serve me c. For if our Lord himself be loved unto the said respect of his Fathers glory as to be compleated in his final end by him Consequently this his prayer is according to that level and not otherwise as plainly appears in the comparing the 26th Vers of the 12. of John with this 24th Vers in the 17th of John But what Gods final end is here I pass it over because it is proved in the first and 12th Chapter of my second Treatise So much for the opening of the 17th Chapter of John which proves that the Saints perseverance hath no dependance upon the supposed personal Elections which neither this Chapter nor any other doth own CHAP. III. In which are opened several other Texts to the purpose aforesaid BEhold the dayes come saith the Lord Jer. 31.3.31 22 33 That I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not according to the Covenant I made with their Fathers c. But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel After those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts c. By that word in those dayes is meant as is expressed in the 17. Verse There is hope in the latter end saith Jehovah that thy Children shall come to their own border that is their own Land and return into that posture wherein they may receive eternal life as is implyed in these words I will write my Law in their hearts further implying that formerly they were dead in sins and trespasses To the same purpose he saith I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them Jer. 32.39 40. And I will make an everlasting Covenant with them and I will not turn away from them to do them good In the next words he shewes wherein principally their good consists I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall never depart from me onely note this by the way That this fearing of God for ever and a Covenant that shall last for ever and that they shall never depart from him is in no sense spoken in reference to personal election as the ground of the Saints perseverance in the grace of God by Jesus Christ for all this story points onely at the Jews Gods elect visible Church and these words as to them imply two things First That God had formerly turned away from them from doing of them good many years yet he continued them to be and so to be distinguished in all Ages and Generations as that they are known by the name of Jews as Abrahams off-spring to this day Secondly These words further point out That although they are now no visible Church of Christ yet after their conversion into the said posture they shall never totally depart from being Christs visible Church unto the Worlds end as they have been many hundred years and are at this day and that is meant when God saith I will make an ever lasting Covenant with thee as to the same effect in the 3. Verse And in that he saith Rom. 11.15.27 Heb. 8.8 9 10. Heb. 10.16 17. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever And to this point the Apostle speaks Rom. 11.15 27. and to the same purpose Heb. 8.8 9 10. and Heb. 10.16 17. So that it is clear these Texts speak nothing to the maintenance of personal Election as I said â—efore Onely I marvail that so many godly learned men should be so bold to infer from the Apostles words Rom. 9.13 Esau have I hated That Esau was personally reprobated to eternity for the Apostle doth onely repeat a Record as it is written by Malachy and Malachy followes God declaring his purpose to Rebecca concerning those Children That they were the Roots of two Nations and he purposed the one Nation should be his visible Church and the other being the elder Brother should not that no flesh as flesh should glory in his sight and in this sense he saith Esau have I hated as is formerly proved in this and both my other Treatises Again For further clearing of the truth against those threefold erroneous Elections I will prove the original use of the word Elect and in what sense that word is applyed in the old and new Testament For instance many hundreds of years after Esau and Jacob were dead came the burthen of the word of Jehovah by Malachy I have loved you saith Jehovah yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us was not Esau Jacobs Brother saith Jehovah yet I loved Jacob and hated Esau and laid his Mountains and his Heritage waste And to Jacobs Nation Vers 5. he saith your eyes shall see and you shall say Jehovah will be magnified from the border of Israel And to Israels Nation Jsaiah applies the word Elect which as to them Isa 44.1 2. was the original use of this word Yet hear now O Jacob my Servant and Israel whom I have Elect Thus saith Jehovah that made thee and formed thee from the womb he will help thee fear not O Jacob my Servant and thou righteous whom I have Elect. But thou Israel art my Servant Isa 41.8 9. Jacob whom I have Elect the seed of Abraham my friend And in the 9th Verse Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the Earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee thou art my Servant I have elected thee and not cast thee away From this ground our Saviour speaking of the destruction of this visible Church Elect after his death he concludes those dayes of vengeance shall be shortened except those dayes should be shortened there should be no flesh saved Mat 24.2 and from 15. to 22. But for the Elects sake those dayes shall be shortened implying no flesh otherwise of Abraham his friend whould be reserved for a future call to the said posture in which they might receive the gift of eternal life Dan. 11.15 1 King 3.8 So the Prophet saith thy Servant is in the midst of thine Elect people whom thou hast elected likewise O seed of Jacob his Servant ye Children of Jacob his Elect ones 1 Chron. 