God have all the Angels to wait upon him and all the creatures at his command to go for him and to do for him what he appoints yet if he were not essentially present himself with all and in all he could not supply all with all good that they want for he could not see all and know all if he were not present in all if he did not fill all and if all did not live and move and had not being in him Therefore the Lord argues in Jer. 23. 24. from his filling all to his knowing all the words are these Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him do not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord and if this be so of God that he works all by his presence with all then it is so of Christ also and the words I will be with you though they may extend to actions of love and kindness and may comprise well dealing and doing good within them yet they do properly hold out the way and means in which Christ will be helpful to them he is with them alwaies to take notice of their condition and to apply himself thereto and Christ doth assure them that though he shall be bodily absent from them and in heaven yet in the eternal Spirit in the divine nature he is alwaies present with them In which sense he saith that he the Son of man though upon earth in his flesh was yet according to his diety in heaven John 3. 13. and chap. 17. 24. But he goes on and saith Jesus Christ is present with his Messengers and deals well with them when he doth instruct comfort strengthen and protect them and all these he doth in his absence by his Spirit whom the Father hath sent in his name John 14. 26. And he instanceth in instruction and saith Christ instructed his Apostles but not immediately for the Spirit saith he that came in Christs name and received of his was the instrument by which Iesus Christ did work And he cites Iohn 16. 13 14 15. for it Rep. I have shewed already that these operations of grace do not hinder the essential presence of Christ according to his Godhead with the Apostles but do rather imply it but he excludes it and saith he doth all these things in his absence by his Spirit Now though there be a truth in it that Christ being in heaven in flesh and absent from earth so far as respects the flesh doth effect all things by the Spirit yet it is not onely false but foolish in the sense that he intends it and in the words that he expresseth it in 1. I shall readily grant it in a sense that Christ works all by the Spirit and that there is an order of working among the persons in the Godhead and in this order the Father works by the Son and by the Spirit and the Son works from the Father and by the Spirit and the Spirit works from the Father and from the Son by himself and the Father is the person sending both the Son and the Spirit and the Son is the person sent from the Father and sending the Spirit with the Father and the Spirit is the person sent both from the Father and from the Son but it will not follow that therefore Christ though bodily absent is personally absent from his Messengers and instructs them not immediately by himself but onely by the Spirit For as it is said in Iohn 5. 17. by Christ of the Father My Father worketh hitherto and I work The Father worketh all things by the Son he made the world by the Son and he judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son that is by the Son he judgeth and manageth all things and not without him yet he worketh that cannot be denied though by the Son yea the very works that the Son worketh and all of them and none other but them the Father worketh the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and the Father and the Son are one in essence though two in personality and the Father and the Son work one thing the Father by the Son and the Son from the Father and the Son can do nothing of himself apart from the Father nor the Father any thing apart from the Son but by him as I have shewed at large in my former Treatise so it may be said of the Son and of the holy Ghost that the Son worketh hitherto and the holy Ghost worketh that is they work the same work the Son by the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost from the Son and the holy Ghost shall not speak of himself nor act of himself as saith the Scripture which he cites that is he shall not speak or work any thing apart from the Son but what he shall hear and see that shall he speak and do and the Son doth speak and act by him the same things and nothing else for the Son is in the holy Ghost and the holy Ghost in the Son and they are one in essence and therefore cannot be divided in operation but work the same things in such an order of working and to this the Scripture gives witness in 2 Cor. 3 17. The Lord is called the Spirit and the Spirit is called the Spirit of the Lord Christ how can this be Essentially the Lord Christ is the Spirit they are one Personally considered the Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord Christ and the Lord Christ is not the Spirit And Rev. 2. 1. to 6. compared with verse 7. In verse 1. to 6. Christ is the person that speaks to the Church and so to all the Churches and commands John to write but in verse 7. it is said he that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches so that Christ speaks and yet the Spirit speaks and Christ and the Spirit are one in essence though two in persons and Christ spake to the Churches by the Spirit and the Spirit spake from Christ But they act and work together the same things and none other as the Father and the Son do so do the Son and Spirit and indeed Father and Son and Spirit are one in essence and one in operation the order of working onely excepted 1 John 5. 7. so that Christs instructing by the Spirit obstructs not Christs personal presence with the Disciples here upon earth though his body be in heaven And the sending of the Spirit both by the Father and by the Son are acts of counsel among the persons in the Godhead as hath been fully declared in reference to Christ who was sent of the Father and yet gave himself And the Spirit though sent when he cometh acteth not meerly as one sent according to the will of another but as himself willeth 1 Cor. 12. 11. so that his sending was by counsel with his own consent 2. In the sense that he asserts it that Christ in Heaven acts
