after this out of Paradise from taking of the Tree of life and in cursing the ground for his sake and laying such a burthen of labour and toyle upon him and pain of travaile upon the woman that in sorrow shee should bring forth her children Especially considering that the promise was made in Paradise while they were in it and before the curse was pronounced except only against the Serpent as by Genesis 3. appeareth And then if it were that Adam was so restored and all children ever since so conceived and born I ask the reason Why they did not from that day wherein the promise was made keep themselves in that estate of blessednesse by depending on the promise with their good and holy wills rather then fall so soon to commit actuall sin and lose all again which they might more possibly have done then they can now recover and be restored a second time seeing there is but one sacrifice for sin as it is written Heb. 10. And if their case bee not much worse now then it was before the promise was made And every child that dieth before it commit actuall sinne farre more happy than any of them If they answer and say as they use to teach and publish that the same sacrifice of Christ being included in the promise extended and doth still since Christ actually suffered to all sinne and sinners in the world of what kinde soever Which they would seem to prove by the words and example of Paul 1 Tim. 2.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe And so argue and say If Paul were the chief sinner in the world and was received to mercy then so may any other how great a sinner soever But Paul was chiefe of sinners as he saith and was received to mercy Therefore so may any other Ans Here this free-will teacher propounds a very false position at the first in saying That the Sacrifice of Christ extendeth to all sin and sinners in the world of what kind soever And in the next place hee wrongs the Apostle exceedingly in charging him upon his owne words to be the greatest or chiefe of all sinners For although it be true that Christ came into the world to save sinners and that hee died for the ungodly and justifieth the ungodly and the sinner as it is written Rom. 4.5 and 5.6 8. And as Christ saith Ali sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men Matth. 12.31 And that the Sacrifice of Christs death did and doth extend so farre and that Paul was such a chiefe sinner and blasphemer injurious c. and caused others to blaspheme as he saith yet was hee not the greatest or chiefe sinner in the world neither was his sinne and blasphemy the greatest neither doth hee so speake or mean But there was and is a greater sin and blasphemy then his which Christ nameth The blasphemy against the Spirit and saith that it shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Matth. 12.31 32. And the Apostle Iohn saith that it is not to be prayed for 1 Joh. 5.16 And Christ came not into the world for to save any of these kind of sinners neither dyed he for these nor doth his Sacrifice extend to any of them neither was Paul such a one But as he saith I was received to mercy for I did it ignorantly in unbeliefe Implying plainly that if he had knowne so much as they who set him aworke to persecute knew he could not have been received to mercy They knew what they did as Cain that slew his brother because his own workes were evill and his brothers good and as Judas that knew he betrayed innocent blood And therefore Christ when they crucified him prayed onely for those that knew not what they did Luk. 23.34 And so it is true that Paul was chief of those sinners whom Christ came into the world to save and that he prayed and died for but not of the other If the free will teacher shall say that Peter had knowledge of Christ when he denied him and cursed and sware that he knew him not and yet was forgiven though Christ had said Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in heaven This is true But there are two things to be considered in the unpardonable sinne which wee all ought to understand that is willingnesse of the heart as well as knowledge which was not in Peter he did it of weaknes through feare very unwillingly in his heart and was forgiven And Paul he sinned wllingly and with his heart but very ignorantly and was received to mercy And therefore in describing that great sin unto death he saith by way of exhortation For if we sinne willingly after wee have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a certain fearfull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries Heb. 10.26 27. So that where willingnesse of the heart and knowledge of the truth are both together in persecuting or denying of Christ or his truth that mans sin cannot bee forgiven and Christ will deny him before his Father which is in heaven Such a one was Cain and Esau also that despised his birth-right wherein the promise lay who afterward could find no place for repentance and Iudas who therefore hanged himselfe And such were those Scribes and Pharisees unto whom Christ spake and said Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers yee Serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell Matth. 