Son Jesus Christ Acts 14.15 as the fountain of and the proper way to that life and salvation See the sum of it in 1 Tim. 2.5,6 That there is one God and one mediatour between God and man the man Christ Jesus Who hath given himself a ransome for All as an evidence of Gods good will to All that he would have all men to be saved and to come to know the truth This ye are to hold forth unto men that there is a God to be adored worshipped submitted tâ— trusted in and served the author of our life and breath and all things the fountain of bliss and happiness and that this God is one in Essence mind purpose faithfulness and so that All other powers that the Heathens have fancied and adored are Idols vanities and confusion all things empty and too weak to save or satisfie besides him that eternal life and happiness consists in the true knowledge and enjoyment of him And yet this unity of the Godhead is so to be held forth that the Trinity therein also may be acknowledged otherwise men shall not rightly apprehend or worship him according to the Christian Faith and Doctrine Concerning which let me a little declare my mind to you though it may seem a Digression because mens errour hereabout I find to be often an inlet to many other evil false conceptions I know some make that Trinity or threefoldness in the Divine being but only a threefold denomination of the same personal subsistence and that there is no other distinction between Father Word and Spirit but only in that diversity of denomination which appears to be an evident falshood in this that by the same rule that God the Father Word and Spirit is called three because they are three denominations He might be called seven or ten or more there being many other denominations in the Scripture given to him as Jehovah Lord of Hosts Jah Elohim Ehjeh Eloah Adonaâ— the Almighty and divers others but yet he is not said to be so many as he hath denominations given him in any part of Scripture Besides different denominations of the same person or personal subsistence may be convertibly predicated of one another as where the same man is Father and Son Husband and Master and Magistrate in divers respects there it may be said the Master is the Father and the Father is Governour c. but so it cannot be said of these three the Father the Son and the holy Ghost The Scripture never says the Father is the Son or the Father is the holy Ghost or the holy Ghost is the Father or the Word or Son is the Father though God is a Spirit and Christ an everlasting Father in regard of us yet not the Father of the only begotten Son nor is the Father the Spirit sent by the Father and yet these three are but one and the same God A great mysterie it is I confess and such as passes expression fully to declare and open yet a truth it is that the Scriptures many ways attest both in the Prophetical and Apostolical writings Moses hints it in speaking of God plurally and yet joyning that plural word with a singular verb as when he says Elohim Bara the Gods or the Mighties he created Heaven and Earth c. And again Nahashu let us make man in our Image plurally and yet by and by he changes the phrase and speaks in the singular number God or the Mighties made man in his Image with which agrees divers other phrases as that in Psal 149.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let Israel rejoyce in his makers and that in Eccles 12.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remember thy Creators in the days of thy youth and the like in Job 35.10 and yet more fully in 2 Sam. 7.23 what one people in the earth is like to thy people Israel whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbatim The Gods went to redeem to himself The words that we translate God and went being both of the plural number and yet the prâ—noun relative that is added is singular to himself not to themselves The two former words plainly intimating the plurality in way of subsistence and the singular pronoun the unity in Essence which also is held forth in Gods appearing unto Abraham in which he appeared as three men and Abraham sometimes speaks to him as one and sometime in the plural number as to more Gen. 18. Whence some Hebrew Doctors have also written thus upon the word Elohim which is usually translated God See Ainsw in Gen. 1. Come and see the mysterie of the word Elohim there are three degrees and every degree by it self alone and yet notwithstanding they are all one and joyned together in one and are not divided one from another These places with divers others as to instance one more that in Deut. 6.5 Hear O Israel the Lord thy Almighties is one Lord intimate a plurality in unity but other places express that plurality to be a Trinity or threefoldness in unity as that in Psalm 33.6 By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host thereof by the breath of his mouth or by the Spirit of his mouth for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both So that there we have mentioned the Lord Jehovah his Word and Spirit as the like we may see also in Isa 42.1,2 Behold my servant whom I uphold which is spoken of the word made Flesh Jesus Christ Mat. 12. who though he was in the form of God and counted it no robbery to be equal with him yet emptyed himself and came in the form of a servant Phil. 2.6,7 c. Mine elect in whom my soul delighteth I have pat my spirit upon him c. there is the Father held forth under that word I my he whose servant Christ became and whose elected and delightful Son he is and there 's the Son as before was noted and the Spirit of the Father put upon him The like expressions of the Trinity sce again Isa 11.1,2 and 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me there is the Lord Jehovah the Father and Me that is the Word as incarnate and made flesh and the Spirit or holy Ghost put upon Christ which things are yet more clearly opened in the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles as is to be seen in Mat. 3.17 where we have this Trinity distinctly named Christ baptized the holy Ghost descending upon him visibly in the appearance of a Dove and the Father speaking out of heaven and owning him for his beloved Son Here was more then a threefold denomination of one personal subsistence the Father and Son here are plainly distinguished for he says not of himself I am the beloved Son but of Christ this is my beloved Son c. In 2 John 3. he is distinguished plainly from him Grace and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father c. See the like in Col.
