inconsistent with the Justice of God Isa 53.5 6 10. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin But this of our Saviour Christ's giving his flesh to eat and his blood to drink must be understood Symbolically and Sacramentally by Faith it is the sign of Christ's 〈…〉 had not Christ taken humane flesh upon him and died for sinners the whole species of the humane race had perished and been lost as all the fallen Angels were and not one soul had ever been saved and so his flesh and blood became meat and drink unto us to live upon him by faith alone who do share in all these benefits and blessings which came by Christ's taking flesh and blood upon him and is not such a wonderful great mercy as this is worthy of a holy thankful remembrance which is the principal end and design of Christ in his Instituting of this Ordinance and ought to be ours in partaking of it for if our Saviour Christ had given us his material flesh to eat and his real blood to drink it would have availed us nothing And thus are the words of our Saviour to be understood in that 6. Joh. in retort to the carnal conception of the unbelieving Jews as well as to his unbelieving Disciples which dreamed even as you do of the Roman Catholick faith that Christ spake of giving them his real substantial body to eat and his real blood to drink said the Jews How can this man give us his flesh to eat and said the Disciples This is an hard saying who can bear it But mind narrowly our Saviour's own words viz. It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life It is the Spirit that begetteth faith in every true Believer and that quickeneth the new Creature or Babe of Grace after it is begotten and born of God in its first quicknings or formation and in its after-quicknings for it is of the seed Royal of Heaven Psal 89.29 and it is conveyed unto us through Jesus Christ by his holy Spirit and so we come to be made alive to God and are Children of the most High for God is the Father of Spirits and the only Spiritual Father of all that believe in Jesus Christ his only Son from all Eternity by Generation for all the rest of Gods Sons of humane race are his Sons by Adoption and Regeneration and all this is effected and brought about through the agency and aid of the Holy and ever Blessed and Eternal Spirit and therefore that which is thus begotten and born of God must be Spiritual for as Adam begot a Son in his own likeness who was himself of the Earth and Earthly so God begets all his Children in his own likeness who are all Spiritual and Heavenly Children they have all of them the Image of their Father stamped upon them which is Grace and Holiness the more holy the more like unto God they are who is Essentially holy and theefore the food which this spiritual man liveth upon must be Spiritual Heavenly food he lives upon God in Christ and feeds upon God in Christ by faith for all our springs are in him Now for any persons to imagin that a spiritual being can live and subsist upon carnal material food is but a vain imagination 〈…〉 less flesh and his blood without the least tincture of sin yet notwithstanding all that it is food beneath the new Creature to live upon for by Christ's taking flesh upon him he made himself lower than the Angels as he was man Heb. 2.7 Thou madest him a little lower than the Angels thou crownedst him with Glory and Honour and didst set him over the works of thy hands But as Christ was God so he is higher than the Heavens yea the Heavens are unclean in his sight and all the food which the new creature doth live upon is all treasured up in Christ he is the great Lord Treasurer of Heaven and Earth hâ—â— is the Dispencer of all Grace for it hath pleased the Father that in him all fullness shall dwell And in him are hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Grace there it is placed by God the Father there it is laid up for all his children for them to come and fetch by faith and prayer all whatsoever they stand in need of and we all receive from Christ's fulness and grace for grace Psal 84.11 For the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield the Lord wiâ—â— give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withhold from them that live uprightly There it is Treasurer up in Christ who is the only Infallible head of thâ— true Ancient Catholick Apostolical Church to distribute and give forth unto all his members as â—â— seeth to be needful and necessary for them both Spiritual and Temporal Blessings and Mercies Alas how can a Spiritual being subsist upon carnal substantial food it is utterly incoherent and inconsistent as our Saviour Christ said in another case 〈◊〉 cure Thomas a Didimus's unbelief viz. A spirit has 〈◊〉 flesh and bones as ye see me have Now if your Transubstantiated Christ could convince us after thâ— manner as our Saviour convinced Thomas a Didimâ—â— your Doctrine might obtain some credit amoâ—â— those sort of people that are not debarred of the 〈◊〉 of their sense and reason as yours are But Believe have not a carnal body to be fed in this sense 〈◊〉 that is fed with the meat that perisheth but thâ— fed with that meat which endureth to everlast life A Cow may as well and better live uponâ— bare