hath he by the eternal and most free purpose of his will foreordained all the means thereunto m 1 Pe 1.2 Eph 1.4 5. Eph 2.10 2 Thes 2.13 Wherefore they who are elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ n 1 Thes 5.9 10. Tit 2.14 are effectually called unto Faith in Christ by his Spirit working in due season are justified adopted sanctified o RoÌ„ 8.30 Eph. 1.5 2 Thes 2.13 and kept by his power through Faith unto salvation p 1 Pet 1.5 Neither are any other redeemed by Christ effectually called justified adopted sanctified and saved but the Elect onely q Joh. 17.9 RoÌ„ 8.28 to the end Joh 6.64 65. Joh 10.26 Joh 8.46 1 Joh 2.19 VII The rest of mankinde God was pleased according to the unsearchable councel of his own will whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth for the glory of his Soveraign Power over his creatures to pass by and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin to the praise of his glorious justice r Mat 11.25 26. Rom 9.17 18 21 21. 2 Tim 2.19 20. Judg 5.4 1 Pet 4.8 VIII The Doctrine of this high Mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care Å¿ Rom 9.20 RoÌ„ 11.32 Dâ—u 29.29 that men attending the will of God revealed in his word and yeelding obedience thereunto may from the certainly of their effectual vocation be assured of their eternal Election t 2 Pet 1.19 k Rom 9.11 13 16. Eph 1.4 9. So that this Doctrine affords matter of praise reverence and admiration of God u Eph 1.6 Ro 11.33 and of humility diligence and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel w Rom 1â— 5.6.20 2 Pet 1. â—0 Rom 8.33 Luk 10.10 CHAP. III. Of God's Eternal Decree examined IN this Chapter you begin well in the first Section and end not much worse in the last if you had added a word or two more and had observed the advice therein given but in the rest you fail much Here then we must crave your patience as elsewhere that you will suffer your failings to be represented your errors detected and those objections which have been so many stumbling blocks to you and many others and may prove works of offence hereafter also if not timely removed to be answered and cleared Your failings are here specially two First you forget your selves and contradict what you have spoken before in your describing of Gods holy nature and Secondly you distinguish not things but differ very much as First Betwixt Gods general knowledge whereby he sees and knows all persons and things before-hand Acts 15.18 known unto God are all his works and his special foreknowledge of some mens wayes and courses and these either evil and disapproved in themselves as was the obstinacy and envy of the Jews into whose hands Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Act. 2.23 and Acts 4.28 or else foreseen and allowed as the faith obedience and perseverance of the Saints Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow those he did predestinate to be made conformable to the Image of his Son Secondly Betwixt Gods predestination from everlasting and his destination in time Thirdly Betwixt a predestination of things and those either good such as are good works which God hath ordained that we should walk in them Ephes 2.10 or evil to wit the evil of punishment as Tophet was ordained of old Jsai 30.33 and betwixt the predestination of persons and those either to some office estate or condition here as Jeremiah was ordained of God to be a Prophet Jer. 1.4 Paul an Apostle 1 Tim. 2.7 or to an eternal estate hereafter of life or death Fourthly Betwixt an absolute predestination either unto life and so onely is Christ ordained or unto death and so is the spiritual Antichrist and that great son of perdition appointed to death and betwixt a conditional predestination either to life or death under which not onely Angels fall but men also as Rom. 8.13 For if we live after the flesh we shall die but if through the Spirit ye shall mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Fifthly Betwixt a general Election unto life which is alwayes conditional as first of the Angels in case they should persevere in obedience and so retain their first estate And then secondly of men and that in a twofold estate For in the state of Innocency they were ordained to life in case of perseverance in obedience and the retention of God's Image in which they were created And secondly after their fall in case they imbrace the grace that shall be offered and fulfil the conditions or requiring of the same And betwixt God's special Election of some persons both Angels and men out of foreseen perseverance c. Sixtly Betwixt the special Election of God which is from eternity out of foreseen Faith Love Obedience Perseverance c. or that which is made in time actually and that is either conditional as of those which by regeneration are called out of the sinful estate wherein other men are yet captived and so all called ones are said to be chosen John 15.16 19. and Election in this notion is all one with calling 2 Pet. 1.10 Wherefore the rather Brethren give all diligence to make your calling and election sure Which persons are chosen or called to life conditionally that they persevere in Faith and Obedience c. Rom. 11.22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God towards them that fell severity but towards thee goodness if thou continue in his goodness therwise thou also shalt be cut off Or else the Election of God in time is absolute such was the Election and choice of the blessed Angels after their perseverance in the fear and love of God when others had fallen therefrom And such is the Election of men spoken of by the Lord Isai 48.10 Behold I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction These have fulfilled the conditions aforesaid of peseverance in Faith Obedience and Mortification And therefore were absolutely and finally chosen to eternal life These are the Elect that cannot be deceived Matth. 24. and who shall never fall Seventhly Betwixt some that were onely typically Elected or passed by in God's providence as figures and representatives of those which should be saved or perish as Isaac and Ishmael the two sons of Abrabâ—â— were Gen. 17.16 and Rom. 9.6 7. without any prejudice to the salvation of either And those which are really elected or rejected For as Moses and Aaroâ— were debarred entrance into the land of promise for their doubting or unbelief for a warning to all unbeleevers Heb 4.1.11 Revel 21.8 yet without any peril of their own exclusion from eternal life none that we know of making the least doubt of their salvation so it was not prejudicial to the salvation of Ishmael his father Abraham having obtained life for him