16.13 so that in the old Testament we see the original of this word Elect and the application of it hath not the least sense to any personal Elections but to a visible Church or to its individual members under the same capacity Secondly It is applyed to the same sense and none other in the new Testament To the visible Church of Colos the Apostle saith Put on therefore as the Elect of God Col. 3.12 1 Thes 1.4.7 bowels of mercy c. likewise to the visible Church he saith knowing Brethren beloved your election of God for our Gospel came not unto you in word onely but also
in power Vers 7. So that you were an example to all that beleeve in Macedonia and Accaia that is that beleeve according to the judgement of charity for of such onely the visible Churches under the Gospel were constituted being admitted by Baptisme So Peter applyes the word Elect to the visible members of Christ scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Asia 1 Pet. 1.1 2. and Bithinia Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience c. So Paul stileth the Gospel whose most proper residence is in the visible Churches of Christ and their beleeving there in the faith of Gods Elect Paul Tit. 1.1 a Servant of God and a Servant of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect and acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness likewise saith Paul I endure all things for the Elects sake 2 Tim. 2.2.10 that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory Sometimes this word Elect is applyed to particular members of the visible Church 2 Joh. 1.13 the elder unto the Elect Lady and her Children 1 Joh. 1.13 whom I love in the truth the Children of thine Elect Sister great thee Amen Sometimes this word Elect is applyed to the universall visible Church of Christ but most particularly to all right beleevers therein And shall not God avenge his own Elect Luk. 18.7 which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them I tell you he will avenge them speedily and so he did avenge divers times the visible Church of the Jews upon their Adversaries as he now doth on the behalf of the Church of the Gentiles against their enemies And sometimes this word Elect is applyed more close as to the invisible members of Christ which are those that purely worship him in spirit and in truth And the Psalmist saith Thou choosest to thy self the godly man Psal 4. for these are such as are known to God onely and not to men infallibly Hence saith the Apostle the foundation of God standeth sure the Lord knoweth those that are his infallibly for that 's implyed 2 Tim. 2.19 To this point our Saviour speaks Then shall he send his Angels and gather together his Elect from the four winds Mark 13.27 Mat. 24.31 from the utmost part of Heaven And he shall send his Angels with the great sound of Trumpet and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds from one end of Heaven to the other So that the scope of the new Testament concerning Election runs according to the scope of the old but neither speaks for the foresaid threefold erroneous elections CHAP. IV. Answering some familistical Objections against the premises FOr they deny all Elections and rejections of mankind as well those that are true as those that are false both from several Texts which I have answered in my second Treatise Eccles 12.7 and from Eccles 12.7 the words are Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God that gave it that is say they the body being returned to his dust the spirit returns to God to be essentially his nature and therefore there shall be no individuals of men to be saved or damned to eternity for all shall be God This Objection takes for granted that to be a truth Answ 1 which is a lye and unpossible for Psal 147.5 The Text affirms Psal 147.5 God is infinite and the Heathen man could say He is all Center and no circumference and an infinite admits of no diminition nor addition for then it ceaseth to be infinite Secondly I answer according to the being of a thing such is its operation therefore if the spirit which is in man be infinite let it produce suitable operations and wee 'l beleeve it as did our Lord that was personally God-man yet the divine nature did not animate a humane body as doth the soul and spirit of man as these men dream and he did produce suitable actions for he laid down his humane body in death and took it up again he walked on the waters with the soals of his feet and in an instant turned water into wine and gave the man sight that was born blind And if they be God why do they not cause the Sun to go back so many degrees as pleaseth them and command the Seas and the winds to obey them for Christ by his heavenly Doctrine confirmed by numerous miracles was mightily declared to be the Son of God Rom. 1.4 2 Tim. 3.12 13. but you are declared to be as you are as saith the Apostle that is evill men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Again I answer 'T is true The spirit returneth to God who gave it but it is one thing that it returns to God another thing that it returns to be God which is impossible as is proved But you will demand of me in what sense according to the Text doth the spirit of man return to God that gave it I answer negatively and affirmatively Negatively thus The Spirit is no neerer in its nature to the nature of God when it is out of the body than when it is in the body for both body and spirit do live and move and have their being in his essence for the Text saith Act. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being Again I answer As that being which all created natures have is bottomed in the being and essence of God on which it depends so as it cannot move the breadth of a hair further or neerer by its own local motion nor by death neither by annihilating it self for even wicked men are so bottomed upon his being that they may be to be tormented to eternity although they seek death or annihilation so saith the Text. They shall seek death Rev. 6. and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flye from them and the ground why he will thus continue men and Angels to eternity is for his final ends sake for which he made all that they might be Vessels of honour or dishonour according to their works Secondly Affirmatively I answer the spirit of man returns neerer to God in its own apprehension of him when it is out then when it was in the body both of good and bad men for while it is in the body there are several mediums that do interpose its apprehensions of God but when it hath left the body these mediums do vanish and therefore it hath then a more immediate apprehension of God But you will ask me what are these mediums I answer they are primarily three The first is its body of sense in which it is involved and the spirit while it lives in it receives all objects by its five senses as doth a Bruit The second medium is the frame of this inferior World it
off from amidst his people I but mark the reason and ground because he hath despised the word of Jehovah and hath broken his Commandement Here note that God concludes his word and his Commandements to be one and the same thing and concludes That soul shall be utterly cut off his iniquity shall be upon him Exo. 9.20 that is it shall never be forgiven him except God in mercy grant repentance the truth is you are worse than the Heathen for they beleeved the word spoken unto them by Moses to be the word of Jehovah He that feared the word of Iehovah Exo. 2.23 among the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flee into the Houses Likewise he conveyed his minde by his word to the minde of the Israelites for to them he spake all these words saying I am Iehovah thy Elohims Deut 4.2 which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the house of bondage thou shalt have no other Elohims before me Moreover he saith Ye shall not adde unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it Here take notice of this That this Scripture God ownes to be his word therefore admits of no addition or diminution then it is certain it is the spirit of the Devil in you I do not say doth adde or diminish but that which is much worse for you endevour utterly to dissolve the Scriptures Again The Apostle Peter affirms two conclusions of the old Testament First That the then written Scripture in his dayes namely the old Testament was to the Churches of Christ a more sure word of Prophecie than that excellent speech that came from Heaven to Jesus Christ upon the Mount because that was a private and peculiar respect to him alone He renders this reason why Knowing this first saith he that no Prophecie of Scripture is of any private interpretation as all your quaking Doctrines are being bottomed upon your light within which neither you nor any man else knowes what it is Secondly 2 Pet. 1.17 18 19 20. Your Doctrines are of a private interpretation because they are not owned by the publick Oracles of Gods word neither do you own them to be his word The Apostles second conclusion to the Churches as to the old Testament is you do well that ye take heed as to a light that shineth in a dark place until the day-dawn and the day-Starre arise in your hearts and in the 21. Verse he renders a reason thereof for saith he the Prophecie came not in old time by the will of man as your quaking Doctrines do but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost Now the reason why the shining of the old Testament was in a dark place is because it was under types and shadows and Prophecies as to them that had not beleeved the Gospel though then unveiled and by the dawning of the day and the day-starre arising in their hearts is meant the preaching of the Gospel without that veile so beleeving in Christ more clearly manifested to their mindes by his spirit that was the day-starre which was to arise in their hearts Again Our Lord Jesus Christ himself proves the Scriptures to be the word of God Mark 7.8 13. when he had charged them that they had laid aside the Commandements of God as do you more directly then ever they did then in the 13. Verse he affirms that Commandement written in the