Truth we affirm is advanced Yet nevertheless for the further evidencing of it I shall proceed to the second thing proposed by me to wit to prove this from several Testimonies of the Holy Scriptures § VIII And first I prove it from the peremptory positive command of Christ and his Apostles seeing this is a maxime ingraven in every mans heart naturally that no man is bound to that which is impossible since then Christ and his Apostles have commanded us to keep all the Commandments and to be perfect in this respect it is possible for us so to do Now that this is thus commanded without any commentary or consequence is evidently apparent from these plain Testimonies Matth. c. 5. v. 48.7.21 Joh. 13.17 1 Cor. 7.19 2 Cor. 13.11 1 John c. 2. v. 3 4 5 6. c. 3. v. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. These Scriptures intimate a positive command for it they declare the absolute necessity of it and therefore as if they had purposely been written to answer the objections of our Opposers they shew the folly of those that will esteem themselves Children or Friends of God while they do otherwise Secondly it is possible because we receive the Gospel and Law thereof for that effect and it 's expresly promised to us as we are under Grace as appears by these Scriptures Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace and Rom. 8.3 For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the Flesh God sending his own Son c. That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us c. For if this were not a condition both requisite necessary and attainable under the Gospel there were no difference betwixt the bringing-in of a better hope and the Law which made nothing perfect neither betwixt those which are under the Gospel or who under the Law enjoyed and walked in the Life of the Gospel and meer Legalists Whereas the Apostle throughout that whole sixth to the Romans argues not only the possibility but necessity of being free from sin from their being under the Gospel and under Grace and not under the Law and therefore states himself and those to whom he wrote in that condition in these verses 2 3 4 5 6 7. and therefore in the 11 12 13.16 17 18 verses he argues both the possibility and necessity of this freedom from sin almost in the same manner we did a little before and the 22 he declares them in measure to have attained this condition in these words But now being made free from sin and become Servants to God ye have your Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life And as this perfection or freedom from sin is attained and made possible where the Gospel and inward Law of the Spirit is received and known so the ignorance hereof has been and is an occasion of opposing this Truth For man not minding the Light and Law within his heart which not only discovers sin but leads out of it and so being a stranger to the new Life and Birth that is born of God which naturally doth his will and cannot of its own nature transgress the Commandments of God doth I say in his natural state look at the Commandments as they are without him in the letter and finding himself reproved and convicted is by the letter killed but not made alive So man finding himself wounded and not applying himself inwardly to that which can heal labours in his own will after conformity to the Law as it is without him which he can never obtain but finds the more he wrestles the more he falleth short So this is the Jew still in effect with his carnal Commandment with the Law without in the first covenant state which makes not the comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 9.9 though they may have here a notion of Christianity and an external Faith in Christ. This hath made them strain and wrest the Scriptures for an imputative Righteousness wholly without them to cover their impurities and this hath made them imagine an acceptance with God possible though they suppose it impossible ever to obey Christ's Commands But alas O deceived Souls that will not avail in the day wherein God will judge every man according to his works whether good or bad It will not save thee to say it was necessary for thee to sin daily in thought word and deed for such as do so have certainly obeyed unrighteousness And what is provided for such but tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath even as glory honour and peace immortality and Eternal Life to such as have done good and patiently continued in well doing So then if thou desirest to know this perfection and freedom from sin possible for thee turn thy mind to the Light and Spiritual Law of Christ in the heart and suffer the reproofs thereof bear the judgment and indignation of God upon the unrighteous part in thee as therein it is revealed which Christ hath made tollerable for thee and so suffer judgment in thee to be brought forth in victory and thus come to partake of the fellowship of Christ's sufferings and be made conformable unto his death that thou maist feel thy self crucified with him to the world by the power of his Cross in thee so that that life that sometimes was alive in thee to this world and the love and lusts thereof may die and a new Life be raised by which thou maist live hence forward to God and not to or for thy self and with the Apostle thou maist say Gal. 2.20 It is no more I but Christ alive in me and then thou wilt be a Christian indeed and not in name only as too many are Then thou wilt know what it is to have put off the old man with his deeds who indeed sins daily in thought word and deed and to have put on the New Man that is renewed in Holiness after the Image of him that hath created him Eph. 4.24 and thou wilt witness thy self to be Gods workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works and so not to sin alwaies And to this New Man Christs yoak is easie and his burthen is light though it be heavy to the old Adam yea the Commandments of God are not unto this grievous For it is his meat and drink to be found fulfilling the will of God Lastly this perfection or freedom from sin is possible because many have attained it according to the express Testimony of the Scripture Some before the Law and some under the Law through witnessing and partaking of the benefit and effect of the Gospel and much more many under the Gospel As first it is written of Enoch Gen. 5.22 24 that he walked with God which no man while sinning can nor doth the Scripture record any feeling of his It is said of Noah Gen. 6.9 and of Job 1.8 and of Zacharias and Elizabeth
And seeing he is both a most Righteous and Merciful God it cannot at all stand neither with his justice nor mercy to bid such men repent or believe to whom it is impossible § VII Moreover if we regard the Testimony of the Scripture in this matter where there is not one Scripture which I know of that affirmeth Christ not to dye for all there are divers that positively and expresly assert he did as 1 Tim. 2.1 3 4 6. I exhort therefore that first of all Supplications Prayers Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men c. for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledg of the Truth who gave himself a ransome for all to be testified in due time Except we will have the Apostle here to assert quite another thing then he intended there can be nothing more plain to confirm what we have asserted And this Scripture doth well answer to that manner of arguing which we have hitherto used For first the Apostle here recommends them to pray for all men And to obviate such an objection as if they had said with our Adversaries Christ prayed not for the World neither willeth he us to pray for all because he willeth not that all should be saved but hath ordained many to be damned that he might shew forth his Justice in them He obviates I say such an Objection telling them that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God who will have all men to be saved I desire to know what can be more expresly affirmed or can any two Propositions be stated in terms more contradictory than these two God willeth not some to be saved and God willeth all men to be saved or God will have no man Perish If we believe the last as the Apostle hath affirmed the first must be destroyed seeing of contradictory Propositions the one being placed the other is destroyed Whence to conclude he gives us a reason of his willingness that all men should be saved in these words who gave himself a ransom for all as if he would have said since Christ died for all since he gave himself a ransom for all therefore he will have all men to be saved This Christ himself gives as the reason of God's love to the World in these words John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his Only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Compared with 1 John 4.9 This whosoever is an indefinit term from which no man is excluded From all which then I thus argue Arg. For whomsoever it is Lawful to pray to them Salvation is possible But it 's lawful to pray for every individual man in the whole World Thereforc Salvation is possible unto them I prove the major proposition thus No man is bound to pray for that which is impossible to be attained But every man is bound and commanded to pray for all men Therefore it is not impossible to be obtained I prove also this Proposition further thus No man is bound to pray but in Faith But he that prayeth for that which he judges simply impossible to be obtained cannot pray in Faith Therefore c. Again That which God willeth is not impossible But God willeth all men to be saved Therefore it is not impossible And Lastly These for whom our Saviour gave himself a ransom to such Salvation is possible But our Saviour gave himself a ransom for all Therefore Salvation is possible unto them § VIII This is very positively affirmed Heb. 2.9 in these words But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of Death crowned with Glory and Honour that he by the Grace of God might taste Death for every man He that will but open his eyes may see this Truth here asserted if he tasted Death for every man than certainly there is no man for whom he did not tast death then there is no man who may be made a sharer of the benifit of it for he came not to condemn the World but that the World through him might be saved John 3.17 He came not to judg the World but to save the World John 12.47 Whereas according to the Doctrine of our Adversaries he behoved to come to condemn the World and judg it and not that it might be saved by him or to save it for if he never came to bring Salvation to a greater part of mankind but that his coming though it could never do them good