shall these Men find any place in Scripture to prove that there are any reprobate Infants Or that any Infants dying in Infancy go to Hell and perish eternally only for Adam's Sin although that Sin was forgiven to Adam and Thousands more equally guilty by their own confession If they shall alledge as some do that place in 1 Cor. 7.14 For the unbelieving Husband is sanctified by the Wife viz. that believeth and the unbelieving Wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your Children unclean but now are they holy Yet this cannot prove their Intention for they dare not confidently say that all Infants of believing Parents are elected otherwise they must say that Esau was elected both whose Parents were Bellevers Although some in Church-Covenant have gloried that none of their Children while Infants were Reprobates because they were in covenant and yet at that same time pleading that Esau was a Reprobate in his Mother's Belly forgetting that both Esau's Parents were more holy than they And if any further urge If there be no reprobate Infants that then all Infants are sanctified and holy both the Children of unbelieving Parents as well as of Believers I answer it doth not follow by any necessary consequence although to admit of that Consequence is much more tollerable than to say that any Infants perish eternally only for Adam's Sin And as for the general state of Infants and how they are particularly disposed of immediately after Death who die in Infancy seemeth a great depth and is a great mystery and is best known unto the Lord For it is generally granted that God hath his way to reach to Infants and deal with them both in the Womb and upon the Mothers Breasts and therefore let us leave secret things unto God until he reveal them and be satisfied with what he hath revealed Now this is plainly revealed and declared in the Scriptures that the Condemnation is not simply that Adam sinned or his Posterity in and with him but that Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness more than Light And as by the offence of one to wit the first Adam Judgment is come upon all to Condemnation even so by the Righteousness on one to wit Christ the second Adam the free Gift is come upon all to Justification of Life And tho' Men generally are by Nature Children of Wrath if it should be granted or allowed that by Nature signifieth their natural condition as they are born into the World yet by the great Mercy Grace and favour of God they all have an opportunity or possibility to be converted and become the Children of God And what that Holiness or Cleanness is that the Children of one or both the believing Parents have is a great Mystery I am sure to many who have that Scripture place oft in their Mouths and greatly glory in it that they are in Church-Covenant and therefore they are holy and their Children also some call it federal or Covenant Holiness but what is it they know not whether it be any real thing or principle of Holiness lodged or placed in their Children more than in the Children of others that are not in their Church-Covenant they dare not affirm for many yea very many Children of professed Christians of all sorts when they grow up to Youth are as unholy and sometimes worse as the Children of Unbelievers But that Children generally either of Believers or Unbelievers are actually sanctified from the Womb or in the Womb cannot be proved from Scripture or any Observation that we can make It is recorded as a rare and great thing that John the Baptist was sanctified from the Mother's Womb and the like of Jeremiah and so perhaps may be gathered of Moses or some others but these rare and singular Examples rather prove that Children are not in general actually and de facto holy from the Womb and therefore that Holiness of Children mentioned 1 Cor. 7. must only signifie some more near capacity in them than in others to become actually holy in time to come and that not of all Children after the Flesh but the Children of Promise as Paul distinguisheth these two sorts of Children of the same Parents Rom. 9.8 But who are the Children of the Flesh and who are the Children of the Promise Tho' it be well known unto God from the beginning yet commonly it is not known unto Men until they discover themselves by their Works and Fruits 7. As concerning the general state of Mankind by means of Adams fall what the Scripture saith of it is readily believed and granted and it is safest in all things to keep to Scripture words especially in all cases and matters that are in Controversie For the Scripture is a rich Treasury or Store-house sufficient to afford us Words whereby to express our Faith in all matters of Christian Doctrin and it is not safe to leave the Scripture-words and go to words of Mans wisdom and thereby to declare our Faith of Christian Doctrin Now the Scripture saith That in Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 and Rom. 5.12 That by one Man Sin entred into the World and death by Sin and so death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned And that Christ hath died for all Men proveth that all Men were dead as Paul argueth the case And David though he was the Son of a good Father yet bewailed the state wherein he was conceived and born Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in Sin did my Mother conceive me And that under Moses Law an Offering was to be offered up for the Mother and the Child Levit. 12.4 5 6. when it was Born and that the Mother should be unclean so many days after the Birth of the Child doth certainly signifie a Seed or Principle of Sin and Corruption to be conveyed from the Parents to the Children in
