further to consider wherefore the Lord sent them forth from the Garden Which was Least he should put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life Gen. 3.22 By which words we are to take notice that God doth positively declare that he did not know what Man would do till he proved and tryed him and saw what was in Man And Therefore least he should also take of the Tree of Life and eat and Live forever God having before pronounced Death for his offence God sent him out of the Garden These words we are to take in the plain Letter of the Text. That God did not then know what Man would do And this God declaring we are bound to believe In as much as it is impossible for God to ly Heb. 6.18 But many by not rightly apprehending these forementioned places have laid the generality of the world under Eternal Damnation by a fore sight in God of Adams transgression Notwithstanding God hath fully declared that when he saw that the wickedness of Man was great upon the Earth and that man had wholly corrupted his way except Noah It repented the Lord that he had made Man on the Earth and it grieved him at his Heart Gen. 6.5,6,9,12 And this we are to take in the plain Letter of the Text without we will blaspheme his Holy Name in making the God of Truth a lyer which is impossible for him to be Heb. 6.18 And when God promiseth a Blessing whether conditional or absolute according as he hath promised he will make it good Hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good For God is not a man that he should lye nor the Son of Man that he should repent Numb 23.19 But upon man's returning God is often said to Repent of the Evil he thought to do unto them So likewise of a Blessing when it is promised on condition and the condition not performed Jer. 18.8,9,10 And it was after God had proved and tryed man he saw what was in man And seeing our great High-Priest could not be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities till he took our Nature Heb. 4.15 So it was much more impossible that God who is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity with approbation could be cumbred with the foresight of all the abominations and wicked stratagems of the Devil or Man before they were created or the World in which man offended And the God of Truth having sworn that he delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner but rather that he should return and live Ezek. 33.11 And how can this be true if God had reprobated the generality of all Mankind from all Eternity And likewise God saith The Soul that sinneth it shall dye the Son shall not bear the iniquity of the Father Ezek. 18.20 that is when they come to be judged And accordingly it is said when they are judged That every one shall receive for the things done in the Body whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 For Christ will then condemn none for the Sin of Adam's Transgression the which we call Original Sin for which we have laid the greater part of the World under Eternal Damnation by a foresight in God of Adams transgression And it is by the false Notions which the Christians have received through the mistaken places of Scripture which has caused several to deny the Lord Christ to be the Son of God knowing that the God of Truth would not send his Son and the Servant of his Son to contradict what he had before declared for tho' our Faith in some things may be above our Reason but not contrary to Reason And tho' it is said He that planted the Ear shall he not hear he that formed the Eye shall he not see Psal 94.7.9 This is spoken only to the time after Man had a being and when they transgressed and thought God did not see But in that God said when Man had corrupted himself that it repented him that he had made Man and that it grieved him at his heart Therefore with permission I speak this it being not improbable that if Man had fallen no otherwise then in Adam's transgression that then Christ by taking our Nature and therein performing perfect Obedience he might thereby have satisfied Divine Justice without making his Soul an Offering for Sin Which made the Lord Christ desire of God that if it were possible that Cup might pass from him But it being impossible that God's justice could be otherwise satisfied therefore he drank it and God was troubled that Man had so corrupted himself as to fall under his severe Condemnation he having no pleasure in the Death of a Sinner Ezek. 18.32 But many by their false apprehensions that all things were fore-ordained before the Creation making no distinction between the great difference that is betwixt the Creation of the World and the meaning of the Foundation of the World and by several mistaken places Whereby they have made the wonderful Love of God in the gift of his Son only a thing fore-determined according to the Counsel of his own Will and that from all Eternity And the wonderful Love of Christ in laying down his Life for the World which Love passeth Knowledge has been made a design in God that thereby some might be saved and the rest damned And these conjectures some have had of God who is the Fountain of all Wisdom Love and Justice as to think that