Sea-shore or as the Stars in Heaven then the same Spirit of Christ strived with their spirits also in the succeeding generations to preserve and increase the one and to depress the other to bring them into the said posture in which they might receive the said gift of life as saith Nehemiah unto God Neh. 9.20 30. Thou gavest them thy good Spirit to instruct them Hagg. 2.5 and saith God to them According to my Covenant with you when I came out of Egypt so my Spirit remaineth with you And Nehemiah saith also Yea many years didest thou bear with them and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets but for their gain saying this Spirit so striving with them all the day-long in their generations God put a period to this striving of Christs Spirit so denying them the gift of faith to believe that they might not receive his said gift of eternal life and therefore saith the Text excepting to some few of them Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your daies Esa 49.6 Luke 19.41 42 Hab. 1.5 Acts 13.41 which ye shall in no wise believe although a man declare it unto you Hence it is our Saviour said If thou hadst known even thou in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes Again under the Gospel now it is unvailed of Moses vail and that the visible Churches of Christ stand constituted not as Family-Churches only as to the daies of Moses nor constituted a visible Church as was that one Nation a part of Humane Nature as such were they good or bad but now under the Gospel constituted of Believers as such according to the judgement of harity And thus the Spirit of Christ also strived with the spirits of men in the visible Churches as well as unto the men of the world to cherish and increase one and to depress the other to keep them in the said posture in a right reception of the gift of life Hence saith the Spirit of Christ to the Church of Smerna Be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee the Crown of Life Thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of men in the Church of Sardis Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent If thou therefore wilt not watch Rev. 2.10 I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know the hour when I will come upon thee Rev. 3.11 And so likewise to the Church of Philadelphia Christs Spirit striveth with their spirits Rev. 1.4 Behold I come shortly hold that which thou hast let no man take away thy Crown And this Point is apparent for the seven Epistles were sent to the seven Churches So much for the Spirit of Christ striving with the spirits of men in the visible Churches under the Gospel Again Not only with the visible but the same Spirit strives with the spirits of the invisible Members of Christ's mystical body to preserve and increase their internal and spiritual graces and to depress the power of original sin in them as in others to keep them in the said posture and right reception of the said gift of eternal life for saith the Text to the said visible Churches Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches these words four times repeated implies That in these visible Churches there were some whose spirits did hear and understand what the Spirit spake And thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the eleven Apostles Mark 16.14 which were invisible Members Judas being dead for the Text saith He appeared unto the eleven and upbraided them with their unbelief at another time Thus strives his Spirit with theirs saying As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue in my love John 15.9 10. if ye keep my Commandments ye shall abide in my love Another time thus the Spirit strived with theirs Oh faithless and perverse generation Mark 17.17 how long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you At another time thus the Spirit strived with the spirit of Nathaniel to establish him Because I said I saw thee under the Figg-Tree John 1.50 Believest thou Thou shalt see greater things then these Is is so that Christs Spirit thus strives with the spirits of all sorts of men in the world Hence observe That all those who have not yet received the gift of Faith nor the gift of eternal Life and so do fall into eternal death shall be left without excuse in their own consciences to eternity because it will witness to them that God would have given them both but they refused and if they had received it then their salvation was of God because attained by his Son given by himself As also Christ's Spirit thus striving with their spirits and therefore it will also witness that their destruction is of themselves and so Gods most sweet righteousness in this administration will shine to his glory in their ruine to eternity Again Is it so that Christ's Spirit thus strives with all men to cherish and increase the said light of Christ in them and to depress the seed of the Serpent in them and that they are thus internally meetly disposed towards the said posture Hence observe it must needs follow that all men which become totally dead in sins and in trespasses to that posture so as that they cannot change or alter their operations thereunto no more then the Black Moor can change his skin or the Leopard his spots I say Hence observe That all men that are thus dead in sins and in trespasses in the world it ariseth not from the seed of original sin but as an occasion and only from their custom in sin and wickedness unto the acquired habits therein as the cause for it is