Scriptures to be the word of God Likewise he affirms the Gospel preached to be the word of God Luk. 8.11 for saith he expounding the parable the Seed is the word of God and it appeares also to be the word of God preached Vers 18. saying Take heed how you hear And from this ground I told you that a wiser man than you did affirm the Scriptures to be the word of God that is the Lord Jesus Christ Likewise he saith unto them Joh. 10.34 35. It is written in your Law I said ye are Gods if ye call them Gods to whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be dissolved Here our Lord also affirms the word of God to be the Scripture And in John 17.8 Our Lord to his Father concerning his Apostles saith I have given them thy words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have beleeved that thou diddest send me Observe here that Gods word which the Father gave to Christ Christ to his Apostles and they beleeving those words preached them to the World the substance whereof is in their Gospels and Epistles and the Scriptures is unto us these words of God and the ground of our Faith But you endevour to dissolve this ground and to lay a foundation of your own making a thing that you call a light within and tell us that that is Gods word and that there is none other but that and you call this thing the everlasting word of God and your Christ and your spiritual King Jesus and this lye is the ground of your Faith But our Lord Jesus Christ in the houre of his Temptation kept his minde close to the word of God in the Scriptures that were written by Moses to repel the Tempter and his temptations saying to the Devil It is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God that is his minde shall live by beleeving the Scriptures as his body does by bread as in Vers 8. Deur 6.16 Chap. 10. Get thee behinde me Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him onely shalt thou serve and this word was then written And here our Lord applies those Scriptures to the Devils that were spoken to the Israelites they being his Creatures as well as man Thus the word of God in the Scriptures was the ground of Christs Faith and so are to all that are his that is that are truly godly therefore because you deny the Scriptures to be Gods word and also the sacred Trinity consequently you deny God himself for it is proved that Jehovah is in the Elohims and the Elohims in Jehovah wherefore I told you because you deny principles you ought to be served as they serve such in the Schools that is they kick them out and so ought you to be kicked out of the School of Christ and the company of all Gods people yet nevertheless I did then grant that the Scriptures as a humane expression as printed in Inck and paper was not the word of God for that may be burnt in the fire as the King did the Roll yet that which was express'd to the King in that Roll Jer. 26.29 30. was the word of God and God made it good upon him and so he will make good his word upon you and your Companions though you endevour to dissolve that word as did that King that all men
in a twofold respect that is restrictively and universally restrictively thus He chose us beleevers among men which receive his gift of righteousness into the possession of eternal life in this World and to the adoption of Sons for as the Text saith God elected to himself a godly man so it also saith Psal 4.3 Joh. 1.1 2. He that beleeveth hath eternal life And to as many as beleeved in his name he gave prerogative to be called the Sons of God that is by adoption And thus the word chose us restrictively considered is onely beleevers as were they to whom this Epistle was written Secondly This word He chose us is to be understood universally of humane nature as such in opposition to the nature of fallen Angels and so it comprehends all in the fallen Masse as unholy and under blame and not loved save in the seed of the woman And thus in after times when man did universally apostate into perdition with the Apostate Angels then as a continued act of this universal Election and as a continued act of the Apostate Angels rejection he taketh hold on mankind to stay him from sinking but left the Angels still to sink And hence it is the Text saith That he in no wayes taketh hold of the nature of Angels but of the Seed of Abraham he taketh hold that is in electing a visible Church of humane nature as such in the loins of Jacob in his Mothers womb This point is further amplified in my second Treatise page 24 25 26 27. Now the rule of truth leads me to two conclusions from the premises First To give a right judgement of the supposed Elections Nota. that is being simply considered in themselves they are neither more nor lesse than three lies because the truth of God owns none of the three neither ought we Secondly To give a right judgement of the godly learned touching this controversie that in them it is an error of love as to Gods glory and not that they love to erre they being at the least friends of the Bridegroom But if you say unto me as it hath been said by some that I may erre Quest in understanding the Scriptures as well as others especially being illiterate 1. True it is Answ I am illiterate and he that thinks he can so speak or write that he cannot erre he erres in so thinking of