Sea-Rocks and feed upon Oysters or Cockles a Fish live out of the water upon the dry land 〈◊〉 feed upon hay or straw as for the new Creature Spiritual man to live upon material substantial 〈◊〉 and blood And our Saviour Christ himself has us consequentially in effect that his flesh would fit us nothing if he should give it unto us to eaâ—â— Again in the next place this eating of Châ—â—â— flesh and drinking his blood is no more to bâ—â—â— derstood literally and properly than the Doctrine Regeneration was which our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 red unto old Nicodemus and if you observe it gently you will find that our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 pounded it much after the same manner as 〈◊〉 done this of eating his flesh 〈…〉 blood and gives the like check to the understanding of the one carnally and literally as he does to the other And pray take notice that our Saviour Christ is the only infallible Judg and Interpreter of the holy Scriptures
which if it were true would be a higher degree of perfection than ever any Church of Christ has yet 〈…〉 and the Apostles time We read of Seven Churches at one time in Rev. 2. and Rev. 3. but we find they had all of them their failings there was neither Infallibility nor Supremacy to be found among them tho notwithstanding it is true the Gospel true Catholick Apostolical Church is perfect and infallible but not in nor of her self but she is so in Christ her Infallible Head for there her perfection lieth Ephes 5.26 27. That he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish Therefore this Doctrine of Infallibility of theirs must also be another Lie which they speak or teach in Hypocrisie for the Scripture saith in Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all And in Eccles 7.20 For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Therefore the Man of Sin cannot be infallible altho in conjunction with all these many Antichrists and false Prophets which do belong unto him And pray mind what another Servant of God saith tho acted by the same spirit as Paul was 1 Joh. 2.18 19. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby ye know that it is the last time And here followeth their Apostatizing from the true Church and Worship of God They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Pray observe it was these many Antichrists that went out from the Church of Christ and made the first rent or schism But the true Church of Christ kept her standing tho perhaps not so visible in some Centuries or Ages because she fled into the Wilderness into her place prepared by God for her and was hid there after the Dragon by the permissive will of God got into the Temple of God which is called Heaven in his Son Antichrist for as God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ so o◠the contrary the Dragon is Antichrist's Father Re◠12.1 2 3 6. After this great fight in Heave◠which was persecution of the Church is the W◠man or Church of Christ fled into the Wilderne◠where she hath a place prepared by God that the should feed her there 1260 days which is all the reign of Antichrist And the Antichristian Church that woman is in the Wilderness also Rev. 17.3 B◠as the true Church is in the Wilderness in mere to her because she is in her place which God d◠prepare for her to hide her in from the Dragon the cast out floods of wrath and malice after her 〈◊〉 the false Antichristian Church is in the Wilderness in judgment to her for she is bewildered and I 〈◊〉 there These many 〈…〉 did not go first from them for she kept close to Christ's Standard in all Ages They followed the Lamb whithersoever he went and did not flinch nor run from their Colours but these Antichrists deserted the service of Christ and run from their Colours to Satan the Enemy And now to clench this Nail that is driven into the head of Antichrist the Man of Sin pray look into the same Chapter where he is described and prophesied of and observe strictly what is the cause that produced this dreadful effect namely what was it that provoked God to bring this tremendous judgment upon them and there you shall find that it is charged upon them by way of prediction for their despising and departing from the Faith 1 Tim. 4.1 which is from the whole Doctrine of Faith namely the Gospel of God 2 Thes 2.9 10 11 12. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceiveableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness They please themselves with the conceit of being saved by their own righteousness which is unrighteousness in competition with the Righteousness of Christ for Justification they departed from the very Doctrine of Faith the means of Grace and Salvation which is the Spiritual food under Christ for the souls of true Christian Believers to live upon Psal 19.8 9 10. Now that person must needs perish and die that refuseth and despiseth his natural food and will not feed upon it but pretend to live upon the wind why even so it is with a respect to Spiritual food that soul or souls must needs perish and be damned that reject and refuse the means of Grace and Salvation Because saith the Apostle they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned That is the whole of their Faith Doctrine Discipline and Worship is one great lie as the whole of the true Gospel-Faith Doctrine Discipline and Worship is called the Truth in the same Chapter in opposition this great Lie. So that the whole of their Spiritual opinion is only a heap of lies and deceit wrapt up and incorporated together And therefore called by the Holy Ghost a strong delusion and a lie It is a Delusion full of Delusions or a Lie full of Lies The Apostle by the Holy Ghost prophesied clearly what a dreadful Judgment God would inflict upon all them that would be thus horribly guilty For this cause God shall send them strong Delusions first hence we may observe that God did not proceed in 〈…〉 we may observe that this Judgment did not come of it self but God sent it Thirdly God sent them the Truth but they did not receive it in the love of it Fourthly you may observe that it was not an ordinary weak puny Judgment or Delusion that God sent which should not be able or strong enough to do the work no but it was a strong delusion that should overcome them Fifthly you may observe that this strong Delusion was not then come because that the Man of Sin was not yet revealed Sixthly the cause of it was then commencing for the Mystery of Iniquity did then begin to work Seventhly hence we may observe that they themselves did chuse these Delusions which was their great sin by which they provoked God to give them up unto them and so God in his Justice made their sin their punishment for it is said The Backslider in heart
at the day of Judgment That light is come â—nto the world and men love darkness rather than â—ight because their deeds are evil they hear of Christ but will not come and believe in him nor reign up the conduct and government of their souls â—nto him and this Ordinance of the Lords-Supper 〈◊〉 to quicken and strengthen the believers graces and 〈◊〉 shew forth the transcendent wisdom and grace of â—od in contriving and bringing to pass this blessed â—ork of mans Redemption by his only begotten â—n Jesus Christ This holy Ordinance may be compared with â—â—ly reverence unto a tender hearted loving Husband that is just taking his leave of his dearly beâ—â—ed Wife and going some long voyage by Sea or â—â—he tedious journey by Land And at his departure when he taketh his leave of his wife he saith 〈…〉 long time from thee therefore I will leave this Diamond Ring or this precious Jewel with thee as a Token of my intire love and affections unto thee for thee to remember me during my absence until I return unto thee again But when he returneth his Wife hath no need of the Ring or Jewel to remember him by because he himself is now personally present with her why even so our Lord Jesus Christ our Head and Husband just the very night in which he was betrayed leaves this Ordinance this precious Jewel with his Spouse the Church as a Love-token for to remember him by during his absence while he is personally sitting at the right hand of God the Father as you may observe from them words of our Saviour Do this in remembrance of me The true Catholick Apostolick Church is Christ's Spouse Cant. 5.1 I am come into my Garden my Sistor my Spouse and Christ is the Church's Husband Isa 54.5 For thy maker is thy Husband the Lord of Hosts is his name and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Isael the God of the whole Earth shall he be called But if this Doctrine of Transubstantiation in your sense be true viz. that the Bread and Wine is Transubstantiated into the very person of Christ namely into Body Soul and Divinity which makes up the compleat person of Christ as much now as he was before and after his Death and Resurrection and as much as he will be at the great day of Judgment for he will be then in Body Soul and Divinity but there will not be one soul that will even dare to stand by and own this strange Doctrine in that day any otherwise than to abhor it and to be ashamed of it And Christ is in Body Soul and Divinity now at the right hand of God in Glory But if this Doctrine of yours be true That Christ is Personally and Corporeally present every time that the Priest saith the Mass Then first in the first place It will consequentially follow that either the Priest maketh a new Christ every time the Mass is said and so we have one Christ personally in Heaven and they have thousands of Christs personally upon Earth Or Secondly They fetch down Christ materially personally from the right hand of God the Father And if so then in the third place Christ has no time at all in Heaven with the Father I call it time in Heaven for distinction sake to intercede and plead as an Advocate and Mediator with God the Father for sinners all his time would be taken up and spent in attending upon the Priests every time they say Mass in all those many remote places round the Globe almost which takes in their Mass-hours perhaps all the four and twenty Hours being upon several Horrizons Fourthly If this Doctrine be true then Christ is come and then this Ordinance ceases to be as I conceive and there needs no such thing to remember him by or to shew 〈…〉 swade him to stay when he is come in your Mass for according to your Doctrine there