first forsake God. There can be no divine Hope of that which is not infallibly future and God foresees will never be But where is divine Hope that is divine evidence that the thing hoped for is infallibly future Now in all regenerate Souls there is planted by God divine Hope of their Perseverance and Salvation therefore it will most surely be otherwise God is made the Author of false and deceivable Hope 3. God keeps his Saints in this World from final Apostacy by the holy fear of it this is at once a sure pledg and principal engine of Perseverance Jer. 32.40 Ezek. 36.27 Rom. 11.20 As it is holy Fear so it differs in kind from the fear of Devils and Men ungodly in whom is fear but no holy Fear As it is fear of Apostacy so it differs in kind from the State of blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven in whom is perfect Fear as Fear is the same with reverence and transcendent esteem of God but no fear of Apostacy no possibility of Sin. 4. David in the instant of his Murder and Adultery was ungodly and in a state of Damuation The reason is because God's Judgment over all is by Conscience as his Agent in the Breast of Angels and Men universally and for ever And God's Judgment must be so plain that every Mouth may be stopped and all may clearly perceive the Righteousness of God. But if Persons may be in the same instant both Murderers and Adulterers and yet Godly and in a state of Salvation then cannot every Mouth be stopped nor can the Conscience of Angels and Men universally acquit God. There is in the Soul of David invisibly some spiritual Lust against the Flesh such for kind as is in no unregenerate Man 1 Joh. 3.9 Gal. 5.17 Considered as spiritual so it is invisibly active for God and not idle in the Soul Considered as Lust so it is not active but lusteth to act and for the present cannot act by reason of an excess of contrary Lust which doth overwhelm it and extinguish all godly Act. God's gracious purpose in Christ from everlasting concerning David cannot fail and therefore in time he gives him Repentance and Pardon of those enormous Crimes and so makes advantage thereof to his own Glory the disgrace of Sin the esteem of Holiness the comfort of the Penitent and the silencing of the Impenitent Thus where Sin abounded God's Grace much more abounded and from everlasting to everlasting God's Mercy is on David and all other regenerate Souls Rom. 5.20 Psal 103.17 5. Infallible Certainty as it is in God is the Divine Effence and admits of no degrees as it is in us it is the Image of God a divine effect and admitteth of degrees but so that every degree thereof is truly infallible and Certainty not infallible is a Contradiction as being the same with uncertain certainty So much holy Faith in Christ so much holy Self-knowledg Self-perception Self-feeling and Self-intuition here the same thing is both Act and Object As by living we know we live and by seeing we know we see so we believe and know we believe Joh. 6.69 Faith and Assurance as also Faith and Confidence are distinct yet not asunder they differ as Cause and Effect Now Cause and Effect are mutually related things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together and do mutually prove and infer each other the effect is eminently in the Cause and the Cause as such is the measure of the Effect Isa 32.17 Eph. 3.12 Heb. 10.22 Regeneration is the Seal of the Spirit by which he doth prove evidence and demonstrate to the Heart and Conscience of the Man regenerate through Faith that he is God's Child by Adoption elect in Christ and an Heir of Heaven This is divine Evidence and therefore he is bound to believe it with divine belief The Holy Ghost and renewed Conscience through Faith do undividedly witness the same thing yet not in the same respects the Holy Ghost doth witness the whole as principal and supream and renewed Conscience doth witness the whole as by his Grace instrumental and subordinate Rom. 8.16 17. 9.1 2 Cor. 1.12 22. Eph. 1.13 14. Doubting of Salvation may be in a godly Man in such sort as Unbelief may but no otherwise The least degree of holy Faith doth sincerely yet not perfectly mortify expel and war against Unbelief and carnal Doubting and Uncertainty CHAP. III. Of the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and Men. 1. THE Mediatorship of Christ began immediately after Adam's Fall For then God the Son as purposed in time to be Man and as Man to die for Sin gave Repentance and Pardon to Adam through Faith and so founded the New Covenant of which himself is the Mediator principally as he is God the Son subserviently as he is Man according to his own eternal purpose The godly before his Incarnation were saved by Faith in Jesus Christ as purposed to be Incarnate and the Godly since are saved by Faith in the same Jesus Christ as already Incarnate according to that Purpose Thus Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday and to Day and for ever without Parts and Composition Heb. 13.8 For if he consist of Parts then he is not simply impartial and then he cannot judg the World in Righteousness he must needs approve Murder in David and condemn it in Cain Which is Blasphemy If he be at all compounded then he is not simply Christ For simple and compounded are Contraries as Light and Darkness Sincerity and Deceit 2 Cor. 1.12 and 11.3 If he be not