Principal is that by Faith in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in various Degrees and there is no other Special and Principal Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall. Eph. 1.17 and 4.5 2 Cor. 4.13 2 Pet. 1.1 4. Fundamental Truth is not by way of Number but by way of holy Likeness to God who is simply one and simply one is above Number and not reducible to it The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three truly divers and distinct yet not three by way of Number Order and Dependence common to us and Heathens but by way of unsearchable Diversity not to be understood savingly without Christian Faithâ— which Heathens have not They who hold that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son do not mean that he proceedeth from them as from two Firsts for there cannot possibly be two Firsts in God Rev. 22.13 And they who hold that he proceedeth only from the Father do yet hold that he is by Nature very and eternal God and the Spirit of the Son and that the Son doth from the Father send the Holy Ghost the Comforter This supposed the Difference seems to be but in Word and not in Substance of Matter 5. It is evident from Job 13.7 Heb. 1.1 2 3. and from the Nature of the thing that there is the Person of God. For God is an intelligent Being though infinitely intelligent and increated and every intelligent Being must needs be a Person Gen. 14.21 Jon. 4.11 Numb 31.28 Now they who hold that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons do yet hold that they are but one God. And if they who hold that as they are but one God so they are but one Person do yet hold that the Person of God the Father unbegotten and not incarnate as such is not the Person of God the Son begotten and incarnate in my opinion they both hold the same fundamental and necessary Truth and do but differ in Word The common School-Doctrine that in the Trinity there is alius alius but not aliud aliud And in Christ aliud aliud but not alius alius I conceive to be an Errour For aliud aliud must needs mean either Contrariety or Diversity If it mean Contrariety then it is false that there is Contrariety in Christ If it mean Diversity then it is false that there is not Diversicy in the Trinity So the common distinction of the Works of God within God and without God ad intra adextra is certainly an Errour For every Work of God is an effect simply dependent upon his free Pleasure Eph. 1.11 But no dependence can be in God all in God is simply independent And as there cannot be a Creature without a Creator so there cannot possibly be a Work of God without God Joh. 1.3 And look as it is said of his own Will God begat us Jam. 1.18 So equally it may be said of his own Will he made all Things and themfore not of Nothing For God's Will is not nothing but it is the prime Cause and the prime Cause is superlatively material to our Faith. CHAP. XX. Of Sin and particularly of the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1. SIN is the Transgression of the Law the Wages whereof according to legal Justice is eternal Damnation or it is the Undoing of Body and Soul for ever in Hell if God's Grace in Christ prevent not by giving Repentance and Pardon Look as all in God is God so all in Sin is Sin. With respect to human Judicature Sin is an Effect and Man's Will is the true Cause of it With respect to Divine Judicature it is no Esfect and therefore it can have no Cause but all that sin transgress without Cause Psal 25.3 Joh. 15.25 As to human Judicature Sin is an Accident a thing that comes to pass in time and is distinct from Man's natural Substance and is truly evitable As to Divine Judicature it is no Accident For from Eternity it was future it hath Dominion over the Ungodly and as never repented of it abides in the Conscience for ever and breeds the never-dying Worm This cannot be affirmed of an Accident quod subjecto inest quod potest adesse vel abesse absque subjecti Interitu For nothing eternal can be accidental It is one and the same thing which is both Sin and Guilt but not in the same respects Sin as pleasant ungodly Men do naturally love but as Guâ—lt doth intrinsecally go along with Sin and gripe their Conscience and fill them with legal Terrour so they do naturally hate and flee from it They love Sin but not Hell. 2. The Holy Ghost in Scripture is taken two ways either for God the Holy Ghost and so we are baptized in his Name Or for an Effect produced by him Hereof there are two Kinds principal and subservient principal is that Divine and Holy Nature which God doth plant in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in the instant of their Pardon and Justification by Faith. Eph. 1.13 14. The Holy Ghost in this Sense none of those now in Hell did at any time partake of Considered as a subservient Effect so it was eminently poured forth on the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and was common in that first Age of the Christian Church It consisted in the Gift of Tongues of Healing of casting out of Devils and other miraculous Distributions The Holy Ghost in this Sense many never Regenerate might partake of and afterward totally fall away perish eternally And this for ought I know is the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that much controverted Scripture Heb. 6.4 5 6. compared with Mat. 7.22 23. and 12.24 to 32. Act. 2. and 8.17 and 10.44 45 46. and 19. 