the ordinary way of Generation and that the menstruous Humour was held in Scripture to be such a filthy and unclean thing which is called The Fountain of her Blood Levit. 20.18 hath the same signification also the Circumcision of Children on the eighth day And it s said in Job 25.4 How can Man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman To wit in the ordinary way of Generation And here the natural state of Man is declared before his spiritual Regeneration in Christ Jesus And though that was said by Bildad one of Job's Friends yet it is confirmed by Job himself Chap. 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one But this Seed or Principle of Sin and Corruption is not charged or imputed unto Men until they joyn and consent unto it and actually obey it as is clear from Rom. 5.13 For until the Law Sin was in the World but Sin is not imputed when there is no Law Now when is it that there is no Law but in the time of Infancy wherein Children are not capable of any Law or of doing Good or Evil any more than when in the Womb For until Children begin to have the use and exercise of their reasonable understanding so as to know the Right hand from the Left according to Jonah 4.11 they cannot be understood to be under the Law But to say that any Infants are eternally damned for that first Sin and without any actual Sin or Transgression of theirs committed in their own Body is expresly contrary to Scripture that saith The Soul that sinneth shall die and every one shall receive according to the Deeds done in the Body good or evil and he that soweth to the Flesh shall reap Corruption as he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap Incorruption and Life eternal And therefore none shall finally perish or be lost for that first Sin according to Scripture but for their actual Disobedience here in this World and their final Unbelief and Impenitency For as concerning the Judgment and Punishment of the first Sin it was immediately inflicted after the Fall to wit the Death of all in Adam But Christ the second Adam by his death for all that died in Adam doth give unto all his free Gift that cometh upon all unto Justification of Life and thus the Plaister is as broad as the Sore and the Medicine as universal as the Disease and it is not simply the Sin or Disease but the refusing and rejecting the Medicine and Physician that is the cause of any Mans final destruction And how or in what manner Adam's Children and Posterity were concerned in that first Sin whether only by Imputation as some say or by real Participation as others say the Wise in heart may easily judge Let it suffice at present to say that Adam's Children being his Branches and he their Root they do really partake with him both in the defilement and also in the promised Seed in order to their Restoration for when God said to Adam In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die his Children and Posterity were included So when God said I will put enmity between thee to wit the Serpent and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Their Children and Posterity are equally included for Adam after his Fall being restored and made an holy Root as is generally acknowledged as Paul declareth If the Root be Holy so are the Branches and if the first Fruit be holy the Lump is also holy And as God promised unto Noah and to his Sons Gen. 9.8 And behold I establish my Covenant with you and with your Seed after you His Branches are holy with him to wit not actually but by having a Seed or Principle of Holiness put in them derived from Christ the second Adam who is that promised Seed whereby they are made capable of becoming Holy by improving the same and this is that federal Holyness which all the Children of Adam and Noah have that is all mankind which is more encreased or diminished but not totally abolished in any as the immediate Parents are found more or less actually holy for the more that any sin that noble Seed and Principle of Holiness both in them and in their Children is the more clouded and vailed every Sin that a Man committeth until it be purged and done away being a vail over that noble Seed And God renewed the promise to Abraham to make him the Father of all Nations and Families of the Earth and that in him they all should be blessed and in his Seed not that this should be fulfilled by his being their Father according to the Flesh or in the way of carnal Generation but through Christ who is the Seed of Abraham by whom the Blessing and Grace of God was to come upon all Rom. 4.16 17. and in this respect Abraham is called the Father of us all as it is written I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he believed God quickening the Dead and calling the things which were not as though they were to wit the Dead in Adam are all in due time quickned by Christ the promised Seed of Abraham that they may all become the Children of Abraham through Faith in Christ Jesus for by virtue of Christ's Death and the Promise made to Adam Noah and Abraham these three general Fathers all Adam's Posterity are holy in a Scripture sense not actually but in capacity to become actually Holy through the holy Seed given unto them and put into them as they come to close and joyn with it in true Faith and Obedience And this doth well answer to Peter's Vision whereby all manner of four footed Beasts of the Earth and wild Beasts and creeping things and Fowls of the Air which God had cleansed all Nations of Adam are understood Acts 10.12 13 14 15. CHAP. VI. More particularly and largely concerning the way of Restoration by Jesus Christ his dying for all and giving unto all sufficiency of Grace and means of Salvation whereby they may be saved ACcording to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all Men but especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 and he is called the Saviour of the World John 4.42 and the Saviour of the Body Ephes 5.23 and that he hath dyed for all Men is the express Testimony of the holy Scriptures in divers places 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them 1 Tim. 2.4 5 6. God will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man
just Man and perfect in his Generation and Noah walked with God Another place they cite Rom. 3.9 Answ This place is as impertinently alledged as the former for it is plain that Paul there describeth the condition of Men both Jews and Gentiles as they are generally under the Law and before they have Faith in Christ as is clear from Verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law But no where can it be found in Scripture that there are none of these who are under Grace that are righteous Men and made free from Sin but the contrary is manifest which expresly testifieth of many righteous and perfect Men in their Generation both before and after Christ came in the Flesh who pleased God and were Men of good Hearts and good Lives and especially Enoch is recorded to have walked with God by Faith of whom nothing blame worthy is mentioned in any one particular And Christ speaking of good men saith A good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit and a good Man out of the good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth good things But to apply these words Rom. 3.9 and the following words to the Saints generally as these Faith publishers do sutes more with Ranters than sober Christians see and well consider the words from Verse 10. to Verse 19. There is none Righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are gone out of the way they are together become unprofitable there is none that dâ—th good no not one Their Throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they have used Deceit the poyson of Asps is under their Lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness their Feet are swift to shed Blood Destruction and Misery are in their ways and the way of Peace they have not known there is no Fear of God before their Eyes O ye Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of New-England and Old How are ye not ashamed to apply these words to all God's true Saints Yea to the best that ever lived in the best state and to bring them as a proof against the possibility of the Saints perfection in this Life For if these Words do hold forth the best condition of the Saints that ever they were in upon Earth ye may as well say all Men yea the worst of Men are Saints or the Saints are the worst of Men and there is no difference of Men at all but all are equally wicked equally ungodly unholy unrighteous which is indeed the plain and express Language of Ranters Libertines Atheists some of whom to the wounding and loathing of my Soul I have heard so affirm But we cannot grant unto you that any of God's Saints are in that state and condition described by Paul in that place Rom. 3. from verse 9. to verse 19 and 20. which Words he citeth out of some of the Psalms of David describing the state of Men as they are in the fallen state and before the new Birth and spiritual Regeneration in Christ But thus to confound these so differing states is to confound Heaven and Earth yea rather Heaven and Hell and to soppose a concord betwixt Light and Darkness God and Belial Christ and Antichrist But let it be known unto you we can allow none of God's true Saints to be such as are there described by Paul Rom. 3. from verse 9. to 19. But it doth too much sute and quadrate with many of your supposed New-England Saints who have most bitterly and falsly accused