the whole Godhead is perfect and infinite in Being and Power and Wisdom and Goodness in which all his Attributes are comprehended but yet a distinct Vnderstanding of them all is not of absolute necessity to Salvation That this God is the Creator Preserver and Disposer of all things and the Owner and Ruler of Mankind most Just and Merciful that as he is the beginning of all so he is the ultimate end and the chief good of Man which before all things else must be loved and Sought Concerning the Son we must moreover believe That he is the same God with the Father the second Person in Trinity Incarnate and so became Man by a Personal Vnion of the Godhead and Manhood He omitteth his being conceived of the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary which was needful to have been exprest it being a great Article of our Christian Faith That he was without Original or Actual Sin having a sinless Nature and a sinless Life That he fullfilled all Righteousness and was put to Death as a Sacrifice for our sins and gave himself a Ransom for us and being buried he rose again from the dead and afterward ascended into Heaven where he is Lord of all and interceedeth for Believers That he will come again and raise the dead and judge the World the Righteous to Everlastâ—â—â— Life and the Wicked to Everlasting Punishment That this is the onâ— Redeemer the Way the Truth and the Life neither is there access to thâ— Father but by him nor Salvation in any other Concerning the Holy Ghost we must believe That he is the same one God the third Person in Trinity sent by the Father and the Son to inspire the Prophets and Apostles and thaâ— the Doctâ—ine inspired and miraculously attested by him is true that he iâ— the Sanctifier of these that shall be saved renewing them after the Image of God in Holiness and Righteoâ—sness giving them true Repentance Faith Hope Love and sincere Obedience causing them to overcome the Flesh the World and the Devil thus gathering a holy Church on Earth to Christ who have by his Blood the Pardon of all their sins and shall have Everlasting Blâ—ssâ—dness with God This saith Richard Baxter is the Essence of the Christian Faith as to the Matter of it And now as concerning that judged by Richard Baxter the Essence of the Christian Faith as to the Matter of it I declare sincerely without all Equivocation or mental Reservation in the true and genuine sence of the Words that I have transcribed out of his said Treatise that I know not wherein I or my Brethren of my Faith and Perswasion differ from him in any one particular as to the matter of it or substance therein contained the only exception we have is against that unscriptural Term or Phrase of Three Persons or a Trinity of Persons but we own sincerely That our Faith ought to be and is in God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost and that these Names are Names of Relation respecting the Relations as well as the Relative Offices and Works of those Three and this being granted by us in the sincerity of our Hearts we are excused or cleared by John Calvin for whose Memory I suppose C. Mather hath as full and great esteem as for R. Baxter for in his first Book of Institutions cap. 13. n. 5. he saith expresly Vtinam quidem sepulta essent se inventâ— Nomina as he expresly calleth them Trium Personarum constaret modo hec inter omnes Fides Patrem et Filium et Spiritum esse unum Deum nec tamen aut Filium esse Patrem aut Spiritum Filium sed proprietate quadam esse distinctos neque enim tam precisa sum austeritate ut obnudas voculas digladiari sustineam In English thus I wish saith he the invented Names viz. of Three Persons were buried providing this Faith were manifest among all that the Father the Son and the Spirit is one God and yet that the Son is not the Father nor that the Spirit is the Son but that they are distinct by a certain Property to wit in their â—â—lative Attributes as that the Father did beget the Son and the â—on was begotten of the Father and that the holy Spirit did proceed â—â—om both for I am not of such precise Austerity said Calvin that â—or bare small Words I would contend and withall he confesseth That the Orthodox antiently did not agree about these Terms or invented Words â—â—at he acknowledgeth were invented since the Apostles dayes to guard â—gainst the Arrian Sabellian and other Heresies And therefore since we are altogether free of these Heresies and that we detest them from our very Souls no sober Christian will judge uncharitably of us in that respect And as for the word Distinct if some of our Friends taking it to signifie distant or seperated asunder one from another as in remote and distant places have refused it in this and other matters as indeed sometimes at least vulgarly it doth so signifie as when we say America is distinguished from Europe by a great spacious Sea interveening they ought not to be accused for so doing seeing in that other sence of the