23. And those who though they knew of the great works which he did and how he had raised Lazarus from the dead yet sought to kill him and Lazarus also and did soon after crucifie him and many more such have been and are So that then there is no such generally Redemption as the free-willer teacheth nor is originall sinne cut off by the promise nor by Christs actuall sufferings nor by the new birth from above But Adam remained wholly polluted by his sinne in respect of nature soule and body and all his posterity are deeply stained therewith unto this day And although children do not presently so soon as they are born act the evill yet the seed is in them which soon sprouts up and brings forth fruit even in the holiest regenerate mens children as experience hath long proved and are under the law of sinne and death else why should God destroy so many thousand thousands of them by the flood and all the children in Sodom of which place he saith If ten righteous be found there I will not destroy it forâ—tenâ— sake Every child therefore must be regenerate from above or it cannot be saved It is true Adam having eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evill which hee was forbidden upon pain of death to eat of or touch
all this that may give occasion for any man justly to say or think that God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ should bind any mans legges and then command them to goe and to doe this or that as the Free-will teacher would inferre But I wish that he would tell us plainly the cause why some men doe repent and beleeve and are saved and not all If he shall say as some doe that it is because some men will and some will not Then I ask him the reason or cause of this great difference of will in man that one should have a will to will unto life eternall and another to will unto death eternall If he say it is by Gods worke of creation in the womb or in Adam then he makes God to bee the author of the evill as well as of the good which he would seem by his Doctrine to avoid If he say it is by the operation of the Heavens Sunne Moon or Starres which Mathematickes say cause severall dispositions in men some to evill and some to good Then hee makes those creatures the cause which were very heathenish Neither can they cause such a difference in mens wills as to life and death eternall nay then may those people be excused who adore them as Gods Therefore we say there is no such difference of will but all mens hearts are by Nature since the first fall of Adam and because thereof hard and their wills stubborn and bent to ill whose fruit is death And it is by the speciall operation of God from heaven that any mans heart and will is brought to repent and beleeve unto life eternall to be so born of water and of the Spirit without which no man can be saved no nor child how young soever And it is true God doth not effect or bring this to passe in every man neither did hee so determine any more then hee did to keep those Angls that fell or Adam from falling for then must all have been saved And where had been then the glory of the power of God in respect of his justice and the riches of his mercies whereof Paul speaketh Rom. 9.22 23. and which sundry other Scriptures doe so often make mention of and declare to the glory of God and comfort of his chosen And it is also true that as God did not decree or will to save all men so neither did he decree or will the destruction of all nor of any man but upon those just grounds and causes in themselves before declared which he foresaw And so men are said to be ordained of old to condemnation and Esau to he hated before hee had done good or evill yet did he not ordain sinne nor make death nor did he ever break the bruised Reed nor quench the smoking Flax nor will or desire the death of a sinner but rather that hee should return and live as it is written And so it is true and cleare that the salvation of man is meerly and freely of GOD through Jesus Christ and his destruction is of himselfe And this shill all men and Angels know assuredly in that day when God shall judge the secrets of all men by him even Jesus Christ and shall justifie God in all things both in respect of his justice on them that perish and in respect of his mercies on them that are saved And every thing in the estate of that world it being the end for which all things were created shal be so much to the praise and glory of God and to the joy and rejoycing of his chosen as nothing that can bee thought of or wished could be more And as comcerning the Free-willers doctrine of falling away from all graces and gifts of the Spirit regeneration and whatsoever which they would seem to ground on those Scriptures which speake of some excellent gifts that men may be made partakers of and fall away from them and perish as Mat. 12.43 44 45. Heb. 3.12 14. Heb. 6.5 6. Heb. 10.26 27 28. 