c. and makes him as old as the World because of some contained in him that shall not be saved from the beginning thereof So it 's queryable whether he makes his Adam-Belial before the Scripture Adam as he makes his Fall before his and what in the State of Creation he differed from him the Scripture calls the first Adam and not being made Male and Female how he propagates Posterity c If as he saith in p. 14. of the Reprobates they are of Adam-Belial and the Seed of the Serpent the best Construction I can suppose upon it tho' very improper is That they are of Adam according to Generation and Belial or the Serpent's Seed according to Degeneration of Adam as Men and Women and of Belial as to the Carnal Mind the Fleshly Birth c. But this sense spoils his design and brings all Men under the same Category in that all have sinned which he hath mark'd out for the Reprobates only and intangles him into this Contradiction That whereas he affirmed before of these Reprobates that they were of another Stock and Root than that Adam or Man whom God created in the beginning Male and Female c. and were not contained in him nor are his Branches Parts or Members c. This makes it that they are of the same Root and Stock with that Adam whom God created in the beginning Male and Female and were contained in him and are his Branches Parts or Members c. And if he will have it thus we must take it in the gross sense as it liess and it tells us of another Adam than the Scripture Adam one Adam-Belial of another Stock and Root and yet from the beginning and who fell before that Adam of whom Moses writes and was not created or made Male and Female but of him and the Seed of the Serpent after some manner are the Reprobate People propagated and they are of this Stock and Root c. And so opens a Door to a parcel of filthy polluted Notions such as Incubism and Succubism c. savouring more of Witchcraft than Philosophy And this sense may be fairly enforc'd upon him from his words but I have try'd to bring it under another Construction and I think the best it would bear having a mind to help him He hath told us before of an unhappy mixture betwixt the two Seeds and now of the Separation he saith In order to separate the one from the other viz. the Seed of Man from the Seed of the Serpent Christ the Seed of the Woman was promised c. is come c. and will perfectly effect that Separation of the one from the other before the end of the World Observe The Seed of Man The Seed of the Woman The Seed of the Serpent these are his Thâ—â—◠〈◊〉 By the Seed of the Woman is meant Christ by the Seed of te Serpent is meant the Serpent and so I suppose by the Seed of Man must be meant the Posterity of Adam which he makes the right Seed Wheat Gold c. The Seed of the Serpent the bad Seed Tares Dross c. The unhappy mixture to be of these two the bad with the good the Tares with the Wheat the Dross with the Gold Christ the Seed of the Woman to be the separator that separates the bad from the good the Tares from the Wheat the Dross from the Gold and that he will perfectly effect that Separation before the end of the World Then shall all Men be saved before the end of the World He 'll gather the Wheat into his Garner c. But he intimates in p. 14. Souls that were not given to Christ from the beginning of the World and which shall not be saved nay Souls neither belonging to the First or Second Adam and tells of some who at the end of the World shall be cast into the lake of Fire which is the Second Death c. Of some who after this Separation are wholly bad having nothing of the good remaining in them being meer Tares Dross Dregs and Excrement and some that have nothing of the bad cleaving to them but are wholly the right Seed and this Separation is of the Serpent from Man Then how should some Men be wholly bad after all that 's bad is separated from them Is the Man in this case absorpt and the Serpent put in the Man's Skin Can the Wheat be all Tares after the Tares are all separated from it Or the Gold all Dross having nothing of Gold in it after all the Dross is puâ—â—â—d from it Or shall the right Seed the Wheat the Gold be cast into the lake of Fire Shall all Men before the end of the World be thus purged and sanctified and washed as this Separation imports and yet some Men not be saved The preceding Mystery remembers me of a passage met with in a Book said to be his near the beginning of his out-going from the Truth it was the Passage of the Cave of Mackpelah allegoriz'd The Cave was bought for Four Hundred pieces of Silver which he saith signifies so many Vertues then giving the signification of the Hebrew Words he saith mackpelah signifies a double Burial-place and speaks of the Blessedness of it or the Blessed State thereby