transgressions and making an end of sins and making reconciliation for iniquity he brought in everlasting righteousness Math. 5.17 Rom. 10.3 chap. 8 3. 1 Joh. 3.8 2 Tim. 1 9. Hebr. 10.5 6 7 8 9 â—0 Dan. 9.24 16. I believe that for the compleating of this work he was alwayes sinless did alwayes the things that pleased God's Justice that every one of his acts both of doing and suffering and rising again from the dead was really and infinitely perfect being done by him as God-man Wherefore his acts before he dyed are called the righteousness of God his blood the blood of God and herein perceive we the love of God in that he laid down his life for us The Godhead which gave vertue to all the acts of the humane nature was then in perfect union with it when he hanged upon the cross for our sins Heb. 4.15 chap. 7.26 27 28. Joh. 8.29 Acts. 10 30. Rom. 3.21 22. Act. 20.28 1 Joh. 3.16 Joh. 20 28. Rom. 1.4 17. I believe then that the righteousness that saveth the sinner from the wrath to come is properly and personally Christs and ours but as we have union with him God by grace imputing it to us Yea doubtless and I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ ' and be found in him not haveing my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith For of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Phil. 3 8 9. 1 Cor. 1.30 2 Cor. 5.20 21. 18. I believe that God as the reward of Christs undertakings for us hath exalted him to his own right hand as our mediatour and given him a name above every name and hath made him Lord of all and judge of quick and dead and all this that we who believe might take courage to believe and hope in God And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself unto death even the death of the cross where he dyed for our sins wherefore God hath highly alted him and given him a name above every name That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things in earth things that are under the earth And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testify that it was he that was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who by him do believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God Ph. 2.5 10. Eph. 1.18 22. Act. 10.42 ch 17.31 1 Pet. 1.19 20 21. 19. I believe that being on the right hand of God in heaven he doth there effectually exercise the office of his excellent priesthood and mediatorship presenting himself continually before God in the righteousness which is accomplished for us when he was in the world For by the efficacy of his blood he nor onely went into the holy place but being there and having by it obtained eternal redemption for us now as receiving the worth and merit thereof from the Father doth bestow upon us grace repentance faith and the remission of sins Yea he also received for us the holy Ghost to be sent unto us to ascertain us of our adoption and Glory For if he were on earth he should not be a Priest seeing then we have a great high priest that is entred into the heavens Jesus the son of God Let us hold fast our profession For there is one God and one mediatour between God and men the man Christ Jesus For by his own blood he entred into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figure of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear Hebr. 8.4 1 Tim. 2 5. Hebr. 9.12.24 Act. 5.31 chap. 2 33. 20. I believe that being there he shall so continue till the restitution of all things and then he shall come again in Glory and shâ—ll sit in judgment upon all flesh And I believe that according to his sentence so shall their judgment be Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you whom the heaven must receive untill the restitution of all things spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began For this same Jesus which ye have seen go up into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angel and the trumphet of God c. When the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy Angels with him then he shall sit upon the throne of his Glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepheard divideth his sheep from the Goats And he shall set his sheep on his right hand but the Goats on the left Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Then shall he say to them on the left hand Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Divel and his Angels And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal For the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up Seeing then that all these things must be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godlinels looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat Act. 3.19 20 21. 1 Thes. 4 16. Act. 1.11 Mat. 25.31 32 33 41 46. 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12.
