torment me not before the time You say that God hath been with you to make sweet and pleasant your sufferings and Imprisonment to you It is a fearful judgement when God gives up men so far to believe their own lies that their own Poyson becomes pleasant and delectable unto them and that he doth this we find 2. Thes. 2. 10 11 12. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness You boast of the sufferings as for the truth when they are for your abominable Blasphemie and bearing witness to lies for denying Christ Assention Session and the general day of judgement in that sense which the Scriptures deliver them unto us we know there are Pseudomartyrs as well as true Martyrs and as God comforts and supports the one so the Divel deludes and deceives the other for it is manifest to all sober Christians that read your Book you suffer not as a Martyr but as a Malefactor for rotten and detestable Heresies You complain some have revil'd you as a Blasphemer you should have said rebuk'd you What they have done I know not but I am sure it is their duty to warn their sheep to beware of the Wolf our Saviour himself hath done it Beware of false Prophets that come unto you in Sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves Mat. 7. 15. and if they neglect to do it and the Sheep perish they shall answer for their blood Eze. 3. 20. But if they do it and the Sheep be slain the Shepherds shall deliver their own Souls Ez. 33. 9. And certainly a more dangerous Wolf or Heretick was not in the Church from the dayes of the Apostles until this time What do I speak of one if Pythagoras's transmigration of souls could captivate my belief I should not judge unreasonably should I judge that the souls almost of all the former Hereticks were transported into you for not any one of them maintained so many damnable opinions God give you a sight of your sin and grace to repent that if it be possible the sin of your heart may be forgiven you As for your Book it is a Labyrinth of errours and you your self a blind guid that run headlong into the pit of perdition and draw others after you For the Aspersions which you and your deceived followers cast upon us the Ministers we regard them not It is an honour to be evil spoken of by such companions especially for the truth and for righteousness-sake But we shall leave our cause to God and pray with the Psalmist Psal. 35. 1. plead thou our cause O Lord with them that fight against us and Psal. 27. 12. Deliver us not over unto the will of our enemies for false witnesses are risen up against us and such as speak wrong Before I enter upon this disputation it will be requisite to say somewhat of Blasphemie because it is much spoken of in the ensuing discourse To Blaspheme God is to detract from his sacred majestie to offer injurie to his holy name and dishonourable and reproachful speeches the sin of Pharaoh Exod. 5. 2. the sin of Rabshaketh 2. Kin. 18. the sin of the Israelitish womans son Lev. 24. 10. The punishment of this sin was death when it was manifest and notorious Lev. 24. 16. Dan. 3. 29. This sin is committed three wayes First when that is ascribed unto God which is repugnant to his nature as if any say he is corrupt or subject unto evil affections Secondly when that is taken from him which is proper unto him as when any shall say God is not merciful good just c. Thirdly when that is attributed to the creature which is proper to the Creator as when any shall say the Angels made the world or that a meer man can forgive sins Or if any shall assume to himself the name of the Messias as did the false Prophets c. moreover I may adde that Heresie is Blasphemie and that Hereticks are Blasphemers First because they manifestly oppose the truth and so God who is prima veritas upon which account St. Paul condemns Hymineus and Alexander 1. Tim. 1. 20. Secondly because they make God the Author of their lies by wresting his word to confirm their errours which is the property of Satan the patron of lies Thirdly because they set Gods stamp upon their counterfeit mettal telling the people it is Gods gold when it is no other then Satans dross of most of which this Heretick is guiltie as will appear by the ensuing discourse these things premised I proceed Christ who knew no sin you say took part of mans flesh and blood which was sinful Again you say Christ took upon him the sinful nature of all that sinned By Christ it seems you mean the Deity And by sinful nature you mean his Humanitie for what else can be your sense Which Proposition is both false and Blasphemous for the Holy Ghost in the conception sanctifi'd the Masse whereof Christ was made and separated it from sin Luke 1. 35. The Angel said the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the most High shall over-shadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God The holy thing which shall be born of thee implies he was holy before he was born And this was done upon special cause First that it might be joyned to the Person of the Son which could not have been if it had been defiled with sin Secondly Christ was a Saviour as he was both God and man If he had been sinful himself he could not have saved others but should have stood in need of a Saviour himself therefore the humane nature of Christ was not polluted with Original sin but was sanctified And this sanctification hath two parts First the stoppage to the propagation of Original Corruption and the guilt of Adams Sin which was on this manner God in the beginning set down this order concerning man that what evil or defect he brought upon himself he should derive the same to every one of his Posteritie begotten of him and accordingly when any father begets his Child he is in the place of Adam and conveys into it beside the nature of man the very guilt and corruption of nature now for preventing this evil in Christ God provided in great wisdome that he should be conceived by the Holy Ghost without any generation by man and by this means he took the substance of the Virgin Mary and not the guilt and corruption of the substance Secondly as your proposition is false so it is blasphemous for you charge Christ with Original sin for as the soul and body make but one man So the divine and humane nature make but one Christ not the divine nature alone as you erroneously suppose
veritie of the general judgement at the last day which is written with a beam of the Sun and with the very finger of God if you be not past all shame be ashamed of your damnable doctrine whereby you endeavour to overthrow as you are truly told by Mr. Head the very fundamentals of Christian Religion CHAP. XIII The practise of Magistrates and Ministers discovered how they one uphold another to serve not the Lord but themselves The Magistrates and Ministers do not denie that they defend one the other and in so doing they fulfil their dutie serve the Lord and discharge a good conscience For they are the two hands by which the Lord doth govern his people and as one hand ought to help and assist the other so ought the Magistrate and Minister to strengthen and defend one another Thou leadest thy people like Sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron Psal. 77. 20. who was it that led his people God wherewith By the hands of whom Of Moses and Aaron what were they The Prince and the Priest the Magistrate and the Minister That these were ordained by God to assist each other you may read Exod. 4. 14 15 16. and how they did assist each other you may finde in Exod. 7. and Numb. 16. when Jannes and Iambres withstood Moses Aaron lends him his Rod and when Corah Dathan and Abiram that cursed crue rose against Aaron crying out as such as you do by us ye take too much upon you ye sons of Levi all the Lords people are holy Moses lends him his hand as you may read in Numb. 16. Both Magistrates and Ministers are the Lords Shepherds under Christ the great Shepherd of our souls and both must joyn together in defending the flock from the teeth of the Wolf and from the Claws of other ravenous beasts that seek to devour them the Ministers with the sword of the spirit and the Magistrate with the sword of Justice for the first read Tit. 3. 10. Ephe. 4. 11. 1 Cor. 12. 28 29. for the second read Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. and Deut. 13. It is a great curse to have evil Magistrates or evil Ministers and yet it is a far greater to have none at all for then every man teacheth what he will 2 Chron. 15. 