2 Pet. 2.20 21 22. Ezek. 8. and other places Herein also they are much deceived and erre exceedingly not discerning things that differ nor knowing to distinguish between those gifts of the Spirit which are common to all men and those that are more speciall and peculiar onely to a few Which is one main cause of their erring so much in every thing And doubtlesse the cause of the same cause is hardnesse of heart and unbeliefe the contraries to the baptisme or birth of water and of the Spirit without which no man can have the faith of Abraham nor know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven And was the case of him unto whom Christ spake and said Joh. 3. Art thou a Master of Israel and knowest not these things For although it bee true that men may be made partakers of those common gifts in the places mentioned and fall away from all as there it saith yet it followeth not neither is it true that any of those that are born of water and of the Spirit who have that faith in Christ whereby they eat his flesh and drink his blood that have their sins washt away therewith and their heart sanctified ever did or can fall away and perish And the reason is because they are kept not by their own wills but by the will and power of God and of Christ as Christ himself saith Joh. 6. And this is the Fathers wil which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lese nothing but should raise it upagain at the last day v. 39.40 And again My sheep heare my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater then all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Joh. 10. They are kept by the will and power of God as Peter also saith of such faithfull ones Blessed be the God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead or an inheritance incorrupible and undefiled that fadeth not not away reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation c. 1 Pet. 1.2 3 4 5. And John saith whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh 3.9 Meaning not willingly in his minde for hee had said before If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1.8 He may through temptation be led captive to sin as Peter was but he never in his mind becomes a servant to sinne more hee therein serveth the Law of God and so it is no more he that sinneth but sin that dwelleth
in him that is in his flesh as Paul saith Rom. 7. So then it is cleare and certain that whosoever is born of God are kept by the power of God and of Christ his seed the Spirit of Christ remaineth in them and they shal never perish And this is the true estate of every child of God that is born of him which if they who teach the contrary doctrine could attain they should discern the things that so truly differ and be able to distinguish truly between the speciall peculiar graces which they onely that are born of God partake of and those that are common to all Could they annoynt their eyes with that eye-salve of which Christ speaketh Rev. 3.18 19. Draw such water as they in Samuels dayes did powre it out before the Lord the tears of true repentance from an humble and contrite heart and confesse their sinnes unto him and desire mercy they should then be baptized with that one Spirit and beleeve in their hearts with that one faith and have that one hope of the Saints and see and know the mysteries of the Kingdome of heaven for unto such onely doth God reveal them as it is written Psal 25. Math. 11.25 Matth. 13.11 They would not then reject that first principle of Christ the baptisme of repentance as a needlesse thing to goe before in the heart of a sinner to prepare the way to the Faith of Christ which justifieth such sinners from their sinnes and call it a comming in by the back doore Nor judge such poore heavie loaden weary soules to bee at the farthest distance from Christ of any sinners in the world as some have done But would know that they are the bruised Reeds and broken hearted whom Christ was anoynted to preach the good tidings unto and to bind up those lost sheep whō he came into the world to seek out and to save let them therefore confider of these things and repent And let every one unto whom God hath given eyes to see eares to heare and a heart to understand beware of these false teachers and their doctrine And also and more especially of those who turn all Scriptures into Allegories Parables and conceited fancies which they our of their deep Philosophy have found out and teach as the great mystery of truth contained in them Their chiefe Author being one Henry Nicholas or H. N. as it stands in his books The main points of their doctrine being these following That CHRIST is now at this present come from the Right Hand of GOD and fitteth in his throne of judgment judging the quick and the dead 2. That they which sleep in Christ are raised from the dead the sting of death taken away and death swallowed up in victory 3. That all the promises of God and whatsoever is written in Scripture concerning the everlasting kingdome of Christ with all his Saints becometh now in this present last day as they call it fulfilled 3. That the seat of judgment is in the comminalty of the Family of Love 4. That Christ is a mysticall thing which they call Holinesse and the Antichrist Sin 5. That there is no other resurrection of the body than what is now in present brought to passe and in fulfilling mystically by the voyce of H. N. 6. That the Soule or Spirit when the body dieth goeth into the Being of God and the Body to the earth the principle from whence it came there to remain for ever and so both Soule and Body to be as they were before they knew they had a Being You shall see here some of his very words as in his Book intituled A joyfull Message of the Kingdome He inviteth all people in the world to entertain his message As first in his Preface he hath these words following Confider on the time O all ye people which love the truth of Jesu Christ Presently in this day of the love and of the appearing of the coming of our Lord Jesu Christ in the resurrection of the dead wherein the Law the Prophets and all what is written of Christ becometh fulfilled And in Chap. 1. thus it stands H. N. through the grace and mercy of God and through the Holy Spirit of the love of Jesu Christ raised up by the higest God from the dead according to the providence of God and his promises anointed with the holy Ghost in the old age of the holy understanding of Jesu Christ Godded with God in the Spirit of his love c. His quotations Esay 65. 