by his prayer to God Gen. 17 20 21. that he carried the type of those who should not be heirs of life Gal. 4.22 c. and peradventure the like may be said of the person of Esau who at the meeting of his brother Jacob was turned into another man Gen. 23.4 and did ever after sweetly accord with him although Hebr. 12.16 he carries the type of a spiritual fornicator and profane person that sels his eternal birthright for a morsel of meat here in this world and of him that losing his first grace or blessing obtaines not a second But here we would not be misunderstood for though we brought Isaac as an instance of a typical or representative seed which he was in opposition to Ishmael Rom. 9.6 7. yet we do not deny but that he was one really elected out of Gods special foreknowledge nor do we doubt but Ishmael might be so likewise howsoever he was generally and conditionally elected as was also Cain Gen. 4.6 7. where the Lord saith unto him Why art thou wroth And why is thy countenance fallen If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted c. Eighthly Betwixt these that are unchangeably designed to life or death out of foreseen faith or unbelief perseverance or Apostacy and those that are absolutely and peremptorily without any condition or respect to standing or falling rising again through grace or lieing still retaining or losing grace received For after this last manner none are irrevocably designed either to life or death from all eternity among Angels or men Ninthly Betwixt a soveraign power invested in a most wise just gratious loving and merciful Prince which may be used to his greater glory and the same placed in a rigourous and cruel Tyrant which last to affix upon God is no small degree of blasphemy Tenthly Betwixt an absolute preterition of some from eternity before they have done or thought good or evil yea had any being which is not found in God towards any of his future rational creatures and a passing over of some in time for their personal ingratitude and contumacy against him as the fallen Angels are declined after their fall and some men after grace often refused and others after grace abused are lest to walk in their own wayes Eleventhly Betwixt the not extending of grace at all after a needless and wilful Apostacy as the Lord dealt with the proud and presumptuous Angels which fell and the withholding of mercy from some persons which were not so strongly and well situated in grace and which fell through the temptation of others and thus God withholds not his first grace which iâ— also a sufficient grace from any of the sons of men though they are fallen in Adam Twelfthly Betwixt the withholding the first or converting grace from fallen men which is not kept back for any till they resist it and the withdrawing of his second or subsequent grace from such as have wilfully cast off the first in the just requiring of it and so do despite of the Spirit of Grace These few necessary distinctions being first premised we proceed Now for your errors and mistakes in your several Sections First we say that your assertion in the second Section is very false and erroneous where you say That Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future or as that which should come to pass upon such conditions For did not the Lord foresee that if he created the Angels free Agents some would fall and others stand still in their integrity That if he created our first parents with liberty of will that they would fall That if he offered fallen men his grace to help them up again some would embrace it and some refuse it That his offered grace being conditional some which received it would persevere and fulfil those conditions and some would fail in the performance after they had begun well That Judas being returned to his former covetousness would betray his Master for gain That the Jews out of obstinacy and envy would condemn and deliver Christ to the Gentiles That Pilate out of favour to men would yeeld him up to be scourged and crucified All which and a thousand things more the Lord foresaw would conditionally or supposedly come to pass and did thereupon decree or determine that they should so do because he could turn them to his glory yet do we not say that the Lord was necessitated so to do alwayes but when he foresaw that the effects and productions arising out of such supposed conditions were not conducible to his wise and holy ends he both could and in time did put a stop thereunto at his pleasure Thus he foresaw that the men of Keilah out of their wicked and ingrateful disposition being left to themselves would deliver and betray David into the hands of Saul and therefore he did both decree not to permit it and did actually hinder it by advertifing David of it that he might timely escape In your third Section there is truth and error to be found accordingly as your words are taken for you speak generally and ambiguously saying By God's Decree for the manifestation of his glory some men and Angels are predestinated unto eternal life and others fore-ordained to everlasting death To which we answer thus First That men and Angels are not in all things and every way disposed of alike in God's eternal Decree For though no fallen Angels are ordained to life yet by your own confession many fallen men are appointed to salvation in Jesus Christ Secondly We say that all both men and Angels are first predestinated to eternal life in case they should continue in their first created estate by answerable obedience The truth whereof appears sufficiently in the confirmation and blessing of those holy Angels which persisted in their allegiance who are therefore called the Elect Angels Thirdly We affirm that all men though fallen are appointed to restauration and life by grace conditionally that they beleeve on that grace and obey its requiring Ezek. 18.23 have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord and that not he should return and live Ezek. 33.11 Say unto them as I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked 1 Tim. 2.3 4. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth Whereunto add that of Tit. 2.11 12. which holds forth both the universality of grace it self and its condition For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world But lastly we grant notwithstanding that some both Angels and men were appointed for destruction yet conditionally through their own default and disobedience as
whereof take these few John 1.13 Which were born not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 3.6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit 1 Cor. 2.14 15. For the natural men perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him Neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned But the spiritual man discerneth all things but is discerned of none 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive and verse 45 46 47 48 49. As it is written the first man was made a living soul but the second Adam was made a quickening spirit Hewbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and then that which iâ— spiritual The first man is of the â—â—rth earthy the second mâ—n is the Lord from heaven as is the earthy such are they that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly and as we have born the image of the earthly so must we bear the image of the heavenly c. More particularly we answer That this one by whom sin entred into the world is not meant our first parent Adam but our own earthy or natural man which is called Adam and Edom from the earth of his foundation For the apostle shews that Adam our progenitor was not the original or first sinner 1 Timothy 2.14 For Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression according then to your Doctrine the apostle should have said By one Woman sin entred into the world But you hear before how Solomon Eccles 7.29 and the Lord himself Hos 14 1. scribe our fall to our selves This is yet clearer out of the 14. verse here where the apostle speaks of some who sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression but makes mention of none that sinned in him where he had fair occasion to speak of it yea if he had been of your belief he had committed a grievous neglect totally to omit it in silence Secondly here by the world into which sin entered we