3 4 5. every man doth what he will Micah sets up Idolatry and consecrates a Priest Iudges 17. the poor Levite hath his Concubin ravished and Dan goes a robbing Iudg. 18. Those that under colour of Christian libertie go about to take away Ecclesiastical and Civil Government abuse the Scriptures and as much as in them lies endeavour to destroy both Church and state for the libertie which the Scripture speaks of in Gal. 5. 1. is a liberty from the Ceremonial Law from the power and dominion of sin from the rigor and curse of the Law and a liberty in good things not an Exemption from Ecclesiastical and civil Government as is apparent in Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. Heb. 13. 17. Those therefore that resist the powers resist the ordinance of God and shall receive to themselves Damnation Also they endeavour to overthrow the Christian State ubi nullus Gubernator corruit Populus Prov. 11. 14. as a ship without a Pilot so a people without a Governour and Counsel must and will fall and excellent is that prayer of Moses Num. 27. 16 Let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over the congregation which may go out and in before them that the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd You say let the people judge who thy are that cause divisions we also say the like and that the Apostle in that place of Rom. 16. 17 18. tells them who they are They that teach Doctrine contrary to that which they had been taught Now I pray who do so you that overthrow the Articles of our faith in that sense they are delivered received and beleeved by all the Christian Churches in the World or we that defend them you that by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 18. or we who tell them the truth that if they live and die in their sins in following after unrighteousnesse and disobeying the truth The Lord in flaming fire shall take vengeance on them for they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord c. read 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. Rom. 2. 9 10. You that speak evill of Dignities and despise Dominions Iud. 8. or we that defend them T is you build up Babel with blood and raise the foundation of Sion you cannot be said to build up Sion in that you cause the people to err by crying peace when there is no peace that all mankinde Iew and Gentile shall be saved contrary to the very words of Christ Matth. 25. 46. 2. That a Regenerate man cannot sin contrary to St. Paul Rom. 7. 23 24 25. Who shall deliver me from this body of death Me he speaks of himself 3. That there is redemption out of hell and that hell paines shall have an end contrary to the words of Christ Mark 9. 44. Their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched 4. That good works are not needfull to salvation When the Scripture saith without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. Heb. 12. 14. You charge us with preaching for hire saying You the Priests divine for mony c. which page is full of such reproaches and slanders For we preach to convert souls to God to build up the Church of Christ and as for our Tithes which you call uor hire we take them as our inheritance setled upon us by the Laws of God and the Laws of the land Who have thought fit that he that serves at the altar should live by the altar according to that 1 Cor. 9. from the first to the 15. verse It is your self and such as you are that preach for Reward that live by gifts and bribes wherfore you devise false Doctrines such as will please foolish corrupt Mens fancies that put hony in the Sacrifice instead of salt and sow Pillows under mens Elbows that they may sleep at ease in sin that tell the wicked they shall live though God hath said they shall surely die except they repent that strengthen the hands of evil doers that they should not return You I say run without sending Ier. 23. 21. I have not sent these Prophets yet they ran that bring in damnable Heresies and preach aliud Evangelium another Gospel Gal. 1. 6 7. not that there was another Gospel then that which Paul taught but because there was like yours an invention of their own braines Good reason therefore have the ministers to warn the peopel to beware of you and the Magistrates to shut you up that you sow not your damnable doctrines among the people that they follow not your pernicious wayes by
death when men are so overwhelmed with miseries that they seem to be dead and buried whilest they are alive The Prophet fore-tells that they should be brought into such a condition for their sins and yet God should deliver them out of it when they repented which came to pass for they were delivered into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and after delivered by the Edict of Cyrus But who can better expound the Prophet then the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 54. who expounds it of the Resurrection So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this Mortalitie shall have put on immortalitie then shall the saying be brought to pass that is written death is swallowed up in victory And that very fitly for when we die death gets the victory over us when we rise again life gets then victory of death You bring a place out of the 27. of Isaiah v. 1. which if you will apply unto the Devil and his Angels is enough to break their hearts could they conceive any hope of your redemption In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan that crooked Serpent and he shall slay the Dragon in the Sea In that day when God shall do this shall be sung this song the Church is a Vineyard of red Wine I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment lest any hurt it I will keep it night and day Fury is not in me that is though he correct it in his anger yet his fury shall not rest upon it though bryers and thorns should be set against him he would go through them and burn them up together By briers and thorns he means the Enemies of his Church whom he will destroy for ever in the day of Judgment But some interpret this place of the destruction of the Babylonians by the Persians and their deliverance by Cyrus which afterwards came to passe and then the Church had cause to sing that song Your last Argument overthrows your own cause Isa. 30. 33. Tophet is prepared of old for the King it is prepared it consists of fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Tophet was a Temple in the valley of Hinnon wherein stood the abominable Idol of Saturn to whom the Israelites offered up their children and that they might not hear their mournful cries they sounded bells to drown their voices from whence it came to be called Tophet of Toph which signifies a bell By this vallie of slaughter the Prophets do many times set forth Hell and the torments thereof Again the Assyrians or the Babylonians were always cruel enemies to the Church of God they often invaded their Country burnt up their Cities slew their people and carried them away captive wherefore Satan and his Angels with his instruments are many times compared to the King of Babel his Souldiers and his people Now in this place the Prophet goes about to set forth the day of judgement when not onely the Babylonians but all the enemies of the Church shall be destroyed Satan and his Angels Tyrants Persecuters Hereticks c. and he begins it in this manner The Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall shew the lighting down of his Arm with the indignation of his anger and with the flame of devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailstones For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down which smote with the rod with the rod of his mouth when he shall pronounce the last sentence against them But what shall become of them they shall be cast into Hell and all the people that forget God which hell is here called Tophet when was this made of old But it cannot hold them all Yes 't is deep and large There wants fewel no there is fire and much wood Though it be kindled yet it may go out no it is like a burning River of Brimstone the breath of the Lord continually kindling it and wherefore is all this to burn the Assyrian and his Babylonians This exposition is plain enough yet to do it more fully Transitus Virgae fundatus quem requiescere faciet Dominus super eum He shall make the rod of his anger to rest upon him That is upon Satan and his Angels and the wicked that shall be tormented in those flames they which worshipped the Beast and his image and receive his mark in their forehead or hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their Torments ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest day nor night Apo. 14. 