1. WHOM God did foreknow would by his Grace and free Gift in Christ, sincerely believe, them he did predesti­nate and fore-ordain to Life Eternal: and whom he did fore-know would through themselves be ungodly, and so continue, them he did predestinate and fore-ordain to Damnation Eternal. The Divine Fore-knowledg and Purpose, according to which God doth pre­destinate Men to Life Eternal, is from everlasting: but the Divine Predesti­nation, according to that Fore-knowledg and Purpose, is not from ever­lasting, but in the instant when God creates and forms us in our Mothers Womb. Which Predestination lies hid, as a secret, in God's Bosom, until it shew it self in Heavenly Calling and Election. And then doth God elect Men to Salvation, when he gives them Faith in Christ, and thereby pardons their Sin, and seals them with his holy Spirit, and renders them truly god­ly, elect, and precious in his sight, and severs them from among the ungodly World, as to Life Eternal. 1 Pet. 1.2, 20. Rom. 8.29, 30. Acts 13.48. Jude 4. Prov. 16.4. Gal. 1.15, 16. Jer. 1.5. 2 Pet. 1.10. Eph. 1.11.

2. Indeed we are said to be chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the World, Ephes. 1.4. But that is, because Election in Christ, is from Eternity future, and things future are as present to God, who calleth those things which be not, as tho they were; Rom. 4.17. What is future, is as real and certain as what is present, yet as future, it is not in present being, but to come, and most surely will be. Therefore Election in Christ, is no otherwise from Eternity, than Faith is: For to be chosen in Christ, is to be in Christ; to be in Christ is to be a Christian: A Christian without Faith in Christ, is simply impossible. Therefore no Faith in Christ, no Heavenly Election. But God gives Faith to Abel and not to Cain, and thereby doth difference Abel from Cain, 1 Cor. 4.7. Ephes. 2.8, 9. Mat. 13.11. And Abel through the same Faith doth renounce and repent of all his Sins, and chuse the way of Truth, and sincerely covenant his Soul to God, and so under God, and by his Grace in Christ through Faith, Abel is from first to last laudably and rewardably active and instrumental in his own Regeneration and Perseverance, doth save himself, and doth difference himself from Cain, Gal. 6.4. Acts 2.40. 1 Tim. 4.16. Deut. 30.19. Psal. 119.30. Luke 10.42. Heb. 11.4.

3. God worketh Regeneration ever by his Word, because his Word is Truth, and there cannot be Heavenly Regeneration without Heavenly Truth, as the immortal Seed thereof: John 17.17. 1 Pet. 1.23. In the same instant, as to time, God doth of naturally unwilling, unholy, and dead in Sin, make us supernaturally willing, holy, and alive unto Righteousness, by Omnipotent Grace in us unsearchably, neither contrary to the Intrinsick Nature of the Human Will, nor dependent on it, but above it, and so the Will is not destroyed, but fanctified and saved. This Omnipotent Grace in us is a Divine Effect produced by God after the Counsel of [...]s own Will, which is the same for ever, and can have no new Act; Eph. 1.11. James 1.17. There is in all the godly Divine Omnipotency, like as there is Divine Nature, and the Life of God; 2 Pet. 1.4. Eph. 4.18. I [...] do all things through Christ which strength [...]neth me, Phil. 4.13. Omni­potency as it is in God, is the Divine Effence simply independent, and ad­mitteth of no degrees: Omnipotency as it is in us, is the Image of God a divine Effect, simply dependent, and admitteth of degrees, but so, that he who hath the least degree, cannot but be a sincere Convert, and truly godly, and yet he is freely and willingly so. Regeneration is entirely Gods Gift, and entirely our Duty, and so we do the whole through God's Grace in Christ: for God cannot do our Duty, or any part of it: and we without his Heavenly Grace in Christ can do nothing heavenly and supernatural, [...] is Regeneration: Joh. 15.5.

4. God's free Grace in Jesus Christ is the Fountain-cause of Predestina­tion and Election to Life eternal: but God predestinates no Person to [...] and he reprobates no Person eternally save for his own Ungodliness in [...] instant truly repented of, and breeding the never-dying Worm. To be un­godly, is to be reprobate to every good Work; Tit. 1.16. 2 Cor. 13.5 [...] Jer. 6.30. As then God doth by his Grace of ungodly make many godly [...] so he doth by the same Grace of reprobate make many elect, and all the Elect in Christ he keeps from final Apostacy. Christ considered as Man, is himself elect, Isa. 42.1. Christ considered as God the Son incarnate, equ [...] in respect of his Godhead with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, Phil. 2. [...] is the Author of Election.

5. In God there is necessarily Self-kowledg, and Self-knowledg is bo [...] Act and Object. Therefore no Man is the Object of God's Eternal Presci­ [...]nce and Decree. But God from Eternity doth know, love, and delight in himself as purposed in time to make Adam holy, to permit his Fall, to give him Repentance and Pardon through Faith, to give him Children [...] first Cain, and then Abel; to permit their being born equally in Originally Sin, and to give Repentance and Salvation to Abel, and not to Cain. [...] [Page 3]supposed, all these things are from Eternity future; and Abel through God's Grace will most surely be penitent and saved; and Cain through himself will most surely be sinful, impenitent, and damned: and yet they are no Object at all of God's Eternal Prescience and Decree. God cannot go out of himself for an Object to terminate his Knowledg and Will upon, because he is simply Independent, and the same for ever. His Omnipotent Word or Saying, Let this and that be, is the producing of it, without all new Act, Transition, Motion, and Change in God; Gen. 1.3, 9, 11. Psal. 148.5.

1. ADam being created in perfect Integrity might well love God, though not sure of his Perseverance. But unto fallen Man, in whose Consci­ence reigns Guilt eternal, the holy and Sin-avenging God is not at all lovely in that condition. Fear and flee from him as his Judg he may, love and draw nigh to him as his gracious God and reconciled Father in Christ, he cannot, till by Sin-pandoning Grace in Christ through Faith, his Consci­ence be set free from Guilt eternal, and in the room thereof be planted godly hope of Life eternal. Every degree of this Hope must needs have with it intrinsecally a degree of godly Certainty, and infallible Assurance of Perseverance and Salvation, because it is Hope in God, who is Truth it self, and cannot lie. Therefore it is called assurance of Hope, an Anchor of the Soul, both sure and stedfast; better Hope, by the which we draw nigh to God: Heb. 6.11, 19. and 7.19. In respect of this better Hope it is that Christ is said to be the Mediator of a better Covenant; Heb. 8.6.

2. As to Life Temporal, and all things worldly and transitory, uncer­tainty may suffice, because true Happiness doth not consist therein, and no Man can be sure of living another hour. But as to Life Eternal, as good never a whit as never the better, nothing short of divine and heavenly Hope thereof can suffice to fallen Man. Now if the perseverance of all, in whom is divine and heavenly Hope in Christ, be not infallibly future, and a thing that will most surely be, in God's good time, and through his Grace in Christ, then there is no difference between heavenly and worldly Hope, Hope in God and Hope in Man, Faith in Christ and Infidelity. Adam in Innocency could have no divine Hope of his Perseverance, but only perfect Assurance that God would not forsake him, if he did not first forsake God. There can be no divine Hope of that which is not infallibly future, and God foresees will never be. But where is divine Hope, that is, divine evidence [Page 4]that the thing hoped for is infallibly future. Now in all regenerate Souls there is planted by God divine Hope of their Perseverance and Salvation; therefore it will most surely be; otherwise God is made the Author of false and deceivable Hope.

3. God keeps his Saints in this World from final Apostacy by the holy fear of it, this is at once a sure pledg and principal engine of Perseverance: Jer. 32.40. Ezek. 36.27. Rom. 11.20. As it is holy Fear, so it differs in kind from the fear of Devils and Men ungodly, in whom is fear, but no holy Fear. As it is fear of Apostacy, so it differs in kind from the State of blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven, in whom is perfect Fear, as Fear is the same with reverence and transcendent esteem of God, but no fear of Apo­stacy, no possibility of Sin.

4. David in the instant of his Murder and Adultery was ungodly, and in a state of Damuation. The reason is, because God's Judgment over all, is by Conscience as his Agent, in the Breast of Angels and Men universally, and for ever. And God's Judgment must be so plain, that every Mouth may be stopped, and all may clearly perceive the Righteousness of God. But if Per­sons may be in the same instant both Murderers and Adulterers, and yet Godly and in a state of Salvation, then cannot every Mouth be stopped, nor can the Conscience of Angels and Men universally acquit God. There is in the Soul of David invisibly, some spiritual Lust against the Flesh, such for kind as is in no unregenerate Man; 1 Joh. 3.9. Gal. 5.17. Consi­dered as spiritual, so it is invisibly active for God, and not idle in the Soul: Considered as Lust, so it is not active, but lusteth to act, and for the present cannot act, by reason of an excess of contrary Lust, which doth overwhelm it, and extinguish all godly Act. God's gracious purpose in Christ from everlasting concerning David cannot fail, and therefore in time he gives him Repentance and Pardon of those enormous Crimes, and so makes advantage thereof to his own Glory, the disgrace of Sin, the esteem of Holiness, the comfort of the Penitent, and the silencing of the Impenitent. Thus where Sin abounded, God's Grace much more abound­ed, and from everlasting to everlasting God's Mercy is on David, and all other regenerate Souls; Rom. 5.20. Psal. 103.17.

5. Infallible Certainty as it is in God is the Divine Effence, and admits of no degrees: as it is in us it is the Image of God, a divine effect, and admitteth of degrees; but so, that every degree thereof is truly infallible; and Certainty not infallible, is a Contradiction, as being the same with un­certain certainty. So much holy Faith in Christ, so much holy Self-know­ledg, Self-perception, Self-feeling, and Self-intuition: here the same thing is both Act and Object. As by living we know we live, and by seeing [Page 5]we know we see, so we believe and know we believe; Joh. 6.69. Faith and Assurance, as also Faith and Confidence are distinct, yet not asunder: they differ as Cause and Effect: Now Cause and Effect are mutually related; things related are simul naturâ intrinsecally together, and do mutually prove and infer each other; the effect is eminently in the Cause, and the Cause as such is the measure of the Effect; Isa. 32.17. Eph. 3.12. Heb. 10.22. Rege­neration is the Seal of the Spirit, by which he doth prove, evidence, and de­monstrate to the Heart and Conscience of the Man regenerate through Faith, that he is God's Child by Adoption, elect in Christ, and an Heir of Heaven. This is divine Evidence, and therefore he is bound to believe it with divine belief. The Holy Ghost, and renewed Conscience through Faith, do undivi­dedly witness the same thing, yet not in the same respects: the Holy Ghost doth witness the whole as principal and supream, and renewed Conscience doth witness the whole as by his Grace instrumental and subordinate: Rom. 8.16, 17. & 9.1. 2 Cor. 1.12, 22. Eph. 1.13, 14. Doubting of Sal­vation may be in a godly Man in such sort as Unbelief may, but no other­wise. The least degree of holy Faith doth sincerely, yet not perfectly mortify, expel, and war against Unbelief and carnal Doubting and Uncer­tainty.

1. THE Mediatorship of Christ began immediately after Adam's Fall: For then God the Son as purposed in time to be Man, and as Man to die for Sin, gave Repentance and Pardon to Adam through Faith, and so founded the New Covenant, of which himself is the Mediator, principally as he is God the Son, subserviently as he is Man, according to his own eter­nal purpose. The godly before his Incarnation were saved by Faith in Je­sus Christ, as purposed to be Incarnate, and the Godly since are saved by Faith in the same Jesus Christ, as already Incarnate, according to that Purpose. Thus Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, and to Day, and for ever, without Parts and Composition, Heb. 13.8. For if he consist of Parts, then he is not simply impartial, and then he cannot judg the World in Righteousness, he must needs approve Murder in David, and condemn it in Cain: Which is Blasphemy. If he be at all compounded, then he is not simply Christ: For simple and compounded are Contraries, as Light and Darkness, Sincerity and Deceit. 2 Cor. 1.12. and 11.3. If he be not simply Christ, he is a Deceiver.

