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
mystery of iniquity verse 7. that is such a work of iniquity and error as passeth man for wisdom truth and righteousness from above as many mens faith religion and zâ—al doth this day which yet is meer delusion and from the father of lies 12. That he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which can be no other then he that is quite opposite to the righteous one even Christ and as Chirst is the first born of God so is this the first born and chief master piece of the divel transforming himself into an Angel of light 13. That his coming is not only with lying signes and wonders but with all deceivableness of unrighteness obtruding that for truth which is falshood commending that for vertue or holiness or righteousness which is iniquity and abomination before God verse 3.10 14. Out of the same verse it is clear that this Antichrist is an inward person agent or evil worker because it is said that he comes with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish 15. This Antichrist is fent by way of wrath and vengeance upon those that received not the love of the truth Lastly he is called in the next verse the strong delusions of Satan in making them to receive and believe lies For the other text Rev. 13.11.12 13 14 c. you may please to observe First That this beast the wisdom and holinesse of the flesh ariseth out of the earth or naturall man Secondly That he hath some semblance of the Lambe and two hornes with him with which he will seem to push against some sins of both Tables Thirdly That yet he speaks like the Dragon both against all that differ from him in opinion way and worship and especially against the true Saints of Christ Fourthly That he exerciseth all the power of the first beast which is voluptuousne ss or sensuality or the open iniquity for a false holiness retaines or entertaines a new the former corruptions which were in men without mortifying or resisting them to purpose and so the last beast which is the false wisdome and holiness aforesaid makes men to serve and worship the first beast which was the open or manifest iniquity in covetousness ambition sensuality c. Fifthly Though the former beast was wounded by repentance and reformation for a time and had one of his heads which is covetousness broken yet this makes him to live again in men and causeth an Image or the like resemblance to the first beast to be set up in man yea he gives life quickning and power unto it Thus also that first wicked beast bein in some measure wounded by Christ and his Apostles in the Primitive Church through the Apostacy of men and the errors and false holiness which crept in was healed and revived to the full yea his image hath been more and more worshipped to this day Sixthly That this hypocritical beast bringeth fire from heaven that is he kindles a fiery zeal in men for the maintaining of their own tenets and the opposing of others and their devotions and sacrifices are often filled with fervency as it were fire from Heaven Lastly He causeth al that hearken to him both bond and free rich and poor to receive a mark in their right hand or forehead which is unrighteousness it self or unfaithfulness in their dealings with God and men this is the grand mark of the old beast though one peculiar mark whereby this last beast is known is enviousness against others James 3.14 15. Thus brethren we have given you some hints of the true Antichrist it is for certain none of Satans least policy to divert our thoughts and eys from beholding this Antichrist within us and to incense us against our own flesh and blood the Pope or some other whom we are commanded to love as our selves Oh how invisible hath Satan and his first born within us passed while he hath directed and pointed us to a false and imagined Antichrist yea so far hath he bewitched many that they can find no Devil to declaim against but the Pope nor any kingdom of hell errors or wicked things to write or preach against but the doctrine ceremonies and practises of the Church of Rome be they right or wrong wherein notwithstanding many things are very faulty but not all that some men boggle at or ball against CHAP. XXVI Of the Communion of Saints ALl Saints that are united to Jesus Christ their head by his spirit and by faith have fellowship with him in his Graces sufferings death refurrection and glory a 1 Joh 1.2 Eph 3.1 16 17 18. Joh 1.16 Eph 2.5 6. Phil. 3.10 Ro 6.5 6. 2 Tim 2.12 and being united to one another in love they have communion in each others gifts and graces b Eph 4.15 16. 1 Cor. 12. y. 1 Cor 3.21 22 23 Col 2.19 and are obliged to the per formance of such publike and private duties as do conduce to their mutual good both in the inward and outward man c Thess 5.11 14. Ro 1.11 1â— 14. 1 Joh 3.16 17 18. Gal 6.10 II. Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification d Heb 10.24 25. Act. 2.42 46. Isa 2.3 1 Cor 11.20 as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities and necessities which communion as God offereth opportunity is to be extended to all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Iesus e Act 2.44 45. 1 Joh 3.17 2 Cor 8.9 c. Act 11.29 30. III. This communion which the Saints have with Christ doth not make them in any wise partakers of the substance of his Godhead or to be equal with-Christ in any respect either of which to affirm is impious and blasphemous f Col 1.18 19. 