will give fâ—â— the life of the world that is that all Believers shouâ—â— live Spiritually by the blessed fruits and effects whiâ—â— is produced by Christs taking flesh upon him Tâ—â— Jews they were offended at this Mystical Spiritual Doctrine of Christ because it was not given 〈◊〉 them to believe the Jews therefore strove amoâ— themselves saying How can this man give us his fâ—â— to eat as indeed well they might if it had bâ— to be understood literally and properly as they â—â—nally and vainly through unbelief did conceive 〈◊〉 imagin that the words was spoken Then Jesus 〈◊〉 unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except you the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood ye 〈◊〉 no life in you And in vers 60. there Christ's Dâ—â—ples were stumbled and offended at this Doctrine saying of his Many therefore of his Disciples where had heard this said This is an hard saying who can hâ—â— But now I pray Sir mind strictly the woâ—â— our Saviour and you shall hear how plainly clearly he himself has expounded and unfolded his own meaning unto us of this eating his 〈◊〉 and drinking his blood in the 61 62 63. 〈◊〉 When Jesus knew in himself that his Disciples murâ—â— at it he said unto them Doth this offend you whâ—â— if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he 〈◊〉 fore it is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh pâ—â— nothing the words that I speak unto you they are and they are life As if our Blessed Lord and Saviour should said Do you think that I intend by 〈◊〉 â—hat I have spoken unto you to cut and carve out â—he flesh of my real substantial and finite body â—nd give it unto you to eat And likewise broach â—â—y material blood and let that out of my â—eins and give it unto you to drink for if I should â—o so it would not quicken you unto spiritual life â—â— must be my Spirit that must do that and not my â—esh for the flesh profiteth nothing But besides â—â—l that with what body must I suffer in and die â—â— redeem the World in And with what body â—â—all I arise in from the dead And with what body â—â—all I ascend up into glory in where I was before â—amely where I was before ever I assumed this marial finite body made of material flesh and blood â— Act. 1.9 there is his Ascention and in Heb. 10.5 there â—his Body which God the Father prepared for him And again if Christ's substantial body be eaten â—â—d his real material blood be drunken literally in 〈◊〉 Sacrament of the Eucharist then consequentialâ—â— must Christ's sinless spotless holy body see corruption which is Diametrically contrary to the â—â—ly Word of God both in the Old Testament and 〈◊〉 New Psal 16.10 11. For thou wilt not leave my 〈◊〉 in hell neither wilt thu suffer thine holy One to see corruption Acts 2.26 27 31. Therefore did my heart â—â—â—yce and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh 〈◊〉 rest in hope Because thou wilt not leave my soul in 〈◊〉 neither wilt thou suffer thine holy One to see corâ—â—â—ion He seeing this before spake of the resurrection Christ that his soul was not left in hell neither his 〈◊〉 did see corruption Now Sir if this Doctrine yours of Transubstantiation in your sense be 〈◊〉 why then Christ the Holy one of God whose â—â—less nature was without the least Tincture of 〈◊〉 or any kind of inclination thereunto must see â—â—â—ption ay and must be turned into corruption 〈◊〉 yea and that into the very worst sort of maâ—â—l corruption namely into Man's Excrements â—nto Man's Dung and that as often as the 〈◊〉 saith the Mass For I pray you what does beâ—â—â—e of what we do eat and drink Is it not turned corruption Ay and the Body that eats it too 〈◊〉 be turned into Corruption Meat is for the 〈◊〉 and the Belly for Meat but both are for â—â—â—ption or Destruction And pray mind what â—aviour saith of what we do eat in Matt. 15.17 â—â—t ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at â—outh goeth into the belly and is cast into the â—â—â—ht I could be larger here as well as in most â—â—e rest of these points but I must consult breâ—â—or as I hope a publick good and leave the 〈◊〉 to expatiate upon it in his own mind thoÌ„ resolved to write the most part of the Scripâ—â—â—â— that I have occasion to quote at length and â—â—eatest reason for it is this because that it may â—â—entially fall into the hands of some perhaps 〈…〉 keep one or look into it and for their sakes I do not repent my labour that this may put them upon getting the holy Bible and looking into it to see if these things be so or no Acts 17.11 These were more noble than those in Thessulonica in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so The Holy Scriptures are able to make persons wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 which is the greatest wisdom of all John 5.39 Search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me Christ expresly commands us to search the Scriptures But your Church expresly forbids it Who shall we obey Christ who is Infallible or your Church which pretends to be so Again Our Saviour Christ has but one humane body and that is a finite body Heb. 4.15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin And therefore our Saviour's Body was not to see corruption because it never did see sin so as to be tainted in the least measure with it and therefore Christ could never have died had it not been for the sins of his people because the wages of sin is death And if Christ will take Believers sins upon him he must take the wages also that was due unto them And therefore it is said that he tasted death for every man that is for every man that ever did or that ever should believe in him But because his sin was by imputation and not inherent in his nature as ours is but only by imputation therefore tho he tasted death for every man and by that took the curse or sting that is in death away for all Believers yet his holy Body did not see corruption Death could not hold him because there was no sin in him but it was upon him by imputation as Sinners are made righteous even so Christ was made a sinner for as Sinners are made righteous by the Righteousness of Christ imputed unto them so Christ was made a Sinner by imputing our sins unto him but not by Contamination or Pollution but as a Surety for if Christ had had no more sin upon him than he had in him he could never have died it had been impossible for it would have been
