let me speak to thy comfort The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head that is though the Serpent had thought by his subtilty to have buried thy honour in the dust for ever and so to have destroyed the work that I had been doing Six days in one hour yet I will have him to know that my Wisdom is unsearchable and my ways past finding out that I have found a way to involve my Son in the flesh not to take upon him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham whereby hee may take away the Victory from the Grave though thou must needs dye and be like water spilt upon the ground yet I have used a means that thou shalt not be for ever expelled 2 Sam. 14.14 So know this to thy comfort and set the Serpent know this to his shame though my word be established in the Heavens that the Heavens and Earth shall pass away yet not one word of mine shall pass away unexecuted and so I shall take the words of the Lord before named 2 Sam. 14.14 and shew you why God brought in the promised Seed to intervene sin and the sentence that is though his Decree cannot be broken nor his Justice go unsatisfied but that Man must dye for that Original Sin no man or woman to be exempted but must all be banished by death But Jesus Christ was to bring life and immortality to light herein is the saying made good O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who hath given us victory through Jesus Christ our Lord This place the Apostle useth 1 Cor. 15. to prove the very thing that I am now a proving of If you should ask me whether Christ brought nothing for the Sons of Men more than a Resurrection I should answer yes many things he brought heavenly Paradisical glory for all such as would accept of it upon those conditions that he offered it Much more might be said to this Objection and Argument but my time at present is precious Arg. 2. If the Sin against the First Covenant made the Sinners liable but to the first Death then Adam and all since in his loyns were liable but to the first Death But the Sin against the first Covenant made the Sinners liable but to the first Death Ergo Adam and all his posterity stand guilty by that Sin only of the first Death To the proof of this Argument I shall give you to understand what I mean by the first Covenant and that you may see was excellent injoyments I mean excelling in Prerogative beyond all other Creatures insomuch as they were all under him and whatsoever name he gave them they shall bee called by and also had he not sinned he should have injoyed that pure earthly Paradisical injoyment which was the glory of the first Covenant from which glory hee fell by transgression of that Law or that Original Sin as you so call it First That he sinned against no other Covenant but that Covenant because there was never no Covenant made of a second Life or a second Glory not till after Adam had sinned and therefore could not sin against such a Covenant it being not made nor he in a capacity to sin against any such thing So that Sir take notice of this one thing by the way that as the Grave and the misery tending thereunto as sickness weakness and such like infirmities is that which a Creature receiveth as punishment for the sinning against that pure earthly Paradisical Covenant So the Gulf of Hell with eternal misery is the punishment of Sin committed against that second Covenant the which is a Covenant of heavenly Paradisical glory so that as the glory of the second Covenant doth surmount the glory of the first so the loss of the thing Covenanted with the punishment thereunto doth farre surmount the injoyment of the first with the punishment annexed thereunto Now to prove my Minor Proposition by a plain rext as Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread until thou returnest to the ground for out of it wast thou taken dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Compare this with the seventeenth verse of the same Chapter where he saith Cursed is the ground for thy sake and also telleth him that it shall bear thorns and thistles So if you take good notice what the Lord denounces as punishment to him and his seed which is only earthly and inflicted only upon the outward man no whit eternal neither inflicted upon the inward man and thus I have proved my Minor Proposition that Adams Sin was but against the first Covenant which sin lost but the injoyment of the first Life with that earthly Paradisical glory Arg. 3. If Adam in his best condition as he stood in Paradise before the Fall were but an earthly man and all his injoyments were but earthly injoyments then he could lose no more than what he had to lose which was earthly But Adam in his best condition was but an earthly man all his injoyments were but earthly injoyments Ergo all that he lost was butearthly injoyments The Minor I shall thus prove 1 Cor. 15.44 There is a Natural body and a Spiritual body so it is written the first man Adam was made a living Soul the last man Adam was made a quickning spirit verse 45. howbeit that was not first which is Spiritual but that which is Natural and after that which is Spiritual vers. 46. The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is the Lord from Heaven vers. 47. Thus you see the first man Adam was but earthly and also his injoyments as earthly as himself Obj. If it should be objected and said That the Lord made Adam an immortal Soul Ans. To which I answer that God breathed into Adam the breath of Life and so hee became a living Soul it should appear he was a dead Soul before for many times in Scripture the Mortal part of Man is called the Soul Joshua 10.28 it is proved in and so oftentimes in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapters of Joshua and Adam and all his Posterity had such mortal Souls that had not Christ risen to have brought a Resurrection that is to say that mortal Body out of the dust we had been like the beasts that perished 1 Cor. 15.18 And so much briefly to the third Argument Arg. 4. The Fourth Argument To prove why Adams sin did not bring any of his Posterity to be liable unto the second Death If the punishment due to that Original sin of Adam in Paradise be no other than what God hath declared in the Sentence which is no other but upon the outward man then none of the Sons of Adam shall be Damned for that sin of Adam in Paradise But that punishment due to Adam in Paradise is no other than