by his Spirit I shall utterly deny it as that which both wants truth in it and is absurd as that which is neither consistent with Scripture nor reason nor congruous to his own Opinion for he takes away Christs immensity and ubiquity and puts it upon the Spirit to prevent Christs being in Heaven and on Earth at once and his filling of Heaven and Earth with his presence that he might not thereby be acknowledged God and yet he makes the Spirit to be universally present and so makes him more then a creature wherein he contradicts himself for his words are these Christ doth all these works in his absence by his Spirit therefore the Spirit is present for he supplies the defect of Christs presence and yet withall he saith The spirit which received of Christs was Christs instrument by which Jesus Christ did the work Therefore he is not God for God cannot be an instrument therefore he is but a creature wherein he crosseth himself So then what must not be yielded to in Christ least he should be God he yields to the Spirit whom he makes not God but a creature And in this he not only sets Christ below the Father whom he acknowledgeth to be God but he sets him below the Spirit whom he acknowledgeth but a creature and now Christ is neither God nor yet the first and chief of the creatures for the Spirit is more excellent then he for the Spirit can be present with all the Apostles in all the parts and Climats of the World at one time to instruct them comfort them c. and Christ is shut up in Heaven and cannot And this is contradictory to himself for he makes Christ the first of the creatures and the Maker of the rest and the Lord of them and he makes him a Spirit in his first existence and yet the Spirit that was made by him can be with all the Apostles and Disciples and Saints also and abide with them for ever and administer to them all good but Christ who is his Lord and Maker cannot O monstrous and senseless Opinion wherein God leaves him to be confounded But how contradictory to reason is this that the Spirit should be the instrument of Christ and so a creature inferiour to Christ and yet be present in all places in Heaven in Earth in the Sea and every where for where ever Saints be there the Spirit is Saints are in all these places The Spirit is one that bears witness in Heaven 1 Joh. 5. 7. Therefore there he is and he bears witness on Earth in the hearts of Believers in Rom. 8. 16. and therefore there he is And the whole Spirit dwels in every Saint for we do not read of any parts of the Spirit into which he is divided and if Saints be every where the whole Spirit is every where and such a boundless Essence is not competent to any creature it is that which God himself arrogates as proper to him do not I fill Heaven and Earth Jer. 23. 24. whole God fils every place and the whole Spirit fils every Saint As bodies have their loca their places so Spirits all created ones have their ubi their some where out of which and beyond which they are not they are confined if they be not circumscribed but of the Spirit it is said whither shall I go from thy Spirit the Spirit is everywhere It is also extreamly repugnant to Scripture that the Spirit should be Christs instrument and consequently a creature and it is as gross as the denying of the Diety of Christ and his Heresie is multiplyed in this Assertion 1. An Instrument acts and works after the will of the principal efficient but the Spirit after his own will as himself pleaseth and therefore no instrument 2. The person by whom Christ wrought Miracles was no instrument but Christ according to his humane nature wrought Miracles by the vertue and power of the Spirit therefore he was no instrument Mat. 12. 28. Acts 10. 38. 3. He that was the uncture with which Christ was annoynted and became more excellent and glorious then all his fellows he that was the enrichment of Christ as man as a creature above all creatures that exalted him in eminency above all Angels c. was not any instrument inferiour to Christ but superiour to him as a creature but the Spirit was the uncture wherewith Christ was annoynted Act. 10. 38. and he received not the Spirit by measure as others did but beyond all measure Joh. 3. 34. whence he came to excell all his fellows Heb. 1. 9. 4. He that is the Spirit of God and is to God as the spirit of a man is to man he that alone knoweth the deep things of God and searcheth them that is hath deep full perfect knowledge of them he cannot be an instrument to Christ to take what Christ a creature as he makes Christ to be shews him and no more and to shew them to men but the Spirit is the Spirit of God and stands to God as the Spirit of a man stands to man and searcheth the deep things of God therefore cannot be an instrument to take from Christ and bring and shew to men And it is contrary to Scripture to make the Spirit a creature as if he be a creatures instrument as he would make him he must needs be 1. He is called God by the Apostles of Christ therefore he is God Act. 5. 3 4. compared together prove it in the 3. ver Peter saith to Ananias Thou hast lyed to the holy Ghost in the 4. vers he saith Thou hast lyed to God He makes the holy Ghost to be God for he shews the person against whom the sin was committed it was not man it was not any creature it did rise higher it was the holy Ghost he was God So that the holy Ghost and God are one and the same thing And 1 Cor. 3. 16. Paul makes him God in these words Know ye not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you This latter is the proof of the former because the Spirit of God dwels in you therefore saith the Apostle you are the temple of God here is no mention of Gods dwelling in them but of the Spirits dwelling in them if therefore the Spirit were not God the Argument of the Apostle were nought And by the Evangelist Luke in Act. 10. 3. 19 20. compared together he is called God in vers 3. it is said The Angel of God came in to Cornelius and commanded him to send men for Peter in vers 19. 20. it is said That the Spirit told Peter that he had sent those men to him and therefore he must go with them The men were sent upon the command of the Spirit therefore the Spirit was that God that sent the Angel and to be the Angel of the Spirit and the Angel of God is all one 2. He is called the God of Israel 2 Sam.