must understand the world of fallen and corrupt men as our Saviour doth Joâ—n 3.16 17. and John 15.17 18. and not all mankinde as you do c. Thirdly by death is not meant the bodily death which doth not presently ensue upon our fall no more then it did upon our first parents but a death unto righteousness or the life of innocencie with the contrary body of sin and so obnoxiousness to eternal death is hear meant Fourthly these words and death passed upon all men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are thus to be rendered in as much or so far forth as all have sinned and as Moses in the 14. verse is not he that was the Lawgiver but the work of the Law drawing us to God so neither is this man the litterall Adam For Paul here saith That death reigned from Adam to Moses which must be understood necessarily thus from the fall of our natural Adam till the work of the Law came For otherwise the extent of the reign of sin should reach from the first man to the last and not to Moses onely Which thing the 13. ver holdeth out more plainly that he meant by Mose the Law For it is there said That until the Law sin was in the world which must be conceived that until the work of the law sin is in the world that is likewise in the faln corrupted men undiscovered which is plain from the latter part of the 13 verse where it is said sin is not reputed nor regarded as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and so Coverdel translates it and not imputed when there is no Law for that is false that sin was not imputed when there was no Law extant for it was imputed to Cain Gen. 4. and he was punished So to the old world and they punished Gen. 6 so to Babels builders and they punished Gen. 11.7.8 so it was imputed to Sodom and Gomorrab and they punished Gen. 19. when there was none of Moses law extant but it is a very truth that sin is not reputed not regarded when there is no work of the Law discovering sin unto the man so St. Paul saith of himself Rom. 7.9 that he was alive without the Law and verse v. he saith he had not known lust but by the Law and Rom. 3.20 it is said that by the Law cometh the knowledge of sin Thus you see how death raigned from Adam to Moses yet not from the first individual Adam to Moses the Law-giver but in the 2. part of the 14 ver it is not affirmed that any sinned in the first individual Adam for he saith Some finned not after the similitude of Adams transgression over whom notwithstanding death reigned Now that expression hinteth these two things First Some sinned like Adam not in Adam others sinned not after the similitude of his transgression but some other way as after Esau's transgression Hebr. 18.16 17. or the like according to that Eccles 7.29 Surely if the Apostle had beleeved any such thing as the raigning of death over all men by the first mans sin he would not have omitted that and onely mentioned from Adam to Moses for all may perceive his main designe is from verse 12. to the 15. to set forth the inlet and extent of deaths reigning over sinners therefore he would have used the fullest and plainest expression serving to that purpose but the 19. verse is more plain against universal corruption by the first mans disobedience for there the Apostle useth the word many and saith by one mans disobediene many not all were made sinners Therefore all fell not in the first individual Adam If any yet reply That many in that place is tant ' amount and equivalent to the word all We Answer That then by the same reason the word many in the latter part of the verse must have the same latitude allowed for the Apostle setteth down a full comparison of equals in that verse here the verse must be thus interpreted That as by one mans disobedience all were made sinners so by one mans obedience all are made righteous If any yet reply and say By one mans obedience all that repent and beleeve are made righteous then by the same inter retation By ones mans disobedience all are made sinners that imitate him and sin like him after the similitude of Adam 's transgressions Thus all men may see there is nothing gained by interpreting the word many by a Synecdoche for all are made sinners by one mans disobedience for the latter part of the verse must have the word many so explained which to affirm namely that all are righteous by Christ by an absolute and uniuersal Justification is accounted as detestable an Heresy as it hath been hitherto to deny that
place in which the Lord speakes of a child shortly to be born unto the Prophet and to be called Immanuel as some most learned expositors affirm Isa 7.14 15 16. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a signe Behold a Virgin or a young woman for the word signifies both shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel Butter and hony shall he eate that he may know to refuse the evil and chuse the good for before the child shall know to refuse the evil and chuse the good the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her Kings Here you may please to observe these things with us First That though this place be commonly understood of our Saviour yet it is a great mistake for his proper name was Jesus and not Immanuel Secondly This child was to be born shortly after this prophecy and is given to the Jewes as a sign and token of a sudden deliverance from Rezin and Remaliah before the child should be of age and knowledge to refuse the evil and chuse the good And thirdly The prophet in the next Chap. triumphing against the enemies of the Church alludes to this very name as if the child were then in being Isa 8.10 saying Take counsel together and it shall come to nough speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Where it is in the original Immanuel The second thing to be observed is that this child even from iâ—s insancy according to the common state of mankind should have the knowledge and ability to refuse the evil and chuse the good a faculty spoken of in two verses together as before But to come to your third Section where our main contest begins Besides a mistake in the very first entrance Man that is fallen into sin being by you taken for all mankinde no smal mistake as we have proved before You are first defective in that you distinguish not of the different states of sin And secondly to maintain that which is true in it self viz. that the faln man cannot without preventing grace by his own strength convert himself or haply prepare himself thereunto you lay such grounds as are either false or at leastwise improper of which anon But first you speak of a state of sin into which man is faln as though there were but one such whereas there is a manifold state in sin one against God the Father another against the Son and a third against the holy Ghost Mat. 12.32 There is a state of sin before regeneration and another under grace Rom. 7.9 14. there is a state of sin before mans first conversion and another after their final falling away 2 Pet. 2.21 22. as there is a threefold degree of righteousness and grace wherein some are Babes some youngmen and some old men so there is a threefold state or age in sin So the Lord saith to Abraham Gen. 15.16 That the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and complaines Jer. 9.3 That the sinners proceeded from evil to worse finally there is a sin unto death and a sin which is not unto death 1 John 5.16 Now the false grounds aforesaid which you lay for the establishing of a truth are these That the faln man hath lost all