been performed by his personal acts there had then been no need of his Death and Passion the necessity whereof is declared by Christ himself Luk. 24.46 Thus it behoved the Christ to suffer and confirmed by the Apostle Acts 17.3 that the Christ must needs have suffered wherefore it must be concluded that the aforesaid blessings were not effected by the personal acts of Christ And therefore although the Confessor J. B. Epist presumeth a candid Christian may judge the root of the matter to be found in him it may from what hath been said be feared that the root is evil and then it is easie to judge what the branches will be But now in the second place let us see wherefore the aforesaid Article is believed I was enforced to consider it because he urgeth it so emphatically I believe therefore as if there was something preceding that would demonstrate the truth thereof But I have weighed both the precedent and consequent Articles with the Scriptures annexed and I profess I know not what he means by Therefore The Article precedent is I believe this very Child is both God and Man the Christ of the Living God J. B. Art 14. pag. 8. And the Scriptures annexed are Luke 2.7 12. Matth. 1.21 22. But why he should say from thence I believe therefore c. to me doth not appear This Confessor tells us J. B's Epist That above eleven years he hath weighed paused examined paused again these Doctrines and that in cold blood Surely it demonstrates his instability to be so tedious a tract of time to use his own words in pausing and weighing I wish that may not be true in him according to the words of Paul 2 Tim. 3.7 Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth For hitherto his Judgment and Understanding notwithstanding his long pausing seems as cold as his blood If any object That it is written Christ gave himself for us laid down his life was obedient to death all which amount to acts of Christ I Answ 1. That the sufferings were all voluntary that he readily condescended to obey his Father's Will wherein we have cause to accept the Grace of Christ But 2. This was no act viz. no Personal act of his There may be a voluntary submission a free condescension even so far as we may be said to lay down our lives to obey God and yet no personal act Christians are required to obey God in sufferings and it is accounted an Obedience to God when we lose our lives for his sake wherefore although I do extol the personal acts of Christ in the days of his Flesh and desire to respect them in their own Sphere yet I must conclude as aforesaid that those blessings are not wrought by his personal acts but by his sufferings as it is written The Captain of our Salvation is made perfect through sufferings Heb. 2.10 Christ hath also once suffered for us that thereby he might bring us unto God 1 Pet. 3.18 J.B. Art 16. pag. 10. I do believe that for the compleating of this work he was always sinless did alwayes the things that pleased God's Justice that every one of his acts both of doing and suffering and rising again from the dead was really and infinitely perfect being done by him as God-man Wherefore his acts before he died are called the Righteousness of God his blood the blood of God and herein perceive we the love of God in that he laid down his life for us The Godhead which gave vertue to all the acts of the humane nature was then in perfect union with it when he hanged upon the Cross for our sins Answ It is the advice of the Holy Ghost 1 Pet. 4.11 That if any man speak he should speak as the Oracles of God But sure this Confessor's words are more like the Oracles of the Devils that of old were accustomed to be given so ambiguous and obscure that no body could understand them aright yet they might be wrested to the understanding of any Such is the matter of the aforesaid Article wherein it is hard to determine what he means unless it is that the Godhead of Christ suffered death which although he doth not plainly declare yet he doth imply if he saith any thing For saith he every one of his acts of suffering was really perfect being done by him as God-man I wonder that he who pretends that he doth not abusively present to the Reader any other Doctrine but what he holds J. B's Epistle professeth and Preacheth should be so abusive to himself and Doctrine as to Preach and Print that which is so inconsistent with common sense But to proceed he saith The Godhead which gave virtue to all the acts of the Humane Nature was then in perfect union with it when he hanged upon the Cross Now to be in perfect union was to be even as that was viz. hanged upon the Cross and also dead which sure the Confessor means for he further urgeth that therefore his blood was called the blood of God and hereby perceive we the Love of God in that he laid down his life for us Now if this be his meaning it is directly contrary unto Truth for the Godhead that was equal with the Father Phil. 2.6 with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning Jam. 1.17 an Eternal Spirit immortal c. as it hath neither flesh nor bones Luk. 24.3 cannot die hath no blood to shed Death and Immortality are not congruous and therefore herein this Confessor is mistaken for the death of Christ was only as he was man And therefore it is said Heb. 10.5 When he cometh into the World A body hast thou prepared me If the Godhead could have died there needed not the preparation of this body of flesh but thereby being made man he became subject to death which he was not before as it is written Heb. 2.14 15. Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that bad the power of death wherefore he did not assume the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham vers 16. As it is said Heb. 2.9 He was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death This also our Confessor acknowledged saying Art 12. The great reason why Christ clothed himself with our flesh and blood was that he might be capable of obtaining Redemption and that was by his Death even the death of the Manhood As the Apostle saith 1 Pet. 3.18 Being put to death in the flesh in the body of his flesh Col. 1.22 And therefore although some Scriptures alledged by the Confessor call the blood of Christ the blood of God and God's Life it must not be taken as properly spoken but in respect to that conjunction between the Deity and Humanity as figuratively Christ is said to be Hungry Thirsty Naked c. Matth.
Tayl drew the third part of the Stars from Heaven and cast them to the Earth This Dragon stood before the Woman to devour the Child as soon as it should be brought forth but his purposes therein being frustrated he endeavoured by divers assaults and stratagems not only the destruction of the Child but also the Mother thereof seeking so craftily the pursuance of his enterprize that he was fitly termed that old Serpent the Devil and Satan vers 9. who by his subtilty deceived Eve 2 Cor. 11.3 perswading her That God was not so much their Friend as they imagined for saith he God doth know that in the day you cat of that tree which he hath forbidden your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as Gods c. Gen. 3. thereby endeavouring to bring them into a dis-esteem of the Laws of their Creator that so he might induce them to consent to his wicked device which craft as then began is daily practised for the corrupting the minds of Saints from the simplicity that is in Christ of which devices Paul was not ignorant 2 Cor. 2.11 but understood the working of Satan to get in his time an advantage of Christians sometimes for that purpose transforming himself into an Angel of Light the easier to deceive mankind and thereby to accomplish his own designs for the effecting whereof he also sendeth forth Ministers transformed into the Apostles of Christ and Ministers of Righteousness 2 Cor. 11.15 of whom our Saviour doth admonish us to take heed Matth. 7.15 as of false Prophets which come in Sheeps clothing but inwardly are ravening Wolves thereby intimating that it ought to be the continual care of Saints in all Ages to avoid such lest that with feigned words and fair speeches their Souls should be ensnared in that crafty snare of Satan wherein men become captivated at his will to their utter ruine and destruction And as this we are admonished of so by continued experience the necessity thereof is demonstrated Time would fail me to relate how tâ—â—t evil one hath and doth endeavour by subtilty to accomplish what by force he cannot That as of old his Tail did more harm than his Horns so now by the crafty insinuations of his Ministers he endeavoureth the violation of God's righteous Laws in procuring first a disesteem thereof in the hearts of Christians that so they may with the greater content be negligent in the performance of the same he well knowing what the event thereof will be for through idleness of the hands the house falleth down and thereby may he craftily accomplish his wicked design An Instance whereof is apparent in that little Treatise lately published by J. B. entituled A Confession of his Faith and a reason of his Practice with who and who not he can have Church-fellowship or Communion of Saints Wherein the Reader may as well discern the Spirit of the Author clearly demonstrated as his Person by the letters of his Name subscribed who amongst other things endeavoureth to vilifie the Holy Ordinance of Water-Baptism that thereby he might bring it into such dis-esteem with others as it is notwithstanding his specious pretences with himself who knoweth that if he could perswade Christians to think that the doing it is never the better and the not doing it never the worse it would then soon fall to the ground J.B. pag. 104. For the prevention of which design I shall presume through the assistance of God to weigh what to the purpose is said by the Author of the aforesaid Treatise in the ballance