can perish Heb. 3.14 8. And as concerning the diversity of the Dispensations of the divine Grace given unto Men in the several Ages and Places of the world according to the several States and Capacities of Men in the World the Scriptures testimony is very plain and clear which declareth both of the manifold Grace and manifold Wisdom of God 1 Pet. 4.10 Ephes 3. And Ephes 1.10 Paul mentioneth the Dispensation of the fulness of time as being the greatest wiâ—h respect to the fore-going Dispensations before that fulness of time came and they may be distinguished as Paul doth distinguish them very plainly into three to wit Diversity of Operations but one God and Diversity of Administrations but one Lord and Diversity of Gifts but one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. The operations belonging to the Law as inwardly dispensed the Administrations to the Prophets and to Christ's coming in the Flesh and to the Apostles their Preaching both before and after Christ was crucified and rose again and afterwards the Gifts to the holy Spirit as they were the effect and fruit of the Apostles Preaching and the end of it And according to the Scripture the first is that divine Dispensation proper to Men as Children in the Knowledge of God and in Virtue the second to that which is proper to Men as in Youth or middle Age the third as proper to Men of full or ripe Age. And each of these Dispensations may be said to have their proper and peculiar inward Baptism or spiritual Washing the first being the Baptism of the Father the second being the Baptism both of the Father and of the Son the third being the Baptism of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost which Christ commanded his Disciples to administer after he rose from the dead and gave the holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which is not to be so understood as if the three to wit the Father the Son and the holy Ghost did not work together in all these three Dispensations for certainly they did but because in the first Dispensation God only was known as Creator and Father of all mankind in the second both the Father and the Son were known and in the third the Father the Son and the holy Ghost are known and the Mystery of the three and of the more abundant divine Grace that accompanieth this Knowledge largely opened and revealed And though I say the first belonged to the Law as inwardly dispensed yet that very Dispensation of the Law was not meerly Legal but had Grace and Mercy mixed with it For no Dispensation without the Grace and Mercy of God could have been in any respect serviceable unto Men therefore the Law both as outwardly and inwardly administred had always some measure of divine Grace mixed with it and therefore in the second Commandment the substance of all the Ten Commandments being commonly acknowledged to have been delivered by God himself to the Gentiles who had not the written Law God did reveal himself to be a gracious and merciful God visiting the Iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation but shewing Mercy to Thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments And as I have already proved from the express Testimony of the holy Scripture by the Obedience of one to wit the Lord Jesus who dyed for all the free Gift and Grace of God is come upon all unto Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 And Christ himself is the Mystery hid in the Gentiles being that Word of Faith which Moses preached in the Jews and Paul in the Romans Chap. 10. 9. And since it is so that Christ is really that Light that doth lighten the Gentiles and is Light in them who have not heard him outwardly preached unto them it is no less than real Blasphemy though pardonable upon Repentance to say as the Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of both Old and New-England have said in their Confession of Faith That the Light in men which they call the Light of Nature that doth so far manifest the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God as to leave men inexcusable yet is not sufficient to give that Knowledge of God which is necessary unto Salvation as they expresly affirm cap. 1. sect 1. And cap. 10. sect 4. they say expresly Men not professing the Christian Religion to wit the Faith of Christ's Death and Resurrection cannot be saved be they never so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them Which here again they call the Light of Nature And as for the expression the Light of Nature it may be safely enough owned in a true Scripture sense though not in the sense of them who do so call it For as Christ is called the Light of men in Scripture John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the Light of men so he may be very well called the Light of Nature to wit lightning the dark Nature of man and not only so but quickning and sanctifying Nature in all men who joyn thereunto and the Word of God in the Heart James calleth it Ton Emphuton Logon the innate Word i. e. put into the Nature of men which is able to save their Souls But the Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of Old and New-England by the Light of Nature mean only that it is some natural Faculty of man's Soul as to say his natural Understanding or his natural Mind Conscience And according to them there is no other Light or Principle of Knowledge or Virtue in man generally and universally nay not in any who profess not the Christian Religion though ever so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them as they expresly affirm and yet in manifest Contradiction to their own Doctrin they have confessed That Persons elected are saved by Christ and regenerated through the Spirit who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word cap. 10. sect 3. 10. But that Light that is in men generally within their day of visitation is not any natural Faculty of man's Soul as to say his natural Understanding or Conscience is manifest 1 st because they do confess that Man by his fall is become dead in Sin and wholly defiled in all the Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body and indeed so he is and his Understanding is so darkned naturally that he is called Darkness and therefore he hath not any Light that is left in him as some call it the Reliques of Light left in him since the Fall for if he did fall wholly then no Light was left in him nor Virtue nor Goodness as they confess cap. 9. sect 3. that Man is altogether averse from good 2 dly they confess That all Sin is a Transgression of the righteous Law of God cap. 6. sect 6. And therefore the Gentiles who have not the Law outwardly delivered unto them seeing they are Sinners do transgress against the righteous Law of God now where