God's Servants called in scorn Quakers and most cruelly whipped imprisoned and robed many of them and hanged some of them It may be well enough said of them indeed Their Throat is an open Sepulchre with their Tongues they have used Deceit the poyson of Asps is under their Lips whose Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness their Feet are swift to shed Blood destruction and misery are in their ways c. Take this home to you and blame not me for the Application seeing ye make it your selves and judge it to be your own condition 5. And that the said Doctrin viz. The best of the Saints by the greatest Grace of God given in this Life cannot perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed and cannot be free from Sin for term of Life but must sin so long as they live and are only set free from sinning after Death as they expresly word it in answer to Quest 89. larger Catechism is not only warranted by any place of Scripture but is most expresly contrary to Scripture in many places and is quite opposite to the very Nature of the New Covenant and Gospel Dispensation and highly injurious to the Lord Jesus Christ tending to make void and of none effect the very end of his coming and to frustrate his exceeding rich Grace and also it is most wofully injurious to Mens Souls not only discouraging Men to press after Perfection in Holiness and Freedom from Sin but tending to encourage them in sloath and neglect to live and die in their Sins and yet for all this be Saints and immediately go to Heaven although they both live and die in their Sins And first That the said Doctrin is expresly contrary to Scripture see Rom. 6.18 Being then made free from Sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness And Chap. 8.2 3 4 5. and Verse 9. and Chap. 6.6 7 8. John 8.32 33 34 35 36. Ephes 4.13 Coloss 1.28 Heb. 7.19 Next God did promise in the New Covenant That he would pour clean Water upon his People and they should be clean from all their Filthiness Ezek. 36.25 c. and he would write his Law in their Hearts Jer. 31.33 and put his Spirit in their inward parts and give them a Heart of Flesh and a new Heart and a new Spirit and put his Fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from him And surely all this doth plainly hold forth a freedom from a total sinning and that daily in Thought Word and Deed. Thirdly The very end of Christ's coming was to save his People from their Sins and not in their Sins to put an end to Sin and to finish Transgression and bring in everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 and to do or effect that which the Law could not do viz. to destroy Sin and him who hath the power of Death to wit the Devil that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.4 And the Lord said unto Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 My Grace is sufficient for thee But if it cannot preserve any Soul one day or hour or moment from sinning actually in Thought Word and Deed it cannot be understood to be sufficient and Paul said Where Sin did abound Grace hath much more abounded and he was able through Christ that strengthened him to do
will have none of the Graces of Christ without himself and if the Graces did come unto him without Christ he would send them away the Gate or way they came And as for the other Scriptures they cite they prove indeed that the Lord Jesus Christ is but one and there is none else nor is any man or men or Angels equal to him which we most cordially believe but they say not in the least nor by any just consequence can it be gathered that the Saints do not partake substantially of God And to shew the great inequality betwixt Christ and the Saints not only in the measure and degree but in the manner or kind of partaking of the holy Spirit which is one Substance with God Christ the Son hath God and the holy Spirit without any middle or mediator betwâ—â—t the Father and him but the Saints only have and enjoy the Father and the holy Spirit through Christ the Mediator and together with him and in him And this I hope will satisfie all sober and impartial Men to clear the Doctrin of the Quakers that it is according to Scripture 4. Next as concerning the Decrees of God these Faith-publishers say That God hath unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass yet so as neither is God the Author of Sin nor is Violence offered to the will of the Creatures Whereby it plainly appeareth they hold that God hath ordained and decreed all manner of Sins and Blasphemies Adulteries Thefts Robberies Homicides Regicides c. which is abominable and blasphemous Doctrin with a witness They need not blame the Ranters seeing they are so fully one with them in Doctrin for that is one of the worst Doctrins that the Ranters have That God doth all and hath unchangeably ordained and decreed all things both good and bad for certainly whatever God hath ordained and decreed to come to pass he is the doer of it for he executeth that is bringeth to pass all his own Decrees as they confess in their large Catechism Ans to Quest 14. and that they say yet so as God is not the Author of Sin they say it indeed and so many of the worst sort of Ranters but how they clear their Doctrin of so unavoidable consequence they have not told the World nor ever can they sufficiently clear it And for the Scriptures they bring as especially Ephes 1.11 That God worketh all things after the counsel of his own Will here is nothing mentioned of the sins of Men and Devils It is plain both from Reason and Scripture that by all things must needs be understood all his own Works and not the Sins of Men and Devils which he is not the Author of as when we say every wise Man doth all things by Wisdom and wise Counsel none is so foolish as to put this gloss upon it that he doth all foolish things It is an approved Maxim and Rule Verba sunt intelligenda secundum subjectam materiam i. e. Words are to be understood according to the subject matter It is worthily granted and acknowledged that God worketh all good things all Virtue and Goodness is of him all good Thoughts Words and Works c. But all Sin is of the Devil and evil Men as John said Whosoever committeth Sin is of the Devil and the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life is all of the Devil and not of the Father And as Christ said The Devil when he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own It is also granted that when any commit Sin the power whereby they act is of God but when they Sin they abuse that Power and also whatever Sin cometh to pass is not without God's permission and that is not a bare permission but a most holy and wise ordering and bounding of it to his own Glory And as to Acts 2.23 a main place that Ranters and Presbyterian and Independent Teachers abuse and wrest as they do other Scriptures to their own Destruction if they repent not it giveth them no strength at all For it saith Him to wit Christ being delivered by the determinate Counsel and Fore-knowledg of God ye have taken c. So we see that he was delivered or exposed unto them by the determinate Counsel of God but that they did kill him by the determinate Counsel of God the Scripture saith not For to deliver is one thing and to slay is another Our worthy Friends that were put to Death at Boston in New-England they delivered up their Lives freely into the Hands of these Murtherers and so did many of the Martyrs not accepting deliverance and yet they did not kill themselves as these bloody Persecutors use to alledge And that it s said God hardneth whom he will His hardning is not the making their Hearts hard with infusing any evil Spirit into them but that he justly with-draws his good Spirit from them for great Sins formerly committed and so leaveth them to harden their own Hearts As it is said That Pharoah hardned his Heart And thus do many sober and judicious Protestants understand the Words 5. Again as concerning Election and Reprobation first as to the Election and Predestination of the Saints unto eternal Glory and Happiness whatever the Scripture saith of it or of any other Doctrin we do readily believe and acknowledge it as That God hath chosen the Saints in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the World that they should be holy and unblamable before him in Love Ephes 1.4 and Rom. 8.29 For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate to be conform to the Image of his Son c. and whom he did predestinate them he called and whom he called them he justified And what Christ said to the Disciples Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and appointed you to bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain Joh. 15.16 and 1 John 4.10 Herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our sins and vers 19. We love him because he first loved us A most sweet and comfortable Testimony as all the other But we no where find in all the Scripture that God hath Reprobated any part of Mankind before the foundation of the World nor is it said that Men hate God because he first hated them and because God hated them he made them on purpose to damn or destroy them and decreed and ordained them to sin that he might take occasion thereby to damn them No such thing at all is found in the holy Scriptures nor can be gathered from them by any just consequence for although it be allowed that Gods purpose and holy Will concerning them that finally perish is from before the foundation of the World for there is no new Will or Purpose in God the Thoughts and Counsels of his heart being from everlasting as himself is yet that Will of God regardeth and considereth them that
Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste death for every Man 1 John 2.2 He is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But it is commonly alledged by the Adversaries of Truth that by All in these places is understood not all particulars but some of all sorts or all the elect To this I answer the word All must needs be as full and universal with respect to Christs death and the benefit of it as it is with respect to Adam's fall because the Scripture maketh a plain parallel betwixt all that die in Adam and all that Christ died for as in that fore-cited place 2 Cor. 5.14 If one dyed for all then all were dead Now if All only signifie Some in the first part of the verse the sense must run thus If one dyed for some or a few then all were dead This quite maketh void the Apostles inference for if Christ only dyed for some then only some were dead and not all Again in Rom. 5.18 the parallel is very plain As by the offence of one Judgment is come upon all unto Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all unto Justification of Life not that all are actually justified but the free gift is come upon them that they may be justified and so it is that the two sides or parts of Parallels are of equal extent Beside that the word All in Scripture doth most commonly signifie all particulars and therefore to restrict it in respect of Gods Grace and Mercy through Christ savours of a narrow Spirit and this narrowness of Spirit in Presbyterians and Independents is a great evil in them and maketh them so peevish uncharitable and cruel 2. And whereas they object against Christ his dying for all Men because he said he did not pray for the World and therefore he did not die for the World John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the World It may be very well granted that he dyed not for the World which he doth not pray for But what World is that It is not any part of Mankind as they are considered when first born into the World and having had a time to live in the World and a day of visitation wherein they might have repented and have been converted unto God but as having finally rejected the great Mercy and Grace of Christ after many tenders and offers of it until that the Lord hath wholly left striving with him by his Spirit in their hearts and then they become Reprobates and that World whereof Christ spoke when he said he prayed not for the World And therefore it ought to be well noted and considered that when it is said Christ dyed for the sins of the World it is only with respect to sins past or any other sins that Men may commit before the precise time and period of Gods leaving them and ceasing any more to strive with them when they are become perfected so to speak in sin and evil and are as the ripe Tares fit for burning having nothing remaining in them of any tenderness simplicity or sincerity or true Love to God or Man no grain of Goodness or Virtue nay not the least Seed but are wholly become as Dross after all the precious Mettal to the least grain is extracted or separated from it for such I say Christ hath neither dyed nor prayed And thus it may be with many and is with many before they die and concerning these John declared saying There is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it 1 Joh. 5.16 and this is that sin of final Unbelief and obstinate Impenitency wherein men may be permitted to live some considerable time before they die And this is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency but serveth greatly to clear the understanding of this weighty matter how Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and yet hath dyed for none of these Men after they have wilfully neglected that day of Grace and resisted the Spirit of Grace until he did altogether leave and forsake them And also it is to be considered that though Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and Mercy beyond which time they have not the benefit of his death and there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin unto them yet he hath not died with the same equal intention and degree of Love Kindness and Good-will for them who finally perish as for them who are saved nor are the gracious Providences of God and his dealings both inwardly and outwardly after the same way and manner towards all And therefore all who shall be saved at the end of the World have very great and unspeakable cause to praise God for his more abundant Mercy Grace and Love towards them in Christ Jesus and that he and not they did make them to differ from others yet none that perish can have any just cause to complain against God for when that that is sufficient is given to them they have no cause to complain But all who are saved God is pleased at one time or another that suiteth with his infinite Wisdom and good pleasure so to draw perswade move and incline them to come unto him and when come so to preserve them with him and in him or if at any time he suffer them to depart infallibly to reclaim them before the end that they shall certainly be saved and this the Lord can well do so as to put a difference betwixt Cattel and Cattel or Men and Men without their observation and so as neither to give unto the one any occasion of Presumption nor unto the other of Despair and without giving any greater measure of inward Grace although he may and oft doth give a greater measure to one than to another for he is free to give of his own as he pleaseth but only by suitable Providences and Dispensations and means of his own chusing the one may be taken and the other left the one gained and saved and the other not the inward Grace being the same both in kind and degree in some that are saved and in some that are not as the Parable of the Pounds and Marks plainly declare every Servant had his Pound or Mark which is an equal sum and some improved it and some not And of this more abundant Love of God towards Paul he himself taketh special notice with great Thanksgiving unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 16. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to Life everlasting And the like notice he taketh of the
Confession it is revealed to all elect Persons who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word the Spirit working in them when where and how he pleaseth 7. But whether any are or can be saved or justified without the express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and risen again is one Question and whether without all outward hearing of Christ crucified outwardly Preached unto them is another Question For without all outward preaching of Men the mystery of Christ crucified can be revealed and preached inwardly to Men by the Spirit of God and by the same Spirit Faith can be wrought in them by that inward hearing as these Men confess And though it may seem hard and difficult to prove that all honest Gentiles who did by Nature to wit by the Principle of the divine Nature implanted into the true Nature of Men the things contained in the Law had that express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and raised again yet it is more hard and difficult unto them who affirm they had it not to prove it seeing the Spirit who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth might reveal it unto them and that they grant the Spirit doth work in all elect Persons who are not outwardly called by the Word and doth regenerate and save them by Christ. And to the further clearing of this matter we are to consider that the Work of Salvation is not a thing that is commonly done in an instant but hath its gradual Steps its beginning progress and finishing even as Faith it self hath for as at the first instant of a Man's sincere believing he is enâ—â—ed into a state of Salvation so as his Faith groweth his Salvation doth gradually encrease and grow with it the which Salvation is not only a Salvation from Wrath to come or from Hell fire and torment but is a Salvation from Sin and from under the Power of Darkness and from all Ignorance and Error and Darkness of Understanding and a thorow renewing into the Image of God and bringing Man into Conformity unto the Image of the Son of God the heavenly and second Adam And the true knowledge of Christ and of God the Father being a part of the Image of God that is to be renewed in them that are to be saved according to Col. 3.10 And have put on the new Man which is renewed in Knowledge after the Image of him that created him Therefore it doth necessarily follow that perfect Salvation in the full extent of it cannot be had without the full and perfect knowledge of Christ the which full and perfect knowledge of Christ is to know him both as he is that eternal Word and Son of God the only begotten of the Father who was with the Father before the World was by whom all things were made and as he is God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. to wit Christ crucified and raised which Paul calleth the great Mystery of Godliness And that both Salvation and Faith is gradual and hath its steps and progress beginning growth and perfection is very clear both from the Scriptures Testimony and the Saints experience for Paul writing to the believing Philippians exhorted them to work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling 2 Philip. 