of the Sanctuary if peradventure it may be so far outweighed by the weight of Truth that the vanity thereof may appear Wherein I shall first take notice of the Confession of his Faith Secondly The reason of his Practice c. First In his Confession you have divers things declared in the beginning thereof as the Author saith which I suppose few men deny and thereto I shall yield my Concession saying to him in the words of the Apostle James Chap. 2.19 Thou sayest well the Devils also believe and tremble But when he proceeds further in the 15th Article of his Faith pag. 9. wherein he would be thought to be some body in giving a clear demonstration as is pretended how men come to obtain Righteousness Redemption and Salvation from the Curse of the Law He saith I believe therefore that the Righteousness and Redemption by which we that believe stand just before God as saved from the Curse of the Law is the Righteousness and Redemption that consists in the personal acts and performances of this Child Jesus this God-man the Lord Christ I say in his personal fulfilling the Law for us to the utmost requirements of the Justice of God by which means he became the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth so finishing transgression and making an end of sin and making reconciliation for iniquity Answ In this Article are two things to be considered viz. First what is believed Secondly wherefore it is believed First What is believed The Confessor tells us That the Righteousness Redemption and Salvation from the Curse of the Law obtained by Believers consists in the personal acts of Christ Art 15. pag. 9. But sure this is not consonant to the Scriptures of Truth which declare them to be wrought and accomplished by the Sufferings of Christ this Peter acknowledgeth 1 Pet. 3.11 For Christ also hath once suffered for Sins And if we come to particulars the truth thereof will appear For First How are we made Righteous doth not the Apostle declare 2 Cor. 5.21 He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that you might be made the Righteousness of God in him So that you see we obtain Righteousness by Christ's being made Sin and if you would know how he was made sin let the Prophet answer Isa 53.6 The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all as it is written He bare our sins upon his own body on the Tree 1 Pet. 2.24 and this was his Passion and not his Personal act Secondly the Redemption of Christians is wrought by the shedding the blood of Christ 1 Pet. 1.19 And sure if that was a personal act it must be the personal act of the Souldier that pierced him and not of Christ himself Thirdly Salvation from the Curse of the Law the Apostle declares Gal. 3.13 consisted in his being made a Curse for us and how that was the Apostle testifieth by his hanging on the Tree viz. the Cross and that also was the suffering and not the act of Christ which as it ought to be distinguished by every Christian so much more he that pretends himself a Preacher who should shew himself in all things a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth 2 Tim. 2.15 ought to distinguish between doing and suffering and that more particularly in this matter for if Righteousness Redemption and Salvation had
communicate that knowledge to them by his holy Spirit yet I suppose John Bunyan considering his own words p. 72. viz. That none were to he admitted into Fellowship but such as were Circumcised nothing else could give the devoutest person that breathed a being of membership will not say the Church of the Jews ought to have had Communion with them although they had Communion with God during their uncircumcision Secondly God hath Communion with Children whose Angels behold the face of our Heavenly Father Matth. 18.10 to whom pertaineth the Kingdom of Heaven Mark 10.14 Such Christ received yet the Church ought not to have Communion with them before profession of Faith c. So that this solid Argument proves of no force God's thoughts are unsearchable in reference to himself but in relation to the Church he declares his will wherein he appears a God of Order and not of Confusion and so it is ordained in the Churches 1 Cor. 14.33 40. whom although the Apostle exhorts Rom. 15.1 to bear one anothers infirmities he doth not mean the denial of Baptism or any other necessary duty as John Bunyan wickedly pretends But what infirmities then saith J. Bunyan I answer Natural infirmities and also their opinion in things indifferent which the Apostle was treating of Rom. 14. that either may be done or may not be done without sin concerning which the Apostle saith All things are lawful 1 Cor. 6.12 It is lawful to eat and lawful to forbear Rom. 14.14 but touching Baptism it hath already been proved a necessary duty and cannot be omitted by a Christian without sin But if so John Bunyan tells you That sinful infirmities must be born with How John Bunyan must the Church of God bear with sin must it not be reproved Is not this the ready way to make the House of God a Den of Thieves Matth. 