1 Cor 8.6 Isa 42.8 1 Tim 6.15 16. Psa 45.7 with 8.9 nor doth their communion one with another as Saints take away or infringe the title or property which each man hath in his goods and possessions g Exo 20.15 Eph 4 28. Act 5.4 CHAP. XXVI Of the communion of Saints examined IN your two first Sections here you speak positively and in your last negatively of the communion of Saints where we hold faire correspondence wâ—th you in many things but not communion with you in all For first you distinguish not of the several ages formes or degrees of the Saints but joyning them altogether you rather bring in a confusion then a true communion of Saints And secondly you tumble duties and priviledges possibilities and possessions together For first as we said before there are 3 degrees of Saints First Saints in God the Father such as are only called and sanctified by him which was the common state of the Saints in the old Testament Deut. 33.3 1 Sam 2.9 See Psal 31.33
killing of men by a pâ—ivate hand is forbidden because in the image of God created he man which reason will not hold unless man be still so created For if it were derived or drawn from the first created Adam who by rebellion against God lost that image and corrupted himself with all his posterity it would rather lay a ground that man might now lawfully or without any great scruple be killed as a defaced corrupt depraved creature then that he should be so tenderly spared and preserved For so Cain apprehended after he had sinned Gen. 4.14 saying And it shall come to pass that every one who findeth me shall slay me But to clear the place unto all that seek the truth out of love unto it we affirm that this place must needs be ment of all mankinde where he saith for In the image of God made be man because the prepositive article particle Ha is prefixed before the noune Adam the name of him who is here said to be killed declaring it to be an appellative name of the whole species and not the proper name of our first parent yea and he that is here said to kill hath here the same name of Haadam as well as the person killed given unto him where it is said At the hands of man at the hands of every mans brother wil I require the life of men It is therefore evident out of the context that the holy ghost ment it of mankinde in general and not of the first created Adam when he saith in the next verse for In the Image of God created he man which thing may be yet farther evidenced froÌ„ the coÌ„nextion which all true Logicians observe betwixt the Antecedent and the Consequent which is this Quia Antecedens sic habet sei deò Consequens est For they depend as cause effect the Antecedent here being the cause and the Consequent insteed of the effect The contextion is here confessed by all rational men in that act ex vi causae existere Now to apply this to our purpose if a man must not be killed because in the image of God he created man then this reason which is the Antecedent must be understood of man in general or mankinde universally and of every individuum of that species or else this Consequent that he shall have his blood shed who sheddeth mans blood verse 6. can have no force of Argument from the said Antecedent viz That in the image of God created be man The second Scripture that is to be considered is that place Deut. 32.4 5. where we have two Arguments more to prove Israel and consequently all men to be still created innocent The first is from the perfection of all Gods works verse 4. He is the Rock his work is perfect for all his wayes are judgment A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he How then can he which is holy righteous and pure create any thing that is unrighteous unclean or unpure The second is taken from Gods complaint there against mens personal fall and corrupting themselves whom God had not brought forth with any such spots verse 5. They have corrupted themselves their spot is not the spot of his children they are a perverse and crooked generation A third Text asserting mans innocency is the 8 Psalm where verse 4 5 6. c. the Psalmist speaks thus of all mankind What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him For thou bast made him a litle lower then the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour which glory lies in the Image of God 1 Cor. 11.7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God Thus the Psalmist shews that the man is still set in honour to wit by his first state of production though he doth not long retain the same but falls therefrom Psal 49. verse 12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not be is like the beasts that perish So again verse 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beast that perish But if man had been created so corrupt as you speak he had not onely been lower then the Angels but below all creatures here A fourth place evicting mans upright creation is Eccles 7.29 where the Preacher publisheth this truth to all the world to vindicate Gods honour in mans creation and to shame the sons of men for their vile Apostacy and degeneration for This onely have I found that God hath made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions Where it is evident first out of the context and then out of the text that Solomon speaks of all mankinde in their succeeding generations For first he saith verse 28. after