is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalts thou serve with Deut. 6.13 and 10.20 See Revelations 14.7 Secondly that our obedience to God and his worship in general are of equal latitude John 9 13. Now we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man be a worshiper of him and do his will him he heareth Thirdly that there are many kinds and degrees of divine worship as the worship of Angels which they owe to God Psal 97.7 Worship him all ye gods and the worship due from men Rev. 19.10 worship thou God This humane worship is manifold As first either Typical or real Rom. 7.6 That we should now serve him in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter Secondly A glorifying or worshipping him inwardly and another which is done only in an outward manner Isa 29.13 14. For as much as this people draw neer unto me with their mouth and with their lips do honor me but have removed their heart far from me and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work c. Matth 15.8 and 7.6 c. Thirdly that there is a primary and secondary Worship the former instituted for it self and accepted in it self the other for and in the former only Hos 6.6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledg of God more then burnt offerings Fourthly and lastly the primary immutable and salutiferous worship of God of which you speak no one word either in this your Confession of Faith or in your directory for worship in the name of a divine worship stands in the following of God and walking with him in his loving and everlasting righteousness as these places fully evict God created man in his own Image and similitude Gen. 1.27 to wit that therein he should serve and worship his God and Christ is given for this end Luk. 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life and not in one day in seven as you imagine Thus Enoch walked with God Gen. 5.24 So did Noah Gen. 6.9 Thus God required of Abraham that he should walk before him or with him and be perfect in that way Gen. 17.1 this was the Religion that Abraham taught his family even by Gods own testimony Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his children and houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgement that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing which he hath spoken of him Thus the Prophets Catechised and instructed the people Micah 6.6 Wherewithall shall I come before the Lord and how my self before the most higâ—h God that is the question to which he answers ver 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to humble thy self to walk with thy Godâ— Thus Phynehas and the holy priests both walked and taught Malachy 2 6. The Law of truth was in his mouth and iniquity was not found in his lipps he walked with me in peace and equity and did turn many from iniquity This is that worship in the Spirit or work of the Spirit which is required by the father John 4.24 God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth where the word Spirit is by a metony my put for the work of the Spirit for the whole fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth Eph 5.9 and the word Truth there implies the whole divine nature or new creature in opposition to the typicall services Thus the Apostle shews both wherein the Kingdom of God and his acceptable worship lyeth Ro. 14.17 18. For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousand peace and joy in the holy Ghost And he that in these things serveth the Lord Christ is accepted of God and approved of men Thus far concerning your omissions whereof this last is a most gross defect in them that would teach a whole Kingdom the way of Religion rightly For the truths which you have here at unawares confessed they are principally three all which reflect upon your selves The first is that where in the first Section you affirm That the very light of nature sheweth that there is a God who hath Lordship and Soveraignty over all who is good and doth good unto all and is therefore to be feared loved praised called upon trusted in and served with all the heart and with all the soul and with all the might If then the light of nature extend so far why may not all men be saved if they walke according to that light in turning to that God thus made known unto them in following him and serving him in all the wayes of his righteousness and goodnes in calling upon him for the pardon of their sins the healing of their errors and corruptions the leading of them into all truth and righteousness especially if illuminating grace be added thereto which truth you have denyed before Secondly you say in the same Section That Gods worship is so limited by himself and his revealed will that he is not to be worshipped after the imaginations and devices of men which is most true but it fals soul upon your worship here described which is for the most part a meer imagination and humane invention or tradition as it is obtruded upon us for a worship which we will shew by and by Thirdly in you fourth Section you say that prayer is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of men living or that shall live hereafter who sin not the sin unto death but not for those that are dead If prayer