is a compleat Christ that cometh in the Mass every time it is said for when Christ doth come from the right hand of God to judg the quick and the dead as you your selves do confess and own in your own Creed to my own certain knowledg which I shall have occasion to speak more of by and by for Christ will come then in no other manner as to his person than in Body Soul and Divinity if he went to Heaven so he will come again so as you may see Act. 1.11 Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven this same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Now if Christ be thus come then I humbly conceive this Ordinance should be at an end for when once the substance is come then the shadows must flee away and cease to be for what need the children of the Bride-chamber mourn when the Bridegroom shall come again to them and be with them for ever for what need a man have any thing to put him in mind or to remember a friend that is always present with him and is always before his eyes Why when Christ doth come his people shall see him eye to eye Isa 52.8 and Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh in the Clouds and every eye shall see him And they also which pierced him that shall be both Jews and Gentiles Zech. 12.10 Again thirdly the same Apostle saith That Christ was to be offered up but once and he gives this as one reason of it viz. for saith he If he had been offered up often then must he have suffered often since the foundation of the world And the Apostle Peter whom some do count Prince of the Apostles saith That Christ suffered once 1 Pet. 3.18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sin the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit Mark ye it was the humane flesh or body of Christ that suffered and died and not his Godhead for that is not capable of suffering I pray Sir observe these following Scriptures and believe them Heb. 9.25 26 28. For Christ is not entered into the holy place made without hands which are the forerunners of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high Priests entered into the holy place every year with the blood of others for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world But now in the end of the world hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself So Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation Here you see Christ was ordained and appointed to be offered up but once and that was a sufficient sacrifice for sin in the wisdom and account of God but you 〈◊〉 once offering up himself
God so he could not die for his Godhead could not suffer nor die But as he was Man and surety for all sinners that ever did or that ever should believe in him so he died and as he was ordained and appointed by God the Father so to do in the Confederal Covenant between the Father and the Son Zech. 16.13 Now I pray Sir How can you Romanists eat and drink Christ personally and substantially in his Body Soul and Divinity but that Christ at the same time must of necessity suffer and die And then how many Millions of times must Christ have suffered and died by your hands according to this Doctrine of yours since you first brought it into the World For the Apostle saith plainly That if Christ be offered up often that then he must suffer often which clearly infers that as often as he is offered up so often he suffers and he also saith that Christ died but once Rom. 6.10 For in that he died he died but once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God. And I pray Sir do you Roman-Catholicks look into your own Creed and there you will 〈…〉 of the Articles of your Faith that Christ suffered once under Pontius Pilate and was Buried and Descended into Hell and Rose again from the Dead the third Day and is Ascended up into Heaven and is sat down at the Right hand of God from whence he shall come to Judge the Quick and the Dead Which is very true I do own it to be so And the Holy Scriptures say clearly and positively That Christ is ascended up into Heaven and is sat down at the Right hand of God and there he is to sit until God has made his enemies his footstool And Antichrist the Man of Sin is the greatest enemy that our Saviour Christ hath upon Earth whom Christ will consume with the spirit or rod of his mouth and destroy by the brightness of his coming Tho Antichrist have usurped Christ's Throne for a long time in the Temple of God and Reigned and Ruled over the Souls and Consciences of men which is Christ's peculiar Prerogative yet the time is at hand that he shall be made his footstool this was spoken Prophetically by David of what was to be in the last times at the period of Antichrist's Reign Psal 110.1 And our Saviour himself gives it further Sanction in Matt. 22.44 The Lord said unto my Lord sit thou on my right hand till I have made thine enemies thy footstool Mark 12.36 Luke 20.42 43. Hence we may observe That from Christ's state of Humiliation and Ascention into Glory until he comes again in Triumph in his state of Exaltation all that time that Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father by God's permissive will his enemies were to be uppermost in the World first the Heathen Emperors and after them then Antichrist the Man of Sin he got into the Temple of God and his Reign there was to be One thousand two hundred and sixty days which is so many years Ezek. 4.6 until Christ comes again and makes him his footstool But whether he will come personally as some are of opinion he will or otherwise I will not determine but I will leave the Reader to the Scriptures Acts 1.9 10 11. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven Rev. 20.4 Rev. 1.7 Job 19.25 26 27. Now Does Christ so come in your Mass But now if Christ be in person sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Glory as you see clearly proved by the Holy Word of God he is and that he is not to come from thence untill his enemies be made his footstool and that when he does come from thence he is to come in like manner as he ascended 〈…〉 shall 〈◊〉 him so come and that his Body is a finite Body Why if this be so then Christ cannot be personally and corporeally present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist in so many thousand places at once as the Mass is or may be said and yet at the same time to be personally and corporeally at the right hand of God the Father in Glory making intercession with him for poor Sinners Tho Christ as God is in all places both in Heaven and Earth and excluded from no place But yet as he is the only Mediator between God and Man so he is fixed in Heaven at the right hand of God until his enemies measure of iniquity be full and then they shall all be made his footstool He is entred into Heaven as the forerunner for his people he entred into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us as an Advocate He is the first fruits of the resurrection of the dead So that this Doctrine of Christ's Personal and Corporeal Presence in the Sacrament does even contradict and destroy your own Faith or Creed as well as it does overthrow the whole current of the Holy and Sacred Scriptures As for the former I will appeal even unto you your own selves who are Romanists that do say and pretend to own and believe your own Creed whether it be not so or no And as for the latter I will appeal unto all sorts of Christians whatsoever that do own and believe the Holy Scriptures to be the revealed word and will of God whether it be not so or no And also I will appeal to their own Sence and Reason Again secondly Let us hear further what the Apostle saith for more light into this dark matter in 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4. Brethren I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed thorow the sea And were all baptized unto Moses who was a type of Christ And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea And did all eat the same spiritual meat And did all drink the same spiritual drink For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ These were all true Believers in Christ which were among the Children of Israel in Moses's days and all of them did live by Faith upon Christ and they all fed upon the same spiritual food then as we do now under the Gospel this is that hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 This is that meat which God gives his Children to eat which the World knows nothing of By Faith Moses forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is Invisible That was by an eye of Faith Moses saw Christ in his day that could not
promised that he should so come Gen. 3.15 But after our Saviour Christ did come in the flesh why then that part of Faith was at an end for after that whoever looked for his coming in that nature did not exercise Faith but it was a great sin for it was the product of unbelief which was a very great Judgment and it is the very Grave wherein the poor scattered Jews have lain dead and buried ever since and unbelief and prejudice against Christ is the Grave-stone also that lyeth upon them and keeps them down Our Saviour told them If ye believe not that I am he ye shall die in your sins But now the proper work and office of Faith is to see him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible that was Christ But how can that be it seems to be a contradiction in it self what to see him which cannot be seen why it must be understood thus that Moses did see Christ by an eye of Faith who could not be seen by an eye of sence a bodily eye And thus Abraham the Father of the Faithful did see Christ before ever he came in the flesh Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And thus all true Believers do see and discern the Lord's Body at the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper and he is to be discerned no otherwise there And Stephen the Martyr he saw Christ in Heaven after he was ascended Act. 7.55 But he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. But how did Stephen see him why it was by an eye of faith he being full of the Holy Ghost Ay that soul can never miss of seeing Christ at any time or in any place that is full of the Holy Ghost and Stephen's confessing this made his Enemies mad insomuch that they run upon him and murdered him for they perhaps thought that they could see as far as he could and yet they could see no such sight But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Our