Psalms and in the Song of Solomon and other places of holy Scripture for by the living Word of God as they come freshly and newly or immediately from the mouth or spirit of God the Souls of God's Children are quickned and kept alive as Christ said The words that he did speak unto his Disciples were Spirit and Life and man liveth not by Bread alone but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God And David waited for the coming of the Word of God to quicken him to wit that God might speak unto him and he said I will hear what the Lord will speak for he will speak Peace to his Saints and to his People So here is God's Promise to all his Saints and People to speak Peace unto them and as he promised to his Israel in Hosea Chap. 14. I will allure or perswade her and bring her into the Wilderness or a solitary place and there I will speak comfortably unto her or as the Hebrew hath it I will speak to her Heart And this is an inward Speech And the Scripture Promises when God is pleased by his Spirit to apply them to the Souls of his Children is as real and proper an inward Voice and Speaking of God unto them as he spoke to the Prophets of old 5. And therefore the Scripture doth not contain either all the Word or Words of God as some say but many thousands of Words of God have been livingly spoke and utter'd by the Spirit of God to the inward Ears of his dear Children since the writing of the Scripture and daily are and will be to the end of the World And as it was said in the Apostles days the Word of the Lord grew and multiplied Acts 12.24 and 19 20. so ever since the Apostles and writing of the Scriptures the Word of God hath grown and multiplied and still shall and must to the end of the World and yet no new Doctrin or Gospel to be Preached but the same which the Prophets and Christ and the Apostles have already Preached 6. And as Christ and the Apostles expounded the Scriptures of the old Testament by divine Inspiration and Revelation of the same Spirit without propounding any new Doctrin or object of Faith unto People so why may it not be so now yea it is so that some at this day by the same Spirit do expound and open places of Scripture both of the old and new Testament and yet bring no new Doctrin And it is a far better way to have such Preachers and Expounders who open and expound the Scriptures by the Inspiration and Revelation of the Holy Spirit as the Apostles did than for men to presume to open and expound them without all new Revelation or Inspiration and who plainly confess They neither Preach nor Write by any Infallible Spirit And such mens Exposition who declare they have no infallible Spirit can neither be the word or words of God which are infallible but only the fallible word and words of man and human Imaginations 7. And as for the term Word the Greek of it being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I find it variously used and translated in the new Testament as first to signifie Christ Joh. 1.1 2dly to signifie Treatise Acts 1.1 3dly Communication Mat. 3.7 4thly Vtterance 1 Cor. 1.5 2 Cor. 8.7 Ephes 6.19 Col. 4.3 5thly Word of Talk or Discourse 1 Thes 1.5 6thly Reason 2 Pet. 3.15 Acts 18.14 7thly Preaching or Doctrin 1 Cor. 1.18 8thly Account or Business as to have to do Heb. 4.13 and 9thly the Hebrew word in the old Testament is translated Order Psal 110.4 10thly Matter Psal 45.1 11thly Speech Psal 19.2 and 12thly the same Greek word is used by Paul to signifie the empty and dead preaching of false Teachers 1 Cor. 4.19 And therefore whether the Scriptures may be called or are called the Word in Scripture rarely or improperly is not the proper state of the Question for it cannot be denyed and is not denyed but that rarely and improperly the word is used to signifie Scripture or Scripture Words either written or spoken and sometimes the words of evil men are rendred by the same Greek word in Scripture as Ephes 4.29 and 2 Tim. 2. â—7 But the true state of the Question is Whethâ—r first the Scripture doth contain all the Word or Words of God And this I justly deny for the reasons already given and indeed as the Word and Words of God are compared in Scripture Deut. 32.2 to the Dew and Rain that falleth upon the dry ground to refresh it and make it fruitful and the drops of the Dew and Rain are so many that they cannot be numbred which God hath been pleased to speak to the Souls of his People and still doth so nor can the Words of God be numbred by Men and therefore they are of a greater extent than all these set down in Scripture which may be numbred and also they are compared in Scripture to Bread that is eaten as Jeremiah said cap. 15.16 Thy words were found and I did eat them and as none can number the small grains of flower that make up a Cake of Loaf of Bread so none can number the words of God Secondly Whether the Scriptures only as they are outwardly written or spoken by the mouths of natural Men or heard by the outward ears or conceived only by the bare natural thoughts and understanding be properly and without all figure the Word or Words of God I say nay for the words of God are spiritual and of an inward nature as God himself is for the words of God are first and properly spoke to the mind and spirit of man and the outward words whether spoke or writ are but the signs of them as all outward words are but the signs of the inward thoughts of the mind which are the words of the mind or heart of man within it self Thirdly VVhether he who only talketh Scripture words and hath not the true sense of them doth truly and properly speak the VVord of God And whether he that only heareth them from man and hath not received the true sense of them hath properly heard the VVord of God I say Nay for it is not the bare Letter without the sense that is the Word of God properly understood Nevertheless the Letter of the Scripture in a figurative sense may be called the VVord as the Map of England is called England Moses his Books are called Moses and Isaiah his Book is called his Vision and John his Book is called his Revelation CHAP. II. Concerning new divine Revelations and Inspirations 1. THe places of Scripture which they commonly bring against all new divine Revelations and Inspirations of the Spirit of God prove no such thing as will easily appear to any that are impartial and unbyassed in their understanding if they will but read and consider them which places are these following as they are alledged and quoted by them called