his search into mankinde For such as continued in innocency One man to wit Christ among a thousand have I found but a women among all those have I not found Secondly in the text it self first the word translated man is in the origional Haadam the common name of mankinde And secondly when the wise man comes there to speak of the fall he ascribes it not to our first fore-father alone but to the individuals of their posterity likewise saying But they have sought out many inventions to which we might add this that Solomon needed not to have usherd in this fall depravement of mankinde with a Lo or note of wonderment in the begining of this verse if all men as you both hold and teach came so corrupted into the world with the poyson of propagated uncleanness A fifth place that here stands up for the defence of this innocency is that of Isa 1. verse 21 22. which may be understood aswel of a personal Jerusalem each one of us being created for an holy City and habitation of God as of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah which were the present auditors and object of Isaiahs ministery How is the faithful City become an harlot It was full of judgement righteousness lodged therein but now murtherers Thy silver is become dross thy wine is mixed with water Unto such a personal Jerusalem as we described speaks the Prophet Jer. c. 4. v. 14. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee A fifth place which like an undanted Advocate pleads for God still creating men in uprightness is that of Isaiah 5.1 2 3 4 5 c. My beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful Hill And he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choisest vine and built a Tower in the midst of it and also made a wine-press therein and he looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wild grapes And now O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my vineyard What could have been done more to my vineyard
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
the unbeleeving guids shut out of Canaan And are not these things writen for our instuction See Heb. 4.12 Let us therefore fear least a promise being left us of entering into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it for to us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached profited them not being not mixed with faith in them that heard it CHAP. VII Of God's Covenant with Man THE Distance between God and the Creature is so great that although reasonable Creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescention on Gods part which he hath been pleased to express by way of Govenant a Isa 40.13 14 15 16 17. Job 9.32 33. 1 Sam. 2.13 Psal 113.5 6. Psal 100.2 3. Job 22.2 3. Job 35.7 8. Luke 17.10 Act. 17.24 25. II. The first Covenant made with man was a Covenant of works b Gal. 3.12 wherein life was promised to Adam and in him to his posterity c Ro. 10.5 Rom. 5 1â— to 20. upon condition of perfect and personal obedience d Gen. 2.17 Gal. 3.10 III. Man by his fall having made himself uncapable of life by that Covâ—â—ant the Lord was pleased to make a second e Gal. 3.21 Ro 3.20 21. Gen. 3.15 Isa 42.6 commonly called the Covenant of Grace Wherein he freely offereth unto sinners Life and Salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved f Mark 16.15 16. John 3.16 Ro. 10.6 9 Gal. 3.11 and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his holy Spirit to make them willing and able to beleeve g Ezek. 3.6 26.27 John 6.44 45. IV. This Covenant of Grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a testament in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the Testator and to the everlasting inheritance with all things be longing to it therein bequeathed h Heb. 9.25 16 17. Heb. 7.22 Luk. 22.20 1 Cor. 11.15 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9. V. This Covenant was differently administred in the time of the Law and in the time of the Gospel i Vnder the Law it was administred by promises prophesies sacrifices circumcision the Paschal Lamb and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews all fore-signifying Christ to come k Heb 8.9 10. Chapters Rom 4.11 Col 2.11 12. 1 Cor 5.7 which were for that time sufficient and efficacious through the operation of the Spirit to instruct and build up the Elect in Faith in the promised Messiah l 1 Cor 10.1 2 3 4. Heb. 11.13 John 8.16 by whom they had full remission of sins and eternal salvation called The Old Testament m Gal 3.7 8 9 14. VI. Vnder the Gospel when Christ the substance n Col. 2.17 was exhibited the ordinances in which this Covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords supper o Ma 28.19 20. 