wayes assailed and weakned but gets the victory l Luk 22.33 Ephes 6.16 1 John 5.4 5. growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ m Heb 6.11 12. Heb 10.12 Col 2 â— who is both the Author and Finisher of our Faith n Heb. 12.2 CHAP. XIV Of Saving Faith Examined AS Your selves elsewhere condemn an implicite faith of which notwithstanding you are not altogether guiltless in letting your authors so often impose upon you as they do so we hope you will leave our faith free to dissent from you where truth is not on your side in this and other chapters Here some men perhaps would quarrel with you for not setting forth the kinds of faith but since it was your scope and purpose to speak here of saving faith onely which is a living faith or hope 1 Pet. 1.3 We will not much blame you for making no mention of that dead faith spoken of by St. James chapter 2.20 The like we say of omitting the mention of a false and feigned faith seeing that whereby me must be saved is called faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1 5. The ordinary distribution of faith into those of historical temporary miraculous and saving might here by you with the lesse detriment be passed over in silence because as historical faith is an ingredient into true faith so the temporary differs nothing or very little from it but in point of perseverance and though outward miracles with the primitive power of godlinesse for the greatest part seem long fince to have grown rare yet the true saving faith in Jesus Christ hath alwayes according to its strength and growth been a worker of inward and spiritual miracles and that upon sure grounded promises John 14.12 Verily verily I say unto you he that beleeveth in me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works then these shall he do because I go unto the Father And those words of our Saviour Marke 16.17 18. being spiritually understood do set forth the signes of a true faith to the end of the world And these signes shall follow them that beleeve In my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands upon the sick and they shall recover But the things we most wonder at are these First That you should now come to speak of faith not onely after effectual calling which in your sense implies faith but after justification which you confess to be attained by faith yea and after sanctification also which though you take it to be a distinct thing from justification must for the greatest part follow faith also as an effect of it Acts 26.18 Among them that are justified by faith that is in me And Secondly That you should make no distinction betwixt the three degrees if not kindes of saving faith to wit Faith in God the father Belief in God the Son and Confidence in the Holy Ghost The which as they are in part descriminated from each other at least wise by their distinct objects in the Apostles Creed so are they clearly dissevered from each other in the holy Scripture It is in a general comprehension that the Apostle takes the faith of the elect when he describes it to be an acknowledgment of the truth that is according to godliness in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began 1 Tit. 1.2 But it is faith in God the Father or faith in confuso as we said before that is set forth Heb. 11.6 For he that cometh to God must beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him as it is faith in God the Son which St. Paul points at Gal. 2.15 16. saying We who are Jewes by nature and not finners of the Gentiles knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Jesus It is also that faith in the holy Ghost of which the Apostle speaks thus Gal. 5.3 For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith that is the Lord our righteousness or the beavenly Jerusalem Jer. 33.16 These three are distinct from each other and men may have the first without the second and the first and second without the third For first we finde that Cornelius beleeved in God prayed unto him gave alms and did many things with acceptance before God ere ever he was commanded to send for Peter that he might by him hear of the faith in Jesus Christ Acts 10. chapter Thus our Saviour speaks to his Disciples and Apostles John 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled ye beleeve in God beleeve also in me intimating that though they had a clear and strong faith in God the Father yet their knowledge of him in his right saving office and their respective faith was but darke and weak as yet for they neither distinctly understood that he must dye for them and that they must dye with him if they should be saved nor expected salvation from sins and Satan by his blood and spirit and much less had they any hope or due knowledge of the promised Spirit the everlasting comforter who should abide with them for ever till Christ there especially after his resurrection revealed the same unto them and brought them to a true belief and stedfast hope of the same yea where are they now to be found who thus beleeve in the holy Ghost or in Jesus Christ himself for a right justification and spiritual salvation from the hands of all their enemies by his alone power and grace Thus is that fulfilled Luke 18.7 8. And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry day and night to wit for help against their spiritual enemies I tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the Son of man cometh shall he finde faith upon the earth This faith was a rare bird like a black Swan at Christs last comming in the Spirit That there may be some pious souls which not onely want the third degree or kinde of faith but have not so much as heard that there is an holy Ghost the Scriptures witness clearly Acts 19.2 The like may be said concerning the Lord Jesus and faith in him among the Heathen to whom the Father hath not revealed him as yet But now to come to your particular Sections In the first of them you say That faith whereby the Elect beleeve to the saving of their souls is the work of the spirit of Christ which thing in a proper and accurate kinke of speaking is not true for it is the work of the Father to reveale and manifest the Son unto us as it is the work of the Father and Son to beget faith in
further recite in this Chapter must be necessarily thus understood to wit conditionally of those that are but inchoatively adopted and absolutely of such onely as have accomplished the conditions of the premises And therefore you have here adopted many errours for truth though you have spoken some truth also at unawares as That all those that are justified God vouchsafeth in and for his onely Son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of Adoption This is most true of those whom God hath justified in our sense that is purged from all corruption by the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ for such and such onely are absolutely and finally adopted and enjoy all the liberties and prerogatives here by you set forth But if you here understand initiated adoption it precedes justification taken both in your sense and ours and so your affirmation is erroneous It is true also that all they who are adopted in any measure are taken into the number of Gods Children for the present but the younger and weaker sort may by their unthankfulness for so great a grace by their future rebellions and Apostacy be abdicated and cast off for ever 1 Chronicles 28.9 Romans 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God on them that fell severity but toward thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou shalt be cut off Deuteronomy 32.19 When the Lord saw it he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and daughters Thus the Lord maketh all the regenerate partakers of the grace of conditional adoption but onely the third sort of final adoption yet all these are protected by the Father and provided for as children while they continue children but not otherwise all likewise have access to the throne of grace which is Christ Jesus who are brought to know him and beleeve in his name and who persist in that their faith and in good will but none other neither they which yet know him not nor such as by apostacy crucifie him afresh Acts 6.6 Hebrews 10.27 28 29. Wherefore Let all those who are incoatively adopted bless God for that estate and rejoyce in it Galatians 4.6 And because ye are sons God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son whereby ye cry Abba Father 1 John 3.1 Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God Yet let us remember it is but a conditional estate at the first and a long time after Rom. 8.15 16.17 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage to fear again but the spirit of adoption whereby ye cry Abba Father The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the the children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joynt heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him And to the end that we may obtain a final and absolute adoption â—et us fulfil the condition thereunto required 2 Corinthians 6.17 1â— Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lâ—â—d and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father unto you and 〈◊〉 shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty See also what the Apostle infers thereupon 2 Corinthians 7.1 2 Having therefore these promises my beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting our holiness in the fear of God CHAP. XIII Of sanctification THEY that are effectually called and regenerated having a new heart and a new spirit created in them are further sanctified really and personally through the vertue of Christs death and resurrection a 1 Cor 6.11 Acts 20.32 Phil 3.10 Ro 6.5 6. by his Word and Spirit dwelling in them b Joh 17.17 Eph 5.26 2 Thes 2.13 the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed c Rom 6.6.13 and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakned and mortified d Gal 5.24 Rom 8.13 and they more and more quickned and strengthened in all saving graces e Col 1.11 Eph 3.16 17 18. to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord