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<DATE>2008-01-15</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>TRUTHS VICTORY AGAINST HERESIE; All &s;orts comprehended under the&s;e ten mentioned: <FIGURE>
</FIGURE> 1. Papi&s;ts, 2. Famili&s;ts, 3. Arrians, 4. Arminians, 5. Ana|bapti&s;ts, 6. Separati&s;ts, 7. Antinomi&s;ts, 8. Monarchi&s;ts. 9. Millenari&s;ts, 10. Independents. As al&s;o a De&s;cription of the Truth, the Church of Chri&s;t, her pre&s;ent &s;uffering e&s;tate for a &s;hort time yet to come; and the glory that followeth at the generall Re&s;urrection.</P>
<P>By <HI>I. G.</HI> A faithfull lover and obeyer of the Truth.</P>
<Q><P>Now I be&s;eech you, Brethren, mark them which cau&s;e divi&s;ions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them,</P><BIBL>Rom. 16. 17.</BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>Imprimatur,</HI> JOHN DOWNAME.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFULL, Sir BENJAMIN RUDYARD, Knight, one of the Honourable Hou&s;e of COMMONS.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_AS formerly I have acquainted you with two &s;mall Treati&s;es, which were dedicated to his <HI>MAJESTIE</HI> and the Right Honorable the High Court of Parliament, &s;o now I have pre&s;umed on Chri&s;tian affection, to dedicate this victory of Truth to your religious view and meditati|on. The odds in the conflict was much ten to one, and every one of them being roots of a thou|&s;and branches, even &s;o many in number, and &s;o gro&s;&s;e in na|ture, that if I &s;hould &s;peak all I know of them, it might &s;eeme incredulous to your exerci&s;ed and experienced judgement, and prejudicious unto many that want the like knowledge and di&s;|cernment, &s;o that for this time I thought thus briefly to di&s;arme the Leaders, that &s;o the following multitude of the Army may have premonition before the time come that all the enemies of
<PB REF="3">
Chri&s;t &s;hall be &s;laine before him, and the &s;ecrets of all manner of hearts di&s;covered. And for my own particular, Sir, finding the boldne&s;&s;e and impudency of error, as well as the multiplici|tie, whereby the whole Citie is in every part and place infected, and from thence, as from a fountain, the Countryes al&s;o, I could re&s;t no longer &s;ilent, for as much as God of his own goodne&s;&s;e and infinite mercy, hath been plea&s;ed to communicate and impart the knowledge of the my&s;tery of his Word unto me in &s;ome mea|&s;ure, notwith&s;tanding my own unworthine&s;&s;e and weakne&s;&s;e: this truth received in my heart, hath been as a fire which I could no wayes hinder from burning into a flame, through the light whereof, by the means of your grave and prudent counte|nance, he that reads it may have information of the evill and error without prefigured, and within this Treati&s;e manife&s;tly revealed; as al&s;o the good and happine&s;&s;e of truth, the old path and &s;traight way of the Lord, in &s;ome mea&s;ure opened and de|clared; to which all that are not of the hou&s;hold of faith are &s;trangers, and mo&s;t of them perverters. And Sir, I pray of one thing take notice in the figure, that he that is mo&s;t ob&s;cure in his per&s;on, is mo&s;t dangerou&s;ly &s;ubtill and my&s;terious in his do|ctrine; and at this very time, in which you &s;it in Parliament, with the whole Coun&s;ell of the Kingdome, he doth more hurt in one houre then in ten heretofore; his badge is <HI>F.</HI> Wherefore Right Wor: be plea&s;ed to take notice of the Churches enemies, and let the de&s;pi&s;ed and per&s;ecuted wife of Chri&s;t, and her lit|tle children, have your love, helpe, and a&s;si&s;tance. The&s;e are all that are intreated for to be granted by you, mo&s;t vertuous and noble Senator, to him that is your faithfull and humble &s;ervant,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>JOHN GRAUNT.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="3">
<HEAD>Truths Victory again&s;t Here&s;ie.</HEAD>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>TR&V;TH.</SPEAKER>
<P>_NOw all you Here&s;ies, new and old, that have mu&s;te|red up your powers and forces again&s;t me that am the Truth of God, and have drawne out your Companies into Regiments, and your Brigades in|to an Army of &s;trong armed fighting cruell men, whom all this world long have plotted, devi&s;ed, and waged battel again&s;t me and my generation; and by your &s;ubtile di&s;cipline in the artillery of error, iniquity and de|ceit, have made your &s;elves &s;o skilfull and artificiall, that you have al|wayes boldly and &s;cornfully given mee many alarmes, &s;ummons, on|&s;ets, skirmi&s;hes, underminings, &s;tormings, killings, firings, poy&s;onings, murthering of my Children and Witne&s;&s;es, denying us quarter, or any mercy, although we have cryed out for pity and compa&s;&s;ion, above the&s;e four thou&s;and yeeres. I pray you take notice therefore, that I do now, in the&s;e la&s;t dayes of the world, even now in this little time to come, that makes an end of &s;ins, and fini&s;heth tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions: and which al&s;o accompli&s;heth my injuries and &s;ufferings, my teares and &s;orrowes, my lamentation and weeping: Now, I &s;ay, even in this day, in which you are &s;o much increa&s;ed, and grown &s;o innume|rable; I challenge you all, even all your multitudes and gatherings, of what degree and condition, Sect or Religion, &s;ex, age, tongue or nation &s;oever you are of; for that you have u&s;urped my names and titles, my hou&s;e and children, my birth, my birth-right and inheri|tance, my priviledges and my dignities, my honour and authority, my kingdome and Throne it &s;elf: and that you all have robbed, oppre&s;|&s;ed, &s;poyled, reproached, belied, per&s;ecuted, beaten, wounded and
<PB N="2" REF="4">
killed me in my truth and innocency, at all times, and in all places with de&s;pite and &s;corne; contemptuou&s;ly have ca&s;t me out from among&s;t you, and defam'd my &s;incerity with here&s;ie, my purity with iniquity, my fruitfulne&s;&s;e you have call'd barrenne&s;&s;e, and my faithfull fervency you call hypocri&s;ie.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>HERESIE.</SPEAKER>
<P>What &s;trange voyce is this that wee heare, (<HI>Truth</HI> &s;aith &s;hee) what is that&punc; were you made to reprove our thoughts? we tell you, you are grievous unto us to behold, let us therefore examine her with de&s;pitefulne&s;&s;e and torture, and let us condemn her with a &s;hamefull death.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Thus hath ever been your dealing with mee and mine from the beginning; for your <HI>Cain</HI> kill'd my childe <HI>Abel,</HI> and &s;o your <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> mockt and per&s;ecuted <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> my &s;on of promi&s;e, and my Lord of life was &s;lain by your children of death, and as alwayes you have been at enmity and &s;worn adver&s;aries: &s;o from the beginning of this world, to this very day, you have had power and authority in your own hands, to work your will and plea&s;ure again&s;t us, even the greatne&s;&s;e of the pomp and glory of temporall dignity &amp; maje&s;ty, in and by whom you have wrought your malice and implacable anger and wrath upon us&punc;</P>
<P>The great Image, con&s;i&s;ting of the four Metalls, which the Prophet <HI>Daniel</HI> de&s;cribed to be the four great powerfull Monarchs which &s;hould rule and govern in this world: the golden head; the &s;ilver brea&s;ts and arms; the brazen belly and thighs; the iron legs&punc; and the feet and toes, they con&s;i&s;ted part of iron; and part of clay, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2. 31&punc; 32, 33, 42. And all you my old &s;worn enemies, have, in and by them all, even in all and every part of this terrible and great Images power and &s;trength; you I &s;ay again, have wrought and effected under&punc; and in a &s;eeming bright and excellent way your own wicked &s;pleen and indignation again&s;t me; your father the Devill exerci&s;ing his fal&s;e ac|cu&s;ation and lies, his enmity and cruelty in the Monarchie of the <HI>Ba|bylonians,</HI> which was the head of gold; and after him he &s;tirr'd up the <HI>A&s;syrian</HI> Monarchy to the &s;elf-&s;ame purpo&s;e, deciphered by the brea&s;ts and arms of &s;ilver; and when that power grew old, weak, and &s;o failed him, then hee &s;tirred up the <HI>Grecian</HI> Monarchy, who exceeded for &s;trength, though not for wealth, whereby my children were cruelly oppre&s;&s;ed to their great de&s;truction; for as their nature, &s;o is their operation, declared by the Prophet to be a belly and thighs of bra&s;&s;e. And la&s;tly, for the &s;pace of this long &s;ea&s;on&punc; neer unto the time of &s;eventeen hundred yeers, that great and huge Monarchy of the <HI>Ro|mans,</HI>
<PB N="3" REF="4">
our univer&s;all and mighty oppre&s;&s;ors, have dealt very cruelly with us, even wor&s;e then all that were before them; for their &s;word hath had a double edge, called Force and Deceit, cunning and cruelty; and for power, wor&s;e then all that were before them: as Iron is the ba|&s;e&s;t for value, and harde&s;t for &s;trength, for it breaketh in pieces, and &s;ubdueth all things, as one of my deare &s;ons affirmeth, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2. 40. which I and mine have found by dolefull experience, all their tedious, wofull and odious raign of the Iron legs, and durtie toes, how dole|full was it in the dayes of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour; that, that holy Pro|phet <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, that takes his name from his office, the harben|ger, the forerunner, and preparer of the Lords own way, that he &s;hould be killed, and our innocent Lord grievou&s;ly abu&s;eded, wounded &amp; cru|cified al&s;o; and how was I and my children havocked, and cruelly de|&s;troyed and wa&s;ted pre&s;ently after the re&s;urrection and a&s;cen&s;ion of our Lord in tho&s;e numerous and unparalleld ten per&s;ecutions, and all wrought and pro&s;ecuted again&s;t us by tho&s;e legs of Iron? all which power and authority of the legs are now gone and pa&s;t, as a &s;torme that's over, and a tale that's told, and as a great fire that's quenched, excepting only the feet and toes, con&s;i&s;ting of Iron and Clay, matter of two contrary natures, in them the &s;olidne&s;s and &s;trength of Iron, and the weakne&s;&s;e or bricklene&s;&s;e of Clay; and yet &s;uch a powerfull enemy, who&s;e cunning craftine&s;&s;e is managed by deceit and policy, in which time iniquity hath, and doth abound under the pretence of verity; this fourth Monarchy, from the fir&s;t to the la&s;t, in all the parts of it, is deciphered by a &s;trange bea&s;t, diver&s;e from all the bea&s;ts that were before it, dreadfull, terrible, and exceeding in the greatne&s;&s;e of power and &s;trength: it had Iron teeth, &s;aith the Prophet, and they were great ones, to tear and kill by, and it devoured, &s;aith the Text, and brake in pieces, and &s;tamped the re&s;idue with the feet of it, and it had ten horns, <HI>Dan.</HI> 7. 7.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>But let us prove if his words be true; for what is the <HI>Baby|lonian, A&s;syrian, Grecian,</HI> or <HI>Roman</HI> Monarch to us? for we have been, and are, the &s;pirituall &s;eed of <HI>Abraham</HI> by faith, wee are Chri&s;tians, who have believed, are baptized, and communicate in all the Ordi|nances of God; we are warranted in the Scriptures for our Church|di&s;cipline and government, and wee walke in a Church &s;tate, and Church way, in con&s;tituting our Congregations, in ordaining our Mini&s;ters, our Pa&s;tors, our Deacons and Elders, Widowes, Eunuches, and divers holy orders; as that of Je&s;us, and <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, <HI>Mary</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="5">
<HI>Magdalene,</HI> and abundance more orders, of men, women&punc; and An|gels, and all the&s;e by authoritie of Scriptures, and yet will you rank us among&s;t the Heathens, and compare us to the four Ethnick Mo|narchs long ago pa&s;t? we doubt not, but upon further di&s;covery, to prove your &s;elf to be untruth.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>What ever you are, whether <HI>Papi&s;ts, Famili&s;ts, Arrians, Armi|nians, Anabapti&s;ts, Browni&s;ts, Antinomians, Millinari&s;ts,</HI> or <HI>Monarchi&s;ts</HI> of all &s;orts; and although all and every one of you, of each &s;ort, gird and bind your &s;elves with the new found common With of Inde|pendency, yet my &s;elf and my little children, are able to prove again&s;t you all, even again&s;t the olde&s;t and &s;tronge&s;t of you, (and therefore ob&s;erve and take notice of it, even of the charge it &s;elf) that &s;o ma|ny of you that are not born of &s;orrow and comfort, and have not your parts in mourning, and rejoycing of water and the Holy Gho&s;t, as the Scripture &s;peaketh, I tell you plainly, notwith&s;tanding all your out|ward names and di&s;tinctions, your affirmed Chri&s;tianity, your Church-way and &s;tate, your participation in the Word and Sacra|ments, your ordinations and orders, and what di&s;cipline you are of, or any kinde or manner however, except, I &s;ay, you be &s;eparated or di&s;&s;evered from naturall men by the vail of regeneration: as the Temple of God, the Altar, and them that wor&s;hip therein, were &s;e|parated by a vail from the outward and common court, erected for the multitude of the hou&s;e of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> to offer and &s;acrifice; yea, again, becau&s;e the matter I &s;peak of, is of &s;uch great concernment, I &s;peak it the third time, except you are by true repentance and a&s;&s;urance of mer|cy&punc; made capable &s;piritually to eat Chri&s;ts fle&s;h, and to drink his blood, thereby to have eternall life in you, except you be thus gracious, and made &s;piritually living by regeneration, Gods Word, I &s;ay, and the Spirit of truth denominates you, reckons and accounts you all among the <HI>Heathens</HI> and <HI>Gentiles, Rev.</HI> 11. 1, 2. and notwith&s;tanding all your out&s;ide and overca&s;t Chri&s;tianity, the whole, wicked; cur&s;ed, defiled and unregenerate world and you, make but one ca&s;t-away part, one flock of goats for ever to be excluded from the &s;heep of Chri&s;t, their &s;weet and plea&s;ant pa&s;tor, that flock and fold al&s;o.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>This fellow condemnes us all; wee are e&s;teemed of him as counterfeits, or fal&s;e coyne, he ab&s;taineth from our wayes as from fil|thine&s;&s;e, yet we marvell how he can prove that we that are Chri&s;tians, are a part of tho&s;e Monarchs, who&s;e &s;everall times and powers are wholly expired&punc; con&s;ummated and gone&punc;</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="5" REF="5">
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>As I have in generall proved it already, in &s;hewing that all the wicked party in the world make but one fort, one cur&s;ed &s;ide on the left hand: &s;o al&s;o I prove it further by our Saviour Chri&s;ts words to the <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> in his dayes, <HI>Matth. 23. 35&punc; That upon you,</HI> &s;aith hee, <HI>may come all the righteous blood &s;hed upon the earth, from the blood of righ|teous</HI> Abel, <HI>unto the blood of</HI> Zacharias, <HI>&s;on of</HI> Barachias, <HI>whom yee &s;lew between the Temple and the Altar.</HI> Here our Lord layes the murther of <HI>Abel</HI> and <HI>Zacharias</HI> to the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> charge&punc; although the per&s;onall actors were dead many yeers before, &s;aying to them pre&s;ent, <HI>whom ye &s;lew;</HI> and the rea&s;on is, becau&s;e all murtherers from the begin|ning of the world to the end thereof, make but one generation all of them, even one generation of Vipers, per&s;ecutors and de&s;troyers.</P>
<P>Secondly, as yet the whole Monarch of the <HI>Romans</HI> is not expired and pa&s;t, but &s;till in being; the feet that were partly iron, and partly clay, are not wholly con&s;umed&punc; nor the mixt matter is not yet aboli&s;hed: for yet craft &amp; policy doth pro&s;per in wicked practices, to de&s;troy the mighty, the people of the holy One, by &s;tanding up and oppo&s;ing the Prince of princes, who notwith&s;tanding &s;hortly &s;hall be de&s;troyed without hands, <HI>Dan.</HI> 8. 24, 25, even that man of &s;in, that &s;on of perdition, even that oppo&s;er and exalter of him&s;elf above all that is called God, and as God &s;itteth in the Temple of God, whom the Lord that he oppo&s;eth, &s;hall con&s;ume with the Spirit of his mouth, and de&s;troy with the brightne&s;&s;e of his coming, notwith&s;tanding all his &s;erpentine working, his power, his &s;igns and lying wonders with all deceivablene&s;&s;e and un|righteou&s;ne&s;s of them that peri&s;h, not yet ended, 2 <HI>Teh&s;</HI> 2. And although this part of the Image have already continued from the 406&punc; yeers of &s;alvation, 1238&punc; yeers, and &s;hall remain and live yet 22. yeers more to fill up and accompli&s;h his determined compleat number of 1666, <HI>Rev.</HI> 13. 18. then, even then, a &s;tone &s;aith the truth, that was cut out without hands, &s;mote the Image upon his feet that were of Iron and Clay, and brake them to pieces together, &s;aith the Text; <HI>and they be|came like chaffe of the &s;ummer thre&s;hing floors, and the wind carryed them away, that no place was found for them: and the &s;tone that &s;mote the Image, became a greet mountain, and filled the whole earth;</HI> of which great moun|tain we &s;hall &s;peak further in its due place, according to the Prophets under&s;tanding it, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2. 34, 35. 41, 42, 43, 44, 45.</P>
<P>And all the fal&s;e Chri&s;ts, and fal&s;e Prophets, fal&s;e Apo&s;tles, and fal&s;e teachers, who &s;hall privily bring in damnable here&s;ies, deceitfull wor|kers, <HI>Matth. 24. 29. Mark. 13. 22. 2 Pet. 2. 1. 2 Cor. 11. 13. 1&punc; Joh.</HI> 4. 1&punc;
<PB N="6" REF="6">
are all denominated by the name of <HI>Antichri&s;ts,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 2. 18. Little children, it is the la&s;t time; and as you have heard that <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> &s;hall come; even &s;o now are there many Antichri&s;ts, whereby wee know it is the la&s;t time: and this Apo&s;tle was well ac|quainted with the&s;e Antichri&s;ts, the&s;e teachers of errors, and calls the <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> him&s;elf <HI>the fal&s;e Prophet,</HI> Rev. 16. 13. and with him all his wicked Clergie, and lying Prie&s;ts, <HI>Rev.</HI> 19. 20. and as the fal&s;e teachers of the Synagogue of <HI>Rome;</HI> and by their cunning corrupt doctrine, have deceived multitudes, and if it were po&s;&s;ible, would deceive even the very elect: &s;o all fal&s;e teachers, before Popery was, and &s;uch as are now, and &s;hall be after it, are of the &s;ame company, the &s;ame Church, the &s;ame Synagogue with them, of what &s;ect, order, or name &s;oever they be, as before is touched: for as <HI>Rome</HI> is &s;piritually called <HI>Babylon,</HI> which by interpretation is confu&s;ion; &s;o are all the Congre|gations and Churches among&s;t us, that are gathered, built, and cove|nanted by men, and according to their own invention, and the vi&s;ion of their own hearts; and &s;o are not purcha&s;ed by the &s;ame blood, ga|thered by the Spirits power, and built by Gods own hand, they are all, even all of them &s;piritually, as <HI>Rome</HI> is, even <HI>Sodom</HI> and <HI>Egypt,</HI> Rev. 11. 8. where al&s;o our Lord was crucified, <HI>Rev.</HI> 18. 24.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>You are very plain, and exceeding round with us, take heed you be not too wi&s;e, nor over bold.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Plainne&s;&s;e and roundne&s;&s;e is Truths badge, or note of di&s;tin|ction from others; &s;o <HI>Jacob</HI> my &s;on, my cho&s;en one, is &s;aid to be a a plain man, <HI>Gen.</HI> 25. 27. and all my works are perfect round, that is, without any error, as <HI>David</HI> &s;aith, <HI>hee hath made the round world,</HI> P&s;al. 89. 11. which &s;hewes the globe of the earth to be round; and &s;o &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> Chap. 40. 22. it is he that &s;itteth upon the circle of the earth, that is, the round of the earth. <HI>Prov.</HI> 8. 27.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>But why do you rank us of the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> among&s;t the Here&s;ies, and new doctrines of late devi&s;ed and nominated? for wee can reckon our antiquity from the Apo&s;tles, and that wee are de|&s;cended from them, we have, and continue &s;till the very forme of the Church of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles; for we have the Pope, <HI>Peters</HI> &s;uc|ce&s;&s;or, Chri&s;ts Vice-gerent here on earth, and an&s;werable to the twelve Apo&s;tles, wee have twelve Cardinalls, wee continue the impo&s;ition of hands, the wa&s;hing the Saints feet, the holy Unction, auricular con|fe&s;&s;ion, and &s;pirituall ab&s;olution; we have the Word and Sacraments, di&s;cipline and execration, and therefore we are the Church of Chri&s;t, and not an Antichri&s;tian Church.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="7" REF="6">
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;peak like a Papi&s;t, and for the maintenance of the Romi&s;h Church; for the Church of God, or Kingdome of heaven &s;tands not in outward ob&s;ervation, <HI>Luke</HI> 17. 20. there's as much dif|ference between the Church of Chri&s;t and the church of <HI>Rome,</HI> as there is between outward &s;hew and inward truth, and as S^t. <HI>Paul</HI> in <HI>Rom.</HI> 14. 17. &s;heweth us, what the Church is not, &s;o hee &s;heweth us what it is; namely, <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace, and joy in the Holy Gho&s;t,</HI> and as it fol|lowes, <HI>For hee that in the&s;e things &s;erveth Chri&s;t, is acceptable to God, and approved of men;</HI> that is, &s;pirituall men. A man may be in the outward place and office of the Church, an Apo&s;tle, as <HI>Judas,</HI> an Evangeli&s;t, as <HI>Demas,</HI> a Di&s;ciple, as <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> and yet not of the true Church; &s;uch men may be among&s;t them, and yet not of them; as S^t. <HI>John</HI> &s;peakes: and the outward forme and manner of true Chri&s;tian Churches are not alwayes the &s;ame; for the Primitive Church was as true a Church before they had Deacons, and ordained Elders in every city or Church, as it was afterwards; and for your great ones, chief of Cardinalls, except they be lea&s;t in humility, the mo&s;t vile in their own eyes; for this is a Paradox, a my&s;terie, a riddle to the world, that the lowe&s;t is the highe&s;t, the lea&s;t the grea|te&s;t, the humble&s;t the mo&s;t honourable; and this is quite contrary to the fa&s;hion of your Cardinalls, which our Lord laies down for an eter|nall truth, <HI>Luke</HI> 22. 25, 26&punc; Chap. 9. 49. <HI>hee that is lea&s;t among you all, the &s;ame &s;hall be great&punc;</HI> chief, or a Cardinall, as the word &s;ignifieth&punc; Your <HI>Pope,</HI> you &s;ay, is <HI>Peters</HI> &s;ucce&s;&s;or, in what re&s;pect, I pray, in lord|&s;hip and &s;upreme authority? when you prove that <HI>Peter</HI> ever had &s;uch juri&s;diction, then you &s;ay &s;omething&punc; but till then you &s;ay nothing. The truth is, <HI>Peter</HI> &s;ucceeded our Lord Chri&s;t in the love of the truth, and faithfull obedience of his gracious Word, and in denying him&s;elf, and taking up his cro&s;&s;e, and &s;uffering for the Go&s;pel, the joyfull voyce; and &s;o all faithfull and true Chri&s;tians do &s;ucceed <HI>Peter,</HI> and the re&s;t of the faithfull Apo&s;tles: and this law is unrepealable, it cannot be al|tered, but &s;hall &s;tand firm to all the Saints for ever; <HI>for unto you it is given,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>in the behalf of Chri&s;t, not only to believe on him&punc; but al&s;o to &s;uffer for his &s;ake&punc;</HI> Phil. 1. 29. and he makes it a full re&s;olu|tion to <HI>Timothy; yea,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>and all that will live godly in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &s;hall &s;uffer per&s;ecution,</HI> 2 Tim. 3. 12. &s;o then tho&s;e that truly &s;ucceed <HI>Peter,</HI> are tho&s;e, and &s;uch as &s;ucceed him in &s;pirituall things; as in his repentance and faith, his love to Chri&s;t and his truth, and his faith|full &s;uffering for it, even till death, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 14.</P>
<P><PB N="8" REF="7">And this was it, when our Lord &s;aith thus unto him, <HI>Mat. 16&punc; 17, 18. and thou art Peter,</HI> that is, thou are a living &s;tone of my &s;pirituall Temple, ble&s;&s;ed of my Father from above to this purpo&s;e, <HI>and upon this rock will I build my Church,</HI> &amp;c. that is, the truth revealed, and given from heaven by God, a&s;&s;uredly received and believed by the elect, acknow|ledged and obeyed by the believer to &s;alvation; this is the &s;pirituall hou&s;e or Church&punc; con&s;i&s;ting all of living &s;pirituall &s;tones, Chri&s;t Je&s;us being the foundation or chief corner &s;tone; and the great Ma&s;ter, work|man and builder of it him&s;elf, as the Scriptures te&s;tifie, 1 <HI>Pet. 2. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Heb.</HI> 8. 2. of this A&s;&s;embly and Congregation, doth our Lord &s;ay, <HI>Yee are the &s;alt of the earth, yee are the light of the world,</HI> Mat. 5. 13. 14. <HI>And I &s;ay unto you, that if two of you &s;hall agree on earth, as touching any thing they &s;hall aske, it &s;hall be done,</HI> &amp;c. Matth. 18. 19. and to the&s;e only is the promi&s;e made, to receive the Spirit of God to lead and guide them into all truth, <HI>Joh. 16. 13. And again, I will pray the Father, and hee &s;hall give you another Comforter, that hee may abide with you for ever,</HI> Joh. 14. 16. which Spirit of truth, is the great Sub&s;titute and Advo|cate that Chri&s;t hath left with his Church all the while of his per&s;o|nall ab&s;ence, through who&s;e grace and wi&s;dome, they are they only that make u&s;e of the keys of the kingdome of heaven, according to <HI>Matth. 18. 18. Joh.</HI> 20. 13.</P>