2. Christ considered as Man, died for all Men, as Men fallen in Adam equally and alike, and shed as much Blood, and as fincerely and effectually, for Cain and Judas, as for Abel and Peter, and did all that lay in him as Man, to save all Mankind without exception, and continueth so to do. For he could not be a perfectly holy Man, without bearing equal and impartial love to all Men, as Men fallen in Adam, and to all godly Men as Godly. As Man he makes no difference between one Man and another, farther then they by Holiness or Sin shall difference themselves. Christ considered as God, could not die, but he who is God manifest in the Flesh, God the Son incar­nate died in respect of his Body, and purchased the Church with his own Blood, and obtained Faith, Repentance, Pardon of Sin, Perseverance, and eternal Salvation for Abel, David, and the rest of the Elect in all Ages: And temporal Grace, Mercy, Priviledg, and Salvation for Cain, Judas, and the rest of that sort; not with design that they should abuse his Grace, that so he might have colour against them, and damn them: But as unsearchably foreseeing, that he not preventing them with his heavenly Grace, they would through themselves be graceless, impenitent and perish: And he whose Thoughts and Ways be far above ours, purposed not to prevent them. Thus he is the Saviour of all Men, specially of them that believe, 1 Tim. 4.10.

3. Christ considered as God hath no Office, but is above Office, yet not contrary to it. Christ considered as Man hath indeed an Office, and but one. From his Conception to his Birth, thence to his Death, Burial and Resurre­ction, thence to his Ascension and Sitting at God's right Hand in Glory, thence to his coming to judg the World, all this is but one entire office of Christ as Man, admitting of just Conception but no Division. His Office as Man is to be subservient to himself as God in the work of Redemption, this one comprizeth all.

4. Christ as Man, obedient unto Death, is our Pattern and Example, a real Martyr, and the Prince of Martyrs, he discharged his own Debt and Duty, and not ours, and evangelically merited for himself, not for us, all that Glory and Reward which as Man he hath for ever at God's right Hand. Christ considered as God incarnate, is not our Pattern, nor a Martyr, but infinitely above us, he is our Lord and our God, our Saviour and Redeemer, our Ransom and Atonement for Sin through Faith, our All in all, he merited nothing for himself but all for us. Without shedding of Blood is no Remis­sion: And therefore Christ as Man died for Sins, yet not his own but ours, not as deserving his Death but as deserving our Death; and he as Man, in o­bedience to God; and out of love to us, died for us, one Man for all Men, as fallen in Adam, and so became a Propitiation, and Counterprize for the Sin of the whole World, yet not without Faith: For he that believeth not [Page 7]makes God a Lyar, is condemned already, and God's Wrath abideth on him, 1 Joh. 5.10. Joh. 3.18, 36. The obedience of Christ was not two, active and passive, but simply one as Christ is one. As to Eternity the op­position is not between active and passive, but between active and idle, pas­sive and being at ease. Christ as Man, nailed to the Cross, and pierced with a Spear, was invisibly active for God and our eternal Good, and not idle: And yet in the fame instant he was visibly passive, in great pain, and not at ease. His Death was indeed the most eminent proof of his obedience to God, and love to us: But still it was obedience, and therefore pleasing to God and truly meritorious because it was so: For no suffering of Man as distinct from obedience can please God, and profit the Soul, and merit heavenly Reward:

5. Had God not saved fallen Man at all, he had done him no wrong, but then he had been conscious to himself of going contrary to his own eternal Purpose. For from Eternity God the Son was purposed to permit the Fall of Man, to be incamate, and as Man to dye for Sin, and so to enter into Glory, and thus to save fallen Man by Christ through Faith, and not other­wise. This supposed, God could not but save fallen Man this only way, and yet he thus saved him most freely and willingly, and not as constrained and under Law to a Superior. And the true reason why the Incarnation doth not change and compound God, is, because it is the exact fulfilling of his own eternal Purpose: Which Purpose if he had not in time fulfilled, then indeed he had been changed and compounded of Yea and Nay, and had not been himself, Yea, and Amen, the same for ever, 2 Cor. 1.17, 18, 19, 20. Eph. 3.9, 10, 11. The work of Christ, as Mediator, is to reconcile Sinners to God. When this is fully done, and all Sin is for ever abolished; and God and Men are no longer two divided by Sin, but one in perfect Love, then shall the Mediatorship of Christ cease and have an end, as being fully accomplished. As when the Wound is perfectly healed there is no further need of Plaisters. The change is not in Christ, but in us, 1 Cor. 15.24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

1. WE cannot rightly conceive of God without diversity and distin­ction, and we may admit of no diversity and distinction repug­nant to infinite Unity and Perfection. Unity and Diversity are well consi­stent, but not Unity and Division, 1 Cor. 12.4, 5, 6. God is for ever good to those in Heaven, yet just, but not severe: And he is for ever severe [Page 8]to those in Hell, yet just, but not good: For the opposition is not between Goodness and Justice, nor between Severity and Justice, but between Good­ness and Severity, Rom. 11.22. Therefore the divine Goodness, as such, is not the divine Severity: Nor the divine Severity, as such, the divine Good­ness. They are most really and not chymerically, truly and not feignedly, eternally and not temporally, divers and distinct; and thus all in God is not God. But then what is Goodness to those in Heaven through God's abun­dant Grace in Christ, the same is Severity to those in Hell through their own Sin: And what is Severity to those in Hell through their own Sin, the same is Goodness to those in Heaven through God's abundant Grace in Christ; and thus all in God is God without accident, parts, and compositi­on, and he is truly all in all: Not as excluding the Creature and subordinate Causes, but the Creature and subordinate Causes, as such, consist by, and depend on God, and yet they add nothing to him, they do not make him more wise, holy, just, good, powerful, perfect, blessed. Of Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. He is simply perfect, and unto what is simply perfect there can be no addition. God cannot be beholden to us.

2. God is a pure Act, eternally active, and in no instant idle, and God being one, the divine Act must needs be one. Creation, Sustentation, Gu­bernation of Angels and Men, Incarnation, Redemption, Regeneration, Justification, and the like, these are neither immanent nor translent Acts of God, but Effects produced by God after the Counsel of his own Will, which is the same for ever, and can have no new Act. The things produced by God are numberless, in them is Order, Succession, Priority and Posteriority, dependence of one thing upon another. But in God by whom they are un­searchably produced there is no Number, no Order, no successive Moments and Instants, nothing before and after, no dependence at all; but unsearch­able Unity, Diversity, Eternity, Independency, Truth, Simplicity, Good­ness, Perfection, and Excellency, above Number, Order, Time, and all that we can conceive, yet not repugnant thereto. Angels and Men are de­pendent Beings, and not having Blessedness in themselves, they go out of themselves by heavenly Self-denial, and seek it in God, in whose good Will and Pleasure they rest and terminate, as their beginning and end, their all in all, and so they are happy. But God being simply independent, true, and Truth it self, cannot deny and go out of himself for any thing that he hath a mind to effect. It is but his Omnipotent Word, let this or that be, and it is when and how he would have it, without all new Act, Motion Change, and Transition in God, unsearchably.

3. God is, and was, and is to come, Rev. 1.4, 8. He is truly past, truly present, and truly to come, and yet the same God, but not in the same [Page 9]respects. God as past, is neither present nor to come: God as present, is nei­ther past nor to come: God as to come, is neither past nor present. God is essentially and yet freely related to all, both Angels and Men, as their Crea­tor, Upholder, and Governour for ever: this Relation was from Eternity future, and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. Between God and damned Men, as Men, there is eternal Relation, as between Cause and Effect: Between God and damned Men, as damned, there is no Rela­tion at all, but perfect and eternal Contrariety, he is for ever blessed, they are for ever cursed, they do implacably hate him, and he doth implacably hate them. But he doth not hate them as they are Men: For as Men, they are eternally against their will, the Work and Image of God, who can in no instant hate his own Work and Image, as such: Against their will God doth lord and rule over them, by Conscience, his Agent in their Bosom, and in them the Glory of his just Vengeance and Severity for Sin doth eternally shine forth, and against their will they fulfil the divine Law by bearing its ut­most Penalty.

4. God, as our Creator, is the way to himself as our Redeemer, our Sanc­tifier, our Blessedness and End, our All in all. For unless we were by Cre­ation Men, we could not be redeemed, holy, and blessed Men. Yet is God no way the Author of Sin. We must not deny things plain, because we cannot find out to Perfection things unsearchable; and too wonderful for us, Joh. 6.44. Rom. 11.33. Christ, as Mediator, is the way to himself as God, our Maker and our End, our All in all. For we being by Sin alienated from God, and Enemies in our Minds by wicked Works, unless Christ as Mediator, Advocate, and Intercessor shall by his Grace reconcile us to him­self as God, we shall die in our Sins and perish for ever. Rev. 22.13. Col. 3.11. 2 Cor. 5.19. The Holy Ghost, as Sanctifier, is the way to himself as God, our Maker and our End, our All in all. For we being by Nature dead in Sin, and full of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness, unless the Holy Ghost, as Sanctifier, shall quicken our Souls with Spiritual Life, and by hea­venly Regeneration make us like to himself as God in Righteousness and true Holiness, we can never enter into his Kingdom. Joh. 3.3, 5.

5. The true God is God the Father not Incarnate, God the Son Incarnate, God the Holy Ghost not Incarnate, one God, blessed for ever, the Reward and Rewarder of all Elect Angels and Men for ever, their Blessedness and the Author of their Blessedness, their All in all: And under God the exalted Manhood of Christ is Sole Supream over all both Angels and Men, the First­born of every Creature, Col. 1.15. God, as God, is simply invisible: But God, as manifest in the Flesh, and the Fountain-cause of all Good to Elect Angels and Men for ever, is perfectly seen of all in Heaven Face to face, and truly by Faith, yet not perfectly of all the Saints on Earth. God cannot be [Page 10]seen and known save by his own Light, and gracious Manifestation of Him­self. Now God's first Discovery of Himself is in and by Creation acco [...] to his own Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus. Antecedently to this he is not knowable by Angels, by Men, by Christ Himself as Man. Eph. 3.9, 10, 11. Joh. 1.18. 1 Cor. 13.12. 1 Tim. 3.16. 1 Tim. 6.16.

1. GOD created Adam in his own Image, truly holy, and like unto himself, in heavenly Rectitude: This heavenly Rectitude he lost by his Fall, and it was renewed in him, in part, by heavenly Regeneration after his Fail, but not perfectly while on Earth. The state of Adam in In­nocency was Supernatural and not Natural: For God created all Things and consequently Adam by Jesus Christ, according to the eternal Purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, Eph. 3.9, 10, 11. This is clea [...] matter of Faith, and wholly Supernatural: For of God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, the light of Nature saith nothing at all. God only is holy by Nature, that is, essentially holy, like as he only is by Nature God, Gal. 4.8. Adam was holy not by Nature, but by Grace and heavenly dependence o [...] God. Which-Grace continued with him, 'till he dissiking the Condition in which God made him, and affecting to be independent Lord of his own Will, chose rather to be ruled by himself, than by the holy, just, and good Will of God. And so God did not necessitate his Fall, nor deny him Grace to stand, nor take his Grace from him: But Adam by wilful eating of the forbidden Fruit, did expel and put God's Grace from him, and became the Author of his own Ruine.

2. Adam needed heavenly Grace to keep him from inward lusting after the forbidden Fruit, but not from outward eating of it. Bare Lust as in it self is not Sin; but all Lust in Man against the Spirit, and after what the holy, just, and good God hath forbidden, is very Sin before God, tho not before Men, Rom. 7.7. In such inordinate Lust the Soul is Principal, and the Body is Instrumental. The Body by it self cannot lust at all, the Soul as to its natural substance is the Image of God, and in that respect it must needs be innocent. But if the Soul be destitute of inward heavenly Grace, it is then full of ungodly and worldly Lusts invisibly, in respect whereof it is enmity against God, and the Image of the Devil. Joh. 8.44. Jude 18. Tit. 2.11, 12. Rom. 8.7.