shall finally perish not simply as men nor yet simply as sinners either for Adam's sin or other sins that they have formerly committed before that great sin of final Vnbelief and Impenitency but it doth regard and consider them as having a day of Visitation and a Call to Repent and a tender of Grace Love and Mercy from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and as having resisted and rejected the same and hardning their hearts against it and that finally until the Day of their Visitation be over whereby they declare themselves unworthy of eternal Life and that they are none of Christ's Sheep but Goats to be put at the left Hand and if any say If these Men were not Elected before the Foundation of the World it will follow that they were Reprobated before it I answer it doth not follow for Elected and Reprobated are not contradictory terms being both positive and Election signifieth a Preference of some before others but that doth not argue a total Reprobation of others when God did elect some But at the End of the World and in the Conclusion it is granted that all who are not elected are but Reprobates to wit when all God's elect Seed every where are gathered out selected and separated from others as so many Grains of pure Gold from all the Dross Tin and Lead that they have been mingled with for a time here in this World that then nothing will remain but that which is Reprobate and which the Scripture calleth reprobate Silver the pure being wholly separated and selected from the impure the Gold and Silver from the Dross the Wheat from the Tares the Sheep from the Goats and the good Fish from the bad and the Children of the Kingdom from the Children of the wicked One he who hath Ears to hear let him hear and the wise in heart let them understand for unto them it is given but unto others as Christ said in Parables that seeing they may not see and hearing that they may not hear nor understand And also it is readily granted that there is a special and peculiar and singularly gracious Care and Providence of God towards all that shall be saved from the beginning of the world to the end and the number of them is most infallibly known unto God and every one of that number shall certainly be saved and none of them shall finally perish but in the proper season and time shall be graciously visited called converted justified sanctified and last of all glorified and this without any Violence done to their rational Faculties or Free-will for God doth well know how to gain and prevail upon the Understanding and Will and Inclinations of his People by such gentle and yet prevalent and overcoming Perswasions and Allurements and Motions of his holy Spirit of Grace of Light and Life as shall infallibly gather them unto himself And it is also granted that as God hath provided that Grace whereby some shall certainly be saved so by the same all are put under a capacity or possibility of Salvation And therefore that any are not saved in this World is not because of any want or defect in the sufficiency or efficacy in the Grace in its own Nature but because of them whom God in his infinite Justice and Counsel permits finally to resist it even as in the Parable of the Sower the Seed was one and the same in all the four Grounds but the Grounds differed one from another and that one Ground was good was of God but that others were bad was of themselves and the word Election doth properly enough signifie selection seperating and setting a part or refining as when Gold or Silver is separated in the Furnace from the Dross And this separation hath had its various degrees and progress from first to last as when Gold or Silver is purified or purged in the sire seven times and then in the seventh time it hath no mixture but is all pure or as when Liquor is poured from Vessel to Vessel several times or as Wheat is winnowed again and again until all the Chaff be separated And in this sense we find the word Election used in Scripture divers times Isa 14.1 For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet chuse Israel And Isa 49.7 And he shall chuse thee And Zach. 1.17 And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet chuse Jerusalem And Zach. 2.12 He shall chuse Jerusalem again And Isa 48.10 I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction And in this sense of the Word as it signifieth a selecting or separating the pure from the impure Election doth go before Reprobation and is not Co-evous with it But whether that Election in Christ before the Foundation of the world doth in some sort signifie a selection or setting apart in Christ the Head who was before the Foundation of the world and is said to be the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as some mystick Writers affirm it is not my present business to determine neither is it necessary at this present occasion 6. But the place of Scripture