11. what can be more strong against you to prove the eternity of the punishment of the damned You conclude these are all the fruits of hell to take away their sins and great fruits they are if true to Purge the Devils and the damned it far exceeds the fire of Purgatory for that onely purgeth some as the Papists vainly teach of their venial sins and the temporal punishment of their mortal but this purgeth all Cain Esau Judas Julian the Devil and damned but let me tell you you were not best to trust to it but make your peace with God if it may be before you come there for if you come to be shut up in that Dungeon or as in the 20. Revel. 10. when you shall be cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever eternity in your own sense there will be no hope of deliverence When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord 2. Thes. 1. 7 8 9. What can be more plain to all except to such as have their understanding darkned by the ignorance that is in them and their minds alienated from the life of God because of the blindnesse of their hearts and because they will not receive the love of the truth that they may be saved but provoke God to send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lye and be damned But you wickedly and vainly boast that you fight against the enemies of the truth when it appears plainly that you fight against the friends of the truth nay against the truth it self and that you are not a brother of Christ as you in the pride of your heart call your self but a brother of Anti-Christ whom Christ will destroy with the breath of his mouth I am come to examine the 5. Chap. which is of Christs ascension and his coming to Judgement
St. Paul who was led by the Spirit of Christ Ephe. 1. 20 21 22. God hath highly exalted his Son and placed him at his right hand in Heavenly places where he shews the exaltation of his Humane nature to the highest degree of blessedness that it can be capable of He hath put all things in subjection under his feet and that propter Mortem Crucis because he became obedient to death even the death of the Cross Phil. 2. 8 9. Your Allegorical fancy is as far different from the truth as a Goat is from a Sheep or an Asse from a rational man Secondly Non-sense in the contents of your third Chapter as all that read it cannot judge it otherwise Thirdly Confusion in turning the Holy Scriptures into Allegories where they are to be understood literally and so overthrow the meaning of the Holy Ghost Disput. 2. You begin with truth as Pilate and yet you go about to crucifie it you assume unto your self the name of a light as the Pharisees did and yet our Saviour calls them blind guides that went into the ditch themselves and drew others after them You tell Mr. French you are not of his Spirit and I believe so too for he defends the truth and you maintain falsehood Neither are you of the spirit of Christ for he hates the doctrine of the Nicholaitans Rev. 2. 15. you hate no mans opinion as you declare page 15. a difference then for there is the spirit of Christ and your spirit they are not the same Here I meet again with two Heresies disputed of and confuted before and therefore I shall not need to adde much The first is that the deity of Christ was not only united to the nature of man but to the sin of his nature which is as impossible as for two contraries to agree together in the same subject puritie and uncleanness Righteousness and unrighteousness Light and darkness He was a perfect man in all things sin excepted Heb. 4. 15. We have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we were yet without sin And Heb. 7. 26 27. for such an high Priest became us to have who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher then the Heavens Who needed not daily as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sin and then for the peoples And what can be more plaine that he was without sin clearly as the other high Priests were not without they having need he having none Again he took upon him the nature of man but not the sin of his nature Sin and concupiscence are not of the nature of man but an hereditary disease that sticks unto his nature as doth the Leprosie For indeed if it had stuck to his nature he could neither have been a Priest nor a sacrifice Not an high Priest for such an high Priest it becommed us to have who was holy as in that Text of Heb. 7. 26. Not a sacrifice for that must be without spot that must take away sin And so was Christ John 14. 30. The Prince of this world had nothing in him 1. Pet. 1. 19. A lamb without blemish and without spot 1. Pet. 2. 22. Who did not sin And whereas you object he bore our sins in his body on the Tree you could not have brought any place that makes more against you Mark the words He bore our sins not his own We were the principals He was but our suertie He suffered not for himself but according to that of Daniel 9. 26. The Messias shall be slain for his people You urge moreover that place He hath made him to be sin that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him which makes nothing for your purpose rightly understood For he made him sin by imputation God imputed his righteousness to us and our sin to him I have shewed you before how he was conceived by the Holy Ghost not begotten by man Here we are come again to that old exploded Heresie of Origen which hath been answered already and that enough to the satisfaction of any good Christian yet because I meet with it again I shall adde somewhat more God doth threaten eternal punishments as he promises eternal blessings as in that Text of Mat. 25. 46. before spoken of Which Text runs thus in the Original {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Here the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies eternal you see is the Epithite for the future condition both of the righteous and unrighteous and though the English translation render it by two several words as eternal and everlasting yet their force and meaning is the same and signifie the same And here me thinks this one passage might discover to the weakest and most ignorant follower of your erâ—ours what a perverter of Scripture you are But for all this you have the face to tell Mr. French that this Text proves it not and tell him that you had answer'd it before but let us see how you have answer'd it before Your answer was that the word everlasting did signifie a dispensation or administration of God to man which as I told you before is an absurd expression your meaning is as you have somewhat exprest your self in the beginning of the eighteenth Page that it signifies such a perpetuitie as is not absolute but hath a Period Captain Smith very seasonably charg'd you to prove it hath such a signification You instance in the Covenant God made with Abraham which was called an Everlasting Covenant Your words are The Covenant which God made with Abraham was called an everlasting Covenant and this Covenant upon these conditions did last but for a time for we read that God did afterwards make a new Covenant with us that should never be ended To this Mr. French replied I deny that the Scripture you brought out of the 17. of Genesis is taken in your sense For that was an everlasting Covenant And indeed so it was therefore the pains of Hell are eternall that is have no Period To this you say Sir you say nothing but what your brother Roswel had said before which I then answer'd and you understand not for the first everlasting Covenant as to the conditions thereof which were the works of the Law had an end as to us when God made a new covenant with us upon better conditions without end Oh Monstrum horrendum cui lumen ademptum Oh blind deceived deceiver to say that the covenant God made with Abraham was a covenant of works when it was a covenant of grace as the Scriptures every where prove but especially Rom. 4. and in that Chapter especially the 16 Verse Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the seed of Abraham who against hope believed in hope and