2.2 God the Father and Christ as also the distinct applications of those words Begetting and Begotten Sending and being Sent with divers others argue the sending forth of Christ as the begetting him is always attributed to the Father the Father sent the Son the Saviour of the world and God have his only begotten Son it s never said nor were it proper to say the Father sent himself or the Son sent himself much less that God sent the Father or the like where there is distinction of sending and being sent begetting and being begotten there is more then difference in denomination for though the same may be denominated in divers respects Father and Son and Husband and Master as we said before yet it s improper to say that the Father begat the Son speaking but of the same in divers respects both Father and Son or that the Father sent the Master or Son when he that is all these in divers respects comes himself being sent of none other then himself Beside its never said the Father was made flesh or the Father suffered for our sins or delivered up himself for our offences but it s often said the Father made his Son an offering for our sins God delivered up Christ for our offences raised him exalted him c. which argues plainly that there is more then a nominal distinction between them as also that Christ is said not to have thought it robbery to be equal with God Now where there is equality there is distinction too for its improper to say of the same indistinct thing that its equal to its self yea Christ himself though he saith his Father and he are one John 10.30 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vnum one Essence or thing not Vnus one personal subsistence or one in way of subsisting yet he speaks of himself and Father as of two witnesses I am one that bear witness of my self and my Father that sent me beareth witness of me John 8.18 And to say no more its evident in this that the word was made flesh and so is become man too There is one God and one Mediatour of God and men the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 And God will judge the world by that man whom he hath appointed Acts 17.31 But the Father is never affirmed to be man nor could Christ be Mediatour of God and man if not in something distinct from either as well as in something one with either And so for the Spirit it is clearly in that of Mat. 3. and the other places of Isaiah before mentioned distinguished from both Father and Son and is further proved to be so by that of our Saviour John 14.16,17 I will pray the Father and he shall send you another Comforter the Spirit of Truth where all the three are again mentioned and clear distinctions between each of them from other hinted I will pray the Father there 's Father and Son between whom were there no Distinction that phrase were very improper If the Son be the Father he should rather only have said I will send another Comforter then I will pray the Father and he shall send c. and there is the Spirit distinct from both both from him that said he would pray and him to whom he would pray from the Father for he is to send him and is prayed to for him from the Son who prays the Father to send him for he expresly cals him another Comforter that is another from or besides himself that was then with them The Spirit of Truth that is of the Son for the Son is the Truth and is to be glorified by him as in Chap. 16.13,14 When the Spirit is come he shall not speak of himself but he shall glorifie me How shall not he speak of himself it he be Christ of whom he should speak and whom he should glorifie where note by the way that the Spirit that speaks of himself and not of Christ leading the soul to understand the things of Christ and to glorifie him is not â—he true and right Spirit sent forth by Christ â—ut not to inlarge further in this matter what â—…ore plain then that commission â—o Disciple all Nations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or all the Gentiles Baptizing them into the â—ame of the Father and of the Son â—all of the holy Ghost The Name not names â—nd denominations but one Name Power Auâ—ority and Jurisdiction of Father Son and Spiâ—it now what needs this Distinct repeating of â—ather Son and holy Ghost if no distinction â—nt in denomination be put between them â—how can it be said as in 1 John 5.7 that they â—re three witnesses There are three that bear â—itness in heaven the Father the Word and the â—oly Ghost and these three are one Where the â—ord again is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they were one in way â—f subsisting or personality as they use to â—eak but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hi tres â—mum sunt these three are one thing one being 〈◊〉 Essence one God but yet three in regard of â—ersonality so as the notes of persons I and â—hou and He may distinctly and frequently â—re in Scripture applyed to them I shall not â—ention that in Rev. 1.4,5 with divers other â—laces to this busines but shall a little further â—pen my conceptions about this so high a busiâ—…ess And so I understand that the Father is the fountain of the Deity as it is in the Son but is not the Son but hath begotten him and giveâ— to him to have life in himself and hath spoken by him and so the Godhead is in the Father aâ— the fountain of Divine power The Son is the Word the essential eternal Word of the Father and so God as flowing from and manifesting the Father who in himself and otherwise then by the Son or Word is not to be known oâ— seen into The divine out-streaming wisdome by whom the Father that fountain of Divine glory put forth his Divine vertue and Created all things and upholds them and hath revealed and declared himself to men who also in due time for the sake of man turned away and fallen from him was Incarnate by the power of God and incorporated in the seed of David according to the flesh and so became also a man and in the nature of man by the heavenly flowing forth of his Divine doctrine and by the things undergon by and accomplished in him he opened represented and declared to us the Father and so the Son is as the flowing or out speaking of the Father and the Spirit is the same divine being but as in both and proceeding from both the power vertue and force that is in and worketh or acteth forth it self from both from the fountain by the stream so as that the Father worketh all things through the Son by the Spirit We may somewhat illustrate it by this comparison as I humbly conâ—eive of it .. The Light that