f 2 Cor 7.1 Heb 12.13 II. This sanctification is throughout in the whole man g 1 Thes 5.23 yet imperfect in this life there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part h 1 Joh 1.10 Rom 7.18 23. Phil 3.12 whence ariseth a continual and irreconcileable War the flesh lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh i Gal 5.17 1 Pet 2.11 III. In which war although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail k Rom 7.23 yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ the regenerate part doth overcome l Ro 6.14 1 Joh 5.4 Eph 5.4 16. and so the Saints grow in grace m 2 Pet 3.18 perfecting holiness in the fear of God n 2 Cor 7.1 CHAP. XIII Of Sanctification examined HAving already spoken of Justification this whole Chapter of sanctification which is but the Christening of the same thing with a new name as we have shewed before might have been superseded and as the whole discourse is superfluous so many of your erroneous and unsanctified assertions such as those which follow might profitably have been omitted As first where you say in the first Section That all they who are effectually called and regenerated have a new heart and a new spirit created in them whereas many are called and that earnestly and effectually on the Lords part as we have shewed â—lready who admitt of no change of will and affections through their own obstinacy and though all that are truly changed receive at the first a new frame of heart will and disposition yet they do not by and by receive a new heart and a new Spirit in the sense of the holy Prophets for Ezekiel shewes That not onely clean water must be poured down upon us but that we must be cleansed from all our filthiness and abomination before we can have a new heart and a new spirit created in us nor is the stony heart wholly taken from us and an heart of flesh wholly given unto us till then But this is the peculiar estate of such Saints or sanctified ones as have attained the third and last degree of regeneration when Christ according to the spirit is risen up in them as we shewed before See Ezek. 36.25 26. Of these the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.17 Old things are passed away behold all things are become new See Revel 21.3 4 5 of those to whom the new Jerusalem is come Secondly whereas you say That such persons are sanctified through the vertue of Christs death it is another great mistake for though the vertue of his death is great and of inestimable value to take away the guilt of sin and remove the curse from us
It depends upon the seed of God remaining in us but that seed remaines in none unremoveably but those which are born again in Christ after the Spirit or the Saints of the third form and order of whom it is said peculiarly 1 Joh. 3.9 That they cannot sin For all other Saints those of the second form Saints and believers in Christ which are not yet dead and made alive again with him may and do sin as well though not so often as the Saints of the first form or the fathers new begotten ones Lastly you say here That this certainty of perseverance depends upon the nature of the covenant of grace of which there are two parts the one promiseth cleansing grace in and through the blood and Spirit of Christ the other a stedfast and immoveable kingdom to those that are so cleansed See for the first Jerem. 31.32 33 34 c. and for the others Jere. 32.40 but all this is promised conditionally to those that believe Mat. 28.18 19. Mark 16.15 16. to such as persevere unto the end Mat. 24.13 and to him that overcometh Reuel 3.12 So that the stedfast estate and kingdom which cannot be shaken depends upon perseverances in mortification and our immoveable estate upon the receiving of that Kingdom Yet do we not deny but that the perseverance of the Saints whereby they continue in the following of Christ unto their death and their infallible estate from which they cannot afterwards possibly fall away hath very great dependance upon all the things by you named but in such manner as we have spoken In your third and last Section you erre first on the one hand and then on the other For first Whereas you ascribe unto all the Saints upon earth promiscuously a possibility of falling into greivous sins by temptations from Satan and the world the prevalency of remaining corruption and neglect of the means of their preservation whereby they may incur Gods displeasure grieve his Spirit suffer some deprivation of their graces and comforts harden their hearts wound their consciences hurt and scandalize others and bring temporal judgements upon themselves We say That the Saints in the Holy Ghost that are risen again with Christ are past all this 2 Cor. 5.12 Old things are passed away behold all things are become new 1 John 3.9 He that is born of God doth not commit sin but his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God See Revel 2.17 26 27. Revel 3.9 10 11 12. Revel 7.14 15 16 17. Revel 21.3 4 5 6. And I heard a great voice from heaven saying Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any pain to wit spiritual pain for the former things are passed away But on the other hand any other Saint those especially which are in their minority may possibly by the meanes aforesaid not onely faile and suffer after the manner aforesaid but by their wilful and wicked desertion of God fall finally from grace into everlasting perdition and yet no one of those can be plucked out of the Fathers hand by all the enemies of mankind if he will abide with God and his Christ John 10.28.29 But how much safer had it been for you and your hearers if in stead of your thus securing the Saints you had with Saint Paul charged them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling as we said before and with holy David had shewed them what they should do that they might be kept from falling finally Psalm 15.1 2 3 4. and to have set Saint Peters scale before them for the same end likewise 2 Pet. 1.5.10 The high way to that kingdom which cannot be shaken is to get grace into our hearts whereby we may serve God with Reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 CHAP. XVIII Of the assurance of Grace and salvation ALthough hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God and state of salvation a Joh 8.13 14. Mich 3.11 Deut 29.19 Jo 8.41 which hope of theirs shall perish b Matt 7.22 23. yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace c Joh 3.14 18.19 21 24. Jo 5.13 and may rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God which hope shal never make them ashamed d Ro 5.2 5 II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable perswasion grounded upon a fallible hope e Heb 6 1â— 19. but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the Divine truth of the promises of salvation f Heb 6 17 18. the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made g 2 Pet 1.4 5 10 11 1 Joh 2.3 1 Joh 3.14 2 Cor 1.12 the testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God h Ro 8.15.16 which spirit is the earnest of our inheritance whereby we are sealed to the day of Redemption i Eph 3.13.14 Eph 4.30 2 Cor 1 21 22. III. This infallible assurance doth not so infallibly belong to the essence of faith but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it k 1 Jo. 5 13. Isa 50.10 Mar 9.14 Psal 88. througho Psal 77. to v. 12. 1 Cor 2.14 1 Joh 4.13 Heb. 6.11 12 Eph 3.17 18 19. yet being inabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God he may without extraordinary revelation in the right use of ordinary meanes attain thereunto l 1 Cor 2.12 Jo 4.13 Heb 6.11 12 Eph 3.17 18 19. and therefore it is the duty of every one to give all diligence to make his calling and Election sure m 2 Pet. 1.10 that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience the proper fruits of the assurance n Ro 5 1 2 5. Rom 14.17 Ro 15.3 Eph 1.3 4. Psa 4.6 7. Psa 119 32. so far is it from inclining men to looseness o 1 Jo 2.12 Ro 6.1 2. Tit 2 11 12 14. 2 Cor 7.1 Rom 8.1 12. 1 Jo 3.1 2. Ps 130.4 1 John 1.6 7. IV. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation diverse wayes shaken diminished and intermitted as by negligence in preserving of it by falling into some speciall sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit by some sudden and vehement Temptation by
and Psal 34.9 O fear the Lord all ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him Secondly there are Saints in God the Son who are called to know him and believe on him for salvation from their spiritual enemies deliverance from the curse Jude 1. To them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called which is the common Classis of the Saints in the new Testament Rom. 1.6 7. 