ARTICLES of FAITH presented to the PARLIAMENT CHAP. I This Chapter contains a Confutation of many errors maintained by the Anabaptists in their Articles of Faith defended against me by Mr. Spilsbury one of their Teachers Their first Article they beleeve that there is one rule of obedience for all Saints in all places to be observed of which I doubted his answer was that the scripture is that rule to trie and judge all things I answer the scripture is an eternall rule of righteousnesse but not commanding the same things to be observed by all Saints in all times and in all places The Jews were commanded many things which we are not and yet by the Scriptures and we are commanded many things here that cease at our death and shall not be done in heaven then the same things are not to be observed by all Saints in all places Againe if the scripture be a rule for all Circumstances in all duties that make for outward decency and uniformity Then I must see a rule for these things before I give my faith to this Article In their next article they beleeve that all who know God and Christ shall have eternall life but vengeance shall be rendered on all that know not God and Christ but here I doubt they exclude all Infants that dye in their Infancy from salvation because they are not capable of such knowledge of God and Christ You answer saying you know not what is this knowledge neither hath the scripture revealed any such that were saved But was not Jereboams child saved when the Lord himselfe said that there was some good thing in him towards the Lord God of Israel 1 King 14 15. And did David rejoyce that his childe was damned and did he desire to goe to hell to his childe and rejoyce in beleeving it 2 Sam. 12.23 And why should not Infants that dye be saved when as they may be sanctified which is eternall life begunne already and they may be sanctified as well as Jeremiah and John the Baptist Jer. 1.5 Luke 1.15 Then are you a teacher and know not these things but you say you will not judge them when as you make it an article of your faith to beleeve that none shall be saved without this knowledge of God in Christ which infants are not capable of yet they may have the seeds of grace in them wrought by the Spirit of God neither can this be denyed when as they are sanctified by the Spirit of God Againe if I should beleeve this Article I feare I should condemne many of Gods people which have the faith of adherence but not the faith of evidence for many that live a holy life may want a cleare evidence that God is reconciled to them in Christ therefore I dare not give my faith to beleeve this Article Your sixteenth article is this you beleeve that unlesse Christ had beene God he could not perfectly have knowne the will of God which I doubt of but you answer that you beleeve that Christ was both God and man and the Prophet that all must heare but what of this who doubts of it but then you say that you will decline what the Word of God doth not hold forth but I feare you will not be as good as your word but suppose you be yet how doth this satisfie my doubt Yet further I grant that no creature can fully know this secret will of God for Christ as man knew not when the day of Judgement should be Mark 13.32 Neither can one creature know what God hath revealed to all creatures Man doth not know what God hath revealed to Angels nor doe they know fully what God hath revealed to men 1 Pet. 1.12 neither doth one man know what God hath revealed to the soule of another yet all this hinders not but Saints and Angels glorified although they be but creatures doe perfectly know what Gods will is to them and their duty to him then if you beleeve this article that Christ had not perfectly knowne the will of God but that he was God Why then doe you say that you will beleeve no more than the Word holds forth The VVord saith although here we see but darkely as through a glasse or latisee yet then we shall see face to face and know as we are knowne 1 Cor. 13.12 and yet creatures still not Godded with God nor Christed with Christ and yet we shall perfectly know his will to us and our duty to him Then if you be as good as your word you must cast away this Article of your faith The twentieth article you beleeve that the Kingdome of Christ shall then be perfected when Christ shall come the second time and reigne amongst his Saints Here I doubt you beleeve that the Kingdome of Christ shall then be perfected when Christ shall come from heaven personally into this world before the end of it and raigne Monarchically here on earth a thousand yeares Your answer is that Christs Kingdom shall then be perfected when Gods will is accomplished in the same and that Christ by the brightnesse of his appearing shall effect it but in what space of time you know not I answer Gods will cannot be accomplished till all his decrees are fulfilled which cannot be before the day of Judgement then shall all things that offend be gathered out of his Kingdom and cast into the furnace of fire Math. 13.40 41 42. Then after the dissolution of all things saith Peter we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3.13 then indeede what Adam lost shall