you say that David there confessed any sin or guilt of any sin as he stood in the loyns of his Parents unless that first sinne which as I have shewed you brought but the first Death neithe have they any less perfection in quality of nature by the which they are put into a worse capacity to stand or fall as to the losse of the injoyment of that eternal inheritance although I grant the first thing they do when they are capable of a Law and temptations do approach they like their first Father Adam break the Law of God as he did and these words have I spoken as in order to the making way for the opening of the words before mentioned for in the first verse David is a Petitioning to God for Mercy and Pardon for that sin wch he had committed in killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba his Wife unto himself in the which Petition he uses three Arguments as we may so say The First is from the multitude of Gods Mercies in these words According to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy mercies verse the first The Second is from his acknowledging of his Sin saying My sins are ever before me vers. 3. as if he should say They are the greatest trouble that I have in the World they are always in my way so that we see the second Motive that he uses to attain Mercy is by confession of his sin with great zeal and ardency of spirit he well knowing that God had promised That he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin should finde mercy And the Third and last Argument which he used in this Psalm to move God to have mercy upon him in blotting out his transgressions was from the brittleness of his Nature and the weakness of that Lump that he was made out of As if hee should have said Father thou knowest I am of the Earth earthly which is subject to much weakness and frailty and therefore he beyond all other reasons in this last reason vers. 5 saith Behold as if he should have said Lord take notice as well consider how defective the Mould was in the which I was formed which to me appears to be his Mother Eva in whose loyns was David and all other shapen for God made all Mankind at once and not his Mother that bare him that thereby thou considering my frame maist in pity blot out my transgressions This expression of David is not used alone but hath the like import Psal. 103. v. 12 13 14 in these words ver. 12. As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our transgressions from us And in the fourteenth verse he giveth the reason why the Lord is so gracious in these words For hee knoweth our frame that we are but dust so that I conceive in this fifth vers of the one and fiftieth Psalm which you cited to me in these words Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me is no more but the proneness of Davids Nature by reason of the weakness of the matter that he was made of and that is the same that he desires God to take notice of or behold whereby hee might graciously remit that sinful Act that he had committed unless you meant that Sin which beleeving men and women suffer for which is the sin against the first Covenant which did consist of an earthly Paradisical glory which I did to you and do still affirm That both Adam and all his Posterity consideredly as they were in his loyns did not only commit it but also suffer for it which I did then and do still affirm to bee the first Death by which Pollution and Corruption run thorow all the parts of the outward man But as I have said no pollution or disability in the least hath it brought to the Spiritual part of man whereby the Conscience or spirit of man should be defiled neither actively nor imputatively not actively for this reason because the Spiritual part of man is not involved in the loyns of Adam whereby he doth be get it but it is formed in man by God Zach. 12.1 so according to the Word of the Lord when he speaketh concerning the dissolution of that Mortal lump that man begetteth saith then Dust shall return to dust and the Spirit to him that gave it so that as man begetteth only the Natural part of man and not the Spiritual and thereby the Spiritual part being not in form and matter in the loyns of Adam therefore the Spiritual part could not be polluted but the Natural part being in matter involved in the loyns of Adam was polluted corrupted and deformed from whence ariseth all the corruption of Nature as Blindness Deafness and Lameness and all such like Corruptions which shall remain until this corruptible body shall put on incorruption so it is clear that the Spiritual part of the Sons of Adam did not sin in Adam by action because it was not in being The second Reason why the guilt of Adams sin cannot lye upon the Spiritual part of any so as to make them stand guilty before God of