the ordinary way of Generation and that the menstruous Humour was held in Scripture to be such a filthy and unclean thing which is called The Fountain of her Blood Levit. 20.18 hath the same signification also the Circumcision of Children on the eighth day And it s said in Job 25.4 How can Man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is born of a Woman To wit in the ordinary way of Generation And here the natural state of Man is declared before his spiritual Regeneration in Christ Jesus And though that was said by Bildad one of Job's Friends yet it is confirmed by Job himself Chap. 14.4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one But this Seed or Principle of Sin and Corruption is not charged or imputed unto Men until they joyn and consent unto it and actually obey it as is clear from Rom. 5.13 For until the Law Sin was in the World but Sin is not imputed when there is no Law Now when is it that there is no Law but in the time of Infancy wherein Children are not capable of any Law or of doing Good or Evil any more than when in the Womb For until Children begin to have the use and exercise of their reasonable understanding so as to know the Right hand from the Left according to Jonah 4.11 they cannot be understood to be under the Law But to say that any Infants are eternally damned for that first Sin and without any actual Sin or Transgression of theirs committed in their own Body is expresly contrary to Scripture that saith The Soul that sinneth shall die and every one shall receive according to the Deeds done in the Body good or evil and he that soweth to the Flesh shall reap Corruption as he that soweth to the Spirit shall reap Incorruption and Life eternal And therefore none shall finally perish or be lost for that first Sin according to Scripture but for their actual Disobedience here in this World and their final Unbelief and Impenitency For as concerning the Judgment and Punishment of the first Sin it was immediately inflicted after the Fall to wit the Death of all in Adam But Christ the second Adam by his death for all that died in Adam doth give unto all his free Gift that cometh upon all unto Justification of Life and thus the Plaister is as broad as the Sore and the Medicine as universal as the Disease and it is not simply the Sin or Disease but the refusing and rejecting the Medicine and Physician that is the cause of any Mans final destruction And how or in what manner Adam's Children and Posterity were concerned in that first Sin whether only by Imputation as some say or by real Participation as others say the Wise in heart may easily judge Let it suffice at present to say that Adam's Children being his Branches and he their Root they do really partake with him both in the defilement and also in the promised Seed in order to their Restoration for when God said to Adam In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die his Children and Posterity were included So when God said I will put enmity between thee to wit the Serpent and the Woman and between thy Seed and her Seed it shall bruise thy Head and thou shalt bruise his Heel Their Children and Posterity are equally included for Adam after his Fall being restored and made an holy Root as is generally acknowledged as Paul declareth If the Root be Holy so are the Branches and if the first Fruit be holy the Lump is also holy And as God promised unto Noah and to his Sons Gen. 9.8 And behold I establish my Covenant with you and with your Seed after you His Branches are holy with him to wit not actually but by having a Seed or Principle of Holiness put in them derived from Christ the second Adam who is that promised Seed whereby they are made capable of becoming Holy by improving the same and this is that federal Holyness which all the Children of Adam and Noah have that is all mankind which is more encreased or diminished but not totally abolished in any as the immediate Parents are found more or less actually holy for the more that any sin that noble Seed and Principle of Holiness both in them and in their Children is the more clouded and vailed every Sin that a Man committeth until it be purged and done away being a vail over that noble Seed And God renewed the promise to Abraham to make him the Father of all Nations and Families of the Earth and that in him they all should be blessed and in his Seed not that this should be fulfilled by his being their Father according to the Flesh or in the way of carnal Generation but through Christ who is the Seed of Abraham by whom the Blessing and Grace of God was to come upon all Rom. 4.16 17. and in this respect Abraham is called the Father of us all as it is written I have made thee a Father of many Nations before him whom he believed God quickening the Dead and calling the things which were not as though they were to wit the Dead in Adam are all in due time