Father the Word and the holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.7 see also Gen. 1.26 chap. 3.22 chap. 11.7 and Esa. 6.8 5. I believe that these three are in Nature Essence and Eternity equally one These three are one 1 Joh. 5.7 6. I believe there is a World to come Heb. 2.5 chap. 6.5 7. I believe that there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt Marvail not at this For the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evill to the resurrection of Damnation Act. 24.15 Dan. 12.2 Joh. 5.28 8. I believe that they that shall be counted worthy of that world and of the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they dye any more for they are equall to the Angels and are the children of God being the children of the resurrection Luk. 10.34.35 36. Joh. 10.27 28 29. Rev. 7.16 chap. 20.6 9. I believe that those that dye impenitent shall be tormented with the Divel and his Angels and shall be cast with them into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone where their worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched Rev. 21.8 Mar. 9.43.48 Mat. 25 41.46 Joh. 5.29 10. I believe that because God is naturally holy and just even as he is Good and Mercifull therefore all having sinned none can be saved without the means of a redeemer Then he is gracious unto him and saith deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransome We have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of our sins For which out shedding of blood is no remission Job 33.24 Col. 1.14 Hebr. 9.22 11. I believe that Jesus Christ our Lord himself is the redeemer They remembred that God was their rock and the high God their redeemer Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and Gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your Fathers But with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot Psa. 78.35 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 12. I believe that the great reason why the Lord the second person in the God-head did cloth himself with our flesh and blood was that he might be capable of obtaining the redemption that before the world was intended for us Forasmuch then as the children were made partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same mark that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divel and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage When the fulness of the time was Come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a mercifull and faithfull high priest in things pertaining to God To make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that himself hath suffered being tempted he is able also to succour them that are tempted Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us As it is written cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through faith in Jesus Christ. Heb. 2.14 15. Gal. 4 4. Heb. 2. 17 18. Gal. 3.13 14. 13. I believe that the time when he clothed himself with our flesh was in the dayes of the reign of Caesar Augustus then I say and not till then was the word made flesh or clothed with our nature And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed And Joseph went up from Galilee out of the City of Nazareth unto Judah unto the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and linage of David to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child And so it was that while they were there the dayes were accomplished that she should be delivered This child was he of whom godly Simeon was told by the holy Ghost when he said That he should not see death untill he had seen the Lord Christ. Joh 1.14 1 Tim. 3.16 Luk. 2.1 2 3 6.25 26 27. 14. I believe therefore that this very child as afore is testified is both God and man the Christ of the living God And she brought forth her first born son and wrapt him in swadling clothes and laid him in a manger Because there was no room for them in the inn And there were in the same Countrey shepheards keeping watch over their flock by night And Lo the Angel of the Lord came upon them and the Glory of the Lord shined round about them and they were sore afraid And the Angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people For unto you is born this day in the City of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you you shall find the babe wrapped in swadling clothes lying in a manger Again But while he thought on these things behold the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him saying Joseph thou son of David fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the holy Ghost And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Now all this was done that it might be fullfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying Behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us Luk. 2.7 12. Mat. 1.21 22. 15. I believe therefore that the righteousness and redemption by which we that believe stand just before God as saved from the curse of the Law is the righteousness and redemption that consists in the personal acts performancas of this child Jesus this God man the Lords Christ it consisteth I say in his personal fulfilling the law for us to the utmost requirement of the justice of God Do not think said he that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophet I am not come to destroy but to fulfill By which means he became the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own son in the likeness of sinfull flesh and and for sin oondemned sin in the flesh So finishing