yet shall augment their condemnation from thence it necessarily follows that he came not of intention to save but to judg and condemn the greater part of the World contrary to his own express Testimony and as the Apostle Paul in the words above cited doth assert affirmatively that God willeth the Salvation of all so doth the Apostle Peter assert negatively that he willeth not the perishing of any 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And this is Correspondent to that of the Prophet Ezekiel 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live If it be safe to believe God and trust in him we must not think that he intends to cheat us by all these expressions through his Servants but that he was in good earnest and that this will and desire of his hath not taken effect the blame is on our parts as shall be after spoken of which could not be if so be we never were in any capacity of Salvation or that Christ had never died for us but left us under an impossibility of Salvation what means all those earnest invitations all those serious expostulations all those regreting contemplations wherewith the Holy Scriptures are full as Why will ye dye O House of Israel Why will ye not come unto me that ye might have Life I have waited to be gracious unto you I have sought to gather you I have knocked at the door of your Hearts Is not your destructions of your selves I have called all the day long If men who are so invited be under no capacity of being saved if Salvation be impossible unto them shall we suppose God in this to be no other but like the Author of a Romance or the Master of a Comedy who amuses and raises the various Affections and Passions of his Spectators by divers and strange Accidents sometimes leading them into Hope and sometimes into Despair all those actions in effect being but a pure Illusion while he hath appointed what the conclusion of all shall be Thirdly this Doctrine is abundantly confirmed by that of the Apostle 1 John 2.1 2. And if any man sin we
The Second Proposition Concerning Immediate Revelation Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son revealeth him and seeing the Revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit therefore the Testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been is and can be only revealed who as by the moving of his own Spirit converted the Chaos of this World into that wonderful order wherein it was in the beginning and created Man a living Soul to rule and govern it so by the Revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the Sons of Men both Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles which Revelations of God by the Spirit whether by outward voices and appearances Dreams or inward objective manifestations in the heart were of old the formal object of their Faith and remaineth yet so to be since the object of the Saints Faith is the same in all ages though set forth under divers Administrations Moreover these divine inward Revelations which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true Faith neither do nor can ever contradict the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or right and found Reason Yet from hence it will not follow that these Divine Revelations are to be subjected to the examination either of the outward Testimony of the Scriptures or of the natural reason of Man as to a more noble or certain rule or touchstone for this Divine Revelation and inward Illumination is that which is evident and clear of it self forceing by its own evidence and clearness the well disposed understanding to assent irresistibly moving the same thereunto even as the common Principles of natural Truths move and incline the mind to natural assent Such as are these that the whole is greater than the part that two contradictory sayings cannot be both true or false which is also manifest according to our adversaries Principle who supposing the possibility of inward Divine Revelations will nevertheless confess with us that neither Scripture nor found Reason will contradict it and yet it will not follow according to them that the Scripture or found Reason should be subjected to the examination of the Divine Revelations in the Heart The Third Proposition Concerning the Scriptures From these Revelations of the Spirit of God to the Saints have proceeded the Scriptures of Truth which contain 1. A faithful Historical Account of the Actings of God's People in divers Ages with many singular and remarkable Providences attending them 2. A Prophetical Account of several things whereof some are already past and some yet to come 3. A full and ample account of all the chief Principles of the Doctrine of Christ held forth in divers pretious declarations exhortations and sentences which by the moving of God's Spirit were at several times and upon sundry occasions spoken and written unto some Churches and their Pastors Nevertheless because they are only a Declaration of the Fountain and not the Fountain it self therefore they are not to be esteemed the principal ground of all Truth and Knowledge nor yet the adequate primary Rule of Faith and Manners Nevertheless as that which giveth a true and faithful Testimony of the first Foundation they are and may be esteemed a secondary Rule subordinate to the Spirit from which they have all their excellency and certainty for as by the inward Testimony of the Spirit we do alone truly know them so they testifie that the Spirit is that guide by which the Saints are led into all Truth Therefore according to the Scriptures the Spirit is the first and principle Leader And seeing we do therefore receive and believe the Scriptures because they proceeded from the Spirit therefore also the Spirit is more originally and principally the Rule according to that received maxim in the Schools Propter quod unumquodque est tale illud ipsum est magis tale Englished thus That for which a thing is such that thing it self is more such The Fourth Proposition Concerning the Condition of Man in the fall All Adam's Posterity or Mankind both Jews and Gentiles as to the first Adam or earthly man is fallen degenerated and dead deprived of the sensation or feeling of this inward Testimony or Seed of God and is subject unto the power nature and Seed of the Serpent which he sows in mens hearts while they abide in this natural and corrupted State from whence it comes that not their words and deeds only but all their imaginations are evil perpetually in the sight of God as proceeding from this depraved and wicked Seed Man therefore as he is in this state can know nothing aright yea his thoughts and conceptions concerning God and things Spiritual until he be disjoyned from this evil Seed and united to the Divine Light are unprofitable both to himself and others Hence are rejected the Socinian and Pelagian Errors in exalting a Natural Light as also the Papists and most of Protestants who affirm that Man without the true Grace of God may be a true Minister of the Gospel Nevertheless this Seed is not imputed to Infants until by transgression they actually joyn themselves therewith for they are by Nature the children of Wrath who walk according to the Power of the Prince of the Air The Fifth and Sixth Proposition Concerning the Vniversal Redemption by Christ and also the Saving and Spiritual Light wherewith every Man is enlightened The Fifth Proposition God out of his Infinite love who delighteth not in the death of a sinner but that all should live and be saved hath so loved the world that he hath given his only Son a Light that whosoever believeth in him should be saved who enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world and maketh manifest all things that are reproveable and teacheth all temperance righteousness and godliness and this Light enlighteneth the hearts of all in a day in order to Salvation if not resisted Nor is it less universal than the seed of sin being the purchase of his death who tasted death for every Man For as in Adam all die even so in Christ all shall be made alive The Sixth Proposition According to which principle or Hypothesis all the Objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved neither is it needful to recur to the Ministry of Angels and those other miraculous means which they say God makes use of to manifest the Doctrine and History of Christ's passion unto such who living in those places of the world where the outward preaching of the Gospel is unknown have well improved the first and common Grace For hence it well follows that as some of the old Philosophers might have been saved so also may now some who by Providence are cast into those remote parts of the world where the knowledg of the History is wanting be made partakers of the Divine Mystery if they receive and resist not that Grace a manifestation whereof is given
saith is in his sinning and then as if he purposed expresly to shut out such an opinion he assures us the Son shall not bear the Fathers Iniquity From which I thus argue If the Son bear not the Iniquity of his Father or of his immediate Parents far less shall he bear the iniquity of Adam But the Son shall not bear the Iniquity of his Father Therefore c. § V. Having thus far shewn how absurd this Opinion is I shall briefly examine the reasons its Authors bring for it First They say Adam was a publick Person Obj. and therefore all men sinned in him as being in his loins And for this they alledg that of Rom. 5.12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned c. These last words say they may be translated in whom all have sinned To this I answer That Adam is a publick person is not denyed and that through him there is a seed of sin propagated to all men Answ. which in its own nature is sinsiul and inclines men to iniquity yet will it not follow from thence that Infants who joyn not with this Seed are guilty As for these words in the Romans the reason of the guilt there alledged is for that all have sinned Now no man is said to sin unless he actually sin in his own person for the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may very well relate to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the nearest antecedent so that they hold forth how that Adam by his sin gave an entrance to sin in the world and so death entred by sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. upon which viz. occasion or in which viz. death all others have sinned that is actually in their own person to wit all that were capable of sinning of which number that infants could not be the Apostle clearly shews by the following verse Sin is not imputed where there is no Law and since as is above