1 Cor 14.23 24 15. Which though fewer in number and administred with more simplicity and lesse outward glory yet in them it is held forth in more fulness evidence and spiritual efficacy p Heb 12.22 to 28. Jer 31.33 34. to all nations both Jewes and Gentels q Mat 28.19 Eph 2.15 16 c. and is called the new Testament r Luke 22 20. There are not therefore Two Covenants of grace differing in substance but one and the same under various dispensations Å¿ Gal 3.16 17. Rom 1.21 22 23 â—0 Psal 3â— 1 with Rom. 4.3 6 16 17 23 24 Beb 13 8. Acts 15.21 CHAP. VII Of Gods Covenant with man examined WE will not say that you have made a Covenant with death or an agreement with hell but in this tract of the Covenant you do not alwayes keep league with truth for though you beging plausibly in the first Section yet both there and elswhere you affirm many things untruly As first when you say That the distance between God and the creature is so great that though all reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their Creator yet they never could have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward but by some voluntary condescension on Gods part which he hath been pleased to express by way of Covenant For do not the elect Angels from their first creation by their first constitution see God in his own light and participate of his blessedness in wisdom holiness power life peace and glory And if the Lord did not create our first parents in so ful a fruition of blessedness yet he could have so beatified them if he had pleased without a precedent covenant And was not the humanity of Christ in his inward man placed in that communion and fruition of God from the beginning of his incarnation though his outward man was subject to mortality and misery Yet you make us some peece of amends in your second section saying That the Lord made a Covenant of works with mankinde at the first wherein liâ—e was promised to Adam and in him to his posterity upon condition of personal and perfect obedience Where by the way you tacitly grant two truths by your selves denyed and by us asserted Chapter the third so powerful is truth in it self that oft times it breaks forth from men de improviso though they have gain said it before the which two truths are these First that all men in Adam were appointed or ordained to life if the Covenant of life was made to him and all his posterity For God works all things in time according to the eternal counsel of his will as we said before out of Ephes 1.11 And secondly That this decree was conditional also for so you confess the first Covenant to have been and so are all subsequent Covenants likewise or the far greatest part of them which are given by God himself to mankinde In your third Section you are more defective and erroneous for though you say truly in the beginning of it That man by his fall having made himself uncapable of life by the Covenant of works the Lord was pleased to make a second Covenant commonly called the Covenant of grace wherein be freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ Yet herein you faile in that you do not set forth that this Covenant was universal for all sinners as indeed it was For it was made with all mankinde in our first parents and as all that fell had need of the same and were by creation alike related to God so he had compassion upon all impartially being no accepter of persons and appointed one mediator alike neer to all men betwixt him and us even the man Christ as we shewed before out of Rom. 3.22 23 24 c. Rom 10.11 12 Rom. 11.32 Gal. 3.22 â—8 1 Timo.
2.3 4 5 6. 2 Pet. 3.9 Secondly you are here deficient in setting forth Gods stipulation in this Covenant for you say That God requires faith in Christ that men may be saved but the Lord insists not onely upon faith but upon obedience also to all his commands yea obedience unto the death to wit the death of sin Mark 16.16 Act. 2.38 39. Act. 3.19 Heb. 5.9 Rom. 6.8 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Rom 2.7 8.13 Matth. 24.13 Revel 27.11 17 26. Revel 12.5 Thus of your defects here but whereas you say in the close of that Section That God promiseth to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe it is not true we would gladly have you produce anyone such promise yet dowe grant that the Lord is pleased to enlighten and teach all sinners that are out of the way and capable of instruction in the way to life again so that they may believe repent and turn if they will Psal 25.8 Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way The text to which you refer us Ezek. 36.25 26. is a promise made to the house of Jacob in the latter dayes and that of such a clensing from sin as you will not believe or admit but not of faith though the work of regeneration there promised implyeth a precedent faith and therein both illumination on Gods part and assent or credence to the truth revealed on ours In the fourth Section you say That this Covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a Testament and so is the Covenant upon Mount Sinai likewise Gal. 4.24 for those saith the Apostle are the two Testaments But secondly whereas you add That this name is given to that Covenant onely in reference to the death of Christ the Testator and to the everlasting inheritance with all things belonging unto it therein bequeathed You herein fall short again for the believer who is the other party to the Covenant must in following of Christ dye with him and there must follow the death of this Testator likewise Rom. 6.8 For if we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him Rom. 8.13 For if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if we mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit we shall live So 2 Tim. 2.11 12. In your fifth Section you are defective likewise in two things and mistaken in a third For first whereas you say That this Covenant was differently administred in the time of the Law and of the Gospel your saying is true but much too short to express the various administrations of the Covenant for it was administred after one manner before the Law after