but to our Faith inwardly For the Opposition is not between Spiritual and Material but between Spiritual and Carnal 1 Cor. 3.1 and 9.11 Rom. 15.27 Spiritual Invisible and Eternal Things are incomparably and transcendently Material they are the Matters of God and of greatest Consequence and Importance to our Souls through Faith. The Soul is not the Form of Man but the Body is the Form of Man and the Soul is the quickening Life and Spirit In beholding a Corpse and dead Man we behold the Form and Appearance of Man but we do not behold the Soul. The Soul is the Image of God and therefore it cannot consist in a dead Form. Rom. 2.20 2 Tim. 3.5 4. Soul and Body are truly distinct as Principal and Instrumental the inward and the outward Man but they are not two essential and compounding Parts of Man. For Man is the Image of God who being without Parts and Composition so must needs be his Image As all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Every Man as to his natural Substance is simply a Man and not a Brute and therefore he must needs be uncompounded For to be simply a Man and yet compounded is a Contradiction Indeed the Body by it self consists of many Parts It will not therefore follow that it is onely one Part of Man. For if it be one only it is not many Gal. 3.16 As to Life Eternal the Soul is the Man not as excluding the Body but the Welfare of the Body is bound up in the Eternal Welfare of the Soul. If the Soul be safe all is safe If that be lost all is lost and the Man is undone for ever As to Life Temporal the Body is the Man not as excluding the Soul but as it is in and by the Body that Man doth visibly live and converse on Earth as a Man and not a Brute and the Body being dead the Man is dead as to this present Life And therefore not one Part of Christ but Christ Himself in respect of his Body was crucified dead buried and lay in the Grave Come see the place where the Lord lay Mat. 28.6 5. Every Artificial Image of Christ as God is an Idol and every Artificial Image of Christ as Man is Superstition and if adored then it is Idolatry Christ as Man is holy and Holiness may not be set forth by a dead Image or Picture Only holy Men and Women in this World as holy are the Image of Christ as he is Man. Rom. 8.29 Any other Image of Christ as Man is a lie and not the Image of Christ Christ is truly a Man but withal a special Man differing in kind from all other Men because he only is by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin He only is the Propitiation for the Sins of the whole World He only as Man is exalted at God's right Hand above all both Angels and Men They may be set forth by an Artificial Image or Picture but so may not Christ as Man. The only true setting forth of Christ as Man is by the Word and Sacraments through Faith because as Man he differs in specie in kind from all other Men. CHAP. XI Of the Church and Commonwealth 1. THE Holy Catholick Church which we believe as distinct from the elect Angels consists of the whole number of God's Elect in all Ages not as exclusive of what is good and commendable in Hypocrites Hereticks Apostates and Heathens but as liking and loving all that is good and lovely in whomsoever This Church began in penitent Adam and Eve they two were the first Church of the redeemed Upon the increase and multiplication of new Converts and Souls regenerate more were added to the Church successively like as when an Infant is born into the World there is one more added to the Society of Mankind Acts 2.47 The Apostles Commission was not to make a new Church differing in substance from what had been before and was in being at the time of Christ's Ascension but to preserve that Church which he left on Earth and by Apostolical Preaching and Endeavours to enlarge and add to it and so to make Jew and Gentile one in Christ Jesus Outward Variations suited to the Exegencies of the Church in its Militant State do not alter the intrinsecal Nature Essence and Unity of the Church which is the same for substance in all Ages But because Abel is the first who died in Faith and of whose Righteousness there is express mention therefore the Holy Catholick Church is fitly reckoned from him 2. The Church and Commonwealth are not two independent Societies but the Church as such is a holy Commonwealth simply dependent upon God through Christian Faith as to Life eternal And upon the Prince as sole Supream under God over all in his Dominions as to Life Temporal and Coercive rule by the Sword. Look as Homo being a Man includes Animal being a Living Creature So the Church includes human Society as being nothing but Mankind sanctified by Faith in Christ The Power and Authority of Christ as Man exalted at God's right Hand over all is simply dependent upon God And therefore all the Power and Authority of the Church must needs be simply dependent ministerial and subordinate and whatsoever Church claims to it self Power simply independent by that very claim it is proved to be Anti-christian that Man of Sin and Son of Perdition who exalts himself above God and above the Prince his Vice-gerent on Earth 2 Thess 2.3 4. 3. The Church is not two Universal and Particular Invisible and Visible but the Church is simply one as God is one admitting of just Conception but no Division It is one Whole or Universal as comprizing all the Parts But one Whole or Universal as distinct from all the Parts is only Notion and Conceit as a Man in the Moon or Castle in the Air a meer Chimera We see those Men and Women who are the Church Militant but that which makes them the Church Militant we do not see but believe The Church is plain and manifest to those who believe as the Sun at Noon-day is to seeing Men But he who believeth not makes God a Lyar 1 Joh. 5.10 and God being made a Lyar the Church must needs be made a Lyar too 4. It will not stand with Christian Faith Hope and Love to live divided in Heart and Conversation from any the least Member of Christ and true Christian who is evidently and apparently so so far as Man can judg We cannot be more holy than God more pure then Christ Whom he receives we are to receive or we cannot expect to be received by him The Communion of Saints is an Article of Faith unalterably fixed by God as to the substance of it and it consists in Christian Faith Hope and Love These are to the Church and every Member thereof what the Soul is to the Body But saving Christian Faith Hope and
without all new Act Motion Change and Transition in God unsearchably 3. God is and was and is to come Rev. 1.4 8. He is truly past truly present and truly to come and yet the same God but not in the same respects God as past is neither present nor to come God as present is neither past nor to come God as to come is neither past nor present God is essentially and yet freely related to all both Angels and Men as their Creator Upholder and Governour for ever this Relation was from Eternity future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. Between God and damned Men as Men there is eternal Relation as between Cause and Effect Between God and damned Men as damned there is no Relation at all but perfect and eternal Contrariety he is for ever blessed they are for ever cursed they do implacably hate him and he doth implacably hate them But he doth not hate them as they are Men For as Men they are eternally against their will the Work and Image of God who can in no instant hate his own Work and Image as such Against their will God doth lord and rule over them by Conscience his Agent in their Bosom and in them the Glory of his just Vengeance and Severity for Sin doth eternally shine forth and against their will they fulfil the divine Law by bearing its utmost Penalty 4. God as our Creator is the way to himself as our Redeemer our Sanctifier our Blessedness and End our All in all For unless we were by Creation Men we could not be redeemed holy and blessed Men. Yet is God no way the Author of Sin. We must not deny things plain because we cannot find out to Perfection things unsearchable and too wonderful for us Joh. 6.44 Rom. 11.33 Christ as Mediator is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Sin alienated from God and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works unless Christ as Mediator Advocate and Intercessor shall by his Grace reconcile us to himself as God we shall die in our Sins and perish for ever Rev. 22.13 Col. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.19 The Holy Ghost as Sanctifier is the way to himself as God our Maker and our End our All in all For we being by Nature dead in Sin and full of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness unless the Holy Ghost as Sanctifier shall quicken our Souls with Spiritual Life and by heavenly Regeneration make us like to himself as God in Righteousness and true Holiness we can never enter into his Kingdom Joh. 3.3 5. 