custom in any thing that brings another nature Again Is it so that the Spirit of Christ strives with the spirits of all men to preserve and repress as is proved Hence observe That when God by Christs Spirit is pleas'd to inliven the spirits of some men to the said posture which were dead in sin and in trespasses and leaves other some in the same condition so to perish I say hence observe That God in this case neither inlivens the one nor leaves the other from love or hatred to either of them personally considered but out of love to himself in pursuance of his final end for thus he took up the Jews when they lay polluted in their bloud being Terah's Idolatrous brood and said they should live that is in this posture that they might receive his gift of life and that not for their sakes but for his own names sake and thus he had mercy upon some of the Gentiles in the fulness of time that were dead in sins and in trespasses that they might live in this
capacity to receive the said gift of life for the whole need not the Physitian but the sick since Original corruption is an evil privitive and positive CHAP. VIII In which is handled the fourth Branch of the manifold wisdom of God precedently propounded and being the second ingredient to make up the said posture namely that the Spirit of Christ striveth with the spirits of all men in the world to preserve and encrease the said internal disposedness consequently to depress the force of the seed of original sin so to bring and to keep men in the said posture in which they might receive Gods gift of eternal life THis Spirit of Christ thus began to strive immediately upon the fall and upon the said universal election and universal imputation in these words Adam Where art thou so seeking to save what was lost and so forth Gen. 4.4.5 Again Thus Christ's Spirit strived with the spirits of Cain and Abel To Abel in an approbation and confirmation of his operations in this posture to continue to receive and hold fast the said gift of life for saith the Text God had respect unto Abel and to his offering and the reason is Heb. 11.4 because it was by belief Abel offered a more acceptable offering then Cain Again the same with Cains spirit for when he began to go on in nourishing the seed of original sin to the acquired habits therein so to extinguish the light of Christ in him then the same spirit of Christ strived with his spirit to suppress the one and to cherish and increase the other for in respect to the one God gave him no respect but to his discontent and discouragement but in respect to the other he encourages him to goe on in his posture as Abel his brother saying If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted implying most certainly Thou shalt as well as he Now the ground why this Spirit is the Spirit of Christ that thus strives with the spirits of all mankind as with these two men it did is this Because ever since the falne Mass of mankind Christ immediately entred as the first-born of every creature in an universal relation to the whole world in pursuance of Gods said final end and thereupon according to his own saying All things that the Father hath are mine and so saith he The Spirit shall take of mine that is not only to comfort the faithfull in this world John 16.8 9 10 11. but also to reprove the world of sin that is to the same end as to Cain and saith the Text When he shall come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement Of sin because they believe not in me Of righteousness because I goe to my Father Of judgement because the Prince of this world is judged And according to this the said Spirit of Christ thus strives with the spirits of all men as to Cain and Abel and so to the worlds end that is to depress the one and increase the other as is said to bring them into the said posture and to preserve them therein and it clearly appears that it so did strive with man during the first world for saith God When their Apostacy did abound my Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man Genesis 6.3 for that he also is flesh Whereupon God limited the time of the striving of Christs Spirit with them from time to come Gen. 7.1 to one hundred and twenty years and no longer 1 Pet. 3.18 19 20. and as this Spirit striveth with Abels spirit to preserve him and establish him in the said posture consequently so did it with all the righteous in the generations precedent and to the end of that world even untill there was but one righteous man left saying unto them Thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation so establishing and confirming his mind in the said posture so that thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of the men of that world both good and bad when once thelong patience of God waited in the daies of Noah for to return and keep them in the said posture to receive his gift of life in the said righteousness of the seed of the woman Again In the next world thus the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of all men to preserve the one and to depress the other as is said and that by the Ministry of Christ by Noah to his own posterity who saith the Text 2 Pet. 2.5.8 was a Preacher of righteousness Gen. 9.28 the which righteousness that he preached to their spirits was twofold The first was manifested to them by the Sacrifices he offered unto God which figured unto them the satisfactory righteousness of the seed of the woman imputatively Gen. 8.21 22 bringing to them