<P>Therefore <HI>Pope,</HI> I &s;ay unto thee, thy vicardome is bla&s;phemy, thy keys arrogancy, thy chair here&s;ie, thy &s;ucce&s;&s;ion vanity, thy Cardinals and chief Prie&s;ts Phari&s;ees, thy impo&s;ition impurity, thy wa&s;hings unclean|ne&s;s, thy holy unction extreme pollution, thy cro&s;&s;ings Idolizings, thy confe&s;&s;ions &amp; ab&s;olutions abominations; you &s;ay you are the Church of Chri&s;t, and that your &s;ucce&s;&s;ion is from the Apo&s;tles, where hath Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles pre&s;cribed to you that tra&s;h and trumpery which you call pure &amp; holy divinity, your breaden god, your unbloody &s;acrifices, your golden pardons of all rates and prizes, your pilgrimages, your purgatories, your baptizings, to convey grace, and wa&s;h away all man|ner of original &s;in, your idols, your altars, your ma&s;&s;es, your dirges, your execrations by bell book and candle, your Avie maries, and your bab|ling prayers by numbers in an unknown tongue, your &s;ilken copes, your &s;haven crownes, your vowed cha&s;titie and poverty, and a thou|&s;and more &s;uch fables and heatheni&s;h imitations of the Heathens and wicked mens inventions, which now Gods Word by the te&s;timony of his faithfull regenerated children of truth have for ever di&s;covered you and your Religion, to be but a filthy heap or wall of mud and
<PB N="9" REF="7">
dirt, whited over: a painted Sepulchre, though outward to the &s;hew and appearance of men, beautified, trim'd and adorn'd with &s;ilver, gold&punc; and all manner of rich and precious things, under the mask of the Spirits ornaments, yet within, nothing but &s;tinking noy&s;ome carrion, rottenne&s;&s;e, filthine&s;&s;e and uncleanne&s;&s;e, and all your abominable wor|&s;hip of the <HI>Heathens,</HI> that you were to maintain for a day, a moneth, a yeere, the whole amounting to two and forty moneths, that is, &s;o many yeers of dayes, even an 1260. yeers which is the antiquity you &s;o much brag of, &amp; yet do not con&s;ider the older you are, the neerer your di&s;&s;olution, notwith&s;tanding your Religion be made and woven of all the glorious matter of the gods of the <HI>Heatheni&s;h</HI> Monarchs that were before you, which were wor&s;hipped with &s;uch vain pomp, varieties of voyces, and mu&s;icall In&s;truments, as <HI>Rimmon</HI> and <HI>Baal, A&s;htaroth</HI> and <HI>Milcom,</HI> and the re&s;t of abominations, that had Prie&s;ts and Altars, he|&s;aints and &s;he-&s;aints of their own makings, like unto you; as al&s;o your devilli&s;h doctrines, ju&s;t after the manner &amp; matter of the <HI>heathens</HI> idols, Oracles; which vain worldly glory hath &s;o lifted thee up with pride, that thou ha&s;t advanced thy &s;elf above the &s;tars of God; yet let us wait now but a few dayes, and we &s;hall &s;ee thy glory &s;hame, thy great|ne&s;&s;e contemptuou&s;nes, thy gorgeous apparel nakedne&s;s, thy life death, thy habitation de&s;truction; and as you have done cruelly to others, &s;o &s;hall others deal cruelly with you, your name and generation &s;hall be utterly forgotten, and your judgement &s;hall &s;ei&s;e on you, &s;o that your place &s;hall be no more found, <HI>Rev.</HI> 17. 46.</P>
<P>And you may as ea&s;ily keep the Sun from &s;hining, the wind from blowing, the Sea from motion, and the earth from &s;pringing, as to divert this judgement of God determined again&s;t thee; therefore, all you that will e&s;cape her judgements, come out of her, and &s;eparate your &s;elves from her, le&s;t you partake of her &s;ins, and be made par|takers of her plagues, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. 16. And what I &s;ay unto you, the head of Sects, I &s;ay unto all the re&s;t, Come out of <HI>Babylon,</HI> and &s;ubmit to <HI>Sion,</HI> of which univer&s;all mother, <HI>Gal.</HI> 4. 26. wee &s;hall often have occa|&s;ion to de&s;cribe and di&s;cover.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>This man is not for our turn, hee is clear contrary to our doings, he upbraideth us with our offending the Law, and objecteth to our infamy the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ings of our education. What will you call the holy Church of <HI>Rome</HI> to que&s;tion, the <HI>Pope</HI> the holy Father? who, I am &s;ure, is not <HI>Antichri&s;t;</HI> for the <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> is &s;in, and not a man: but the <HI>Pope</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> is the Father of the Church, holy&punc; and good, and teacheth
<PB N="10" REF="8">
the world the Go&s;pel of Je&s;us Chri&s;t now by Images, as the Prophet <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> taught the <HI>Jewes</HI> in Gods holy Law by Ceremonies heretofore.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>This man that &s;peaketh now, is a <HI>Famili&s;t,</HI> who, as he &s;aith Sin is <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> &s;o hee believeth, and teacheth that righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is Chri&s;t, and &s;o turns both Chri&s;t and <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> from per&s;ons to quali|ties, and the whole Scripture into Allegories, who by cunning and crafty expre&s;&s;ions exceeds all others in fulfilling that &s;aying of our Lord, <HI>Matth. 24. 24. And there &s;hall ari&s;e fal&s;e Chri&s;ts, and fal&s;e Prophets,</HI> and this is &s;uch a fal&s;e Chri&s;t, and fal&s;e prophet, as there is not the like in the world; making Chri&s;t a phanta&s;ie, a meere fiction, a righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e of their own invention, and &s;o they conceive of <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> to be Sin, which things of them&s;elves are not per&s;ons, and yet they con|fe&s;&s;e and preach, that Chri&s;t is the &s;eed of the woman, and &s;in the &s;eed of the Serpent; and to deceive mens under&s;tandings, &s;ometimes they will call Chri&s;t the new Man, and &s;in the old man, or humane nature of Chri&s;t; and &s;o in their preachings, writings, and conferences u&s;e the Scripture terms and phra&s;es; yea, their creed, or confe&s;&s;ion of their faith runs word for word with ours, only differing thus: for they make all their Articles to expre&s;&s;e the pre&s;ent time, in tho&s;e things wee be|lieve to be pa&s;t, and to come; they do acknowledge Je&s;us of <HI>Naza|reth,</HI> but he to be no more Chri&s;t the Saviour of the world, then they are that have taken in the light, as they u&s;e to &s;peak; and upon this ground confe&s;&s;e, that every one of their illuminated ones are concei|ved of the Holy Gho&s;t, and born of the Virgin <HI>Mary,</HI> &s;uffered under <HI>Pontius Pilate,</HI> are crucified, dead and buried, ri&s;en from the dead the third day, and a&s;cend into heaven, and there &s;it on the right hand of God the Father, de&s;cend from thence, and now judge the world; and all the&s;e things in a my&s;terie, a Metaphor and Allegory. You read, &s;ay they, of the&s;e things in the letter, 1600. yeers ago, but now they are in the newne&s;&s;e of the Spirit, and according to the&s;e principles ex|pound all the Scriptures, both of the old and new Te&s;tament. Now &s;ay they, is the wedding of <HI>Cana</HI> of <HI>Galilee</HI> fulfill'd in the &s;pirit, where righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e is the Je&s;us, the union between God the Father and the Son, the Bride and the Bridegroom; the mother of Je&s;us, they &s;ay, is the word of truth that brings to pa&s;&s;e this holy marriage, and the turning of water into wine, is the oldne&s;&s;e turned to newne&s;&s;e, fle&s;h into &s;pirit; &s;o that thereby the new man becomes co-deifi'd with God, and God again co-hominifi'd with man; and that now Chri&s;t whips out the buyers and &s;ellers out of the Temple, meaning by Chri&s;t, righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e,
<PB N="11" REF="8">
and by the buyers and &s;ellers, &s;ins and corruptions; and by the Temple mens bodies, expounding that Text, <HI>Hebr. 1. 13. Sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot&s;tool,</HI> to be meant of their holy anointed ones; and when Chri&s;t, which is righteou&s;nes, is ri&s;en in them by regeneration, then that &s;aying is brought to pa&s;&s;e that is written, <HI>Ho&s;. 13. 14. 1 Cor.</HI> 15. 54. Death is &s;wallowed up in victory: they &s;ay they are <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> and all naturall men are <HI>Egyptians,</HI> which by conver&s;ion become <HI>I&s;raelites;</HI> and that now <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> is contending with <HI>Pharaoh</HI> the Devill, to bring the cho&s;en of God through the red Sea, and barren, hard and de&s;olate wilder|ne&s;&s;e into <HI>Canaan</HI> the land of re&s;t, the peace of con&s;cience, and favour of God; and that now God calls <HI>Abraham</HI> out of <HI>&V;r</HI> of the <HI>Chaldees,</HI> making it the land of devills, as the Hebrew word &s;ignifies, to &s;et forth to us, every unregenerate mans dark and &s;infull e&s;tate naturally, and Gods calling of <HI>Abraham</HI> out of it, to go to a land he would give him, to &s;ignifie unto us the conver&s;ion of a &s;inner to God, and <HI>Davids</HI> kil|ling <HI>&V;riah,</HI> to &s;ignifie the quenching the Spirit the Apo&s;tle dehorts from, and <HI>Reubens</HI> going up to his fathers bed, the weakne&s;&s;es of &s;uch as are babes in Chri&s;t, as S^t. <HI>John</HI> &s;peaks of, calling them little chil|dren, and young men, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 2. 12, 13. And that in this nonage, this youth of theirs, it is with their anointed ones, as it was with Chri&s;t, which &s;ignifies anointed, <HI>Mat.</HI> 3. &amp; 4. who as &s;oon as God te&s;tified to him from heaven, &s;aying, <HI>This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well plea|&s;ed;</HI> and when he had fa&s;ted and &s;eparated him&s;elf from his naturall wayes and &s;infull affections, forty dayes and forty nights, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was fortie dayes and fortie nights in the holy mount, where hee re|ceived the covenant of perfection in a figure. And the Text &s;aith, <HI>af|terwards he was an hungred,</HI> that is, this new man hungred and thir&s;ted after righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; and as the Text &s;aith, <HI>The tempter came to him,</HI> the meaning is, &s;ay they, the &s;infull fle&s;h, the enemy to the Spirit &s;aid to him, <HI>If thou be the Son of God, command that the&s;e &s;tones be made bread,</HI> but the new man an&s;wereth, it is written, the man Chri&s;t &s;hall live by the truth, the Word of God; then the tempter u&s;es other means, to have him to be a &s;elf-ju&s;tifier, and account of him&s;elf as the holy Citie of God, &amp; makes him to be advanced in his own thoughts, as the highe&s;t of all, as a pinacle is above the re&s;t of the building; and then to pre|&s;ume in his infancie, as if he had the experience of old age, and perfecti|on it &s;elf, and &s;o the holy childe an&s;wers, thou ought&s;t not to tempt, but to wait patiently on thy Lord thy God. His third and la&s;t temp|tation,
<PB N="12" REF="9">
is the proffer of the whole world unto this young man in Chri&s;t, but being now grown in &s;trength, in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, makes a &s;peedy an&s;wer, <HI>Get thee behind me Satan, God is only to be wor&s;hipped and &s;erved,</HI> &s;o the tempter left him, and the Angels mini&s;tred unto him in all pa&s;&s;ages of &s;ervice, till they brought the holy One from one de|gree to another to &s;it down at the right hand of the Father, and to come to judge the world. And of this &s;pirituall e&s;tate do they under|&s;tand all the Scriptures that &s;peak of the re&s;urrection of the body, un|der&s;tanding it this &s;pirituall body, and this &s;pirituall re&s;urrection, and that Chri&s;t is dead or alive in every man in the world, dead in the naturall or &s;infull e&s;tate, and made alive, and rai&s;ed in the illu|minated e&s;tate; and the terms in Scripture of this pre&s;ent world, to be the &s;infull e&s;tate, and the world to come the regenerated e&s;tate, which they call perfection, eternall life and the glory of the Father, the world without end, affirming there &s;hall be no end of the heavens, and of the earth, the whole creation, but that it &s;hall continue for ever &s;ucce&s;&s;ively, one generation after another; and as man comes from God, &s;o he goes to God, in matter and time infinitely. The&s;e and a thou&s;and gro&s;&s;e and bla&s;phemous doctrines are the tenents of the <HI>Famili&s;ts,</HI> which are the very depths of Satan, from which I wi&s;h thee to repent, if it may be by any means obtained, and learn to leave off your &s;corn and contempt of Scripture-learning, and labour to be taught by the Spirit of truth in the true meaning of Gods Word.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>The&s;e doctrines which you call <HI>Famili&s;ts</HI> are the tenents of <HI>N. H.</HI> that is, <HI>Henry Nichols,</HI> who lived in <HI>Germany,</HI> and writ divers &s;mall books, as <HI>The Go&s;pel of the kingdom, The Prophecy of the &s;pirit of love, The Gla&s;&s;e of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> and divers others; but although he be a &s;educer and gro&s;ly deceived, to the overthrow of the faith of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, in affirming holine&s;&s;e and righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e to be Chri&s;t the Lord; now I am &s;o far from his opinion, that I think Je&s;us the Prophet of <HI>Nazareth,</HI> to be only man, that is, meere man, and not God and man, and to partake of the Deity no more then any other naturall man doth.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>You expre&s;&s;e your &s;elfe to be an <HI>Arrian;</HI> for <HI>Arrius</HI> that proud Bi&s;hop, who&s;e time was above 200. yeeres after the Apo&s;tles, and did then fall from the truth of the Scriptures, as they clearly &s;et forth our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour in his divine nature as well as in his humane, and invented and broacht, divulged and publi&s;hed this here&s;ie, that Je&s;us Chri&s;t was only man, and not God, which here&s;ie
<PB N="13" REF="9">
backt with his authority, proved a great and cruell per&s;ecution again&s;t the faithfull and true Chri&s;tians, 150. yeers together, as Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Hi&s;tories, according with the plain and holy Word of God, do declare, as it appeares in the fir&s;t of <HI>John,</HI> compared with <HI>Gene&s;is</HI> 1. and <HI>Prov.</HI> 8. 22, 23, 24. and <HI>John,</HI> that beloved of the Lord, <HI>Revelations</HI> the 9^t^h. chapter, makes a full and plain de&s;cription of the per&s;on of <HI>Arrius</HI> his power, authority, and the compleat time of his per&s;ecution and fal&s;e doctrine, where he deciphers his per&s;on, by the appellation and name of a &s;tar, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 1. thereby&punc; &s;ignifying hee was a high and great light in the Church, even in the rank and cour&s;e of the Apo&s;tles, for &s;o are they compared and called, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12. and that this &s;tar was great in the outward office of the Church, is farther intima|ted in the&s;e words, in &s;aying, <HI>hee fell from heaven,</HI> that was, from the purity of the doctrine of the Saints, preached and planted by Chri&s;ts faithfull Apo&s;tles and Evangeli&s;ts; and in that it is &s;aid, <HI>hee fell unto the earth,</HI> it &s;heweth, that as he fell from the light of the truth, &s;o he fell into gro&s;&s;e corrupt hereticall darkne&s;&s;e, apo&s;tatizing; and as op|po&s;ite to the &s;incerity of the truth he formerly profe&s;&s;ed, as the cur&s;ed polluted earth is to the pure undefiled heavens; and as it is &s;aid, <HI>To him was given the key of the bottomle&s;s pit,</HI> it &s;hewes the permi&s;&s;ive power that &s;hould be granted and given to him; that as hee loved lies more then truth, &s;o he that is the God of truth &s;hould give him up to &s;trong delu&s;ions to believe lies; and having in him&s;elf an adulterous evill heart, a fit receptacle for an error &s;o abominable, doth with as great a longing de&s;ire, preach and publi&s;h it to corrupt others like him&s;elf, by all wayes&punc; and means what&s;oever: as fir&s;t his own thir&s;tie deceit was not &s;atisfied, proved in the&s;e words, <HI>ver&s;. 2. And hee opened the bottom|le&s;s pit, and there aro&s;e a &s;moak out of the pit, as the &s;moak of a great furnace,</HI> declaring hereby, the nature of their corrupt doctrines, even &s;uch as &s;moak, &s;oot and filth, compared to the pure air, and wofull darkne&s;&s;e to the glorious Sun-light&punc;</P>
<P>The truth of God, who&s;e &s;hining purity was ob&s;cured and darkned, as it followes in the next words, by <HI>rea&s;on of the &s;moak of the pit;</HI> and the Text &s;aith, <HI>ver&s;. 3. And there came out of the &s;moak Locu&s;ts upon the earth,</HI> which &s;hewes the great &s;ucce&s;&s;e and large increa&s;e of fal&s;e doctrines, which are no &s;ooner conceived and borne, but pre&s;ently it brings forth abundantly a viperous and wicked brood, good for no|thing but de&s;truction it &s;elf, and their great <HI>power is to hurt as a Scorpi|on,</HI> which is the mo&s;t cruell and venimous of all creeping things, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 5.
<PB N="14" REF="10">
And as they are cruel, &s;o they are cunning, crafty, and unavoidable, by which being once bit or &s;tung, it is incurable; of &s;uch dangerous nature was this here&s;ie of <HI>Arrius,</HI> &s;ee the cruelty, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 6. their power, cunning, and deceit, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.</P>
<P>The Apo&s;tle al&s;o by divine in&s;piration, &s;ets down the full and com|pleat time of this <HI>Arrian</HI> per&s;ecution, &s;aying, <HI>It &s;hall be five moneths,</HI> that is, moneths of yeers, accounting as before, in the audit of <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> thirty dayes to a moneth, which multiplied by five, amounts in the to|tall, to one hundred and fifty yeers, prophetically reckoning a day for a yeere, as <HI>Ezek.</HI> 4. 6. which here&s;ie was grown to &s;uch a height of e&s;teem and applau&s;e, that the then Chri&s;tian Emperour call'd a gene|rall Councel of all the Bi&s;hops in Chri&s;tendome, to confirm and e&s;ta|bli&s;h this abominable fal&s;e doctrine by a canon, or Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall de|cree, to be an unque&s;tionable verity: from which conclu&s;ion, not any one of the learned Doctors did di&s;&s;ent, but only godly <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> who by his alone wi&s;dome and great knowledge in the Scriptures, did prote&s;t and declare again&s;t this dark and &s;moakie error; and he ma|naged and maintained the truth &s;o clearly by the authoritie of holy Writ, that as Chri&s;t was perfect man, &s;o hee was truly God, God and man, our alone Saviour, through which his grave and &s;olid arguments rai&s;ed from the beginning of the Evangeli&s;ts, of S^t. <HI>John,</HI> and other ho|ly Scriptures, he gained the mo&s;t of the generall Councel to be of his &s;ide and judgement, whereupon they prevailed with him to make and write that famous and excellent Creed, call'd after his own name, even the Creed of <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> which then, and ever &s;ince, hath been imbraced, approved, honoured, &amp; confe&s;&s;ed of all Chri&s;tian Churches, although it is now neglected, as gold in the du&s;t, and pearles by the ignorant Cock in the dunghill, and fables in compari&s;on, even husks, preferred before the verity thereof, through the blindne&s;&s;e of this pre&s;ent generation.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>Although the <HI>Popes</HI> univer&s;all &s;upremacie in and over all per|&s;ons and cau&s;es Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall and civill, be an error, and al&s;o here&s;ie, to deny the humane nature of Chri&s;t, as doth the <HI>Famili&s;ts,</HI> and as bad in <HI>Arrius,</HI> to deny the divine nature of our Lord and Saviour, for I am of <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> his mind, <HI>That hee was God of the &s;ub&s;tance of the Father, begotten before the world were made, and man of the &s;ub&s;tance of the mo|ther, born in the world, perfect God and perfect man; for as the rea&s;onable &s;oul</HI> and fle&s;h <HI>is one man, &s;o God and man is one Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>And al&s;o I believe and maintain, that every man naturally, hath
<PB N="15" REF="10">
free will to do good, as well as free will to do evill; and that a Chri&s;ti|an mans &s;tanding in the grace and favour with God, depends upon his obedience in keeping the commandments, and that there is no more, or other certainty of &s;alvation, then that man by his own free good will continues obedient to Gods Word; &s;o that a man may be the childe of God to day, and the childe of the Devill to morrow.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>You that did la&s;t &s;peak, &s;hew your &s;elf to be an <HI>Arminian;</HI> for although you confe&s;&s;e many truths, yet indeed you differ no more from a <HI>Papi&s;t</HI> then <HI>Arminius,</HI> that wicked heretike did, and in your fal&s;e doctrines of free will, and falling from grace, you agree with the ancient <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI> al&s;o; for you all three are but one in the&s;e two errors.</P>
<P>And, fir&s;t, for your tenent of Freewill, that all men naturally have as great freedome and power of will to do good, as to do evill, this is a gro&s;&s;e error, and directly oppo&s;ite to the clear and plain Scriptures, for the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good plea&s;ure,</HI> Phil. 2. 13. And the truth &s;peaks thus, 2 <HI>Cor. 3. 5. Not that we are &s;ufficient of our &s;elves to think any thing as of our &s;elves, but our &s;ufficiencie is of God;</HI> and this is the faith and confe&s;&s;ion of the whole Church of God: <HI>I&s;a. 26. 12. Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us, for thou al&s;o ha&s;t wrought all our works in us and for us.</HI></P>
<P>The error of Free will, is a carnall opinion, and naturally men are inclined to it, and the holy Apo&s;tle S^t. <HI>James,</HI> reproves it in his dayes, who writing to the &s;cattered Tribes, &s;aith, <HI>you ought to &s;ay, if the Lord will,</HI> and not to &s;ay as you have affirmed your faith to be, Wee will go, &amp;c. <HI>James</HI> 2. 13. 15. So that it is plain, no man of him&s;elf hath freedome of will to do good; but there is no que&s;tion but every man hath freedome of will to do evill, as &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>Jerem.</HI> 4. 22.</P>
<P>Secondly, your doctrine of the uncertainty of the Elects called and &s;anctified e&s;tate in Chri&s;t by regeneration, &s;hewes plainly you do not know what it is to be a Chri&s;tian indeed and truly, for if you did, you would know this truth undoubtedly, that <HI>they that tru&s;t in the Lord, are as mount Sion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever;</HI> as te&s;ti|fieth the Prophet, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 135. 1. and the Apo&s;tle gives the rea&s;on of it, becau&s;e <HI>the chief corner &s;tone thereof is Chri&s;t,</HI> that holy, cho&s;en and pre|cious One; and <HI>who&s;oever he be that believeth on him, &s;hall not be con|founded,</HI> 1 Pet. 2. 6. And this doctrine is that which our Lord him|&s;elf hath taught us, <HI>&V;pon this rock,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>I will build my Church, and the gates of hell &s;hall not prevail again&s;t it,</HI> Mat. 16. 18. Marke what
<PB N="16" REF="11">
greater contrary power can there be, then the gates of hell, and yet that, even the &s;trength of all the powers of the Devill &s;hall not be able to do that which you affirm they &s;hall, and the rea&s;on thereof our Lord him&s;elf gives, <HI>Joh. 10. 27, 28, 29. My &s;heep heare my voyce, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternall life, and they &s;hall never peri&s;h, neither &s;hall any pluck them out of my hand; my father which gave them me, is greater then all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my fathers hand: I and my Father are one.</HI></P>
<P>And that great experienced man of the love of God, even above the re&s;t of his fellowes, &s;peaking of the ble&s;&s;ed e&s;tate of the regenerated Elect, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1. 2, 3, 4, 5. &s;aith, <HI>They were elected according to the fore|knowledge of God, begotten again to a lively hope, by the re&s;urrection of Je|&s;us Chri&s;t from the dead, to a glorious undefiled inheritance, of which it is impo&s;&s;ible we &s;hould fail of, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto &s;alvation;</HI> and tho&s;e &s;weet words of our Lord are of efficacy to gain the mo&s;t contrary heart to the belief of this truth, <HI>Joh. 17. 11. Holy Fa|ther, keep through thy holy name tho&s;e that thou ha&s;t given mee, that they may be one as we are one.</HI></P>
<P>Now <HI>Arminius</HI> &s;ee the &s;ure and certain e&s;tate of a regenerated Chri&s;tian &s;o &s;ure as God is &s;ure, and unchangeable, as Chri&s;t, the &s;ame ye&s;terday, to day and for ever, eternall as the Holy Gho&s;t; even &s;o are they that are made one with God, who <HI>truly have fellow&s;hip with the Father, and with the Son, Je&s;us Chri&s;t, 1 Joh. 1. 3. For he that &s;anctifieth and they that are &s;anctified, are all of one;</HI> as brethren are one, <HI>Heb.</HI> 2. 11. and as the tree and the branches are one, <HI>Joh.</HI> 15. 5. even &s;o is Chri&s;t and the regenerated man, Oh happy are the people that are in &s;uch a ca&s;e!</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>At the fir&s;t I thought what we &s;hould find of you, but now I have ready a multitude of Scriptures to &s;hew to you, that which I main|tain to be truth, and by them I &s;hall di&s;cover you, I hope, to be untruth: The fir&s;t place is, <HI>Ezek. 18. 24. When the righteous man turneth away from his righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and committeth iniquity, and dyeth in them, he &s;hall die for the iniquity he hath done;</HI> again, our Lord him&s;elf &s;aith, <HI>Every branch in me that beareth not fruit,</HI> He (that is, God) <HI>taketh away,</HI> that is, cut|teth off from the Vine, <HI>Joh.</HI> 15. 2. And many of Chri&s;ts Di&s;ciples were offended at the truth of his doctrine, <HI>and turned away,</HI> or <HI>went backe,</HI> that is, left him for ever, <HI>Joh.</HI> 6. 66. others received the Word gladly, and indured for a while believers, <HI>but when tribulation and per&s;ecution did ari&s;e, becau&s;e of the Word, they were offended, and fell away,</HI> Mat. 13. 21.