simply Christ he is a Deceiver 2. Christ considered as Man died for all Men as Men fallen in Adam equally and alike and shed as much Blood and as fincerely and effectually for Cain and Judas as for Abel and Peter and did all that lay in him as Man to save all Mankind without exception and continueth so to do For he could not be a perfectly holy Man without bearing equal and impartial love to all Men as Men fallen in Adam and to all godly Men as Godly As Man he makes no difference between one Man and another farther then they by Holiness or Sin shall difference themselves Christ considered as God could not die but he who is God manifest in the Flesh God the Son incarnate died in respect of his Body and purchased the Church with his own Blood and obtained Faith Repentance Pardon of Sin Perseverance and eternal Salvation for Abel David and the rest of the Elect in all Ages And temporal Grace Mercy Priviledg and Salvation for Cain Judas and the rest of that sort not with design that they should abuse his Grace that so he might have colour against them and damn them But as unsearchably foreseeing that he not preventing them with his heavenly Grace they would through themselves be graceless impenitent and perish And he whose Thoughts and Ways be far above ours purposed not to prevent them Thus he is the Saviour of all
is faithful and to be so is to be full of Faith Truth Veracity and Fidelity in opposition to Perfidiousness Unfaithfulness Deceit and Lies Now all the blessed Saints and Angels are perfectly like to God as he is faithful and true and so must needs have in them perfect Faith Fidelity and Truth Deut. 32.20 2 Thes 3.2 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.7 Prov. 20.6 1 Cor. 13.12 2. As Faith is opposed to Sight so through it we understand discern apprehend perceive embrace and receive spiritual good things spiritually through it we repent of Sin love obey and please God we receive come to trust in and rely on Christ we obtain Pardon Justification and right to Life eternal we overcome Satan and the World and walk with God in Holiness and Comfort on Earth till we come to Heaven where Faith is turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition Faith as thus opposed to Sight is most truly properly and scripturally reckoned counted and imputed to us for Gospel-righteousness before God all the while we are militant in this World. 3. Faith in God may be evidenced shewed declared proved and spiritually demonstrated by heavenly Regeneration and good Works 1 Cor. 2.4 but it cannot be defined For what is defined is finite but God is infinite and infinite as such cannot be finite Believe God we may define him we may not To define is to limit and to limit God is great Sin Psal 78.41 He that hath holy Faith in God knoweth better by inward feeling and Self-perception the true nature of it than any human Definition can inform him There cannot be a Definition of Definition Either then Faith in God is the Standard of Definition or Definition is the Standard of Faith in God. If the former then Faith in God is above Definition more plain than it and is not reducible to it If the latter then there can be no Faith in God because he is Infinite and as such cannot be defined Exact Definition consisteth of somewhat general and somewhat special but all in saving Faith as such is special and peculiar to the Elect and nothing in it common to them with the Reprobate Temperance Justice Chastity Faith in the unregenerate Man as in themselves are proper Graces and Vertues but as relied on for Life eternal without heavenly Regeneration they are no otherwise Graces and Vertues than as a dead Man is a Man or an adulterous Wife is a Wife they are but the Corpse of Graces and Vertues and therefore they differ in kind from Temperance Justice Chastity Faith as in the regenerate Man and are no degree thereof 4. Faith is in no Faculty but it is seated and rooted in the Heart and through it we understand and will spiritual things spiritually Understanding and Will in Man are truly distinct but not distinct Faculties they are the Image of God in whom is unsearchable Unity and Diversity but no Faculties God doth willingly understand and understandingly will and so doth Man. Every intellectual Act of Man is the Act of the Soul or Man and not of this or that Faculty Faith as opposed to Sight is not an Act but through it we act holily It is not a Work but through it we work Righteousness It is not Obedience but through it we obey and please God Heb. 11. Rom. 1.5 16.26 5. Look what Reason is to the human Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth rational and intellectual Acts differing in kind from the manner of Brutes that is Faith to the regenerate Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth holy and supernatural Acts differing in kind from all the Acts of Men unregenerate and ungodly as such Certainty of Faith is proper Certainty of Sense yet not of bodily Sense common to us and Heathens but of heavenly and spiritual Sense through Christian Belief which Heathens have not Unto true believing Souls God's Word is sweeter than Honey and sharper than a two-edged Sword in their Hearts Psal 119.103 Heb. 4.12 Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 That is he whose Heart is not purified by Faith in Christ in him Sin reigns