2 3 4 5 6. Luk. 10.20 Joh. 7.39 3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore simply unpardonable because the Person guilty of it is justly forsaken of God given up to a reprobate Sense to final Obduration in Sin and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie and so he cannot but be finally impenitent and incurably graceless It seems to be a Degree of that kind of implacable Enmity against God and his holy Image which is in the Devil himself The Devils believe and tremble they cannot but have an inward Sense and Conviction that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World and the Judg of all both quick and dead and that the Religion contained in the Bible and sincerely professed by Abel Moses Peter Paul and the rest of the Elect in all Ages is the only true Religion And yet being eternally forsaken of God and left to themselves they have no power evangelically to repent they cannot but implacably hate God and his holy Image blaspheme his Truth and pure Religion and endeavour the utter Extinction of it and the eternal Ruin of every Man. 4. I was before a Blasphemer and a Persocuter and Injurious But I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly in Vnbelief 1 Tim. 1.13 This implies that had he done it wilfully and knowingly against the inward Belief and Conviction of his Conscience his Case had been very perilous In my Opinion the safest and easiest way to understand what is the Sin against the Holy Ghost is to make the Devil himself the Standard of it Though all ungodly Persons be the Children of the Devil yet as they are not all Atheists Murderers Adulterers Sodomites Perjured Traitors so they are not all guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost They who make Conscience of their ways and fear to sin against God may be sure they have not committed this unpardonable Sin. They who have been convinced and perswaded of God's true Religion and have solemnly covenanted and engaged their Souls to God in Christ Jesus and have professed the way of Truth if afterward they shall renounce the true Religion and blaspheme it and persecute the sincere Professourâ— of it and shall suffer themselves to be deluded so as to believe Lies contrary to the true Religion I think the Case of such is very perilous 5. We are to pray for all Men now living and that shall live hereafter but not for those whom we know to have committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.16 For the Rule of Prayer is not God's unsearchable Prescience what will be but God's Law obliging us to love our Neighbour as our selves and in Token thereof to pray for him while there is any Hope Now of all Ungodly Men while in the World there is humaâ— Hope which is a kind of middle State between the Godly in whom is Divine Hope of Salvation and the Damned in Hell and Persons guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost of whom there can be no Hope at all As for such as teach that we must pray for all sorts of Men but not for all of every sort pro generibus singulorum sed non pro singulis generûm it seems to be vain deceit Col. 2.8 For bare Generals as distinct from all the Individuals and Particulars is a meer Chimera Christ as Man prayed for all and in this he is our Patern Christ as God the Son incarnate did not pray for all but did omnipotently intercede for those only whose Salvation was future and for none else so as for them In this he is not our Paternbut infinitely above us Joh. 17.9 20. Luk. 23.34 FINIS ERRATA Pag. 6. line 39. read Counterprice P. 22. l. 27. r. Exigencies P. 25. l. 21. r. these P. 27. l. 39. f. Decree r. Graece P. 28. l. 8. r. to P. 29. l. 2. r. indelibly P. 32. l. 2 1. Index P. 34. l. 17. r. principal and. P. 37. l. 26. r. which makes