signified It was bought of Ephron the Hittite and Ephron he saith signifies the Dust-eater and the Dust-eater in the Scripture is the Serpent it was his doom to go upon his Belly and eat Dust Now what of a Mystery is this Is it not to send as to see 〈…〉 Happiness of the Serpent to perswade us the custody of it is 〈…〉 with him or that being so he would set no other price 〈…〉 Vertue to make the ursed Serpent or Ephron the Hittite 〈…〉 Race the Dispensers of Blessings and the 〈…〉 to put Antichrist in the place of Christ This is an odd 〈…〉 and I thought as craz'd a one and that of Adam-Belial as were to be met with and which might well enough stand together though they 're simple they 're sorting And now having done with him I leave it to every Reader to consider whether this his Doctrine of Election is so high and mysterious so precious and comfortable affording unspeakable matter of Praise unto God for his great Love p. 14. and whether it serves to clear to us his Justice and Divine Wisdom and Power to the stopping the Mouthes of Atheists Blasphemers and perverse Infidels and to the affording unto all God's dear Children most abundant cause of Divine Consolation c All which and more he saith of it Or it is an heap of broken inconsistent irregular unchristian Notions contrary to the Gospel And whether his Book deservedly bears the Title of Truth Advanced in the Correction of many gross and hurtful Errors which is its self so full of vile and gross Errors and Contradictions as are here observed in the Examining about one Sheet on 't FINIS
Potter to make it Now it is a received Axiom Nullum simile currit quatuor therefore as no Work of God was marred in his hand Mankind came forth from him according to his designation in his own Image a Vessel of Honour c. Object 5. The Children not being yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth it was said The Elder shall serve the Younger as is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated c. Answ The Scripture speaks sometimes of singular Persons or Individuals when it is to be understood 1. Of Nations or People descending from them or 2. Of certain Spiritual States and Conditions We have instance of the first in Canaan the youngest Son of Ham Gen. 9.25 whom his Grand-father Noah cursed and denounced him a Servant of Servants to Shem and Japheth And in Esau and Jacob of whom it was fore-told The Elder should serve the Younger Gen. 25.23 And in Ephraim and Manasseh of whom it was said Gen. 48.19 The Younger should be the greater None of all which things were fulfilled in their Persons but in their Posterities c. For instance of the second Abraham had his Son Ishmae by Hagar Sara's Hand-maid a Bond-woman of Egypt of the Posterity of Ham this is said to be born after the Flesh And he had his Son Isaac by Sarah the Free-woman and this is said to be by Promise And these things saith the Apostle are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai Gal. 4.26 which is Hagar answering to Jerusalem that now is the other answering to Jerusalem from above The like Instance we have in Isaac Abraham's Heir and the Heir of God's Promise he had by his Wife Rebekah two Sons Jacob and Esau under whose Types are typified the Spiritual and Carnal Mind and Birth the Degenerate and Regenerate the Earthly and Heavenly c. So they are a double Instance to us in treating of this Text which is to be Mystically and not Literally understood as appears from the Blessing of Esau with the Fatness of the Earth Gen. 27.39 and the Dew of Heaven from above which is the same in effect with Jacob's Blessing only he had rule given over him but 't was only for a time for in the said Blessing the time is prophesied in which Esau should break Jacob's Yoke from off his Neck Now if God had hated Esau then Isaac could not at all have Blessed him in the Faith for whatsoever is done in the Faith is done in concurrence and accord with God but if God hated Esau and Isaac blessed him they would be contrary and repugnant the one to the other for all Blessing is of Love and so Isaac's Blessing of Esau had not been in the Faith for in it only things pleasing and acceptable to God are done and no works of jar and disagreement or contrariety to him these are not of Faith but the Scripture is express in it Heb. 11.20 That by Faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come so it must needs be that these things are an Allegory and that God did not hate Esau's Person but spoke of what he hated under the Type or Figure of him Take this Scripture literally to relate unto Esau in a strict and proper Sense and it would be of absurd and blasphemous Consequence for if it represents God as at Variance with himself and in a great degree Unhappy working without