corrupted that without it we could not have been saved or brought to communiō w th God again by that his other conceptiō alone in the womb of the Virgin Mary as neither could infants be saved without his other presence spoken of before Thus is Christ both the resurrection and the life Joh. 11.25 viz. a life preservation to the innocent a resurrection to the dead who beleev on him obey him In your 3 Section you are first much mistaken and afterwards no less defective Mistaken in these things 1. That you say That the Lord Jesus in his human nature was sanctified above measure For though it is said of him Joh. 3.34 that he receiveth not the spirit by measure yet that is spoken of the God-head which alone is infinite As for his humanity it being a creature must needs be finite though spiritually enriched above any other creature 2. Whereas you say or imply That in his humanity likewise all treasures of wisdom are hidden it is a mistake likewise For that place Col. 2.3 to which you refer us speaks of the Diety likewise The same we say concerning Colos 1.19 where it is written that it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell by you appropriated but amiss to his human nature 2. Though it must be granted also to be true which the Aposte speakes Heb. 7 26. that he is holy hormless undefiled and separate from sinners and made higher then the Heavens yet the last words transfer this honor to the Deity especially and not to the humanity alone as you would restrain them And thus he is throughly furnished to do the great office of a Mediator which Office as you truely say Christ did not take upon himself of his own head but was there unto called of his Father who hath put all power judgement into his hand Thus of your mistakes deficient you are in setting forth what and wherein the Mediatorship of Christ doth mainly consist especially in his works of spiritual Mediation Intercession and Redemption In your 4. Section you have in part set forth Christs twofold state in the humanity the one of humiliation the other of exaltation but if you will confider what you have here omitted you will have more cause to be humbled then exalted For 1. You make no mention at all of that great work of his wherein Gods justice and severity against sin is so conspicuous and the love of Christ towards mankind is so illustrious to wit Christs descending into Hel his suffering there for us the torments due to the sins of the whole world Which grand article of the Faith though retain'd in the most ancient Creeds confessed in the most Orthodox Councels is by you suppressed to the eternal blemish of this your confession But Consider we pray you was not Jonah three daies afflicted or tormented by the sense of Gods wrath upon him in the belly of Leviathan as a type of our Saviours future sufferings See Jonah 2.2 Out of the belly of Hell have I cried unto thee compared with Mat. 12.40 For as Jonah was 3 daies and 3 nights in the Whales belly so shall the Son of man be 3 daies and 3 nights in the heart of the earth Doth not the Apostle also expresly say Ephes 4 9. Now that be ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth Where take notice of two things First Of the comparative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lower which is according to an usual Hellenism in the New Testament put for the superlative the lowest as utter darkness is put for the utmost darkness And Secondly That the heart of the earth afore-named Matth. 12. and the lower parts of the earth here mentioned cannot possibly be understood of Christs Sepulther which was upon the superficies of the earth Thirdly Doth not Christ comfort himself with this that though he knew he should go into hell yet he fore-saw that God would not leave his soul there alwayes Psal 16.10 for thou wit not leave my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffe◠thine holy one to see corruption Doth not St. Peter seconded with the other Apostles and all filled with the holy Ghost in the day of Pentecost expresly affirm Acts 2.24 the God raised up Christ from the dead loosing the paines of death c Now Christs body while it remained in the grave was not in any pain therefore it was his soul that at the hour of his resurrection was loosed from those paines and torments But here two things seem to puzle you First That saying of Christs upon the Cross not long before his expirement John 19.30 crying it is finished Secondly That he sayeth to the penitent theef this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Luke 23.43 To which we answer severally as followeth To the first We object a like place John 17.4 where our Saviour saith unto his Father some space before his death I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do that is I have almost finished it And how much more then might Christ so say when he had suffered so much more in the garden before his Judges and upon the cross If you reply That in the former place he speaks of his ministery we will rejoyn that he speaks here of the sacrifice and offering up of his corporal life both to fulfil the types of the Old Testament and to set us an example of dying with him To the second we answer with Gillebert in Bernard That as man consists of three distinct parts body soul spirit 1 Thes 5.23 seconded with Hebr. 4.12 So did Christs humanity also consist of the same parts Psal 16 9 10. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell nor suffer thine holy one to see corruption Where the heart is the soul and the flesh the body so the glory was his spirit which Jacob also calls his honour Gen 49.6 O my soul come not thou into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united Which two are dissevered again by a gradation Isa 26.9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early The which distinction of parts being most clear we say then that the spirit of Christ at his death immediately ascended to God according to those words Luke 23.43 aforesaid This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise his body also was laid in the grave yet saw no corruption but his soul went to hell there to suffer for us the condign punishment of our sins in the proper place of punishment Oh justice upon the surety to be trembled at for ever O love in Christ never to be forgotten Secondly You are deficient in setting forth the inward and spiritual crucifying death and burial of Christ within us ever since our fall