Christendom Or the Nature of CHRIST's KINGDOM OPENED And the chiefest Difficulties in DIVINITY CLEARED In order to ending the Controversies among Christian PHILOSOPHERS SCOOL-MEN and DIVINES of all Parties London Printed for the Author 1687. The PREFACE 1. THE Kingdom of Christ is not twofold one as he is God the Son and the other as he is Mediator but it is simply one as Christ is one admitting of just conception but no division Because Christ is not Mediator between God and Men strictly as between two Parties in a worldly and human Sense common to us and Heathens but in a heavenly divine and transcendent Sense through Christian Faith which Heathens have not The Manhood of Christ doth neither add to nor diminish from God But it is the Organ or Instrument by which God the Son as equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost doth in the fulness of Time according to his own eternal Purpose purchase the Church with his own Blood is the Saviour of all Men specially of those that believe and doth reign and rule over the whole intellectual World for ever without all change in God and without all merit in Angels and Men antecedently to the eternal Purpose of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 2. Angels Princes Pastors and Parents are instrumental in the work of Redemption but not so as is the Manhood of Christ This is principally and specially instrumental as being the Manhood of him who is by nature very God. Christ considered as God is by Nature not by Grace the only begotten Son of God the Father Christ considered as Man was by Grace not by Nature the Son of Himself as God equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost in a special and wenderful Sense neither by Creation as Adam and the Angels nor by Adoption as the Saints nor by natural Generation but by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin And yet he is but one Son of God rightly conceived as he is but one Christ Considered as Man his God is our God his Father is our Father elect Angels and Men are his Brethren and Fellows but so that he as Man exalted at God's right Hand in all things hath the preeminence is anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his Fellows he is the First-born among his Brethren and of every Creature that is of all created Beings the most excellent and next unto God in heavenly Majesty and Glory Col. 1.15 Rom. 8.29 Heb. 1.8 11. Joh. 20.17 3. The Man Christ and the Manhood of Christ is God Omniscient Omnipatent Omnipresent Independent Infinite Adorable yet not as it is Man and Manhood but as it is by unsearchable Vnion that Person who is in different respects both God and Man. To adore Christ as Man is Idolatry to adere Christ as God the Son incarnate equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost is Christian Piety In adoring God the Son incarnate the Word made Flesh we do indeed adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ and yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is in a wonderful Sense that Person who is God the Son incarnate As I write with a white Pen yet not as it is white but as it is a Pen He that is a Husband baptizeth yet not as he is a Husband but as he is a Minister The good God doth damn the Wicked yet not as good to them but severe yet just So we rightly adore the Flesh and Manhood of Christ yet not as it is Flesh and Manhood but as it is God the Son Incarnate That holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God Luk. 1.35 Heb. 1.6 Mat. 2.11 Rev. 5.9 to 14. Joh. 14.1 4. Divine Nature as Divine can in no instant be Human Human Nature as Human can in no instant be Divine But the Divine Nature as it is in God the Son became in a wonderful Sense Human The Word was made Flesh Joh. 1.14 All the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in Christ Col. 2.9 And the Human Nature as it is in Christ became in a wonderful sense Divine that Man who is Equal and Fellow with God Zech. 13.7 Phil. 2.6 Therefore by St. Augustine lib. de Ovib. it is called Divine Humanity and Human Divinity Which Saying learned Sadeel doth highly approve De verit Human. nat Christi c. 5. Jesus increased in Wisdom and Stature and in Favour with God and Man Luk. 2.52 And was made perfect through Sufferings Heb. 2.10 Had he not so increased be must always have been an Infant And yet the Manhood of Christ was in no instant imperfect and defective When New-born his Manhood had all the Perfection it mas capable of in that instant but not all the Perfection designed for it at twelve years of Age. When twelve years old he had all the Perfection he mas capable of in that instant and so in every Successive instant unto the time of his Passion Which being reserved for the last he did patiently undergo and so by Death fulfilled and finished all the Humiliation-work which God gave him to do on Earth Joh. 17.4 and 19.30 5. All true Science is by reducing things to some First beyond which there is no further proceeding Now Christ is the First and the Last in Religion Rev. 1.8 11. All the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg are hid in him Col. 2.3 He is the Truth Joh. 14.6 He who holds this one Truth doth inclusively hold all saving Truth in this one But he who denyes and resists any one Truth plain and evident to his Conscience hath no saving Truth in him Every Errour is not Sin but every Errour touching Religion is very Sin against God and so it must needs be against the Foundation of Faith and Piety either directly and immediately