instrument 3. That whereas the Father and the Son are mentioned together they are made equall in manner of working and they are either both instruments or both principall Agents and Efficients for Paul was an Apostle by Jesus Christ and by God the Father and Jesus Christ hath the leading place In Rom. 11. 36. For of him and by him and to him are all things Here the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated by or through is attributed to God and he will say that the Father is meant and only the Father and we may observe two things 1. According to the truth of the thing the particles of and by are all one and that by doth not import any instrumentalness for God in no sense can be an instrument 2. According to the sense that he puts upon the particle by God is both the principall Agent because of him are all things and he is also the Instrument of all things for by him are all things Also in Heb. 2. 10. where the Creation is spoken of and attributed to the Father and not to the Son it is not attributed to him as something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as somthing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as of him but as by him The words are these It behoved him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to make the Prince and Captain c. Yet he will not say that the Father is an Instrument I shall not multiply places these Texts are sufficient to shew the absurdity and falseness of the gloss that he puts upon the prepositions of and by That which he asserts of the Fathers that they frequently call him Gods instrument and servant is true of Christ as the son of man according to his humane nature and they call him no other then the Prophet Isa 42. 1. which must he so understood In the next place after his Arguments where he placed his own strength for the proving of Christs instrumentalness in Creation he comes to consider my Argument against it which was this God could not make use of an instrument in the work of creating of the world To this he answers 1. This Assertion derogates from Gods al-sufficiency Is any thing impossible with God is any thing too hard for the Lord Rep. This Assertion as it is laid down with a reason to explain it is so far from derogating from Gods al-sufficiency that it is the magnifying of Gods al-sufficiency there is such an infinity of perfection in Gods al-sufficiency that it is incommunicable to the creature God cannot make another as sufficient as himself that is It is so transcendently excellent that no creature is capable of it And whereas he demands Is any thing too hard for God Is any thing impossible to the Lord he may receive this answer What-ever may be done by power God can do it because he hath sufficiency of power in himself to do it But that which cannot be done in the nature of the thing which implyes a contradiction if it were supposed to be done that is impossible with God or in it self rather as It is impossible for the most high God to make a God most high because God most high hath his being of himself and is uncreated and eternall and gives being to other things Therefore a created most high God carries a contradiction with it therefore is a thing not to be done and God cannot do it yet it argues not any weakness in God because he cannot do it 2. He saith I contradict my own testimony and he minds me of the time I remember saith he that in a Conference where I exercised both silence and patience to the glory of God since I received your paper you did affirm in the hearing of not a few that God might have made an Angel or some other creature at the first and by it have made all things Repl. I do remember that time he speaks of and so do some scores of persons as well as I will remember it while they live wherein he exercised not silence altogether for he spake at the last in the close of the conference it had been better he had been silent then to speak as he did for he asserted an untruth in those few words he did speak he uttered words to this purpose That it was strange to him that he should be brought upon the stage in so publick a way for holding such an opinion when he had not declared himself in a positive way at any time about it Which caused me to mind him of his first Sermon in which he broached his opinion in a positive way in this assertion That Christ is not the ultimate and last rest of Saints but the Father and that Christ was but the way to it Which if Christ be coessentiall with the Father is false therfore his assertion did deny by an undenyable consequence the coessentiality of Christ with the Father And at another time he publickly in his preaching speaking his opinion on John 3. 13. No man hath ascended up into heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man which is in heaven said that he could not conceive how Christ being at that time on earth could be in heaven unlesse it were in respect of that knowledg which he had of the Father and the things of heaven or words to this effect In which he denyed the omnipresence of Christ and consequently the Godhead of Christ And yet in that short speech of his he would make fair weather of it and put a face upon it as if he were not the man he was taken for Concerning his patience not I alone but many others did judge it stupidity rather then patience for scarce any one that had had the spirit of a man could have been dumb and not open his mouth when he was so palpably called forth to appear in the cause It did certainly strike amazement in very many that knew he was there and yet could not hear him speak one word having so many strong invitations thereto Or if it were not stupidity it was cunning craftiness for he knew how to make advantage by being here and keeping silence and he could reserve himself in point of speaking to a more hopefull time and fairer opportunity in which he might by speaking propagate his opinion there was little hope of advantaging his cause at that time when there were so many to contradict him And yet he might feele mens pulses by being there and discern who were his friends and who his enemies and who might probably be wrought upon and who not But he saith it was to the glory of God that he exercised silence and patience But it was every to way the dishonor of God for if truth were in his tenent then he shamefully deserted it when he should have committed himself to God in the maintaining of it who ever opposed it And if Errour and Heresie were in his