5. The true God is God the Father not Incarnate God the Son Incarnate God the Holy Ghost not Incarnate one God blessed for ever the Reward and Rewarder of all Elect Angels and Men for ever their Blessedness and the Author of their Blessedness their All in all And under God the exalted Manhood of Christ is Sole Supream over all both Angels and Men the First-born of every Creature Col. 1.15 God as God is simply invisible But God as manifest in the Flesh and the Fountain-cause of all Good to Elect Angels and Men for ever is perfectly seen of all in Heaven Face to face and truly by Faith yet not perfectly of all the Saints on Earth God cannot be seen and known save by his own Light and gracious Manifestation of Himself Now God's first Discovery of Himself is in and by Creation accoâ—â—â—â—â— to his own Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus Antecedently to this he is not knowable by Angels by Men by Christ Himself as Man. Eph. 3.9 10 11. Joh. 1.18 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Tim. 6.16 CHAP. V. Of Adam in Innocency and the entrance of Sin into the World. 1. GOD created Adam in his own Image truly holy and like unto himself in heavenly Rectitude This heavenly Rectitude he lost by his Fall and it was renewed in him in part by heavenly Regeneration after his Fail but not perfectly while on Earth The state of Adam in Innocency was Supernatural and not Natural For God created all Things and consequently Adam by Jesus Christ according to the eternal Purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.9 10 11. This is cleaâ—â—â— matter of Faith and wholly Supernatural For of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus the light of Nature saith nothing at all God only is holy by Nature that is essentially holy like as he only is by Nature God Gal. 4.8 Adam was holy not by Nature but by Grace and heavenly dependence oâ— God. Which-Grace continued with him 'till he dissiking the Condition in which God made him and affecting to be independent Lord of his own Will chose rather to be ruled by himself than by the holy just and good Will of God. And so God did not necessitate his Fall nor deny him Grace to stand nor take his Grace from him But Adam by wilful eating of the forbidden Fruit did expel and put God's Grace from him and became the Author of his own Ruine 2. Adam needed heavenly Grace to keep him from inward lusting after the forbidden Fruit but not from outward eating of it Bare Lust as in it self is not Sin but all Lust in Man against the Spirit and after what the holy just and good God hath forbidden is very Sin before God tho not before Men Rom. 7.7 In such inordinate Lust the Soul is Principal and the Body is Instrumental The Body by it self cannot lust at all the Soul as to its natural substance is the Image of God and in that respect it must needs be innocent But if the Soul be destitute of inward heavenly Grace it is then full of ungodly and worldly Lusts invisibly in respect whereof it is enmity against God and the Image of the Devil Joh. 8.44 Jude 18. Tit. 2.11 12. Rom. 8.7 3. The divine Law is holy just and good Rom. 7.12 The sum of it is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and thy Neighbour as thy Self or A Conscience void of Offance both tomard God and toward Man. The divine Law considered outwardly as of old written in Tables of Stone and now in the Bible is man fold But considered inwardly as written in the Heart so it is only one as God is one because it consisteth by Conscience in each ones Bosom and Conscience in each Man can be but one Take away Conscience and Man is not Man but a Brute The nature of Conscience is to be under God and over Man as such it is a Law to it self Rom. 2.14 15. and the great Engine by which God doth govern the whole intellectual World. Adam while innocent was not under the Law and Covenant of Works For the Law of Works as distinct from the Law of Faith doth not exclude sinful Boasting Rom. 3.27 But there could be no sinful boasting in Adam while innocent The Covenant of Works gendreth to Bondage Gal. 4.24 But Bondage was not
Principal is that by Faith in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in various Degrees and there is no other Special and Principal Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall. Eph. 1.17 and 4.5 2 Cor. 4.13 2 Pet. 1.1 4. Fundamental Truth is not by way of Number but by way of holy Likeness to God who is simply one and simply one is above Number and not reducible to it The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three truly divers and distinct yet not three by way of Number Order and Dependence common to us and Heathens but by way of unsearchable Diversity not to be understood savingly without Christian Faithâ— which Heathens have not They who hold that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son do not mean that he proceedeth from them as from two Firsts for there cannot possibly be two Firsts in God Rev. 22.13 And they who hold that he proceedeth only from the Father do yet hold that he is by Nature very and eternal God and the Spirit of the Son and that the Son doth from the Father send the Holy Ghost the Comforter This supposed the Difference seems to be but in Word and not in Substance of Matter 5. It is evident from Job 13.7 Heb. 1.1 2 3. and from the Nature of the thing that there is the Person of God. For God is an intelligent Being though infinitely intelligent and increated and every intelligent Being must needs be a Person Gen. 14.21 Jon. 4.11 Numb 31.28 Now they who hold that the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons do yet hold that they are but one God. And if they who hold that as they are but one God so they are but one Person do yet hold that the Person of God the Father unbegotten and not incarnate as such is not the Person of God the Son begotten and incarnate in my opinion they both hold the same fundamental and necessary Truth and do but differ in Word The common School-Doctrine that in the Trinity there is alius alius but not aliud aliud And in Christ aliud aliud but not alius alius I conceive to be an Errour For aliud aliud must needs mean either Contrariety or Diversity If it mean Contrariety then it is false that there is Contrariety in Christ If it mean Diversity then it is false that there is not Diversicy in the Trinity So the common distinction of the Works of God within God and without God ad intra adextra is certainly an Errour For every Work of God is an effect simply dependent upon his free Pleasure Eph. 1.11 But no dependence can be in God all in God is simply independent And as there cannot be a Creature without a Creator so there cannot possibly be a Work of God without God Joh. 1.3 And look as it is said of his own Will God begat us Jam. 1.18 So equally it may be said of his own Will he made all Things and themfore not of Nothing For God's Will is not nothing but it is the prime Cause and the prime Cause is superlatively material to our Faith. CHAP. XX. Of Sin and particularly of the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1. SIN is the Transgression of the Law the Wages whereof according to legal Justice is eternal Damnation or it is the Undoing of Body and Soul for ever in Hell if God's Grace in Christ prevent not by giving Repentance and Pardon Look as all in God is God so all in Sin is Sin. With respect to human Judicature Sin is an Effect and Man's Will is the true Cause of it With respect to Divine Judicature it is no Esfect and therefore it can have no Cause but all that sin transgress without Cause Psal 25.3 Joh. 15.25 As to human Judicature Sin is an Accident a thing that comes to pass in time and is distinct from Man's natural Substance and is truly evitable As to Divine Judicature it is no Accident For from Eternity it was future it hath Dominion over the Ungodly and as never repented of it abides in the Conscience for ever and breeds the never-dying Worm This cannot be affirmed of an Accident quod subjecto inest quod potest adesse vel abesse absque subjecti Interitu For nothing eternal can be accidental It is one and the same thing which is both Sin and Guilt but not in the same respects Sin as pleasant ungodly Men do naturally love but as Guâ—lt doth intrinsecally go along with Sin and gripe their Conscience and fill them with legal Terrour so they do naturally hate and flee from it They love Sin but not Hell. 2. The Holy Ghost in Scripture is taken two ways either for God the Holy Ghost and so we are baptized in his Name Or for an Effect produced by him Hereof there are two Kinds principal and subservient principal is that Divine and Holy Nature which God doth plant in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in the instant of their Pardon and Justification by Faith. Eph. 1.13 14. The Holy Ghost in this Sense none of those now in Hell did at any time partake of Considered as a subservient Effect so it was eminently poured forth on the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and was common in that first Age of the Christian Church It consisted in the Gift of Tongues of Healing of casting out of Devils and other miraculous Distributions The Holy Ghost in this Sense many never Regenerate might partake of and afterward totally fall away perish eternally And this for ought I know is the meaning of the Holy Ghost in that much controverted Scripture Heb. 6.4 5 6. compared with Mat. 7.22 23. and 12.24 to 32. Act. 2. and 8.17 and 10.44 45 46. and 19. 