1 Cor. 1.2 And thirdly there are Saints in the holy Ghost as the Apostles were made in the day of Pentecost when they were filled with the holy spirit of promise Act. 2.1 2 3 c. Secondly All those have neither the same degree of fellowship with God nor with each other but have their respective communion either with the father alone as the first or with the Father and the Son as the second or with the Holy Ghost also and so with the whole Trinity as the third John 14.25 Jesus answered and said unto him If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love and we will come unto him and make our abode with him See 1 John 1.3 4 5. And as the Saints have different degrees of communion with God according to their several ages and growth so they all have not alike fellowship with each other in communicating spiritual guifts for the Saints in Christ Jesus can condiscend to those in God the Father and those in God the Holy Ghost can stoop to both the other to do them service but the first cannot communicate much in spiritual things to the second nor either the first or second to the third though all may in outward things be serviceable to each other upon earth These things premised for order and distinction sake We finde then in your first Section these three errors First That you make none to be Saints but those that are actually united unto Jesus Christ their head hereby excluding out of that number and communion all those who as yet are onely bgotten by God the Father as were Cornelius Act. 10.1 2 3. and many other Secondly You untruly affirm that all those which are united to Christ by his spirit and saith have actual communion in his sufferings death resurrection and glory for none of them have fellowship in his resurrection and glory till they be dead with him and that the holy Ghost be poured down from Heaven upon them as he was upon the Apostles Act. 2. See Ro. 6 5. For if we have been planted in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection 2 Tim. 2.11.12 neither have all that beleeved in Christ for the present proceeded so far as to suffer with him and much more to pertake with him in his death he is a good proficient in Christianitie that knows what Christ hâ—th suffered in him and for him and is come to suffer with him not onely outward afflictions but inward sorrows in resisting temptations without yeelding to them in their solicitations wherein lies the main part of our fellowship of Christs sufferings And as for our becomming wholly dead with Christ you your selves hold it a thing not fully attainable in this life wherin you greatly wrong the grace and power of Christ in his saving work and office and are not onely injurious to others who give ear unto you but fall short of that happy conquest and salvation ensuing which is held forth unto you in the Gospel almost everywhere as hath been shewed before See Luke 1.74.75 Rom. 6.5 and 14. Ephes 5.25 26 c. Titus 2.11 12 13. Rev. 16.7 11 17.26 and Revel 7.14.15 c. And thirdly you here make no distinction betwixt interest and actual communion where you say That the Saints have communion in each others graces which is true of the first not of the last where the place which you cited out of Epbes 2.5.6 speaks of the Apostles high attainments rather then of the present state of the Ephesians and other common beleevers In your second Section you seem tacitely first to imply that there are two sorts of Saints the one by profession onely such as the members of your Church Catholick were in your former Chapter and some that are really such but we are sure that the Lord admits of no Saints for his Church or people but such as are truely sanctified and continuing such he rejects them not Secondly You truly say that Saints are bound to maintain an holy communion in the worship of God but this must be understood with diverse limitations to fence it from error For first it must not be Saints living remotely from each other Secondly It holds not concerning an outward worship unless the Church set up one that is pious and profitable or lawful at the least for Christ himself hath instituted no such worship as we said before Thirdly Yet must all the Saints wheresoever they live joyn in one true spiritual worship of the living God in his living righteousness Lastly We grant notwithstanding that such as conveniontly can come together ought as frequently as their occasions and safety will bear to meet together for the edification and comfort of each other and especially if the Christian Magistrates and spiritual Governours command such meetings But the residue of this Section about the relief of the Saints is sound and good In your third and negative Section you truly and upon good grounds disavow two things First That the Saints are coequal with Christ for no creature in his highest perfection can be equal to Christ the one being finite the other infinite in his divine essence And Secondly that the Communion of Saints upon Earth doth not abolish no nor infringe the title or propriety which each man hath in his goods and possessions which is clearly imported in those Scriptures of Exod. 20.15 Ephes 4.28 and Acts 5.4 which you point us unto as also in many other places of the Old and New Testament But whether that estate which the Saints attain at length when with the Apostle they are raised up together with Christ and made sit together with him in the Heavenly places or things Ephes 2.5 6. be a bare quality or accident or whether it be a spiritual life power and substance we will not dispute sure we are the Apostle calls it the divine nature 2 Pet. 1.4 and our Saviour or Wisdom calls it substance in one notion or other Prov. 18.21 And I will cause them to inherit substance whatsoever that estate is the Platonists called him that had attained it not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deified man and not onely some of the modern but even of the ancient writers of the Church use the word codeifying in a good sense of such as are made pertakers of the Divine nature according to the capacity of creatures CHAP. XXVII Of the Sacraments SAcraments are holy Signes and Seales of the
of life c. Secondly You say This Sacrament was ordained by Christ which was onely sanctified and continued by him but instituted and ordained by the Father as we have shewed before See Mat. 21.25 And thirdly You urge that this Sacrament is to be administred by a Minister lawfully called thereunto as you have it in the end of your second Section and by no other which we admitted before if that Minister be called of God thereunto to administer this Sacrament to his Disciples otherwise we doubt whether his commission be authentique in the true Church and the congregations of the Saints But what you write further in that second Section That the Element to be used in this Sacrament is water is true nor is there any other Element to be used nor is any other composition or sophistication needful Notwithstanding you are here two wayes defective First In not shewing what the Element signifies nor secondly how we are to be baptized in relation to the Trinity either inwardly or outwardly aright But to make a supply for your defects The water of Baptism signifies the pure Doctrine or Word of God as hath been partly intimated before John 15.3 Now are ye clean through the word that I have spoken unto you John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth Ephes 5.25.26 Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Thus we must be born again not of the Spirit alone but of Water and the Spirit Joh. 3.5 Secondly Those that are duly baptized must be baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not in the name onely but to the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Matthew 28.19 20. That is to carry the name or the like being first of the Father then of the Son and lastly of the Holy Ghost The first In a love to all good and hatred to all evil The second In carrying the saving power of Christ as a conquest over and preservative against the power of sin and Satan And the third In fruition of all truth light life gifts and comforts of the Holy Ghost wherein the Heavenly Jerusalem descending from above consists Thus the Apostles were sent by Christ First with their doctrine and then with water to baptize men that they might be fitted to receive carry the threefold name which yet in the end is but one name and like being of the living God according to the capacity of creatures In the third Section you have some pretty sprinkling of Truth where you maintain and that truly That dipping or ducking in the Water is not necessary in this Sacrament but that effusion or sprinkling with water will suffice But in your fourth Section where you say That the infants of one or both beleeving parents are to be baptized your assertion is too far dipped in error For Infants are no where commanded to be baptized in the new Testament though the children of Israel were commanded at the eighth day to be circumcised nor doth Baptism succeed circumcision in that behalf or almost in any other respect unless it be first as an initiatory Sacrament for new converts And secondly so far as it is a Baptism in the name of the Father or of the Father and the Son at the uttmost for Baptism in the Holy Ghost points at a far higher estate then either Circumcision or the Passover or yet the supper of the Lord hold forth yet we do not deny but Infants may lawfully be baptized even the Infants of unbeleeving parents if some friends of theirs desire it and the superiour powers so appoint because the Baptism of Infants is no where forbidden and though in regard of innate uncleanness they have no great need of outward or inward washing from sin as we have proved before yet this Sacrament being administred in infancy and afterward known to the party baptized may be as useful to him in the way of instruction and comfort when after his fall he would return to the Lord as circumcision was to the Isralites which was administred in their Infancy Your fifth Section presents the neglect or contempt of this ordinance as a great sin which is true of new converts who should not onely admit of it being offered but even seek and desire it where it may be had as the Eunuch did Acts 8.36.37 But this is not alike true of infants who cannot desire it nor have need of it for the present nor yet of their parents in relation to them unless it be in these Countries and places where the Governors appoint all infants to be baptized for here to neglect or contemn it is a sin of contumacy against these Governours and though some scruple at it because they cannot finde Poedobaptisme to be Gods Ordinance yet they ought to submit to it as an Humane or Ecclesiastical Ordinance especially since obedience to Governors is expresly commanded and the baptizing of Infants no where prohibited The residue of that your fifth Section is very sound and good for you truely and rightly affirm That grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto baptism as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated Your sixth Section concerning the efficacy of Baptism not being tyed to the very moment of administration is true oft his and all other Sacraments whether we understand the grace held forth onely as you seem to do not without a great mistake or the duty we should learn from it and them which is no small part of the drift and efficacy of the Sacraments as hath been declared Lastly Whereas you say in your seventh and last Section That Baptism is but once to be administred unto any persons it may be either true or false as it is understood for these Disciples at Ephesus which had not so much as heard that there was an holy Ghost were baptised into Johus Baptism Acts 19.3 when they had heard Paul preach unto them were baptized again verse 4 5. so doubtless were many more of John's Disciples for though John made mention of one that should come after him And baptize his Disciples with the holy Ghost and with fire Mat. 3.11 Yet he baptized them in the name of the Father or but unto the name of Son at the furthest and not unto the Holy Ghost from which estate his office and baptisme stood at too great a distance in that his fore-running office yet it is true that those who are compleatly baptized in or unto the name of the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost need not to be baptized again Howbeit two things would further be enquired into First Whether the Apostle did not make some pause in the baptizing naming each person distinctly in whose name they baptized and so paused a while betwixt the first and the second and then