or remotely and consequentially He that is an Heretick doth against his Conscience love Errour and rely on it for Life Eternal and so his Errour is his Idol And yet the love of it doth blind his Conscience and extinguish the Light of Christ so that he cannot savingly discern his Errour and the Turpitude of it he is therefore self condemned CHAP. I. Of Divine Predestination 1. WHOM God did foreknow would by his Grace and free Gift in Christ sincerely believe them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Life Eternal and whom he did fore-know would through themselves be ungodly and so continue them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Damnation Eternal The Divine Fore-knowledg and Purpose according to which God doth predestinate Men to Life Eternal is from everlasting but the Divine Predestination according to that Fore-knowledg and Purpose is not from everlasting but in the instant when God creates and forms us in our Mothers Womb. Which Predestination lies hid as a secret in God's Bosom until it shew it self in Heavenly Calling and Election And then doth God elect Men to Salvation when he gives them Faith in Christ and thereby pardons their
not then the Infant will outlive the State of Infancy and will live and die ungodly and perish in which Case his Baptism will be an everlasting Witness against him it being supposed that his Conscience was privy to it Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace which Covenant importeth God's Purpose to give Perseverance and Salvation to all the Regenerate and to Regenerate such and so many as he from Eternity foresees will by his Grace and Free-gift sincerely believe And yet while Unregenerate they are in a State of Damnation As to Life Temporal and Humane Society on Earth ungodly Men have Power over their own Will and Liberty to act or not to act as themselves list and they can if they will refrain from all Sin outwardly and do all Good outwardly and be blameless before Men. But as to Life Eternal and Heavenly Conversation they have no Power they are dead in Sin under the Power of Satan their Power is Impotency Sin hath Dominion over them they are not Lords but Slaves and lorded over by their Lusts and if God shall not prevent them with his Heavenly Grace it is certain that they will never deserve it Therefore the first step to Salvation is holy Despair thereof by all that we of our selves can do without God's eternal Grace in Christ And look what is First in Divinity that same is Last even All in All. CHAP. XIII Of the Lord's Supper 1. LOok as all in God is God without Parts and Composition So all in the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Supper Considered as a Supper so the whole is visible Food for the Belly eaten and drunk with the Mouth outwardly Considered as the Lord's Supper so the whole is invisible Food for the Soul eaten and drunk with the Heart inwardly There may be the Lord's Supper without saving Belief but not without Belief For he that believeth not makes God a Liar and by Consequence the Sacrament a Lie also 1 Joh. 5.10 2. There is no Change at all of the Elements by Consecration but only Religious Use If the Religious Use of Things do necessarily infer a Change in the Things used then God must needs be changed and then he is not God. We use God's Name religiously and God's Name is God Himself as named by this or that Name Jehovah Lord God. I am the Lord that is my Name Isa 42.8 What Change is by Consecration is in the Communicants not at all in the Elements Consecration importeth in all Godly Communicants a real Heavenly Change as to Conversation Conversion from Sin to God they are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 This heavenly Change they evidence exercise and shew forth at the Lord's Table in religious partaking of the Elements in Remembrance of Christ crucified All Change in the Elements by Consecration is simply repugnant to intellectual Sense in all Men and is therefore simply incredible 3. These Words This is my Body as understood without Christian Faith are false and absurd But as understood through Christian Faith they are indeed mysterious yet Superlatively plain true apt and proper The Lord's Supper is truly a Figure as is Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 yet not a Verbal and Rhetorical Figure common to Us and Heathens but a Divine Celestial and Mysterious Figure instituted by Christ and not understood without Christian Belief which Heathens have not In Points that concern us as Men in common with all the World Christ spake with the Vulgar and so as to be understood of very Heathens But in Points mysterious and Supernatural as is the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper he spake above the Vulgar and so as not to be understood aright without Faith which Heathens have not Ungodly Communicants considered as Ungodly do not eat Christ's Body but inwardly contemn and shut their Hearts against it And thus their partaking doth differ in kind from the inward partaking of the Godly But Ungodly Communicants considered as Communicants do with their Mouth outwardly eat the Bread which is really and not chimerically yet sacramentally and symbolically the Body of Christ no less than do Godly Communicants outwardly And thus their partaking is the same for kind with the partaking of the Godly 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. 