Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	apostle_n	law_n	transgression_n	5,619	5	10.4785	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85461	Saltmarsh returned from the dead, in Amico Philalethe. Or, The resurrection of James the apostle, out of the grave of carnall glosses, for the correction of the universall apostacy, which cruelly buryed him who yet liveth. Appearing in the comely ornaments of his fifth chapter, in an exercise, June 4. 1654. Having laid by his grave clothes, in a despised village remote from England, but wishing well, and heartily desiring the true prosperity thereof.	Gorton, Samuel, 1592 or 3-1677.	1655 (1655)	Wing G1307; Thomason E836_1; ESTC R207426	178,733	220

unto thee arise take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house So that to preach the Gospel to the restauration of the soule from the policy that is from the fear terrors and tremblings of the law as at Mount Sinai to bring it unto Zion giving strength to take up that and carry it unto its proper place as that man carried his bed into the proper place which is his house which before had carried him extravagantly and diseasedly abroad wheresoever the Gospel exerciseth its power to raise up any to walk in the way of God before others in prayer or prophesie or any appointment of God according to the nature and season of it as that man is said to walk before them all to their admiration wheresoever the Gosplel is ministred to that effect there is also in that ministration power to forgive sin for the one is of like case and of like difficulty as the other is yea they are both in one act for he that can preach the Gospel to carry sin into its proper place which must be done or else the Gospel is not truly preached he must of necessity remove it from the chosen of God which is the true remitting and passing of it over unto another He that hath power therefore to preach the Gospel to the healing of the Conscience of the palsie sicknesse or tremblings of the law in the dead works thereof or works of death that man hath power to forgive sins on earth for they are inseperable and Christ in that place alluded unto makes them one for first he saith son thy sins be forgiven thee and in the rehearsall of it he saith his speech was arise take up thy bed and walk go thy way into thy house And we know that Christ saith to his Disciples whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retaine they are retained And again what ye binde on earth is bound in heaven and what ye loose on earth is loosed in heaven to walk and work therefore in the things of God according to the power intended by the word of God are of greater concernment then they would think for to preach the Gospel in the revelation of the minde and will of God as to an onely Son or to present our supplications to God as a father from the minde and disposition of an onely son are of no lesse authority and power then to to give sins for to pray with the spirit and to pray with the understanding also that is to pray according to the mystery of Christs meditation and yet with that wisdome and skill of expression as to unfold and explaine it in the minds of others that they may ascend up unto God together therewith as Manoa's Angel in the flame of the sacrifices this and to pardon sin are of like power skill and authority and a like weight lies upon both to whomsoever communicates in them For to pardon sin is not to change or alter the minde of God toward that party but to explaine and interpret the minde of God concerning that party which minde and will of God is the same in that one faith of the Son of God to all the chosen of God and wheresoever it is rightly unfolded and made manifest in the proclamation of peace and reconciliation of God and man in one if the Son of peace be there he accepteth and receivet the same as the right of his inheritance If the Elders pray or prophecy unto health therefore they pray or prophesie to the remission of sins in whomsoeve commucates in the same his sins are forgiven him To conclude this point it concerns us then to know what sin is that we may rightly conceive of it as it is pardonable and also as it not pardonable for there is a sin saith the Apostle John which is not unto death or which is not in death that is it is not in that way of death and there is a sin that is in death I do not say that you shall pray for it that is you shall not pray for the pardon of it because it is not to be pardoned for where Christ is once crucified in the spirit he never is to live in that heart according to the spirit no more then where he is once crucified in the flesh he never lives in that heart according to the flesh Therefore in the next place he exhorts us unto the confession of our faults in the true acknowledgement of them one to another Vers 16. Confesse your faults one unto another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much In these observe 1. An exhortation consisting of two parts 1. To confesse faults one to another 2. To pray one for another 2. The end wherefore That ye may be healed 3. A reason ground or cause drawn from the nature of prayer which is two-fold 1. It is effectuall 2. It is fervent 4. The qualitie of the person praying that is A righteous man 5. The issue or event of such prayer It avayleth much 1. ANd first for confession of faults sins or oberations from a law For where no law is there is no transgression for sinne is the transgression of a law or as the word is the withoutnesse of a rule Now there is the law of the flesh or carnall commandement which is the law of sinne and death and there is the law of the spirit or power of faith which is the perfect rule of righteousnesse or law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Now