2 3 4 5 6. Luk. 10.20 Joh. 7.39 3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore simply unpardonable because the Person guilty of it is justly forsaken of God given up to a reprobate Sense to final Obduration in Sin and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie and so he cannot but be finally impenitent and incurably graceless It seems to be a Degree of that kind of implacable Enmity against God and his holy Image which is in the Devil himself The Devils believe and tremble they cannot but have an inward Sense and Conviction that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World and the Judg of all both quick and dead and that the Religion contained in the Bible and sincerely professed by Abel Moses Peter Paul and the rest of the Elect in all Ages is the only true Religion And yet being eternally forsaken of God and left to themselves they have no power evangelically to repent they cannot but implacably hate God and his holy Image blaspheme his Truth and pure Religion and endeavour the utter Extinction of it and the eternal Ruin of every Man. 4. I was before a Blasphemer and a Persocuter and Injurious But I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly in Vnbelief 1 Tim. 1.13 This implies that had he done it wilfully and knowingly against the inward Belief and Conviction of his Conscience his Case had been very perilous In my Opinion the safest and easiest way to understand what is the Sin against the Holy Ghost is to make the Devil himself the Standard of it Though all ungodly Persons be the Children of the Devil yet as they are not all Atheists Murderers Adulterers Sodomites Perjured Traitors so they are not all guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost They who make Conscience of their ways and fear to sin against God may be sure they have not committed this unpardonable Sin. They who have been convinced and perswaded of God's true Religion and have solemnly covenanted and engaged their Souls to God in Christ Jesus and have professed the way of Truth if afterward they shall renounce the true Religion and blaspheme it and persecute the sincere Professourâ— of it and shall suffer themselves to be deluded so as to believe Lies contrary to the true Religion I think the Case of such is very perilous 5. We are to pray for all Men now living and that shall live hereafter but not for those whom we know to have committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.16 For the Rule of Prayer is not God's unsearchable Prescience what will be but God's Law obliging us to love our Neighbour as our selves and in Token thereof to pray for him while there is any Hope Now of all Ungodly Men while in the World there is humaâ— Hope which is a kind of middle State between the Godly in whom is Divine Hope of Salvation and the Damned in Hell and Persons guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost of whom there can be no Hope at all As for such as teach that we must pray for all sorts of Men but not for all of every sort pro generibus singulorum sed non pro singulis generûm it seems to be vain deceit Col. 2.8 For bare Generals as distinct from all the Individuals and Particulars is a meer Chimera Christ as Man prayed for all and in this he is our Patern Christ as God the Son incarnate did not pray for all but did omnipotently intercede for those only whose Salvation was future and for none else so as for them In this he is not our Paternbut infinitely above us Joh. 17.9 20. Luk. 23.34 FINIS ERRATA Pag. 6. line 39. read Counterprice P. 22. l. 27. r. Exigencies P. 25. l. 21. r. these P. 27. l. 39. f. Decree r. Graece P. 28. l. 8. r. to P. 29. l. 2. r. indelibly P. 32. l. 2 1. Index P. 34. l. 17. r. principal and. P. 37. l. 26. r. which makes
first forsake God. There can be no divine Hope of that which is not infallibly future and God foresees will never be But where is divine Hope that is divine evidence that the thing hoped for is infallibly future Now in all regenerate Souls there is planted by God divine Hope of their Perseverance and Salvation therefore it will most surely be otherwise God is made the Author of false and deceivable Hope 3. God keeps his Saints in this World from final Apostacy by the holy fear of it this is at once a sure pledg and principal engine of Perseverance Jer. 32.40 Ezek. 36.27 Rom. 11.20 As it is holy Fear so it differs in kind from the fear of Devils and Men ungodly in whom is fear but no holy Fear As it is fear of Apostacy so it differs in kind from the State of blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven in whom is perfect Fear as Fear is the same with reverence and transcendent esteem of God but no fear of Apostacy no possibility of Sin. 4. David in the instant of his Murder and Adultery was ungodly and in a state of Damuation The reason is because God's Judgment over all is by Conscience as his Agent in the Breast of Angels and Men universally and for ever And God's Judgment must be so plain that every Mouth may be stopped and all may clearly perceive the Righteousness of God. But if Persons may be in the same instant both Murderers and Adulterers and yet Godly and in a state of Salvation then cannot every Mouth be stopped nor can the Conscience of Angels and Men universally acquit God. There is in the Soul of David invisibly some spiritual Lust against the Flesh such for kind as is in no unregenerate Man 1 Joh. 3.9 Gal. 5.17 Considered as spiritual so it is invisibly active for God and not idle in the Soul Considered as Lust so it is not active but lusteth to act and for the present cannot act by reason of an excess of contrary Lust which doth overwhelm it and extinguish all godly Act. God's gracious purpose in Christ from everlasting concerning David cannot fail and therefore in time he gives him Repentance and Pardon of those enormous Crimes and so makes advantage thereof to his own Glory the disgrace of Sin the esteem of Holiness the comfort of the Penitent and the silencing of the Impenitent Thus where Sin abounded God's Grace much more abounded and from everlasting to everlasting God's Mercy is on David and all other regenerate Souls Rom. 5.20 Psal 103.17 5. Infallible Certainty as it is in God is the Divine Effence and admits of no degrees as it is in us it is the Image of God a divine effect and admitteth of degrees but so that every degree thereof is truly infallible and Certainty not infallible is a Contradiction as being the same with uncertain certainty So much holy Faith in Christ so much holy Self-knowledg Self-perception Self-feeling and Self-intuition here the same thing is both Act and Object As by living we know we live and by seeing we know we see so we believe and know we believe Joh. 6.69 Faith and Assurance as also Faith and Confidence are distinct yet not asunder they differ as Cause and Effect Now Cause and Effect are mutually related things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together and do mutually prove and infer each other the effect is eminently in the Cause and the Cause as such is the measure of the Effect Isa 32.17 Eph. 3.12 Heb. 10.22 Regeneration is the Seal of the Spirit by which he doth prove evidence and demonstrate to the Heart and Conscience of the Man regenerate through Faith that he is God's Child by Adoption elect in Christ and an Heir of Heaven This is divine Evidence and therefore he is bound to believe it with divine belief The Holy Ghost and renewed Conscience through Faith do undividedly witness the same thing yet not in the same respects the Holy Ghost doth witness the whole as principal and supream and renewed Conscience doth witness the whole as by his Grace instrumental and subordinate Rom. 8.16 17. 9.1 2 Cor. 1.12 22. Eph. 1.13 14. Doubting of Salvation may be in a godly Man in such sort as Unbelief may but no otherwise The least degree of holy Faith doth sincerely yet not perfectly mortify expel and war against Unbelief and carnal Doubting and Uncertainty CHAP. III. Of the Lord Jesus Christ the Mediator between God and Men. 1. THE Mediatorship of Christ began immediately after Adam's Fall For then God the Son as purposed in time to be Man and as Man to die for Sin gave Repentance and Pardon to Adam through Faith and so founded the New Covenant of which himself is the Mediator principally as he is God the Son subserviently as he is Man according to his own eternal purpose The godly before his Incarnation were saved by Faith in Jesus Christ as purposed to be Incarnate and the Godly since are saved by Faith in the same Jesus Christ as already Incarnate according to that Purpose Thus Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday and to Day and for ever without Parts and Composition Heb. 13.8 For if he consist of Parts then he is not simply impartial and then he cannot judg the World in Righteousness he must needs approve Murder in David and condemn it in Cain Which is Blasphemy If he be at all compounded then he is not simply Christ For simple and compounded are Contraries as Light and Darkness Sincerity and Deceit 2 Cor. 1.12 and 11.3 If he be not simply Christ he is a Deceiver 2. Christ considered as Man died for all Men as Men fallen in Adam equally and alike and shed as much Blood and as fincerely and effectually for Cain and Judas as for Abel and Peter and did all that lay in him as Man to save all Mankind without exception and continueth so to do For he could not be a perfectly holy Man without bearing equal and impartial love to all Men as Men fallen in Adam and to all godly Men as Godly As Man he makes no difference between one Man and another farther then they by Holiness or Sin shall difference themselves Christ considered as God could not die but he who is God manifest in the Flesh God the Son incarnate died in respect of his Body and purchased the Church with his own Blood and obtained Faith Repentance Pardon of Sin Perseverance and eternal Salvation for Abel David and the rest of the Elect in all Ages And temporal Grace Mercy Priviledg and Salvation for Cain Judas and the rest of that sort not with design that they should abuse his Grace that so he might have colour against them and damn them But as unsearchably foreseeing that he not preventing them with his heavenly Grace they would through themselves be graceless impenitent and perish And he whose Thoughts and Ways be far above ours purposed not to prevent them Thus he is the Saviour of all
