when they have the Fee which their Fathers had and kept by their Allegiance to their death for them to succeed after them and they are punished when they have lost their Fee which their Fathers lost and did not keep by their felony to their death for them to lose after them what they might have had if their Fathers had performed the Condition So if Parents for their Vertue be made free their Children shall be free but this hath no true respect of reward but good fortune So if Parents for their Fine be reduced to slavery their Children shall be slaves but this hath no true respect of punishment but evil fortune Because no body before he is can have right that he should be born in such or such a condition but when he is born so or so it is his good or bad chance As an Infant in his Mothers womb is not properly acquitted when his Mother is acquitted and saved her life nor properly condemned when his Mother is condemned and loseth her life The CONTENTS Transition Demonstrations Traditions Scriptures Representative Church Some body must determine Pride Calumnies Scriptures Collections TITLE V. Of a Judge of Christs Laws Transition AFter all the discourse of Laws and the Law-maker there is a great cry that makes a great disturbance Who shall be the Judge and Interpreter of Christs Laws No hopes ever to convince such that take all upon trust and will be blinded for Policy and Interest but let Wisdom still speak and she will be justified of her Children and none but wilful Souls will stop their ears A Judge they lack and such as must be infallible but they cannot agree who this should be If some Moral Truths are as demonstrable as others which they call Mathematical then what need of a Judge When such moral Propositions are as Scientifical of themselves and create as full an assent to the understanding as Natural things which are perceptible of themselves and create a full apprehension to the sense The Laws of Nature are plain and as plain consequences may be made from them As that no man should steal or kill and from thence it is demonstrated That if Sejus or Titius do steal or kill they sin against the Law of Nature And such Ratiocinations as are rightly framed from necessary Principles create as undeniable Demonstrations As that a man is Risible Demonstrations because he is Rational That a Horse is one true and good because he is an Ens or that the Periphery of a Circle is Equidistant from the Centre Now if the Laws of Nature be so plain then they need no Judge And if the Positive Laws are so plain as they are or ought to be then they need no Judge also All Intellectual Entities have hitherto by the most of men been accounted probable only allowing by great favour infallibility to Revelations and therefore have been the more slighted and nothing thought worthy of credit but material Entities and objects of sense Now if Revelations come as they may do to the understanding as well as Natural notions and Sensual objects why may they not as plainly be apprehended supposing them as they must to be as plainly revealed as the rest are imprinted in the Soul or conveyed thither by the sense But still the Question is Who shall be the Judg and this Judge must be infallible too The old beaten way is to believe as the Church believes and the Churches Faith is resolved into the Pope or a general Council with or without him not yet agreed Surely there is a fallacy in the word Church as in the word People The Church is either taken for all the Church and the People for all the People which cannot meet to agree all or for the most part or best of the Church or People which can hardly meet to agree all So there is no certainty in either SECT I. Universal Traditions are doubtful Traditions The Eastern Church had one Tradition about Easter from St. John the Western another from St. Peter the Millenaries received their Tradition from Papias St. John's Disciple the rest denied it Councils were hardly ever universal or universally agreeing and mostly packt a few popular Orators and Politicians swayed all the rest So that we are at no certainty by these Certainty is either in Nature things actually existent to sense or in Morality from prime principles undoubted conclusions in the mind by Rational or Mathematical Demonstrations actually existent to Reason The Law of Nature is plain enough Consequences from thence are clear if rightly deducted by the help of Art Laws Positive are to flow from thence Subjects may know by these Laws what they are to have and what they are to do SECT II. Scriptures The Scriptures are God's Positive Laws commanded in his Will and Testament with Promises of Rewards so that by them all Subjects and Legatees understand what they are to have and what they are to do And as the Laws and Testaments of wise and good men are evident so much more the Laws and Testaments of God And therefore in all these Laws there is sufficient Certainty to every one who when all comes to all must judge as well as they can for themselves and the Laws fundamental and necessary are so plain that they may judge Else why should those Promises be made and those Duties be commanded if they to whom they were made and enjoyned could not possibly apprehend them and what other infallible Judge can be imagined especially when besides their own Judgments the Spirit is promised to all that will use what God hath already given them to lead them into all truth And so Christ the only Infallible Judge hath promised to be present by his Spirit unto the end of the World If in this state of Imperfection there remain doubts as there will we must be content to doubt as we do about such manners and circumstances of things as are not absolutely necessary to salvation the ignorance whereof may safely consist with our salvation If others be given over to believe lies it is a just Judgment of God upon them for their carelesness and sensuality As is the case of the Heathen Idolaters who though they knew God yet they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish hearts were darkened But still Wisdom is justified of all her Children and the true Faith hath been kept by them and will be kept unto the end of the World and Truth is Truth still In natural Principles all conceptions agree as to worship God to do as we would be done by c. and in supernatural Principles there is the same harmony of Faith in God and a good life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus the whole Church i. e. all Christians in all ages have received the Gospel and kept the Faith and so the Church is the pillar and ground of Truth The Church of God is guided
Christ's Mediation to bring us to God Cross to be gloried in Cross outward and inward Effect of Cross-crucifixion Procured by outward cross Philosophy Christianity Christ the Sacrifice and Priest Christians true Sacrifices and Priests Decrees Christ's doing and suffering our doing and suffering Corollaries Christ a Priest Christ quickened by his eternal spirit Christ a Prophet Christ a King p. 224 APPENDIX OR Application to the Clergy and Laity Title 1. Of the Clergie's Calling Word Sacraments Gospel-spirit p. 243 Title 2. Of the Clergie's Doctrine Precepts Promises Conditions p. 244 Title 3. Of the Clergie's Persons p. 246 Title 4. Of the Clergie's Study Law Law-terms p. 247 Title 5. Of the Laitie's Calling p. 251 Title 6. Of the Laitie's Doctrine ibid. Title 5. Of the Laitie's Persons p. 252 Title 8. Of the Genius of the Gospel Joy Fear Decrees Gospel dispensations Worship spiritual Ceremonies Difference of Mosaick and Christian Rites Church of Rome Perfection of Christianity Spiritual perfection Ritual worship abolished No other Rites to be superinduced No Rites ever pleased God Greater perfections in the Christian Religion Prayer and other duties are Relativi Juris p. 254 THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Volume of the Estate of God The First Book Of Rights Title 1. Of Things TRansition Testament Things Method God's Donation Things to be had Things to be done Free-will Right p. 287 Title 2. Of Persons Personality Forfeiture Freedom Falling Recovery p. 293 Title 3. Of Rights Transition Right Definition Instances Independency Indifferency Liberality Creation Donation Declaration Faction Reception Justification Private right Publick right Justice Rights to God Rights to body and soul Rights to wife Rights to children Rights to estate and honour Rights not to be violated Day of Judgment Shame To be right To make right To bestow right To have right To do right Collections Rather hurt self than others Moral honesty not doubted of Vse Reason Reason of Nature Equity of Conscience Tricks in law Severity of old in the Church Man's judgment Relations Friendship Possibility of law Fates Justice in God and Man Wrong none Truth evident Caution p. 295 Title 4. Of Actions Transition Intention Execution Free-will Imperfection Willingness Implicit faith Social actions Jussion p. 316 The Second Book Of Titles Title 1. Of a Sinner Transition Vnjust legally Vnjust morally Vnjust jurally Oppressed Blemished Distressed Tainted p. 322 Title 2. Of Original sin Rom. 5.12 explained Recapitulation Accounting Adam's will not ours Levi's paying of Tithes All mortal in Adam Righteous in Christ Immortal in Christ Every Individuum acts for it self Sinner legal Sinner moral Sinner jural Psal 51.6 explained Ephes 2.3 explained Soul a spirit Good most common Good lovely v. lib. 7. Tit. 3.2 Vol. Argumenta Laciniata p. 326 Title 3. Of a Just man Just Just legally Just morally Just jurally Right Accounting God righteous 349 The Third Book Of Justification Title 1. Of the Name of Justification The term Justifie Accounting Synonyma Bondage Freedom Burden Corporation Other names p. 357 Title 2. Of the form of Justification Imputation Logick Logistick Christ's