God from all Eternity elected some without Reason and left the rest to eternal Damnation without having any regard to Reason Pity or Love But when such come to be judged they will find that God has a reason for what he doth And some there are that hold that God hath two Wills an outward Will to invite all to come and accept of Salvation and a secret Will that only the Elect shall be saved Which Notions were no other then Blasphemy against the God of Truth were they wilfully committed And because most of the received mistaken Notions will not permit God a Reason for what he doth therefore the foresaid Elias Thomas Moor pretending to vindicate God's justice more than the others saith God not making the Angels that fell nor Man at first of ability to stand and therefore he saith God in Justice cannot punish Man in Hell nor leave the Devil to damnation And were this true that God did not at first make the Angels that fell and Man of ability to stand I should be of his mind also in thinking it could not be justice in God to condemn them to the Fire of Hell for doing that which he had before determined But now the Prince of Darkness through our mistaken Notions by the false Interpretations put upon the Scriptures has compleated his design in throwing his miscarriage and the World 's upon God that thereby Man might be as wicked as the Devil would have them Concerning Adam's Fall I
blind to thy self such are full of Darkness and then how great is that Darkness Mat. 6.22,23 for that leads to utter Darkness But for some there is a Redemption in the World to come for all that dyed in Adams Transgression will be cleared from Original Sin by Christ 1 Cor. 15.22 and so a Redemption for all Children in time to come For then the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the Iniquity of the Son the Soul that sinneth it shall Dye Ezek. 18.20 But in this time it is only the Children of the Believer is Holy 1 Cor. 7.14 before they have committed actual Sin and the Believer is he that believes Salvation is to be had according to the words of Christ but at Judgment there is none Condemned but for the Deeds done in the Body 1 Cor. 5.10 and then all Children will be cleared and likewise all them unto whom God hath promised Mercy will then accordingly find Mercy as the Meek the Mercifull c. Mat. 5. and all that order their conversation aright Psal 50.23 and the Ignorant shall be beaten with fewer Stripes than those that wilfully offend Luke 12.47 And whereas it is said He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not Life 1 John 5.12 These Words do no ways exclude a Redemption by Christ for some in the World to come or Restoration but for some Sin there is neither forgiveness in this World nor in the World to come Mat. 12.32 1 Joh. 5.16 But whereas it is said Where the Tree falleth there it lieth thereby it shews that after Death we can no ways help our selves as we may now by Repentance and Amendment of Life but all that go into the Pit must there stay till they are brought to Judgment to receive their Sentence of release or final Condemnation but the coming of the Lord the raising of the Saints the judgment of this World and the restoration of Israel will be many Ages before the last Judgment when the Sea Hell and Death deliver up their Dead Rev. 10.12 In which God hath secret places for Souls which we know not of for all that go not to Heaven do not go to the Fire of Hell for what the Lord speaks by the Law and Gospel is but to them that are under it as I have proved and for them that are under the greater light they will fall under the greater Condemnation but whereas the Prophet prays Jer. 10.25 Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not on thy Name for they have eaten up Jacob and devoured him and consumed him and have made his Habitation Desolate The Prophets Petition here is only against those Heathens that devoured Jacob and laid wast his Dwelling Place The same also is said upon their like Cruelties in Psal 79.6,7 And whereas the Apostle saith The Lord will come to take Vengance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.8 And those are they that know not God that believe he will not Reward and Punish according to his Word VIII Concerning the drawings of God as to when and upon what account Christ then thus Spake NOW whereas the Lord saith No Man can come to him except the Father draw him John 6.44 And also the Lord saith in vers 65. No Man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father The Lord Christ hath here his reference to the then time in which he appeared as a mean Person which in Scripture is termed the form of a Servant and those that were then first called in had the more immediate drawings of God and the Words of the Lord here had their tendency to the Remnant with the rest of the Elect that were given him of his Father unto whom the Holy Ghost was afterwards given to be in them And therefore the Lord saith in the 45. vers It is written in the Prophets and they shall be all taught of God The Lord here having his reference to the time that the Holy Ghost should be given for the establishing of the Gospel Heb. 2.3,4 and as an