Faith without Works according to St. Paul. Considered as a Reward so it is bestowed upon none but the truly penitent obedient regenerate merciful lovers of God and his Saints and such as by godly Sincerity and heavenly Righteousness through Grace difference themselves from the ungodly and impenitent World and all such do evangelically merit Justification before God for Christ's sake And thus from first to last we are justified before God by Works and not by Faith only according to St. James According to legal merit God deals with all the Devils and Damned he renders to them according to their Deeds exacts from them the last Mite and shews them no Mercy According to Evangelical Merit he deals with the Mâ—â—hood of Christ and with all elect Angels and Men. This kind of Merit is the Image of that transcendent Worth and Merit which is in God the more we have of it we are the more like to God and abound in loving serving and praising God saying Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name be all the Glory The more we do for thee the more we are beholden to thee for of thine own it is that we give thee God rewards his own Grace and Righteousness in his Saints and renders to them according to their Deeds CHAP. VII Of Satisfaction for Sin. 1. LEgal Satisfaction for Sin is that of the Devils and Damned who suffer eternally of due desert and thereby make legal compleat Satisfaction and Amends to God for all their own Sins to the last mite God considered as Lawgiver hath no pleasure in the death of the wiched but that he turn from his way and live But if he shall in no instant turn then God considered as the Righteous Judg of all the World hath perfect pleasure in his eternal Damnation as adequate legal Compensation and Amends for his Wickedness in no instant truly turned from Evangelical Satisfaction for Sin is that of all the Elect in Christ by Faith they through his Grace with godly Sorrow unsin and undo all their Sins give Glory to God by a face confession of them with grief hatred and shame execute holy Revenge upon themselves humbly beg pardon freely forgive others renounce all legal Merit lay hold upon the Promise of Eternal Mercy in Christ become new Men sincerely obedient to God and his Glory in the World. Thus doing they please and satisfy God evangelically and render themselves truly worthy in a Gospel-sense of pardon of Sin Justification and Life eternal as promised by God and parchased by Christ and prepared for them before the Foundation of the World. 2. God can in no instant pardon and save Persons in their Sins without Heavenly Repentance and he cannot but pardon and save all those who do in any instant by his Grace and free Gift in Christ though Faith sincerely turn from all their Sins to God and become new Men. And yet he faveth the Penitent and damneth the Impenitent freely and willingly and not against his Will. Like as God is necessarily holy just and good yet freely so 3. Evangelical Repentance considered as evangelical is not Punishment but Priviledg and the sweetest Mercy a Sinner can possibly partake of as being Rep 〈…〉 unto Salvation never to be repented of it is a divine and heavenly thing and the Image of God as he is the perfect hater of all Sin and the just and merciful Avenger of it by renewed Conscience his Aâ—ent in the Breast of Penitent Souls Evangelical Repentance considered as Repeatance is proper Punishment as consisting in penitential Remorse Shame Sorrow Contrition Self-loathing and a sort of Revenge 2 Cor. 7.11 None of this should have been if Sin had not been and all this is irksom and painful to Nature and all pain in a large sense is proper Punishment Therefore Repentance is fitly called Poenitentia importing pain smart and penance for Sin. 4. The Debt which we as Men owe to God is sinless Obedience The Debt which we as Sinners owe to God is Heavenly Repentance and in default thereof Eternal Damnation This Debt Christ neither did nor could pay for neither can a sinless Person repent nor can he suffer eternally All the Elect in Christ through Faith do in their own Persons pay the Debt of Gospel-Repentance and so evangelically punish themselves prevent eternall Punishment save God the labour and obtain perfect and free Remission for Christ's sake and evangelically fulfil the Divine Law Rom. 8.4 But the Impenitent by holding fast their Sins do render them unpardonable and their case incurable Where publick Confassion of Sin is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by divine Law there it may not be exacted nor Money by way of Commutation the taking of Money in such case is unrighteous gain 5. Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us he bore our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us all but so that he was altogether sinless God could not hate him nor be displeased with him nor repute him a Sinner nor impute Sin to him nor lay upon him more than Corporal and Temporal Punishment in order to his own eternal Exaltation and Glory at God's Right-hand The Pain endured by him did differ in kind from the Pain of damned Men in Hell and from the Pain of guilty Persons on Earth and was no degree thereof For both these do suffer deservedly for their own Sins but Christ being sinless could not deserve to suffer Indeed his Persecuters and Murderers did repute him a Sinner and imputed grievous Sin to him and God did unsearchably permit their Sin but he did no way will and approve it The Soul of Christ was full of sinless Sorrow and his Body was full of Pain and yet it was all but bodily Suffering his Body being dead his Suffering was at an end The Body by it self cannot suffer at all cannot feel Pain the Soul of Christ being sinless could not suffer spiritually but his Soul suffered in and by his Body in respect of his Body he was crucified and died More than Corporal and Temporal Punishment needed not for all the finally impenitent do against their will satisfy for all their own Sins legally and all the truly penitent do through Faith satisfy God evangelically and obtain perfect Pardon and Salvation as purchased for them through the Corporal and Temporal Suffering of God the Son incarnate crucified in respect of his Body CHAP. VIII Of Faith. 1. FAith as opposed to Sight is the way to Faith as opposed to Deceit As Faith is opposed to Sight so there is no Faith in Heaven there they see face to face As Faith is opposed to Deceit so there is no perfect Faith but in Heaven In Men ungodly is no degree of Heavenly Faith In all godly Men there is a degree of it in some more in some less but short of Perfection in all God
is faithful and to be so is to be full of Faith Truth Veracity and Fidelity in opposition to Perfidiousness Unfaithfulness Deceit and Lies Now all the blessed Saints and Angels are perfectly like to God as he is faithful and true and so must needs have in them perfect Faith Fidelity and Truth Deut. 32.20 2 Thes 3.2 Heb. 11.1 2 Cor. 5.7 Prov. 20.6 1 Cor. 13.12 2. As Faith is opposed to Sight so through it we understand discern apprehend perceive embrace and receive spiritual good things spiritually through it we repent of Sin love obey and please God we receive come to trust in and rely on Christ we obtain Pardon Justification and right to Life eternal we overcome Satan and the World and walk with God in Holiness and Comfort on Earth till we come to Heaven where Faith is turned into Vision and Hope into Fruition Faith as thus opposed to Sight is most truly properly and scripturally reckoned counted and imputed to us for Gospel-righteousness before God all the while we are militant in this World. 