A CAVEAT TO All True Christians Against the spreadings of the Spirit of Antichrist and his subtile endeavours to draw men from JESUS CHRIST Propounded to them by J. Horn one of the unworthiest of Christs servants in his Gospel a Preacher thereof in South Lin Norfolk Together with some brief Directions for their orderly waâ—…ings Prov. 19.27 Cease my son to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge Prov 7.25,26,27 Let not thine heart decline to her ways go not astray in her paths For she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her Her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death 1 John 2.24,25 Let that therefore which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you if that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you ye shall continue in the Father and in the Son And this is the promise which he promised us even eternal life London Printed by R.W. for T. Brewster and G. Moule and are to be sold at the three Bibles at the West-end of Pauls 1651. TO The Vertuous and Religious Gentlewomen M rs Jane Desborow wife to the Honorable Major General John Desborow M rs Alice Toll wife to the Right Worshipful Mr. Thomas Toll Esquire and M rs Judith Cook wife to the Right Worshipful Col. Thomas Cook of Bebmarsh in Essex Esquire Grace Mercy and Peace in Jesus Christ Much beloved in the Lord IT is the Councel of the Apostle John not to believe every spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God And sure there is now as much need of this counsel as ever because there are diversity of Spirits and Prophets gone out into the world and all pretend to God but all confess not that is magnifie not or lead not to exalt Jesus Christ come in the flesh but divers of them deny or undervalue that by which it is manifest that they are not of God to those that duly try them but that they are of that spirit of Antichrist of which we have heard that it should come into the world And truly though it be an heavy judgement of God to order such a spirit of error to enter into and amongst men and men to be possessed and acted by him yet if the matter be well and duly considered it will appear a just and righteous judgement and may afford us much matter of warning For wherein hath or could God have testified or commended his love more to the world then in giving forth his only begotten Son to be believed on and to that end to be delivered to death for our offences and become the propitiation for our sins and being raised again and glorified to hold forth in and through him unto us an immeasurable fulness of glory and salvation And what might God look for and challenge at our hands for so great goodness less then all possible thankfulness and most chearful ready receit of and submission to him but alas how contrary are the returns that he findeth from men What is there that is so little regarded and so much neglected as this his Son what so little received and fed upon by men Is not the preaching of the Cross of Christ become foolishness again not onely to the rude and prophane or to the Pharasaical that establish to themselves a righteousness of their own but which iâ— the most to be lamented to such as have tasted of his goodness and had him livelily set â—orth to them even many such have crucified â—im to themselves afresh and have not obeyed the truth so far as to cleave with stedfast purpose of heart unto him Many that have received the â—tdings of Christs Death and Resurrection for them as sometimes the Israelites the Manna with joy and admiration have with them also after a while grown weary thereof as if it was a light bread and their souls have loathed him and lusted after some other thing to feed upon that might more puff them up in themselves and give more sensual satisfaction And alas how few are there who are not more or less tainted with this infection as if there was not an enoughness in Christ his Death Sacrifice and Mediation for them to feed upon Now what more just with God then that his so great love being so abrogated and so nothing set by should turn to jealousie and that he revenge the injury done unto his Son and to himself with the heat of indignation by sending to them as to the Israelites for their offence fiery Serpents Numb 21. spirits of error and of delusion that because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in their unrighteousness in disesteeming so great a witness of love and not in the truth therefore the efficacie of error should infatuate them and carry them headlong into destruction the abuse and contempt of greatest love deserving to be revenged with the severest condemnation But alas where the spirit of Error hath gotten rooting how many are there so strongly giddified therewith that they make but a mock of these things and think there is no other hell but what here befals them throwing up the whole Christian Faith by the very foundation A piteous and much to be bewailed mischief which cals for not onely our best endeavours by Prayers and Supplications and faithful Instruction to prevent its spreading but might also challenge in many the Magistrates inspection that as of late they have worthily made an Act to prevent and punish Blasphemy against God so they might endeavour to stop the over-free spreading of Blasphemy against Christ by the like provision But for that it s our business to pray God rightly to direct them and that none of them that should discountenance such evil be either tainted therewith themselves or so far destitute of that spiritual Eye-salve as not to have thereof a right discerning As for your parts Worthy Friends I hope you have received so much of that holy Unction as hath helped you to understand the wiles of Satan so that I may say to you as the Apostle in 1 Joh. 2.21 I write not to you because ye know not the Truth but because ye know it and that no lie is of the Truth both blessing God that he doth keep you in so evil a day and praying for you that yet ye may be filled with the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and so more abundantly anointed with that spiritual Eye-salve that ye may be further able to discern things that differ and so be kept for even And indeed I know no better thing that I can wish for you then that for where that is not I know not what else can preserve men For Satan coming not in his own colours but disguised as an Angel of Light not as an enemy but as of old the Serpent as a friend that will shew the way to a more happy and glorious
them and bought them and that he willingly condescended to out of his love to them but now these crucifie him again to themselves and put him to more grief as it were by their wicked and wilful departings from him and so in the most hainous sort ill requite and deny him Nay they are said to trample him under foot and count the pretious bloud of the Covenant by which they Were sanctified a common thing and to do despite to the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.2.9 That bloud that was the bloud of God pretious bloud not to be reckoned amongst corruptible things as silver and gold Acts 20.28 1 Pet. 1.18,19 that they account as prophane or common ordinary blood nothing better then the bloud and sufferings of an ordinary man and whatever the Spirit speaks therethrough they despightfully and reproachfully blaspheam so great is their sin and he tells us their punishment is like to equalize it for they in so sinning put themselves besides the benefit of Christs sacrifice there remains no longer any sacrifice for them that can make in their behalf any expiation Heb. 10.26 thy have neither Father nor Son to be their protection or to afford any safety to them 2 Joh 9. Whatever they may dream of taking Satan for their glorious God and King and his delusions for lighâ— and consolation and however they may boaâ—… of God yet God they have not he is no way ingaged by any Covenant or Promise now tâ— them they having trod Christ under foot anâ— wickedly departed from his bloud and from hiâ— Doctrine they bring upon themselves swift distraction 2 Pet. 2.1 and the very blackness of darkness is reserved for them for ever Jude 12. though now they talk of greater light and Satan make them as Wandring Comets Jude 13. having 〈◊〉 fixed abiding station in the Son of God nor filled with the divine beams of his Light yet