gave him some part of all flesh which by Apostacie are become dead in sins and trespasses to that posture in which once they might have received life yet some of these men are given to him at one time and yet given him at another and some of them are denyed him for ever and these various respects are the grounds of our Saviours words in these cond verse That he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him Thus God denied the Gentiles to Christ about 1800. years being dead in sins and in trespasses excepting some few as is proved in the 7th Chapter of my first Treatise and denied them the residence of his Oracles the said time for their Apostacy at Babel until Christ was come in the flesh Again When Christ came in the flesh Jo. 12. God gave him many of those Gentiles dead in sins to hear the voyce of the Son of God and live in that posture in which they might receive eternal life yet some are denyed him to this day and remain Heathens and shall till the fulness of the Gentiles come in in the interim many perish because denyed to Christ Again When God called us Gentiles to come to receive life in the said posture or to be either as is proved for before there was no way but death to most men yet at that time he denyed the Jews to Christ for crucifying the Lord of glory and his blood is upon them for to this day they remained dead in sins and trespasses for in Holland where the Gospel is preached it is no Gospel to them because God as yet denies them the spirit of faith as he hath done these 1600. years except it may bee to some few Again Thus were some of those denyed the gift of Faith while our Lord lived amongst them wherefore he said unto them Ye are not my sheep that is although my Sheep as from Abrahams flesh Jo. 1.16.25 26. yet not my Sheep as in Abrahams spirit of faith And although the whole body of that Church Elect still stands cut off for their unbeleef yet there will come a time when they shall be given to Christ The Apostle saith Rom. 11. If the casting away of them be the reconciliation of the World Rom. 11.8.12 15 16 20 25. what shall the receiving be but life from death Now I come to the fourth Quere How is it that Rom. 5.18 The Text affirms as by the offence of one Judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life And yet this 17th of John restrains that gift of life but to some I answer That justification was universal to all man-kind and to all alike and the extent of the imputation of that righteousness was to the whole Creation from whence it was put into a posture of travail from that bondage of corruption which it fell into by Adam to be partakers of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God and it travelleth until now as saith the Text. Again I answer That the gift of eternal life in the 17th of John is particular and peculiar to him that receives that gift of righteousness by Faith in two respects which that universal justification was not As first He that receives this imputed gift of righteousness God pardons that mans sins although numerous against the mercy of God in Jesus Christ which that universal justification did not for it onely pardoned the gift and punishment of Adams one offence once committed to him and all his posterity but it pardoned no more Secondly That man which by beleef receives that imputed gift of righteousness is possessed of eternal life in this World for the Text saith he that beleeveth hath eternal life which that universal justification did not give it onely gave right to eternal life but no more And the truth is the Apostle in the fifth of the Romans points out this particular justification and that universal justification The particular justification in these words for if by one mans offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ But mark the Text It refers this particular Justification onely to Beleevers that receive that gift of righteousness Vers 17. and in the 18. Verse the Apostle layes down that universal Justification in these words Therefore as by the offence of one Judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to Justification of life Obj. It will be objected Object our Lord saith Father I will that those which thou hast given me be with me even where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before the foundations of the world Vers 24. Therefore those that are given by the Father to Christ cannot but be infallibly brought to behold that his glory to Eternity For it is impossible but that Christs prayer must be granted because he alwayes did that which was pleasing in his Fathers sight Answ True it is Answ that Christ did alwayes so and therefore so in this prayer and therefore it shall be granted But the question in hand is not whether his prayer shall be granted but in what sense he prayed for it cannot be in the sense alledged because it is proved in this Chapter that the Father gave him 12. men of all flesh and yet one of them which his Father gave him shall not behold that glory because our Lord affirmes it had been good for him he had never been born and in this Chapter he saith one of them is lost and became the son of perdition Again right beleevers of all flesh are given by the Father to Christ to be his mystical members and himself to be head to that body from which ground he made this prayer in behalf of them that they might behold that his glory but we must mark the reason and ground of his prayer why his Father should grant it In these words Thou lovest me before the foundations of the world And of his members he saith Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me V. 23. Now it is already proved in what sense our Lord himself was loved of his father before the world was namely to be the seaventh meanes or second Adam infailibly to accomplish his Fathers final end Therefore it necessarily followes That all his members are loved with the same love as they adhere to Christ in respect of his Fathers final end to his glory and not otherwise This is expressed by our Lord himself John 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me for where I am there shall also my servant be If any man serve me him will my Father love otherwise not for that is implyed because our Lord puts it upon if and if If any man
Rebecca had conceived as God had promised the children strugling together in her wombe thereupon she said If it it be so Why am I thus wherefore she went to enquire of Jehovah whereupon concerning Esau and Jacob God declares his purpose That he considered those two children in her wombe not as two persons individually but as two roots universally in National respects For saith God unto Rebecca Two Nations are in thy wombe and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people the elder shall serve the younger Now the ground why God elected one Nation in the younger childe Jacob and rejected the other in the loyns of the elder childe Esau was to figure that the children of the flesh as such should not be counted as children unto God but the children of the Promise as leading to faith in Christ and born again not of the will of the Flesh but of the Spirit shall be counted the Children of God as faithful Abraham A second ground why God elected that Nation in Jacob's loyns was to be his onely visible Church in all the world to uphold his Name till Shilo came in the flesh namely Christ A third ground why God did so at that time was this Because when he declared this purpose to Rebecca his name in Christ to destroy the works of the Devil Gen. 11.8 10.32 12.1 2 3 4. Josh 24.2 23.15 Ezek. 16.3 4 5 6. was as it were extinguished out of the world And the ground why it was so extinct was this For at that time all Nations and all the Families of the Earth were Apostates from the said posture by which they might receive eternal life I say all Families except one and that was the family of Sem and that also began to Apostate to Idols as appears in Terah Abraham's Father therefore God commanded him to depart from his Fathers house and then promised him having no childe this Nation to issue from his loyns and Isaac's and Jacob's and all comprehended in these words So shall thy Seed be Again God did not onely then at that time elect the Jews unborn to be the visible Church of Christ but also at the same time predestinated the Gentiles into the same posture Gal. 3.8 by which also they might receive eternal life by promise to Abraham whence saith the Apostle And what that postture is is at larg declared in my second Treatise The Scriptures foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith preached the Gospel before unto Abraham saying In thee shall all Nations of the Earth be blessed So that the scope and drift of all these Texts is so far from maintaining the aforesaid Elections that it is against them all for the Text onely speaks of a National not a Personal Election and of a National Rejection not a Personal A second Text which is supposed to speak for Personal Elections as a ground of the Saints perseverance are these words As many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved But as before so now to find the true meaning of this Text Acts. 13.98 is to keep close to that which it aims at Vers 42. The Apostle having preached Christ to the Jews in their Synagogue thereupon some Gentiles then present besought the Apostles that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath whereupon the next Sabbath day Vers 44. came almost the whole City together to hear the word of God And then some of the said Elect of God namely the Jews seeing the multitude they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and Blaspheming Vers 45. whereupon the Apostle spake to the blaspheming Jews and said It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it away from you and judge your selves unworthy of eternal life that is of that posture wherein you might have received eternal life Lo we turn to the Gentiles Vers 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us saying I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the Earth Vers 48. When the Gentiles heard this that is those words of the prophecie concerning themselves to be admitted into the posture by which they might receive eternal life then they were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord that is in beleef of the said prophecie for they had been 1800 yeers excluded from the said posture because the Oracles of God were before confined only unto the Nation of the Jews not at all to come amongst the Gentiles until Christ came yet did not all that multitude beleeve for some were in the case of final Impenitency through their precedent obstinacy as also were some of the Jews and therefore God denied them the spirit of faith to beleeve vers 41. Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your dayes a work which you shal in no wise beleeve though a man declare it unto you Therefore Vers 51. the Apostles shooke off the dust of their feet to witnesse against those unbeleeving Jews that were his visible members and so his sheep but being denied the gift of faith therefore not his sheep John 10.26 John 10. 26. Ye beleeve not because ye are not of my sheep as I said unto you So as the meaning of these words As many as were ordained to eternal life is no more but this That God predestinated or ordained by promise to Abraham that the Gentiles should be called into that posture by which they might receive eternal life From this ground it was that the Scriptures did foresee that God would justifie the Heathen through faith and upon this ground the Apostle doth apply to beleeving Gentiles That Gods calling of them is according to his purpose to be made like unto Christ and the first born among many Brethren Rom. 8.28 29 30. and to be justified and glorified was now fulfilled So that the scope of these Texts makes nothing for Personal Elections but sets forth the rejoycing of the Gentiles in the demonstration of Gods ordaining them to the said posture by promise to Abraham and conveyed to them under this prophecie CHAP. II. In which the 17 th Chapter of JOHN is opened THis Chapter is supposed to prove these Personal Elections as the ground of the Saints perseverance Some of the words are these which our Lord spake to his Father of himself Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him c. These words naturally divide themselves into four branches First The power given him by his Father Secondly The extent of that power over all flesh Thirdly The End wherefore That he should give Eternal life Fourthly The Restraint or Bounds to which this Eternal life is limited Not to all
denies Angels and Spirits and the Resurrection as did the Sadduces but to those seduced spirits our Lord answered and said unto them Ye do erre not knowing the Scriptures And this error is the first ground upon which this Objection is built But our Lord stayed not there but said neither do ye know the power of God Mat. 22.29 Act. 23.8 that is not knowing or beleeving his infiniteness and the Text affirms he is infinite therefore your ignorance of this is a second ground of your objection And you measure him by your reason or your reasoning which is as if you would empty the Ocean into an Egg-she therefore you cannto but erre And for further explanation how Gods potency and vertue which was essentially in himself and spirited out of himself by Creation yet is not now himself I refer the Reader to my second Treatise pag. 104 105 106. But secondly I answer that all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth principally men and Angels are but a remote shadow of his being and not his being which is the fountain of life for they are all but meer dependents upon his Essence as Job affirms of the Earth It hangs by nothing that is no created thing but dependent upon him as an accident to a substance as for example witheness upon a wall depends on the wall yet the wall was a wall before and will be when that whiteness shall be washed off so God was before all things were created in its dependence upon him And he will be the same though he should please to wash away the whole Creation by an annihilation but for his final ends sake he will never do this as is proved And thou O man who thus disputest to be he art but a remote shadow of him and canst thou imagine the shadow of thy body to be thee or to comprehend what thou art much lesse art thou he or ever wilt be nor able to comprehend him But do thou dispute and beleeve thine own disputings 2 Chron. 20.20 And I will beleeve the Lord and his Prophets so shall I surely prosper but he that will not so beleeve shall be damned Mark 16.16 And in that word he points at thee if thou repent not for the wanton despising and such disputing out thy precious time against Gods long patience which as by a hand of mercy would lead thee to return unto himself to be happy for ever for at the end of our lives when the dust returns to the Earth as it was the spirit shall return to God that gave it and can do no other for then it will be stripped of all those mediums which did interpose its naked approach to God in its apprehension and shall see it self returned to the alone disposing of God and this is the meaning of the Text and the spirit shall return to God that gave it that is to be sent to its place of weal or woe Luk. 12. â—7 according to his works as is figuratively laid down between Dives and Lazrus So much for answer to the blasphemous abuse of this Text. CHAP. V. In which is further amplified the Errors of the Familists and four Quere's answered as to the point of Election ANd in the first place take notice from what ground these men deny the sacred Oracles of God and prayer to him as our heavenly Father and all Ordinances as tending to mans salvation that is from the same ground that the Angels fell which is that they abode not in the truth of God and from the same ground that we in our first Parents fell beleeving not his word of truth So this sort of men forsake the truth and beleeve a lie that is a fancy which they name a light within them and the divine nature and Christ they call their light by the name of Christ But what saith our Lord to these men Joh. 