should and must be made for all sorts of men that do or that shall live hereafter then either there is no absolute decree in God to debar men of salvation or we must pray expresly against Gods will or in our prayers not seek mens salvation which how it contradicts your former doctrine we shall report it to your selves and others Thirdly for the mistakes they are neither smal nor few in this place For first you take it for granted that there is an outward worship of God instituted by Christ in the new Testament in lieu of that ceremonial worship of the old Testament new accomplished and abrogated by Christ Secondly That there hath been an outward worship of God instituted from the Creation and a set time even the seventh day from the Creation appointed thereunto all which are meer dreams For though the Fathers before and after the Flood sometimes sacrificed voluntarily or by instinct it were as a monument of Christs inward sufferings with his future passion and to represent the way wherein we must follow
lusts will ye do Now this father makes use of a twofold mother to beget men in wickedness besides their own lust which when it is intised and drawn away by temptation conceiveth and bringeth forth sin Jam. 1 14 15. The first is the lying word and promises with which he deceiveth men as he did Eve saying Gen. 3.4 5. Ye shall not dye for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be openâ—d and ye shall be as Goâ—s knowing good and evil The second is the false Synagogue which through Satans help begets men in a false faith religion and worship Thus the Lord speaks to Ammi or his own people which were in the false Synagogue of Israel or the 10. tribes Ho. 2.1 2. Say unto your brethren Ammi and to your sister Ruhama plead with you mother plead for she is not my wise neither am I her husband let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her fight and her adulteries from between her breasts c. On the other hand in the work of the new birth as God is our father so the word of truth is our inward mother Jerusalem or the Church which is begotten from above is our outward spiritual mother Ja. 1.18 Of his own wil begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kinde of first fruits of his creaturs Gal. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all Come we now to enquire which of these mothers David here speaks of Not of his natural mother doubtless for as his father Isai which signifies a gift was a pious man in Israel so no doubt is to be made but his mother was a godly matron and being both of them well grown in grace ere they begot this their youngest son they were more likely to convey grace and holiness if that be communicable then sin unto him since at this age they must needs be well grown in goodness and very mortified persons But that it was the lye or lying promises of Satan with the folly therein contained by which he was shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin as our first parents were and all their faln posterity have been since procreated no man of wisdom will doubt And this is here the more evident to be Davids meaning because in the next verse following he by way of opposition having now hope after his late fall to be holpen up again speaks of a new Spiritual Father and Mother saying verse 6. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me know wisdom which wisdom is a mother and hath her children Mat. 11.19 But wisdom is justified of her children as the lie and folly or Belial hath her brood likewise unto whom the Lord speaks thus Isai 57.3 But draw near hither ye sons of the Sorceress the seed of the Adulterer and of the whore So we read often of lying children or the sons of the lie and of the sons of Belial yea David himself attributes his sinnes to his folly 2 Sam. 24.10 saying I have done very foolishly Of these two Solomon speaks thus Prov. 14.8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way but the folly of fools is deceit and Prov. 15.21 Folly is joy unto him that is destitute of wisdom and the Apostle saith the like Gal. 3.1 5. Objection It is said Psal 58.3 That the wicked are estranged from the womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies Answer First we may here take notice that the Prophet speaks not this of all men but of the wicked onely Secondly it must needs bee the womb and birth of iniquitie and not the natural birth of which he here speaks For otherwise how can men go astray or speak lies so soon at they are born The 6. Objection Ezek. 16.3 The Lord speaks thus unto Jerusalem Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan thy Father was an Amorite and thy Mother an Hittite Answer The Lord doth not here upbraid the Jews with the corruption derived from our first parents but with wicked poslutions learned from the Canaanites although the name Amorite serves fitly to represent the Divel with his lying promises for it signifies a vain-talker or man of words as the name Hittite sets forth the soul that is prostrate to him The 7. Objection Paul confesseth thus much concerning himself and the Jewes Ephes 2.3 Among whom we all likewise had our conversation in times past in the lusts of the flesh serving the desires of the flesh and of the minde and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others Answer it is one thing to be sinners from our first Nativitie and another in time to become the children of wrath by our personal fall and actual disobedience which also coming to pass in our natural man and by his desault we may truly be said by nature to be the children of wrath especially when sin by custom becomes a second nature unto us Yet doth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here translated by nature import no more but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is really and truly such by disobedience as the same word signifies Galat. 