quickned by Christ the promised Seed of Abraham that they may all become the Children of Abraham through Faith in Christ Jesus for by virtue of Christ's Death and the Promise made to Adam Noah and Abraham these three general Fathers all Adam's Posterity are holy in a Scripture sense not actually but in capacity to become actually Holy through the holy Seed given unto them and put into them as they come to close and joyn with it in true Faith and Obedience And this doth well answer to Peter's Vision whereby all manner of four footed Beasts of the Earth and wild Beasts and creeping things and Fowls of the Air which God had cleansed all Nations of Adam are understood Acts 10.12 13 14 15. CHAP. VI. More particularly and largely concerning the way of Restoration by Jesus Christ his dying for all and giving unto all sufficiency of Grace and means of Salvation whereby they may be saved ACcording to the Testimony of the holy Scriptures Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all Men but especially of them that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 and he is called the Saviour of the World John 4.42 and the Saviour of the Body Ephes 5.23 and that he hath dyed for all Men is the express Testimony of the holy Scriptures in divers places 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them 1 Tim. 2.4 5 6. God will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth for there is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man
Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them Liars Rev. 3.9 Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee Rev. 18.4 5 6. And I heard another Voice from Heaven saying Come out of her my People that ye be not Partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her Plagues for her sins have reached unto Heaven and God hath remembred her Iniquities Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her Works in the Cup which she hath filled fill to her double THE Presbyterian and Independent VISIBLE CHURCHES IN New-England And else-where Brought to the Test and examined according to the Doctrin of the holy Scriptures in their Doctrin Ministry Worship Constitution Government Sacraments and Sabbath Day More particulary directed to those in New-England and more generally to those in Old-England Scotland Ireland c. WITH A Call and Warning from the Lord to the People of Boston and New-England to Repent c. And two Letters to the Preachers in Boston and an Answer to the gross Abuses Lies and Slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton c. By GEORGE KEITH LONDON Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1691. A Friendly EPISTLE To these PEOPLE called Presbyterians and Independents FRIENDS IN true Love and good Will I have writ the following Treatise unto you hoping it may find entertainment with some among you to give it the Reading and seriously to consider what you read and my earnest Exhortation and Advice is unto you that in all your reading whether in this or any other Book ye turn your minds to that Light of Christ within you wherewith he hath enlightned you and all Men as the holy Scriptures declare and that ye may believe in Christ the Light and Life in you who is the Wisdom and Power of God and who was in all the holy Prophets and Apostles and whose Spirit that was in them that gave forth the holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament and the same Spirit only doth and only can give to all Readers of the holy Scripture a true and right understanding of them and of all other Books that treat of Doctrins and Matters of Religion whether they have proceeded from a measure of the same holy Spirit And if ye believe in Christ the Light the Life the Wisdom and Power of God in you and joyn your Minds to his inward divine Illumination He will anoynt the Eyes of your Understanding with his Spiritual Eye-Salve and then your Eyes shall be opened to see and understand what ye read and through your faith in him he will also open and circumcise your inward Ears and cause you still more and more to be acquainted with his living Voice and Words in you all which are Spirit and Life and this will give you a spiritual savour and taste whereby ye shall be able to try and judge of things that differ whether Men or Books whether Spirits or Doctrins what are of God and what are not of him for although the Scriptures are the best outward Test or Touchstone or Rule whereby to try all Doctrins of Men or Books yet it is the holy Spirit of Christ and his Light inwardly shining and enlightning the dark Hearts and Vnderstandings of Men that gives them ability rightly to understand the Scriptures otherwise the Scriptures are as a sealed Book both to the learned and unlearned For though the Jews had the Scriptures of the Old Testament which prophecied of Christ and of the Time and Manner of his Coming