3. The divine Law is holy, just, and good, Rom. 7.12. The sum of it is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and thy Neigh­bour [Page 11]as thy Self: or, A Conscience void of Offance both tomard God and to­ward Man. The divine Law considered outwardly, as of old, written in Tables of Stone, and now in the Bible, is man fold: But considered inward­ly, as written in the Heart, so it is only one as God is one; because it consi­steth by Conscience in each ones Bosom, and Conscience in each Man can be but one. Take away Conscience, and Man is not Man but a Brute. The nature of Conscience is to be under God and over Man; as such it is a Law to it self, Rom. 2.14, 15. and the great Engine by which God doth govern the whole intellectual World. Adam, while innocent, was not under the Law and Covenant of Works. For the Law of Works, as distinct from the Law of Faith, doth not exclude sinful Boasting, Rom. 3.27. But there could be no sinful boasting in Adam while innocent. The Covenant of Works gendreth to Bondage, Gal. 4.24. But Bondage was not known in the World 'till Sin brought it in. Adam in Innocency was not a Slave, but a Son, even the Son of God, Luke 3.38. And his Obedience was not ser­vile and from meer Fear, but it was Filial, and with perfect love to God, as his most good and bountiful Maker, altogether lovely to such as love and be like unto him in heavenly Innocency, and never forsaking them 'till first they forsake him. The Law of Works considered as subservient to Life eternal, is not the Law of Works, but the Law of Faith in the Hearts of godly Men in Christ Jesus. The Law of Works considered as repugnant to Life eremal, is not the Law of God; but the Law of Sin and Death in the Hearts of un­godly Men, Rom. 3.27. Heb. 8.10. Rom. 8.2.

4. Adam began to be the Figure of Christ, Rom. 5.14. the Head of Mankind, and a publick Person, not 'till after his Sin, Repentance, and Pardon, when God gave him Children, and thereby made him the first Parent, and so a Head and Root to all his lineal Off-spring in a natural way, to his own Children immediately, to the rest of the World remotely. For look as the first Adam doth by natural Generation communicate human Na­ture to all his lineal Off-spring, and begetteth Sons and Daughters in his own Likeness, after his Image, whereby they differ in kind from Brutes: So the second Adam, Christ Jesus, doth by supernatural Regeneration com­municate divine and heavenly Nature to all his spiritual Off-spring, and be­getteth Sons and Daughters like unto God in Righteousness and true Holi­ness, whereby they differ in kind from the ungodly World. The whole Off-spring of Adam doth justly suffer temporal Punishment for his first Sin: For in Adam all die, 1 Cor. 15.22. Rom. 5.12. Temporal Punishment is well consistent with eternal Joy. But Punishment eternal no one can pos­sibly suffer save for his own Sin never truly repented of.

5. God considered as Law-giver doth neither will Sin, nor permit it, but doth simply nill, hate, and forbid it, and doth all that in him lies to prevent [Page 12]it, and the eternal ruine of all both Angels and Men. God considered as above Law, yet not contrary to it, doth innocently uphold Angels and Men in natural Being while they do of their own accord sin against him: And so he doth after a wonderful and unsearchable manner willingly permit Sin, and he wills his own Permission of it, but he doth not will Sin: For all that God doth will, he doth will perfectly, and without all deceit. If God do thus will Sin, then he must needs love and be Author of it as truly as he is of Holiness. Which is very Blasphemy.

1. JUstification and Righteousness is either Legal, or Evangelical: Legal is that in the Consciences of the Damned. So far as when on Earth they did well, refrained from Sin, spake Truth, and were useful to human Soci­ety; God by Conscience, his Agent in their Bosom, will for ever justify and acquit them, and lay nothing to their Charge. But because they were ungodly and never soundly repented, had in them transcendent Vice, held it fast to the last in their Hearts, and took it with them into Eternity, there­fore the same Conscience in their Bosom cannot but, against their Will, for ever justify and acquit God, and filence and condemn themselves. Evan­gelical Justification and Righteousness, is that by Faith in the Consciences of the Elect. God, for the sake of Christ, doth by the Gospel, through Faith, freely and fully pardon all their Sins, acquit and set them free from Guilt eternal, and from all Curse and Punishment legally due for Sin; and then through the same Faith, doth regenerate and sanctify them, and doth inwardly sentence, pronounce, judge, and esteem them to be what really by his Grace they are, truly penitent, perfectly pardoned, evangelically just, and worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven for Christ's sake.

2. In Justification by Faith, God doth of unjust make us inwardly just, but not sinless, so as was Adam before his Fall, or as the Saints now in Heaven are. But the most holy Man while on Earth, hath Sin in him, and sinneth in all he doth: which Sin according to legal Justice deserves Damna­tion, but not according to Justice Evangelical: for it is sincerely repented of, and so it is not imputed to us, but fully pardoned for Christ's sake: The eternal Penalty is pardoned, and that being abolished, all other Penalty be­comes medicinal and sanctified, and as sanctified, it is not Penalty, but Pri­viledg and Gain to the Soul, and as such is truly eligible and desirable by a wise Man: tho as it is irksom and painful to Nature, so it is not desirable, but patiently to be born.

3. Between Justification and forgiveness of Sin, there is this romarkable difference. A finless Person may be justified, but a sinless Person cannot be pardoned: A sinless Person may be falsly accused, and by just Sentence cleared and acquitted from that false Charge, and so justified. Thus God himself is justified: but God cannot be pardoned: Psal. 51.4. Rom. 3.4, Luke 7.29, 35. 1 Tim. 3.16. It will for ever remain true, that David once was a Sinner, a Murderer, an Adulterer: but as now he is in Heaven, he is by Grace for ever sinless and impeccable, and so is above Pardon, and cannot need it; as the whole need not the Physician. Justified he may and shall be for ever, and most solemnly before all at the day of Judgment; but pardoned he cannot be. Sin once done, cannot by it self be undone; but by Grace Evangelical, giving us Repentance and Pardon through Faith, it may, and really is undone and unsinned.

4. The Righteousness of God in Christ is, through Faith, really impu­ted to us, and inherent in us, and it could not at all be imputed to us, were it not by Faith inherent in us. In renouncing all our own Righteousness as dung and loss, that we may have compleat and eternal Righteousness, even the Righteousness which is of God by Faith in Christ, it is manifest that we do not renounce our very renouncing, and our very Faith in Christ. In order of Nature we are first acquitted and set free from Guilt eternal through Faith: this is Gospel-justification. Afterward, yet in the same instant, as to time, and through the same Faith we are regenerated and sealed with the holy Spirit, we love God and do good Works: this is Sanctification; Eph. 1.13. Thus Justification by Faith is the rise and spring of Sanctification; Articulus stantis & cadentis Ecclesiae, they are truly distinct, and yet not asunder while on Earth.

5. Evangelical Justification may be considered two ways, either as a Gift; or as a Reward: Considered as a Gift, so it is simply free, and freely given of God in Christ by the Gospel, and no way merited by us, but we by Faith do humbly, penitently, fiducially, obediently, thankfully, and sted­fastly receive it, and it becomes ours. And thus from first to last we are justified by Faith without Works, according to St. Paul. Considered as a Reward, so it is bestowed upon none but the truly penitent, obedient, re­generate, merciful, lovers of God and his Saints, and such as by godly Sincerity, and heavenly Righteousness through Grace, difference themselves from the ungodly and impenitent World: and all such do evangelically me­rit Justification before God for Christ's sake. And thus from first to last we are justified before God by Works, and not by Faith only, according to St. James. According to legal merit God deals with all the Devils and Damned, he renders to them according to their Deeds, exacts from them the last Mite, and shews them no Mercy. According to Evangelical Merit, [Page 14]he deals with the M [...]hood of Christ, and with all elect Angels and Men. This kind of Merit is the Image of that transcendent Worth and Merit which is in God; the more we have of it, we are the more like to God, and abound in loving, serving, and praising God, saying; Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be all the Glory: The more we do for thee, the more we are beholden to thee; for of thine own it is that we give thee. God rewards his own Grace and Righteousness in his Saints, and renders to them according to their Deeds.

1. LEgal Satisfaction for Sin, is that of the Devils and Damned, who suffer eternally of due desert, and thereby make legal compleat Sa­tisfaction and Amends to God for all their own Sins, to the last mite. God considered as Lawgiver, hath no pleasure in the death of the wiched, but that he turn from his way and live. But if he shall in no instant turn, then God, considered as the Righteous Judg of all the World, hath perfect plea­sure in his eternal Damnation, as adequate legal Compensation and Amends for his Wickedness in no instant truly turned from. Evangelical Satisfacti­on for Sin is, that of all the Elect in Christ by Faith: they through his Grace, with godly Sorrow, unsin and undo all their Sins, give Glory to God by a face confession of them with grief, hatred, and shame, execute holy Revenge upon themselves, humbly beg pardon, freely forgive others, renounce all legal Merit, lay hold upon the Promise of Eternal Mercy in Christ, become new Men, sincerely obedient to God, and his Glory in the World. Thus doing they please and satisfy God evangelically, and render themselves truly worthy in a Gospel-sense of pardon of Sin, Justification, and Life eternal, as promised by God, and parchased by Christ, and prepared for them before the Foundation of the World.

2. God can in no instant pardon and save Persons in their Sins without Heavenly Repentance: and he cannot but pardon and save all those who do in any instant by his Grace and free Gift in Christ though Faith, sincerely turn from all their Sins to God, and become new Men. And yet he faveth the Penitent, and damneth the Impenitent freely and willingly, and not against his Will. Like as God is necessarily holy, just, and good, yet freely so.

3. Evangelical Repentance, considered as evangelical, is not Punishment, but Priviledg, and the sweetest Mercy a Sinner can possibly partake of, as being Rep [...] unto Salvation never to be repented of, it is a divine and hea­venly [Page 15]thing, and the Image of God, as he is the perfect hater of all Sin, and the just and merciful Avenger of it by renewed Conscience, his A [...]ent in the Breast of Penitent Souls. Evangelical Repentance, considered as Repeatance, is proper Punishment, as consisting in penitential Remorse, Shame, Sorrow, Contrition, Self-loathing, and a sort of Revenge; 2 Cor. 7.11. None of this should have been, if Sin had not been: and all this is irksom and painful to Nature, and all pain, in a large sense, is proper Pu­nishment. Therefore Repentance is fitly called Poenitentia, importing pain, smart and penance for Sin.

4. The Debt which we, as Men, owe to God, is sinless Obedience: The Debt which we, as Sinners, owe to God, is Heavenly Repentance, and in default thereof, Eternal Damnation. This Debt Christ neither did, nor could pay: for neither can a sinless Person repent, nor can he suffer eter­nally. All the Elect in Christ through Faith, do in their own Persons pay the Debt of Gospel-Repentance, and so evangelically punish them­selves, prevent eternall Punishment, save God the labour, and obtain perfect and free Remission for Christ's sake, and evangelically fulfil the Divine Law: Rom. 8.4. But the Impenitent, by holding fast their Sins, do ren­der them unpardonable, and their case incurable. Where publick Con­fassion of Sin is necessary by Divine Law, there no Law of Man can dis­pense with it. Where it is not necessary by divine Law, there it may not be exacted, nor Money by way of Commutation: the taking of Money in such case is unrighteous gain.

5. Christ was made Sin and a Curse for us, he bore our Sins in his own Body upon the Tree, and God laid upon him the Iniquities of us all: but so, that he was altogether sinless; God could not hate him, nor be dis­pleased with him, nor repute him a Sinner, nor impute Sin to him, nor lay upon him more than Corporal and Temporal Punishment, in order to his own eternal Exaltation and Glory at God's Right-hand. The Pain en­dured by him, did differ in kind from the Pain of damned Men in Hell, and from the Pain of guilty Persons on Earth, and was no degree thereof. For both these do suffer deservedly for their own Sins; but Christ being sinless, could not deserve to suffer. Indeed his Persecuters and Mur­derers did repute him a Sinner, and imputed grievous Sin to him, and God did unsearchably permit their Sin, but he did no way will and approve it. The Soul of Christ was full of sinless Sorrow, and his Body was full of Pain, and yet it was all but bodily Suffering; his Body being dead, his Suffe­ring was at an end. The Body by it self cannot suffer at all, cannot feel Pain; the Soul of Christ being sinless, could not suffer spiritually: but his Soul suffered in and by his Body, in respect of his Body he was crucified, and died. More than Corporal and Temporal Punishment needed not: for [Page 16]all the finally impenitent do, against their will, satisfy for all their own Sins legally: and all the truly penitent do, through Faith, satisfy God evan­gelically, and obtain perfect Pardon and Salvation, as purchased for them through the Corporal and Temporal Suffering of God the Son incarnate, crucified in respect of his Body.