earnest of their Inheritance in time to come Ephe. 1.14 And whereas the Lord saith Every Man that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me Whether the Lord in these Words meaneth only the Sheep that were his Fathers before and given to him or all them of Israel who then lived according to the rule of Gods Word for of such it may be said they were taught of God in that they were guided by his Precept and unto all that fear his Name in Israel was the Word of this Salvation sent Acts 13.26 But the Lord seems rather here to have his peculiar reference to them that was then given him by his Father but the reason the Lord speaketh thus mystically to them was because the Multitude had seen the great Miracle that he did in feeding Five Thousand with Four Loaves and Two Fishes Upon which the Multitude thought to have taken him by force and to have made him a King but the Lord knowing their thoughts went privatly from them and the Multitude seeking after the Lord which when they again had found him he then spake so mystically unto them that they could not understand him and therefore they said they were hard sayings who could bear them and from that time many of the Disciples went back and so the Lord brake their design of making him a King for his time to Reign was not then but these very Persons that did not then wilfully depart from him but went away because they could not then understand his sayings Christ said unto them in the 27. vers Labour not for the Meat which perisheth but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you Which was to those very Persons that sought after him to make him a King and who had eaten of the Loaves and were filled For though by those hard sayings the Lord brake their design yet from the Word of the Lord it is plain they were not to be forgotten by him And whereas the Lord saith vers 39. This is the Father's Will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing Again in the 40 vers And this is the Will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting Life That is every one that so believeth in the Son as to walk in the Precepts of the Son it is likewise the Father's Will that all such may have everlasting Life which is if they continue in well doing then will the Lord raise them up at the last Day which is the last Day of the Power of this wicked World For God is not willing that Man should perish but that they
the Scriptures are the rule of Faith And they being so the promised Reward is to be had by all that take hold of the offered Mercy according to the Conditions as it is there tendred And so not only the Elect but all believers will be partakers of the promised Mercy But in this latter Confession of Faith 1655. There they believe that Christ dyed only for the Elect. And that Faith comes from the gracious efficacious operation of the Holy Ghost which Illuminates their Souls and carries them to relie on the Mercy of God to be applied by the merits of Jesus Christ Yet they also in this Confession hold that good works are so necessary to the faithful that they cannot come to the Kingdom of God without doing of them And that they must keep the Commandments But tho' in this latter Confession they believe that their Faith in Christ Jesus doth come through the efficacious work of the Spirit of God in them the which is not unlikely because more of the gracious Influence of the Spirit is with them by reason they were to withstand all the fury of the Enemy and to continue to bear their Testimony against all the Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship of the Beast And also to walk in a holy and exemplary Conversation that thereby they might be a Light to the World As for Sins of Ignorance Sins of Infirmity Sins of Surprisal will not be laid to their charge they being kept from wilful and presumptuous Sins which is the great Transgression Psal 19.13 And as in their Articles they say This Church cannot be quite destroyed but that it will always remain This being according to what the Lord hath promised them they being the Church that the Lord prepared a place in the Wilderness and therefore they are of that Remnant or Sheep which were his Father 's before and given to him To whom he promised That none should pluck them out of his Hand John 10.27,28 Those are they to whom the Five Talents were given that according to their Day they might have ability to stand So that if any among them have at any time fallen into a loose or prophane Conversation or adhered to the Beast we may with St. John say They were not of them although they coinhabited with them in the Wilderness in the place the Lord prepared for them because they went out from them For had they been of that Fold to whom Christ made the forementioned Promise they would have continued with them 1 John 2.19 But Christ saith He hath Sheep of another Fold that are not to be brought into that Fold until such time there is but one Shephard and then there shall be but one Fold and one Shepherd Joh. 10.16 And that will be when the Lord again comes For tho' there was at the first publication of the Gospel a peculiar People chosen from among the Gentiles to the