1 Cor. 15. And Sent. 9. of the same Chapter For behold in this present day the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with the many thousands of his Saints becometh manifested which hath set himselfe upon the seat of his Majesty for to judge in this same day the whole world c. quot Mat 24. Mat. 25. Iude 1. And Chap. 35. Sent. 8. Behold in this present day according to the Scriptures the resurrection of the Lords dead cometh to passe presently in this same day through the appearing of the coming of Christ in his Majesty c. In which resurrection of the dead God sheweth unto us that the time is now fulfilled that the dead which are fallen asleep in the Lord rise up in this day of judgment and appeare unto us in godly glory c. His quot Dan. 12.4 Esd 7. 1 Thes 4. 1. Cor. 15 And Chap. 38. Sent. 2. Wherefore awake now all lift up your heads here and see the wonderfull acts of God and have regard unto the sound of the last Trumpet c. His quot Mat. 24. Luke 21. 1 Cor. 15. 1 Thess 4. These and a thousand more such like sayings to the same purpose hath H. N. in his writings onely these I thought fit here to relate to the end that you unto whom God giveth eyes to see and a heart to understand may perceive upon what foundation those many Ministers and people that have fallen from one opinion and form of religion to another doe ground their new spirituall way called Familisme And that ye may beware of giving care thereunto it being a very cunning mystery of deceit much taught by Ministers and others publickly and privatly and much spreading in this Citie of London and in all parts of this kingdome now at this day And know ye that although it be true that Christ by his Spirit is now with his faithfull now in this present time during their pilgrimage here as he promised and that by the same Spirit of truth the wicked world is convinced of sinne of righteousnesse and of judgment as he said and that they are in the spirit of their mind and affection risen with Christ and have by faith an entrance into the rest of God and everlasting kingdome of the Lord Jesus Christ as it is also written Yet is not Christ therefore come in his glory to judge the quick and the dead to fit in the throne of his glory and reigne in his kingdom with all his Saints nor they raised up according to those Scriptures which H. N. quoteth for his purpose Neither doth the last Trumpet yet sound spoken of Matth. 24. 1 Cor. 15. 1 Thess 4. Rev. 11.15 Nay but Christ shall come and will come and that speedily and shall fit in the Throne of his glory visibly and truly the dead shall be all raised truly in respect of their body and every man shall be judged according to his workes the last Trumpet shall sound at his coming according to those Scriptures and his Kingdome and reigne with all his Saints shall be truly manifested to all His Dominion shall be from Sea to Sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth they that dwell in the wildernesse shall bow before him and the enemy shall lick the dust All Kings shall fall down before him and all Nations shall serve him as it is written Psal 72. God shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and he shall reigne over the House of Jacob for ever and of his Kingdome there shall be no end as it is also written 1 Chro. 17.11 12 13 14. Psal 89. Dan. 7. Luke 1. And whereas there be some that would have ye look for new Apostles to teach you plant new Churches And others for another Elias to come and restore all things hearken ye not unto them but consider and know that as Christ said In those dayes ye have Moses and the Prophets so have we yea more we have the Apostles we have Christ and the Elias also that was to come insomuch as we have their word and testimony And if we shall refuse to heare them then will we not beleeve the Prophets and Apostles themselves in person if they should come And besides let us know for a certainty that we hive their word and that Christ prayeth for those that shall beleeve in him through their word John 17.20 And know also that as the Ministery and Baptisme of Christ remaineth to this day so doth the Ministery and Baptisme of Iohn who is that very Elias that was to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord. And that his voyce crieth out unto us all for repentance that we may have our sinnes purged away by the Baptisme of Christ and so become born from above of Water and of the Spirit without which what form of Religion or opinion soever we have we shall certainly perish for ever Let us therefore hearken to their voyce and the Lord give us hearts will and power so to doe that we may repent and beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved from his wrath in that day and so live and reigne with him in his kingdome for evermore Amen FINIS June 16. Imprimatur John Downame