any thing else my very sayings at first delivered and after repeated do shew the falsness of thy charge they were these That though the Scriptures be the absolute rule and medium according to which faith is begotten and regulated yet Jesus Christ himself as therein declared is made the foundation and bottome of it as well as the object in whom the father is beleeved in That here taken for granted about the Scriptures is far from denying him what it affirms him to be And if as in the Answer I writ and leâ—t for thee to that charge If I say I had said That they are the absolute and perfect means through which the preaching of faith is discovered and so faith begotten that is far from denying other means It only saith as that Psal 19. They as compared withall other are perfect as is more at large in that Answer Many more I say of thy slanders might be discovered But what should I speak farther of thy slandering us thou hast as grosly belyed the Apostles themselves as in that Rom. 10. 8. where thou sayest The Apostles preached the word and faith in the heart of them to whom they preached whereas the Text saith not the word and faith But the word of faith which they preached and of that he saith not simply It was in their heart either as dwelling or received there But that it was nigh them in their heart c. And speaks there expresly of such a nighness of it in their heart as is to men in the preaching of it even before faith of and in it be effected in them and that they might beleeve c. saying The word is nigh thee in thy heart that if thou shalt beleeve c. I might mention many more of thy abuses of them whose doctrine thou wouldst pervert to colour or countenance thy vain visions out of thy own heart yea our Saviour himself thou slanderest to that purpose as will appear in making good the next part of what I do in the presence of God charge thee with which is That perverting the Gospel of Christ to that purpose and pretending spirit and immediate call to it also thou preachest or bearest witness of another Jesus than he whom they the Apostles as well as also the Prophets that have spoken to us in the Name of the Lord have preached and born their testimony to and movest us to listen to another Spirit that we have not received in the hearing of faith and bringest another doctrine or message which we have not accepted nor the Prophets and Apostles of the Lord delivered or spoken of yea so contrary to theirs that they cannot stand together which when he that cometh to or amongst any of us doth we have good cause then especially to be jealous over one another and such jealousie may be born with and have then also more especially need to strive together for the faith of the Gospel having also so good incouragement hope and strength therein That we need bee in nothing terrified by our Adversaries though they charge us with having a Devil as they did our Master and speak great swelling words of vanity promising liberty to them that will listen to them First That thou preachest another Jesus c. appears in this 1 The Jesus to whom thou bearest witness is one or something that is not already come in the flesh but still and daily comâ—â—g and as with reference to some persons not yet having come or appeared at all to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself It s something whose appearing in the flesh suffering or offering himself to bear our sins as a sacrifice for them was not perfectly finished at once and in that one person of Jesus of Nazareth so as not to be made or accomplished over again neither in the same nor in any other person which did fully appear in thee and Richard Farnsworth witnessing his coming in the flesh his offering himself to bear sin and as the sacrifice for it to be or to have been accomplâ—shed in your persons in some late operations in and upon you which also you signified to be such as we were yet strangers to And now in thiâ— thy Letter thou chargest us with denying Christ come in the flesh because we affirmed That appearing or coming of his in the flesh to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself to be finished in that one person Jesus of Nazareth and so now past and not accomplished in thee or any other person Whereas the Jesus of whom they bore witness is one person distinct from all other that needeth not daily to offer himself or as those former Priests daily to offer sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself Heb. 7. 27. he did not â—or doth offer himself often for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world hath hee appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed to men once to dye which evidently speaks of the natural and first death which in the ordinance or appointment of God passed on all men in one when sin entred into the world in that one offence for as much as all therein sinned Rom. 5 12-18 and once seizeth on every individual so as in that death that came by Gods appointment on men as sinful men from Adam considered they indeed dye but once even so Christ was once offered not many times or in many Ages but then once in the last Ages as also is shewed before to bear the sins of many even of all men that in one were appointed to dye when they and their offences were multiplied into many Note that he saith not To bear sins in many for then also the offering could not have been â—iâ—â—shed at once but must have been often iterated but now once one dyed for all not in all or in that sense in any other person but did himself bear our sins in his own body to the Tree c. Heb. 9. 