being also but an object of sense but being out of the body this also vanisheth as to the reasonable soul for then the spirit of man seeth by its own light a light suitable to its own nature but what it is we know not for although the light and darkness of this World is light and darkness to our sense yet to God they are neither for darkness and light are both alike to thee saith the Psalmist Psal 139.11 12. so is it to the spirits of all good and bad men and Angels being the next created nature to the uncreate nature of God How Quest and by what light doth God see and perceive thing I answer by his own light If you ask me what that light is I answer it is his Essence And if you ask me what his Essence is I answer none but himself can tell no created nature either of men or Angels The Text saith God is light and in him is no darknesse at all who only hath immortality and dwelleth in that light which no man can approach unto 1 Joh. 1.5 1 Tim. 6.16 whom no man hath seen nor can see To whom be honour and power everlastingly Amen But it will be objected the Text saith 1 Joh. 3.2 we shall know him as he is As it is in the Text it is true that is when Christ who is God-man shall appear we shall see him as he is and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure and thus we shall know him as he is that is as he shall be pleased to manifest himself according to our measure or capacity the which manifestations are three the Scripture speaks of no more Quest What is the first It is this inferior World Answ as travelling by the force of Christs imputed righteousness as is proved whence it is That his tender mercies are over all his works Psal 147.6 From this ground ariseth his kindness to the just and unjust Mat. 5.45 Acts 17.27 that they should seek the Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us and this is the first manifestation Quest What 's the second Answ His sacred Oracles the old and new Testament a far more neer and clear manifestation of God yet this is dark 1 Cor. 13.12 and thorough a glasse in comparison of the third What 's the third manifestation Quest It is the Heaven of Heavens Answ a place purposely created by God the most immediate expressions of himself in most splendide lustre of divine glory that Angels or man made perfect in a spirituallized body can be capable of in their ultimate comprehensions I say a place created because whatsoever is a Creature is limited in its Essence and therefore confinable to place and this is according to our measure for no Creature is able to behold the naked Essence of the infinite Jehovah wherein our comprehensions would be confounded or swallowed up for it is only proper to his infinite Essence to be without circumference Hence we may observe the silly and shallow seducements of these worms I mean the Familistical crew who dreamingly think that they are he But you will ask this Question Quest How the infinite Essence of God can be both out and in the natures motions and lives of persons and things and not He to be their Essence nor they his by mixture of natures That in regard the Text affirms That in him we live Answ move and have our being it is unquestionably true in it self he being infinite and the word him points out he as not we and the word we points out we as not he and it is one thing that it is so and another thing for men and Angels piercingly to know the manner how it is for although the Angels know it much more than we can that are in an Elementary body of sense and sin yet there is such a disproportion betwixt a finite and an infinite that they can never reach the manner how That secret efflux by which the Divine nature continues the being of Creatures in himself that they can never reach it being so immediate and they know not how themselves live and move for they cannot know beyond their created measure received from their maker But as for us we must beleeve it because the Text saith it and there rest and as for the manner how it is only known to God himself for the truth is we know little or nothing we know not the manner how a pile of grasse groweth or how one hair of our head nor the manner how our stature is increased for it is one thing to know we are increased and another thing to know the manner how in which we can do no more than the Mother knowes how the bones of her Infant growes in her womb or whether it be male or female till it be born And the Text saith Loe these are parts of his wayes but how little a part is heard of him Job 26.14 Eccles 11.5 as thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her which is with Child even so thou knowest not the works of God which maketh all Again The spirit of man returns to God who gave it that is for an enjoyment of his presence and love which is better than life thus the Apostate Angels went out from God Psal 63.3 for they left their own habitation and were puffed up they did aspire to be God himself as did we in our first Parents to be as Gods and thus do the Familistical Quakers and fall into the condemnation of the Devil but the spirit of man may return to God that gave it Jud. v. 6. 1 Tim. 3.6 As the spirit of right beleevers do and enjoy his love which is better than life but this is not the returning to God meant in the Text. In your second Treatise Object and in this it is affirmed that whatsoever is in God is he therefore that potency and radical vertue which you say was in God himself out of which he produced all Creatures consequently that vertue and all Creatures are as God himself especially the spirit of man is Gods own Essence and shall as the Familists say return into the same Essence consequently there shall remain no individuals existently to be damned or saved in blisse or torments to eternity This conclusion thus drawn from the premises Answ arises from their ignorance of two things the one is not knowing or beleeving the Scriptures for if the Scriptures were known and beleeved this Objection would have died in its conception and never come to its birth because it positively denies what the Scripiture affirms that is Gods final end for which he made both men and Angels and all things subservient to them and their use And in this end the whole Ocean of all his glory terminates consequently