proved there is no Law to Infants they cannot be here included Their second Objection is from Psal. 51.5 Obj. Behold I was shapen in Iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Hence they say it appears that Infants from their Conception are guilty How they infer this consequence for my part I see not The iniquity and sin here Answ. appears to be far more ascribable to the Parents than to the Child It is said indeed In sin did my mother conceive me not my mother did conceive me a sinner Besides that so interpreted contradicts expresly the Scripture before mentioned in making Children guilty of the sins of their immediate Parents for of Adam there is not here any mention contrary to the plain words the Son shall not bear the Fathers iniquity Obj. Thirdly They object that the wages of sin is death and that seeing Children are subject to Diseases and Death therefore they must be guilty of sin Answ. I answer That these things are a consequence of the fall and of Adams sin is confessed but that infers necessarily a guilt in all others that are subject to them is denyed For though the whole outward Creation suffered a decay by Adam's fall which groans under vanity according to which it is said in Job that the Heavens are not clean in the sight of God yet will it not from thence follow that the Herbs Earth and Trees are sinners Next Death though a consequent of the fall incident to mans earthly Nature is not the wages of sin in the Saints but rather sleep by which they pass from death to life which is so far from being troublesome and painful to them as all real punishments for sin are that the Apostle counts it gain To me saith he to die is gain Psal. 1.21 Obj. Some are so foolish as to make an objection farther saying That if Adam 's sin be not imputed to those who actually have not sinned then it would follow that all Infants are saved But we are willing that this supposed absurdity should be the consequence of our Doctrine rather than that which it seems our adversaries reckon not absurd though the undoubted and unavoidable consequence of theirs viz. that Many Infants eternally perish not for any sin of their own but only for Adams iniquity where we are willing to let the controversie sist commending both to the illuminated understanding of the Christian Reader This error of our adversaries is both denied and refuted by Zwinglius that eminent Founder of the Protestant Churches of Zwitzerland in his Book De Baptismo for which he is anathematized by the Council of Trent in the fifth Session We shall only add this information that we confess then that a seed of sin is transmitted to all men from Adam although imputed to none until by sinning they actually joyn with it in which seed he gave occasion to all to sin and it is the orignal of all evil actions and thoughts in mens hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in the 5. of the Romans i. e. in which death all have sinned For this seed of sin is frequently called Death in the Scripture and the body of death seeing indeed it is a death to the Life of Righteousness and Holiness Therefore its seed and its product is called the old man the old Adam in which all sin is for which cause we use this name to express this sin and not that of original sin of which phrase the Scripture makes no mention and under which invented and unscriptural Barbarism this notion of imputed sin to Infants took place among Christians The Fifth and Sixth Propositions Concerning the Vniversal Redemption by Christ and also the saving and Spiritual Light wherewith every man is inlightned The Fifth Proposition GOD out of his Infinite love who delighteth not in the Death of a Sinner but that all should live and be saved hath so loved the World that he hath given his only Son a LIGHT that whosoever believeth in him shall be saved John 3.16 Who inlighteneth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 And maketh manifest all things that are reprovable Eph. 5.12 And teacheth all Temperance Righteousness and Godliness And this light lighteneth the hearts of all in a day in order to Salvation and this is it which reproves the Sin of all Individuals and would work out the Salvation of all if not resisted nor is it less Universal than the Seed of Sin being the purchase of his death who tasted death for every man For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ all shall be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 The Sixth Proposition According to which Principle or hypothesis all the objections against the Universality of Christs Death are easily solved neither is it needful to recur to the Ministry of Angels and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the Doctrine and
deeds but only of his own pleasure and if he hath also decreed long before they were in being or in any capacity to do good or evil that they should walk in those wicked waies by which as by a secondary means they are led to that end who I pray is the first author and cause thereof but God who so willed and decreed This is as natural a consequence as any can be And therefore although many of the Preachers of this doctrine have sought out various strange strained and intricate distinctions to defend their opinion and evite this horrid consequence yet some and that of the most eminent of them have been so plain in the matter as they have put it beyond all doubt Of which I shall instance a few among many passages I say that by the ordination and will of God Adam fell God would have man to fall Man is blinded by the will and commandment of God We refer the causes of hardening us to God The highest or remote cause of hardening is the will of God It followeth that the hidden counsel of God is the cause of hardning These are Calvin's expressions God saith Beza hath predestinated not only unto damnation but also unto the causes of it whomsoever he saw meet The degree of God cannot be excluded from the causes of corruption It is certain saith Zanchius that God is the First cause of obduration Reprobates are held so fast under Gods Almighty decree that they cannot but sin and perish It is the opinion saith Paraeus of our Doctors that God did inevitably decree the temptation and fall of Man The creature sinneth indeed necessarily by the most just Judgment of God Our men do most rightly affirm that the fall of man was necessary and inevitable by accident because of Gods decree God saith Martyr doth incline and force the wills of wicked men into great sins God saith Zwinglius moveth the robber to kill He killeth God forcing him thereunto But thou wilt say he is forced to sin I permit truly that he is forced Reprobate Persons saith Piscator are absolutly ordained to this twofold end to undergo everlasting punishment and necessarily to sin and therefore to sin that they may be justly punished If these sayings do not plainly and evidently import that God is the Author of Sin we must not then seek these Mens opinions from their words but some way else it seems as if they had assumed to themselves that monstrous and twofold will they feign of God one by which they declare their minds openly and another more secret and hidden which is quite contrary to the other Nor doth it at all help them to say that man sins willingly since that willingness proclivity and propensity to evil is according to their judgment so necessarily imposed upon him that he cannot but be willing because God hath willed and decreed him so Which shift is just as if I should take a Child uncapable to resist me and throw it down from a great precipice the weight of the Childs body indeed makes it go readily down and the violence of the fall upon some rock or stone beats out its Brains and kills it Now then I pray though the body of the Child goes willingly down for I suppose it as to its mind is uncapable of any will and the weight of its body and not any immediate stroak of my hand who perhaps am at a great distance makes it die whether is the Child or I the proper cause of its death Let any man of reason judg if Gods's part be with them as great yea more immediate in the sins of men as by the testimonies above brought doth appear whether doth not this make him not only the Author of sins but more unjust than the unjustest of men § III. Secondly This Doctrine is injurious to God because it makes him delight in the death of sinners yea and to will many to die in their sins contrary to these Scriptures Ezek. 33.11 1 Tim. 2.3 2 Pet. 3.9 For if he hath created men only for this very end that he might show forth his Justice and Power in them as these men affirm and for effecting thereof hath not only with-held from them the means of doing good but also predestinated the evil that they might fall into it and that he inclines and forces them into great sins certainly he must necessarily delight in their death and will them to die seeing against his own will he neither doth nor can do any thing § IV. Thirdly It is highly injurious to Christ our Mediator and to the efficacy and excellency of his Gospel for it renders his mediation ineffectual as if he had not by his sufferings throughly broken down the middle wall nor yet removed the wrath of God or purchased the love of God towards all mankind if it was afore-decreed that it should be of no service to the far greater part of mankind It is to no purpose to alledg that the death of Christ was of efficacy enough to have saved all mankind if in effect its vertue be not so far exended as to put all mankind into a capacity of Salvation Fourthly It makes the preaching of the Gospel a meer mock and illusion if many of theseto whom it is preached be by an irrevocable decree excluded from being benefited by it it wholly makes useless the preaching of Faith and Repentance and the whole tenor of the Gospel promises and threatnings as being all relative to a former decree and means before appointed to such which because they cannot fail man needs do nothing but wait for that irresistible snatch which will come though it be but at the last hour of his Life if he be in the decree of Election And be his diligence and waiting what it can he shall never attain it if he belong to the decree of Reprobation Fifthly It makes the coming of Christ and his propitiatory Sacrifice which the Scripture affirms to have been the fruit of Gods love to the world and transacted for the sins and Salvation of all men to have been rather a testimony of Gods wrath to the world and one of the greatest judgments and severest acts of Gods indignation towards mankind it being only ordain'd to save a very few and for the hardening obduring and augmenting the condemnation of the far greater number of men because they believe not truly in it the cause of which unbelief again as the Divines so called above assert is the hidden counsel of God certainly the coming of Christ was never to them a testimony of Gods love but rather of his implacable wrath And if the World may be taken for the far greater number of such as live in it God never loved the world according to this Doctrine but rather hated it greatly in sending his Son to be crucified in it § V. Sixthly This Doctrine is highly injurious to mankind for it renders them in a far