Righteousness p. 364 Title 3. Of the Matter of Justification Right Corporation Impunity Liberty Provision Protection Audience Alliance Resurrection Jurisdiction Glory Rights of Christ Expectation Supplication Possession p. 371 Title 4. Of the Title of Justification Free grace Titles Birth Purchase Desert Favour Condemnation Gifts Impunity Election Glory Boasting Will of the Receiver Will of the Donor Free grace begins at God's will Free grace makes the Title stronger Free grace makes for God's grace and glory Justification is the best state of love All Rights are from Grace Donation Election Promise God justifieth Christ justifieth The wrong title Law Allegory of the two Covenants Ishmael and Isaac Hagar and Sarah Law a Covenant of bondage Gospel a Covenant of liberty Jacob and Esau Works p. 380 Title 5. Of the Continuance of Justification Relapse a revolt from God Breach of one Party disobligeth the other Mutability of Justification Kingdom of God Natural man Spiritual man Forfeiture Example of Israelites p. 398 Title 6. Of the Tenure of Justification Transition Works James 2.18 explained Works of love p. 405 Title 7. Faith Notions of Faith Credence Trust Promise given Promise taken Re-promise Courage Hope Covenant Faith in Christ Christ the conveyer of faith Christ the author of faith Declaring God's will Proving God's will Testament ad pias Causas Physical operation Moral operation Saving faith Means of faith A new heart 409 The Fourth Book Of Sanctification Title 1. Of the Spirit Transition Spirit the first Agent Hidden man Outward man Natural man Supernatural inspiration Penal and grievous Beneficial and gracious Holy spirit Spiritual man p. 421 Title 2. Of Conscience Definition Seat Vnderstanding Will Memory Reflection p. 424 Title 3. Of the disposition of Conscience To direct To urge To register To testifie To accuse Before the action In the action After the action p. 425 Title 4. Of the indisposition of Conscience Suspension of the offices of Conscience In good men In evil men Ignorance Learning Riches Poverty Self-love Idleness Prejudice Companions God 's not regarding Cross sins Success Satisfaction Want of a spiritual Clergy p. 431 Title 5. Of the restitution of Conscience Believe Conscience Not believe Conscience Self-examination Forsake sin Confess sin Collections p. 440 Title 6. Of a New Creature Transition Old man Old leaven Natural man Carnal mind New man New lump Spiritual mind New birth First resurrection Old creation Concurrency of God and man p. 444 Title 7. Of the Flesh and Spirit Transition Sensual and Spiritual life Mind and will of Flesh and Spirit Life in man threefold Spiritual senses and passions Life of Faith Corollaries Conclusion p. 450 The Fifth Book Of Assurance Title 1. Of the Nature of Assurance Transition Promises Publick Faith Spirit Waiting p. 455 Title 2. Of the Grounds of Assurance Matter of Fact Matter of Right Matter of Witness Spirit of Assurance Ability Sealed Earnest p. 460 Title 3. Of the Kinds of Assurance Names Species p. 465 Title 4. Of the Abuse of Assurance Doctrine of Masses Of no Salvation without the Pale of the Church Of lying still in sin Imputed Righteousness Collections Cautions Obstructions Rules Election p. 468 The Sixth Book Of Tenures Title 1. Of Allodium Transition Estates Allodium Lordship Model from the Goths Etymology Crown Lands Caution Apology p. 476 Title 2. Of Feudum Name Definition Promise Investiture Felony p. 481 The Seventh Book Of Christ's Church and Kingdom Title 1. Of a Feudal Kingdom Transition Feudal Customes Feudal Kingdoms best Goths and Vandals Goths honest Goths endowed the Church first with Lands and Lordships Jus Feudale Manners of Goths Resemblances of a Feudal Kingdom Blessedness Cursedness Church Militant Church Triumphant Tenure of Heaven conditional Holding of God Absolute dominion Feuds a middle government Christ sole Judge Customes in a Feudal kingdom Excellency of a Feudal government Collections Parables run not on all four Tenure of
grievous in such cases The CONTENTS Writing Testimony Confirmation Execution Christ the Executor Executorship conditional Flesh and Blood Christ's Assention Spirit 's Mission TITLE VI. Of the Confirmation of the New Testament NOW the New Testament though it were not written as was the Old with the finger of God upon Tables of Stone but was Nuncupative yet this Nuncupation was by God himself not by any Angel and that unto Christ himself only to be published and accordingly was published by him in his own Person and by his Spirit in the persons of the Apostles and their Disciples through the whole World and afterwards committed to writing by the chief of the Apostles and not only so Writing but written again after a better manner by the spirit of God himself upon the Tables of Mens Hearts Testimony And as for the Testimony given thereunto to prove it to be the Will of God Christ himself did testifie thereof with such mighty miracles as never had been done before Besides the unquestionable Holiness of his life and the solemnity of his death Which things were not done in a corner but in the full view of a greater Congregation than was at Mount Sinai for he preached in their Temple and Synagogues and did wonders in all Judea and suffered death upon Mount Calvary Mat. 27.51 At which time the Vail of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom the Earth did quake and the Rocks rent and the graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose The Sun also was darkned after an extraordinary manner when the Moon was at the Full. And after all this was added as the last and greatest Proof of all the glory of his Resurrection and Ascention into Heaven He saith therefore of himself John 18.37 To this end was I born and for this cause I came into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth And the Apostle said of him 1 Tim. 6.13 Rev. 3.14 that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good Confession Hence he is called the Amen the faithful and true Witness the Martyr of the New Testament to testifie it with his Blood His death was not only a Testimony Confirmation but a Confirmation of the New Testament because his death doth wholly and for ever extinguish in him all will or power to revoke it and evidence that immediately from that Death God's Testament was ipso facto in force and began to take effect for the Justification of Mankind to all the Rights in that Testament contained by the Access of their Faith Thus the immortal God came as near to Death as he could by the Death of his Son in his Divine Nature immortal but made a mortal man to dye in his Father's stead and to demonstrate his own and his Father 's unconceivable Love to lay down his Life for Sinners Which thing deserves a perpetual Commemoration so commanded by Christ in the Holy Eucharist instituted by him for that purpose And as Wills are to be proved and confirmed Execution so they are to be executed and performed or else the Will it self is as dead as he that made it and so was made to no purpose The publick Wills of Legislators are to be put in Execution by sworn Magistrates or else the Law is in vain and a dead Letter And the private Wills of Testators are to be put in Execution by their Heirs or Executors covenanting and swearing so to do else the Will or Law of the Testator is frustrated Now of this New Testament Christ is the Executor or Mediator Christ Executor between God the Testator and the Legataries in the Will expressed to convey unto them from God as a Priest the Expiation of their Sins by his Sacerdotal offering up of himself to God in the Temple of Heaven and the Mission of his Spirit to cleanse their hearts and as a King sitting in the Throne of Heaven to rule his Church and protect them from their Enemies and to raise them up from Death and set them at his Right hand and at his left in heavenly places and as a Prophet to lead them into all Truth And Christ as an Executor and Mediator received to himself this benefit to be the universal Heir of God who was so by Nature and was so appointed by Grace to be Heir of all things Heb. 1.2 And for this purpose had all Power given unto him both in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 and universal honour also wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the name of Jesus Phil. 2.9 every knee should bow of Persons in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth For let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1.6 and he hath spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumphed over them openly 1 Cor. 15.27 and hath put all his Enemies under his feet The Reason is because Christ's Executorship was conditional Reason 1 Executorship Conditional that is charged upon the Condition of his own Death he must dye before he can enter upon it and therefore dye that he may perform it because every Testament is a Decree of things to be done after Death and this Testament of God hath this strange Prerogative above the Testaments of men that it is confirmed by the Death of a Man who was God and that the Executor not the Testator dyes and that the Disposition of things to be had or done is made after the Death of the Executor who for that purpose rose from the dead that he might justifie the faithful to the Inheritance of Heaven A Cause quite contrary to the Testaments of men wherin the Testator only dies to confirm his Testament and the Executor surviving performs it Therefore as Christ the principal Heir was fitted to receive his Inheritance ordained for him in that Testament whereof he was Executor So we that are Christ's Co-heirs must be fitted to receive the same Inheritance ordained for us in that Testament wherein we are Legataries Reas 2 Flesh and Blood 1 Cor. 15.5 Joh. â— 14 1 Cor. 15.45 Heb. 2.9 2. Because Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of heaven And CHRIST the Word was made Flesh but afterwards he was made Spirit For the last Adam was made a quickning Spirit And JESUS who was made a little lower than the Angels for or by they suffering of Death was crowned with glory and Honour And so Christ was made perfect For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons unto glory Heb. 2.10 to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through Sufferings And though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation unto all them that obey him And so Christians they are first Flesh For that which is