a second Death is from the reproof the Lord gave to a Generation of men of your judgement that thought the Childe must dye for the Fathers sins that when the Lord did threaten the punishment of the sins of the Fathers upon the Children that you blindly with those whom the Lord reproveth Ezek. 18.2 3. do conclude that it must needs be the punishment of the second Death therefore the Lord saith he would have that Proverb used no more The fathers have eaten soure Grapes and the Childrens teeth are set on edge but the soul that sinneth shall dye So much briefly as for the second reason But whereas you said that there was no thought of time betwixt the Natural being of David and the sinful being if you mean his sinful being by that matter that he received from Adam it is granted but if it be of the Soul or inward part which had its being from God it is denied from the two Reasons already rendred Further one Reason more Any Creature that is defiled in the inward man is not fit for the Kingdom of God but Children are fit for the Kingdom of God at the very birth of them therefore Children are not defiled or corrupted in the inward man Further You affirmed in your writing that I said that you could never read in Scripture that any Children were damned and therefore no such Sin Original to Damn to which say you you instanced that of Esau who was reprobated from all Eternity to the which I answer I do indeed confess you said so but I have learned that your say so is no sufficient proof for the ninth of the Romans the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth verses which you cited to prove the matter prove no such thing for let any Soul seriously read that place and see whether that place say
what God hath declared in the Sentence Gen. 3. ergo none of the Children of Adam shal suffer in Hell for that Sin and that it was but a loss of earthly injoyments with deformities and corruption I have proved it at large Arg. 5. To prove that Sin in Paradise did not make him or any of his Posterity liable to eternal Death is as followeth That Opinion which in the extent of it will make the Devil to speak truth and God to lye is an absurd and blasphemous opinion But the Opinion that saith That that Sin of Adam in Paradise maketh all the Sons of Adam guilty and liable to eternal Death affirmeth that the Devil speaks true and the Lord lieth Ergo that Opinion is absurd and blasphemous The Major will be easily granted The Minor I shall prove for God saith Gen. 2.17 If thou eatest thou shalt surely dye but the Devil said Gen. 3. to the Woman Yee shall not dye but be like gods c. Now if this Death that the Lord said they should dye be meant punishment in Hell as you blindly conceive and yet wee see that all Adams posterity which sinned in him or are become sinners by him are not punished in Hell which you say is meant by that Death then God speaks not true in saying they shall surely dye when he intends they shall not And the Devil speaks true when hee saith they shall not dye and wee see they do not so dye if that Death which God saith they shall surely dye bee meant the second Death this is to make the Devil speak true and God a Liar O horrid Blasphemous Opinion be ashamed of it Obj. Peradventure you will say That God sent Christ to take away the guilt and punishment of that Original sin which is as false and ridicnlous as the other O blinde guide is this any more in effect than to say That God sent his Son to make the Devils words appear to be true and his own false the Devil said they should not dye God said they should Now that they might not indeed dye you say God sent his Son that they might not dye which is no less than to make God a Lyar And so much briefly to your blasphemous opinion A word or two what I say to this and that is in these words Thou shalt surely dye is only meant the death of the material Body and hence it comes to pass that as well the righteous as unrighteous dye none exempted he regards not the person of any so that it appears clearly our God is a God of truth that cleareth not the guilty and that the Devil according to the words of John is a Lyar and hath been so from the beginning Arg. 6. The last Argument is as followeth That Opinion which crosseth plain texts of Scripture in the plain meaning of them is false and erronious But that Opinion which affirmeth That all Infants as they come into the World are guilty of such a Sin as makes them liable to the second Death namely to be punished in Hel and so lye under the Wrath of God is against plain texts of Scripture in the plain meaning of them Ergo such an Opinion is absurd und erronious Only the Minor will be questioned the which I shall prove from Matth. 9.14 where Christ faith Little Children are heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven Take notice Sir these were not Beleevers sprinkled Children neither were they Baptised neither were they brought for that purpose Thus you see your Opinion speaks against plain text of Scripture Christ saith They are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven And as for the answer of that Objection in Psal. 51.5 I refer you to the place where I have answered it in its time and place in the letter And now I shall take notice of an absurdity that will follow and so will leave as to the Arguments you do affirm in this your Opinion That all Infants that dye in their Infancy none excepted must needs be damned for you did affirm That David was guilty of that Sin that brought Damnation and if David were guilty then all Children for David in your sense was an Elect Person and yet if he had died in his Infancy he had been damned according to your expression from Psalm fifty so that upon this account all Children in their infancy stand at enmity with God and if so then shew mee what reconciliation there can be according to Scripture account without the manifestation of Repentance and Faith towards God for Christ faith Except you beleeve you shall dye in your sins John 8.24 which Children cannot do although you would blindly conclude from Matth. 