and carnal Dubitation is Lord in his Soul and though the thing done by him as in it self be lawful yet if he doubt whether it he lawful or not to him it becomes unlawful through the Error of his Conscience not purified by Faith. An erroneous Conscience considered as erroneous connot bind for as erroneous it is not Conscience but the Error and Abuse of it But considered as Conscience under God and over Man so it doth truly bind to all Duty and against all Sin and Error Whatsoever is not of Faith is of Infidelity and consequently of Sin. CHAP. IX Of Love to God and Self-love 1. SIncere Love is to love God because of his first Love to us 1 Joh. 4.19 For this is to love him as indeed he is our Maker our Redeeemer our Sanctifier our Reward and Rewarder our God and Portion for ever our All in All dearer to us than we are or can be to our selves and to love him under any other notion is to love an Idol and not God. Self-love considered as repugnant to Life eternal is self-destroying Vice and the common Character of all the ungodly 2 Tim. 3.1 2. Self-love considered as subservient to Life eternal is in a large and true Sense heavenly Self-denial and the true Love of God as good to our Souls in Christ Jesus eternally Prov. 9.12 Luke 9.23 2. Vertue is truly lovely for it self but then the highest Vertue is to love and be like unto God and God is not at all lovely unless he be essentially and yet freely the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and no Reward short of God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness can content the holy seeking Soul. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable To say I would love God though there were no Heaven and I would hate Sin though there were no Hell is in effect to say I would love God though he were not at all lovely and I would hate Sin though it were not at all hateful and abominable Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 15.19 3. The chief End of Man is but one as God is one Subordinate Ends indeed are many but as subordinate they are not Ends but regular means conducing to the End. The Supream End of Man is eternal Salvation or God himself as enjoyed in eternal Felicity Eternal Salvation is not an End subordinate to the Glory of God but God's Glory is his Will as fulfilled in the eternal Salvation of all the Elect by Faith in Christ God is our Salvation and our Saviour our Blessedness and the Author of our Blessedness No Man can will his own Annihilation as a means to God's Glory for a Man as such is the Image and Glory of God and the eternal extinction of God's Glory cannot be a
but to our Faith inwardly For the Opposition is not between Spiritual and Material but between Spiritual and Carnal 1 Cor. 3.1 and 9.11 Rom. 15.27 Spiritual Invisible and Eternal Things are incomparably and transcendently Material they are the Matters of God and of greatest Consequence and Importance to our Souls through Faith. The Soul is not the Form of Man but the Body is the Form of Man and the Soul is the quickening Life and Spirit In beholding a Corpse and dead Man we behold the Form and Appearance of Man but we do not behold the Soul. The Soul is the Image of God and therefore it cannot consist in a dead Form. Rom. 2.20 2 Tim. 3.5 4. Soul and Body are truly distinct as Principal and Instrumental the inward and the outward Man but they are not two essential and compounding Parts of Man. For Man is the Image of God who being without Parts and Composition so must needs be his Image As all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Every Man as to his natural Substance is simply a Man and not a Brute and therefore he must needs be uncompounded For to be simply a Man and yet compounded is a Contradiction Indeed the Body by it self consists of many Parts It will not therefore follow that it is onely one Part of Man. For if it be one only it is not many Gal. 3.16 As to Life Eternal the Soul is the Man not as excluding the Body but the Welfare of the Body is bound up in the Eternal Welfare of the Soul. If the Soul be safe all is safe If that be lost all is lost and the Man is undone for ever As to Life Temporal the Body is the Man not as excluding the Soul but as it is in and by the Body that Man doth visibly live and converse on Earth as a Man and not a Brute and the Body being dead the Man is dead as to this present Life And therefore not one Part of Christ but Christ Himself in respect of his Body was crucified dead buried and lay in the Grave Come see the place where the Lord lay Mat. 28.6 5. Every Artificial Image of Christ as God is an Idol and every Artificial Image of Christ as Man is Superstition and if adored then it is Idolatry Christ as Man is holy and Holiness may not be set forth by a dead Image or Picture Only holy Men and Women in this World as holy are the Image of Christ as he is Man. Rom. 8.29 Any other Image of Christ as Man is a lie and not the Image of Christ Christ is truly a Man but withal a special Man differing in kind from all other Men because he only is by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin He only is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World He only as Man is exalted at God's right Hand above all both Angels and Men They may be set forth by an Artificial Image or Picture but so may not Christ as Man. The only