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do and concludes he is a lyer and the Father of lies But you wil say your own grounds imply Object you need not pray as it is in that which you call the Lords Prayer your Father in Heaven because you affirm you are in his Essence and cannot be out of it Then if he be so neer you what need you pray to him at all much lesse as in Heaven a great way off Though it be true that he is so near us Answ yet that is false which you infer form thence That we need not pray for we need to pray because of the foresaid mediums between our spirit and he and it is formerly proved those mediums are three That is this World being but an object of sense and the body of man being but a sensitive thing and the spirit of it self involed in a body of sin and of errors and mistakes Therefore although he be so neer we have great cause to pray unto him to manifest himself unto our spirits as did he that said Lord I beleeve help my unbeleef Again I answer The nature of sin in our mind carries in it enmity to God and therefore our minde being conscious to our sin in our apprehensions keeps at a distance from him therefore as neer as he is unto us we had need to pray unto him to shew himself to us for it is one thing that he is so neer and another thing to beleeve that he is so neer as for example If a man be as neer to one that is blind as possible may be if he neither feel him nor hear him he is to him as if he were 1000. miles off and this is our case by reason of these three mediums before specified therefore we have need to pray to God to draw neer to us not in his Essence for neerer he cannot be but in the manifestation of his mercy and goodness he may Again Our Lord taught us to pray to our Father as in Heaven because it is the ultimate manifestation of his transcendent glory that Men and Angels can be capable of and a place created purposely for that end in which we shall center in him to all eternity therefore we begin our Lords Prayer with Our Father which art in Heaven and conclude it with Thine is the Kingdom power and glory Again Because it is Jehovah that makes a barren Wilderness fruitful and a fruitful Land barren therefore he being so neer us we may the rather pray Give us this day our daily bread that is a competent maintenance for us and ours during this life which is our day Again Because the Apostate Angels do multiply and advance their Kingdom of darkness by mens beleeving lies and lying vanities so forsaking their own mercies and principally this Familistical Crew seemingly Angels of light to deceive therefore in regard God is so neer unto us I say we may the rather pray Let thy Kingdom come and will be done by removing those numerous errors and blasphemies which
not in the power of his own seeking to finde what he sought but in his to give therefore he put him upon that which he was never able to do That was to sell all he had and follow him so he led him to become a fool in himself that he might submit to Christ to make him wise from this ground it is that God commands man to plow up the fallow grounds of his heart Deut. 10.16.30 Jer. 4.3 4. and to circumcise his heart and then promises that himself will circumcise it and thus man becomes a Saint How could Christ look upon him Quest and be so pleased with man before faith when another Text affirms Without faith it is impossible to please God It is one thing for God to be so pleased with man before faith Ans comming to Christ and another thing for God to be so pleased with man as to give him possession of eternal life as to all right beleevers he doth because it lies in the nature of the thing that is of right beleef to possess it self of eternal life in receiveing Christs righteousness as the eye possesses it self of the light which a man before faith can never do and so these Texts are reconciled What if these men so seeking honour and glory Quest c. die before faith shall these mens case be no better then those that sit down contented in this Worlds good and seek no further nor no better then men openly prophane The Universal Justification Answ it did not only pardon Adams sin to all men but also gives every man a right to eternal life and no man can loose that right but by refusing to come to Christ which those that so seek as is described do not therefore they loose not their right It may be objected Object that they dying without possession of it by faith do loose their right and consequently they perish for ever If they do die without possession of it by faith Answ yet die so seeking as is described actually or but virtually they shall hold their right and have possession to eternity when they die for God hath not only saved all mankind without faith from the damnation due unto them in Adams sin but also all mankind dying in infancy notwithstanding original sin shall be saved and be possessed of eternal life as is proved in my first Treatise p. 36 37. Again To binde mans eternal life to faith it is to make an Idol of our faith as for example because my eye which is a dark body which receives the light shall I therefore prefer this dark body before the light And I will ask any beleever this question if it were Abraham himself what gives him right to eternal life Is it not pardon of sin and that gift of eternal life as included in the imputation of Christs righteousness in which he is the light of life to man or is it the dark body of his own faith or beleef CHAP. VII In which is opened the manner how the Saints persevere in the Grace of God by Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures FIrst A word or two for introduction That although there be a difference between men that seek honour and glory as is discribed and betwixt those that are dead in sins and in trespasses before the gift of faith yet after there is no difference but both are alike possessed of eternal life for he that rightly beleeveth hath eternal life whatsoever he was before A second thing premised is this what is meant by the grace of God in Jesus Christ I answer Two things the first is Gods merciful acceptance of a beleevers person as a mystical member of the body of his Son and to be his adopted Son in him and so to no men else Secondly By grace is meant his endowing of them by the work of his spirit with inherent righteousness every man according to his measure as of Faith and love and patience c. and these men are called new Creatures and none else If you ask me Quest why I distinguish between right beleevers and true beleevers I answer An ungodly may beleeve truly but never rightly in order to his own eternal life So Balaam beleeved that Oracle truly which the spirit of God dropped from his lips but not rightly First Because his mind creeped on the earth or earthly contentments like the Serpent which God cursed for they run greedily after the error of Balaam for reward Secondly Because he leaped over a sanctified life Epist Jude 11. onely desiring to die the death of the righteous Thus did the proud and covetous Priests Pharisees and Scribes the great professors of those times truly beleeve the Oracles of God delivered them by Moses to be the word of God but they did not beleeve rightly for if so they would have embraced the Lord of glory and never imbrewed their hands in his blood therefore I distinguish between right beleevers and true beleevers so now I come to the point The Saints perseverance And in the first place it is grounded upon that which may ever be distinguished but never separated in this business that is the power of Christs spirit and the Saints exercise of their graces already received And thus they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation that is in perseverance unto salvation 1 Pet. 1.5.9 Receiving the end of your Faith even the salvation of your souls Wherefore gird up the loines of your mindes be sober and hope to the end Vers 13.7 The trial of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold which perisheth Vers 1.21 That your Faith and hope may be in God from this ground it is the Apostle gives them this rule Gird up the loins of your minds for the Grace which is brought unto you seeing you have purified your selves in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfaigned love of the truth see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently in this work of the Saints perseverance the power of Christs spirit and the exercise of their graces formerly received may ever be distinguished but never separated as is formerly said Again Peter in his second Epistle 2 Pet. 1.3 comes more close to the point of perseverance even to be established immoveably according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and Godlinesse thereupon he enforces the exhortation Giving all diligence adde to your faith virtue and to your virtue knowledge add to your knowledge temperance and to your temperance patience and to your patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity and then renders them this reason why they should so do for if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Joh. 13.17 13. wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your Calling and Election