<PB N="17" REF="11">
<HI>Lake</HI> 8. 13. yea, the Apo&s;tle is more particular, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 6. 4, 5, 6. for he &s;peaks of &s;uch as were <HI>made partakers of the Holy Gho&s;t, and had ta|&s;ted of the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come;</HI> and yet notwith&s;tanding all this, to fall away, as not to <HI>be renewed again by re|pentance;</HI> yea, the &s;ame Apo&s;tle &s;heweth farther, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. 29. that a man may be &s;anctified <HI>by the blood of the Te&s;tament, and afterwards</HI> tread under foot the Son of God, and count the &s;ame blood <HI>as an unholy thing, and de&s;pite the Spirit of Grace.</HI> And S^t. <HI>Peter,</HI> 2 Pet. 18. 19, 20. &s;peaks of &s;ome that were <HI>clean e&s;caped from the corruptions of the world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and yet after this to be intangled and overcome again, who&s;e latter end is wor&s;e then their beginning;</HI> the&s;e, and many more are the ground of my doctrine.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>And &s;econdly, I an&s;wer, the&s;e Scriptures rightly under&s;tood, make nothing at all for the maintenance of your error, but in truth it teacheth us, that we ought heedfully to ob&s;erve the di&s;tinction in one and the &s;ame terme, which mu&s;t be generally and really ob&s;erved throughout the Scriptures, which hereafter I &s;hall more fully di&s;cover, when any of the <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI> &s;hall &s;peak; and in the mean while, I pray con&s;ider of the terms in tho&s;e Scriptures you have alledged, as the term faith to believe the Word, the affection of joy and glad|ne&s;&s;e in the knowledge of it, a reli&s;h and ta&s;te of the &s;weetne&s;&s;e and goodne&s;&s;e in it for the pre&s;ent, with &s;ome apprehen&s;ion of the glori|ous things of the world to come, and through the operations of its working in tho&s;e that received it, as that it is &s;aid, they were wa&s;hed and &s;anctified, and yet afterwards never the better for all this, nay, wor&s;e at la&s;t then at fir&s;t; for it &s;hall aggravate their condemnation: this &s;hewes plainly, that the new and living way of life is &s;et open un|to all, by the generall and particular admini&s;tration of the Go&s;pel, and that men by the common gifts of the Spirit, may attain to many excellent graces, even beginnings to the peculiar and &s;peciall gifts, to which who&s;oever attaineth, &s;hall never fall and peri&s;h, which dif|fering effect of the Go&s;pel is cleerly &s;et forth unto us in the foure grounds mentioned by our Lord; the Seeds-man was one and the &s;ame, and the &s;eed it &s;elf was &s;o al&s;o, and yet took not the &s;ame ef|fect in all, although it was &s;owne and ca&s;t into them all.</P>
<P>The high-way &s;ide were hard hearted, ignorant men, who&s;e hearts had not earth to cover the &s;eed, <HI>and the wicked one came and &s;tole it away;</HI> in the thorny and &s;tony ground it &s;prung up into a blade, in the one it fail'd, becau&s;e it could not take root for &s;tones; in the other, becau&s;e
<PB N="18" REF="12">
the thornes choakt it; the good ground never failed, becau&s;e the &s;eed took deep root, the hard way was broken up and ploughed, &s;o that the &s;eed was covered, that the fowls of the air could not find it, to &s;teel it, the &s;tones could not hinder the taking root downwards, for they were ca&s;t out by repentance: nor the thornes choake it in &s;pringing upwards, for the plea&s;ures of this world, and the cares of unrighteous riches are both for&s;aken, &s;o that the happy &s;ucce&s;&s;e and pro&s;perity of it was not hindred nor prevented, but the broken peni|tent heart under&s;tands, retains and keeps the Word, and <HI>bringeth forth fruit with patience,</HI> Luke. 8. 15. when as the other three &s;orts of grounds brought nothing to perfection, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 14. Now the&s;e &s;everall grounds, briefly &s;hew us how all your mentioned Scriptures are to be under|&s;tood, even as the Parable &s;ets forth unto us the differing e&s;tate of men under the means of the Go&s;pel; and &s;o al&s;o doth the branch in Chri&s;t that is fruitfull, which God purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit, and the fruitle&s;&s;e branch in the Vine Chri&s;t, which God cutteth off to be burned; in this di&s;tinction doth the Prophet <HI>Ezekiel</HI> &s;peak, calling that man righteous in the Scripture you fir&s;t mentioned, who was &s;o made righteous by the common gifts of the Spirit, as the three bad grounds; and in this di&s;tinction we are to under&s;tand, that a man may become &s;anctified by the blood of Chri&s;t, and yet afterwards tread it under foot, as <HI>Judas,</HI> when he was a preacher, and yet after|wards fell to be a Traitor, to kill the Lord, that formerly in &s;ome re|&s;pect he &s;erved, and differenc'd from other men by his holy imploiment of his Apo&s;tolicall office, as hee was that took the Plough by the hand, and afterwards looked back, thereby making him&s;elf uncapable of that e&s;tate in which before hee &s;tood in, <HI>Luke</HI> 9. 62. and the Apo&s;tle makes this clear to the <HI>Corinthians,</HI> &s;peaking, that the Go&s;pel to &s;ome is the <HI>&s;avour of life unto life,</HI> and to others, <HI>the &s;avour of death unto death, 2 Cor.</HI> 2. 15, 16. not that it is &s;o of it &s;elf, but occa&s;ionally: as the Sun in the Firmament, that is one and the &s;ame in it &s;elf, yet through ac|cidents in the &s;ubject, it &s;oftens ice, and hardens clay; &s;o likewi&s;e is the admini&s;tration of the Go&s;pel &s;alvation to them that receive and obey it, and damnation to tho&s;e that neglect and contemn it, as in pro|phane <HI>E&s;aus</HI> ca&s;e, and the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of <HI>Jacob,</HI> both &s;ons of <HI>I&s;aac,</HI> the one &s;elling his birth-right for a me&s;s of pottage, the other &s;eeking and &s;triving for it with prayers and tears: &s;o that it appeares plainly, that the Scriptures rightly under&s;tood are again&s;t your erroneous opi|nion, and all of them affirm, that truth of God which before I have
<PB N="19" REF="12">
proved to you, that who&s;oever believeth, and is baptized &s;hall be &s;aved, as hereafter I &s;hall open more at large; for hee is the wi&s;e Chri&s;tian that heareth, and doth build on a rock of a deep foundation; &s;o that it &s;tood &s;till, notwith&s;tanding the great billowes of the flouds, the huge &s;torms of the winds and &s;howers, when the fooli&s;h Chri&s;tian, the fine built hou&s;e was overthrown thereby, having no foundation, and great was the fall of it, <HI>Mat.</HI> 7. 25, 27.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>Of late, through the knowledge of the Scriptures, men have come to &s;ee and under&s;tand the &s;uper&s;tition of <HI>Popery,</HI> the bla&s;phemy of <HI>Famili&s;ts,</HI> the gro&s;&s;e errors and ab&s;urdities of <HI>Arrius</HI> and <HI>Arminius,</HI> and that they are all &s;educed and deceived.</P>
<P>But we have found a rule of truth in Gods Word, plainly directing us to the making matter of the Church of Chri&s;t, and none but &s;uch as are quallified by faith, are fit &s;ubjects for bapti&s;me, which faith is wrought by teaching, and then bapti&s;me or dipping admits and gives entrance unto &s;uch believers, to have communion in Church-fellow|&s;hip with us in all the other holy ordinances of God, which Church and ordinances are not under&s;tood, but neglected and contemned of all the Heretikes you have named and conferred with before, therefore we are the true Church, for we profe&s;&s;e but one Lord, one Faith, and one bapti&s;me, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4. 5.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Sir, I perceive you are an <HI>Anabapti&s;t,</HI> and therefore I &s;hall &s;peedily make good my late promi&s;e, and indeed, &s;ome thirty yeers &s;ince, M^r. <HI>Morton,</HI> a Teacher of a Church of the <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI> in <HI>New|gate,</HI> then his confe&s;&s;ion comprehended all the errors of the <HI>Ar|minians</HI> which now of late, many that go under your name, in and about <HI>London</HI> di&s;&s;ent from, as it &s;eems you do.</P>
<P>And therefore in An&s;wer to you I &s;ay, that the terme bapti&s;me in Scriptures (as well as faith and Lord) hath divers &s;ignifications, &s;ome|times to &s;ignifie &s;ufferings, as <HI>Matth.</HI> 22. at other times outward bap|ti&s;me, as <HI>John</HI> baptizing our Saviour, a holy &s;ubject, <HI>Mat. 3. 16. and Simon al&s;o believed, and was baptized,</HI> Acts 8. 13. which was an evill un|regenerate man, and yet admitted, and continued in the common fel|low&s;hip of the Church with <HI>Philip;</HI> &s;o al&s;o by bapti&s;me we are to un|der&s;tand inward bapti&s;me; &s;ometimes repentance, and &s;ometimes re|mi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins, for &s;o faith the <HI>Bapti&s;t</HI> him&s;elf, <HI>Matth. 3. 11. I baptize you with water unto repentance,</HI> by which indeed he wrought repentance in them, <HI>but he that comes after me,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>he &s;hall baptize you with the Holy Gho&s;t, and with fire,</HI> that is, hee &s;hould pardon the penitent; which
<PB N="20" REF="13">
two &s;peciall admini&s;trations are the two parts of regeneration, accor|ding to that in <HI>Luke 24. 47. That repentance and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins &s;hould be preached in the name of Chri&s;t;</HI> &s;o likewi&s;e by bapti&s;me we are to un|der&s;tand both the parts of regeneration together, where the Apo&s;tle &s;aith, <HI>as many of you as have been baptized into Chri&s;t, have put on Chri&s;t, Gal.</HI> 3. 27. and in this &s;en&s;e it is called <HI>the laver of regeneration,</HI> or <HI>the wa&s;hing of regeneration,</HI> Tit. 2. 5. The&s;e differing &s;ignifications, being plain, I marvelled to find &s;ome of your company to maintain the con|trary, of purpo&s;e, I &s;uppo&s;e, to avoid the di&s;tinction, that &s;o clearly di&s;covers your error.</P>
<P>You affirm you have found a rule in the Scriptures, plainly directing how the matter of the Church is made, and that is, &s;ay you, by teach|ing and baptizing, and yet you, not di&s;tingui&s;hing of either, &s;ay nothing truly in neither or both; for a man may be taught and baptized, and thereby be made a Di&s;ciple in the outward profe&s;&s;ion of the truth, as the high-way, &s;tony and thorny ground, as <HI>Simon Magus, Demas, Hy|mineus, Philetus, Ananias</HI> and <HI>Saphira,</HI> the ince&s;tuous per&s;on in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> and &s;uch, who&s;e belly was their God, in the Church of <HI>Philippi,</HI> who notwith&s;tanding, they were all taught and baptized, yet not any one of them any part or portion of the Church of Chri&s;t, again&s;t which the gates of Hell &s;hall not prevail, therefore the ground and foundation of your Church is &s;and, and that will fail you, and it is very fal&s;e and contrary to the matter of the true Church: for the Scripture &s;aith, <HI>Though I&s;rael be as numerous as the &s;and of the &s;ea, yet but a remnant &s;hall repent and be &s;aved,</HI> Rom. 9. 27. and yet they are called <HI>the people of God,</HI> I&s;a. 10. 22, 23. and &s;o all taught, and all circumci|&s;ed; and the &s;ame di&s;tinction the Scriptures make of bapti&s;me, the ve|ry &s;ame is &s;aid of circumci&s;ion, for the &s;elf-&s;ame operation that cir|cumci&s;ion had in the Church of the <HI>Jewes,</HI> outward carnally in the fle&s;h, and inward &s;piritually in the heart, of the &s;ame di&s;tinction and operation is bapti&s;me in the Chri&s;tian Church, the wa&s;hing with wa|ter, or dipping in water, is the doing away the filth of the fle&s;h, which &s;aveth not; for this a man may have and peri&s;h, as tho&s;e Di&s;ciples that fell away from Chri&s;t, <HI>and walked no more with him,</HI> Joh. 6. 66. but the wa&s;hing or bapti&s;me that &s;aveth, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3. 21. is <HI>the an&s;wer of a good con&s;ci|ence unto God by the re&s;urrection of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> not the wa&s;hing of the fle&s;h, but the purifying of the heart by faith; and this &s;pirituall bapti&s;me <HI>or wa&s;hing</HI> it is that works that full a&s;&s;urance of faith; <HI>having our hearts &s;trinkled from an evill con&s;cience by the blood of Chri&s;t, and our bodies wa&s;hed</HI>
<PB N="21" REF="13">
<HI>with pure water,</HI> Heb. 10. 22. that water that Chri&s;t giveth his Di&s;ciples, <HI>Joh.</HI> 4. 14. and wa&s;heth his Apo&s;tles with, <HI>John</HI> 13. and this is that which maketh the truly faithfull <HI>Jew</HI> by vertue of the circumci&s;ion of the heart, and the truly faithfull <HI>Chri&s;tian</HI> by vertue of the bapti&s;me of the heart all one, as the holy Apo&s;tle &s;aith, and that God did beare witne&s;&s;e with him al&s;o to the truth of it, that there is no difference between us and them, that is, us <HI>Jewes,</HI> and them <HI>Gentiles, purifying their hearts by faith,</HI> Acts 15. 8, 9. and the Scriptures &s;hew, that the <HI>Jewes</HI> did well know, that when the Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould come, that then bapti&s;me or wa&s;hing &s;hould be the di&s;tinction of <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> from others; as circumci&s;ion by Gods own ordinance was the di&s;tinction the <HI>Jewes</HI> had from all the people of the whole world: and therefore it is writ|ten, that when the <HI>Jewes</HI> &s;ent Prie&s;ts and Levites of the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> from <HI>Jeru&s;alem to John the Bapti&s;t, to Bethabara beyond Jordan,</HI> where <HI>John</HI> was baptizing, the me&s;&s;engers askt him whether he were the Chri&s;t, or <HI>Elias,</HI> or the Prophet, and upon his an&s;wer, no, that he was not, they then asked him <HI>why hee did baptize then,</HI> hereby cleerly &s;hewing, that they under&s;tood by the Scriptures, that when <HI>Elias,</HI> Me&s;&s;iah, and the Prophet foretold of &s;hould come, that then bapti&s;me &s;hould be in u&s;e in the Church, and accordingly it was &s;o practi&s;ed by <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, and ever &s;ince continued, and of the very &s;ame u&s;e to Chri&s;tians, both outwardly and inwardly, as circum|ci&s;ion was to the <HI>Jewes.</HI> And the Apo&s;tle to the Church of <HI>Colo&s;&s;e,</HI> u&s;eth both the terms, bapti&s;me and circumci&s;ion, to &s;et forth and teach unto us, one and the &s;ame thing in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>Col. 2. 10, 11, 12. You are compleat,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>in Chri&s;t, which is the head of all principalities and power, in whom al&s;o you are circumci&s;ed with the circumci&s;ion made without hands, in putting off the body of the &s;ins of the fle&s;h, by the circum|ci&s;ion of Chri&s;t, buried with him in bapti&s;me, wherein al&s;o you are ri&s;en with him through the faith of the operation of God,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>Mark now friend, <HI>Anabapti&s;t,</HI> the truth of this doctrine of the cleer di&s;tinction the Holy Gho&s;t makes of bapti&s;me and circumci&s;ion, and in both double and two-fold; as in circumci&s;ion, the one outward, the other inward; &s;o in bapti&s;me, both in the fle&s;h, and both in the heart, both made by hands, and both without hands; a man may partake of both in one di&s;tinction, and peri&s;h, but who&s;oever doth re|ceive one or both, in the &s;peciall &s;en&s;e, hee &s;hall be &s;aved: and as the terms in the meaning do agree, &s;o they do both agree in their admini|&s;tration; for as <HI>Abraham</HI> received the &s;ign of circumci&s;ion, a &s;eal or
<PB N="22" REF="14">
<HI>&s;igne of the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of the faith which he had before be was circumci&s;ed in the fle&s;h,</HI> Rom. 4. 11. &s;o the regenerate and faithfull &s;ervants of God, <HI>Nathaniel,</HI> in whom was no guile, the Eunuch, <HI>Lydia,</HI> and <HI>Cor|nelius,</HI> of whom the Holy Gho&s;t bears witne&s;&s;e that they were true wor&s;hipers of God, the&s;e all, as <HI>Abraham,</HI> had the inward bapti&s;me of the blood of Chri&s;t through faith, in the promi&s;e, before they recei|ved the outward bapti&s;me, the wa&s;hing their bodies with water, a live|ly repre&s;entation of the wa&s;hing their hearts by the blood of the Lamb Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>And for the generall u&s;e of Bapti&s;me, as in the <HI>Jewes</HI> Church, all that believed the Law of God were to be circumci&s;ed, and &s;o admit|ted into the Congregation and communion of all the holy ordinances of Gods wor&s;hip and &s;ervice: &s;o now, who ever believes that Chri&s;t is come in the fle&s;h, and acknowledgeth the glad tidings of the Go&s;pel, the Mini&s;tery and Doctrine of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles to be the truth, they upon this generall or hi&s;toricall faith, ought to be baptized, and to be admitted to communion in the Word and Sacraments, as <HI>Simon Magus, Demas,</HI> the faulty Chri&s;tians in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> and a thou&s;and more had, as the Scriptures &s;hew; &s;o that now you &s;ee Gods Word forces you to di&s;tingui&s;h of bapti&s;me, and &s;o al&s;o of the terme Faith, and the name Lord, and yet but one bapti&s;me, one faith, and one Lord to &s;alvation.</P>
<P>Now the Scriptures plainly &s;et forth unto us a three-fold faith, which may be truly di&s;tingui&s;hed by the&s;e termes, hi&s;toricall, miracu|lous, or ju&s;tifying faith, and all the&s;e a full a&s;&s;urance, and are to be believed with all the heart; of the two fir&s;t &s;orts, wicked men, devils, may partake of them as well as the Saints, yea, &s;ometimes exceed there|in: for <HI>Judas</HI> wrought miracles among the twelve, but <HI>John</HI> the Bap|ti&s;t did no miracle, &s;aith the Text; &s;o many are called to believe the truth, to work in the Vineyard, but few are cho&s;en unto &s;alvation and rewarded with eternall life, that is the &s;peciall peculiar faith, <HI>Joh.</HI> 7. 38. that who&s;oever believeth &s;hall not peri&s;h, but have eternall life. And there is a great deal of difference between him that by faith eateth Chri&s;ts fle&s;h, and drinketh his blood to eternall life, <HI>Joh.</HI> 6. 54. and their faith by which they are baptized, preach and communicate in the other ordinances, and boldly pray and call upon the name of Chri&s;t, and yet notwith&s;tanding are not acknowledged by him, but &s;hut out and excluded from eternall life, and a&s;&s;ign'd and &s;entenced to everla&s;ting de&s;truction, and to be rewarded as the workers of iniquity, <HI>Mat.</HI> 7. 22, 23.</P>
<P><PB N="23" REF="14">Now, con&s;idering how cleare the Scriptures are in di&s;tingui&s;hing between faith and faith, I did admire (when I was in company with you) to &s;ee you all &s;o earne&s;t, as in bapti&s;me, &s;o in faith, to maintaine but one &s;ort under either term, wherefore I would here make the &s;eve|rall definitions of faith, thereby to make the di&s;tinctions the more clear, but that I &s;hall do hereafter, when I come to &s;peak of the <HI>Antino|mians</HI> mi&s;takes in the&s;e things al&s;o; and I much marvell at your igno|rance in Scripture di&s;tinctions, for as much as you all profe&s;&s;e you read them much, in which, except you di&s;tingui&s;h rightly, you can under|&s;tand no truth cleerly nor fully; for the letter of the Scriptures are but the body or corps, but it is the intention and meaning of the Holy Gho&s;t, by the words of the Text, which is the &s;pirit and life of them, therefore it doth behove us, and &s;tands us in hand to take heed we do not mi&s;take the meaning of Gods Word, nor to give any other &s;en&s;e or expo&s;ition then that which is its own, le&s;t we be found &s;uch as fight again&s;t the Scriptures, and by fal&s;e and lying interpretations, violate Gods Law, and wage war to kill and &s;lay the two witne&s;&s;es, the old and new Te&s;taments, the lamps and light of truth, <HI>Rev.</HI> 11. 7, 8. let us take heed of this, brethren, for the judgement again&s;t this &s;in is written and revealed already (to adde or dimini&s;h from the Word of God) to be a heavie, inevitable, di&s;mall, cur&s;ed &s;entence, <HI>Deut. 4. 2. Prov. 30. 6. Rev.</HI> 22. 18.</P>
<P>And if you had con&s;idered the Scriptures concerning the name of God, and Lord, you &s;hould have found even the Apo&s;tle him&s;elfe to expound to the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> what he meant by his &s;peaking or writing to the Church of <HI>Ephe&s;us, One Lord,</HI> &amp;c. for hee &s;aith, <HI>there be many Lords and many gods, &s;o call'd, both in heaven and earth, but to us,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, and wee in him, and one Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, by whom are all things, and wee by him,</HI> 1 Cor. 8. 5, 6. there is but one &s;uch a Father, and Lord, and ho|ly Spirit, who is the giver, the purcha&s;er and worker of the grace by which we are called, in the &s;ame one hope of our holy calling, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4. 4. but in other re&s;pects, the Heathens Idols, and the <HI>Gentiles</HI> gracious Lords are called God and Lord, for &s;o did the <HI>Gentiles</HI> &s;peak of <HI>Herod,</HI> deifying him with a &s;hout, &s;aying, <HI>The voyce of God, and not of man;</HI> and Chri&s;tian Emperors, Kings, States, and Potentates, in regard of authority and juri&s;diction, are called Lords, and Gods, in which they do repre&s;ent God; <HI>I have &s;aid you are gods,</HI> &s;aith the Scripture, <HI>but you &s;hall die like men.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="24" REF="15">
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>But wee have a plain word for our teaching and baptizing, <HI>Matth.</HI> 28. 19. but you baptize infants, for which you haue no word for, and therefore it will be &s;aid at la&s;t, <HI>Who hath required the&s;e things at your hands?</HI> for indeed you do but continue the mark of the bea&s;t in all your babies baptizings.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Whereas you &s;ay Chri&s;ts words in the la&s;t of <HI>Matthew,</HI> proves your preaching and baptizing, you &s;ay more then you can make good, or that I can believe from that Scripture; and although there be no expre&s;&s;e words in the Scripture for the baptizing of Infants, yet there is as &s;ufficient warrant for it as for mo&s;t things you practi&s;e your &s;elves; for what plain word have you for the time of publike a&s;&s;em|bling, or generall meetings? what word have you for your people to ordain their Mini&s;ter? what command doth authorize you your &s;elf to baptize? what word have you when to receive the Lords Supper, when to admini&s;ter it, and where&punc; who to provide the bread and wine, and what bread, and of what grain; and the wine of what grape? you have not a word for women to receive the Sacrament, and abundance other particulars practi&s;ed by you?</P>
<P>Will you therefore &s;ay, you do that which you &s;in in doing; &s;o as you &s;ay we do, I think not. The truth is, we need not a word, for there are generall rules in the Scriptures, that include particular practices, and divers things under the Go&s;pel, being of the &s;ame nature under the Law, the rules given under the Law, &s;erve under the Go&s;pel; &s;o the Apo&s;tle proves to the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> from the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es, Deut.</HI> 25. 4. That Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel &s;hould have maintenance, <HI>that as they which mini&s;ter about holy things, live of the things of the Temple, and they which wait at the Altar, are partakers of the Altar, even &s;o hath the Lord ordained, that they that preach the Go&s;pel, &s;hould live of the Go&s;pel,</HI> 1 Cor. 9. 13, 14. compared with <HI>Deut.</HI> 18. 1. So we may truly &s;ay, it is ordained, that as the children of believers before Chri&s;t, both <HI>Jewes</HI> and Pro&s;elytes, were to be circumci&s;ed, <HI>Gen. 17. 11, 12. Exod.</HI> 12. 48, 49. &s;o believers and their children, &s;ince Chri&s;t, are to be Baptized, as S^t. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaketh, <HI>the promi&s;e is to you and to your children, and to all that are a far of, even as many as the Lord our God &s;hall call.</HI></P>
<P>I be&s;eech you ob&s;erve this place, S^t. <HI>Peter</HI> here &s;pake to the <HI>Jews,</HI> the men of <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> ver&s;. 14. <HI>Yee men of I&s;rael,</HI> hear the&s;e words, &s;aith he, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 22. &s;o preacheth to them, that Je&s;us was the Saviour of the world, <HI>whom yee have taken by wicked hands, and have killed, and being dead, was buried, who was rai&s;ed again, and now &s;its at the right</HI>
<PB N="25" REF="15">
<HI>hand of the Father, and is made the Lord and Chri&s;t, the alone Saviour of the world,</HI> and they that gladly receive this doctrine of &s;alvation by Chri&s;t were baptized, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 41. who before had been circumci&s;ed. Now, as the promi&s;e did onely belong to <HI>Abraham,</HI> and his Spiri|tuall Seed, and yet all his naturall children, and the children of believing &s;trangers, were to communicate of circumci&s;ion, which was the outward &s;igne of the Covenant of the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e by faith, as before is proved: So likewi&s;e under the Go&s;pel, the &s;ame covenant of life and &s;alvation is made only to Gods cho&s;en faithfull regenera|ted &s;ervants, and their &s;pirituall &s;eed; yet the naturall children of the&s;e faithfull Chri&s;tians, may partake of the outward bapti&s;me, which is the outward &s;ignification of the bapti&s;me of the heart, as cir|cumci&s;ion in the fle&s;h was a &s;igne of the circumci&s;ion of the heart, and according to this rule, the place before mentioned, and divers other Scriptures &s;peak, as <HI>Acts</HI> 16. 15. that <HI>Lydia</HI> and her hou&s;hold was bap|tized; &s;o the Jailor was baptized, and all his, that is, his hou&s;hold; and the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> baptized the <HI>hou&s;hold of Stephanus,</HI> 1 Cor. 1. 16. And our Lord Je&s;us laid his hands on little children, and ble&s;&s;ed them, and rebuked his Di&s;ciples for forbidding them to come, <HI>Luke</HI> 18. 16. and the Apo&s;tle is cleer in the re&s;olution of this que&s;tion to the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> 1 Cor. 7. 14. &s;aith he, <HI>the unbelieving husband is &s;anctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife by the believing husband, el&s;e were your children unclean, but now are they holy,</HI> that is, in re&s;pect they have right unto the outward covenant, being born of one that believeth. But &s;ome of you <HI>Anabapti&s;ts</HI> would have the&s;e words, <HI>holy</HI> and <HI>unclean,</HI> to mean ba&s;tards, or unlawfully born, which is &s;uch an expo&s;ition, as was never heard nor read of before; and this expo&s;ition admits of much ab&s;urdity, for it nullifies the law of mar|riage among&s;t the Heathens, who have as certain rules for marriage, according to their manner and cu&s;tome, as Chri&s;tians have, for the Scripture pre&s;cribes no form. Secondly, this expo&s;ition makes <HI>Abra|ham</HI> him&s;elf, and mo&s;t of the Patriarchs wives to be ba&s;tards; for they were the children of Heathens by father and mother, as holy <HI>Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel,</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;ephs</HI> wife the mother of <HI>Ephraim</HI> and <HI>Mana&s;&s;es</HI> a ba&s;tard, and that holy and great Prophet, <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> took a ba&s;tard to his wife; for <HI>Zipporah</HI> was an Idolaters daughter, her fa|ther being a Prie&s;t of <HI>Midian,</HI> Exod. 2. 16. but this conceit is &s;o ri|diculous, that it &s;trangles it &s;elf in the birth.</P>
<P>And to return to our argument, the Apo&s;tle doth under&s;tand the&s;e
<PB N="26" REF="16">