which derives his vertue from him and is dependent upon him a Saviour needed not to have come from heaven for God might have done it by any earthly creature or by any creature-instrument without any respect had to power or ability as inherent in it at all but by his own power manifested by it and so might have saved by an Apostle equally as by a Christ But I shall prove what I designe by another medium 2. That Doctrine which renders Christ insufficient to the work of saving renders him an insufficient Saviour or destroys his sufficiencie as a Saviour But this Doctrine of his renders Christ insufficient to perform the work of saving c. Which I prove thus If Christ be a meer creature he is insufficient to execute those three Offices of King Priest and Prophet to perform the work which those Offices do call for for the saving of men I shall begin with his Prophetical Office unto the execution of which it is necessary not onely to open the Scriptures to men that they may conceive of them but to open the understandings of men to understand them and to give them eye-salve that they may see which because it belongs to his Office as a Prophet he must be able to do from vertue and ability within himself But no creature can effect this by any power of its own nor is capable to receive such power from another because it is not competent to the creature and consequently Christ being onely a creature as he holds him is disabled in the principal work of that Office And as a Priest he was to offer up himself to God through the eternal Spirit that he might purge away sin and that his Blood might be of greater efficacie then the blood of bulls and goats and that he might purchase eternal redemption for believers which as a creature he could not do Heb. 9. 12. So that he disables him in the works of his Priestly Office in holding him onely to be a creature And as a King he must conquer Death by raising himself up from the dead which he was to suffer as a Priest to take away sin And he must also destroy sin in its regnancie by Kingly power in his members as he was to condemn it in its guilt by his death which work is above the power of any meer creature So that by this opinion of his he is made weak to perform all his Offices which yet he came into the world to accomplish and that he is made an insufficient Saviour which overturns the Gospel in the principal scope of it But of this more hereafter The last Argument which I shall now produce to prove another Gospel and Scripture to be brought in and the true Gospel and Scripture to be destroyed is this Arg. 6. That Doctrine which tends to overturn and destroy the mystery of godliness tends also to overturn and destroy the Gospel and Scripture But this Doctrine of his serves to overturn and destroy the mystery of godliness Therefore it destroys the Gospel and Scripture The Major Proposition he will not have the boldness to make question of The Minor Proposition I prove from 1 Tim. 3. 16. Great is the mystery of godliness God manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory Thus the words run in all the Original Copies unless one in which the word God is left out as is conceived expunged by the Arrians but the sence of all comes to be subverted by it I shall give the sence of the words and then deduct the consequence from it and shall begin with the subject that is spoken of and then speak of the predicate of that which is asserted God manifest in the flesh The Son of God or God in the person of the Son appearing in flesh by assuming flesh and uniting it to his own person Justified in the Spirit Justified by the Godhead to be God that is by the rays and beams that sparkled out and shined forth in the flesh sutable to the expressions of the Apostle Joh. 1. 14. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the onely begotten Son of God c. Seen of angels Attended by Angels in his incarnation ministery sufferings rising ascending as the story of the Gospel shews which gave witness to this mystery of God in flesh Preached to the Gentiles Preached in this mystery of the incarnation to be God over all blessed for ever Believed on in the world Received as God in our nature as the Immanuel as very God as the most high God by faith as Thomas did receive him so all Saints ought My Lord saith he and my God Received up into glory Taken up to heaven to receive the glory not that which was of new given to him as a reward of his sufferings but the glory which he had before the world was which Divine glory was made more apparent in flesh which was obscured before very much and veiled in it That which is predicated or declared of this subject is that it is a mystery of godliness Great is the mystery It is one of the great depths of God it is the depth of depths the head and height of all mysteries which eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard and which hath not entred into the heart of man to conceive which flesh and blood hath not revealed but the Father that is in heaven by the Spirit viz. that God in the person of the Son was sent by the Father and by consent with the Father gave himself to a state of debasement humbled himself and appeared in the fashion of a man by taking flesh of the Virgin and becoming together with it one person viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God-man God in the person of the Son and the Son of man making one Christ This truth was witnessed by the Spirit viz. by the Divinity of the second person made flesh by some glory of the Godhead of the Son which in flesh appeared and declared him to be what he was and testified by the attendance of Angels and preached and believed by all sorts of men whom God hath ordained to life and sealed to the satisfaction of all that might doubt by his assumption into glory Jehovah the Father therein speaking to Jehovah the Son Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot stool Some such enemies were those which contradicted him and called it blasphemy when he said that he was the Son of God or God in the person of the Son which is all one This saith the Apostle is the great mystery which is transcendent above all reason in the sons of men Of godliness This is that truth in the acknowledgement of which and in the assent to which all godliness is founded and bottomed For it is the Gospel in the grand mystery of it the