24 25 26 27 28. 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Hee dyed once and can dye no more Rom. 6. 9 10. Rev. 1. 18. nor is there another offering to be made or that to be made over again But with that one offering in that his own body made and finished once for all he is set down for ever on the right hand of God a Prince and Saviour as before also in the beginning of this discovery is shewed read Heb. 10. 1-12 Against the truth of which and to introduce such a Jesus as is daily appearing and offering himself to bear our sins and make propitiation for them in men you perverâ—ed such Scriptures as tell us of Gods being made to serve with mens sins and wearied with their iniquities Isa 43. 24. And being pressed with them as a cart is pressed with sheaves Amos 2. 13.
his Revelation in this conclusion surely here is something more plain than in all before viz. That they are bewitching Simon Maguses Sorcerers and preach another Gospel contrary to what Christ hath preached that pu◠people upon a Christ Crucified without them notwithstanding they are in their filthiness and first nature c. See more at large in the conclusion of his Queries For answer to it let us see what Jesus Christ and his Apostles have preached as to this The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost for God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son the Saviour of the World and to be so lifted up as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness as an Object prepared for the healing of all that have sinned and must dye that whosoever beleeveth in him as so lifted up before them should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved and Jesus Christ by the Grace of God tasted Death not in but for every man and gave himself a Ransom to God for all men he gave his Flesh for the life of the World and is the Mediator between God and Man the standing Propitiation not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole World and a testimony unto men in due time having himself in his own Body not in our Bodies born our sins to the Tree he dyed the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit c. When we were Sinners and without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly Surely if men had been pure or might by any other means have seen God Christ should not have dyed for them This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners c. Search the Scriptures Neither doth this Doctrin lead men to neglect or slight the washing of Regeneration or the forming of Christ in the knowledge and faith of him in what hee hath done is become and will do and so in the vertues and saving operations of him in the heart But on the other hand both urgeth the absolute necessity of it according to the means and capacities thereto vouchsafed for if men could have entred th◠Kingdom without another Birth he would never have been at such cost for the opening a Fountain of Pardon and purging to wash us in and also shews the only open door way and means to it and by which it may be effected viz. His Name through faith in it which things considered it will appear They are but the reproaches of them that reproach him that herein fall on us which we desire patiently and joyfully to bear Th◠Moore junior POST-SCRIPT SInce my writing the Premises I have met with the Queries fore-inserted in Print published among other such stuff by some that are ashamed of their Name or know not what to call themselves or else as is likely refused to subscribe those Queries because they had delivered them into the hands of many others of their young Disciples in severall places as well as to Tho. Biddall to be given forth as their own immediate revelations the property of their spirit being to reveal Questions without any substantial or certain Answers and having done so now to have subscribed to them James Parnell or any other particular name would have rendered T. B. in one place and some others in other places Lyars in pretending them theirs In that in Print by them the superscription is much altered and many of the Tearms in the Queries their spirit it seems on better advisement sometimes findes cause to alter his expressions and tearms I mention it to shew that wherein they glory they are found as others They have also waved their Rayling conclusion and in its room added a sixteenth Query to those I had viz. What that Grace of God is that bringeth Salvation and hath appeared to all men c. For Answer to that I refer the Reader to the Preface where I have shewed How that Doctrin of the Grace of God bringeth Salvation to all men and so appearing unto them directly strikes against and overthrows the foundation of all their imaginations And that indeed they beleeve no such thing as the Grace of God appearing to men and bringing Salvation to them as a thing wrought in another for them and thence and therewith moving in saving operations but do put in the room of it the fancy of some Grace Light Disposition or Quality discovered revived or stirred up in a man to be the Author and Finisher of their imaginary Salvation and so at the best seek to establish a righteousness of their own mean while not submitting to but stumbling at the righteousness of Christs Which also further appears in their Rayling on the directing men to a Christ Crucified for them without them while they were yet sinners see the conclusion of their