be restored by Christ the second Adam to its first purity and then the Saints shall inherit all things Revel 21.1.7 For the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remaine before me saith the Lord Isai 66.22 then the Kingdomes and Dominions under the whole Heavens shall be given to the Saints of the Most High whose Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and all Dominions shall serve and obey Christ Dan. 7.27 and of his Kingdom there shall be no end Luke 1.33 But the heaven shall receive Christ till the restitution of all things to their first perfection Act. 3.21 then this article is not by the scripture held forth therefore I dare not give my faith unto it The five and twentieth article you beleeve that the tenders of the Gospell are absolutely free and no way requiring as necessary the preceding ministry of the Law or any qualifications or preparations wrought by it but onely that the naked soule as a sinner and ungodly to receive Christ crucified dead and buried risen and made a Prince and a Saviour for such a sinner But I doubt of this and you answer that you know nothing absolutely necessary to save man but Jesus Christ and him crucified and faith to beleeve and apply the same but is not the Word of God a necessary Instrument in the hand of Christ whereby he
workes faith in us Rom. 10 17 by which we beleeve in Christ then is not the VVord of God necessary to save where it is although God is able to worke faith in his elect without it in places where it is not but this being the orrdinary way for our salvation and while this lasteth we must not seeke any extraordinary way then you say the way that God saves men you will leave to him and every mans experience when as you make it an article of your faith to beleeve that the Law of God can be no instrumentall meanes to worke any qualifications as the Law to fit the soule for the seeds of grace when as three thousand witnesses by experience were pricked by the Law in one place Acts 2.37 before the Gospell was applied to cure them and multitudes more in scripture besides every godly mans owne experience but your conscience hath forced you to renounce this article and instead of beleeving it you leave it to every mans owne experience The seven and twentieth article you beleeve that the three Persons in Trinity are made over to Christians in their fulnesse but I suppose they have no more of God then a finite creature is able by the weake hand of faith to receive According to thy faith be it unto thee Math. 8.13 But you answer God makes knowne his grace and good will to man in Christ by his Spirit so farre as he pleseth but who doubts of this but I suppose we are not capable to receive the fulnesse of God we have but our measure according to the gift of Christ Ephes 4 7 13. neither doe we receive the fulnesse of Christ but out of his fulnesse we receive Iohn 1.16 The nine and twentieth article you beleeve that those which are beleevers are in truth really separated both in soule and body from all sinne through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant but I much doubt of this you answer that you beleeve all sinne is so taken away by Christ that it shall never hinder the salvation of any beleever but this is not my doubt then you say for a beleever to have no sinne while he lives in the flesh that you deny and so have cast away this article of your faith in which you have published to the world that you beleeve that every beleever is really separated from all sinne both in body and soule by the bloud of Christ then for shame doe not carry one face in private and another publickcly to the world The three and thirtieth article you beleeve that Christ hath a spirituall Kingdome here on earth which is his Church that he hath purchased and redeemed but this I grant then you beleeve that this purchased redeemed Church of Christ is visible and a company of Saints called and separated from the world by the VVord and Spirit of God to the visible profession of faith and the Gospell and baptized in the faith and joyned to the Lord and to each other by a mutuall agreement in practicall enjoyment of the Ordinances commanded by Christ their Head and King but I much doubt of these things then you answer saying you beleeve that the Church of Christ is a purchased people called to their visible profession of him and for invisible things you leave to God till he make them visible But here all men may see the falsenesse of your faith for when you should bring it into the presence of God then you leave it but how dare you publish to the world that those whom Christ hath purchased and redeemed are visible making profession of faith and the Gospell and baptized and joyned to the Lord and to each other in the practicall injoyment of the Ordinances When as know I put you to it you dare not stand to it but you will leave it to God and so you cast away this article also and I thinke if I should goe to all whose hands are at them they would shuffle in the same manner and I would wish you to take them to helpe you and so if you can prove all the redeemed of Christ to be such I am sure he saith himselfe other sheepe I have which