impartiall therein when his son whom he loved had offended by adultery caused one of his sons eyes and another of his own to be put out save only the praise of his justice and truth in his lawes and this is that which God grieves at And if the Judge loving the prisoner that is before him and knowing he hath nothing to pay and yet the law recovers payment will give his own son to be his surety and will lay the debt upon him and is content that his son shall fetch the price out of his own treasure yet the law is satisfied and the judges righteousnesse in reference unto it and his love to the Prisoner are glorified Nor is the satisfaction the lesse because God the offended person procures it and not man that offended him for the truth of God stands firme by that means and the law takes place and is not made of none effect as it would have been had no satisfaction been given which would have redounded to Gods dishonour Yea the righteousnesse of God and his love to undeserving creatures shines forth because the satisfaction is of Gods own procuring And though it proceed from God yet it cannot be said that God satisfies himself or that he was satisfied before for he that provides it doth not act it but it is acted in and by an other person The Father sends the Son and the Father in the Son receives satisfaction and though the Father and Son be the same God yet they are not the same person nor is the satisfaction that the Son gives materially considered given in the divine nature or God-head but the Sonne took flesh and in that flesh by dying and sheding his blood gave satisfaction so that it is from God but not in God if we speak of the next and immediate subject which is the man-hood if the matter of the satisfaction be respected And though it may be said that God was satisfied before in reference to his own love to such persons he did not repent of it in such sort as to cast them off nor was his purpose of glorifying them one whit shaken yet he was not satisfied after they had sinned and after he had sentenced them to death in point of righteousnesse and truth to passe by their transgression without satisfaction his Law was not satisfied in a free forgivenesse without satisfaction and so God was unsatisfied because the Law was Object 6. It is likewise asserted that there is an unsatisfied conscience in men men having sinned cannot discerne how Gods heart can be towards them without satisfaction therefore the Scripture speaks of propitiation through Christs bloud and of atonement by his death condescending therein to mans infirmity which could not otherwise apprehend how God could communicate life and glory to men after they had sinned without being first appeased and pacified by Christs blood But if things be rightly considered in themselves as in truth they are Christ dyed not to reconcile us to God but to heal us of an evill conscience and that we might know that God loved us after we had sinned as well as he did before by the gift of Christ who is the manifestation of the Fathers love after the fall which the Elect could not be perswaded of but by a pledge of it Therefore it is said that Christ shed his bloud to purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. and not to satisfie God Sol. It will readily be confessed that it was an end of Christs dying to reconcile men to God and that they might have the answer of a good conscience before God 1 Pet. 3. 21. But that this was the solitary end or the principall end or that satisfaction to God is no end but is wholly excluded is denyed and hath been disproved all along in the discourse upon this subject 1. What need would there have been that Christ should have dyed at all if only satisfaction to mens consciences concerning Gods goodnesse and love to fallen creatures had been intended therein For God could best have done that by his spirit and must yet do it by his spirit if it be ever done in the hearts of men Indeed God having given Christ and delivered him up to death the spirit represents it as a great manifestation of the Fathers love but the spirit might have abundantly assured the heart of a sinner of the Fathers love without it so that there was no necessity of Christs dying in that regard 2. The love of God represented unto men in giving Christ is much lessened to them in the representation if Christ were only given to satisfie their hearts in reference to their fears of God not to satisfie Gods justice if there were no need of Christ in reference to any danger they were in in regard of God if God could or would have pardoned sin without him and his justice and truth could have remitted it 3. It is derogatorie to Gods wisdome and love to assert that Christ was delivered up to be crucified upon the crosse and there to shed his blood principally for this end to cure mans panique fears and his groundlesse causeles suspicions of God and not from any necessity that there was in mans evill condition in regard of sin committed by him and of Gods righteousnesse and truth prosecuting it against him For God might have done this in an easier way and have spared his dear Son God is represented prodigall of his dear Sons bloud if he must die and bleed out his spirits to cure some false conceits that men have entertained of God 4. What need was there that the Son should come in flesh and should empty himself of his glory and that he that is the Lord of glory should be crucified if no satisfaction to divine justice was looked at but only the satisfaction of the conscience the bloud of God as it is called would not have been necessary but the bloud of a meer creature Christ would have served the turne for such a purpose had that been all 5. How came those fears in the heart of man after the fall after sinne committed What bred them was there no ground for them were they meer conceipts and jealousies that wanted a right bottom did not the threatning before sinne was committed cause the horrours and terrours that were in the soul after sinne was committed and if they had Gods threatning as the ground of them viz. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death were they not well grounded and was it possible that these fears should be cured by the bloud of Christ and the cause not removed by the bloud of Christ the threatning not taken away the truth of God and his righteousnes not fulfilled and satisfied which were in the threatning and which bred the feares 6. These fears and terrors of the Elect before Christs bloud be brought to their hearts to remove them are they not of the same nature with the