the said gift of eternal life and also further manifested in that God smelled a savour of rest and from thence ratifying to them and their generations the good of this world and that to come in reference to keep them in the said posture in their succeeding generations Eph. 5.2 and to this end Noah their Father lived thus with them three hundred and fifty years after the Flood The second righteousness which he preached was the rectitude of his operations which is sanctification and this he preached to his posterity by his posture in the right reception of Gods gift of eternal life by the manner of his sacrificing and building an Altar unto Jehovah and by making choice of Beasts in refusing unclean and taking clean Gen. 8.20.21 and also by his building the Ark according to the commandment of God all being fruits of his operations according to faith in his said posture Heb. 11.4.7.8 So much for the second righteousness namely Sanctification which he preached and also for the first righteousness which came upon all men for justification of life Again Likewise the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of Shems Family-Church for Noah's three hundred and fifty years a Preacher of righteousness after the Floud extended within two years of the birth of Abraham as Learned Broughton observes in his Consent of Scriptures Again When this Family began to Apostate from the said posture to Idols as appears in Terah the Father of Abraham and were become corrupt and abominable not knowing the way of peace like to those who were confounded and scattered at Babel then it is implyed that God precedently had strived with their spirits for now he began to put an end to the striving of the Spirit of Christ with the spirit of Shems Family in that God commanded Abraham to depart from his Kindred and from his Fathers house to this end to raise a Nation out of his loynes to carry on Gods said final end and so leave that Family to themselves Again When that one Nation was existent and did spring out of Abrahams seed in number as the sands on the
of God manifested it first in Cain and Abel to Cain although his operations were not well according to this rule yet the mercy of it appeared to him after he had not done well in this That God interrogatively promised him acceptance saying If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted implying most certainly Thou shalt as is Abel thy brother And in the next words appears the justice of this rule If thou dost not well sin lies at the dore And as concerning Abel because his operations were according to his posture the justice of this rule appeared to him in that God approved thereof and the mercy of this rule because it admitted acceptance of him although unperfect in the perfect operations of another man as appears by his sacrifices which implyed the imputative righteousness of Christ for saith the Text Gen. 4.4 Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witness that he was righteous Heb. 11.4 God testifying of his gift and so the same tenor of mercy and justice all along down the old world to the Flood the mercy of it when the wickedness of man is great on the earth by Apostacy from the said posture and all ungodlyness yet the mercy of this rule gave them time to repent and turn to the said posture to receive the said gift of life namely one hundred and twenty years in which time the long-sufferings of God waited in the daies of Noah so also the justice of this rule of mercy brought in the flood upon the world of ungodly and to Noah its justice and mercy were also both extended as unto Abel because he kept to the said posture in a constant reception of the said gift of life for by faith he being warned of God of things which were not yet seen moved with reverence prepared the Ark to the saving of his houshold through which Ark he condemned the world and so was made heir of the righteousness which is by faith and the same tenor was also extended to Noahs posterity after the flood and none other for as this justice scattered them from the Land of Shinor for their Apostacy from the said posture upon the face of all the earth as is proved so the mercy of this rule followed them eighteen hundred years under that wrath of God and none other as in the tenth Chapter following will appear and as in the seventh Chapter of my former Treatise is proved and this same Tenor and none other was extended to the said Nation elect in the loynes or seed of Abraham the mercy of it was figured in the Pot of Manna and the Rod that budded and the two Tables of the Moral Law as joyntly inclosed in the Ark and so a figure of the perfection of the satisfactory righteousness of Christ imputed to the world and therefore God named it his Mercies Seat and so he spake from thence to that Nation as a part of all mankind and the justice of this Tenor was figured to that Nation In my former Treatise p. 70. in the manner of the delivery of the Gospel into the vail of Moses as in fire in smoke in earthquake yet it was the justice of this mercifull Tenor because it was delivered on that Mount from God by an Angel into the hand of a Mediator namely Moses in the type which was Christ in the truth and therefore it is said the Law came by Moses but grace and truth by Iesus Christ That is the grace and truth of all contained in those Laws came by Iesus Christ and so made up a Gospel of glad tidings to that people and all Nations From this ground they had a daily sacrifice for