the representing of your errours in worse part then it is meant your better information and the saving of your souls and others Finally Since you have set so good bounds between the Civil Magistrate and your selves in your last Section we will not remove the Landmark CHAP. XXXII Of the state of men after death and of the resurrection of the dead THE bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption a Gâ—n 3 19 Act 13.36 but their soul which neither die nor sleep having an immortal subsistance immediately return to God who gave them b Lu 23.43 Eccl 12.1 the souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness are received into the highest Heavens where they behold the face of God in light and glory waiting for the full redemption of their bodies c Heb 12.13 2 Cor 5.16.8 Phil. 1 23â— Acts 3.20 Eph 4.10 And the souls of the wicked are cast into Hell where they remain in torments and utter darkness reserved to the judgement of the great day d Luke 16.23 24. Acts 1.25 Jude 1.6 7 1 Pet 3.19 Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies the Scriptures acknowledg none II. At the last day such as are found alive shall not die but be changed e 1 Thes 4.15 1 Cor 15.5 2. and all the dead shall be raised up with the self-same bodies and none other although with different qualities which shall be united again to their souls for ever f Job 19.26 27. 1 Cor 15.42 43 44. III. The bodies of the unjust shall by the power of Christ be raised to dishonour the bodies of the just by his Spirit unto honour and be made conformable to his own glorious body g Acts 24.13 John 5.28.29 1 Cor 15.43 Phil 3.21 CHAP. XXXII Of the state of men after death and of the resurrection of the dead Examined HERE we could revive a manifold resurrection by you buried in silence one of internal both righteousness and unrighteousness discovered and raised up at our first humiliation by the spirit of God and the work of his Law Rom. 7.7 8 9. Another of men raised up by a work of regeneration some to honour as those that persevere and others to dishonour as those that fall away again Dan. 12.2 Thirdly A spiritual resurrection with Christ after we have been dead with him to sin Rev. 20 6. And lastly the raising up the souls again at our dissolution that it may go to judgement which is called a resurrection Catechristically but because you are now drawing towards a conclusion we shall have the less cause to contest or debate with you These violent motions should grow more remisse and gentle towards the latter end Your first Section comprehends many Propositions which we dare not deny nor shall we much alter them That the bodies of men after death return to dust That then they see corruption That the Soul whether a distinct part from the spirit or no hath an immortal subsistence That the soul sleeps not though many of them be at rest That the spirit returns to God that gave it Ecclesiastes 12 7. That the souls go to God immediately to receive their doom That the souls of the righteous after death are made perfect in happiness not without some access of holiness That those so made perfect are received into the Highest Heaven or into Paradice That those which are so received behold the face of God in life and glory waiting for the full redemption of their bodies That the Souls of the wicked are cast into Hell where they remain in torments and utter darkness reserved to the judgement of the great day yet we could tell you of some no contemptible Authors and those no Papists who maintain a twofold delivery out of Hell the one made by Christ of the men of the old world at the time of his resurrection for which they alledge Zech. 9.11 and 1 Pet. 3.19 20. and 1 Pet. 4.6 The other to be made at the end of the Chiliasts term of their thousand years Rev. 20.5 But the rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years were ended That besides these two places of the souls separatd from the bodies the Scripture for ought we yet finde makes no cleer mention of any other yet are we not altogether ignorant of what some have written concerning Limbo nor that some which favour not the Church of Rome as Jacob Behman for one do assigne a third place namely the Region of the Land of Canaan to be an Elysian field for the souls of departed Saints because the Lord sware to give the Land to Abraham and his seed for ever But whether the souls of the just shall dye imperfect and have their perfection adjourned to another world as you mean is a quere of some importance and to hold that it must be so positively may prove a dangerous errour For our parts we acknowledge that the Saints in Heaven do obtain no small access and increase as of light and wisdom so of power love holiness peace and joy also for the Apostle saith Phil. 1.21 For me to live is Christ but to die is gain To which that seems to agree which the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.1 2. For we know that if our earthly Tabernacle of this house were dissolved we have a building given us of God not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens But that the body of sin may and should be destroyed the workmanship of Satan abolished the righteousness of the law fulfilled and the Jerusalem that comes down from Heaven be fully sought and attained by us through the grace of Christ even in this life we have sufficiently proved before It remains then that we all take heed to the Apostles charge 2 Cor. 7 1.2 Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit perfecting our holiness in the fear of God yea let all those that would be counted faithful Ministers in Christ Jesus labour with St. Paul Colos 1.28 to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus As to your 2d Section although the Apostle in that great larger chapter of the resurrection 1 Co. 15. seems to speak onely of the resurrection of the just yet we must grant that all the dead shall be raised according to other Scriptures and namely that of John 5.28 29. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation But for a conclusion of this chapter may not some be mistaken in thinking the first resurrection which comes not to any till they be first dead with Christ Rom. 6 5. is past already see 2 Tim. 2.18 yea to make our future happiness sure what had been more needful here
monitions commandements and requirings you seem to lay some default upon God himself saying That he withholdeth that grace from them whereby their hearts that is their wils and affections might have been wrought upon which both derogates from Gods mercy and is inconsistent which innumerable Scriptures testifying the contrary as Esai 5.4 What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done Mat. 23.37 How often would I have gathered thy children as a ben gathereth her chickens under her wings but see would not Acts 7.51 Ye stifnecked and uncircumcised in heart and eares ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do yee CHAP. VI. Of the fall of man of Sin and of the punishment thereof OVR First Parents being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan sinned in eating the forbidden fruit a Gen 3.13 2 Cor 11.3 this their sin God was pleased according to his wise and holy counsel to permit having purposed to order it to his own glory b Ro 11.32 II. By this sin they fell from their original righteousnesse and communion with God c Gen 3.6 7 8. Eccl 7.29 Ro 3.23 and so became dead in sin d Gen 2.17 Eph 2.1 and wholy defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body e Tit 1.15 Gen 6.5 Jer 17.9 Ro 3.10 to 19. III. They being the root of all mankinde the guilt of sin was imputed f Ge 1.27 28. and Gen. 2.16 17. and Act 17.13 