horrours of the reprobate in hell And if so are not both the one and the other that wrath of God which God poures into the soul because of sinne which he prosecutes against men are they not punishments for sin from God is not Gods righteousnesse therein revealed against sin the truth of God in the threatning fulfilled which did reach to both Elect and Reprobate And if so how can God remove them from the Elect through Christ without satisfaction given by Christ and yet suffer them to lie upon the Reprobate without palpable unrighteousnesse and untruth when the threatning viz. Thou shalt dye the death extended to all mankinde in Adams loynes without exception 7. How may Scripture come to be eluded and the strength and force of it infringed in all other cases if plain pregnant places of it may be evaded after this manner as when it is said God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation that is to be one that appeaseth God Rom. 3. 25. and by Christ we have received the attonement Rom. 5. 11. that is we have received God attoned to us for all the offerings in the Law were to attone God to men that had sinned if such an answer may be taken and may passe God doth in these expressions condescend to mans infirmity who thinks God to be angry and had need to be appeased and reconciled how easie would it be to wrest and pervert all Scripture By this that hath been represented it appears that some satisfaction to God is necessary to be given by Christ and the contrary doctrine is dangerous and desperate and overthrows our justification for if God be not satisfied for our sins they are not pardoned and we are yet in our sins and this doctrine that thus oppugnes Christs satisfaction doth deny Christ to have bought us for if he payed not any price to God for us I am sure he paid none to the divel nor to any other enemy for he conquered them by force and power and might and paid not any price to them therefore it utterly overthrows Christs purchase of the Elect and yet which is much to be lamented this doctrine spreads very much and corrupts very many Q. 2. The second thing that I promised to speak to is this that seeing some satisfaction must be given to God in reference to a trespasse committed and an offence taken and a threatning given out upon supposition and afterward inflicted upon the perpetration of such an evill what satisfaction it is that is necessarie whether any satisfaction will serve or whether it must be a proportionable satisfaction Sol. 1. It cannot be denyed but that God is the soveraigne Lord over all and hath none above him to appoint him or to enjoyne him to give rules and laws to him how he ought to walk towards the creature none can limit or restraine him or set bounds unto him but his will which is always holy and just and good is the rule that he acts by and he doth whatsoever pleaseth him Ps 115. 3. further then he sets bounds to himself he cannot be bound up to any thing or by any one and further then he restrains and limits himself he cannot be restrained and limited by any other Therefore he might at the first if it had pleased him have pardoned sin without satisfaction or he might have accounted that for satisfactiō which himself would accept for satisfaction be it more or lesse and so the blood of bulls and goats might have satisfied as well as the blood of a man and the blood of a meer man such as my Antagonist would have Christ to be as well as the blood of Christ who is God and man but this comes not home to the point for we are to consider what satisfaction is now necessary not what might at first have been accepted of 2. Satisfaction that will now be admitted of and accepted is satisfaction according to the Law that holds proportion to it for the Law is Gods Law which flowed from Gods righteousnesse and holinesse and in which and to which God hath limited himself and bound up himself so that God must deny his own Law and his own Truth righteousnesse and holinesse that is in it if he do in the least kind wave that satisfaction that it requires Now the law to Adam which compriseth all his posterity was Thou shalt not eat c. for if thou do eat thou shalt surely dye that soul that sins shall dye and cursed is every one that continues not in all things written in the Law to do the same Therefore the satisfaction could not have been lesse then death or lesse then the curse of the Law what ever that evil is that is understood by death or by the curse 3. What ever that evill is that reprobated persons doe or shall endure upon whom the curse of the law is laid and the death threatned lighteth because they were in Adams loynes when he fell under the threatning of death and because they continued not in all things written in the Law and so incurred the curse I say what ever the anguish torture and torment is either in mind or body which such persons pass or must pass abide or mustabide under at present or hereafter the like punishment in all degrees without any abatement have the Elect merited and deserved being in the same state and condition with the Reprobate being equally in the loynes of Adam with him and not abiding any more then he did in all things written in the Law and if there be deliverance for the Elect and the Law in the death and curse of it be not laid nor doth light upon them but satisfaction is made in Christ for them then it must be a proportionable satisfaction that must be given to God in reference to which God doth remit such pains of hell such everlasting destruction and perdition and doth release the Elect from them that is Christ must suffer the whole and the full of that which either any or all the Elect have deserved and from which they are acquitted and discharged in Christ Christ must satisfie as far as the guilt of all and every of the Elect extends to which is as great as the light of the Reprobate and so Christs sufferings in one kind or other must be equivalent to the eternal damnation of all the Elect from which they are discharged by his sufferings equivalent unto those exquisite torments which the damned in hell do or shal suffer which the Elect had merited as well as they The consequence of this is that Christs sufferings were not the sufferings of a meer man for had Christ been but a meer man his sufferings for all the Elect could not have been proportionable to their guilt demerit For the righteous God which without respect of persons had laid all men under the same curse and wrath because of the same sin and guilt which without difference all were under