terms not of ba&s;tardy, but of fellow&s;hip and communion in the Or|dinances of Gods wor&s;hip, <HI>Act.</HI> 10. 28. Wherefore I demand upon the&s;e premi&s;&s;es, what ground you have to deny believers children bapti&s;me under the Go&s;pel, &s;eeing it is proved to be the &s;ame thing, that by Gods command believers children were to partake of under the law. Take heed you do not deny them that which Gods Word allowes. And for the mark of the bea&s;t, when you can &s;hew mee by Scripture what it is, then I will prove to you, that it is not the baptizing of the Infants of believing parents. And for you to make outward bap|ti&s;me and common or hi&s;toricall faith to be the matter of your Church, you do no le&s;&s;e then tell me plainly, you do not know what the Church of Chri&s;t is; wherefore repent and turn from your errors.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>All the&s;e that you have made an&s;wer to already, are either Idolatrous, bla&s;phemous, &s;uper&s;titious, ridiculous, or erroneous, but we are &s;uch as have &s;eparated our &s;elves from the wicked in the world, and wee have joyned our &s;elves in Church-covenant, and Church-fellow&s;hip, and have &s;et up the Ordinances of Chri&s;t, in the purity of them, wee have ca&s;t off all the abominations of <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> in his &s;uper&s;titious ordinations, ceremonies and fal&s;e doctrines of all &s;orts; our congregations call and ordain our Pa&s;tors &amp; Elders, and &s;o we walk according to the rule that Chri&s;t hath left in his Church, un|till his coming; and we admit none to have communion with us, but &s;uch as are vi&s;ible Saints, and can give an account of their conver&s;ion.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Your po&s;ition is fram'd like theirs that are commonly known by the name of <HI>Browni&s;ts,</HI> or <HI>Separati&s;ts;</HI> and it con&s;i&s;ts of two parts: fir&s;t, that you are in Church-covenant, and walk in Church-fellow&s;hip, in the injoyment of Chri&s;ts Ordinances, as you &s;ay; and &s;econdly, that you &s;eparate your &s;elves from all other congregations: this is the &s;umme of your &s;peech, by which you do manife&s;t to mee &s;uch a &s;trange voyce, as doth not agree with the expre&s;&s;ion of Gods Word; for your words are in terms of your own acts and doings, favouring carnally of humanity, whereas holy Writ &s;peaks of the Church of Chri&s;t in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, that is, a &s;pirituall building, a hou&s;e, a Temple not gathered, joyned and builded by men, but by God him&s;elf, the whole matter of his Church, every &s;tone thereof be|ing made living &s;tones by regeneration; as S^t. <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaks, 1 <HI>Pet. 2. 2, 4. Which are built up together,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>a &s;pirituall hou&s;e, a holy Prie&s;thood, to offer up &s;pirituall &s;acrifices;</HI> &s;o that as them&s;elves are &s;pirituall, &s;o is their wor&s;hip and &s;acrifice, offered up unto God; and this was the
<PB N="27" REF="16">
matter of Gods Church alwayes: for when the Prophets came to build and plant Gods Church, they call to the people, <HI>to repent and turn to God,</HI> Jer. 1. to Chap. 4. 1. which is the fir&s;t part of our rege|neration; And thus they cry for it, <HI>Break up the fallow ground of your hearts, circumci&s;e your &s;elves to the Lord, wa&s;h you, make you clean,</HI> &amp;c. I&s;a. 1. 16. Jer. 4. 4. <HI>The place of Gods re&s;t and habitation, is a poore and contrite &s;pirit;</HI> in vain are all the hou&s;es that are built for God, but this that hee builds him&s;elf, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 66. 1, 2. And as this was the Prophets way to build Gods Church, &s;o even after the &s;ame manner did <HI>John</HI> the Bap|ti&s;t, <HI>He came in the power and &s;pirit of Elias, to turn men to God, the di&s;obedi|ent to the wi&s;dome of the ju&s;t,</HI> Luk. 1. 17. &s;o prepared he the Lords way by the mini&s;tery of water or repentance, the preparation or fir&s;t principle humbling the lofty, bending the crooked &s;treight, and breaking the hard hearted; and our Lord him&s;elf, he works and builds his Church after the &s;ame manner, and with the &s;ame matter, <HI>Repent,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>for the kingdome of heaven is at hand,</HI> Mat. 4. 17. <HI>And except a man be born again, hee cannot &s;ee the kingdome of God,</HI> Joh. 3. 3. and <HI>except yee repent, yee &s;hall all peri&s;h;</HI> and accordingly is his command to all that hee &s;ends into this work, that they &s;hould preach in his Name, <HI>repentance, and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins,</HI> Luke 24. 47. the one mini&s;tration brui&s;es &amp; breaks, the other binds up and heals; the one bapti&s;me pre|pares, the other &s;anctifies; the one makes poor, the other enriches; the one makes naked, the other cloaths; the one di&s;covers our folly, the other indues us with wi&s;dome; through the one wee are made mourners, through the other we are comforted and made to rejoyce with joy un&s;peakable, and full of glory; and by this laver of regene|ration and renewing of the Holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Tit.</HI> 3. 5. wee are wa&s;hed clean, and made of &s;inners Saints; of naturall dead men, living men; and this is Gods building, who&s;e matter is gold, and &s;ilver, and pre|cious &s;tones.</P>
<P>Now as the true builders build Gods Church, &s;o there are fal&s;e builders likewi&s;e, which build too, and they call their workman&s;hip a Church al&s;o, but the materials of their building is but hay, wood and &s;tubble, the morter they daub withall is untempered morter, <HI>They &s;educe my people,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 13, 10, 11, &amp;c. the fal&s;e Prophets mat|ter with which they build, is compounded of vanity, and lying vi&s;i|ons, <HI>Chap.</HI> 22. 28. they have brick made of earth and &s;traw in &s;tead of &s;tone, and &s;lime in &s;tead of morter, and &s;o they build the tower of <HI>Babell,</HI> the Synagogue of confu&s;ion, <HI>Gen.</HI> 11. 3. The&s;e builders take
<PB N="28" REF="17">
upon them to heal the wounds and breaches like Gods builders, but it is to no purpo&s;e; for they heal the brui&s;e or breach of my people, &s;aith the Lord, &s;leightly, &s;aying, <HI>Peace when there is no peace,</HI> Jer. 6. 14. and yet &s;uch a high e&s;teem and opinion have they of their &s;pirituall building, as they call it, that they contemn the truly &s;pirituall mat|ter, that Chri&s;t and the Apo&s;tles build with; and therefore it is &s;aid, <HI>The builders refu&s;ed</HI> Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is the very foundation that the true builders work with, and build upon, <HI>yea, the fal&s;e builders re|ject him,</HI> P&s;al. 118. 22. <HI>they &s;et him at nought, and di&s;allow of him,</HI> Mat. 21. 24&punc; Acts 4. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 7. and if they do thus de&s;pi&s;e and &s;o ba&s;ely account of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is the chief corner &s;tone of his own Church, what a kinde or manner of Church is that which the&s;e builders build of them&s;elves, as they &s;ay? And notwith&s;tand|ing my Lord and foundation, my rock and pre&s;ervation be not re|garded of &s;uch carnall builders, yet hee is cho&s;en of God and preci|ous; and hee him&s;elf makes all his faithfull Apo&s;tles, Prophets, and Evangeli&s;ts, Pa&s;tors and Teachers, wi&s;e ma&s;ter-workmen, or builders <HI>for the gathering and perfecting his Saints for the work of the Mini&s;tery, for the building or edifying the body of Chri&s;t,</HI> Ephe&s;. 4. 11, 12. 1 Cor. 3. 10. for as the Spirit of God by the mini&s;tery of his &s;ervants pre|pares and &s;anctifies them, &s;o he unites and cements them to have com|munion one with another in &s;pirituall fellow&s;hip: and this work|man&s;hip in the Lord, is called in Gods Word, <HI>the Church of Chri&s;t, his Hou&s;e, his Tabernacle, his Body, his Spou&s;e, his Temple, the pillar and ground of truth, the place of his dwelling, purcha&s;ed, clean&s;ed, purified and &s;anctified by his own precious blood, called and gathered by the power of his Word, made to live by the &s;pirit of his mouth, having communion and fel|low&s;hip by the Holy Gho&s;t, growing up together in holine&s;&s;e, as branches in one &s;tock or root,</HI> being members of one and the &s;ame body, of which Chri&s;t is head, as truly and really in a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e, as the head of a man is naturally the head of the whole body, confi&s;ting of many members.</P>
<P>Now notwith&s;tanding all this that hath been &s;aid of the true Church, and ten times more that might be &s;poke, yet the&s;e fal&s;e-igno|rant, carnall and fle&s;hly builders, tho&s;e dirt-daubers, have at all times taken upon them with all boldne&s;&s;e, without any blu&s;hing, to af|firm their wooden, dirty, filthy building, to be Gods Hou&s;e, and their rotten &s;traw and &s;tubble to be the work and building of Chri&s;t, boa&s;ting and crying out of them&s;elves, by way of &s;elf-ju&s;tifying, <HI>The</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="17">
<HI>Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord,</HI> Jer. 7. 4. where, to their eternall reproof, the Prophet to their very faces, &s;aith plainly, not|with&s;tanding all their vain confidence, <HI>The Temple of the Lord, Are the&s;e &s;uch as truly amend their wayes and their doings; &s;uch as truly and throughly execute judgement between man and his neighbour; &s;uch as op|pre&s;&s;e not &s;trangers, nor the fatherle&s;&s;e, nor widow, nor &s;hed innocent blood, nor walk after other gods?</HI> ver&s;. 5. &amp; 6. And as the&s;e fal&s;e Chri&s;tians, robbers and oppre&s;&s;ors take upon them my Names and Titles; &s;o al|&s;o, they a&s;&s;ume my authority and peculiar priviledges, to excommu|nicate mee, and ca&s;t me out with the&s;e holy words in their mouths, <HI>Let the Lord be glorified,</HI> I&s;a. 56. 5. but he &s;hall appeare to my joy, and then they &s;hall be a&s;hamed, this hath been alwayes the bitter cup they have made mee and mine to drink in anger and great cruelty, but pa|tience hath ever a&s;&s;i&s;ted us, and enabled us to indure a thou&s;and &s;uch injuries: They &s;ay I am a widow, de&s;olate and for&s;aken, and lay the contempt of barrenne&s;&s;e upon mee, but that word of life &s;upports us, <HI>In patience po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e your &s;ouls;</HI> and again, <HI>Rejoyce thou barren that beare&s;t not, break forth into &s;inging thou that travelle&s;t not, for the de&s;olate hath many more children then &s;hee that hath an husband,</HI> Gal. 4. 27. I&s;a. 54. 1.</P>
<P>Now what have you &s;aid more for your Church and members thereof, then the <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> can &s;ay for them&s;elves, or any other Anti|chri&s;tian Congregation, you call your members to an account of their conver&s;ion, as you call it; &s;o much the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> can &s;ay, which compa&s;&s;ed Sea and land to make a Pro&s;elyte, and in &s;o doing, <HI>made him more the childe of the Devill then he was before,</HI> Mat. 23. 15. even wor&s;e by two degrees, a wofull act to return, <HI>and not to return to mee, &s;aith the Lord,</HI> Ho&s;. 7. 16. Jer. 4. 1.</P>
<P>Again, you &s;ay of your &s;elves, you have joyn'd your &s;elves in Church-covenant and you have &s;et up Chri&s;ts ordinances, and you have ca&s;t away all &s;uper&s;tition and abomination, whereas the Saints and Church of God a&s;cribe all to him, thou ha&s;t wa&s;hed us, thou ha&s;t called us, thou ha&s;t &s;anctified us, thou ha&s;t made us unto our God Kings and Prie&s;ts, &amp;c. And for your covenant it is a meere hu|mane invention, and your people ordaining their Mini&s;ters both of the &s;ame nature of Popi&s;h unwritten verities, which as they are not to be found in the Scriptures, &s;o labour to forget to practi&s;e, preach, or think of them any more for ever.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>You e&s;teem too meanly of us and our doctrine; what? will you dare to &s;peak again&s;t the Church of Chri&s;t? take heed what you
<PB N="30" REF="18">
do; for wee walk in a Church-way, and communicate in the purity of all Gods ordinances, as preaching, praying, fa&s;ting, bapti&s;me, breaking bread, and the like; and we have &s;eparated our &s;elves from all mens inventions, and unlawfull Antichri&s;tian A&s;&s;emblies.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>You know there are &s;uch as &s;ay, and do not; the Whore of <HI>Rome</HI> doth make greater brags, then the virgin Spou&s;e, and &s;o did their predece&s;&s;ors before them, the <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> yet all of both their bo|&s;tings are but fal&s;e and counterfeit, compared with the prayers, tears, fa&s;tings, communicatings, &s;acrifices, oblations, and wor&s;hips of the Saints.</P>
<P>And for your &s;eparation from other Chri&s;tians, look to it, for ex|cept it be with &s;uch caution, which I perceive you know not of, it may prove as <HI>Achans</HI> forbidden wedge of gold and Babyloni&s;h gar|ment, de&s;truction to your &s;elves; for the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> who ju&s;tified them|&s;elves, and condemned others, were your fore-teachers in this man|ner of &s;eparation; for they &s;eparated from Chri&s;t, and <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, calling our Lord a &s;inner, and his &s;ervant a devill, accounting them, nor any one of tho&s;e penitent humble little ones, whom they had converted to the truth, worthy their company: witne&s;&s;e the <HI>Pha|ri&s;es</HI> exception again&s;t that holy woman, who&s;e tears and love te&s;ti|fies to the truth, where, and in what nation the Go&s;pell is preached to the worlds end, <HI>for a memoriall of her,</HI> Mark. 14. 9. compared with <HI>Luke</HI> 7. 39. and this way of &s;eparation, the Prophet from Gods own mouth, calls an evill and wicked way to walk in, <HI>I&s;a. 65. 25. which people &s;ay, Stand by thy &s;elf, come not neer to me, for I am holier then thou, the&s;e, &s;aith the Lord, are a &s;moak in my no&s;e, a fire that burneth all the day;</HI> for the truth is, in no ca&s;e are trut believers to &s;eparate from other Chri|&s;tians in communion, but in &s;uch ca&s;es that they cannot communicate with them but they mu&s;t &s;in with them, as it was with that Apo&s;tate and Idolatrous Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> who made &s;uch wicked and oppo|&s;ite lawes to the truth, that a true Chri&s;tian could not partake with them in any of the ordinances of God, but hee mu&s;t be defiled with their abominations, one way or other; for, <HI>they cau&s;ed the earth, and them that dwell therein, to wor&s;hip the bea&s;t,</HI> Rev. 13. 12. <HI>whom who&s;oever doth wor&s;hip, &s;hall never have re&s;t, but &s;hall be tormented with the wrath of God day and night for evermore,</HI> Rev. 14. 10. 11. in &s;uch ca&s;es as the&s;e the Scripture is cleare, <HI>Come out of her my people, le&s;t you partake of her &s;ins, and be made partakers of her plagues,</HI> 2 Cor. 6. 17. Rev. 18. 4. And in this ca&s;e did the Church of <HI>England</HI> &s;eparate from the Church of
<PB N="31" REF="18">
<HI>Rome,</HI> in which Church of <HI>England</HI> you now are in, who&s;e lawes, de|crees, and ordinances are all again&s;t the abominations, errors and &s;u|per&s;titions of <HI>Babylon,</HI> and all ordered and directed according to the rule of Gods Word, by expre&s;&s;e words, or nece&s;&s;ary con&s;equence; and therefore your &s;eparation from us is groundle&s;&s;e, and not warranted in the Scriptures: for con&s;ider how the rule of truth would direct you, and ob&s;erve how it was with tho&s;e that were effectually called by the mini&s;tery of <HI>John</HI> Bapti&s;t, and our Lord him&s;elf, and truly converted unto God from among&s;t the <HI>Jews,</HI> in &s;uch times, when tho&s;e in the outward &s;tate of the Church were mo&s;t corrupt; for, <HI>they preached for doctrine the commandments of men,</HI> nor would not receive the truth them&s;elves, nor &s;uffer &s;uch as would receive it, again&s;t which doctrine our Lord exhorts his hearers to take heed, and beware of the leven of the <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> but never taught the Di&s;ciples to &s;eparate from the Church of the <HI>Jewes,</HI> nor to enter into a formed covenant among them&s;elves, as you do, but on the contrarary, hee commanded them to continue hearers and doers; <HI>The Scribes and Phari&s;ees &s;it in Mo&s;es chair or &s;eat, what&s;oever they bid you ob&s;erve, that ob&s;erve and do,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Mat.</HI> 23. 2, 3. And him&s;elf, as his Di&s;ciples, continued &s;till repairing to the Temple and Synagogue, and participated in the &s;ervice and publike wor&s;hip of God, making no &s;eparation; for when our Lord gave his account to the high Prie&s;t of his Di&s;ciples and doctrine, <HI>Joh.</HI> 18. 19, 20. he &s;aith, <HI>I ever taught in the Synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jewes alwayes re&s;ort, and in &s;ecret have I &s;aid nothing.</HI> And for the Apo&s;tles practice in many Churches mentioned in the <HI>Acts,</HI> both in <HI>Judea,</HI> and among the <HI>Gentiles,</HI> therein is no &s;eparation in your &s;en&s;e &s;poken of, although many things were reprovable, and admoni&s;hed again&s;t, both in doctrine and practice; the truth is, the good &s;eed in the field, are the Saints, the Church of Chri&s;t, the tares the wicked, but both mu&s;t grow together in the &s;ame field, till the harve&s;t, <HI>Matth.</HI> 13. 30. As the lilly growes among&s;t the thornes, &s;o the chaffe lies in the &s;ame floor with the wheat, the Goats feed in the &s;ame pa&s;ture with the &s;heep, and the crafty Wolves among the harm|le&s;&s;e lambs, and cannot be &s;eparated till our Lord comes to judge and part them, never again to participate afterwards together.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pray heare mee, all tho&s;e that have already &s;poke are old, like their doctrine; and it is high time their errors &s;hould be thus di&s;covered: but I pray take notice of mee, for I have received a new cleare light of heavenly doctrine, a light of free grace and ju&s;tifica|tion
<PB N="32" REF="19">
in and by Chri&s;t from all eternity; &s;o that the elect cannot pro|perly be &s;aid at any time to be unrighteous, ungodly, or unholy: for they are ju&s;tified before they beleeve, even before the foundations of the world, even then when God elected them.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Free grace rightly under&s;tood, as the Scriptures declare it, is a heavenly and comfortable Doctrine; but me thinkes by your con|fe&s;&s;ion you &s;hould be an <HI>Antinomian,</HI> who &s;peake very much of free grace, but doe not at all under&s;tand it: for they &s;ay, the free grace of God towards his elect that are ju&s;tified before the world was, is like unto the Sun-beames in the morning when &s;he ri&s;es, that enlightens the dark earth, in which there is no preparation to the enlightning; &s;o the Lord &s;hines into the hearts of his elected ju&s;tified ones in the very time of their wickede&s;t workes of darkne&s;&s;e: And then in the mid&s;t of their &s;innes, as in the very acts of adultery and murther, even then God lifts up the light of his countenance upon them, and gives them peace, the effect of their ju&s;tification with God from all eter|nity: The&s;e &s;light and contemne repentance, and call it a worke of the Law; and the preparation to ju&s;tifying faith, they call a munki&s;h Popi&s;h doctrine: and their own fancie, or pre&s;umptuous conceit they call that ju&s;tifying faith, or free grace, by which, &s;ay they, the ju&s;ti|fied before God, come to under&s;tand and know their ju&s;tification from all eternity.</P>
<P>Oh what a gro&s;&s;e &s;educement and delu&s;ion is this, even a generall mi&s;take of the whole Go&s;pel in every part of it! Therefore now I will fir&s;t &s;hew you what free grace is, which the Scripture &s;ets forth to us; And then &s;hew you how clearly and fully Gods word declares the ju&s;tifying the elect by faith in Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Now this is a written and a certain truth, that God loves his I&s;|rael, his cho&s;en, freely, <HI>Ho&s;ea 14. 4, 5, 6. I will heale their back-&s;lidings, &s;aith the Lord, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto I&s;rael, he &s;hall grow as the Lilly, and ca&s;t forth his root as Lebanon.</HI> Al&s;o it is written, <HI>Ezek. 16. 6. When I &s;aw thee pol|luted in thy own blood, I &s;aid unto thee, Live; when thou wa&s;t in thy blood, Live: yea, I &s;aid unto thee when thou wa&s;t in thy blood, Live, and have cau|&s;ed thee to multiply as the bud of the field.</HI> Ob&s;erve how abundantly the free grace of God is manife&s;ted to his elect, that of them&s;elves are quite contrary to de&s;erving: for they are polluted with the mo&s;t abo|minable pollution, and that is with blood, and not a little, but ex|treamly in the third degree, blood three times repeated by the holy
<PB N="33" REF="19">
Gho&s;t. And that this threefold uncleanne&s;&s;e &s;hould bee wa&s;hed and made pure, and that this exceeding deadne&s;&s;e &s;hould be made to live, and &s;o to live as the bud of the field, to multiply and increa&s;e, and bring forth fruit unto God and man, even holy grapes to refre&s;h the hearts of both; this &s;hewes the wonderfull freene&s;&s;e of Gods grace, &s;o to love as there is none like it, nor to be compared to it.</P>
<P>Now becau&s;e you have &s;poken of this free grace in a fancy, I &s;hall en|devour to &s;hew it you in reality. And that we may know the things that are freely given us of God, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2. 12. that is, of his own will, free grace, and goodne&s;&s;e, and eternall love; Let us con&s;ider it in the&s;e foure particulars, which onely and alone are peculiar to the Saints and Church of God, that is, their election and prede&s;tination before all times, their effectuall calling and ju&s;tification in time, and their eternal glorification for ever in the world to come; which world &s;hall be endle&s;&s;e, deathle&s;&s;e, and &s;inle&s;&s;e for evermore. And all the&s;e in all the cau&s;es, the free grace of God: And therefore it is &s;aid by S. <HI>Peter,</HI> that the Saints and Church of God, are <HI>elect according to the foreknowledg of God the Father, 1 Pet.</HI> 1. 2. And S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aith, <HI>According as he hath cho&s;en us in him before the foundation of the world, Ephe&s;.</HI> 1. 4. And the Apo&s;tle to the Church of <HI>The&s;&s;alonica</HI> te&s;tifies, that God had from the beginning cho&s;en them to &s;alvation, 2 <HI>The&s;&s;.</HI> 2. 13. &s;o then it is cleare, that the electare cho&s;en in Chri&s;t to &s;alvation: Which &s;ecret purpo&s;e and foreknowledge of God towards his elect before all time, is made good and effected in and upon his elect in all times, being <HI>called thereunto by the Go&s;pel,</HI> ver&s;. 15. Now the Go&s;pel, as I touched before, con&s;i&s;ts of two parts, repentance and remi&s;&s;ion of &s;innes, <HI>Luke</HI> 24. 47. which comprehends the two next particulars, our effectuall calling by the work of repentance, and who&s;e &s;innes who&s;oever is remitted, that &s;oule is ju&s;tified in the Apo&s;tles meaning, and both the&s;e effected by the Go&s;pel and covenant of life, and therefore called in Scripture, <HI>the grace of God, the grace of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the Go&s;pel of the grace of God,</HI> Acts 20. 24. <HI>the word of his grace,</HI> ver&s;e 32. <HI>the word &s;peaking peace by Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> Acts 1. <HI>the word of the Go&s;pel,</HI> Acts 15. 7. And the&s;e two effects which the Spirit of God works by his word in his elect to life and &s;alvation, are called in Scripture, regeneration, conver&s;ion, a re|newing, a birth from above, a new making, and &s;uch like, not in a naturall but a &s;pirituall &s;en&s;e; not as the fir&s;t birth of our parents, which procreated and produced us out of their bowels, but by way of &s;imilitude and likene&s;&s;e, that as by nature we are born carnall, un|clean,
<PB N="34" REF="20">
and children of wrath; &s;o by this &s;pirituall birth we are born of God from above, holy, &s;pirituall, free, even the &s;ons of God, as the Scripture &s;aith; for, <HI>as that which is of the fle&s;h is fle&s;h, &s;o that which is of the &s;pirit is &s;pirit.</HI></P>
<P>Now, as by <HI>Adam</HI> came the offence, and by <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> came the Law, through which the offence abounded, <HI>Rom.</HI> 5. 19, 20. to mans grea|ter mi&s;ery; &s;o <HI>grace and truth came by Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> Joh. 1. 17. <HI>Adam</HI> was the authour of &s;in to his po&s;teritie; <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was the Mini&s;ter of the Law that condemned that &s;in; but the grace and mercy of God, the means of &s;alvation, both from &s;in and death, that is only by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, ble&s;&s;ed for ever. Now the manner and order the Holy Gho&s;t taketh in working this grace in the hearts of Gods elect, is plainly laid down in Scripture, <HI>for him,</HI> that is, Chri&s;t, &s;aith S^t. <HI>Peter,</HI> with the re&s;t of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince, and a Saviour, to give repentance to I&s;rael, and forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins,</HI> Act. 5. 31. And the&s;e two parts of the Go&s;pel, which is the free grace of God to man-kinde, are plainly and generally ob&s;erved and preached by all the Prophets and Apo&s;tles, and our Lord him&s;elf; <HI>I will take from you, &s;aith the Lord, your &s;tony heart, and give you a heart of fle&s;h;</HI> there's the fir&s;t part, and in that new heart that I &s;hall give you, &s;aith the Lord, <HI>I will write my Law,</HI> that is, his Statute, and love, mercy, and forgivene&s;&s;e, even a new and holy Spirit, and that's the &s;econd part of the Go&s;pel, <HI>Ezek. 11. 19. Chap.</HI> 26. 36. The bapti&s;me of <HI>John,</HI> that's the fir&s;t, and the bapti&s;me of Chri&s;t, that's the &s;econd part, and both parts our Lord joynes together, <HI>Joh. 3. 3. Except a man be born again of water and the Spirit, hee cannot &s;ee the Kingdome of God,</HI> neither to mourn with the Bridegrooms friends, nor rejoyce with the Bride|groom him&s;elf; and for as much as the&s;e making parts of a Chri|&s;tian are not of our &s;elves, but both the gifts of God, it doth abun|dantly &s;et forth unto us this excellent doctrine of Gods free Grace, as the Apo&s;tle S^t. <HI>James</HI> &s;aith, <HI>who of his own will begat us with the word of trub,</HI> Jam. 1. 18. <HI>And the grace of God,</HI> &s;aith holy <HI>Titus, that bringeth &s;alvation, hath appeared unto all men, and teacheth us to deny ungodline&s;&s;e and worldly ln&s;ts,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Tit.</HI> 2. 11, 12. Yea, it is Gods free Grace and abundant compa&s;&s;ionate goodne&s;&s;e, to finde out this new and living way to happine&s;&s;e through Chri&s;t Je&s;us; for hee him&s;elf <HI>is the way, the truth and the life, and God &s;o loved the world, that hee gave his Son, that who&s;oever believeth in him &s;hould not peri&s;h, but have eter|nall life,</HI> Joh. 3. 16. and none can &s;o believe, but hee that is regene|rate,
<PB N="35" REF="20">
<HI>John</HI> 1. 12, 13. And the Lord is the &s;pirituall bread, that every one mu&s;t eat of that &s;hall be &s;aved, but none can &s;o eat his fle&s;h, and drink his blood, but by faith; and none can believe, but to whom it is given, and it is given to comfort none, but to the broken hearted, and none are made penitent and humble, thir&s;ting and de&s;iring Chri|&s;tians, but to &s;uch as God gives repentance; for this is the nature and method of this free Grace of God, which the Scriptures &s;et forth to us, even that free Grace that Chri&s;t gives to him that is <HI>athir&s;t, freely to drink of,</HI> Rev. 21. 7. hee gives the thir&s;t, and hee freely gives the water of life, that &s;o quenches, that <HI>who&s;oever drinketh, &s;hall never thir&s;t again,</HI> Joh. 7. 37, 38. And the Lord &s;aith, <HI>Come and drink;</HI> but this coming is by repentance, and this drinking is by faith, <HI>Who&s;oever</HI> (&s;aith the Lord) <HI>believeth in mee,</HI> as the Scripture &s;aith, <HI>out of his belly &s;hall flow rivers of the water of life;</HI> yea, to &s;et forth the excellency of this doctrine of free Grace, the Spirit of God takes upon him the office of a cryer in a court of Records, <HI>Ho, every one that thir&s;teth, come yee to the waters, come yee, buy and eat,</HI> yea, the third time he cries, <HI>come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price,</HI> I&s;a. 55. 1. Heare now you <HI>Antinomians,</HI> if any of you have an eare to heare the wi&s;dome of God in the truth of the free Grace purcha&s;ed and preached by Je&s;us Chri&s;t, that it is not phanta&s;ticall, as you have expre&s;t it, but that reall and &s;ub&s;tantiall grace that gives being to the new and &s;pirituall man, the very regeneration of the elect of God; and as they are born of the Spirit, &s;o they are taught, led and guided, anointed and &s;an|ctified by the Holy Gho&s;t, who dwelleth in none of the bodies of the elected ones, but where he hath wrought this heavenly work of grace there he dwells, there he witne&s;&s;eth; there is but three that bear wit|ne&s;&s;e for God to the truth in the whole world; and the Apo&s;tle tells us, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 5. 8. it is <HI>the Spirit,</HI> that's the Spirit of God; <HI>water,</HI> that's his fir&s;t work and beginning of regeneration; and <HI>blood,</HI> that's the fini&s;hing and accompli&s;hing the new birth; the &s;anctifying, the bind|ing up the broken heart by faith: wherefore blu&s;h and be a&s;hamed of your bla&s;phemy again&s;t the truth, in calling repentance a work of the Law, and the preparation to faith a Popi&s;h doctrine, and for ever hereafter take notice, that the way of Chri&s;ts free Grace is by water and blood, 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 5. 6. And <HI>that repentance is the beginning of the Go&s;pel of Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> Mark. 1. 1, 2.</P>
<P>Now I &s;hould have &s;poke of the fourth particular of free Grace which is glorification, but of that hereafter.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="36" REF="21">
<SPEAKER>Here&s;ie.</SPEAKER>
<P>I beare you witne&s;&s;e you have a zeale, but it is not accor|ding to knowledge: for if you did under&s;tand that excellent doctrine of ju&s;tification before beleeving, you would not &s;peak &s;o much of a|ny preparation to ju&s;tifying faith: for by Chri&s;ts &s;tripes we are hea|led from the beginning of the world: And to prove this truth, I argue thus:</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, all the elect of God are ju&s;tified before God: but &s;ome of the elect of God doe not yet beleeve: therefore &s;ome that doe not beleeve, are ju&s;tified before God.</P>