4. Unto worthy Communicants the Lord's Supper is the Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood the holy Memorial of his Death heavenly Nourishment for the Soul a sure Pledge Seal Sign and Token of Pardon of Sin Perseverance and Life eternal and a Divine Engagement to Watchfulness and holy Fear of Apostacy No Godly Man doth partake unworthily he may partake not so worthily as some do but the least degree of true Godliness doth produce a degree of worthy communicating differing but in measure and degree from the most Godly Communicants Unto unworthy Communicants the Lord's Supper through their own Sin is a Seal of their Damnation if they die without sound Repentance And in the mean time it layeth a Divine Bond and Engagement upon them instantly to repent If their Repentance by God's eternal Decree be future then the Lord's Supper is a Divine Sign and Seal that it is future If their Repentance be not future then they will die in their Sins and perish and will remember with eternal Self-tormenting Anguish in Hell their partaking without Godly Sincerity Those who contend that Men Unregenerate sin less in not coming than in coming to the Lord's Table do yet expresly grant But yet they that do come unworthily and unwarrantably do find that there which tendeth to their Conversion and frequently effecteth it Mr. B. in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments pag. 31 32. And they who contend that the Unregenerate sin less in coming than in not coming do yet hold and contend that the Persons so come must be adult baptized orthodox and not heretical free from enormous Crimes and Scandals before Men. The bare Elements as distinct from the Word can neither convert nor confirm But the Word as distinct from the Elements and giving being to the whole Sacramental Service may through God's Grace prove effectual for sound Conversion of the Unconverted and certainly will be effectual for building up of the Converted 5. The Flesh and Manhood of Christ is under God the prime instrumental Cause of Life eternal to the Godly in all Ages through Faith As such his Flesh is heavenly Meat and his Blood is heavenly Drink and we through Faith do really and not chimerically spiritually and not corporally eat and drink it What is eaten in that it is eaten must be really present For no Man can eat a thing that is absent There is Relation between the Manhood of Christ and the whole intellectual World as between sole Supream under God and Subjects This Relation is real and not imaginary eternal and not temporal From Eternity it was future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. What is eternal is truly infinite above all Predicaments and consequently above Time and Place
is that holy thing which was born of the Blessed Virgin and is truly called the Son of God and this Son of God is very God the Son incarnate Luke 1.35 Joh. 1.1 14 18. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever after Incarnation as before and before as after Heb. 13.8 with this cautious meaning Before Incarnation he was Jesus Christ as from Eternity purposed in time to be incarnate After Incarnation he is the same Jesus Christ as incarnate according to that Purpose If he be at all compounded then he is not simply Christ and then he is a Deceiver For Simple and Compounded are contraries as Light and Darkness Truth and Falshood If Christ consist of Parts then he is not simply impartial and then he cannot judge the World in Righteousness but must needs approve Murder in David and condemn it in Cain which is Blasphemy The Manhood of Christ is not one part or one half of Christ but it is Christ himself considered as Man And the Godhead of Christ is Christ himself considered as God and yet he is but one Person but one Christ and the Nature of Christ as he is God manifest in the Flesh and the Word made Flesh is but one admitting of just Conception but no Parts and Composition Error 2. All things in Nature are reducible to ten Predicaments of which Relation is one Confut. All things in Nature are reducible to one which one is God of whom and through whom and to whom are all things and this God is our God for ever and ever Rom. 11.36 Psal 48.14 Thus Relation is all in all as being the Nature of God the Father not incarnate the Son incarnate the Holy Ghost not incarnate essentially and yet freely related to all Elect Angels and Men