preaching of Noah 2 Pet. 2.5 or extraordinarily by Angels Dreams Visions Inspirations and the like revealed his will to the Prophets and Apostles of old you are very much mistaken For as Gods arm is not now shortened so neither is his care good will and love towards the sons of men changed He hath of late as elsewhere so in Wirtembergh spoken to a servant of his by an Angel and forewarned them of the return and reinvasion of the Turks to chastise all those parts of Europe for their wickedness And for raising up of Prophets upon special occasion consider these ensuing Scriptures among many others Numb 12.6 If there be a Prophet among you I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream Where the Lord speaketh of that which is his usual course and practise and that which he will continue to do Isai 59.21 As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord my spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Amos 3.7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he first revealeth his secrets to his servants the Prophets Joel 2.28 29. And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your Daughters shall Prophefie and your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions c. Matth. 28.34 Wherefore behold I send unto you Prophets and wise men and Scribes and some of them yee shall kill c. Rev. 6 9 10 11. Among other things to come John saw when Christ had opened the fift seal under the Altar the soules of them lying which were slain for the word of God and for the Testimony which they held c. and heard that more of them should be slain Now this their Testimony is not onely called the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 12.17 but also the Spirit of prophesie it self Rev. 9 10. Even when Babylon is not onely come to her height but her downfal also there are Apostles and Prophets found in the Church who are called to rejoyce at her overthrow Rev. 18.20 Rejoyce over her thou Heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her see also vers 24. For in her was found the blood of holy Prophets and of Saints and of all that are slain upon the Earth To all which add that of Wisdom 7.27 For shee that is Wisdom being but one can do all things and remaining in her self she maketh all things new and in all ages entring into holy souls she makes them friends of God and Prophets Out of all which and many Scriptures more it is evident that the Lord wil have Prophets in all ages and especially when he is about to bring extraordinary Judgments upon the World in generall and the Churches in speciall and that the last times shall abound most of all with the prophetical Spirit so that these extraordinary ways of Gods revealing himself neither are ceased nor shall determine in the Militant Church Secondly in the third Section you Words are these The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine inspiration are no part of the Canon of the Scriptures and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of then other humane Writings Where we cannot but wonder at three things First that you should equal those Books to other humane Writings without any discrimination for you know that some humane Writings are prophane some meerly fabulous some obscene some impious some blasphemous and some Atheistical Secondly that you should give the Books in the generall commonly called Apocryphal no preheminence above other humane Writings since you know that they cannot only plead their Antiquity but Gods special preservation that the Church and Saints have bin their Treasurers and Library keepers that they have been bound up and translated in various Languages with the other Oracles of God which by all are acknowledged Canonicall that they have been allowed and appointed to be read not only in private but publickly Nor are you ignorant what an high esteem both Saint Augustine and other Fathers had of them above all humane Writings though they did not hold them coequal every way with those commonly called Canonicall And lastly we marvail that you should use no distinction at all concerning these Books but pass the same censure upon them all alike Since that the Book of Tobit or Tobias is extant in the Hebrew as wel as Greek and Latin the Book of Ecclesiasticus was translated out of the Hebrew text by Jesus the son of Sirach as himself confesseth This Book with the Book of Wisdom breaths forth such a spirit of Wisdom and Holiness that it may be said Non vox hominem sonat that it transcends all humane capacity To say nothing that the words which the Apostle hath Hebrews chap. 1. vers 3. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express Image of his person c. seem to be taken out of the 7 chap. of Wisdom vers 26. these words Hebr. 11.5 That he had pleased God are taken out of Wisd 4.10 compare 1 Cor. 6.2 with Wisd 3.8 More especially the fourth Book of Esdras is acknowledged by Clemens Alexandrinus Faber and many more learned men to be written by inspirement of the Holy Ghost It is owned as Canonicall by diverse holy Prophets of later times Our Saviour cites these words which are written Mat. 23.37 38 How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not Behold your house is left unto you desolate out of the second Book of Esdras chap. 1. vers 30. Many things shewed to St John in the Revelation are found in that Book It is doubtless a most lively prediction of these last times and the great famine and generall desolation spoken of in the last Chapter which is now in his accomplishment will ere long convince all the world that this Book is or should be Canonicall When you shal shortly see three Emperours at once in Europe one set up by the Pope another by the Princes and People and then the great Turk usurping that place and dignity think upon Esdras his vision of the Eagle with three heads Chap. 11.12 Thirdly Whereas you say in the sixth Section That nothing at any time is to be added to the holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament whether by new relations of the Spirit or Traditions of men We desire to know what warrant you have thus to determine If you say that Rev. 22 18. it is written that if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him the plagues
Of which as you here make no mention at all so we justly fear you have no fight nor feeling Yet do these ensuing Scriptures with many others give a luculent testimony of the same Rev. 13.8 He is the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world If you here answer That he was so in Gods decree we reply that Gods decree is said to be before the world and before all ages The Prophet Isaiah Chap. 53. speaks throughout of the sufferings of Christ as a thing past and done both in himself and others where the ninth verse cannot be verified of Christs sufferings in the flesh And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death For though Christ was crucified with two theeves yet he was buryed alone in a tombe which Joseph a righteous man had prepared for himself In which place the Holy Ghost holds forth two things the place of Christs inward burial and the cause of his death For Christ is slaine and buryed in two sorts of men first in the openly wicked and secondly in those that are rich in the wisdom and holiness of the flesh sudh as were the Scribes and Pharisees The cause why we let him dye or slay him is for that he will not consent to do any violence nor is deceit found in his mouth See also Gal. 3.1 For the further proof of what we have in hand where the Apostle cryeth out O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you before whom Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified in you and among you Now we all know that Christ in his humanity suffered at Jerusalem Revel 11.8 and not in Galatia So Heb. 6.6 The Apostle tels them who fall away from Christ That they crucifie afresh the Son of God which he could not truely charge upon them if they had not crucified him once afore Finally St. James saith chap. 5.6 you have condemne◠and killed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words must needs be understod of Christ within us as the following words evict and he resisteth you not for Christ for a time suffers patiently in us and that as a lamb led to the slaughter but if men repent not he will rise up like a Lyon to devour them We here say nothing that the Farmers of the Vineyard which is our heart do not onely evilly entreat the other motions and messengers of God but kill the heir also Matth. 