1. FAith as opposed to Sight, is the way to Faith as opposed to Deceit. As Faith is opposed to Sight, so there is no Faith in Heaven, there they see face to face. As Faith is opposed to Deceit, so there is no perfect Faith but in Heaven. In Men ungodly is no degree of Heavenly Faith: In all godly Men there is a degree of it, in some more, in some less, but short of Perfection in all. God is faithful, and to be so, is to be full of Faith, Truth, Veracity, and Fidelity, in opposition to Perfidiousness, Unfaithful­ness, Deceit, and Lies. Now all the blessed Saints and Angels are perfect­ly like to God, as he is faithful and true, and so must needs have in them perfect Faith, Fidelity, and Truth. Deut. 32.20. 2 Thes. 3.2. Heb. 11.1. 2 Cor. 5.7. Prov. 20.6. 1 Cor. 13.12.

2. As Faith is opposed to Sight, so through it we understand, discern, apprehend, perceive, embrace, and receive spiritual good things spiritually: through it we repent of Sin, love, obey, and please God, we receive, come to, trust in, and rely on Christ, we obtain Pardon, Justification, and right to Life eternal, we overcome Satan and the World, and walk with God in Holiness, and Comfort on Earth, till we come to Heaven, where Faith is turned into Vision, and Hope into Fruition. Faith as thus opposed to Sight, is most truly, properly, and scripturally reckoned, counted, and imputed to us for Gospel-righteousness before God, all the while we are militant in this World.

3. Faith in God may be evidenced, shewed, declared, proved, and spi­ritually demonstrated by heavenly Regeneration and good Works; 1 Cor. 2.4. but it cannot be defined. For what is defined is finite: but God is infinite, and infinite as such, cannot be finite. Believe God we may, de­fine him we may not. To define is to limit, and to limit God is great Sin: Psal. 78.41. He that hath holy Faith in God, knoweth better by inward feeling and Self-perception the true nature of it, than any human Definition can inform him. There cannot be a Definition of Definition. Either then Faith in God is the Standard of Definition, or Definition is the Standard of Faith in God. If the former, then Faith in God is above [Page 17]Definition, more plain than it, and is not reducible to it. If the latter, then there can be no Faith in God; because he is Infinite, and, as such, cannot be defined. Exact Definition consisteth of somewhat general, and somewhat special: but all in saving Faith, as such, is special and peculiar to the Elect, and nothing in it common to them with the Reprobate. Tem­perance, Justice, Chastity, Faith in the unregenerate Man, as in themselves are proper Graces and Vertues: but as relied on for Life eternal, without heavenly Regeneration, they are no otherwise Graces and Vertues, than as a dead Man is a Man, or an adulterous Wife is a Wife, they are but the Corpse of Graces and Vertues, and therefore they differ in kind from Tem­perance, Justice, Chastity, Faith as in the regenerate Man, and are no de­gree thereof.

4. Faith is in no Faculty, but it is seated and rooted in the Heart, and through it we understand, and will spiritual things spiritually. Under­standing and Will in Man are truly distinct, but not distinct Faculties, they are the Image of God, in whom is unsearchable Unity and Diversity, but no Faculties. God doth willingly understand, and understandingly will, and so doth Man. Every intellectual Act of Man, is the Act of the Soul, or Man, and not of this or that Faculty. Faith as opposed to Sight, is not an Act, but through it we act holily: It is not a Work, but through it we work Righteousness: It is not Obedience, but through it we obey and please God: Heb. 11. Rom. 1.5. & 16.26.

5. Look what Reason is to the human Soul, the general Organ and Instru­ment by which it doth put forth rational and intellectual Acts, differing in kind from the manner of Brutes: that is, Faith to the regenerate Soul, the general Organ and Instrument by which it doth put forth holy and super­natural Acts, differing in kind from all the Acts of Men unregenerate, and ungodly as such. Certainty of Faith is proper Certainty of Sense, yet not of bodily Sense common to us and Heathens; but of heavenly and spiritual Sense through Christian Belief, which Heathens have not. Unto true believing Souls God's Word is sweeter than Honey, and sharper than a two-edged Sword in their Hearts; Psal. 119.103. Heb. 4.12. What­soever is not of Faith, is Sin, Rom. 14.23. That is, he whose Heart is not purified by Faith in Christ, in him Sin reigns, and carnal Dubitati­on is Lord in his Soul; and though the thing done by him as in it self be lawful, yet if he doubt whether it he lawful or not, to him it be­comes unlawful, through the Error of his Conscience not purified by Faith. An erroneous Conscience considered as erroneous, connot bind; for as er­roneous, it is not Conscience, but the Error and Abuse of it. But consi­dered as Conscience, under God and over Man, so it doth truly bind to [Page 18]all Duty, and against all Sin and Error. Whatsoever is not of Faith, is of Infidelity, and consequently of Sin.

1. SIncere Love is to love God, because of his first Love to us, 1 Joh. 4.19. For this is to love him as indeed he is, our Maker, our Re­deeemer, our Sanctifier, our Reward and Rewarder, our God and Portion for ever, our All in All, dearer to us than we are or can be to our selves; and to love him under any other notion, is to love an Idol and not God. Self-love, considered as repugnant to Life eternal, is self-destroying Vice, and the common Character of all the ungodly; 2 Tim. 3.1, 2. Self-love, considered as subservient to Life eternal, is, in a large and true Sense, heaven­ly Self-denial, and the true Love of God, as good to our Souls in Christ Jesus eternally: Prov. 9.12. Luke 9.23.

2. Vertue is truly lovely for it self: but then the highest Vertue is to love and be like unto God; and God is not at all lovely, unless he be essentially, and yet freely the Rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and no Re­ward short of God himself, as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness, can content the holy seeking Soul. If in this Life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miserable. To say, I would love God though there were no Heaven, and I would hate Sin, though there were no Hell, is in effect to say, I would love God though he were not at all lovely, and I would hate Sin, though it were not at all hateful and abominable: Heb. 11.6. 1 Cor. 15.19.

3. The chief End of Man is but one, as God is one. Subordinate Ends indeed are many, but as subordinate, they are not Ends, but regular means conducing to the End. The Supream End of Man is eternal Salva­tion, or God himself as enjoyed in eternal Felicity. Eternal Salvation is not an End subordinate to the Glory of God; but God's Glory is his Will, as fulfilled in the eternal Salvation of all the Elect by Faith in Christ. God is our Salvation, and our Saviour, our Blessedness, and the Author of our Blessedness. No Man can will his own Annihilation as a means to God's Glory: for a Man as such is the Image and Glory of God, and the eternal extinction of God's Glory, cannot be a means to God's Glory: for that is no means which destroys the End, and is repugnant to it. Indeed the damned in Hell do will and desire their own Annihilation, but not as a means to God's Glory: for that is a holy and regular Will and Desire; but no holy and regular Will can be in the damned. Moses and Paul could not [Page 19]without Sin, wish to themselves eternal Pain, and more than barely Tem­poral. For eternal Pain consists in implacably hating and being hated of God, eternal Self-tormenting Anguish for Sin, and the never-dying Worm. This no Man in his right Wits can wish to himself.

4. Man's chief End is not to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. This indeed is Man's Duty, but Duty as such is not the chief End, but eter­nal Felicity, as the Reward of Duty. Christ as Man, when on Earth, did perfectly glorify God, and had Fruition of him in perfect Love, and yet he was not in Joy and Felicity when in his Agony, and upon the Cross, but in the way to it, and for the Joy and Felicity set before him as his su­pream End, he endured the Shame and Sorrow of the Cross: Heb. 12.2. Now what is not the supream End in one instant, can in no instant be it, because it is the same for ever. Those in Hell do, against their Will, for ever glorify God, by bearing his just Vengeance for Sin. We glorifying God through Faith, by sincere Obedience on Earth, God's Promise is to reward and crown us with eternal Blessedness in Heaven. And it is this, and this only, which is the chief End and supream Good of Man, as comprizing all Good in one, beyond which nothing is desirable.

5. God is not loved at all unless he be loved incomparably. Tho he be good, better, and best, yet not in a way of strict Comparison, but in a transcendent Sense, wherein words are to serve things, and not things words. Indeed ungodly Men are said to love Pleasures more than God. But the meaning thereof is not, that they love God a little, and Pleasures more: but they love Pleasures with all their Heart, and God but as subservient. Now God as subservient to Lust and Pleasure, is not God, but an Idol; and Idolatry is not Love, but ungodly Lust. As Happiness means Ease, Pleasure, and freedom from Pain, Misery, and troublesom Want; so all Men naturally desire to be happy. But as Happiness means beholding God's Face in Righ­teousness, and being satisfied with his Likeness; Psal. 17.15. So it is wholly supernatural, known, and desired of none in this World, save only the Rege­nerate through Faith in Christ. Men ungodly neglect so great Salvation, and say unto God, Depart from us; Heb. 2.3. Job 21.14. The Heaven and Happiness desired by them, is a sensual Paradise, and perpetual Epicurism: this really is not Heaven and Happiness, but a Lust or Idol clothed with the name of Heaven and Happiness. The sincere desire of Grace as such, is not the Grace desired, but it is an infallible proof of a gracious and godly Man, as being accompanied with sincere Performance and Endeavour, and is indeed it self holy Reformance before God. There is in God delight to Love; Deut. 10.15. and in all blessed Saints and Angels, and there is in all true Saints on Earth sincere desire to love God perfectly, but no such thing as love to love: this is not true Love, but adulterous Lust. He that [Page 20]loves to love, doth not love God, but himself. No godly Man dare Sin: For he that dare Sin is presumptuous, and treads Conscience under Foot. The least degree of true Godliness, and holy Love to God, doth sincerely, yet not perfectly mortify, hate, expel, and war against all Sin, and desires to be by Grace sinless and impeccable. A Person may sincerely love God, and yet through errour and mistake say he doth not, and may have godly Assu­rance, and yet complain as if he had none; Psal. 77.10. Psal. 22.10. 1 Cor. 12.15, 16.

1. CHrist considered as God, is the essential, substantial, and increated Image and Form of God the Father by Nature, not by Grace. Christ con­sidered as Man, exalted at God's right Hand, is by Grace, not by Nature, the Image of Himself, as God Equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, in a special and peculiar Sense above all both Angels and Men; and yet he is but one Image of God rightly conceived, as he is but one Christ. Phil. 2.6. Col. 1.15. Heb. 1.3, 9, 13. The Divine Essence, as it is in God the Father, begetteth the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son: Yet will it not hence follow that there are two Divine Essences, but only that the Divine Essence as it is in God the Father unbegotten, is not the Divine Essence as it is in God the Son begotten. Which is certainly true: For Unbegot­ten and Begotten are eternally divers and distinct. This eternal Generation of God the Son is not a Work of God, but it is the Nature of God the Fa­ther, and had been if there had never been Work of God. God the Father is not Autotheos of and from Himself, and therefore God the Son is not. God simply is, and cannot but be, and simply to be, is to be God. Exod. 3.14. The Creature simply is not, but the Creature as such is dependent on God, and as compared with him it is as Nothing, yea less than Nothing and Va­nity. Isa. 40.17, 18. Sin indeed is absolutely, simply, and eternally of it self, exceeding sinful. Joh. 8.44. Rom. 7.13. But God is not Sin. He is simply First, and simply First is from none.