and how he was to suffer Death for the sins of Men and to rise again and ascend into Glory yet none of them had that Understanding but such only as were turned to his divine Illumination in their Hearts and were acquainted with his holy Spirit Light and Life in them And the like grave and wholsom advice I recommend unto you which a certain Ancient Christian gave unto Justin Martyr before his Conversion to the Christian Faith to wit That he should diligently read and search the holy Scriptures which should give him more Content than all Heathen Authors but withal that he should mind the Gate the LIGHT by which only he could enter into the true Understanding and Knowledge of them The which Passage the said Justin relateth in his Works and John Fox hath it also in his Martyrology taken out of him And though in this Treatise I have affirmed and sufficiently demonstrated that your Visible Churches are no true Churches of Christ yet I do not say nor conclude that none of you belong to Christs true Church in any true regard But on the contrary I have that true Charity Faith and Hope concerning a Remnant among you who have in the least measure true Hungerings and Thirstings after Righteousness and a great inward longing and panting of Heart and Soul after the Lord Jesus Christ to know him and enjoy him more nearly than by all hear-say or report of him and whose Souls are sick of Love for him and feel your need and want of him as the sick that need the Physician that ye do indeed even all such of you belong to Christ and are the real Members of his Body which is his Church for where any living Desire is after Christ and where any true sense or feeling of the want and great need of him is raised in any Soul there is somewhat of the Life of Christ in that Soul and there is Christ himself present who hath begot it and that Soul is in some Measure a living Member of Christ and to such it will be glad Tidings to hear that Christ is so near unto it as really to be within it even really and livingly present and where the least true measure of Sincerity Tenderness Meekness Gentleness Humility Uprightness of Heart and Soul hath place in any there is Christ present in that Soul who hath already begun his good Work in the same and the beginning of his Work is to quicken and make alive the Soul unto him And every Soul that is thus quickned and made alive unto him as it doth hold fast this Beginning and doth continue still hungering and thirsting after Him to know and enjoy and receive of his Fulness more plentifully doth really belong to him and is in a state of Salvation e'en so far and as it here abideth it is impossible that it can perish But yet tho such belong to Christ and to his Church it doth not follow that the visible Church which they are outwardly and by some outward Form or Practice joyned unto is the true Church of Christ for they themselves distinguish of the Church Visible and Invisible and do affirm That Hypocrites are Members of their Visible Church
us and working together with us This answer is but a meer presumption or Conjecture seeing they deny all inward Revelation and Inspiration of the Spirit which gave the Believers and Saints in former ages an infallible kowledge and assurance that they had the Spirit of God for the Spirit that they claim unto as they say doth only work in them effectively but not by way of object it is altogether an unknown mean or principle of operation it hath no proper light or evidence or demonstration of its own such as the Spirit that was in the Apostles is no infallible spirit that they have but fallible and therefore their Faith is fallible their Knowledge fallible their Hope fallible and every thing in them fallible dubious conjectural and uncertain and they only think that they have the Spirit of God and a spiritual knowledge of things and when asked they dare not say their thought hath any infallible assurance in it as all true assurance is Infallible yea some of them are so dark ignorant and blind that to me in my hearing have affirmed That the Apostle Paul was not infallibly sure that he had the Spirit of God bringing Paul's words 1 Cor. 7.40 I think also that I have the Spirit of God But according to his blind argument the holy Ghost is not infallibly sure for the same Greek word is applied to the holy Ghost Acts 15.28 It seemed good to the holy Ghost but this is blasphemous to think or affirm and I see not how they can clear their Doctrin of Blasphemy to say That they have the Spirit of God and yet to affirm That they have no Infallible Spirit The plain English of which is that the Spirit of God and God himself is fallible 6. But the great cause and reason why all true Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel should not only be truly godly and holy Men but also should be indued with some more than ordinary power of the holy Spirit and