21.38 39. Nor that John hath foretold us that all Nations shall look upon him whom they have pierced and bewail the same in a time of grace to which he saith Amen Revelations 1.7 In your fift Section you comfort your selves and followers with vain words the dreams and devices of men for though it is true which you spake in your last Section that Christ was made under the law and did perfectly fulfil it yet hath he not by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself which he through the eternal spirit once offered up to God fully satisfied the justice of God for us in any regard but to take away the curse of the Law which was due unto us Gal. 3.13 Nor is it true that he hath purchased a ful reconciliation for men with God by that his outward obedience nor finally doth it appear out of the Scripture◠that by the same means he hath purchased an inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all or any of those whom the Father hath given unto him And though the proof of what you have affirmed on the contrary lyeth on your part yet we will briefly shew you our remonstrative reasons First It is certain that as Christ was a man and so a creature he did owe unto his Father a personal and perfect obedience in fulfilling the Law how then could he perform the same for us also Secondly All men in Adam were created to perform perfect obedience to Gods Law and Will in their own persons neither doth it appear that God hath since released them of that obligation nor did David think that he was or could be discharged there from when he thus confessed and prayed Psal 119.73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me O give me understanding that I may learn thy Commandements Thirdly The Moral Law requires of us a perfect observation of it not by a deputy or surety but in our own persons In which regard the renewing and assisting grace of Christ is most requisite for us Rom. 8.4 That the righteousness of the Law might be sulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit But his outward active obedience therein helps us no further but as an example to be followed Fourthly There is yet no other way unto life left for the sons of men but by the fulfilling of Gods commandements witness our Saviour's own words Mat. 7.21 Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven and Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that keep the Commandements that they may have right unto the tree of Life and may enter through the gates into the Citie Fifthly Our Saviour saith thus unto us by way of anticipation Mat. 5.17 18 19. Think not that I am come to destroy the Law and the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil for verily I say unto you till Heaven and Earth pass one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled And least we should dream that he by fulfilling the Law for us hath exempted us from it or any way abated its requiring he saith at the next verse Whosoever threfore shal break one of these least Commandements and teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven But whoso shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven how then can Christ by his outward obedience satisfie Gods Justice for us or in our behalf nor is there any one Scripture which so much as colourably speaks for you but that Rom. 5.19 which yet will bear a better sense For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one man shall many be made righteous for we have proved before and shall now again evidence it further out of the 14 verse that there are more Adams besides our first progenitor and namely one within us by whose disobedience especially if not soly we are made sinners And it it is more clear that there is a Christ within the beleevers as well as without them by whose grace and spiritual obedience many are made holy and righteous For the first of these namely the 14 verse you may observe that there is an Adam from whom death raigns the which say we is our Adam our earthly or natural man Secondly That there is a spiritual Moses or time in us till which death raigns namely the time of Gods drawing grace
cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his fight Where you may take these things into consideration First Whom he reconcileth All the members of the Church who are regenerate Secondly From what from the enmity in their minds whereby they are set upon wicked works Thirdly Where through the spiritual blood of the Covenant or the spirit of grace which is called the blood of his cross because it is then sent unto us and poured down upon us when we are upon the cross with him and suffer with him not yeelding unto temptations Fourthly That Christ is said to be still doing of that work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly In what way as a precedent for us he hath done it to wit in the body of his flesh through death as these ensuing Scriptures shew 2 Tim. 2.11 12. 'T is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer wiâ—h him we shall also raign with him see Rom. 6.8 But that it is unpossible to have reconcilement and communion with God unless it be in such a way the Apostle witnesses likewise 1 John 1.5 6 7. This then is the message we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darknesâ— we lye and haue not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Thus far of Christ's spiritual and true reconciling us unto God which is then perfected and consummate when besides the slaying of the enmity aforesaid he hath made us in all things of one spirit with the Father For which unity and reconcilement he prayeth John 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Now for the purchasing of an everlasting inheritance for us eternal life is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 8.23 And as the Father hath it in his hand to bestow so it is in the Sons gift likewise and consequently as it seems to us he needs not to purchase it But if you will call the fulfilling of that way and process whereby the faln man must attain it the way race of obedience aforesaid a purchasing of it it is by the inward and spiritual obedience of Christ especially that we attain Heb. 10.36 For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the promise Howbeit his outward passive obedience was requisite thereunto without which as we could not be delivered from the curse so neither could we come to inherit life By this you see we stand in need of an inward and spiritual mediation from Christ aswel as that outward of which alone you here speak Nor can we partake of the benefit of the outward till qualified and prepared first thereunto by the work of the inward In your Sixth Section you proclaim your great ignorance or small regard of our great and most necessary redemption from the power of sin and Satan saying That the work of redemption was not actually wrought till after Christs incarnation For were not the fathers before and after the flood with the Prophets and other holy Saints in the Old Testament in their respective times spiritually saved and redeemed by Christ And much more doth that great secret of the Father's sparing and forbearing us along time for his Sons sake who in patience and meekness hath been led as a lamb to the slaughter and the end of whose long sufferance in us is salvation as St. Peter speaks Epist 2 3. Chap. 15. seem to be hidden from you Yet here you grant some truths at unawares as that Christ is the promised enmity against sin who must break the Serpents head and consequenly that his power and Kingdom must be within us where Satan is to be trodden down Rom. 16.20 You grant also that he is the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world But whereas you add for a proof thereof out of Hebr. 13.9 That Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever That speakes of his immutable Deity and not of his humanity though now made unchangeable Yet this we say brethren ere we leave this Section that you hold forth a very lame and imperfect redeemer which which hath indeed redeemed us by his death from the curse of the Law when our iniquities are put away from us but who must redeem us from all our corruptionsâ— who must save and deliver us out of the hand of all our enemies who must inable us to keep and fulfil the Law of God who must renew the Image of God in us Is not the true Christ made of God unto us wisdom righteousness and sanctification as well as redemption 1 Cor 1.30 In your Seventh Section As we grant it to be true that Christ in the entire office of a Mediator acteth according to both natures joyntly or severally as occasion requires doing by each that which is proper to its self so perhaps it may be granted that sometimes in the Scriptures by reason of the unity of the person that which is proper to one nature is attributed to the person denominated by the other Howbeit the places to which you refer us do not prove so much for that of Acts the 20.28 It s true First of Christ in the Godhead that he hath purchased his Church with his own blood having redeemed it from the power of Satan by his Spirit Secondly To that of John 3.13 it may be said that as Christ is spiritually born in us he is the Son of man which comes from Heaven and is or dwells in the heavenly being Finally To 1 John 3.16 It may be truly answered that Christ the Son of God hath laid down his life for us while he died in us to keep off the deserved wrath of God from us and to preserve us from the death threatned in the Law as also to set us an example how we may in following him overcome sin and recover life again we seeking his grace and help thereunto In your eighth and last Section being like checquer-work you have black as well as white errour as well as truth where your first affirmation That Christ doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate his redemption to all those for whom he hath purchased it will prove false in what sense soever it be taken For first If we here understand Christ's outward redemption as you undoubtedly do that being made for