which you blasphemously and impudently stand to deny Your words are Therefore the Words of Christ are not to be understood carnally but spiritually And again you say concerning his comming to judgement I do believe he is come and comming daily and doth set up his Throne in the hearts of his people c. And thus by your foolish figures and spiritual as you pretend senceless sences you pervert the Scriptures meaning and to your power overthrow two Articles of our faith both necessarie to Salvation First therefore I will shew the veritie of Christs Ascension and that it is to be understood literally and not figuratively and then confute your cavils First for the truth of his Ascension we have the Testimonies of the Evangelists Mark 16. 19. So then after the Lord had spoken to them he was received up into Heaven and sat on the right hand of God Luke 24. 51. And it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into Heaven The Testimony of Angels Acts 1. 9. St. Luke sets downs the circumstances and the manner of his Ascension The time 40. dayes after his Resurrection Acts 1. 3. The place from whence Mount Olivet near Bethany Luke 24. 50. Acts 1. 12. The manner first He led them out as far as to Bethany and blessed them Luke 24. 50. He went apart from them Verse 51. Thirdly a cloud did over-shadow him Acts 1. 9. The Testimony of the whole Church of God who make it an Article of their faith And this was not another body but the same body which he had before as the Angels testifie Acts 1. 19. This same Jesus whom you have seen go into Heaven c. this same Jesus not another not a Phantastical body but his true body Iohn 20. 27. Then said he to Thomas reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing Revelation 1. 7. They shall see him whom they have pierced Here you see is a whole cloud of witnesses the Testimony of the Apostles of Angels and the spirit of God How is your forehead steel'd that you dare out-face a truth as apparent as the Sun at Noon-day But you except against the Testimony of the Apostles and say they had not received the holy Ghost but were carnal before you Blasphemed Christ now the Apostles for there is a Blasphemie against man also Naboth was falsely charged to have blasphemed God and the King Did not our Saviour breath upon them saying unto them receive the Holy Ghost Iohn 20. 22. though they had not recived him in that manner and measure as they did upon the day of Pentecost yet it doth not follow they had not received him before You say moreover that they were carnal If you mean totally carnal 't is as false as the other for our Saviour gives this Testimony of them that they had followed him in the Kingdome of Regeneration and should sit upon 12. Thrones c. when he should sit upon his Throne of glory Luke 22. 29 30. what can be more plain to prove that they had the Holy Ghost and were regenerated You told us you were a light you are rather a dark Lanthorn or such a light as those Doctors were which St. Paul speaks of 1. Tim. 1. 7. they took upon them to teach the Law not knowing what they taught nor whereof they affirm'd Again you object out of Luke 1. 35. and Ephes. 4. 5 9 10. He that ascended is the same that descended and we do not read of a body of flesh and bones that descended But Sir we read that the second Person in the Trinity descended so low as to take upon him our nature Gal. 4. 4. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman and Heb. 2. 14 16. for asmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood He also himself likewise took part of the same so he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham Et quod semel assumsit nunquam amisit And he remains a Priest for ever Heb. 5. 6. Then when he had perfected the work of our Redemption he ascended up into Heaven sat down at the right hand of God to make intercession for us Now who doth this He that died or rather he that is risen from the dead and who was that Christ Christ is risen and what is Christ God and Man in one Person read Rom. 8. 34. Instance The second Person descended as he was God ascended God and Man therefore he that ascended was not the same that descended You erre not knowing the Scriptures For though the second Person descended and took our nature upon him yet it was without the confusion of natures or transfusion of essential properties though he was made that he was not God and Man in one Person yet he remained that he was before perfect God And therefore he that ascended was the same that descended The Apostle cryes out Great is the mysterie of godliness God was manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up into glory Next follows the Blasphemous Inference if Christ be at Gods right hand in a body of flesh and bones why then this is to make God to be a body of flesh and bones also and such a one as your self confin'd to a local place Which doth not follow for the Godhead was united unto the Humane Nature without any confusion of natures or transfusion of essential properties The Word was made flesh not by turning the Word into flesh but by taking the Humanitie into the Deitie Which the Antients thus exprest Sum quod eram neceram quod sum nunc dicar utrumque And therefore for a man to say in concreto that Christ hath a body of flesh and bones is true but to say that God hath a body of flesh and bones in abstracto or that God is confined to a place is horrible Blasphemy for which you were seasonably taken off by Captain Harrison The next thing to be considered is the comming of Christ to judgement which Pillar of our faith you endeavour to pull down by turning all into an Allegorie and so overthrow the true sense of the Scriptures You say but I do believe he is come and comming dayly and likewise you say in the foregoing Page all this I know and see to be now he is upon his Throne and hath all nations before him and ever had First I will prove the veritie of this Article and then confute your errours The veritie of Christs comming to judgement is confirmed by these places of Scripture Rev. 20. 10. I beheld a white Throne and him that sat thereon from whose face Heaven and earth fled away I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the Books were opened The
out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the Dead But you say Iob was then in darknesse uttering words without knowledge for which he was reproved first by Elihu Secondly by the Lord and thirdly he confest it 1. Oh horrible that you should have the impudence to say or infer that Elihu reproved Iob for that most excellent Confession when it is plain as the Sun that he reprehended him for saying I am clean and there is no unrighteousnesse in me c. Iob 33. 9. doth not Elihu restrain his words to the same expression Behold in this thou art not just verse 12. 2. You affirm that God reproved him for it By which it seems you know not what you say or care not what you affirm for that which God reproved him for was for standing too much upon his own innocency And though Iob was not thus afflicted for his sin but for a Triall as appears Chap. 1. and Chap 2. yet was there matter enough in him that deserved it if God should have entred into judgement with him 3. You say that Iob confest it Doth he confesse that he had erred in that confession of his concerning the resurrection or that he had maintained a false cause no God himself determines the contrary Chap. 42. 7. My servant Iob hath spoken the thing that is right and you have not and therefore they were appointed to go to Iob that he might pray for them The cause that Iobs friends maintained was that God did handle men in this world according to their deserts and therefore Iob was a wicked and cursed creature because thus afflicted and tormented Iob maintained the contrary that God did not alwayes handle men according to their deserts in this world for many times the wicked have prosperitie and Gods children adversitie Iob 21. 8. Now though the foundation of Iobs cause were good yet in the prosecuting of it he committed many errours through the infirmities of the flesh for which God reproved him but on the contrary the foundation of his adversaries cause was evil 'T is therefore a false and an impudent assertion to say as you do that Iob never spoke the thing that was right of the Lord until he said now do mine eyes see thee c. Job 42. 5 6. The reason that moves you to deny or at least to underminde and overthrow the Resurrection of the bodie is because there is a Resurrection of the soul and you may aswel denie there is no death of the body because there is a death of the soul in sin as Satan slays both so Christ doth raise up both in his members If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead be in you he that raised up Jesus shall also quicken your mortal bodies c. Rom. 8. 11. but this hath been sufficiently proved already I shall only adde our Saviours argument to the Sadduces Mat. 22. 