worse condition than the devils in hell For these were sometimes in a capacity to have stood and do suffer only for their guilt whereas many millions of men are for ever tormented according to them for Adams sin which they neither knew of nor ever were accessary to It renders them worse than the Beasts of the Field of whom the Master requires not more than they are able to perform and if they be killed death to them is the end of sorrow whereas man is for ever tormented for not doing that which he never was able to do It puts him into a far worse condition than Pharoah put the Israelites for though he with-held Straw from them yet by much labour and pains they could have gotten it But from men they make God to with hold all means of Salvation so that they can by no means attain it Yea they place mankind in that condition which the Poets feign of Tantalus who oppressed with thirst stands in water up to the chin yet can by no means reach it with his tongue and being tormented with hunger hath Fruit hanging at his very Lips yet so as he can never lay hold on them with his Teeth and these things are so near him not to nourish him but to torment him So do these men they make the outward Creation of the work of Providence the smitings of the Conscience sufficient to convince the Heathens of sin and to condemn and judg them but not at all to help them to Salvation They make the preaching of the Gospel the offer of Salvation by Christ the use of the Sacraments of Prayer and good works sufficient to condemn those they account reprobates within the Church serving only to inform them to beget a seeming faith and vain hope yet because of a secret impotency which they had from their Infancy all these are wholly ineffectual to bring them the least step towards Salvation and do only contribute to render their condemnation the greater and their torments the more violent and intollerable Having thus briefly removed this false Doctrin which stood in my way because they that are desirous may see it both Learnedly and Piously refuted by many others I come to the matter of our Proposition which is that God out of his infinite love who delighteth not in the death of a sinner but that all should live and be saved hath sent his only begotten Son into the World that whosoever believeth in him might be saved which also is again affirmed in the sixth Proposition in these words Christ then tasted Death for every Man of all kinds Such is the evidence of this Truth delivered almost wholly in the express words of Scripture that it will not need much probation Also because our assertion herein is common with many others who have both earnestly and soundly according to the Scripture pleaded for this Universal Redemption I shall be the more brief in it that I may come to that which may seem more singularly and peculiarly ours § VI. This Doctrin of Universal Redemption or Christs dying for all Men is of it self so evident from the Scripture Testimony that there is scarce found any other Article of the Christian Faith so frequently so plainly and so positively asserted It is that which maketh the preaching of Christ to be truly termed the Gospel or an annunciation of glad tydings to all Thus the Angel declared the birth and coming of Christ to the Shepherds to be Luk. 2.10 Behold I bring you good tydings of great joy which shall be to all People He saith not to a few People Now if this coming of Christ had not brought a possibility of Salvation to all it should rather have been accounted bad tydings of great sorrow to most People neither should the Angel have had reason to have sung Peace on Earth and good will towards men if the greatest part of mankind had been necessarily shut out from receiving any benefit by it How should Christ have sent out his to preach the Gospel to every Creature Mark 16.15 a very comprehensive Commission that is to every Son and Daughter of mankind Without all exception he commands them to Preach Salvation to all repentance and remission of sins to all warning every one and exhorting every one as Paul did Col. 1.28 Now how could they have preached the Gospel to every Man as became the Ministers of Jesus Christ in much assurance if Salvation by that Gospel had not been possible for all what if some of those had asked them or should now ask any of these Doctors who deny the Universallity of Christ's death and yet preached it to all promiscuously hath Christ dyed for me How can they with confidence give a certain answer to this question If they give a conditional answer as their principal obligeth them to do and say If thou repent Christ hath dyed for thee doth not the same question still recur Hath Christ dyed for me so as to make repentance possible for me To this they can answer nothing unless they run in a Circle whereas the feet of those that bring the glad tidings of the Gospel of Peace are said to be beautiful for that they preach the common Salvation repentance unto all offering a door of mercy and hope to all through Jesus Christ who gave himself a ransom for all The Gospel invites all and certainly by the Gospel Christ intended not to deceive and delude the greater part of Mankind when he invites and cryeth saying Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest If all then ought to seek after him and to look for Salvation by him he must needs have made Salvation Possible to all for who is bound to seek after that which is impossible Certainly it were a mock of men to bid them do so And such as deny that by the death of Christ Salvation is made possible to all men do most blasphemously make God mock the World in giving his servants a commission to preach the Gospel of Salvation unto all while he hath before decreed that it shall not be possible for them to receive it Would not this make the Lord to send forth his servants with a lye in their Mouth which were Blasphemous to think commanding them to bid all and every one believe that Christ died for them and had purchased life and Salvation Whereas it is no such thing according to the forementioned Doctrin But seeing Christ after he arose and perfected the work of our Redemption gave a commission to preach Repentance remission of Sins and Salvation to all it is manifest that he dyed for all For he that hath Commissionated his servants thus to Preach is a God of Truth and no Mocker of poor Mankind neither doth he require any of Man that which is simply impossible for him to do for that no Man is bound to do that which is impossible is a principle of Truth ingraven in every mans mind
of the glorious Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ appear all at once the work of the first Witnesses being more to restifie against and discover the abuses of the Apostasie than to establish the Truth in purity He that comes to build a new City must first remove the old Rubbish before he can see to lay a new Foundation and he that comes to a House greatly polluted and full of Dirt will first sweep away and remove the Filth before he put up his own good and new Furniture The dawning of the day dispells the Darkness and makes us see the things that are most conspicuous but the distinct discovering and discerning of things o as to make a certain and perfect observation is reserved for the arising of the Sun and its shining in full brightness And we can from a certain Experience boldly affirm that the not waiting for this but building among yea and with the old popish rubbish and setting up before a full purgation hath been to most Protestants the foundation of many a mistake and an occasion of unspeakable hurt Therefore the Lord God who as he seeth meet doth communicate and make known to man the more full evident and perfect knowledg of his everlasting Truth hath been pleased to reserve the more full discovery of this glorious and Evangelical Dispensation to this our Age albeit divers testimonies have thereunto been born by some noted men in several Ages as shall hereafter appear and for the greater augmentation of the Glory of his Grace that no man might have whereof to boast hath raised up a few despicable and illiterate men and for the most part Mechanicks to be the Dispensators of it by which Gospel all the scruples doubts hesitations and objections above mentioned are easily and evidently answered and the justice as well as mercy of God according to their Divine and Heavenly Harmony are exhibited established and confirmed according to which certain Light and Gospel as the knowledge thereof hath been manifested to us by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in us fortified by our own sensible experience and sealed by the testimony of the Spirit in our Hearts we can confidently affirm and clearly evince according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures the following points § XI First That God who out of his infinite love sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the World who tasted Death for every man hath given to every man whether Jew or Gentile Turk or Scythian Indian or Barbarian of whatsoever Nation Countrey or Place a certain day or time of visitation during which day or time it is possible for them to be saved and to partake of the Fruit of Christs Death Secondly That for this end God hath communicated and given unto every man a measure of the Light of his own Son a measure of Grace or a measure of the Spirit which the Scripture expresses by several names as sometimes of the Seed of the Kingdom Mat. 13.18.19 The Light that makes all things manifest Eph. 5.13 The Word of God Rom. 10.18 or Manifestation of the Spirit given to profite withal 1 Cor. 12.7 a Talent Mat. 25.15 a little Leaven The Gospel preached in every Creature Col. 1.23 Thirdly That God in and by this Light and Seed invites calls exhorts and strives with every man in order to save them which as it is received and not resisted works the Salvation of all even of those who are ignorant of the Death and Sufferings of Christ and of Adam's Fall both by bringing them to a sense of their own misery and to be sharers in the Sufferings of Christ inwardly and by