them onely that are justified in facto vel potius perfecto Thirdly whereas you grant That persons justified may by their sins fall under Gods fatherly displeasure and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves confess their sins beg pardon and renew their faith and repentance This is true yet not of those perfect or consummate ones who fall not so either into sin or Gods displeasure but of the younger sort onely in the time of their progress and growing up who may not only so faile and suffer as you have affirmed but possibly may through a wilful revolt both fall away totally and remain under indignation finally As to your sixth and last Section because we have described the way and means of justification more groundedly then ye have done we can truely speak it in your words but not in your sense That the justification of beleevers in the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the justification of beleevers under the New Testament But before we leave this subject give us leave to inform you of two things The first is That the means of our justification or spiritual redemption in Christ Jesus is principally his blood the blood of the everlasting Covenant his promised spirit Romans 3.24 25. Ephesians 1.7 Colossians 1.14 Hebrews 9.14 15. 22. compared with Jeremy 31.32 33 Ezekiel 36.25 26 c. Hebrews 10.29 chap. 13.20.21 Rev. 7.14 1 Joh. 1.7 9. The second is that remission of sins wherein you place justification for the main is to be had after sin is put away by sanctification and amendment and not before as you fondly dream both here and elsewhere For which purpose take these ensuing Scriptures Proverbs 28.13 He that covereth his sin shall not prosper but but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Jeremy 33.8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me Mark 1.4 John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Luke 24.47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations Acts 5.32 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Acts 26.17 18. Vnto whom I now send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Hebrews 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever those which are sanctified To all which we could adde that the blessedness which David speakes of Psal 32.2 lies first in the putting away of sins by sanctification as the last words there import and the rest will bear it and then in having them or the guilt of them pardoned in Jesus Christ which words may be thus rendered O the blessedness of the man whose transgression is taken away and whose sins are covered or buryed with the like death of Christ O the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity by letting him dye in his sins as one filthy and unpurged and in whose spirit there is no guile CHAP. XII Of Adoption ALL those that are Justified God vouchsafeth in and for his only Son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of Adoption a Eph. 1.5 Gal 4.4 5 Ro 8.17 by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and priviledges of the children of God b Joh 1.12 have his name put upon them c Jer. 14.9 2 Cor 6.18 Rev. 3 12. receive the spirit of Adoption d Ro. 8.15 have access to the Throne of Grace with boldness e Eph. 3.12 Rom. 5.2 are inabled to cry Abba Father f Gal. 4.6 are pitied g Psal 103.13 protected h Prov. 14.16 provided for i Mat 6.30.32 1 Pet. 5.7 and chastened by him as a Father k Heb 12.6 yet never cast off l Lam 3.31 but sealed to the day of redemption m Eph 4 20. and inherit the promises n Heb 6.12 as heirs of everlasting salvation o 1 Pet 1.3 4. Heb 1 14. CHAP. XII Of Adoption examined ERROR and misconceptions in you here as elsewhere Hydra like multiplies heads needlessly for this argument of Adoption is the same with effectual calling in some measure and the self-same with that election of God which is in time of which we spake before And as that is twofold the first conditional the second final and absolute so is this and though all the children of God are capable of these your priviledges or most of them in time if they continue in their filial faith and obedience yet are not they so at the first yea some have by their faithful walking proceeded so far by Gods grace that they have left some of the lesser and foregoing prerogatives behind them Therefore you have first committed great disorder and confusion in attributing all these alike unto all not shewing which priviledges belong to all Saints and which but to some who may absolutely expect all or most of them and who may expect the same conditionally onely Secondly You take the high way here as you have done elsewhere to fill many who are not yet past danger with security and presumption For the first of these There are three degrees of Gods name Image or like being The first Which is the fathers name is written upon those that beleeve on him love and obey him The second Which is Christs powerful and saving name becomes written upon such as are brought to know him to trust in his saving office and to seek his help against their enemies and who persist so seeking The third Which is the name of the holy Ghost and the new Jerusalem with the new name of Christ is engraven onely upon those that have overcome all their enemies through the power of Christ Revel 3.12 These last are they that are never cast off and who inherit the promises as heirs of salvation But the other two If they abide not in the Father and in Christ after they know him may fall short of the promises and be rejected Those of the third form are past Gods fatherly chastisements because they now sin not 1 John 3. but the other two are not so As for the other You tell us that all which are adopted to be the children of God are sealed to the day of redemption but none are so sealed finally and absolutely save the third sort of whom we spake before the rest are but sealed conditionally yet left in good hope Yea all those priviledges which you
the holy Ghost Thus speaks our Saviour to Peter when he had through faith confessed him to be the Son of God Matth. 16.19 Blessed art thou Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven It is the Father that must draw us unto the Son to seek and expect redemption internal and external from him John 6.44 45 46. Christ indeed is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12.1 2. That is He is the first Captain and Ring-leader of ouâ— faith for he is gone before us in the same way of trust and confidence to be holpen by the Father in all his distresses and raised up again after he had been obedient to the death And secondly He is the fulfiller of our faith or of that which we by our like faith while we follow him in the same race expect from him according to the promises But whether the first word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be well translated Author That be is the Author of our Faith except it be understood of his joynt working with the Father and the Holy Ghost we will leave the learned to judge for our selves dissent That also which follows in the same Section must be understood of such a ministry as is called and enabled by the Lord for that work and of prayer made with understanding and affection for the increase of that grace where you say That Faith is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word by which also and by the administration of the Sacraments and prayer it is increased and strengthened for such Ministers as teach vain Doctrine and administer the Sacraments with ignorance and errour beget an answerable faith and perswasion in their hearers who give ear and credit unto them as your Authors and Teachers have done in some of you but this must here also be remembred that the Lord can and often doth when and where he pleaseth beget faith even faith in Jesus Christ by the sole illumination and teaching of the holy Ghost as he did in Job among the Heathen Job 19.25 26. and in Paul among the Jewes Gal. 1.15 16. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom and to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another faith by the same Spirit 1 Cor. 12.8 9. And for this work sake he is called the Spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 In your 2. Section you confirm what we said before of historical faith that it is an ingredient into true saving faith where you say ' By this a Christian beleeveth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the word you mean so far as men are enlightned to the understanding of it otherwise there is more repeated in the word then most men do or can understand while they are in the state of Faith but here you should have added this also to your former words that the servantâ— of God beleeve also whatsoever God is pleased to reveale unto them besides the word which yet is not contrary to the word Thus Paul beleeved that which God had shewed unto him concerning the preservation of himself and those that were with him in the ship Acts 27.25 And St. John gave respect and credit unto all that was shewed unto him in the Revelation where by the way you may observe how God is the Author of Faith to wit by revealing his saving counsel and will unto us which by nature and much more in our corrupt estate we are in a great measure ignorant of And how far faith lies in our own hand and power viz. onely to assent unto that which is so revealed and made known out of grace Thus there is an assenting or dissenting faculty in all men See Acts 9.29 Psalm 106 12. Then beleeved they his word and sang his praise with verse 24. Yea They despised the pleasant Land they beleeved not his Word Acts 17.4 And some of them beleeved and consorted with Paul and Silas verse 5. But the Jewes which beleeved not were moved mith envy c. John 3.32 33. And what be hath seen and heard that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony be that receiveth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true And accordingly as men stand affected to the person reporting or the thing revealed so are they apt to credit or discredit the same Facilè eâ—im credimus quae volumus c. è contrà Hence it was that some persons who were wel inclined to the leaving of sin and the seeking of righteousness and consequently in a good order and posture towards eternal life did easily and joyfully receive the word preached by Paul and Barnabas when others who were more engaged to their sins self-wisdom and false righteousness beleeved not but contradicted and blasphemed Acts 13.44 45 â—6 c. Hence it is also that after Gods grace was made known unto men they were commanded to repent and believe the Gospel Mar. 1.15 And that others are complained of for their unbelief Hebrews 4.2 For