23 24. unto Verse 32. God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him that is they are alive in his account because he hath decreed to raise them again I shall turn your proof out of the 11. Iohn Vers the 21 22 23 24 25. upon your self Christ comes to Bethany where Lazarus lived who was now dead Martha goes forth to meet him saying Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died Christ answered thy brother shall rise again and this is spoken of the Resurrection of the body for his soul was then in the hands of God Martha replies I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day So 't is plain that the Resurrection was no strange and new doctrine then though it be now so to you Martha knew it and believed it as did Iob also Iob 19. Christ taught it saying I am the Resurrection and the life Iohn 10. 25. that is the cause of the Resurrection of the body and the life of the soul not a bare signe to signifie as you falsely and foolishly affirmed but an effectual cause 1 Cor. 15. 20 21 22. also he teaches it Iohn 2. 19 20 21. where he saith unto the Jews destroy this temple and in three dayes I will raise it up again which he spake of the temple of his body mark Christ can any thing be more plain which he performed accordingly Mat. 28. Mark 16. Luke 24. now Christ was a publick person what he did he did not for himself but for us also so that if we believe that Jesus is dead and is risen even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him CHAP. VIII In this Chapter the doctrine of the Trinity is principally treated of I will therefore first set down the truth that we may the better discern the falshood The Doctrine of the Trinity God is a most simple infinite eternal immutable and omnipotent spirit One in essence three in Persons Father Son and the Holy Ghost A spirit Iohn 4. 24. simple Col. 1. 15. 1. Tim. 1. 17. the image of the invisible God whom no man hath seen nor can see Eternal Exo. 3. 14 15. Immutable Mal. 3. 6. Omnipotent Gen. 17. 1. Rev. 19. 6. I name but some of his Attributes because I am to speak principally of the Trinity God is one in essence three in Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost One in essence Deut. 6. 4. 1 Cor. 8. 6. Three in Person Father Son and the spirit 1 Iohn 5. 7. an example we finde of this in the Baptisme of Christ The Father speaks from Heaven the Son stands in the Water and the Holy Ghost descends in the likeness of a Dove As in the Sun there is the body of the Sun the beams issuing from the body and the light and yet there is not 3. Suns but one Sun so is there the Father the Word and the Spirit three distinct Persons in the Deity and yet not three but one God These three you call three Manifestations Which are three Persons three Hypostases three Subsistances in one essence as in a Rivulet there is the fountain or Well-head in the Earth the spring boyling out of it and the stream which is made of them both and dilateth or sheadeth it self far from thence which three are distinct subsistances and yet but one Water You tell us of Christs being within us c. We know it But not corporally for so he is in Heaven but spiritually or by his spirit 1 Cor. 6. 19. know you not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you c. this spirit unites us to Christ by working faith in us whereby we are united to him according to that in Ephes. 3. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith and Christ is said to dwell in us by
because there were an inward judgement therefore there should not be an outward a secret judgement therefore not an open Doth not Saint Paul teach the contrary Rom. 2. 5. Thou after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and Revelation of the righteous judgement of God c. Again because wicked men have here inward darknesse therefore you conclude they shall not be cast into outward darknesse Christ himself teacheth otherwise Math. 8. 12. The children of the kingdom shall be cast into outward darknesse there shall be weeping and Gnashing of teeth and so likewise in Mat. 22. 23. and 25 30 or if by judgement you mean regeneration as it seems you do that is not a judgement but a great mercy that God should take men out of the power of darknesse and translate them into the kingdome of his dear Son And this judgement as you call it is not general but an especial grace belonging unto the Church of Christ as appears Ephe. 1 3 4 Cap. 2. 1 2 3 4. Cap. 5. 25 26. 1 Pet. 2. 9 10. Col. 1. 12 13. yea from this we may take a medium to prove the general day of judgement because the tares must be separated from the wheat the sheep from the goats which man cannot do who knows not the heart but God that searcheth the heart and trieth the reines and he shall do it openly at the general day of Judgement as our Saviour Math. 25. 31 32 34 c. but because you denie this article of our faith I shall confirm it out of the Scriptures and first I shall begin with Enoch cited by Iude Verses 14 15. Whole Sermons of our Saviour Mat. 24. 31. to the end of that Chapter and Mat. 25. Acts 17. 31. 1 Thes. 4. 16. Heb. 9. 27. Rev. 1. 7. Rev. 20. 11 12 13 14 15. with many more which I shall desire the unsatisfied Reader if any such there can be to read them in the Bible and save the labour of Repetition and in the reading them he shall not only finde the truth and ground of this general judgement but the very circumstances of as it 1. The Person that shall judge Iesus Christ 2. The time the latter end of the world 3. The place the clouds 4. The manner of his comming to judgement with majestie and great glory and all his holy Angels 5. The persons that shall be judged the quick and the dead 6. The judges action He shall separate 7. His sentence Come ye blessed go ye cursed 8. The execution These shall go into everlasting life those into everlasting torment And now what can be more evident so that you your self that have wickedly contradicted it cannot but confess it unless you are given up to believe your own delusions and on the contrary to denie a truth as apparent as the light of the Sun at Noon-day in the Scriptures and that without any figure You object Heb. 9. 27. it is appointed for all men once to die but after this the judgement and say this death is a dying into sin and trespasses First for the place of Scripture what can be more plain and forcible against you It is decreed where Gen. 2. 17. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die and so it was for from that time he and all his posteritie were subject unto death and as death is decreed so is also judgement God hath appointed a time in which he will judge the world Acts 17. 31. and this is not before death as you would have it but after death The words are after death comes the judgement but you say this is meant of a spiritual death a silly shift did God appoint that any man should die the death of sin no he appointed him to die a death for sin and transgressions Secondly its manifest the Apostle spake here of a corporal death he answers an objection to wit if Christ be the Messias how comes it to pass that he died His answer is it was appointed for all men to die and therefore for him now I hope you will not be so graceless as to say that Christ ever died the death of sin and therefore it must be understood a death of the body which he voluntarily suffered that he might destroy him that had power of death which was the Divel Heb. 2. 14. Your second objection is taken out of Iohn 5. 22. The father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement to the Son That is the father judgeth the world in and by the Son and he doth it not with partialitie as do corrupt judges but with righteous judgement for we are sure that the judgement of God is according to truth Rom. 2. 2. and verse the sixth who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory c. Eternal life but to them that are contentious and do not obey the truth indignation and wrath c. and when at the day of the Revelation of the righteous judgement of God Third objection 1 Pet. 4. 17. For the time is come that judgement shall begin at the house of God to whom I answer if it shall begin with us what shall become of those that abide not in the Gospel The same Apostle doth resolve it 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the righteous out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished Fourth objection out of Mal. 3. 3. He shall sit as a Refiâ—er and Purifier of silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi c. which words are spoken of Christs first comming in the flesh as appears by that spoken before in the first Verse behold I will send my messenger before which is applied unto Iohn the Baptist Mat. 11. 10. Behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepaâ—e thy way before thee But what shall become of those that will not be purified that will not abide the day of his comming surely you shall finde another day for them in Mal. 4. 1. Behold the day commeth that shall burn as an Oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble c. Fifth objection out of 2 Pet. 3. 8. one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day for answer to which that I may conclude I will only adde the foregoing words of Peter on which these have dependence and in which the objector is concerned Knowing this saith the Apostle Verse the third there shall come in the last dayes Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his comming For since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the creation for this they are willingly ignorant of c. Verse 9. but the Lord is not slack I need not adde more to prove the