me free from the Law of Sin and Death Ro. 8.1 2. Ro. 8.5 6. And they that are in Christ walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit The Gospel times therefore were prophesied to be searching times Consequences Mal. 3.1 2 c. The Lord shall suddenly come into his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts But who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like a Refiner's fire and like Fuller's sope And he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the Sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an Offering in Righteousness Then shall the Offerings of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the daies of old and as in former years Thus the thoughts of many hearts will be discovered and it shall be known who will follow the World and who will follow Christ who will live after the Flesh and who will live after the Spirit Who will enter into Covenant with God and who with the Devil Thus the Letter of the Law killeth 1. Because it only discovers sin 2. Because it only condemneth sin 3. Because it stirreth up sin the more 4. Because it punisheth sin without mercy Thus the Spirit giveth life 1. Because it offereth Life freely 2. Because it justifieth them that accept it 3. Because it saves them from Sin Death and Hell 4. Because it giveth them Eternal Life and Glory SECTION III. Digression Cautions Mistake not these words Take heed well what you hear and read He that hath ears to hear let him hear and he that hath a heart to understand let him understand 1. Some will not read the Scriptures nor hear them read or preached by any study or pains by any Art or Eloquence 2. Some will not pray by any forms at sett times or places nor submit to any Discipline nor preach by Meditation or helps of any Comments or Writing nor hearken to any Counsels Exhortations or Conferences nor be ruled by any Laws or Orders of men These trust they say to the Light that is in them and to the motions of the Spirit in their own Consciences which is rather their humor fancy and obstinacy These are above all Ordinances in the letter of the Law of God or Man and walk aloft by the revelations of the Spirit which if it were the true Spirit would never be contrary to the true sense and Spirit of the Gospel written and preached The Spirit teacheth us to pray preach and live Spiritually by the Means of the Word of God and wholesom Discipline of Men. Therefore what is written in the Book and preached by the Voice and commanded by lawful Power is the same with that which is the Mind of God first predestinated and secret then revealed and published to and by the Fathers at last to and by Christ and his Apostles and written in the heart by the Holy Ghost Therefore deceive not your selves 1. With vain Fancies and new Revelations for the Truth is old 2. With feigned Words and canting Expressions for the Truth is plain 3. With framing a Law to your selves as if infallible contrary to Nature's Law to the Laws of Nations and to Christ his Law This must needs be a Spiritual cheat tending to all mischief and confusion Take heed therefore 1. Of Law-Preachers of Curses Hell and Damnation 2. Of Spirit-Preachers of Evidences and Rapture walking without and against all Law and Rule These sort of men are Rigid Surly Morose Self-conceited Opiniators Malicious Proud Scoffers Straitners of God's love to Mankind therefore not of God and having not the Spirit SECTION IV. Leave of vain Disputes and learn 1. To hold all necessary and confessed Truths Instructionâ— and contend only for the Faith and a good Conscience 2. To submit to all Orders and Decencies and to fulfil all Righteousness which is the ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price 3. To reverence and adore the Manifold Wisdom of God admiring and praising but not prying and searching into the Reasons of his Workings whose waies are alwaies Just but often hid from our eyes because his paths are in the great Waters and his foot-steps past our finding out 4. To embrace the Promises of Forgiveness of sins Adoption Heaven and Happiness This will engage the Soul to live by the Spirit of the Gospel and not merely by the Letter much less by the Law or by Sense This will sublimate the Soul to the spiritual acts of Faith Hope Love Prayer Self-denial against the Carnal acts of Sense Lust Drunkenness c. Forbear ignorant and proud boasting of the Spirit to be above Ordinances and contrary to what is Revealed it is most dangerous Let us not be Fools or Cross 1. In being too superstitiously Formal and trusting to Outward worship 2. In being too Profane and Licentious in neglecting all Conscience and Inward worship 3. In being too superstitiously precise in Inward worship only without any regard to Decency and Order calling it Jewish Heathenish and Popish 4. In being actually Rebellious thereupon by separation from publick Assemblies and rising up in Arms openly and destroying the Powers of the Church and State There is a right way if we could hit upon it as we may without prejudice against any man's Person to take in all the Truths held by them though we like not other things which they are mistaken in The way of Charity is excellent To suffer long and to be kind not to envy or vaunt not to be puffed up not to behave our selves unseemly 1 Cor. 13.4 c. nor to seek our own not to be easily provoked to think no evil not to rejoyce in iniquity but to rejoyce in the Truth to learn all things to believe all things hope all things endure all things There are that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness which ceaseth not to be the Truth because they hold it with other Errors There are that hold the Foundation of Gold Silver and Precious stones though they unhappily build Wood Hay and Stubble and such unworthy matter thereupon There are that sit in Moses's Chair and teach according to the Law and their Disciples are bound to believe and do according as they say though they say and do not There are that preach Christ out of Envy and for Gain and yet Christ is preached and thereat they may rejoyce and should rejoyce If I find a Jewel upon a Dung-hill I will stoop to take it up I will reverence Wisdom in the poor or blind or lame or otherwise
deformed In a word Phil. 4.3 Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise we are bound to think on these things SECTION V. Exhortations Have not the Word of God in respect of Persons have no man's person in too much admiration Aim directly at the plain Truth with a single eye in simplicity of heart not inventing objections or making knots nor yet willing to be cheated or captivated in your Judgments by being magisterially imposed upon Take no part nor side resolutely to pin your Faith upon all that they say or do Count no man or Society of men infallible Be not biassed for favour or affection gain or preferment to any Sect nor from them for malice or hatred or fear of loss or punishment but strive to be of an universal Spirit free to embrace or shun without bondage or base love or fear Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath because the wrath of Man worketh not the Righteousness of God Thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness strive to take in all truth walk humbly honestly and warily working out our Salvation with fear and trembling and making our Calling and Election sure Look alwaies well to the end walk circumspectly as wise men stand fast in your Christian liberty quit your selves like men pressing on still to the mark of the High calling which is laid up for you in Christ Jesus The Gospel promiseth great things to all Eternity and having such a hope in you so full of a glorious and blessed Immortality be alwaies aspiring to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord that ye may obtain an Inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Christ Jesus Let no Profane or Unclean Wretches expect any good Be not deceived God is not mocked No Whoremonger nor Adulterer nor Fornicator nor Covetous person which is an Idolater shall ever enter into the Kingdom of God or of Christ They can have no part or share of the Inheritance with the Saints in Light that walk on here in darkness The hopes of Hypocrites must needs perish as the Spider's web Let the Faithful hope and pray for the Kingdom of heaven let them be glad and rejoyce for great is their Reward in heaven yea let them lift up their heads with joy for their Redemption draweth nigh and now is nearer than they are aware of Let them remember that their Saviour is their Judge and most favourable to all that have honest hearts he knows how to relieve the ignorant and weak and such as are out of the way He will resolve them in all their doubts comfort them in all their sorrows direct them in all their wandrings heal them in all their maladies strengthen them in all their weaknesses and do for them abundantly above all that they are able to ask or think He will reject none that come unto him he will admit all to the Legacies contained in his Father's Will and Testament that shall be found capable to receive them cum favore Believe Love Work Hope Desire Persevere no matter what Men judge Trust to the Word of Life follow that