3. Faith in God may be evidenced shewed declared proved and spiritually demonstrated by heavenly Regeneration and good Works 1 Cor. 2.4 but it cannot be defined For what is defined is finite but God is infinite and infinite as such cannot be finite Believe God we may define him we may not To define is to limit and to limit God is great Sin Psal 78.41 He that hath holy Faith in God knoweth better by inward feeling and Self-perception the true nature of it than any human Definition can inform him There cannot be a Definition of Definition Either then Faith in God is the Standard of Definition or Definition is the Standard of Faith in God. If the former then Faith in God is above Definition more plain than it and is not reducible to it If the latter then there can be no Faith in God because he is Infinite and as such cannot be defined Exact Definition consisteth of somewhat general and somewhat special but all in saving Faith as such is special and peculiar to the Elect and nothing in it common to them with the Reprobate Temperance Justice Chastity Faith in the unregenerate Man as in themselves are proper Graces and Vertues but as relied on for Life eternal without heavenly Regeneration they are no otherwise Graces and Vertues than as a dead Man is a Man or an adulterous Wife is a Wife they are but the Corpse of Graces and Vertues and therefore they differ in kind from Temperance Justice Chastity Faith as in the regenerate Man and are no degree thereof 4. Faith is in no Faculty but it is seated and rooted in the Heart and through it we understand and will spiritual things spiritually Understanding and Will in Man are truly distinct but not distinct Faculties they are the Image of God in whom is unsearchable Unity and Diversity but no Faculties God doth willingly understand and understandingly will and so doth Man. Every intellectual Act of Man is the Act of the Soul or Man and not of this or that Faculty Faith as opposed to Sight is not an Act but through it we act holily It is not a Work but through it we work Righteousness It is not Obedience but through it we obey and please God Heb. 11. Rom. 1.5 16.26 5. Look what Reason is to the human Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth rational and intellectual Acts differing in kind from the manner of Brutes that is Faith to the regenerate Soul the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth holy and supernatural Acts differing in kind from all the Acts of Men unregenerate and ungodly as such Certainty of Faith is proper Certainty of Sense yet not of bodily Sense common to us and Heathens but of heavenly and spiritual Sense through Christian Belief which Heathens have not Unto true believing Souls God's Word is sweeter than Honey and sharper than a two-edged Sword in their Hearts Psal 119.103 Heb. 4.12 Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 That is he whose Heart is not purified by Faith in Christ in him Sin reigns and carnal Dubitation is Lord in his Soul and though the thing done by him as in it self be lawful yet if he doubt whether it he lawful or not to him it becomes unlawful through the Error of his Conscience not purified by Faith. An erroneous Conscience considered as erroneous connot bind for as erroneous it is not Conscience but the Error and Abuse of it But considered as Conscience under God and over Man so it doth truly bind to all Duty and against all Sin and Error Whatsoever is not of Faith is of Infidelity and consequently of Sin. CHAP. IX Of Love to God and Self-love 1. SIncere Love is to love God because of his first Love to us 1 Joh. 4.19 For this is to love him as indeed he is our Maker our Redeeemer our Sanctifier our Reward and Rewarder our God and Portion for ever our All in All dearer to us than we are or can be to our selves and to love him under any other notion is to love an Idol and not God. Self-love considered as repugnant to Life eternal is self-destroying Vice and the common Character of all the ungodly 2 Tim. 3.1 2. Self-love considered as subservient to Life eternal is in a large and true Sense heavenly Self-denial and the true Love of God as good to our Souls in Christ Jesus eternally Prov. 9.12 Luke 9.23 2. Vertue is truly lovely for it self but then the highest Vertue is to love and be like unto God and God is not at all lovely unless he be essentially and yet freely the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him and no Reward short of God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness can content the holy seeking Soul. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable To say I would love God though there were no Heaven and I would hate Sin though there were no Hell is in effect to say I would love God though he were not at all lovely and I would hate Sin though it were not at all hateful and abominable Heb. 11.6 1 Cor. 15.19 3. The chief End of Man is but one as God is one Subordinate Ends indeed are many but as subordinate they are not Ends but regular means conducing to the End. The Supream End of Man is eternal Salvation or God himself as enjoyed in eternal Felicity Eternal Salvation is not an End subordinate to the Glory of God but God's Glory is his Will as fulfilled in the eternal Salvation of all the Elect by Faith in Christ God is our Salvation and our Saviour our Blessedness and the Author of our Blessedness No Man can will his own Annihilation as a means to God's Glory for a Man as such is the Image and Glory of God and the eternal extinction of God's Glory cannot be a
means to God's Glory for that is no means which destroys the End and is repugnant to it Indeed the damned in Hell do will and desire their own Annihilation but not as a means to God's Glory for that is a holy and regular Will and Desire but no holy and regular Will can be in the damned Moses and Paul could not without Sin wish to themselves eternal Pain and more than barely Temporal For eternal Pain consists in implacably hating and being hated of God eternal Self-tormenting Anguish for Sin and the never-dying Worm This no Man in his right Wits can wish to himself 4. Man's chief End is not to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever This indeed is Man's Duty but Duty as such is not the chief End but eternal Felicity as the Reward of Duty Christ as Man when on Earth did perfectly glorify God and had Fruition of him in perfect Love and yet he was not in Joy and Felicity when in his Agony and upon the Cross but in the way to it and for the Joy and Felicity set before him as his supream End he endured the Shame and Sorrow of the Cross Heb. 12.2 Now what is not the supream End in one instant can in no instant be it because it is the same for ever Those in Hell do against their Will for ever glorify God by bearing his just Vengeance for Sin. We glorifying God through Faith by sincere Obedience on Earth God's Promise is to reward and crown us with eternal Blessedness in Heaven And it is this and this only which is the chief End and supream Good of Man as comprizing all Good in one beyond which nothing is desirable 5. God is not loved at all unless he be loved incomparably Tho he be good better and best yet not in a way of strict Comparison but in a transcendent Sense wherein words are to serve things and not things words Indeed ungodly Men are said to love Pleasures more than God. But the meaning thereof is not that they love God a little and Pleasures more but they love Pleasures with all their Heart and God but as subservient Now God as subservient to Lust and Pleasure is not God but an Idol and Idolatry is not Love but ungodly Lust As Happiness means Ease Pleasure and freedom from Pain Misery and troublesom Want so all Men naturally desire to be happy But as Happiness means beholding God's Face in Righteousness and being satisfied with his Likeness Psal 17.15 So it is wholly supernatural known and desired of none in this World save only the Regenerate through Faith in Christ Men ungodly neglect so great Salvation and say unto God Depart from us Heb. 2.3 Job 21.14 The Heaven and Happiness desired by them is a sensual Paradise and perpetual Epicurism this really is not Heaven and Happiness but a Lust or Idol clothed with the name of Heaven and Happiness The sincere desire of Grace as such is not the Grace desired but it is an infallible proof of a gracious and godly Man as being accompanied with sincere Performance and Endeavour and is indeed it self holy Reformance before God. There is in God delight to Love Deut. 10.15 and in all blessed Saints and Angels and there is in all true Saints on Earth sincere desire to love God perfectly but no such thing as love to love this is not true Love but adulterous Lust He that loves to love doth not love God but himself No godly Man dare Sin For he that dare Sin is presumptuous and treads Conscience under Foot. The least degree of true Godliness and holy Love to God doth sincerely yet not perfectly mortify hate expel and war against all Sin and desires to be by Grace sinless and impeccable A Person may sincerely love God and yet through errour and mistake say he doth not and may have godly Assurance and yet complain as if he had none Psal 77.10 Psal 22.10 1 Cor. 12.15 16. CHAP. X. Of the Image of God. 1. CHrist considered as God is the essential substantial and increated Image and Form of God the Father by Nature not by Grace Christ considered as Man exalted at God's right Hand is by Grace not by Nature the Image of Himself as God Equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost in a special and peculiar Sense above all both Angels and Men and yet he is but one Image of God rightly conceived as he is but one Christ Phil. 2.6 Col. 1.15 Heb. 1.3 9 13. The Divine Essence as it is in God the Father begetteth the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son Yet will it not hence follow that there are two Divine Essences but only that the Divine Essence as it is in God the Father unbegotten is not the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son begotten Which is certainly true For Unbegotten and Begotten are eternally divers and distinct This eternal Generation of God the Son is not a Work of God but it is the Nature of God the Father and had been if there had never been Work of God. God the Father is not Autotheos of and from Himself and therefore God the Son is not God simply is and cannot but be and simply to be is to be God. Exod. 3.14 The Creature simply is not but the Creature as such is dependent on God and as compared with him it is as Nothing yea less than Nothing and Vanity Isa 40.17 18. Sin indeed is absolutely simply and eternally of it self exceeding sinful Joh. 8.44 Rom. 7.13 But God is not Sin. He is simply First and simply First is from none 2. As to Life Temporal ungodly Men as Men are the Image of God no less than godly Men. Thence Murder is so great a Sin because thereby contrary to the Law and Light of Nature the Image of God in Man as to this present Life is extinct a living Man is turned into a dead Corpse and no 〈…〉 dead can be the Image of the living God Gen. 9.6 As to Life 〈…〉 eavenly Conversation by Faith only godly Men and Women 〈…〉 Image of God and ungodly Persons are the Image of the Devil As to Conjugal Society the Husband is the Image and Glory of God and not the Wife he being her Head 1 Cor. 11.3 7. In respect of natural Generation Parents are the Image of God and not Children In respect of domestical Rule and Government Masters are the Image of God and not Servants In respect of earthly Soveraignty Kings and supream Civil Rulers are the Image of God and not Subjects Saints Triumphant as Triumphant and by Grace impeccable are the Image of God so as Saints Militant are not Damned Men as Men and intellectual Beings are against their Will the Image of God for ever because they do against their will fulfil God's Law by bearing the eternal Penalty thereof due for their Sin. 3. The Soul is truly a Spiritual Substance and yet truly material not to our bodily Senses outwardly