12. So though they were entred into a state of Salvation through Faith in Christ yet it was not perfected in them but was to be further wrought out and to encourage them in this great Work he told them It was God which worketh in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure And Paul encouraged the believing Romans and also himself saying Now is our Salvation nearer than when we believed Rom. 13.11 And the perfect Salvation of Souls is called the end of Faith 1 Pet. 1.9 And verse 10. Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophecyed of the Grace that should come unto you Verse 11. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the Sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow And Verse 13. Wherefore gird up the Loins of your Mind be sober and hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought unto you in the Revelation of Jesus Christ so the Greek hath viz. Enapokalepsei And Philip. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good Work in you will perform it unto the Day of Jesus Christ And as the Work of the outward Creation is distinguished into six Days and that a Day of Sabbath or Rest which is the perfection So the Work of the inward Creation which is the creating Men anew in Christ Jesus by way of Analogy may be said to have its six Days and then the spiritual Sabbath or Rest according to Heb. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a Sabbath to the People of God And verse 11. For he that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his And Verse 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest c. Where its plain the Writer doth hint at the said Analogy Now though it ought to be granted that the Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified and raised again doth belong to the finishing and perfecting of the Saints Salvation yet it is most clear and plain from Scripture that it doth not universally belong to the beginning of it For we can prove most clearly from Scripture that the good work of God even the Work of Salvation was begun in them who had not that Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified as first to instance in Nathaniel of whom Christ gave a noble Testimony Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no Guile John 1.47 And yet at that time he had not Faith in Jesus of Nazareth as being come in the Flesh but reasoned or questioned saying Can any good thing come out of Nazareth Philip saith unto him Come and see c. Next to instance in the Disciples of Christ who for sometime after they had followed him and that Peter had confessed to him that he was the Son of God and that Christ had told him his Father had revealed it to him yet the mystery of his Death and Resurrection was for all that hid from him and the rest of them For this see Mark 9.31 For he taught his Disciples and said unto them the Son of Man is delivered into the Hands of Men and they shall kill him and after that he is killed he shall rise the third Day And verse 32. But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him See again Luke 9.43 But that instance of Cornelius is a most manifest and clear demonstration of this Truth For this Cornelius was a Gentile and uncircumcised and therefore no Proselite of the Covenant to be sure and though some alledge that he was a Proselite of the Gate according to that distinction that was
among the Jews of a two fold sort of Proselites one of the Covenant that received Circumcision and the Law another of the Gate that did not receive Circumcision yet this is but barely alledged without all proof But if he was a Proselite of the Gate it is certain at that time when the Angel was sent unto him he had no express Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified for that was the thing which Peter was sent to preach unto him by hearing of which he was to receive the holy Ghost and be saved for the Angel told him that Peter should speak Words to him by which he and all his House should be saved see Acts 11.14 Now altho' at that time when the Angel appeared unto him Cornelius had no Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified yet he was in a good estate and well were it for many called Christians that they were in as good estate as he then was in When the Angel appeared to him he told him that his Prayers and his Alms were come up for a memorial before God Acts 10.4 And it is said of him verse 2. He was a devout Man and one that feared God with all his House which gave much Alms to the People and prayed unto God alway And with respect to this Peter began his Preaching saying Acts 10.34 35. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Now who dare be so bold to say Cornelius at this time had no real and true beginning of Salvation or of saving Grace and Faith before Peter did preach Christ crucified raised again unto him For although Cornelius had not at that time Faith in Christ crucified yet he had without all question Faith in God and in the Word of God that was in his Heart and that Word was Christ in him though the Mystery of Christ was not fully revealed unto him at that time and in that state he was accepted of God yet not for his Works sake but for Christ And therefore Men may have a beginning of true Faith and of a true Work of Salvation begun in them when the Mystery of Christ crucified and raised again is not revealed unto them For that Mystery being so great as it is was not in that Day to wit before Christ came and suffered in the Flesh preached as one of the first and most necessary things to be first known and believed as without the Faith and Knowledge of which no Man could be in any degree blessed otherwise when Christ began to Preach he would have preached it as one of the first things and when he sent his Disciples to preach the Gospel before he suffered Death he would have given them an express Commission to preach it to all People how he was to be crucified and raised again the third day but the Mystery of it at that time they knew not and therefore could not preach it then Nor did he preach it himself when he began his Ministry nor for a considerable time afterwardâ— until the time drew near that he was to suffer In all that excellent Sermon of his on the Mount not one Title or Word doth he mention of his Death and Resurrection expresly but he taught the Law and the Prophets and expounded the Spirituality of the Law in its extent far beyond the reach and conception which the People had of it at that time and withal dropped some Evangelical Precepts unto them and taught them the right way of Prayers Fasting and Alms and pronounced them blessed that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and were poor in Spirit that were Merciful that were Meek and Peace-makers and that mourned c. and suffered for Righteousness sake And therefore it may be very safely concluded that the express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified is not of absolute and indispensible necessity especially where it hath not been preached nor revealed unto the beginning of a Man's Salvation although it is really of absolute and indispensible necessity unto the finishing and perfecting of it because as hath been already said our inward renewing unto God when perfected in us is a renewing us perfectly and not in part only into the Image of God and a part of that perfect Image is the perfect Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom to know is Life Eternal and that perfect Knowledge requireth men to know him as he came in the Flesh and died and rose again which is that great Mystery of Godliness as Paul called it 1 Tim. 3.16 But if these Men who own that said Confession of Faith enquire whether all these honest Gentiles that lived in the world or do now live in the world who have not had Christ crucified outwardly preached unto them but were diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that was in them died in a state of Salvation I say yea they did and this I may the rather say according to their own Doctrin For what if they had not the perfect Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified when they lived Yet they might have it at their Death to wit in the passing through the Valley of the shadow of Death according to Psal 23.4 Even when they are not able to demonstrate unto the Living what is then revealed unto them And as it is in Job 33.22 23 24. When a Mans Soul draweth near unto the Grave and his Life to the Destroyers there may be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a Thousand to show unto Man his Vprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom or Attonement see the Hebr. or Margin of the English Bible Or if I should say they receive this perfect Knowledge of Christ after Death it is according to your Doctrin who say The Souls of the Righteous generally or universally after Death note after Death being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens c. These are the express Words of your Catechism cap. 32. sect 1. But when and how or at what precise time these honest Gentiles who used their greatest diligence to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them and yet have not had the Death and Resurrection of Christ outwardly preached unto them when they then lived in the World is not my present business to determine It doth suffice that I have demonstrated from Scripture that Men have been in a state of Salvation and acceptance with God who have not had the mystery of Christ his Death and Resurrection made known unto them and surely these Men continuing faithful to what they had received when they died could not perish For it is impossible that any Man who hath the Work of Salvation really begun in him though but as a Child in Knowledge that holdeth fast the beginning of his Confidence firm unto the end