which they mainly abuse and wrest to prove this reprobate Doctrin of theirs of an absolute Reprobation of the greatest part of mankind even before they are born and that not only Babes and Sucklings on the Mothers Breasts but in the Womb are absolute Reprobates and cast-aways and that some yea many Infants die in a state of Reprobation and perish eternally only for Adams sin imputed unto them as they say without any knowledge or eonsent of theirs and corrupt Nature derived into them and that all such Reprobates never had or ever shall have any opportunity of saving Grace whereby it was possible to them at any time to be saved The place of Scripture I say they mainly abuse and wrest to favour this evil and pernicious Doctrin is that in Rom. 9.11 12 13. But for the opening and vindicating of this place of Scripture let it be considered that here is only a preference mentioned of Jacob before Esau how that the Elder shall serve the Younger but this saith nothing of Esau his being absolutely reprobated The great design of the Apostle Paul being to shew that God had chosen the Line of Jacob before the Line of Esau and given unto that Line and Posterity of Jacob a Preference and Dignity over the Line and Posterity of Esau and that the reason of this Preference was not any Works that they had done but for some other cause hid in the secret counsel of God and this Preference did appear first in chusing the Line and Posterity of Jacob to be his Church in that peculiar Dispensation of the Mosaical Law and giving them many Prophets and other excellent Men to be raised up among them and honouring them with many great and signal Appearances Signs and Wonders whereas the Posterity of Esau was not so highly favoured and yet they had a divine Dispensation among
Scripture would not have said Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling And if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the Deeds of the Body ye shall live And therefore when Paul doth so earnestly plead that men are not justified by the Works of the Law it is evident he doth only exclude these legal Performances and Observations that the Jews rested in who had not Faith in Christ And that no Works however so good or holy being performed by men ought to be rested in as a Foundation or ground of Justification for that were to exclude Christ and make his Death of no effect And again when James doth plead so earnestly that men are justified by Works and not by Faith only giving an instance in Abraham and Rahab he only placeth Faith and Works together viz. such Works as accompany true Faith and work together with it as necessary Instruments and Conditions whereby to obtain Justification but not to be the Foundation thereof 8. And whereas Paul generally so much useth that manner of Speech of Justification by Faith it is manifest that by Faith he doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but as by way of Synecdoche the most eminent or noted part is put for the whole as when in Scripture as well as in common Speech the Head of a man is put for the whole man Ezek. 33.4 Ezek. 17.9 Even so by Faith the Apostle in these places doth mean the whole complex or systeme or intire Body of the Evangelical Virtues and Graces whereof Faith is as it were the Head and is first in order of Nature at least in respect of the other and sometimes also by Faith he understandeth the whole Evangelical Dispensation and Doctrin as especially in that noted place Gal. 3.23 But before FAITH came we were kept under the Law c. And verse 5. But after that FAITH is come c. Where certainly Paul doth not mean only that single Virtue called Faith but the whole Evangelical Dispensation with all the spiritual Gifts and Graces of it And again Gal. 3.2 Received ye the Spirit by the Works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which hath the same signification And thus in common Speech among Christians and Christian Writers the Christian Faith doth signifie the whole Christian Religion and Obedience and so Unbelief in Scripture is put for all other Sin that Men generally are under before they believe as Rom. 11.32 9. True Faith in Christ Jesus on whom alone the Soul resteth as on the true Foundation for Justification and all other divine and spiritual gifts blessings is not only a believing in him as he is the Word which was in the beginning with God and is God by whom all things were made and which was in all the Prophets and faithful and holy Men in all Ages but as the same Word did take Flesh and was God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit c. 1 Tim. 3.16 which Paul called The great Mystery of Godlinss to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law the Son of God that did come in the likeness of sinful Flesh made like unto us in all things Sin excepted who being in the form of God and thought it no Robbery to be equal with God humbled himself and took upon him the form of a Servant and was found in the true Form and Nature of a Man the Seed of Abraham and David conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlem in the Land of Judah And thus the true Faith doth not divide Christ but receiveth him and joyneth the Soul unto him entirely to wit the whole and intire Christ both as he did come outwardly in the Flesh and as he did and doth inwardly come in the Spirit and as the said true Faith doth not divide him so nor doth it divide his Offices but taketh or receiveth him in all his Offices as King Priest and Prophet Shepherd Physician Husband c. And as he is called Jerm 23.6 The Lord our Righteousness in Scripture so as none can have him to be their Righteousness and Justification but who have him to