sin in their generations and this Tenor more clearly appears to that Nation for God having stiled them the house of Israel he thus faith unto them If the wicked will turn from his sins that he hath committed Ezek. 18.20 24.29.30 he shall surely live there is the mercy of this Tenor If the wicked turn not the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself there is the justice of this Tenor. Again This same Tenor and none other now is when the Gospel is unvailed nor never shall to the worlds end for all men stand bound to their believing operations in their said posture to receive the said gift of life or to perish as witnesseth our Lord in the fore-cited Text to the Apostles Go ye into all the world and Preach the Gospel to every creature he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved There is the mercy of the Gospels Tenor He that will not believe shall be damned There is the justice of its Tenor. CHAP. X. In which is proved that the Spirit of Christ strived with the spirits of Noahs posterity which were confounded and scattered at Babel in their succeeding Generations to preserve them in a narrow way to eternal life THis Point devides it self into three parts First that they had the truth of God to direct them to that way Secondly That that truth was the truth of God to them in the seed of the woman Christ the Lord. Thirdly 1 Rom. 18.25 26 28. That by this truth some of the best of them did attain eternal life although the generality refused it and so perished Of these in their order First That the truth of God they had is clear in Rom. 1. and the 18. because the Spirit of Christ by Paul chargeth them with with holding the truth in unrighteousness and with turning that truth into a lie and so forsaking the Creator which is blessed for ever Amen as verse the 25. And for this cause God delivered them up from Christs Spirit striving with their spirits to vile affections verse 26. And the reason thereof is further amplified in the 28 verse namely as they regarded not to acknowledg God in that truth they had even so God delivered them up to a reprobate mind therefore this truth of God the Heathens or Gentiles had although confounded and scattered at Babel from the residence of the Gospel and its Tenor with them Secondly That this truth was the truth of God to them by the seed of the woman Christ the Lord is clear also and it was twofold the one external and the other internal The external truth was manifested and shewed to them by Christ the Lord by the whole creation he being the only first-born of every creature as the second Adam from the dead fall of Adam for so he opened the womb of the whole creation in its tendency and travel from the bondage of corruption it then fell in to be partakers of the glorious liberties of the Sons of God and that this travel of the Creation is a continued act by the force of Christ as aforesaid is clear for the Text saith It travelleth untill now yet here note by the way That the continuation of the good things in Nature in the Creation is not simply
figure wherefore he said to the Iews Destroy this Temple and I will raise it and so forth Secondly I answer This Temple also was a figure that God would take up his dwelling place in the hearts of true believers only and in a word this dwelling in the Temple and in Christ himself and in the hearts of his members is no more but this his abiding residence in a manifestation of himself in a peculiar presence of his love and favour as in the Temple more then in any peculiar place in all the world and most eminently in Christs humane body more then in any created nature as is proved and his dwelling in the hearts of believers is a secret and silent manifestation of himself to their minds and is so restrained to them as it once was to the Temple at Jerusalem and therefore the Text says to believers if they destroy this Temple in themselves God will destroy them Again Observe that Gods dwelling place as personally considered is only in the humane Nature of Christ therefore Christ alone is personally Gods Elect for this end so to be the said seventh means therefore to affirm that any part of humane Nature besides that in his person is personally Gods Elect to eternal life is a great mistake The Reason why God thus dwells in the hearts of no men else in al the world is this because they are Regenerated only and their belief or faith the principal part thereof is that by which Christ dwelleth in their hearts as saith the Text Christ dwells in our hearts by faith so that the truly sanctifyed mind is Christs only habitation of all mankinde A Second Reason why Christ thus dwells only in the hearts of Believers by Faith is this because where this Sanctification or Holiness is not there is no proper place for him to manifest himself there as is said for all men else that are by being faithful in their little are but coming towards Christ or God by the said striving of his Spirit that so he might give them Faith but yet having it not there is no dwelling place for him and for all sorts of men in the world besides they are dead in sins and in trespasses their Light being turned into Darkness and therefore the children of the Devil and then what fellowship hath Christ with Belial Question If Christ by his Spirit thus strives with the spirits of all men not only as by his Prophets and Ministers but also in the days of his flesh personally by himself Why do so few men believe rightly as to receive Gods