another under the Law after a third under the prophets and all this before the time of the Gospel before the Law as it was at the first made with Adam and renewed with Noah but more solemnly reinstituted with Abraham for the blessing of all Nations and generations of mankinde so all this time it was administred without outward ceremonies and services more then commemorative sacrifices of Christs inward sufferings That Lambe slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 which yet were intentive likewise to a dying with Christ unto all sin and wickedness but under the Law as you truly speak it was administered by promises prophecies the Paschal Lamb and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of Israel in general and not to the Jews alone as you set forth And it was partly set forth as a Covenant of works if not to mind us of original innocencie yet to be our Schoolemaster to Christ shewing us our inability in our selves to keep the law with our sins and miseries and what manifold need we had of Christ Gal. 3.24 and partly as a Covenant of grace also finally under the prophets it was dispensed principally by promises and predictions Isa 9.6 Isa 11.1 2. Jerem. 31.34 35 36. Jerem. 32.38.39 Ezek. 11.18 19 36 25 26 c. But as you were defective in saying That those types sacrifices and services under the Law did onely figure out Christ to come whereas they did teach the Israelites the whole way to life also in following of Christ so you are in saying that the Covenant of grace in regard of the former dispensations is called the old Testament as you do also in saying That in the Gospel it being under other dispensations is called the new Testament in the sixth Section For according to the Scripture and the minde of God the Old and New Testament are thus to be distinguished The whole word of grace whether administred by Prophets or Apostles is the Old Testament that is a foregoing Testament administred by true Elders but the work of grace in purging out sin renewing us in righteousness writing the Law of God in our hearts and sealing the everlasting forgiveness of sins unto us is the new Testament So that the Old Testament is the Covenant which we should observe and keep or endeavor so to do but the new Testament is the work of grace which God hath promised in and through Christ Thus Christ is called the mediator of the new Testament Heb. 9.15 and his spirit blood the blood of the new Testament Mat. 26.28 Yet we do not deny but that both the Prophets and Apostles were able Ministers of the new Testament as true publishers of this promised grace and not of the letter onely as were the Scribes and Pharisees 2 Corin. 3.6 Not that the writings of Moses and the Prophets comparatively to the writings of the Apostles are or should be called the old Testament as they seem to be termed 2 Cor 3.12 for this we say that the writings of the Apostles may be so called likewise and are no other in relation to the promised work of cleansing and renewing grace which God alone both can and must effect Howbeit we do not condemn the common distinction and distribution of the books written before and since Christs incarnation by the penmen of the Holy Ghost into those of the old Testament or instrument and the other of the new because they set forth the new Testament more plainly In you sixth and last Section besides the mistake before touched we crave leave to rectifie you in these ensuing things First whereas you say That now in the new Testament Christ the substance is exhibited If you conceive that the incarnation of Christ is the substance of all that was foreshewed required or promised in the times of the Law and the Prophets it is a great mistake for not onely his sufferings and resurrection but our conformity in following him with the whole process and work of salvation was thereby set out manifoldly and clearly under the Administrations of those times Secondly whereas you say That now under the Gospel the ordinances under which the Covenant of Grace is or ought to be
cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether they be things in Earth or things in Heaven And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his fight Where you may take these things into consideration First Whom he reconcileth All the members of the Church who are regenerate Secondly From what from the enmity in their minds whereby they are set upon wicked works Thirdly Where through the spiritual blood of the Covenant or the spirit of grace which is called the blood of his cross because it is then sent unto us and poured down upon us when we are upon the cross with him and suffer with him not yeelding unto temptations Fourthly That Christ is said to be still doing of that work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lastly In what way as a precedent for us he hath done it to wit in the body of his flesh through death as these ensuing Scriptures shew 2 Tim. 2.11 12. 