ability of wil to any spiritual good accompanying salvation That a natural man is altogether averse from from any such good The ground that you here improperly apply is That the man is dead in sin For the first of these t is a rash and ungrounded asseveration for you will not deny That to become a Christian to have our wicked thoughts forgiven us to hear the word preached to eat and drink at Christs table to keep the commandements of the second Table as they are commonly called and finally to dye the death of the righteous are all of them spiritual good things and such as accompany salvation But we finde all these things wished for and desired by those which you count unregerate for King Agrippa hearing Saint Pauls defence had more then a velleity some good measure of inclination to become a Christian Act. 26.28 Simon Meâ—us entreated the Apostles to pray for him that his wicked thoughts might be pardoned and that none of the evils they had spoken of might happen unto him to hinder his salvation Act. 8.24 Our Saviour tels us Luk. 13.26 That many will plead before him at the latter day that they had heard him teaching in their streets and had eaten and drunke at his table The young man who enquired of our Saviour what good thing he should do to inherit eternal life had from his youth kept the precepts of the second table aforesaid Mat. 19.20 Yea our Saviour looked upon him and loved him on that behalf Mar. 10.21 Finaily Balaam desired to dye the death of the righteous and that his latter end might be like his Num. 23.10 For the second ground that the natural man is altogether averse from any thing that is good it is alike erroneous with the former whether we take a natural man for the earthly man as he is still created of God in innocency or for the faln man in his unregenerate estate as you mean For in the first notion the natural man can both will and act according to his first integrity till he disables and corrupts himself by falling as Esau or Edom a type of this man did seek to please and observe his father And you may remember that the Apostle would have us in malice and naughtiness to be like children 1 Cor. 14.20 But many natural men taken in your own sense are not utterly averse from all good things even Herod himself heard John the Baptist gladly and not only willed but did many things according to his Doctrine and precepts Mark 6.20 And Moses having set before all Israel life and blessing with death and cursing Deut 30.19 he there expresly commands them to chuse life That both they and their seed might liâ—â— Isa chap. 1.19 20 elicites and excites this freewilling faculty saying If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devonred by the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Yea the very name of freewill offerings so oft mentioned in the Scriptures argues some competent remainder of that faculty unless ye would subjectum tollere but consider we pray you these two things which we have partly touched before First That all faln men are not alike extensively corrupted that is they are not all alike enclined to all fins but some to voluptuousness and prodigality more then to covetousness or the like And though David a King prayeth thus against covetousness Encline my heart to thy Testimo nies and not to covetousness Psal 119.36 Yet Luther saith That he was never tempted to that sin Whence it will necessarily follow that such a man is not equally averse to all good but to
they proceed from themselves are defiled and mixed with much weakness and imperfection and that they cannot endure the severity of Gods judgements for doth the Lord any where require more of his Saints then to love him with all their heart and with all their souls and so much we finde promised to all that truly return unto God if they have faith and will to seek it Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live Yea doth not the Apostle expressely tell us 1 John 4.17 That herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because as he is so are we in this world Defend the honour of God then according to the truth and take not from the glorious works of Christ whereby the Father is glorified upon pretence of giving glory to the Father Remember what Job saith Chapter 13.7 Will ye speak wickedly for God Will ye talk deceitfully for him In your sixth Sextion as you speak comfortably to the young beleevers in Christ who are constant in their good willing indeavours that their good works are acceptable to God in Christ though for the present they are not wholy unblamable and do truely affirm That the Lord is pleased to reward also that which is sincere in them though accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections yet your sayings in that Section are so accompanied also First In that you speak that the works of beleevers are accepted for their persons the contrary whereof may be truly asserted that the persons are accepted for their works wrought in them by Christ Revelations 3.8 I know thy works behold I have set before thee an open door and no man shall shut it for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denyed my name And verse 10. Because thou hast kept my word I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try then that dwell upon Earth Secondly In that you say That the workes of the best grown Saints in this life are not wholy unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God Thirdly In your affirmation That the unperfect workes of the Saints are accepted in Christ though they remain such all our life long which is not true of those who have both time and means to aime at perfection it self Hebrews 5.12 13 14. with Hebrews 6.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 c. 2 Peter 1.8 9. Lastly Whereas you imply That bare sincerity will carry out the Saints though they remain imperfect in their obedience all their life long it is a great mistake for the Lord requires growth answerable unto the grace means and space offered unto men even of them who are sincere already 1 Peter 1.22 Seeing you have purified your soules in obeying the truth under the obedience of Love saith the old Latine Translation to the unfeined love of the Brethren see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently But as you have here and elsewhere weakened the hands of the regenerate in the work of perfecting their obedience and good workes so you have animated the unregenerate in their way of working that which is good in your seventh and last Section where you say and that truely That the neglect of what they can do in this kinde is more sinful and displeasing to God then the doing of such things which for matter are commanded in the word where by the way you hint what are the requisite things which should concur to the making up of a good work viz. That they have the word for their rule faith for their efficient a purified heart for their fountain the Glory of God for their end where onely your main efficient is wanting the spirit and power of God Yet thus much we must advertise you of that many of those whom you account to be moral men and Heathens do act out of Conscience enlightened and the grace of regeneration also as Abimilech seems to have done Genesis 20.1.6 Job Rabah the widow of Sarepta and others did CHAP. XVII Of the Perseverance of the Saints THEY whom God hath accepted in his beloved effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit neither totally nor finally can fall away from the state of Grace but shall certainly persevere therein unto the end and be eternally saved a Phil 1 6. 