21.13 But saith John Bunyan All such infirmities are laid upon Christ c. I answer That Christ bare the sin of the world Joh. 1.29 upon his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 I confess and also that by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Act. 13.39 I grant Christ being set forth as a Propitiation through Faith in his blood for the remission of sins that are past that God might appear just and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3.25 26. But that the sinful Infirmities of Christians shall be so born by Christ as to be forgiven without Confession and forsaking I do not believe If we confess our sins saith John 1 Joh. 1.10 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins he that confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy Prov. 28.13 But this bearing will not serve John Bunyan's turn for if there must be open confession and forsaking it is nothing to his purpose it will not then bolster up men in their disobedience Wherefore he is bold to affirm That all your infirmities are fallen upon Christ yea even errors in Circumstances and errors in Substance such whereby the wisdom of Heaven is reproached Christ bears and takes away If John Bunyan saith true here are large pillows to sow under your arm-holes those of old were not so expert as Juhn Bunyan although they made Lyes their Refuge Isa 28.17 yet their bed was shorter than a man could stretch himself on it and the covering narrower than that he could wrap himself in it Isa 28.20 But John Bunyan's is large enough err in what you will Christ hath born it and the Church ought to bear with you it seems for there is no error but it is either in circumstance or substance Well be it what it will Although you reproach the wisdom of Heaven it is saith he born by Christ and must be born by your Brethren But sure his dawbing will appear to be with untempered mortar Ezek. 13.10 11. And if he may not be charged with that presumption the Apostle tells you was in some Rom. 6.1 Who would sin that Grace may abound yet I am sure whil'st he is pleading concerning his Fellowship without Baptism he countenanceth and encourageth all sin overthroweth all Church-discipline and you may then guess what if his Rule be observed will become of the Church it self as further we will consider in his reprehension Vain man saith he think not by the streightness of thy order c. that thy peace is maintained with God Is not this the fruit of a stupified head otherwise who would account and also call his Brethren vain men and that for streightness of Order Is not Order to be observed in the Churches 1 Cor. 14.40 and can it be too strictly observed surely No whilst orderly it cannot be too streight except for John Bunyan who would not have it so that his confused worship may come in the place But then he will tell you It is but outward and bodily conformity to outward and shadowish Circumstances that he accounts vain But is not outward and bodily conformity and that to such as he calls outward and shadowish Circumstances required in a Christian He doth not only so account Baptism but also breaking of Bread the Supper of the Lord for so he saith pag. 64. Touching shadowish or figurative Circumstances Christ hath ordained two in his Church viz. Water-baptism and the Supper of the Lord. Now what Christian will call it vain to conform to the Supper of the Lord which is so exactly required by Christ himself Surely none or few men but John Bunyan and if conformity thereto be not vain why must Baptism which he confesseth to be of the same Ordination pag. 64. Well the Conformity to Christ's Ordinances is not in vain The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10.19 Yea bodily and outward Conformity I beseech you brethren saith Paul Rom. 12.1 by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living Sacrifice Glorifie God in your body 1 Cor. 6.20 Yield the members of your bodies as instruments of righteousness unto God Rom. 6.13 But it may be John Bunyan will tell me I mistake him for that which he accounts vain is for persons to think thereby to maintain their peace with God which is obtained by Faith in the blood of his Cross To which I will answer That although our peace with God is by Faith yet it is maintained by our obedience to Christ's Holy Ordinances they are the things that belong to our peace that maintain and encrease our peace with God I do not say God's peace with us for without them there cannot be a good Conscience towards God and then I am sure no peace with God continued In short the sum of this Reason is not only safe but blasphemous First False for it doth not follow that we may have Communion with men because God hath Communion with them Secondly Blasphemous For besides what is said concerning Christ bearing all sin whether in