being The Eye Eterne and yet Mentall Whose work is alwayes freeing Vs from all enemies within And raising us with Christ And clearing us from fancied sin To live with God the highest What shall I say time would me fail Thy sufferings to relate Yet all thy enemies cant prevail God still doth dissipate Men to their shame their horrid lies That they have still invented To cloud Christs real mysteries By truth they are tor mented An Hirogliphical Astrological causion to all sable learned Priests and others that persecute the life of Christ and speak evil of things they know not OLd Saturns persecuting minde Hath sometimes rampant been And lately couchant and as blind Though now he 's passant seen But have a care go not too fast Joves splendour to distresse Lest Mars and Sol agree at last To curb thy cruelnesse By J. L. The Names of such Books published by R. Coppin and are to be sold at the BLACK-MOOR 1. DIvine Teachings 2. Mans Righteousnesse examined 3. Saul smitten for not smiting Amalick 4. A Man-Child borne 5. Truths Tâ—stimonie A Dialogue betweene Nimrod Policy and Nathanael Innocency by J. Lane Twelve Songs of Sion by J. L. One other book of the same Doctrine by W. Foxon Truths Champion first and second Part concerning Generall Redemption Ministery and Ordinances by R. Stooks Truths Triumph OR The Triumphing of TRVTH OVER The Enemies and Aspersers thereof In several Disputes holden at the Cathedral Church of the City of Rochester in the County of Kent between several Ministers and Richard Coppin on several daies DISPUTE I. Between Walter Rosewell then a Preacher at Chatham and Richard Coppin then Preacher in the Cathedral of Rochester being on Munday the third day of December 1655. THe people being come together into the Cathedral Richard Coppin began in prayer after which the Mayor of the City and Captain Smith Captain of the Guard desired the people to keep silence and none to speak but Rosewell and Coppin if any else did they should be apprehended and proceeded against as Disturbers of the Peace Then spake Coppin saying I desire also that the people will all keep silent and none to speak a word but those who are in dispute I know you are a people divided some for the one party and some for the other and I shall speak to you all First to you that are on the contrary party to me and that have any desire to speak not to speak above one at a time and so speak as many as will provided the one hath done before the other begin And to you that may have any desire to speak on my behalf I entreat you all to be silent and not to speak a word but to leave all to the Lord and my self Rosew M. Mayor I thought none but you the rest of the Magistrates and Officers of the Army should have had the mannaging this Dispute and I to have began first that so this mans discourse might have been spared And as for the plausible prayer he made at my coming in to delude the people I confesse my Conscience would not give me to joyn with him not but that the matter thereof was good but I knowing his Principle to be corrupt could not say Amen to it And now if you please I shall first make a short Prayer and then go on to the work for I cannot undertake a businesse of such weight for the suppressing of such damnable errors as here hath been vented without calling upon God for assistance both to Magistrates Officers and Ministers in this work CHAP. I. That Christ who knew no sin took part of mans flesh and blood which was sinful weak and punishable how in it he was made the same and for what end ROsewell There be three things which I shall charge you withal at present the which you should endeavour to clear your self of if you can and that I shall propound in a Logical way yet so plain that that little reason you are endowed withal may understand it as for Art I presume you have none Proposition First he that is a perswader of the people to believe that Jesus Christ was a sinner and that the Humane Nature of Christ was polluted with sin he is a Blasphemer of Christ a Perverter of Scripture and a venter of damnable errors Coppin Sir you have here laid down a Proposition the affirmation of which you say is Blasphemy and he a Blasphemer that shall perswade men to believe it But Sir who do you charge with it me or some other or did any man else ever hear me say these words if any did let him speak and I will answer it for there is no reason for me to answer to that which is not laid to my charge and I came not here to charge my self but do now expect something of accusation from you else why have you and the rest of your Brethren so often railed against me in your Pulpits Rosewell I desire the Souldiers and Magistrates to declare if I have any reason to speak any further till this Proposition be answered Coppin Do you charge me with any thing in this Proposition or not if you do I will answer you else I may say to you as Christ my Elder Brother sometimes said to his Accusers Ye said these words I said them not Rosewell Oh horrible Blasphemy to call Christ your Elder Brother I professe I dare not say so no you will find him to be your Judge at the last day to condemn you for your Blasphemy Coppin He is your Elder Brother also though you do not know him But Sir I perceive you for your part have yet nothing against me and therefore you urge these things endeavouring to draw somthing from my own mouth to accuse me which is not a Disputing in love on your part to edifie the people as you pretended but to charge me with Blasphemy as the Jewes and Scribes and Pharisees did Christ which you cannot prove Yet to give the people satisfaction I shall not hide any thing from them but shall be free to declare such things that God hath made known to me that so he might be glorified and their souls comforted which I shall also do according to the Scriptures and then catch what you can Therefore first I declare that the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and Saviour of the World that proceeded forth from the Father into the world to take on him part of the same flesh and bloud of men and to live in it was himself holy harmlesse and undefiled in whose mouth was found no guile as saith the Scripture yet this Lord Jesus and Son of the living God who was so holy and harmlesse was himselfe pleased to take mans sinful nature so called to live in it and cleanse it he was made in the likenesse of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh as also saith the Scripture nay he was
Christ did offer for his owne sins is a blasphemer Coppin Is that all you can say if it be you were best goe back to Schoole againe where you learn'd this and learne some more Rosewell I have enough and that you shall see if I had but your book here Coppin Why did you not bring it with you seeing you can say nothing without book I said you wanted help and so 't is true CHAP. VII Of Christ the Resurrection from the first Adam to the second proved with the manner how and the time when what body it shall arise and from what death also how it was signified by what and when ROsewell He that from Scripture doth labour to perswade men that there is no Resurrection of the body to be exspected and that no body shall be raised at the last day he is a perverter of Scripture and a venter of damnable errors but you are one ergo Coppin I denie your minor therefore prove it Rosewell I prove it thus 1 Cor. 15. That as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead so all they which have been are and shall be shall be raised up at the last day which you denie Coppin I doe grant the Resurrection of the body and doe not denie it though you say I doe Rosewell You did denie that the words in Job did signifie any Resurrection of the bodie and also that in 1 Cor. 15. which I can prove Coppin Is that Resurrection a mysterie or no mysterie Rosewell Yes a great mysterie and such a one as I do believe you do not know Coppin If you do know pray declare it Rosewell I am not minded to declare it to you at this time Coppin Then I will tell you what it is Friends and Brethren I do own a Resurrection according to the Scriptures and such a Resurrection as you all must partake of before ye can see the Kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15. There is a Resurrection spoken of by the Apostle which is the Resurrection of Christ and of our rising in and with him from the state of the first Adam to the state of the second Adam but there were some then as well as now that did think the Apostle had meant carnallie the rising again of the same bodie of flesh and bones and therefore did ask the question with what bodies they shall arise not knowing what the Dead was nor the life it should be raised to and how God giveth it a bodie as pleaseth him Now to prove this Resurrection Christ saith I am he which was alive and was dead and am alive again and lives for evermore Rosewell Do you hear he saith Christ was alive and dead Coppin There is nothing can be said to die but first it must be alive nor made to live but it must first die Now Christ is he which was alive was dead and is alive again the first that was living and the last that lives In John 11. 21. Martha comes to Christ and saith Lord if thou had'st been here my Brother had not died Christ said Thy Brother shall rise againe I know said Martha he shall rise at the Resurrection on the last day Jesus said unto her I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and he that lives and believes in me shall never die Believest thou this Now she had Faith to believe that he was Christ the Son of God but could not believe the truth of her Brothers Resurrection in Christ therefore did-Christ blame her saying Had'st thou but believed thou should'st have seen the glory of God John 11. 40. Now if Christ be the Resurrection and the Life then there is nothing in this Resurrection but what is himself for he is the dead raised the raiser of this dead and the life raised too as he saith I am the Resurrection and the Life Now take notice that I do not denie any thing of Christ all this while but do advance him and also our Resurrection in him as the Scripture saith We are raised up together with him to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and this is the mysterie of the Resurrection which you say is a great mysterie Now saith the Apostle to those carnal enquirers that knew not this mysterie of the Resurrection but asked with what bodies they should arise Thou fool saith the Apostle that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare grain it may chance of wheat or some other grain so it is not saith be the same body which thou sowest that is raised but God giveth it a body as pleaseth him And why then say you that the same bodie shall be raised again Now Paul to prove this spiritual Resurrection tells us that there is one glorie of the Sun another glorie of the Moon and another of the Stars and one Star differs from another Star in glorie so also is the Resurrection of the dead it is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption 't is sown in dishonor it is raised in glorie it is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power and all in us that I may know him saith Paul and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death if by any means I might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead for which I presse forwards saith Paul So that this Resurrection is to be within you and you are to know it while you live in this bodie for it is your rising from faith to faith from glorie to glorie as from one administration of God to another Behold saith Paul I shew you a mysterie we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed that is changed from the state of the first Adam to the state of the second Adam and so he tells us It was sown in Adam it was raised in Christ it was sown a natural body and it is raised a spiritual body even as you see your change for the first man Adam is of the earth earthy a living soul the second is the Lord from heaven a quickening spirit and as is the earthly so are they that are earthly and as is the heavenly so are they that are heavenly wherefore examine your selves and you will now find it so for you are all of you either in the state of the first Adam or in the state of the second Adam and your change is from the first to the second that as you have born the image of the earthly so you shall bear the image of the heavenlie for there is a bodie natural and a bodie spiritual all which are proper to us in this life And thus Paul tells us of the Resurrection in a mysterie Now take notice that I do not denie any Resurrection in all this which by any man may be proved but I do declare to you the mysterie of this spiritual Resurrection