himself 2. Secondly I answer If I or any man else keep close to the simplicity of the sacred Scriptures in their drift or scope according to mine or his Talent Then Gods spirit will keep me or any man else to his truth and so from error as he saith unto the Church of Philadelphia Because thou hast kept the word of my patience Rev. 3.10 I also will keep thee from the houre of temptation And as before so I say again when you see a Bee work beyond its wit then know there is a greater efficient than it CHAP. VI. In which is begun the second general point that is in what sense the Scripture speaks the Saints perseverance in the grace of God by Jesus Christ THis point falls asunder into two general parts the one remote and lesse proper serving only for introduction the second is the very point it self The first is no more but this how a man may attain to or become a Saint one means remote is the Universal Election before spoken of for until then it was as possible for the Devil to become a Saint as any Son of Adam Another remote meanes is the taking away of the guilt and punishment of Adams one offence from the whole Creation in general and from man in particular by the universal imputation of the righteousness of Christ the second Adam for till then the damned in Hell were as capable to be Saints as any Son of Adam A third remote means is That in regard man totally lost all righteousness and holiness in that fall therefore if God had not written his Law in the minde of man by the spirit of Christ from whence man by nature does the things contained in the Law or Oracles of God man had been utterly uncapable ever to become a Saint A fourth remote meanes is this Rom. 2. To becom a Saint man must do as did those heathens Rom. 2. they haveing not the Law or Oracles of God resident with them Quest what did they or what could they do that knew not Christ the Text answers they did by a patient continuance in wel doing seeke glory honour Immortality and eternal life that is implicitly and virtually they came towards Christ whom they knew not for they could not know him expresly haveing not the Oracles of God Then what could those Heathens find Quest though they did so seek certainly they did find for Christ hath promised those that seek shall find But what did those Heathens find Answ Two things which made good the promise of Christ unto them Quest The first was Circumcision Answ which was by nature Rom. 2.26 By nature that is by the force of the Law written in their nature and the voyce of God in Christ speaking kindly to man in the whole frame of nature from whence they became Saints Vers 29. that is they were holy for saith the Text their Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God But doth the Text affirm Quest that these Heathens were saved Yes Answ As certainly as were the Jewes for God would render unto every man according to his deeds to them who by a patient continuance in well doing seek glory and honour immortality eternal life to the Jew first Rom. 2.6 7. from 10. to 15. and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of persons with God What can men that live within the sound of the Gospel Quest do more to become Saints than they that never heard the Gospel preached They that are under the Gospel may do more than the other Ansoe because the difference is much for the things that they seek which are under the Gospel are much more clearly manifested therefore God will much more circumcise their hearts as he did Lydia's opening her understanding to what Paul preached and as to Paul himself seeking immortality and eternal life in a patient well doing for he saith he lived unblameable that is in the truth of God though through ignorance he persecuted that truth under the notion of error but saith he I did it ignorantly and therefore obtained mercy Thus the young man in the Gospel by a patient continuance in well doing did seek to Christ saying Good Master what shall I do to obtain eternal life and he answered to what our Lord said All this have I done from my youth but mark what entertainment our Lord gave him in two particulars first he looked on him that is seriously and loved him saith the Text. Secondly He put him upon this that it was
ingenious acknowledgement of the divine truth Whereas you affirm Faith arises as a particular branch of the new Creature Object or Saints inherent righteousness yet it is affirmed by others that Faith is the first and Mother of all graces I answer It is one thing that Faith is included in the general nature of the Saints inherent righteousness wrought by the word and spirit of Christ Answ and another thing that in the exercise of their graces in order to perseverance That Faith is the first mover for in this case it is true Faith sets all graces a work and I suppose this is it they mean and I have proved in my second Book pag. 71.72 That mans beleef is the general ground of all his deliberate actions as to the avoiding of any danger and attaining any good hopeful And this is bottomed in the nature of the thing and not in the excellency of faith above the nature of other graces for justifying Faith simply considered in it self as to justification of a sinner is but a dark body till it hath received Christ and his righteousness which is the