4.8 Howbeit when ye knew not God ye did sert vice unto them which by nature are no Gods The 8. Objection But the grand objection which our opposites bring is that of Rom. 5.12 c. where it is said That by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed over all men for that all have sinned Unto which we first answer in the general That this Chapter seems to be one of those places unto which Saint Peter aludes 2 Epist 3. Chap. vers 16. saying In which to wit the Epistles of Saint Paul are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do the other Scriptures to their own destruction For here are seven things rightly understood by few but perveretd by many First the Justification of faith whereby we have peace with God verse 1. Secondly the time of our small strength in the natural man when we first fell through the power of temptation Christ dyed in us and for us v. 6. Thirdly the love of God then in letting his Son die for us and not destroying us v. 7 8. Fourthly the bloud of Christ through which we are justifie by faith v. 9. Fiftly the death of Christ or rather his like death through which we are reconciled to God v. 10. Of all which we shall speak in their due places Sixthly that one man Adam in us through whose disobedience all are made sinners And lastly That one man Christ in us through whose obedience many shall be made righteous which two Adams are not onely paralleled and opposed here with their fruits and effects but in many other Scriptures likewise
dispenced are the preaching of the word and the administration of baptism and the Lords Supper we grant it to be true if those be administred by such persons to whom Christ is truely come in his light spirit and power Otherwise for men to preach a self-conceived Christ whom they have learned by reading or tradition from their blinde guides or to administer the Sacraments without any due understanding of the Baptism flesh and blood of Christs these are not Gods ordinances but mens usurpations Thirdly we grant you that where the Covenant of grace is set forth by men so taught and acted by the Spirit of Christ as we have described there it is held forth in more evidence spiritual efficacy and fulness then it was in Moses his literal services But this will not be equally verified of those that preach a misconceived Christ without true light or life Lastly whereas you conclude That there are not then two Covenants of grace one under the old Testament and another under the new we will from this your confession inferr that the first Covenant of grace made was unto and for all mankinde because the Gospel by Christs express command is to be preached to every humane creature and hath universal but conditional salvation annexed unto it Mat. 28.19 Mark 16.15 16. What then will become of your doctrine of Gods preterition of particular redemption of some men onely of the effectual calling of this and that elected one onely and many other points wherein with Herod you imprison John that is you confine the grace and mercy of God CHAP. VIII Of Christ the Mediator IT pleased God in his eternal purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus his onely begotten Son to be the Mediator between God and man a Isa 42.1 1 Pe 1.19 20. Joh 3.16 1 Tim 2 5. the Prophet b Act 3.22 Priest c Heb 5.5 6 and King d Psal 2.6 Luk 1.33 the head and Saviour of his Church e Eph 5.23 the heir of all things f Heb 1.2 and judge of the world g Act 17.31 unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed h Joh 17.6 Psa 22.30 Isa 53 10. and to be by him in time redeemed called justified sanctified and glorified i 1 Tim. 2.6 Isa 55.4 5. 1 Cor. 1.30 II. The Son of God the second person in the Trinity being very and eternal God of the substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him mans nature k 1 Joh 1.14 1 Joh 5.20 Phil 2.6 Gal. 4.4 with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof yet without sin l Heb. 2.14 16 17. Heb 4.15 being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance m Luk 1.27 31 35. â—al 4.4 so that two whole perfect and distinct natures the Godhead and the Manhood were inseparably joyned together in one person without conversion composition or confusion n Luk. 1.35 Col 2.9 Rom 9.5 1 Pet 3.18 1 Tim. 3.16 which person is very God and very man yet one Christ the onely Mediator between God and man o RoÌ„ 1.3 4. 