2. As to Life Temporal, ungodly Men, as Men, are the Image of God no less than godly Men. Thence Murder is so great a Sin, because thereby contrary to the Law and Light of Nature, the Image of God in Man, as to this present Life, is extinct, a living Man is turned into a dead Corpse, and no [...] dead can be the Image of the living God, Gen. 9.6. As to Life [...]eavenly Conversation by Faith, only godly Men and Women, [...] Image of God, and ungodly Persons are the Image of the [Page 21]Devil. As to Conjugal Society, the Husband is the Image and Glory of God, and not the Wife, he being her Head, 1 Cor. 11.3, 7. In respect of natural Generation, Parents are the Image of God, and not Children. In respect of domestical Rule and Government, Masters are the Image of God, and not Servants. In respect of earthly Soveraignty, Kings, and su­pream Civil Rulers are the Image of God, and not Subjects. Saints Tri­umphant, as Triumphant and by Grace impeccable, are the Image of God, so as Saints Militant are not. Damned Men, as Men, and intellectual Beings, are against their Will the Image of God for ever; because they do against their will fulfil God's Law, by bearing the eternal Penalty thereof, due for their Sin.

3. The Soul is truly a Spiritual Substance, and yet truly material, not to our bodily Senses outwardly, but to our Faith inwardly. For the Op­position is not between Spiritual and Material, but between Spiritual and Carnal. 1 Cor. 3.1. and 9.11. Rom. 15.27. Spiritual, Invisible, and Eternal Things are incomparably and transcendently Material, they are the Matters of God, and of greatest Consequence and Importance to our Souls through Faith. The Soul is not the Form of Man, but the Body is the Form of Man, and the Soul is the quickening Life and Spirit. In beholding a Corpse and dead Man, we behold the Form and Appearance of Man, but we do not behold the Soul. The Soul is the Image of God, and therefore it cannot consist in a dead Form. Rom. 2.20. 2 Tim. 3.5.

4. Soul and Body are truly distinct as Principal and Instrumental, the in­ward and the outward Man, but they are not two essential and compoun­ding Parts of Man. For Man is the Image of God, who being without Parts and Composition, so must needs be his Image. As all in God is God, so all in the Image of God is the Image of God. Every Man as to his natu­ral Substance is simply a Man, and not a Brute, and therefore he must needs be uncompounded. For to be simply a Man, and yet compounded, is a Contradiction. Indeed the Body by it self consists of many Parts: It will not therefore follow that it is onely one Part of Man. For if it be one only, it is not many. Gal. 3.16. As to Life Eternal the Soul is the Man, not as excluding the Body: but the Welfare of the Body is bound up in the E­ternal Welfare of the Soul. If the Soul be safe, all is safe: If that be lost, all is lost, and the Man is undone for ever. As to Life Temporal, the Body is the Man, not as excluding the Soul; but as it is in and by the Body that Man doth visibly live and converse on Earth as a Man and not a Brute, and the Body being dead, the Man is dead as to this present Life. And therefore not one Part of Christ, but Christ Himself in respect of his Body was crucifi­ed, dead, buried, and lay in the Grave. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Mat. 28.6.

5. Every Artificial Image of Christ as God is an Idol: and every Artifi­cial Image of Christ as Man, is Superstition; and if adored, then it is Idolatry. Christ as Man is holy, and Holiness may not be set forth by a dead Image or Picture. Only holy Men and Women in this World as holy, are the I­mage of Christ as he is Man. Rom. 8.29. Any other Image of Christ as Man, is a lie, and not the Image of Christ. Christ is truly a Man, but with­al a special Man differing in kind from all other Men, because he only is by miraculous Conception in the Womb of a Virgin, He only is the Propitiati­on for the Sins of the whole World, He only as Man is exalted at God's right Hand above all both Angels and Men: They may be set forth by an Artifi­cial Image or Picture, but so may not Christ as Man. The only true set­ting forth of Christ as Man, is by the Word and Sacraments through Faith: because as Man he differs in specie in kind from all other Men.

1. THE Holy Catholick Church which we believe, as distinct from the elect Angels, consists of the whole number of God's Elect in all Ages, not as exclusive of what is good and commendable in Hypocrites, Hereticks, Apostates, and Heathens, but as liking and loving all that is good and lovely in whomsoever. This Church began in penitent Adam and Eve, they two were the first Church of the redeemed. Upon the increase and multi­plication of new Converts, and Souls regenerate, more were added to the Church successively like as when an Infant is born into the World, there is one more added to the Society of Mankind, Acts 2.47. The Apostles Commission was not to make a new Church differing in substance from what had been before, and was in being at the time of Christ's Ascension, but to preserve that Church which he left on Earth, and by Apostolical Preaching, and Endeavours, to enlarge and add to it, and so to make Jew and Gentile one in Christ Jesus. Outward Variations, suited to the Exegencies of the Church, in its Militant State, do not alter the intrinsecal Nature, Essence, and Unity of the Church, which is the same for substance in all Ages. But because Abel is the first who died in Faith, and of whose Righteousness there is express mention, therefore the Holy Catholick Church is fitly reckoned from him.

2. The Church and Commonwealth are not two independent Societies, but the Church, as such, is a holy Commonwealth, simply dependent upon God through Christian Faith, as to Life eternal: And upon the Prince as sole Supream, under God, over all in his Dominions, as to Life Temporal, and Coercive rule by the Sword. Look as Homo being a Man includes Animal, being a Living Creature: So the Church includes human Society, [Page 23]as being nothing but Mankind sanctified, by Faith in Christ. The Power and Authority of Christ, as Man, exalted at God's right Hand over all, is simply dependent upon God: And therefore all the Power and Authority of the Church must needs be simply dependent, ministerial, and subordinate; and whatsoever Church claims to it self Power simply independent, by that very claim it is proved to be Anti-christian, that Man of Sin, and Son of Per­dition, who exalts himself above God, and above the Prince his Vice-gerent on Earth, 2 Thess. 2.3, 4.

3. The Church is not two, Universal and Particular, Invisible and Visi­ble; but the Church is simply one, as God is one; admitting of just Con­ception, but no Division. It is one Whole or Universal, as comprizing all the Parts: But one Whole or Universal, as distinct from all the Parts, is only Notion and Conceit, as a Man in the Moon, or Castle in the Air, a meer Chimera. We see those Men and Women who are the Church Mili­tant, but that which makes them the Church Militant we do not see, but believe. The Church is plain and manifest to those who believe, as the Sun at Noon-day, is to seeing Men: But he who believeth not, makes God a Lyar, 1 Joh. 5.10. and God being made a Lyar, the Church must needs be made a Lyar too.

4. It will not stand with Christian Faith, Hope, and Love, to live di­vided in Heart and Conversation, from any the least Member of Christ and true Christian, who is evidently and apparently so, so far as Man can judg. We cannot be more holy than God, more pure then Christ: Whom he re­ceives, we are to receive, or we cannot expect to be received by him. The Communion of Saints is an Article of Faith, unalterably fixed by God as to the substance of it, and it consists in Christian Faith, Hope, and Love: These are to the Church, and every Member thereof, what the Soul is to the Body. But saving Christian Faith, Hope, and Love, we are to become all Things to all Men, and bear all Things rather than rend and divide the Church by nefarious and lewd Schism. Ungodly Christians, considered as Ungodly, are not Christians, and Members of the Church: But Ungodly Christians, considered not as Ungodly, but as Christians, are a sort of Chri­stians and Church-Members, and are not meer Heathens and Persons with­out: They are of the Church, and yet they are not the Church, Rom. 9.6.

5. Loyalty is a Fundamental in Religion, as without which human So­ciety cannot subsist, and no human Society no Religion. Human Society cannot subsist without some to Rule and some to be Ruled. If the Ruled may resist and rise in Rebellion against their lawful Rulers, set over them by God, Mankind is no longer a Society, but a Rout; and a Foundation is laid for endless War, Desolation, and Confusion of all Things. The Nature of a Fundamental in Religion is to expel its Contrary, as Light doth Dark­ness. [Page 14]As then no Man can in the same Instant be both Godly and Ungodly: So can no Man in the same Instant be both Loyal and Disloyal. Loyalty is not Loyalty unless it be so out of Conscience, either Natural and Common, such as may be in Heathens and Men not Regenerate; or Supernatural and Special, such as is in the Regenerate. He that is only Loyal out of Self-ends and for Worldly Interest, is not Loyal before God. Human Law, conside­red as Human, cannot bind the Conscience: But considered as subservient to the Divine Law, so it is in a large Sense Divine, and as Divine, it binds the Conscience: For all that lies in us, we are to live peaceably with all Men. Yet where the Thing enacted and enjoyned is not intrinsecally necessary to the publick Good, there a Man hath his choice, whether to do the thing, or to pay the Penalty. In no case may we resist Authority Supream and Sub­ordinate: In no case may we obey Man against God. Therefore when no way is left, but either we must Suffer, or Sin; we must patiently and meekly Suffer, and lay down our Lives, rather than resist, or allow the least Sin.

1. AS to Life Temporal there are in the Soul Habits distinct from Act, and by frequent Acts Men get a Habit. But as to Eternity there is no such Distinction: For the Soul as being a spiritual and immortal Substance, is the Image of God, and is therefore ever in act invisibly. From the time that it is first formed in the Womb, it ceaseth not to live a Life dif­fering, in kind, from Brutes; and while in the Body, is still upon its way to Eternity, and either it is Godly, and so in the way to Heaven, and invisibly active for God: or it is Ungodly, and so in the way to Hell, and invisibly active against him.

2. If God shall give unto Adam, after his Fall, Children by natural Ge­neration, and shall not also give them inward heavenly Grace, and superna­tural Regeneration, it is most certain that inwardly and invisibly they will be Graceless and Unregenerate: As Graceless and Unregenerate they are Unholy, dead in Sin, and full of enmity against God, and so dying, it is above me to prove that they have not in them the never-dying Worm. This Original Sin, in Infants, is neither from God, nor from Adam, nor from their immediate Parents; but it is wholly from themselves inwardly and unsearchably, neither by natural necessity, nor after the similitude of Adam's Transgression, Rom. 5.14. but by legal Necessity. Which is a sort of Ne­cessity innocently and unsearchably permitted by God, but not willed by him, [Page 25]and is not avoidable by either Parents or Children, without supernatural Grace in Christ Jesus. Even as ungodly grown Men, in their Sleep, while their Sleep lasteth, are unavoidably and inexcusably ungodly.

3. The adequate ground of Hope concerning the whole Off-spring of Adam, is Divine Election in Christ Jesus. If we bottom it not entirely up­on this, we must needs bottom it upon Reprobation, there being no mid­dle, or third, imaginable. Elect and Reprobate, as Godly and Ungodly, di­vide all the World. And to bottom Hope of Salvation upon Reprobation, is to destroy Hope. All the Infants of Godly Parents, both, or one, dying in meer Infancy, we may well think are elect and saved, as a Part of that holy Catholick Church which consists of the Elect in all Ages: And of this Baptism, to me, seems to be a sacred Sign and Seal. 1 Pet. 3.21. Un­godly Christians, as hath been said, considered not as Ungodly, but as Chri­stians, are a sort of Christians and not meer Heathens. The Infants of such being brought unto us by the Parents, or some other Christian in their stead, themselves being reasonably letted, with desire to have them baptised, I conceive it is our Duty, as we are Christ's Ministers, in Obedience to his Command, Mat. 28.19, 20. Well suiting with the Grounds of Faith, the approved Practice of the Church before Christ's Incarnation, the Words and Example of Christ touching Infants, Mark. 10.13, 14, 15, 16. and the Practice of the Apostles in baptizing Housholds, to baptize there Infants. And if they shall be taken away in meer Infancy by Death, we may well think that they also are Elect and Saved, and that of such also is the King­dom of God. Though the Parents have not Godly Sincerity, yet a sort of Sincerty they have, and they do really and not dissemblingly desire Baptism for their Infants, and are truly glad of it. Either some Infants are eternal­ly, elect and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly, or not. If yea, can a­ny Man forbid Water, that these should not be baptized, which are eternal­ly elect, and endued with the Holy Ghost savingly, as well as grown Men? Act. 10.47, 48. If not, then all Infants are eternally reprobate and dam­ned, the Infant Jesus not excepted. Isa. 42.1. Luk. 1.35.