Queries as fore-inserted compare with this that which immediatly follows that sixteenth Query fore-mentioned as now published by them viz. The light in your Conscience the tru◠Teacher and that as opposed to Teachers from without So in the Title Page of that Book it is called A direction to all to turn their mindes within c. Now that which is always and at all times within cannot properly be said to be brought to a man And here also the considerate Reader may see how falsly the Querist in some Queries set before these in the Book fore-mentioned pretends tó disown That the light he boasts of is Natural or naturally in a man doubtless their imaginations of its being always in men as a Habit or in-dwelling Principle while yet they have received nothing of that given from above how much soever disappearing and whether they call it first or second nature do render it such as likewise is shewed in the Preface where the vanity and filthiness of these Dreamers that commend to every one the Visions of their own heart and teach them to follow their own spirit that yet have seen nothing as Ezek. 13. 3. and yet call that Spirit and the Word of the Lord as those Isa 4. that would eat their own Bread and wear their own Apparrel only bee called by his Name to take away their reproach is discovered Nor is it unusual for these spirits to pretend highly against a thing for advantage to their design when yet in their hearts or bottom Principles they justifie or allow it or on the other hand to pretend as much for a thing that in heart they are enemies to and their Principles strike against as I could clearly evince were it not for brevity sake The Reader may see a little in J. N's Letter to me where he admonisheth those he calls blinde Guides to search the Scriptures and
put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself had been manifested and accomplished in him yea that Death in which it is appointed to men once to dye was past in him Christs second appearing without sin to Salvation manifested and accomplished in him with much of that nature and that hee that could not witness that with him was Antichrist and did deny Christ come in the Flesh In Answer to which we oft-times offered and desired liberty to manifest and prove to the people That the one offering of Christ to bear our sins and to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself it was accomplished and finished in one Person not in many and once at one time or Age of the World nor at divers times and that the Second appearing of Christ is not yet accomplished in or to any person nor shall be in this day nor till to all together but we could get no liberty but were filled with Raylings Reproaches and Revilings from divâ—rs of them together in such manner as I never heard from any so we last them and what hath passed since with the sum of what was then asserted and maintained by us I have published in the following Discourse with some Queries I had from others of them and the Answers to them annexed for these Reasons 1 They did then as we have shewed here and in the following Discourse grosly slander us almost in all we said and would not suffer the people to hear what was said in answer to their slanders and have still persisted in managing them against us and the truth pleaded for by us where they come by word and writing as may also be fully seen in J. N. his Letter with my Answer to it in which Answer I have largely opened our Principles as to the things discoursed of that they that read may understand what they are and how falsly charged by them 2 As also that it may appear how they stand in direct opposition to and shew the vanity falseness and evil of the bottome principles of both Quakers and Ranters in which they are both one Which I have the rather done to vindicate the Doctrine of the grace of God in Christ that bringeth salvation to all men from those foul aspersions cast on it by some yea I have seen them in print in which it s charged with laying or administring foundation for those filthy and ungodly principles the falseness of which charge is manifest in the following Discourse yea it appears that which is in express terms fought against and reproached by them is the asserting the great benefits prepared for men in Christ and redounding to them by Christ while yet lying in their wickedness and thence directing them to look to a Christ crucified for them while they were yet sinners and in their filthiness The truth is They acknowledge not the grace of God in the Death and Resurrection of Christ as accomplished in that his own body â—â— being the foundation of or bringing salvation to men all or any but would lay another foundation or overthrow that though they can do neither by directing men to look into themselves and to what is witnessed or wrought in them for all their consolation rejoycing direction c. yea it s their counsel to all men I have often heard it and seen it in many of their Papers even to such as they then judged to be yet wallowing in their filthiness turned out from the presence of God murdering the just one in them â—igh to cursing c. yet to turn the eye inward to look and take diligent heed to the light in them to the book of their conscience c. and that in opposition to and to take them off from looking unto Jesus and the works wrought in his body for them without them and to such looking or attention to him in and through the testimony â—â—â— hath given by the one mouth of his holy Apostles and