2 Pet 1.10 John 10.28 29. 1 Joh 3.9 1 Pet 1.5 II. This perseverance of the Saints depends not upon their own free-will but upon the immutability of the Decree of Election flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father b 2 Tim 2.18 19. Jer 31.3 upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ c Heb 10.10 14. Heb 13.20 21. Heb 9.12 13 14 15. Rom 8.23 to the end John 17.11 14. Luke 22.32 Heb 7.25 the abiding of the spirit and of the seed of God within them d John 14.16 17. John 2.27 1 John 3. â— and the nature of the covenant of grace e Jer 32.40 from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof f John 10.28 III. Nevertheless they may through the temptations of Satan and the World the prevalency of corruption remaining in them and the neglect of the means of their preservation fall into grievous sins g Mat 26.70 72 74. and for a time continue therein h Psalm 51 title and verse 14. whereby they incur Gods displeasure i Isa 64.5 7 9. 2 Sam 11.27 and grieve his holy Spirit k Eph 4.30 come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts l Psal 51.8 10 12. Revel 2.4 Cant 5 2.3 4 5. have their hearts hardned m Isa 63.17 Marke 6.52 Marke 16.14 their consciences wounded n Psalm 32.3 4. Psalm 51.8 hurt and scandalize others o 2 Sam 12.14 and bring temporal judgements upon themselves p Psalm 89.31 32. 1 Cor 11.30.32 CHAP. XVII Of the perseverance of the Saints examined PErseverance follows good works here in due order for it is in them that the Saints must persevere howbeit we finde in you a constancy which we cannot commend for you persist in doctrine tending to security In your third chapter of Gods eternal decree you make some presume and others to despair teaching that Gods decree of life and death is both particular and absolute In your ninth and tenth chapters you make men stupid by denying us al use of our wils and setting forth Gods work to be irresistable in our first conversion and here you sow pillows under mens arm-holes in saying That true converts cannot possibly fall away from grace We grant indeed that this controversie about the perseverance of the Saints without greater light then for a long time appeared in the world was
Seventhly If it were for sins what sins did better deserve such a preterition then mens own personal and actual sins yea then their contempt and contumacy against grace offered Eighthly If this preterition was for the praise of God's glorious justice must not his justice first be apparent and conspicuous in this his passing by them But he accounts it neither honorable for him that the Son should die for the sin of the Father Ezek. 10.1 2 3 20. nor yet just for he hath forbidden the self same thing in the Law Deut. 24.16 Lastly Is there no difference betwixt a vessel of dishonor and a vessel of wrath Many vessels are made by the Potter for dishonorable uses yet none of set purpose for destruction Finally Your Caution in the last Section is very good where you say that The Doctrine of the high mystery of Predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care that men attending the will of God revealed in his word and yeelding obedience thereunto may from the certainty of their effectual vocation be assured of their eternal election Where you should have added and from their perseverance in that obedience till the death of sin be assured of their spiritual final and everlasting election there being a twofold election from eternity as hath been said But this caution of yours you your selves have not very well observed and kept And whereas you add in conclusion So shall this Doctrine afford matter of praise reverence and admiration of God and of humility diligence and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel We report our selves to your own consciences and to all men whether your Doctrine or ours here set forth is likely to produce the good effects here by you remembred But now we come in the third and last place to answer such objections as seem to lie as so many rocks of offence in your and other mens wayes Object It is written of Hophni and Phineas the sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2.25 That they hearkened not unto their father because God would destroy them Answ It is true God now had a purpose so to do for their abominable wickedness which they had committed but it doth not follow that the Lord had so decreed from eternity unless it was out of prevision of their lewdness and in order thereunto Object 2. It is written Prov. 16.4 That the Lord made all things for himself even the wicked for the day of â—â—il Answ The first part of the text speaks of God's ends the latter part of the event as it is now fallen out through their own default as Hosea speaks in a like expression Chap 9.13 Ephraim as I saw Tyrus is planteâ— in a pleasant place But Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer that is eventually not industriously and so are the wicked created for the day of evil Object 3. It is said of Rehoboam 2 Chron. 10.15 So the King hearkened not unto the people for the cause was of God that the Lord might perform his word which hâ— spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat Answ This Text speaks not of Gods eternal Decree but of his wise and just providence leaving a man sufficiently wicked before to follow his own counsels for a temporal punishment of his own and his Fathers sins Object 4. Jeremiah saith Chap 52.3 For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem till he had cast them out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled against the King of Babylon Answ This Scripture imports no more but that wicked Zedekiah for a just punishment of his own and Judah's rebellion against the Lord wat left at length in the hand of his own Counsels to rebel against his Lord and King upon Earth who was able to punish him and did it accordingly Object 5. Mat. 11.25 At that time Jesus answered and said I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to babes Answ This is to be understood of the second grace withholden from those who refused the former and did shut their eies against the first light and so is that place also Deut. 29.4 Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and cies to see and eares to hear unto this day For God reveales his secrets to wit his further counsels to them that fear him Psal 25.14 see Matth. 13.12 13 14 15 c. For whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that which he hath but useth not as wee see in him that hid his talent Mat. 25. â—â— 19. Object 6. Acts 13.48 It is said that when the Gentiles heard that they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life beleeved Whence it seems to be clear that some persons are not so ordained Answ The original Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wrested and forced in the translation For it signifies not ordained but prepared or disposed and such onely are they who are good willing to leave their sins and to follow after righteousness according to the requiring of the Gospel Titus 2.11 12. for to such the Angels wish peace and happiness as knowing them onely capable of it Luke 2.