blessed Rule and be happy Live and die in Faith and lie down in Hope to rise again to everlasting Life and Salvation Be thankful that ye are under the conduct of the Spirit of Life and Grace plentiful and strong Helps brought home to the door of your hearts waiting to be let in These are within us If we will receive them there they be ready for us Nothing of God wanting to us if we be not wanting to our selves There is a Voice behind us saying This is the Way walk in it turn from the waies of Wickedness pass by them come not near unto them for fear Iniquity procure your ruine The Spirit invites perswades by all means if our Spirits will hear incline or desire God will move and incline our desires to good If honestly Uprightness and Meekness be in us God will love us and we shall love him and Love shall cover a multitude of sins Having such pretious Promises and such gracious Encouragements be bold with a holy boldness to challenge them from God by the Mediation of Jesus Christ in whom they are made sure Claim therefore as your dues The Word and Sacraments The Liberty from the Law Access to the Throne of Grace Forgiveness of Sins The Gift of the Spirit The Resurrection of the Body The Life Everlasting For these things are fit for God to give and for God's Children to receive because Great is he that hath promised and Great is he in whose Name and for whose sake he hath promised such great things and therefore in and by and through him we have freedom of Access to the Throne of Grace for Grace sufficient to help us in the times of all our need The CONTENTS Nature of Liberty Form Loosness from all Incumbrances Largeness TITLE VIII Of Liberty BEsides the two forementioned Properties of the two Testaments viz. The New Spiritual and Lively The Old Literal and Deadly There may be added two more to distinguish them from each other viz. The New Testament begeteth the Spirit of Freedom The Old Testament engendreth the Spirit of Bondage Between a Son and a Servant is great difference chiefly in their state The Son is free of his Father's house and hath a Right of perpetuity to abide therein for ever but the Servant is at the will of his Lord and hath no liberty to abide in the house for ever The Son is Herus minor quasi Dominus rerum paternarum The Church is God's Family Christ is God's Son therefore is free of the Church for his self and hath power to make others free not in word or shew Joh. 8.36 but in deed and truth If the Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed Nature of Liberty Of Liberty there are two parts the Nature the Subjects The Nature of Liberty consists in four Points the Form the Seat the Terms and the Cases of it Form The Form is a Loosness and clearness from all Impediments Entanglements and Incumbrances Loosness from all Incumbrances The more Loose we be the more free if fully loose then fully free termed Inalligation opposit to obligation an Independency Therefore whatsoever is unbound not hanging upon any thing is properly loose as Psal 2.20 He looseth them that are appointed to die that are fast bound in misery and Iron The shaking off of Shackles and Fetters So the Woman whose Husband is dead is loosed from the Law of her Husband Ro. 7.2 I. The first Reason is from the Contrariety of Slavery which Reas 1 is 1. Perpetual an Inheritance to the Lord and his Heirs for ever So Liberty is perpetual to himself and his
is not hindred from acting it nor forced to act the contrary Thus God doth act his own VVill and the Angels and glorified Saints act their own VVills and this is Liberty IV. A Loosness of Man to his Proper Rule is Liberty Loosness to proper Rule The Proper Rule of Man is the Law As a Restraint from that is Slavery so a Loosness to it is Liberty All other Rules as the Wisdom of the Flesh and the World are strong and impediments When thou art clear from these and loose to live by the Law Jam. 1.15 then thou art free to walk according to the perfect Law of Liberty Not that the Law leaves us to our Liberty whether to keep it or no much less gives Liberty to transgress it but because the observing of it argues Liberty freely to run in the waies of God's Commandments The Law not Conscience is the Soveraign Rule of Man i. e. God's Law or Man's Law where no Law of God declares it unlawful for the Conscience must have a Guide i. e. a Law to rule it or else it is unruly For where there is no Law there is no Conscience seeing Conscience is but the dictate of the Law of Equity which is a Law prescribing to the Law of Justice and over-ruling it And Conscience pretended is but blindness of mind or hardness of heart unless it can see or feel it self in some Law Therefore for a Man to be restrained from his proper Rule that he cannot or may not live by the Law but forced to live without or contrary to Law only at the will and pleasure of another is slavery but the contrary is true Liberty V. A Loosness of Man to his Proper State is Liberty Loosness to proper State The Proper State of a Man is to be a person after God's own Image And as a Restraint from that makes Slavery so a Loosness to it is Liberty All other States as of Sin and Corruption are exotick and forreign heterogeneous and troublesom but when none of the Manacles restrain the Spirit there is Freedom Hence Natural Corruption is a state of Slavery because it deteriorates and depraves thy proper Person diminisheth thy head and defaces God's Image in thee But thy Spiritual Regeneration is a state of Liberty because it meliorates advances thy head and restores thee to the New Man after God and Christ in Righteousness and Holiness And that Spirit of God that doth Regenerate doth thereby adopt and therefore Enfranchise For if Children then free the Spirit of Adoption is contrary to the Spirit of Bondage and the Law of the Spirit of Life makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death The state of Servitude is Death for Slaves as Dead men have no Will no more than Beasts to act any thing in Law VI. A Loosness of Man to his Proper Right is Liberty Loosness to proper Right The Proper Right of a Man is the Propriety in himself and over himself And as a Restraint from that is Slavery so a Loosness from that is Liberty All other Rights as Lands Goods c. are forreign and extraneous When none of these are Clogs and Impediments to the Spirit then there is Liberty Hence Liberty is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a Power over ones self and such as have it are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free to Rule over themselves A Man that hath a Dominion of a thing doth dispose and use that thing to his own end so he that hath Dominion of himself doth dispose and use himself to his own end and is Lord of himself and therefore Free God's Dominion over Man doth not extinguish Man's Dominion over himself no more than the Power of a Prince or Father doth extinguish the Liberty of a Subject or Son but rather the more God is thy Lord the more free art thou his Servant The more God is thy Father the more free art thou his Son Because God's service and Sonship is the most perfect freedom for it laies thee open to all his Favours and Rewards Thus the Form Seat Terms and Cases of Liberty shew the true Nature of it which is a Loosness of the Spirit from all Evil unto all Good in all the Proprieties thereof The Use of all this is to confute the Vulgar opinion That Liberty is an Indifferency to do or not to do this or the contrary An Opinion which hath bred many intricate Questions and hard Speeches against God I have therefore laboured to overthrow it not expressly by confuting the Absurdities of it but tacitly and consequently by shewing what is the Truth and proving it so to be ☞ A way which though it be least practised yet is of most dispatch and fullest of Charity for when the Truth shines out clearly all Errors against it do quickly vanish and no ill words pass upon it for they are sooner cut off with one dead stroke at the Root than singly cropt each by it self in the Branches to grow again and increase much more For otherwise there is no end of Disputes and consequently of Sects and so of Animosities and so Pride and all Mischief as woful Experience doth demonstrate in all places But we have learned no such Custom nor the Churches of God VVe know better things and labour to do them And thou Beloved Christian learn thy Duty to perceive those Truths that are evident to them that will use their Reason humbly and to believe those that are not so evident The saying is good if well taken In Necessariis Unitas in Dubiis Libertas in Omnibus Charitas In Necessary Doctrines let there be an agreement of Unity in those that are more obscure a Mutual Liberty but in all things let there be Charity And this is for the Nature of True Freedom The CONTENTS God Christ Faithful Term of Recess Bondage Term of Access Sonship TITLE XII Of the Subjest of Liberty SEcondly The Subjects of Liberty are of three sorts viz. 1. God is the Father of True Liberty 2. Christ is the Son of it 3. The Faithful are the Members of it SECTION I. I. God is the Father of True Liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolutely Free GOD. holding from none the Author End and Pattern of all Liberty in the Creature As the Sun is the Fountain of Life so God is the Fountain of Liberty Liber Liberator Free and making all Free that are free As Liberty is the Priviledge of the King for where the King is there is Freedom to himself and others no Man may be affronted arrested or beaten in his presence 2 Cor. 3. pen. So where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty 1. Because God is naturally Infinite no Bounds upon him Reason Omniscient Omnipotent and Omnipresent Ergo Naturally Free 2. Because God is naturally Loose no Bonds upon him So Mighty that he cannot so Constant that he will not be let or hindred Who shall say unto him What dost