1 Tim 2.5 III. The Lord Jesus in his humane nature thus united to the Divine was sanctified and annoynted with the Holy Spirit above measure p Psal 45.7 Joh 3.34 having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge q Col 2.3 in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell r Col. 1.19 to the end that being holy harmless undefiled and full of grace and truth Å¿ Heb 7.16 Joh 1.14 he might be throughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and surety t Act 10.18 Heb. 22.24 Heb 7.22 which office he took not to himself u Heb 5.4 5. but was thereunto called by his Father who put all power and judgement into his hand and gave him commandment to execute the same * Joh 5.22 27. Mat 28 18. Act 2.36 IV. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake x Psal 40.7 8 with Heb 10.5 10 11. Joh 10.18 Phil 2.8 which that he might discharge he was made under the Law y Gal. 4.4 and did perfectly fulfill it z Mat 3.17 Mat 5.15 endured most greivous torments immediately in his soule a Mat 25.37 38. Luk 22.24 Mat 27.46 and most painful sufferings in his body b Mat 26.27 chap. was crucâ—fied and dyed c Phil 2.8 was buryed and remained under the power of death yet saw no corruption d Act 2.3 21 27. Act 13.37 Rom 6.9 On the third day he arose from the dead e 1 Cor. 15.23 4. with the same body in which he suffered f Joh 20.25 27. with which also he ascended into heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father g Mark 16.19 making intercession h Rom. 8.34 Heb 9.24 Heb. 7.25 and shall return to judge men and Angels at the end of the world i Rom 1â— 9 10. Heb. 7.25 Rom. 1â— 9 10. Act 1.11 Act. 10.42 Mat. 13.40 41 42. Jud. 6. 2 Pet. 2.4 V. The Lord Jesus by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father k Ro. 5.19 Heb 9.14 16. Heb. 10.14 Ephes 5.2 Rom. 3.25 26. and purchased not onely reconcilation but an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him l Dan 9.24 26. Col 1.19 20. Ephes 1.11 14. Joh 17.2 Heb 9.12 15. VI. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his Incarnation yet the virtue efficacy and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect in all ages successively from the beginning of the world in and by those promises types and sacrifices wherein he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpents head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world being yesterday and to day the same for ever m Gal. 4.4.5 Gen. 3.15 Rev. 13.8 Heb. 13.8 VII Christ in the work of mediation acteth according to two natures by each nature doing that which is proper to it self yet by reason of the unity of the person that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature o Acts 20.28 Joh. 3.13 1 Joh. 3.16 VIII To all those for whom Christ hath purchased Redemption he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same p Joh. 6.37.39 Joh. 10.15 16. making intercession for them q 1 Joh. 2.1 Rom. 8.34 and revealing unto them in and by the word the mysteries of salvation r Joh. 15. â—3 15. Eph. 1.7 8 9. Joh. 17.6 effectually perswading them
Rom. 8.18 Psal 16.2 Job 22.2 3 4. Job 35 7 8. but when we have done all we can we have done but our duty and are unprofitable servants r Luke 17.10 and because as they are good they proceed from his Spirit Å¿ Gal 5.22 23. and as they are wrought by us they are defiled and mixed with so much weaknesse and imperfection that they cannot endure the severity of Gods judgement t Isa 64.6 Gal 5.17 Rom v. 15 18. Psal 143.2 Psai 130.3 VI. Yet notwithstanding the persons of believers being accepted through Christ their good works are also accepted in him u Eph 1.6 1 Pet 2.5 Exod 28.38 Gen 44. with Heb 11 4â— not as though they were in this life wholly unblameable and unreproveable in Gods sight w Job 9.20 Psal 143 2â— but that he looking upon them in his Son is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere although accompanyed with many weaknesses and imperfections x Heb 13.20 21. â— Cor 9.12 Heb 6.10 Mat 25.21 23. VII Workes done by unregenerate men although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others y a Kin 10.30 31. 1 King 21.27 28. Phil 1.15 16 18. yet because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith z Gen 4.5 with Heb 11.4 Heb 11.6 nor are done in right manner according to the word a 1 Cor 13. â— Isa 1.12 nor to a right end the glory of God b Mat 6.2 5 16. they are therefore sinful and cannot please God or make a man meet to receive Grace from God c Hag 2.14 Tit 1.15 Amos 5.21 22. Hosea 1.4 Rom 9.16 Tit 9.5 and yet their neglect of them is more sinfull and displeasing to God d Psalm 14.4 Psalm 36.3 Job 21.14 15. Mat 25.41 42 43 44. Mat 23.13 CHAP. XVI Of Good Works examined THis Chapter of good works is none of your worst labors in this tractate yet is your doctrine therein like the good works you describe short and imperfect In your first Section you affirm that good works are only such as God hath commanded in his word which is to be understood of such as are ordinarily to be performed or else your affirmation is not true for many good works have been done by instinct only of Gods Spirit as the anointing of our Saviour with that pretious oyntment before hand to his burial Mat. 26.7 8 9 10. which yet are not contrary to what is commanded in the word The obedience of Moses Gideon and divers other persons who had immndiate and extraordinary callings to do this or that service was