in power Vers 7. So that you were an example to all that beleeve in Macedonia and Accaia that is that beleeve according to the judgement of charity for of such onely the visible Churches under the Gospel were constituted being admitted by Baptisme So Peter applyes the word Elect to the visible members of Christ scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Asia 1 Pet. 1.1 2. and Bithinia Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience c. So Paul stileth the Gospel whose most proper residence is in the visible Churches of Christ and their beleeving there in the faith of Gods Elect Paul Tit. 1.1 a Servant of God and a Servant of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect and acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness likewise saith Paul I endure all things for the Elects sake 2 Tim. 2.2.10 that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory Sometimes this word Elect is applyed to particular members of the visible Church 2 Joh. 1.13 the elder unto the Elect Lady and her Children 1 Joh. 1.13 whom I love in the truth the Children of thine Elect Sister great thee Amen Sometimes this word Elect is applyed to the universall visible Church of Christ but most particularly to all right beleevers therein And shall not God avenge his own Elect Luk. 18.7 which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily and so he did avenge divers times the visible Church of the Jews upon their Adversaries as he now doth on the behalf of the Church of the Gentiles against their enemies And sometimes this word Elect is applyed more close as to the invisible members of Christ which are those that purely worship him in spirit and in truth And the Psalmist saith Thou choosest to thy self the godly man Psal 4. for these are such as are known to God onely and not to men infallibly Hence saith the Apostle the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his infallibly for that 's implyed 2 Tim. 2.19 To this point our Saviour speaks Then shall he send his Angels and gather together his Elect from the four winds Mark 13.27 Mat. 24.31 from the utmost part of Heaven And he shall send his Angels with the great sound of Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other So that the scope of the new Testament concerning Election runs according to the scope of the old but neither speaks for the foresaid threefold erroneous elections CHAP. IV. Answering some familistical Objections against the premises FOr they deny all Elections and rejections of mankind as well those that are true as those that are false both from several Texts which I have answered in my second Treatise Eccles 12.7 and from Eccles 12.7 the words are Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it that is say they the body being returned to his dust the spirit returns to God to be essentially his nature and therefore there shall be no individuals of men to be saved or damned to eternity for all shall be God This Objection takes for granted that to be a truth Answ 1 which is a lye and unpossible for Psal 147.5 The Text affirms Psal 147.5 God is infinite and the Heathen man could say He is all Center and no circumference and an infinite admits of no diminition nor addition for then it ceaseth to be infinite Secondly I answer according to the being of a thing such is its operation therefore if the spirit which is in man be infinite let it produce suitable operations and wee 'l beleeve it as did our Lord that was personally God-man yet the divine nature did not animate a humane body as doth the soul and spirit of man as these men dream and he did produce suitable actions for he laid down his humane body in death and took it up again he walked on the waters with the soals of his feet and in an instant turned water into wine and gave the man sight that was born blind And if they be God why do they not cause the Sun to go back so many degrees as pleaseth them and command the Seas and the winds to obey them for Christ by his heavenly Doctrine confirmed by numerous miracles was mightily declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 2 Tim. 3.12 13. but you are declared to be as you are as saith the Apostle that is evill men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Again I answer 'T is true The spirit returneth to God who gave it but it is one thing that it returns to God another thing that it returns to be God which is impossible as is proved But you will demand of me in what sense according to the Text doth the spirit of man return to God that gave it I answer negatively and affirmatively Negatively thus The Spirit is no neerer in its nature to the nature of God when it is out of the body than when it is in the body for both body and spirit do live and move and have their being in his essence for the Text saith Act. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being Again I answer As that being which all created natures have is bottomed in the being and essence of God on which it depends so as it cannot move the breadth of a hair further or neerer by its own local motion nor by death neither by annihilating it self for even wicked men are so bottomed upon his being that they may be to be tormented to eternity although they seek death or annihilation so saith the Text. They shall seek death Rev. 6. and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flye from them and the ground why he will thus continue men and Angels to eternity is for his final ends sake for which he made all that they might be Vessels of honour or dishonour according to their works Secondly Affirmatively I answer the spirit of man returns neerer to God in its own apprehension of him when it is out then when it was in the body both of good and bad men for while it is in the body there are several mediums that do interpose its apprehensions of God but when it hath left the body these mediums do vanish and therefore it hath then a more immediate apprehension of God But you will ask me what are these mediums I answer they are primarily three The first is its body of sense in which it is involved and the spirit while it lives in it receives all objects by its five senses as doth a Bruit The second medium is the frame of this inferior World it
denies Angels and Spirits and the Resurrection as did the Sadduces but to those seduced spirits our Lord answered and said unto them Ye do erre not knowing the Scriptures And this error is the first ground upon which this Objection is built But our Lord stayed not there but said neither do ye know the power of God Mat. 22.29 Act. 23.8 that is not knowing or beleeving his infiniteness and the Text affirms he is infinite therefore your ignorance of this is a second ground of your objection And you measure him by your reason or your reasoning which is as if you would empty the Ocean into an Egg-she therefore you cannto but erre And for further explanation how Gods potency and vertue which was essentially in himself and spirited out of himself by Creation yet is not now himself I refer the Reader to my second Treatise pag. 104 105 106. But secondly I answer that all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth principally men and Angels are but a remote shadow of his being and not his being which is the fountain of life for they are all but meer dependents upon his Essence as Job affirms of the Earth It hangs by nothing that is no created thing but dependent upon him as an accident to a substance as for example witheness upon a wall depends on the wall yet the wall was a wall before and will be when that whiteness shall be washed off so God was before all things were created in its dependence upon him And he will be the same though he should please to wash away the whole Creation by an annihilation but for his final ends sake he will never do this as is proved And thou O man who thus disputest to be he art but a remote shadow of him and canst thou imagine the shadow of thy body to be thee or to comprehend what thou art much lesse art thou he or ever wilt be nor able to comprehend him But do thou dispute and beleeve thine own disputings 2 Chron. 20.20 And I will beleeve the Lord and his Prophets so shall I surely prosper but he that will not so beleeve shall be damned Mark 16.16 And in that word he points at thee if thou repent not for the wanton despising and such disputing out thy precious time against Gods long patience which as by a hand of mercy would lead thee to return unto himself to be happy for ever for at the end of our lives when the dust returns to the Earth as it was the spirit shall return to God that gave it and can do no other for then it will be stripped of all those mediums which did interpose its naked approach to God in its apprehension and shall see it self returned to the alone disposing of God and this is the meaning of the Text and the spirit shall return to God that gave it that is to be sent to its place of weal or woe Luk. 12. â—7 according to his works as is figuratively laid down between Dives and Lazrus So much for answer to the blasphemous abuse of this Text. CHAP. V. In which is further amplified the Errors of the Familists and four Quere's answered as to the point of Election ANd in the first place take notice from what ground these men deny the sacred Oracles of God and prayer to him as our heavenly Father and all Ordinances as tending to mans salvation that is from the same ground that the Angels fell which is that they abode not in the truth of God and from the same ground that we in our first Parents fell beleeving not his word of truth So this sort of men forsake the truth and beleeve a lie that is a fancy which they name a light within them and the divine nature and Christ they call their light by the name of Christ But what saith our Lord to these men Joh. 8.44 Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye will do and concludes he is a lyer and the Father of lies But you wil say your own grounds imply Object you need not pray as it is in that which you call the Lords Prayer your Father in Heaven because you affirm you are in his Essence and cannot be out of it Then if he be so neer you what need you pray to him at all much lesse as in Heaven a great way off Though it be true that he is so near us Answ yet that is false which you infer form thence That we need not pray for we need to pray because of the foresaid mediums between our spirit and he and it is formerly proved those mediums