word Distinct that is more in use among Schollars as when we say Things are distinct when the one is not the other they own a Distinction as that the Father is not the Son the Son is not the Father though he is our Father and is expresly call'd in Scripture the Everlasting Father and Christ's Manhood and Body is not the Godhead and yet one Christ as the Body of a Man is not his Soul and yet Body and Soul is one Man and in this second sence we do allow the word distinct And as to the Manner of receiving the Christian Faith we grant with him first That it must not only be received as true into our Understanding by a special divine Illumination that is supernatural but must be imbraced by the Will Heart and Affections as good yea exceeding good and worthy of all acceptation by a special divine Motion and working of the holy Spirit that is supernatural in upon the Will Heart and Affections 2 dly That as touching all the peculiar Mysteries and Doctrines of Faith the Scriptures have been Instrumental by and together with the immediate working of the Spirit to beget in us the true Faith of them But in this we differ I suppose from him as well as from C. Mather and his Brethren of New-England that whereas they hold That the Spirit of God worketh in Believers Effectively but not Objectively or by way of sensible Object or sensibly and perceptibly by its own Self-Evidence and Demonstration to mens Hearts and Souls We affirm That the Spirit of God worketh in Believers both Effectively 〈◊〉 also Objectively or by way of sensible Object or sensibly and â—â—â—ceptibly by its own Evidence and Demonstration to mens Heaâ—â—â— and Souls And this divers call'd Protestants have
hath perverted my words and belyed me in many things then he cryeth out Ignorance and other things that are Scripture Truths he calleth my Ignorance whereas it is but his Ignorance that doth not understand better And I doubt not but Judicious and Impartial Readers who compare his Books and mine will have another Judgment concerning me and acknowledge to Gods Praise the Gifts both of sound Knowledge and Expression with his manifold other Mercies bestowed on me for which I desire to praise him forever And for my saying That Light being used as a Name of God is no Figurative or Tropical Expression I have already above explained my sense of it That the Natural Light is the Figure of God that Divine Light but the Divine Light is not the Figure of the Natural as Figures of Metaphors and Tropes in Natural things commonly are quite otherwise And Augustine De Genes ad Lit. lib. 4. cap. 28. expresly affirmeth That Christ is Properly and not Figuratively called Light and yet who will say that Augustine was not a more knowing Man than Cotton Mather and who can deny but Light is immediate though it comes through a Medium of the Air to our Eyes and through the medium of the Eye to the sense of sight for do we not as immediately see a Candle as we see a Man and yet the species or image of both come to our Eyes through the medium of the Air So that in this as in many other things he showeth his own extream Ignorance that 's not worth time to mention And that he reckoneth it my Ignorance that I say Christ commanded not these words to be used in Baptism In the Name of the Father and of the Son c. commonly called the words of Institution As he can neâ—er prove any such Institution so he hath Zuinglius whom he maketh his President in another case against him for Zuinglius saith expresly Lib. de Bapt. pag. 66. tom 2. Christus Jesus Baptism formulam qua uteremur his verbis non Instituit quem ad modum Theologi bactenus falso Tradiderunt i. e. Christ Jesus did not institute the form of Baptism in these words to be used as the Theologues have heretofore falsly delivered And he is intoxicated with a Spirit of Ignorance and not I as he falsly alledgeth on me to assert That Exod. 20.8 9. so commandeth one day of seven as that it may be First as well as the Seventh Whereas if Natural dayes be meant it cannot be the First but the Seventh for it is not said Remember to keep the First Day for Rest and after that labour Six dayes And that he denyeth and mocketh at an inward and spiritual Day showeth him extreamly Ignorant of spiritual Things as well as his Scoffing showeth his frothy airy Spirit scarcely to be parallell'd Is not the Day of Gods Power Psal 110. an inward and spiritual Day And where it is said Let us walk honestly as in the Day Rom. 13.13 and until the Day dawn and the Day-star arise in your hearts 2 Pet. 1.19 And is not this an inward Day And that he reproacheth me with Giddiness for saying The Sabbath is Christ to wit the thing figured by the Jews Sabbath In this he reproacheth as well his pretendedly much esteemed Calvin who saith expresly the same lib. 2. cap. 8. n. 32. of his Institutes where he saith Christ is the Truth at whose Presence all the Figures evanish the Body by whose sight the Shadows are left He I say