they must go out in darkness yea into the blackness of it the most horrid darkness the worst and depth of misery must be their portion this is the end and will be the issue of their delusion thither tend the steps of this whorish woman or spirit of error her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead Pro. 2.20 Yea the dead are there and her guests are in the depth of hell Pre. 9.18 I will not here run into any curious search oâ— discourse about hell what it is it is sufficient to know that it is and will be a state of unspeakable horror torment misery and confusion in which men shall partake with the wicked one and his Angels in the weight heaviness and everlastingness of their destruction in the depth of which the Spirit of God â—ells us are the guests of the foolish woman the spirit of Error opposed to the Spirit of Truth called Wisdom I will not say nor do I think that all have been â—…ibling at these baits of Satan and parlying with him in these temptations nor that all that have through weakness been overtaken and catched in some degree of them are irrecoverably gone into this condition no some such may be pulled either by compassion or by fear and dread as brands out of the sire Jude 22,23 and God may be merciful unto them because they did it in weakness and through violence of temptation but all that willingly yield up themselves hereunto and persist therein till they be one with Satan and his Instruments are like to partake with them in the blackness of their portion and to have their latter end Worse then their beginning 2 Pet. 2.20,21 Sect. 8. Who are in danger to be snared herewith and by What steps THere are divers sorts of people in more speciall danger to be snared with these deceits and they that are snared are carried to the heigth of it by divers steps worthy our noting It s good indeed for every one to be cautelous and not secure yet there are some in greater danger then others and that are more usually taken in it In general all such as have not thâ— Word of God abiding in them or so rooted and deeply entred with understanding intâ— them as to dwell in and keep them through temptations as is noted Matth 13.19 such 〈◊〉 the Word had not root in fall away in a time 〈◊〉 temptation for indeed it s the power of Goâ— that keeps men and that keeps us by Faith aâ—… Faith is not but of the Word of God so thâ—… letting go the VVord is the departing frâ—… Faith and the departing from that is the beiâ—… loosed from that saving Power of the Spirit 〈◊〉 God Now all they in whose hearts the VVorâ— hath but a little superficial place their hearts being stony so as they give not through and intiâ—… credit to it are soon loosed from it and so 〈◊〉 great danger of falling and this Peter implieâ— 2 Pet. 3.16 when he saith They that are unlearned and unstable unlearned he means not 〈◊〉 Arts Sciences and Languages which suffice noâ— to this business but that are but smatterers dâ—… of hearing not of understanding in the Mysteriâ—… of God or in the Word of his Truth and whoâ—… hearts are unstable and unsetled not throughâ— perswaded but halting between two opinionâ— easily blown away and removed these wâ—… the Scriptures to their own destruction and fiâ— away into the error of the wicked and so inâ—… perdition More particularly 1. Such as are slothful in the VVord of Goâ— that cry not for wisdom that give not diligent â— eed to understanding that follow not after God with earnestness but neglect that great â—alvation set before them and of which they have â—ad some views and nigh drawings to them such â—s take not up well pleasedness in Jesus Christ â—hat way of Gods appointing nor have pleasure 〈◊〉 the Truth Knowledge is not sweet unto â—hem and so not heartily cleaved to by them â—or fruitful in them they receive the Grace of God in vain in that regard rest in the form â—nd in some illuminations and tasts but give not â—iligence to atrain the power of it they add â—ot in their Faith Vertue force or efficacy and 〈◊〉 that Knowledge or a further growing up into â—he Knowledge of Christ and his Truth and to â—hat Temperance and sobriety c. but abiding â—arren and unfruitful in that Knowledge and â—rofession of Christ that they have in a time of â—emptation they fall off and wither are lopt off from the Vine and men gather them into their â—ocieties and perverse wayes and doctrines strong delusions take with them that they might be damned that had pleasure in unrighteousness and not in the Truth the righteous Truth of God that they might be saved 2. Such as believe not upon the VVord and its faithfulness but upon their sensible feelings and visits whose faith is built upon sense more then upon the Authority and Power of Gods Word thus the Israelites of old who had maâ—… sensible experiences of Gods
satisfaction that the Spirit of God yea God himself in his Spirit shall poure out into men glorifie them with and possess them of hereafter fully is called heavenly glory and the reward in heaven as the latter it is also because it is yet in and with God and Christ and not in its fulness come forth into and manifested in men but a state it is of such fulness of peace joy power happiness satisfaction and glory in and through the presence of God and Christ with soul and body as neither eye can see nor ear hear nor can enter into the heart of man to conceive an immeasurable unfathomable inexpressible perfect immixt intire and eternal joy and glory so immense high deep broad large and full in it self that no words can reach it nor heart conceive or contain it but be wholly satisfied yea swallowed up into delight and joy with it and that that infinitely adds to it is its infinite duration Eternal life a mighty inexhaustible river of eternal satisfactions flowing from fed and maintained by the fountain of liâ— ing waters even God himself his Presence and fellowship for ever O infinite incomprchensible portion and inheritance yea God himself and his glory to be inherited by us But I shall â—ather press on towards it and to the experimental tasts and feelings of it in some earnest of 〈◊〉 in my spirit then strive by words to darken â—nowledge in indeavoring to express it what it 〈◊〉 is onely known in the injoyment till when it â—…sseth knowledge much more expression to declare it Sect. 6. Some incouragements for the Saints in expectation of this glory promised O Let our eyes be to that Prize that Glory that Paradise that Rest Safety Satisfaction Injoyment of God and Christ compleat freedom from evil compleat and eternal fruition of all happiness that we may run with patience the race set before us enduring the Cross despising the shame for this joy and recompence propounded to us withall considering what good grounds we have to expect the injoyment of so glorious and precious Promises As to Instance 1. It s God that hath promised and what cannot he do Is not his arm Almighty his Power invincible cannot he make us happy beyond expression when he himself is our Reward It s God is not he faithful hath he spoken it and shall not he do it is there any unrighteousness in him Faithful is he that promiseth who also will do it he will not leave thee nor forsake thee 1 Thes 5.24 Heb. 13.5 He hath never yet failed any that have cleaved to and depended on him and verily he will not now begin It s God that hath promised and he is Love and Goodness and hath testified such and so great love to us as may incourage us to judge well of him in what ever he further saith or doth unto us If thou thinkest his Promises are of too great gifts to be bestowed on thee or such as thou art consider what he hath bestowed on thee already hath he not given thee life and breath and all things yea he hath given his onely begotten Son to death for thee to ransom thee from thy thraldom to sin and misery and that too when thou wast ungodly and an enemy against him and neither soughtest it of him nor couldst thank him for it and he hath filled him with his fulness to that purpose that he might now sill thee yea hath he not also called thee to his Son looked upon thee when thou layedst in darkness and ignorance of him hath he not born with thy follies refusals and ill requitals and long waited that he might be gracious yea and at length begun to prevail with thee and brought thee to believe that of his fulness thou â—ightst receive grace for grace c. And is all â—…is nothing to thee to perswade thee of his faithfulness and further love Sure the consideration of this may lead us to be confident in â—im and rest upon him for performance of his Promises to us and to perswade our selves that â—e hath not gone about to deceive us he that â—ath performed his Word so punctually in the gift and abasement of his Son may challenge â—…edit of us in what he further says unto us If â—…n we were enemies he hath reconciled us or â—…de us friends to himself by the death of his â—on how much more when we are therethrough â—…conciled will he save us by his life Rom. 5.10 He that spared not his own Son but gave him to the death for us all how shall he not with him also â—ive us all things Rom. 8.32 Us that are now in Christ Jesus and walk after the Spirit his called justified ones 2. Again consider Jesus Christ the great high Priest and Apostle of our profession the great gift of God for and to us It s he that God â—ath appointed to give us this eternal life It s the Will of God his Father concerning him thâ—… every one that sees the Son and believes on him should not perish but have eternal life Joh. 6.40 and he is mighty to save being the onely proper Son of God his Word and Wisdom yea God over all blessed for ever according to the Spiritâ— he was in the beginning with God and was God and all things that are were made by him and without him was nothing made that iâ— made whether Thrones or Dominions Principalities or Powers all things were made by him and in him all things consist yea according to the humanity also he is exalted to the throne oâ— Majesty and all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in him God doing all by him and he all in and from God and in the might and power of God So that of his sufficiency we have no cause to doubt seeing also he hath done so great things for us as the spoiling of Principalities and Powers conquering the world taking away Sin abolishing Death and destroying the authority and power of the devil In which things also he hath given such undeniable proofs of his Love and Faithfulness in that being in the form of God thinking it no robbery to be equal with God yet he abased himself and came in the form of a servant being made flesh the son of man and therein subject to infirmities yea suffered and bare the burthen of our iniquities and the curse due to us for our sins to accomplish those things on our behalf so that 〈◊〉 exceeding unbelief and ingratitude to question his love and faithfulness for perfecting for us â—hat further concerns us especially seeing he also ever lives now to make intercession for us â—…t come to God by him and appears in the presence of God for us to present us in the invaluable vertue of his sacrifice holy and acceptable before him and to mediate for us the performance of the New Testament to us by continually removing our sins follies weaknesses and evils against God and his goodness to us
forth what almightiness is in himself though therefore Gods Power in it self and he in himself be Almighty that worketh yet his woking is not so Almightily put forth but that a man turning his eye from what he sets before him and listening to the Law in his members may deprive or hinder himself of the efficacie and operations of it and therefore great need also of exhortations to incite and stir up the heart to listen and take heed to the Grace of God in and with which Gods Power works in the soul that through that heeded and minded it may experiment and receive the working of that mighty power to its own preservation unto life eternal For though its the power of God that keeps us unto salvation yet that power keeps us not but through faith 1 Pet. 1.5 and is not to be felt and received by us but in believing and mens unwary separating of these two from one another as if they should certainly find the power of God to save them though they sit loose from the Word of Faith in which believed and minded God conveyes it over to men is the very ground and bottom of much presumption and brings many fool-hardily to throw themselves out of Gods wayes into their own destruction But yebeloved as ye are before warned separate not those things that God hath joyned together Wait on the Lord and keep his way Listen to brotherly instructions councels and exhortations â—…ying all things because Satan sometimes insiâ—…ates his operation in stead of Gods into and â—y Brethren as he spake in Peter when he â—ounselled Christ from his sufferings and hold â—…st that that is good And so I shall address my â—…f to what I have to say further by way of Exâ—ortation and that which I have to say is for our walking as Saints in these four Considerations viz. 1. As to God 2. As to one another 3. As to Seducers And 4. As to the unfilled or residue of the world Sect. 2. Exhortations to holy walking toward God WAlk worthy of the call wherewith God hath called you Ephes 4.1 God hath called you to be Saints walk then as Saints that is 1. Holily towards Him and that in 1. Giving thanks unto him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of his dear Son Col. 1.13,14 and given you wisdom righreousness holiness and redemption in him Yea thankfully rejoyce in him the Father who hath done this for you and thereby made you meete to partake of the inheritance of the Saints in light by not onely giving his Son for you when sinners but also propounding him to you in and calling you to him by the Gospel when ignorant and out of the way who also hath inriched and blessed you with all spiritual blessings in Christ even with whatever makes either for defence and safety or for fruitfulness or eternal satisfaction Rejoyce also in Christ Jesus and count him worthy to receive praise and glory and thanksgiving seeing he hath loved and given himself for you yea and washt you in his blond Gal. 2.20 through the force and power of it cleansing your consciences and redeeming you from the earth and men Rev. 1.5 Heb. 9.14 Rev. 14.4 Seeing also he as the great High Priest mediateth the New Covenant for you that ye might be saved to the utmost through him be presented blameless to the Father by and in him and receive the promised possession and do this in the Spirit of Truth and holiness sent forth from the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus unto you and working in you to sanctifie you to be a pure offering unto God and the Father in him Be glad I say in this thankfulness and sing forth his Fraises Joy is comely for the Saints