what I have spoken or acted at any time against this present Government but I shall prove that he hath for he that shall oppose contend against or speak evil of any Law or thing contained in this present Government he is an enemie to it but this man Mr. Rosewell doth contend against speak evil of and stand in opposition to that freedome and libertie of the people in the exercise of their Religion towards God which this present Government doth allow them therefore is he an enemie to the present Government which I prove for the Lord Protector in his Instrument of Government signed by him in the Year fifty three doth declare That all persons professing Faith in God by Jesus Christ though they differ in judgement from the Doctrine Worship or Discipline publikely held forth shall not be restrained from but protected in the exercise of their Faith and practise of their Religion so far as it extends not to Popery and Prelacy nor to the disturbance of the Publike Peace nor licentious practises To all which your judgment have extended and therefore this libertie do you oppose and speak evil of as the people all may witnesse CHAP. XVI The return of all men home to God by Christ the broad and narrow way and who finds it that the Doctrine of Gods love in saving all men is the only means to keep men from sin AGain whereas you did declare that this Doctrine of the love of God to all men did give way to licentiousnesse and wickednesse I denie and this I have before sufficientlie cleared to you in these Disputes that it is the onlie means to keep them from sin and this was that which Christ did command his Disciples to declare to all the world for that end even Gods eternal love in Christ to poor sinners as the way and means that God had appointed to bring home to him all that were banished from him according as 't is written 2 Sam. 14. 14. For we must needs die and are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again neither doth God respect any person yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expel'd from him and this way and means is the Lord Jesus who was set up from everlasting to be the way the truth and the light yea a witnesse a Leader and a Commander to all people that when we were enemies to him by wicked works and so dead in sins and trespasses yet then did God in his Son reconcile us all to himself and made us accepted in the beloved Jesus that as there was a broad way in which all men did fall from God and did become strangers to God so there is also a narrow way and a living way even Christ himself in which all men shall come to God again and indeed there is but few a verie small number that can finde this way nay so few that it is but onlie one and that is God in Christ who is himself as a Son the way to himself as the Father which none can know or find but himself for so it is written That no man knows the Son but the Father nor no man knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son shall reveal him and so there is but onlie one even Christ in all men that is the way for all men to come to God by You read of ten Lepers that were cleansed and but one which did returne to give glorie to God then said Christ Where are the other nine Now they were all cleansed and but one that saw it and he glorified God and that one was Christ in him that did see it that gave glorie to God for him and all the rest that were cleansed and so there is none but Jesus Christ that can glorifie God in all or that can trulie pray and give thanks to God for all for he onlie is accepted of the Father and all men as one in him are accepted of the Father with him for he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them Brethren and that he might gather together in one all things in Christ of things in heaven and things on earth even in him and I in them and thou in me saith Christ that we all may be made perfect in one Rosewell Captain Smith will you let him go on any further Captain Smith We cannot deny him he will claime a promise for it Coppin Hear I beseech you for I am now declaring the gathering together of all men in Christ to be by him brought home to the Father and therefore mark what the Scripture saith I will saith Christ seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick and so bring them health and cure and I will cure them and will cause their captivity to return and will build them up as at the first and so cleanse them from all iniquitie Now that all men sined fell and were lost in Adam none will denie because the Scripture saith it but that all men that sined and were lost in Adam shall again be redeemed and made righteous by Christ that you call blasphemie though proved by the same Scripture and let the people judg who perverts Scripture of us two Christ tells you he came to seek and to save that which was lost then as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive yea the same all that were lost in the one are found in the other and the Lord Jesus did declare himselfe to all men for this purpose and did pray for them which were enemies to him and had imbrued their hands in his blood Father forgive them they know not what they do and my little children saith John these things I write unto you that you sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is a Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world and this saith Paul is good and acceptable to God the Father who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth woe but will God have all men saved and will he save all that was lost woe but man will not have it so for he would have but some of them saved though the Lord saith he will have all and now for shame say no more that Coppin onlie will have all men saved but say also that the Lord will have all men saved since the Scripture is so clear for it and then Lord who hath resisted thy will Lord let thy will be done for of thee and through thee and to thee are all things Rosewell He saith all men shall be saved but doth not know when Coppin I say
it not to them that are free to do it though here were none of them baptized by Christ for he baptized not but his Disciples and they baptized no children but onely such persons as would then be under Johns administration of water which was onely to last Johns time and then to be made void and people did thinke then as some doe now that unlesse their children did recieve baptisme they shall not inherit the Kingdome of God therefore would say Oh give them that they come for lest they should die before they had it Now saith Christ who will forbid a little child that he should not inherit the Kingdome of God I say let such come to me for of such is the Lords Kingdom and they come to me as to their Saviour their Lord and Master therefore forbid them not though they were never baptized with water for they are subjects already fited for the Kingdome of God as a Kingdome of righteousness meekness truth and love having in them no unrighteousness as pride lying and hatred but they like Christ doe know noe sin being not borne in sin till they have the knowledg thereof and oh that all men were become such children free from all sin and so receive the Kingdome of God as a little child Againe he took them up in his armes laid his hands on them and blessed them and this he did to let the people know that they are the blessed of the Lord and that they are within the compass of his armes as being never out but always lodging in his bosom of goodness mercy love and favour as being heires of his Kingdome And of this arme God saith all the day long have I stretthed it forth to a disobedient and gainsaying people to bring them to this state of a little child into meekness and love from sin and rebellion and when this hand of the Lord shall thus come to be laid on any of you then shall you be as a weaned child from the brest of your owne haughtie and laughtie Spirit by which you were nursed up into the state of rebellion against God and of this the Prophet saith who hath belived our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed speaking of Jesus Christ the arme of God that took from us all our sins and laid upon himselfe as 't is written he hath laid on him the iniquities of us all and by which arme Daniel when he lay with his face on the ground was raised up upon the knees and palmes of his hands and from thence to stand upright upon his feet and when he knew it was by the hand of the Lord he stood trembling that is all things of himselfe trembled in himselfe when he stood upright in the Lord Now when this hand is laid on you and doe but touch you the first and second time which is the first and second coming of Christ in manifestation to the soule then shall you stand upright in the Lord and be for none but the Lord and saith Christ feare not for I have the keyes of the house of David which is Heaven and I have the keyes of death and of hell and I can open and none can shut and shut and none can open therefore feare none of those things which thou shalt suffer for behold saith Christ I know thy works and tribulation and the divell shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed and you shall have tribulation for a time but be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crowne of life therefore feare nor for I having the keyes will not suffer you to be shut up any longer then I please but will break open prisons and prison doores saith the Lord and all this is done by his laying his hand upon us and blessing of us therefore henceforth judg charitably of all men in all conditions and no more judge any childe to condemnation that knowes no sin nor Devil but rather this that the Lords mercy is over all his works and will lose nothing of his own Rosewell I desire to have no more to do with this man you see I hope what his aime and end is in all his discourse You say we would hide knowledge from the people but I wish all men did know as much of good as I doe provided I did know no lesse then I doe and I have taken a great deal of pains in my private Studies and publique endeavours for that knowledge I have and if I know any easier way I would spare my paines You labour to bring all men off from our principles of Religion therefore know there is many hundreds of able Ministers and thousands of good Christians which are furnished with arguments against you and all the Jesuites in the world for my part I am not worthy to carry their books after many of them and I say you are a shame to the world and the Turks and Papists may laugh at us to see our division in our Church and I would not have this Auditorie juggled out of their Faith and if any man hath given any incouragement to such a Blasphemer as this is let them be humbled for it and do so no more and I shall Preach against it to my utmost endeavour for he doth overthrow all Ordinances of Baptisme and Sacraments which our Antient Fathers have used which he saith are not necessarie to salvation since Christ and so is an enemy to God Psalme 21. 8. I will end with this Thine hand shall finde out thy enemies that hate thee thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire of hell shall devoure them CHAP. XIX Of Baptism how man is a fiery Oven of the fire and fuel that is to be burnt the Oven cleansed man living in it and how COppin That which I declare concerning Baptisme is that they have no ground from the Lord Jesus Christ by precept nor example to baptize with water Gaman a Anabaptist Let me speak now a word or two because you deny all Water-Baptisme Coppin Pray let me make an end with one first and then if you have any thing to say speak on but I say Baptisme with water upon any subject hath no ground from Christ whether by example nor command to be used since the Death of John being then fulfil'd by Christ and yet I denie it to none whose tender conscience doth desire it for I am become all to all that I win them to the truth as it is in Jesus through my love to them and the manifestation of Christ in them Rosewell Capt. Smith Pray let 's have done Robison I think you will never have done Coppin So far as you speak I must answer and there is one thing more therefore pray have patience for I must answer to this Scripture by him hinted in Psalm 21. 8. 9.