light of life eternal As is the eye a dark body till it receive the light And as by the Saints exercising all their graces all graces do grow so faith growes up with the rest Hence saith James thou seest that Faith was the helper of Abrahams works and by works Faith was brought to its end that is by offering up Isaac which figuratively was Christ to Abraham for saith our Lord Abraham saw my day and rejoyced Thus Christ is the Authour of eternal salvation to all that obey him otherwise not for that is implyed as to those professors in whom Faith dyed mentioned by James Jam. 2.22 If it be objected what I affirm in my first Book Object pag. 55. That Christ is the Authour of salvation to them that disobey him as old Eli and Miriam and Aaron and Moses whose carcases fell with others in the wilderness by the wrath of God 1 Cor. 1.29 30. and in the Church of Corinth for contempt of the Sacrament wherefore Christ smote some with sickness and some with death Moses and all the Saints that dye under a relaps Answ or back-sliding condition yet if any seed of Gods word sowne by the hand of Christs spirit remain in any degree of inherent righteousness though never so small then there is in them a virtual tendency by faith to Christs imputed righteousness as to the brazen Serpent the smallest tendency of sight that beheld it saved that mans body from death so that virtual tendency to Christs righteousness doth likewise save that man from the guilt and punishment of his sins and renders him eternal life after his departure out of this World yet the death of these Saints is under a Cloud of obscurity as to themselves and to others in respect of their eternal life as Salomon and Eli and those Corinthians which Christ stroke with death yet as for Moses although he dyed under a Cloud yet he dyed not as a barren and fruitless Christian but being filled with the fruits of righteousness although he disobeyed Christ eminently in one particular of unbeleefe for which Christ slew him his Carkasse falling in the Wilderness with the rest yet God rendered him this honour and comfort in his passage from this Vale of misery to eternal felicity for before he destroyed his body he led him to the top of a Mountain to let him see the figure of his eternal felicity Deut. 34.5 6 7. the promised Land of Earthly Canaan still proving that Christ is the Authour of eternal salvation to them that obey him as is formerly proved those that obey him most according to their measure of grace receive most To those Saints he most manifests himself to their secret minde and they that obey him least according to their measure he manifests himself least to their secret mindes for onely the pure in minde see God therefore the more purity of spirit the more sight of God and the lesse the lesse for the sanctified minde of the Saints is the onely Temple of the Holy Ghost and not the Saints persons as personally elected for as personally elected Christs humane body and soul was only the Temple of the holy Ghost as formerly is proved and therefore it is said the God-head dwelt bodily in that person or humane body but of none else for the Text saith In him dwelleth the fulness of the God-head bodily Col. 2.9 that is the fulness of the one Jehovah for that most properly is the God-head therefore the second in the one Jehovah to carry on his Fathers final end was personally elected God-man and his soul and body receives not the spirit by measure as doe the Saints but without measure as saith the Text. CHAP. X. Briefly touching upon the point of Faith but at large upon the point of Love FOr having formerly spoken of the works of the Saints whereof Faith is the first mover It were necessary that I should now treat what faith is but in regard I have handled it in my first Treatise here I passe it over for there I have proved that in justifying faith there are three degrees and shew the difference between that Faith and other Faiths and then I have proved what justifying Faith in its own nature is definitively and defined what its perfection is and also proved how God doth bring the Saints to that perfection and also that justifying Faiths perfection and dissolution are both in this life Pag. 128. to the 140 from pag. 128. to the 140. And because Faith works by love it is requisite to treat upon the nature of love and how that love doth arise in the mindes of beleevers and in a word all love in general in the minde of man arises from that suitable agreeableness between the subject and the object and so in this case of justifying Faith for no man can love that which is not suitable nor agreeable to his minde From this ground Jacob could not love Leah so well as Rachel but because there was a suitable agreeableness between the subject and the object therefore Jonathans love to David was more than the love of women so much to shew how love ariseth in the minde of man but the question will be What is love in its own general nature Quest In a word Answ It may be definitively thus laid down It is in the minde of man a liking and an uniting affection but the point will be more cleared by its natural properties the which are two What is the first property Quest It is to endevour as neer an Union and Communion with the thing loved Answ as possible may be therefore it was that Jonathan and David kissed one another and wept one with another until David exceeded and that David said concerning Jonathan I am distressed for thee my Brother Jonathan 2 Sam. 1.26 1 Sam. 18.1 very pleasant hast thou