Pleasure Grace or Goodness in the Production of wretched hated Beings to Eternal Misery even Nature shrinks and is in horror at any dissimulate and monstrous Birth much more it is contrary to the God of Nature and to suppose othewise of God is no Christian but an Heathenish Notion it is so remote from Divine it is not Humane that God should be imployed in the making so many Thousand of People for the Torments of Hell Fire Such Notions had the Heathens of old concerning their Moloch and other false Deities to appease whose imagined Fury they caused their Children to pass through the Fire and become Burnt Sacrifices Having shewed the Blasphemy and Error that attends a Literal Construction of this Text and that it should be Mystically understood I shall proceed to speak something of its Mystery before I pass from hence We read in Scripture of two Seeds Mystically the Seed of the Woman which Seed is Christ who is also the Seed of the true Church and of the Kingdom of God and the Serpent's Seed or Seed of Antichrist of which cometh the false Church and Kingdom of Darkness And as every Birth hath its beginning from some Seed so of the first of these proceedeth the Birth of the Spirit called in Scripture Regeneration the New Birth the New Man c. And without this be there is no Salvation and how pure and spiritual a Seed is this Seed of the Living God of which Souls and Spirits are born Of the other proceedeth the Birth of the Flesh called in Scripture The Old Man with his Deeds Degenerate or the Vncircumcision the Reprobate Birth c. And how filthy and polluted a Seed is this Seed of the Serpent whereby Men become as Dogs Swine Serpents Dung Filth c. Now as according to the first we are in Christ Branches of him and Christ is God's Elect in whom his Soul delighteth blessed above all for ever And according to the other we are of the Devil Children of him Sprouts out of his Stock and the Devil only is God's Enemy cursed above all Cattle and above every Beast of the Field So of the first of these Election is predicated and Reprobation of the latter We are in a State of Election or Reprobation as we are related to the one or other of these Births if we live according to the one we shall die or the other we shall live Note For the prevention of mistakes in the weakest Reader that this Birth called the Birth of the Flesh is not to be understood simply of the Natural Birth but as fallen into Carnal-mindedness And the Scripture teacheth That to be Carnally-minded Rom. 8.6 7. is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace that the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be so they that are in the Flesh cannot please God This Mind is Dead an Enemy a Rebel and can never be otherwise it 's not capable of being made better to please God or to be subject to him or live there is neither Life Salvation or Blessing belongs to it it is not Heir to or capable of any good it is none of God's Works but is of the Evil One This is the Reprobate's Description On the other hand That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit this Birth is willing to all good it is its
and to Eternal Life and Happiness as the End to be in due time obtained by the said Means Answer Reprobation he here makes conditional and relative and Election certain and absolute and by Election he understands God's Choice of all such Souls of Mankind who shall be saved both to Faith and Holiness as the Means and to Eternal Life as the End c. By which it appears that in his account there are some Souls of Mankind God hath not made choice of not only who shall not be saved but according to his next Paragraph which I mark 4. that are not to be saved But God made all Souls of Mankind so according to Geo. Keith God made some Souls of Mankind that are not to be saved and some that are to be saved Now to be sure such Souls as are not to be saved are not made to that End nor hath God intended the Salvation of such So then there must be an absolute Reprobation of them But he saith He is well perswaded there is no absolute Reprobation c. Contradiction 1. Then according to G. K. God made not Choice of all Souls of Mankind from the beginning but only all such as should be saved c. But the contrary is evident For Adam our first Parent and the common Representative of Mankind was made in God's Image was Christ's Delight was made Good c. And God hath ever chosen his own Image he beholds and loves his own Image above every Image And Christ's delighting in Men shows his Choice of them Besides he never made any Good thing to an Evil end and he hath expresly said All Souls are mine Ezek. 18.4 And after the Fall God made a Promise unto Adam That the Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's Head which