making them partakers of his Resurrection in becoming Holy Pure and Righteous and recovered of their sins by which also are saved they that have the knowledg of Christ outwardly in that it opens their understanding rightly to use and apply the things delivered in the Scriptures and to receive the saving use of them But that this may be resisted and rejected in both in which then God is said to be resisted and pressed down and Christ to be again crucified and put to open shame in and among men and to to those as thus resist and refuse him he becomes their condemnation First then according to this Doctrine the Mercy of God is excellently well exhibited in that none are necessarily shut out from Salvation and his Justice is demonstrated in that he condemns none but such to whom he really made offer of Salvation affording them the means sufficient thereunto Secondly This Doctrin if well weighed will be found to be the Foundation of Christianity Salvation and Assurance Thirdly It agrees and answers with the whole tenor of the Gospel Promises and Threats and with the Nature of the Ministry of Christ according to which the Gospel Salvation Repentance is commanded to be preached to every Creature without respect of Nations Kindreds Families or Tongues Fourthly It magnifies and commends the merits and death of Christ in that it not only accounts them sufficient to save all but declares them to be brought so nigh unto all as thereby to be put into the nearest capacity of Salvation Fifthly It exalts above all the Grace of God to which it attributeth all good even the least and smallest actions that are so ascribing thereunto not only the first beginnings and motions of good but also the whole conversion and salvation of the Soul Sixthly It contradicts overturns and enervates the false Doctrine of the Pelagians Semi-Pelagians Socinians and others who exalt the Light of Nature the liberty of mans will in that it wholly excludes the natural man from having any place or portion in his own Salvation by any acting moving or working of his own until he be first quickned raised up and acted by God's Spirit Seventhly As it makes the whole Salvation of Man solely and alone to depend upon God so it makes his condemnation wholly and in every respect to be himself in that he refused and resisted somewhat that from God wrestled and strove in his heart and forces him to acknowledg God's just Judgment in rejecting him and forsaking of him Eighthly It takes away all ground of Despair in that it gives every one ground of hope and certain assurance that they may be saved neither doth feed any in security in that none are certain how soon their day may expire and therefore it is a constant incitement and provocation and lively incouragement to every man to forsake evil and close with that which is good Ninthly It wonderfully commends as well the certainty of the Christian Religion among Infidels as it manifests its own verity to all in that it s confirmed and established by the experiences of all men seeing there was never yet a man found in any place of the Earth however barbarous and wild but hath acknowledged that at some time or other less or more he hath found somewhat in his heart reproving him for some things evil which he hath
by some citations out of them hereafter to be mentioned will appear though this Doctrine hath not since the Apostacy so far as ever I could observe been so distinctly and evidently held forth according to the Scriptures Testimony as it hath pleased God to reveal it and preach it forth in this day by the witnesses of his Truth whom he hath raised to that end Which Doctrine though it be briefly held forth and comprehended in the Thesis it self yet I shall a little more fully explain the state of the Controversie as it stands betwixt us and those that now oppose us § III. First then as by the explanation of the former Thesis appears we renounce all natural power and ability in our selves in order to bring us out of our lost and faln condition and first Nature and confess that of our selves we are able to do nothing that is good so neither can we procure remission of sins or justification by any act of our own so as to merit it or draw it as a debt from God due unto us but we acknowledg all to be of and from his Love which is the original and fundamental cause of our acceptance Secondly God manifested this love towards us in the sending of his Beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ into the world who gave himself for us an Offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour and having made peace through the blood of his Cross that he might reconcile us unto himself and by the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot unto God and suffered for our sins the Just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God Thirdly then forasmuch as all men who have come to man's estate the Man Jesus only excepted have sinned therefore all have need of this Saviour to remove the Wrath of God from them due to their offences in this respect he is truly said to have born the Iniquities of us all in his Body on the Tree and therefore is the Only Mediator having qualified the Wrath of God towards us so that our former sins stand not in our way being by vertue of his most satisfactory Sacrifice removed and pardoned Neither do we think that remission of sins is to be expected sought or obtained any other way or by any works or Sacrifice whatsomever though as has been said formerly they may come to partake of this remission that are ignorant of the History So then Christ by his death and sufferings hath reconciled us to God even while we are Enemies that is he offers reconciliation unto us we are put into a capacity of being reconciled God is willing to forgive us our iniquities and to accept us as is well expressed by the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath put in us the Word of Reconciliation And therefore the Apostle in the next verses treats them in Christs stead to be reconciled to God intimating that the Wrath of God being removed by the obedience of Christ Jesus he is willing to be reconciled unto them and ready to remit the sins that are past if they repent We consider then our Redemption in a two fold respect or state both which in their own Nature are perfect though in their application to us the one is not nor cannot be without respect to the other The first is the Redemption performed and accomplished by Christ for us in his Crucified Body without us The other is the Redemption wrought by Christ in us which no less properly is called and accounted a Redemption than the former The first then is that whereby man as he stands in the fall is put into a capacity of Salvation and hath conveighed unto him a measure of that Power Vertue Spirit Life and Grace that was in Christ Jesus which as the free Gift of God is able to counter-ballance overcome and root out the Evil Seed wherewith we are naturally as in the fall leavened The second is that whereby we witness and know this pure and perfect Redemption in our selves purifying cleansing and redeeming us from the power of Corruption and bringing us into unity Favour and Friendship with God By the first of these two we that are lost in Adam plunged in the bitter and corrupt Seed unable of our selves to do any good thing but naturally joyned and united to evil forward and propense to all iniquity servants and slaves to the Power and Spirit of Darkness are notwithstanding all this so far reconciled to God by the death of his Son while Enemies that we are put into a capacity of Salvation having the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace offered unto us and God is reconciled unto us in Christ calls and invites us to himself in which respect we understand these Scriptures He stew the enmity in himself He loved us first seeing us in our blood he said unto us live he who did not sin his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree and he died for our sins the just for the unjust By the second we witness this capacity brought into act whereby receiving and not resisting the purchase of his death to wit the Light Spirit and Grace of Christ revealed to us we witness and possess a real true and inward Redemption from the power and prevalency of sin and so come to be truly and really redeemed justified and made righteous and to a sensible union and friendship with God Thus he died for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and thus we know him and the Power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to us This last follows the first in order and is a consequence of it proceeding from it as an effect from its cause So as none could have enjoyed the last without the first had been such being the will of God so also can none now partake of the first but as he witnesseth the last Wherefore as to us they are both causes of our Justification The first the procuring efficient the other the formal cause Fourthly we understand not by this Justification by Christ barely the good works even as wrought by the Spirit of Christ for they as Protestants truly affirm are rather an effect of Justification than the cause of it But we understand the formation of Christ in us Christ born and brought forth in us from which good works as naturally proceed as Fruit from a Fruitful Tree It is this inward Birth in us bringing forth Righteousness and Holyness in us that doth Justâ—fie us which having removed and done away the contrary Nature and Spirit that did bear rule and bring condemnation now is in dominion over all in our hearts Those then that come to know Christ thus formed in them do enjoy him wholly and undivided who is The LORD our RIGHTEOVSNESS Jer. 23.6 This is to be cloathed with Christ and to have put