freely in the spirit above the slavery of Carnal Ordinances a higher Genius hovers over this Age. The first Reformers did well and cleared much rubbish out of the way and by their help others have come on to do more good And now the great points delivered by St. Paul and other inspired Writers concerning Faith Justification Sanctification Grace Law Works Adoption Priesthood Kingdom Mediation of Christ c. are better understood and more clearly expressed than ever they were before The world hath as good Wits as ever it had and nothing hinders yet the farther advancement of all knowledg divine and humane but the slavish tying our selves to the sole authority of the Antients without examinination of Scriptures and Reason making it religious to go no further than they for fear of being wiser than our Fathers Besides the shameful idleness of men of excellent parts for fear Forsooth of dangerous Innovations I do not mean that we should find out a new Religion but labour to understand the old better Enquire for the old ways that have been untrodden and by ways invented not for new Lights but for old better discerned But what have I done that talk so much of improvement A little I do God knows And thanks be to God if it be a little I hope others more able will be perswaded to do more I have only shewn a good heart and there is no hurt I hope to wish well to the peace of Christendome Well be it how it may be 't is agreeable to a Gospel-Spirit to pray for and aspire towards perfection to strive to be no longer children but in understanding to be men to covet after the best gifts and to find out the most excellent ways and all this while to keep liberty and peace And however men fail out of meekness and ignorance yet I condemn none that have honest hearts and strive to know and do better things But those that swell and look big upon all but their own party let them alone till their stomacks come down or if they will be wilful let them be wilful still only I am sorry in the mean time that the blind should lead the blind but the obstinate only shall fall into the ditch But they may say worse of me and therefore I had best to hold my peace for fear of bringing an old house over my head for fear of bringing swarms of Wasps about my ears Obj. In the Church nothing must be changed Sol. No truths may be changed but all errors must as Transubstantiation Purgatory Image and Saint-worship c. Alterations for the better do well at any time never for the worse Obj. Many things are different from the Articles of the Church of England Sol. It is well known to wise men that the chiefest of the first Reformers and Compilers of those Articles had a special eye to the Augustan confession and yet respected the Geneva Church too so that both parties have subscribed so could they not do to the Synod of Dort It was therefore prudently and charitably done of our Church not to fright any from her Communion but to open her breasts freely to all that would suck in her Doctrine Nor does our Church forbid her Sons to see farther if they can into her truths or to build upon her foundations This were to set bounds to all industry and ingenuity as God hath set bounds to the Sea saying Hitherto shalt thou go and no further The Scriptures are everlasting Mines new veins discovered to men that take pains to dig or else all is lost vast Treasures hid in them require searching to the world's end Who can hinder invention and industry with moderation And why may not the old foundation be enlarged and strengthned and new superstructures raised thereupon Is it good to be straitned or confined under penalties to a certain number of Articles in Religion besides or beyond the letter of which none ought to speak or write May not succession see farther into the same truths and more clearly The Tabernacle must have room to spread her curtains and enlarge her cords that she may receive the more company and stand the surer But if any thing be brought in contrary to the sound doctrine of the faith always received though it should be preached by an Angel from heaven let him be Anathema Maranatha The heat of the angry Reformation may be well near out by this time it is high time it should Did we not take many things upon trust And did we not flie from one extremity to another And may we not in all this time see our mistakes and honourably reform them Lay aside therefore all heats and interests and the business will be far better and sooner done and when it is done we will be glad and rejoyce and wish it had been done sooner Besides is it not good encouragement to searching and free spirits to look out farther and find out higher Truths which if they be stopt by reproach and persecution will perhaps lie undiscovered Who will take pains if they be disgraced and cried out upon for Hereticks and dangerous Innovators and kept under the hatches to please the humours of formal men What sense or reason is there that the Doctrine or Worship of Christian Religion should not be reformed in every Age from any error or superstition which shall creep into them by any evil custome because of antiquity Or that we should not stir a foot from those by-paths because of antiquity we know they were good men but they did not see all things as the Latin Service the half Communion c. merely out of a wilful formality and pretence of Constancy though we be convinced of such false ways It is no shame for any man or society of men to recant a manifest mistake Do not all wise Law-makers the same when manifest inconveniences do arise for the peace and wellfare of the Common-wealth And why not the same for the Church also Is it not the bane of Christianity to be stubborn in maintaining old errors merely out of pretended inconstancy and dangerous change and questioning of old truths also May not a change be safely and honourably made from worse to better in any Church or State Think again and is it not piety wisdom and charity so to do I humbly leave it to the wise to judg of these things Obj. But my Discourse is too high for ordinary capacities and therefore cannot edifie Sol. I confess it as to the lowest capacities of the most illiterate and yet not of all those neither but they and others not much learned in arts yet of good natural parts may with care quickly apprehend the meaning of the matter especially when it is before them in writing But the learned Preacher may so order his business as to hide his art and condescend sweetly to the apprehensions of the vulgar and make zealous applications upon these principles for practice of life and conversation as well and
donation of the second and last Testament for the best conveyance and surest settlement of the best rights in the best of things to the best inheritance by the best Mediator by the best title of faith justifying the sons of men by nature to be the sons of God by Grace which is the best assurance to eternal life SECT III. This state and condition these humane persons are put into by God Freedom which must needs be a state of Liberty and great Honour For Slavery is incapable of any Right to any thing Slaves possess not because they are possessed they have no Wills because they are at the Wills of others nor can they act or suffer any thing do no right nor suffer any wrong because they are dead in Law and as dead by them neither Right nor Wrong can be had done or suffered and to them no Right or Wrong can be inflicted This Freedom is of Sons in the Family and Citizens in the Common-wealth of God This gives them capacity and receptibility of Rights if they will consent to receive and enjoy them Being therefore placed by God in this noble estate and way of happiness they may and ought to look out and sue for those pretious promises that God hath made them To the atchievement whereof he requireth nothing but their own faith and acceptation without which it is morally impossible that any gift of good-will should take effect And as men are thus made by God liberal agents freely to accept or freely to reject hold or let go so accordingly they may and do choose or refuse enjoy or lose If they accept they shall have the mercy offered and when they have it if they take care they may hold and keep it and encrease it constantly to the end of the full enjoyment when they are out of all harm 's way above and beyond all frailty or temptation to let go their hold SECT IV. But here they are frail and dangerously enticed in this world Falling and therefore without great care and vigilancy they may come off from those rights and they may not also according as they behave themselves in their love to God and care of their own Souls in keeping themselves from being drowned in the cares pleasures and profits of this life by too much sensuality and neglect of exciting and exercising their spiritual and rational appetites to their due objects which is a great forgetfulness and unthankfulness in a reasonable and free creature so much obliged to his Creatour for so noble a Being and so beyond measure engaged for an everlasting well-being promised unto him and freely laid before him which he cannot but shamefully and freely refuse if he will be so ungracious to so gracious a Saviour And thus if he perish he may thank himself for he is without all excuse SECT V. But while it is time he may recover again Recovery For God does not dodge with him either to take him at the first refusal of his Grace and never offer him more or to take him at the first faileur after acceptation and never suffer him to recover himself again God's ways are not like man's ways neither are his thoughts like man's thoughts but they are of another fashion We are too apt to think of God as if he were such an one as our selves to do as we do and lie upon the catch