be able to our-reason them or to present as they judge some unanswerable things to them such an one becomes prevalent and draws away such after him 14. Many conceive that they are fallen into times of great discoveries and that mysteries that have been hid from ages are now revealed to the Saints Whence it comes to passe that if any strange doctrine be broached how horrid an errour soever it be provided that plausible grounds be laid down for it it is presently sucked in and received with apprehensions that a doctrine that hath layn in darknesse many generations is now manifested to the Saints when as in truth and deed the foundation is truly laid already and hath been truly built upon else both we our selves Christians of former ages were very wretched and miserable and that which Saints shall be heightned in is this they shall know more perfectly what they knew more darkly and that which the Saints have doubted of and have been divided about they shall understand 15. The esteem of Saints is now very low among many unlesse they be able to bring some doctrine which former ages have not known or to produce some new notion and discourse of some high point which neither themselves nor others do well understand and unlesse they be able to speak in a language which the Christians of former ages have not understood plain Scriptural language will not now satisfie unlesse there be high strains which sober Christians have not been much acquainted with This lays a temptation upon many precious souls to affect and to seek after novelties and so they come to be darkned with new errours that arise and are turned after fables The second thing that I propounded to discusse is the causes of the growth of errours and how they come to spread It is a certain truth that that which begets them doth also nourish them and increase them and so there must be a looking back to the causes of the springing of them and the self-same things will be found the causes of the spreading of them and of the prospering of them Ignorance and pride and affectation of glory praise and a corrupt conscience and unsanctified parts and gifts and formal implantations into Christ without reality and power and forsaking the assembling of our selves together and aspiring unduly to prophecying without a calling thereto and many others that have been mentioned these have given life to errours and these have given strength to them also But there are some special causes of the growth of errours divers from such which have been already presented as the rise of them 1. The censures of the Church are not duly exercised to represse that inordinate lusting after strange doctrine and that pride vain gloriousnesse vanity of spirit and wantonnesse of mind with which many Saints are too much carried and are sick of Not that I would have Saints cast out of the Church for every difference in judgement from their brethren or dissenting in opinion those that have known me have known that I have been evermore a stranger to such rigidnesse I would not have so much as the peace of such disturbed in the least kind by any but if any opinion strike at the foundation threatning the overturning of it and be very destructive to the faith and holinesse of Saints I think there is warrant enough and I hope I shall be able to make it out from Scripture to proceed to the questioning and censuring of such persons who by other means cannot be reclaimed And the neglecting of this ordinance of Christ is of evil consequence unto the furthering and ripening of errour for however it may be thought and spoken by some that Church-censures bring no light to men with them nor can be effectual for the conviction of persons judgements which hath truth in it yet the distemper of spirit from which errour when it is grosse doth as commonly arise as from weaknesse of judgement and unsobernesse of heart is healed and cured by Church censures 2. Communion and fellowship with those who are corrupt and unsound in their opinions is not forborn but there is the same liberty used of conversing with such and the same intimacy and familiarity shewed as with any others how sound soever when yet the Apostle saith Avoid them Rom. 16. 17. The Psalmist saith They were mingled among the Heathen and learned their works The latter followed upon the former the Apostle saith A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump that is when it is put to the whole lump and is with it but purge it out and it cannot therefore his councel is To purge out the old leaven which though it be spoken of the leaven of ungodlinesse in persons is yet applicable to the leaven of heresie and errour which is more infectious and spreading then the other Obj. But such persons are Saints why should their Communion be declined Sol. Why doth God himself withdraw from Saints and hide his face from them is it not to humble them and make them ashamed and bring them to repentance And may not yea ought not we to withdraw from unsound and corrupt persons though they should be Saints for the same reasons especially seeing our own preservation is in it Obj. But it will make divisions among Saints to forbear the fellowship of such and it will rejoyce the common adversarie therefore for the scandal that is in it such withdrawing must not be allowed Sol. A holding of Communion with such will at last cause division and not a withdrawing from them for such who bring any other doctrine by conversing with Saints do get a Party and so make division The Apostle declares whence division proceeds Rom. 16. 17. not from those who shun Communion with leavened persons but from such who are corrupt and leavened Mark those saith he who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine that ye have received Such persons who bring unscriptural doctrine cause the divisions for by their crafty insinuations they deceive the simple and draw away disciples and this ingenders a rent for the rest must oppose and resist unlesse they also will become disciples and if they do appear for the truth against the errour the rest are carried away with then there will be division following upon it As for the glorying of the common adversary there is more occasion given him to glory at that union that is betwixt hereticks and erroneous persons and such who professe to be Saints and the scandal is greater because the Adversary will give it out they are all corrupt they are unsound they are all hereticks all erroneous corrupt persons for they mix together and at least there is an allowance this is justly more scandalous then the other nay the other is not scandalous at all but it is the glory of the Saints in the presence of their enemies to keep themselves from all corrupt things and persons what profession soever they make 3. There is a tampering with