sure Vers 11. whereupon he drawes up a peremptory conclusion If you do these things ye shall never fall that is neither totally nor finally from the grace of God in Jesus Christ Thus our Lord himself to his eleven Apostles excluding Judas saith If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen for he chuseth to himself a godly man his mystical member A second ground of the Saints perseverance is this Psal 4.3 the seed of Gods word by the hand of his spirit sowne in their hearts being born again not of a corruptible seed but of immortal by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever Vers 23 25. The word of the Lord endureth for ever And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you and the ground why the word is immortal to the mind of beleevers is this that although the word as printed or preached by the Tongue of man to man be no more but a humane expression or dead letter yet the thing therein contained is to man the unchangeable minde of Jehovah and he will make it good upon them according to the tenor of the Gospel for the works which they have done in the body whether they be good or evill to eternity And thus the word of God is a seed that perisheth not but is immortal in both respects for it is in this case in some sort as it is with seed in natures production of bodies which in one respect is perishable for all humane bodies return to the dust and in another respect it is not perishable for that seed hath continued its kind from the Creation and so shall to the worlds end because the seed carrieth in it a spirit of life virtually To this alludes Peter calling Gods word an immortal seed and hence saith our Saviour The words that I speak unto you are spirit and life Joh. 6.55 63. It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing And as it is in the natural seed so it is in the spiritual seed in some sort if it be not sowne or do not fall in a right place or on a proper subject it looseth its natural force or life to produce its effect so is it in this case as to the perseverance of the Saints never totally nor finally to fall away for although by their inherent righteousness or circumcision of the heart the spirit of Christ hath made their mindes a fit subject to receive that seed Gal. 5. 2 Cor. 2.14 15 16. and so to grow yet if the Saints afterwards do quench the spirits force not as to it self but as to them in their perseverance for in the mind of a wicked man the seed of Gods word hath its force as to its self but it hath not its force as to that mans happiness Hence it is that the word is a sweet favour unto God in them that perish in the demonstration of his merciful justice to eternity for all are damned by the tenor of the Gospel And that the seed of Gods word doth thus take various effects according to the mindes of men in which it falls is affirmed by our Lord himself in his exposition of the parable of the seed for when he hath said the seed is the word of God thereupon he explains its various effects in the mindes of good and bad men and thereupon to his Apostles he saith Luk. 8. from 4. to 18. Take heed therefore how you heare But if it be objected Quest That this is no general Rule because unto some it was given to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom Vers 10. to others not It is a general Rule ordinarily Answ and the seed of Gods word doth take effect according to the subject it falls into according as they do improve their Talent either to come to Christ before faith as is described or after faith as you have it here Our Lord saith unto such as well as unto others Take heed how you hear and this is a general rule except in cases extraordinary such is that in the 10. Verse Unto you it is given to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom c. And thus our Lord when he ascended he gave gifts unto men some to be Apostles c. Not for their own sake but for the sake of his Fathers final end to his glory in carrying on the aforesaid particular branch against the design of the Apostate Angels what this particular branch is is amplified in my second Treatise and therefore it was given to the Apostles but not to others to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom clearly and infallibly and it is clear that this is meant by the Apostles for the first verse of the Chapter saith the twelve were with him and in the 9th Verse they put a question which drew this answer from him in the 10. Verse therefore this makes nothing against the aforesaid ordinary rule Here we must remember two things as to the perseverance of the Saints to the foresaid stability that is they stand in relation to a twofold contingency until they have arived to that stability not to fall the first is the tenor of the Gospel the rule of mercy and justice according to which if they do not exercise their graces they may fall away totally but if they do they may go on from strength to strength in Sion or be established as is proved And this is the first contingency And the ground why the Lord in this case hath put all mankind and the Saints thus upon contingency is it suits with his final end for which he made both men and Angels as formerly is proved The second Contingency is the natural liberty of the will purposely so created by God and that also with respect to his final end so any man let him be what he will or can be Christ excepted or any Saint not yet attained to that stability may be a Vessel of honour or dishonour to eternity But to clear this point concerning the will of man we must alwayes consider it under three distinctions The first is its natural liberty and that is it chooseth or refuseth all Objects or things presented to it as it likes or dislikes them and this remains in good and bad men on Earth and also in Heaven and in Hell because it is the very nature of the reasonable soul The second distinction is the natural property of mans will which is this to look to good either as it appears good or as it is indeed the very true good And as the eye doth naturally follow light so this natural property of mans will doth follow good according as it apprehends it to be so This also is natural to the very essence of the soul and neither of these can be lost but by annihilation of the reasonable soul which God will never annihilate because it will make void his final end
for the understanding from the force of this illumination and information brings God in Christ to the will as its cheefest good wherefore the will by its natural liberty cannot but freely choose it nor by its natural property cannot but follow it as the eye followeth light Thus the will is forcibly drawn according to its own natural liberty and property Secondly Joh. 14.21 Our Lord speaks to this point as it is written John 14.21 He that hath my Commandements and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him that is virtually and habitually to keep his minde to Christ Rev. 3.10 Rev. 3.10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I will also keep thee in the houre of temptation c. likewise 1 Thes 5.14 to Vers 24. The Apostle having laid down many particulars concludes upon the Saints observance of them Faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it and the Saints having inwardly left in part the force of this drawing of their mindes to Chrâ—st they cry out Draw us O Lord and we will follow thee And this is it when God saith Hos 11.4 Cant. 1.1.13 I draw them with the cords of a man and bowels of love If the will of the Saints cannot refuse God thus manifested Obj. but according to the degrees of their sanctification freely follow him How came it to passe that the Angels refused a greater manifestation of God voluntarily for they forsook their own habitation It is hard to clear this Objection Answ because in the order of nature God hath as it were locked up the excellency of every superior Creature from the Creature inferior As all Vigitables apprehend not the nature of the excellency of sensitives so the excellency of spirits is not apprehended by sensitives therefore it is that mans body cannot apprehend his reasonable soul although it animates it neither does the reasonable soul apprehend the nature and excellency of Angels much lesse do the Angels apprehend the infinite God but as he is pleased to stoop down to their capacities in manifestation of himself but what that manifestation was we know not nor how the Angels did forsake it because it is proved that this is locked up from us but whatsoever that manifestation was it stood for a time contingent that they might or they might not fall for the Text saith He found not stability in the Angels And the ground why it must thus stand upon a contingency for a time is this That they could not be established in any condition of weale or woe but according as they did exercise what they had either right or wrong