are not of this fold them I must bring in Iohn 10.16 then are all visible and called and already make profession c. Nay those that are in the state of grace are not so visible for that white stone and that new name written no man knowes but he that hath it Revel 2.17 they are called hidden ones Psal 83.3 and the Lord had seven thousand which the Prophet knew not of 1 King 19.18 And sometimes the Saints themselves in the visible Church may disagree Witnesse Abraham and Lot and Paul and Barnabas Gen. 15.7 Acts 15.39 and then the cruelty of this article shewes from whence it came which condemnes all that are not in your Church to be reprobates then I cannot blame you for leaving it to God when you are questioned for it but if your heart condemne you take heede of hypocrisie God is greater then your heart and knoweth all things 1 Iohn 3.21 The foure and thirtieth article you beleeve that to this visible Church all are bound to come and acknowledge Christ to be their King Priest and Prophet and to be enrouled amongst his houshold servants now this I grant if you mean the universali invisible Church but I much doubt whether it ought to be so in yours or in any visible Church but you answer that you know not how any can be either Sonnes or Servants of God that are not of his houshold this I grant to be true in the invisible Church but as I proved before all are not visible so then their names ought to be written in heaven Luke 10.20 but not written amongst your company then you say that you are ignorant of any invisible Church or House of God I answer Ignorance will not excuse your sinne for Christ is the Head of the body or Church both of things visible and invisible Revel 1.16 17. then although you know not the Church of the first borne in which the soules of just men are made perfect yet you may know that there is such a one Heb. 12. and although the Saints departed know not what is done in the visible part of the Church here as the Prophet saith Isai 63.16 will this prove that there is no such thing Againe if you know nothing in the Church but what is visible to all you plainely show your selfe to be an hypocrite For spirituall things are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 there is foode which you know not of you have not tasted of that hidden Manna Revel 2.7 Iohn 6.32 and while your name is at those articles you want that inward grace of faith to beleeve them and so cannot see like Moses him that is invisible Heb. 12.27 The sixe and thirtieth article You beleeve that every particular Church hath power to chuse for themselves meete persons into office and none other
suffice to shew that the soule is not the body Secondly they hold that the breath of men and of beasts is their spirits and that it is immortall and liveth when their bodies are dead To this I shall doe as before to prove that their breath is not their spirit and answer what they have to say to the contrary as I goe along onely as I said before that the spirit soule or heart of man is for the most part meant the same thing for substance onely by spirit some times is meant the understanding or principle ruling part of that divine thing and the soule is meant the lower parts or lesse principle the will and affections which are to be regulated by them and by the heart is meant the conscience that officer of the soule which hath a charge to see that this Order be kept yet I say for the most part when any one of these is named all that divine thing is meant then the breath of man and beasts is not the spirit I prove by these arguments First mans breath is a vanishing thing his breath is in his nostrils and wherein is he to be accounted of Isa 2 22. It is a winde that passeth and commeth not againe Psal 76.39 It was breathed into man Gen. 2 7. the Lord commanded the winde to breath and the breath came into them But the soules of men are created 1 Pet. 4.19 God is the Father of the spirits of all flesh Numb 16 22. and the heart of man is incorruptible 1 Pet. 3 4 then the vanishing breath of men and beasts is not their spirit Secondly man and beast have all one breath and yet the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of beasts goes downewards to the earth Ecclâ—s 3.19.20 21. therefore the breath of men and beasts is not their spirit Thirdly Job makes a distinction betweene the spirit of man and his breath saying if God should set his heart on man to gather unto himselfe his spirit marke and his breath Job 34 14. Here is that divine thing the spirit with the signes of it which is the breath then all flesh shall perish and turne to dust but his spirit shall returne to God that gave it and the spirits of men and Angels can live in the third heavens above the region of the winds without breath neither shall men when their bodies are made spirituall at the resurrection neede any breath for it is no part of soule or body and Legions of spirits have beene in one man and yet I supose he had no more breath then another man and they might all speake and yet the man not breath then I suppose the breath is but a part of the winde already created infused into mortall creatures while they remaine mortall in this