A BLOW at the SERPENT OR A GENTLE ANSWER FROM Maidston Prison to appease WRATH Advancing it self against Truth and Peace at ROCHESTER Together with the work of four daies DISPUTES in the Cathedral of Rochester in the Countie of Kent betweene several Ministers and Richard Coppin Preacher there to whom very many people frequentlie came to hear and much rejoyced at the way of Truth and Peace he Preached at the fame whereof the Ministers in those parts began to ring in their Pulpits saying This man Blasphemeth to deter their Parishioners from hearing him Whereupon arose the Disputes at which were some Magistrates some Officers and Souldiers peaceable and well-minded and very many people from all parts adjacent before whom the truth was confirm'd and maintained The whole matter written by the Hearers on both sides Published for the confirmation and comfort of all such as receive the TRUTH in the love of it By Richard Coppin now in Maidston Prison for the Witness of Jesus Twenty five Articles since brought against him by the Ministers as Blasphemie and his Answers to them how he was committed without Examination and by whom Rev. 2. 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer for behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be tryed and you shall have tribulation but be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life London Printed by Philip Wattleworth and are to be sold by William Larnar at the Black-moor neer Fleet-Bridge 1656. The Epistle to the Reader Friends and Brethren BE it known to you all that know me and can in any measure witnesse with me the hidden mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory how that according to the measure received I have been faithful in the acknowledgment of this mystery whereby your hearts might be comforted and you knit together in love unto a full assurance of the understanding of this mystery in your selves an 〈…〉 discover and lay open to you the loose sandy and rotten foundations and buildings of all mens pretended Religions in forme and not in power as things below Jesus Christ to have an end which hath beene my work in the Lord and to make knowne that Rock the Lord Jesus as the true sound and unmoveable foundation of our Religion and undefiled laid by God the Father from all eternity as that which will stand and indure for all men to rest upon walk in and be saved by which things to declare I have not been partial in towards God nor towards man but have given to each one his due both as they are one and as they are distinguisht that is first for God as God to be all in all in every thing to every creature of mankind manifest in due time as to himself he ever was is and will be and for man as man to be nothing but a poore worme a weak empty passive nothing creature as he ever was is and should be and to have all strength wisdome and fulnesse of knowledge and understanding in life and glory with that one Almighty God the all of all things And in which work the Lord hath been with me to support me to make sweet pleasant and delightful unto me all his wayes of sufferings persecutions and trialls for the truth through which the enemies thereof are confounded and now last of all my present imprisonment all which are things that accompany truth in the manifestation thereof to men and to the advancement of it self over all its enemies by discovering them in the way of their opposition against the truth where they are taken in their owne Net and destroyed For the Devill was never knowne to be a Devill and to be cast out as a Devill till he made war with Christ and his Seed and seeking to be something became nothing was cast out of heaven to the earth that is all his ways and actions was made appear to be but earthly sensual and devillish as having no part in Christ and so was cast out of heaven and as with him so with all in him that are found Fighters against God and that act in the way of the Devil against the appearances of truth by the Lord Jesus which in those following discourses you will find to be acted by those who set themselves in malice against me to betray me and to quench the appearances of truth which had been delivered by me for which they in their Pulpits did often revile me as a Blasphemer a devil telling the people their own empty pues would rise in judgment against them for coming from them unto me wishing confusion to that power that should tolerate such Doctrine by which the love of God to all men appeared and which in these Disputes they opposed against me contrary to the practise of a Minister of Christ but the Lord still appeared beyond the expectation of man in which he did inable me with faithfulnesse and boldnesse to make known to the people this mystery of the hidden wisdome and counsel of God for the salvation of mankind in the Lord Jesus though for the same I my selfe now am a Prisoner but the truth which cannot be imprisoned is free which is my joy and Crowne of rejoycing and which in due time will be the joy of those that oppose it though it be now their sorrow when it shall have made them free as it hath done me by destroying the enmity that is in them against it And now my friends brethren you that know this truth and are set free by it I desire you may be an ornament to it in the exercise of it for which I leave you all to the Lord and rest together with you in the Lord who only is able to make us stand farewell Richard Coppin From my Prison-house at Maidston in Kent Feb. 12 To Mr. Richard Coppin on his Sufferings by some Priests of Kent REnowned Friend bear up thy mind Thy light it is profound It will Sin Hell and Devils bind And all their cheats confound What though the * Chimmerims conspire As alwayes they have done Against Gods life which is as fire To burn their Babel down But go thou on for truth contend And Christian liberty Though blinded minds against it bend Yet God at last shall free Vs from the hellish snares of Priests And formall Whiners too Although they now do what they lists That rope will them undoe For surely they themselves will hang If they are let alone For most they do is but to bang Themselves but when they moan Who shall them pity or respect Reward reward them double Who nought but cruelty assert And fill the world with trouble But thou brave soule whose life is love To all the whole Creation Go on be brave thy mind 's above Preach still the great Salvation And Christ within the life of all That is or hath a
in all things made like unto his Brethren sin known and committed excepted that as we had in us the knowledge and actings of sin so God made him to be sin for us who himself knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Rosewell Though you say he committed none yet you do here intimate that Christs nature was tainted with original sin which I prove to be blasphemy for now I have it from your own mouth indeed he was made a Sin Offering for sin the Scripture saith But Mr. Mayor and Captain Smith you may plainlie see how his argument is corrupted which will go about to make men believe that Christ was a sinner and that his nature was tainted with original sin Coppin 'T is you that say so not I as the people canwitnefs Head the Lawer But you have said it and I have it here in writing Coppin Have you so Sir pray let me hear what you have written for now I see you still lie upon the catch therefore you people pray take notice and I will repeat the words again and see if I speak any thing that the Scripture will not bear me out in I say the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the living God and Saviour of the world knew no sin neither was guile found in his mouth yet was all the sins of all men in the world laid upon him and reckoned to him to be no longer ours but his that he might suffer for them Robison a Justice Will you say that Christ suffered for his own sins Coppin Not as acted by him but reckoned to him But Sir pray answer me this question seeing you have spoke Is the body of Christ part of himself or not Robison Yes his bodie is himself Coppin Pray then whose body are all the men in the world which Christ died for Robison Whose why they are the bodie of Christ Coppin Then people take noâ—ice if the whole world of men which Christ died for be the bodie of Christ then Christ dying for their sins died for the sins of his own bodie whose bodie we all are and members in particular as 't is written We are members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones and so Christ in his bodie of flesh as part of ours did bear our sins and infirmities 1 Pet. 2. 24. whose his own self did bear our sins in his own bodie on the Tree and in Mat. 8. 16. himselfe took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses and Isa 53. 3. 4. 5. He is despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisements of our peace was upon him We all like sheep have gone astray and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all So that whatsoever sins whatsoever sicknesses weaknesses infirmities and punishments was in the flesh of men Christ taking the same flesh and bloud of men upon him took all this that so he might overcome it for men according to those Scriptures Rosewell You pervert Scripture for the meaning is he took our punishments and not our sins Coppin Nay then you pervert Scripture for the words are He bear our sins Rosewell Mr. Mayor and the rest you may see with what a Brazen-face this Blasphemer stands to maintain his damnable errors Coppin And 't is well I have such a face and such patience else it were not for me to stand here before you to hear such railing and reviling which you never learned from Christ for when he Disputed with the Devil about the bodie of Moses he brought no railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee Rosewell Then the Lord rebuke thee Satan But you must not think to shift it off so for you have perverted Scripture and you must give satisfaction in it Coppin Sir what do you mean by satisfaction It may be if I stand here till to morrow you will not be satisfied but my desire is to satisfie the people and you if I may Rosewell You are before a juditions Auditorie which may well understand you Coppin It is well you do now confesse they are a juditious Auditorie you did say the other day to the contrarie Rosewell You do not answer any thing to this Proposition but do pervert the Scripture by saying the nature of Christ was polluted with sin Coppin I do not say that his nature was polluted with sin but that our nature was polluted till Christ was manifest in it to destroy the pollutions of it as 't is written For this purpose was the Son of God manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all and he did bear them in his own bodie on the Tree Rosewell I say again he that doth teach people to believe that Jesus Christ was a sinner and that his nature was polluted with sin is a Blafphemer of Christ and a venter of damnable errors but you do teach people to believe so ergo Coppin I still denie your minor and did never say that Christ was a sinner as all the people can witnesse but I say He was made sin for us and yet knew no sin but did bear our sins in his bodie Rosewell He that doth attribute any thing to Christ that is a dishonor to Christ he is a perverter of Scripture and a Blasphemer of Christ but you by saying the nature of Christ was polluted with sin have dâ—ne so ergo Coppin I have denied your minor which you cannot prove and do desâ—re you to declare what nature of man it was the Scripture saith Christ did take on him Was it a holy nature or a sinful nature Rosewell The nature of man when Christ did come to take it on him was polluted but that part which Christ did take on him was holie for it was the nature of a Virgin Luke 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God He did take mans nature on him but not his sins and this I declare and am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ Coppin The nature of the Virgin Mary which you say was holy before Christ took it on him I say was the same with all other mens nature for sinfulnesse for all had sinned and Christ took on him the sinful nature of all which sinned before he could undergo the punishment due for sin as I have proved by several Scriptures and Arguments in answer to this Proposition and therefore if you or any man else have any thing more to