are three That is this World being but an object of sense and the body of man being but a sensitive thing and the spirit of it self involed in a body of sin and of errors and mistakes Therefore although he be so neer we have great cause to pray unto him to manifest himself unto our spirits as did he that said Lord I beleeve help my unbeleef Again I answer The nature of sin in our mind carries in it enmity to God and therefore our minde being conscious to our sin in our apprehensions keeps at a distance from him therefore as neer as he is unto us we had need to pray unto him to shew himself to us for it is one thing that he is so neer and another thing to beleeve that he is so neer as for example If a man be as neer to one that is blind as possible may be if he neither feel him nor hear him he is to him as if he were 1000. miles off and this is our case by reason of these three mediums before specified therefore we have need to pray to God to draw neer to us not in his Essence for neerer he cannot be but in the manifestation of his mercy and goodness he may Again Our Lord taught us to pray to our Father as in Heaven because it is the ultimate manifestation of his transcendent glory that Men and Angels can be capable of and a place created purposely for that end in which we shall center in him to all eternity therefore we begin our Lords Prayer with Our Father which art in Heaven and conclude it with Thine is the Kingdom power and glory Again Because it is Jehovah that makes a barren Wilderness fruitful and a fruitful Land barren therefore he being so neer us we may the rather pray Give us this day our daily bread that is a competent maintenance for us and ours during this life which is our day Again Because the Apostate Angels do multiply and advance their Kingdom of darkness by mens beleeving lies and lying vanities so forsaking their own mercies and principally this Familistical Crew seemingly Angels of light to deceive therefore in regard God is so neer unto us I say we may the rather pray Let thy Kingdom come and will be done by removing those numerous errors and blasphemies which
therefore neither of these were lost in Adams fall The third distinction is as concerning the freedom of the will to righteousness that is rightly to choose Gods word and God himself as his cheefest good and rightly to refuse whatsoever is contrary to this Man in the fall lost all this totally and whatsoever else did tend to blessedness for although God created his nature in righteousness and holiness yet holiness and righteousness was not his nature for if it had been so it could not have been lost in the fall for the being of the Creature depended not upon the standing or falling of Adam but upon the Essence of God onely Now that which did depend upon his standing or falling was every thing that any way tended to his happiness and nothing else therefore the Lord Jesus Christ by all his works does no way extend to the being but to the blessedneses of the Creatures wherefore if man would have blessedness he must look only to Christ and keep to his rules for he is the Authour of eternal salvation to all that obey him otherwise not for that 's implyed If it be objected Object that consequently it followes that the salvation of the Saints is altogether uncertain and so there is a possibility that none shall be saved 'T is true Answ there is such a possibility in the nature of the two foresaid Contingencies as also in the nature of original sin to byas the will to evil and in these three respects it is possible that all the Saints may fail of salvation yet notwithstanding the Contingencies pronounced by the tenor of the Gospel that is He that beleeves and continues to the end shall be saved that 's implyed if not shall be damned And notwithstanding the wills natural liberty or the wills being thus byassed by original sin yet it is far more possible for all the Saints to be saved then it is possible for them to be damned for the Gospel-tenor pronounces salvation to beleevers and they are by faith possessed of the chiefest good therefore the wills natural liberty hath more reason to keep to the highest good which it hath possession of because it is suitable to the natural property of the will to follow good as the eye to follow light therefore much more this true good of which it is possessed before any other seeming good And whereas the will is byassed by original sin to evil the will in the Saints is much more byassed according to the degrees of their graces to that which is good by Regeneration because Regeneration in the nature of it contains virtually at least the spirit of love of power and a sound minde therefore it is more possible that all the Saints shall be saved then any of them should fail of salvation by the three Contingencies aforesaid If it be objected Object That Satans temptations and the Worlds alurements do forcibly draw out original sin to a custom in actual sin and so it is likewise possible that the Saints may fall totally from good to evil If they exercise that degree of their spirit of love Answ of power and a sound minde then they shall finde that he that is in them is stronger then a world of Devils and wicked men and their own corruptions to carry them on from strength to strength in Syon to that stability as never to fall as is formerly proved If it be objected Object The Saints through negligence in exercise of their graces may loose their first love and make shipwrack of that faith and conscience that was once good and so may fall totally away In this case there is far