Prâ—phâ—ts and left on record for us They in their foolish and vain imaginations while professing to be wise being so besotted as to imagine that one person of the Son of God in the nature of man and the works done in his own body and the manifestation of God in him and therein testified to be but some farther types and figures of the true light the very Christ and that to be something naturally in every man naturally I say for so it must be if affirmed to be in every man while yet none of them have received nor are they ever directed by them to look to or for any supernatural grace whether they talk of first or second nature yet both are natural to the man and naturally in him and of him according to their principles only the best or second nature which they direct to look to that in the witness and operation of it as in them they may have righteousness strength and direction is something dis-appearing they say through the fall yet not much dis-appearing it seems when if they do but turn the eye inward they shall presently see and meet with it as the first mover and teacher appearing and yet such a thing too as no man hath benefit by till he can witness it in him they are indeed foolish and inconsistent apprehensions as well as most Antichristian and ungodly but their folly and evil is not so manifested and detected by any other spirit or doctrine as by the testimony of Jesus as the Son of God the Saviour of the world and that doctrine of the grace of God in him bringing salvation to all men when rightly held according to the Scriptures Tit. 2. 11 12. For as that holds forth that very Jesus the only immediately begotten Son of God that was before us all even from everlasting with the Father by whom and for whom all things were made which in the fulness of times was sent forth made of a woman made under the Law for us in that one body c. and therein delivered to death raised and exalted according to the Scriptures to beindeed the very Christ The Savior of the world the true light that lightens every man that comes into the world that with his vertues and influences fills all things for the good and salvation of mankind and so instructs and directs al the ends of the earth to look to him and the grace of God in by through him bringing salvation to all men and be saved so it therein in the same light of the Lord cryes concerning them All flesh is grass surely the people is grass Isa 40. 6 7. Men are altogether strangers to that wisdome and strength by which they might be reconciled to God the way of peace they know not yea thaâ— wisdome is not to be found in the land of beliâ—ing Rom. 3. 10 11-19 Job 28. 12 13 c. They are without God in the world and strangers to the life of God Eph. 4. 18. and 2. 1â— They are dead in sins and
to death for our offences and raised again for our justification In him as so considered God was manifest in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached to the Gentiles beleeved on in the world and received up into glory And that this Scripture speaks of these great things of the mystery of godliness as done onely in that one person I propounded this consideration for one That the word that is immediately prefixed and especially applicable to the first clause is in the Preterperfectense or in the time past God was not God is he was manifest in the flesh yea the phrase of the last clause renders that as a thing also done and finished in the person spoken of He is received up into glory And surely In that person and in him only this is absolutely true God is in the nature of man even in the flesh in which he descended received up into glory not now receiving or to be received but now already received up into glory set down on the right hand of Majesty on the Throne of glory in the heavens Consider I pray you how suitable to this understanding of the last and first clauses is that which is affirmed of this person Heb. 9. 24 25 26. Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true But into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us nor yet that he should offer himself often as the former high Priests entred into the holy place every year with blood of others hee needeth not daily to offer up sacrifice for this he did once Heb. 7. 27 for then also must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the last Ages of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself even as it s appointed unto men once to dye so Christ was once offered not in many Ages or divers times but once in the last Ages when men were multiplied into many whereas they were but one when the ordinance of death passed on them yet in that one it passed on the whole kind so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many even of all of that kind all men every of the nature he took then when they and their offences were multiplied into many he saith not to bear sins in many for then indeed he must often have suffered But now once he was offered in his own body even that so and then prepared him Chap. 10. 5-10 to bear the sins of many Then was God in Christ condemning sin in the flesh yea then and therein when one dyed not in but for all and rose again Then was God in Christ reconciling the world not imputing their trespasses to them but causing them to meet together on him 2 Cor. 5. 14. 15 19. with Isa 53. 6. Rom. 8. 3. 1 Pet. 2. 24. And raising him and giving him glory as the publick man that by and through him our faith and hope might be in God 1 Pet. 3. 