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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	father_n	person_n	trinity_n	5,937	5	9.9723	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A89619	Divinity-knots vnloosed or a cleare discovery of truth; by resolving many doubts, according to scripture, orthodox divines, and sound reason, so as weake capacities may receive satisfaction therein. To which purpose, a number of points are explained by familiar simile's. A treatise intended specially for the instruction of young Christians in Rothstorne parish in Cheshire: but published for a further extent of the benefit thereof, to the Israel of God. By Adam Martindale, one of the meanest labourers in the Lords harvest.	Martindale, Adam, 1623-1686.	1649 (1649)	Wing M856; Thomason E1352_2; ESTC R209407	38,259	96

hold that no tongue can so fully expresse the sense of some places as that wherein it was written nor is of the same authority but as it agrees therwith we freely confesse that in the Characters and Printing there may be errour which may be rectifyed by comparing one Booke and place with another And without the spirit of God to assure us no knowledge of the Originall is sufficient to give us full assurance that it is Gods word c 1 Cor. 2.14 but by the helpe of the holy Spirit d 1 John 2.20 27. the Scriptures may sufficiently informe an illiterate man for his salvation CHAP. II. Of God 3. Doubt IF God be unchangeable a Jam. 1.17 how can he be sayd to repent b Gen. 6 6. 1 Sam. 15.11 Resol It is spoken according to our capacity for though God doe never repent c Num. 23.19 1 Sam. 15.29 that is change his counsell yet he doth as if he did repent when he undoth what he had before done d Gen. 6.6 7. Nor may God be charged with changeablenesse though the course of his providence be turned but the change is in us You know the Sun by the same quality and in the same season will soften Wax and harden clay yea will soften the earth when it is frozen and harden it at other times and yet the Sun never altereth his quality but is still the same So though God be gracious to some and severe to others e Rom. 9.18 Ezek. 18. yea severe and gracious to the same person at diverse times and in different respects f Ezek. 18 21 22 23 24 c. yet he is one and the same for ever g Exod. 3.14 4. Doubt If God be a spirit how is hee sayd to have hands eyes wings c. Resol This is onely spoken as the former according to our capacity that by the hand of God we may note his power h Isa 59.1 by his eye wisedome i Psal 11.4 by his wings protection k Psa 57.1 5. Doubt If God be indivisible and simple how can the sacred essence be distinguished into three persons Resol I see your skill in Logick is small or else it were easie to know how to distinguish betwixt things that cannot be divided I can distinguish betweene the essence and existence of the same thing betwixt inseparable accidents and their subjects or to speake Common-road language between a body and its substance forme figure c. and yet not divide them So it is no repugnancie in reason it selfe that the God-head be one entire entity l 1 Cor. 8.4 6. and yet considered in a personall respect may be distinguished into the Father Sonne and holy Ghost m Mat. 3.16 17. 1 Joh. 5.7 6. Doubt I finde in the 45. of Isaich Vers 21. that Christ saith there is no GOD but himselfe notwithstanding wee heare him saying as much by his Father John 17.3 how can both be the onely true God Resol GOD and CHRIST differ not essentially but onely personally the Father is GOD so is the Son yet they are not two Gods but one There is no other God but that God which the Father is nor any God but that which Christ is and this word onely is not exclusive of any person of the Trinity for every person is the onely God but of all others whether reputed Gods or Creatures n 1 Cor. 8.4 5 6. CHAP. III. Of Gods Decree and creation 7. Doubt TO what purpose should I seek the good of my soule If I he elected I shall be saved if not I cannot Resol It is not for you to search the Cabinet of Gods counsell a Deut. 29.29 but to beleeve b John 3.18.36 and repent c Luke 13.3 5. which if you doe you are not to question your salvation d Eph. 2.8 2 Tim. 1.9 2 Cor. 7.10 Saving Faith though it be not a cause is a fruit of election e Acts 13.48 for God hath respect to the meanes as well as the end and conjoyneth them in his decree f Eph. 1.4.5 2.10 and therefore we may conclude that beleeving we are justified g Rom. 3.28 which is an assured argument we were predestinated h Rom. 8.29 30. and shall be saved i Tit. 3.7 But on the other hand they that are hardened by sin k Psa 95.8 Heb. 3.13 are rejected of God l Rom. 9.18 and shall be damned m 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Gal. 5.19 20 21. 8. Doubt If God predestinate the meanes as well as the end seeing sin is the meanes tending to damnation whom he predestinates to damnation doth not he predestinate them to sin And if so how can he be free from it Resol In Predestination two things are to be considered 1. Gods preterition passing by or non●electing of a person 2. Predamnation or fore-condemning a person to perdition The former is of the meere pleasure of God for there can be no other reason given why this man is chosen and that refused Now those whom God thus passeth by through want of that assistance which he is not bound to give fall finally from God and so considered are pre-damned or fore-ordained to destruction God doth not force or cause men to sinne but leave them to it For sin being no positive thing but a privation of what should be Viz. of obedience ariseth from the insufficiency of the Creature left to it selfe If a King by his wisedome could foresee that diverse of his Subjects would prove Traytors and be hanged unlesse he prefer them and doth forbeare to gratifie them so far onely because it is not his pleasure so to doe can he be justly accused of the Treason which after they commit I beleeve no polititian wil affirma it Must we then be so bold as to charge him who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity to be in any sort the cause thereof because he doth not uphold us against it 9. Doubt If God doe not onely passe by men but predamne them to Hell also by this his decree as you shewed in the resolution of the last Doubt how can his justice be cleared seeing man had then not actually sinned Resol Men sin in 〈◊〉 not from eternity yet are their sins from eternity and to eternity with God For with him things are not past present and to come as with us but alwayes present in one infinite moment And therefore the Lord who seath all the sins of a reprobate by one pure individuall act from and to all eternity may as well pisse an act of damnation against them 〈◊〉 they were actually committed 10. Doubt Might not God as well damne men in a capacity of holinesse as thus to leave them to sin and then condemne them for it Resol It is a curious and unprofitable question to dispute whether he might not without wrong to the Creature have done so Perhaps Rom. 9 20 21