him on whom God therefore truly accounteth Righteous and Just. This is so far from being the Doctrine of Papists that as the generality of them do not understand it so the learned among them oppose it and dispute against it and particularly Bellarmin Thus then as I may say the formal cause of Justification is not the works to speak properly they being but an effect of it but this inward Birth this Jesus brought forth in the heart who is the Well-beloved whom the Father cannot but accept and all those who thus are sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus and washed with it By this also comes that communication of the goods of Christ unto us by which we come to be made partakers of the Divine Nature as saith Peter ep 2. c. 1. v. 4. are made one with him as the Branches with the Vine and have a title and right to what he hath done and suffered for us So that his Obedience becomes ours his Righteousness ours his Death and Sufferings ours And by this nearness we come to have a sense of his Sufferings and to suffer with his Seed that yet lies pressed and crucified in the hearts of the ungodly and so travel with it and for its Redemption and for the repentance of those Souls that in it are crucifying as yet the Lord of Glory Even as the Apostle Paul who by his sufferings is said to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his Body which is the Church Though this be a Mystery sealed up from all the wise men that are yet ignorant of this Seed in themselves and oppose it nevertheless some Protestants speak of this Justification by Christ inwardly put-on as shall hereafter be recited in its place Lastly though we place remission of sins in the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ performed by him in the flesh as to what pertains to the remote procuring cause and that we hold our selves formally justified by Christ Jesus formed and brought forth in us yet can we not as some Protestants have unwarily done exclude works from Justification for though properly we be not justified for them yet are we justified in them and they are necessary even as causa sine qua non i. e. the cause without which none are Justified For the denying of this as it 's contrary to the Scriptures Testimony so it hath brought a great scandal to the Protestant Religion opened the mouths of Papists and made many too secure while they have believed to be Justified without good works Moreover though it be not so safe to say they are meritorious yet seeing they are rewarded many of those called the Fathers have not spared to use the word merit which some of us have perhaps also done in a qualified sense but no ways to inferr the Popish abuses above mentioned And lastly if we had that notion of good works which most Protestants have we could freely agree to make them not only not necessary but reject them as hurtful viz. that the best works even of the Saints are defiled and polluted For though we judg so of the best works performed by man endeavouring a conformity to the outward Law by his own strength and in his own will yet we believe that such works as naturally proceed from this Spiritual Birth and formation of Christ in us are pure and Holy even as the Root from which they come and therefore God accepts them Justifies us in them and rewards us for them of his own Free Grace The state of the controversie being thus stated these following Positions do hence from arise in the next place to be proved § IV. First that the obedience sufferings and death of Christ is that by which the Soul obtains remission of sins and is the procuring cause of that Grace by whose inward workings Christ comes to be formed inwardly and the Soul to be made conformable unto him and so just and justified And that therefore in respect of this capacity and offer of Grace God is said to be reconciled not as if he were actually reconciled or did actually justifie or account any just so long as they remain in their sins really impure and unjust Secondly that it is by this inward Birth of Christ in man that man is made just and therefore so accounted by God wherefore to be plain we are thereby and not till that be brought forth in us formally if we must use that word justified in the sight of God because Justification is both more properly and frequently in Scripture taken in its proper signification for making one just and not reputing one meerly such and is all one with Sanctification Thirdly that since good works as naturally follow from this birth as heat from fire therefore are they of absolute necessity to Justification as causa sine qua non i. e. though not as the cause for which yet as that in which we are and without which we cannot be Justified And though they be not meritorious and draw no debt upon God yet he cannot but accept and reward them for it is contrary to his Nature to deny his own Since they may be perfect in their kind as proceeding from a Pure Holy Birth and Root Wherefore their judgment is false and against the Truth that say that the holyest works of the Saints are defiled and sinful in the sight of God For these good works are not the works of the Law excluded by the Apostle from Justification § V. As to the first I prove it from Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Here the Apostle holds forth the extent and efficacy of Christs death shewing that thereby and by Faith therein remission of sins that are past is obtained as being that wherein the forbearance of God is exercised towards mankind So that though men for the sins they daily commit deserve Eternal Death and that the Wrath of God should lay hold upon them yet by virtue of that most satisfactory Sacrifice of Christ Jesus the Grace and Seed of God moves in love towards them during the day of their visitation yet not so as not to strike against the evil for that must be burned up and destroyed but to redeem man out of the evil Secondly if God were perfectly reconciled with men and did esteem them just while they are actually unjust and do continue in their sins Then should God have no Controversie with them How comes he then so often to complain to expostulate so much throughout the whole Scripture with such as our Adversaries confess to be Justified telling them that their sins separate betwixt him and them Isa. 59.2 For where there is a perfect and full reconciliation there there is no separation Yea from this Doctrine it necessarily follows either that such for whom Christ died and whom he hath
greatly contribute to the commendation of Christianity and to the increase of the life and vertue of Christ if all superfluous titles of honour profuseness and prodigality in meat and apparel excess of gaming sporting and playing were laid aside and forborn And whether such as lay them aside in so doing walk not more like the Disciples of Christ and his Apostles and are therein nearer their example than such as use them Whether the laying them aside would hinder any from being good Christians or if Christians might not be better without them than with them Certainly the sober and serious among all sorts will say yea Then surely such as lay them aside as reckoning them unsutable for Christians are not to be blamed but rather commended for so doing because that both in principle and practise they effectually advance that which others acknowledg were desirable but can never make effectual so long as they allow the use of them as lawful And God hath made it manifest in this age that by discovering the evil of such things and leading his Witnesses out of them and to testifie against them he hath produced effectually in many that mortification and abstraction from the love and cares of this world who daily are conversing in the world but inwardly redeemed out of it both in Wedlock and in their lawful imployments which was judged could only be obtained by such as were shut up in Cloysters and Monasteries This much in general § III. As to the first we affirm positively that it is not lawful for Christians either to give or receive these titles of honour as your Holiness your Majesty your Excellency your Eminency c. First because these titles are no part of that obedience which is due to Magistrates or Superiors neither doth the giving them add to nor diminish from that subjection we owe to them which consists in obeying their just and lawful commands not in titles and designations Secondly We find not that in the Scripture any such titles are used either under the Law or the Gospel but that in the speaking to Kings Princes or Nobles they used only a simple compellation as O King and that without any further designation save perhaps the name of the person as O King Agrippa c. Thirdly It laies a necessity upon Christians most frequently to lie because the persons obtaining these titles either by Election or Hereditarily may frequently be found to have nothing really in them deserving them or answering them as some to whom it is said Your Excellency having nothing of Excellency in them and who is called Your Grace appear to be an enemy to Grace and he who is called Your Honour is known to be base and ignoble I wonder what law of man or what patent ought to oblige me to make a lie in calling good evil and evil good I wonder what Law of man can secure me in so doing from the just Judgment of God that will make me count for every idle word and to lye is something more Surely Christians should be ashamed that such Laws manifestly crossing the Law of God should be among them If it be said We ought in Charity to suppose that they have these vertues because the King has bestowed those titles upon them or that they are descended of such as deserved them I answer Charity destroys not knowledg I am not obliged Answ. by charity either to believe or speak a lie Now it is apparent and cannot be denied by any but that those vertues are not in many of the persons expressed by the titles they bear neither will they allow to speak so to such in whom these vertues are unless they be so dignified by outward Princes So that such as are truly vertuous must not be stiled by their vertues because not priviledged by the Princes of this World and such as have them not must be so called because they have obtained a patent so to be and all this is done by those who pretend to be his followers that commanded his Disciples not to call any man Master and told them such could not believe as received honour one from another and sought not the honour which cometh from God only This is so plain to such as will indeed be Christians that it needs no consequence Fourthly as to those titles of Holiness Eminency and Excellency used among the Papists to the Pope and Cardinal c. and Grace Lordship and Worship used to the Clergy among the Protestants it is a most blasphemous usurpation For if they use Holiness and Grace because these things ought to be in a Pope or in a Bishop how come they to usurp that peculiarly to themselves Ought not Holiness and Grace to be in every Christian And so every Christian should say Your Holiness and Your Grace one to another Next how can they in reason claim any more titles than were practised and received by the Apostles and primitive Christians whose successors they pretend they are and as whole successors and no otherwise themselves I judge will confess any honour they seek is due to them Now if they neither sought received nor admitted such honour nor titles how came these by them If they say they did let them prove it if they can we find no such thing in the Scripture The Christians speak to the Apostles without any such denominations neither saying If it please your Grace Your Holiness Your Lordship nor your Worship they are neither called My Lord Peter nor My Lord Paul nor yet Master Peter nor Master Paul nor Doctor Peter nor Doctor Paul but singly Peter and Paul and that not only in the Scripture but for some hundreds of years after So that this appears to be a manifest fruit of the Apostasie for if these titles arise either from the office or worth of the persons it will not be denied but the Apostles deserved them better than any now that call for them But the case is plain the Apostles had the Holiness the Excellency the Grace and because they were Holy Excellent and Gracious they neither used nor admitted of such titles but these having neither Holiness Excellency nor Grace will needs be so called to satisfie their ambitious and ostentive minds which is a manifest token of their Hypocrisie Fifthly as to that title of Majesty usually ascribed to Princes we do not find it given to any such in the Holy Scripture But that it is specially and peculiarly ascribed unto God as 1 Chron. 