21. I believe that when he comes his saints shall have a reward of grace for all their work and labour of Love which they shewed to his name in the world And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour And then shall every man have praise of God And behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be Wherefore my beloved brethren be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as ye know your labour is not in vain in the Lord Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ 1 Cor. 3.8 chap. 4.5 Rev. 22.12 1 Cor. 15 58. Col 3 24. How Christ is made ours or by what means this or that man hath that benefit by him us to stand just before God now and in the day of judgement 1. I believe we being sinfull Creatures in our selves that no good thing done by us can procure of God the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But that the imputation thereof is an act of grace a free gift without our deserving Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. He called us and saved us with an holy calling Not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus Rom. 3.24 chap. 5.17 2 Tim. 1 9. 2. I believe also that the power of imputing righteousness resideth onely in God by Christ 1 Sin being the transgression of the Law 2. The soul that hath sinned being his creature and the righteousness also his and his onely Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sin is covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Hence therefore it is said again that men shall abundantly utter the memory of his great goodness and sing of his righteousness For he saith in Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion So then it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy Rom. 4.6 7. Psal. 145.7 Rom. 9.15 16. 3. I believe that the offer of this righteousness as tendered in the Gospell is to be received by faith we still in the very act of receiving it judging our selves sinners in our selves Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved The Gospel is preached in all nations for the obedience of faith Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation a sacrifice to appease the displeasure of God through faith in his blood To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifyer of him that believeth on Jesus Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justifyed from all things from which they could not be justifyed by the law of Moses Rom 7.24 Act. 16.31 Rom 3.24.25 Act. 13.38 39. 4. I believe that this faith as it respecteth the imputation of this righteousness for justification before God doth put forth it self in such acts as purely respect the offer of a gift It receiveth accepteth of imbraceth or trusteth to it As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospell of your salvation In whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy spirit of promise I believe therefore that as to my justication from the curse of the Law I am as I stand in my self ungodly to receive accept of imbrace and trust to the righteousness that is already provided by and wrapt up in the personal doings and sufferings of Christ it being faith in that and that onely that can justify a sinner in the sight of God Joh. 1.12 1 Tim. 1.15 Heb. 11.13 Eph. 1.13 5. I believe that the faith that so doth is not to be found with any but those in whom the Spirit of God by mighty power doth work it all others being fearfull and incredulous dare not venture their souls and eternity upon it And hence it is called the faith that is wrought by the exceeding great and mighty power of God The faith of the operation of God And hence it is that others are said to be fearfull and so unbelieving These with other ungodly sinners must have their part in the lake of fire Eph. 1.18 19. Col. 2.12 Eph. 2.8 Phil. 1.19 Rev. 21.8 6. I bilieve that this faith is effectually wrought in none but those which before the world were appointed unto Glory And as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed That he might make known the riches of his Glory upon the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto Glory We give thanks unto God alwayes for you all making mention alwayes of you in our prayers remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God knowing brethren beloved your election of God But of the rest he saith ye believed not because ye are not of my sheep as I said which latter words relate to the 16. v. which respecteth the election of God Joh. 10.26 Therefore they could not believe because Esaias said again he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and I should heal them Act. 13.48 Rom. 9.23 1 Thes. 1.2 3 4. Joh. 10.26 chap. 12 38 39 40. Of Election 1. I believe that Election is free and permanent being founded in Grace and the unchangeable will of God Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of Grace And if by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of works then it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more work Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal the Lord knoweth who are his In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
he bringth them to the moral precept â—o prove the sincerity of his good conversation by Acts 20.28.32.33 And when men have juggled what they can and made never such a prattle about religion yet if their greatest excellency as to the visibility of their Saintship lyeth in an outward conformity to an outward circumstance in religion their profession is not worth two mites Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenss not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envy but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Rom. 13.13 14. And it is observable That after the Apostle had in the 9th and 10th verses of this chapter told us that the moral precept is the rule of a good conversation and exhorted us to make no provision for the flesh he adds these things provided we may receive any that believe in Christ Jesus unto communion with us how weak soever and dark in circumstantialls and chiefly designs the proof thereof in the remaining part of his Epistle For he that is of sound Faith and of conversation honest in the world no man however he may fail in circumstances may lightly reproach or vilify him And indeed such persons are honour of Christian congregations Indeed he is prejudiced for want of