be if one beleeving Parent should so sanctifie the other that the Seed should be internally holy Not the second Viz. Conjugall or Marriage holinesse and if the Apostle had onely meant such Children were lawfully begot in Wedlock not adulterously or in Fornication for he makes such an opposition between uncleanesse and this holinesse as will not admit this interpretation Else saith he were your Children uncleane but now they are holy Uncleannesse and holinesse are here opposed so that if by holy he meane onely lawfully begotten uncleane must needs signifie unlawfully begotten And then the Apostle saith thus much in effect that when neither party beleeveth they live and beget Children in adultery or fornication but this cannot be his meaning for it is not true Marriage being honourable and a bed undefiled not to Belevers onely but to all men a Heb. 13.4 It remaineth then that they be Covenant-wise or federally holy or set apart to God For the Lord having taken a beleever and his seed into Covenant with himselfe b Gen. 17.7 as before though his Wife be an unbeleever her infidelity cannot make Gods Covenant ineffectuall For further proofe let us view againe that Scripture in the second of Acts Vers 39. The promise is to you and TO YOVR CHILDREN This is spoken to Evangelicall repenting Parents and agrees to all such Add hereunto that many absurdities and those no small ones will follow if we deny Children because such to be uncapable of the externall Covenant as Absurdity 1 First That we have lost by the comming of Christ for before he came in the flesh if a Gentile had joyned himselfe to the Jewish Church he had taken hold of the Covenant for himselfe and his Seed but now onely for himselfe and is not a mans tenure much worsned if he formerly held to him and his heyres for ever and now onely for terme of life Surely the clearenesse of dispensation and freedome from burdensome Ceremonies appertaining to the Covenant of grace cannot make nmends for this losse A man had better undergoe many inconveniences with his owne Land then to have a morec ommodious piece for terme of life only Absurdity 2 Secondly The whole blessing of Abraham should not then come on the Gentiles according to Gal. 3.14 but onely part of it for his priviledges were not personall only but hereditary i.e. belonging to his Seed Absurdity 3 Thirdly Christ should be lesse kind to his Church now then when he was on the Earth for then he acknowledged that Infants were not debarred for their infancy from the Covenant but saith Of such is the Kingdome of Heaven c Mat. 19.13 Mark 10.14 Luk. 18.15 I know some may answer when Christ saith of such he meaneth not Children but such as they are Viz. such as are harmelesse humble and meek like them But the reply is easie that he intended to take in both for the Originall word * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated such when it is referred to a patterne doth not exclude but include it I can give you many instances where the word must needs be so taken where Christ sayth Who so shall receive one SVCH Child in my Name receiveth me d Mat. 18.5 were it not ridiculous to say Christs intent was to tell them that if they received any other Child like that in his Name they received him but if they received that very Child which he shewed them they received him not It is sayd John 4.23 That the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh SVCH to worship him Here the word such cannot signifie such as are onely like to them that worship in spirit and truth for such counterfeits are hypocrites whose service God abhors but they that doe so worship Compare also the first Verse of the second Chapter to the Romans with the second Verse of the same and you shall see that such things are the same things In the same sense this word is taken in sundry other places e Mat 9.8 Act. 16.24 Gal. 5.23 Thinke withall what reason you can give why Christ should be so angry as Mark telleth us he was f Mark 10.14 The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 importeth indignation or grievous vexation of spirit and so is used Mat. 20.24 26.8 Mark 10.41 14.4 Luk. 13.14 when his Disciples rebuked them that brought Children to him that he should pray over them g Mat. 19.13 Was this the sole cause Viz. that they were like those that belong to him in conditions Then wheresoever the like vertues are found they that hold them forth must also be admitted and Christ would have been displeased had they been rebuked And upon this ground as Master Cotten rightly affirmeth Christ might as well have sayd Suffer Doves and Lambs to come to me for of such that is such meek and harmelesse ones as they are is the Kingdome of Heaven But surely that opinion would savour strongly of the idle that should set Christ in a posture of readinesse to receive Doves or Lambs to pray over them and to be displeased with his Disciples had they rebuked such as brought them which yet he must have done had he been uniforme in his working according to reason * This is cleare to him that understands the axiome A quateus ad omne valet consequentia and those imitable vertues the sole cause why he received them 65. Doubt There is a great deale of reason in that which you say and I acknowledge my selfe much engaged to you for condiscending to my capacity in avoyding tearmes of Art as much as may be But I observe you made much use of Acts 2.39 and I doubt whether it can carry all the weight you lay on it for there be no lesse then three strong exceptions against it Exception 1 First All to whom Peter spake were Jewes by Nation to whom indeed this promise belonged Keepe you to Beleevers in Abrahams line and you may say to them The promise is to you and to your Children but you cannot affirme the same of others for there is no such promise Exception 2 Secondly Others expound the place thus The promise is to you if you repent and to your Children and to those that are afarre off that is Gentiles even so many as the Lord our God shall call if they repent Or thus whosoever God calleth be it your selves your Children or any of the Gentiles to them the promise belongeth Exception 3 Thirdly Some affirme this is no the promise of Gen. 17. as you seeme to take it but of Joel 2. which the speech concerneth all along this Chapter and the sense is The promise Viz. of extraordinary gifts of the spirit to speake to people of strange languages in their Mother tongues as wee doe this day is to you and to your Children and to as many as are afar off even as many as the Lord our