29.11 Job 37.22 Psal. 21.5.29.4.43.3.63.1.96.6 Isa. 2.10.24.14.26.10 Heb. 1.3 2 Pet. 1.16 and many more places Hence saith Jude ver 25. To the only Wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty c. not to men We find in Scripture the proud King Nebuchadnezzar assuming this title to himself Dan. 4.30 who at that time received a sufficient reproof by a sudden Judgment which came upon him Therefore in all the compellations used to Princes in the Old Testament is not to be
is the Vanity and Superfluity of Apparel in which first two things are to be considered the condition of the Person and the Country he lives in We shall not say that all Persons are to be cloathed alike because it will perhaps neither sute their Bodies not their Estates And if a man be cloathed soberly and without superfluity tho they may be finer than that which his servant is cloathed with we shall not blame him for it The abstaining from superfluities which his condition and education hath accustomed him to may be in him a greater act of Mortification than the abstaining from finer cloaths in the servant who never was accustomed to them As to the Countrey what it naturally produces may be no vanity to the inhabitants to use or what is commonly imparted to them by way of exchange seeing it is without doubt that the Creation is for the use of man So where Silk abounds it may be worn as well as Wool and were we in those Countreys or near unto them where Gold or Silver were as Common as Iron or Brass the one might be used as well as the other The iniquity lies then here First when from a lust of vanity and desire to adorn themselves Men and Women not content with what their condition can bear or their countrey easily affords do stretch to have things that from their rarity and the price that 's put upon them seem to be pretious and so feed their lust the more and this all sober men of all sorts will readily grant to be evil Secondly when men are not content to make a true use of the Creation whether the things be fine or course and do not satisfie themselves with what need and conveniency calls for but adds thereunto things meerly superfluous such as is the use of Ribbons and Lace and much more of that kind of stuff as painting the Face platting the Hair which are the fruits of the faln lustful and corrupt nature and not of the new Creation as all will acknowledge And though sober men among all sorts will lay that it were better these things were not yet will they not reckon them unlawful and therefore do admit the use of them among their Church-members But we do account them altogether unlawful and unsuitable to Christians and that for these reason First the use of Cloaths came originally from the fall if man had not faln it appears he would not have needed them But this miserable state made them necessary in two respects 1. To cover his nakedness 2. To keep him from the cold which is both the proper and principle use of them Now for man to delight himself in that which is the first fruit of his iniquity and is the consequence of sin can be no waies lawful for him so to extend things beyond their real use or to superadd things wholly superfluous is a manifest abuse of the Creation and therefore not lawful to Christians Secondly those that will needs so adorn themselves in the use of their Cloaths as to beset them with things having no real use or necessity but meerly for ornament's sake do openly declare that the end of it is either to please their lust for which end these things are chiefly invented and contrived or otherwise to gratifie a vain proud and ostentive mind and it is obvious these are their general ends in so doing Yea we see how easily men are puff'd up with their Garments and how proud and vain they are when adorned to their mind Now how far these things are below a true Christian and how unsuitable it needs not great probation Hereby those that love to be gaudy and superfluous in their Cloaths shew they concern themselves little with Mortification and Self-denial and that they mind to beautifie their Bodies more than their Souls which proves they mind little upon Mortality and so certainly are more nominal than real Christians Thirdly the Scripture severely reproves such practices both commending and commanding the contrary as Isa. 3. how severely doth the Prophet reprove the Daughters of Israel for their tinkling Ornaments their Cauls and their round Tiars their Chains and Bracelets c. And yet is it not strange to see Christians allow themselves in these things from whom a more strict and exemplary conversation is required Christ desires us not to be anxious about our Cloathing Matth. 6.25 And to shew the vanity of such as glory in the splendor of their Cloathing tells them that even Solomon in all his Glory was not to be compared to the Lilly of the Field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the Oven But surely they make small reckoning of Christs words and doctrin that are so curious in their Cloathing and so industrious to deck themselves and so earnest to justifie it and so mad when they are reproved for it the Apostle Paul is very positive in this respect 1 Tim. 2.8 9.10 I will therefore in like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefac'dness and sobriety not with broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Aray But which becometh Women professing godliness with good works To the same purpose saith Peter 1 Pet. 3.3 4. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of platting the Hair and wearing of Gold or of putting on of Apparel But let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit c. Here both the Apostles do very positively and expressly assert two things First That the adorning of Christian Women of whom it is particularly spoken I judge because that Sex is most naturally inclined to that vanity and that it seems that Christian men in those daies deserved not in this respect so much to be reproved ought not to be outward nor consist in the Apparel Secondly that they ought not to use the platting of the Hair or Ornaments c. which was at that time the custom of the Nations But is it not strange that such as make the Scripture their rule and pretend they are guided by it should not only be so frequently and ordinarily in the use of these things which the Scripture so plainly condemns but also should allow themselves in so doing For the Apostles not only commend the forbearance of these things as an attainment commendable in Christians but condemn the use of them as unlawful and yet may it not seem more strange that in contradiction to the Apostles Doctrin as if they had resolved to slight their testimony they should condemn those that out of Conscience apply themselves seriously to follow it as if in so doing they were singular proud or superstitious This certainly betokens a sad Apostasie in those that will be accounted Christians that they are so offended with those that love to follow Christ and his Apostles in denying of and departing from the lying vanities of this perishing world and so doth
Haman and with Elihu not to give flattering titles to men lest we should be reproved of our Maker and if according to Peter's example and the Angel's advice to bow only to God and not to our Fellow-servants and if to call no man Lord nor Master except under particular relations according to Christ's command I say if these things be not to be reproved then are we not blame-worthy in so doing If to be vain and gaudy in apparel if to paint the face and plait the hair if to be cloathed with gold and silver and precious stones and if to be filled with ribbands and lace be to be cloathed in modest apparel and if these be the ornaments of Christians and if that be to be humble meek and mortified then are our adversaries good Christians indeed and we proud singular and conceited in contenting our selves with what need and conveniency calls for and condemning what is more as superfluous but not otherwise If to use games sports plays if to card dice and dance if to sing fiddle and pipe if to use stage plays and comedies and to lye counterfeit and dissemble be to fear always and if that be to do all things to the glory of God and if that be to pass our sojourning here in fear and if that be to use this world as if we did not use it and if that be not to fashion our selves according to our former lusts to be not conformable to the Spirit and vain conversation of this world then are our adversaries notwithstanding they use these things and plead for them very good sober mortified and self-denyed Christians and we justly to be blamed for judging them but not otherwise If the profanation of the Holy Name of God if to exact oaths one from another upon every light occasion if to call God to witness in things of such a nature in which no earthly King would think himself lawfully and honourably to be a witness be the duties of a Christian man I shall confess that our adversaries are excellent good Christians and we wanting in our duty but if the contrary be true of necessity our obedience to God in this thing must be acceptable If to revenge our selves or to render injury evil for evil wound for wound to take eye for eye tooth for tooth If to fight for outward and perishing things to go a warring one against another whom we never saw nor with whom we never had any contest nor any thing to do being moreover altogether ignorant of the cause of the war but only that the Magistrates of the Nations foment quarrels one