in mercy prevent it not Again I met with one of your elder Brethren in evil a Familist and he objected unto me against the Scriptures because to King Iames learned Broughton made it appear that many places in the Scripture were falsly translated not agreeable to the original Copy therefore the Scriptures to us was altogether uncertain thus he said although he did know that King by the godly learned mended those defects and caused the Bible to be new printed and it is judged to be the best Translation that is extant but his end in all this is the same as is yours to have us beleeve that that Light within to be the only true Scriptures which you call the tender part of man but he then further objected that the Scriptures are altogether uncertain to us for who knowes that original Copy that Broughton alleages were that of the Apostles for since their time they have past through many corrupt hands generation after generation I answer So did the old Testament in Moses dayes for many hundreds of years Generation after Generation past thorough corrupt hands for the Israelites themselves sometimes fell to Idolatry sometimes in their Captivity scattered among the Heathens yet the Apostles took it for granted the original Copies of Moses and the Prophets were so sound as to be a ground of truth to the Churches for to them he saith Whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning Rom. 15.4 that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope And our Lord Jesus Christ he took it for granted also for he makes use of the Scriptures Luk. 4. that were written by Moses and so through patience and comfort of the Scriptures repelled the Tempter and his temptations If ye demand of me what I mean by the internal or intrinsical glory of Jehovah 198 I mean his unmeasurable Answ or infinite Essence or his essential glory in the internal relations of the Elohims Father Word and holy Ghost and these three are one saith St. John And to this internal essential glory no created nature can approach nor comprehend what it is therefore not the glorified humane body of the Lord Jesus Christ now glorified in Heaven although in personal Union with the second Elohim much lesse the glorified Saints And this essential glory in Jehovah is not more glorious in any place or thing in one than another but is as glorious in himself and to himself beyond all Worlds where no created things are If ye object That Heaven is his Throne and his highest glory wherein is the Lord Jesus Christ and glorified Saints and Angels Answ All this is true if it be rightly understood that all this is but his external glory resulting from his Creatures in relation to his final end for which he made all things in order to glorifie himself in the Vessels of honour or dishonour to eternity as at large is proved in my second Treatise but all this no way adds to his internal divine glory for infinite as such admits of no addition nor diminution therefore your dreames and your Brethren the Familists that the Essence of God is the tender part of man as say you the same light that is in God and his Essence as say they that all shall return into his Essence and no individuals to be damned or saved to eternity both these from hence appeares to be a most blasphemous whimsey And for conclusion take this observation that you Quakers and your elder Brethren in evil the Familists are not onely Atheists because your Tenents lead to beleeve there is no God for you deny Jehovah our Elohims to be one Jehovah but also do deny mans reasonable soul as animating his body since you fansie a thing in man which you call your God your Christ as before is proved wherefore from your Tenents one asked this Question If you inclose a living man in a Vessel that the Aire cannot enter and opening it finde him dead then tell me what you can see therein more than his dead Corps what then is the reasonable soul in man you so much talk of To this man I answer If the reasonable soul be there together with his Corps you cannot see it therefore you know not whether it be there or no for your eyes see not the Wind nor Aire nor the Angels good or bad nor God himself although he be so neer to us as is proved and the reason of all this is that your eye or the eye of any man else cannot see any thing but that which is of some Colour for Colours are the proper object of our sight therefore because the Wind the Aire mans Soul Angels good or bad and Gods Essence being all without colour your eye cannot discern them for they are invisible to it will you therefore conclude there is no Wind no Aire no reasonable Soul no Angels good or bad nor no God you may as well infer you have no Face for you never saw it but by a Glasse or some such help FINIS ERRATA PAg. 13. Line 24. read and p. 14. l. the last adde the word not p. 16. l. 29. for the word gift r. gilt p. 18. l. 15. adde the word for p. 30. l. 13. leave out the word as p. 56. l. 13. for left r. felt p. 46. l. 2. add the word man p. 103. l. 30. for complains r. explains p. 108. l. 2. for then r. they