Love we are to become all Things to all Men and bear all Things rather than rend and divide the Church by nefarious and lewd Schism Ungodly Christians considered as Ungodly are not Christians and Members of the Church But Ungodly Christians considered not as Ungodly but as Christians are a sort of Christians and Church-Members and are not meer Heathens and Persons without They are of the Church and yet they are not the Church Rom. 9.6 5. Loyalty is a Fundamental in Religion as without which human Society cannot subsist and no human Society no Religion Human Society cannot subsist without some to Rule and some to be Ruled If the Ruled may resist and rise in Rebellion against their lawful Rulers set over them by God Mankind is no longer a Society but a Rout and a Foundation is laid for endless War Desolation and Confusion of all Things The Nature of a Fundamental in Religion is to expel its Contrary as Light doth Darkness As then no Man can in the same Instant be both Godly and Ungodly So can no Man in the same Instant be both Loyal and Disloyal Loyalty is not Loyalty unless it be so out of Conscience either Natural and Common such as may be in Heathens and Men not Regenerate or Supernatural and Special such as is in the Regenerate He that is only Loyal out of Self-ends and for Worldly Interest is not Loyal before God. Human Law considered as Human cannot bind the Conscience But considered as subservient to the Divine Law so it is in a large Sense Divine and as Divine it binds the Conscience For all that lies in us we are to live peaceably with all Men. Yet where the Thing enacted and enjoyned is not intrinsecally necessary to the publick Good there a Man hath his choice whether to do the thing or to pay the Penalty In no case may we resist Authority Supream and Subordinate In no case may we obey Man against God. Therefore when no way is left but either we must Suffer or Sin we must patiently and meekly Suffer and lay down our Lives rather than resist or allow the least Sin. CHAP. XII Of Original Sin the state of Infants and their Baptism 1. AS to Life Temporal there are in the Soul Habits distinct from Act and by frequent Acts Men get a Habit. But as to Eternity there is no such Distinction For the Soul as being a spiritual and immortal Substance is the Image of God and is therefore ever in act invisibly From the time that it is first formed in the Womb it ceaseth not to live a Life differing in kind from Brutes and while in the Body is still upon its way to Eternity and either it is Godly and so in the way to Heaven and invisibly active for God or it is Ungodly and so in the way to Hell and invisibly active against him 2. If God shall give unto Adam after his Fall Children by natural Generation and shall not also give them inward heavenly Grace and supernatural Regeneration it is most certain that inwardly and invisibly they will be Graceless and Unregenerate As Graceless and Unregenerate they are Unholy dead in Sin and full of enmity against God and so dying it is above me to prove that they have not in them the never-dying Worm This Original Sin in Infants is neither from God nor from Adam nor from their immediate Parents but it is wholly from themselves inwardly and unsearchably neither by natural necessity nor after the similitude of Adam's Transgression Rom. 5.14 but by legal Necessity Which is a sort of Necessity innocently and unsearchably permitted by God but not willed by him and is not avoidable by either Parents or Children without supernatural Grace in Christ Jesus Even as ungodly grown Men in their Sleep while their Sleep lasteth are unavoidably and inexcusably ungodly 3. The adequate ground of Hope concerning the whole Off-spring of Adam is Divine Election in Christ Jesus If we bottom it not entirely upon this we must needs bottom it upon Reprobation there being no middle or third imaginable Elect and Reprobate as Godly and Ungodly divide all the World. And to bottom Hope of Salvation upon Reprobation is to destroy Hope All the Infants of Godly Parents both or one dying in meer Infancy we may well think are elect and saved as a Part of that holy Catholick Church which consists of the Elect in all Ages And of this Baptism to me seems to be a sacred Sign and Seal 1 Pet. 3.21 Ungodly Christians as hath been said considered not as Ungodly but as Christians are a sort of Christians and not meer Heathens The Infants of such being brought unto us by the Parents or some other Christian in their stead themselves being reasonably letted with desire to have them baptised I conceive it is our Duty as we are Christ's Ministers in Obedience to his Command Mat. 28.19 20. Well suiting with the Grounds of Faith the approved Practice of the Church before Christ's Incarnation the Words and Example of Christ touching Infants Mark. 10.13 14 15 16. and the Practice of the Apostles in baptizing Housholds to baptize there Infants And if they shall be taken away in meer Infancy by Death we may well think that they also are Elect and Saved and that of such also is the Kingdom of God. Though the Parents have not Godly Sincerity yet a sort of Sincerty they have and they do really and not dissemblingly desire Baptism for their Infants and are truly glad of it Either some Infants are eternally elect and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly or not If yea can any Man forbid Water that these should not be baptized which are eternally elect and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly as well as grown Men Act. 10.47 48. If not then all Infants are eternally reprobate and damned the Infant Jesus not excepted Isa 42.1 Luk. 1.35 4. The Contempt of Baptism is damnable in the Contemners but Infants cannot contemn it Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.17 The Gospel that is Life eternal through Faith in Christ is simply necessary for all Persons in all Places at all Times from the Fall of Adam to the End of the World But so is not Baptism If the Person die inwardly holy and regenerate as he may though not baptized he is undoubtedly saved 5. If the baptized Infant be not inwardly holy and regenerate as all are not then I conceive it is not in a State of Salvation it is not set free from Guilt eternal yet is its Baptism as ordained of God and dispensed by his Minister neither Nullity nor Mockery but a Divine Bond Oath and Covenant laid upon the Infant to be what all the Off-spring of Adam by God's Law indispensably are bound to be truly holy and God's faithful Servant Either its Regeneration is future or it is not If yea then Baptism is a sure Pledg Seal and Token that it is future If
not then the Infant will outlive the State of Infancy and will live and die ungodly and perish in which Case his Baptism will be an everlasting Witness against him it being supposed that his Conscience was privy to it Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace which Covenant importeth God's Purpose to give Perseverance and Salvation to all the Regenerate and to Regenerate such and so many as he from Eternity foresees will by his Grace and Free-gift sincerely believe And yet while Unregenerate they are in a State of Damnation As to Life Temporal and Humane Society on Earth ungodly Men have Power over their own Will and Liberty to act or not to act as themselves list and they can if they will refrain from all Sin outwardly and do all Good outwardly and be blameless before Men. But as to Life Eternal and Heavenly Conversation they have no Power they are dead in Sin under the Power of Satan their Power is Impotency Sin hath Dominion over them they are not Lords but Slaves and lorded over by their Lusts and if God shall not prevent them with his Heavenly Grace it is certain that they will never deserve it Therefore the first step to Salvation is holy Despair thereof by all that we of our selves can do without God's eternal Grace in Christ And look what is First in Divinity that same is Last even All in All. CHAP. XIII Of the Lord's Supper 1. LOok as all in God is God without Parts and Composition So all in