gift of Eternal Life and be saved Answer Because men do so follow this life of sense sutable to the body and in their Understanding do wink to follow their Lusts and will not see nor understand that which they do by the Doctrine of Christ truth shining to them either by the Creation or the sacred Oracles in which Christs Spirit so strives with their spirits And therefore because they are not faithful in their little they precedently had received whereby they might in some degree have been brought towards that Right Faith and received Gods gift thereof and also the said gift of life by it is that so few are saved For from this ground it was that Christ could not do no great works amongst them to whom he preached in his own person and so by a demonstrative force strengthning the striving of his spirit Mark 6.5 6. by his Doctrine upon their spirits For the Text implies it was because of their unbelief that is of what they might have believed from that light which formerly they had received as we see proved by those heathens which had not the Oracles of God yet being faithful in their little by the assistance of Christs Spirit striving with their spirits were brought to Circumcision of the heart which as saith the Text is by Nature and were saved as is proved The ground why Christs Spirit can do no great works to such men as is said is this he will not cross the orderly means to his fathers final end namely not to force the Will of man for then the nature of the Will is destroyed consequently the Reasonable Soul annihilated which must not be in respect of Gods final end for so God should destroy that means purposely made by himself that man might be made to honor or dishonor as is proved and therefore Noah by the spirit of prophesie in his prayer to God concerning the Calling of the Gentiles into the said posture doth rightly point at the manner of Christs Spirit striving with mans spirit saying God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Shem that is not only by a moral perswasion in the voice of the Gospel but also by the Spirit of Christ the rectitude of the Understanding and the Will rightly to operate to receive the said gift of Christs Righteousness and life in it and thus always God proceeds with the spirits of men ordinarily in all the world Rom. 10.20 except in case of Restauration of the World from one universal Apostacy then as is proved Act. 2.17 God is found of them that sought him not as in the Call of the Gentiles and pouring out the imbreathing of his Spirit as it were compelling the Gentiles into the said posture by a more cleerer manifestation to their minds in the Gospel being unvailed then ever the Iews had but still this must be remembred that this extraordinary Cause is in prosecution of his final end against the Apostate Angels design against the said particular Branch and therefore not for mans sake but for his own Names sake for to this end he gives to some a greater emminency of Gifts and Graces throughout all Ages and Generations of men as to Moses Abraham Daniel and David and the seventy Disciples and the Apostles and so forth but in an ordinary course God proceeds with men to give them more Faith and so of every Grace according as they are faithful in their little and not otherwise Obser You put so much stress upon the use of mans Natural faculties in reference to his operations to that Rule which you call suitable to all men yet the Scriptures lead us another way namely that mans happiness is from a more immediate thing without all this ado Quest What thing is that Answ The Text affirms when God had made the body of man of earth a liveless Trunck he then breathed into his face or nostrils the breath of life that is God breathed into that body his own Essence or Nature and so man became one spirit with God partaker of his divine Nature as saith the Text. Therefore here is no use of all those natural faculties nor mans operations to a Rule to receive Eternal Life as given by God in Christs imputed Righteousness For God himself is Eternal Life which is Christ in us the hope of Glory as saith the Text and this Life of God or God in
Christ in us in its own Nature is above all Ordinances wherfore to speak truth all Rules and Operations and Ordinances to us are useless and void Reply 1 We will examine all those Texts you alleadge and first that in Genesis the Metaphor being taken from breathing spoken of by Moses is taken from Creatures that live by breathing as man or beast or the like and although there be a neer relation between their breath and their Nature yet they are two distinct things that is their breath or breathing is one thing and the Essence or substance of their bodies in another thing still distinct although never totally separated but by death so in this cause the divine Essence or Nature of God is one thing and that Virtue that he was pleased to put forth to give being to the Reasonable Soul of a man are ever distinct As for Example The Nature of God in the person of Christ breathed upon the Apostles and indued them with an Apostolical spirit that is in the Rectitude of their Understandings in Divine light and their Wills in pure affections in love to his Glory in the Conversion of the World by the Gospel yet still that virtue in its Effects in them was one thing and his Divine Nature or Essence in himself was another thing Matth. 