communications thereof not common to all Christians at least in degree though one spirit in all is That the Ministry of every true Minister of Christ is a Ministration of Grace of Spirit of Life and Power which doth emanate or flow forth from or through the Minister or Preacher as living Waters that emanate and flow from a living spring or fountain which reach and flow into the hearts and inward parts of the Hearers such as are sensible and whose hearts God is pleased to open to receive them and sometimes to the opening and making alive the dead souls and hearts of many hearers whereby not only many that are spiritually dead are made alive but the living are made more living and livingly refreshed and strengthened and though this can hardly or not at all be received by many yet thousands can witness it from living experience that they have felt streams of divine Life Power and Vertue to spring and flow forth from the Spirit of Christ in faithful Preachers into their souls and inward parts to their exceeding refreshing and strengthning in the inward Man and the Scriptures abundantly confirm it that so it was in the primitive times the Ministers of Christ were the Ministers of the Spirit and Power of God and the outward and audible Words that reached the outward Ears were only as a Conduit of Conveyance to convey and transmit that heavenly Virtue that flowed through them and therefore the Ministers of God are called in Scripture flames of Fire and their Words and Preaching have a divine and spiritual Fire and Heat in them that exceedingly warm and melt the cold and congealed Hearts of many Hearers and that Fire is a living Fire or Power of Life to quicken them And this was it that made the two Disciples going to Emaus say How did not our Hearts burn within us while he spoke to us by the way and opened the Scriptures unto us And when Christ preached to the People it is said he spoke with Authority that is Power and not as the Scribes and so did the Apostles as Paul declared That his Preaching was in Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power And Christ and the holy Spirit spake in him to the People when he preached and so did it in all the other Apostles and Ministers of Christ and the Hearers who had and knew Christ in their own hearts had a Proof sufficient that Christ spoke in Paul by what they felt of that spiritual Vertue and Power that did flow forth through him in his Ministry And according to this Peter exhorted That he who ministers should minister of the Power that God giveth as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God So they ministred not only Words but Grace and Power and Life to the hearers And thus there is a communication of the Grace and Graces of God not only betwixt Ministers and Hearers but among all the Faithful who are as one living Body but many Members and every Member a living Member and ministring Life one to another as it is in the natural Body and this is that Communion of the Saints that the Scripture testifieth that they had together in the Spirit which did knit their Hearts together in Love unto all Riches of the full assurance of Understanding Col. 2.2 And with such living instruments that are spiritually made alive unto God doth God work to make their Ministry effectual and fruitful to convert and beget Souls unto God and when begotten to nourish and feed them with the sincere Milk of the Word which Milk is not the outward Words but the Life that is in the Words For as in the outward God doth not work with a dead Man to beget outward and natural Children but with the living so it is with Men spiritually living with whom God worketh to beget Sons and Daughters spiritually unto God where God only properly and principally is the Father and Men but Instruments with and by whom he worketh and in order to this spiritual begetting of Sons and Daughters unto God by the Ministry of faithful Preachers God giveth unto them a spiritual and divine Seed which they convey in their words into the Hearts and Souls of their Hearers according to 1 Cor. 9.10 He that ministreth Seed to the Sower And Isa 55.10 That it may give Seed to the Sower So that there is a divine and spiritual Seed in the Words and Preaching of a true Minister of Christ for the words are living Words and are not his but the words of Christ and of the holy Spirit that speaketh in him But he that speaketh Words as suppose Scripture-words and not by the Spirit of Christ speaking in him there is no divine Seed in the Words there is the form or body of the Words but there is no Soul or Life in them as he speaks them And these Men are like that Harlot which took hold of Josephs garment but himself she could not enjoy So many get the outward form of the words