18. and 1. 21. with these and that 1 Tim. 3. 16. compare that Joh. 13. 31 32. See how our Savior there directs us to the person in whom the time and works in which God was so manifested and glorified in the flesh and did straightway after the finishing of these works glorifie it in that person even then faith our Savior when Judas was gone out to betray him when he was presently to finish those works the Father gave him to do on earth yea his soul was already in trouble Joh. 12. 27. now saith he even in that his being made an offering for sin is the Son of Man glorified and the Father is glorified in him If God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himself and shall straightway glorifie him Then and therein was the Son of man glorified in his being appointed and set as the surety in that publick place that by the grace of God he should tast death for every man he was therein said to be crowned with glory and honor above all other persons among Men or Angels for no man could redeem his Brother nor give to God a ransom for his soul the Redemption of the soul is more precious neither was there any other thing or person in Heaven or Earth that was counted worthy but this Holy One Herein was the Son of man glorified And so in Gods supporting him and carrying him through so great sufferings when all our sins met together on him Psal 40. 11 12 16 17. Heb. 5. 7 9. Likewise in Gods giving so glorious a testimony to him at his death Mat. 26. 50 54. And in his Resurrection from the dead This Jesus who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness Rom. 1. 3 4. In these things the Son of man was glorified and â—o the Father glorified in him in the exercise and agreement of all his holy and glorious Attributes his Wisdom Holiness Truth Mercy Goodness Power c. for manssalvation God was manifested in the flesh condemning sin and yet therein preparing Attonement and Propitiation for sinners and straight-way after the finishing of these works in his own body the father who glorified him in himself in his own Power Name and Glory declaring himself satisfied in and for what he delivered him raising him from the dead in which he was justified in the Spirit or according to the Spirit of Holiness did further and fully and perfectly glorifie him in the same body in receiving him up to glory and setting him on his own right hand in the Heavens far above all Principality and Power Might and Dominion and every name that is named not onely in this world but in that to come and hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him then distinct from him in his personal body now raised and glorified yet they in that to be done in and upon them are the filling up or compleating of him in the ends and vertues of his cross who as so considered namely in the ends and vertues of his cross filleth all things as Ephes 3. 8 10 but he gave himself for hâ—s Church for all that through his grace to man-ward come in to him That he might wash them with the washing of water by the word that so he might in the issue present it to himself as he now presents it in himself before the Father a glorious Church without spot or wrinckle Eph 5. 25-27 and ch 1. 20 21 22 23. 1 Pot. 3. 22. Phil. 2. 6-11 Joh. 17. 1-5 Col. 2. 9. Read these Scriptures and compare them and see how they explicate and agree with the explication given of that 1 Tim. 3. 16. And after some little Discourse to this purpose demonstrating
cunningly devised fables but the Apostles were eye witnesses of his Majesty c. And to what they said had also the testimony of the sure word of Prophecy saying nothing but what they said should come to pass 2 Pet. 1. 15 16-19 Act. 26. 22 23. Yea the ministry committed to the Apostles is given as the dispensation of the fulness of times in which God hath gathered together all things that before lay scattered in divers witnesses types and figures into one even in Christ Jesus For God who at sundry times or in many parts and divers manners spake to the Fathers by the Prophets hath now in these last days spoken to us by his Son whom he hath made heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds who being the brightness of his glory c. When he had observe the Text by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high That person and the righteousness accomplished in and by him for us and remaining in that person in the Heavens with the Father shall never be abolished The Heavens and Earth in the state in which now they stand shall wax old as a garment and be folded up yea they shall be changed and renewed But not so this person and the vertue of the works done in his body he is the same and his years fail not or change yea to him as so delivered to death for our offences and raised again for our Justification and now glorified in our nature hath he put in subjection the world to come of which the Apostles have spoken Ephes 1. 10. Hebr. 1. tot 2. 1 5-8 9. That Temple those Sacrifices c. were indeed the figures of the true and therefore iterated because they could not make the commers perfect but that one offering made in that one body then and so prepared for him as before and so the power and glory of God which he thereby and therein invested within our nature this is the Truth it self the end of all types and figures and therefore no more to be iterated because he is able with that one offering and in that name and glory of the Father he is thereby invested with to save to the utmost all that come to God by him yea he is so in Heaven the Savior of all men especially of them that beleeve And therefore neither is there another manner of preaching to be given but his presence promised with that to the end of the world Matth. 