is the fullfilling of the true Sabbath And a little after he chargeth it as Superstition upon them that would make the Observation of the First Day of the Week for a Sabbath to be a Divine Institution and doth fully agree with us That it is to be kept by choice for good Order and assembling together for divine Worship and other good Reasons but not by divine Precept injoyning the strictness of the Jewish Sabbath As for that silly Jest of Baxters that C.M. pleaseth his airy mind with telling the Quakers That their to wit Presbyterian Bells are not carnal else they would not sound so high he might have used it as much against Paul for saying Our Weapons are not carnal as implying that the Sword was a carnal Weapon but according to Rich. Baxter there can be no carnal Sword for then it could not cut whereas things are called Carnal from the hand that useth them as for other causes and the Levitical Laws were called Carnal Ordinances in Scripture And whereas he saith None preach the most intimate Vnion and Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ more than he and his Brethren is a most bold and impudent Untruth seeing 1 st they say expresly That Christ is not at all within us but only without us in Heaven and no wise in us but by â—is Operations as if he and his operations could be divided 2 dly That they deny the Working or Operations of the Spirit of God in the Saints to be Objective or that the Spirit worketh as any sensible Object upon the inward and spiritual Senses of the Saints Hence with Jesuits and Papists from whom they have borrowed that Distinction as I can prove as namely from Sacroboscus a Jesuit Def. decret trident p. 93 94. they say The Spirit worketh Effectively and Subjectively but not Objectively And therefore do they not one whit more preach any nearer Union and Communion with Christ than the darkest Papists yea some Papists that own sensible Workings of the Spirit as some do go far beyond them viz. C. Mather and some of his Brethren in that particular But that I have slandered the Assembly in their saying The Souls of the Righteous are not perfected in Holiness till after Death which C.M. hath twice cast upon me I desire the Reader for his Satisfaction and my Vindication but to read the place that I cited viz. cap. 32. n. 1. where they say expresly thus The Bodies oâ— men after Death return to Dust and see Corruption but their Souls which neither dye nor sleep having an Immortal Subsistence immediately return to God who gave them the Souls of the Righteous being THEN made perfect in Holinss c. Where it is plain that the Adverb of Time Then refers to the word in the first line viz. After Death yea and as would seem then when the Bodies return to Dust and see Corruption that sometimes is a considerable time after Death where dead Bodies are Embalmed but this last part I suppose is an oversight in them And seeing they plead for sin for term of Life yea to the last instant what difference there is that they can make betwixt dying in their sins and living in their sins for Term of Life is not intelligible for in Scripture-phrase Not to have Iniquity purged away till men dye and to dye in Iniquity is all one for the instant of Death is quick as a Thought That I said Notoriously Scandalous Persons Lyars Deceivers Drunkards
Preâ—â—dent for his zeal against the Quakers in the end of his Address in his Commentary De vera et falsa Relig. de Verbo Dei cap. de Ecclesia contra Emserum saith Qui in Ecclesia Scripturam Caelestis Verbi explicari audit c. In English thus Who in the Church heareth the Scripture of the heavenly Word explained judgeth what he heareth but that which is heard is not the Word it self whereby to wit chiefly we believe for if we did believe by that Word which is heard or read then all should become Believers and after he saith It is therefore manifest that we are made faithful by that Word which the heavenly Father preacheth in our hearts whereby he doth also enlighten us that we may understand and draweth that we may follow And again Who are instrusted with that Word judge the Word that soundeth in the Preaching and striketh the Ears but yet the Word of Faith which is seated in the Minds of the faithful is judged by none but by it the external Word is judged which God hath appointed to be preached although Faith cometh not to wit chiefly by the external Word Both which Testimonies of Augustine and Zuinglius do manifestly confirm the Quakers Doctrine against C.M. and his Brethren who acknowledge no inward Word in the hearts of the faithful by which their Faith is wrought and will have the Word of Faith to be only the written or outward Word contrary both to Paul and Zuinglius who give the preheminence to the inward Word and call it the Word of Faith And as Zuinglius holdeth for the Quakers in asserting the inward Word against C.M. and his Brethren so in that called Original Sin for thus he saith expresly lib. de Baptismo Paul