to be burnt is the devil death and hell with all mans works good and bad that he hath made his foundation to build upon besides Christ whether it be gold or precious stone wood hay or stubble all shall be burnt up and he shall suffer losse but he himself shall be saved so as by fire which fire is the Lord and the stream of brimstone that kindles it the breath of the Lord to burn up consume blast and weather whatsoever is not of God in man but man shall be saved and so saith the Lord Furie is not in me but if the wicked set bryers and thorns against me in battel I will go through them and consume them to together but this is all the fruit thereof to 〈…〉 e away their sins CHAP. V. Christ coming in the Clouds the place and manner of his Throne how he as a man body flesh and bones is not in a place above the Skies that the Christ of God is no where contained FRench But Christ shall come in flaming fire at the last day at the end of the world for he shall descend from heaven in the Clouds with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel at the sound of a Trumpet and he shall sit upon a Throne and before him shall be gathered all Nations Coppin All this I know and see to be now for now is he upon his Throne and have all Nations before him and ever had though you may not see it till it be manifest in you therefore you should define what is meant by the Throne and his siting upon it and the place where it stands and the Clouds in which he comes for all people do believe that there are such things but you should declare what and when and where it is that people may know it else how are you a Teacher of the people if you know not those things French It is a Throne that shall stand upon the earth and the clouds are the clouds of heaven above overhead in which he shall come where we shall be caught up to meet him Coppin But define this Throne what it is made of and the manner of it how it stands else you speak the things you know not and that which you have not seen nor heard from the Lord but from your own imagination as appeares for the Scripture saith His Throne is in heaven And how is it then on earth if heaven be above overhead as you say it is But I do believe he is come and coming dailie and do set up his Throne in the hearts of men where he is judging and condemning all things that is contrarie to himself and when you see it to be in you then you shall acknowledge it also in the mean time you must be silent French I do be lieve he shall come from above in the clouds overhead with thousands of Angels as a man in a bodily shape with flesh blood and bones for Job saith he shall see him with those eyes stand upon the earth Coppin And Job in his life time did see him stand upon the earth in him as he confesseth in his last Chapter For now do mine eyes see thee saith Job And if you do but read Job from the beginning to the end and understand what you read you may see of Jobs state and condition what it was both before his change and after his change French You abuse the Scriptures and turns it which wayes your list into an Allegorie as a Nose of Wax Coppin The Scriptures are an Allegorie and a great mysterie For great is the mysterie of godlinesse and there is a spiritual meaning to be understood in it all along for the sum of the whole Scripture is included in Law and Gospel the first and second Covenant as in Gal. 3. 24. speaking of the Son of the Bond-woman and the Son of the Free-woman which things saith Paul is an Allegorie for these are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage and under which all men are Bondmen the other which is Agar from Mount Sion or heavenlie Jerusalem which is Sarah and under which we are all Freemen for Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all and this also is an Allegorie and a great mysterie Capt. Harrison Ye pervert the Scriptures and are a Blasphemer and I will prove you so Coppin What is that you call Blasphemy Capt. Harrison I am not to tell you now speak not to me Coppin If you speak to me I must speak to you But Sir How will you prove me a Blasphemer by the Law of God or the Law of man Capt. Harrison First I 'le dispute with you and do it by the Law of God and then I 'le take another course Coppin Then it seemes what you cannot doe one way you will endeavour to doe another Lievtenant Scot There is no body here that intends any hurt against you to intrap you French But he denies Christs body to be in Heaven above and that is horrible blasphemy Coppin Prove that Christ is now in Heaven above over head as you say in a body of flesh blood and bones and that he shall so come for the Scripture saith flesh and blood shall not enter into Heaven and though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth known we him no more so French I prove it in Acts 1. that he did ascend up to Heaven in a body of flesh blood and bones 8. Verse But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you c. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so a come in like manner as you have seen him go into Heaven And this is up above overhead and not within man as Mr. Coppin would have it Coppin The Disciples here had but a carnall knowledg of Christ for the Spirit was not yet come upon them because Christ was not yet ascended and they beheld him onely as he was talking with them in his suffering body which he for that time assumed to himselfe to appeare to them in to confirm them of his resurrection and his being taken up in a cloud was his swift vanishing out of their sight into the Spirit from that fleshly appearance as formerly he had done the doores being shut and in which they were to see him no more and were also reproved for so looking after him for why stand ye gazing ye men of Galilee up into Heaven this same Jesus as you have seene him goe so in like manner shall you see him come that is he grew invisible to their carnall eye and they
unseasonable at that time and it had been better let alone I say he that from Scripture shall labour to perswade people to believe that Jesus Christ was a sinner and that his humane nature was tainted with original sin he is a perverter of Scripture a blasphemer of Christ and a venter of damnable errors and heresies and on this I do desire to build the future structure but then there was some things hinted for the undermining of this Proposition Now if Christ be polluted with sins then is our preaching vain and your faith in vain therefore if I do make this my main Proposition it will not be impertinent to the businesse therefore let every one turn to the Bible they may all see to how little purpose those Scriptures was brought by him the other day First this is to pull the Crown from the head of Christ to say he was a sinner Secondly I say it is a perverting of Scripture and a seting Scripture in opposition against Scripture 1 Pet. 2. 24. He bear our sins Heb. 4. 15. He was in all things like us sin onlie excepted John 14. 30. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me If there had been sin in Christ he could not have withstood the temptation of the devil 2 Cor. 5. 21. But you see Jesus Christ was made sin for us that is he was made a Sin-offering for us I will appeal to all that 's skilled in Tongues for the same word which is here translated sin is in Exodus 40. Sin-offering where there is a dark saying in the body of the Text there is a remedy in the side for it is said He was made sin for us which knew no sin in himself And where Christ is said to bear our sins in his body it is not in a proper sense for sin cannot be and not be in one and the same person at one and the same time as you say in 1 Pet. 2. 24. He bear our sins Isa. 53. 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquitie of us all I will grant you in a sound Orthodox sense he may be said to bear our sins and as his righteousnesse is imputed to us so is our sins imputed to him And now I hope I have abundantly satisfied all that are intelligible in making good this Proposition Coppin You did say the last Sabbath day in your Sermon that this day you would make me ashamed ever to shew my face any more in this place as I was informed and this is the way indeed for you to take up all the time and let me have none Rosewell I do dispair now of ever making you ashamed but I hope to make your Auditorie ashamed Coppin Pray give me leave to speak now Rosewell I will give you rope enough Coppin You have spent a great deal of time to little purpose to make good a Proposition which by me was never denied for neither you nor any one else did ever hear me say that Christ was a sinner but was holie just and righteous onlie as the Scripture saith he was made sin for us and did bear our sins in his bodie which you understand not But to proceed let me ask you one question What flesh and blood was that of man that Christ did take on him Was it holie flesh or sinful flesh Rosewell I say that the flesh and blood of man for the substance of it which Christ took was holie now Christ took our nature but not our pollutions Captain Smith Sir I conceive that Mr. Coppin hath given you satisfaction to this Proposition in the last Dispute therefore if you have any thing else Mr. Rosewell you may please to go on Rosewell I do but prove now that Christ did not take our pollutions Luke 2. 35. That Holie thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God he took the nature of a Virgin Coppin Was the nature of the Virgin Mary without sin when Christ took it on him in that she was a Virgin if it were then in what sense was she called a Virgin Rosewell In that she did never know man Coppin And so there are thousands in the world that may be Virgins upon that account as not knowing man and yet be never the lesse sinful for all have sinned therefore you say you know not what Rosewell Pray take heed of his Juggles Coppin If man was a sinner and the nature of man which Christ took on him was holie then to what end did Christ take on him the nature of man and leave man still in his sins Rosewell I did not say mens nature was not sinful Then the people burst out into a laughter saying He did Captain Smith If any do laugh it will be taken notice of Coppin Friends seeing somtimes you cannot chuse but laugh henceforth laugh inwardly and make no noise Roswell I have not to do with children I suppose this laughter was at the folly of this man not at me Now I say that the nature of man which Christ did take part of was polluted with sin but that part which Christ did take was holy Coppin You say then that some part of mans nature was sinful and some part holie but you will say anone that all was sinful Rosewell I say all but that part which Christ did take was polluted Coppin You know not what to say your self for sometimes you seem to say that all mans nature is sinful and that Christ took on him mans nature but not his sins and pollutions Again you say he took part of mans nature which was holie and left that part which was sinful but I say the whole nature of man was polluted for a little leaven leavens the whole lump one sin makes all sinful and Christ took on him the same or none even our sins with our nature and so 't is written He took our nature and bear our sins therefore friends take notice how this man have lost himself and know not how to prove any thing Rosewell I say this man will still labour to maintain that Christs nature was polluted with sin Coppin I say the nature was ours but it was no longer polluted when once Christ lived in it But I perceive you labour to maintaine Christ to be onelie that individual bodie of flesh which was part of our flesh and was sinfull and not as one living in it and so you denie the Christ of God which is our life and light and you do but passe away time in repeating over one thing so often therefore pray have done that I may go on to clear it up Rosewell Yea I will give you rope enough to go to the end of your ladder Coppin That the whole nature of man was polluted throughout the Prophet Isaiah witnesseth For from the soal of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrified soars they have not been closed neither bound up nor mollified with