be their Lord King and Ruler in them and their Sanctification Wisdom and Redemption And thus every truly believing Soul is as the true Mother of the Child who would not have the Child divided but she who was not the true Mother of the Child she would have the Child divided a true Figure of all false Christians who would have Christ divided and say They believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as he is the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them Whereas the true Believer doth both believe in Christ and receive Christ as he came in the Flesh and was crucified for our Sins and rose and ascended into Heaven and is now in Heaven glorified in the intire and perfect Nature of man in Soul and Body appearing in the presence of God for us our Advocate with the Father and also doth believe in him and receive him spiritually to live and dwell in his Heart as he is the Lord that Spirit and the second Adam or heavenly Man the quickning Spirit who is the true spiritual Meat and Drink to every believing Soul even as Christ said I am the true Bread of Life he that eateth me shall live by me 10. And this true Faith in the least true measure of it as it is an act or exercise hath assurance in it of the Love and Mercy of God revealed in Christ Jesus and true infallible Assurance is of the very Nature and Being of true Faith as it is exercised on Christ its true and proper Object and Foundation and upon the Love and Mercy of God the Father revealed in Christ hence Paul said That his Gospel came unto these to whom he preached not in Speech only but in Power and in the holy Ghost and in much Assurance or as the Greek hath it much full Assurance 1 Thes 1.5 And he said further his Preaching was in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 5. That their Faith ought not to be in the Wisdom of Man but in the Power of God And this was sure footing and had assurance in it as the building on the sure Rock But they who deny all inward new Revelation of the Spirit it s no wonder they deny that Faith hath Assurance in the Being and Nature of it But without divine inward Revelation which begetteth Assurance there is no true Faith but only Opinion or Conjecture seeing there is no midst betwixt Assurance and Opinion or Conjecture and therefore these Faith-Publishers have denyed the true Faith of God's Elect when they say It may be without Assuranee and that
infallible Assurance doth not belong so to the essence of Faith but that a true Believer may wait long and Conflict with many Difficulties before he be partaker of it see Chap. 18. Sect. 3. And it is yet as strange that they affirm That a Man without divine new Revelation which here they call Extraordinary although in their first Chapter they have denyed all new divine Revelation even since the Apostles can be infallibly assured that he is in favour with God the which Assurance they seem to ground upon the inward Evidences of the Graces of God and the Testimony of the Spirit of Adoption witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God But whether this be not a manifest Contradiction one while to assert the necessity of the inward Evidence of Grace and the Testimony of the Spirit witnessing with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and another while yea with the same Breath to deny all inward Revelation of the Spirit and to say the Spirit worketh only effectively and not objectively and therefore is only medium incognitum assentiendi to wit an unknown Principle of assenting let the wise in heart consider and judge For seeing no place of Scripture telleth us that we have these infallible marks of God's Children and yet the Spirit doth tell or witness it to or together with our Spirits this certainly is a novum effatum or new Truth or saying no where either expresly or consequentially contained in the Scripture or if they say it is contained in Scripture at least consequentially to wit that J.D. or J.C. hath the infallible marks of a Child of God let him produce it or any for him which they shall never be able to do It is wonderful that these Men have such inveterate Prejudice against divine inward Revelation that rather than assent to so blessed and comfortable Doctrin they will run into the most palpable Non-sense and Contradiction And when they start from the Testimony of the Spirit as implying divine inward Revelation they run at last to the Testimony of a Man 's own Heart and Conscience not well considering that the bare Testimony of a Man's Heart and Conscience cannot infallibly assure him or if it could it is no divine Testimony but only human and therefore no true object of divine Faith 11. But as the least true measure of Faith as it is lively acted or excercised upon Christ inwardly revealed hath an infallible Assurance in it so this Assurance doth only reach to the present state of Faithfulness as it is continued in until it please God to reveal to the Soul that it shall be preserved faithful to the last which so high degree of Assurance many true Believers have not attained unto God reserving that to such as he counteth worthy to reveal the same But the first degree of Assurance to wit whereby the Soul is infallibly assured that for the present it is in the way and state of Salvation and as it abideth and continueth to walk in that living Way and Path it hath begun in it shall be eternally saved is a very blessed and comfortable degree and such as for which every Soul that hath it has great cause to praise God Nor doth this degree of Assurance hinder but that the Enemy of the Soul's peace may raise up Clouds and Fogs of doubting and unbelief which may for some time obscure that Assurance