against another the causes whereof are for the most part unknown to the Souldiers that fight as well as upon whose side the right or wrong is and yet to be so furious and rage one against another to destroy and spoil all that this or the other worship may be received or abolished If to do this and much more of this kind be to fulfill the Law of Christ then are our Adversaries indeed true Christians and we miserable Hereticks that suffer our selves to be spoiled taken imprisoned banished beaten and evilly entreated without any resistance placing our trust only in GOD that he may defend us and lead us by the way of the Cross unto his Kingdom But if it be otherways we shall certainly receive the reward which the Lord hath promised to those that cleave to him and in denying themselves confide in him And to sum up all If to use all these things and many more that might be instanced be to walk in the strait way that leads to life be to take up the Cross of Christ be to dye with him to the lusts and perishing vanities of this world and to arise with him in newness of Life and sit down with him in the heavenly places Then our adversaries may be accounted such and they need not fear they are in the broad way that leads to destruction and we are greatly mistaken that have laid aside all these things for Christ's sake to the crucifying of our own lusts and to the procuring to our selves shame reproach hatred and ill-will from the men of this world not as if by so doing we judged to merit Heaven but as knowing they are contrary to the will of him who redeems his Children from the love of this world and its lusts and leads them in the ways of Truth and Holyness in which they take delight to walk The CONCLUSION IF in God's fear candid Reader thou apply'st thy self to consider this System of Religion here delivered with its consistency and harmony as well in it self as with the Scriptures of Truth I doubt not but thou wilt say with me and many more that this is the Spiritual day of Christs Appearance wherein he is again revealing the ancient paths of Truth and Righteousness For thou mayst observe here the Christian Religion in all its parts truly established and vindicated as it is a living inward spiritual pure and substantial thing and not a meer form shew shadow notion and opinion as too many have hitherto held it whose fruits declare they wanted that which they bear the name of and yet many of those are so in love with their empty forms and shadows that they cease not to calumniate us for commending and calling them to the substance as if we therefore denyed or neglected the true form and outward part of Christianity which indeed is as God the searcher of hearts knows a very great slander Thus because we have desired People earnestly to feel after God near and in themselves telling them that their notions of God as he is beyond the Clouds will little avail them if they do not feel him near hence they have sought maliciously to infer that we deny any God except that which is within us Because we tell people that it is the Light and the Law within and not the letter without that can truly tell them their condition and lead them out of all evil hence they say we villifie the Scriptures and set up our own imaginations above them Because we tell them that it is not their talking or believing of Christ's outward life sufferings death and resurrection no more than the Jews crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord that will serve their turn or justifie them in the sight of God but that they must know Christ in them whom they have crucified to be raised and to justifie them and redeem them from their Iniquities hence they say we deny the life death and sufferings of Christ justification by his blood and remission of sins through him Because we tell them while they are talking and determining about the Resurrection that they have more need to know the Just One whom they have slain raised in themselves and to be sure they are partakers of the first resurrection and that if this be they will be the more capable to judg of the second hence
their Doctrine 158 159. concerning the possibility of not sinning 172 173. the possibility of falling from Grace 176. many of them did not only contradict one another but themselves also 211. concerning Baptism and the sign of the Cross 301. concern-in an Oath 372. Feet concerning the washing of one anothers feet 317 318 319. Franequer 222. Freely the Gospel ought to be preached freely 180 221 222. G Games see Playes Gifted Brethren 198. GOD how he hath alwaies manifested himself 3. unless he speak within the Preacher makes a rustling to no purpose 5 6. None can know him aright unless he receive it of the Holy Ghost 5 6 7. God is to be sought within 7. he is known by sensation and not by meer speculation and syllogistic demonstrations 6 7. he is the Fountain Root and Beginning of all good works and he hath made all things by his eternal Word 10. God speaking is the object of Faith 15. among all he hath his own chosen ones 5. he delights not in the death of the wicked see Redemption He hath manifested his love in sending his Son 132 149 150. see Justification he rewards the good works of his Children 157 158. whether it be possible to keep his Commandments 159 160. he is the Lord and the Only Judge of the Conscience 331 333. he will have a free exercise 339. Gospel see Redemption the truths of it are as lies in the mouths of profane and carnal men 12 23 24. the nature of it is explained 25 26. it is distinguished from the Law and is more excellent than it 26 42. see Covenant Law whether any ought to Preach it in this or that place is not found in Scripture 42 200. its works are distinguished from the works of the Law 152. how it is to be propagated and of its propagation 334. the worship of it is inward 289 290. it is an inward Power 107 108. Grace the Grace of God can be lost through disobedeince 174 c. Saving Grace see Redemption which is required in the calling and qualifying of a Minister see Minister In some it worketh in a special and prevalent manner that they necessarily obtain Salvation 96 97. Your Grace see Titles H Hai Ebn Yokdan 126. Hands laying on of Hands 199 327. Head of uncovering the head in salutations 350 352 361 362 363 364 365 388 389. Heart the heart is deceitful and wicked 45 59 60 61. Heathens albeit they were ignorant of the history yet they were sensible of the loss by the Fall 124. some Heathens would not swear 378. heathenish Ceremonies were brought into the Christian Religion 301. Henry IV. King of France 341. Heresies whence they proceeded 244. Hereticks 336. High see Priest History of Christ see Quakers Redemption Holy of Holys the High-priest entred into it once a year 14 15. but now all of us at all times have access unto God 27. Holiness your Holiness see Titles Honor see Titles Hypocrite 336 340. I Jacob 241. James the Apostle there were of old divers Opinions concerning his Epistle 40. Idolatry 232 245. whence it proceeded 277. Jesting see Plays Games Jesuits see Sect Ignatian Jesus see Christ what it is to be saved and to be assembled in his Name 119 120 132 238. Jews among them there may be Members of the Church 182 183. their error concerning the outward succession of Abraham 190. their worship is outward 290. Illiterate see Mechanicks Indulgences 130. Infants see Sin Iniquities spiritual iniquities or wickedness 244. Inquisition 340. Inspiration where that doth not teach words without do make a noise to no purpose 5 6. John the Apostle concerning his second and third Epistles and the Revelation there were sometime divers Opinions 40. John the Baptist did not Miracles 198. John Hus is said to have Prophecyed 57. John Knox in what respect he was called the Apostle of Scotland 217. Judas fell from his Apostleship 191. who was his Vicar 293. his Ministry was not purely Evangelical 205. he was called immediately of Christ and who are inferior to him and plead for him as Patron of their Ministry 205 206. Justification the doctrin thereof is and hath been greatly vitiate among the Papists and wherein they place it 129 149 131 132. Luther and the Protestants with good reason opposed this doctrin tho many of them ran soon into another extreme and wherein they place it and that they agree in one 131 132 136. it comes from the love of God 133 149 150. to justifie signifies to make really just not to repute just which many Protestants are forc'd also to acknowledg 135 136 141 142 to 147. the revelation of Christ formed in the heart is the formal cause of justification not works to speak properly which are only an effect and so also many Protestants have said 128 130 131 132 134 135 141 146 147 148 149. We are justified in works and how 128 135 136 149 to 160. this is so far from being a Popish doctrin that Bellarmin and others oppos'd it 129 135 156 157. K Kingdom of God 256 327 334. Knowledg the height of man's happiness is plac'd in the true knowledg of God 1. error in the entrance of this knowledg is dangerous 1 2 superstition Idolatry and thence Atheism hath proceeded from the false and feigned Opinions concerning God and the knowledg of him 3. the uncertain knowledg of God is divers waies attained but the true and certain only by the inward and immediate revelation of the Holy Spirit 3 4 5. it hath been brought out of use and by what devices 8 9. there is no knowledg of the Father but by the Son nor of the Son but by the Spirit 3 9 10 11 12. the knowledg of Christ which is not by the revelation of his Spirit in the heart is no more the knowledg of Christ than the pratling of a Parret which hath been taught a few words may be said to be the voice of a man 12 13. L Laicks 214 218 219. Laity 219 321. Lake of Bethsaida 94. Law the Law is distinguished from the Gospel 26 290. the difference thereof 26 167 168. see Gospel under the Law the people were not in any doubt who should be Priests and Ministers 188. see Minister of the Law Worship Learning what true learning is 205 206. Letter the letter killeth quickeneth not 168. Light the innate Light is explained by Cicero 125 126. Light of Nature the errors of the Socinians and Pelagians who exalt this Light are rejected 57 58 Saving Light see Redemption is Universal it is in all 83 84. it is a Spiritual and heavenly Principle 86 87. it is a Substance not an accident 88 89. it is Supernatural and Sufficient 104 107. it is the Gospel Preached in every creature 107 108. it is the Word nigh in the mouth and in the heart 109 110. it is the ingrafted Word able to save the Soul 114. testimonies of Augustin and Buchanan concerning this Light 127. it is not any part of