with Ro 5.12 15 16 17 18 19. and 1 Cor 15.21 22 25. and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation g Psa 51.5 Gen 5.3 Job 14.4 Job 15.14 IV. From this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed disabled and made opposite to all good h Ro 5.6 Rom 8.7 Rom 7.18 Col 1.21 and wholly inclined to all evil i Gen 6.5 Gen 8.21 Rom 3.10 11 12 do proceed all actual transgressions k Jam 1.12 15. Eph 2.2 3. Mat 15.19 V. This corruption of nature during this life doth remain in those that are regenerated l 1 Joh 1.8 to Rom v. 14.17 18 23. Jam 3.2 Pro 20.9 Eccl 7.20 and althoug it be through Christ pardoned and mortified yet both it self and all the motions thereof are truely and properly sin m Ro 7.5 7 8 25. Gal 5.17 VI. Every sin both original and actual being a transgression of the righteous Law of God and contrary thereunto n Joh 3.4 doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner o Rom 3.9 19. whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God p Eph 2.3 and curse of the Law q Gal. 3.10 and so made subject to death r Ro. 6.23 with all miseries spiritual Å¿ Eph. 4.18 temporal t Rom. 8.20 Jam. 3 39. and eternal u Matth. 25.41 2 Thess 1.9 CHAP. VI. Of the fall of man of Sin and of the Punishment thereof examined IN this Chapter of mans fall you have given sufficient evidence of it for except the first and last Sections all parts of it are a resemblance of the depraved man you spake of sufficiently corrupted In the second Section these are your words By this sin they that is our first parents fell from their original righteousness and communion with God and so became dead in sin and wholly defiled in all the faculties of soul and body In which words we finde the fruits of the forbidden tree evil as well as good error as well as truth That they fell from their former communion with God from some degree of original righteousness and that they became dead that is liable to eternal death we grant you but that they fell wholly from original righteousness at the first Act of their Apostacy or that they presently became so wholly defiled as you speak are great mistakes As to the first of these did not the Image of God in which they were created consist in holiness and righteousness Now you know habits are not lost by one act or two Again the thing that God threatned was a gradual punishment as well as a certain In dying ye shall die Furthermore those that fall away from inchoated grace and that renued Image of God which is not at first so strong and vigorous as Gods similitude was in the first man though they die and being in a great decree of languishing are said to be dead yet they die but gradually after great debilities and decay may be kept alive and recovered Rev. 3.1 2. I know thy works that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die for I have not found thy works perfect before me Now as for the second that they became wholly defiled in all parts and faculties no Scripture speaks it nor could it be till the whole Image of God was extinguished by contrary corruptions True it is that if the Lord had wholly left them to themselves as he did the rebellious and backsliding Angels it would have fared no better with them in the end then you speak of but the father of mercies was pleased to appear unto them in the cool and declination of the day before it was dark night with them and by his covenant of grace to help them up again In the third Section you say They being the root of all mankinde the guilt of the sin was imputed and the same death in sin and corrupted nature corveyed to all posterity descending from them by ordinary generation where that they were the root of all mankinde is undoubtedly true but all the rest of that Section may be justly questioned And first that passage where you tacitely exempt Christ from the imputation of this sin made unto him for doubtless that with all other sins of ours were laid upon him But secondly it may be upon good ground hoped that it neither was nor shall be imputed to any of their posterity who are not the imitators of the same in actual rebellion for that just Lord doth not onely forbid the punishing of the children for the iniquity of their parents even with temporal death Deut 24.18 but he swears also by his own life that he will not do that thing Ezek 18.1 20. Then what you there affirm in the second place is more improbable then the other to wit That the same death in sin and corrupt nature is conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation is yet more improbable For first that some men are sanctified from the womb as Jeremiah and John the Baptist were and the Virgin Mary might possibly be none will deny And secondly that all others are still created innocent in some measure of Gods image there are not a few Scriptures which seem to testifie it of which Genesis the 9.6 is one where the
2.3 4 5 6. 2 Pet. 3.9 Secondly you are here deficient in setting forth Gods stipulation in this Covenant for you say That God requires faith in Christ that men may be saved but the Lord insists not onely upon faith but upon obedience also to all his commands yea obedience unto the death to wit the death of sin Mark 16.16 Act. 2.38 39. Act. 3.19 Heb. 5.9 Rom. 6.8 2 Tim. 2.11 12. Rom 2.7 8.13 Matth. 24.13 Revel 27.11 17 26. Revel 12.5 Thus of your defects here but whereas you say in the close of that Section That God promiseth to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe it is not true we would gladly have you produce anyone such promise yet dowe grant that the Lord is pleased to enlighten and teach all sinners that are out of the way and capable of instruction in the way to life again so that they may believe repent and turn if they will Psal 25.8 Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way The text to which you refer us Ezek. 36.25 26. is a promise made to the house of Jacob in the latter dayes and that of such a clensing from sin as you will not believe or admit but not of faith though the work of regeneration there promised implyeth a precedent faith and therein both illumination on Gods part and assent or credence to the truth revealed on ours In the fourth Section you say That this Covenant of grace is frequently set forth in Scripture by the name of a Testament and so is the Covenant upon Mount Sinai likewise Gal. 4.24 for those saith the Apostle are the two Testaments But secondly whereas you add That this name is given to that Covenant onely in reference to the death of Christ the Testator and to the everlasting inheritance with all things belonging unto it therein bequeathed You herein fall short again for the believer who is the other party to the Covenant must in following of Christ dye with him and there must follow the death of this Testator likewise Rom. 6.8 For if we be dead with him we believe that we shall live with him Rom. 8.13 For if we live after the flesh we shall dye but if we mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit we shall live So 2 Tim. 2.11 12. In your fifth Section you are defective