18. that those little ones there were Children which cannot bee proved for though Christ did take a little one yet he took not little ones and neither are little ones capable to suffer for Christ and so consequently not capable to be offended Secondly Faith is a perswasion of the minde flowing from the understanding but Children having no understanding can have no faith so that God saith I speak not to your Children which neither know nor understand and so much for the absurdity which necessarily will follow That all Infants must be damned if that which you say be true and so I shall leave as to that particular Characters of the false Ministery THe next thing that I shall enter upon is to shew the Characters of the false and corrupted Ministery whereby they that run may read and know them by their fruits First you shall know them by their teaching for Doctrines the Commandements of men the Lord in old time did complain against such Persons as you may see Jer. 5.30 31. in these words A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the Land the Prophets Prophesy falsly and the Priests bear rule by their means and the people love to have it so and what shall be done in the end thereof Thus you may see the Prophets of old did prophesie the vision of their own Brain and the Priests of Old they must bear rule by their means that is to say their false Divinations must go for truth and it being pleasing to the flesh the people loved to have it so So it is with the false corrupted Ministery in our days the Prophets of old or more properly antient Fathers as they so call them they in their several Councils have determined certain Articles of their own invention imposing them on mens Consciences as infallible truths when God never spake any such thing in his Word the Priests they bear rule by their means and conclude they must needs be truths it being the judgement of their reverend Fathers as Luther and Calvin and St. Austin and the like and it being grown in custom amongst the people they love to have it so like as the people of old who lusted after the Flesh-pots of Aegypt I shall only particularize a few of their Traditions and so pass the first Character
was counted as strange doctrine and searched the Scriptures daily to see whether those things were so or no even so although many of these particulars may be counted erroneous yet prove thy self a noble Berean to search the Scriptures to see whether it be so or no Moreover do not count it a strange thing that the truest Doctrines that ever was should be questioned and counted Heresie for the learned Scribes and Pharisees did question Christ to know where he had his Doctrine and said He hath a Devil and is mad The Apostle Paul also was called a pestilent fellow a teacher of strange Doctrines a ring-leader of Sectaries a turner of the world up-side down and what not Yet as the Apostle saith After the manner they called Heresie so worshipped he the God of his Fathers believing all that was written Even so say I that if any thing that I have written in this Treatise doe not agree with the Word of God and the doctrine according to godliness I shall give thanks to any man that will inform me of it and also renounce it but as the Apostle Paul saith in another case I judge I have the Spirit of God and speak the Truth Moreover Christian Reader know that we are in the last age upon whom the very end of the world is come in which last age that great howr of temptation shall be the which shall try all them that dwell upon the face of the whole Earth therefore very profitable for us to look into the Prophecies of the last Times that being fore-warned they may be fore-armed and in order to the stability of thy mind I have in the following Treatise set before thy view the glorious Paradise the which the Lord gave unto his Son Adam and although he lost it by transgression yet I have shewed thee that it shall be restored again by the Lord Jesus into that primitive glory at his second appearance and Kingdom Moreover I have shewed you what a glorious inheritance God will give to his Son Jesus which is the Man from Heaven So that although the earthly Mans earthly Paradise was glorious yet the heavenly Mans heavenly Paradise shall be farr more glorious it is that new Jerusalem the Walls whereof are garnished with all manner of precious stones the Streets whereof is pure gold like to transparent glasse the which Paradise shall not be of the Earth or from the Earth although it shall be placed upon the new Earth but as I have shewed in the Treatise it shall come down out of Heaven from God being that City which faithfull Abraham looked for which had foundations whose maker and builder was God it shall be the glorious habitation of Christ in the day of his raign and all that are saved shall walk in the light of it which City hath no need of the Sun Moon or Stars for the Lamb shall be the light of it Curteous Reader assure thy self that the Godly who have died in the Faith did see these things in promises although they were afar off and did imbrace them and did acknowledge