according to our evil natures but there is mercy with God and therefore he may be feared and hoped and trusted in Men will lie close and take men at advantage seize upon forfeitures re-enter ransack and play the devil and all in rigour and fierceness It is not so with God if it were wo worth to the world it were better for us that we had never been born or that we had been like the untimely fruit of a woman and had never seen the Sun But thanks be to God for his infinite grace but no thanks to the world at all If I fall there I may lie and perish and none careth for it but if I fall here I may repent and rise and recover all and be in as good and better condition than before and continue to the end And all this is the Grace of God and there is no such grace amongst the Sons of Men nor nothing like it For they neither will nor can do after this fashion the tender Mercies of the wicked are cruel God only wounds and heals again he only kills and makes alive he brings to the grave and back again and his Compassions fail not and therefore we see the Sons of Men are not consumed As therefore after Exile all Rights of a free man are lost but when a return is made he is restored into his pristine estate jure Postliminii with a capacity to acquire and retain all other Rights that he is or shall be proper for So after Spiritual bondage and Captivity all Rights are lost because Faith it self the vessel that held them is shipwrackt but when there is a return though by the single plank of Repentance or any other escape which we can make to shift for our selves to get into our own country again we are fairly and fully and freely received and welcomed into all our former Rights and Priviledges and met and embraced by our heavenly Father and joyfully entertained and engaged by heaped up Favours and Oblivions of all former miscarriages never to be so negligent as to suffer our selves to be surprized and taken by the common enemy and kept from God and our own Country any more Persons are considered as Private or Publick 1. Natural in themselves and to themselves 2. Civil in Human Society Politick to and with others 3. Religious in Divine Society to and with others The CONTENTS Transition Right Definition Instances Independency Indifferency Liberality Creation Donation Declaration Faction Reception Justification Private Right Publick Right Justice Rights to God Rights to Body and Soul Rights to Wife Rights to Children Rights to Estate and Honour Rights not to be violated Day of Judgment Shame To be Right To make Right To bestow Right To have Right To do Right Collections Rather hurt self than others Moral Honesty not doubted of Vse Reason Reason of Nature Equity of Conscience Tricks in Law Severity of old in the Church Man's Judgment Relations Friendship Possibility of Law Fates Justice in God and Man Wrong none Truth evident Caution TITLE III. Of Rights SECT I. HAVING then the fair New Testament of God before us Transition so confirmed and published as it is by Jesus Christ in which Men are the Persons only concerned as in a state of freedom rightly qualified to accept take hold of and use those gracious Rights to such high things as God hath be queathed It must needs be a matter of the highest moment to consider by what means such Interests and Priviledges may be acquired held and enjoyed how lost and how retrieved retained and kept unto
Atheism being a canker in my Estate and theirs and a poyson to me and their Souls that I have not fed my self or mine at all or as I ought or provided for my self or them at all or as I ought that I have not taught my self or them at all or as I ought But especially let not an army of strangers and of miserable persons made so by me come in against me to rail and curse me or go to God with strong cries and tears to help them from the wrongs that I have done them or call for vengeance from Heaven upon me for the same O these are lowd and bitter cries O they rent the very heavens O they come up to the ears of God day and night O what should I do or whether should I go if these Fatherless Widows Strangers should come in against me which God forbid or if the very brutes and inanimate creatures should find mouths to clamour to men to God and to the world against me And all this while which is worse I should cry lowdest against my self in a wounded Conscience which who is able to bear Therefore what ever I do what ever I suffer let me not eat the bread that should nourish others and for want of which they curse and starve Let me not be cloathed with the fleece that should keep others warm and for want of which their nakedness is discovered and they die for cold Let me not shelter my self under the roof of another which should be his castle to save himself nor let me possess the goods or lands of others which they of right should use or enjoy In a word Let none be hurt lamed killed deformed oppressed robbed spoiled or undone by me let no such stain be upon my honour in this world nor no such clog upon my soul to press it down in the world to come But rather let me truly say to my comfort and credit Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded I am innocent from the blood of all men I have endeavoured to get and keep a good Conscience in all things void of offence to God or Man which will bring me peace to my latter end and to all eternity O Adam Adam What inevitable wrongs are done by thee by the miseries and deaths brought upon all thy Race if not the sins by thy example at least the imputation for thy sake What inevitable damnation hast thou brought upon thy self and all men had not the second Adam procured salvation for thee and all men O sinful and cruel men What sins and miseries have you brought upon your selves your families and countries by making them to sin by making them to suffer in peace and war in plenty and want in health and sickness O all ye Oppressours Ranters Rebels and Tyrants How much is the world the worse for you How much is the Church the worse for you What waste and havock and spoil have beastly prodigal and barbarous men made upon the good creatures of God ransacked rifled and preyed upon by your pride and wantonness The first Adam lost all right The second Adam recovered all right God created all right and truth and the Devil created all wrong and falsehood These are the two principles of right and wrong good and evil SECT XXXII Collect. Moral Honesty not doubted of 2 Therefore though many revealed truths of faith are called into question and many natural causes are doubted of yet we cannot if we be in our wits make any just scruple of moral honesty no body can deny it he must put out the light of nature if he do which cannot be A spade must be a spade and honesty is honesty when all is done whether we will or no and goes through the world A true man is the only man when all is done that hath honour and conscience in him his enemies themselves being Judges So there can be no difference about honesty that there is and ought to be such a thing But what that thing is and where to find it what is Right and Truth and Wrong and False we cannot we will not agree but call Right Wrong Lyes Truth Evill Good Darkness Light and é contra Every Man will be in the right a common sin to flatter our selves in sin to preach of it praise it pray for it inveigh against evill commend good but act against it Every Man is as his phancy and passion guides him as his party and interest lyes so he judges so he acts so do States and Kingdoms so do Churches too What shall we do in this case how shall we know Right from Wrong that we may do right I answer 1. God hath shew'd it unto us in the light of Nature if we will open our eyes to see it there it is in the common principles thereof very plain 2. Princes from God have shew'd it unto us in their Laws taken from the Law of Nature for our temporal good 3. Priests from God have shew'd it unto us in God's Laws revealed by the Apostles and Prophets for our spiritual good For the Priest's lips preserve knowledg and God's Law is to be enquired of from their mouthes for the good of the Soul 4. Physicians from God have shew'd it unto us in their skill what is for the Body 5. Lawyers from God shew it unto us in their wisdom what is good good for our Estates But in all we are deceiv'd and lose the Right while it is before us holding the Truth in unrighteousness SECT XXXIII Therefore every Man must see with his own eyes Collect. 3. Use Reason and hear with his own ears and understand with his own heart as well as he can and God will help him Let the world know that to assert Infallibility is a cheat and to set up Supremacy is a cheat and to impose Antiquity in all things is a cheat But right Reason humble and unbiassed not excluding frailties is no cheat He that seeketh findeth he that asketh shall have and he that knocketh at Wisdom's gate shall enter in SECT XXXIV Two Guides God hath given to all Men. Reason of Nature 1. Reason of Nature in common principles Quaedam Jura non scripta sed omnibus scriptis certiora saith Cicero There are some Laws which are not written but they are more certain than all the written Laws in the world This is the fountain of Right and it cannot at the same time send forth sweet waters and bitter This is the Treasure which God hath committed to the charge of every one to keep and improve SECT XXXV 2. Equity of conscience Equity of Conscience in common Conclusions drawn from the pure Truths These must guide us when positive Laws fail us Nec omne quod honestum est legibus praecipitur For not every thing that is honest is commanded by the Laws The reason is because Law-givers are not Diviners and Prophets to fore-see every contingent