can perish Heb. 3.14 8. And as concerning the diversity of the Dispensations of the divine Grace given unto Men in the several Ages and Places of the world according to the several States and Capacities of Men in the World the Scriptures testimony is very plain and clear which declareth both of the manifold Grace and manifold Wisdom of God 1 Pet. 4.10 Ephes 3. And Ephes 1.10 Paul mentioneth the Dispensation of the fulness of time as being the greatest wiâ—h respect to the fore-going Dispensations before that fulness of time came and they may be distinguished as Paul doth distinguish them very plainly into three to wit Diversity of Operations but one God and Diversity of Administrations but one Lord and Diversity of Gifts but one Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. The operations belonging to the Law as inwardly dispensed the Administrations to the Prophets and to Christ's coming in the Flesh and to the Apostles their Preaching both before and after Christ was crucified and rose again and afterwards the Gifts to the holy Spirit as they were the effect and fruit of the Apostles Preaching and the end of it And according to the Scripture the first is that divine Dispensation proper to Men as Children in the Knowledge of God and in Virtue the second to that which is proper to Men as in Youth or middle Age the third as proper to Men of full or ripe Age. And each of these Dispensations may be said to have their proper and peculiar inward Baptism or spiritual Washing the first being the Baptism of the Father the second being the Baptism both of the Father and of the Son the third being the Baptism of the Father the Son and the holy Ghost which Christ commanded his Disciples to administer after he rose from the dead and gave the holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which is not to be so understood as if the three to wit the Father the Son and the holy Ghost did not work together in all these three Dispensations for certainly they did but because in the first Dispensation God only was known as Creator and Father of all mankind in the second both the Father and the Son were known and in the third the Father the Son and the holy Ghost are known and the Mystery of the three and of the more abundant divine Grace that accompanieth this Knowledge largely opened and revealed And though I say the first belonged to the Law as inwardly dispensed yet that very Dispensation of the Law was not meerly Legal but had Grace and Mercy mixed with it For no Dispensation without the Grace and Mercy of God could have been in any respect serviceable unto Men therefore the Law both as outwardly and inwardly administred had always some measure of divine Grace mixed with it and therefore in the second Commandment the substance of all the Ten Commandments being commonly acknowledged to have been delivered by God himself to the Gentiles who had not the written Law God did reveal himself to be a gracious and merciful God visiting the Iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation but shewing Mercy to Thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments And as I have already proved from the express Testimony of the holy Scripture by the Obedience of one to wit the Lord Jesus who dyed for all the free Gift and Grace of God is come upon all unto Justification of Life Rom. 5.18 And Christ himself is the Mystery hid in the Gentiles being that Word of Faith which Moses preached in the Jews and Paul in the Romans Chap. 10. 9. And since it is so that Christ is really that Light that doth lighten the Gentiles and is Light in them who have not heard him outwardly preached unto them it is no less than real Blasphemy though pardonable upon Repentance to say as the Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of both Old and New-England have said in their Confession of Faith That the Light in men which they call the Light of Nature that doth so far manifest the Goodness Wisdom and Power of God as to leave men inexcusable yet is not sufficient to give that Knowledge of God which is necessary unto Salvation as they expresly affirm cap. 1. sect 1. And cap. 10. sect 4. they say expresly Men not professing the Christian Religion to wit the Faith of Christ's Death and Resurrection cannot be saved be they never so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them Which here again they call the Light of Nature And as for the expression the Light of Nature it may be safely enough owned in a true Scripture sense though not in the sense of them who do so call it For as Christ is called the Light of men in Scripture John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the Light of men so he may be very well called the Light of Nature to wit lightning the dark Nature of man and not only so but quickning and sanctifying Nature in all men who joyn thereunto and the Word of God in the Heart James calleth it Ton Emphuton Logon the innate Word i. e. put into the Nature of men which is able to save their Souls But the Presbyterian and Independent Teachers of Old and New-England by the Light of Nature mean only that it is some natural Faculty of man's Soul as to say his natural Understanding or his natural Mind Conscience And according to them there is no other Light or Principle of Knowledge or Virtue in man generally and universally nay not in any who profess not the Christian Religion though ever so diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them as they expresly affirm and yet in manifest Contradiction to their own Doctrin they have confessed That Persons elected are saved by Christ and regenerated through the Spirit who are uncapable of being outwardly called by the Word cap. 10. sect 3. 10. But that Light that is in men generally within their day of visitation is not any natural Faculty of man's Soul as to say his natural Understanding or Conscience is manifest 1 st because they do confess that Man by his fall is become dead in Sin and wholly defiled in all the Faculties and Parts of Soul and Body and indeed so he is and his Understanding is so darkned naturally that he is called Darkness and therefore he hath not any Light that is left in him as some call it the Reliques of Light left in him since the Fall for if he did fall wholly then no Light was left in him nor Virtue nor Goodness as they confess cap. 9. sect 3. that Man is altogether averse from good 2 dly they confess That all Sin is a Transgression of the righteous Law of God cap. 6. sect 6. And therefore the Gentiles who have not the Law outwardly delivered unto them seeing they are Sinners do transgress against the righteous Law of God now where
them by his holy Spirit and not only Faith but Love Hope true Righteousness and Holiness Meekness Temperance and Humility and all other Evangelical Virtues and Fruits of the holy Spirit are the Instruments and Means whereby men obtain free Justification through Christ Jesus and whereby they are enabled and fitted or qualified to apply Christ Jesus and his Righteousness unto them so as to have the same imputed unto them and made theirs to wit Christ and all his spiritual Blessings Gifts and Benefits and his Death and Sufferings and Obedience with all the blessed Effects and Fruits of it For as a Line that is straight cannot be applyed unto another Line that is crooked but unto a Line that is straight so cannot the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Righteousness of God be applyed unto men for Justification unless these men be made righteous as he is in likeness or conformity unto him although not equal unto him And therefore John did seasonably give the warning and caution fore-seeing that many would claim to be righteous or justified when they were not really doers or workers of Righteousness 1 John 3.7 Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous And the same John said Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life c. Which is equivalent to their being justified seeing Justification doth include in its Nature a Right or Interest in Christ who is that Tree of Life 5. It is therefore a gross Error and a false and Antichristian Doctrin in these Faith-publishers at Westminster espoused by the Presbyterians and Independant Teachers in New-England That God doth justifie men not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and accepting them as righteous c. cap. 11. sect 1 2. And also that they say Faith receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification is another great Error For as Faith may well be compared to one Hand of the Soul whereby it receiveth and embraceth the Lord Jesus Christ so Love which is an inward Evangelical Grace and Virtue that is shed abroad or infused into the Soul by the holy Ghost may be compared to another Hand and Arm whereby it doth receive and embrace him And all the inward Evangelical divine Virtues and Graces that are wrought and begot in the Soul by the holy Spirit of Christ are so to speak as a whole intire Body consisting of many Members whereby the Soul doth embrace and cleave unto the Lord Jesus Christ and thus a perfect Union cometh to be witnessed betwixt the faithful Soul and the Lord Jesus Christ when it is joined unto him receiveth him and cleaveth unto him not by one single Grace