themselves Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth and they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a Countrey which is a heavenly one wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City and it was that glorious inheritance which made faithfull Moyses slight Pharaohs Royal Diadem and refuse to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for he had an eye to the recompence of reward so that faith is the evidence of things not seen Moreover courteous Reader I desire thee not to slight the matter contained herein because of any prejudice thou mayst have against the Author so desiring the Lord to open thy understanding I shall rest but not to pray for thy endlesse happinesse by Christ in glory Thy unworthy Friend G. H. The Sum of a Dispute betwixt a Teacher of the Anabaptists and the Minister of Baughton where by Providence they met August 16. 1654. THe Anabaptist as appeared by his heat being much troubled at a Sermon delivered by the Minister wherein he proved plainly by Scripture That such as he was were the Messengers of Satan and delivered Satans Message fell upon the Minister with abusive words afterwards they entred into Disputation the Question was Whether there were any such Sin as Original sin the Anabaptist denied it the Minister urged an Argument from the example of David confessing that hee was shapen in iniquity and in sin did his Mother conceive him Psal. 51.5 to prove there was The Anabaptist answered That the meaning of that place was this not that David himself was corrupted or defiled with sin but that hee was shapen and conceived in a sinful Woman Which answer will appear to any man that hath but common sense to be not only false but also most absurd and ridiculous for David as will plainly appear to him that reads that Psalm speaks only of himself confesseth his own Sin only and this Original sin as the root and fountain of all the rest there was not so much as a thought of time betwixt his Natural being and his Sinful being Corruption did accompany the very first degree of his Conception I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me And he praies for the forgiveness of this sin among the rest After many words past the Anabaptist unsatisfied objected That the Minister never read of any Childe that was Damned therefore no such Sin which deserved eternal Death his reason was because eternal Death is only the wages of actual sin which the Minister denied and instanced in Esau reprobated from all eternity Rom. 9.11 12 13. The Anabaptist answerd That that was for Esaus actual transgression and cited Jeremy falsly but the words named are in Amos 1.3.6.9 For three Transgressions of Damascus and for Four I will not turn away the punishment thereof and so the sixth and ninth of Gaza and Tyrus which text is as farre from the purpose as Baughton is from Rome It appears plainly from the Apostle that the words cited by the Minister Esau have I hated are concerning Gods purpose in Election and Reprobation and not for any actual Sin committed by Esau or good done by Jacob for the Children not being yet born mark that neither having done good or evil mark that that the purpose of God according to election might stand vers. 11. it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated What will the Anabaptists say now they say it is unjust for God to Damn those that never committed Actual Sin the Apostle would stop their blasphemous mouthes vers. 14. What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid saith he Hath not the Potter power over the Clay to make one Vessel for honour and another for
dishonour ver. 21. The Anabaptist still obstinate the Minister urged another Argument to prove some Children were Damned and not for Actual sin therefore for Original and therefore there was such sin as we call Original the Argument was taken out of Jude vers. 7. where it is said that Sodom and Gomorrah and the Cities about them suffered the vengeance of eternal fire in which Cities no doubt but there were some Children which never had sinned actually and these with the rest suffered the vengeance of eternal fire The Anabaptist answered by shewing the meaning of Eternal The word Eternal saith he is there to be understood for consuming which is as ridiculous and absurd as the rest our ordinary fire is consuming it consumes the Wood or other matter that nourisheth it and so at last it self is extinguished but this eternal fire never goeth out neither doth it consume those it burns the wicked burn eternally that is for ever and are never consumed so the answer implyes a contradiction To make this his Exposition good he cited a place of St. Mat. 10.15 It shall be more tollerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgement than for that City that will not receive the Apostles more tollerable that is saith he being holpen by one of his Disciples Sodom and Gomorrah shall be excused but that Exposition they can never make good more tollerable said the Minister that is they shall not receive so severe a Sentence they shall receive lesser Damnation but not be wholly excused This he proved by reason for more is the Comparative degree and is a relative term and respects the same thing then strenghened this reason by Scripture Mat. 23.14 Yee shall receive greater damnation there is Damnation for them because they devoured widows houses but greater damnation because they made long prayer their pretence more tollerable then doth not imply that they were wholly excused but received lesser punishment The Anabaptist then began to