reason of which the word of truth might be evil spoken of but that they may be mindeful of that excellent admonition of the Apostle 2 Ioh. 7. 8 9 10 11. For many deceivers are entred into the world who confess not that Iesus is come in the flesh This is a deceiver an Anti-Christ Look to your selves that we loose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ hath both the father and the Son If there come any unto you and bring not this Doctrine receive him not into your house neither bid him God-speed for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds CHAP. 14. You argue those that do preach the Doctrine of Damnation telling the people that they are eternally damned are no Gosâ—el-Ministers do preach from an evil spirit but Christ did not preach this Doctrine of eternal damnation to any for he did preach salvation to all men and the acceptable year of the Lord and to prove this you quote Luk. 4. 18. Iohn 3. 17. To tell you your Major or Minor is false or to treat you after the manner of Disputants is a thing passeth your understanding therefore I shall answere you thus Those that preach according to the Commission Christ gave unto his Disciples to preach at his departure are Gospel preachers but those that preach damnation to the impenitent and unbelievers as well as Salvation to the penitent and believers preach according to that Commission therefore they are Gospel preachers Mark 16. Go into all the World and preach the Gospel that is he that believes and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned is not here damnation to the unbelievers as there is Salvation for believers Are they not commissionated to preach this throughout the World and did they not faithfully perform it Read Rom. 2. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. where the Apostle pronounceth Glory Honour Immortalitie and Eternal life to every man that worketh good but denounceth tribulation and anguish wrath and judgement at the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgement of God to the impenitent that obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness Likewise in the 2. Thes. 1. 6 7 8 9. Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mightie Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord c. read also 2 Pet. 2. 2 3 4 5. and the whole Epistle of Iude. I hope you will not say now these men were not Gospel-preachers or that they had not the spirit of God for it was after the day of Pentecost when the cloven tongues descended and sat upon them Acts 2. 1 2 3. But let me ask you one question when Christ gave unto his Disciples the keys of the kingdome of Heaven wherein did the power of the keys consist Was it not in binding as well as in loosing You will finde it was in Iohn 20. 23. You falsely and impudently say that Christ never preached damnation to any but Salvation to all Certainly you have read Christs Sermon upon the Mount and it is most certain you understand it not for it is plain Mat. 5. 21 22 23 24. and in the 29. It is better that one of thy members perish then that thy whole body should be cast into Hell Mark 6. 11. It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in that day of judgement then for that Citie Likewise read Mat. 23 from the 13. verse to the end of the Chapter and you shall finde how many woes are pronounced by Christ there and the greater damnation to Hypocrites for their holy pretences verse 14. and the 30. It seems plainly you know not what you say and care not what you affirm that you are led by the spirit of falshood and errour and not by the spirit of truth who dare thus boldly contradict the truth But that text of Mat. 23. 14 and 33. quoted by Mr. Sanbroke I perceive confounded you that you know not what to say or at least said you knew not what something nothing to the purpose which was That Christ was then a fulfilling the Law which you your self overthrow at the latter end of this disputation Page 64. out of Heb. 13. 8. Iesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Now if he were the same yesterday as certainly he was for he was the lamb slain in Gods decree ab origine Mundi therefore he had fulfilled yesterday Gods account but if it were so yet it doth not lessen your fault who have falsely affirmed that Christ preached not damnation to any but salvation to all Not to pass over your playing Legerdemain with the Scriptures your saying that Christ told the Pharisees that the kingdome of God was to be revealed in them and which should suddenly come unto them and that they hearing this demanded of Christ when the kingdome of Heaven should come also that Christ answered them The kingdome of Heaven comes not with observation Now let any one read that Chapter of Woe and damnation to the Pharisees Mat. 23. and he shall finde there is no such question or answer in that Chapter nor in that Evangelist neither is there any thing like it and therefore you falsifie the Scriptures to make a colourable answer to that which is unanswerable and what you quote out of the 17. of Luke 20. 21. is spoken upon another occasion and the answer concerned not the Pharisees but was directed to the Disciples verse 22. and he said unto his Disciples c. I think there is no man so deluded except your self as to think that Christ should tell the Pharisees that the kingdome of Heaven was within them of whom he had given this Testimony in the words before that their inside was full of extortion and excess that they were like unto painted Sepulchers full of dead mens bones and of all uncleanness But you say the Kingdome of Heaven was within the Scribes and Pharisees though yet they knew it not But Christ that knew all things knew them intus in cute he knew their conditions and concluded they were a generation of Vipers and should not escape the damnation of Hell You tell us our Schools will never teach us this lesson of knowing Christ within us First you are ignorant what Doctrine the Schools teach and I therefore can give no account of it a fools bolt is soon shot praised be God our Schools teach no such doctrine as you teach nor any of the