likewise in two things and mistaken in a third For first whereas you say That this Covenant was differently administred in the time of the Law and of the Gospel your saying is true but much too short to express the various administrations of the Covenant for it was administred after one manner before the Law after another under the Law after a third under the prophets and all this before the time of the Gospel before the Law as it was at the first made with Adam and renewed with Noah but more solemnly reinstituted with Abraham for the blessing of all Nations and generations of mankinde so all this time it was administred without outward ceremonies and services more then commemorative sacrifices of Christs inward sufferings That Lambe slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 which yet were intentive likewise to a dying with Christ unto all sin and wickedness but under the Law as you truly speak it was administered by promises prophecies the Paschal Lamb and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of Israel in general and not to the Jews alone as you set forth And it was partly set forth as a Covenant of works if not to mind us of original innocencie yet to be our Schoolemaster to Christ shewing us our inability in our selves to keep the law with our sins and miseries and what manifold need we had of Christ Gal. 3.24 and partly as a Covenant of grace also finally under the prophets it was dispensed principally by promises and predictions Isa 9.6 Isa 11.1 2. Jerem. 31.34 35 36. Jerem. 32.38.39 Ezek. 11.18 19 36 25 26 c. But as you were defective in saying That those types sacrifices and services under the Law did onely figure out Christ to come whereas they did teach the Israelites the whole way to life also in following of Christ so you are in saying that the Covenant of grace in regard of the former dispensations is called the old Testament as you do also in saying That in the Gospel it being under other dispensations is called the new Testament in the sixth Section For according to the Scripture and the minde of God the Old and New Testament are thus to be distinguished The whole word of grace whether administred by Prophets or Apostles is the Old Testament that is a foregoing Testament administred by true Elders but the work of grace in purging out sin renewing us in righteousness writing the Law of God in our hearts and sealing the everlasting forgiveness of sins unto us is the new Testament So that the Old Testament is the Covenant which we should observe and keep or endeavor so to do but the new Testament is the work of grace which God hath promised in and through Christ Thus Christ is called the mediator of the new Testament Heb. 9.15 and his spirit blood the blood of the new Testament Mat. 26.28 Yet we do not deny but that both the Prophets and Apostles were able Ministers of the new Testament as true publishers of this promised grace and not of the letter onely as were the Scribes and Pharisees 2 Corin. 3.6 Not that the writings of Moses and the Prophets comparatively to the writings of the Apostles are or should be called the old Testament as they seem to be termed 2 Cor 3.12 for this we say that the writings of the Apostles may be so called likewise and are no other in relation to the promised work of cleansing and renewing grace which God alone both can and must effect Howbeit we do not condemn the common distinction and distribution of the books written before and since Christs incarnation by the penmen of the Holy Ghost into those of the old Testament or instrument and the other of the new because they set forth the new Testament more plainly In you sixth and last Section besides the mistake before touched we crave leave to rectifie you in these ensuing things First whereas you say That now in the new Testament Christ the substance is exhibited If you conceive that the incarnation of Christ is the substance of all that was foreshewed required or promised in the times of the Law and the Prophets it is a great mistake for not onely his sufferings and resurrection but our conformity in following him with the whole process and work of salvation was thereby set out manifoldly and clearly under the Administrations of those times Secondly whereas you say That now under the Gospel the ordinances under which the Covenant of Grace is or ought to be
Inâ—rdinate affection evil concupiscence and coveâ—ousness c. This is that Earth which is opposed to be the Heaven of Gods holiness Eccles 5.2 For God is in Heaven and thou upon the Earth For the Lord is present in this outward Earth aswel as we in this Earth all men sin but there are some places in the new Testament also which you oppose us with as first that Luke 17.10 So likewise you when ye have done all these things say ye are â—â—p ofitable servents But this place if well considered makes more against you then for you for our Saviour there implyes that we may do all things which are commanded to wit through his grace yet having so done we are unprofitable servants to God for we have done but our duties and that through grace also and so have added nothing to the Lord. But a second and a grand objection is made out of Rom. 7.14 15 16 17 18 19. c. For the Law saith the Apostle is spiritual But I am carnal sold under sin Answer Although this place is commonly taken as if the Apostle spoke here of his own personal and present estate yet it is certain he did not first because elsewhere speaking of that estate he contradicts what is here spoken by him as 1 Cor. 4.4 For I know nothing by my self but here the person spoken of knowes much evil by himself and Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me but he that is here intended though to will is present with him yet findes no means or power to do any good yea that which the Apostle speaks of his present estate chap. 8. of this Epistle to the Romans verse 2. is directly opposite to what is complained of verse 23 of this 7 chapter for in that 23. verse the complaint speaketh thus But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and bringing me into coptivity to the law of sin which is in my members Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But Rom. 8.2 Paul saith For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death what can be more contradictory then this last place is to the former So that of necessity the fist place must be understood of babes in Christ whom Paul here personates instructs and comforts and the latter of his own present condition and victorie as Occumenius and others well observe and what was more usual with the Apostle then to speak of that which concerns others in his own person 1 Cor. 4.6 And these things brethren I have in a figure transferred to my self and Apollos for your sake 1 Cor. 13.11 c. When I was a child I spake as a child c. Thirdly You alledge against us and this truth the words which the Apostle speaks to the Galatians chap. 5. verse 17. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contraeâ—y the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Here say you the Apostle describes that combat betwixt the flesh and the spirit which must continue while we endure in the body Answer But where do you read that this conflict must last so long The Apostle saith a good space before his death 2 Tim. 47. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Were not the Galatians Babes in Christ so young and weak that the Apostle had no sooner left them then they were ready to be drawn away from Christ by the false Apostles See Gal. 1.6 with 3.1 2. Now to make their estate the highest pitch growth of a Christian in this life is as if we should take the scantling of a child and conclude that it is the full stature of mankinde and that no man is or can be of a taller groth Fourthly You object what St. James writes chap. 3.2 For in many things we offend all where you imvolue him and his fellow Apostles in that plural number To which we answer That the Apostle can no more be there implyed then in the 9 verse where he saith again and that plurally With the same tongue we bless God even the Father and with the same tongue we curse men which are made after the similitude of God Was James or the Apostles now of the number of those that still cursed men But it is frequent for lenity sake and in a winning way for the Prophets and Apostles of Christ to speak in the plural and sometimes in the singular number those things which concern not themselves but their hearers onely Nebem 5.10 I pray you let us leave of this usury saith the man of God who was no wayes guilty of that sin Isa 59.10 the Prophet speaketh this We groap for the wall like the blind and we groap as if we had no eyes Lastly It is objected out of 1 John 1.8 That the Apostle saith directly If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us Answer The same Apostle implyes ch 4 17. that he and his fellow Apostles were now without sin Herein is our love made perfect that we might have boldness in the day of Judgement because as he is so are we in this present world There is no fear in love but persect love casteth out fear The Apostle therefore speaks the former words to those that were young in Christ and yet imperfect as is evident chap. 2. verse 1. My little children these things write I unto you that ye sin not c. Yea he explains himself so Chap. 1. verse 10. that he may be safely taken into the number If we that say we have not finned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us And thus much of your first erroneous proposition in your 5th and last Section Your other Thesis wherein you affirm That though this corruption remains in the regenerate during life yet it is actually pardoned is false also and contradictory to these ensuing and many other Scriptures Prov. 28 13. Luke 24.47 Acts 8.20 Acts 26.18 or as we shall shall shew at large chap. 11. by Gods assistance Now for a conclusion of this last Section give us leave to propound these Queries unto you First whether those ten unbeleeving spies did not highly displease God and much hinder injure and prejudice the people which hearkened unto them who cryed that there were such Anakiâ— in the way that they could not be subdued by them and Cities so high that they were walled up to Heaven and therefore not 〈◊〉 be scaled Numb 14. Did not the people too slothful and averse before to fight the Lords battail against the Canaanites become therethrough wholy unbeleeving even despairing of victory and altogether indisposed to the fight enjoyned by the Lord Were not both they and those their leaders
dispenced are the preaching of the word and the administration of baptism and the Lords Supper we grant it to be true if those be administred by such persons to whom Christ is truely come in his light spirit and power Otherwise for men to preach a self-conceived Christ whom they have learned by reading or tradition from their blinde guides or to administer the Sacraments without any due understanding of the Baptism flesh and blood of Christs these are not Gods ordinances but mens usurpations Thirdly we grant you that where the Covenant of grace is set forth by men so taught and acted by the Spirit of Christ as we have described there it is held forth in more evidence spiritual efficacy and fulness then it was in Moses his literal services But this will not be equally verified of those that preach a misconceived Christ without true light or life Lastly whereas you conclude That there are not then two Covenants of grace one under the old Testament and another under the new we will from this your confession inferr that the first Covenant of grace made was unto and for all mankinde because the Gospel by Christs express command is to be preached to every humane creature and hath universal but conditional salvation annexed unto it Mat. 28.19 Mark 16.15 16. What then will become of your doctrine of Gods preterition of particular redemption of some men onely of the effectual calling of this and that elected one onely and many other points wherein with Herod you imprison John that is you confine the grace and mercy of God CHAP. VIII Of Christ the Mediator IT pleased God in his eternal purpose to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus his onely begotten Son to be the Mediator between God and man a Isa 42.1 1 Pe 1.19 20. Joh 3.16 1 Tim 2 5. the Prophet b Act 3.22 Priest c Heb 5.5 6 and King d Psal 2.6 Luk 1.33 the head and Saviour of his Church e Eph 5.23 the heir of all things f Heb 1.2 and judge of the world g Act 17.31 unto whom he did from all eternity give a people to be his seed h Joh 17.6 Psa 22.30 Isa 53 10. and to be by him in time redeemed called justified sanctified and glorified i 1 Tim. 2.6 Isa 55.4 5. 1 Cor. 1.30 II. The Son of God the second person in the Trinity being very and eternal God of the substance and equal with the Father did when the fulness of time was come take upon him mans nature k 1 Joh 1.14 1 Joh 5.20 Phil 2.6 Gal. 4.4 with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof yet without sin l Heb. 2.14 16 17. Heb 4.15 being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary of her substance m Luk 1.27 31 35. â—al 4.4 so that two whole perfect and distinct natures the Godhead and the Manhood were inseparably joyned together in one person without conversion composition or confusion n Luk. 1.35 Col 2.9 Rom 9.5 1 Pet 3.18 1 Tim. 3.16 which person is very God and very man yet one Christ the onely Mediator between God and man o RoÌ„ 1.3 4. 1 Tim 2.5 III. The Lord Jesus in his humane nature thus united to the Divine was sanctified and annoynted with the Holy Spirit above measure p Psal 45.7 Joh 3.34 having in him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge q Col 2.3 in whom it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell r Col. 1.19 to the end that being holy harmless undefiled and full of grace and truth Å¿ Heb 7.16 Joh 1.14 he might be throughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and surety t Act 10.18 Heb. 22.24 Heb 7.22 which office he took not to himself u Heb 5.4 5. but was thereunto called by his Father who put all power and judgement into his hand and gave him commandment to execute the same * Joh 5.22 27. Mat 28 18. Act 2.36 IV. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake x Psal 40.7 8 with Heb 10.5 10 11. Joh 10.18 Phil 2.8 which that he might discharge he was made under the Law y Gal. 4.4 and did perfectly fulfill it z Mat 3.17 Mat 5.15 endured most greivous torments immediately in his soule a Mat 25.37 38. Luk 22.24 Mat 27.46 and most painful sufferings in his body b Mat 26.27 chap. was crucâ—fied and dyed c Phil 2.8 was buryed and remained under the power of death yet saw no corruption d Act 2.3 21 27. Act 13.37 Rom 6.9 On the third day he arose from the dead e 1 Cor. 15.23 4. with the same body in which he suffered f Joh 20.25 27. with which also he ascended into heaven and there sitteth at the right hand of his Father g Mark 16.19 making intercession h Rom. 8.34 Heb 9.24 Heb. 7.25 and shall return to judge men and Angels at the end of the world i Rom 1â— 9 10. Heb. 7.25 Rom. 1â— 9 10. Act 1.11 Act. 10.42 Mat. 13.40 41 42. Jud. 6. 2 Pet. 2.4 V. The Lord Jesus by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father k Ro. 5.19 Heb 9.14 16. Heb. 10.14 Ephes 5.2 Rom. 3.25 26. and purchased not onely reconcilation but an everlasting inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him l Dan 9.24 26. Col 1.19 20. Ephes 1.11 14. Joh 17.2 Heb 9.12 15. VI. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after his Incarnation yet the virtue efficacy and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect in all ages successively from the beginning of the world in and by those promises types and sacrifices wherein he was revealed and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpents head and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world being yesterday and to day the same for ever m Gal. 4.4.5 Gen. 3.15 Rev. 13.8 Heb. 13.8 VII Christ in the work of mediation acteth according to two natures by each nature doing that which is proper to it self yet by reason of the unity of the person that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature o Acts 20.28 Joh. 3.13 1 Joh. 3.16 VIII To all those for whom Christ hath purchased Redemption he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same p Joh. 6.37.39 Joh. 10.15 16. making intercession for them q 1 Joh. 2.1 Rom. 8.34 and revealing unto them in and by the word the mysteries of salvation r Joh. 15. â—3 15. Eph. 1.7 8 9. Joh. 17.6 effectually perswading them
5.1 Act 15.10 11. and in greater boldness of access to the Throne of Grace h Heb 4.14 16. Heb 10.19 20 21 22. and in fuller communications of the Spirit of God then believers under the Law did ordinarily pertake of i Joh 7.38 39. 2 Cor 3 13 17 19 II. God alone is Lord of the conscience k Jam 4.12 Ro 14.4 and hath left it free from the Doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his word or beside it in matters of faith or of worship l Act 4.19 Act 5.29 1 Cor 7.23 Mat 23.8 9 10. 2 Cor 1.24 Mat 15.9 so that to believe such doctrines or to obey such commands out of conscience is to betray our liberty of conscience m Col. 2.20 22 23 Gal 1.10 Gal 2.4 5. Gal 5.1 and the requiring of an implicit faith and an absolute and blinde obedience is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also n Rom 10 17. Ro 14.23 Isa 8.20 Act 17.11 Joh 4.22 Hos 5.11 Rev 13.12 16 17 Jer 8.9 III. They who upon pretence of Christian liberty do practise any sin or cherish any lust do thereby destroy the end of Christian liberty which is that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the dayes of our life o Gal 5.11 1 Pet 2.16 2 Pet 2.19 Joh 8.34 Luk 1.74 75. IV. And because the powers which God hath ordained and the liberty which God hath purchased are not intended by God to destroy but mutually to uphold and preserve one another they who upon pretence of Christian liberty shall oppose any lawful power or the lawful exercise of it whether it be civil or Ecclesiastical resist the ordinance of God p Mat 11.25 1 Pet. ◠13 14 16. Ro 13.1 to 8. Heb 13.17 and for their publishing of such opinions or maintaining of such practises as they contrary to the light of nature or to the known principles of Christianity whither concerning faith worship or conversation or to the power of godliness or such erroneous opinions or practice as either in their own nature or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in his Church they may lawfully be called to account and proceeded against by the censures of the Church q Rom 〈◊〉 32 with 〈◊〉 Cor 5.1 5 11 13 2 Jo 10.11 2 Thes 3.14 1 Tim 6.3 4 5. Tit 1.10 11 13. Titus 3.10 with 18 15 16 17. 1 Tim 19 20. Revel 2.2 14 15 20. Revel 3.9 and by the power of the civill Magistrate r Deut 13.6 to 12. Rom 13.3 4. with 2 Jo 10.11 Ezra 7.23 25 26 27 28. Revel 17.12 16 17. Nehem 13.15 17 21 22 25 30. 2 Kings 23.5 6 9 20 21. 2 Chron 34.33 2 Chron 15.12 13 16. Dan 3.29 1 Tim 2.2 Isa 49.23 Zach 13.23 CHAP. XX. Of Christian liberty and liberty of Conscience examined THis head of liberty is not now unseasonable when liberty hath got such head that almost every one affects that freedom which Tully describes Potestas vivendi ut velis but if we may use that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we would both give and take you have too much restrained your Christian freedom in your first Section and liberty of consciences in your second contradicted your selves in your third and perhaps set the Governors too far at liberty in you fourth and last In your first Section you faile in three things first in that your enumeration of Christian liberties and freedoms is to defective secondly in that you reckon them up preposterously and thirdly in that you mistake some of them you name For the first of those you have first left out our freedom from the bondage and bewitchment of carnal wisdom and holiness Gal. 3.1 Who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth 1 Pet. 1 18 19. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers See Gal. 5.1 Col. 2.20 21. Secondly The exemption from the great bondage of fear wherein some are held all their life long justly expecting wrath and vengeance is by you omitted Heb. 2.15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage Thirdly Freedom for Christian Subjects from the judicial Law as well as from the ceremonial by your own confession in the last chapter especially where other Laws not contrary to the word of God are imposed upon them 1 Pet. 2.12 13 14 15 16. Fourthly A liberty to observe and omit some ceremonial Laws for the edifying of others and our own peace and indempnity of which liberty in Christ the Apostle speaks expresly Gal. 2.3 4. And as he used it himself at Cenchrea Acts 18.18 and in circumcising Timothy there Acts 16.1 2 3. and that he did the like also with the advise of all the Apostles Acts 21.22 23 24. So he chargeth that we should let no man condemn us for such things but either do them or omit them as it is required or expected at our hands by the people