urge an Argument that no Children were Damned the Minister perceiving that this was to run round in a circle not able to indure the cold longer being not yet fully recovered of sickness the Anabaptist began to cry Victory by railing on the Ministers Were not those people given over to a reprobate sense to strong delusions to beleeve lyes they could never force such interpretations upon Scripture The Lord open their eyes that they may see the truth and convert and be healed Mat. Rutton Min. An Answer to a Letter of Master Matth. Rutton Minister of Baughton as he so calleth himself sent to a friend of mine in order to the Vindication of a Dispute between him and myself at Baughton where wee accidentally met to his friend Master Mat. Rutton as followeth SIR WHereas you were pleased to affirm in your Letter I was troubled about a Sermon you delivered in the which you writ you proved such as I am to be the Ministers of Satan for the which cause you say I fell upon you with abusive words Sir I pray you do not forget your self for I began not with you neither did I give you any abusive words neither did I know that you had delivered such a Sermon as you confess in which you rendered me and such as I am to be so odious although I had heard before that you did usually rail much as your Predecessors did against Christ and his Apostles saying they were Deceivers pestilent Fellows and turners of the World upside down though Michael the Arch-Angel when he was Disputing with the Devil about the body of Moses did not bring a rayling accusation but left it to God with these words The Lord rebuke thee But I pray remember that your Neighbour of whom you at that instant received Tithes after he had paid it asked you in much mildness of speech Why you did rail so much against the Baptists and you presently said they were Anabaptists for you said the word in the Greek signified again and you Baptizing Persons again are called Anabaptists at the which words I could no less than make answer saying That for my part I did dis-own Baptizing of any persons again who were once truly Baptized according to Christs appointment and more-over I said That sprinkling a little water in a Childes face in its Infancy was not Baptism but a cousening shift brought in by Pope Innocentius the Third and then you replied and said That Baptizo signified Sprinkling as well as Dipping the which I denied and shewed you there was no correspondency between the word Baptizo and Rantizo in their significations to prove one and the same thing the one signifying to dip to plunge to sink to over-whelm in water the other word to sprinkle to scatter here or there or to disperse abroad on divers parts of the body then all that you had more to say in the behalf of that was That it was set down so in the Book of Common Prayer and when you could say no more to that you cried out against them viz. the Baptists for broaching of gross Errors and instanced that of Original sin to which I said that for my part I did beleeve That all the Sons and Daughters of Adam were not only under the guilt of it but also groan under the punishment of it untill this day although you falsly writ in your Letter that I denyed that there was such a Sin as Original sin and yet you may remember that you made me this answer Though I did beleeve that there was such a sin yet there were many of my adherents that did beleeve there was no such sin and Sir then I went on to deal plainly with you and shewed you what that first Sin of Adam in Paradise which is usually called Original Sin did incur and made all his Children liable to the which * I affirm to be the first Death with sickness weakness and all such infirmities with the loss of all Paradisical injoyments and not Damnation in Hell which is only the desert of sins against God manifested in Christ which brought a second state of life and that you may see clearly in the pronunciation of the Sentence by God to Adam in Gen. 3. from the fourteenth to the twentieth where he tells him That in sorrow he should eat bread with the sweat of his brows until thou return unto the ground for out of it wast thou taken This was the punishment God laid upon Adam and his Posterity for that Sin Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Hence it cometh to pass that both righteous and unrighteous suffer alike whereby wee may see Gods Justice must be satified and so much briefly as to the Sin which you call Original or more properly to the punishment thereof And now in order I shall come to the one and fiftieth Psalm vers. 5. these words Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me In which words there appeareth no such thing as
rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich thus the Lord Jesus made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and became obedient to death even the death of the crosse and as the Apostle Paul saith this his great love did extend it self to us when we by Nature were the Children of wrath as well as others scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to dye but God commendeth his love to us in that while we were Sinners Christ died for us Rom. 5.7 8. 