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glory be to God on high and in the earth peace to men or in men of good will For so did St. Jerome St. Augustine and many of the Ancients read that Text in their daies and so it is yet found in the best Greek copies Yet we could give another answer if the Text before alledged were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is fore-ordained to wit that so many as then and there were out of Gods special fore-knowledge predestinated to life did at that time beleeve which notwithstanding hinders not but that many more yea all there present were appointed to life conditionally as is there partly testified of the unbeleeving Jewes by the Apostle vers 46. Object 7. Rom. 9.6 It is said That they are not all Israel which are of Israel It seems then that all are not elected Answ The Apostle intimates that the carnal Israel or all that are come of Jacob surnamed Israel are not the Israel to whom the promises of salvation are absolutely and finally made Though in the general the conditional promises belong to all Israel as the Apostle shews vers 4. and to the Gentiles also vers 24 25. That we may not be misunderstood know that there are among others seven promises made to the overcomers Revel 2 and 3. Chap. and such as persevere in the Christian race unto the end of it or to the death and burial of sin Now these and the like promises belong unto the Elect that are chosen out of the furnace of affliction
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
that tends this way more then the Prophets their Predecessors or the Prince of the Prophets their Master did in which point all are silent if not cleerly opposite unto you The Lord commanded by Moses that Cities of fefuge should be set apart in all the coasts and habitations of Israel for such persons to flee to as had slain any man at unawares that the avenger of blood should not slay the innocent with a temporal death Deu. 19. c. And will the Lord pursue the innocent seed of Adam and hold them guilty for their Fathers sin perpetrated ere they were born yea will he himself be the avenger of the blood against these innocents Amaziah is commended for his justice and his obedience in that behalf to the Law of the Lord in not slaying the sons of those that murderd his father Joash but only the fathers that did the Villany 2 Ki. 14.5 6. And wil ye Brethren father upon God the fountain of all justice and the Father of mercies a cruelty forbiden in his own Law Deuteronomy 24.16 who was so far from destroying the infants of Nineveh though but an handful compared to the vast harvest of Adams posterity that he spared the whole Cities mainly upon that accompt next after the peoples repentance as he declares unto Jonas who was not a little displeased to see by this means his prediction contradicted or come to nothing Ionah 4.10 11. But having here vindicated the justice and mercy of the Lord from this your putative most putid imputation of the first Adams sin to all his succeeding off-spring as also derived innocency and righteousness in some measure from God the true Author of it instead of propagated corruptioÌ„ to the ensuing generations let us now come to answer such objections as seem to stand in our way or the passage of others who are willing to be brought to the knowledge and imbracement of the truth First here it is objected that the Lord saith Gen 8 21. The imaginations of mans heart are evil from his youth Answer Even as Esau or Edom though he had a birth right yet sold it in his youth to satisfie some strong desires kindled in him So men though created innocent do in the time of temptation and tryal too often and too soon yeeld unto the temptation and sell or forfeit that their innocency and birth right and so their imaginations become evil from their youth but are not so from their birth unless you here understand a spiritual conception and birth in sin by our personal fall Object 2. Job saith chap. 11.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one Answer Job here confesseth that himself was unclean and that ever since his personal fall and therefore he of himself could not bring forth an obedience or righteousness that was clean and pure no nor the adaequate fruits of righteousness which might pass for such before the Lords judgement of a long time though he was holpen by grace for grace is not had all at once Object 3. Job 15.14 15 16. Eliphaz speakes thus What is man that he should be clean and be that is born of a woman that he should he righteous Behold he puteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water Answer this is an hy perbolical speech of his tending to the further accusation of Job whom he had more then sufficiently yea very unjustly charged before For first God doth put trust and confidence in his Saints and Angels whom he dayly employeth Secondly The heavens and all other creatures as they come out of the Creators hands are pure and good in his sight And thirdly though some men are so accustomed to sin that they have contracted an hypodropical chirst thereunto yet neither Job of whom he means all this in hypothesie nor any other of the Saints upon earth do drink iniquity like water But suppose all men did so yet it doth not from hence follow that we are all so deeply tainted and corrupted by sin drawn from Adam our first parent For as he corrupted himself by his personal Lapse disobedience so may any other man and so doubtless do all lapsed men do likewise See Psal 14.2 3. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if ther were any that did understand and seek after God They are all gone aside they are all together become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Of this fall and corruption Pilagius unmindfull in pleading mans ability in and of himself still to keep and fulfill the law which Saint Austin grants ought to be done by grace not by corrupt nature The like answer we give to those words of Bildad Job 25.4 5 6. How then can man be justified or how can he be clean that is born of a woman behold even to the Mâ—on and it shineth not and the Stars are not pure in his fight How much less man that is a worme and the son of man who is a worme for as it must be granted that man since his fall cannot by himself be either made just or clean so it is false that the Moon and Stars are not pure in Gods sight Thus Jobs friend would make good their unjust charge against him with false principles and glarifie God with lies for which he is afterwards justly displeased with them as he is with all other that plead for him in a wicked way Job 42.7 The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends for ye have not spoken of me the things that as right my servant Job hath Object 4. David saith Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me which words seem expresly to speak of his conception and birth in the corruption by you set forth Answer we would first gladly know of you whether it be not Davids scope in this confession to aggravate his sin But if he here pleadeth the inevitable corruption of nature which you hold forth his words will be found a meere extinuation of his offences if not a throwing of all or most of the blame upon God who had brought him forth so corrupt so averse to all good and so propense to all evil and that without hope of an absolute cure while he was in this world Secondly for the clearing of the truth let us first consider whether David had no other parents but Jesse and his wife and then if he had which is the mother that he here speak of As to the first besides our natural parents we have spiritual Fathers and mothers whether for our begetting in the evil and iniquity or for our regeneration in grace and goodness Concerning our procreation in sin our Saviour speaks thus unto the Jewes Iohn 8.44 Ye are of your father the devil and his