as their God and Portion for ever Error 3. There are four distinct Causes of Justification of Satisfaction for Sin of the Sacraments c. the efficient the material the formal and the final Cause Confut. All Cause touching Religion and Life eternal is either principal or supream or instrumental and subservient And the principal and supream Cause is superlatively and transcendently material and of greatest importance to our Faith and eternal Welfare the Cause of Causes even all in all As to Worldly Science common to us and Heathens there is matter and form distinct But as to Heavenly Science by Faith which Heathens have not there is no such distinction For Heavenly Science by Faith consisteth not in Form but in Power 2 Tim. 3.5 not in Shew and Appearance but in Truth and Reality Rom. 2.20 It is one and the same thing which is the beginning and the end the first and the last the efficient and the final Cause yet not in the same respects Rom. 11.36 Rev. 22.13 Error 4. The Will of Man is effentially free and essentially a Rational Appetite Confut. The Will of Man is essentially rational and intellectual◠but neither essentially free nor essentially an Appetite For if it be essentially free then there can be no Hell And if it be essentially an Appetite then there can be no Heaven Damned Men are Men and in them is perfect intellectual human Will as to natural Substance but no free Will. They cannot be holy and happy if they would Luke 16.26 All Freedom and Liberty is either temporal or eternal in the Damned is neither they cannot but implacably hate God and will Annihilation rather than eternal Damnation In the state of perfect Felicity there shall be in all blessed Men perfect rational and intellectual Will but no Appetite no Desire no Wish no want of any good thing but perfect Satisfaction Rest and Pleasure for ever Psal 17.15 Error 5. The Divine Law is twofold of Works and of Faith or the old and the new Law. Confut. The Divine Law is but one as God the Author of it is one admitting of just Conception but no Division The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ Joh. 1.17 Here the Law and Grace as also Moses and Christ are opposed yet not as contraries but as divers not as Satan and Christ but as subservient and supream Moses as God's Minister delivers the Law by which is the knowledg of Sin and Condemnation due for the same to all the natural Off-spring of fallen Adam And thus the Ministry of Moses and the Law as distinct from and relatively opposed to the Grace of the Gospel in Christ is a killing Letter and the Ministration of Death and Condemnation by reason of Sin in us 2 Cor. 3.6 7 8 9 10. The Law and Moses is not Jesus Christ they cannot purchase for us and bestow on us Gospel-repentance Pardon of Sin Peace of Conscience and eternal Redemption This is utterly above Moses and the Law as distinct from Christ by themselves to effect But now Jesus Christ as distinct from and relatively opposed to Moses and the Law is very God the Son incarnate the Word made Flesh Joh. 1.14 and as such is Mediator and as Mediator he doth purchase the Church with his own Blood and doth obtain for and freely bestow on Abel Peter and the rest of the Elect heavenly Righteousness Faith Repentance Pardon of Sin Perseverance and eternal Redemption These are the highest Blessings and Priviledges in respect whereof Christ as Mediator is to be worshipped with supream Worship otherwise he is a meer Man nothing differing from Moses and our whole Faith is a Lie. Thus the Law and the Gospel are distinct and Faith in Christ doth not abolish but doth establish God's Law Rom. 3.31 Psal 19. and Psal 119. CHAP. XVII Of the Ministry and Church-Discipline 1. THere may be a Church where is no Minister or Pastor but there cannot be a Church without a just esteem of Pastors and Ministers and care to have one where one is wanting Where two or three are gathered together in Christ's Name there is he in the midst of them And where is Christ the Head 〈◊〉 Saints his Members by Faith and Invocation there is a Church both Name and Thing tho there be no Pastor or Minister But those may not be said to be gathered together in Christ's Name who disesteem and contemn Pastors and Ministers 2. Where Ordination may be had consistent with Faith and Piety there it is to be had and they who invade the Ministerial Office without it have no due Call from God he never sent them such Persons do greatly offend against the Order and Unity of God's Church and chosen People and are not to be owned and countenanced in their evil way Where Ordination cannot be had consistent with Faith and Piety there it is not to be had There if a Door be opened for preaching the Gospel one not ordained being able for the Work and faithful may preach baptize give the Lord's Supper and do the whole Ministerial Office with purpose to have Ordination so soon as with Faith and Piety it can