true setting forth of Christ as Man is by the Word and Sacraments through Faith because as Man he differs in specie in kind from all other Men. CHAP. XI Of the Church and Commonwealth 1. THE Holy Catholick Church which we believe as distinct from the elect Angels consists of the whole number of God's Elect in all Ages not as exclusive of what is good and commendable in Hypocrites Hereticks Apostates and Heathens but as liking and loving all that is good and lovely in whomsoever This Church began in penitent Adam and Eve they two were the first Church of the redeemed Upon the increase and multiplication of new Converts and Souls regenerate more were added to the Church successively like as when an Infant is born into the World there is one more added to the Society of Mankind Acts 2.47 The Apostles Commission was not to make a new Church differing in substance from what had been before and was in being at the time of Christ's Ascension but to preserve that Church which he left on Earth and by Apostolical Preaching and Endeavours to enlarge and add to it and so to make Jew and Gentile one in Christ Jesus Outward Variations suited to the Exegencies of the Church in its Militant State do not alter the intrinsecal Nature Essence and Unity of the Church which is the same for substance in all Ages But because Abel is the first who died in Faith and of whose Righteousness there is express mention therefore the Holy Catholick Church is fitly reckoned from him 2. The Church and Commonwealth are not two independent Societies but the Church as such is a holy Commonwealth simply dependent upon God through Christian Faith as to Life eternal And upon the Prince as sole Supream under God over all in his Dominions as to Life Temporal and Coercive rule by the Sword. Look as Homo being a Man includes Animal being a Living Creature So the Church includes human Society as being nothing but Mankind sanctified by Faith in Christ The Power and Authority of Christ as Man exalted at God's right Hand over all is simply dependent upon God And therefore all the Power and Authority of the Church must needs be simply dependent ministerial and subordinate and whatsoever Church claims to it self Power simply independent by that very claim it is proved to be Anti-christian that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition who exalts himself above God and above the Prince his Vice-gerent on Earth 2 Thess 2.3 4. 3. The Church is not two Universal and Particular Invisible and Visible but the Church is simply one as God is one admitting of just Conception but no Division It is one Whole or Universal as comprizing all the Parts But one Whole or Universal as distinct from all the Parts is only Notion and Conceit as a Man in the Moon or Castle in the Air a meer Chimera We see those Men and Women who are the Church Militant but that which makes them the Church Militant we do not see but believe The Church is plain and manifest to those who believe as the Sun at Noon-day is to seeing Men But he who believeth not makes God a Lyar 1 Joh. 5.10 and God being made a Lyar the Church must needs be made a Lyar too 4. It will not stand with Christian Faith Hope and Love to live divided in Heart and Conversation from any the least Member of Christ and true Christian who is evidently and apparently so so far as Man can judg We cannot be more holy than God more pure then Christ Whom he receives we are to receive or we cannot expect to be received by him The Communion of Saints is an Article of Faith unalterably fixed by God as to the substance of it and it consists in Christian Faith Hope and Love These are to the Church and every Member thereof what the Soul is to the Body But saving Christian Faith Hope and
not then the Infant will outlive the State of Infancy and will live and die ungodly and perish in which Case his Baptism will be an everlasting Witness against him it being supposed that his Conscience was privy to it Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace which Covenant importeth God's Purpose to give Perseverance and Salvation to all the Regenerate and to Regenerate such and so many as he from Eternity foresees will by his Grace and Free-gift sincerely believe And yet while Unregenerate they are in a State of Damnation As to Life Temporal and Humane Society on Earth ungodly Men have Power over their own Will and Liberty to act or not to act as themselves list and they can if they will refrain from all Sin outwardly and do all Good outwardly and be blameless before Men. But as to Life Eternal and Heavenly Conversation they have no Power they are dead in Sin under the Power of Satan their Power is Impotency Sin hath Dominion over them they are not Lords but Slaves and lorded over by their Lusts and if God shall not prevent them with his Heavenly Grace it is certain that they will never deserve it Therefore the first step to Salvation is holy Despair thereof by all that we of our selves can do without God's eternal Grace in Christ And look what is First in Divinity that same is Last even All in All. CHAP. XIII Of the Lord's Supper 1. LOok as all in God is God without Parts and Composition So all in the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Supper Considered as a Supper so the whole is visible Food for the Belly eaten and drunk with the Mouth outwardly