Saviour Christ can no more be seen now personally and substantially by a bodily eye of sence while he is at the right hand of God than he could be seen in Moses's or Abraham's days which was before ever he had a substantial Body to be seen neither ever shall he be so seen until he cometh down from Heaven in that manner as he was seen to go up into Heaven Act. 1.10 11. Nor until he appeareth the second time without sin unto Salvation Without sin why doth not the Scripture â—ell us that he was without sin before namely at his â—â—rst coming why yes it does so and it is very true â—â—at is thus he was without sin with a respect to 〈…〉 â—uilt or pollution or any inclination to 〈…〉 sin in himself for he was a Lamb without spot or blemish the Lamb for Sacrifice did Type out unto us the sinless spotless nature of Christ But when Christ came first in the flesh he appeared then in his state of Humiliation in the form of a servant with all the sins of all the people of God upon him of all that ever were saved and gotten safe into Glory and of all that ever should be saved from Adam to the end of the world all the sins of his people past present and to come viz. of them that were dead and gone and of them that were then living and of them that were then unborn all concentred upon Christ but not in him they all met upon Christ's shoulders Isa 53.5 6. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquity the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all Therefore it is said God was manifested in the flesh Then indeed Christ was seen with bodily eyes for he was manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit after Christ had suffered and died and rose again from the dead when he had paid the debt to God which he stood engaged unto him for as a surety for sinners when the Law was fulfilled and the Justice of God fully satisfied and the wrath of God wholly appeased then Christ must needs be justified and by his being justified all his people for whom he died were all justified It was just as if a rich man were surety for a poor indigent man that was deeply in debt and was not able to pay one farthing why the Creditors take no notice of the poor Debtor but fall upon the rich man that is his surety and arrest him and cast him into prison upon which the rich man payeth all the poor mans debts and then he comes forth having fully discharged the debt he and the poor Debtor are both fully discharged the Prison could hold him no longer so that both the Surety and the Debtor are justified and acquitted the Law cannot take hold neither of the Surety nor the Debtor again for that is fulfilled why even so comparatively it was with a respect to Christ and poor sinners he was bound for poor sinners and the Justice of God past by them and seised upon Christ and arrested him and cast him into prison Isa 53.8 9. He was taken from prison and from judgment c. Which I take to be the prison of the Grave for death could not hold him but he paid every farthing of all the debt for all them for whom he died and when he had discharged the debt for poor sinners then he himself was fully discharged and justified and all his people in him and in this sense every believer is without sin that is they are free from the reigning condemning power of sin tho not from the in-being of sin Rom. 8.1 And so is to be understood that 1. Joh. 2.9 Whosoever is born of God 〈…〉 sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. But to return to the case in hand c. But Christ has never been seen by any mortal eye in this world since he Ascended up into Glory by which you may see that this Doctrine of Christ's being Corporeally present in the Sacrament destroys the use and exercise of Faith in that Ordinance which is to see him by the eye of Faith who is at the right hand of God and is invisible which is to discern the Lords Body which cannot be seen by a carnal bodily eye of sence as you pretend to see him in your Sacrament Secondly If this Doctrine of Transubstantiation in your Churches
be a Whoremonger nor an Adulterer for the Scripture saith That Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judg 6. Sixthly It could not be a Thief or a Murderer nor an Unrighteous Person nor a Lier nor a Fornicator nor an Extortioner nor a Reviler nor a Conjuring Sorcerer nor an Effeminate Person nor an Abuser of himself with Mankind neither could it be a Drunkard or a Glutton It could not possibly be any of all these sorts of bad Men that made or invented the Scriptures because they would never have denounced such heavy Judgments against themselves for all these Sins which are against the very Light of Nature 1 Cor. 6.9 10. 7. Seventhly It could not be any of these two Bed-Rolls of Sinners that made or invented the Holy Scriptures which you have discovered by the Apostle Paul in Rom. 1.26 27 28 29 30 31 32. and in 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5. Surely these Sinners would never have pronounced such a dreadful Sentence against themselves 8. Eighthly It could not be a Persecutor that made or invented the Scripture for it hath set a Cain-like mark upon him viz. the vilest and basest of Men Acts 17.5 But the Jews who believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the city in an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason and sought to bring them out to the people And our Saviour Christ calls them A generation of vipers and scrpents Matth. 