unto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them being not mixed with faith in them that heard it For the Lord never requires more then either by his preventing or assisting grace men can perform nor yet complaines of them but where they are some wayes deficient in acting their part Secondly What you there speak of faith's different actings in relation to the commands promises and threatnings recorded in the word is true also as to the inhibitions and narrations found there but herein you are defective First in not declaring by what form or vital principle faith becomes so active to wit by love Gallatians 5.6 Without which faith is dead James 2.14 15 16 17. And secondly In passing over the acts and offices of faith in God the Father and of faith in the Holy Ghost both which have an eye to sanctification and eternal life as well as faith in Christ though this last named seeks that which we called justification more especially from Christ But if Gods eternal decree be so absolute as you speak of before what need is there that saith should be moved with threatnings or promises For your third and last Section It may be wholly admitted with this caution That faith at length gets the victory and growes up to a full assurance if men persevere in love and obedience to God and fervently seek that victory and the assurance also from the Lord and his power But both time and the use of all good means are required thereunto and as faith is weak in its first beginning so when it hath gotten some strength yet by neglect of the means aforesaid and by wilful disobedience it may not onely be much weakned but wholy lost as we see in the parable of the Sower Matth. 13. Yea the Aposte tells not onely of women that had forsaken their first faith 1 Tim. 5.12 But of men also who by putting away
contradict your selves in other places yet you have here and there your illegalities and mistakes also in this Chapter In your first Section you truly say That God gave to Adam and all his Posterity such a Law and covenant of works as you describe with power and ability to keep it And is he not the same God still in wisdom mercy and justice requiring nothing at any mans hand but what he will enable him to doe by his preventing or assisting grace if hee seek it In your second Section you say and that truly That the Law given to Adam being the same in effect with the Moral Law delivered upon mount Sinai continued to be a perfect rule of Righteousnesse Nor must the Israel of God think to obtrude upon the Lord any other acceptable righteousnesse for ever then is therein required and described Deut. 6.24 25. And the Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as it is this day And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to doe all these Commandments before The Lord our God as he hath commanded us Psalm 119.144 the righteousnesse of his testimonies is everlasting For the performing of which righteousnesse because it was become impossible to the fallen Man Christ is freely bestowed upon us Rom. 8.3 4. And so it is the end and drift of the law to send us unto Christ to seek our power wisdom and righteousnes from him Rom. 10.4 Gal. 3.22 23 24. But whereas you say in the end of that Section That the four first Commandments contain our duty toward God and the six last our duty to Man Perhaps it will prove a distribution more common then sound For as the whole Law is spirituall Rom. 7.14 so it seems first to require duty toward God in all the ten Commandments and then to call for Service toward men in the second place For the first four Commandments which St Augustine and some of the Ancients reduce to three only your selves doe not deny it Let us then take a view of the rest Doth not the fifth Commandment enjoyn us first of all to honour our heavenly Father and the Wisdom or Hierusalem from above our spirituall Mother 1 Sam. 2.20 For them that honour me I will honour Mal. 1.6 If I then be a Father where is mine honour Matth. 11.19 But Wisdome is justified of her children so Luke 7.35 Gal. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is from above is free which is the Mother of us all Prov. 7.4 Say unto Wisdom thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman Doth not the sixth Commandement forbid spiritual murther in the first place to wit the killing of Christ the quenching of the Spirit and the destroying of the inward messengers and motions Jam. 5.6 Ye have condemned and killed the just one and he resisteth you not Eph. 4.30 And grieve not the holy Spirit 1 Thess 5.19 Quench not the Spirit Thus the Apostles complaines of the Apostates that they crucifie afresh the Son of God and put him to an open shame Heb. 6.6 Doth not the seventh Commandement first prohibite spiritual whoredom against God Hos 4.15 Though thou Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah offend Jam. 4.4 Yee adulterers and adulteresses c. Doth not the eighth precept first restrain us from theft and robbery against God Malac. 3.8 Will a man rob God but ye have robbed me Rom. 2.22 Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit sacriledge See Act. 12.22 in Herods example Doth not the ninth also first inhibit a false testimony against the Lord Jeremy 5.12 They have belyed the Lord and said it is not he 1 Cor. 15.15 Yea and we are found false witnesses of God c. Yea though the tenth commandement may seem to lay restraint upon us only in the behalf of our neighbor yet who hath so neer vicinity to us as God in whom we live move and have our being so that not only an open these against him in taking that which belongs to him as Achon did but even to assume or once desire that which belongs unto the Lord is impious as we see in Herod who took and consequently affected the glory that was due to God Acts 12.22 23. Nor doth the Lord want a house Isa 56.7 Mat. 21.12 13 14. Nor is he destitute of a wife Ezek. 16.8 And I sware unto thee and entered into a Covenant with thee saith the Lord and thou becamest mine See Re. 2. or of men servants and maid servants Psa 116.16 Truly O Lord I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid Nor is he without his Oxen and Asses 2 Cor. 9.10 Mat. 21.1 2 3 4 5. which if they be alienated from him in our desires it is a sin of concupiscence-against the last Commandement So that it is most true in this regard which Saint James speaks chap. 2.10 For whosoever shall keep the whole low and yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all for any one sin against God breaks all the Commandements It is Idolatry witcheraft murther adultery c. 1 Samuel 5.15.23 And as the six last first oppose sin against God so the four first in the second place restrain sins against man Thus we may not impose a false God upon our neighbor nor set up a false worship before him nor swear falsly to his hurt nor by prophaning the Lords Sabbath or everlasting rest before our neighbor insnare his soul And what we speak of the negativepart is true of the affirmative or possitive throughout all the Commandements so that the great duty of love to God and our neighbor seems to run through the veins of every Commandement And as these two are inseperable in the new creature so the whole Law by the Apostles own Testimony is fulfilled in this one Commandement Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self Rom. 13.8 Gal. 5.14 which cannot hold true except the Lord be our first neighbor who is to be loved in the first place and surely if we should not offer that wrong to God which we would not admit were we in his stead we should not sin as we do In your third Section you set not forth the whole extent of the Ceremonial Law which was to represent Christs inward death and sufferings as well as his outward He being the Lamb slain in us from the foundation of the world Rev. 13.8 and to be a document unto us shewing how we must follow him unto eternal life Howbeit you seem to go too far in saying It is wholly abrogated now under the new Testament for though the costly and burthensome yoke thereof is taken from the Gentiles yet some part of it by the words of the Prophets may remaine in use among the Jews after their calling and restauration Isa 66.23 And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before
wicked world or the great destruction come in Matthew 24.12 13 14. That it was necessary that some extraordinary Prophet or Apostle should be raised up in mercy for that end Revelations 14.6.7 And finally That other holy Scriptures and writings as we said before might in time be profitably added to the books of the New Testament to clear and vindicate them from the errors and mistakes of men brought in by Satan in progress of time as those books were written for the like vindication of Moses and the Prophets among other ends To return then to the business in hand besides many other great mistakes of yours in this argument you plainly and fully discover to the whole world that you understand not the mystery either of the Cup or of the Bread and Wine which are the true body and blood of Christ in this Sacrament nor yet the main end of its institution and so upon the matter you are not less but more grosly deceived then the Jews were John 6.52 c. For our Saviour speaking unto them there of his flesh which he would give for the life of the world verse 51. and of the necessity of eating his flesh and drinking his blood if they would have life verse 53. and of the excellency and usefulness of his flesh and blood verse 53 54 55 56 57 58. The Jews understood the same flesh and blood of Christ which you do here even those of his humanity but herein they exceeded you whereas corporal things can be no ways eaten but corporally they conceived and that rightly that if it were his humane flesh and blood that they must feed of they must Canibal like eat and drink the same but you hold that the same must be eaten by Faith that is by conceit and imagination and no otherwise for bodily things must be eaten and drunk in a bodily manner and with bodily organs but spiritual things may be taken in spiritually by Faith We pray you therefore to read this chapter advisedly and the