more danger Answ then in the former contingencies except they return in time but if they do timely return although their strength be brought very lowe and weak yet if they do return in that small strength which remains they may be saved for two reasons First Because then God will pardon their sin for to the Saints it is that the Text saith If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins c. Secondly If they return in time in that small strength which remains Christ by his spirit will assist and comfort them in that return if their strength be but as a bruised Reed or smoaking Flax for to such he saith Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will refresh you Thus he did to David and Peter and so he will to any other for he is the same God to the Saints which suffer ship-wrack by their own negligence now as then But they must thus come and return which is repentance for God forceth or compelleth the will of no man for then mans will is no will no more then he doth make a man to be man without a reasonable soul for so he is no man Again I answer If the Saints do give diligence and shake off negligence adding to their faith vertue as is described then God will make his word of an immortal force by the power of Christs spirit and keep them through faith unto salvation and establish them as Mount Sion that shall never be moved therefore it is far more possible that all the Saints may be saved then to fail of salvation Now the ground of the point is this To the Saints that so exercise as a reward of their works and labor of love through divers temptations God will habitually manifest himself virtually to the will which will draw the will habitually and hold it to himself virtually at least and on this particular depends their stability But what this manifestation is shall be proved in the next Chapter CHAP. VIII In which is proved what is that manifestation that so drawes the will to keep to God virtually at the least FIrst It is written Luke 24. Luk. 24.13 Our Lord appeared to the eleven Apostles and the two men that went to Emmaus and opened to them the Oracles of God which spake of himself Ver. 44. And the Text saith Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures that is more clearly the mystery of his sufferings and Resurrection Verses 45 46 47. This further clearing of the understanding in the Saints in order to their perseverance and to the Apostles in order to their Ministery contains in it two things The one is right information to the understanding of the word of God as here we see Christ to these two men informs them of his sufferings and Resurrection The other is He illuminates their minds by his spirit to a more right understanding of his word and so this illumination adds more light to the understanding of the truth of God in his holy Oracles and so the will is rightly drawn to God for as sin and error shuts up the understanding and will of the Saints hindering their perseverance so this information and illumination carries them on to the said stability
their power and houre of darkness upon this distressed Creature sitting in darkness and can see no light yet God for his glory sake secretly preserves the minde so to himself That when Satan thinks himself surest of his prey God then will set the soul at liberty by his word and spirit in this life and then will in effect say to Satan as of Job What sayest thou to my Servant Job c. or else by taking him into eternal glory and so Satan looseth his prey for ever Doth not Heman mean Quest when he saith Thy terrors hath cut me off as did Job I choose strangling rather then to live then if Heman or Iob had strangled themselves had not God then lost his glory in that Satan had got the prey I answer Answ Satan had not got his prey though he had hanged himself nor God lost the glory of his grace but the redundancy thereof to eternity How is this possible to be true Quest for they which do so die in an act of sin which nature abhorrs that is the destruction of it self I answer You must consider what capacity Heman and Iob were in namely right beleevers therefore not in an estate of unbeleef as was Achitophel and Judas that hanged themselves for dying such they are cut off from all pardon of sin because the sin of unbeleef in such cuts off all hope of pardon And whereas you say they died in the act of sin it is true yet it is as true in this case they are not themselves by reason of their deep trouble and distemper of minde therefore if Iob had hanged himself yet it might be said of him as Paul in another case That which I do I allow not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that do I. If I do that which I would not I consent to the Law that it is good Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me So might Iob in this case say It is not I Rom. 7.15 but my most deep distemper that dwells in me which strangled me Again Whereas you sty that in this case he had departed this world in the act of sin I answer it is true a sin in a transcendent degree for if God forbids to murther another man much more a mans self yet saith our Lord Mat. 12.31 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven therefore this being not the sin against the holy Ghost in Iob a beleever would have been pardoned unto him for there is no man in Heaven nor never shall but Christ himself but came thither by a pardon of his sin Again I answer It is proved that all men who by a patient well-doing seek for honour and glory immortality and eternal life having not as yet the gift of faith and dying without it