or Virtue called Faith but by all other divine Graces and Virtues which make up a whole intire Body having many Members and Joynts whereby the Soul cleaveth to him as one streight Line is joyned to another or as one streight Body to another not in part only but in all parts And thus also doth the Lord Jesus Christ embrace the whole Soul in all its spiritual and divine Powers and Virtues that he hath freely conferred upon it And hence it is that true Believers are said to put on the Lord Jesus Christ as a man putteth on a Garment Now he that putteth on a compleat or intire Garment every part of his Body cleaveth to it even so the Soul that putteth on Christ cleaveth to him by all its spiritual Members which are the divine Evangelical Virtues wrought in it by the holy Spirit of Christ even as the Sins and evil Lusts are called the Members on Earth Col. 3.5 6. But though real inward Holiness and Righteousness as well as Faith be the Instruments whereby men are justified yet they are not the Foundation and Ground of Justification but the Lord Jesus Christ alone even Jesus of Nazareth who dyed for our Sins without the Gates of Jerusalem and rose again in his intire and perfect Obedience and Righteousness is the alone and only Foundation and ground of Justification on which the Souls of all the Faithful are to rest for Justification and Remission of all Sin and therefore no man is to rest or relie upon the best Works or Righteousness or Obedience that he doth or can do even when helped to perform the same by the help of the holy Spirit For this were to put good Works in the room of Christ which ought not to be for no Works of Righteousness or Holiness done by us even by the help of the holy Spirit is the Foundation of the Saints Faith or Justification but Christ alone and the free Love Mercy Grace and Favour of God the Father revealed in him and by him through the holy Spirit For seeing all men generally have sinned no mans best Obedience for Sin formerly committed can be a Ransom unto God but Christ alone is the Ransom even he who was Crucified and rose again 1 Pet. 3.18 The Just having suffered for the Vnjust that he might bring us unto God And as no man can redeem the Soul of his Brother so nor can he redeem his own Soul For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and ceaseth forever Psal 49.8 viz. to be the Work of man but it is only and alone the Work of him who is both God and Man according to verse 15. But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah See further these other Scriptures Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 15. Gal. 3.13 1 Pet. 1.18 Rev. 5.9 Mat. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 Job 33.23 24. 7. And seeing Remission and Pardon of Sin for Christ's sake is a part or branch of Justification as these Faith-publishers do acknowledg and that repentance is of such necessity that none may expect pardon without it as they confess cap. 15. sect 3. Is it not very manifest by their own Confession though in plain contradiction to their own Doctrin that Repentance is a necessary Instrument and Condition whereby to obtain Justification And indeed the Scripture layeth equal weight upon Repentance and Conversion as it doth upon Faith in order to obtain Remission or Pardon of Sins Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out Acts 26.18 To turn them from Darkness unto Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins c. And when the Scripture saith Titus 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us It is clear that Works before or without true Faith are understood and not the inward Work of Sanctification as is clear from the following Words by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost And if the real inward Work of Sanctification and Obedience had not been necessary to Salvation the
Scripture would not have said Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling And if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live And therefore when Paul doth so earnestly plead that men are not justified by the Works of the Law it is evident he doth only exclude these legal Performances and Observations that the Jews rested in who had not Faith in Christ And that no Works however so good or holy being performed by men ought to be rested in as a Foundation or ground of Justification for that were to exclude Christ and make his Death of no effect And again when James doth plead so earnestly that men are justified by Works and not by Faith only giving an instance in Abraham and Rahab he only placeth Faith and Works together viz. such Works as accompany true Faith and work together with it as necessary Instruments and Conditions whereby to obtain Justification but not to be the Foundation thereof 8. And whereas Paul generally so much useth that manner of Speech of Justification by Faith it is manifest that by Faith he doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but as by way of Synecdoche the most eminent or noted part is put for the whole as when in Scripture as well as in common Speech the Head of a man is put for the whole man Ezek. 33.4 Ezek. 17.9 Even so by Faith the Apostle in these places doth mean the whole complex or systeme or intire Body of the Evangelical Virtues and Graces whereof Faith is as it were the Head and is first in order of Nature at least in respect of the other and sometimes also by Faith he understandeth the whole Evangelical Dispensation and Doctrin as especially in that noted place Gal. 3.23 But before FAITH came we were kept under the Law c. And verse 5. But after that FAITH is come c. Where certainly Paul doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but the whole Evangelical Dispensation with all the spiritual Gifts and Graces of it And again Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which hath the same signification And thus in common Speech among Christians and Christian Writers the Christian Faith doth signifie the whole Christian Religion and Obedience and so Unbelief in Scripture is put for all other Sin that Men generally are under before they believe as Rom. 11.32 9. True Faith in Christ Jesus on whom alone the Soul resteth as on the true Foundation for Justification and all other divine and spiritual gifts blessings is not only a believing in him as he is the Word which was in the beginning with God and is God by whom all things were made and which was in all the Prophets and faithful and holy Men in all Ages but as the same Word did take Flesh and was God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. 1 Tim. 3.16 which Paul called The great Mystery of Godlinss to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law the Son of God that did come in the likeness of sinful Flesh made like unto us in all things Sin excepted who being in the form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant and was found in the true Form and Nature of a Man the Seed of Abraham and David conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlem in the Land of Judah And thus the true Faith doth not divide Christ but receiveth him and joyneth the Soul unto him entirely to wit the whole and intire Christ both as he did come outwardly in the Flesh and as he did and doth inwardly come in the Spirit and as the said true Faith doth not divide him so nor doth it divide his Offices but taketh or receiveth him in all his Offices as King Priest and Prophet Shepherd Physician Husband c. And as he is called Jerm 23.6 The Lord our Righteousness in Scripture so as none can have him to be their Righteousness and Justification but who have him to be their Lord King and Ruler in them and their Sanctification Wisdom and Redemption And thus every truly believing Soul is as the true Mother of the Child who would not have the Child divided but she who was not the true Mother of the Child she would have the Child divided a true Figure of all false Christians who would have Christ divided and say They believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as he is the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them Whereas the true Believer doth both believe in Christ and receive Christ as he came in the Flesh and was crucified for our Sins and rose and ascended into Heaven and is now in Heaven glorified in the intire and perfect Nature of man in Soul and Body appearing in the presence of God for us our Advocate with the Father and also doth believe in him and receive him spiritually to live and dwell in his Heart as he is the Lord that Spirit and the second Adam or heavenly Man the quickning Spirit who is the true spiritual Meat and Drink to every believing Soul even as Christ said I am the true Bread of Life he that eateth me shall live by me 10. And this true Faith in the least true measure of it as it is an act or exercise hath assurance in it of the Love and Mercy of God revealed in Christ Jesus and true infallible Assurance is of the very Nature and Being of true Faith as it is exercised on Christ its true and proper Object and Foundation and upon the Love and Mercy of God the Father revealed in Christ hence Paul said That his Gospel came unto these to whom he preached not in Speech only but in Power and in the holy Ghost and in much Assurance or as the Greek hath it much full Assurance 1 Thes 1.5 And he said further his Preaching was in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 5. That their Faith ought not to be in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God And this was sure footing and had assurance in it as the building on the sure Rock But they who deny all inward new Revelation of the Spirit it s no wonder they deny that Faith hath Assurance in the Being and Nature of it But without divine inward Revelation which begetteth Assurance there is no true Faith but only Opinion or Conjecture seeing there is no midst betwixt Assurance and Opinion or Conjecture and therefore these Faith-Publishers have denyed the true Faith of God's Elect when they say It may be without Assuranee and that