a good work also and commanded by God but not in his written word before extant yet every good work must have a warrant from God for the doing of it Nor can men have a better warrant for all ordinary works then the writen word and therefore you justly there reject all works devised by men out of blind zeal upon what pretence soever of good intention but we fear it will finde your selves faulty how much more then are those works to be here excluded which men work through the instigation and illusions of Satan In your second Section besides that you leave out our love to God and men whereof good works are evidences as well as of a true and lively faith 1 Joh. 2.5 1 Joh. 5.2 3. You affirm that all believers are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works which is true of all men in general according to our first creation but of none in the way of regeneration but of such Saints onely as both actually believe in Christ and are in some measure renewed in him for the Saints in God the Father are not yet come so far In your third Section You affirm three things which are yet more strange not only to us but to truth it self The first is That the ability of the Saints to do good works is not at all of or from themselves how then are they workers together with God and with his grace 2 Cor. 6.1 For though the power whereby they work is principally the Lords yet our joynt endeavors and power are not excluded 1 Corinthans 15.10 But I labored more then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly That you seem to bereave men of the use of their wils not onely before but after their conversion And lastly in that you make the grace which the Saints have received already to be vain impotent and useless where you say And that they may be enabled thereunto viz. to do good works besides the graces they have already received there is required an actual influence of the same holy Spirit to work in them to will and to do of his good pleasure We grant that in those works wherein the temptation of the enemy opposeth it self in power such an influence is needful but not usually elsewhere yea those that are filled with the holy Ghost from heaven and to whom the promised kingdom is come in power seem to need no other influence at all for that spirit leads them into all truth and acts them continually In your fourth Section you do not only derogate from the chief Saints but from the grace and power of God working in them in two false affirmations First In saying That they who in their obedience attain unto the greatest height which is possible in this life cannot supererrogate or do more then God requires For did not St. Paul preach the Gospel of grace which was no where commanded 1 Corinthians 9.1 15. Secondly In maintaining that they fell much short of what in duty they are bound to do the which being understood of the Saints in their minority and growing up is true but not of the Elect Saints or such as are perfected in Christ Jesus doth not the Apostle say That he was able to do all things through Christ who strengthned him Phil. 4.13 Why doth holy Epaphras by the testimony of the Apostle pray for the Collossians That they might stand perfect and compleat in all the will of God Col. 4. â—2 if any such thing be attainable Yea Christ himself shews that we may do all that which is commanded us though we are to God unprofitable servants when we have so done not adding any thing to him Luke 17.10 It was one main end of Christs coming as we shewed before That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us which walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.3 4. then the thing must needs be attainable In your Fifth Section as you truely affirm That we cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God for many reasons which you there alledge so in the close of that Section you utter some untruths As that all the works even of the best Saints as
23 24. In your fifth Section the better to colour over your own faults as it may seem you asperse the best Churches saying The purest Churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error what say you then to the two Churches the one of Smyrna Rev. 2.8 9 10 11. the other of Philadelphia Rev. 3.7 8 c. with neither of which Christ finds the least fault but highly commends them both True it is if we look into the Churches there is mixture of the inferior members and they are subject to such errors but there are preadventure some such members to be found in some of those two Churches if not elswhere as are no more subject to error then the Prophets and Apostles were certain it is there is such a doctrine discipline from the immediate mouth of God to be found in one of those Churches that no reformers have need to seek any further where also the true Church is fully discovered and all causes of discord and controversie are in that behalf taken away But whereas you add in the same Section and that most truly that some Churches have so degenerated as to become no Churches but Synagogues of Satan you do here necessarily grant what you elswhere deny that some of the Saints and called ones may fall finally from grace for none other are the members of the true Church general