promised that he should so come Gen. 3.15 But after our Saviour Christ did come in the flesh why then that part of Faith was at an end for after that whoever looked for his coming in that nature did not exercise Faith but it was a great sin for it was the product of unbelief which was a very great Judgment and it is the very Grave wherein the poor scattered Jews have lain dead and buried ever since and unbelief and prejudice against Christ is the Grave-stone also that lyeth upon them and keeps them down Our Saviour told them If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins But now the proper work and office of Faith is to see him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible that was Christ But how can that be it seems to be a contradiction in it self what to see him which cannot be seen why it must be understood thus that Moses did see Christ by an eye of Faith who could not be seen by an eye of sence a bodily eye And thus Abraham the Father of the Faithful did see Christ before ever he came in the flesh Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And thus all true Believers do see and discern the Lord's Body at the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper and he is to be discerned no otherwise there And Stephen the Martyr he saw Christ in Heaven after he was ascended Act. 7.55 But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. But how did Stephen see him why it was by an eye of faith he being full of the Holy Ghost Ay that soul can never miss of seeing Christ at any time or in any place that is full of the Holy Ghost and Stephen's confessing this made his Enemies mad insomuch that they run upon him and murdered him for they perhaps thought that they could see as far as he could and yet they could see no such sight But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Our Saviour Christ can no more be seen now personally and substantially by a bodily eye of sence while he is at the right hand of God than he could be seen in Moses's or Abraham's days which was before ever he had a substantial Body to be seen neither ever shall he be so seen until he cometh down from Heaven in that manner as he was seen to go up into Heaven Act. 1.10 11. Nor until he appeareth the second time without sin unto Salvation Without sin why doth not the Scripture â—ell us that he was without sin before namely at his â—â—rst coming why yes it does so and it is very true â—â—at is thus he was without sin with a respect to 〈…〉 â—uilt or pollution or any inclination to 〈…〉 sin in himself for he was a Lamb without spot or blemish the Lamb for Sacrifice did Type out unto us the sinless spotless nature of Christ But when Christ came first in the flesh he appeared then in his state of Humiliation in the form of a servant with all the sins of all the people of God upon him of all that ever were saved and gotten safe into Glory and of all that ever should be saved from Adam to the end of the world all the sins of his people past present and to come viz. of them that were dead and gone and of them that were then living and of them that were then unborn all concentred upon Christ but not in him they all met upon Christ's shoulders Isa 53.5 6. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquity the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all Therefore it is said God was manifested in the flesh Then indeed Christ was seen with bodily eyes for he was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit after Christ had suffered and died and rose again from the dead when he had paid the debt to God which he stood engaged unto him for as a surety for sinners when the Law was fulfilled and the Justice of God fully satisfied and the wrath of God wholly appeased then Christ must needs be justified and by his being justified all his people for whom he died were all justified It was just as if a rich man were surety for a poor indigent man that was deeply in debt and was not able to pay one farthing why the Creditors take no notice of the poor Debtor but fall upon the rich man that is his surety and arrest him and cast him into prison upon which the rich man payeth all the poor mans debts and then he comes forth having fully discharged the debt he and the poor Debtor are both fully discharged the Prison could hold him no longer so that both the Surety and the Debtor are justified and acquitted the Law cannot take hold neither of the Surety nor the Debtor again for that is fulfilled why even so comparatively it was with a respect to Christ and poor sinners he was bound for poor sinners and the Justice of God past by them and seised upon Christ and arrested him and cast him into prison Isa 53.8 9. He was taken from prison and from judgment c. Which I take to be the prison of the Grave for death could not hold him but he paid every farthing of all the debt for all them for whom he died and when he had discharged the debt for poor sinners then he himself was fully discharged and justified and all his people in him and in this sense every believer is without sin that is they are free from the reigning condemning power of sin tho not from the in-being of sin Rom. 8.1 And so is to be understood that 1. Joh. 2.9 Whosoever is born of God 〈…〉 sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. But to return to the case in hand c. But Christ has never been seen by any mortal eye in this world since he Ascended up into Glory by which you may see that this Doctrine of Christ's being Corporeally present in the Sacrament destroys the use and exercise of Faith in that Ordinance which is to see him by the eye of Faith who is at the right hand of God and is invisible which is to discern the Lords Body which cannot be seen by a carnal bodily eye of sence as you pretend to see him in your Sacrament Secondly If this Doctrine of Transubstantiation in your Churches