them onely that are justified in facto vel potius perfecto Thirdly whereas you grant That persons justified may by their sins fall under Gods fatherly displeasure and not have the light of his countenance restored unto them until they humble themselves confess their sins beg pardon and renew their faith and repentance This is true yet not of those perfect or consummate ones who fall not so either into sin or Gods displeasure but of the younger sort onely in the time of their progress and growing up who may not only so faile and suffer as you have affirmed but possibly may through a wilful revolt both fall away totally and remain under indignation finally As to your sixth and last Section because we have described the way and means of justification more groundedly then ye have done we can truely speak it in your words but not in your sense That the justification of beleevers in the Old Testament was in all these respects one and the same with the justification of beleevers under the New Testament But before we leave this subject give us leave to inform you of two things The first is That the means of our justification or spiritual redemption in Christ Jesus is principally his blood the blood of the everlasting Covenant his promised spirit Romans 3.24 25. Ephesians 1.7 Colossians 1.14 Hebrews 9.14 15. 22. compared with Jeremy 31.32 33 Ezekiel 36.25 26 c. Hebrews 10.29 chap. 13.20.21 Rev. 7.14 1 Joh. 1.7 9. The second is that remission of sins wherein you place justification for the main is to be had after sin is put away by sanctification and amendment and not before as you fondly dream both here and elsewhere For which purpose take these ensuing Scriptures Proverbs 28.13 He that covereth his sin shall not prosper but but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Jeremy 33.8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me and I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me Mark 1.4 John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Luke 24.47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations Acts 5.32 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Acts 26.17 18. Vnto whom I now send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption Hebrews 10.14 For by one offering hath he perfected for ever those which are sanctified To all which we could adde that the blessedness which David speakes of Psal 32.2 lies first in the putting away of sins by sanctification as the last words there import and the rest will bear it and then in having them or the guilt of them pardoned in Jesus Christ which words may be thus rendered O the blessedness of the man whose transgression is taken away and whose sins are covered or buryed with the like death of Christ O the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity by letting him dye in his sins as one filthy and unpurged and in whose spirit there is no guile CHAP. XII Of Adoption ALL those that are Justified God vouchsafeth in and for his only Son Jesus Christ to make partakers of the grace of Adoption a Eph. 1.5 Gal 4.4 5 Ro 8.17 by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and priviledges of the children of God b Joh 1.12 have his name put upon them c Jer. 14.9 2 Cor 6.18 Rev. 3 12. receive the spirit of Adoption d Ro. 8.15 have access to the Throne of Grace with boldness e Eph. 3.12 Rom. 5.2 are inabled to cry Abba Father f Gal. 4.6 are pitied g Psal 103.13 protected h Prov. 14.16 provided for i Mat 6.30.32 1 Pet. 5.7 and chastened by him as a Father k Heb 12.6 yet never cast off l Lam 3.31 but sealed to the day of redemption m Eph 4 20. and inherit the promises n Heb 6.12 as heirs of everlasting salvation o 1 Pet 1.3 4. Heb 1 14. CHAP. XII Of Adoption examined ERROR and misconceptions in you here as elsewhere Hydra like multiplies heads needlessly for this argument of Adoption is the same with effectual calling in some measure and the self-same with that election of God which is in time of which we spake before And as that is twofold the first conditional the second final and absolute so is this and though all the children of God are capable of these your priviledges or most of them in time if they continue in their filial faith and obedience yet are not they so at the first yea some have by their faithful walking proceeded so far by Gods grace that they have left some of the lesser and foregoing prerogatives behind them Therefore you have first committed great disorder and confusion in attributing all these alike unto all not shewing which priviledges belong to all Saints and which but to some who may absolutely expect all or most of them and who may expect the same conditionally onely Secondly You take the high way here as you have done elsewhere to fill many who are not yet past danger with security and presumption For the first of these There are three degrees of Gods name Image or like being The first Which is the fathers name is written upon those that beleeve on him love and obey him The second Which is Christs powerful and saving name becomes written upon such as are brought to know him to trust in his saving office and to seek his help against their enemies and who persist so seeking The third Which is the name of the holy Ghost and the new Jerusalem with the new name of Christ is engraven onely upon those that have overcome all their enemies through the power of Christ Revel 3.12 These last are they that are never cast off and who inherit the promises as heirs of salvation But the other two If they abide not in the Father and in Christ after they know him may fall short of the promises and be rejected Those of the third form are past Gods fatherly chastisements because they now sin not 1 John 3. but the other two are not so As for the other You tell us that all which are adopted to be the children of God are sealed to the day of redemption but none are so sealed finally and absolutely save the third sort of whom we spake before the rest are but sealed conditionally yet left in good hope Yea all those priviledges which you
then for you to have pressed the necessity of the first resurrection for all fallen and corrupted men Revel 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power CHAP. XXXIII Of the last Judgment GOD hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ a Acts 17.30 to whom all power and judgement is given of the Father b Joh 5.22 27. In which day not only the Apostate Angels shall be judged c 1 Cor 6.3 Jude 6. 2 Pet 1.4 but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts words and deeds and to receive according to what they have done in the body whether good or evil d 2 Cor 5.10 Ec 12.14 Rom 2.16 Ro 14.10 12. Mat 12.36 37. II. The end of Gods appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect of his justice in the damnation of the Reprobate who are wicked and disobedient For then the righteous go into everlasting life and receive the fulness of joy and refreshing which shall come from the presence of the Lord but the wicked that know not God and obey not the Gospel of Jesus Christ shall be cast into eternal torments and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power e Mat. 25.31 to the end Rom 2.5 6. Rom 9.22 23. Mat 25 2â— Acts 5.19 2 Thes 1.7 8 6 10. III. As Christ would have us to be certainly perswaded That there shall be a day of judgement both to deter all from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity f 2 Pet 3.11.14 2 Cor 5.10 11. 