process of time so changed and renewed that they become good Ground and bring forth good Fruit to the end So the more stony and thorny that the Heart is the more labour is to be used to make it good which by the Grace of God may well be done Sixthly The Parable of the ten Virgins five whereof were foolish hath the same signification for these five foolish Virgins had some Oyl in their Lamps but not being wise to get enough they spent what they had and so their Lamps went out for though they had Oyl in their Lamps otherwise their Lamps could not have gone out yet they had not in their Vessels as the wise Virgins had and so when they were called at midnight to meet the Bride-groom they had no Oyl at all neither in their Lamps or Vessels see Mat. 25. from Verse 1. to 12. Seventhly It is expresly said Ezek. 18.24 and 26 27. When a righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity he shall die And again when the wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness and doth that which is lawful and right he shall live And Eighthly The example of David is a most clear Instance who fell from his Integrity by these two great and capital Sins of Adultery and Murther and brought Death upon him and had not God renewed him again by Repentance and restored him he had dyed in his Sins and perished and this fall of his was total though not final because God restored him before he dyed But to say as these Faith-publishers say and affirm That no Men once sanctified in the least measure can fall totally from their Sanctification though committing Murder and Adultery as was the case of David see Cap. 17. Sect. 1. and Cap. 11.5 of their Confession nor from their Justification is not only a most false and pernicious Doctrin but a most wonderful piece of Confusion For if he that is both Murderer and Adulterer in the very act and remaining in that or these Sins without Repentance for some time are really Saints and justified then who may be said not to be Saints Or what difference is there betwixt the Saints and no Saints betwixt the godly and the wicked good men and evil men If a man that is both Murderer and Adulterer be a real Saint and a justified man then the worst of men may generally believe they are true and real Saints and ye cannot convince them of the contrary For by what means can they be convinced thereof Tell them of their Sins Lying Stealing Drunkenness Swearing Murther and Adultery none of all this according to this wicked Doctrin doth prove them to be no Saints or that they have not true Faith and therefore if they die in these gross Sins they must go to Heaven immediately because they shall die in Faith they shall die sanctified and justified men than which I know no greater Confusion and daubing with untempered Morter and sewing Pillows under Peoples Arm-holes like the false Teachers of Old and prophecying smooth things unto People in their Sins and flattering them yea imboldning and encouraging them to Sin And no doubt many are wofully imboldned and encouraged to run into Sin and excess of Sin by such poysonous Doctrin that these false Teachers feed them with that is like sweet Poyson that though it be sweet to the Flesh yet it kills the Soul Doth not the Scripture say The Soul that sinneth shall die and the Wages of Sin is death And as every Sin doth in some measure kill the Soul so great Sins such as Murder and Adultery than which we can hardly suppose any greater unless that unpardonable Sin of Blasphemy against the holy Ghost do wholly kill and destroy the Soul insomuch that if any such Soul ever be saved it must be by a new Creation and renewing and of this David was well sensible when after God was pleased spiritually to visit and awaken him again he prayed unto God saying Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Psal 51.10 And thus according to these false Teachers there is no mortal Sin that any Soul once quickned in the least degree can commit and the same Sin that is mortal in the unbeliever is not mortal in him that once was a believer as Murder Adultery yea Incest or worse is no mortal Sin in one and yet is a mortal Sin in the other Doth not this loose the reins to all sorts of Wickedness and make God a respecter of Persons and Faith a sort of Proof that though men once having Faith commit the worst sort of Sins as Murder Adultery Incest Rapine yet their Faith is a sort of proof unto them that none of these Sins doth or can kill them They are still Saints for all this and justified in the sight of God and if Saints then good enough to be your Church-Members yea Members of the Independent or Congregational Church Why what doth hinder but they are as real and lawful Members of the Church as any others And if Murderers and Adulterers while such are still Saints and qualified to be your Church-Members it is no wonder that your Church be large and have a great number of Members It is no great difficulty to be a Member of that Church when a Murderer an Adulterer can be a Member of it Is this your pretence to Reformation And why ye estimate your Church more holy than the Church of Rome But is not your Church and Doctrin in this respect much more unholy For the Church of Rome saith All gross or great Sins as Fornication Adultery Murder and the like are really mortal Sins in all that commit them without respect of Persons and whoever commit such Sins are fallen from their state in Grace And so saith the Scripture 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The which Kingdom of God is a state of Grace as well as of Glory And here we see the Apostle Paul maketh no distinction betwixt one that hath formerly believed and one that hath not believed but without distinction or respect of Persons he concludeth in general against them all that while such they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God But according to this Westminster and New-England Confession of Faith Fornicators and Murderers and Adulterers that have at any time once believed do still inherit the Kingdom of God to wit a state of Grace which is in a true sense the Kingdom of God and is frequently so called in Scripture And thus it doth most evidently appear that their Doctrin in this particular is Antichristian and contrary to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures And to say that Murder or Adultery in him that hath once truly believed is not a mortal or killing Sin but is a mortal Sin in him that hath not believed is not only to make God a respecter of Persons in the worst sense
assured that the Spirit of God never teacheth nor leadeth any to think say or do what is contrary to the declared Will of God in the holy Scriptures nor to that holy and righteous Law that is writ by the Finger of God upon the Hearts of Men universally which is the substance of the Decalogue that God writ upon the two Tables of Stone And we readily grant that whoever pretend to follow the Spirit of God to be their inward Guide and Rule should be very cautious and wary lest the evil Spirit that doth and can transform himself into many Likenesses but always short of the Truth step in and deceive But there is a most safe and sure way for every one to be sure that they are not deceived and shall never be in any matter of moment and that is for every one to be faithful unto God in these moral Duties or any other things which they know infallibly and are generally agreed upon by all Christians to be good things for such have the Promise of God that they shall be preserved from being deceived And whereas the said Increase Mather hath writ so many remarkable Judgments of God that have come upon notorious Offenders on purpose to record them in Print and that he saith Cap. 11. We may not judge of Men meerly by outward Accidents which befall them in this World c. And some Lines after he saith Nevertheless a Judgment may be so circumstanced as that the displeasure of Heaven is plainly written upon it in legible Characters And in this he saith true but he should have added that such Men who can read the same must not be blind but have the true Eye opened in them otherwise they will make a wrong Construction of these things There wants to be inserted or added to his Book the many signal and manifest Judgments of God that came upon the People of New-England in general and upon divers particular Persons the main actors for that horrible Persecution they raised against that honest People called Quakers and putting to death four of the Lord's Servants for which the Name of these Actors and Abettors are a stink over many places of the World And of these Judgments in general the blasting of their Wheat generally ever since they put our worthy Friends to Death at Boston and the Indian Wars that soon after followed whereby many English were destroyed And after that but of late Years a dreadful Visitation of the Small-Pox called by some the Black Pock that cut off very many both at Boston and else-where of which they were fore-warned by a Woman