Praise of hiâ— Name yet at that time there was many Shepherds But those peculiar People of the Gentiles had not â— promise that none of them should be pluckt out of hiâ— hand and St. Paul cautions them fearing least the Serpent should beguile any of them 2 Cor. 11.3 But the Vaudois as well as we have lost the righâ— apprehension of this World which is to come thâ— knowledge of which was as a Light that shineth in â— dark place untill the Day dawn and the Day-Star 〈◊〉 rise in their Hearts which is an inherent perfect Righteousness will then be given when the Lord agaiâ— comes the which crowns Life to the Soul not onâ—… to the raised Saints but to Israel Isa 60.21 Thy Peopâ—… shall be all Righteous And also to the living Believer thâ—… longs for the Lords appearing to all such he will giâ—… the Crown of Righteousness at that Day 2 Tim. 4.8 The which things St Peter's care was they should always have in remembrance after his Decease 2 Pet. 1.15 He fearing least at any time they should let them slip which since for these many Years is come to pass they having lost the knowledge of these things But God having abounded in his Love to them in electing and forechosing them without their foreseen willing and running as he did likewise at the first publication of the Gospel choose a peculiar People from among the Gentiles to the praise of his Name Therefore the Vaudois as well as us by this their last Confession have thought that God had denied Man the freedom of Will to will his own good the which is quite contrary to what they held Two Hundred Years before the ancientest Acts they now have were made which were those in 1â—00 for Two Hundred Years before that time Claudius Bishop of Turin and of the Vallies writ sharply against all the Errors of the Church of Rome This Bishop maintained the Doctrine of St. Augustine concerning Grace as the late Author of the History of the Vaudois saith in Page 7. And Augustine tells us lib. de precat merit chap. 18. That it was the great care of every Orthodox Teacher in his time to take heed least they did so defend Grace as to deny Freewill and least they should so defend Freewill as to deny Grace And a good care it was and further the Author saith Neither is there I think to be found one of the ancient accounted Orthodox that hath maintained in the strict sence opposed that God commanded Men what they could not do with the common helps that he affordeth But all abhorred it as an Opinion laying high accusation upon God till many Years after Augustine altho' Augustine did fall into mistakes himself as to this point he not understanding how the Election ran And some of the Protestant Christians not apprehending the difference between the Eternal Life that Christ gave to his Sheep that were his Fathers before and given to him that unto them the Eternal Life was given to continue to their Persons and Posterity But the Eternal Life that Christ gave to every true Believer was no otherwise than whilst they did remain such they should never come into Condemnation for a Believer according to the Gospel is no longer a Believer than he yields to Christ his sincere Obedience Rom. 6.16 St Paul said to them that had embraced the Faith so as to yield Obedience unto Christ Know ye not that Christ is in you except you are Reprobates 2 Cor 13.5 That is except ye have rebelled by relinquishing your Obedience and so are become Reprobates as Israel formerly had done and therefore said of them Reprobate Silver shall Men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6.30 which rejection was for their Sin And the Prophet speaking of the Body of the People that had wilfully Transgressed saith All our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags and our Iniquities like the Wind have taken us away Jsa 64.6 And the People of Gods Curse to Judgment will be them that will wilfully persist to do the thing which the
TRVTH Vindicated Against All HERESIES SHEWING How the Seed of the Woman and the Seed of the Serpent is distinguished THE Woman cloathed with the Sun discovered she having the Moon under her Feet The Old and New Testament made to agree AND God's JUSTICE and MERCY Magnified LONDON Printed and Sold by Edward Pool at the Sign of the Half Moon under the Royal Exchange Abel Roper at the Black Boy over against St. Dunstan's Church Fleet-street Mr. Michael at the Crown and Cushion in Westminster-Hall And at Mercer's Chappel in Cheapside 1698. I have by God's assistance made plain the true meaning of this Text which I found to be much abused by one who in his Book saith He knows not but that he may be the Elias which was to come And he in his Book has thrown the miscarriage of the Devil and Man upon God upon the mistakes of this and some other mistaken places of Scripture By which mistaken places the Prince of Darkness has got wonderful advantage to the destruction of many thousand poor Souls I. Chap. GEN. 3.22 And the Lord God said Behold the man is become as one of us to know good and evil And now least he put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever Now in that God said Behold the Man is become as one of us to know goâ—… and evil That was the Man