are observed to have few that have in them any thing of Godlinesse but such as follow your example perswading others and be perswaded themselves that heaven shall be the reward of the wicked though the Scripture saith without holinesse no man shall see the Lord I say God give you all grace to repent that you may escape the Vengeance which without repentance will assuredly fall upon you for receiving not the love of the truth and having pleasure in unrighteousnesse 2 Thes. 2. 10. 11 12. CHAP. XVI In this Chapter three things are most considerable not to trace you in every absurdity that you speak of the 1. is Gods equal love to all The 2. is universal redemption 3. That this is onely means to keep men from sin The wise man saith God is a lover of all his Creatures yet doth he love Mankinde more then the rest and therefore he is not called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not a lover of the Creatures but a lover of man now though he love al mankind as appears by his Protecting and susteining them yet it cannot be denied but he loveth some of mankinde more then the rest because he hath shewed greater effects of his love to some then he hath to others in that he hath elected them effectually called justified and glorified them so that the love he bears to others whom he hath not elected called c. compared to this may in a manner be called hatred agreeable to that of Rom. 9. 13 Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Now insomuch as he choseth some and refuses others as he did Jacob and not Esau he calleth some and not others as he did Abraham and none of his kindred he bestoweth more benefits upon some then upon others it is apparent his love is not equal but that he loves some more then others and therefore let this provoke us to love God more then others because he hath done more for us then for others to whom much is given of him much is required Concerning universal Redemption I know there be some places of Scripture that do seemingly make for it As 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself 1 Tim. 24. Who will have all men to be saved 1 Iohn 2. 2. He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world Now mark the Places that are against universal redemption and then I will reconcile them As Matth. 26. 28. Mark 14. 24. This is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many Matth. 20. 28. He gave his life a ransom for many Heb. 9. 28. Christ was once offered to bear the sinnes of many John 11. 52. there it is said that Christ should gather in one the Children of God that were scattered abroad which are onely his elect for whom he is said to lay down his life Iohn 10. 15. I lay down my life for the Sheep not for the Goats Iohn 17. 9. I pray not for the world but those that thou hast given me Is the Scripture therefore centrary to scripture or the Word against the Word no such matter one short distinction will reconcile all this which is this Christ died for all sufficientèr but not efficientèr His death was of sufficient value to redeem all the world yea and many more worlds if there had been more but yet it is not effectual for al◠because all do not make use of it and the reason is because all have not faith 2 Thessalonians 3. 2. You are declaring you say the gathering together of all men in Christ and more to this purpose for which you alledge or wrest many places of Scripture quoted in your Margent which I will answer as so many Objections Out of Heb. 2. 11. For he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one c. Nihil est Antipho quin male narrando possit depravari as we see in Satans allegation Mat. 4. 6. You take that which you think is though indeed it is not for your purpose and leave out that which is against you Read the verse before For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings Then follows For he that sanctifieth c. so you see it is Many sonns not all this makes against you 2. Eph. 1. 10. That he might gather together in one all things in Christ which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him I pray read the verse following which hath a necessary dependance the words are these In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Now how doth this prove your return of all men Doth he not speak of those that he predestinated to the Adoption of children As appears more fully out of the 4. and 5. verses and who are they Those whom he had chosen in Christ before the foundation of the World The Apostles purpose in all this is to prove the gathering together the elect both of the Jews and Gentiles into one body by the preaching of the Gospel as appears more plainly in Ephe. 2. from the 11. verse unto the end of that Chapter And also of the uniting of the Church-militant with the Church-triumphant under the same head Jesus Heb. 12. 22 23 24. Now what doth this make for the proving that Reprobates Infidels Impenitent persons yea the Divels and the damned shall be brought home to Christ Are they predestinated to be the sons of God Were they elected before the foundation of the World For shame if not for love of your own soul rectifie your judgement if you have not lost your understanding in the thick darkness of errour Also the same Apostle tells us Ephes. 4. 18 19. of a people that have their understandings darkned and strangers from the life of God and in the fifth Chapter verse 5. which I cannot pass over that no whormonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdome of Christ and of God except they repent and we know that there are too many with the deaf Adder stop their ears and refuse to hear the voice of the charmer Psal. 58. 4 5. Eze. 34. 16. I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind-up that which was broken and strengthen that which was sick c. Mark I pray what is this to prove the gathering together of all men in Christ to be brought home to the father for which you quote it For observe what follows in the very same Verse But I will destroy the fat and the strong and will feed them with judgement but as for you O my flock thus
saith the Lord God behold I judge between Cattel and Cattel between the Rams and the he-Goats which is point-blank against you unless you could prove the Reprobates to be the Sheep of Christ which doubtless you are ready enough to hold Jerem. 33. 6. Behold I will bring it health and cure and I will cure them and I will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth To whom is this spoken to Babylon of the Caldeans or to spiritual Babylon the corps of the Reprobate Do not the words following shew that it is spoken to Judah and Jerusalem the Church of God observe the words I will cause the captivitie of Judah and of Israel to return and build them as at the first c. I see you are much necessitated when you bring those promises that God makes unto the house of David Verse 21. to prove the salvation of the reprobate Rom. 5. 18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto Justification of life Read the verse following For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous the purpose of the Apostle is to shew that as Adam by his disobedience destroyed all his Posteritie so Christ by his obedience saved all his seed that is all that were the seed of Abraham not according the flesh but according to the Spirit Rom. 9 7 8. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be blessed that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed 1 Cor. 15. 22. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive What the Apostle brings here to prove the Resurrection of the body you urge to prove the Resurrection of the soul a goodly argument But suppose we grant it yet will not the Text help you at all for the genuine sense of it must be this as all that were in Adam died so all that are in Christ are made alive Luke 19. 10. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost It is true but it is meant those that know and acknowledge themselves to be lost as the Prodigal did that say in themselves I will go to my father and say unto him father I have sinned c. Luke 15. Christ prayed for his enemies that had imbrued their hands in his blood because they did it out of ignorance Luke 23. 34. Father forgive them for they know not what they do It is true he did and his prayers were heard for some of them were converted by St. Peters Sermon as appeareth out of Acts 2. but yet it doth not follow that he prayed for the Reprobate he teacheth us the contrary where he sayeth I pray not for the World but for them that thou hast given me out of the world 1 John 2. 1 2. If any sin we have an Advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous who is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World I answer as at the beginning that he is a propitiation sufficient for the sins of the whole World but not efficient because all do not believe 1. Tim. 2. 4. Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth Which must not be understood of his secret will but of his revealed according to which he would have them to be saved if they repent and believe the Gospel otherwiâ—e they cannot expect Salvation and this is agreeable to that doctrine which Christ commanded his Disciples to preach Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned Others answer that the Apostle speaks not de singulis generum sed de generibus singulorum that is of all sorts and conditions of men as appears by the words going before But here I wonder to what purpose you bring in the History of the ten Lepers and that in such a fashion that if you did not help it with a lame exposition in the latter end of your book Article 21. a man would judge that you mean Christ was one of them I wonder I say to what purpose you will say to prove that all men shall be saved for this is the subject of the whole Chapter then the summe of the argument must be this ten Lepers were cured by Christ and but one of them returned to give thanks therefore all shall be saved a goodly conclusion But had you any ingenuity or love to truth you would have argued as any School-boy would have done thus ten Lepers were healed by Christ and but one of them returned to give thanks therefore but one of them shall be saved is not this the most probable of the two Seeing Christ himself hath taught us that few are they that shall be saved Mat. 7. 