the carnall commandement or perfunctory and fading ordinances may be broken yea abrogated and nayled to the crosse as that which is against us and yet forgiven for every breach or piercing through of the sonne of man that is mans institutions and appoyntments composed by that carnall law shall be forgiven or are forgiven for the disannulling of mans wisdome and in that respect to become a foole is the establishment of Gods wisdome in the removall of all guilt and condemnation from the soule And there is the law of the spirit or of that holy Ghost which if a man speake a word against intentionally or blaspheme and pierce through that is abrogate or make a nullity of it It shall never be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come that is neither in the present mind and conscience of him that so doth nor in that holy mind and judgment of Christ from passing sentence against it being so remote and at such a distance from it and contrary unto it for the abrogation of the law of the spirit is no lesse then to disannull that wisdome of God in Christ by which device only the sin and guilt of the sons of men is taken away and no other way for else-where the redemption of the soule ceaseth for ever Confession of sins then one to another This phrase one to another is of like nature as

way to Damascus So that we may not give these execrable things any being or time or abode in the Apostle of Christ no more then we can give unto him to be a servant of sin at that time when he saith So then in my mind I my selfe serve the law of God but in my flesh the law of sinne which things are inconsistant in one individuall subject For the word of God is an eternall word and expresseth not it selfe but with respect unto an eternall act it is not a transient and momentany thing when it saith of Christ I am a worm and no man an object a scorn a bubble a vapour a vanity a nothing to be in the belly of hell and in the heart of the earth to be shut up and cannot get out These things are not momentany expressions and transient acts for the word and work of God is no such thing according to the true and reall intent and operation thereof But they are reall manifestations and declarations of what the world hath really made of the word and wisdome of God in themselves And so are these expressions of Paul true manifestations what the condition of a carnall Jew is and how they deal with Christ the wisdome of God and ever will do in whomsoever he appears from which spirit that glorious change wrought once and for ever in Christ hath freed all the Saints and set them in the liberty of the Son of God which otherwise are no better but by nature the same with others So that it is not creation of man in being made one with God wherein blessednesse doth properly consist but it is that generative vertue of the immortall seed bringing forth unto God together with that act of conjunction whereunto true blessednesse is annexed therefore Christ is truly sayd to be made and also to be begotten For out of that act of Creation in the unity of God and man not only the wisdome of God makes it selfe manifest in giving form unto Christ the seed of the woman but also that wisdome of the creature namely of man which gives form to the Serpent who was more wise then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made And that is the seed of the Serpent so brought forth that is in consulting with the wisdome of God from humane principles This is a faithfull saying then of Paul and worthy to be embraced of all men so as to utter the same language That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe For he that cannot acknowledge himselfe to be the first or chiefe of sinners that is to say in his grand Ancestor being made one in that act of Creation as he comes of the earth and so in that way of the unbeliever is the first perverter of the word of God to destruction though in himselfe in his proper subsistance in the way of the generation of the Son of God hee is once and for ever freed therefrom in that deliverance made by Christ so that it is none of his inheritance or portion otherwise no man can ever acknowledg himselfe to be blest and possessed with the first and chief righteousnesse that ever was namely that righteousnesse of God in Jesus Christ nor know himselfe to be a first-born of God an heyr of the promise and an inheritance of life that lasts for ever And so we come to the fourth part of the Chapter contayning that fruitfull and wholsome benefit which spring from the death of Christ in all true Christians the first whereof is layd downe in the next verse Vers 13. Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing VVHerein we are to observe a two-fold proposition layd down interrogatively together with a two-fold answer given thereunto The first whereof is this Is any among you afflicted let him pray By affliction in this place is meant diminishing or weakning as the word imports and so Pharaoh afflicted Israel in Aegypt to weaken and diminish them lest they should grow in multitude and so wax too strong for him and his people but God makes use of that his dealing with them to increase and multiply them exceedingly for that which weakens men in the worlds account proves through Gods device to be the strength and power of the Saints of God Therefore our Apostle puts us upon this question Is any among you afflicted Being that he had told them of what nature the death of the Son of God is in the godly namely to bereave and dispoil them of all the strength glory excellency and goodlinesse of man so as it becomes as the withered grosse or decayed flower of the field when the spirit of the Lord breaths upon it yea though they be weakned and