Considered as the Lord's Supper so the whole is invisible Food for the Soul eaten and drunk with the Heart inwardly There may be the Lord's Supper without saving Belief but not without Belief For he that believeth not makes God a Liar and by Consequence the Sacrament a Lie also 1 Joh. 5.10 2. There is no Change at all of the Elements by Consecration but only Religious Use If the Religious Use of Things do necessarily infer a Change in the Things used then God must needs be changed and then he is not God. We use God's Name religiously and God's Name is God Himself as named by this or that Name Jehovah Lord God. I am the Lord that is my Name Isa 42.8 What Change is by Consecration is in the Communicants not at all in the Elements Consecration importeth in all Godly Communicants a real Heavenly Change as to Conversation Conversion from Sin to God they are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 This heavenly Change they evidence exercise and shew forth at the Lord's Table in religious partaking of the Elements in Remembrance of Christ crucified All Change in the Elements by Consecration is simply repugnant to intellectual Sense in all Men and is therefore simply incredible 3. These Words This is my Body as understood without Christian Faith are false and absurd But as understood through Christian Faith they are indeed mysterious yet Superlatively plain true apt and proper The Lord's Supper is truly a Figure as is Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 yet not a Verbal and Rhetorical Figure common to Us and Heathens but a Divine Celestial and Mysterious Figure instituted by Christ and not understood without Christian Belief which Heathens have not In Points that concern us as Men in common with all the World Christ spake with the Vulgar and so as to be understood of very Heathens But in Points mysterious and Supernatural as is the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper he spake above the Vulgar and so as not to be understood aright without Faith which Heathens have not Ungodly Communicants considered as Ungodly do not eat Christ's Body but inwardly contemn and shut their Hearts against it And thus their partaking doth differ in kind from the inward partaking of the Godly But Ungodly Communicants considered as Communicants do with their Mouth outwardly eat the Bread which is really and not chimerically yet sacramentally and symbolically the Body of Christ no less than do Godly Communicants outwardly And thus their partaking is the same for kind with the partaking of the Godly 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. 4. Unto worthy Communicants the Lord's Supper is the Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood the holy Memorial of his Death heavenly Nourishment for the Soul a sure Pledge Seal Sign and Token of Pardon of Sin Perseverance and Life eternal and a Divine Engagement to Watchfulness and holy Fear of Apostacy No Godly Man doth partake unworthily he may partake not so worthily as some do but the least degree of true Godliness doth produce a degree of worthy communicating differing but in measure and degree from the most Godly Communicants Unto unworthy Communicants the Lord's Supper through their own Sin is a Seal of their Damnation if they die without sound Repentance And in the mean time it layeth a Divine Bond and Engagement upon them instantly to repent If their Repentance by God's eternal Decree be future then the Lord's Supper is a Divine Sign and Seal that it is future If their Repentance be not future then they will die in their Sins and perish and will remember with eternal Self-tormenting Anguish in Hell their partaking without Godly Sincerity Those who contend that Men Unregenerate sin less in not coming than in coming to the Lord's Table do yet expresly grant But yet they that do come unworthily and unwarrantably do find that there which tendeth to their Conversion and frequently effecteth it Mr. B. in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments pag. 31 32. And they who contend that the Unregenerate sin less in coming than in not coming do yet hold and contend that the Persons so come must be adult baptized orthodox and not heretical free from enormous Crimes and Scandals before Men. The bare Elements as distinct from the Word can neither convert nor confirm But the Word as distinct from the Elements and giving being to the whole Sacramental Service may through God's Grace prove effectual for sound Conversion of the Unconverted and certainly will be effectual for building up of the Converted 5. The Flesh and Manhood of Christ is under God the prime instrumental Cause of Life eternal to the Godly in all Ages through Faith As such his Flesh is heavenly Meat and his Blood is heavenly Drink and we through Faith do really and not chimerically spiritually and not corporally eat and drink it What is eaten in that it is eaten must be really present For no Man can eat a thing that is absent There is Relation between the Manhood of Christ and the whole intellectual World as between sole Supream under God and Subjects This Relation is real and not imaginary eternal and not temporal From Eternity it was future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. What is eternal is truly infinite above all Predicaments and consequently above Time and Place