14. Lastly you say that this Doctrine of the love of God to all men is the only means to keep them from sin This is a way both disagreeable to the word and will of God and also to reason That it is to the word of God I have already sufficiently proved yet I will adde more Jude 22 23. And of some have compassion making a difference and others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Those that sin either out of weakness of judgement or want of strength are to be gently dealt with but those that sin out of wilfulness are sharply to be reproved Titus 1. 13. Thus Peter did Simon Magus Acts 8. 20. 21 22 23. or as Paul did Elymas the sorcerer Acts 13. 10 11. when wounds are corrupted and stink they ought first to be cleansed before we pour in Balm otherwise we shall heal them deceitfully like false Prophets such as your self is Jerem. 6. 14. They have healed the hurt of the Daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace It is also disagreeable to reason suppose a man to have two sons on which he hath a large Patrimony to bestow and being committed to the care of a Tutor one of them proves a Prodigal I mean not such a Prodigal as is returned from his evil wayes but an incorrigible one that is in the full career of Vice his Tutor intending as in duty bound to reclaim him tells him his father beareth a great deal of love towards him and notwithstanding his evil courses cannot will not disinherit him and much more to this purpose will any one think that this is the best and most rational course to reclaim him Surely no but rather a means to increase his licentiousness a good Tutor will rather with a severe and
But to help the matter you make it a thing of indifferency And say I deny it none whose tender conscience doth desire it using that of St. Paul spoken of things indifferent 1 Cor. 9. 22. When it is a thing so far from being indifferent and so necessary that the wilful neglect and contempt thereof is a damnable sin Iohn 15. 22. Gen. 17. 14. yet I doubt not upon deep repentance God will forgive it Read Bern. Epist. 77. The next thing to be taken notice of is that you return to your former Vomit which you cast up in the 14th Chapter and which you again lick up in the second Article towards the end of your Book You say God will destroy mans sins and iniquities but not man And to make people believe this you run through a great many passages of Scripture as if they made for you when in truth they and the whole current of the Word of God are against it I will recite a few amongst many Psal. 5. 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing and the Lord abhors both the bloody and deceitful man not the lies and deceits of men only but them that speak lies and work deceit such as your self without repentance which God of his mercy give you Psal. 11. 6 7. Vpon the ungodly he shall rain snares fire and Brimstone storms and tempests this shall be the portion of the wicked upon the ungodly the Psalmist sayes speaking of their persons not of sins Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the Nations that forget God wicked people and Nations not wickedness and national sins only And this is verified in the destruction of the old world 1 Pet. 3. 20. In Corah and his company Num. 16. 33. In Iudas the son of Perdition Iohn 17. 12. who is said to go to his place Acts 1. 25. whither all ungodly men shall go without repentance in the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men 2 Pet. 3. 7. he doth not say in the day of perdition of their sins but of themselves Read Iude Verse 15. 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9. many more places I could adde to the same purpose but that you have done it to my hand as that in Psal. 21. 8 9. Thine hand shall finde out all thine enemies thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee thou shalt make them as a fiery Oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them Where it is manifest the Prophet speaks of Persons not of sins of substances not of accidents that do adhere to subjects as for your idle shift that he means the Bryars and thorns in them it is false God doth not consume the Bryars and Thorns as you call them in Impenitent sinners but punishes them and their Bryars and Thorns together and none shall quench them Isa. 1. 32. the soul that sinneth shall die Eze. 18. 20. The Lord will plead the cause of the poor and spoil the souls of those that spoiled them Pro. 22. 23. as for that place you alledge out of 1 Cor. 3. 15. it is expounded and fully answered before in my answer to your third Chapter Page 18. Again you object that of Iacob and Esau Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated a place so fully against you that were you not hardned it were sufficient to convert you They were the sons of Isaac by Rehecca Gen. 25. 26 27 28. where you may read the History at large of whom St. Paul says Rom. 9. 11 12. They being not yet born neither having done good or evil it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger as it is writtten Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated therefore he means not Esau's sins But here you fall to your old shift of Allegorizing the Scriptures but very unhandsomely that place of Obad. 17 18 21. quoted in your Margent Page 77. spoils your Allegory the words are these Vpen Mount Sion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions and the house of Iacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for Stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it Here God threatens to destroy the house of Esau and to establish his Church the house of Jacob they should dwell in their possessions he would destroy Esau by the house of Iacob Iacob should be to them like a fire and they should be like stubble which was verify'd in Mac. 2. 10. You object Isa. 27. 4 9. Fury is not in me who would set the Briars and Thorns against me in battel I would go through them I would burn them together The sense of which words is this fury is not in me to destroy the Vineyard read the three Verses before but fury is in me to destroy the Adversaries of it though they set themselves in battel against me like Bryars and Thorns yet could I go through them and burn them together The purpose of the Prophet here is to foretel the destruction of Leviathan that crooked Serpent take it either for the Type or Antitype for the Assyrian or Satan and in that day shall the Church sing a song of Triumph Verse 2 3. Secondly verse 9. by this shall the iniquitie of Jacob be purged by what by their repentance whereof he sets down the fruits which should shew themselves in the reformation from Idolatrie when he should overthrow the Altars and Groves of their images Now what is all this to prove as you would have it the purging away of in iniquity form Esau from the wicked and reprobate 1. Here is a destruction of Satan and the wicked threatned 2 A song of Triumph for the execusion of Gods judgments 3. A promise to spare the house of Jacob because they repent And therefore your Allorizing is absurd and erroneous most repugnant to the meaning of the Prophet in this Chapter whose intention is to shew that God will destroy the wicked who are but as briers and thorns when they set themselves in battle against him he will break through them and consume them as fire doth wood Here that place in Isa. 6. 6 7. is also brought to garnish your errour and in this manner God caused a Seraphim with a coal from the Alter to touch the mouth of the Prophet to take his iniquity away whom he was about to send on his message and fit for his calling therefore God will purge lips and take away the iniquity of the reprobate and false Prophets A goodly conclusion is it not it seems plainly your lips have not been touched with such a coal that you utter such abominable falsities and so abuse the Scriptures You reach in Mal. 3.