and righteous for and unto whom God in Christ hath done so much there is cause of joy in Christ for all people but chiefly for the Saints that are particularly his people Let Israel rojoyce in him that made him Psal 149.2 the Saints in God who hath given them not onely a natural being but also new created them in Christ Jesus to good works that he might be glorified in them And let the children of Sion the sons of Grace that have their birth of the Gospel and Promise held forth therein be joyful in Jesus Christ their King Let his praises be in your mouth and the high acts of God in your songs as those that are spiritually favoured by him Cast down your crowns before him let no mention be made of any acts or worth of yours any righteousness or salvation of your working but remember his continually and his onely verily so much as we take to our selves and lift up our selves so much we detract from and are unthankful unto him no part of his grace is or was due desert to any of us for then it should not have been grace but debt to us what ever we have done that 's good we are beholding to him for it for he first prevented us inabled us and incited us thereunto and yet what we have so done deserved not in any way what he hath done for and to us you have heard him but can you glory in your selves for it his Word prevented you or else you had not heard his Word drew forth attention or else it had been otherwise with you and alas how much have ye refused to hear him in and yet what ye have heard from him he hath made effectual to your believing what praise is due to a Begger from a Prince for hearing him direct him to some large treasure what thanks rather is due to that Prince from such a begger for speaking such things to him and how much more for bringing him to what he by speaking of to him perswaded him to look after and accept of from him Our hearing of the Word as it hath been defective in us so had it been never so perfect could be no meriting cause of Gods inriching or saving of us All our whole inheritance and portion is of him and his free grace and so is the bringing and intitling to it let the praise thereof then be wholly given to him and in so doing we shall walke in lowliness of minde as we are exhorted Ephe. 4.1 and not proudly lift up our selves as having some worth of our own in us to commend us by before him 2. Love the Lord ye Saints Psal 31.23 for what now doth the Lord our God require of us but to love and cleave to him for his love to us and this is a genuine expression of real thankfulness and comprehends in it all expressions of 〈◊〉 and produces all that 's returnable to God by us My Son give me thy heart Pro. 23.26 saith he thy heart that is thy love affection delight He that loves another gives him so much of his â—eart as he hath real love to
the Apostles in their Writings I fear men that rightly understand not will abuse this that 's here said even as they do the very Scriptures also yea not onely they that are not believers but even some weaker or rasher believers also will be too often ready to take up these practises which they ought to walk in against the Wolves and Seducers upon due proof and knowledge that they are such against their brethren for some smaller differences but the abuse of truth by some must not hinder the use practise of it in a due way by others It s likely too that the Scribes Pharises and Hypocrites of the Jewish Church would be ready to justifie their own practises against the Apostles and Christians in condemning and speaking evill of them by the Apostles practises and so sharp writings against the false Apostles and Apostates though in this they differed that the one made use of carnal weapons upon unjust grounds against the truth and the other of spiritual weapons upon good and warrantable grounds for the truth the one fought against men with violence to the death for holding to the Scriptures and asserting that Jesus is the Christ and the other spake against and warned men of the Apostates and perverters of the Gospel for what they knew they acted and preach'd against the Scriptures and the faith of Christ and probably some of the like spirit may think to justifie and strengthen themselves in their desired way of persecuting Gospel and Scripture assertions by what is here writ against such as lead men from the Scriptures into heresies of destruction yet that notwithstanding be we wary of our own and one anothers souls and take the Apostles counsel in walking towards those that upon due grounds from the Scripture we see would pervert them I say upon due Scripture-grounds that we may not mistake in our application of the counsels they give us to these or those persons left we condemn such as are not condemned by them It s needful that we try things and persons before we receive them or reject them and in this tryal as its needful to mind the Apostle Johns notes of discerning men viz. to mind whether they confess that is hold forth exalt and lead to faith in Christ come in the flesh that is as he was made of a woman made under the Law died for us and is risen again c. and to minde whether they hear hold forth consent and come up unto the Apostles Doctrine and wholsom Sayings So do I approve that it be with the joint advice and helpfulness of brethren chiefly such as are of more stability and greater understanding not but that weaker believers in case God by his Providence cast them upon such alone in taking heed to the word of Grace and looking to God for help may be able to discern them but God loveth unity of brethren and liketh not of mens despising the help he therein affords but punisheth such despisings of them and self-presumption to brotherly union God hath promised his blessing and Christ his presence to his agreeing together to act in his Name a sheep straying from the fold and going alone is often catcht up when they that abide with the flock sustain no harm To this trial also we may give credit to the testimonies of approved understanding and faithful brethren as to matters of fact or speech of their own knowledge declared by them for so we find even the Apostles to have practised 1 Cor. 1.11 and 11.18 and 5.1 in believing the testimonies of approved brethren against men and to have given warning to others of men whom they proved unfaithful or evil themselves 1 Tim. 4.14,15 yea and it is an argument of some defect and want of charity towards such brethren not to give due credit to their testimonies and brotherly warnings such a thing we finde upbraided in the Disciples by our Saviour in Mark 16.14 Because they believed not them that had seen him after the Resurrection Again when it is evident that men are departed from the faith ye are to put difference between some and others in your carriage toward them as the Apostle Jude hath given direction as towards those that through temptation and simple heartednedness are over-reached and turned aside but as yet not made one with and confirmed in the deceits by which men or Satan hath beguiled them ye are to walk with more tenderness in the spirit of meekness and love seeking to recover them till ye see there is no further hope of them But for others that begin to grow stiff reprove and rebuke them more sharply and by fear and the terrors of the Lord endeavour if possible to scare them from their evil wayes but if after twice or â—…ice admonishing they yet chuse their own â—…y and depart