diminished in all such respects so as they have nothing of that nature to trust or betake themselves unto which can stand them in any stead As if hee should say hath the Gospel and word of the Kingdome made spoyl and prize of all things among you or in you hath it routed and layd you wast of all such transitory wayes and perfunctory worships as the carnall and litterall Jewes do commonly boast themselves of and comfort and content themselves in of which Paul sayth If any man might boast of he much more circumcised the eighth day of the stocke of Israel of the tribe of Benjamine an Hebrew of Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeale persecuting the Church and touching that righteousness which is in the law blamelesse And where shall we find a Church extant in these dayes which speaks by any other spirit then this which runs in the sincke and channell of such externall and extrinsicall institutions ordinances genealogies pharisaical righteousnesse persecuting zeale and tribe-like division of rule and government But what saith our Apostle of all these things But what things were gaine to me that is as the very wealth and riches of a carnall Jew those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I counted all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and count them but dung that I may winne Christ And for this losse diminution or affliction our Apostle prescribes the cure and remedy in whomsoever it is suffered in this his answer given Let him pray The word Let hath a like Emphasis as that of the Creation at the beginning Let there be light and it was so and hath in it the very force and vertue of creating the spirit of prayer and intercession in that heart in which this losse diminution or affliction is found for it signifies as much as Amen so be it or so it is or so it shall be so that it fits the soule with the spirit of prayer as the world was furnished with light by the same phrase in the beginning without which spirit or breath of prayer the soule is without

or a Saviour any where but as lockt up in a humane body in heaven that men may stand here in his room till he return from thence to suck up all the glory of the earth It was not so in ages past and men spirituall for Joshuah Moses Minister was called Jesus a Saviour as the Apostle interprets his name and the Lord acknowledgeth in raising up Judges in Israell that he raised up Saviours unto them And Paul was not affraid to tell Timmothie that in taking heed to himselfe that is how God hath composed salvation in his consisting in Christ and unto learning or doctrine that is how it ought to be layd out and distributed to others that in so doing he should be a Saviour of himselfe and them that heare him 2. A second point is what he saves that is a soule or a life this is not meant of the life of a meer creature but it is the life of the Son of God as our Apostle affirms Now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live is by or in the faith of the sonne of God So that a Christians life is the life of Christ and there is no life of man-kind but either the life of the Saviour or else the life of Sathan that destroyer for heaven and earth conspire together in the making of man Let us speaking with respect to that plurality in our image that is in our image earthly as well as heavenly for there is a heavenly body and there is an earthly body and God is as just and righteous in the making of the one as of the other and every way as honourable the one in mercy and the other in severity And man cannot be known in a simple act of creation for that multiplies him not but propagation or generation must be brought in also else the son of God nor the seed of the Serpent can be known so both are brought forth in that first act of generation in Cain and Abel wherein the seed of the Serpent appears in the same act as in Jacob and Esau together with Christ in Abel dead by Caine in the spirit and in Seth that sett one in life for evermore who is set in the room of Abel crucified in the world So that the life of Christ and of Antichrist are both from one act even from as early dayes the one as the other and without the true knowledg of that we know neither of them and for other life in man-kind we know none worthy the name of life beyond other creatures but as it serves to the setting forth of the one or of the other of these and so they transcend the life of all other creatures as far as the image of God did the frame of any other creature or that earthly image descends below them all even to a bottomlesse pit which no other creature is subjected unto but only man 3. There is a third point what he saves from that is death namely a death that holds correspondency with that infinite and eternall life of the Son of God in way of Parathesis in all points for Christ is saved from whatsoever Sathan is hath or undergoes and Sathan is destroyed from whatsoever Christ is hath or is advanced unto therefore that conceit that Sathan was an Angell that is a meere creature at the first and in acceptation with God is a meer humane tradition and philosophicall fiction and is a point of greater concernment then men are aware of for it is as safe to say that the son of God was for a time out of the Fathers favour as to hold that the Devill at any time was in acceptation with God for whatsoever is out of Gods favour can never return into againe and what is accepted of him for a moment ca● never be rejected 2. A second royalty or act of fame that is to be acknowledged by him who turns the sinner from the errour of his way changing him into truth it selfe that is the covering or hiding of a multitude of sins This is taken from the speech of Solomon Hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth all sins which our Apostle calls a multitude of sins the word signifies the deep of the troubled ocean intimating that huge multitude of torturing and troubling trespasses proper to that great gulfe of the bottomlesse pit Now to turn from the error of a mans way is to turn to truth and no man can turn to truth but by that unity that is in Christ none turns to truth but hee that becomes truth for there is no terme or title given in Scripture but being rightly interpretted and rightly applyed the truth substance and being of the thing is there for God useth no expression but he intends under that the truth and substance of the thing expressed To turn to truth is not only truth in word but truth in act also yea to be that very thing as Christ saith I am the way the truth and the life Now that unity that is in Christ is the fulfilment and compleating of the law of the Spirit for if the love of Christ be in us and constrayn us to all acknowledgments of him we know that love is the fulfilling of the Law and where the Law is fulfilled there sin utters not its voyce nor hath it a face to appear it is altogether hid and covered for ever Christ is the e●d and scope of the law for righteousnesse and more it aymes not at nor more it cannot require for it is the sonne of God that is justified who then shall condemn him The law is fully satisfied from what ground then shall any accuse yea our Apostle saith that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit No hiding of sin therefore but by fulfilling of the law but what law not the law of the carnall commandement generally taught in the world by which no flesh can be justified but it is the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus or which consists in that unction office or spirit of the Saviour Againe how do the wicked hide righteousnesse that none appears in them but only the spirit of the wicked one namely by walking according to the law of the flesh For he that walks after the law of the flesh he cannot please God so that all righteousnesse is hid and covered in them yea even by fulfilling the law of the flesh for the more they conform themselves thereunto the more their condemnation doth appear for it is not because men cannot perform all the works of the law in that respect that they cannot be justified thereby but because they do any of them for it is against the nature of that law of the carnall Commandement and every part thereof to justifie for it is its proper nature and office to condemn for we may as well say that the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is a law of sin and death as to say the law of the carnall command can give life or peace no not in the compleat performance of it For every part thereof is a breach of the law of the spirit And whatsoever is a breach of the law of the spirit is a crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting of him to open shame so that every performance of the law of the flesh according to the intent thereof is a breach of the same law of the spirit and he that breaks one breaks all therefore all righteousness is hid and covered in the wicked even so the true keeping of the law of the spirit of faith in any part of it is a nullifying of the whole law of the carnall Command therefore no law of sin and death is found in them all sins and sorrows are hid and covered therefore the man is blessed whose trespass is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man and he only unto whom the Lord imputeth accounteth or reckoneth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Amen By Sam Gorton Professor of Christ FINIS

to be best of all and yet prefers his traffique in some other things before his attaynment of that yea causing the things of God to stand aside and give way to his vaine and lofty lusts of what nature or kind soever to satisfie them That man doth not the good which he acknowledgeth or as the word will beare he is it not that is he is not of the faith of Jesus he is not stated in the condition of the Son of God who seeks only to do the will of the Father and prefers and glories in that above all things and he that doth not that he is of that evill one and doth the things that are proper unto him being under the state and power of sinne which is as a transition into the fifth Chapter Wherein observe two things First The generall scope Secondly The particular parts of it 1. For the scope or end to which the purpose of the Spirit is directed and that is the death or crucification of the Son of God that Just one as he is intitled vers 6. And he that shall take the scope and drist to be otherwise he misseth of that mark which the Spirit of God directs unto and shoots his shafts in vaine and this death is layd down unto us and for us in a double respect 2. For the parts of this Chapter and they are properly four 1. The first sets down unto us the death of Christ as he is crucified in the world by wicked hands or corrupt administrations through the lusts of men unto the decay and death of that law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord in and by the men of the world as once the body of Jesus was crucified and killed doctrinally by those wicked Jews and all sorts of people then united in one and this is contained from the first verse to the seventh 2. It containes the depth of the Lord Jesus as he is crucified to the world in respect of the flesh that is to all carnall and corrupt things contained in the law of the carnall commandement and hand writing of humane Ordinancs which is against us and therefore nailed unto his Crosse And thus he is slaine in the Saints even in all the Subjects that appertaine and belong to his Kingdome which consists not of the matters and affaires of this present world and this is expressed from vers 7. to the 12. 