for their sins commited by them who is that sinner then in the world that shall be saved and what is that sinner which shall perish if you know declare it what and who that sinner is Rosewell I doe think there is one in the Pulpit which doth sin against God in blaspheming his Name Coppin There is one then but is that all well you say I am a sinner but I hope you think your selfe to be a righteous person I say then let him that is without sin cast the first stone the Scripture â—aith he hath concluded all men under sin that he might have mercie upon all and 't is wel for me that I am a sinner for then I am sure to have a part in Christ for he came not to call the righteous but sinners Rosewell If none shall be saved but the Elect then all shall not be saved but it is cleare none shall be saved but the Elect when he is revealed from heaven he will take vengeance on all that know not God Isa. 27. 11. Also 2 Thes. 1. 7. 8. And indeed the whole Chapter read and consider it seriously and be not led away by these Imposters Coppin The Lord Jesus is now revealed from heaven in flameing fire taking vengeance on all that know him not neither own him in his people as al unrighteousness of men which hold the truth in unrighteousness doe not and against this the wrath of God is revealed and not against the persons of men yet those men so long as this unrighteousness is in them they appeare not as men yet saved by him but doe suffer the vengeance and terror of this fierce fiery appearing of God to them till the enemie the devill in them is destroyed that made them sinners by commiting sin in them Rosewell Take notice he doth deny a general coming of Christ at the last day in flaming fire rendering vengeance on the persons of men Coppin I do not denie the coming of Christ to render vengeance to whom it belongs for vengeance is mine saith the Lord and I will repay therefore I believe some hath it now and he is come and doth come and will come to take vengeance on all that know him not and is of the devil in me you and every man else and when he is so come to any soul for that work he will then let them know that he himself is that flame of fire that will devoure his adversaries to wit the bryers and thorns with which we fight against God in the time of our ignorance persecuting the truth For what was Paul when Christ came to him was he not a great persecutor of the Church and people of God in those daies and Christ came to him in a flame of fire to take vengeance on that in him which knew not God but had fought against the truth saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me and yet he in that person after that lived and Preach'd the Gospel which he once destroyed French You had need go and be a School-boy again Coppin I am indeed a School-boy now in the School of Christ and 't were well if you were one there also French The Lord stop thy mouth Rosewell He doth say the day of Judgement is past already Coppin I say it not but do say that it is come and coming and therefore answer me to the former Scripture which you would passe by He that commits sin is of the devill for there is yet more to be said to that before we leave it Rosewell That is every one that continues to be of the Devill he shall be destroyed and there is whole heaps of them in hell now and there for ever shall be tormented with fire and brimstone Coppin If this be all you know I will tell you more He that committeth sin is of the devil and there is no man but doth commit sin and so long the devil raigns in him but when the Lord Jesus Christ doth manifest himself in that man to destroy the works of the devil he then binds the devil in that man dispossesâ—es him of his place throwes out all his goods and houshold stuff and sets them on a fire together according to this Scripture Mark 3. 27. 28. No man can enter into a strong mans house and spoile his goods except he first bind the strong man and then he will spoile his house This house is man the strong man that keeps it is the devill or man in his strengh but when the Lord Jesus Christ who is stronger then he is come then is the devill bound his goods spoiled and all that mans sins forgiven him Rosewell I doe confesse all by nature are sinfull but all doe not sin in that sense so that all that hath been said is to no purpose Coppin You did say at first you would make me so ashamed that I should not shew my face here any more and indeed all that hath been said by you yet is little to that purpose Rosewell Indeed I did alwaies dispairof making your brazen-face ashamed Coppin Then give me leave to proceed I say there is for a time in every man the old man living and sining and also the new man that sineth not and those are at difference one with another untill the one hath overcome the other as Paul saith of himselfe after he was first converted Rom. 7. 22. I delight saith he in the law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind that I cannot doe the things that I would for with my mind I serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of sin so it is no more I that sins but sin that dwelleth in me not the new man but the old man that sineth Rosewell And this you doe affirm to be in every man Capt Smith Mr. Coppin many people desire to know if you speake this of the regenerate state of man or if it be the state of all men Coppin I say this that all men so far as they are regenerated doth not commit sin but the wicked one which is called the unregenerate part doth rule in all men for a time more or lesse untill he be wholly thrown out but when the Lord Jesus by manifesting himselfe for that work doth begin to seize on that wicked part then the work of regeneration begins and then man is not all wicked nor all righteous but part of both as the Apostle was in his first conversion and so long there is a warfare in man till the old man be wholly subdued according to this Scripture he that is in Christ is a new crature old things are past away and all things are become new Captain Smith And concerning this Paul saith I thank God through Jesus Christ with my mind I serve the law of God though with my flesh the law of sin Rosewell He speaketh there of a regenerate state People say let Mr.
to God glory in the highest And O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those which bring tydings of peace and say to Sion thy God raigneth thy warfare is accomplished and thy sin is pardoned and this Gospel did Christ preach and command to be preached to every creature under heaven as the work of his Ministerie Rosewell He doth maintain the salvation of all and doth condemn others which do not so you may plainly see now how you are misled and I hope you are all abundantly satisfied in it if it were not to give satisfaction to some I would not have put my self to this trouble to have discoursed with such a man in whose forehead Blasphemy is written in Capital Letters he that runs may read it Coppin Seeing you cannot tell how to call me bad enough as you think therefore I will give you a little more before you go and catch what you can that is that no man can be assured of his own salvation except he see the same salvation in the same Saviour for all men as well as for himself which is to love his Neighbour as himself Rosewell Better and better Coppin For Jesus Christ did die and pay a price for all men one as well as another and if there be but a few men saved and the greatest part damned to eternitie as you say there is what assurance then can there be to any for all were sinners and if there were but one man to be so damned how could any man assuredly know except he believe this but that he himself might be that one man Rosewell Blessed be God which doth so discover him to us his Elder Brother which went before him was more subtil not to discover those Blasphemies which lay hid in him but in you the devil appears in his colours and in his Stage-play terms Coppin I have not yet said any evil of you though you are pleased to raile at me for speaking the truth freelie Rosewell It is not judging nor railing to call a Blasphemer a Blasphemer though I will not deny but there may be something spoken of a weak Brother and also that Scripture in the Rom. by you mentioned when he speaks of a remnant and that they shall be grafted in again and whereas you say that all shall be saved Matth. 22. 14. Many are called but few are chosen I am sorry I must be so brief but straightened in my body the truth is his lungs are better then mine but I hope must here are satisfied in what hath been here stoken Robison We are well satisfied pray God keep us from this damnable Doctrine Coppin It remaines damnable to all that believe it not for though it be a truth that God will save all men yet till man doth see this salvation within him there is no satisfaction unto him but he still remains only as one called with the multitude that shall be saved but being not yet chosen he remains as one unsaved until his time appointed comes that he see himself saved which will then be his choice or election to the faith by the spirit of adoption so that many are called but few are chosen but the called shall all be chosen for it is written That the promise of salvation is to all that are afar off and as many as the Lord shall call Acts 2. 39. CHAP. XII Of the Day of Judgment and all mens coming to it with the time when the place where the manner how the matter judged and for what ROsewell You say we preach damnation and so do cast men downe we do preach it to such as do go on in their sins and live and die in their sins that hell is their portion and as for thousands which die in their infancie the corruption of their natures is enough to damn them in hell to all eternity I can but hint at those things indeed if we did preach only damnation we were too blame but when we do Preach comfort to Believers we preach damnation to unbelievers as Christ saith He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned at the Day of Judgement Rom. 2. who after their hardnesse of heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to every man according to his deeds to them that are contentious and obey not the truth indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish to every soule of man which doth evill to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Coppin Sir you have run through many words of wrath and judgment but nothing is proved by you what it is nor when it is and whereas you say there is a day of wrath and judgment I doe acknowledge the same and that it is both to Jewes and Gentiles and all that obey not the truth but whereas you also say that some Jewes which are dead already shall not be grafted in againe I denie for the promise that they should come in was then made for all the stiff-necked Jewes that were also then and before living though their bodies fell in the wilderness yet their Spirits are living and shall again be grafted in When the earth shall be full of the knowledg of God and though you from Rom. 2. doe say they are under wrath you doe not from thence prove that it shall abide on them for ever and ever now I say that that man which is under wrath must there remaine till the Lord Jesus doth come to him to manifest himselfe in him to turne his wrath away from him and so judg that in him for wrath which is for wrath and that for mercy which is for mercy but because you have not declared what this day of wrath and judgment is I will for a day of judgment there is in which all men shall be judged and receive according to their deeds and if there be more then one day of judgment which I shall shew you then doe you declare it for I denie nothing which can be proved by any man from Scriptute Now the Scripture saith there is judgment appointed for all men as 't is written It is appointed for all men once to die and after that the judgment and this death is adying into sin and trespasses for the wages of sin is death which none can be delivered from but by judgment and the Lord Jesus is to be the Judg of all For the Father judgeth no man but hath commited all judgment to the Son who will not judg by the sight of the eye nor hearing of the eare but will judg righteous judgment and Christ saith for judgment am I come into this world and now saith he is the judgment of this world is come now shall the Prince of this world be cast out and as it began then so it is not ended yet but goeth on still and shall continue so long as there is any sin death