from the Apostolical Doctrine â—one of their own devising then as the Apostle â—…ul advises reject them Tit. 3.11 yea such as 〈◊〉 perceive upon good and due proof to be of 〈◊〉 Synagogue of Satan membred into him and â—…come a seed of his begetting sworn enemies â—s it were to the Lord Jesus doing the devils â—ork for him we may not onely count as accursed and give them up to Satan but also pray against them as divers passages will warrant us 〈◊〉 the Apostles Doctrine onely ye are to be â—…y wary in this case of doing nothing rashly 〈◊〉 upon mature deliberation and a clear â—…cerning Sect. 5. Exhortations to worthy walking towards the world or residue of men yet uncalled FOr your walking toward the world Let it be such as becoms the Gospel such as may â—orn and commend it to men such as in which â—…en may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Matt. 5.16 an unreproveable and faultless walking as the Sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation â—…il 2.15,16 having for the end of it the glorifying of God in Christ and the good of the world viz that the yet uncalled or unsubdued ones may be convinced and drawn to believe if it may be at least have their mouths stopt and their ignorance silenc'd that they may have no excuse for their folly nor any just cause in you of stumbling them and keeping them out from God to whom ye seek to draw them And indeed the grace 〈◊〉 God and what ye have therein heard seen wiâ—… teach you how to walk towards all only I shaâ—… briefly put you in mind of its teachings it wâ—… lead you to sobriety in your selves amongst them not to walk in coveteousness but to shew forâ—… moderation and contentedness in the lot of yoâ—… condition not to drunkenness riotousneâ—… chambering wantonness as if ye had your happiness in the enjoyment of fulness in the creatures or in satisfying the flesh in its lusts and afflictions but in mortification of your earthly members as those that are called to better and moâ—… lasting pleasures and
God made to rule day is but one and its the Sun and yet that light is after one manner in the body of the Sun and after another in the glorious ray and beam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or shining forth of the Sun in another manner yet in the air illuminated by the beam from the body of the Sun and yet all these but one light not three lights yet that one light hath a threefold manner of subsisting the Sun is not one light and the ray or beam of the Sun another and the clearness or bright shining in the air illuminated through the beam a third but one day light or light of the Sun The Sun is the fountain and generateth or begetteth its â—ray or beam and worketh by it whatever it doth by way of illumination heating quickning c. yet is not the body of the Sun its ray or beam Again the ray is begotten and generated in a sort by the Sun and yet its cotemporary with it It evidences the Sun lives by its dependence on the Sun is in the Sun and the Sun in it after a sort so as that it doth nothing of it self without the Sun nor the Sun without it which comes down from the Sun and is not the body of the Sun nor subsists of it self without the Sun Again the clearness or light difâ—used into the air proceeds from the Sun the fountain of light by with in and through the ray or beam yet is it neither the body of the Sun nor its ray for it is and may be where the ray is not but is intercepted as to the proper substance of it as in a cloudy day or in a room where the Sun beam comes not and yet these cannot be divided one from the other for this clearness cannot be but from and by vertue of the ray and of the Sun So that if either of them were taken away and removed from the Horizon the luster or illumination in the air ceaseth and they cannot be but this is and follows too Here is an unity of light in a threefold way of subsistence by which we may darkly see into the glorious mysterie of Trinity in Unity which no similitude can fully illuminate the Father is as the fountain of the Deity and to the Son or Word as the body of the Sun to its beam not to be seperated from each other or divided so as the one can be without the other though the Father is first in order of nature he of whom are all things and doth all by and nothing without the Son or Word as the Sun doth nothing without its beam The Word or Son in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1.2 The brightness or offâ— shining of the Fathers glory Lumen de lumine light shining for discovering and leading up to the fountain of light always with the Father and yet came down from the Father and doth all from him and yet is not the Father but the Son yea and forther as the beam of the Sun may be contracted and as it were so incorporated in a burning glass or the like so as the glass by vertue of the beam and the beam by the glass worketh otherwise then either glass or beam by themselves could have done and yet neither the light nor the body of the Sun is to be so contracted but only the beam so was it with the Son or Word he was imbodied or incarnate in the nature of man and the man Christ Jesus by vertue of the Word so contracted as it were or incorporated in him did such glorious things and got such a glorious conquest over sin death and hell as man of himself â—ould never otherwise have done or gotten nor was the Word in and by it self perfected for and yet neither the Father nor the holy Spirit was so incarnate or made man and yet further the Son had all his vertue in himself from the Father and in the Spirit without which he â—ould do nothing as the ray contracted derives all its vertue that it shews forth in and through the glass from the body of the Sun without which it could neither be nor do any thing The holy Spirit is the power vigor and divine verâ—…e proceeding from the Father that fountain of divine glory from and through the Word by which we have and enjoy the benefit of the Sun and its beam when both of them are otherwise interpreted and clouded out of our sight I mean the Father and the Son even in a day of temptation and spiritual hiding of himself in his more glorious shinings But these things I bring onely to shew that there may be such a thing evidenced even to reason and sense as a three-fold way of subsistence of the same created being that so we might not stumble at that which the Scripture hints to us so abundantly about the Trinity in the Unity of the divine Being Concerning which I needed not to have multiplyed so many words were it not that the old Serpent not abiding in the truth is so prevalent in blinding men and corrupting them from the unerring Oracles of Divine truth to listen rather to the shallowness of their own purblind reason For the Saints are not without experience in themselves did they well mind it of this distinction in the glorious workings and operations of God in and upon themselves in their believing they prove the Father calling them to himself by the Son in the power of his Spirit they have believed the love of the Father in sending forth his Son and in the word of his Gospel they have felt his power and Spirit drawing and inabling them to believe in Christ and to approach by and through him unto the Father according to that Eph. 2.18 We both that is Jew and Gentile have access through him to wit Christ by one Spirit unto the Father namely to call upon him trust in him and have fellowship with him Indeed they that depart from the Son they both lose the operations of his divine Spirit and fall from the right worship of the Father into Heathenism or such philosophical speculations of God and of his Being as were found with the ancient Heathens that had not the light of the Gospel to instruct them and no marvel then if they fall from or deny the mysterie of the Trinity as in the Apostolical doctrine is held forth with those divine operations that should evidence the truth thereof unto them But now to return again to the matter whereto I was exhorting viz. the doctrine of the Gospel to be held forth to men as it supposes the Being of God and he but one though thus distinguished so is it not only the bare affirming him to be but one or in that Unity so as before to be distinguished that 's to be delared but his Name according to that Unity and distinction the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost viz. how God