<P>Secondly, he that is in Chri&s;t, is ju&s;tified: But we mu&s;t be in Chri&s;t before we can beleeve, therefore we mu&s;t be ju&s;tified before we can beleeve.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>I an&s;wer, the due ob&s;ervation of terms is the true pre&s;erva|tion of proprieties; and except you ju&s;tly di&s;tingui&s;h of the terms be|fore God him&s;elfe, and Gods grace by which he doth ju&s;tifie his elect, you cannot under&s;tand truly, but you mu&s;t confound heaven and earth together, and make God Man, and Man God, concluding &s;uch bla&s;phemies as the Famili&s;ts doe, to whom hundreds of you are fal|len within this two yeares; who affirme of the Trinity, that God the Father is the Minde, the Sonne is the Word, and the Spirit is the Word made knowne: And under the&s;e termes, mi&s;taking the verity of the my&s;tery of the Trinity, conclude &s;uch gro&s;s bla&s;phemies as the&s;e conclu&s;ions hereafter &s;pecified, making God the Father the Mind, God the Son the Word of that Minde, God the holy Spirit the effect or re|velation of the Word. And as the&s;e are three, &s;o they are one, as you &s;ay, &s;o it is and was at fir&s;t in the creation, God the Father was the Mind of God, God the Son was the Word of that Mind, and God the Spirit was the working, meaning, or manife&s;tation of that Word; &s;o that in that which God &s;aid, Let us make man; and, he &s;pake and the Heavens and the Earth was made, the Firmament, the Sun, Moon, and Starres, the Sea and the Fi&s;h therein, the Aire and the Fowls therein, the Earth and the Bea&s;ts, Herbs, and Trees therein, as God &s;pake the word, and all the&s;e were created; &s;o that as they were made by the Word, &s;o they are the Word, and as the Word and the Father are one, and as the Father, the Word, and the revelation of it are one, &s;o what&s;oever the Word made, is one with the Father, the Sonne, and the Spirit. And then the conclu&s;ion mu&s;t be this, The whole creation is God him&s;elfe. Now to avoid &s;uch bla&s;phemous con&s;equences, we will di&s;tingui&s;h of the terms, and therein &s;hew the fallacy of your Ar|guments,
<PB N="37" REF="21">
and then I will di&s;cover and e&s;tabli&s;h the truth again&s;t your doctrine, which by this means will ea&s;ily appeare to be fal&s;e. Fir&s;t, for the terme that concernes God, (ju&s;tified before God, you &s;ay) which if you meane as it concernes God in his infinitene&s;&s;e, it is &s;o farre above our line, or the capacity of the elect in point of reconci|liation with God, as the highe&s;t heavens are above the center of the earth: for with God him&s;elfe there is nothing before nor after: For the Scripture &s;peaks thus of God in this re&s;pect, that he calleth tho&s;e things that be not, as though they were, <HI>Rom.</HI> 4. 17. And again, one day is with the Lord as a thou&s;and yeares, and a thou&s;and yeares as one day, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3. 8. Thus you &s;ee, <HI>Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his wayes as our wayes, &s;aith the Lord; but as the heavens are higher then the earth, &s;o are his wayes and his thoughts higher then ours,</HI> I&s;ai. 55. 8, 9. But when the Prophet comes to &s;peak of Gods work in the creature to &s;alvation, then he &s;peakes in the creatures language and capacitie; &s;o that except man obey the voyce of God, he is left without excu&s;e in the&s;e words: <HI>Seek the Lord while he may be found, call yee upon him while he is neere, let the wicked for&s;ake his was, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord God, and he will have mercy upon him, and abundantly pardon,</HI> ver&s;e 6, 7. Thus as the Prophet, we mu&s;t di&s;tingui&s;h between Gods eternall purpo&s;e and decree, which is a &s;ecret, &amp; known to him&s;elf only towards his elect before all times, and his calling and ju&s;tifying of them in time, which is the effect of his foreknowledge and prede&s;tination, and that which makes known to the elect, Gods &s;ecret purpo&s;e. And although it be &s;aid, <HI>Who &s;hall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect?</HI> the Apo&s;tle there doth not under&s;tand the ju&s;tification of the elect before time, as you doe, but the ju&s;tification of his elect in time called and ju&s;tified. And although there can be nothing laid (to &s;uch an elect ju&s;tified) to his condemna|tion, yet many things may be laid to his charge in regard of his weak|ne&s;&s;e and frailty, <HI>If any brother be fallen through weakne&s;&s;e, you that are &s;pirituall, re&s;tore &s;uch a one by the &s;pirit of meekne&s;&s;e.</HI> Thus <HI>Nathan</HI> char|ged <HI>David,</HI> and <HI>David</HI> chargeth him&s;elfe, <HI>Again&s;t thee onely have I &s;in|ned.</HI> So our Lord chargeth his faithfull &s;ervant <HI>Peter;</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> with|&s;tood him to his face, and &s;aith, <HI>He was to be blamed.</HI> And &s;o that ho|ly Apo&s;tle blameth him&s;elfe al&s;o: <HI>Oh wretched man that I am,</HI> &s;aith he. And the Scripture &s;aith, <HI>There is not a righteous man that liveth, and doth good, and &s;inneth not.</HI> And again&punc; <HI>If any man &s;ay he hath no &s;inne, he deceiveth him&s;elfe, and the truth is not in him.</HI> And the elect of God are
<PB N="38" REF="22">
renued again (after &s;inning) by repentance, as the Church of <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> is admoni&s;hed by Chri&s;t <HI>to repent and do her fir&s;t works,</HI> Rev. 2. 5.</P>
<P>And however the Saints do daily &s;in after ju&s;tification, yet through Gods grace they are recovered again daily by repentance, and maugre the malice and temptation of Satan, the &s;nares of the world, and the concupi&s;cence of their own natures; yet the Lord that loved them once, doth &s;till love them for ever, and doth wa&s;h off their filthi|ne&s;&s;e, and ownes them &s;o for his own, that neither their &s;ins, nor any power, or any creature what&s;oever, &s;hall, or can condemn them.</P>
<P>Secondly, you &s;ay, &s;ome of the elect of God do not believe, and therefore they are ju&s;tified before they believe. I pray where did you finde or learn this Logick, which is &s;o contrary to the wi&s;dome of God, which teacheth thus, <HI>by Chri&s;t all that believe are ju&s;tified from all things,</HI> Act. 13. 39. And again, <HI>tho&s;e that he calleth hee ju&s;tifieth;</HI> but your doctrine &s;aith they are ju&s;tified before they are called; &s;ee in a word, how directly your preaching is again&s;t truths doctrine. And of the &s;ame nature with your former is your &s;econd Argument, which runs thus: he that is in Chri&s;t is ju&s;tified, but wee mu&s;t be in Chri&s;t before we can believe, therefore we mu&s;t be ju&s;tified before we believe: which in the very terms is another doctrine then S^t. <HI>Paul</HI> teacheth us, who &s;aith plainly, <HI>wee are ju&s;tified by faith,</HI> Rom. 3. 28. And he ju&s;ti|fieth the ungodly; but I que&s;tion your knowledge of ju&s;tifying faith, which if you did truly know, you dur&s;t not teach, that men are ju&s;ti|fied before they believe; it is true, hee that is ingraffed into Chri&s;t, is ju&s;tified, but it doth not follow therefore a man is ju&s;tified before hee believes: I will a&s;&s;wage the hardne&s;&s;e of the que&s;tion by the mildne&s;s of a compari&s;on; that which acquits and frees a malefactor, is the &s;ealed pardon of the King; &s;o likewi&s;e that which comforts and a&s;|&s;ures the penitent heart of mercy and forgivene&s;s, is the &s;ealing witne&s;s which Gods Spirit beareth to, or a&s;&s;ureth the humble heart of the free Grace and love of God through Je&s;us Chri&s;t; &s;o that ju&s;tifying faith to the &s;orrowfull &s;inner, is as the &s;ealed pardon to the male|factor: and to this agrees the Scriptures, <HI>Acts 10. 43. To him</HI> (that is, to Je&s;us Chri&s;t) <HI>give all the Prophets witne&s;&s;e, that through his Name, who&s;oever believeth in him, &s;hall receive remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins;</HI> thus &s;peaks Gods Word, and not as you &s;peak; &s;o that it cannot truly be &s;aid, nei|ther ought any dare &s;o to preach that a man is ju&s;tified before he be|lieves, nor that he believes before he be ju&s;tified, but that it is the &s;ame gift of Gods Spirit at one and the &s;ame time, even then to believe our
<PB N="39" REF="22">
ju&s;tification when he accepts us ju&s;t in him that ju&s;tifieth the ungodly; and as it is given by the Holy Gho&s;t to believe, &s;o it is continued, maintained and increa&s;ed by the &s;ame Spirit as the other &s;pirituall gifts, as hope, love, joy and patience are; and who&s;oever doth re|ceive the Spirit of adoption, he hath with it the te&s;timony of it, which is ju&s;tifying faith; let us take heed wee do not &s;eparate that which God hath joyned together, for that is directly again&s;t the command|ment, <HI>Matth. 9. 6. Let no man put a&s;under that which God hath joyned together:</HI> and in vain doth that man argue to prove which is fir&s;t in the Sun, the heat or the light, &s;o vain it is in you to argue, whether ju&s;tification or faith be fir&s;t; for when, or to whom&s;over God gives one, he gives them both, <HI>Rom.</HI> 3. 26. wherefore I retort your argu|ments thus:</P>
<P>If God give remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins to the penitent elect, then the impeni|tent elect are not ju&s;tified; but hee gives remi&s;&s;ion of &s;ins to the peni|tent elect, <HI>Acts</HI> 2. 38. therefore none of Gods elect are ju&s;tified before they are called, and their &s;ins remitted; wherefore never hereafter teach your di&s;ciples that the elect of God are ju&s;tified before they believe, but learn to teach them <HI>to repent, that their &s;ins may be done away,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle teacheth, to life and &s;alvation, <HI>Act.</HI> 3. 19. and &s;o S^t. <HI>John</HI> &s;aith of the <HI>Jewes, they did not repent that they might believe;</HI> and con&s;ider our Lords doctrine to <HI>Nicodemus,</HI> hee tells him not of his election, al|though our Lord knew well that &s;ecret, but hee preaches to him con|ver&s;ion; <HI>Except a man be borne again, he cannot &s;ee the kingdome of God,</HI> Joh. 3. Regeneration mu&s;t be &s;ought for by the elect, and by the&s;e effects and operations of the Holy Gho&s;t, to make &s;ure to them&s;elves their election; this is Gods way pre&s;cribed in his Word: And le&s;t I fall into your error, as I have briefly di&s;proved your doctrine, and di&s;coverered the fal&s;hood and mi&s;tie &s;ophi&s;trie of your arguments; &s;o now, by the help of God, I will lay down and confirm the truth it &s;elf, how the Scriptures do &s;peak of ju&s;tifying and believing, that &s;o you may come to know that which hitherto I perceive you are very ignorant of. Wherefore thus &s;aith the Scriptures concerning ju&s;ti|fication, <HI>We are ju&s;tified freely by his grace,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Rom. 3&punc; 24. Titus</HI> 3. 11. likewi&s;e, that <HI>wee are ju&s;tified by his blood,</HI> that is, by the blood of Chri&s;t, <HI>Rom.</HI> 5. 9. and al&s;o, <HI>that wee are ju&s;tified by &s;aith, Rom.</HI> 3. 28. &s;o then the&s;e three terms are to be con&s;idered in our ju&s;ti|fication, the blood of Chri&s;t purcha&s;ing the grace and favour of God, and an a&s;&s;urance of it given to the lo&s;t, the dead, the broken, penitent,
<PB N="40" REF="23">
mourning heart, whereby, though it be dead, yet it is made to live, the broken is healed, the emptine&s;&s;e is filled, the thir&s;tine&s;&s;e is quen|ched, comforted and refre&s;hed with the favour and love of God, in and through Je&s;us Chri&s;t; ju&s;tification then is the imputed righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, a&s;&s;ured and made known to the elect by faith; and this doctrine is cleared by the Apo&s;tle beyond the lea&s;t exception, &s;peaking of holy <HI>Abrahams</HI> ju&s;tification, <HI>and being fully a&s;&s;ured,</HI> &s;aith hee, <HI>Rom. 4. 21, 24. that what God had promi&s;ed, hee was able to per|form, therefore it was imputed to him for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; Now it was not imputed for his &s;ake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us al&s;o, to whom it &s;hall be imputed, if wee believe.</HI> Ob&s;erve, fir&s;t, that the Apo&s;tle affirmeth ju&s;tifying faith a full a&s;&s;urance, for wee &s;hall have occa&s;ion by and by to make u&s;e of this: and &s;econdly, that the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, which is our ju&s;tification, is not given to us but by faith, in the&s;e words, <HI>to whom it &s;hall be imputed, if wee believe,</HI> &s;o that ju&s;tifica|tion and ju&s;tifying faith, can no more be &s;evered, parted or divided, then the light and the heat from the fire; and to this purpo&s;e S^t. <HI>Paul</HI> calls Chri&s;t <HI>the ju&s;t one, and the ju&s;tifier of him that believeth in Je&s;us, Rom.</HI> 3. 26. &s;o that it is proved again&s;t all the <HI>Antinomians</HI> in the world, that then, and not before, when God ju&s;tifies his elect, then, and at that time he gives ju&s;tifying faith, <HI>Act.</HI> 13. 38, 39. And as I pro|mi&s;ed before, &s;o I will here briefly &s;hew the divers acceptations and di&s;tinctions of faith, and three particulars do comprehend all other &s;orts and di&s;tinctions what&s;oever; Hi&s;toricall faith, to believe Gods Word; the faith of miracles, by which it is given to a Saint, or a &s;in|ner to work this or that miracle; &s;o al&s;o in the third place, the Scrip|tures &s;peak of ju&s;tifying faith, of which it is &s;aid wee live by, wee are comforted by, through which wee are purified and ju&s;tified, and this &s;ort of faith is called in Scriptures, <HI>the faith of God, the faith of Je&s;us, the faith of Abraham, the faith of Gods elect, the faith that worketh by love, the faith in the blood of Chri&s;t, the faith accounted for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, the faith of the operation of God the mo&s;t holy faith,</HI> and may be thus defined, that it is a full, firm, and certain tru&s;t or confidence, written by the power and Spirit of God in the low, humble, penitent, and broken-heart, whereby it is given a&s;&s;uredly to believe, that all his &s;ins are forgiven; and thus he is made one with God by reconciliati|on and atonement in and through the eternall and everla&s;ting love of Je&s;us Chri&s;t; the materiall cau&s;e of this ju&s;tifying faith thus defined is a full, &s;ure, and undoubted tru&s;t or confidence; the formall cau&s;e is
<PB N="41" REF="23">
the free grace and favour of God the Father, and of his Sonne Je&s;us Chri&s;t; the efficient cau&s;e is the alone work of the holy Gho&s;t; there|by imprinting in and a&s;&s;uring of the hearts of the elect of this confi|dence of this grace and mercie; the principall and finall cau&s;e is the glory of God, and our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; and the end &s;ubordinate is the &s;alvation of the Saints, the cho&s;en ones of God from the begin|ning of the world: And this is the faith that ju&s;tifieth, that comfor|teth, that overcommeth, that excelleth, who&s;e dignity and excellen|cie every where &s;hineth throughout the Scriptures; the ignorance of which this very age, yea, I &s;ay it again, this very age of ours de&s;erves all the&s;e pre&s;ent judgements, and more al&s;o then lie upon us at this time; we having had from God afforded us &s;o great meanes to come to the knowledge of it: which &s;ort of faith who&s;oever hath, &s;hall never peri&s;h, but men may partake of both the other &s;orts to their condemnation.</P>
<P>Other acceptations the terme Faith hath in the Scriptures al&s;o, ha|ving reference &s;ometimes to God him&s;elfe, and therein importing the &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e and unchangeable truth of his decree and promi&s;e. And in other places it is to be under&s;tood of the doctrine of the Go&s;pel; and &s;o al&s;o of their faithfull di&s;charge of their office that are gifted to declare and preach the glad tidings of peace and &s;alvation: Of which office it is hard for an <HI>Antinomian,</HI> holding &s;uch principles as he doth, to come to under&s;tand; wherefore repent in time, le&s;t at la&s;t you turn all Famili&s;ts, which you cannot avoid, if you continue in your principles.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Her.</SPEAKER>
<P>We have had the experience of this new found conceited light, that &s;uch as have been dazled with it, have been &s;taggred in the truth, and &s;ome have been &s;o blinded therewithall, that they have fallen from the faith.</P>
<P>But what &s;ay you to us? We have the doctrine of the Go&s;pel pure and cleare, we hold faith and repentance to be the fir&s;t works to life and &s;alvation; and that the Church of God are a company of holy beleevers, and that now the time is come, that the Church &s;hall bee delivered from all her &s;ufferings, according to the te&s;timony of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles; the purity of Chri&s;ts Ordinances &s;hall be e|&s;tabli&s;hed, Chri&s;t &s;hall bee &s;et up upon his Throne, and his Church &s;hall have the rule and preheminence in the world in greater power, dignity, and externall authority, then all the Monarchs that ever have been in the world before. And in this
<PB N="42" REF="24">
outward glory &s;hall &s;hee continue till her Lord come to tran&s;late her.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;peak like tho&s;e that maintaine that the Church of Chri&s;t &s;hall now &s;o flouri&s;h and pro&s;per, as that it &s;hall extend its bounds and borders all Chri&s;tendome over, and mo&s;t part of the world be&s;ides, into a Monarchy; and as formerly the temporall pow|er in Chri&s;tianity hath had the rule and greatne&s;&s;e, &s;o now the Ec|cle&s;ia&s;ticall power &s;hall take place, and the Scepter of Chri&s;t in the cen&s;ure of the Church, &s;hall be advanced and bear rule above all other government. And that now already it is begun that God makes the kingdomes of this world our Lords, and his Chri&s;ts, and that now it is come to pa&s;&s;e, that the godly &s;hall rule over the wicked: for now they are given to be captives to Gods people, who&s;e captives Gods people were before this time. Wherefore I an&s;wer, Great are the pri|vileges and prerogatives that the Scriptures &s;peak of Gods Church and people in the world to come after the re&s;urrection, is plain and evident in holy Writ; but to apply tho&s;e prophe&s;ies and promi&s;es to the Church in this pre&s;ent evill world, it is not well con&s;idered of you: for the Lord by his &s;ervants, &s;peaks of his Church in a double con&s;ideration, as oppre&s;&s;ed, afflected, and &s;uffering here in this life, and as delivered, perfected and &s;aved in the life to come; then to rule, but here to &s;uffer; then to bee advanced into Chri&s;ts Throne, but now, and here, to &s;ubmit to the Cro&s;&s;e; now his hou&s;e is a hou&s;e of mourning, but then it &s;hall be a palace of glory, <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> the Citie of the great King &s;hall be &s;et up the prai&s;e of the whole earth. And in regard of his Churches pre&s;ent &s;uffering, her Lord him&s;elfe thus &s;pea|keth to her, <HI>Feare not little flocke;</HI> and comforts her with the grace and favour of God for the time to come in the&s;e words: <HI>For it is your Fathers plea&s;ure to give you a Kingdom.</HI> And it is a truth concluded of by all, if we follow Chri&s;t in the e&s;tate of regeneration, we &s;hall be made partakers of his glorification; if wee &s;uffer with him, we &s;hall reigne with him; the one condition is here, the other hereafter; the one in this world, the other in the world to come. This is the te&s;timony of our Lord and all his &s;ervants, <HI>Matth. 19. 28. 2 Tim.</HI> 2. 12. And that &s;hort time, or while of &s;uffering Saint <HI>Peter</HI> &s;peaks of, is this pre&s;ent life; and the time of making &s;uch &s;ufferers perfect, is the life to come, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 5. 10. agreeing with his brother <HI>Paul,</HI> who according to the wi&s;dome of God given to him, had ca&s;t up his accounts in the&s;e words, <HI>I reckon,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>that the &s;ufferings of this pre&s;ent time are not</HI>
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<HI>worthy to be compared with the glory that &s;hall be revealed in us.</HI> Even then, &s;aith S. <HI>John, when Chri&s;t which is our life &s;hall appear, then &s;hall we appear with him;</HI> then &s;hall we be like him in his dignity, as in this life we are like him in his ignominy, 1 <HI>John</HI> 3. 2. And (friend) looke into the Scriptures, and you &s;hall find the Church, the ble&s;&s;ed a&s;&s;embly de&s;cri|bed now to &s;uffer, to mourn, to bee hated, to weep, to be per&s;ecuted for righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e &s;ake, and the contrary e&s;tate to be none of Gods Church or inheritance; Woe be to yee that laugh and rejoyce, that are full, and enjoy greatne&s;&s;e and pro&s;perity; tho&s;e that are rich here, have received their con&s;olation; tho&s;e that are full in this life, &s;hall hunger in the life to come; tho&s;e that are merry, laugh and want not here, &s;hall weep and waile when the day of redemption comes: then &s;hall be fulfilled to him that &s;uffers not here, the&s;e words, Thou in thy life time received&s;t thy good things: and to him that &s;uffered here, the&s;e words, He his evill things; therefore thou that &s;uffered&s;t not, art tormented: but thou that did&s;t &s;uffer, thou art comforted, <HI>Matth. 5. Luke</HI> 6. and <HI>Luke</HI> 16. When Gods &s;uffering people &s;hall bee rewarded, then &s;uch as have enjoyed their pro&s;perity here, &s;hall be condemned. I be&s;eech you, as you love the truth, decline this doctrine of yours: for by it you doe revive againe that old tenent of Popery. For what ever you affirme in your confe&s;&s;ion, they have main|tained it with fire and &s;word, execration and excommunication: for they would prove, that their Church by Chri&s;ts appointment, was to have &s;upreme authority, power, and juri&s;diction over all, they place them&s;elves above the &s;tarres of God. And as in power, &s;o in title, he mu&s;t be called and &s;tiled, the Lord God the Pope. And &s;o he chal|lenged wor&s;hip al&s;o, that Kings and Emperours mu&s;t ki&s;&s;e his &s;tinking feet and toes, in token of their &s;lavi&s;h &s;ubjection in honouring him with the power of heaven and earth, to kill &amp; make alive, to pardon and retain &s;ins, fal&s;ly proving this his abomination and whori&s;h pow|er, from Gods divine Oracles in the&s;e words, <HI>To execute vengeance up|on the heathen, and puni&s;hment upon the people, to bind their Kings with chains, and their Nobles with fetters of iron. This honour have all the Saints, P&s;a.</HI> 149, 8, 9. avouching this Scripture to be fulfilled in the holy Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> and that they were the Saints which by this pro|phe&s;ie were foretold of to depo&s;e and di&s;throne Kings: and to cloak &amp; colour their covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, which &s;et all their trickes awork, as Bulls and Pardons, at all rates and prices, whereby their coffers were filled with gold and &s;ilver from all countries and people. And this hee af|firmed
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was prophe&s;ied for his filthy holine&s;&s;e, maintenance and un|godly revenue in the&s;e words, <HI>The Kings of Tar&s;hi&s;h and of the I&s;les, &s;hall bring pre&s;ents, the Kings of Sheba and Seba &s;hall offer gifts, yea all Kings &s;hall fall down before him, all nations &s;hall &s;erve him, P&s;al.</HI> 72. 10. And notwith&s;tanding their gro&s;&s;e abu&s;ing the Scriptures, and fal&s;e claims to Titles, as Holy Father, and holy Mother the Church, time hath now proved him to be Antichri&s;t, the Man of &s;inne, and capitall ene|my to the truth of God. And indeed this conceit that the Church of God &s;hould enjoy temporall peace, and outward glory and autho|rity, hath been alwayes the opinion of carnall Chri&s;tians, and the Jewes to this day cannot &s;ee otherwi&s;e then when their &s;till lookt-for Me&s;&s;iah &s;hould come, that then they &s;hall bee gathered to be a great people againe, and made a worldly Monarchy to rule over all Nati|ons, as now all Nations rule over them: But their groundle&s;&s;e hope will prove but as the Spiders web, and &s;o it will be with all others of their mind: for &s;ee how the Scripture re&s;olves the que&s;tion, that the Saints&punc; the Church of God, &s;hall &s;till &s;uffer to the worlds end, the que&s;tion is made with a loud voyce, &s;aying, <HI>How long, O Lord, holy and true, do&s;t thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?</HI> And the an&s;wer from heaven &s;aith, that <HI>they &s;hould re&s;t yet a little &s;ea&s;on, un|till their fellow &s;ervants al&s;o, and their brethren that &s;hould be killed as they were, &s;hould be fulfilled, Rev.</HI> 6. 10. And the clad and wa&s;hed with the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t, and the blood of the Lamb, are tho&s;e <HI>that goe through great tribulations, Rev.</HI> 7. 13, 14. Finally, of this doctrine we have a double witne&s;&s;e, two brethren and Apo&s;tles, who&s;e prai&s;e is in all the Churches, <HI>Acts</HI> 14. 22. who both as one man conclude this truth as a Decree for ever, <HI>That &s;uch as continue in the faith, mu&s;t through many tribulations enter into the Kingdome of God:</HI> which King|dome is that which all the Prophets and Apo&s;tles in all times have &s;poken of, which in its due place I &s;hall briefly unfold.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;ie.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pray you give us leave to &s;peak: Have we not clear Scrip|ture for the glorious reigne of Chri&s;t upon the earth; and that all the Martyrs and holy Prophets &s;hall ri&s;e from the dead, and reigne with Chri&s;t a thou&s;and yeares in all pro&s;perity, peace, riches, plenty, wealth, and glory, with &s;uch &s;upreme power and Maje&s;ty, as never a|ny Monarch in this world had before, nor ever &s;hall have after? for when the thou&s;and yeares are expired, then comes the generall re&s;ur|rection, <HI>Rev.</HI> 20.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Your confe&s;&s;ion &s;hewes you to be a <HI>Millenarian,</HI> which error
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as it hath been ancient, &s;o of late, as of many other errors, there is a reviving of this among&s;t the re&s;t. And as you &s;ay, the &s;umme of it is, that now, or they know not when, Chri&s;t &s;hall de&s;cend per&s;onally from heaven, and then cau&s;e all the bodies of the Saints that have &s;uf|fered martyrdome from the beginning of the world, to be rai&s;ed, and Chri&s;t and his Saints to live in this cur&s;ed earth, and corruptible world, in the enioyment of riches, wealth, power and authority, ma|je&s;ty and Emporality, as no heathen nor Chri&s;tian Monarchy ever had in this world before; and you ground your mi&s;take on <HI>Rev.</HI> 20. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.</P>
<P>Now I an&s;wer, that the whole po&s;ition is directly again&s;t the Scrip|ture you alledge, rightly under&s;tood: for the Apo&s;tle <HI>Peter</HI> affirmeth it plainly, that <HI>the heavens mu&s;t containe and receive Chri&s;t per&s;onally, un|till the time of the re&s;titution of all things, which God hath &s;poken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets &s;ince the world began,</HI> Acts 2. 21. Here are &s;uch witne&s;&s;es as cannot be excepted again&s;t, even all his holy Pro|phets, and then, and not &s;ooner, <HI>&s;hall the Lord Je&s;us come, which before was preached unto you,</HI> ver&s;e 20.</P>
<P>And the place you in&s;tance, <HI>Rev.</HI> 20. proves no more the Millenary fancie, as you de&s;cribe it, then it proves a new world in the Moon; or that men may plow the floods of the Sea to &s;ow and plant on them. And becau&s;e the true under&s;tanding of that Scripture will over|throw this error at once, wee will &s;hew you that the re&s;urrection there &s;poken of, is the &s;pirituall and fir&s;t re&s;urrection which our Sa|viour Chri&s;t clearly layes down both in nature and order, <HI>John</HI> 5. 25. And becau&s;e it is a my&s;tery, therefore his expre&s;&s;ion is more then or|dinary, <HI>Verily, verily,</HI> (twice affirming it) <HI>I &s;ay unto you, the houre is com|ming, and now is, when the dead &s;hall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God, and they that heare it &s;hall live.</HI> This is the &s;pirituall re&s;urrection from &s;in, through the grace of regeneration: and the&s;e are they only that live and reigne with Chri&s;t, having &s;ought and gained the <HI>King|dome of heaven, and the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e thereof, Matth.</HI> 6. 33. And tho&s;e on|ly that are ri&s;en with Chri&s;t through regeneration, are born of God, and tho&s;e that are born of God through faith, are victors, and over|come all oppo&s;ition, even the whole world, and the Prince and King thereof, 1 <HI>John</HI> 5. 4. and in this &s;en&s;e they reigne with Chri&s;t in their e&s;tate of temptation and regeneration, who in their teares and &s;or|row are happy in the enjoyment of their Comforter, who anointeth them with the unction of truth, and teacheth and in&s;tructeth them
<PB N="46" REF="26">