good for evil and blessing for cursing Now he that is in the state of a meer Servant or Son of the Bond-woman may endeavour to practice all these things in Word and Deed as outwardly and may have many inward wrestlings and endeavours inwardly to bring his Heart to the inward Conformity of this most holy and spiritual Law but until he be more inwardly changed and renewed and born again by a second inward Birth he cometh not up in Heart and Soul to this inward Purity but feels a secret defect within him of this so perfect Righteousness that is wholly Evangelical 4. Next as to that other Question mentioned in the Title of this Chapter viz. Whether it is true That no man by any Grace of God given him in this Life which includes all Grace given at present or to be given at any time hereafter in this Life can perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed. The Faith publishers of Westminster and New-England do positively expresly affirm it in answer to Question 149. larger Catech. and Cap. 16. Sect. 5. they farther say That the best Works of the Saints which proceed from the Spirit of God as they are wrought by them are defiled The which Assertions have seemed so gross to divers of their Church-Members that they could not believe that their Catechism and Confession of faith said any such thing until I have got the Book and both read caused them to read the same in their said Catechism Confession with their own Eyes and then they were amazed and ashamed and indeed it is an astonishing Doctrin especially to say That the good Works of God's holy Spirit are defiled in or by the Saints It is such a Chimera or Contradiction as to say one and the same thing can have the perfect shape of a man in all his parts and Members without any defect or redundancy as to say a perfect Man and yet also have the shape of a Dog Ass or Hog at the same instant For they say As it is the Work of God it is perfect and as it is the work of Man it is imperfect and Sin and that totally For they do not mean that one part of the work is God's and that is perfect and another part is Man's and that is imperfect but that the whole work as it is God's is perfect and as it is Man's even the same whole work is defiled and imperfect yea Sin What greater piece of Nonsense and Contradiction can be imagined as who would say the Snow is perfectly white in one sense and yet black in another sense or the Fire is hot in one sense but cold in another And another as great an absurdity they have affirmed That these defiled and sinful works of the Saints God doth accept them looking upon them in his Son though in God's sight they are defiled and reproveable Is not this to represent God to speak with reverence as looking with a deceiveable Eye as one that looks upon an Object through a Green or Red Glass it seemeth Green or Red although it be not really so and is it not to make Christ a meer Cloak to Sin or blind to hide it from God's all-seeing Eye or if not to hide it yet for God to accept that for good and holy which is not really so and so to give a false judgment and to call evil good which God abhorreth And is not this Antimonian like who say God seeth no Sin in them though they Lye Swear falsly drink drunk steal whore c. yea Ranter like for they say God seeth no Sin in them because he looks upon them in Christ But surely in whomsoever Sin is God and Christ seeth it and cannot accept it and Christ himself judgeth and condemneth all Sin And as for their alledged Proofs from Scripture they are meerly wrested and abused as the impartial Reader may perceive with small Examination The first place they cite in their larger Catechism answ to Quest 149. is James 3.2 For in many things we offend all But to this I answer 1 st He doth not say in all things as these Faith-makers say That all the best Works of the Saints are defiled and they sin in them all 2 dly He doth not say We shall and must always offend and can do no otherwise by any Grace of God so long as we live 3 dly It is to be considered that the Apostle James writes this Epistle in general to the twelve Tribes who were not generally come to a state of Perfection and of such it may be said they offend in many things to wit such as are weak in Faith and though he use the first Person of the plural Number saying We this doth not prove that he doth understand himself more than when he saith Verse 9 Therewith to wit the Tongue curse we Men. For James to be sure was no such Man both to bless and curse with the same Tongue or Mouth for thus he expostulates with them My Brethren these things ought not so to be Doth a Fountain send forth at the same place sweet Water and bitter The next place they cite is John 15.5 For without me ye can do nothing This proveth indeed that no Man without the Grace of Christ can do any good but it proveth not that by the Grace of God he cannot do that which is good Surely Paul was not of these Mens Faith who said He was able through him that strengthned him viz. Christ to do all things The next place they cite is Ecclesiastes 7.20 There is no Man that doth good and sinneth not To this it is answered first The Translation doth as well bear it in the potential Mood and may not Sin the Hebrew Word being in the Future which is at times put for the potential Mood as Psal 22.17 the Word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Future Secondly It is readily granted that there is a time or state wherein Men generally do sin until a state of Perfection be attained which was not generally attained in the time of the Law or Old Testament for the Law made nothing perfect and it is said to be weak although no doubt there were some excellent and perfect Men in that time but they did not attain to that Perfection by the Law but by Faith in Christ Another place they cite is Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually Answer This is very impertinently here alledged for it speaketh only of that Generation of Men in the Old World that were so exceedingly degenerated that God was provoked to drown them with the deluge of Waters But this doth not prove that it is so with the Saints yea Noah is expresly excepted Verse 8. But Noah found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord. And vers 9. Noah was a
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
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