281. 8 19 20. Yea that preaching as so given shall be even so confirmed and all the Truth and Glory of God gloriously and fully manifested in that person as there declared in his second and glorious Appearance when he shall frustrate the tokens of the Lyars and make the Diviners mad Isa 44. 25 26 and 8. 11-16-20 2 Thes 1. 6-10-12 For they have declared the thing plainly as it is and fully so that we in coming to this ministration or dispensation of the fulness of times and so to know beleeve and hope in Christ according to it are not come to another Sinai but to Sion to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem c. even so as by faith in and according to the Gospel as now come forth we receive therein a Kingdom that cannot be moved but shall even so stand for ever and be fully revealed and given to us as herein it is received by faith wherefore let us hold fast grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear untill he receive us to glory with him as he hath said For our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12. 22 28 29. He that will not hear that Prophet shall be cut off no other message or messenger to be sent or means to be used by God for his help that being rejected nothing remains but vengeance to consume the Adversaries Surely then That Doctrine that preaches down that Jesus of Nazareth and the works done in that his own personal body as for us as they preached down Circumcision Temple Sacrifices as being but a further shadow of some truth or good things yet to come or to be found in some other thing or work in many persons is clearly another and contrary doctrine and tends to overthrow the Doctrine Faith and Hope of our Lord Jesus Christ as declared by the one mouth of his holy Apostles and Prophets since the world began and therefore not to be followed but held as execrable by us neither are we to bid them to house or bid them God speed that bring it after knowledge of them to be such he that so doth is partaker of all their evil deedâ— yea we are to avoid and turn away from such Having therefore clearly and fully to my own satisfaction I speak as in the sight and presence of God discerned thee to be one of those strangers that bring such a strange voyce or doctrine as the sheep are not to listen to Yea so contrary to the true Shepheards voyce as even to the introducing another Jesus another Spirit another Gospel c. as before is shewed and having also according to my weakness now discovered it from what I have under thy hand I shall refuse further to meddle or have to do with thee unless I shall perceive in thee what I much desire if it may be though I have little hope of it viz. some perception of the evil and danger of thy way and thy heart inclined to turn to the Lord from whom thou hast deeply revolted In the perception of which in thee or any other deceived by thee or in such deceits I should surely much rejoyce and have to that end thus endeavored it THO. MOORE A Preface to the Relation of the following Queries and the Answer to them by Thomas Moore MEEting accidentally a little before the meeting at Mr. Wrayâ—s with several papers some directed to my self and some others yet not sent to me but dispersed into the hands of divers which are filled with nothing else but proud boastings of themselves the Indicters of them and of their light or spirit and rayling accusations against others And some directed to Alice Morden and others which are chiefly Queries without laying down in any of them any positive answer or discovery of their judgement unless in the close by reproaching the acknowledgment of one that dyed for all the just for the unjust bearing our sins in his own body to the tree And intimately all the way scoffing at the promise of and waiting for his coming again rendering that and the hope then to be revealed as a thing made or accomplished in men and in this day yet not plainly laying down their principles if they have any as to these things indeed it evidently appears to me they are of no judgement concerning the faith meeting I say with these papers at a place near Cambridge I was desired to give some answer to them The first
in respect of the Declarations but in respect of the declarers also as Isa. 40. There is a clear Prophecy of the Fore-runner and of his work and message vers 3-8 Then in the following verses of the more full coming forth of the glorious Gospel by Jesus Christ and his Apostles So Isa. 44 26. He shall confirm the word of his Servant and perform the councel of his Messengers with apt allusion to which see Heb. 2 â— speaking of the great salvation he saith which began to be preached by the Lord himself who is that servant Isa 42. 1. and was confirmed by them that heard him which were his Messengers or Apostles for obedience to the faith among all Nations Rom. 1. 5. So Isa 8. speaking Prophetically of the first Personal Appearing of the Messiah both in that Chapter and Chap. 7. 