transmit the Beams of his divine Light Life and Love into our Souls through Means and Instruments as good Men and good Books and especially in reading or meditating in the Scriptures and also good Angels who are ministring Spirits and do minister to the Heirs of Salvation so many times it pleaseth him to bring them into a solitude or solitary place Hos 2.14 and there to speak unto them and reveal himself to the unspeakable satisfaction of their Souls without all means whatsoever save only that great and always most necessary and desirable Mean the Lord Jesus Christ in and through whom the Father doth always speak and reveal his Glory to his dear Children even as Christ declared saying No Man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him For none of all the Prophets or Apostles did know or converse with God but as the Son did reveal him who is that most lovely and aimable skreen cloathing or vail through which the Glory of the Father shineth forth into our Souls meekly and gently and yet most sweetly according as every one is able to receive 3. And they who deny all inward divine Revelation of God in his Saints ever since the Apostles days and would wholly exclude the Saints from all inward enjoyment of God and Christ in their own immediate Light Glory and Brightness may be justly charged with Blasphemy against the great love and kindness of God to his People And such of the Priests of New-England who have blasphemously called the Light of God in his People A stinking Vapour from Hell and do blaspheme against the Light of God and Christ in all Men in a Day of Visitation that is given to lead and bring them unto God a meer human and natural Light corrupt and dark as some of them have called it and as they generally esteem of it And yet for this their Blasphemy we would not have the Magistrate to hang them or any way to punish them but our desire and Prayer unto God is for them if it be his good will that such of them who have not out-lived the Day of Visiation may find Mercy to repent and believe and acknowledge the Truth they have so long gain-sayed And whereas these Faith-publishers at Westminster in Old-England and at Cambridge and Boston in New-England do say in their Confession cap. 26. sect 3. This Communion which the Saints have with Christ doth not make them in any wise partakers of the Substance of his God-head and that to affirm it is impious and blasphemous It deserveth our serious consideration and to examin where the Impiety and Blasphemy lieth whether at their door who deny it or theirs who affirm it Even that the Saints are partakers of the Substance of his God-head And first as to their Proof from Scripture they cite Col. 1.18 19. And he is the Head of the Body the Church who is the beginning the first-born from the Dead that in all things he might have the preheminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell But this place of Scripture saith not that the Saints are not partakers of the Substance of the God-head of Christ but the contrary may be proved from this very place which calleth him the Head of the Body the Church For as it is the same Substance of Life that is in the Head and in the Body and every Member of it So it is the same divine Life and Spirit that is in Christ the Head and all his Members and that Spirit is the holy Spirit and that Life is the Word and the Word and the Spirit are one Substance and Being with God as the same Confession saith cap. 2. sect 3. And that the Saints are partakers of the divine Nature and of the holy Ghost the Scripture expresly declareth it 2 Pet. 1.4 and Heb. 6.4 So that it is marvelous blindness or inadvertency in these Men so to contradict the express Scripture testimony And for the Word Substance with respect to the inward enjoyment of God and Christ the Scripture hath it expresly in several places Prov. 8.21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit Substance and I will fill their Treasures And Heb. 10.34 Knowing that in your selves for so the Greek doth bear it ye have in Heaven a better and more enduring Substance For as they had it in Heaven so they had an earnest of it on Earth in their Hearts and that all fulness dwelleth in Christ doth not prove that his Saints enjoy none of that fulness but on the contrary Out of her Fulness as said John we have all received and Grace for Grace John 1.16 And not only the Saints receive Gifts and Graces from Christ but they receive him and the Father in him and with him to live and dwell in them according to John 17.23 I in them and thou in me And yet this doth not infer that the Saints are equal with Christ that they have the same Spirit and Life with him and through him and by and from him as it doth not prove that the Foot is equal with the Head because the same Soul or Spirit that is in the Head is in the Foot and the same Life that is in the Root of a Tree is in the Branches and as Christ said I am the Vine ye are the Branches And if the Saints do no wise partake of the