if the Soul be not duely watchful and diligent to retain the same CHAP. VIII Whether true beginnings of Sanctification can be fallen from totally And whether it is true that no Man by any Grace of God given him or to be given him in this Life can perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed 1. THat real and true beginnings of Faith and Sanctification or true and real Righteousness may be fallen from is clear from many Testimonies of the holy Scripture especially Heb. 6.4 5 6 7 8. Where first is described the state of some who do fall away what it was before they so do as 1 st that they were enlightned so as to have tasted of the heavenly Gift 2 dly to have been made partakers of the holy Ghost 3 dly to have tasted the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come and surely all this could not be without some real beginning of true Sanctification Secondly the state of such is described when or after they do so fall away that they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame and also the great danger they are in so that it is impossible to renew them again unto Repentance But how far this Impossibility doth extend whether to a simple Impossibility or only in some respect is not the present business to determin and to the same purpose the Author writeth Heb. 10.26 27 28. Thirdly The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 11. doth not only affirm that many Jews and People of Israel who were the natural Branches were broken off from the Root which Root is Christ by unbelief but warneth the believing Gentiles of their great danger also to be cut off if they did not keep in holy fear and watchfulness see Verse 20.21 22. Fourthly The Apostles Peter and Jude set before the Christians the fearful Examples of the fallen Angels and of the old World and also of the People of Israel who were saved out of Egypt to be a warning and caution unto them lest they should fall after the same manner Now the fall of the Angels was a total falling away and so was that of Israel in the Wilderness who though they did eat that spiritual Meat and drink that spiritual Drink to wit the Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ as Paul expresly declared 1 Cor. 10. yet were overthrown in the Wilderness for their Idolatry Fornication and other great Sins they were destroyed of the Destroyer so that in that day God did swear against them they should not enter into his Rest see 2 Pet. 2. throughout compared with Jude and 1 Cor. 10. throughout Fifthly The Parable of the Seed that was sown in the stony and thorny Ground that sprang up and afterwards whithered did signifie as Christ expresly did expound it some that believed for a time and afterwards did fall away And this Faith was not altogether a false Faith otherwise it had not been blame-worthy in them to have left it or cast it away for it is rather commendable than reproveable to cast away what is false and hypocritical and not real Nor doth it argue that their Faith was not true or real that it sprang up in the stony and thorny Ground For many that are real and sincere Believers at their first believing feel their Hearts to be both stony and thorny Ground and yet with diligence and labour through the Power and Grace of God come to get their Hearts in
process of time so changed and renewed that they become good Ground and bring forth good Fruit to the end So the more stony and thorny that the Heart is the more labour is to be used to make it good which by the Grace of God may well be done Sixthly The Parable of the ten Virgins five whereof were foolish hath the same signification for these five foolish Virgins had some Oyl in their Lamps but not being wise to get enough they spent what they had and so their Lamps went out for though they had Oyl in their Lamps otherwise their Lamps could not have gone out yet they had not in their Vessels as the wise Virgins had and so when they were called at midnight to meet the Bride-groom they had no Oyl at all neither in their Lamps or Vessels see Mat. 25. from Verse 1. to 12. Seventhly It is expresly said Ezek. 18.24 and 26 27. When a righteous Man turneth away from his Righteousness and committeth Iniquity he shall die And again when the wicked Man turneth away from his Wickedness and doth that which is lawful and right he shall live And Eighthly The example of David is a most clear Instance who fell from his Integrity by these two great and capital Sins of Adultery and Murther and brought Death upon him and had not God renewed him again by Repentance and restored him he had dyed in his Sins and perished and this fall of his was total though not final because God restored him before he dyed But to say as these Faith-publishers say and affirm That no Men once sanctified in the least measure can fall totally from their Sanctification though committing Murder and Adultery as was the case of David see Cap. 17. Sect. 1. and Cap. 11.5 of their Confession nor from their Justification is not only a most false and pernicious Doctrin but a most wonderful piece of Confusion For if he that is both Murderer and Adulterer in the very act and remaining in that or these Sins without Repentance for some time are really Saints and justified then who may be said not to be Saints Or what difference is there betwixt the Saints and no Saints betwixt the godly and the wicked good men and evil men If a man that is both Murderer and Adulterer be a real Saint and a justified man then the worst of men may generally believe they are true and real Saints and ye cannot convince them of the contrary For by what means can they be convinced thereof Tell them of their Sins Lying Stealing Drunkenness