3. It gives out an eminent and universall Prohibition backed with an exhortation together with the danger ensuing the not observing thereof and that is contained in verse 12. 4. It sets beforre us or rather romidgeth our hearts to finde out in us and to bring forth by us those excellent and admirable fruits which spring up in the godly from the death of Christ and observation of the prohibition abovesaid The Irradian beames whereof are shed forth from verse 12. to the end of the Epistle And first of the death of Christ as he is crucified in the world in respect of his proper spirit and vertue that by wicked hands and administrations both of Jewes and Gentiles that is such as are strict in Religion according to the literall command and historicall notion being engaged thereto by that spirit of bondage and of fear and others loose and licentious not having the bond of the spirit of God upon them But using the liberty of the Gospell as an occasion to the flesh surreptitiously encouraging themselves thereby to all excesse of ryot in the inordinate use of carnal and vanishing things that perish in the use and this is done by men of all ranks and qualities that are not become one in that chiefe and principal goodnes reckoning themselves as nothing in account but as themselves their place authority and dignity takes its being and is summed up in that State office and dignity of the Sonne of God otherwise they are such as glory and boast in themselves which rejoycing is evil namely of that wicked one wherefore he saith vers 1. Vers 1. Go too now yee rich men weepe and howle for your miseries that shall come upon you OUr Apostle here expresseth himselfe to the wealthy of the world as rich men or collectively Rich man as of all in one that is man of Sin or men of Belial who greed and gripe after all manner of good falsely so called in the neglect of that one and alone goodnesse in Christ that one thing necessary that better or best part which can never be taken from him who chooseth it as his chiefe and only treasure But to make choise of and to rejoyce and glory in as an only and rich trade and treasure besides that is to stiflle in themselves and suffocate the life and spirit of the Lord Jesus which is thereby extinct and in them breaths not He bids them therefore Go too now or come on as if he would encourage them in their course A like phrase is used Gen. 11. at the building of Babell Go too now or come on give a word of exhortation and encouragement one to another for the furtherance of your worke As if he should say Take your liberty use your accustomed trade and traffique to get and gather in abundance of your corruptible riches that moth and rust can seize upon and spare no pains misse of no opportunity to make your selves excellent and glory in it only with this proviso namely that you will assure your selves of the income and proper return together with your adventure and this your practice upon that condition take your best advantage and full swinge in your course for the just resists you not as is expressed verse 6. For the Gospel of God is not a hinderer of wickednesse in the men of Belial no more then the sop which Christ gave to Judas together with his speech thereupon What thou dost do it quickly hindered him not in the execution of so trayterous an office for it is a savour of death unto death unto the unbelievers and of no lesse power to accomplish it through that spirit which is in the world then it is of vertue to be a favour of life unto life in the Saints through that spirit which is in them And it is as unpossible that one member of that body of sinne should come to the knowledg of the truth as it is that any one of the chosen of God should be deceived with errour and wiles of Sathan which Christ affirms it is unpossible they should be deceived For as Christ keeps his family intire and compleat So that none of them is lost but that sonne of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled in point of wrath proportionable to grace and mercy which sonne of perdition comprehending all the children of destruction was lost once and for ever Even so doth Antichrist mayntaine his interest in all the seed of the Serpent and parteth with none only that lost sheep of the house of Israel as a brand is

and originally of God and not of the creature as his Sonship is of God and not of the proper off-spring of man being begotten not of mortall but of immortall seed so are all the lineaments of God and man in Christ if wisdome joyne the Tabernacle that God builds and not man it is the wisdome of God if love make the contract it is the love of God shed abroad in the heart and not the love of man which is enmity with God if faith establish the heart that it wavour not it is the faith of God which is the power of God to salvation wherein consists the great work of God which is in beleiving as Christ tels him that asked what shall I do to work the work of God beleiue saith he for therein it consists for it was by the work of faith that Abraham was justified and not by that vaine or empty faith without works that is without the present power and operation of God for such faith the Devil may attaine unto who beleives there is one God and trembles but doth not consist in his power as made one of twaine in Christ So that whatsoever is in this unity is properly and originally of God and that from a principle or law of his bounty and goodnesse whereby he communicates himselfe unto another in all things which that law or goodnesse of his nature is apt and prompt to be and to do whereby he forms himselfe in his Son without whom or out of whom he never had being took form