23.31 32 34 35. Surely then if Persecutors had made or invented the Scriptures they would never have written thus against themselves 9. Ninthly It could not be a Sabbath-breaker or one that profaneth the Lords Day that made or invented the Scriptures because the Scriptures are very strict for the due observing the Sabbath or for keeping a Day unto the Lord and there is severe Penalties prescribed and made to be inflicted upon the Tranfgressors of that Holy Law of God. 10. Tenthly It could not be an Atheist that made and invented the Scriptures because it discovers the glorious Attributes of the Divine Being and his Works of Creation and Providence and denounceth Hell and Damnation against all Atheists therefore it could not possibly be an Atheist that made and invented the Holy Scriptures 11. Eleventhly and Lastly to name no more bad Men It could not be any Person made and invented the Scriptures that was an Idolater that invents and makes to himself any graven images or the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the sea or in the waters under the earth Exod. 20.4 5. That bow down to them and say their Prayers before them and perhaps pay Divine Adoration unto them Read what the Scripture saith of these Psal 115.4 5 6 7 8. Psal 97.7 Isa 40.18 19 20. To whom will ye liken God or what likeness will ye compare unto him The workman melteth a graven image and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved Isa 44.16 17. He burneth part thereof in the fire with part thereof he eateth flesh he rosteth rost and is satisfied yea he warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warm I have seen the fire And the residue thereof he maketh a god even his graven image he falleth dewn unto 〈◊〉 and worshippeth it and prayeth unto it and saith Deliver me for thou art my god Now certainly it could be none of these sorts of Persons that made or invented the Holy Scriptures which we Protestants do own and believe to be the eternal unalterable Word and Law of God. Object But it may be some may say Yes it might be such a Person that made the Scriptures for we do not make these Images for any other end or design than to put us in mind of God and our Duty towards him and that they are the Lay-mens Books to teach and instruct them Pray give me leave to put a Case unto you Now suppose for Argument sake to illustrate the matter that the King's Majesty in Concurrence with his two Houses of Parliament the Great Council of the Land should make a Law for some Reason of State that it should be no less than High Treason for any of his Subjects to make his Image or to have his Picture or the Likeness of any thing that doth belong to him in Imitation of it and Issue out his Proclamation straightly and strictly forbidding all his Subjects attempting the doing it upon Pain of the inevitable escaping the severest Punishment which properly belongeth unto those that are Guilty of High Treason But yet notwithstanding this severe Prohibition of the King there should be some Persons would be so daring and bold as to presume to do it out of a pretended but blind Zeal of Loyalty and not rest satisfied in nor with their own Treason and Rebellion but they would force others of his Subjects to do so likewise or else they would knock them in the head or burn them because they were truly Loyal and kept to the Kings Laws in this Case made and provided Pray which of these two forts of Persons are the best and the most Loyallest Subjects think you I know you will say those that obeyed the Kings Laws for as it is in Spiritual things so in this Obedience 〈◊〉 better than Sacrifice Why the Law of the King of Heaven who is King of Kings and Law-giver to all his Creatures viz. the Great Charter of Heaven is that we shall not make nor have nor bow down to nor worship any sort of Images â—or the likeness of any of the things in Heaven or â—n Earth or in the Sea or in the Waters under the Earth Whatever some People think of it I will â—ssure them from the Word of a Jealous God it is â—â—o less than Spiritual High Treason and punishable by the Great Charter of Heaven with no less â—han Hell and Damnation without unfeigned Reâ—entance and a thorough Reformation Deut. 5. â— 9. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image or any â—â—keness of any thing that is in heaven above or that is 〈◊〉 the earth beneath or that is in the waters beneath 〈◊〉 earth Thou shalt not bow down thy self unto them 〈◊〉 serve them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous 〈…〉 God. Therefore it could be none of these sort of bad Men nor no other bad Men whatsoever that had any hand in the least in making or inventing the Scriptures which we that are Protestants of all sorts do own and believe to be the Word of God. 2. Secondly In the second place neither could it be good Men that made and invented the Scriptures of their own Brain First It could not be them which count themselves Good Nor Secondly Could it be them whom