4. The Contempt of Baptism is damnable in the Contemners: but In­fants cannot contemn it. Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel. 1 Cor. 1.17. The Gospel, that is, Life eternal through Faith in Christ, is simply necessary for all Persons, in all Places, at all Times, from the Fall of Adam to the End of the World; But so is not Baptism. If the Person die inwardly holy and regenerate, as he may, though not baptized, he is undoubtedly saved.

5. If the baptized Infant be not inwardly holy and regenerate (as all are not) then I conceive it is not in a State of Salvation, it is not set free from Guilt eternal, yet is its Baptism as ordained of God, and dispensed by his [Page 26]Minister neither Nullity nor Mockery, but a Divine Bond, Oath, and Co­venant laid upon the Infant to be what all the Off-spring of Adam by God's Law indispensably are bound to be, truly holy, and God's faithful Servant. Either its Regeneration is future, or it is not. If yea, then Baptism is a sure Pledg, Seal, and Token that it is future. If not, then the Infant will outlive the State of Infancy, and will live and die ungodly, and perish; in which Case his Baptism will be an everlasting Witness against him, it being supposed that his Conscience was privy to it. Baptism is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace, which Covenant importeth God's Purpose to give Perseverance and Salvation to all the Regenerate, and to Regenerate such and so many, as he from Eternity foresees will, by his Grace, and Free-gift, sincerely believe. And yet, while Unregenerate, they are in a State of Dam­nation. As to Life Temporal, and Humane Society on Earth, ungodly Men have Power over their own Will, and Liberty to act, or not to act, as them­selves list, and they can, if they will refrain from all Sin outwardly, and do all Good outwardly, and be blameless before Men. But as to Life Eternal, and Heavenly Conversation, they have no Power, they are dead in Sin, un­der the Power of Satan, their Power is Impotency, Sin hath Dominion over them, they are not Lords, but Slaves, and lorded over by their Lusts; and if God shall not prevent them with his Heavenly Grace, it is certain that they will never deserve it. Therefore the first step to Salvation is holy Despair there­of by all that we of our selves can do without God's eternal Grace in Christ. And look what is First in Divinity, that same is Last, even All in All.

1. LOok as all in God is God without Parts and Composition: So all in the Lord's Supper is the Lord's Supper. Considered as a Supper, so the whole is visible, Food for the Belly, eaten and drunk with the Mouth outwardly: Considered as the Lord's Supper so the whole is invisible, Food for the Soul, eaten and drunk with the Heart inwardly. There may be the Lord's Supper without saving Belief: but not without Belief. For he that believeth not, makes God a Liar, and by Consequence the Sacrament a Lie also. 1 Joh. 5.10.

2. There is no Change at all of the Elements by Consecration, but only Religious Use. If the Religious Use of Things do necessarily infer a Change in the Things used, then God must needs be changed, and then he is not God. We use God's Name religiously, and God's Name is God Himself, as named by this or that Name, Jehovah, Lord, God. I am the Lord, that [Page 27]is my Name. Isa. 42.8. What Change is by Consecration, is in the Com­municants, not at all in the Elements. Consecration importeth in all Godly Communicants, a real Heavenly Change as to Conversation, Conversion from Sin to God, they are new Creatures, 2 Cor. 5.17. This heavenly Change they evidence, exercise, and shew forth at the Lord's Table, in re­ligious partaking of the Elements in Remembrance of Christ crucified. All Change in the Elements by Consecration is simply repugnant to intellectual Sense in all Men, and is therefore simply incredible.

3. These Words, This is my Body, as understood without Christian Faith, are false and absurd: But as understood through Christian Faith, they are indeed mysterious, yet Superlatively plain, true, apt, and proper. The Lord's Supper is truly a Figure, as is Baptism, 1 Pet. 3.21. yet not a Ver­bal and Rhetorical Figure common to Us and Heathens, but a Divine, Ce­lestial, and Mysterious Figure instituted by Christ, and not understood with­out Christian Belief, which Heathens have not. In Points that concern us as Men, in common with all the World, Christ spake with the Vulgar, and so as to be understood of very Heathens. But in Points mysterious and Su­pernatural, as is the Doctrine of the Lord's Supper, he spake above the Vul­gar, and so, as not to be understood aright without Faith, which Heathens have not. Ungodly Communicants, considered as Ungodly, do not eat Christ's Body, but inwardly contemn and shut their Hearts against it: And thus their partaking doth differ in kind from the inward partaking of the Godly. But Ungodly Communicants, considered as Communicants, do with their Mouth outwardly eat the Bread, which is really, and not chime­rically, yet sacramentally and symbolically the Body of Christ, no less than do Godly Communicants outwardly: And thus their partaking is the same for kind with the partaking of the Godly. 1 Cor. 10.1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

4. Unto worthy Communicants the Lord's Supper is the Communion of the Lord's Body and Blood, the holy Memorial of his Death, heavenly Nourishment for the Soul, a sure Pledge, Seal, Sign, and Token of Par­don of Sin, Perseverance, and Life eternal, and a Divine Engagement to Watchfulness and holy Fear of Apostacy. No Godly Man doth partake un­worthily; he may partake not so worthily as some do, but the least degree of true Godliness doth produce a degree of worthy communicating, differ­ing but in measure and degree from the most Godly Communicants. Unto unworthy Communicants the Lord's Supper, through their own Sin, is a Seal of their Damnation, if they die without sound Repentance: And in the mean time it layeth a Divine Bond and Engagement upon them instantly to repent. If their Repentance, by God's eternal Decree, be future, then the Lord's Supper is a Divine Sign and Seal that it is future: If their Re­pentance be not future, then they will die in their Sins, and perish, and [Page 28]will remember with eternal Self-tormenting Anguish, in Hell, their partaking without Godly Sincerity. Those who contend, that Men Unregenerate sin less in not coming, than in coming to the Lord's Table, do yet expresly grant: But yet they that do come unworthily and unwarrantably, do find that there, which tendeth to their Conversion, and frequently effecteth it. Mr. B. in his Disputations of Right to Sacraments, pag. 31, 32. And they who contend that the Unregenerate sin less in coming, than in not coming, do yet hold and contend, that the Persons so come must be adult, baptized, orthodox and not heretical, free from enormous Crimes and Scandals, before Men. The bare Elements, as distinct from the Word, can neither convert nor confirm. But the Word, as distinct from the Elements, and giving being to the whole Sacramental Service, may, through God's Grace, prove effectu­al for sound Conversion of the Unconverted, and certainly will be effectual for building up of the Converted.

5. The Flesh and Manhood of Christ is, under God, the prime instru­mental Cause of Life eternal, to the Godly in all Ages, through Faith: As such, his Flesh is heavenly Meat, and his Blood is heavenly Drink, and we, through Faith, do really and not chimerically, spiritually and not corporally eat and drink it. What is eaten, in that it is eaten, must be really present: For no Man can eat a thing that is absent. There is Relation between the Manhood of Christ and the whole intellectual World, as between sole Su­pream under God, and Subjects: This Relation is real and not imaginary, eternal and not temporal: From Eternity it was future, and it remains to Eternity by the free Pleasure of God. What is eternal is truly infinite, above all Predicaments, and consequently above Time and Place, yet not contrary thereto. Things related are simul naturâ, intrinsecally together, not in Place outwardly, but in Truth and Reality inwardly, above both Time and Place. Only this is to be noted, that though the Manhood of Christ be sole Supream under God, over all both Angels and Men, as he is exalted at God's right Hand, yet only elect Angels and Men be his Loyal and Obedient Subjects. There are, who hold some things necessary to the Integrity of the Sacrament, but not to its Essence, as breaking the Bread. But the Scripture hath no such distinction, and indeed it is repugnant to the Nature of God, who is an in­finite Essence, and in him is infinite Integrity: Therefore there cannot pos­sibly be Essence and not Integrity. Therefore breaking the Bread, is to be reckoned among those things which are not intrinsecally necessary to the Being and Integrity of the Lord's Supper. As to which the general rule is, to observe the way and custom of the Church where a Man shall come and abide. But as to the Cup, no power on Earth may deprive the People of it.

1. THat there is a God, and that he is to be worshipped as God, is inde­lebly written in the Heart of every Man; for every Man is either Godly or Ungodly: To be Godly, is to be a worshipper of God in Spirit and Truth: To be Ungodly, is to have an inward Sense and Conviction that there is a God, and not to worship and glorify him as God.

2. The true God, is God the Father not incarnate, God the Son incar­nate, God the Holy Ghost not incarnate; the Saviour of all Men, specially of them that believe: Any other God is an Idol, and not the true God. To worship this true God, is penitently to confess our Sins, to call upon His Name, and pray unto him for spiritual and corporal Blessings, to give him Thanks for his Mercies, to swear by his Name, to vow and covenant our Souls to him, to believe his Holy Word, to trust in him for Life Eternal, to walk as in his Sight and Presence, to esteem him incomparably Excellent, to prefer his Favour, Honour, and Glory, and the doing of his Will, before our Life, and Friends, and Estate, and all worldly and temporal Things; to have clean Hearts and pure Consciences, and in all things to make it our chief care and business to please him, and to obtain eternal Reward and Blessedness, by righteous, sober, and godly Conversation. In the Worship of God the Soul is Principal, and the Body is Instrumental, and the same thing is essentially both Act and Object: For there cannot be the right Wor­ship of God without Self-denial; according to that of the Psalmist Not un­to us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name be all the Glory: For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, Psal. 115. 1. Rom. 11.36. Now Self-denial is both Act and Object. Accordingly, in all Idolatry, the Soul is Principal, and the Body is Instrumental, and the same thing is both Act and Object: For in every Idolater there is regnant Self-esteem, Self-will, Self-love, and Self-confidence, repugnant to heavenly Self-denial, and Holy Trust in God. The Idolater putteth trust in his own Heart, that tho he give the Glory due to God, in Christ only, to another, tho he worship God in and by meer Creatures, and not in and by Christ only, yet he shall be saved, and God will accept him: This is Self-delusion and false Trust; and Self­delusion and Self-confidence, is both Act and Object.

3. An Idol is nothing in the World, 1 Cor. 8.4. That is, as I conceive, set aside the inward ungodly Lust, and false Belief, which is in Man's Heart, and there is no such thing as an Idol, nor can be. Every Creature of God is Good, Man is a special Creature of God, and therefore must needs be [Page 30]specially Good. The Goodness of Man consists in the inward Rectitude of his Mind, and hevenly dependence upon god, and Resignation to his Will, and trust in him for Life eternal. When contrary-wise, Man refuseth to be guided by God, as to Life eternal, and putteth trust in his own Heart, and not in God, for Life eternal, and loveth himself rather than God; now Man comes to have Idols in his Heart, and committeth spiritual Whoredom and Adultery. Some make the Belly their God, some Idolize Money, some worldly Glory, some Beauty, some Learning, some their Errours, some Angels and departed Saints, some Images: These are various ways of Idola­try, but still it is the mind within, as ungodly, which makes the Idol, and all Idolatry whatsoever is a transcendent Vice, the worship of a false God, and is repugnant to Holy Belief in God. As God is not two, a material God, and a formal God: So Idolatry is not two, material and formal, but all Idolatry is a breach of the first Commandment, and repugnant to godly Sincerity. No Man doth or can in the commission of Idolatry intend to commit it, but really he doth commit it, he doth that which by the Divine Law is Idolatry. The commission of Idolatry, and intention to commit it, differ specifically, and cannot possibly concur in one and the fame indivisible Act, as one and the same indivisible Act cannot possibly be two Acts.

4. The substance of Divine Worship is unalterably fixed by God, and all addition to it, and all diminution from it, is Idolatry, a Deifying of Man's Understanding and Will, and setting it above the Understanding and Will of God. But there are many things respecting the outward Mode and Or­der of God's Worship, about which the Scripture gives only general Rules, the fitting whereof to particular Cases, is left to Man's Wisdom and Dis­cretion, dependently upon God, as Judg of all the World. Touching the substance of God's Worship, nothing is a Duty but what hath a Divine Command, and plain Warrant in God's Word: Touching Things in them­selves indifferent, and variable, nothing is sinful but what is plainly for­bidden by God, what is not forbidden, is of it self Lawful.