hell or devill to be judged or condemned in man And that every eare and eye that heares and sees any thing besides Christ shall be made deafe and blind and every mouth that speaks any thing besides Christ the truth shall be stopped that so the Lord himself may be all in all and saith Peter The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God why all shall come to judgment every man in his order at the time when the Lord shall appear unto them And this is not a visible temporal Judgement on the bodies of men but invisible in the hearts of men which is the Temple unto which God will come and dwell in for the Lord whom you seek will suddainly come to his Temple and there sit as a Refiner and Purisier of silver and will take away his drosse and tyn and try them as gold is tried therefore he saith he will send the Spirit and he shall convince the world of sin of righteousnesse and judgement and when the Lord doth so come to judgement then shall everie mans book be opened and they shall be judged according to the things written in their books which books are the consciences of men bearing witnesse either for them or against them accusing or else excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to his Gospel and this is the manner of the Lords proceeding to judgement in the day of the Gospel which to the Lord is but as one day though thousand of years Head a Lawyer said This is damnable Doctrine what need a coming to judgement if all shall be saved you are a Blasphemer and destroyes the Fundamentals of Religion by your impudency Coppin Though all men shall be saved yet not without judgment But Sir I perceive you are a Lawyer it may be hath a fee given you then plead Law for it the Gospel allowes of none but though you may know the Law better then I it may be I may know the Gospel as well as you and you see I have declared a judgement according to the Gospel and have proved it all along if you understand it and if any man can prove any other Judgement day besides this which I have proved let him declare it And I also prove that this Judge the Lord Jesus doth accuse no man but he that is the accuser of the brethren is the devil who shall be cast out and his accusation made void for man while he lives under the law lives under wrath and is accused by the law but when the Lord Jesus comes to any soul as a Judg to fulfill the law he declares himself accused and condemned for that soule and so frees him from the law and quiteth him of the accusation and now Christ accuseth not but Moses and yet saith he You will not come to me that you may have life but though you receive another that comes in his own name father then me that comes in my Fathers name yet doe not think that I will accuse you to the Father no but there is one that doth accuse you even Moses in whom you trust Rosewell John 5. is meant Christ will not accuse them to the Father yet Christ doth accuse them which doth oppose his Gospel and will doe it and will throw them to the nethermost hell at the last day in everlasting torment soul and body and therefore I desire you all as you tender the glory of God and the good of your own souls have a care of such a dangerous blasphemer as this which in such a high nature doth blaspheme the great God of heaven Isa. 26. Thy hand is lifted up and they will not see it but they shall see it and be ashamed for their envie at the people the fire of thy enemies shall devoure their persons at the last day Coppin You may apply this unto your self for your own envie that hath appeared at this and other times but doe you bring this to prove destruction of persons eternally at the last day which is no such thing here meant Rosewell I doe confesse a Spirituall Judgment Day Coppin That have I affirmed all this while for the which you crie out against me to be a blasphemer c. Rosewell But there is another day of judgment which will be at the last day Coppin Pray doe you prove a second day of judgment you have confest the first which I proved to you and I denie not your second if you can prove it to me also prove the destruction of persons as you say Rosewell Faelix did tremble when he did heare of judgment to come Coppin This judgment was to come on him then and is to come on all now on whom it hath not yet appeared for the destruction of sin Rosewell It doth appear there is no such judgment known unto you Jude 15. but the Lord will come visibly as a man from heaven and all his Saints with him to sit upon his Throne and to execute judgment and to convince all that are ungodly Coppin You should declare where this place of Judgment is and when it is and what this Throne is on which he sits Rosewell I will not tell you you shall know it when it doth come and therefore cease to pervert Scripture Coppin I do not at all judg or condemn you for speaking your judgment in what things you know though you do judg me for you can but speak as you have received according to your measure and so do I. Rosewell He doth mainly labour to deny any Judgment to come on any mans person Coppin I tell you again I denie nothing which you can prove to be true it is your work now to prove this Judgment Day you speak of as I have done mine Rosewell There is a Hell of fire and brimstone for ever Coppin You would do well to prove what you mean by it now before this people Rosewell You have here said that Christ was a sinner Coppin You said these words I never said them but said that he was in himself holie harmlesse just and good Rosewell You said the nature he did take was sinful and you have denied the Resurrection of the Body and do affirm that all men shall be saved Coppin It is a sign there is no more in you to declare because you go over with the same things again and again But how are you assured of your own salvation tell me that Rosewell I do believe he hath saved me and that one day he will do it Coppin If he hath done it alreadie then it is no more to do and it is better to believe that you are saved then that you shall be saved CHAP. XIII The practise of Magistrates and Ministers discovered how they one uphold another to serve not the Lord but
Thine hand shall finde out all thine enemies thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them There is no man so wicked nor so righteous in himself but the Lord will find him out and will make him as an Oven in which he will kindle his fire to burn up the briers and thorns to wit mans sins and iniquities which man is full of and against which the fire of his anger is revealed that he may devoure them but not man for all mans works shall be burnt and he himself shall be saved so as by fire as it is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated though they tumbled both in one bellie Jacob is the good even the spirit Esau is the evil even the flesh and everie one hath this Jacob and Esau within them for a time but Esau which is flesh shall be burnt by Jacob which is the spirit the flesh shall be destroyed but the spirit saved and so saith the Lord the house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Esau shall be for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devoure them and there shall be nothing left of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it and anger is not in me saith the Lord against the persons of men but if they set briers and thorns in my way against me I will pass through them and burn them up by this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged and this shall be the fruit thereof to take away their sins that the Lord may dwell therein and saith the Prophet I saw the Lord upon his Throne high and lifted up and his Train fill'd the Temple and behold an Angel came with a live coal in his hand which he had from the Altar and he laid it on my mouth and said Loe this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquitie is taken away and thy sin is purged so God is said to sit in his Temple man-like a Refiner of silver to purge away the dross and tyn and to destroy all together for ever But while this fire is a kindling in man so long is man full of the smoak thereof that he is not able to look into his own Temple to behold the glory of the Lord until his indignation be overpast and so it is written the Temple was filled with smoak from the glorie of God and from his power and no man was able to enter into the Temple till the seven Plagues of the seven Angels were fulfilled and then his wrath being over the fire being quenched his sins purged and the Oven man being cleansed of all the fuel and the ashes he shall return into his Tabernacle in peace he shall visit his habitation and shall not sin he shall not be afraid to look into his own heart but shall possesse himself with joy and with peace for all sin and iniquitie shall be done away and then the Lord alone shall be exalted in his owne Temple man and man in the Lord for ever and ever Captaine Harrison Is there any man without sin Paul saith He was compassed with a bodie of sin and death Coppin The bodie of sin and death was to be destroyed and he to be without sin and though Paul was sanctified and justified in the spirituall part or new man yet he was subject to sin so far as he was in the flesh as all men are which is still waring against the spirit till the spirit hath overcome it Gaman Let me speak now c. Coppin Let him speak Robison We cannot stay I have no patience Coppin Then the Lord grant you patience if you have none Captaine Smith You had better take a day to your selfe Mr. Gaman Gaman Well I see you Priests are all carnal and your weapons are not spiritual seeing you cannot deal with this man therefore go you and your Priests together Coppin If the Presbyterians Sect have done then Anabaptists may begin and take your day also for though you are one against another yet I see you will both joyne together against me and this makes good that Scripture there 's Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim but both against Judah yet point your day when you will CHAP. XX The malicious and illegal proceedings of some Ministers and Magistrates of Kent against Richard Coppin in the City of Rochester with his Commitment to Prison how and by whom THe Disputes being ended and the Ministers not relieved but having suffer'd in their principles and losing many of their Hearers they to regaine them againe have with themselves and some men called Justices of the Peace Members of their Churches had several private consultations together how they might doe to dismisse me from thence of preaching any more to the people for which through their false information they obtained a Warrant against me from the Committee of Kent but I was then at London and having notice of it did neverthelesse appeare to the Warrant being willing to answer to any thing that should be laid to my charge being also cleare and innocent in my owne spirit of any thing that I had said or done contrarie to any Law of God or man and I being in my lodging at Rochester on the Eve of the Sabbath at night intending to preach on the morrow came an Officer of the Souldierie unto me from Captaine Smith a Captain of the Companie there quartering that I should come before him into whose hands the Warrant was committed and whose Order was by the Warrant that I must not preach on the morrow but to continue his Prisoner till Munday onlie I had liberty in the meane time to go to my lodging but the Sabbath being come on the morrow and the people assembled together at the Cathedral according to their former custome I came amongst them but a Guard of Souldiers being set in the Cathedrall I preached to the people in the Colledge-yard in the Morning and in the Fields in the Afternoone untill we were disturbed by the Souldiers who did but their duty which they were commanded by the authority of the Justices Major General Kelsie and others for that County On the morrow being Munday and twenty fourth of December the said Major General Kelsie John Parker Charles Bowles and Richard Watson as Justices of the Peace for that Countie also Captaine Harrison and severall Ministers as Informers met together in the Crowne-Inne of the City of Rochester where they examined Witnesses and received what informations they thought fit against me in my absence and having before determined amongst themselves what to doe with me they sent for me to come before them where Major General Kelsie told me that he had received information against me upon oath that I was an enemie to the present Power and of several