happy are those that have gifts and hearts to contribute any thing this way See we the sedulity and industry of Paul this way Acts 20. 31. for the space of three yeeres I coased not said he to warne every one of you night and day with tears 2. The care and vigilancy of the Churches of Christ and of the Officers and Overseers thereof must be shewed towards their own members which relate to them for the healing of any that have been shaken or have departed from the faith for for that end are they associated together that they might watch over one another and the Elders are principally called forth to this work Acts 20. 31. Therefore Watch why what is the matter and he tels us because grievous wolves shall enter in among you not sparing the flock and of your selves men shall arise speaking perverse things drawing away disciples after them therefore watch And in order to a Churches discharging of its duty this way it is necessary in these times wherein the members of Churches are scattered abroad through many Providences and wherein errour is very prevalent for the Churches of Christ and the watchmen thereof 1. To send to all such who are at distance from them and live in dangerous places to know their faith least they should be tempted 1 Thes 3. 5. which place though it may respect the grace of faith which through affliction may be shaken yet it will hold in proportion in reference to the doctrine of faith And though the Apostle declareth what he did yet therein he is a pattetne what those that have a flock committed to them ought to do for without doubt what power the Apostles had for edification and not for destruction over all the Churches and Members thereof the same hath each Church and the Officers thereof over those that stand related to them And such who so belong to such Churches and have such Overseers are bound to render an account in a Christian way it is a duty by the Apostle Peters Precept but much rather is there an obligation where there is such a relation 2. It is necessary for the Churches to put this burden upon such members of theirs where such danger is of seducers if they will count it a burden to abstain from the fellowship of such persons who are not sound in doctrines among them because the Apostle requires it Rom 16. 17. 2 Iohn 7. 8 9 10. and because there is a double benefit in it 1. To such which erre so dangerously they may come to be awakened and afterward ashamed 2. To those that shun them and decline them they come to be kept thereby and preserved from their errour 3. It is the duty of the Church and watchmen thereof to withstand such who are false teachers and who deceive those of their flock by their lies as Paul resisted Elimas who would turn away the Deputy from the faith and as the shepheard is bound to chase away the wolfe for the safety of the flock 4. The Church and Elders thereof ought to be warning such of theirs that are in danger that is to be presenting them with the evil and danger of such doctrine and shewing them the horrid effects and consequences which will follow upon it as in Acts 20. 31. Remember how I warned you and in 1 Cor. 15. he shews the evil consequences of denying the Resurrection which they saw not but made light of it but the Apostle had looked into it did faithfully hold it forth to them 5. The Church of Christ and the Rulers thereof ought to reject and cast out such among theirs who are heady and high and are not reclaimed from such errours which they have sucked in from such seducers which have been among them after they have clearly held out the truth and detected the contrary errour and confuted it and after they have admonished and warned such once or twice or thrice or while there is hope It is clear from the Apostles example in delivering up Hymeneus for no other fault but for denying the Resurrection and troubling others with that doctrine And also from the Apostles direction given to Titus Tit. 3. 10 11. An heretick after once or twice admonition reject c. And indeed avoiding such and not receiving such nor saying Gods speed to such is an high censure little below that of delivering up to Satan Obj. But the question may be what edification there can be in passing such a sentence upon one that erres in doctrine either to him that is so censured or to others Sol. Grosse errours or heresies are not fallen into especially not persisted in after a cleare light held out through simple ignorance but through some distemper of the Will and some temptation upon the spirit Now though the censure of the Church hath no aptitude in it to give light where it was wanting to open their eyes to rectifie an erring judgement to convince the conscience or satisfie doubts and scruples which did arise through simple ignorance yet the censure of the Church may be a means to heal the will and to remove the temptation from the spirit what ever it be which may obstruct the right exercise of that light and understanding which such persons have and first the censure of the Church may occasion a more serious and deep searching into the truth or falshood of doctrines and may cure that precipitancy and headinesse and rashnesse in entertaining and ingaging in doctrines that are not sound and scriptural There is a vanity of spirit which lusteth after new opinions which causeth such facilenes in receiving that doctrines are no sooner presented but they are taken up but Church-proceedings may be a means to bring on sobriety 2. That partiality which is in persons in reference unto those whom they respect and affect may come to be healed for nothing is more frequent then to hold opinions and tenents with respect to persons but this distemper is many times best cured through the execution of Church power 3. If the truth be departed from for advantage sake that persons thereby may rise up to greater honour or preferment Church discipline gives a check many times to such lusts of the flesh that they cannot prevaile with that strength as before they did when the love of them carried persons to corrupt ingagements that way 4. Persons are ingaged to that opinion which they have turned aside to least they should be accounted fickle and wavering when yet they want Scripture-strength to maintain them but this perversenes and obstinacy is best cured by the admonitions and withdrawings of the Church from such persons 5. And if there should be any darknesse in the judgement in reference to plain and clear doctrines where such darknesse was not before it is argument to me that God hath justly put out their eyes in reference to something that hath displeased him and till they have been ashamed and have shewed repentance God will not dispel nor