in any will or law nor put forth himselfe in any operation therefore it is said speaking of Christ God and man all things were made by him and without him was nothing made For if ever God had had being or motion so much as of minde and will out of man it had ever been so and then salvation had not been the Saviour had never appeared for salvation canot be compleat but in him that saves and is also saved and the Almighty never was but as he is a God of salvation yea in the plurality thereof as the expression of the Psalmist is the beginning of Christ therefore canot be fathomed nor spanned out no more then the beginning of the Almighty and eternall can though there be that in Christ which is in time yet he takes not his proper being from that no more then man takes his proper being from his body but from his rational soul and spirit which inliveneth acteth and moveth the same And in the one and the other doth the glory of the Sonne of God exist for God working in and by the faculties or aptitudes to do in the soule or spirit of the creature thereby his vertues and operations come to be distinct and so full of variety of glory being the spirit and life of the creature consists in change of motion or operation also here the works of God have their proper times seasons and opportunities which in the proper and simple eternal could never be Furthermore as man works not by the principles and properties of the creature but by those that are proper to God denying himselfe being resigned over unto God and so all his operations become of an eternal race and virtue and are in the true and reall account and reckoning of eternity of such nature is the condition of the Sonne of God therefore the Prophet saith who can declare his age he is the first and the last if he never end in being last he never had beginning as he is the first but is from eternity to eternity though that be in him which is temporary in it selfe even as mans body lives and understands though of it selfe it hath nor doth either as appears when the soule is departed Secondly concerning the unity of Harlots for he that is joyned unto an harlot is one flesh that is one carnall and corrupt estate in which all the ligaments thereof are such as properly the creature is the originall and fountaine of and not the Creator how then can this unity be eternall when the proper bond is of that which is mortall and temporary To this we answer that there are certain faculties or aptitudes to do or to be in the soule of a man as also a law or principle by which it is or doth such things and for the aptitudes to do or to be We may safely say that whatsoever the Almighty is prompt unto that through the sublimity and excellency that God hath made the spirit of a man to be of he is prompt unto the variety of operations and excellencies that are in the Son of God yea even to compasse the earth and comprehend all things and find out the causes relations and operations of them yea even to eternize himselfe on the earth by calling his lands by his name by living in his posterity by some great work wrought or monument set up to memorize him unto posterity and ages to come yea doubtlesse some States-men and Politicians of the world are apt to lay plots and platforms how to bring about accomplish and achieve things which they know can never be done in their dayes that their wisdome and policy may live and be in use when they are gone and of such use and from such aptitudes come humane Chronicles writing of bookes or the like to reach to eternity which God only wise is So that man works in and by the aptitudes of God but not from that law and principle proper to the Son of God For whereas God out of that law of bounty and goodnesse of his nature communicates himselfe in whatsoever he is apt to do and be whereby he doth it and is it in the creature The creature exercising it selfe in the way of mans wisdome in things which God himselfe is prompt to be and to do not by giving himselfe up unto God to be his and not his owne but by that principle of self-love and law of exalting the arm of flesh he arrogates unto himselfe and monopolizeth the things proper to God unto himselfe ascribing them unto the things of man to beautifie and to set up the things of the creature thereby attributing and giving unto the flesh that which is proper only unto the Son of God which is a turning of the truth of God into a lye a changing the glory of God into the image of a corruptible man and a worshipping and serving of the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen We conclude then that as God by that law of grace exerciseth himselfe in all his excellencies in the aptitudes of mans soul filling them with himselfe so as the things of eternity come to be distinct to have their proper season time place yea and person so as the Saints are truly distinct and the operation of their faith as the Apostle amply declares in that to the Hebrews Chap. 11. So also that man of sinn through that carnall law exerciseth himselfe in the aptitudes of God