burne till it hath burnt up all the foundations and buildings of men in their several forms and Religions that are not founded upon Christ the Chief Corner Stone and this will be a Chaos and confusion and an end of the world to men And now what are you and what do you doe when you seek to imprison or banish this truth away from you which you know not and to stop those cleansing floods which the Lord hath opened in drie places for you and to quench those fierie coales which the Lord hath kindled amongst you to refine you you do but add a greater encrease to the truth for all that which is ungodlie selfish and wicked within you that hath opposed the truth shall be imprisoned by it and drowned with it yea it shall be burnt with the fire and melted with the heat until all be consumed and you dissolved into the nothingnesse of all things below God where you are all lost and you again swallowed up into his own Almightinesse where you are found in your true and everlasting Centre that sends you forth and takes you in at his pleasure And this is the begining and end of the world and of all your fighting against the truth to be lost and to be found to be and not to be and therefore look about you you that talk so much of the end of the world when Christ shall come do you know this end and when it shall be I will tell you my experience it is to your end and at your end that Christ doth come and therefore would you prolong his coming for his coming in will be your going out overturn overturn his rising will be your falling and his life will be your death for you are a lie and he is the truth therefore stay Lord Jesus and come not yet say you that know not his coming to be in you stay till the time of the end of the world which you would not have to be yet because your end must come with it but come Lord Jesus come quicklie say I and all those that know his coming to be in them that the world of sin death hell and all Devillishnesse may have an end in all men as in them that there may be no more wrath nor hatred no more fighting nor quarrelling disputing nor contending for the truth nor against the truth but that heaven and earth righteousnesse and truth may meet together and imbrance each other in all men and at all times places and things whatsoever according to the word and will of the Lord that there may be no more any thing at a distance neither truth nor error light nor darknesse day nor night but that in the evening there may be light and so but one day known to the Lord over all the earth one King and his name one But in the mean time you have here following Articles against the truth and answers for the truth The twenty five Articles called Blasphemy brought against Richard Coppin by the Ministers of Kent and for which he was sent to Prison with his Answers to them COppin First I denie all their Articles to be spoken by me as they are here laid down by them they having much abused my words and also my sense by their adding and diminishing yet for satisfaction to many people of the truth of that which may be in them I shall give a brief answer to them according to the plain sense of Scripture and the manifestations of God to men here on earth which so far as I ever knew in my self I alwaies declared and hid nothing of the counsel of God made known to men but for what God will do by man at the end of this life beyond what is revealed I leave also with him till he shall more reveal it Article 1. That all the Scriptures is but an Allegory that is all said he both Law and Gospel and that it is but an Allegory said he it is clear from Gal. 4. 24. Answer The whole Scripture of Law and Gospel the son of the Bond-woman and the Son of the Free-woman are the two Covenants in an Allegorie so saith Paul Gal 4. 24. which things saith he are an Allegory for those are the two Covenants The Allegorie is in this , Abraham had two sons the one by a Bond-maid the other by a Free-woman the Bond-maid is the Law or first Covenant the Free-woman is the Gospel or second Covenant in a mysterie and these also are the two Jerusalems Sina and Sion the one which is below as in bondage the other which is above as in freedome which are also the two mothers of the children after the flesh and the children after the spirit they who live by the works of the Law under the conditions of the first Covenant and so not all their sins to be forgiven them are the sons of the Bond-woman after the flesh and are in bondage with their mother to this day persecuâ—ing the sons of the Free-woman born after the spirit that lives by free grace and sees their sins pardoned Secondly the carnal mind of man is the son of the Bond-woman after the flesh minding the things of the flesh which is death the spiritual mind is the son of the Free-woman after the spirit minding the things of the spirit which is life for so it is written To be carnally mindad is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace and this son of the Bond-woman is to be cast out as no more to be remembred for he shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman for he understands not the things of the spirit of God but they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned but the spiritual man knoweth all things yea the deep things of God and therefore lives in God as in peace and freedome and is no longer in bondage Thus is the Scripture an Allegorie and a great Mysterie for great is the mysterie of godlinesse and saith Christ you erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God Article 2. That our Jesus took our defiled nature with sin and was a sinner in that nature Answer That Jesus Christ took on him our sinful nature and in it destroyed the sinfulnesse of it is a truth according to these Scriptures Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood Jesus Christ himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might also destroy him that had the power of death which is the Devil c. and God made Christ to be sin for us laid upon him the iniquities of us all and he did bear them in his own bodie on the Tree which is no blasphemie to say but that he should be a sinner in that nature I never said it neither do affirm as you would have it Article 3. That he was a cursed Goat for the Goats on the left hand
Mat. 25. 35. That by the left hand we are to understand nothing but the Law as by the right hand nothing but the Gospel Answer First they under the Law not believing the pardon of their sins are at the left hand of God as Goats cursed for cursed is everie one that is under the law Secondly they under the Gospel believing that their sins are pardoned are at the right hand of God as sheep blessed For blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sin is covered and blessed are they that know the joyful sound of the Gospel for they are at the right hand of God in the way of life where they hear his voice and behold his face and have pleasures for evermore and Christ to redeem man to this state of blessednesse from that curse and Goatish nature which man by reason of sin lay under at the left hand of God did himselfe bear our sins in our steeds at the left hand and was cursed for us signified by the Scape Goat on whom Aaron laid the sins of all the people sending him away with them to lose them so did God on Christ lay the sins of all people and as the Goat in the tipe did so did Christ carrie them away from us no more to be remembered to us which is blasphemie to say Article 4. That the Lord Christ was the High-Priest spoken of in Heb. 5. 3. and that he offered for his own sins Answer As concerning this I only asked the question what High-Priest was there meant and the answer was given by one of the Ministers that it was Jesus Christ but read and consider the Scripture and you may be better satisfied for he was one that could have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way and who this is I will leave for the Reader to judge compared with Chap. 7. 27. Christ is there said to do that by one offering which the Priests under the Law did at twice that is they offered first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people but this did Christ once when he offered up himself not that Christ could offer for his own sins as known to him but for our sins as reckoned to him in our nature and so all our sins became his till he by death discharged both himself and us of them together Article 5. That the Human Nature of Christ is not ascended to heaven and brought this Scripture to prove it that flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 13. 50. Answer The Humane Nature of Christ was of the same nature of man which was of the earth earthie and Christ by living in it did sanctifie and cleanse it and so made it heavenlie which may be said to be its Ascention into heaven but that a humane bodie of flesh blood and bones should be in a local place above the Stars as M. French and others would have it I find not anywhere proved from Scripture for then it would be also out of its element and then heaven were to be understood as the earth and not as heaven and so one contrarietâ—e would be in another but John saith That which is of the earth is earthy and that which from heaven is heavenly and flesh and blood never came from heaven therefore shall not enter into heaven but the Holy Spirit and Power was said to descend down upon the Mother of Christ and not a humane bodie and Paul saith He that ascended up to heaven is the same he that first descended from heaven and not another Article 6. That he that looks for the humane nature of Christ to come from heaven may look long enough Answer He that looks for such a coming of Christ in his second coming as is contrarie to the Scripture and not as God himself which is the Lord from heaven may look long enough before he see him but the Scripture saith That though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth know we him so no more but in spirit and in glorie to be revealed in our flesh And this coming of Christ is the coming of God to take a Kingdom to himself in man of that which is himself which coming must be as God ro man and not as man to man for he shall come in the glorie of his Father and this coming I know and therefore speak not denying any other Article 7. That there shall be no Resurrection of any body that dies and when that of Job the 19. 23. to 28. was urged he returned that Job said he knew not what and proceeded most abominably to Allegorie the Scriptures Answer First I deny not what may be proved by another but the Apostle saith That the same bodie buried is not the same bodie raised but God giveth it a bodie as pleaseth him that is to be like himself for so it 's written He will change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto his glorious bodie whose body is not as mans is and David saith When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse which is for all things in man to be subdued unto the Lord that God may be all in all who is not the God of the dead but of the living and when Job said His Redeemer lived and that he should see him stand upon the earth at the last day was a mysterie which Job did not then know until he saw it fulfilled in himself which afterwards he dâ—d and then saw his last day and confest that he had before uttered words without knowledge things too wonderfull for him which he understood not But now saith he hear I beseech th 〈…〉 and I will declare unto thee for I have often heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now do mine eyes see thee and then was Jobs Resurrection come when he saw God to be risen within him and we rise not but as God rises with us For saith he the dead men shall live together with my dead bodie shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead and blessed are they that hath part in this Resurrection Article 8. That there shall be no day of Judgment and that the Scriptures warrant it Answer This I never said but that a day of Judgment according to the Scripture there is which had its beginning with Christ manifest in flesh after the fall of man to destroy sin which Day of Judgement was then is now and ever will be to man so long as sin remains in man unjudged and uncondemned by Christ and so saith Christ For Judgement am I come and now is the Judgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out and now will I convince the world of sin of righteousnesse and of Judgement which day of Judgment