Lord give you a right understanding in all things Where if the Lord remove the scales from your eyes you may observe these things with us That Christ perceiving this their literal and gross understanding of his doctrine concerning his flesh to be eaten and blood to be drunk doth at the 63. verse explain himself and that first negatively and then positively telling them That the flâ—sh which they understood the flesh and blood of his humanity c. profiteth nothing in the way of feeding and quickening the soul dead in sin It is the spi-that quickeneth and it must be spiritual food that must give life strength and nourishment to the soul the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life which come from the spirit and life tend thither and speak of the same yea they are the flesh that I meant ye should eat That is I spake not of a corporall flesh and blood Here you see that it is not his humane flesh and blood that he gives us to feed upon and that by his own testimony Secondly he saith that unless we eat of his flesh and drink of his blood we neither have nor can have life in us vers 53. but Infants and all those that never heard of Christ in the flesh cannot eat of it in your sense that is by faith or imagination whence it will follow according to your Doctrine and conceiving that they cannot possibly have life Thirdly Our Saviour saith verse 56. He that cateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him which you cannot verifie of all those that eat his flesh and drink his blood in your sense and according to your doctrine and conceiving for we finde many rejected by our Saviour and shut out of his Kingdom who had eaten and drunk in his presence Luke 3 25 26 27. but it is most true of the spiritual flesh and blood eaten and drunken rightly Fourthly Our Saviour saith That his flesh is a bread that came down from Heaven verse 58. But his humane flesh and consequently his blood came not from thence Fifthly Our Saviour implies that this food must be both inward and living in those words verse 57. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me Lastly To eat these is to eat Christ If you demand then What is that flesh of Christ that is broken for us and which blood of Christ is it that is here signified We answer to each distinctly First The flesh of Christ is his Word whereby the invisible Word the Deity is made in some sort visible and edible unto us thus Christ the Eternal Word was made flesh to his Disciples and dwelt among them John 1.14 And they afterward saw his glory as of the onely begotten Son of God when he was spiritually incarnate in and with them Thus he told us before by way of explanation of himself John 6.63 what was the flesh that he would have the Jewes and us to feed upon even his Words which are spirit and life Thus Jeremiah speaks of the eating of this word or flesh chap. 15. verse 16. Thy words were found by me and I did eat them And they word was unto me the joy and rejoycing of my heart Thus Origen among the other Ancients saith Christiani omni die carnis agni comedunt c. Christians eat of the flesh of the Lamb every day whilst they feed of the flesh of the Word of God This is that Manna from Heaven which is Angels food Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excel in strength that do his Commandements bearkening to the voice of his word of which the Manna in the wilderness was a type Psal 78.24 25. He raigned down Manna upon them and gave them of the Corn of Heaven Thus man did eat Angels food he sent them meat to the full All which is more truly to be understood of the word wherewith God fed both them and the Angels before them then of the outward manna which was but a shadow of it Nor was it unusual in the old or new Testament to express the word of God the food of our souls by bread Deut. 8.3 And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with Manna which thou knowest not neither did thy Fathers know That he might make thee know that man liveth not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live where by the way the spiritual mystery both of Manna and of bread is opened Amos 8.11 Behold the daies come that I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord where observe this word is no other but that which comes out of the mouth of the Lord or is spoken by his spirit for otherwise how would it be so scarce and hard
to be found as follows in the next verse And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not finde it In that day shall the young men and the fair Virgins faint for thirst but the written word with the comments and expositions of men thereupon never was any hard thing to come by it was then true in the former sense onely which is written 1 Sam. 3.1 And the word of the Lord was precious in those daies there was no open vision And as the word of God thus spoken is compared to bread in the Old Testament Jer. 3.15 so is it likewise in the New Matth. 4.4 But he answered it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God As man then hath a twofold life so he must live by a twofold bread Thus for the mystical flesh of Christ his Blood here is that which came from Heaven as well as his Flesh John 6.58 and which is Spirit and Life for the nourishing and quickning of our Souls and this is no other but the life and power and spirit of Christ whereby our corruptions are put away and removed signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our spiritual enemies overcome Rev. 12.11 of which you heard before out of Heb. 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God out of Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace out of Heb. 13.20 21. Now the very God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will For what is it we pray you but this life or spirit of Christ that purgeth our soul or conscience from dead works to serve the living God or that sanctifieth us or makes us perfect in every good work This is the first blood of the New Testament as we have proved before It was by this blood that the beleeving Jews to whom St. Peter wrote were redeemed or delivered from their vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It was with this blood that the Saints had washed their robes and made them white Rev. 7.14 to which places we added 1 John 5.8 which makes the water the blood and the spirit to agree in one These are the flesh and blood of Christ held forth in this Sacrament as things spoken of before John 6. This flesh or word of Christ had been often broken by him and given to his Disciples to eat this blood of Christ had been given them to take in and drink John 14.17 Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 1 Cor 12.13 And ye have been all made to drink into one Spirit where the Mystery of the wine administred and blood spoken of in that Sacrament is expounded as it is also by our Saviour at the time of institution in these words of his Matth. 26.28 29. But I say unto you I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the Vine until that day that I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Where for the better discovery of your own former mistakes you may observe two things in the foregoing words of the institution First That Christ speaks not of a body in the future tense that should be broken for them but one that was then broken for them Secondly That in the present tense likewise he speaks of a blood then poured out as his spirit had been in some measure upon them and not of a blood to be wholy shed or poured out for the future onely This flesh and blood of Christ is a good Mediatour betwixt us and God to pull down the partition wall of sin and slay the enmity betwixt us and him and the special means of our conquest as we shall shew by and by Yet far be it from us as we said before That we should deny the use and benefit of Christs Humane flesh and blood who was made of the seed of David according to the promises and suffered for us according to the Scriptures and therein did not onely set us an example and monument of what he had inwardly suffered for us and in us but also chalked out the true way to eternal life yea paid an invalluable price for our Redemption from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 Heb. 9.27 28. Yea we shewed before that if the fallen man were made perfect again in the way of regeneration yet without the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ he could not be saved from the guilt and punishment of his sins See Heb. 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified But this is the thing which we here assert that the flesh of Christ which he commands us to eat and the blood which he enjoyns us to drink in this Sacrament are not those of his humanity as you and your guides have hitherto taught but that very flesh and blood which came from Heaven by our Saviours own doctrin John 6. aforesaid confirmed with many other Scriptures nor is it the custome of the Lord to figure out corporal things but spiritual by outward and corporal Elements and Types And as you with your Teachers have not had any true fight of those blessed Mysteries so have you not understood the Mystery of the Cup or Chalice out of which the Spirit and life of Christ or the blood of the new Testament is to be received and drunk which Cup is first the suffering or Passion of Christ as we see in that his prayer Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and then our like suffering for him and with him both in the outward man and in the inward man also and that especially in the resistance of temptation and the enduring of the enemies assault and vexation Matthew 20.22 23. Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism wherewith I shall be baptized Now to take a short survey of your several Sections In the first of them you mistake the ends for which the Sacrament was instituted which was not to nourish or strengthen our souls with his humane flesh and blood or to make the same the band or pledge of our communion with him and each other nor to seal up the benefits of his Sacrifice upon the Cross but to hold out in a mystery and exhibite