unwritten unrevealed to private Souls The hearts of such great ones are in the hands of God and he teaches them Worldly Policy Self-pleasing Self-interest Pride Revenge c. must have no place here O that they that wear Crowns and Miters were wise that they would consider their vast Charge and remember their later end that they might not do amiss SECT XVI And what shall we poor Subjects do but stand aloof off and admire and obey Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm Violate not the Persons nor the Rights nor the Estates of Princes or Priests God is in them he feels the hurts and revenges them The Powers that be are ordained of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Procul ô procul ite prophani Swell not O Rulers for God in Sacred or Civil matters Illustrious is your calling Mutuato splendetis lumine but your Glory borrow'd Ye are gods but ye must die like Men. Use both Swords as equally as gently as 't is possible O! how blessed shall ye be of God and Men for Justice Equity Mercy Piety to the Souls Bodies and Estates of the Dear Saints and Subjects of the King of Heaven and Earth And as on Earth so in Heaven your glory shall outshine all others SECT XVII 1. Thus Christ only as Mediator King Priest and Prophet Corollaries hath and holds his Office and Power of God immediately 2. The Church is a Corporation and Kingdom that hath and holds only of Christ their only Head and King and Prophet and High-Priest in Fee 3. The Keyes and Supreme Powers of the World have and hold immediately under Christ in Fee 4. The Priests and Ministers of Christ have and hold immediately from Christ in Fee 5. The Clergy and Laity owe subjection immediately to Kings and Supreme Powers under Christ 5. Ergo Kings only are Christ's Vicegerents and Vicars upon Earth to whom all Clergy and Laity are bound to be subject for Christ's sake and for Conscience sake and for the peace and welfare both of Church and State That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty My Kingdom saith Christ is not of this World And there was a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest Luc. 22.25 c. and he said unto them The Kings of the Gentiles Exercise Lordship over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called Benefactors But ye shall not be so but he that is the greatest among you let him be as the younger and he that is Chief as he that doth serve Jesus called them unto him and said Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you Matth. 20.25 c. but whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister And whosoever will be the chief among you let him be your servant Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his Life a Ransom for many Ergo The true right justifying to the Estate of Blessedness of God in Christ is Faith and the true Tenure to hold this Blessed Estate of God in Christ is Holiness Feudum is Grace Ergo Allodium is Glory Quod erat demonstrandum The CONTENTS Transition Catholick Church Scriptures Collections TITLE III. Of the Laws of Christ's Kingdom Transition CHRIST hath the sole power of Legislation and Jurisdiction in his Church and Kingdom the Ministers of Christ are Ambassadors under him to declare his will and pleasure not to exercise Lordship over God's Inheritance Est in universis servientibus non dominium sed ministerium He that is greatest amongst you sayes Christ let him be the least and servant unto all A Judicatory power is granted unto Regal Vassals as Lords in fee over their inferior Vassals to exercise not for themselves but for their Supreme Lords in peace or war For otherwise they are all Vassals and par in parem non habet imperium Still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Legislative power is reserved to Kings They may have a kind of delegated power to make By-Laws consonant to the High Law of Christ and some laudable Customs in the Church are Quasi-Laws or By-Laws as in other Societies but they must be significant charitable easie and few SECT I. Catholick Church The Catholick Church is a faithful witness of the Truth committed to her charge and a record of all those necessary Truths but properly makes no Laws that is a prerogative reserved to the King Besides the Spiritual Laws of Christ I know not what Laws of Faith can be added And besides the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper I know not what Rites can be added for Worship only for decency and order and those few ambulatory pro re nata tempore loco populo according to the occasion time place and People with great Wisedom Charity Moderation and Christian Liberty They talk highly of the Laws of the Church the Laws of Christ given to his Church I know other Laws I do not know properly so called Let me know what Church must be the Catholick and how can the Catholick Church meet and if they could what power to make Laws Hath not Christ made sufficient Laws already In a Feudal Kingdom there are Principum placita the Rescripts of Princes but not Senatusconsulta nor Plebiscita nor Responsa Prudentum All are Pragmatical Sanctions The Prince rules all neither hath Christ any Deputy or Vice-gerent Man or Men upon Earth to rule with him or for him in his Church whereof he is the only Head But Princes under him are bound to be nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers to his Church to defend the Faith they are to be wise and learn this knowledg to kiss the Son lest he be angry and so they perish if his wrath be kindled yea but a little And he hath sent his Ambassadors and Ministers under him to serve in his Gospel by the power of his own Spirit to be subject to Princes SECT II. The Scriptures only are God's Will and his Laws Scriptures in them are his Precepts and Promises and the rule of his Worship which are the true intrinsecal and acceptable Service of God If any thing else be commanded it is extrinsecal and only for decent order and so to be esteem'd and used cum favore The Laws of a Spiritual and Military Kingdom as Christs is are Spiritual The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but Spiritual and mighty for the casting down of the Spiritual and strong holds of Principalities and Powers and Spiritual wickedness in high places And all Christians or Souldiers take the Sacrament or Military Oath in Baptism to be true to their General to fight under the Banner of Christ against the World the Flesh and the Devil to their lives end This is the good
Sisters husband Laevir 3. The Husbands brother Pro-frater 4. The Wives brother Glos. 5. The Husbands sister Pro-soror 6. The Wives sister In the degrees of Uncles and Aunts by the Fathers or Mothers side no Latin names of Affinity are extant therefore they are thus expressed Patrui vel Avunculi uxor Amitae vel Materterae Maritus The wife of the Fathers brother or of the Mothers brother The husband of the Fathers sister or of the Mothers sister Idem de Patruis Pro-avunculis Pro-amitis Pro-materteris coeterisque Superioribus intelligendum est SECT IV. The Church of England in case of Marriage forbids no more Degrees of Consanguinity or Affinity than are forbidden in the Civil Law Yet she numbers and computes the Degrees somewhat otherwise following therein the account of the Canon Law For she accounts Brothers and Sisters to be in the first degree of the side-line whereas the Civil Law accounts them in the second degree of the side-line and makes no first degree in that line at all But the matter comes all to one pass as some Players at Gleek reckon their games differently and yet accord well enough in the sum of the account For if we consider the Side-line alone by it self as there are several persons in it then some of those persons must needs make the First degree of the side-line in respect of the persons following therein But if we look upon the standard of the Pedigree or the person whose Consanguinity is required and from whom the degrees thereof are measured and numbred upward downward and sideward then the persons of the first degree in the side-line must needs make the second degree of Consanguinity in respect of the standard or person supposed whose Consanguinity is required and from whom the Degrees are to be measured according to the course whereby the blood is derived which doth constitute Consanguinity as before hath been intimated The Levitical Laws for Marriage do now bind us of the Church of England yet this truth is to be understood with some caution For albeit these Laws do bind us yet they bind us not by divine Authority because their obligation by divine Authority ceased expired and died at the death of Christ And thereupon all Christian Churches were left to their several liberties to follow such rules orders measures and degrees as by right Reason and Christian prudence should be established For the determination whereof the Church of England conceived it the most prudent course to make the Levitical Law her President and pattern and at last assumed them and adopted them into her own Canons and Statutes reviving unto them an obligation not of Divine authority as once they had from God but of Humane authority by the Secular and Ecclesiastical power of our Princes and Clergy after the Reformation Thus these very Levitical Laws for Marriage whose obligation by Divine authority was expired long since were afterwards revived unto a New obligation upon us by Humane authority In like manner divers of the Civil Laws do now oblige us here in England yet not by their original Constitution nor by the Imperial authority either of Justinian or any other Emperour but by the authority of our own State which hath assumed and confirmed them into Laws obligatory here in England as they were in the Roman Empire SECT V. Thus the Children of the Fee are to be lawful and pure Conclusion as genuine Sons of their heavenly Father and loving Brethren to each other to make up a holy Seed the true Church and kingdom of Christ Not to exclude