&s;o &s;ufficiently, that all the powers and thrones of Antichri&s;t, the &s;ubtilties, crafts and deceits of him and all his learned Clerks, who have endevoured and u&s;ed all means po&s;&s;ible to couzen and cheat the people of God, for almo&s;t the &s;pace of this thou&s;and two hundred and fourty yeares here expre&s;&s;ed by the Millenary number onely, be|cau&s;e it &s;hall not exceed more thou&s;ands then one; in which cloudy and dark day the holy Gho&s;t hath &s;o led and guided the &s;onnes of truth, that all the Jugglers at <HI>Rome</HI> and <HI>Babylon,</HI> could not make them to mi&s;take the mark of the Bea&s;t for the mark of the Lamb, nor to wor&s;hip the Bea&s;t and his image in &s;tead of the Lord and his Chri&s;t; yea, rather then they would defile them&s;elves with the adultery of the Whore, they would die a thou&s;and deaths: for &s;o &s;aith the Text, they lo&s;t their lives and their heads for the witne&s;&s;e of Je&s;us, &amp; for the pure wor&s;hip of God contained in his word, <HI>Rev.</HI> 20. 4. and in this &s;piri|tuall &s;en&s;e they lived and reigned with Chri&s;t the whole time meant by the thou&s;and yeares.</P>
<P>And le&s;t the incon&s;iderate Reader &s;hould mi&s;take this &s;piritual re|&s;urrection for a corporall, as the Millenarians doe, the holy Gho&s;t gives marks and bounds to his Di&s;ciples, as evident di&s;tinctions be|tween the one and the other, in the&s;e words, <HI>Marvell not at this, John 5. 28. for the houre is coming,</HI> (hee doth not &s;ay as before, <HI>and now is) in which all that are in the graves, &s;hall heare his voyce;</HI> which <HI>all</HI> con|tains every one good and bad at the general re&s;urrection: and there|fore your doctrine is contrary to the truth the Scriptures hold out to us: for the Thrones, and they that &s;ate upon them, which you ex|pound to be Chri&s;t and his Saints, the holy Gho&s;t di&s;covers the quite contrary, even to bee the power and authority of Antichri&s;t him&s;elfe, who had a Charter granted him of God, and under his own hand, for the whole time limited to de&s;olate and con&s;ume the Saints, who for their &s;innes &s;ake the Lord doth often give them up to the plea&s;ure and rage of &s;uch heatheni&s;h murtherers and per&s;ecuters for a &s;ea&s;on, to enter into the Sanctuary, and &s;poyle the heritage of the Lord, <HI>Jerem. 9. 16. Lam.</HI> 1. 10. And if you had but lookt upon the Text with cleane eyes, wa&s;hed <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ith the water of repentance, and had learnd the &s;ong of &s;orrow of the mourner, you would not have been &s;o blear-eyed as to have taken the abomination fore&s;poken of by <HI>Da|niel</HI> the Prophet, to be the Kingdome of Chri&s;t, that all Gods &s;ervants witne&s;&s;e to, and give te&s;timony of: And that if it may be po&s;&s;ible for you to apprehend the meaning of this Scripture, wa&s;h your eyes with
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teares, and wipe them with the love of the truth, and look upon the Text once again, and compare the 20&punc; chapter ver&s;e 2. with the 12. chapter ver&s;e 3. and you &s;hall &s;ee the &s;ame Dragon in the one place in the Ethnick Heatheni&s;h power of the Roman Emperour, with all fiercene&s;&s;e and unbridled cruelty, to havock, de&s;troy, and kill the Saints and children of God exerci&s;ed in a tenfold per&s;ecution, to obliterate &amp; wipe out of the earth the name of Chri&s;t, the woman his Spou&s;e, and her fir&s;t and primitive fruit, which was born to reign with Chri&s;t for ever; which power and authority the Devill in&s;tigated, and &s;tirred up with all their malice and hatred, as with a flood, cau|&s;ed as it were by the breach of the Sea, &s;o that the wife of the Lord had no way to e&s;cape drowning and devouring, but to flie into the wilderne&s;&s;e, there to pre&s;erve her &s;elfe, and &s;o many of her children as &s;he had pre&s;erved from death, where &s;he was a&s;&s;igned to &s;tay an houre, a month, a day, and a yeare, <HI>Rev.</HI> 9. 15.</P>
<P>The &s;ame Dragon in the 20. Chapter you find to be bound; and yet in all and every day of his religation, to kill and de&s;troy the Saints ju&s;t as he did before, onely differing in the manner: for now it is with a re&s;traint, &s;ecretly and cunningly, by guile and craft, preten|ding Chri&s;tianity, and taking on him the name of a Chri&s;tian, and never the le&s;&s;e Devill then hee was before, onely a pretence makes the difference: for ever &s;ince the great battell that he fought, and lo&s;t the field; for <HI>Michael</HI> and his Angels prevailed then again&s;t the Dr&aacute;gon and his Angels; &s;o that ever &s;ince all along Popery, the Devill hath turned Chri&s;tian; and herein by a bounded and re&s;trained way, effe|cted his enmity to the full, as he did before in the Heathens, in an open profe&s;&s;ed oppo&s;ition to Chri&s;t and Chri&s;tianity. And it is to bee ob|&s;erved, that when the Devill turned to be a Chri&s;tian, then hee put on <HI>Jupiters</HI> coat upon Chri&s;ts back, and made the modell and plat|forme of Chri&s;tian Religion, ju&s;t after the fa&s;hion of the Idoll Gods of the Heathen; and like a Juggler and deceiver, playes the &s;ame game divers and &s;everal wayes, &s;ometimes among&s;t men, &s;ometimes among&s;t the Angels of light, &s;ometimes on hor&s;eback, &s;ometimes on foot; he rides on a red hor&s;e with a great &s;word among the Heathens in the Imperiall per&s;ecution, and took outward peace from the primitive Chri&s;tians, as well as from the earth it &s;elfe. In the time of Papacie, among carnall Chri&s;tians, he rides on a pale hor&s;e; where the Devil|li&s;h Dragon his rider, is called death it &s;elfe, and hell followed with him, <HI>Rev.</HI> 6. 4. 8. So then, let him have liberty &amp; fre&egrave;dome, or bind and
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re&s;traine him, in all conditions he effecteth his work of envie, hatred and malice again&s;t the Church of God. Now there is one thing more in the Text, and when I have &s;poke a word or two of the meaning thereof, I hope then you will &s;ee this Scripture proves not your error. And thus it followes, <HI>After that he mu&s;t be loo&s;ed a little &s;ea&s;on.</HI> And in the &s;eventh ver&s;e, <HI>And when the thou&s;and years are expired, Satan &s;hall be loo&s;ed out of his pri&s;on;</HI> which words &s;ound as if the Devill &s;hould be|come the great red Dragon again after the reigne of Antichri&s;t, and fall to act his fir&s;t part the &s;econd time, to deny the Lord Je&s;us whom all this while he hath confe&s;&s;ed, and to &s;et him&s;elfe to doe the utmo&s;t he can to oppo&s;e the very name of Chri&s;t and Chri&s;tians; and in this &s;en&s;e doth the holy Gho&s;t clearly expound the&s;e words in other Scriptures, as our Lord him&s;elfe, <HI>Matth.</HI> 24. doth clearly de&s;cribe and di&s;cover the whole time of Antichri&s;ts abomination and per&s;ecution, as <HI>Daniel</HI> did prophe&s;ie of it, which is the whole and every part and &s;ea&s;on of the bound and re&s;trained condition of the Dragon be|fore mentioned. <HI>And immediatly,</HI> &s;aith our Lord, <HI>after the tribulation of tho&s;e dayes &s;hall the Sunne be darkned, the Moon &s;hall not give her light, and the Starres &s;hall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven &s;hall be &s;haken,</HI> ver&s;. 29&punc; In all which termes our Lord &s;peakes figuratively, and that another power after the end of Antichri&s;ts tyranny, &s;hall a|ri&s;e and fulfill the&s;e &s;ayings of his, which things were prophe&s;ied of before, by the Prophet <HI>Ezekiel,</HI> chap. 38. 2. &amp; 39. 1. and afterwards &s;o under&s;tood by the Apo&s;tle <HI>John, Rev.</HI> 20. 8, 9, 10. which <HI>Gog</HI> and <HI>Magog</HI> Saint <HI>John</HI> under&s;tands to bee the Kings of the Ea&s;t, and the whole world. <HI>Rev.</HI> 16. 12, 13, 14. where in a vi&s;ion he &s;aw the Devill come out of the mouth of the Dragon, that is, he left the Ethnick Imperiall power, and al&s;o the power of the Bea&s;t, and bea&s;tly Clergy, he will deceive by that fal&s;e Prophet no longer; but as he left all his old in&s;truments, &s;o he goes on to make u&s;e of a new one, the&s;e &s;pirits of Devils goe forth unto the Kings of the earth, that is, they goe unto them that are of the greate&s;t power at this time, even the Kings of the whole world, to gather them to the battell of the great day of God Almighty; which Kings of the Ea&s;t, and of the Earth, and of the whole World, cannot be under&s;tood of any but of him that writes him&s;elfe God of Gods, and King of Kings, and Emperour of the U|niver&s;e, the whole world, who giveth for his En&s;igne the Moon, the very Embleme of the world. Ob&s;erve how the Holy Gho&s;t hath de|ciphered him for his reigne and re&s;idence, the Ea&s;t; for his religion,
<PB N="49" REF="28">
the earth earthly and &s;en&s;uall, even the idle fancy and corrupt deceit of <HI>Mahomet</HI> him&s;elf, mingled and compo&s;ed of the parings, out-&s;ide and offall of the profe&s;&s;ion of <HI>Chri&s;tians, Jewes</HI> and <HI>Heathens;</HI> and la&s;tly, his unparalleld power and juri&s;diction to be no le&s;&s;e then the force and &s;trength of the whole world. Now me thinks the meaning of our Lords words, doth agree with his &s;ervant <HI>Johns;</HI> for by the term Sun, our Lord doth mean him&s;elfe, the Sun of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, the truth of the Go&s;pel; and it mu&s;t be a great power that mu&s;t &s;o op|po&s;e the doctrine of the Go&s;pel in Chri&s;tendome, as to turn our light, that is, the light of men into the darkne&s;&s;e of <HI>Mahometi&s;me,</HI> and that that <HI>Egyptian</HI> darkne&s;&s;e that hath over&s;pread the greate&s;t part of the world where the <HI>Turk</HI> hath dominion, &s;hould darken Chri&s;tendome al&s;o, that is, the Land of <HI>Go&s;hen,</HI> if the true light &s;hould thus be made dark, then the Moon that hath no light but from the Sun, &s;hall not give her light in our Saviours words; and in his meaning al&s;o, men that are inlightened by him, as the Moon is by the Sun, &s;hall not give their light; for how can they po&s;&s;ibly, when Chri&s;t which is their light is darkened? and when the Sun and Moon thus fail, then mu&s;t needs the Stars, whether Mini&s;ters or Profe&s;&s;ors, all &s;uch as are not the faithfull indeed, &s;hall fall from heaven to the earth, that is, from the truth to <HI>Mahometi&s;me;</HI> and in this great &s;torm, the powers of Heaven, elect and faithfull, from which condition it is impo&s;&s;ible they &s;hould fall; yet &s;aith the Text, <HI>the&s;e &s;hall be &s;haken with the terrible &s;torm,</HI> which compared with <HI>Rev.</HI> 6. 12. makes it more cleare; for <HI>the Sun became as &s;ackcloth of haire,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>and the Moon became as blood, and the Stars of heaven fell unto the earth; even as a Fig-tree ca&s;teth her untimely figs when &s;hee is &s;haken with a mighty wind;</HI> here the Apo&s;tle is cleare in under&s;tanding the Stars to be not true born Chri&s;tians, but untimely: and as S^t. <HI>Jude</HI> &s;peaks and calls them, <HI>wandering &s;tars, to whom is re&s;erved the blackne&s;&s;e of darkne&s;&s;e for ever,</HI> ver&s;. 13. But ble&s;|&s;ed be God for ever, that hath bounded and limited this la&s;t and great &s;torm (that &s;hall fall upon his Church, &s;o as the very powers thereof &s;hall be &s;haken) with the&s;e comfortable words, <HI>immediately, quickely, it &s;hall be over, it &s;hall continue but a little &s;ea&s;on.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;.</SPEAKER>
<P>For the opinion of the <HI>Millenaries,</HI> the truth is, there is no &s;hew of ground for it in the Scriptures, but wee have of late gathered our &s;elves into a Church communion and fellow&s;hip, and walk toge|ther in that order that Chri&s;ts Word holds out to us, finding in our practice the Scriptures true, that as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was faithfull in all his hou&s;e
<PB N="50" REF="29">
as a &s;ervant, &s;o Chri&s;t as a &s;on is faithfull in his hou&s;e, &s;o that we or|der all things according to the Word, and advance Chri&s;ts Kingdom, his Scepter and Law in the purity, as the Scriptures do declare; be|lieving al&s;o, that every congregation is independent, and that none but Chri&s;t hath power to command each congregation; and that none ought to be con&s;trained, or in the lea&s;t mea&s;ure oppo&s;ed or pu|ni&s;hed, as touching their con&s;ciences, but every man ought, and &s;hould live as the light of his con&s;cience leads him.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>By what you expre&s;s, you &s;hould be an <HI>Independent,</HI> as &s;ome call you, and as &s;ome of your judgement call or term them&s;elves, wherefore I demand of you all, that would have generall liberty for every mans o|pinion, whom I mean by <HI>Independent,</HI> where you find it written in Gods Word, that you &s;hould gather&punc; or congregate your &s;elves in that man|ner as you do; you that have been Mini&s;ters, to leave your pa&s;torall charges, and others, to for&s;ake their fellow-member-&s;hip in each Con|gregation, for as much as the Law of this Chri&s;tian Church, as tou|ching matters for publike wor&s;hip and meeting doth incorporate eve|ry Congregation or Pari&s;h, and of many members makes them but one body, and yet you from this body, &s;chi&s;me and rent your &s;elves, and &s;o of divers torn pieces, remnants and broken members, to patch up a body or congregation of your own invention, contrary to the publike order, the Statute lawes and ordinances of this Chri&s;tian Church, and again&s;t the meaning of the holy Scriptures al&s;o; and when you your &s;elves have made a body of your own making, then to have peculiar priviledges to do what you plea&s;e with the con&s;ent of your members; and what&s;oever you&punc; &s;hall do, to be beyond all power or magi&s;tracy what&s;oever, to either que&s;tion you or puni&s;h you, although by the rule of Gods Word there be cau&s;e, and all that all of you have done yet, is but outward and externall.</P>
<P>Now, I demand if there be precept or pre&s;ident for any or all the&s;e things you do, if there be, then &s;hew it; if you can &s;hew none, for &s;o I am &s;ure you cannot, then how can you clear your &s;elves, but that your practice is of your own inventions? For, this is your doctrine, that tho&s;e rules and orders which are pre&s;cribed by men, for the publique wor&s;hip and &s;ervice of God, being not plainly expre&s;&s;ed in Gods Word, &s;uch lawes and directions are Idolatry; and yet will you de|vi&s;e rules and order <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 word"> practi&s;e them your &s;elves of your own or|daining, for which you can bring no expre&s;&s;e word, nor true con&s;e|quence. I pray &s;ee the conclu&s;ion; therefore your way of Religion
<PB N="51" REF="29">
is a wil-wor&s;hip, and therefore Idolatrous, and aggravated, becau&s;e it is again&s;t the lawfull demands of Chri&s;tian authority. Here I would not be mi&s;taken, by what I have &s;aid, to oppo&s;e the private &s;pirituall communion of the Saints, according to the Apo&s;tles practice, and the Holy Gho&s;ts direction, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 10. 25. But you &s;ay, this Text proves your Church-way, <HI>Hebrews</HI> Chap. 3. Ver&s;. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. the &s;ub|&s;tance of which Scripture is this, that as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> was faithfull in all his hou&s;e, as a &s;ervant, &s;o Chri&s;t as a &s;on, is faithfull over his hou&s;e; you making <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his faithfulne&s;&s;e to con&s;i&s;t in tho&s;e pre&s;cripts and rules he gave for the Temple&punc; or Tabernacle in the form and &s;tructure, for Prie&s;ts and their habits, for the time of incen&s;e, &s;acrifices, divine &s;er|vices in the Oracles and Ordinances of God, even all the externall form and manner of Gods publike wor&s;hip: and you &s;ay, that Chri&s;ts faithfulne&s;&s;e in his hou&s;e under the Go&s;pel is not inferiour to <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> under the Law in all externall lawes, rules and directions in every par|ticular, for as much as Chri&s;t is the Son of his own hou&s;e, and as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> had a word for every thing, &s;o Chri&s;t hath left a word for every thing.</P>
<P>It is true, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> is &s;aid to be faithfull to make and do every thing according to the plat-form and pattern which he &s;aw that was &s;hewed him in the Mount, and his work was to make a temporall re&s;em|blance of the eternall Tabernacle, which in a vi&s;ion was &s;hewed him, and therefore he made the Tabernacle or moving Temple, and every particular that concerned the materiall things, both for &s;ub&s;tance and circum&s;tance, which were all figures and &s;hadowes of that to come; and will you make that to come the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of outward mate|riall externall things and circum&s;tances, and the Church of Chri&s;t under the Go&s;pel, an&s;werable in outward materiall externall things and circum&s;tances pre&s;cribed to the <HI>Jewes</HI> by the Law of <HI>Mo&s;es?</HI> then you mu&s;t have a word for the form and matter of Churches or hou&s;es of meeting, a word to direct us, who, and how &s;hall be Mini&s;ters, who for what &s;ort of men, and how they &s;halbe ordained, and a word for the bels for calling the congregation together; a word for the Mini&s;ters a|ctions in the admini&s;tration of all holy &s;ervices; a rule for di&s;mi&s;&s;ing the a&s;&s;embly with a ble&s;&s;ing; a word for childrens bapti&s;me, as for circum|ci&s;ion; a word for the time &amp; matter of the Lords Supper, as which of all grapes for wine, and which of all grains for bread; and for the man|ner and ge&s;ture for communication, as for the Pa&s;&s;eover, and the &s;eve|rall other circum&s;tances about Gods publike wor&s;hip, which <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> by a
<PB N="52" REF="30">
plain word pre&s;cribed to the people. Now, if Chri&s;t by him&s;elf, or his Apo&s;tles, have left no &s;uch particular word or direction for the exter|nall manner of his Churches, publique &s;ervices and order, as before are expre&s;t, then by your argument, Chri&s;t the Lord is not &s;o faith|full as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> the &s;ervant, which is bla&s;phemy in any one &s;o to &s;peak. Wherefore it appeares plainly you do not under&s;tand the Apo&s;tles meaning; And that you may con&s;ider the Text, look again, and it will teach you, which &s;aith, <HI>this man was counted worthy of more glory then Mo&s;es, in as much as he who hath builded the hou&s;e, hath more honour then the hou&s;e;</HI> and again, Chri&s;t is faithfull, as a &s;on over his own hou&s;e, to purcha&s;e and redeem, to call, to make, to ble&s;&s;e, to &s;anctifie and &s;ave it eternally; and this &s;pirituall hou&s;e, this heavenly Taber|nacle is that which the Apo&s;tle proves Chri&s;t to exceed <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> in even in the &s;ub&s;tance it &s;elf, which all <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> work did but witne&s;&s;e to, and figure forth, and therefore the Apo&s;tle makes the Sons hou&s;e to be the Saints, the called and ju&s;tified of God, who&s;e hou&s;e are wee, &amp;c. that is, all Gods elect regenerated ones; wherefore, as the Holy Gho&s;t &s;aith, <HI>To day,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>if you will hear his voyce, harden not your hearts,</HI> that is, repent, that your &s;ins may be done away, this is Chri&s;ts way and method to build his Hou&s;e, his Church, to make them &s;pirituall by regeneration, and of the&s;e &s;pirituall &s;ons to build his everla&s;ting Ta|bernacle; and thus Chri&s;t the Lord, the Son, the great Ma&s;ter-builder, is the high Prie&s;t and Mini&s;ter of the <HI>holy &s;anctuary, the true Tabernacle which God doth build or pitch, and not man,</HI> Heb. 8. 2. and in this &s;en&s;e every where doth the Holy Gho&s;t under&s;tand the Sons Hou&s;e, or Church of Chri&s;t; <HI>the Temple of God is holy,</HI> &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>which Temple yee are,</HI> 1 Cor. 3. 17. and again, <HI>Yee are the Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t, which is in you,</HI> which you have of God and not of man, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. 19. and in the 20^t^h ver&s;e, <HI>that it is the purcha&s;e of Chri&s;ts blood,</HI> and the faithfulne&s;&s;e of the &s;on of the Hou&s;e; and again, &s;aith hee, <HI>Chri&s;t loveth the Church, and gave him&s;elf for it, that hee might wa&s;h it and clean&s;e it with the wa&s;hing of water by the word,</HI> Ephe&s;. 5. 25, 26. this is the body, that is of Chri&s;t, which the whole ceremoniall law of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> were but &s;hadowes of; and the faithfulne&s;&s;e of Chri&s;t in his hou&s;e con&s;i&s;ting of &s;uch &s;pirituall &s;ub&s;tances, as hath been before de|&s;cribed, take heed how you affect outward externall forms, rules and order; for we find in Scripture, that &s;uch as have been of your mind, to promote and advance, re&s;ting and glorying in the outward ob&s;ervation and common things of the Church, that they have been
<PB N="53" REF="30">
the wor&s;t of Chri&s;tians and the per&s;ecutors of the Saints&punc; wherefore take heed of popularity and externall dignity, for the outward &s;tate of the Church of the <HI>Jewes killed the prophets, and &s;toned them that were &s;ent unto them,</HI> and yet their outward &s;tate was of Gods or|dinance, and yours of your own inventions, like the ca&s;e of the <HI>Scribes</HI> and <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> in our Saviour Chri&s;ts time, who&s;e fair &s;peeches, pre|tences and colourable &s;hewes, <HI>were high in e&s;teem amongst men, yet an abomination before the Lord,</HI> Luke 16. 15. And the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah</HI> &s;aith, <HI>the Pa&s;tors that &s;hould have gathered and fed Chri&s;ts &s;heep, did de|&s;troy and &s;catter the &s;heep of Gods pa&s;ture, and tread down the faithfull like the dirt of the &s;treet,</HI> I&s;a. 51. 23. <HI>Prophe&s;ie again&s;t the Shepherds,</HI> &s;aith <HI>the Lord to the</HI> Prophet, <HI>Son of man, prophe&s;ie again&s;t the Shepherds of I&s;rael, and &s;ay unto them, Wo be to the Shepherds of I&s;rael, who feed them&s;elves, and not the flock,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>the di&s;ea&s;ed have they not &s;trengthened, neither have they healed that which was &s;ick, neither have they bound up that which was broken, nor brought that which was driven away, nor &s;ought that which was lo&s;t, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them,</HI> Ezek. 34. 2, 3, 4. How many of you <HI>Independents</HI> is there, that deny the food of life to the Lambs of Chri&s;t? and will neither preach to them the Word, nor deliver to them the Sacraments, except they &s;ub|mit to your devi&s;ed fancied covenant, and yeeld to &s;uch a confe&s;&s;ion of your own devi&s;ing, or el&s;e to be excluded your Church and commu|nion in Gods ordinances, which God him&s;elf freely offers to all that receive the common faith? this new <HI>Independency</HI> is but old <HI>Popery,</HI> who laid as fair claims to the name <HI>Riches</HI> and <HI>Trea&s;urie</HI> of Chri&s;ts Church as you can do, by what ever I have found publi&s;hed by any of your leaders, and your humane church con&s;titution, no better then that of <HI>Babylon:</HI> wherefore omit not to procure oil for your Lamps while the market la&s;teth, le&s;t your indeavour be too late, when you cannot purcha&s;e it.</P>
<P>You that talk &s;o much of Gods Word, and under&s;tand &s;o little of it, I pray you tell me where the name that mo&s;t of you call your &s;elves by is to be found in the Scriptures; I am &s;ure the term <HI>Independency</HI> is not once mentioned in all the Churches of the Saints; yea, of and by them the quite contrary is affirmed: For, &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>the eye cannot &s;ay to the hand, I have no need of thee,</HI> nor again, <HI>the head to the feet, I have no need of you: for as the body is one, and hath in my members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body&punc; &s;o is Chri&s;t,</HI> 1 Cor. 12. 21. and again, <HI>by one Spirit wee are baptized into one body,</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="31">
ver&s;. 12, 13. that is, the whole Church, whether we be <HI>Jews</HI> or <HI>Gen|tiles;</HI> So then to follow the Apo&s;tles argument, if there can be no <HI>In|dependency</HI> of the members of, or in one body, then no particular Con|gregation or Church can be <HI>independent</HI> from the re&s;t; and the rea&s;on is beyond an&s;wering, becau&s;e all particular Churches make but one, which is the body of Chri&s;t; and this is the Apo&s;tles inference, <HI>and &s;o al&s;o is Chri&s;t,</HI> ver&s;. 5. <HI>&s;o we being many are one body in Chri&s;t, and every one members one of another;</HI> &s;o then &s;ee the member&s;hip and Church-way of Gods Church in a &s;pirituall and &s;upernaturall re&s;pect, and not in a humane voluntary covenant, of which the Scripture &s;aith, <HI>they confe|derate, but not by me, &s;aith the Lord, therefore acknowledge not a confede|racy to all them, to whom this people</HI> (&s;aith the Lord) <HI>&s;hall &s;ay a confede|racy,</HI> I&s;a. 8. 12. For the confederacy or people convenanted together by God, the Apo&s;tle calls all the &s;uffering Saints, the&s;e <HI>are the body of Chri&s;t</HI> (in the&s;e words) <HI>for his body &s;ake which is his Church,</HI> Col. 1 24. Wherefore now &s;ee in a word, how by mi&s;taking Gods Word, you mi&s;take the Scriptures, and the meaning of Chri&s;ts faithfulne&s;s in his hou&s;e as a &s;on, in compari&s;on of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> faithfulne&s;s as a &s;ervant.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Here&s;ie.</SPEAKER>
<P>In this his &s;aying, hee reproaches us all, for his &s;peech again&s;t the externall and outward gathering of Churches, whether Authority allow of it or no, is again&s;t us all in particular; for we all agree in that, and in the freedome and liberty of our con&s;ciences without que&s;tion, or any controul of any power, authority or ma|gi&s;tracie what&s;oever.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Truth.</SPEAKER>
<P>Indeed this is the doctrine you all teach and cry out for with one voyce or con&s;ent, for which cau&s;e I term'd you all at fir&s;t, all one enemy bound together wich the new-found common <HI>With</HI> of <HI>In|dependency,</HI> which under a fair pretence, as under the plea&s;ant object of green gra&s;&s;e lies the Snake or Serpent, to de&s;troy the very truth of God; and how ever you endeavour to bind <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> the holy childe of God, as <HI>Dalilah</HI> the Harlot did, yet the <HI>With</HI> of your own in|vention, which you call <HI>Independency,</HI> can the child and mother of Truth break in &s;under like a &s;traw of Rye, and gra&s;&s;e of the field, to be burned with fire, never again to be reckoned among&s;t the matter of Gods building; and that we may di&s;cover this &s;traw and &s;tubble more cleerly, let us con&s;ider what you &s;ay, in that you all agree in the freedome and liberty of con&s;cience, &amp;c. whereby the term Con&s;cience without due di&s;tinction, you put upon us mo&s;t gro&s;&s;e and ab&s;urd con|clu&s;ions: For what do you &s;ay? in the generall you all &s;ay as much
<PB N="55" REF="31">
for <HI>Popery, Famili&s;me, Arriani&s;me, Arminiani&s;me,</HI> and all the re&s;t of the Here&s;ies in particular as for your &s;elves; Wherefore to cleere the que|&s;tion by the rule of truth, note and ob&s;erve, that the Scripture &s;peaks of the term con&s;cience in a manifold di&s;tinction: fir&s;t, generally of two &s;orts, good and bad: &s;econdly, apart, and of both particularly; and</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for the good, which is to be con&s;idered in a double re&s;pect; a &s;trong con&s;cience and a weak con&s;cience, &s;o di&s;tingui&s;hed, becau&s;e &s;ome are &s;trong through experience of the truth, and a great mea&s;ure of knowledge, others through want thereof are weak, which weak con&s;cience ought not to be forc'd, but born withall and &s;upported, as 1 <HI>The&s;. 5. 14. 1 Cor.</HI> 8. 7, 9, 10. 11. and <HI>chap.</HI> 9. 22. both which con|&s;ciences the Scripture calls <HI>good, pure, wa&s;hed</HI> and <HI>purged,</HI> 1 Tim. 1. 5. 1 Pet. 3. 21. 2 Tim. 1. 3. Heb. 9. 14. and 13. 18. Again, in the ge|nerall &s;en&s;e, the bad or evill con&s;cience, that ought not to be born with and &s;upported, in no re&s;pect what&s;oever, which con&s;cience hath a twofold di&s;tinction al&s;o: for every man by nature, the elect as well as the reprobate, hath an evill con&s;cience; and therefore the Apo&s;tle &s;peaking in the per&s;on of the regenerate elect, <HI>Heb.</HI> 10. 22. &s;aith thus; <HI>Having our hearts &s;princkled from an evill con&s;cience, and our bodies wa&s;hed with pure water,</HI> cleerly &s;hewing hereby, that the con&s;ciences of the elect them&s;elves are wicked and evill by nature, before regeneration.</P>