the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Supper Considered as a Supper so the whole is visible Food for the Belly eaten and drunk with the Mouth outwardly Considered as the Lord's Supper so the whole is invisible Food for the Soul eaten and drunk with the Heart inwardly There may be the Lord's Supper without saving Belief but not without Belief For he that believeth not makes God a Liar and by Consequence the Sacrament a Lie also 1 Joh. 5.10 2. There is no Change at all of the Elements by Consecration but only Religious Use If the Religious Use of Things do necessarily infer a Change in the Things used then God must needs be changed and then he is not God. We use God's Name religiously and God's Name is God Himself as named by this or that Name Jehovah Lord God. I am the Lord that is my Name Isa 42.8 What Change is by Consecration is in the Communicants not at all in the Elements Consecration importeth in all Godly Communicants a real Heavenly Change as to Conversation Conversion from Sin to God they are new Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 This heavenly Change they evidence exercise and shew forth at the Lord's Table in religious partaking of the Elements in Remembrance of Christ crucified All Change in the Elements by Consecration is simply repugnant to intellectual Sense in all Men and is therefore simply incredible 3. These Words This is my Body as understood without Christian Faith are false and absurd But as understood through Christian Faith they are indeed mysterious yet Superlatively plain true apt and proper The Lord's Supper is truly a Figure as is Baptism 1 Pet. 3.21 yet not a Verbal and Rhetorical Figure common to Us and Heathens but a Divine Celestial and Mysterious Figure instituted by Christ and not understood without Christian Belief which Heathens have not In Points that concern us as Men in common with all the World Christ spake with the Vulgar and so as to be understood of very Heathens But in Points mysterious and Supernatural as is the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper he spake above the Vulgar and so as not to be understood aright without Faith which Heathens have not Ungodly Communicants considered as Ungodly do not eat Christ's Body but inwardly contemn and shut their Hearts against it And thus their partaking doth differ in kind from the inward partaking of the Godly But Ungodly Communicants considered as Communicants do with their Mouth outwardly eat the Bread which is really and not chimerically yet sacramentally and symbolically the Body of Christ no less than do Godly Communicants outwardly And thus their partaking is the same for kind with the partaking of the Godly 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4 5. 4. Unto worthy Communicants the Lord's Supper is the Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood the holy Memorial of his Death heavenly Nourishment for the Soul a sure Pledge Seal Sign and Token of Pardon of Sin Perseverance and Life eternal and a Divine Engagement to Watchfulness and holy Fear of Apostacy No Godly Man doth partake unworthily he may partake not so worthily as some do but the least degree of true Godliness doth produce a degree of worthy communicating differing but in measure and degree from the most Godly Communicants Unto unworthy Communicants the Lord's Supper through their own Sin is a Seal of their Damnation if they die without sound Repentance And in the mean time it layeth a Divine Bond and Engagement upon them instantly to repent If their Repentance by God's eternal Decree be future then the Lord's Supper is a Divine Sign and Seal that it is future If their Repentance be not future then they will die in their Sins and perish and will remember with eternal Self-tormenting Anguish in Hell their partaking without Godly Sincerity Those who contend that Men Unregenerate sin less in not coming than in coming to the Lord's Table do yet expresly grant But yet they that do come unworthily and unwarrantably do find that there which tendeth to their Conversion and frequently effecteth it Mr. B. in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments pag. 31 32. And they who contend that the Unregenerate sin less in coming than in not coming do yet hold and contend that the Persons so come must be adult baptized orthodox and not heretical free from enormous Crimes and Scandals before Men. The bare Elements as distinct from the Word can neither convert nor confirm But the Word as distinct from the Elements and giving being to the whole Sacramental Service may through God's Grace prove effectual for sound Conversion of the Unconverted and certainly will be effectual for building up of the Converted 5. The Flesh and Manhood of Christ is under God the prime instrumental Cause of Life eternal to the Godly in all Ages through Faith As such his Flesh is heavenly Meat and his Blood is heavenly Drink and we through Faith do really and not chimerically spiritually and not corporally eat and drink it What is eaten in that it is eaten must be really present For no Man can eat a thing that is absent There is Relation between the Manhood of Christ and the whole intellectual World as between sole Supream under God and Subjects This Relation is real and not imaginary eternal and not temporal From Eternity it was future and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. What is eternal is truly infinite above all Predicaments and consequently above Time and Place
be had An open Door is the necessities and willingness of the People with protection or connivance of the Magistrate if possible 3. In Ordination God in Christ confers the whole Office as principal and supream by his Word And the Person or Persons ordaining confer the whole Office as instrumental and subordinate Therefore it is not in the power of Men to ordain whom and how they please because they ordain not as Lords but as Stewards they have no power touching this matter but what is simply ministerial subordinate and dependent If therefore God's Word for substance do not go along with the Ordination it is null and void and the same holds good as to Suspending Degrading Silencing and Prohibiting of Ministers from doing the Ministerial Work. Every Minister to be ordained ought to be a faithful Man and able to teach others also 2 Tim. 2.1 For which cause those unto whom it pertaineth to ordain and impose Hands ought to use all possible Care and Circumspection and to lay Hands suddenly on none without due Exploration He may be a valid and justly authorized Minister who is not truly Godly And yet he that is not truly godly can have no sound Comfort in his Ministry as being in a state of Damnation his Ministry may profit others tho not himself But yet all Care is to be used that Persons to be ordained be truly godly so far as Man can judg and that also they be able to teach the People and by good Doctrine guide Souls in the way to Heaven 4. No Power on Earth may impose a Minister upon a People against their just liking For what is against Justice is against God. And no People may refuse a Minister tho unjustly imposed on them when they cannot without general inconvenience and hazard of the publick Peace remedy themselves For of two Evils the lesser is to be chosen Provided the imposed Minister be Orthodox and not Heretiâ—â—â— tolerable and competently able for the Work in some measure But Heretical Schismatical Idolatrous and Wolvish Pastors and Ministers the People are bound to forsake and turn from Where Ministers Residence is necessary by Divine Law there no Law of Man can dispense with it Where it is not necessary by Divine Law there needs no Human Dispensation and the exacting of Money in such case is unrighteous Gain The principal Work of Ministers and the substance of so much Church-order and Discipline as is incumbent on them as Ministers to perform and see to consists in labouring in the Word and Doctrine in preaching the Gospel in giving heed to Doctrine to Exhortation to Reproof to Admonition and Instruction publickly privately in season out of season Where this is not the substance of the Ministerial Work and Discipline is wanting Where this is all the rest will easily follow so much as is necessary and what is not necessary is better forborn 5. The Church is no Church of God unless she have just respect to time and place for publick Worship and she is equally no Church before God if she prefer time and place and bare assembling for publick Worship before Christian Faith Hope and Love and Edification therein As the Sabbath so Time and Place were made for Man and not Man for them And therefore the Church is to meet in one two or three or more places at the same time according as it shall be for Edification And look as it is a good Argument for Infant Baptism the Primitive Patern is baptizing whole Housholds and therefore in baptizing Infants we keep to the Primitive Patern Infants being a necessary part of Housholds So I should think it a good Argument against the Congregationalists The Primitive Patern was that all the Christians in a City be one Church particular and therefore if now every Christian City be one particular Church tho the Christians in it are so many as to make a hundred or two hundred Congregations at the fame time the Primitive Patern is kept Act. 14.23 Tit. 1.5 It is not the place which make the Church but the Church makes the place Every Christian Nation as such is