Substance of the Godhead of Christ I ask them what do they partake of him Do they partake only of the Substance of his Manhood without the Godhead or of neither If the first then the Manhood of Christ as they partake of it is without the Godhead which is Blasphemy indeed or if the second that is to say the Saints do neither partake of the Substance of his Godhead nor of the Substance of his Manhood then they partake nothing of Christ at all substantially according to their Doctrin O miserable Teachers What then do they partake of him if nothing Substantially Of his Accidents as they commonly say All Graces are nothing but Accidents Then here is a new sort of Doctrin of Transubstantiation as these of Rome say The consecrated Wafer or Cake hath the Accidents of Bread in it as the colour taste and smell of Bread but nothing of the Substance of Bread is there So say these Faith-makers The Saints that did see smell taste and feel of Christ in ancient times that which they did spiritually see smell taste and feel with their Souls and Hearts is only Accidents and no Substance This is more strange than that other that there is no Substance of Bread in the Cake but only the Accidents But why was not your reverend Brother as ye called him John Owen taxed with Blasphemy for affirming That the holy Ghost doth well in Believers really and as he worded it personally together with his Graces And Samuel Rutherfold a great Presbyterian who said in one of his Printed Epistles He
them by his holy Spirit and not only Faith but Love Hope true Righteousness and Holiness Meekness Temperance and Humility and all other Evangelical Virtues and Fruits of the holy Spirit are the Instruments and Means whereby men obtain free Justification through Christ Jesus and whereby they are enabled and fitted or qualified to apply Christ Jesus and his Righteousness unto them so as to have the same imputed unto them and made theirs to wit Christ and all his spiritual Blessings Gifts and Benefits and his Death and Sufferings and Obedience with all the blessed Effects and Fruits of it For as a Line that is straight cannot be applyed unto another Line that is crooked but unto a Line that is straight so cannot the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Righteousness of God be applyed unto men for Justification unless these men be made righteous as he is in likeness or conformity unto him although not equal unto him And therefore John did seasonably give the warning and caution fore-seeing that many would claim to be righteous or justified when they were not really doers or workers of Righteousness 1 John 3.7 Little Children let no man deceive you he that doth Righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous And the same John said Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the Tree of Life c. Which is equivalent to their being justified seeing Justification doth include in its Nature a Right or Interest in Christ who is that Tree of Life 5. It is therefore a gross Error and a false and Antichristian Doctrin in these Faith-publishers at Westminster espoused by the Presbyterians and Independant Teachers in New-England That God doth justifie men not by infusing Righteousness into them but by pardoning their Sins and accepting them as righteous c. cap. 11. sect 1 2. And also that they say Faith receiving and resting on Christ and his Righteousness is the alone Instrument of Justification is another great Error For as Faith may well be compared to one Hand of the Soul whereby it receiveth and embraceth the Lord Jesus Christ so Love which is an inward Evangelical Grace and Virtue that is shed abroad or infused into the Soul by the holy Ghost may be compared to another Hand and Arm whereby it doth receive and embrace him And all the inward Evangelical divine Virtues and Graces that are wrought and begot in the Soul by the holy Spirit of Christ are so to speak as a whole intire Body consisting of many Members whereby the Soul doth embrace and cleave unto the Lord Jesus Christ and thus a perfect Union cometh to be witnessed betwixt the faithful Soul and the Lord Jesus Christ when it is joined unto him receiveth him and cleaveth unto him not by one single Grace or Virtue called Faith but by all other divine Graces and Virtues which make up a whole intire Body having many Members and Joynts whereby the Soul cleaveth to him as one streight Line is joyned to another or as one streight Body to another not in part only but in all parts And thus also doth the Lord Jesus Christ embrace the whole Soul in all its spiritual and divine Powers and Virtues that he hath freely conferred upon it And hence it is that true Believers are said to put on the Lord Jesus Christ as a man putteth on a Garment Now he that putteth on a compleat or intire Garment every part of his Body cleaveth to it even so the Soul that putteth on Christ cleaveth to him by all its spiritual Members which are the divine Evangelical Virtues wrought in it by the holy Spirit of Christ even as the Sins and evil Lusts are called the Members on Earth Col. 3.5 6. But though real inward Holiness and Righteousness as well as Faith be the Instruments whereby men are justified yet they are not the Foundation and Ground of Justification but the Lord Jesus Christ alone even Jesus of Nazareth who dyed for our Sins without the Gates of Jerusalem and rose again in his intire and perfect Obedience and Righteousness is the alone and only Foundation and ground of Justification on which the Souls of all the Faithful are to rest for Justification and Remission of all Sin and therefore no man is to rest or relie upon the best Works or Righteousness or Obedience that he doth or can do even when helped to perform the same by the help of the holy Spirit For this were to put good Works in the room of Christ which ought not to be for no Works of Righteousness or Holiness done by us even by the help of the holy Spirit is the Foundation of the Saints Faith or Justification but Christ alone and the free Love Mercy Grace and Favour of God the Father revealed in him and by him through the holy Spirit For seeing all men generally have sinned no mans best Obedience for Sin formerly committed can be a Ransom unto God but Christ alone is the Ransom even he who was Crucified and rose again 1 Pet. 3.18 The Just having suffered for the Vnjust that he might bring us unto God And as no man can redeem the Soul of his Brother so nor can he redeem his own Soul For the Redemption of the Soul is precious and ceaseth forever Psal 49.8 viz. to be the Work of man but it is only and alone the Work of him who is both God and Man according to verse 15. But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah See further these other Scriptures Ephes 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 15. Gal. 3.13 1 Pet. 1.18 Rev. 5.9 Mat. 20.28 1 Tim. 2.6 Job 33.23 24. 7. And seeing Remission and Pardon of Sin for Christ's sake is a part or branch of Justification as these Faith-publishers do acknowledg and that repentance is of such necessity that none may expect pardon without it as they confess cap. 15. sect 3. Is it not very manifest by their own Confession though in plain contradiction to their own Doctrin that Repentance is a necessary Instrument and Condition whereby to obtain Justification And indeed the Scripture layeth equal weight upon Repentance and Conversion as it doth upon Faith in order to obtain Remission or Pardon of Sins Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your Sins may be blotted out Acts 26.18 To turn them from Darkness unto Light and from the Power of Satan unto God that they may receive Forgiveness of Sins c. And when the Scripture saith Titus 3.5 Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us It is clear that Works before or without true Faith are understood and not the inward Work of Sanctification as is clear from the following Words by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the holy Ghost And if the real inward Work of Sanctification and Obedience had not been necessary to Salvation the
but to extenuate the Sin in the Believer and to aggravate it in the Unbeliever contrary to the Scriptures Testimony which doth aggravate any Sin that Men having once believed fall into more than in unbelievers as is clear from 2 Pet. 2.20 21. 2. And as for the Scriptures they bring in their said Confession to prove their false Doctrin let them be impartially examined and they will be found to prove no such thing some of them being expresly conditional as that in 2 Pet. 1.10 For if ye do these things ye shall never fall Here it is only promised conditionally but not absolutely that they shall not fall to wit if they give all diligence to add to their Faith Virtue c. Verse 5. And this serveth them not only from falling totally but from falling indefinitly or universally so as not at all to fall for he saith not Ye shall not fall totally But Ye shall not fall And there are many other Scriptures that though they do not expresly mention the Condition yet do Imply it and are to be expounded by other Scriptures that do express it 3. It is readily and willingly granted that there is a state in Holiness or Sanctification that may be attained and grown up into wherein men cannot fall away totally from a state of Grace but as they cannot fall away totally so they cannot commit any gross or great Sin which in the Scripture phrase is commonly called Sin to wit a hainous Sin or Crime which John calleth A Sin unto Death 1 John 5.16 17. And here he distinguisheth betwixt a Sin unto Death and a Sin that is not unto Death viz. that doth not totally slay the Soul's Life but woundeth it and killeth only in part as some small wandring or evagation of mind or