that came from Barbadoes and went into some of their Meetings with her Face all made black for a Sign of what was coming upon them she being one of these People called Quakers and owned by them in that very Testimony which she declared she was moved by the Lord to come from Barbadoes to bear among them her Name being Margaret Brewster to which may be added the taking away their Charter and Power which they so grosly abused in turning the Sword against the Innocent one cause of which was their persecuting the Quakers unto Death and the manifest Judgments of God that came upon divers particular Persons notorious Persecutors of that innocent People are very observable as Major Adarton who joyned in passing sentence of Death against some of these Servants of the Lord who suffered Death at Boston who not long after was killed with a Cow and that Horton Preacher at Boston a great Persecutor who dyed suddainly as he was walking in his House after Sermon and Captain Davenport another great Persecutor who was killed with Lightning And though the said Increase Mather doth relate the suddain Deaths of both these men he altogether omitteth these great Circumstances of their being great Persecutors the which ommission whether it was wilfully in him or not I shall not determine But it is the more memorable that the said Major Adarton being warned before-hand of the Judgment of God he made light of it as I was informed by some in New-England who had the Relation of it from some that did so warn him being of that persecuted People And also it is very memorable how one of these persecuted Servants of the Lord called Quakers did plainly fore-tell that the House of Governor Indicot a greater Persecutor should be left desolate and become a Dunghil as did accordingly come to pass and hath been observed by divers to have been a real Prophecy divine Justice and Providence did so bring it about There are many other Instances and Examples might be mentioned some of which I refer to George Bishop his Book called New-England Judged to be there read and considered I shall only add one passage more which I was informed of and had it writ from some of the People of Barnstable how that from an honest-man a Quaker in the Town of Barnstable were taken four Cows with some Calves the Quaker's name being Ralph Jones who is yet alive and these Cattel were taken away by the Preacher of that Town his Son-in-law who had married his Daughter and returned to the Priest as a part of his Wages The Priest sent to Ralph Jones to tell him He might have two of his Cows returned to him if he would send for them But he never sent and so the said Priest used them and disposed of them as his own killed one of the Calfs and sent a part of it to his Daughter that lay in Child-bed she no sooner did eat a little of the Calf but fell into a great trouble and cryed Return home the Man's Cows I hear a great noise of them and so dyed in that trouble The Priest alledged the Quakers had bewitched his Daughter although it cannot be proved that ever they had any business with her But to what evil Construction will not Malice and Hypocrisie and Covetousness bend a thing Some time after the said Preacher killed some of these Cows to be eat in his House saying He would try if the Quakers could bewitch him and not long after he dyed even before the Flesh of these Cows were all eat The passage is so fresh in that Town that it is acknowledged by divers of the Neighbours to be true And as great havock was made upon this honest Man and upon many in Sandwich a neighbouring Town and in many other places so much more might have been expected had not their Violence been restrained by the King 's granting an Indulgence to all tender Consciences Next as to Nath. Morton in his Book called New-England's Memorial pag. 157. he chargeth the Quakers with corrupt and damnable Doctrin in the following particulars 1. That the holy Scriptures were not for the enlightning of Man nor a setled and permanent Rule of Life The which charge is false for we have granted that the Scriptures are a Rule of Life so we do still the best outward Rule that can be found but
we say they are not the only Rule nor being compared with the inward Rule of God's holy Spirit are they above it but inferior and under it and ought only to be used in Subordination to it And if the Scripture were the only Rule as our Adversaries say then all poor Heathens should have no Rule nor Law and consequently no Sin nor Judgment which is false And we deny not but the Scriptures are a means of our enlightning as God the Father of Lights is pleased to cause his Light to shine unto us in our Hearts in the serious and faithful hearing reading and meditating on the Scriptures c. but not otherwise even as the Air or Windows of a House are means of letting in the Sun 's light to us but if the Sun shine not neither the Air nor Window can give us light 2. That they denyed the Manhood of the Lord Jesus Christ and affirmed that as Man he is not in Heaven This is a notorious false Charge which they can never prove And in this Treatise in several places I have given a large Testimony to the Man Christ Jesus in Heaven and how he is the Object and Foundation of the Christians Faith as the Mystery of his coming in the Flesh Death and Sufferings c. is inwardly opened revealed and applyed by the holy Spirit in Men's Hearts 3. That they deny the Resurrection of the Dead This is also a most false charge which they can never prove But because we deny their Carnal Conceptions of the Resurrection and hold us to Scripture-words which is most safe therefore they have so belyed us And for the more satisfaction of the Reader I refer him to a little Book called The Principles of Truth published by some noted Men of the Quakers in which Book it is expresly affirmed That we to wit the Quakers believe that the same Body which is laid down shall be raised up at the Resurrection of the Dead as much as a natural Body can be the same with a spiritual Body on an earthly Body can be the same with a heavenly Body according to the Scriptures Testimony it is sown natural but raised spiritual and the Glory of the Heavenly is one and the Glory of the Earthly is another And this may satisfie any sober enquirer And Paul writing concerning the Resurrection of the Dead saith That is not first which is Spiritual but that which is Natural or Animal and afterwards that which is Spiritual 1 Cor. 15.46 and vers 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthly we shall also bear the Image of the Hevenly He that readeth let him understand 4. That an absolute Perfection in Holiness or Grace is attainable in this Life 5. That they placed their Justification upon their Patience and Sufferings for their Opinions and on their righteous Life both which are grosly false Charges and the contrary of which I have shewed in this Treatise at length in their proper places 6. They allowed not nor practised any civil Respect to Magistrates Parents c. This also is grosly false there are divers other ways sufficient whereby to shew both our Civil and Christian Respect to Magistrates and Parents c. without either doffing the Hat or cringing and that both in Words and Gestures There are only two other things which he chargeth that we grant to be true but deny them to be either damnable or corrupt Doctrin but affirm them to be truly Christian one is That all Men ought to attend to the Light within them to be the Rule of their Lives and Actions But if this be corrupt and damnable Doctrin he accuseth his own Brethren who in their Confession of Faith say That there are many Sins that Men commit against the Law or Light of Nature as they call it which are the more hainous And surely that is a Light within them and is e'en so far a Rule of Life containing as is commonly acknowledged the Substance of the ten Commandments see their answer to Quest 151. larger Catechism But we do not say That that general Illumination that is in all men many of whom have not the Scriptures is a Rule to oblige them to believe and receive these great Mysteries of Christianity declared in the Scriptures which they who have not the Scriptures have not revealed unto them The other is That we deny the use of Oaths But this is no corrupt but truly Christian Doctrin which saith Swear not at all Mat. 5.34 It is a marvelous thing that these Men have no other ways to oppugne the Quakers but by grose 〈…〉 Lies and false Calumnies and 〈◊〉 Abuses like unto the ways that ever the 〈◊〉 sort of the Adversaries of Truth have used against the true Witnesses of it It had been more Manly and seemingly Christian for Increase Mather and Nath. Morton or any others of their Sect or Society fairly to have stated the Quakers Principles and then to have gone and refuted them by the best or strongest Arguments they could find But this none of them have done nor did I ever see to this day any one Writer that did write against the Quakers that did fairly state their Principles but miserably belyed and abused them either by affirming things to be their Principles which were not or by so unfairly representing and wresting the Words of our honest Friends by their Addings and Diminishings that they could not at all acknowledge them as such All which is a manifest Evidence of the weakness badness of their Cause as well as of that evil Conscience that is in them when they use such unlawful ways and means to defend themselves or to oppugne others Read and well consider Ezekiel 9.3.4 1 Cor. 5.2