or particular among men grown but such We will here charge you with that which you at unawares and unadvisedly affirm in the close of that Section That there shall be alwayes a Church on earth to worship God according to his will for that implies that the earth and the Church there inhabiting shall continue for ever which we conceive is no article of your belief In your sixth and last Section you truly affirm That there is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ but you in your next words have rather deserved the Popes Bull then his Benediction if he may be Judge For first If a Church be that which yee describe it A Congregation of those which profess the true Religion Why might not the Bishop of Rome a least wise in the Primitive times before that Church fell away be in some sence a subordinate head of that Church under Christ or an earthly or Ecclesiastical head as Paul was over the Churches of the Gentiles That the Pope should be an Antichrist which of many Popes and of the state of Papacy is and may be truly affirmed among many other we grant but that he or the succession of Popes or the whole Hierarchy as they are called should be that man of sin and son of perdition which sitteth in the Temple of God exalting himself above and against all that is called God 2 Thess 23.4 8. is doubtless a great though a common mistake for as to the successors of Popes they are many but the Antichrist is one individuum if they all should perish which no charitable man will affirm they should be called not one son of perdition but sons of destruction But to pitch upon the person of the Pope as one individual and single Antichrist out of such a numerous company of Popes which will you single out one past present or to come Certain it is first that the Antichrist of which Saint Paul speaks is a man of sin composed altogether of iniquity and not of flesh and blood as each Pope is Secondly That he is a mystery of iniquity into which none but very spiritual men can see of which none of you or any of your authors or their adherents have yet a true sight Thirdly that the Antichrist exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped and so doth not the Pope directly do who acknowledgeth God Christ the Holy Ghost yea Angels and Saints to be above him Fourthly Antichrist sits in the middle of the Temple of God so doth not the Pope in your sense of the Temple for he pretends to be head of the Roman Church especially Fifthly he doth not say that he is God as Antichrist doth Sixthly All Popes came not with signs and lying wonders nor with all the deceiveableness of unrighteousness as Antichrist comes Lastly Antichrists coming is inward and not outward 2 Thess 2.9 10. and deceives all which receive not the love of truth but the Pope could never decive all such But what may this Antichrist be then Answer first the Temple of God is mans heart or soul where he sits Secondly As Christ is the true unction there so Antichrist is a contrary unction of false and erroneous wisdom righteousness and zeal which sets it self as if it were the holy Ghost and his works opposeth the truth and Kingdom of God and not only allows but hides fosters and cherisheth iniquity in men where he raigneth In a word if the Lord give you spiritual eyes to read the two texts 1. that of 2 Thess 2.3 4 5 c. and then that of Revel 13.11 12 c. to both which you refer us you may by Gods grace make a discovery of Antichrist as one neerer you then the Pope of Rome and one more endangering your souls and learn truly to know and hate him which mercy the Lord grant unto us all Concerning the first text you may observe these things First it is evident that this Antichrist takes his beginning and rise from mens Apostacy or departure from the true faith love and godliness which was fet up by Christ and his Apostles and that in all that fell away 2 Thess 2.3 So that he must needs be the succeeding falshood error hypocrisie and ungodliness Secondly that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man composed of nothing but sin Thirdly That he must therefore needs be a child yea the son of perdition Fourthly That he opposeth himself to all that is called God that is to God and all goodness verse 4. Fifthly That he exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped even the Father Son and holy Ghost All which is true of the false wisdom and holiness which Satan begets in men to delude them there with and to oppose the truth kingdom and work of Christ thereby Sixthly That he sits in the temple of God which is our heart or inward man Seventhly That there he shews or gives forth himself for a God as this deceitful work of errour and delusion saith it is the presence and work of the Holy Ghost Eighthly That he cannot well be known but by spiritual revelation vers 6. Ninthly That there is one tha what he can hides him keeps him close maskes covers him and lets or hinders his revealing or disclosure and that is Satan verse 6.7 Tenthly That as he came in by mens departure from Christ his spirit and kingdom so by Christs spiritual presence and comming again in his brightness power and glory he shall be both revealed and destroyed by the spirit of his mouth 11. That he is called the