<P>And in the &s;econd place, the Apo&s;tle to <HI>Timothy,</HI> and to the Church of <HI>The&s;&s;alonica,</HI> &s;peaks of a higher degree of an evill con&s;cience, even of &s;uch as had known the truth, and yet had not received the love of the truth; for which cau&s;e <HI>God &s;ends &s;uch &s;trong delu&s;ions, that they &s;hould believe lies,</HI> 2 The&s;. 2. And as &s;uch do not love the truth, &s;o they depart from the true faith, and in &s;tead thereof, give <HI>heed to &s;educing &s;pirits, and doctrines of Devils, &s;peaking and preaching lies in hypocri&s;ie; having their con&s;ciences &s;eared with a hot iron,</HI> 1 Tim. 4. 1, 2. And the Spirit of God &s;peaks expre&s;ly of the latter times, in which la&s;t dayes of the world wee now live in, which dayes and times wee by experi|ence find to be perillous and dangerous, and by rea&s;on of the crafty, cunning, devilli&s;h doctrines that are invented and &s;own among&s;t us, that wee find our Lords words true, <HI>If it were po&s;&s;ible they &s;hould de|ceive the very elect;</HI> for under fair &s;peeches and religious pretences, they broach and &s;ow dangerous doctrines: one cries out for <HI>Popery,</HI> and all the abominations thereof; another with his pretended new light, doth even darken the true light of men; others &s;ay the Spirit of adoption is in all men, a &s;hining and burning light in the regenerate,
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and in the naturall ob&s;cured and covered over with corruptions, as the fire is rak'd up in a&s;hes; others &s;ay, a man hath no more &s;oule then a hor&s;e, and that the re&s;urrection &s;hall be alike between men and bea&s;ts; others &s;ay there is neither Angel nor Spirit, neither hea|ven nor hell, neither re&s;urrection nor perfection; others &s;ay they are Chri&s;t, the prophe&s;ied Me&s;&s;iah; others affirm of them&s;elves they are the two Witne&s;&s;es, the two Olive-trees, the two Prophets, and the two Candle&s;ticks; others bla&s;phemou&s;ly &s;ay, that our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t was a deceiver, and &s;o was the Apo&s;tles; they al&s;o &s;peak &s;leigh|ly of the Scriptures, and &s;ay of them&s;elves, that they can write as good &s;cripture as any of tho&s;e wee have; others are meere <HI>Athei&s;ts,</HI> and &s;ay all things come by nature, and that they know not, nor hope for any better condition then the pre&s;ent, and will &s;ay the&s;e words, and &s;uch like; Let us eat and drink, and be merry, for to morrow wee &s;hall die: the&s;e, and a thou&s;and &s;uch bla&s;phemies are maintained among&s;t us, and will every one of them plead, it is their con&s;cience &s;o to believe, which by your doctrine, &s;hould all be &s;uffered without op|po&s;ition and puni&s;hment; for &s;hame never plead any longer for <HI>Baal,</HI> but &s;earch the Scriptures, the Word of God, and it will teach you, that the mouths of &s;uch Heretiques and bla&s;phemers <HI>mu&s;t be &s;topped,</HI> 1 Tim. 1. 11. and S^t. <HI>Paul</HI> is as expre&s;&s;e in this point, <HI>I would they were cut off that trouble you,</HI> Gal. 5. 12. I pray do not the fore-named fal&s;e and lying &s;pirits preach another Go&s;pel, another God, another Chri&s;t, and &s;o fall within that rule of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> Deut. 13. 5. <HI>that Prophet and that dreamer of dreames, that per&s;wadeth from our true God to a fal&s;e, &s;hall be put to death,</HI> according to that holy Prophets commi&s;&s;ion, <HI>Ezra</HI> 7. 26. that who&s;oever <HI>would not do the Law of God, and the King, execution &s;hall be made upon them, whether unto death, or unto ba|ni&s;hment, or confi&s;cation of goods, or impri&s;onment.</HI> Oh remember Gods own hand again&s;t &s;uch bla&s;phemous gain-&s;ayers, and with&s;tanders of God and man, <HI>Numb.</HI> 6. the earth opened its mouth and buried them alive, their tents, wives, children, cattell, and all that pertained to them, <HI>Wherefore give unto God the things that are Gods, and to Ce&s;ar the things that are Ce&s;ars,</HI> do not build <HI>Babel</HI> again, under pretence of con&s;cience; and learn this truth, that you mu&s;t needs be &s;ubject to all lawfull rules, lawes and orders, not only for wrath, but al&s;o for con&s;cience &s;ake, <HI>Rom.</HI> 13. 5.</P>
<P>Now for as much as upon true triall all of you of all &s;orts that are not born of God, are plainly proved to be none of Gods hou&s;e,
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none of Chri&s;ts Church, nor the Temple of the Holy Gho&s;t; therefore, that &s;he may more apparently appear to your under&s;tanding, I &s;hall indevour to make a brief de&s;cription of her &amp; her children. The Scrip|ture &s;peaks of her &s;ometimes by the name of a man, and &s;ometimes un|der the name and appellation of a woman: and at other times, in the Neuter gender, either he or &s;he, in the&s;e words, <HI>They overcame him with the blood of the Lamb,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>They loved not their lives unto the death;</HI> hee &s;aid unto them on his right hand, <HI>Come yee ble&s;&s;ed of my Father,</HI> &amp;c. and abundance the like Scriptures, by which terms, either &s;ex is to be under&s;tood: now where the Scriptures &s;et forth unto us the Saints and Church of Chri&s;t in the Feminine gender, under the name and title of a woman, then it notes unto us her fruitfulne&s;&s;e, in bringing forth unto God, as well as unto men. <HI>Jeru&s;alem from above is the mo|ther of us all,</HI> Gal. 4. 26. <HI>Of us all,</HI> that is, of all tho&s;e that are born of God, which birth is &s;pirituall and heavenly, as before hath been &s;hewed; and in this &s;en&s;e &s;he brings forth fruit unto God al&s;o, <HI>Rom.</HI> 7. 4. And to men, Gods elected &s;ervants, &s;hee is a nur&s;ing mother, with bowels of compa&s;&s;ion, &s;he hath two brea&s;ts full of &s;incere milk for her little ones that are young; and for her &s;trong and elder children, &s;hee hath &s;tronger meat, &s;he killeth for them her bea&s;ts; <HI>&s;he hath wine and bread, &s;he furni&s;hes her table,</HI> Prov. 9. <HI>with a fea&s;t of fat things, a fea&s;t of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,</HI> I&s;a. 25. 6. <HI>The fruit of the rightous is a tree of life, and they that turn &s;ouls unto God are wi&s;e,</HI> Prov. 11. 30. The children of this woman are the children of Wi&s;|dome our Lord &s;peaks of, who only are they that can te&s;tifie to the truth, <HI>The&s;e are the wi&s;e that &s;hall &s;hine as the brightne&s;&s;e of the firmament; and the&s;e are they that turn many unto righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, who &s;hall be hereafter as glorious as the &s;tars for ever and ever;</HI> this is &s;he whom God calls <HI>Sion</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> that <HI>bringeth glad tidings,</HI> even the <HI>joyfull voyce,</HI> the people in who&s;e <HI>heart is Gods Law,</HI> and covenant of life for ever, in and by them pre&s;erved; for they are the <HI>keepers of his truth,</HI> and as they know the truth, &s;o they preach it and declare it; it is a fountain in them, <HI>Out of their bellies do flow rivers of water of life:</HI> &s;o al&s;o it is a &s;tore-hou&s;e, a magazine of the Lords provi&s;ion, abundance, a plenty of things, old and new; this good man, out of the trea&s;ury of his good heart, bringeth forth that which is good; this hou&s;holder is the <HI>Scribe</HI> in&s;tructed unto the kingdome of heaven, who bringeth forth of his trea&s;ury things new and old; their fountain is their own and not anothers; it is only this &s;pirituall and heavenly woman, the <HI>Church</HI>
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<HI>of Chri&s;t, who unfoldeth and maketh known to the world the manifold wi&s;|dom of God,</HI> Eph. 3. 10. which woman &s;ometimes, according to the grace given her, is called <HI>a holy woman, a pure, undefiled, cha&s;t virgin;</HI> behold, <HI>the&s;e are my mother,</HI> &s;aith the Lord him&s;elf: and &s;ometimes gloriou&s;ly de&s;cribed; there appeared in heaven, &s;aith S^t. <HI>John, a great wonder, a woman clothed with the Sun, and the Moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve &s;tars, great with child, travelling in birth with pain ready to be delivered,</HI> Rev. 12. 1, 2. Ob&s;erve, this woman is continually fruitfull, &s;till increa&s;ing, &s;till big, travelling and bringing forth unto God; and as &s;he is thus glorious in regard of her graces, &s;o in regard of her &s;orrows and &s;ufferings, &s;he is called <HI>a barren woman,</HI> by &s;uch har|lots as call them&s;elves the wife of Chri&s;t, who not knowing the low, the &s;pirituall, the humble penitent poor condition of the true Spou&s;e, de&s;pi&s;e her, hate and contemn her, as <HI>Hagar</HI> the bond-ma~id did her Mi&s;tre&s;s <HI>Sarah,</HI> the free-woman, and report of her that is the Lords love and delight, as de&s;olate and for&s;aken of her husband, even a de|&s;picable and forlorn widow, and &s;hall &s;o be accounted of all that are filthy, till her &s;ufferings are ended, even as the off-&s;couring of the earth. This holy Church of Chri&s;t, is al&s;o de&s;cribed unto us in the Scripture, under the Ma&s;culine appellation, <HI>a man, the fir&s;t-born, a man-child; I&s;|rael,</HI> &s;aith the Lord by the Prophet, <HI>is my fir&s;t-born,</HI> Deut. 4. 23. <HI>Let my &s;on go,</HI> &s;aith the Lord; <HI>for I&s;rael is my &s;on, my fir&s;t-born,</HI> ver&s;. 22. <HI>I am a father to I&s;rael,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>and Ephraim is my fir&s;t-born,</HI> Jer. 31. 9. where by <HI>I&s;rael</HI> and <HI>Ephraim,</HI> God means his faithfull cho&s;en people, his Church: &s;o the fir&s;t and primitive fruit of the Church, under the Go&s;pel, is called <HI>a man-child,</HI> Rev. 12. 5. <HI>And &s;hee brought forth a man|child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.</HI> Now this name or appellation of the Church, notes out unto us two things: Fir&s;t, the honour and dignity of the Church, that although now in this life they &s;uffer, and go by the wor&s;t of all carnall and outward Chri&s;tians, yet in the time to come, they &s;hall receive the &s;elf-&s;ame honour which to their Lord alone, and in chief belongeth: And as they &s;hall have the &s;ame honour with their Lord, <HI>Mat. 19. Rev.</HI> 2. &s;o the Lord is plea&s;ed to be called by their title al&s;o, <HI>P&s;al. 89. 27. I will make him my fir&s;t-born, higher then the Kings of the earth;</HI> and then he &s;peaks of his Church, <HI>ver&s;. 29. His &s;eed al&s;o will I make to indure for ever, and his throne as the dayes of heaven,</HI> where he will place his Church with him&s;elf for ever|more, <HI>Mat. 9. 28. Rev.</HI> 2. 27. with him in his throne; yea, in his owne throne. In the &s;econd place, this Ma&s;culine title notes out unto us the
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birth-right and inheritance that by right belongs unto the Church of God; that as the fir&s;t-born man-child is the heir apparent, both by Scripture and nature, &s;o the Lords fir&s;t-born is the apparent heir of the purcha&s;ed inheritance: and to this truth doth the Apo&s;tle wit|ne&s;&s;e in the&s;e words, <HI>Rom. 8. 17. If children, then heirs, heirs with God, and joynt heirs with Chri&s;t, heirs of &s;alvation,</HI> Heb. 1. 14. <HI>Heirs according to the promi&s;e,</HI> Gal. 3. 29. <HI>Heirs according to the hope of eternall life,</HI> Tit. 3. 7. <HI>Heirs of the kingdome which hee hath promi&s;ed to them that love him,</HI> James 2. 5. Oh how &s;weet and comfortable are the words! I could alwayes be mindfull of them; yea, of this word, <HI>heirs of the kingdome which hee hath promi&s;ed,</HI> &amp;c. which now calls me to mind of my pro|mi&s;e at fir&s;t, to de&s;cribe in its due place, the &s;tone that was cut out without hands, which &s;mote the Image upon his feet, which became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>This term <HI>Mountain,</HI> in the Scriptures, &s;ets forth unto us, often lite|rally, the hils, or highe&s;t parts of the earth, but figuratively the greate&s;t powers that are in this world, or that to come; and &s;ometimes by <HI>mountain</HI> we are to under&s;tand, &s;uch carnall and naturall men as have high thoughts, and great e&s;teem of them&s;elves; and therefore as it is prophe&s;ied of <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 40. 3, 4. &s;o it was fulfilled by him, <HI>Luke</HI> 3. 4. who by the great gifts given him of God to work repen|tance, whereby he prepared the Lords way, and turned the di&s;obedient <HI>to the wi&s;dome of the ju&s;t;</HI> and of the operation of his Mini&s;terie, it is &s;aid, <HI>Every mountain and hill was brought low,</HI> &amp;c. meaning, that the hearts of di&s;obedient naturall men were made penitent, and their high thoughts humbled. Al&s;o by the term <HI>mountain</HI> wee are to un|der&s;tand, all tho&s;e great powers, dignities and authorities that have ri&s;en up, and born &s;way in this world, ever &s;ince the creation thereof, and among&s;t the re&s;t, tho&s;e <HI>Monarchies,</HI> e&s;pecially at the beginning of our Di&s;cour&s;e, particularly named, and with them, all nations and Re|ligions, <HI>Papi&s;ts,</HI> and others, as well <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> as <HI>Pagans,</HI> that have at all times hated, per&s;ecuted and de&s;troyed the Saints, the Church of Chri&s;t; and with this truth, the Prophet <HI>Jeremiah</HI> was well acquainted, in &s;aying, in the name of the Lord, <HI>that hee would render unto Babylon, and all the inhabitants of Chaldea, all their evill that they had done to Sion; Behold, I am again&s;t thee, O de&s;troying mountain,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>which de&s;troyed&s;t all the earth,</HI> &amp;c. Jer. 51. 24, 25. and again, <HI>Who art thou, O great mountain, thou &s;halt be made a plain,</HI> Zac. 4&punc; 7. And for this cau&s;e, even for the great oppre&s;&s;ion of his &s;ervants and people, will the
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Lord &s;hortly go <HI>forth as a mighty man, he &s;hall &s;tir up jealou&s;ie like a man of war, hee &s;hall cry, yea roare; hee &s;hall prevail again&s;t his enemies mighti|ly;</HI> and although he have been long &s;ilent and held his peace, and re|&s;trained him&s;elf all this world long, and hath &s;uffered his own wife and little children to be afflicted with judgement from all the powers and authorities that have ruled in the earth, yet now it is neer at hand, that <HI>he that &s;hall come will come, and will not tarry,</HI> but will de|&s;troy and devour at once all the mountains and hils that have de&s;o|lated his own little holy hill of <HI>Sion,</HI> I&s;a. 42. 13, 14, 15. P&s;al. 2. 6. And this holy hill of <HI>Sion,</HI> which <HI>David</HI> &s;peaks of, is the &s;mall &s;tone, cut out of the mountain without hands, that <HI>Daniel</HI> &s;o long before &s;aw in a Vi&s;ion, which became &s;o great a mountain, that it brake to pieces the gold, the &s;ilver, the bra&s;&s;e, the iron, the clay, that no place was found for them for ever hereafter. Now the holy Scribe <HI>Ezra,</HI> is &s;hewed what the mountain cut out without hands is, 2 <HI>Ezr.</HI> 13. 35. that it is <HI>Sion,</HI> the Church of God, and her King, the Son of God, &s;tan|ding on the top of this mount <HI>Sion</HI> (a po&s;ture of Maje&s;ty, belonging only to a King,) and that this King &s;hould without &s;word, or lifting up his hand, or any in&s;trument of war, de&s;troy the multitudes that came out to fight again&s;t him with a bla&s;t of fire, &s;ent out of his mouth, and out of his lips a flaming breath and &s;parkles, and tempe&s;t ca&s;t out with his tongue, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 10. and the torments are like to a flame, and their de&s;truction &s;hall be with the law, that is, like unto fire, <HI>v.</HI> 38. And the peaceable multitude are the ten Tribes, carried away by <HI>Sal|mane&s;er,</HI> king of <HI>A&s;syria;</HI> now both their carrying into captivity pa&s;t long ago, and their return, which is not yet brought to pa&s;&s;e, are a live|ly type of the Saints captivity, both of <HI>Jewes</HI> and <HI>Gentiles,</HI> in the Churches pre&s;&s;ures and &s;ufferings, and of their deliverance and &s;alva|tion al&s;o; as likewi&s;e the &s;et-time to be in the day of the Lord Je&s;us his coming and revealing, <HI>v.</HI> 28. to the 50. compared with 2 <HI>King.</HI> 17. And farther, it filled the whole earth, &s;aith the Text, <HI>Dan.</HI> 2. 34. Ob|&s;erve the Prophets expre&s;&s;ion, that the holy mountain of the Lord at the fir&s;t was &s;een to be a &s;tone cut out without hands, which cleerly deciphereth unto us, the true nature of the Church of Chri&s;t in her fir&s;t and &s;uffering condition, the ten Tribes captivity in their e&s;tate of regeneration, by which &s;hee is made a holy, living, &s;pirituall &s;tone|hou&s;e, and &s;o made or fa&s;hioned, not by mans hands, or any humane power, as all the fle&s;hly Synagogues of this world are, but cut out and made without hands, as that Tabernacle which God doth build, and
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not man, which is the <HI>true Church</HI> or <HI>Tabernacle,</HI> Heb. 8. 2. And as I have often touched before, continually all this life long &s;uffers under tho&s;e that are evill and malignant, truly &s;o called: wherefore the Lord by the Prophet comforts this holy Church and mother of truth; <HI>for a moment have I for&s;aken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee; in a little wrath have I hid my face from thee, for a moment, but with everla|&s;ting kindne&s;&s;e will I have mercy on thee, &s;aith the Lord thy Redeemer;</HI> And again, <HI>Oh thou afflicted and to&s;&s;ed with tempe&s;t; I will &s;peak it again, <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;&s;ed with tempe&s;t;</HI> here's a word that &s;ets out the &s;uffering of truth with her children to the full, even &s;o to&s;&s;ed with the &s;torme and tem|pe&s;t of affliction, as a &s;hip is to&s;&s;ed with the roaring and raging waves of the &s;eas; or as a ball is to&s;&s;ed and beaten up and down, both by hand and foot, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 54. Now as the Prophet <HI>Daniel</HI> by the dreame of the King did under&s;tand the day of &s;mall things concerning the Churches condition in her e&s;tate of regeneration; &s;o al&s;o he &s;aw the great and glorious power and &s;overaignty, its dominion and magni|tude, in its deliverance and perfection: and <HI>the &s;tone that &s;mote the Image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth;</HI> this is the mountain of Gods holine&s;&s;e, even the greate&s;t power and &s;overaigne authority that ever was in the world before it. And the Text notes out unto us three things, the time when it &s;hall be, the place where it &s;hall be, and the manner how it &s;hall be; the manner hath a double con&s;ideration, fir&s;t, the beginning and weakne&s;&s;e of this powerfull kingdome, expre&s;|&s;ed as before I have declared in her &s;pirituall e&s;tate of renovation or regeneration, in the&s;e words, <HI>a &s;tone was cut out without hands;</HI> and in this fir&s;t e&s;tate and condition of the Church, it is &s;aid to live and reign, to attain victory, and overcome, <HI>Rev. chap.</HI> 20. &amp; 12. but this victory is by faith, this overcoming is by &s;uffering, <HI>they overcame him,</HI> that is, the Dragons pagancy, <HI>by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their te&s;ti|mony, and they loved not their lives unto death,</HI> and at this battell the ar|mies were great on both &s;ides, and the victory glorious on the Saints &s;ide, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12. 7. 11. In the &s;econd con&s;ideration, wee are to under|&s;tand the Church in her glory and perfection, and to as far exceed all the Monarchies, Kingdoms and Powers that were before it, as the bo|dy exceeds the &s;hadow, the per&s;on the picture, the circumference the center. The <HI>Babylonian</HI> Monarchy, the head of gold, was a great power, <HI>Thou, O King,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>art a King of kings, for the God of hea|ven hath given thee a kingdome, &s;trength, power and glory, and where&s;oever the children of men dwell, bea&s;ts of the field, and fowles of the heaven hath</HI>
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<HI>hee given into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all,</HI> yet all the&s;e bounds and dominations are but by way of compari&s;on, to the univer&s;e, the heavens, earth and &s;ea, which are the bounds of Chri&s;ts and his Church, rule and Lord&s;hip: Secondly, the nature and con|dition of the kingdomes of this world, and the power and greatne&s;&s;e of Maje&s;ty that Chri&s;ts Kingdome &s;hall have in the world to come, differs beyond all compari&s;on: For the kingdomes of this world are finfull kingdomes, powers and authorities; yea, this pre&s;ent evill world is corrupted, and lies under the cur&s;ed condition by rea&s;on of &s;in, and <HI>as long as this face of the covering is ca&s;t over all people,</HI> and <HI>this evill is &s;pread over all nations,</HI> I&s;a. 25. 7. even &s;o long death the King of feares the wages of that &s;in &s;hall raign in it, according to the Scrip|tures, <HI>Gen. 3. 17. Rom. 5. 17, 21. 1 Cor.</HI> 15. but when the Lord &s;hall &s;et up his Kingdome, <HI>hee will create new heavens, and a new earth: Be|hold,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>I will do it, and the former &s;hall not be remembred, nor come into mind: but be you glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create; For, behold, I create Jeru&s;alem a rejoycing, and her people a joy,</HI> I&s;a. 65. 17, 18. And the Apo&s;tle by the &s;ame Spirit of Prophecy, &s;aith, <HI>that the heavens and the earth that are now, with all the&s;e things, &s;hall be di&s;&s;ol|ved:</HI> And according to Gods promi&s;e, wee look (that is, all Gods Saints) <HI>for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> 2 Pet. 3. And the Apo&s;tle <HI>John</HI> tells us, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21. what this new hea|ven, and new earth is, even the holy Church of God, <HI>the new Jeru&s;a|lem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;</HI> and a voyce out of heaven expounds it to him, <HI>Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and hee will dwell with them, and they &s;hall be his people, and God him&s;elf &s;hall be with them, and be their God, and God &s;hall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there &s;hall be no more death, neither &s;orrow nor crying, neither &s;hall there be any more paine; for the former things are pa&s;&s;ed away: And again, &s;aith the Lord, Behold, I make all things new, write, for the&s;e things are true and faithfull.</HI></P>
<P>Once again ob&s;erve the Prophet <HI>Daniel,</HI> in the&s;e words, <HI>and it be|came a great mountain,</HI> of which our Saviour gives the meaning in the&s;e words, <HI>The kingdome of heaven is like unto a grain of mu&s;tard &s;eed, which is the lea&s;t of all &s;eeds, but when it is grown</HI> (ju&s;t as the Prophet [<HI>it be|came</HI>] &s;o our Lord) <HI>it is the greate&s;t among herbs, and became a tree,</HI> &amp;c. both which places as one &s;hews, that although the Church be now &s;o little, that no man heeds or regards her, yet her increa&s;e &s;hall be from the lea&s;t of all &s;eeds to a tree with branches, and from a &s;mall &s;tone to
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a huge great mountain, even &s;o big, as to fill the whole earth.</P>
<P>Which magnitude, excellent glory, greatne&s;&s;e, and &s;overaignty of the Church and Kingdome of God, I &s;hall in part di&s;cover, by con&s;i|dering the&s;e eight particulars: the <HI>King,</HI> the <HI>Kingdome,</HI> the <HI>Throne,</HI> the <HI>Scepter,</HI> the <HI>Lawes,</HI> the <HI>Priviledges,</HI> the <HI>Officers,</HI> and the <HI>Subjects:</HI> And for the <HI>King</HI> thereof, thus &s;aith the Prophet, notwith&s;tanding all the rage and oppo&s;ition of the <HI>Heathens,</HI> and the vain imaginati|ons of the people, <HI>Yet have I &s;et my King upon my holy hill of Sion,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 2. 1. 5. and the title of his Crown is the title of his Cro&s;s, <HI>This is the King of the Jewes,</HI> Luke 23. 38. and him&s;elf te&s;tifying a good confe&s;&s;ion before <HI>Pilate,</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Thou &s;ai&s;t I am a King: to this end was I born, and for this cau&s;e came I into the world,</HI> Joh. 18. 37. Secondly, the Scriptures &s;peake of the <HI>Kingdome of</HI> Chri&s;t above all compari&s;on, and calls it, <HI>the kingdome of the Son of God,</HI> and, <HI>that there was given him dominion, and glory, and a Kingdome,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Dan.</HI> 7. 13, 14. Now the con&s;ideration of the&s;e four things will briefly di&s;cover to us, how this Church and Kingdome of Chri&s;t exceeds all other powers or king|domes what&s;oever: Fir&s;t, in the Maje&s;ty of it: Secondly, in its ex|cellency: Thirdly, in its univer&s;ality; and Fourthly, in its eternity: The Maje&s;ty &s;ets forth the magnitude and greatne&s;&s;e of this kingdom, the King is great, and the Kingdom is great, <HI>Behold,</HI> &s;aith the Angel to the Virgin, <HI>he &s;hall be great, and he &s;hall raign over the hou&s;e of Jacob for ever,</HI> Luke 1. 32. 33. And the Prophet <HI>Daniel</HI> de&s;cribes this greatne&s;&s;e, and what this hou&s;e of <HI>Jacob</HI> is, in the&s;e words, <HI>and the kingdome, and dominion, and the greatne&s;s of the kingdome under the whole heaven, &s;hall be given to the people of the Saints of the mo&s;t High, who&s;e kingdom is an ever|la&s;ting kingdome, and all dominions, rulers and powers, &s;hall &s;erve and obey him,</HI> Dan. 7. 27. The excellency is &s;et forth by the glory, &s;plendor and purity of it; and in this re&s;pect it is in Scripture called <HI>the kingdome of God, the kingdome of Chri&s;t, a kingdome of Prie&s;ts, a kingdome of Saints, the kingdome of our God, the kingdome of glory, heavenly countrey, city, in|heritance, po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, reward,</HI> all heavenly, all glorious, all holy, there &s;hall be nothing <HI>to hurt nor de&s;troy in my holy mountaine,</HI> &s;aith the Lord: the glory is expre&s;t beyond the light of Sun and Moon in the firma|ment, or gold or precious jewels in the earth, <HI>there &s;hall in no wi&s;e be any thing there that defileth,</HI> Rev. 21. 27. Thirdly, its univer&s;ality &s;ets forth the largene&s;s of the dominion and unbounded limits of it; the Prophet <HI>David</HI> &s;aith, <HI>Its dominion is from &s;ea to &s;ea, from the river to the ends of the earth, I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter|mo&s;t parts of the earth for thy po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion,</HI> there's the dominion; and
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in the next words, &s;ee the greatne&s;&s;e of the power and authority, <HI>Thou &s;halt break them with a rod of iron, and da&s;h them to pieces like a Potters ve&s;&s;ell,</HI> P&s;al. 2. 8, 9. <HI>They that dwell in the wilderne&s;&s;e &s;hall how before him, and his enemies &s;hall lick the du&s;t; yea, all kings &s;hall fall down before him, all nations &s;hall &s;erve him,</HI> P&s;al. 72. 8, 9, 10. And therefore hee is called <HI>the King of nations, for his univer&s;all juri&s;diction; Who would not feare thee, O King of nations? for greatne&s;&s;e and power pertain to thee,</HI> Jer. 10. 6, 7. And <HI>Daniels</HI> witne&s;&s;e is, <HI>that all people, nations and lan|guages &s;hall feare him, his dominion is an everla&s;ting dominion, which &s;hall not pa&s;&s;e away, and his Kingdome that which &s;hall not be de&s;troyed,</HI> Dan. 7. 14. which in the la&s;t place &s;hewes the eternity or perpetuity of the Kingdome; and therefore the Apo&s;tle calls it, <HI>The everla&s;ting Kingdome of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> 2 Pet. 1. 11. <HI>He &s;hall raign,</HI> &s;aith the Angell, <HI>over the hou&s;e of Jacob for ever, and of his Kingdome there &s;hall be no end,</HI> Luke 1. 33. And this glorious kingdome of Chri&s;t is often in Scripture term'd <HI>a world without end:</HI> under the&s;e terms, <HI>everla&s;ting life, everla&s;ting kingdome,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>The people of God,</HI> that formerly were, and now are refu&s;ed, contemned, and ca&s;t off from the thoughts and e&s;timations of others, <HI>&s;hall then in that day be made a &s;trong nation, and the Lord him&s;elf &s;hall raign over them in mount Sion, from henceforth even for ever,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>Mic.</HI> 4. 7.</P>
<P>The next and third particular to be con&s;idered, is the throne of the Kingdome of Chri&s;t; And for that wee have the Angels te&s;timony al|&s;o; <HI>And the Lord God &s;hall give unto him the throne of his father David,</HI> Luk. 1. 32. And againe, <HI>Thy throne, O God, is a throne of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, e&s;tabli&s;hed for ever and ever,</HI> P&s;al. 45. 6. And againe, <HI>Thy &s;eed will I e&s;ta|bli&s;h for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.</HI> And againe, <HI>His &s;eede will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the dayes of heaven,</HI> P&s;al. 89. 4. ver. 29. And againe the third time, <HI>His &s;eed &s;hall endure for ever, and his throne as the Sun before me,</HI> ver. 36.</P>
<P>What moves the holy Prophet thus three times to make mention of the King, the throne, and thy &s;eed, that is, Gods children by re|generation, thus to &s;ing and rejoyce in the remembrance of them toge|ther, but for to &s;hew us this holy truth, that the Saints &s;hall reigne with their King, that <HI>the Saints &s;hall judge the world?</HI> for this ble&s;&s;ed comfort the Lord preaches to his children him&s;elf by his own mouth, <HI>Rev. 2. 26, 27. He that evercometh and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the Nations, and he &s;hall rule them with a rod of iron, &amp;c. And I will grant to him to &s;it with me in my throne, even as I al&s;o overcame, and am &s;et down with my father in his Throne,</HI> Chap. 3. 21.