and the ground of that is this God made the Angels as well as men with reference to his final end That they might be made Vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity according to their works But after what manner God proceeded so to make them Vessels of honour or dishonour is darkly pointed at as by a Law suitable to them and what that Law was and that they did transgress that Law and for the grounds and reasons why God hath elected some Angels to stability in eternal felicity and rejected the rest irrevocably to eternal misery I refer the Reader to the 13th Chapter of my second Treatise From the premises thus proved observe why God by the Prophets and the Apostles and by our Lord himself in commending or blaming men for their actions principally refers it to the will as ye will do this and ye will not do this One reason thereof is this Man from his own Counsel and voluntary choyce produces all his deliberate actions therefore they properly proceed from the liberty of his own will and this is the first ground why God charges the will with this or that You will not do this or you will not do that A second ground why God doth approve or disapprove of mens workings with such special reference to the will is not only that the will hath the immediate production of and inforceth all actions but also the striving of the spirit of Christ to assist the wills of the Saints more eminently then any man in all the World to good works therefore the good and also the evil actions of all men especially the Saints are by Christ imputed to the will hereof the seaven Churches of Asia are an example Whereas you peremptorily affirm Obj. that the sufferings and righteous works of the Saints do not in any respect extend to eternal glory either to the thing or the degrees thereof onely their works extend to the degrees of grace here so far as to establish them so that they shall never fall away yet our Lord himself said expresly the contrary Luk. 6.22 23. Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you and when they shall separate you from their company and shall reproach you and cast out your name as evil for the Son of mans sake rejoyce in that day and leap for joy behold your reward is great in Heaven so that heavenly glory and the degrees thereof are the great reward of the Saints sufferings and righteous works First Answ as concerning the sufferings and best works of the Saints our Lord hath given a right judgement That when they have done their best they are unprofitable Servants and admonisheth them so to judge of these works that is as to attain the heavenly glory for that 's implyed yet in other respects he puts a worth upon their works Herein is my Father glorified that ye bring forth much fruit so shall ye be my Disciples Joh. 15.8 Mat. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven yet in Luke 17. after some discourse he gives a right judgement of their best works for when he had told the Saints It is impossible but that offences will come but woe unto them by whom they come He exhorts them saying Take heed to your selves Vers 2. And if thy Brother trespasse against thee rebuke him and if he repent forgive him and so to seventy times seaven Vers 3 4. whereupon they sayd Lord increase our Faith whereupon he opened to them the force of faith Vers 5 6. and then goes on to give them an example as to the point of the worth of their works Vers 7 8 9. The example is this Which if you having a Servant ploughing or feeding Cattel will say unto him by and by when he is come home from the field go and sit down to meat and will not rather say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy self and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink doth he thank that Servant because he did the things commanded him I trow not And to the Saints he saith likewise ye when ye shall
nature not meaning those former graces wrought in them by the word and Spirit of God But they fansie themselves to be the divine Essence essentially the one Iehovah this they name also by a light within them but do you be sure to make Christ your Religion who is personally God-man and none other and depend upon his righteousness imputed onely for Gods gift of eternal life Also beware ye destroy not that inherent righteousness which is in you for that is the Temple of the Holy Ghost Wherefore give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure because God if you so do by an act of merciful justice will establish you and keep you that you shall never fall totally nor finally to be seemingly deified Angels of light but indeed and in truth Angels of darkness the Children of the Devil a cursed crew of Familists who scornfully despise the sacred Ministery of Jesus Christ stilling the holy Ministers Priests and the godly which wait at wisdoms gates to be taught by Christ by their Ministery they stile them Priest-ridden fellows and stile the sacred Oracles of God to be but a dead letter and from beneath therefore O you Saints of God which yet rightly beleeve take heed of turning your graces which God hath endued you with into wantonness by a filthy greedy covetousness under a proud formality in Religion to walk after the flesh for by the just judgement of God at this time upon the Churches of Christ for so doing from amongst you and of you do arise these monstrous blasphemous Beasts the most dangerous Antichrist that ever was within the confines of Christendom therefore I say take heed for there may a time come upon you that yet stand for quenching the Spirit and loosing your first love and for making ship-wrack of that Faith and Conscience that once was good and for destroying the Temple of God which is holy which Temple ye are he will destroy you And the Text subjoynes these words speaking to the Saints Let no man deceive himself because then you are in the high way to the impardonable sin and then ye shall never beleeve more the sacred truth of God though never so cleared unto you for then God will deny you the gift of faith and then your damnation sleepeth not though you should deny as do the Familists No man shall be damned or saved Judas shall be in as good a case as Peter for say they all shall be turned into the divine Essence of the one Jehovah yet know this that the one Jehovah will not deny himself in his word of truth but make his final end good upon all flesh except as is excepted that is the case of dying in infancy that is every man according to his works that he hath done in the body whether it be good or whether it be evil that is some to be Vessels of dishonour to eternity and some to be for honour to eternity And Heaven and Earth shall fail before one jot or tittle of this truth shall fall short of what God hath said for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it as at large is proved in the 12. Chapter of my second Treatise CHAP. XIII Containing an answer to Lieut. Col. John Lilburn his six particulars viz. FIrst You deny the Trinity Secondly You deny the Scriptures to be the word of God Thirdly You deny there is any word of God but that light which is in man Fourthly You affirm in your Book Pag. 16. that that light in man is as the light is in God himself in whom is no darkness at all Fifthly You affirm the Scriptures are true as a witness-bearer or declarer of that light in man which you call Christ Sixthly You affirm Gods word the light in man was long before the Scriptures To the first I answer and thus I prove the Trinity Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord Deut. 6.4 and I told you the word Lord Deut. 6.4 twice in this Text was by the care of the Translators of the Bible ordered to be printed in Capital letters purposely to notifie unto the people that the word Lord in the Original was Jehovah as I have heard Doctor Gouge unfold many years agoe whereupon I told you that you must read the Verse thus Hear O Israel Jehovah our Elohims is one Jehovah so that here is Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity Also I told you Gen. 1.26 the Elohims spake each to other and said Let us make man c. and John in his first Epistle the 5th and the 7th saith There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and saith he These three are one here also is Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity suitable to that of Moses Jehovah our Elohims is one Jehovah as Mr. John Brain most learnedly unfolds against M. John Biddle's most grosse Doctrine of the Trinity and as he sayes to him so say I to you Deny this if you can As to the second I will prove the