was is and is to come spiritually but whether there be such a manner of Day of Judgement as some men would have is not by me denied nor yet by others proved Article 9. That there is no local hell nor heaven all the heaven or hell that he will acknowledge is within man Answer That there is hell and heaven in man the Scripture declares it and I know it but this denies not any other which may be proved by another as for hell it is for man to be out of the presence of the enjoyment of Gods love under wrath and terror of conscience for sin and wickedness which hel Cain was in when he said to God my punishment is greater then I can bear and now shall I go out from thy presence and from thy face shall I be â—id And David saith Thou O God hast laid me in the lowest pit in darknesse in the deep where I am shut up and cannot come forth thy wrath lieth so hard upon me and this is hell and great terror to those that are in it and for any other I know it not but leave it to God Secondlie Heaven is a souls rest peace joy and content in God it is a continual enjoyment of Gods presence with a soul in mercie love and favour through Christ free from sorrow and shame which is righteousnesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and where are pleasures for evermore and which Christ saith is within us For behold saith he the Kingdome of God is within you and then needs must we be in that so far as that is in us known to us and enjoyed by us which Kingdome is the Lord himself given to us to be a Kingdome for us into which Kingdome we arise with him to sit in heavenly places in him And this is our Kingdome heaven and happinesse which none can know but he that hath it Article 10. That God will never destroy any creature that he hath made Answer That none of the works of God can perish eternallie being all verie good but the works of the Devil for all things that God made was made by Christ and for Christ and still to remain in Christ as everlasting as Christ for that which hath been is that which shall be and there is no new thing under the Sun as to God but whatsoever was once of God is still of God and shall stand for ever but whatsoever is of man shall come to nought and therefore though man by sinning hath destroyed himself for a time as to himself yet in the Lord is his help and let God alone with his own works Article 11. That he will destroy sin in all but not any sinner that shall ever be destroyed Answer Sin is the work of the Devil which in due time shall be destroyed in all men as Christ shall be manifested in them â—â—r this purpose was the Son of God manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil and therefore that no sinner shall never be destroyed I never said for there is the great Sinner and Lyar the Devil that sins and lies in all men seeking to destroy the works of God in them but is not able and he shall be destroyed and all men sinning in him are so long destroyed by him till Christ be manifest to destroy the Devil in them Article 12. That there is not a Jew that ever died in his unbelief and renounced Christ but is saved Answer This I never said however take this answer that the Jewes as well as others are all the people of God and all men without respect of persons have sinned and renounced Christ and yet he never accused them to the Father but died for all to pardon the sin of all yea them that denie him that so he might save them by living in them and damning that which made them denie him though till then they believe it not and so enjoye it not but whether any man die in this unbeleife I dare not say neither may any other for Christ to give faith comes in the twinking of an eye to some at the last gasp for ought any know however that of God returnes to God and that of the earth to the earth in all men and being once in God it is safe Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth even of that Jesus that died for them and lives in them rest then on Godw hose word and will shall stand and he will doe all his pleasure Article 13. That all mankind Jew or Gentile and what ever they are how ever they live or dye shall be saved for the Jewes he brought the Text all Israell shall be saved Rom. 11. 26. for the salvation of all heathen whatsoever he brought Psa. 28. Answer The word how ever they live or die I never said but take this answer also That all men by the law are sinners a like for he that breaks one is guilty of all and as in all men is the seed of the serpent so in all men is the seed of God though for a time it may be hid end there is nothing can be too hard for Christ when he rises in Power in any soule to hinder the salvation of that soule but he will overcome it and however they lived before they are now made new creatures and God having loved them so as to send his Son to die for them cannot but love them still to cause his Son to rise in them from which love nothing is able to separate or pull them out of his hands though it may darken the manifestation of it for a time as to them so that all the Jewes shall be brought in and God will be mercifull to their unrighteousness though for a time blindnesse and hardnesse of heart is happened unto them but it is that the fulness of the Gentiles might come in with them and then all Jewes shall be saved as well as all Gentiles and likewise the heathen hath God given to Christ for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his Possession that he should breake briuse and consume all selfe in them and therein save them but great is this mystery and so good is this work that none should be offended and yet saith Christ many shall be offended because of me Article 14. That no soule can belâ—eve with an assurance that he him selfe shall be saved until he belâ—eve that all men what soever shall be saved Answer 1. He that saves one saves all and there is no one man till he see that one Jesus who is the Saviour of all men that doth see his own Saviour and then hath not a full assurance of his own salvation and he that doth see Christ and believe in him as the Saviour of all men his salvation is more especially confirmed to him then the others is that doth not so believe
and such a one enjoyes it as possessingly and the other doth not and that makes it more especially unto him and so he have a greater assurance then the other hath because he trusteth in the living God who is the Saviour of all men of which all he knows himself one and so believes it upon a sure ground till which time I could not assure my self Article 15. That if there be but one man of all that ever were or shall be in the world damned no man can assuredly know that his soule shall be saved Answer And if Christ were not the Saviour of all men and I hear but of one man that shall be damned to all eternity and this man not yet pointed out as knowne from all the rest to be the man and Christ come to save the worst of sinners what full assurance then can I have of my savlation more then another of his salvation but some doubts and some feares will arise within me who shall be that man that is to be damned till I see a pardon come forth for all men to be saved and then I knowing my selfe to be one of that all cannot but have a good assurance of my owne salvation this axperince-in me doth witness as also saith the Scripture that I can no more judge any man to eternall damnation but that which is not of God in man Therefore who art thou O man that judgest another and dost the same things thy selfe for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy selfe for thou that judgest dost the same things and who hath made thee to differ from another that thou shouldest be saved and not another wherefore think not better of thy selfe then of another for there is no respect of Persons with God that is more accepted with him but only Christ in all and all in Christ for he hath concluded all men as men under sin and unbeliefe that he might have mercy upon all and then O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgment and his wayes past finding out for who hath knowne the mind of God or who hath bin his councellor for of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be glory for ever Article 16. That the unpardonable sin of the Holy Ghost is nothing but flesh opposing and quenching the spirit till Christ come into the soule and destroy the flesh Answer To explaine this the Holy Ghost is the spirit the sin against the Holy Ghost is the opposition and war that is made against the Spirit by the fleshly carnall mind for the flesh wa 〈…〉 against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to another in man and so saith Paul I find saith he a warring within me that when I would do good evill is present with me 't is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me for with my mind I serve the Law of God though with my flesh the Law of sin and this flesh opposing the Spirit is for a time in every man as a man of sin ruling in them till Christ come into the soule and destroy it which shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come but is the only enemy that God will destroy in man Article 17. That when a soule is once regenerated then he is free from all sin that the flesh is quite destroyed Answer Regeneration is a new birth and the new birth is to be in Christ a new creature free from all sin without which man nor his prayers nor any thing is accepted of God for he heareth not sinners and without holiness no man shall see God but if the Son shall make you free then are you free indeed and him that is in Christ is a new creature old things are past away and all things are become new by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Article 18. That no man shall receive any good by any good that he doth that it shall no way further his salvation Answer If man by his good works could merit heaven then salvation by Christ were made void or if any thing of man which is imperfect were to joyn with Christ in the work of salvation then mans salvation were not all by Christ but by man and would so far be imperfect and then man might boast and say he was able to help Christ to save his soul and so robing Christ of his work would rob him of his honor also but not of works saith Paul lest any man should boast neither by any other name under heaven but by Jesus Christ is any man saved that no flesh might glory in his presence but he that glories let him glory in the Lord that his soul was saved by the Lord Article 19. That no man shall receive any hinderance by any sin he committeth that shall do him no hurt Answer If any sin of man should hinder mans salvation by Christ then that sin would appear to be too strong for Christ to conquer and then no man could be saved for there is no sin but every man is guiltie of for all have sinned and all are guiltie but this I say with the Prophet Elihu that his bad works may hurt a man as he is and his good works may profit men but shall no way profit the salvation of his soul But because good works are good to men therefore would I have all men observe and do them doing unto others as they would others should do to them which is the sum of the whole Law for he that loveth God will also love his Brother Article 20. That our Lord Jesus Christ is the three persons in the Trinity God blessed Father Son and Holy Spirit and that the blessed Trinity is but three manifestation of God Answer The blessed Trinity Father Son and Spirit I acknowledg the Father as begeting the Son as begotten and the Holy Ghost uniting as being the compleat union of all three together in one spirit where they all meet as copartners together in one work that what the one is the other is the same and what the one doth the other doth the same as all but one God manifesting himself under various appearances of Father Son and Spirit to the creatures apprehension Article 21. That our Lord Jesus Christ himself was the Leper that was cleansed and returned to give thanks Luke 17. 15. Answer I say not that Christ was a Leper but there were ten Lepers that were cleansed and one of them when he saw himself cleansed turned back and glorified God and Christ saith Where are the other nine There are not found that returned to give glory to God save this stranger and who was this stranger but Christ in that man that gave glory to God for the work done as Christ saith Father I have glorified thee on