Swearing Murther and Adultery none of all this according to this wicked Doctrin doth prove them to be no Saints or that they have not true Faith and therefore if they die in these gross Sins they must go to Heaven immediately because they shall die in Faith they shall die sanctified and justified men than which I know no greater Confusion and daubing with untempered Morter and sewing Pillows under Peoples Arm-holes like the false Teachers of Old and prophecying smooth things unto People in their Sins and flattering them yea imboldning and encouraging them to Sin And no doubt many are wofully imboldned and encouraged to run into Sin and excess of Sin by such poysonous Doctrin that these false Teachers feed them with that is like sweet Poyson that though it be sweet to the Flesh yet it kills the Soul Doth not the Scripture say The Soul that sinneth shall die and the Wages of Sin is death And as every Sin doth in some measure kill the Soul so great Sins such as Murder and Adultery than which we can hardly suppose any greater unless that unpardonable Sin of Blasphemy against the holy Ghost do wholly kill and destroy the Soul insomuch that if any such Soul ever be saved it must be by a new Creation and renewing and of this David was well sensible when after God was pleased spiritually to visit and awaken him again he prayed unto God saying Create in me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Psal 51.10 And thus according to these false Teachers there is no mortal Sin that any Soul once quickned in the least degree can commit and the same Sin that is mortal in the unbeliever is not mortal in him that once was a believer as Murder Adultery yea Incest or worse is no mortal Sin in one and yet is a mortal Sin in the other Doth not this loose the reins to all sorts of Wickedness and make God a respecter of Persons and Faith a sort of Proof that though men once having Faith commit the worst sort of Sins as Murder Adultery Incest Rapine yet their Faith is a sort of proof unto them that none of these Sins doth or can kill them They are still Saints for all this and justified in the sight of God and if Saints then good enough to be your Church-Members yea Members of the Independent or Congregational Church Why what doth hinder but they are as real and lawful Members of the Church as any others And if Murderers and Adulterers while such are still Saints and qualified to be your Church-Members it is no wonder that your Church be large and have a great number of Members It is no great difficulty to be a Member of that Church when a Murderer an Adulterer can be a Member of it Is this your pretence to Reformation And why ye estimate your Church more holy than the Church of Rome But is not your Church and Doctrin in this respect much more unholy For the Church of Rome saith All gross or great Sins as Fornication Adultery Murder and the like are really mortal Sins in all that commit them without respect of Persons and whoever commit such Sins are fallen from their state in Grace And so saith the Scripture 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God The which Kingdom of God is a state of Grace as well as of Glory And here we see the Apostle Paul maketh no distinction betwixt one that hath formerly believed and one that hath not believed but without distinction or respect of Persons he concludeth in general against them all that while such they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God But according to this Westminster and New-England Confession of Faith Fornicators and Murderers and Adulterers that have at any time once believed do still inherit the Kingdom of God to wit a state of Grace which is in a true sense the Kingdom of God and is frequently so called in Scripture And thus it doth most evidently appear that their Doctrin in this particular is Antichristian and contrary to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures And to say that Murder or Adultery in him that hath once truly believed is not a mortal or killing Sin but is a mortal Sin in him that hath not believed is not only to make God a respecter of Persons in the worst sense
but to extenuate the Sin in the Believer and to aggravate it in the Unbeliever contrary to the Scriptures Testimony which doth aggravate any Sin that Men having once believed fall into more than in unbelievers as is clear from 2 Pet. 2.20 21. 2. And as for the Scriptures they bring in their said Confession to prove their false Doctrin let them be impartially examined and they will be found to prove no such thing some of them being expresly conditional as that in 2 Pet. 1.10 For if ye do these things ye shall never fall Here it is only promised conditionally but not absolutely that they shall not fall to wit if they give all diligence to add to their Faith Virtue c. Verse 5. And this serveth them not only from falling totally but from falling indefinitly or universally so as not at all to fall for he saith not Ye shall not fall totally But Ye shall not fall And there are many other Scriptures that though they do not expresly mention the Condition yet do Imply it and are to be expounded by other Scriptures that do express it 3. It is readily and willingly granted that there is a state in Holiness or Sanctification that may be attained and grown up into wherein men cannot fall away totally from a state of Grace but as they cannot fall away totally so they cannot commit any gross or great Sin which in the Scripture phrase is commonly called Sin to wit a hainous Sin or Crime which John calleth A Sin unto Death 1 John 5.16 17. And here he distinguisheth betwixt a Sin unto Death and a Sin that is not unto Death viz. that doth