with whom we are to converse Col. 2.16 17. Let no man judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or new moon or the Sabbath which are the shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ Fourthly You leave out our freedom from sorrow pain c. Revel 21.4 7 17. Lastly you have omitted the great freedom of the Spirit when he in fulness is poured upon the Saints or when the Jerusalem which is from above descends upon them which yet is not a freedom to sin but an immunity from fin to walke with freedom yea with delight in all the wayes of righteousness Gal. 4 26. But Jerusalem which is from above is free which is the mother of us all 2 Cor. 3.7 Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty To which liberties some add two more one is a license to observe any outward thing not forbidden in the word of God which shall be enjoyned by Ecclesiastical or civil powers because the things that are without us defile us not Thus say they Paul became all things to all men that he might win the more To the Jews he became a Jew to them that were under the Law as if he were still under it to them that were without Law as without Law also being always under a Law to Christ 1 Cor. 9.19 20 21. And 2dly a liberty to eat of things that had bin offred to Idols when it offends not others 1 Cor. 10.27 28 29. If any of them that beleeve not bid you to a feast and ye be disposed to goe whatsoever is set before you eat asking no question for conscience sake
to be found as follows in the next verse And they shall wander from Sea to Sea and from the North even to the East they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not finde it In that day shall the young men and the fair Virgins faint for thirst but the written word with the comments and expositions of men thereupon never was any hard thing to come by it was then true in the former sense onely which is written 1 Sam. 3.1 And the word of the Lord was precious in those daies there was no open vision And as the word of God thus spoken is compared to bread in the Old Testament Jer. 3.15 so is it likewise in the New Matth. 4.4 But he answered it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God As man then hath a twofold life so he must live by a twofold bread Thus for the mystical flesh of Christ his Blood here is that which came from Heaven as well as his Flesh John 6.58 and which is Spirit and Life for the nourishing and quickning of our Souls and this is no other but the life and power and spirit of Christ whereby our corruptions are put away and removed signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our spiritual enemies overcome Rev. 12.11 of which you heard before out of Heb. 9 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your Conscience from dead works to serve the living God out of Heb. 10.29 Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace out of Heb. 13.20 21. Now the very God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus through the blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will For what is it we pray you but this life or spirit of Christ that purgeth our soul or conscience from dead works to serve the living God or that sanctifieth us or makes us perfect in every good work This is the first blood of the New Testament as we have proved before It was by this blood that the beleeving Jews to whom St. Peter wrote were redeemed or delivered from their vain conversation 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It was with this blood that the Saints had washed their robes and made them white Rev. 7.14 to which places we added 1 John 5.8 which makes the water the blood and the spirit to agree in one These are the flesh and blood of Christ held forth in this Sacrament as things spoken of before John 6. This flesh or word of Christ had been often broken by him and given to his Disciples to eat this blood of Christ had been given them to take in and drink John 14.17 Even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 1 Cor 12.13 And ye have been all made to drink into one Spirit where the Mystery of the wine administred and blood spoken of in that Sacrament is expounded as it is also by our Saviour at the time of institution in these words of his Matth. 26.28 29. But I say unto you I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the Vine until that day that I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Where for the better discovery of your own former mistakes you may observe two things in the foregoing words of the institution First That Christ speaks not of a body in the future tense that should be broken for them but one that was then broken for them Secondly That in the present tense likewise he speaks of a blood then poured out as his spirit had been in some measure upon them and not of a blood to be wholy shed or poured out for the future onely This flesh and blood of Christ is a good Mediatour betwixt us and God to pull down the partition wall of sin and slay the enmity betwixt us and him and the special means of our conquest as we shall shew by and by Yet far be it from us as we said before That we should deny the use and benefit of Christs Humane flesh and blood who was made of the seed of David according to the promises and suffered for us according to the Scriptures and therein did not onely set us an example and monument of what he had inwardly suffered for us and in us but also chalked out the true way to eternal life yea paid an invalluable price for our Redemption from the curse of the Law Gal. 3.13 Heb. 9.27 28. Yea we shewed before that if the fallen man were made perfect again in the way of regeneration yet without the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ he could not be saved from the guilt and punishment of his sins See Heb. 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever them that are sanctified But this is the thing which we here assert that the flesh of Christ which he commands us to eat and the blood which he enjoyns us to drink in this Sacrament are not those of his humanity as you and your guides have hitherto taught but that very flesh and blood which came from Heaven by our Saviours own doctrin John 6. aforesaid confirmed with many other Scriptures nor is it the custome of the Lord to figure out corporal things but spiritual by outward and corporal Elements and Types And as you with your Teachers have not had any true fight of those blessed Mysteries so have you not understood the Mystery of the Cup or Chalice out of which the Spirit and life of Christ or the blood of the new Testament is to be received and drunk which Cup is first the suffering or Passion of Christ as we see in that his prayer Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me and then our like suffering for him and with him both in the outward man and in the inward man also and that especially in the resistance of temptation and the enduring of the enemies assault and vexation Matthew 20.22 23. Are ye able to drink of the Cup that I shall drink of and to be baptized with the baptism wherewith I shall be baptized Now to take a short survey of your several Sections In the first of them you mistake the ends for which the Sacrament was instituted which was not to nourish or strengthen our souls with his humane flesh and blood or to make the same the band or pledge of our communion with him and each other nor to seal up the benefits of his Sacrifice upon the Cross but to hold out in a mystery and exhibite