5.30 so likewise from the same divine Essence there went virtue to the woman of a bloody Issue for the Text saith He knew there was virtue gone from him and it gave her health and her Nature was not the Divine Nature of God so likewise in the shadow of the Apostles bodies God was pleased to put forth himself by vertue flowing from himself to the cure of many diseased people as they went in the streets yet the peoples bodies that were cured and the shadow of the Apostles bodies and the virtue that flowed from God and Gods own Essence were all distinct things in their several Natures and Kindes even so when God gave being to the Reasonable Soul by breathing into mans Nostrils the breath of lives his own Divine Nature Gen. 2.7 and that Creative power another thing by which he was pleased to put forth to the production of mans Reasonable Soul and as formerly is proved the Essence of God is one thing and that Radical virtue or potency is another thing in its Effects so when he was pleased to reduce that virtue and potency to act creatively that was another thing from which thing it is that the Creature is the Off-spring of God from whom it sprang and in whom it continually is and cannot be otherwise Act. 17.18 he being Infinite In him we live move and have our being but for the manner how we live move and have our being is known to God alone and not perceived by us but because Gods Word hath said it we must believe it Again 1 Cor. 6.17 for the next Text that Believers are one spirit with the Lord The Text refers it onely to Believers and not to all man kinde as the drift of your opinion point at for the words are these But he that is joyned or cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit with him and is apposed to those that did joyn or cleave in their minds as well as with their bodies to Harlots yet these men and women were not one spirit Essentially but Individually still they were twain so on the contrary true Blievers are of one spirit in pure Affections cleaving to God and Christ yet nevertheless the Divine Essence of God is one thing and still their bodies and souls are two distinct Natures so the scope of this Text is directly against your opinion Again for the next Text in regard it refers Believers to Gods precious Promises and Faith 1 Pet. 1.4 5. and Love and Virtue and Knowledge to flee the Corruptions that are in the World through Lusts and that by these they are partakers of the Divine Nature they all imploy the use of their operations as flowing from their Natural Faculties to the said sutable Rule by the assistance of the Spirit of Christ therefore the scope of this Text also is against your Opinion Again the other Texts Christ in you the hope of Glory the drift of it is no more but this Colos 1.23 27. That Christ dwells in Believers hearts by Faith and Love from whence they live in hope of a full fruition and glory with him for ever in the next Life But as for your blaspeamous Error If you be the Divine Nature Essentially it fully injoys it self infinitely therefore your Error is Contrary to the Nature of Hope therefore the drift of this Text is also against you Again Whereas you alleadge the Texts of Scripture and the like it is onely an Introduction to draw mens minds from believing the sacred Scriptures to be Gods Word to believe that the onely true Scriptures is the Divine Essence essentially in themselves and so to believe a lye for what man can believe that is in his right minde that himself is God or Christ and yet cannot walk upon the Sea as Christ did nor deliver himself out of the hand of his enemies and not render himself into their hands till he pleased as did the Lord Jesus Christ when his hour was come nor cause the Sun to go back so many degrees as pleaseth themselves as God did Again for Conclusion take this one Observation more from the precedent premises Gen. 17.10 11 12 13. Namely that there is a threefold ground why God made a Law that Infants as such should be members of Christs visible Church and so under the use of Ordinances in the Church The first is this because the whole Humane Nature as such God Elected in the person of Christ the seed of the Woman in the faln Mass out of that fall into a capacity of the said posture in which they might if they lived to the use of Reason by belief receive in the gift of Righteousness Eternal Life as is proved and this Election is the first ground of their right to be Members of Christs visible Church and so the first ground why God gave that Law Hence it is that Christ saith Matth. 19.14 suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of heaven A Second Ground is this If the whole creation have a right of relation to Christ by Virtue of his Righteousness imputed as interposing the unrighteousness of Adams imputed and by it travels untill now as is proved Then much more hath Humane Nature as such a right of relation to be Christs visible Church and this was the second ground of that Law why Infants should be members the which Law was never repealed A third Ground was this Because as is proved all mankinde dying in Infancy or the like ascended to Heaven and there are Members of the Church Triumphant therefore much more have they a right to the Church Militant and all Churches and Ordinances here upon Earth the which right can never be lost except they live to be able to act unbelieving Operations and so put away their right as did Esaw judging themselves unworthy of Eternal Life and this is a third Ground of that Law whereby Infants are instituted Members of the Visible Church of Christ FINIS