not totally slay the Soul's Life but woundeth it and killeth only in part as some small wandring or evagation of mind or giving way through slackning the Watch unto a vain Thought for some small time something of Anger or Passion upon some sudden occasion something of glorying in Sufferings or Services or Knowledge or in spiritual Attainments something of too forward and hasty Zeal and divers like sudden Motions that a gracious and godly Soul may be tryed and afflicted with that are as Thorns in the Flesh-and do wound and afflict the Soul but are not suffered to proceed so far as to carry it forth into any secret or open gross Crime either inwardly in the Heart or outwardly in Word or Deed. Hence both in the Old and New Testament we find divers kinds and degrees of Sin more or less heinous and these expressed by divers both Hebrew and Greek Words The more heinous are called Iniquities Vngodliness Impiety Vnrighteousness Perverseness Rebellion and others of an inferiour Nature are called Trespasses Debts Omissions Faults c. Now the least kind or degree of Sin doth weaken and wound yea kill in part the Soul 's spiritual Life as when in the natural Body some Member is mortally wounded and killed and yet the whole Person is not slain thereby but all gross Sins such as Fornication Adultery Murder Theft Robbery c. make havock waste and destroy the Soul's Life and kill the whole man whom notwithstanding God in his infinite mercy may and doth at times restore For we read of no Sin unpardonable but that of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and doing despite to the Spirit of Grace And such who are come to this noble degree and state of Sanctification are described Psal 119.2 3. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart they also do no Iniquity they walk in his ways And such have their Calling and Election made sure unto them such are not meerly or barely Servants nor Sons of the Bond-woman but Sons of the Free-woman and throughly renewed and born of God who doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in them 1 John 3.9 And he cannot sin because he is born of God For indeed to him that is born of God Sin is contrary to his new Nature as much as Holiness or Righteousness is contrary to the Devil's Nature or as one contrary thing can be to another as it is contrary to a Fish to live on dry Land or for a Sheep or Dove to live in the bottom of the Seas But whoever commit any gross thing as Fornication Murder Adultery Theft Robbery Perjury c. never arrived to this pure and perfect state of Sonship were but Servants and not purely and perfectly Sons and yet the state of the Servant is a true and good state in its place and as faithfully improved leadeth on infallibly to the state of pure and perfect Sonship and such who have attained to this pure and perfect state of Sonship can say with Paul Gal. 4.31 So then Brethren we are not Children of the Bond-woman but of the Free And with John 1 John 2.19 They to wit such who were not true Sons but at best only Servants went out from us but they were not of us c. To wit Sons and Children of the Free-woman or the Children of the New Covenant they were only of Hagar that signifieth the Law or first Covenant And to conclude the Righteousness and Holiness of the first Covenant may be totally fallen from such as was that of the Angels who fell and Adam the first man he fell totally and so may they who are not further advanced than to bear the Image of him the earthly Adam but the Righteousness and Holiness of the New Covenant such as they attain unto who are throughly born of God and are made Overcomers and Conquerors yea more than Conquerors as the Scripture phraseth it and are made conform to the Image of Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven heavenly cannot be fallen from or lost such having overcome are made Pillars in the House of God so as no more to go out Rev. 3.12 And to this state only do all these places of Scripture relate that hold forth and imply a sure and absolute stedfastness in Holiness and Righteousness But who are thus far advanced and who are not although infallible Signs and Marks of distinction may be given of these two so differing states God only infallibly knoweth and they to whom he doth reveal it For it is God that must make known by the inward Revelation of his holy Spirit who hath these marks otherwise men may presume to have them when they have them not And of these infallible Signs and Marks some of them are to love God with the whole Heart to love him purely and perfectly to love him for himself and to desire to enjoy him as he is a God of Holiness Purity and Righteousness more than for Gifts or Comforts or Rewards that are of an inferiour Nature to hate and fear Sin more than all punishment for Sin to have no inward inclination or desire to revenge Injuries but most willingly and heartily to forgive and bear them to love Enemies from the very inward ground and bottom of the Heart and always to render