'T is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer wiâ—h him we shall also raign with him see Rom. 6.8 But that it is unpossible to have reconcilement and communion with God unless it be in such a way the Apostle witnesses likewise 1 John 1.5 6 7. This then is the message we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darknesâ— we lye and haue not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sin Thus far of Christ's spiritual and true reconciling us unto God which is then perfected and consummate when besides the slaying of the enmity aforesaid he hath made us in all things of one spirit with the Father For which unity and reconcilement he prayeth John 17.21 That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us Now for the purchasing of an everlasting inheritance for us eternal life is the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 8.23 And as the Father hath it in his hand to bestow so it is in the Sons gift likewise and consequently as it seems to us he needs not to purchase it But if you will call the fulfilling of that way and process whereby the faln man must attain it the way race of obedience aforesaid a purchasing of it it is by the inward and spiritual obedience of Christ especially that we attain Heb. 10.36 For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the promise Howbeit his outward passive obedience was requisite thereunto without which as we could not be delivered from the curse so neither could we come to inherit life By this you see we stand in need of an inward and spiritual mediation from Christ aswel as that outward of which alone you here speak Nor can we partake of the benefit of the outward till qualified and prepared first thereunto by the work of the inward In your Sixth Section you proclaim your great ignorance or small regard of our great and most necessary redemption from the power of sin and Satan saying That the work of redemption was not actually wrought till after Christs incarnation For were not the fathers before and after the flood with the Prophets and other holy Saints in the Old Testament in their respective times spiritually saved and redeemed by Christ And much more doth that great secret of the Father's sparing and forbearing us along time for his Sons sake who in patience and meekness hath been led as a lamb to the slaughter and the end of whose long sufferance in us is salvation as St. Peter speaks Epist 2 3. Chap. 15. seem to be hidden from you Yet here you grant some truths at unawares as that Christ is the promised enmity against sin who must break the Serpents head and consequenly that his power and Kingdom must be within us where Satan is to be trodden down Rom. 16.20 You grant also that he is the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world But whereas you add for a proof thereof out of Hebr. 13.9 That Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever That speakes of his immutable Deity and not of his humanity though now made unchangeable Yet this we say brethren ere we leave this Section that you hold forth a very lame and imperfect redeemer which which hath indeed redeemed us by his death from the curse of the Law when our iniquities are put away from us but who must redeem us from all our corruptionsâ— who must save and deliver us out of the hand of all our enemies who must inable us to keep and fulfil the Law of God who must renew the Image of God in us Is not the true Christ made of God unto us wisdom righteousness and sanctification as well as redemption 1 Cor 1.30 In your Seventh Section As we grant it to be true that Christ in the entire office of a Mediator acteth according to both natures joyntly or severally as occasion requires doing by each that which is proper to its self so perhaps it may be granted that sometimes in the Scriptures by reason of the unity of the person that which is proper to one nature is attributed to the person denominated by the other Howbeit the places to which you refer us do not prove so much for that of Acts the 20.28 It s true First of Christ in the Godhead that he hath purchased his Church with his own blood having redeemed it from the power of Satan by his Spirit Secondly To that of John 3.13 it may be said that as Christ is spiritually born in us he is the Son of man which comes from Heaven and is or dwells in the heavenly being Finally To 1 John 3.16 It may be truly answered that Christ the Son of God hath laid down his life for us while he died in us to keep off the deserved wrath of God from us and to preserve us from the death threatned in the Law as also to set us an example how we may in following him overcome sin and recover life again we seeking his grace and help thereunto In your eighth and last Section being like checquer-checquer-work you have black as well as white errour as well as truth where your first affirmation That Christ doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate his redemption to all those for whom he hath purchased it will prove false in what sense soever it be taken For first If we here understand Christ's outward redemption as you undoubtedly do that being made for