unto us a spiritual verticum wereby we may be inabled to keep a spiritual Passover with him from death to life and become the more strengthened to follow him in his like sufferings and death and so to be better armed and fortified against all encounters of the enemy Thus was the sacrifices of the Old Testament accompanied with a meat offering and drink offering to shew that we must be furnished with the body and blood of Christ to help us in the sacrificing and offering up our spiritual sacrifice of sin Thus Melchizedek met Abraham when he was weary and faint with his late fight and brought him bread and wine to revive and strengthen him Thus furnished we ought to remember and shew forth the Lords death till his comming to us in the spirit 1 Cor. 11.23 26. and by eating of this one bread we also become one bread or flesh or bread with Christ and each other as St. Paul speaks 1 Cor. 10.16 and so this Sacrament without all controversie was ordained as you speak afterwards to oblige us unto duty and to further our communion with Christ and with each other that we may be made one bread and one body with him and in him yet not in your sens or way but as St Paul speaks 1 Cor 10.16 17. by being all made pertakers of one bread to wit his word and 1 Coâ— 12.13 by being all made to drink into one spirit as before it was shewed at large In your second Section you truely say That in this Sacrament Christ is not offered up to his Father as a sacrifice for the quick and the dead but Christ here offereth himself in his Mystical flesh and blood as a true meat offering and drink offering to his true beleevers and followers nor is it advisedly said of you there That at or in this Sacrament there is no real sacrifice at all made beside the commemoration of his own offering of himself with all possible praise to God for the same for in the right celebration of this Supper we ought to offer up both the sacrifices of a broken and contrite heart Psal 51.17 and to sacrifice the remainder of our sins as our daily offering in the holy of Gods Tabernacle in true conformity to Christ and through the help of his spiritual flesh and blood 1 Pet. 4.1 2. yet it is Christ himself and not his sacrifice that is the alone propitiation for all men John 12.1.2 In your third Section you set forth some of the duties of the person who is to administer this Sacrament truly but you have omitted the many parts of his office which are to declare the time and ends of its institution with the holy mysteries which it signifies and to stir up the people to lay hold of these benefits and to follow Christ unto the death with sutable prayers and thanksgivings In your fourth Section you truly affirm That the Priest or Minister should not observe or take this Sacrament alone and that he should communicate in both kindes to the true beleevers and followers of Christ and you do not without cause deny pompous elevations of and processions with the host for adoration sake and other superstitious reservations and abuses of the bread or host In your fifth you mistake much saying That the Elements in their signification have relation to Christ crucified as we have shewed before Yet it is true that the names of the Elements are attributed to the body and blood of Christ which they are designed to represent but the predication is Sacramental as you speak and lies in the verbe substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as doth signifie est for significat as Gen. 41.25 26 27. and Gen. 50.12 18. It is likewise true which you there affirm That the Elements even after consecration remain for nature and substance bread and wine still In your sixth Section you justly tax and refute the Doctrine of Popish transubstantiation and might have reproved the consubstantiation of the Lutherans also upon good grounds but if that those terms or phrases were used to teach us that we must be spiritually consubstantiated with Christs body and blood aforesaid or transubstantiated into the same it might pass in a good sense of spiritual conformity In your seventh Section you comfort your selves and your worthy receivers with vain words and hopes concerning the presence not real only but spiritual also of that body and blood of Christ which were never signified by this Sacrament so that herein the Papists Lutherans and Calvinists do litigate de lanâ— Caprina and do not once discern which are the spiâ—itual flesh and blood of Christ there intended In your last Section you say That in this Sacrament persons ignorant of the mystery though made pertakers of the outward Elements yet they receive not the things therby signified wherein you speak truly though the speech laies hold on your selves among others but it is a question whether all that come ignorantly to this Sacrament be guilty of the body and blood of Christ we for our parts hope many are not neither doth it seem consonant to reason that all wicked or unworthy receivers that are pertakers of the Elements though they sin in coming uncalled or unprepared to this ordinance should at that time be guilty of the true body and blood of Christ which perhaps they never understood but all they that esteem not aright of the body and blood of Christ when truly offered unto them and rightly understood are guilty of the profaining of the same and much more if they by Apostacy turn therefrom as we heard before Hebr. 10.29 CHAP. XXX Of Church censures THE Lord Jesus as King and Head of his Church hath therein appointed a Government in the hand of Church Officers distinct from the Civil Magistrate a Isa 9.6 7. 1 Tim 5 17. acts 20 27 28. Heb 13.7 17 24 1 cor 12.18 Mat 28 18 19 20. II. To these Officers the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven are committed by vertue whereof they have power respectively to retain and remit sins to shut that Kingdom against the impenitent both by the word and censures and to open it unto the penitent sinners by the mystery of the Gospel and by absolution from censures as occasion shall require b Mat. 16.19 Mat 18 17 18. Ioh 20 20 21 22 23. 2 cor 1.6 7 8. III. Church censures are necessary for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren for deterring of others from the like offences for purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump for vindicating the honour of Christ and the holy profession of the Gospel and for preventing the wrath of God which might justly fall upon the Church if they should suffer his Covenant and the seals thereof to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders c 1 Cor 5. chapter 1 Tim 5.20 Mat 7.6 1 Tim. 1 20 1 Cor 11.27