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. Luke 21.27 28. Rom 8.23 24 25. so will he have that day unknown to men that they may shake off all carnal security and be always watchful because they know not at what hour the Lord will come and may be ever prepared to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly g Matth 24 36 42 43 44. Mark 13.35 36 37. Luke 1â— 35 36. Rev 22 20. Amen CHAP. XXXIII Of the last Judgement Examined THis argument de rebus novissimis is a good subiect for you and us to close with but as you want some light in the beginning so we cannot commend your discerning or Judgement in your end You by your Scriptures to which you referr us confounding so many kinds and times of Judgment very different in themselves First you might have observed that Christs office of Judicature is twofold the one in the Saints and the other outward over all persons of Angels and men The former of these his inward and spiritual office Christ executes two wayes at two distant times yea in two several degrees The first is when he judgeth betwixt them and their spiritual enemies and not only delivers his servants from them but guideth and ruleth them according to his Lawes and Will Thus as types of Christ Othnicl Gedion Jephtha and the Judges of old were said to judge Israel and sutably hereunto David speaks thus of Christ Psal 72.4 He shall judge the poor of his people he shall save the children of the needy and break in peices the oppressors and Christ himself saith John 12.31 Now is the judgement of this world now is the Prince of this world cast out Christs second way of judging in his Saints is when he riseth up in them in fulness of light and power after they are dead with him in which day and coming of his he manifests unto them truth and errour light and darkness life and death yea every Councel of their own hearts even as the light of the Sun laies all open to the eye 1 Cor. 4.5 Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God for this very cause the Apostle would have all men forbear judging till that time but not until the general day of judgment now the outward judging of Christ is either in this life or the other in this life he judgeth and punisheth persons nations yea and sometimes the whole earth as he did in the daies of Noah After this life he first judgeth every man at his death Heb. 8.27 It is appointed unto all men once to die and after that cometh the judgement and then as you have here set it forth all men and Angels at or in the last day Thus then is a manifold day or time of Christs coming to judgement spoken of Matth. 24. and 25. Chapters and elsewhere First His particular coming to every man at his death Matth. 24. Secondly His coming to judge and punish the nation of the Jews Matth. 24.23 which came to pass about 38 yeers after his death Thirdly His coming to punish the fals proud and Apostate Jerusalem of the Gentiles a work now in hand Matth. 24.3 20 36 37. Fourthly Christs inward and spiritual coming promised to his Apostles and Disciples John 14.19 20. and spoken of 1 Corinth 1.7 Heb. 10.36 37. Jam. 5.7 which spiritual coming of his was after a time to cease in the Church by reason of mens Apostacy and the departure away from the true faith Luke 17.12 The daies will come when ye shall desire to see one of the daies of the Son of man and shall not see them Fifthly There is Christs second coming and his spiritual entrance into his Church in the same kinde called also the day of the Lord of which 2 Thes 2.2 in which the man of sin the son of perdition that mystery of iniquity should be revealed yea and destroyed by the brightness of his coming which coming of his brings the Gospel with it that was to be preached unto all Nations Matth. 24.30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and then shall all the Tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory and he shal send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet the Gospel aforesaid and they shall gather together his Elect from the four winds which time is by Zachariah described to be a gracious time chap. 12.10 11.12 and wished and longed for by St John Revel 1.7 22. This seems to be that blessed time wherein Christ shall come in the spirit but not in the body as many Chiliasts dream to errect a Kingdom throughout the earth in the hand of his Saints Dan. 7.13 14 27 28. which kingdom shall continue a thousand years Rev. 3.4 5 6. yea some are so bold as to say that this comming of Christ is the great day of judgment spoken of Acts 17.30 and elsewhere wherein Christ cometh spiritually with all his Saints to give a true and upright sentence concerning all spiritual things good and evil for which purpose they alledge that text 1 Thes 3.13 But St. John describes another judgement which shall follow after the thousand years are ended Rev. 20.7 8.15 which seem to be that very judgement which you aim at in this chapter And so sixthly and lastly There is Christs day or time of his last coming to keep a great and general Assizes Thus much in reference to your first Section especially In your second Section we admit your reasons produced to shew why there should be such a judgement with the proceedings then and the several events by you set forth and the rather because you there in the manifestation of the glory of Gods justice against there probates seem to lay their own condemnation upon their own disobedience and demerit and no way ascribe it to Gods absolute preterition or soveraignty to the want of means or sufficient grace for their effectual calling as you have done heretofore Lastly For a peaceable and friendly conclusion we grant you that which you assume in your third and last Section namly that Christ would have us certainly perswaded of a general judgement to deter all men from sin and for the greater consolation of the godly yet would he have us as well assured of our personal and particular going to judgement for the same ends so he would not have us ignorant of his spiritual coming but hope thereupon prepare our selvs thereunto 1 Thes 5.23 and though to take away security make us watchful he would have the day and hour both of our particular and his general judgment unknown unto us yet by such foregoing tokens and Characters as he hath set forth in his word we should learn to know his approaching judgements and commings and order our selves accordingly Matth. 24.32 33. Now learn a Parable of the Fig tree when its branches are yet tender and pntteth forth leaves you know that summer is nigh so likewise you when ye shall see all these things know that it is neer even at the door Against your 15. Article by you revised and here published we have not much to say but what hath been spoken upon those heads and should have had the less if you had left them all standing in statu quo prius And therefore we will here exhibite no articles against them as being more Orthodox then your selves though you hold them not for oracles We have here endeavoured to follow the Councel of St. Jude verse 3. Earnestly to contend for the faith which was once given to the Saints If any will be contentious against the truth we have no such custome nor the Church of God 1 Cor 11.16 But beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy To the onely Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power Now and ever Amen Jude 20 21 24 25. FINIS