and many others Hence John warnes us in his second Epistile verse 8. thus Looke to your selves that we loose not those things which we have wrought And Christ speakes to the like effect Revelations 3.11 Fourthly and lastly You exclude from salvation all men not openly professing the Christian Religion Where first We pray you to consider whether such persons as the Apostle seems to describe Rom. 2 26 27. may not be saved by Christ naturally planted in them Secondly May not many of the Jews as well under the Old Testament as the New though they know not or beleeve not the mystery of Christs incarnation be saved by that faith which the Apostle describes Hebrews 11.6 thus For he that comes is God must beleeve that God is and that be is a rewarder of them that seek him especially if they expect and seek the inward Kingdom of a spiritual Messiah with victory over their Ghostly enemies through him Thirdly Whether some that are not in all things of the same faith with the modern Christians whether Calvinists Lutherans or Papists may not possibly obtain salvation by such a faith as we have here confessed Lastly Whether such as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who are Christs sincere Disciples but dwelling in the midst of persecutors dare make no open profession of their faith and hope may not be saved in the end and that by Christ in whom they have beleeved CHAP. XI Of Justification THOSE whom God effectually calleth he also justifieth a RoÌ„ 8.30 RoÌ„ 3.24 not by infusing righteousness into them but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for Christs sake alone not by imputing faith it self the act of beleeving or any other Evangelical obedience to them as their righteousnesse but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them b Rom 4.5 6 7 8. 2 Cor 5.19 20 21. RoÌ„ 3.22 24 25 27 28. Tit 3.5 7. Eph 2.7 Jer 23.6 1 Cor 1.30 31. Rom 5.17 18 19. they receiving and resting on him and his righteousnesse by faith which faith they have not of themselves it is the gift of God c Acts 10.41 Gal 2.16 II. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousnesse is the onely instrument of justification d Joh 1.12 Rom 3.28 Rom 5.1 yet is it not alone in the justified but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith but worketh by love e Jam 2.17 22 26. Gal. 5.6 III. Christ by his obedience and death did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified and did make a proper real and full satisfaction to his Fathers justice in their behalf f Rom 5.8 9.10 19. 1 Tim 2.5 6. Heb 10.10 14. Dan 9.24 26. Isa 53.4 5 6 10 11 12. yet inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them g RoÌ„ 8.32 and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead h 2 Cor 5.20 Mat 3.17 Eph 5.2 and both freely not for any thing in them their justification onely is of free-grace i RoÌ„ 3.24 Eph 2.7 that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners k Ro 3.26 Eph 1.7 IV. God did from all eternity decree to justifie all the elect l Gal 3.8 1 Pet 1.19 20. Rom 8.30 and Christ did in the fulnesse of time die for their sins and rise again for their justification m Gal 4.4 1 Tim 2.6 Rom 4.25 neverthelesse they are not justified until the holy spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them n Col 1.21 22. Gal 2.16 Tit 3.4 5 6 7. V. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified o Mat. 6.10 1 Joh 1.7 8 1. Joh 2.2 and though they can never fall from the state of justification yet they may by their sins fall under Gods fatherly displeasure p Luk 22.32 Joh 10.28 Heb. 10.14 and not have the light of his countenance restored to them until they humble themselves confesse their sins beg pardon renew their faith and repentance q Psa 89.31 32.33 Psa 51.7 8 9 10 11 12. Psa 32.5 Mat 26.75 1 Cor 11.30 32. Luke 1.20 VI. The justification of beleevers under the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the justification of beleevers under the New Testament r Gal 3.9 13 14. Rom 4.12 23 24. Heb 13.8 CHAP. XI Of Justification examined YOur doctrine is nowhere less justifiable then in this great business of justification for you neither understand the right notion of the word nor the secret of the work Hence it is that as in your other Sections you have much of error so in your first you have little of truth where laying down the doctrine both positively and negatively you have been so unhappy for the most part as to reject the truth and fix upon the errour More particularly first you say That all those whom God effectually calleth he also freely justifieth which is not true of such as either resist his calling or of them who being brought to believe in Christ do by and by fal away again For the first of these see Gods complaint Psal 91.13 14 15. O that my people had harkened unto me and Israel bad walked in my wayes I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever For the other of these see Mat. 12.45 That sometimes the unclean spirit which was cast out returneth again through mens unwatchfulness Then goeth he and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked then himself and they enter in and they dwell there and the last state of that man is worse then the first Rom. 11.22 But towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness otherwise thou shalt be câ—t off 2 Pet. 1.9 But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins All which places though they may at the first view seem strange to you as proofes of what we have asserted yet when you shall understand what justification means in its true and proper notion they will justifie what we have said Secondly You say that God justifies men not by infusing righteousness into them whom he hath called contrary to the express tenure of the Scriptures See 1 Cor. 6.9 10 11. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor theeves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And such were some of you but ye are washed but
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
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