then there could be no want to be supplyed so that the whole spirit of Christianity prayeth viz. God and man in unity so it is here the spirit that turns is God and man in unity and is as true a change from that which is and ever shall be Satanicall as the wicked erre from that which is and ever shall be holy and righteous and they are both of one and the same time in the rise of them For in the beginning was the word and that word is with God and is God And Satan is a lyar from the beginning and abode not in truth no more then Christs soule was left in hell or that holy one suffered to see corruption but was ever taught in the way of life and in that reall presence at whose right hand there is fullnesse of joy for evermore Therefore the Prophet saith that Christ comes meek and lowly saving himselfe that is compleatly and not apart only and therein the worth and dignity of salvation stands that it hath that weight substance of account and reckoning in it and upon this ground the Disciples are comforted against all feare whatsoever where it is said Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and yet one of them falls not to the ground without the good will of your heavenly father of how much more worth are ye then many sparrows Can you set a price and rate of so mean a thing and doth God take care for the preservation of it Of what esteem price and respect then is the state of a Christian in which not a part but the compleat spirit of the Son of God is involved and by a ransome given and payd in the world proportionable thereunto purchased This point contains a mystery which the common Priest-hood of the world so far as I have heard or seen in books is altogether ignorant of though life and death yea the spring and originall fountaine of all things is involved in it So much for the proposition the injunction followes Le him know or acknowledge c. The word let is of like signification here that it is in the beginning Let there be light let us make man c. having the power of a command and vertue of propagation to bring forth being of the nature of the word Amen so be it or so it shall be without all gainsaying or contradiction having in it a creating power and vertue to give being to the thing uttered That is that the party thus turning or turned for both are true and the word implies both one that turns and one turned for both are in that state of Christ and he that preacheth any thing but Christ and him crucified he goes beyond our Apostle as far as the common apostacy The word Let then establisheth in the heart of him and no other that turneth a sinner from the errour of his way a certaine power of acknowledgment of such a condition or royall and noble acts which here follows but first see here the nature of the confession or acknowledgment of sin it is his way that turneth naturally but it is confessed to the change or converting it unto the state of the Sonne of God even as truth may be sayd to be their way naturally who are in errour but they have perverted the same into falshood turning the truth of God into a lye and his grace into wantonnesse so that their way with respect to that which they have perverted is holinesse and is and ever shall be so in Christ but there remayns nothing but sin and wickednesse in the perverters thereof So also a Christian may confesse that the evill of sin and errour is his way with respect to that which is converted and is and ever shall be so in the wicked but in that state of the turned and converted there is no sin nor errour to be found at all there is then a reality of the Saints confession of their sin but it is to the removing of it to another where it abides for ever as there is a reall confession of a holy one in the wicked but it is ever in removing it unto another which they are not which is the proper spirit of Python that unperswaded or unfaithed one as the Apostle gives the wicked the title of Apeitheis unperswaded or disobedient so that their acknowledgment of holinesse in another subsistance is the unfaithing or unbetrothing of the soule from God it is its proper and perpetuall divorce So that he that knows not how to clear the state of Christianity from sin and fill the world with wickednesse he will come to make a bankrupt-like account when ever his estate comes to be discovered Therefore the wealthy estate noble acts and royall prerogatives following are only entailed and made over to him that turns the sinner from the errour of his way errour collectively as all considered in one otherwise Christ is not cleered and made the holy one of God and then not risen from the dead We are yet in our sins the substance of the common doctrine at this day in the world The first point or act of honour given to him that turns is that he saves a soule from death not as the world thinks by preaching the terrours of the Law and frighting men from some grosse and bruitish acts they have thereby converted and saved souls the most part of those that thus save did strive to pluck men out of the hands of the Bishops that the people might be instruments to lift them up into the like seat if not worse no such conversion coms in here it is abhominable but it is a true and faithfull distribution and opening of Gods righteous and holy manner of working in the absolution of his holy son made sin in being acquit from all sin and the just condemnation of that wicked one who in being made Lucifer the morning starre became the Prince and power of darknesse From such an originall we must fetch salvation and destruction or else all our doctrine of the decree of election and reprobation will prove no better then reprobate silver not passing for currant in the Kingdome of God 1. But the thing to be acknowledged by such a one as turns or is turned is he saves that is the power and spirit of the Saviour is there when once we know of what nature the spirit of the world is namely that wee are of God and the world is of that wicked one then wee shall learn to acknowledg that salvation never appears but there is the Saviour wee thinke to honour Christ by binding him up in one individuall man in point of the mystery of the Gospel it is a carnall and humane honour not beseeming the Son of God the common Priest-hood hath blinded and besotted the world in this point setting up an idoll in mens minds and not the mystery of life that is by Christ but it is taken for blasphemy in these dayes to talk of the Son of God