shall be filled with his own ways Eighthly we may observe that altho this Mystery of Iniquity did begin to work even then in the Apostles day yet it was not to come to that full measure and degree of iniquity which it was to come unto until after his death that was not until the Man of Sin should be revealed Act. 20.29 30. Ninthly and lastly it is to be observed that the cause of God's sending this strong delusion unto them was for their abandoning and casting off the Gospel of God which tendered Life and Salvation by Christ's Righteousness unto them and following after lying vanities it was that which provoked God to inflict this sore judgment upon them so that they have eyes and see not and ears and hear not which may very aptly refer to this viz. that these persons have as great natural Gifts and Endowments as other persons have namely Sence Reason and Understanding with all the Intellectuals and Faculties that belong unto men as men but they are not suffered to make use of them upon Spiritual objects or occasions neither will they suffer themselves to make use of them in that way and manner as would most glorifie God and tend to the Salvation of their own souls their Consciences are seared with a hot Iron they have quite lost all Spiritual feeling for tho Sences Reason Understanding and all the Faculties do their work and office yet none of them are to be believed And who are blinder than those that will not see They are just like the Images which they do bow down unto and pray before if not worship them And they have no better Spiritual use of them than a condemned Malefactor has of the temporal use of his legs which only serve to carry him to the place of execution Nay give me leave to tell ye that they have no more use of their Sences Reason and Understanding in Spiritual things than these very Images have which they adore of natural Sences Reason and Understanding 〈…〉 least for look into Psal 115.4 5 6 7 8. Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands they have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not they have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not they have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through the throat Pray mark the winding up They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them First they have mouths but they must not preach the pure Doctrine of the Gospel of God therewith 2. They have eyes but they must not see the way to Life and Salvation by the Righteousness and Merits of Jesus Christ alone with them 3. They have ears but they hear not That is they must not nor will not hear the Preaching of the Gospel with them 4. They have Noses But they must not smell any savour in the holy ways and pure worship of God with them them 5. They have hands but they must not believe them when they tell them that the Bread or Wafer is but Bread and is not flesh nor a material body 6. They have feet But they must not walk to the House of God with them but they will walk to the Idols Temple with them 7. And lastly They have Throats but they must not pray nor speak unto God through them in a right manner according to his will and mind but they pray with them unto Saints departed and preach up the Infallibility of the Church and the Doctrine of Implicite Faith with and to it And thus they come to have eyes and see not and ears and hear not and so are like unto the Images they make and pray to and before and by this means the holy Bible cometh to be a sealed Book unto them Isa 29.10 11 12. And now I leave any one to judg whether this Man of Sin that sitteth in the Temple of God and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped can be the great Turk or whether it can be meant of any sort of Protestants whatsoever for they do not assume any such universal power and dominion or Soveraignty over Kings and Rulers Kingdoms and Nations and over mens souls and consciences But if the Turk be not Antichrist the Man of Sin nor the Protestants then pray who is Antichrist my answer is this viz. I will name no body but I will refer ye to the Scriptural Characters that I have observed and let it be compared to some mens Office and Offices and to their Faith Doctrine Worship Discipline Manners and Practices in the world and they shall answer for me and tell you plainly who Antichrist the Man of Sin is for the Holy Ghost in the Sacred Scriptures have drawn his Effigies or Picture so clear and conspicuous that any man of Gospel-sense or that hath but the use of natural reason may wink with both eyes and tell who the Antichrist is and where he sits for indeed the Holy Scriptures have written his name in his forehead so that we may read the very Scriptures that relate unto him in his Office Doctrines Worship Discipline Practice and Manners as clear and as plain as we may read his Office Doctrines Worship Discipline Practice and Manners by and in the Holy Scriptures Rev. 17.5 6. with which Scripture I shall conclude this Digression viz. And upon her forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus Now he that runneth may read who this Man of Sin the Antichrist is if he be not wilfully blind if they will but give themselves leave to adhere to sense and reason I have made a tedious digression by which I have gone a little out of my way but it was to meet with Antichrist the Man of Sin and his Adherents which are all out in the Wilderness with the Woman or deserted Church and Idolatrous worship which doth belong unto him and doth attend upon him God awaken the Kings of the Earth and open their eyes that they also may see and know who this the Antichrist is Rev. 17.16 17 18. that he may ride them no longer But now my Dear Friend although I have taken a very long turn with Antichrist yet I remember my promise unto you viz. That I would meet you again upon our old Topic or Point of Doctrine that we were discoursing upon before I met with Antichrist the Man of Sin namely the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for I have not done with that as yet for I have more considerations to offer against it for the confuting of it the first shall be this viz. Christ saith in Rev. 1.18 I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Pray mistake not for as Christ was