5. Religiously to invocate Angels and departed Saints is very Idolatry: but bare desiring their Prayers, I conceive, is not Idolatry. Superstition it is, vain and erroneous Desire it is; but tho all Idolatry be Superstition, yet all Superstition and vain Desire is not Idolatry: But if Superstition reign, then it is Idolatry before God, tho not before Men. And then doth Superstition and Errour reign, when Persons lay their Salvation on it, and trust in their Errour for Life Eternal. Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints, is not Prayer and Invocation in the strict sense, and therefore, I con­ceive, it is not Idolatry. Tho all Prayer be Desire, yet all Desire is not Prayer in the strict sense. Bare desiring the Prayer of Angels and departed Saints, doth suppose them to know what indeed they do not know, and so [Page 31]it is erroneous and vain Desire: but it doth not necessarily suppose them to be simply Omniscient, which only God is. Finally, it is a Point of Faith, and the very sum of the Bible, that since the Fall of Man, all Reli­gious Approach to God, is to be in and through Christ only: They which do otherwise, are guilty of flat Idolatry.

1. THough heavenly Truth was not put into Writing outwardly till the time of Moses, yet was it from the beginning, supernaturally written in the Heart of Adam in Innocency, and being extinguished by his Fall, it was renewed in him in saving measure by heavenly Regenera­tion after his Fall, and by this way kept safe in the inward Records of the Heart, and transmitted unto the time of Moses. When he by divine Ap­pointment and Inspiration, did first put heavenly Truth into writing out­wardly, this did not alter the intrinsecal nature of it: For heavenly Truth as written in the Heart, and in the Bible, is but one and the same Truth diversly written, perfectly in the Bible, truly, but not perfectly in the Heart of Man since the Fall, and the entrance of Sin into the World.

2. Whether all the Books of the Old and New Testament, as we reckon them, be Canonical Scripture; and whether every Word and Sentence there­in be exactly translated, this is not matter of Divine Belief, nor doth Sal­vation lie on it, so as to damn all that err herein; but it is matter of hu­man Science and Testimony, as subservient to Divine Belief. Human Sci­ence and Testimony, considered as repugnant to Divine Belief, is not Science and Testimony, but a Lie: Considered as subservient vient to Divine Belief, so it is in a large sense truly divine, and as divine it is infallible. And thus the Scripture is the supream Judg and adequate Standard in Controversies of Faith. The sum of the Scripture is, Repentance and Remission of Sins through Faith in Christ, according to the eternal Purpose of God the Fa­ther not incarnate, the Son incarnate, the Holy Ghost not incarnate: This is al [...] saving Evidence in one, not as exclusive of things subservient, but as supposing and comprizing them.

3. With respect to Life Temporal and Human Converse, Words are not Things, but signs of Mens inward Thoughts, and the great Arbiter of Speech is Use, quem penes arbitrium est, & jus & norma loquendi. With respect to Life eternal, and heavenly Conversation by Faith, Words are Things, and therefore we are commanded to hold fast the form of sound Words; and Christ saith, By thy Words thou shalt be justified, and by thy [Page 32]Words thou shalt be condemned. God hath set us a Standard for all our Words, unto which none may add, from which none may diminish, under pain of Damnation. The great Mystery of Godliness is, The Word was made Flesh, Joh. 1.14. 1 Tim. 3.16. Rev. 22.18, 19. Mat. 12.37. 2 Tim. 1.13. Indeed, where there is an agreement in Substance, diversity in Speech for Peace-sake is to be born with. But there can be no agreement in Substance without the Scripture as the sole supream Judg, and perfect Stan­dard as to all things concerning the Glory of God, and the eternal Salva­tion of the Soul. If we go from this we shall not know where to fix, a Foundation is laid for infinite proceeding, and so for Atheism and Confu­sion of all things.

4. There are who write, that all Words that Man can speak of God, at least, except Being and Substance, are improper or metaphorical. But cer­tainly this is a great Error: For tho God be above all our Words and Ex­pressions, yet he is not above and contrary to Himself, he cannot be the Author of Sin, he is not God improperly and metaphorically. God is good, and there are good Angels and Men: both these are true and proper. But in the sense that God is good, essentially, independently, inderivatively, the Author of all Good, so none is good but God: Every Creature, as de­pendent on God, is good, and useful to his Glory, and the Salvation of his Elect by Christ: But the whole Creation, as compared with God, is as nothing, it is less than nothing, and Vanity: Isa. 40.17, 18. All Words importing Excellency and Perfection, and no way importing Imper­fection and Impiety, do agree to God simply, incomparably, transcendent­ly, eternally, infinitely, most truly, really, and properly, and not at all to Angels and Men, as compared with God. Dat propriae similem translata metaphora vocem. Things heavenly and eternal may be set forth by world­ly and temporal Similitudes: But so, that things heavenly and eternal are the Standard, Judex sui & obliqui. Thus Christ's Flesh, as eaten by Faith, is Meat indeed; and his Blood, as drunk by Faith, is Drink indeed; not metaphorical, rhetorical, verbal, improper, and imaginary Food; but most real, heavenly, solid, substantial, divine, transcendent, incomparably ex­cellent, and eternal Food for the Soul: and all worldly and temporal Food for the Body, as compared with, and repugnant to it, is not Food at all, but Dung, Loss, and Damnation eternal; but as subservient to it, it is true and proper Food for the Body, God's good Creature, and worthy of Thanksgiving.

5. The Fountain-cause of so much doleful Contention among Christi­ans touching Religion, is, their leaving the Simplicity that is in Christ, and guiding themselves by that Philosophy and School-Sophistry, which the Scripture calls vain Deceit; 2 Cor. 11.3. Col. 2.8. Philosophy con­sidered [Page 33]as subservient to Life Eternal by Faith in Christ, is not Philosophy, but Christianity largely taken. Philosophy considered as repugnant to Life Eternal by Faith in Christ, is damnable Impiety, the Mother of Here­fy and Division, that Wisdom which is from beneath, which is earthly, sen­sual, and devilish. Philosophers, as such, treat of God [...] of Man, of Be­ing, of Truth, of Good, of Unity, of Vertue, of Nature, of Relati­on, of what not? not as Christians, but as Philosophers; not by the Light of Faith in Christ, but by the Light of Nature; which in Points of Faith is very Darkness. And so the whole Doctrine of Philosophers, as such, is false, a meer Building without a Foundation: Because Christ is the first and the last in all true Knowledg, as being God the Son incarnate, and God is All in All. This Philosophers, as such, be ignorant of, and do not build Science upon Christ, the sole Foundation of Science by Faith; 1 Cor. 3.11. and so they err in the Foundation, and all the Science of Philosophers, as such, is false Science, repugnant to Faith in Christ.

Error 1. THE Man Christ is God, in the Concrete; but not the Man­hood of Christ, in the Abstract. Before the Incarnation Christ was simple, uncompounded, impartial, and but one Nature: After Incarnation he is not simple, but compounded, and consisteth of two distinct Natures, as two essential Parts. Confutation. The Man Christ is indeed God, yet not as he is Man: And the Manhood of Christ, is that holy thing which was born of the Blessed Virgin, and is truly called the Son of God, and this Son of God is very God, the Son incarnate; Luke 1.35. Joh. 1.1, 14, 18. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever; after Incarnation as before, and before as after; Heb. 13.8. with this cautious meaning: Before Incarnation he was Jesus Christ, as from Eternity purposed in time to be incarnate: After Incarnation, he is the same Jesus Christ as incarnate, according to that Purpose. If he be at all compounded, then he is not simply Christ, and then he is a Deceiver: For Simple and Compounded are contraries, as Light and Darkness, Truth and Falshood. If Christ consist of Parts, then he is not simply impartial, and then he cannot judge the World in Righteousness, but must needs ap­prove Murder in David, and condemn it in Cain; which is Blasphemy. The Manhood of Christ is not one part, or one half of Christ, but it is [Page 34]Christ himself considered as Man: And the Godhead of Christ is Christ himself, considered as God, and yet he is but one Person, but one Christ; and the Nature of Christ, as he is God manifest in the Flesh, and the Word made Flesh, is but one, admitting of just Conception, but no Parts and Composition.

Error 2. All things in Nature are reducible to ten Predicaments, of which Relation is one. Confut. All things in Nature are reducible to one, which one is God; of whom, and through whom, and to whom are all things, and this God is our God for ever and ever; Rom. 11.36. Psal. 48.14. Thus Relation is all in all, as being the Nature of God the Father not incarnate, the Son incarnate, the Holy Ghost not incarnate, essentially, and yet freely related to all Elect Angels and Men, as their God and Portion for ever.

Error 3. There are four distinct Causes of Justification, of Satisfaction for Sin, of the Sacraments, &c. the efficient, the material, the formal, and the final Cause. Confut. All Cause touching Religion, and Life eternal, is either principal or supream, or instrumental and subservient: And the prin­cipal and supream Cause is superlatively, and transcendently, material, and of greatest importance to our Faith and eternal Welfare, the Cause of Causes, even all in all. As to Worldly Science common to us and Hea­thens, there is matter and form distinct: But as to Heavenly Science, by Faith (which Heathens have not) there is no such distinction. For Hea­venly Science by Faith, consisteth not in Form, but in Power, 2 Tim. 3.5. not in Shew and Appearance, but in Truth and Reality, Rom. 2.20. It is one and the same thing which is the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the efficient and the final Cause, yet not in the same respects; Rom. 11.36. Rev. 22.13.

Error 4. The Will of Man is effentially free, and essentially a Rational Appetite. Confut. The Will of Man is essentially rational and intellectu­al [...] but neither essentially free, nor essentially an Appetite. For if it be essentially free, then there can be no Hell: And if it be essentially an Appe­tite, then there can be no Heaven. Damned Men are Men, and in them is perfect intellectual human Will, as to natural Substance, but no free Will. They cannot be holy and happy if they would; Luke 16.26. All Freedom and Liberty is either temporal or eternal: in the Damned is neither, they cannot but implacably hate God, and will Annihilation rather than eternal Damnation. In the state of perfect Felicity, there shall be in all blessed Men, perfect rational and intellectual Will, but no Appetite, no Desire, no Wish, no want of any good thing, but perfect Satisfaction. Rest, and Pleasure for ever: Psal. 17.15.

Error 5. The Divine Law is twofold, of Works, and of Faith; or the old and the new Law. Confut. The Divine Law is but one, as God the Author of it is one, admitting of just Conception, but no Division. The Law was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ, Joh. 1.17. Here the Law and Grace, as also Moses and Christ are oppo­sed, yet not as contraries, but as divers, not as Satan and Christ, but as subservient and supream. Moses, as God's Minister, delivers the Law, by which is the knowledg of Sin, and Condemnation due for the same, to all the natural Off-spring of fallen Adam. And thus the Ministry of Moses, and the Law as distinct from, and relatively opposed to the Grace of the Gospel in Christ, is a killing Letter, and the Ministration of Death and Condemnation, by reason of Sin in us; 2 Cor. 3.6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The Law and Moses is not Jesus Christ, they cannot purchase for us, and bestow on us Gospel-repentance, Pardon of Sin, Peace of Conscience, and eter­nal Redemption: This is utterly above Moses and the Law, as distinct from Christ, by themselves to effect. But now Jesus Christ, as distinct from, and relatively opposed to Moses and the Law, is very God the Son incarnate, the Word made Flesh, Joh. 1.14. and as such, is Mediator; and as Mediator, he doth purchase the Church with his own Blood, and doth obtain for, and freely bestow on Abel, Peter, and the rest of the Elect, heavenly Righteousness, Faith, Repentance, Pardon of Sin, Perseverance, and eternal Redemption. These are the highest Blessings and Priviledges, in respect whereof Christ, as Mediator, is to be worshipped with supream Worship: otherwise he is a meer Man, nothing differing from Moses, and our whole Faith is a Lie. Thus the Law and the Gospel are distinct, and Faith in Christ doth not abolish, but doth establish God's Law: Rom. 3.31. Psal. 19. and Psal. 119.