they ascend to the heavenly glory through the universal imputation of Christs righteousness notwithstanding the universal imputation of Adams one sin one committed nor notwithstanding their own sin against Christ for they ascend to Heaven in the same right that all mankind do dying in infancy which have the seed of original sin in them therefore much more a right beleever as in this case of Iob is presupposed for this particular act of sin so committed cannot totally extinguish the internal habit of inherent righteousness wherof justifying faith is one branch which cannot be extinguished but by a custom in sin which in the minde of man produces another nature therefore this internal habit did detain in it self a virtual tendency to Christ its most proper Object although but as smoaking flax or a bruised Reed therefore in the very act of strangling Faiths virtual force will move to Christ its own objects as Ionas in the deep Seas from out the Whales belly the motions of his minde moved to Christ the true Temple then standing at Ierusalem so holy men in this disconsolate condition in the depth of sorrows and distractions their memory is renewed in beleef to receive comfort in the satisfactory righteousness of Iesus Christ as for example in London at the Counter in the Poultry Mr. Mercer being arrested in his passion slew the Sergeant and was hanged in the place The godly Ministers and his friends desired him when he was turned off the ladder during the time of his strangling if he did finde any divine consolation from God to give them some manifestation thereof the which he did by lifting up both his hands three times to his head notwithstanding his former deep sorrowes and his present pain his body so hanging yet he had the use of his minde and memory to give them the foresaid sign Doubtless so it is in this case concerning godly men that when Satan thinks himself surest of his prey he is furthest from attaining his desired end And thus God turns the rebound of his glory to himself in the salvation of holy men from so great a misery Also I remember Mr. Fox in the Acts and Monuments of the Church of a Martyr saith His godly friends desired him when he was in the flames that if such a sharp dissolution were sufferable with comfort to give some sign to them And notwithstanding the sharpness of the flame he being much burnt and their expectation as it were past hope yet then his comfort was internally so clear that his minde remembred the promise to his friends and gave a sign by lifting up both his hands three times to his head in those fierce flames to the great amazement of the people and the establishment of the godly at the which the people gave a great shout Is it so that the Saints of God by not improving their graces according to their measure received may turn that affliction which God inflicts on them for an honourable tryal into a dishonourable sharp chastizement as did Job under the execution of Satans second Commission Then hence observe that this case carries along in it a contingency as to the Saints of God and not an immutable current which cannot be turned by them another way for here we see Iob altered its course wherefore God proceeded against him for his fault as is proved therefore ye Saints of God keep to the exercise of your graces according to your measure or degrees given you by the word and Spirit of truth and be sure to operate according to the Scriptures direction for as from thence did arise the truth of your grace so from thence must arise your growth in grace and perseverance therein therefore make not the consultations with flesh and blood nor your vain imaginations your Religion as do those Saints which fall away to be Quakers and Familists not onely to the destruction of themselves but to the destruction of the Faith of many others by calling their fleshly wisdom and vain imaginations by the name of Christ and the divine
must ground upon a lye and nothing else for you deny the increate word of God the second Elohim in Trinity Joh. 1.1 Who in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God And secondly You deny the Scriptures to be the word of God and so you leave the World no word of God but the light forsooth that is within you so much for your second point Thirdly you affirm There is no word of God but that light which is in man To this I need give no answer having proved a twofold word of God but because you did affirm your light within to be the word of God I desired you to prove it thereupon you alleaged the 1. of Iohn and the 1. Vers In the beginning was the word c. To which I answered That word which was with God and was God was the second Elohim in Iehovah or in the Trinity and he did create all things and without him was not any thing made that was made but what I pray you did that light within you create what were the things which it created and made for the Lord Jesus Christ himself who is personally God-man simply so created nothing that is as he is Christ yet you would have your light which you call Christ to be a creator of you know not what And because I affirm that the word that was with God and was God being the second person in Trinity this stirred up the light within you to deny the Trinity therefore I conclude that the light in you is darkness Yet neverthelesse I do grant that the Lord Jesus Christ as personally God-man the second Adam after the fall of the World by the first Adam immediately did as the faithful and true witness of God against the Apostate-Angels lies Rev. 3.14 as it were put a new Creation upon the works