light in those things about which he is dark as of Baptism or the like but seeing that is not the initiating ordinance or the visible character of a Saint yea seeing it maketh no breach in a good and holy life nor intrencheth upon any mans right but his own and seeing his Faith may be effectual without it and his life approved by the worst of his enemies why should his friends while he keeps the Law dishonour God by breaking of the same Speak not evil one of another brethren he that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speak evil of the Law and judgeth the Law But if thou judge the Law thou art not a doer of the Law but a judge Jam. 4.11 He that is judged must needs fail somewhere in the apprehension of him that judgeth him else why is he judged But he must not fail in substance for then he is worthy to be judged 1 Cor. 5.12 his failure is then in a circumstance for which he ought not to be judged Object But notwithstanding all that you have said Water baptism ought to go before Church-membership shew me one in all the New Testament that was received into fellowship without it Answ. 1. That Water-baptism hath formerly gone first is granted But that it ought of necessity so to do I never saw proof 2. None ever received it without light going before unless they did play the Hypocrite And besides on marvail though in the primitive times it was so generally practised first for the unconverted themselves know it belonged to the Disciples of Jesus Christ. Joh 1.24 25 26 27. Yet that all that were received into fellowship were even then baptized first would strain a weak mans wit to prove it if arguments were closely made upon these three texts of holy scriptures 1 Cor. 1.14 15 16 Gal. 37.27 Rom 6.3 But I pass them and say If you can shew me the Christian that in the primitive times remained dark about it I will shew you the Christian that was received wthout it But should I grant more then can be proved viz. That Baptism were the initiating ordinance and that it once did as circumcision of old give a being of membership to the partakers yea set the case that men were forbidden then to enter into fellowship without it yet the case may so bee that these things notwithstanding men might be received into fellowship without it All these things intailed to circumcision That was the initiating ordinance that gave being of membership that was it without which it was positively commanded none should be received into fellowship Jos. 5. Yet for all this more then six hundred thousand were received into the Church without it yea received and also retained there and that by Moses and Joshua even those to whom the Land was promised when the uncircumcised were cut off But why then were they not circumcised Doubtless there was a reason either they wanted time or opportunity or instruments or something But they could not â—ender a bigger reason then this I have no light therein which is the cause at this day that many a faithful man denyeth to take up the ordinance of Baptism But I say what ever the hinderance was it mattereth not our brethren have a manifest one an invincible one one that all the men on earth nor Angels in heaven cannot remove For it is God that createth light and for them to do it without light would but prove them unfaithfull to themselves and make them sinners against God For whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14. If therefore Moses and Joshuah thought fit to communicate with six hundred thousand uncircumcised persons when by the Law not one such ought to have been received among them why may not I have communion the closest communion with visible Saints as afore described although they want light in and so cannot submit to that which of God was never made the wall of division betwixt us I shall therefore hold communion with such First Because the true visible Saint hath already subjected to that which is better even to the righteousness of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ by which he stands just before God he also hath made the most exact and strict rule under heaven that whereby he squares his life before men He hath like precious Faith with the best of Saints and a conversation according to light received becoming the Gospell of Christ He is therefore to be received received I say not by thy light not for that in circumstances he jumpeth with thy opinion but according to his own Faith which he ought to keep himself before Gâ—d Conscience I say not thine own but of the other For why is my liberty judged by another mans conscience 1 Cor. 10.29 Some indeed do object that what the Apostles wrote they wrote to gathered Chruches and so to such as were baptized And therefore the arguments that are in the Epistles about things circumstantial respect not the case in hand But I will tell such that as to the first part of their objection they are utterly under a mistake The first to the Corinthians The Epistle of James both them of Peter and the first Epistle of John were expresly written to all the Godly as well as particular Churches Again if Water-baptism as the circumstances with which the Churches were pestered of old trouble their peace wound the consciences of the Godly dismember and break their fellowships it is although an ordinance for the present to be prudently shunned for the edification of the Church as I shall shew anon is to be preferred before it