2 Cor. 8.9 Phil. 2.6 7 8. Ezek. 16.4 5 6 7 8. So that hence we may see the time when the Lord was pleased in his mercy and pity to look upon us and offer unto us this rich inheritance Fourthly and lastly be moved above all things to seek this kingdom because of the indurablenesse of it for it will never fail chee but will remain with thee for ever and ever as saith the Psalmist The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and his inheritance shall be for ever The Apostle Peter also to confirm this saying saith Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in the Heaven for you wherefore gird up the loyns of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that shall be brought to you at the revolation of Iesus Christ the which shall be an ample recompence of reward for all the sufferings that thou shalt meet with for the profession of his name in this life Psal. 37.18 1 Pet. 1.3 4. comp. 13 v. Rev. 21.6 Rev. 22.12 Heb. 11 16 The seventh use is to set forth the misery and terror that will fall upon all such as sin against such great mercy were there no more but a deprivation of them from the presence of the glorious God and that Heavenly Ierusalem it might be sufficient to be a Worm never dying and a fire never quenched but there is also Tophet prepared of old he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimston doth kindle it Isa. 30.33 Agreeing with the words of the Apostle that saith Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God Rom. 2.4 5. 2 Thess. 1.7 8. What a forlorn condition will that Soul be in whoever he be that hath slighted the means of Grace and cast behind his back all those sweet invitations of the Gospel when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come forth to summon all to appear before the Judgement Seat to give an account before the Tribunal Seat Will not such Souls call for the Mountains to fall upon them to hide them from the presence of God Surely they will and all such faces shall gather blackness for thou that hast hated knowledge and hast not chosen the fear of the Lord but hast chosen Pleasure and all that thy heart hath lusted after here below and hast set greater account of the praise of Men than of the praise of God this shalt thou have at the Lords hands thou shalt lye down in sorrow where there shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth therefore labour to be wise whilst thou maist be happy and in this thy day consider the things that belong to thy peace lest it be hid from thine eyes for ever and thou mourn when it be too late Prov. 1.24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32. Cap. 5.11 Luke 19.42 The Eighth and last Use shall be for comfort and consolation to all those that shall be Heirs of that Kingdom Blessed are all they who are found watching when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come he will gird himself and make them sit down at meat and he will come forth and serve them Therefore be glad and rejoyce for the Lord Omnipotent will reign Blessed are all they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lambt for they shall enter into that glorious City even that heavenly Jerusalem which I have given you a glimps of where there shall bee singing praises by the Saints where there shall be everlasting joy and substantial or perfect felicity therefore I say Blessed are all the Dead that dye in the Lord for they shall be glorified at his appearance Even so Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly FINIS Errata PAge 68. line the 20. read obtain for owned p. 72. l. 24. r understanding for wisdom p. 77. l. 11. r. Ore Chase for out those p. 78. l. 6. r. Sword for Lord p 94. l. 24. r. that for but p. 96. l. 23. r. to for of p 124. l. 7. r. their wickedness for the wickedness l. 8. r. great multitudes twice p. 126. l. 9. for is King r. their King p. 127. l. 21. for dispaced r. displaced p. 137. l. 2. r. upon for up of p. 139. l. 21. r. of Jerusalem for of thy Jerusalem p. 140. l. 24. r. the Lord of Hosts after the glory p. 150. l. 3. r. from God p. 174. l. 28. for when ever r. what hour Baptizo signifies to plunge or overwhelm Rantizo to sprinkle or scatter * Adams sin brought not Condemnation to Hell on his Posterity but death of the Body with Sickness Sorrow c. Adams Sin brought no pollution or disability on the Spiritual part of Mankinde Man is not made uncapable to act good by Adams sin The Fathers iniquity makes not the Childe liable to the second death Esau not hated before hee was born Disobedience the cause that men become Vessels of dishonour * Act. 2.37 Sodom not suffering punishment in Hell fire Reprobate Angels and reprobate men not yet in punishment Parables prove not things Hell not in being till the coming of the Lord God not changeable in his Decrees God doth not change his Decree but doth decree to change his Dispensation according to the actions of the Creature Adams sin being only against the first Covenant brings not Condemnation to Hell Punishment in Hell only for transgression against the second Covenant Adam and all his injoyments before he fell were but earthly The affirming that Adamsâ—â— brought the second Death justifies the Devil to speak truth and makes God a Lyar 1 Character 2 Char. 3 Char. 4 Char. 5 Char. 6 Char. 7 Char. 8 Char. 9 Char. 10 Char. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. That the Cities of Judah shal be built as in the former days A Prophecie of the return of the Ten Tribes that there may bee one sheepfold on the Mountains of Israel Meaning that their Children and riches shall bee brought back from the Land of their enemies as aforetime 1 Three Reasons why the Temple shall be built again The Jews shall not be converted by a Gospel preaching The work of the Witnesses to prove the Man of Sin to be the Antichrist and not the Messiah that they look for The manner of the Man of Sins arising The Man of Sin proved not to be the Romish Babylon by Reasons followfng Use 2. 3 Use 4 Use 6 Use 7 Use