which God had made by virtue of his imputative righteousness interposing the imputative unrighteousness of Adam put the whole Creation in a travell until now from that bondage of corruption Rom. 8. to which it fell to be partakers of the glorious liberty of the Sons of God And this first Chapter of Iohn speaks to both that is what he did as he is the second Elohim in Iehovah and also to what he did as he was personally God-man Jesus Christ But what is all this to your Idoll light within which is your spiritual King Jesus and your Christ I and the same light which is in God himself I pray you let me ask you this question is not this to reproach Ichovah for you also attribute Creation to your light within so much to the third point Fourthly You affirm in your Book pag. 16. That that light in man is as the light is in God himself in whom is no darkness at all I answer This word light is a metaphor allluding to the light of this inferior Elementary World which light is not suitable to the reasonable soul of man nor spirits as Angels but to the eye of flesh as to man and beast yet no man certainly knowes what it is but in probability whether it be a quality a substance or a spirit therefore for its excellency the essence or nature of Iehovah is compared unto it the words are these God is light 1 Tim. 6.16 1 Joh. 1.5 in whom is no darkness at all who onely hath immortality dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto which no man hath seeen nor can see to whom be honour and power everlasting Amen Yet in your Book pag. 15. you affirm that this light which in the Text is the infinite Essence of God is the living and quickning holy or tender part of man the everlasting word of God by whom all things were made But herein you fall just with the Familists that the Essence of God is the tender part of man but as to those your elder Brethren in evill I have answered this point formerly in this very Treatise Pag. 19.27 And also in my second Treatise from pag. 104. to 108. Nevertheless I will say something of this point to you also And first I grant that this increate light the Essence of Jehovah our Elohims is in all men and in all things but not in your sense as to be any part of the nature of man or of any thing else for it is in him that we and all things else do live and move and have our being for as nothing is able to include him so is it impossible that he should be excluded by any thing But I pray you here take notice That although the sacred Essence of God be within and without all men yet this no way conduces to the happiness of man as you ignorantly affirm in several places of your Book and in pag. 19. it is affirmed to be the very principle of all true Religion I pray you is it such a principle to the Devills and all damned Creatures for their being life and motion is in him He that is being it self is the bottom of the being of all created nature and so it is of good and bad men to continue them to be happy or to be tormented to eternity otherwise they would all fall to nothing by an annihilation But God for his final ends sake will so continue them for ever now what that final end is I refer you to my second Treatise and thus for his final ends sake he upholds the Earth which hangs by nothing as saith the Text that is by no created thing and the Text saith He sitteth upon the Circle of the Earth and the truth is his infinite Essence is not only in and thorough all created Natures and Worlds but also his intrinsicall glory extends far beyond them all and he is where they are not nor any created thing ever were for in his intrinsical glory they all adde nothing unto him who is Jehovah our Elohims our own Jehovah and is this that which you call the tender part of man and so his happiness as you childishly affirm not knowing what you say Again I answer and grant It is a great happiness unto a godly mind to know and possess this infinite light which is both within and without us as he is pleased to stoop to our capacities as appeares Joh. 1.1 speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ personally God-man he saith That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life Here note that John had heard and seen Christ looking upon him and handled Christ by being in his Company But your Idoll Christ your light your everlasting word that same tender part of man was never visible but invisible for you say it is within so that you nor any man else can say what it is except a whimsey But in the second verse Iohn complains himself further saying the life was manifested we have
his flesh and bones with that reverence from God as he did the losse of his Children and his whole Estate as he did in the first Commission Another particular was this he had too high an esteem of his own uprightness wrought by the spirit of Christ in him who also assisted him to perfect patience under the first Commission consequently he did too much undervalue the glorious imputed righteousness of Christ in which was comprehended the pardon of his sin and eternal life included in the sacrifices which he daily offered therefore O ye Saints of God that are eminent in the fruits of righteousness beware you stumble not at this Rock but endevour with Paul to be found in Christs righteousness more and more in a sole dependencie onely on it for pardon of sin and eternal life And though ye endevour to grow in the fruits of inherent righteousness and at the best as compared to his esteem yours but as filthy rags or as drosse and dung as did Paul Formerly you affirm Object That man in order to