Scriptures to be Gods word which is that which declares the minde of God to man as amongst men our words convey one mans minde to another It is written Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times 1 Joh 5.7 Heb. 1.1 2. in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last times spoken unto us by his Sonne Again When the Elohims had spake each to other saying Let us make man c. Here note by the way that because the Elohims thus spake each to other the Trinity cannot be as some dream that is Distinctions and Relations onely but really Existencies in the Essence of Jehovah for Distinctions and Relations are such as cannot speak Man being thus made God conveys his minde to mans minde by his word and said unto them Be fruitful and multiply likewise he said Gen. 1.1 26 28 29 Gen. 2.16 Gen. 3.9 Gen. 4.4 6 9 15. Gen. 6.13 Behold I have given you every Herb c. Likewise Gen. 2.16 Jehovah Elohim commanded the man saying c. Likewise after the fall Jehovah Elohim called to Adam and said unto him c. Likewise he conveyed his minde to Cains minde three times by his word Likewise Elohim said to Noah The end of all flesh is come before me So also he conveyed his minde to Noah and to his Sons with him Gen. 9.8 Gen. 13.13 14. Gen. 12.1 Numb 15.30 saying c. And so to Abraham Are not these words which these Scriptures speak Gods own words by which he conveyed his minde to the minde of these men but I pray you hearken what God speaks to all such as you are The soul that doth ought presumptuously whether he be born in the Land or a stranger the same reproacheth Jehovah and do not you reproach Jehovah when you deny these and other Scriptures to be his word Yet he further saith That soul shall be cut
off from amidst his people I but mark the reason and ground because he hath despised the word of Jehovah and hath broken his Commandement Here note that God concludes his word and his Commandements to be one and the same thing and concludes That soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Exo. 9.20 that is it shall never be forgiven him except God in mercy grant repentance the truth is you are worse than the Heathen for they beleeved the word spoken unto them by Moses to be the word of Jehovah He that feared the word of Iehovah Exo. 2.23 among the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flee into the Houses Likewise he conveyed his minde by his word to the minde of the Israelites for to them he spake all these words saying I am Iehovah thy Elohims Deut 4.2 which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage thou shalt have no other Elohims before me Moreover he saith Ye shall not adde unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it Here take notice of this That this Scripture God ownes to be his word therefore admits of no addition or diminution then it is certain it is the spirit of the Devil in you I do not say doth adde or diminish but that which is much worse for you endevour utterly to dissolve the Scriptures Again The Apostle Peter affirms two conclusions of the old Testament First That the then written Scripture in his dayes namely the old Testament was to the Churches of Christ a more sure word of Prophecie than that excellent speech that came from Heaven to Jesus Christ upon the Mount because that was a private and peculiar respect to him alone He renders this reason why Knowing this first saith he that no Prophecie of Scripture is of any private interpretation as all your quaking Doctrines are being bottomed upon your light within which neither you nor any man else knowes what it is Secondly 2 Pet. 1.17 18 19 20. Your Doctrines are of a private interpretation because they are not owned by the publick Oracles of Gods word neither do you own them to be his word The Apostles second conclusion to the Churches as to the old Testament is you do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the day-dawn and the day-Starre arise in your hearts and in the 21. Verse he renders a reason thereof for saith he the Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man as your quaking Doctrines do but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Now the reason why the shining of the old Testament was in a dark place is because it was under types and shadows and Prophecies as to them that had not beleeved the Gospel though then unveiled and by the dawning of the day and the day-starre arising in their hearts is meant the preaching of the Gospel without that veile so beleeving in Christ more clearly manifested to their mindes by his spirit that was the day-starre which was to arise in their hearts Again Our Lord Jesus Christ himself proves the Scriptures to be the word of God Mark 7.8 13. when he had charged them that they had laid aside the Commandements of God as do you more directly then ever they did then in the 13. Verse he affirms that Commandement written in the Scriptures to be the word of God Likewise he affirms the Gospel preached to be the word of God Luk. 8.11 for saith he expounding the parable the Seed is the word of God and it appeares also to be the word of God preached Vers 18. saying Take heed how you hear And from this ground I told you that a wiser man than you did affirm the Scriptures to be the word of God that is the Lord Jesus Christ Likewise he saith unto them Joh. 10.34 35. It is written in your Law I said ye are Gods if ye call them Gods to whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be dissolved Here our Lord also affirms the word of God to be the Scripture And in John 17.8 Our Lord to his Father concerning his Apostles saith I have given them thy words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have beleeved that thou diddest send me Observe here that Gods word which the Father gave to Christ Christ to his Apostles and they beleeving those words preached them to the World the substance whereof is in their Gospels and Epistles and the Scriptures is unto us these words of God and the ground of our Faith But you endevour to dissolve this ground and to lay a foundation of your own making a thing that you call a light within and tell us that that is Gods word and that there is none other but that and you call this thing the everlasting word of God and your Christ and your spiritual King Jesus and this lye is the ground of your Faith But our Lord Jesus Christ in the houre of his Temptation kept his minde close to the word of God in the Scriptures that were written by Moses to repel the Tempter and his temptations saying to the Devil It is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God that is his minde shall live by beleeving the Scriptures as his body does by bread as in Vers 8. Deur 6.16 Chap. 10. Get thee behinde me Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve and this word was then written And here our Lord applies those Scriptures to the Devils that were spoken to the Israelites they being his Creatures as well as man Thus the word of God in the Scriptures was the ground of Christs Faith and so are to all that are his that is that are truly godly therefore because you deny the Scriptures to be Gods word and also the sacred Trinity consequently you deny God himself for it is proved that Jehovah is in the Elohims and the Elohims in Jehovah wherefore I told you because you deny principles you ought to be served as they serve such in the Schools that is they kick them out and so ought you to be kicked out of the School of Christ and the company of all Gods people yet nevertheless I did then grant that the Scriptures as a humane expression as printed in Inck and paper was not the word of God for that may be burnt in the fire as the King did the Roll yet that which was express'd to the King in that Roll Jer. 26.29 30. was the word of God and God made it good upon him and so he will make good his word upon you and your Companions though you endevour to dissolve that word as did that King that all men