good for evil and blessing for cursing Now he that is in the state of a meer Servant or Son of the Bond-woman may endeavour to practice all these things in Word and Deed as outwardly and may have many inward wrestlings and endeavours inwardly to bring his Heart to the inward Conformity of this most holy and spiritual Law but until he be more inwardly changed and renewed and born again by a second inward Birth he cometh not up in Heart and Soul to this inward Purity but feels a secret defect within him of this so perfect Righteousness that is wholly Evangelical 4. Next as to that other Question mentioned in the Title of this Chapter viz. Whether it is true That no man by any Grace of God given him in this Life which includes all Grace given at present or to be given at any time hereafter in this Life can perfectly keep the Commandments of God but doth daily break them in Thought Word and Deed. The Faith publishers of Westminster and New-England do positively expresly affirm it in answer to Question 149. larger Catech. and Cap. 16. Sect. 5. they farther say That the best Works of the Saints which proceed from the Spirit of God as they are wrought by them are defiled The which Assertions have seemed so gross to divers of their Church-Members that they could not believe that their Catechism and Confession of faith said any such thing until I have got the Book and both read caused them to read the same in their said Catechism Confession with their own Eyes and then they were amazed and ashamed and indeed it is an astonishing Doctrin especially to say That the good Works of God's holy Spirit are defiled in or by the Saints It is such a Chimera or Contradiction as to say one and the same thing can have the perfect shape of a man in all his parts and Members without any defect or redundancy as to say a perfect Man and yet also have the shape of a Dog Ass or Hog at the same instant For they say As it is the Work of God it is perfect and as it is the work of Man it is imperfect and Sin and that totally For they do not mean that one part of the work is God's and that is perfect and another part is Man's and that is imperfect but that the whole work as it is God's is perfect and as it is Man's even the same whole work is defiled and imperfect yea Sin What greater piece of Nonsense and Contradiction can be imagined as who would say the Snow is perfectly white in one sense and yet black in another sense or the Fire is hot in one sense but cold in another And another as great an absurdity they have affirmed That these defiled and sinful works of the Saints God doth accept them looking upon them in his Son though in God's sight they are defiled and reproveable Is not this to represent God to speak with reverence as looking with a deceiveable Eye as one that looks upon an Object through a Green or Red Glass it seemeth Green or Red although it be not really so and is it not to make Christ a meer Cloak to Sin or blind to hide it from God's all-seeing Eye or if not to hide it yet for God to accept that for good and holy which is not really so and so to give a false judgment and to call evil good which God abhorreth And is not this Antimonian like who say God seeth no Sin in them though they Lye Swear falsly drink drunk steal whore c. yea Ranter like for they say God seeth no Sin in them because he looks upon them in Christ But surely in whomsoever Sin is God and Christ seeth it and cannot accept it and Christ himself judgeth and condemneth all Sin And as for their alledged Proofs from Scripture they are meerly wrested and abused as the impartial Reader may perceive with small Examination The first place they cite in their larger Catechism answ to Quest 149. is James 3.2 For in many things we offend all But to this I answer 1 st He doth not say in all things as these Faith-makers say That all the best Works of the Saints are defiled and they sin in them all 2 dly He doth not say We shall and must always offend and can do no otherwise by any Grace of God so long as we live 3 dly It is to be considered that the Apostle James writes this Epistle in general to the twelve Tribes who were not generally come to a state of Perfection and of such it may be said they offend in many things to wit such as are weak in Faith and though he use the first Person of the plural Number saying We this doth not prove that he doth understand himself more than when he saith Verse 9 Therewith to wit the Tongue curse we Men. For James to be sure was no such Man both to bless and curse with the same Tongue or Mouth for thus he expostulates with them My Brethren these things ought not so to be Doth a Fountain send forth at the same place sweet Water and bitter The next place they cite is John 15.5 For without me ye can do nothing This proveth indeed that no Man without the Grace of Christ can do any good but it proveth not that by the Grace of God he cannot do that which is good Surely Paul was not of these Mens Faith who said He was able through him that strengthned him viz. Christ to do all things The next place they cite is Ecclesiastes 7.20 There is no Man that doth good and sinneth not To this it is answered first The Translation doth as well bear it in the potential Mood and may not Sin the Hebrew Word being in the Future which is at times put for the potential Mood as Psal 22.17 the Word in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Future Secondly It is readily granted that there is a time or state wherein Men generally do sin until a state of Perfection be attained which was not generally attained in the time of the Law or Old Testament for the Law made nothing perfect and it is said to be weak although no doubt there were some excellent and perfect Men in that time but they did not attain to that Perfection by the Law but by Faith in Christ Another place they cite is Gen. 6.5 And God saw that the Wickedness of Man was great in the Earth and that every Imagination of the Thoughts of his Heart was only evil continually Answer This is very impertinently here alledged for it speaketh only of that Generation of Men in the Old World that were so exceedingly degenerated that God was provoked to drown them with the deluge of Waters But this doth not prove that it is so with the Saints yea Noah is expresly excepted Verse 8. But Noah found Grace in the Eyes of the Lord. And vers 9. Noah was a