Secondly and observe it One Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptism not of Water for by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one body one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all is a sufficient rule for us to hold communion by also to endeavour the maintaining that communion and to keep it in unity within the bond of peace against all attempts what soever Eph. 4.1 6. 1 Cor. 12.16 Thirdly I am bold therefore to have communion with such Heb. 6.2 Because they also have the doctrin of Baptisms I say the doctrins of them For here you must note I distinguish between the doctrin and practise of Water-baptism The Doctrin being that which by the outward sign is presented to us or which by the outward circumstance of the act is preached to the believer viz. The death of Christ My death with Christ also his resurrection from the Dead and mine with him to newness of life This is the doctrin which Baptism preacheth or that which by the outward action is signifyed to the believing receiver Now I say he that believeth in Jesus Christ that richer and better then that viz. is dead to sin and that lives to God by him he hath the heart power and doctrine of Baptism all then that he wanteth is but the sign the shadow or the outward circumstance thereof Nor yet is that despised but forborn for want of light The best of Baptisms he hath he is Baptized by that one spirit he hath the heart of Water-baptism he wanteth only the outward shew which if he had would not prove him a truly visible Saint it would not tell me he had grace in his heart It is no Characteristical note to another of my Sonship with God Indeed 't is a sign to the person Baptized and an help to his own Faith he should know by that circumstance that he hath received remission of sins if his Faith be as true as his being Baptized is felt by him But if for want of light he partake not of that sign his Faith can see it in other things exceeding great and precious promises Yea as I also have hinted already if he appear not a Brother before he appeareth not a Brother by that And those that shall content themselves to make that the note of visible Church-membership I doubt make things not much better the note of their sonship with God Fourthly I am bold to hold communion with visible Saints as afore because God hath communion with them whose example in the case we are streightly commanded to follow Receive you one another as Christ Jesus hath received you saith Paul to the glory of God Rom. 15.1 6. Yea though they be Saints o opinions contrary to you though it goeth against the mind of them that are strong We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves What infirmityes Those that are natural are incident to all they are infirmityes then that are sinfull that cause a man for want of light to erre in circumstantials And the reason upon which he ground this admonition is that Christ pleased not himself but as it is written the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me You say to have communion with such weak brethren reproacheth your opinions and practise Grant it your dulness and deadness and imperfections also reproach the holyness of God If you say no for Christ hath born our sins The answer is still the same Their sins also are fallen upon Christ He then that hath taken away thy sins from before the throne of God hath taken away their shortness in conformity to an outward circumstance in religion Both your infirmityes are fallen upon Christ yea if notwithstanding thy great sins thou standest by Christ compleat before the Throne of God why may not thy Brother notwithstanding his little ones stand compleat before thee in the Church Vain man Think not by the streightness of thine order in outward and bodily conformity to outward and shadowish circumstances that thy peace is maintained with God for peace with God is by Faith in the blood of his cross who hath born the reproaches of you both Wherefore he that hath communion with God for Christs sake is as good and as worthy of the communion of Saints as thy self He erreth in a circumstance thou errest in a substance who must bear these errors Upon whom must these reproaches fall Phil. 1.10 Some of the things of God that are excellent have not been approved by some of the Saints What then Must these for this be cast out of the Church No these reproaches by which the wisedom of heaven is reproached have falâ—en upon me saith Christ. But to return God hath received him Christ hath received him therefore do you receive him There is more solidity in this argument then if all the Churches of God had received him This receiving then because it is set an example to the Church is such as must needs be visible to them and it best described by that word which discovereth the visible Saint Who so therefore you can by the word judge a visible Saint one that walketh with God you may judge by the self same word that God hath received him Now him that God receiveth and holdeth communion with him you should receive and hold communion with Will any say we cannot believe that God hath received any but such as are Baptized I will not suppose a Brother so stupifyed and therefore to that I will not answer Receive him to the Glory of God To the Glory of God is put in on purpose to shew what dishonour they bring to God who despise to have communion with them who yet they know have communion with God For how doth this man or that Church glorify God or count the wisdom and holyness of heaven beyond them when they refuse communion with them concerning whom they are by the word convinced that they have communion with God Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus Rom. 15.5 By this word Patience Paul insinuateth how many imperfections the choycest Christians do mingle their best performances with And by this of consolation how readily God overlooks passeth by them and comforteth you notwithstanding Now that this mind should be in Christians one to another is manifest bcause Paul praies that it might be so But this is an heavenly gift and therefore must be fetched from thence But let the patience of God and the willingness of Christ to bear the reproaches of the weak and the consolations that they have in God notwithstanding moderate your passions and put you upon prayer to be minded like Jesus Christ. Fifthly Because a failure in such a circumstatce as Water doth not unchristian us This must needs be granted not onely from what was said before but for that thousands