must ground upon a lye and nothing else for you deny the increate word of God the second Elohim in Trinity Joh. 1.1 Who in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God And secondly You deny the Scriptures to be the word of God and so you leave the World no word of God but the light forsooth that is within you so much for your second point Thirdly you affirm There is no word of God but that light which is in man To this I need give no answer having proved a twofold word of God but because you did affirm your light within to be the word of God I desired you to prove it thereupon you alleaged the 1. of Iohn and the 1. Vers In the beginning was the word c. To which I answered That word which was with God and was God was the second Elohim in Iehovah or in the Trinity and he did create all things and without him was not any thing made that was made but what I pray you did that light within you create what were the things which it created and made for the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is personally God-man simply so created nothing that is as he is Christ yet you would have your light which you call Christ to be a creator of you know not what And because I affirm that the word that was with God and was God being the second person in Trinity this stirred up the light within you to deny the Trinity therefore I conclude that the light in you is darkness Yet neverthelesse I do grant that the Lord Jesus Christ as personally God-man the second Adam after the fall of the World by the first Adam immediately did as the faithful and true witness of God against the Apostate-Angels lies Rev. 3.14 as it were put a new Creation upon the works which God had made by virtue of his imputative righteousness interposing the imputative unrighteousness of Adam put the whole Creation in a travell until now from that bondage of corruption Rom. 8. to which it fell to be partakers of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And this first Chapter of Iohn speaks to both that is what he did as he is the second Elohim in Iehovah and also to what he did as he was personally God-man Jesus Christ But what is all this to your Idoll light within which is your spiritual King Jesus and your Christ I and the same light which is in God himself I pray you let me ask you this question is not this to reproach Ichovah for you also attribute Creation to your light within so much to the third point Fourthly You affirm in your Book pag. 16. That that light in man is as the light is in God himself in whom is no darkness at all I answer This word light is a metaphor allluding to the light of this inferior Elementary World which light is not suitable to the reasonable soul of man nor spirits as Angels but to the eye of flesh as to man and beast yet no man certainly knowes what it is but in probability whether it be a quality a substance or a spirit therefore for its excellency the essence or nature of Iehovah is compared unto it the words are these God is light 1 Tim. 6.16 1 Joh. 1.5 in whom is no darkness at all who onely hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto which no man hath seeen nor can see to whom be honour and power everlasting Amen Yet in your Book pag. 15. you affirm that this light which in the Text is the infinite Essence of God is the living and quickning holy or tender part of man the everlasting word of God by whom all things were made But herein you fall just with the Familists that the Essence of God is the tender part of man but as to those your elder Brethren in evill I have answered this point formerly in this very Treatise Pag. 19.27 And also in my second Treatise from pag. 104. to 108. Nevertheless I will say something of this point to you also And first I grant that this increate light the Essence of Jehovah our Elohims is in all men and in all things but not in your sense as to be any part of the nature of man or of any thing else for it is in him that we and all things else do live and move and have our being for as nothing is able to include him so is it impossible that he should be excluded by any thing But I pray you here take notice That although the sacred Essence of God be within and without all men yet this no way conduces to the happiness of man as you ignorantly affirm in several places of your Book and in pag. 19. it is affirmed to be the very principle of all true Religion I pray you is it such a principle to the Devills and all damned Creatures for their being life and motion is in him He that is being it self is the bottom of the being of all created nature and so it is of good and bad men to continue them to be happy or to be tormented to eternity otherwise they would all fall to nothing by an annihilation But God for his final ends sake will so continue them for ever now what that final end is I refer you to my second Treatise and thus for his final ends sake he upholds the Earth which hangs by nothing as saith the Text that is by no created thing and the Text saith He sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the truth is his infinite Essence is not only in and thorough all created Natures and Worlds but also his intrinsicall glory extends far beyond them all and he is where they are not nor any created thing ever were for in his intrinsical glory they all adde nothing unto him who is Jehovah our Elohims our own Jehovah and is this that which you call the tender part of man and so his happiness as you childishly affirm not knowing what you say Again I answer and grant It is a great happiness unto a godly mind to know and possess this infinite light which is both within and without us as he is pleased to stoop to our capacities as appeares Joh. 1.1 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ personally God-man he saith That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life Here note that John had heard and seen Christ looking upon him and handled Christ by being in his Company But your Idoll Christ your light your everlasting word that same tender part of man was never visible but invisible for you say it is within so that you nor any man else can say what it is except a whimsey But in the second verse Iohn complains himself further saying the life was manifested we have
the minde of man and therefore Light for saith the definition Whatsoever doth manifest that is light Fourthly There is in all men a light within but not in your sense for although in Adams fall we were all totally darkness it self yet I say there is a light which enlighteneth every man which commeth into the World which is the Spirit of God the third Elohim and he doth write the effect of the Law of God in the hearts of all men from whence they do by nature the things contained in the Law which as saith the Text shew the effect of the Law written in their hearts and it was written to this end that from this Light within suitable to that Light without Gods Word namely the Scriptures they might come to Christ that he might give them life or on the contrary if then by custom in sin extinguish this light within this will leave them in their own Consciences without excuse as is at large amplified in all my three Treatises but your light within you is a lye and you have extinguished that good light which was written within you And you are become dead in sins and trespasses to come to Christ for you deny him and say the light in you is Christ and you deny the Scriptures to be Gods word you also deny the Trinity and consequently you deny God himself and therefore as our Saviour saith If the light that is in thee be darkness Mat. 6.23 how great is that darkness And now I come to the fifth general point which is you affirm the Scriptures are true as a witness-bearer or declarer of that light in man which you call Christ in answer to which I deny that the Scriptures are a witness-bearer to your light within which is your Idoll stiled by the several names aforesaid for if it should beare witness to your foolery it should witness it self to be no word of God and also that the Lord Jesus personally God-man blessed for ever more is not the Son of God and so it should contradict what it self affirms Also it should deny what it self affirms that is that Jehovah our Elohims is one Iehovah as doth your light within which Mystery of Iniquity you varnish over with the words of the Scriptures in an injurious and uncouth sense as do our Gipseys and Canting-beggars who leave their native language as do you the native sense of the Scriptures and onely use the termes and you had need put glorious titles upon it and when you have done all it is nothing else but a painted Sepulchre and nothing but stench and rottenness wherefore you gild it over with your sufferings and imprisonments writing your selves persecuted Saints truly if you and your Companions be Saints you are of the Pope or the Devils canonizing for I am sure that God never owned any man to be holy that ever denyed the holy Scriptures to be his word or that denyed the second Elohim to assume humane nature and so became personally God-man and to be his seventh meanes as is proved in my second Treatise or that ever denyed the Trinity which is to deny God