became like God in the knowledge of good and evil For God had the knowledge of good and evil to distinguish between the excellency of the one and the abomination of the other For God was of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity Hab. 1.13 That is to behold either the Pride or Malice of the Devil or the evil of Man with approbation And Adam and Eve when they had eaten of the forbidden Fruit they became ashamed of the Evil they had done whereby their Nakedness was discovered to them And so the Evil of Sin became disliked by them And in that Adam and Eve disliked Sin and liked Good therein they became like God in the knowledge of good and evil In that they disliked the one and loved the other tho' not in that perfect degree yet unto God it might bear a resemblance For Man was at first created in the Image of God yet infinitely short of the glorious perfection of God who is an unchangeable Being and beyond the Power of Satan's deceiving But Adam and Eve being ashamed of what they had done therein they were quite contrary to the Devil for he was without shame and without excuse For whatsoever Evil he commits he never is surprized or drawn into it but he always doth the worst of Evils with his best liking And whatever Wickedness he does he is the Father of it John 8.44 And not that the Evil of Sin was first determined by God as is falsly asserted by some Now Adam and Eve were beguiled and drawn into the Snare by the Devil And he endeavoured to ensuare our blessed Lord when he said If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written He shall give his Angels charge concerning thee and in their Hands they shall bear thee up least at any time thou dash thy Foot against a Stone Mat. 4.6 So likewise Satan used perswasions to Adam and Eve in setting forth how beneficial the eating of that Tree would be to them And then she apprehended it was a Tree to be desired to make one wise And Wisdom is pleasing to God and Man And he that hateth Understanding is a Fool 1 King 3.9,10 Prov. 1.22 And it was by Satan's plausible Insinuations that he deceived them he telling them They should be as Gods knowing Good and Evil. And that God did but threaten them and that they should not surely dye Gen. 3.4 So he beguiled them and they did eat but not as they had any dislike to good or delight in evil but the contrary for he perswaded them they should be like Gods or God and when they saw by what they had done that their Natures were defiled so as thereby their Nakedness did appear to them they were ashamed And where there remains Fear and Shame there remains a Child-like frame Now Adam beholding his Sin with fear and Shame Gen. 3.7.10 He thereby shewed his dislike to Sin And therefore God had compassion on Man and promised him a Saviour And in the State that Adam was then in God saw a probability that he might still take and eat of the Tree of Life and therefore the Lord sent him forth of the Garden least he should put forth his Hand and take also of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever Gen. 3.22,23 the which God before they had Sinned gave them free liberty to do Gen. 2.16 And therefore God determined not Mans miscarriage by not putting him in ability capable to stand as some have falsly imagined But God having said before to Adam that in the Day that he did eat of the Tree of knowledge of Good and evil he should surely die Gen. 2.17 And it being impossible for God to lye Heb. 6.18 Therefore God sent them out of the Garden least they should take hold of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever And God rather choosing to part with the Son of his Love from the Throne of his Glory to Suffer for Sinners his Love to his Creatures made that possible but for God to lye is impossible Therefore Adam for his transgression dyed in the day of a Thousand Years For one day is with the Lord as a Thousand Years and a Thousand Years as one day 2. Pet. 3.8 And for the Sin of Adam's transgression there was but the punishment of this Life and Death pronounced against them with a comfortable promise by the Seed of the Woman Gen. 3.15,16,17,18,19 but the Fire of Hell was not threatned to them neither was Hell Fire prepared for Man but for the Devil and his Angels Matt. 25.41 who before the Creation of the World rebelled 2. Now there is a great deal of difference in Scripture between the meaning of the Creation of the World and the Foundation of the World there being but one Creation of the World but several Foundations in as much as there was made several Worlds Heb. 1.2 As the Old World This World and the World that is yet to come All having several Foundations Adam being the Foundation of the Old World Noah the Foundation of this World And Abraham the Foundation of the World to come So as all that come in heirs to that World must come in as the Seed of Abraham Gal. 3.28 And as the Twelve Tribes are the Foundation of the World to come so the Twelve Apostles are said to be the Foundation of the Heavenly City having their names writ on the wall thereof Reve. 21.14 And the Twelve Tribes when they were brought out of Egypt to be placed in the Heart of the Earth and to