become a Saint did in a patient seeking c. But now you affirm none have true patience but Saints According to the being or nature of a thing such is its workings Answ therefore that former patient seeking was but a shadow of this true patience or as to its perfect work for this patience in the Saints ariseth from the root of their inherent righteousness or sanctification which the former hath not but onely a previous disposedness towards it from a remote principle from whence they do by nature the things contained in the Law of Christ therefore the objection is without ground CHAP. XII In which is more fully opened the works of the Saints as under a dolorous and troubled minde IF it be objected The Apostle saith Object He that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him therefore the Saints are accepted of God for their own works of righteousness as to salvation Although this point be formerly answered Answ and also that I grant that their own works of righteousness is the ground of their acceptance yet I deny it in the sense objected for although Christs righteousness imputed is the Saints own righteousness and that upon a double ground the one is That righteousness is Gods free gift to all mankind as formerly is proved and so theirs with others and so accepted as others the other ground is this That work of Christs righteousness is by beleeving received by them Rom. 5.17 and in it abundance of grace and so a particular ground of their acceptance with God and no men else Again The Saints inherent work of righteousness in one particular branch doth act and work in the receiving of Christs righteousness namely Faith and so Christs righteousness is brought to be their own as the eye by its operation brings that light to be its own which was not its own Hence saith our Lord this is the work of God that ye beleeve so that the one righteousness as in it self is an external object of blessedness the other righteousness in this particular branch is the blessed act of reception and from this union with the subject and object according to the Text He that worketh righteousness is accepted of him and that in two respects First That mans person is accepted of God a member of Christs mystical body whereof he is the head Secondly That mans person is accepted the Son of God by adoption as saith the Text To as many as received him he gave this prerogative to be called the Sons of God even to as many as beleeved in his name You affirm formerly Object the reward from God proper to the works of the Saints is onely in this life by the increase of their graces consequently a more neerer and clearer union and Communion with God then what say you to Heman that holy man whose dayes of life from his youth were in dolor terror and horror Saith he to God Thy terrors have cut me off c. where was the increase of his graces Psal 88.16 either of Faith or love or the quiet fruits of righteousness the reward of his righteous works Questionless Answ He was a most holy man as appeares by his heavenly breathings from his woful minde thoroughout the Psalm therefore it is a hard case to give a right judgement in this particular whether his afflictions were for tryal or chastizement or for neither for this case is very rare and not ordinary for the sacred Scriptures as I remember doth not speak of one man the like as to the whole life of any therefore this is besides our point in hand as to Gods ordinary course of the Saints reward as is proved yet nevertheless in Scriptures we finde one extraordinary proceeding of God in the affliction of a particular man for a time as John 9. God denyed from the womb one man the light of this World being born blind whereupon the Disciples put the question to our Lord Who did sin this man or his Parents that he was born blind Jesus answered Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents that is not to so transcendent a heighth as to draw on this judgement for that 's implyed but he was so born with respect to Gods glory that Christ might prove himself to be he that was sent of God to give sight and light to man sitting in the shade of death and darkness and accordingly Christ and he met together and the man born blind received sight as never man the like So doubtless as this man so Heman was in some eminent respect to the glory of God for although God thus deeply afflicted him in sorrow and troubles of minde yet it is apparent God secretly preserved him and his minde to himself Vers 1. He saith Oh Jehovah Elohim of my salvation I have cryed day and night c. For God sometimes brings men to a low ebbe of distraction some in respect of Estate some in body and some in minde Psal 9.3 Ps 116 3. but we read not at so great a length as this man as to a troubled minde And then God saith to such men Return again ye Sons of men The Psalmist saith The sorrows of death compassed me the pangs of Hell got-hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow whereupon Vers 4. He prayed to God to deliver his soul and Vers 8. His soul was delivered So without doubt God granted Hemans unfeigned prayers either delivering his soul out of those great troubles of minde in the latter end of his dayes or else over and above what he could think or speak secretly preserved him to his Heavenly Kingdom whereof his deep afflictions were but light in comparison of that glory now revealed Now the main ground why God doth so deeply sink some holy men in sorrows terrors and troubles of conscience as Heman is for the redundancy of his glory that maugre Satan I mean the Apostate Angels by all