himself Jehovah our Elohim to be one Jehovah And if the Lord Jesus Christ commanded Peter who was a Saint get thee behinde me Satan in reference to the temptation which Peter unawares tempted him unto then much more will he judge you to be the Children of the Devil whose works ye will do as did your Father the Devil when he alleaged the Scriptures to Christ tempting him to throw himself off from the Temple that he might destroy himself so you bring in the Scriptures a witness-bearer to the lying light within you but it is to destroy and dissolve the Scriptures from being Gods word to make that good that there is no sure word of God but that lying light of yours within you for you deny the second person in Trinity to be the increate word mentioned in 1 John 1. and the Scriptures to be Gods word also you deny the Trinity consequently you deny Jehovah our Elohims to be one Jehovah consequently you leave no God at all but your light within which you call by the name of God in divers places of your Book Lastly you affirm That Gods Word the Light in man was long before the Scriptures but having so largely proved this Word of God within you to be no more nor lesse then a lye this last point of yours needs no answer at all nevertheless I grant your Word of God to be long before the Scriptures were For your Father the Devil was a lyer from the beginning and it was long after the Devil was first a lyer Joh. 8.44 that Moses began the Scriptures and your quotations of Scripture in the margent of your Book are numerous and all is but to guild over your Idol Light within and although you give us number yet you give us no weight of truth even as you give us antiquity but no verity And although you undervalue the Antiquity of the Scriptures yet it declares a truth unto us more ancient then you or your Fathers lies that is what the Elohims speak each to other and said Let us make man in our Image Also it tells what God said to man having made him the Elohims said unto him Be fruitful and multiply and the Elohims said Behold I have given unto you every Tree bearing seed Gen. 1.26 27 28 29. Gen. 2.16 c. Jehovah Elohim commanded the man saying Of every Tree of the Garden c. Also the Scriptures tell us of divers things long before themselves were written That the Word of God after the fall was manifested to Adam and his Wife Gen. 3.8 9. and also that Jehovah manifested himself to Cain by his Word three times and also that the Word of Jehovah came to Noah Gen. 4.6.9 13. and so to Abraham and others I would ask you this Question Can your Light within tell you any of all this if the Scriptures had not told it first and yet you would fain make us beleeve that that Light is the onely word of God and Scripture and that is the reason you endevour so much to dissolve our Scriptures but in all this you do but wash the Blackamore and make a night-cap for the Moon for that which our Lord Jesus Christ saith shall stand firm Heaven and Earth shall passe away but my word shall not passe away And as he saith in the forecited Text Luk. 24.33 and the Scriptures cannot be dissolved And for all your Light within which you call your God and unbeleeve the Scriptures yet God will make his Word good upon you and all your Companions He that beleeveth shall be saved He that beleeveth not shall be damned Mar. 16.16 And truly whereas you put this title upon your Book The Resurrection of John Lilburn you should rather have put it thus The perverting of John Lilburn in order to his destruction if God
in mercy prevent it not Again I met with one of your elder Brethren in evil a Familist and he objected unto me against the Scriptures because to King Iames learned Broughton made it appear that many places in the Scripture were falsly translated not agreeable to the original Copy therefore the Scriptures to us was altogether uncertain thus he said although he did know that King by the godly learned mended those defects and caused the Bible to be new printed and it is judged to be the best Translation that is extant but his end in all this is the same as is yours to have us beleeve that that Light within to be the only true Scriptures which you call the tender part of man but he then further objected that the Scriptures are altogether uncertain to us for who knowes that original Copy that Broughton alleages were that of the Apostles for since their time they have past through many corrupt hands generation after generation I answer So did the old Testament in Moses dayes for many hundreds of years Generation after Generation past thorough corrupt hands for the Israelites themselves sometimes fell to Idolatry sometimes in their Captivity scattered among the Heathens yet the Apostles took it for granted the original Copies of Moses and the Prophets were so sound as to be a ground of truth to the Churches for to them he saith Whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning Rom. 15.4 that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And our Lord Jesus Christ he took it for granted also for he makes use of the Scriptures Luk. 4. that were written by Moses and so through patience and comfort of the Scriptures repelled the Tempter and his temptations If ye demand of me what I mean by the internal or intrinsical glory of Jehovah 198 I mean his unmeasurable Answ or infinite Essence or his essential glory in the internal relations of the Elohims Father Word and holy Ghost and these three are one saith St. John And to this internal essential glory no created nature can approach nor comprehend what it is therefore not the glorified humane body of the Lord Jesus Christ now glorified in Heaven although in personal Union with the second Elohim much lesse the glorified Saints And this essential glory in Jehovah is not more glorious in any place or thing in one than another but is as glorious in himself and to himself beyond all Worlds where no created things are If ye object That Heaven is his Throne and his highest glory wherein is the Lord Jesus Christ and glorified Saints and Angels Answ All this is true if it be rightly understood that all this is but his external glory resulting from his Creatures in relation to his final end for which he made all things in order to glorifie himself in the Vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity as at large is proved in my second Treatise but all this no way adds to his internal divine glory for infinite as such admits of no addition nor diminution therefore your dreames and your Brethren the Familists that the Essence of God is the tender part of man as say you the same light that is in God and his Essence as say they that all shall return into his Essence and no individuals to be damned or saved to eternity both these from hence appeares to be a most blasphemous whimsey And for conclusion take this observation that you Quakers and your elder Brethren in evil the Familists are not onely Atheists because your Tenents lead to beleeve there is no God for you deny Jehovah our Elohims to be one Jehovah but also do deny mans reasonable soul as animating his body since you fansie a thing in man which you call your God your Christ as before is proved wherefore from your Tenents one asked this Question If you inclose a living man in a Vessel that the Aire cannot enter and opening it finde him dead then tell me what you can see therein more than his dead Corps what then is the reasonable soul in man you so much talk of To this man I answer If the reasonable soul be there together with his Corps you cannot see it therefore you know not whether it be there or no for your eyes see not the Wind nor Aire nor the Angels good or bad nor God himself although he be so neer to us as is proved and the reason of all this is that your eye or the eye of any man else cannot see any thing but that which is of some Colour for Colours are the proper object of our sight therefore because the Wind the Aire mans Soul Angels good or bad and Gods Essence being all without colour your eye cannot discern them for they are invisible to it will you therefore conclude there is no Wind no Aire no reasonable Soul no Angels good or bad nor no God you may as well infer you have no Face for you never saw it but by a Glasse or some such help FINIS ERRATA PAg. 13. Line 24. read and p. 14. l. the last adde the word not p. 16. l. 29. for the word gift r. gilt p. 18. l. 15. adde the word for p. 30. l. 13. leave out the word as p. 56. l. 13. for left r. felt p. 46. l. 2. add the word man p. 103. l. 30. for complains r. explains p. 108. l. 2. for then r. they