life and then to returne and never come againe Psai 78 39 therefore the breath of men and beasts is not their spirits But they say the â—oure windes are called the foure spirits of the heavens Zach. 6.5 Hence they conclude that winde or breath in man is his spirit I answer the winde moves the cloudes of heaven as our spirits move us or as the vitals of beasts move them therefore they are called the spirits of the heavens but our breath doth not move us so but rather some thing within us moves us and when our breath goes out in speaking or otherwise we should dye if we had not something else within us to draw it in againe acting with our vitals and when that power is gone we dye But they say the body without the spirit is dead Jam. 2.26 and that say they is their breath But if we should grant this that the body without breath is dead yet it will not so follow that breath is the spirit but that breath is a signe of life or a signe that there is a spirit in that body which doth produce that breath As the fruite of the tree is not the life or spirit of the tree but rather a signe that there is life in that tree that doth produce these fruits Then they say Mans breath of life was breathed into him Gen. 2.7 and when the childes breath was gon he died 1 King 17.17 And if God take away breath from all mortall creatures they dye and returne to dust Psal 104.27 therefore say they the breath of man and beast is their spirit I answer as before it will not follow because the signes of life come and goe with life that therefore it is life it selfe There be many signes of life as eating drinking walking and talking and when they cease man dies yet these be but signes of life and so is breath in men and beasts and therefore it is not their spirit Fourthly to affirme that the breath in man and beasts is their spirits many absurdities would follow for they having one breath Eccles 3.19 and if this were their spirit then a beast may have the spirit of wisedome and knowledge Isa 11 and the spirit of a beast might search the deepe things of God as well as the spirit of man 1 Cor. 2.10 11. and the spirit of a beast may be wounded Prov. 18.14 and if breath were spirit then God would delight in broken breath Psal 51. and in poore and contrite breath Isay 66. And if breath be spirit some shall be borne of breath and God will give new breath and all the gifts of the spirit would be nothing but more breath added and when the spirit also departed from Saul his breath failed him and those that separate from the Church do it because they have not the breath Jude 19. and Daniels excellent gift of the spirit was nothing but a great breath And when God requires that we should Sing and Pray with the Spirit he meanes nothing but breath many more vile absurdities would follow if we should be so damnably blinde as to beleeve that the breath of men and beasts is their spirit as some Anabaptists hold Thirdly they hold that in the resurrection the bodies of men and beasts shall rise againe and their breath shall be infused againe into them To this as to the rest I shall shew that the bodies of beasts shall not rise againe and for brevity answer what they have to say against it as I goe along First beasts have not immortall spirits as I have shewed before unto which their bodies should be againe united but their spirits are gone downeward to the earth Eccles 3.21 Then if these beasts should be raised up againe it would be a new creation of beasts out of the earth as they were at the first and could not be a resurrection of them from death to life Secondly the Scripture makes no mention of the resurrection of beasts and we must not be wise above that which is written 1 Cor. 4.6 but the Scripture saith Thou bringest man to destruction and sayest returne ye children of men Psal 90.3 As in Adam all dye so in Christ shall all
be made alive but every man in his order 1 Cor. 15.21.22 23. So then although we beleeve the resurrection of men we dare not beleeve the resurrection of beasts But they say That when the Lord hath takeâ— the breath of all creatures and they are dead and turned to dust then he sends forth his spirit and they are created and so he renues the face of the earth Psal 104.29 30. this they say is a plaine resurrection of all the creatures from death to life I answer Here in this place they are said by the Spirit of God to be created and so in Gen. 1. The Spirit of God moved upon the waters in the work of Creation And saith Job The Spirit of God made me Job 33.4 all this I grant yet this will not prove a resurrection unlesse you make the worke of Creation to be a resurrection from death to life But they say this was spoken after they were dead and returned to dust Psal 104.29.30 I answer this is frequent in scripture For things that were done first to be set downe last 1. Sam. 15.35 There is mention of Sauls death and Samuels mourning for him and then Chap. 17. Saul conferres with David about his going to fight with Goliah and afterwards he persecutes David But was all this after his death because it is set downe after it Againe thou renuest the face of the earth this cannot be meant of the resurrection from death