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And thus taught he his ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles that followed him, in the <HI>re|generation,</HI> as S^t. <HI>Matthew</HI> &s;aith, and had participated and continued with him in his &s;ufferings and <HI>temptations,</HI> as <HI>Luke</HI> hath it, <HI>I appoint unto you a kingdome,</HI> &s;aith our Lord, <HI>as my Father hath appointed unto me, that yee may eat and drink at my table, in my Kingdome, and &s;it on thrones judging the twelve Tribes of I&s;rael,</HI> Mat. 19. 28. Luke 22. 29, 30. yea, <HI>this honour have all the Saints, with the King in the Kings Throne; Oh yee Saints, prai&s;e yee the Lord,</HI> P&s;al. 149. 9.</P>
<P>The fourth particular is the Scepter of this kingdome, and that the Holy Gho&s;t calls <HI>a Scepter of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> Heb. 1. 8. <HI>a Scepter of righte|ou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> or <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;&s;es,</HI> that is, righteous in the purity and excellency of it, <HI>is the Scepter of thy Kingdome;</HI> this is properly <HI>Shilohs,</HI> the <HI>Savi|ours</HI> Scepter, <HI>Gen.</HI> 49. 10. Yet &s;uch is the Kings grace to his &s;ervants, his &s;eed, Church and people, that of this which in particular belongs to him&s;elf alone, even of this al&s;o doth hee communicate to his little ones, his fir&s;t-born, the heirs of &s;alvation, not only to &s;it with him in his Throne, but al&s;o to rule with his Scepter: The womans childe which are the Saints, &s;aith the Text, are to rule even as their Lord him|&s;elf doth, <HI>all nations with a rod of iron,</HI> that is, <HI>with the Scepter of righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> Rev. 12. 5. And the Lord hath decreed for ever, that it &s;hall be &s;o, who&s;oever he be that overcometh, hee will give him power and authority to &s;it with him in his Throne, to rule over all nations, <HI>with a rod of iron, and to break them as an earthen ve&s;&s;ell</HI> is da&s;ht to pieces with a bar of iron, <HI>Rev.</HI> 2. 26, 27. And as the King of glory doth place the Saints in his own throne, and gives them in particular the &s;way and rule of his own Scepter, &s;o he honours them with his own crown al&s;o, called <HI>a Crown of life, a Crown of glory, a Crown of righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> and the like, they are all crowned, <HI>Rev. 4. 10. The crown is laid up for all that love the appearing of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t the King of Saints,</HI> 2 Tim. 4. 8.</P>
<P>The fifth particular in di&s;covering the greatne&s;s of Chri&s;ts glorious kingdome, are the laws and rules of this kingdom, for as the kingdom it &s;elf is new, and all things new in it, &s;o are the laws al&s;o, <HI>A new com|mandment give I unto you,</HI> &s;aith the King him&s;elf, <HI>that you love one ano|ther, as I have loved you, that you love one another,</HI> Joh. 13. 34. Here's both the <HI>Precept</HI> and the <HI>Pre&s;ident;</HI> this holy commandment was given unto them in their e&s;tate of regeneration, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2. 21. and continues in them world without end, in glory and perfection, <HI>it is the law of the endle&s;s life;</HI> this law of love, <HI>it abideth for ever, charity never faileth,</HI> 1 Cor. 13. 8. mo&s;t or all things el&s;e &s;hall fail, Prophecy &s;hall fail, tongues &s;hall cea&s;e,
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knowledge it &s;hall vani&s;h away; all imperfect things &s;hall terminate and come to an end, but this new commandement <HI>Love, endures for ever;</HI> Death is &s;trong, for it hath and will kill all men made and crea|ted; and the grave, the i&s;&s;ue of death is mightie, but <HI>love</HI> &s;urmounts them all in the better &s;en&s;e, <HI>Cant.</HI> 8. 6. The &s;ea of waters cannot quench it, nor all the flouds, or <HI>overflowings of the Ocean cannot drowne it;</HI> for the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a mo&s;t vehement flame, and it contemns all manner of &s;ub&s;tance to purcha&s;e it, it is no way to be attained, but by the gift of God. <HI>I will put my lawes in their inward parts, and write them in their hearts, &s;aith the Lord,</HI> Jer. 31. 33. This glo|rious kingdome are all &s;uch as are made of God Kings and Prie&s;ts; the&s;e are the Levits to whom God hath given the Law and Covenant of life to, this commandement of peace and &s;alvation, <HI>Mal.</HI> 2. 4, 5, 6. which hath comforted his people here, and for ever doth guide and regulate them in the perfection, the glorious and everla&s;ting kingdome of Chri&s;t hereafter. Which Law of Gods kingdome is called in Scrip|tures, a <HI>holy law,</HI> a <HI>royall law,</HI> a <HI>law of life,</HI> a <HI>law of libertie,</HI> a <HI>perfect law,</HI> and &s;uch like, <HI>James</HI> 1. 25. Chap. 2. 8. 12.</P>
<P>The &s;ixt thing con&s;iderable, is the priviledges of this kingdome of glory, which are &s;o great and many, that I &s;hall rather ob&s;cure then di&s;cover them, their priviledge of power and Authoritie is exceeding much, and abundantly &s;et forth in the Scriptures; for when the Lord &s;hall exalt <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> this his own kingdome, then <HI>&s;hall the Lord breake the &s;taffe of the wicked, and the &s;cepter of the rulers,</HI> I&s;a. 14. 5. <HI>Behold, &s;aith the Lord, I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan, which &s;ay they are Jewes and are not, but doe lye. Behold,</HI> (&s;aith he the &s;econd time againe to his Church) <HI>I will make them come to wor&s;hip before thy feete, and to know that I have loved thee,</HI> Rev. 3. 9. This is &s;uch a dignitie and privi|ledge as the Lord him&s;elfe with a twofold word of audience affirmeth <HI>to take them captives, who&s;e captives they were, and to rule over their op|pre&s;&s;ors,</HI> I&s;a. 14. 2. with the prai&s;es of God in their mouths, and a two|edged &s;word in their hands, to execute vengeance &amp; puni&s;hment up|on heatheni&s;h people, to binde their Kings with chaines, &amp; their No|bles with fetters of iron; this <HI>honour or priviledge have all the Saints,</HI> P&s;al. 149. And &s;o &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>The &s;onnes of them that afflicted thee, &s;hall come bending unto thee, and all that de&s;pi&s;ed thee, &s;hall how them|&s;elves downe at the &s;oles of thy feete, and they &s;hall call thee the Citie of the Lord, the Sion of the holy One of I&s;rael; whereas thou ha&s;t been for&s;aken and hated, &s;o that no man went through thee, or delighted in thy company; I</HI>
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<HI>will make thee an eternall excellency, a joy of many generations,</HI> I&s;a. 60. 14, 15. So al&s;o their priviledge of freedome and libertie, doth &s;et forth their glory; <HI>Jeru&s;alem which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all, Gal.</HI> 4. 26. They are all free-borne, &s;o begotten and born by the Word it &s;elfe; for all the whole Kingdome are children of the truth, and the truth it was that which made them free, <HI>Joh.</HI> 8. 32. Now the Word and the truth are the Sonne, and <HI>tho&s;e that the Sonne makes free, are free indeed,</HI> ver. 36. and from all manner of bondage; free from &s;inne, free from death, free from &s;orrow, free from the grave, free from cor|ruption, free from oppre&s;&s;ion, free from &s;uffering, inlarged and &s;et at libertie for ever to injoy immortalitie, the&s;e are the people that po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;e and injoy the <HI>glorious libertie</HI> or freedome <HI>of the &s;onnes</HI> or chil|dren <HI>of God,</HI> Rom. 8. 21.</P>
<P>Al&s;o the company and a&s;&s;ociates that are in this heavenly kingdome doe exceedingly declare the glory of it, to have and injoy the pre&s;ence of God, of Chri&s;t, and the holy Gho&s;t, the company of all the holy Angels, the company and &s;ocietie of all the holy Patriarks, Prophets, and Saints, with the comfortable delight and excellency of the re&s;ti|tution and perfection of all creatures, both in the heavens, the earth, and the &s;ea, and all that is within them, as &s;hall be &s;hewed hereafter, in the point of univer&s;all &s;ubjection. <HI>In Gods pre&s;ence,</HI> &s;aith the Prophet, <HI>is fulne&s;&s;e of joy, and at thy right hand are plea&s;ures for evermore,</HI> P&s;al. 16. 11. <HI>You,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, &s;peaking to his Saints, <HI>I appoint unto you a king|dome, and yee &s;hall eate and drinke with mee at my table in my kingdome, Luk.</HI> 22. 30. And as the Angels are mini&s;tring &s;pirits here in the Saints &s;ufferings, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1. 7. &s;o in the world to come with the pre&s;ence of God wee &s;hall have the company &amp; pre&s;ence of the Angels <HI>about the throne,</HI> &s;aith the text, <HI>Rev.</HI> 7. 11. And there &s;hall wee &s;ee <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac,</HI> and <HI>Jacob,</HI> and all the <HI>holy Prophets</HI> in the <HI>kingdome of God,</HI> and have hea|venly &s;weet &s;ocietie and company with them, <HI>Luk.</HI> 13. 28. Now as the priviledges of the kingdome excell, &s;o al&s;o its Officers exceed all o|thers; <HI>I will,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>make thy Officers peace, and thine exactors righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; violence &s;hall no more be heard in thy land, wa&s;ting and de|&s;truction within thy borders; but thou &s;halt call thy walls &s;alvation, and thy gates prai&s;e,</HI> I&s;a. 60. 18, 19. Then <HI>&s;hall mercy and truth meet together, righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e and peace &s;hall ki&s;&s;e each other,</HI> P&s;al. 85. 10. And this is the &s;e|venth con&s;ideration; the eight followeth, which are the &s;ubjects of this great King and Kingdome.</P>
<P>And the Apo&s;tle is &s;o generall and univer&s;all in the&s;e, that he ex|cepts
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none, neither in heaven, nor in earth, not &s;ea, nor under the earth, even none that can be named, but God the Father onely, that &s;ubdued all under his Sons feet, which is the King of this Kingdom; for &s;o &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, 1 <HI>Cor. 15. 27. For he hath put all things under his feete; for when he &s;aith, all things are put under him, it is manife&s;t that he is excep|ted who did put all things under him:</HI> &s;o then it is cleare, that Angels and men, and all other creatures, are the &s;ubjects of this great King|dome; <HI>He hath put all things in &s;ubjection under his feete,</HI> &s;aith the Apo|&s;tle, <HI>Heb.</HI> 2. 8. And this is the Prophets witne&s;&s;e; <HI>I have &s;worne by my &s;elfe, &s;aith the Lord, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and &s;hall not returne,</HI> that <HI>unto me every knee &s;hall how, every tongue &s;hall &s;weare,</HI> I&s;a. 45. 23. And againe, <HI>The nations and kingdomes that will not &s;erve thee &s;hall peri&s;h, yea tho&s;e nations &s;hall be utterly wa&s;ted,</HI> Chap. 60. 12. And of the Angels &s;aith the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Let all the Angels of God wor&s;hip him,</HI> Heb. 1. 6. And the <HI>Apo&s;tle expounds the Oath</HI> of the Lord for this univer&s;all &s;ubjection, and &s;aith, <HI>It is written, as I live &s;aith the Lord, every knee &s;hall how to mee, and every tongue &s;hall confe&s;&s;e to God,</HI> Rom. 14. 11. And againe he &s;aith, <HI>At the name of Je&s;us every knee &s;hall how, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue &s;hall confe&s;&s;e that Je&s;us is Lord and King, to the glory of God the Father,</HI> Phil. 2. 10, 11. And yet the holy Gho&s;t is more particular, to prove that all things in all places are &s;ubject to Chri&s;t, <HI>Rev.</HI> 5. 13. And <HI>every creature,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and &s;uch as are in the &s;ea, and all that are in them,</HI> &s;aith <HI>John, heard I &s;ay|ing, Ble&s;&s;ing, honour, glory and power, be unto him that &s;itteth upon the throne, and unto the Lambe for ever and ever.</HI> And the Prophet <HI>David,</HI> he foretold of this univer&s;all &s;ubjection of all creatures in the kingdome of Chri&s;t in the world to come, &s;aith the Author to the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> and under&s;tood it in the&s;e words, admiring at it, <HI>What is man that thou art &s;o mindfull of him, or the &s;onne of man that thou vi&s;ite&s;t him? thou ha&s;t made him a little lower then Angels;</HI> and the Apo&s;tle gives the rea|&s;on of that, <HI>Thou ha&s;t crown'd him with glory and honour, thou ha&s;t made him to have dominion over the work of thy hands, thou ha&s;t put all things under his feete, all &s;heep and oxen, yea and the bea&s;ts of the feild; the fowles of the aire, and the fi&s;hes of the &s;ea:</HI> which makes the Prophet fall into a wonderment; <HI>Oh God our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!</HI> P&s;al. 8. 4. Heb. 2. 6.</P>
<P>Now I am come to the two la&s;t particulars, the time when this glo|rious kingdome of Chri&s;t &s;hall be &s;et up, and the place where it &s;hall
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be continued for ever: the time was thus fore&s;hewed to the Prophet <HI>David,</HI> that the time of Chri&s;ts Churches per&s;ecution, &s;hould not be till his &s;econd Appearing, in the&s;e words, <HI>When the Lord &s;hall build up Sion, he &s;hall appeare in his glory,</HI> P&s;al. 102. 16. And this time our Lord him&s;elfe plainly teacheth us to be at the end of this world, and not be|fore; which truth the Saints and people of God do fully and certain|ly beleeve, although a thou&s;and fal&s;e Prophets &s;hould ari&s;e and preach the contrary, under what &s;hew or pretence of learning and religion &s;oever they make.</P>
<P>The cleare and plaine Doctrine of our Lord is this, <HI>Mat. 13. 39, 40, 41. The harve&s;t is the end of the world, and the reapers are the Angels, as therefore the tares are gathered and burnt in the fire, &s;o &s;hall it be in the end of this world, the Sonne of man &s;hall &s;end forth his Angels, and they &s;hall gather out of his kingdome,</HI> all &s;candalous things, and all &s;uch as do offend them, or <HI>which doe or worke iniquitie.</HI> And when the que&s;tion <HI>is made</HI> by the <HI>&s;ervants to the hou&s;holder, Whether the tares the envious man &s;owed among the good &s;eede &s;hould be pluckt up?</HI> The <HI>Ma&s;ter</HI> an&s;wers, <HI>Nay, let them both grow together till the harve&s;t;</HI> and al&s;o giveth the rea|&s;on, and &s;heweth farther what &s;hall be done then, and not before, both with the tares &amp; wheat al&s;o, although many unwarily do affirm at this time among&s;t us the contrary, yet thus &s;aith the Lord, (and therefore I would wi&s;h all the contrary minded to take notice of it) that at his glorious coming &s;hall be the Kingdomes deliverance, reigne, and per|fection, and not before; therefore &s;aith her Lord and King, <HI>When the Sonne of man &s;hall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then &s;hall be &s;it upon the throne of his glory, and before him &s;hall be gathered all nations, and he &s;hall &s;eparate them one from another, is a &s;hepheard divideth his &s;heep from the goats, and then he &s;hall &s;et the &s;heep on his right hand, but the goats on the left,</HI> and a&s;&s;igne and put in po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion the one to eter|nall bli&s;&s;e, but the other to a perditious eternall wofull cur&s;ed condi|tion, even binding them into bundles to be burned; but the ble&s;&s;ed to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e the Lords own hou&s;e and habitation for ever, <HI>Mat.</HI> 25. 31, 32. Chap. 13. 30.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e this truth hath exceedingly &s;uffered of late, by the lite|ral learn'd of this generation, who have befoul'd the beauty and purity of it, with their dark &s;mokie &amp; mi&s;ty mi&s;takes, under pretence of plea|ding for the Lamb and his wife; I &s;hall therefore briefly di&s;cover the &s;pirituall learning of the Apo&s;tles and Prophets my&s;terious expre&s;&s;ions of this holy truth: the holy Apo&s;tle <HI>John</HI> in the <HI>Revelations</HI> &s;peaks with
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the &s;ame wi&s;dome, aid and guidance of the Spirit, as the Angel taught <HI>Daniel</HI> in the &s;ame my&s;teries, and their very expre&s;&s;ions in many things are alike, but more opened and revealed by the Apo&s;tle, then by the Prophet; they both agree in the computation of the time, though one writ long before the other, and each differing in the rule of reckoning, as the manners of the countries in which they lived; the one living a|mong the <HI>Chaldeans,</HI> the other among the <HI>Hebrews;</HI> the one computing their times and yeeres according to the cour&s;e of the Sun, the other by the cour&s;e of the Moon: the <HI>Hebrews,</HI> their reckoning is certain thirty dayes to a moneth, and twelve moneths to a yeer; the <HI>Chaldeans</HI> they reckon and compute according to the cour&s;e and rule of the Moon, which cau&s;es this &s;eeming difference: for <HI>Johns</HI> whole time for <HI>Anti|chri&s;ts</HI> raign is <HI>twelve hundred and &s;ixty yeers,</HI> in which the two witne&s;&s;es <HI>&s;hall prophe&s;ie in &s;ackcloth,</HI> which as it notes out unto us their &s;pirituall low and humble condition, &s;o al&s;o their per&s;ecuted and &s;uffering e&s;tate and condition, <HI>Rev:</HI> 11. 3. Now <HI>Daniel</HI> makes the &s;ame very time of the <HI>abomination of de&s;olation,</HI> to be <HI>twelve hundred and ninety yeers,</HI> Dan. 12. 11. reckoning both of them dayes for yeers, according as the Prophets did reckon and accompt, as I have proved before: now I &s;hall make it appear unto you, that the&s;e two holy men of God, that were moved and led by the &s;ame Spirit, both &s;pake one and the &s;ame thing, both for the power and my&s;tery of <HI>Iniquity,</HI> and for the full and compleat time of one and the &s;elf-&s;ame number of yeers, for the continuance of it. And I prove it thus: as thirteen moons are thirteen moneths, and the&s;e thirteen moneths make but one yeere of twelve moneths, reckon|ing thirty dayes to a moneth, and twelve moneths to a yeere, by the &s;ame rule, <HI>one thou&s;and two hundred and ninety yeers</HI> by the <HI>Chaldee</HI> recko|ning, amount but to <HI>one thou&s;and two hundred and three&s;core yeers,</HI> accor|ding to the reckoning of the <HI>Hebrews.</HI> And as they agree in this &s;eeming difference, &s;o they do mo&s;t &s;weetly con&s;ent and agree in the point in hand, concerning the time of the beginning of the glorious kingdome of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, one and the &s;ame Angel teacheth them one and the &s;ame truth; and although there were neer 500. yeers di&s;tance between the times of their prophe&s;ying, yet the Angels maje&s;ty both of doctrine and ge&s;ture is one and the &s;ame to both, all which &s;hewes this doctrine of the time of the Lords coming to re&s;tore all things, to exalt his Church and Saints, to be a mo&s;t admirable and &s;ingular &s;ecret and my&s;tery, for the continuall comfort and &s;upportation of all his &s;uffe|ring members in all their afflictions; and this made the Apo&s;tle, &s;pea|king
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to the Saints of <HI>The&s;&s;alonica,</HI> of the day of the Lords coming, his de&s;cending from heaven at the la&s;t trump, and the re&s;urrection of &s;uch as are dead in Chri&s;t; wherefore &s;aith he, <HI>comfort one another with the&s;e words,</HI> 1 The&s;. 4. 18. Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he, &s;aith S^t. <HI>John,</HI> that hath part in the fir&s;t re&s;urrection, for hee alone is the man that lookes for his coming, and hath comfort in his appearing; the very &s;ame &s;aith <HI>Daniel, Ble&s;&s;ed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335. dayes, but go thou thy way till the end be, for thou &s;halt re&s;t and &s;tand in the Lot at the end of the dayes,</HI> Dan. 12. 12, 13. which number exceeds the former, which com|prehended the whole time of <HI>Antichri&s;ts</HI> raign and per&s;ecution, 45. yeers, thereby di&s;covering a deep my&s;tery of high under&s;tanding, which none but the wi&s;e can po&s;&s;ibly apprehend, as the Prophet declareth, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 10. which additionall number notes out unto us, that little &s;ea|&s;on that &s;hall be between the totall de&s;truction of <HI>Antichri&s;t</HI> and the finall con&s;ummation of this world, which our Lord him&s;elf &s;ignifieth by the word <HI>immediately,</HI> thereby to &s;et forth all the time between the dayes of tribulation, and his own glorious appearing; and S^t. <HI>John</HI> u&s;es the word <HI>quickely,</HI> to &s;et forth all the time likewi&s;e between the wofull raign of <HI>Antichri&s;t,</HI> and the wofull ruine of all ungodly men in the&s;e words, <HI>Rev.</HI> 11. The &s;econd wo is pa&s;t, and behold the third wo cometh <HI>quickely;</HI> and as it is &s;hewed to <HI>John,</HI> that after the thou|&s;and yeers &s;hould be fini&s;hed, expired, and fulfilled, which is the whole time of <HI>Poperies</HI> cruelty and my&s;terie of <HI>Iniquity;</HI> and the Dragon, the Devils liberty, which is expre&s;t for the time to be a little &s;ea&s;on, in which Satan &s;hall move and &s;tir up the nations of the four quarters of the earth, even <HI>Gog</HI> and <HI>Magog,</HI> tho&s;e great and innumerable multi|tudes to de&s;olate the Saints, the Church, even the beloved city of God, as before I have touched, till the very in&s;tant of time of the Sonne of mans coming in his white and glorious throne to judgement, before who&s;e face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them, <HI>Rev.</HI> 20. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. and likewi&s;e the 45. addi|tionall yeers of <HI>Daniels Chaldee</HI> reckoning, to be the whole time in which God will accompli&s;h the &s;cattering of the powers of his holy people, and between the ending of the time, times and half a time, and the generall re&s;urrection to have all the&s;e things fulfilled; and this is cleerly, though briefly intimated, wherefore I demand of all you learned <HI>Monarchi&s;ts, Judai&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Millenari&s;ts,</HI> where in Gods Word you will find any time for the glory of the Churches pro&s;perity in this
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world? Well, let a word be enough to the wi&s;e, and therefore never preach nor print &s;uch doctrines hereafter.</P>
<P>The la&s;t thing is the place, where the Scriptures &s;peak that Chri&s;t and his kingdome &s;hall be in for evermore, and that is the earth, &s;aith the truth, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the meek, for they &s;hall inherite the earth,</HI> Mat. 5. 5. <HI>The kingdomes of this world are become the kingdomes of our Lord and his Chri&s;t, and he &s;hall raign for ever and ever,</HI> Rev. 11. 15. even then, when <HI>the Lord him&s;elf &s;hall de&s;cend f<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">rom heaven with a &s;hout, with the voyce of the Archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead in Chri&s;t &s;hall ri&s;e fir&s;t,</HI> and the Saints living changed, before the kingdome be e&s;tabli&s;hed, 2 <HI>The&s;.</HI> 4. 16. which S^t. <HI>John</HI> makes to be the voyce of the &s;eventh and la&s;t Angel, <HI>Rev.</HI> 10. 7. &s;aying, <HI>When he &s;hall begin to &s;ound, the my&s;tery of God &s;hall be fini&s;hed;</HI> and that the earth at that time &s;hall be made the place of Chri&s;t and his Churches habitation eternally glorified; ob|&s;erve the cleare and unanimous con&s;ent of all Scriptures; this is the new &s;ong of the 24. Elders, <HI>Rev.</HI> 5. 9, 10. which &s;ung to the prai&s;e of the Lamb of God, <HI>Thou wa&s;t &s;lain, and ha&s;t redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every tongue, and people, and nation, and ha&s;t made us unto our God Kings and Prie&s;ts, and wee &s;hall raign on the earth:</HI> And <HI>David</HI> makes it the &s;ong of his delight, in the often repetition of it, <HI>P&s;al. 37. 9. Evill doers,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>&s;hall be cut off, but tho&s;e that wait upon the Lord &s;hall in|herit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked &s;hall not be. But the meek &s;hall inherite the earth,</HI> v. 10. 11. And again, <HI>Such as are ble&s;&s;ed of God &s;hall inherite the earth, and they that be cur&s;ed of him &s;hall be cut off,</HI> v. 22. <HI>yea, the earth hath the Lord given to the children of men,</HI> P&s;al. 115. 16. And again, <HI>The &s;pirituall &s;ons of him that feareth the Lord &s;hall inheritthe earth,</HI> P&s;al. 25. 13. <HI>Wherefore great is the Lord, and greatly to be prai&s;ed in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holine&s;s, beautifull for &s;itu|ation, the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion,</HI> P&s;al. 48. 1, 2. then &s;hall it be that the earth &s;hall be filled with the knowledge of God, <HI>as the waters cover the Sea, I&s;a.</HI> 11. 9. which cannot be under&s;tood here in this world, but of the world to come, not in this old cor|ruptible heaven and earth, but when the whole creation, even every creature, <HI>&s;hall be delivered from the bondage of corruption,</HI> Rom. 8. 19, 20, 21, 22. <HI>in that time, when none &s;hall hurt nor de&s;troy in all my holy mountain, &s;aith the Lord,</HI> even then, when the&s;e heavens and earth that now are corruptible, &s;hall be di&s;&s;olved, and new heavens and new earth created, in which dwelleth righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, then, even in
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the day of the Lords coming, 2 <HI>Pet. 3. 11, 12, 13. I&s;a.</HI> 65. 17. and as the glorious Church of Chri&s;t &s;hall remain for ever, &s;o &s;hall the re|&s;titution of all things al&s;o, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 66. 22. Finally, <HI>John</HI> was &s;hewed the new heavens, and the new earth, and the renovation of all things, <HI>Rev.</HI> 21. 1. when hee &s;aw new <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> the Church of God, even the Lambs wife, come down from heaven to the earth; &s;o that the Tabernacle of God was with men, with whom hee will dwell for ever. And this is the heavenly Countrey, Church and City with foundations, which <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac, Jacob,</HI> and all the faithfull people of God, have ever expected and looked after, that better re&s;urrecti|on, which as yet they po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e not; for all the&s;e died in the faith, and received not the promi&s;e, meaning the hope that was &s;et before them, God providing &s;ome better things for us, that they without us might not be perfect, <HI>Heb.</HI> 11. 13, 14. yet &s;eeing the perfection a|far off, and imbraced it through faith, and confe&s;&s;ed they were &s;trangers and pilgrims on the earth; for they that &s;ay &s;uch things, declare plainly, that they &s;eek a Countrey, a heavenly <HI>Canaan,</HI> and Paradi&s;e of re&s;t: And as Gods children have cho&s;en God and his promi&s;es for their portion and inheritance, &s;o the Lord him|&s;elfe hath cho&s;en <HI>Sion for his habitation; This is my re&s;t for ever,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>here will I dwell, for I have de&s;ired it,</HI> P&s;al. 132. 13, 14.</P>
<P><HI>Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; ju&s;t and true are thy wayes, thou King of Saints,</HI> Rev. 15. 3.</P>
<P><HI>The Lord loveth the gates of Sion; Glorious things are &s;poken of thee, O thou City of God,</HI> P&s;al. 87. 3.</P>
<P><HI>The Lord him&s;elfe &s;hall ari&s;e, and have mercy upon Sion; for the time to favour her, yea, the &s;et time is come,</HI> P&s;al. 102. 13.</P>
</SP>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<HEAD>Errata.</HEAD>
<P><HI>PAge 6. line</HI> 17. for &s;ame blood, <HI>read</HI> Sons blood. <HI>p. 9. l.</HI> 7. for a yeere, <HI>r.</HI> and a yeere, <HI>p. 12. l.</HI> 25. for <HI>N. H.</HI> 1. <HI>H. N. p. 49. l.</HI> 22. for elect. <HI>r.</HI> the elect.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