cap. 3. to the Romans saith That the knowledge of sin cometh by the Law where therefore there is no knowledge of the Law as in Infants there can be no knowledge of sin but where no knowledge of sin is there is no Prevarication and so Damnation cannot be And after Because Paul saith That Death is come upon all men because all have sinned Theologues from these words judge That that Disease and Contagion that is Hereditary unto us all and is naturally lodged in us is sin that bringeth to us Damnation but they Err the whole Heavens wide Where it is to be noted That Zuinglius doth acknowledge That there is a sinful Disease and Contagion conveyed from Parents to Children but yet it is not imputed unto them to bring Damnation upon any Infants plain contrary to C.M. and his Brethren who affirm That many Infants both of unbelieving and believing Parents are eternaly Reprobated and Damned only for Adams Sin imputed to them Which is most horid Uncharitableness and horridly reflecting upoâ— the Mercy of God And the same Zuinglius in his Chapter of the Eucharist plainly asserteth That Christ by his Flesh and Blood with which he feedeth the Souls of the faithful doth understand a spiritual thing which only the Spirit giveth and not any Flesh consisting of Veins and Nerves withal affirming with Origine and Augustine That Christs Flesh and Blood which he feedeth the Saints with is called so by an Allegory and 〈◊〉 but is really the Word it self called also by an Allegory Bread Wine Milk Honey Marrow Fatness c. Again the same Zuingâ—ius in his Commentary de vera falsa Relig. doth thus comment on Pauls words Rom. 1.19 The knowledge of God is manifest in them so doth he translate the place so doth the old English Translation for God hath showed it unto them We see here openly saith he that 〈◊〉 knowledge concerning God is of God which we ascribe to I know man what Nature for he saith God hath manifested it and what other thing is Nature but a continuing and perpetual operation of God and disposition of all things And again in his Cap. of God he saith If any of the Philosophers have spoken truly of God somethings it was from the Mouth of God who hath scattered some Seeds of his Knowledge even among the Gentiles although more sparingly and more obscurely So that Zuinglius had far more Charity towards honest and conscientious Gentiles than C.M. who differeth fâ—om him very widely as in the 〈◊〉 particulars mentioned so in this last that he affirmeth That what knowledge of God the Gentiles have ought to be attributed to God and not to Nature and therefore not to mans Reason as C.M. would have it which is nothing but a natural Faculty of the Soul And Thomas Shepherd that had been a Preacher at Cambridge in New-England in his Exposition of the Parable of the Ten Virgins saith plainly That that inward Law given to the Heathens is falsly called the Law of Nature for it is of God and so saith Buchannan in his Book De jure Regni apud Scotos and a large Volumn might be printed of Testimonies both out of antient and latter Authors all of good esteem for Piety and Learning yea and even divers Protestants that do acknowledge That the Illumination that is generally in men that teacheth them that there is a God and showeth them good and evil is a Principle above Humane Reason As among English Protestants Henry Moore cited by Increase Mather against the Quakers and praised by Baxter as above who saith expresly in his Moral Cabbala cap. 1. v. 1 2. of Genesis By the Will of God every man living on the face of the Earth hath these two Principles in him Heaven and Earth Divinity and Annimality Spirit and Flesh but that which is Annimal or Natural operates first the spiritual or heavenly Life being for a while closed up at rest in its own Principle c. but by the Will of God it is that afterwards the Day light appears though not in so vigorous Measure out of the heavenly or spiritual Principle And carrying on the Process of Gods work in mens hearts by way of Analogy from the First Day to the Seventh concerning the Seventh he saith Gen. cap. 2. v. 3. of his Mor. Cabb So the divine Wisdom in the humane Nature celebrated her Sabbath having now wrought through the Toil of all the six dayes Travel and the divine Wisdom looked upon the Seventh Day as blessed and sacred a Day of Righteousness Rest and Joy in the holy Ghost And thus if C.M. had but some ordinary Reading in English Writers and did but understand what he reads he might have found an inward and spiritual Sabbath or Day of Rest not only in the Scriptures and the Quakers Books but in Henry Moore a man of far more Sense and Learning than I suppose C.M. will pretend unto Also he might have found it in Calvin lib. 2. Instit cap. 8. n. 30. So that he showeth his Ignorance sufficiently in comparing the finding of a spiritual or inward Seventh Day to the difficulty of finding the Quadrature of the Circle which if it were found it is probable the Penury