14. and how therein he should be born of a Virgin c. And then be also a Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence to both houses of Israel as he was in that his Appearing coming in such a despicable manner as they looked not for With reference to that time he saith the testimony of him should be bound up among his Disciples the Law or Doctrine sealed and confirmed among them and so by them and in their records to us all Nations â—ince as appears in that with reference to that testimony and doctrine so bound up and sealed among them he by and by admonisheth us To the Law and to the Testimonie with every spirit if they speak not according to that Word it is because there is no light in them And it farther appears it is to be applied to his immediate Disciples in his personal ministration and to those that were immediately begotten by him and received their message and furniture immediately from him in that concerning himself and them together he saith Behold I and the children which God hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel which in like expreâ—â—ions is peculiarly applied to those Apostles that peculiarly and immediately was given him out of the world for children Job 17. 6 8 18. and 21. 5. And so he and they together in their ministration and records left and setforth as it were men appointed to death For they are made a spectacle to the world to Anâ—els to men c. 1 Cor. 49. Likewise other where they are prophesied of as to the Nation or Family of which they should proceed even of the Jews that should bâ—ing the last and fullest revelation of the Gospel unto all Nations That they should be of the Tabernacles of David that should be reared up among the Gentiles Amos 9. 11. with Act. 15. 13. c. That Saviors should come upon mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau Obad. last So saith our Saviour also Salvation is of the Jews the Gospel came intirely and wholly out from them and was by them brought to the Gentiles 1 Tim. 3. 16. nor are we to listen to or wait for any new or farther revelation to be given forth in the time of this mortality or from the Gentiles for the word of the Lord came not nor cometh first or immediately from them but to them only 1 Cor. 14. 36 37. And that these Scriptures of the Prophets written aforetime and commandments of the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour are the infallible and things contained in the Scriptures may use this as an argument but themselves destroy the validity of it for they cannot see the streightness and agreement of his words but set them together by the ears and being unlearned and unstable in the great things of his Doctrine do necessarily pervert things hard to be understood and mangle the word of God to their own destruction Isa 28. 12 13. 2 Pet. 3. 16. But the word of God is true from the beginning and demonstrates its excellency of truth rightness and harmony from the original of it the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie and every one of his righteous judgements indureth for eveâ— He that beleeveth shall neither make haste nor be ashamed Psal 119. 160. Isa 28. 16. with 1 Pet. 2. 6 7. 2 All things standing and continuing to this day according to the Ordinances therein set them Psal 119. 89 90 91. 3 Their perfect and acute declaring the end from the beginning as in their several times they have come and do come to pass Isa 46 9 10. with Chap. 41. 22 23. and 43. 12. Joh. 16. 4. with Chap. 14. 25 26. 2. Pet. 1. 12 13. to the end with Chap. 3. 1 2 3. 1 Tim. 4. 1. Matth. 24. 25. We might have demonstrated the truth and validity of these Arguments in divers instances to each of them but it would make this work too tedious I am ready by Gods grace to do it when it shall bee required by any I might also have mentioned many more secondary Arguments of like import which God himself useth for confirming and strengthning the beleever and furnishing him to stop the mouths of gain-sayers with that faithful word but I forbear In these Scriptures of truth God hath written to us excellent things in counsels and knowledge that he might make us know the certainty of the words of truth that our trust may be in the Lord according to them and that we may have them to answer all sent to us with Prov. 22 17-21 In them hath he made known the mystery of his will the whole counsel of God that is to be or may be revealed unto mortal men even in those Scriptures that Timothy had been instructed into and known from his youth 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. Eph. 1. 9. Act. 20. 27. Rom. 16 25 26. But then also 3 For bringing this teaching of God contained in these books near unto us in a way suitable to our need and weakness God hath provided another â—xpedient namely By giving gifts to men in the hearty beleef of his testimony and receiving the love of it so as to save them though yet they are of like passions and infirmities with others yet therein furnished them with such gifts as may be for the profit of others to every one of those that are in any measure truly or throughly reconciled to God by Jesus Christ is given grace some gracious gift for the benefit of others the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one of them even some distinct understanding of the Spirits testimony concerning Christ so as they are helped to discern and know what God hath given them in Christ and this for the profit of others that they may each according to his measure be useful one to another and to others through the Spirit in administring some gift for teaching opening or stirring up in the Grace of God Jesus Christ now being ascended on high And having received all immeasurable fulness of gifts in the man and for men that in or through the dispensation of them men might be prepared