afterwards he renewed with Abraham c. And all Mankind had their share and interest in this Promise and Covenant of God made with Adam their common Parent and Representative so all Mankind were again made capable of Salvation after the Fall So I would query of G. K. whether after the Fall there was not the means of Restauration free and offered unto all Mankind But if Faith and Holiness be included in this Election pleaded for as the Means of their Salvation so Elected and as the Effect of their Election before the World began then either all Men are Elected unto Salvation or else none can be saved but who are so Elected and all the rest of Mankind must of necessity be Damned because not Elected unto Faith and Holiness as the Means and Salvation and Happiness as the End And then what 's become of Universal Grace so much pleaded for by G. K. heretofore and with his now being well perswaded there is no absolute Reprobation of any of the Souls of the Children of Adam c Contrad 2. He saith That in all Souls that are to be saved both Holiness and Eternal Life is to be their free Choice But upon the matter he makes this free Choice no Choice at all but rather a Soveraign Act of God upon the Creature Then the Creatures Act like the Ranters who say If God would have me to be good he can make me good c. We own that it is of Grace that we choose the Good c. But if it were by such a soveraign Act of God as he seems to hold forth then it would not be Choice for Choice is our Act and God perswades us to make that good Choice but it must be our free Choice He compels none for that would be contrary to his Wisdom in framing our Hearts so as they are not ordinarily wrought upon but by perswasion He brings some Scriptures to prove his Doctrine as Whom he did foreknow Rom. 8.29 he also did predestinate c. But I wholly pass by these here they being particularly spoken to in the foregoing Treatise of Election and Reprobation His next Scripture is He hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the Foundation of the World Ephes 1.4 to be holy and without blame before him in love To this All things were made by Jesus Christ and for him and all Mankind was made after his order as he is the Son of Man so all Men chosen in him before the Foundation of the World c. But he saith in p. 10. Augustine well observed about Twelve Hundred Years ago That it is not said God hath chosen us for our foreseen Faith and Holiness but he hath chosen us to be Holy So that our Faith and Holiness is wholly the Effect of God's Election not at all the Cause or Condition of it Notwithstanding the Antiquity of this Observation its famous Author and G. K's Commendations of it yet to me it seems rather an Amusement than an Argument For here 's an Election which he saith our Faith and Holiness is not the cause of whoever pretended it so to be Nor is it he saith the Condition on 't but wholly the Effect on 't but says This Effect is not forcibly produced it is a Work of God's Grace And this Grace is Universal and for the same end to all so that in whom it produceth not this Effect the cause is Thair resisting the Grace and not their non-Election And there is a Fallacy in seeking to separate the Condition from the Effect the Condition and Effect of a thing may in sundry respects be the same and often as here are as it were interwoven in each other But If as G. K. saith Faith and Holiness be wholly the Effect of God's choosing us in Christ Jesus before the Foundation of the World from thence it follows That none can have Faith and Holiness unless they be chosen of God in Christ Jesus before the Foundation of the World And if Faith and Holiness be wholly the Effect of this Choice then to all Men who are not thus chosen Faith and Holiness are impossible But to them to whom Faith and Holiness is impossible Eternal Life and Happiness is also impossible for no Man cometh unto the End but by the Means And if to some Men Eternal Life and Happiness is impossible then there is an absolute Reprobation of them But G. K. saith He is well perswaded there is no absolute Reprobation c. Contr. 3. And if as he saith God hath chosen all such Souls of Mankind who shall be saved from the beginning of the World c. Then this Election either comprehends all the Souls of Mankind or it takes in but a part of them If but a part of them the other part cannot be saved G. K. saith further in p. 11. If such a Conditional Election were it would be General or Vniversal and comprehend all Mankind for why are one part more than another seeing Eternal Life and Salvation are held forth Conditionally to all But the Scripture no where holdeth forth a General Election but only of some and therefore Christ taught That though many are Called yet few are