Bastards from being the true Sons of God by Faith and Regeneration though they are not the true Sons of men by birth and lawful generation because God is no respecter of persons and they are innocent and shall not suffer for their Parents crimes Thus Whoremongers and Adulterers and all incestuous persons that defile the Marriage bed and all Fornicators Sodomites and unclean Persons cannot enter into the kingdom of God They never were admitted to the Fee and Homage of that kingdom or if they were admitted by Faith in Baptism they fell from it in not performing the Homage sworn to be performed by them As these men defile their own bodies and the bodies of others so they cannot be the Temples of the Holy Ghost As they pollute the World and the generations of Mankind so they pollute the Church and the generations of the Children of God As they confound and destroy the Successions and Inheritances of Temporal estates So they overthrew the estate of Heaven and cannot hold of Christ in God for the Heavenly Inheritance of eternal life They that will not be faithful in a little cannot be intrusted with much They that will not be faithful to their own wives and to their own house how shall they be faithful to their God and to the Church of God They that are unfaithful in the unrighteous Mammon who shall commit unto them the true Riches In a word without Faith it is impossible to please God and into the kingdom of heaven no unclean thing shall ever enter SECT VI. Tables of Consanguinity and Affinity The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bar to keep of from Parents are Uncles and Aunts by Gods Law The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bar to keep of from Brothers and Sisters are Nephews and Neeces or Cousin germans by Mans Law not General but Particular at some times to some Nations forbidden to restrain them from breaking in upon nearer Relations where they were more prone than other civil People were The Jews say Fac Legi Tuae Sepem Ascending Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great Grandfathers Great Grandmothers 3 Degree Grandfathers Grandmothers Fathers Mothers Quasi Parents Great Uncles Great Aunts Uncles Aunts Right Line 1 Degree Side-Line equal 2 Degree Brothers Sisters Side-Line unequal Descending Children Sons Daughters Grandson Grandaughters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 Degree Great Grandson Great Grandaughters Quasi Children Nephews Neeces Grand Nephews Grand Neeces The first second and third Degrees 1. Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters Uncles and Aunts are propinquous or near and are forbidden to marry by Divine Law The fourth Degree and so forward Nephews and Neeces or Cousin Germans of the first Degree and so to the second third c. are all remote and are permitted to marry by Divine and Humane Law The Table of Consanguinity and Affinity A Man may not marry in the Right Line Upward in the First Degree Mothers Mother Cons Stepmother Aff. Wives Mother Aff. Second Deg. Grandmothers Grandmother Cons Grandfathers Wife Aff. Wives Grandmother Aff. Downward in the First Degree Daughters Daughters Cons Wives Daughter Aff. Sons Wife Aff. Second Deg. Grand-daughters Sons Daughter Cons Daughters Daugh. Cons Sons Sons Wife Aff. Daughters Sons Wife Aff. Wives Sons Daugh. Aff. Wives Daughters D. Aff. Side Line Forward in the Sisters Sister Cons Wives Sister Aff. Brothers Wife Aff. Upward Aunts
ought to be exploded and rooted out of minds innocently tender and good and willing to be taught better Discerning Party The honest searching and discerning Clergy and Laity discover them to be pious frauds to get Reputation and Gain and labour wisely and carefully to undeceive and satisfie the world by the few necessary and plain Truths of Christ as he and his Disciples have published them to all Mankind in the four Gospels and the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles And till this course be taken the Church and the World will never be at peace Primitive Times This Course was prosecuted in the first four hundred years with plainness and simplicity of Life and Doctrine by the best of Saints not without some intrusion of Judaism and Gentilism betimes even in the daies of the Apostles with other workings of men of Antichristian spirits But afterwards when Riches and Honour and with them Pride and Worldly Interests came crowding in amongst Church-men out went the old plain way of preaching and living and in came vain Philosophy Oratory Flattery Ambition Persecution Division and what not most unlike to the profession of Christianity and contrary to the power of godliness Many noble Souls had their eyes fixed and their hands exercised in the old way of Truth and grieved for the Deviations which they could not help or reform at all but protested manfully against them like faithful Witnesses and Followers of their Lord and Master and kept the Faith all along which was once delivered to the Saints and some died for it But at last after many overtures of Truth that could not be hid Reformation a greater assault was made than ordinary to shake off her chains bring her out of the Dungeon and rowse her up against Lies and it was done effectually to rare intents and purposes Then were the Ages filled with more learned and unbiassed men than ever since the Apostles daies Then together with Religion Arts and Sciences revived and flourished not without great augmentations of Honour Plenty and Peace that accrued thereunto in the kingdoms of the World which fared the better for the Church Yet envious men were never wanting nor ever will to sow Tares still foggs and vapours arise but the Sun shines and climbs his Meridian The strong man keepeth his house and there is none stronger than he to turn him out The old abominable Heresies though revived and new ones added nevertheless their monstrous heads are and will be cut off by the mighty Giants defenders of the Faith They sneak into corners hang down their heads dare not shew their guilty faces save to the ignorant and rebellious others hiss them out of doors The Ancient paths are now more and more enquired for and glorious Captains lead the way They that do not follow are nevertheless convinced and cannot but approve of the things they refuse to practice Those therefore that aspire to this Evangelical temper are the noblest Souls and tread in the stateliest paths of Vertue and Peace and bring more Souls unto God For which their labour and moderation they feel the odium of the World and the unlucky blows of their Enemies but are commended and defended by God and all good men for their so honourable and gallant undertakings Besides what Errors have been of old there have been since by degrees brought in so many as threaten corruption of the whole Mass of Christian Doctrine As the setting up Infallibility and Supremacy where none should seek to be the greatest the Idol of the Masse the Worship of Daemons the Diana for Gain Purgatory and Pardons the cheat of Auricular Confessions Images Penances Reliques and innumerable Ceremonies repugnant to the simplicity of Gospel worship To these may be added the Chymistry of Rosicrucians Behemists Cabbalists Casuists Summists School-men Postillers and Enthusiasts of all sorts These high and Magisterial dictates imposed upon the pain of Damnation together with the intolerable Pride Avarice and Luxury of Church-men open the mouths of the Adversary to cry down the Clergy for Cheats and Robbers of the Souls Honours and Estates of Mankind cause them to question all Truths and fall into direct Atheism and Profaneness Yet am I not without powerful hopes and do already see and wonder at the wise and gracious Providence of God in stirring up the spirits of Rare men to baffle the Carnal Fallacies and Superstitious Riddles that have bewitched the Age and advance the power of Godliness and pure worship with obedience to Princes 1. God hath abolished the Jewish Service 2. God hath silenced the Heathenish Oracles 3. God hath ceased from Miracles frighting Mortals by Comets Plagues Famines c. into faith and obedience 4. Never purer Wits since the world stood 5. Never braver Clergy since the World stood 6. Never holier Souls since the world stood 7. Never baser Spirits since the world stood As for this Dross of the Age the Ranters and Atheists they will die and be damned like base fellows as they are they will soon be kick't off the stage and drove out of the Hives as useless and hurtful in Church and State the very shame of Mankind a fair riddance in God's good time and Truth which is greatest will prevail Wisdom shall be justified of her Children shame shall be unto Fools and God shall be glorified above all Amen The Clench for good and all The Dispositions of God's Will and Estate by Testament are concerning Things to be had videlicet a present Right to a future Inheritance and concerning Things to be done for the having them or for Justification to them by Faith and for the holding of them by Sanctification or Tenure of Love In Gods last Will and Testament managed and ratified for ever by Christ's death and performed by his Resurrection Ascension Oblation Session and Last Judgment is disposed a present Right to a future estate of Eternal Blessedness The Earnest and Assurance whereof is sealed unto us by the Spirit of God in the means of Faith justifying thereunto The Last stroke God is the Sole Lord of Blessedness to which the Faithful have the true Right by oath of Fealty to their Liege Lord to hold it in Fee by personal homage and service When they have performed their Faith and Allegiance and done their full homage constantly to the end of their Spiritual warfare then are they invested in the full and indefeisable Estate of Blessedness in a quasi Allodium for ever The End of the Second Volume