a Church governed invisibly by God through Christian Faith according to the Scripture and governed visibly by the Prince as sole Supream under God over all in his Dominions by the Sword. Tho God do make use of Pastors and Ministers in the guiding and governing of his Church yet he himself is sole Lord over the Couscience and only his Voice is to be heard in the Church and Pastors and Ministers have no Authority but what is Temporal and yet it differs in kind from the Authority of the Prince and Magistrate The Church Militant consists of Mortal Men and Mortal Men can have no Authority Immortal and Eternal Pastors die no less than Princes CHAP. XVIII Of Death Judgment Heaven and Hell everlastingly 1. IF Sin had not been Death had not been and yet Death unto Elect Men through Faith in Christ is rather Life than Death as being through God's Grace the way and passage to Life Everlasting They die who die eternally But they who by Death pass into eternal Joy immediately in respect of their Souls and whose Bodies rest and as it were sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection and then shall awake and be raised glorious immortal spiritual like the glorious Body of Christ may be said rather to live than die 2. The Resurrection of the wicked is truly from the Merit and purchase of Christ and specially the Resurrection of the Just The Resurrection as in it self is a Priviledg and Blessing That it proves otherwise to the Wicked is from themselves not from Christ As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 3. As Heaven is it into which Christ ascended when he left this World so it is a proper place created and made by God distinct from Earth and Hell. As Heaven means the Saints everlasting Rest prepared for them from before the Foundation of the World so it is not a place but a state of Felicity and Joy above both Time and Place and all that Man's Heart can now conceive yet not repugnant and contrary to Time and Place For it is God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness Hence it follows that the Spuls of the Godly by Death do all of them pass into eternal Happiness immediately For eternal Happiness not being a place but a state and the Godly by Death passing into Eternity there can be no imaginable instant in which they are not with God in eternal Felicity Only they do innocently long for the Resurrection and rejoyce in the sure hope thereof Psal 16.9 10.11 With respect to the Eye of Sense outwardly the Triumphant State of Christ began not till he rose from the Dead and it was compleated by his Ascension and fitting at the Right-hand of God in Glory With respect to the Eye of Faith inwardly his Triumphant State began
immediately after his Death and while his Body hung dead upon the Cross his Soul was with God in Triumphant Joy. In Memory of Christ's Resurrection we rightly observe the Lord's-Day as a Day appointed by God for solemn Religious Worship both publickly and privately The fourth Commandment considered as repugnant to Life eternal by Faith in Christ is meer Judaical Righteousness damnable Impiety and no Command of God But considered as subservient to Life eternal by Faith in Christ so it was typical of Christ's Rest in the Grave and as typical by his Resurrection it was to cease and have an end and in the room of it comes the Lord's Day as the joyful Day on which our Lord rose from the Dead and â—â—th begotten us unto a lively Hope 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Thus the fourth Commandment by Faith in Christ is not abolished but established Rom. 3.31 4. At the Day of Judgment there shall be a perfect opening of all the Good that was in the Wicked and of all the Sin that was in the Righteous not for the Shame and Terrour of the Righteous nor for the Honour and Comfort of the Wicked but that all may have according to their Deeds and it may appear to all that God did not like and approve Sin in his own and that he did not condemn and drinke what was good and commendable in the Wicked that so the Righteous may for 〈◊〉 rejoice in God's Praises and the Mouths of the Wicked may for ever 〈◊〉 This perfect opening shall be by Conscience as God's 〈…〉 in each ones Bosom 5. Eternal Felicity considered as 〈…〉 of no Degrees Thus all both Saints and Angels in 〈…〉 and all in Hell be equally miserable For greater 〈…〉 thâ—n Eternal there cannot possibly be Eternal 〈…〉 admitteth of Degrees For God as he is the Righteous 〈…〉 the World cannot but by Conscience as his Agent in the 〈…〉 and Men eternally difference as between the Righteous and the 〈◊〉 and between the more Wicked and the less Wicked so also between the more and the less abundant in the Love and Service of God and 〈…〉 according to their Deeds Thus the Manhood of Christ hath a 〈…〉 of Glory than the Angels and the Angels who never linned than the Saints and eminent Saints such as Prophets Apostles and Martyrs thâ—n ordinary and common Saints Thus there is perfect Unity and perfect Diversity sweetest Harmony and sweetest Variety no one hath cause to complain no one hath cause to boast he that hath least hath no lack and he that hath most hath nothing over God is All in All and Eternity is All in All. Set aside Eternity and Heaven and Hell Holiness and Sin Angels and Men are meer Dreams and Notions God may do with his own what be pleases but he cannot deny himself and overthrow his own Name Kingdom and Glory And therefore he can in no instant annihilate or eternally torment a holy Man For so to do is not Power but Impotency not Dominion but Tyranny and the abuse of it God's Dominion is by his Will and not against it his Will is essentially and yet freely holy just and good But it is repugnant to infinite Holiness Justice and Goodness to annihilate or eternally to toâ—â—ent a Holy Man. CHAP. XIX Of the Way of Peace 1. TWo Things as I conceive do greatly conduce to Unity and Peace among Christians touching Religion A clear explication of Gospel-Truth and forbearing one another in Love. The former I have endeavoured in the foregoing Chapters and among Persons truly consciencious a clear explication of the Truth is in effect the whole Cure. The latter it is not in my Power to procure Yet this one thing well weighed may do much towards it that Persons eminently Godly may ignorantly hold an Opinion in it self heretical and against the Foundation of Faith and yet not hold it heretically and so as do the Ungodly The reason is because Heavenly and Fundamental Truth is not by way of Syllogism and Human Argumentation Major Minor and Conclusion common to us and Heathens but by way of Holy Likeness to God through Christian Faith which Heathens have not He then who holds one Divine Truth with Holy Belief is thereby free not from all Errour but from all reigning Errour No Errour is safe and yet no meer Man since the Fall of Adam is wholly free from all Errour and every Godly Man is in a safe State not because of his Errour but because Heavenly Truth and not Errour reigns in him 2. The Apostles for some time were in an Errour touching the Nature of Christ's Kingdom which Errour as in it self considered did by consequence overthrow the Kingdom of Christ and yet as it was in them it was no reigning Errour Acts 1.6 The Apostle Peter was in an Errour touching the difference between Jew and Gentile which Errour considered nakedly as in it self was destructive of true Godliness because it did by consequence infer God to be partial unrighteous and a respecter of Persons And yet Peter in this instant was eminently godly Act. 10.34 35. There is no such thing in God as Major and Minor Premises and Conclusion Antecedent and Consequent because all in God is God And therefore there can be no such thing in the Image of God For as all in God is God so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Therefore no Man is to be counted an Heretick and damnably Erroneous barely because he holds an Opinion in it self Heretical and by Consequence against the Foundation of Faith all the while he doth sincerely hate and detest and disown the Consecouence of his Errour not discerning that it is justly deducible from it There is great difference between ignorantly holding an Errour and bowing to an Idol or worshipping a false God. 3. If Christian Princes and Supream Civil Rulers in their several Dominions would according to their Duty and as becomes nursing Fathers to the Church see with their own Eyes and upon hearing the Arguments and Allegations on both sides wisely and impartially discern between what is plainly contained in God's Word and what is not but is only School-Sophistry and vain Philosophy corrupting Men's Minds from the simplicity that is in Christ and serving only to create Strife and to make plain things obscure and would enjoin all sides to insist upon and unite in plain and wholsome Truth evident by its own intrinsick Light to the Conscience of each Godly Man through Faith and either to cut off and forbear all further Disputes or manage them in Love and in the Spirit of Meekness we should soon see an End of Controversies concerning Religion In the mean time it concerns us all to get and keep well grounded Certainty through Faith of our own Salvation and earnestly to contend for this Faith. This Certainty is by way of special Revelation For all Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall is either Principal and Special or Subservient and Common Special and