to life but rather it is to be understood an enlarging of strength and comfort after some great scarcity with a new supply of plenty But here is nothing concerning resurrection from death to life Thirdly the Saints of God never expected any resurrection of beasts that ever I read of before these Anabaptists but they have alwayes expected a resurrection of men for saith Job Job 19.25 When wormes have destroyed this body yet in my flesh I shall see God And Martha saith I know that he shall rise againe in the resurrection of the just Iohn 11.24 and saith David My flesh shall rest in hope Psal 16.9 And besides the Saints in all ages embalmed the dead and buried them in coffins and sepulchers and cleane linnen to declare that they expected that they should rise againe but I reade of no such thing done to beasts and they that expect their resurrection might doe well to bury them more decently that the world may see that they beleeve a resurrection of beast Fourthly there is no example in Scripture that any beast ever did rise from death to life but we have many examples of men and women received their dead raised to life againe Heb. 11.35 and the man that was buried in the Sepulcher of the Prophet and touching his bones he revived and stoode upon his feete 2 King 12.21 And in the New Testament one newly dead and another in the coffin and another dead foure dayes and many came out of their graves at the death of Christ then if we have so many examples of men that arose and not one of beasts we must beleeve the one and reject the other as an abominable errour Fifthly beasts can neither dye the death of sinne nor suffer the death of eternall punishment neither can they rise to the state of grace nor to the state of glory which were a most miserable and shamefull thing for any to affirme therefore there is no resurrection for beasis Sixthly To rise from death to life at the last day is called the resurrection of the just and the unjust Acts. 24.15 Now if they say that beasts have done evill they shall come forth to the resurrection of damnation Iohn 9 25. or if some have done good and some evill then some of them shall be saved and some damned and then they must come before Christ the Judge on the Throne to receive either the sentence of absolution or condemnation These abominable errours are not fitting to be named amongst Christians much lesse to be embraced and defended by any and it would seeme incredible that any should be so blinde as to harbour such errours where the light of the Gospell comes but onely we know at the downefall of Antichrist The divell will stir up all the old heresies that ever was to uphold that tottering Babell But to come againe to the argument the covenant of workes was not made with beasts but with man onely then it was not the beasts but man onely that sinned against that Covenant of workes and man onely was punished for the breach of it and not the beasts although his punishments was not only upon his person but upon his whole estate and so accidentally the beasts were punished but not as their punishment for their sinne but as mans punishment for his sinne Then if beasts have neither sinne nor punishment from what should they be redeemed but they say if all men were not redeemed how should they rise again I answer Although all men are not redeemed neither doe they all rise by vertue of redemption yet Christ by his power will raise those that are not redeemed to partake of that punishment that is due to them for acting in that sinne with their soules when the whole man broke Covenant with the Eternall God But they say it is sufficient to punish the soule eternally although the body rise not I answer if they had kept that Covenant the body should have had the benefit of it to eternity therefore because it sinned with the soule it must suffer with it eternally But they say the body riseth without sinne I answer yet if it did so the soule being filthy and comming out of hell will defile it as a just requitall to the body which defiled the cleane soule as soone as it was infused into it but I suppose the bodies of reprobates shall not rise without sinne But as the tree falls so it lies there is no repentance in the grave but the same body and no other shall arise Job 19.26 For sin shall lye downe with him in the dust Job 20.11 and having the guilt of sinne upon it As a Part of the curse it shall be raised to partake with the soule in punishment for the whole man sinned and the whole man shall be punished eternally But they say As by the sinne of one man death came upon all men and beasts so by one man came the resurrection of the dead For in Adam all dye so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.21 22. Answ Beasts were but the goods of men it was man onely that sinned and was punished for all men being in Adam sinned and died for their owne sinne for it was theirs as soone as they were in him by nature so also those that are in Christ shall rise againe to grace here and to glory hereafter CHAP. III. Turne thee yet againe and see greater abominations They hold an Vniversall Redemption if not both of men and beasts yet of all men although they be already