hath manifested himself and is to be believed in in each of these as that this one God by his Word and Spirit having made and created all things for man and man in his own Image deserved and required to be obeyed and honoured by man but man sinning and therefore falling under his displeasure and making himself thereby unable to please him and unfit for fellowship with him by reason of that unspeakable pollution that hath overspread him God was yet pleased in the greatness of his mercy and freeness of his love to find out a way to recover us again and a way by which we might return back again unto him So as that both his justice and displeasure against sin might clearly be demonstrated and yet his goodness and love too toward sinful mankind be magnified which was by appointing and sending forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law so being found in shape as a man a reall man to bear in his body the punishment of our sin the sin of the world and so to give himself a ransome for all That this his Son the Word made flesh as was long before even from the beginning of the world fore-prophecied of him is now come already and hath taken upon him in the body that was prepared for him the burthen and cause of man and as a publike man given himself a ransome for All induring the Death and undergoing that sentence of curse and condemnation that by the offence of one came upon All men and that for All and hath in grapling with that death and sin overcome them so that God hath raised and justified him in the behalf of all so as he may also see the justificatian of all that do and shall believe on him To which purpose also viz. that men might in believing on him have him for their justification the Father hath glorified him in the nature and behalf of mankind making him Lord of all and his salvation to the end of the earth giving him all fulness of Authority and Power and filling him with all the fulness of the Godhead bodily even the fulness of Divine Spirit Power and Vertue yea also appointing and ordaining him as Mediator to stand in the Vertue of his Death and Sacrifice between God and men as the propitiation for them even for our sins that believe and not ours onely but also of the whole world 1 John 2.1,2 So as that with respect to him and what he hath done and suffered for sin he is good and patient and bountiful to the whole world not withstanding they sin yea and hath sent out his Gospel to be published to them all without limitation or restriction viz. that though this his Son there is forgiveness for them and he would have them saved and to that purpose come to the acknowledgement of the truth yea He to wit Christ is He in whom all the world or any of them may find favor and come into favor with God again so as to be at one with him namely by acknowledging his Truth and believing on him who also is appointed by his teaching them as a Prophet by his ruling them in righteousness and writing his Law in them and subduing their enemies as a King and Lawgiver and Judge over them and by mediating the new Covenant or Advocating and making intercession as the great High-Priest to the utmost to save all them of the sons of men that see and believe on him and so judge his and their enemies that that hate his Light and reject his â—endred mercy to condemnation to which end he shall at the time appointed of the Father come again and raise and judge both the one and the other as they have here behaved themselves towards him That as the Father hath put his Spirit upon Christ so they are to submit unto Christ in his Word and Ordinances and look unto and wait therein for this his Spirit upon him as he that is Power of God that is to bring down or effect in man that salvation that is in Christ Jesus set forth to them the Renewer Sanctifier Teacher Comforter and therefore to be heard sought after received and obeyed by men in the power of which they are to worship the Father through the Son and in the receit and indwelling of whom they shall finde and experiment the streams of that Fountain of Life that flows from the Father or rather that the Father is in and through the Son yea God himself by his Spirit to dwell in them and to set up his Kingdom in them in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost to the full possession and revelation of which in and upon them this Divine Spirit in such their listning to following after and obeying him will not fail to bring them Sect. 7. A Caveat against some mens preposterous mistakes about the Doctrines of Election and Reprobation THis then is the brief summ of the Doctrine to be held forth to the world in which we may hopefully expect and look for the assistance and operation of the Spirit to convince them of the good will of God toward them and therein of their sin for not believing on him Joh. 6.11 that hath done so much for them and is so appointed and fitted of God for saving them And of Righteousness both that all the righteousness they have of their own is empty and will not avail them otherwise no need for Christ to have died for them and also that in him is everlasting righteousness worthy to be looked after and certain in that their looking to him for it to be met with by them And of Judgement that their own self-justifications will not serve them nor their own self-condemnations so valid as remedilesly to cast them but to his doom they must stand by whom the Prince of the world is judged and they must receive their final sentence from him who is able in case of their believing on him to absolve them from all self-condemnings and in case of their disobedience against him and the Will of his Father to destroy them however their own thoughts and other men have hitherto justified them Yea in this Doctrine we may hopefully expect the holy Spirit to draw in and allure the convinced to hope in him and believe on him and therefore this hold ye forth to them and to the furtherance of this let all your conversations and walkings be directed as becoms the children of such a Father the members of such a Head as the Lord Jesus and as the Temples of the holy Ghost that they that are apt to slight the Word may yet be woon to glorifie it by the goodness of your conversation And beware I pray of that preposterous way that some run into who through mistake or unbelief of the Gospel delivered to us by the holy Apostles according to the commandment of the everlasting God and through the exercise of their own reason with the mistaking of some