giving way through slackning the Watch unto a vain Thought for some small time something of Anger or Passion upon some sudden occasion something of glorying in Sufferings or Services or Knowledge or in spiritual Attainments something of too forward and hasty Zeal and divers like sudden Motions that a gracious and godly Soul may be tryed and afflicted with that are as Thorns in the Flesh-and do wound and afflict the Soul but are not suffered to proceed so far as to carry it forth into any secret or open gross Crime either inwardly in the Heart or outwardly in Word or Deed. Hence both in the Old and New Testament we find divers kinds and degrees of Sin more or less heinous and these expressed by divers both Hebrew and Greek Words The more heinous are called Iniquities Vngodliness Impiety Vnrighteousness Perverseness Rebellion and others of an inferiour Nature are called Trespasses Debts Omissions Faults c. Now the least kind or degree of Sin doth weaken and wound yea kill in part the Soul 's spiritual Life as when in the natural Body some Member is mortally wounded and killed and yet the whole Person is not slain thereby but all gross Sins such as Fornication Adultery Murder Theft Robbery c. make havock waste and destroy the Soul's Life and kill the whole man whom notwithstanding God in his infinite mercy may and doth at times restore For we read of no Sin unpardonable but that of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and doing despite to the Spirit of Grace And such who are come to this noble degree and state of Sanctification are described Psal 119.2 3. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with the whole Heart they also do no Iniquity they walk in his ways And such have their Calling and Election made sure unto them such are not meerly or barely Servants nor Sons of the Bond-woman but Sons of the Free-woman and throughly renewed and born of God who doth not commit Sin for his Seed remaineth in them 1 John 3.9 And he cannot sin because he is born of God For indeed to him that is born of God Sin is contrary to his new Nature as much as Holiness or Righteousness is contrary to the Devil's Nature or as one contrary thing can be to another as it is contrary to a Fish to live on dry Land or for a Sheep or Dove to live in the bottom of the Seas But whoever commit any gross thing as Fornication Murder Adultery Theft Robbery Perjury c. never arrived to this pure and perfect state of Sonship were but Servants and not purely and perfectly Sons and yet the state of the Servant is a true and good state in its place and as faithfully improved leadeth on infallibly to the state of pure and perfect Sonship and such who have attained to this pure and perfect state of Sonship can say with Paul Gal. 4.31 So then Brethren we are not Children of the Bond-woman but of the Free And with John 1 John 2.19 They to wit such who were not true Sons but at best only Servants went out from us but they were not of us c. To wit Sons and Children of the Free-woman or the Children of the New Covenant they were only of Hagar that signifieth the Law or first Covenant And to conclude the Righteousness and Holiness of the first Covenant may be totally fallen from such as was that of the Angels who fell and Adam the first man he fell totally and so may they who are not further advanced than to bear the Image of him the earthly Adam but the Righteousness and Holiness of the New Covenant such as they attain unto who are throughly born of God and are made Overcomers and Conquerors yea more than Conquerors as the Scripture phraseth it and are made conform to the Image of Christ the second Adam the Lord from Heaven heavenly cannot be fallen from or lost such having overcome are made Pillars in the House of God so as no more to go out Rev. 3.12 And to this state only do all these places of Scripture relate that hold forth and imply a sure and absolute stedfastness in Holiness and Righteousness But who are thus far advanced and who are not although infallible Signs and Marks of distinction may be given of these two so differing states God only infallibly knoweth and they to whom he doth reveal it For it is God that must make known by the inward Revelation of his holy Spirit who hath these marks otherwise men may presume to have them when they have them not And of these infallible Signs and Marks some of them are to love God with the whole Heart to love him purely and perfectly to love him for himself and to desire to enjoy him as he is a God of Holiness Purity and Righteousness more than for Gifts or Comforts or Rewards that are of an inferiour Nature to hate and fear Sin more than all punishment for Sin to have no inward inclination or desire to revenge Injuries but most willingly and heartily to forgive and bear them to love Enemies from the very inward ground and bottom of the Heart and always to render