1. THere may be a Church where is no Minister or Pastor; but there cannot be a Church without a just esteem of Pastors and Ministers, and care to have one where one is wanting. Where two or three are ga­thered together in Christ's Name, there is he in the midst of them: And where is Christ the Head, [...] Saints his Members by Faith, and Invocation, there is a Church both Name and Thing, tho there be no Pastor or Mini­ster. But those may not be said to be gathered together in Christ's Name, who disesteem and contemn Pastors and Ministers.

2. Where Ordination may be had, consistent with Faith and Piety, there it is to be had, and they who invade the Ministerial Office without it, have no due Call from God, he never sent them, such Persons do greatly offend against the Order and Unity of God's Church and chosen People, and are not to be owned and countenanced in their evil way. Where Ordination cannot be had, consistent with Faith and Piety, there it is not to be had. There, if a Door be opened for preaching the Gospel, one not ordained being able for the Work, and faithful, may preach, baptize, give the Lord's Supper, and do the whole Ministerial Office, with purpose to have Ordina­tion so soon as with Faith and Piety it can be had. An open Door is the necessities and willingness of the People, with protection or connivance of the Magistrate, if possible.

3. In Ordination, God in Christ confers the whole Office as principal and supream by his Word: And the Person, or Persons ordaining, confer the whole Office as instrumental and subordinate. Therefore it is not in the power of Men to ordain whom, and how they please, because they or­dain not as Lords, but as Stewards, they have no power touching this mat­ter, but what is simply ministerial, subordinate, and dependent. If therefore. God's Word for substance do not go along with the Ordination, it is null and void: and the same holds good as to Suspending, Degrading, Silencing, and Prohibiting of Ministers from doing the Ministerial Work. Every Minister to be ordained ought to be a faithful Man, and able to teach others also: 2 Tim. 2.1. For which cause those unto whom it pertaineth to ordain and impose Hands, ought to use all possible Care and Circumspection, and to lay Hands suddenly on none without due Exploration. He may be a va­lid and justly authorized Minister, who is not truly Godly: And yet he that is not truly godly, can have no sound Comfort in his Ministry, as being in a state of Damnation; his Ministry may profit others, tho not himself. But yet all Care is to be used that Persons to be ordained be truly godly, so far as Man can judg, and that also they be able to teach the People, and by good Doctrine guide Souls in the way to Heaven.

4. No Power on Earth may impose a Minister upon a People against their just liking: For what is against Justice, is against God. And no Peo­ple may refuse a Minister, tho unjustly imposed on them, when they can­not, without general inconvenience and hazard of the publick Peace, reme­dy themselves: For of two Evils, the lesser is to be chosen. Provided the imposed Minister be Orthodox and not Hereti [...] tolerable and competent­ly able for the Work in some measure. But Heretical, Schismatical, Ido­latrous, and Wolvish Pastors and Ministers the People are bound to forsake and turn from. Where Ministers Residence is necessary by Divine Law, there no Law of Man can dispense with it: Where it is not necessary by [Page 37]Divine Law, there needs no Human Dispensation, and the exacting of Money in such case is unrighteous Gain. The principal Work of Mini­sters, and the substance of so much Church-order and Discipline, as is in­cumbent on them as Ministers, to perform and see to, consists in labouring in the Word and Doctrine, in preaching the Gospel, in giving heed to Doctrine, to Exhortation, to Reproof, to Admonition and Instruction, publickly, privately, in season, out of season. Where this is not, the sub­stance of the Ministerial Work and Discipline is wanting: Where this is all, the rest will easily follow, so much as is necessary, and what is not necessa­ry is better forborn.

5. The Church is no Church of God, unless she have just respect to time and place for publick Worship: and she is equally no Church before God, if she prefer time and place, and bare assembling for publick Worship, before Christian Faith, Hope, and Love, and Edification therein. As the Sabbath, so Time and Place were made for Man, and not Man for them. And therefore the Church is to meet in one, two, or three, or more places at the same time, according as it shall be for Edification. And look as it is a good Argument for Infant Baptism, the Primitive Patern is baptizing whole Housholds; and therefore in baptizing Infants we keep to the Primitive Patern, Infants being a necessary part of Housholds. So I should think it a good Argument against the Congregationalists: The Primitive Patern was, that all the Christians in a City be one Church particular; and therefore, if now every Christian City be one particular Church, tho the Christians in it are so many as to make a hundred, or two hundred Congregations at the fame time, the Primitive Patern is kept; Act. 14.23. Tit. 1.5. It is not the place which make, the Church, but the Church makes the place. Every Christian Nation as such, is a Church governed invisibly by God through Christian Faith, according to the Scripture: and governed visibly by the Prince as sole Supream under God, over all in his Dominions by the Sword. Tho God do make use of Pastors and Ministers in the guiding and govern­ing of his Church, yet he himself is sole Lord over the Couscience, and only his Voice is to be heard in the Church, and Pastors and Ministers have no Authority but what is Temporal, and yet it differs in kind from the Au­thority of the Prince and Magistrate. The Church Militant consists of Mortal Men, and Mortal Men can have no Authority Immortal and Eter­nal. Pastors die no less than Princes.

1. IF Sin had not been, Death had not been; and yet Death unto Elect Men through Faith in Christ, is rather Life than Death, as being through God's Grace, the way and passage to Life Everlasting. They die who die eternally: But they, who by Death pass into eternal Joy immedi­ately in respect of their Souls, and whose Bodies rest, and as it were sleep in the Grave till the Morning of the Resurrection, and then shall awake, and be raised glorious, immortal, spiritual, like the glorious Body of Christ, may be said rather to live than die.

2. The Resurrection of the wicked is truly from the Merit and purchase of Christ, and specially the Resurrection of the Just. The Resurrection, as in it self, is a Priviledg and Blessing: That it proves otherwise to the Wicked, is from themselves, not from Christ. As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive, 1 Cor. 15.22.

3. As Heaven is it into which Christ ascended when he left this World, so it is a proper place created and made by God, distinct from Earth and Hell. As Heaven means the Saints everlasting Rest, prepared for them from before the Foundation of the World, so it is not a place but a state of Felicity and Joy above both Time and Place, and all that Man's Heart can now conceive, yet not repugnant and contrary to Time and Place: For it is God himself as enjoyed in eternal Blessedness. Hence it follows, that the Spuls of the Godly by Death, do all of them pass into eternal Happiness imme­diately: For eternal Happiness not being a place but a state, and the Godly by Death passing into Eternity, there can be no imaginable instant in which they are not with God in eternal Felicity. Only they do innocent­ly long for the Resurrection, and rejoyce in the sure hope thereof: Psal. 16.9, 10.11. With respect to the Eye of Sense outwardly, the Triumphant State of Christ began not till he rose from the Dead, and it was compleat­ed by his Ascension, and fitting at the Right-hand of God in Glory. With respect to the Eye of Faith inwardly, his Triumphant State began immedi­ately after his Death; and while his Body hung dead upon the Cross, his Soul was with God in Triumphant Joy. In Memory of Christ's Resurrection we rightly observe the Lord's-Day, as a Day appointed by God for solemn Religious Worship, both publickly and privately. The fourth Command­ment, considered as repugnant to Life eternal by Faith in Christ, is meer Ju­daical Righteousness, damnable Impiety, and no Command of God: But considered as subservient to Life eternal by Faith in Christ, so it was typical [Page 39]of Christ's Rest in the Grave, and as typical by his Resurrection it was to cease and have an end, and in the room of it comes the Lord's Day, as the joyful Day on which our Lord rose from the Dead, and [...]th begotten us unto a lively Hope; 1 Pet. 1.3, 4. Thus the fourth Commandment, by Faith in Christ, is not abolished, but established; Rom. 3.31.

4. At the Day of Judgment there shall be a perfect opening of all the Good that was in the Wicked, and of all the Sin that was in the Righteous: not for the Shame and Terrour of the Righteous, nor for the Honour and Comfort of the Wicked; but that all may have according to their Deeds, and it may appear to all, that God did not like and approve Sin in his own, and that he did not condemn and drinke what was good and commendable in the Wicked; that so the Righteous may for [...] rejoice in God's Praises, and the Mouths of the Wicked may for ever [...]. This perfect o­pening shall be by Conscience, as God's [...], in each ones Bosom.

5. Eternal Felicity, considered as [...] of no Degrees: Thus all, both Saints and Angels in [...], and all in Hell, be equally miserable. For greater [...], th [...]n Eternal, there can­not possibly be. Eternal [...], admitteth of Degrees: For God, as he is the Righteous [...] the World, cannot but by Conscience, as his Agent in the [...] and Men, eternally difference, as between the Righteous and the [...], and between the more Wicked and the less Wicked, so also between the more and the less abundant in the Love and Service of God, and [...] according to their Deeds. Thus the Manhood of Christ hath a [...] of Glory than the Angels, and the Angels, who never linned, than the Saints, and eminent Saints, such as Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, th [...]n ordinary and common Saints. Thus there is perfect Unity, and perfect Diversity, sweetest Harmony and sweetest Variety, no one hath cause to complain, no one hath cause to boast, he that hath least hath no lack, and he that hath most hath nothing over. God is All in All, and Eternity is All in All. Set aside Eternity, and Hea­ven and Hell, Holiness and Sin, Angels and Men are meer Dreams and Noti­ons. God may do with his own what be pleases, but he cannot deny him­self, and overthrow his own Name, Kingdom, and Glory. And therefore he can in no instant annihilate or eternally torment a holy Man: For so to do is not Power but Impotency, not Dominion, but Tyranny, and the abuse of it. God's Dominion is by his Will, and not against it; his Will is essenti­ally, and yet freely holy, just, and good. But it is repugnant to infinite Holiness, Justice and Goodness, to annihilate, or eternally to to [...]ent a Holy Man.

1. TWo Things, as I conceive, do greatly conduce to Unity and Peace among Christians touching Religion: A clear explication of Go­spel-Truth, and forbearing one another in Love. The former I have endea­voured in the foregoing Chapters; and among Persons truly consciencious, a clear explication of the Truth, is in effect the whole Cure. The latter it is not in my Power to procure. Yet this one thing well weighed may do much towards it; that Persons eminently Godly, may ignorantly hold an Opinion, in it self heretical, and against the Foundation of Faith, and yet not hold it heretically, and so as do the Ungodly. The reason is, because Heavenly and Fundamental Truth, is not by way of Syllogism, and Human Argumentation, Major, Minor, and Conclusion, common to us and Hea­thens, but by way of Holy Likeness to God, through Christian Faith, which Heathens have not. He then who holds one Divine Truth with Holy Belief, is thereby free, not from all Errour, but from all reigning Errour. No Er­rour is safe, and yet no meer Man, since the Fall of Adam, is wholly free from all Errour, and every Godly Man is in a safe State, not because of his Errour, but because Heavenly Truth, and not Errour, reigns in him.

2. The Apostles for some time were in an Errour touching the Nature of Christ's Kingdom; which Errour, as in it self considered, did by consequence overthrow the Kingdom of Christ, and yet, as it was in them, it was no reign­ing Errour. Acts 1.6. The Apostle Peter was in an Errour, touching the difference between Jew and Gentile, which Errour, considered nakedly, as in it self was destructive of true Godliness, because it did by consequence in­fer God to be partial, unrighteous, and a respecter of Persons: And yet Peter in this instant was eminently godly. Act. 10.34, 35. There is no such thing in God, as Major and Minor, Premises and Conclusion, Antece­dent and Consequent; because all in God is God: And therefore there can be no such thing in the Image of God: For as all in God, is God, so all in the Image of God, is the Image of God. Therefore no Man is to be coun­ted an Heretick, and damnably Erroneous, barely because he holds an Opi­nion in it self Heretical, and by Consequence against the Foundation of Faith, all the while he doth sincerely hate and detest and disown the Con­secouence of his Errour, not discerning that it is justly deducible from it. There is great difference between ignorantly holding an Errour, and bowing to an Idol, or worshipping a false God.

3. If Christian Princes, and Supream Civil Rulers, in their several Do­minions, [Page 41]would according to their Duty, and as becomes nursing Fathers to the Church, see with their own Eyes, and upon hearing the Arguments and Allegations on both sides, wisely and impartially discern, between what is plainly contained in God's Word, and what is not, but is only School-So­phistry, and vain Philosophy, corrupting Men's Minds from the simplicity that is in Christ, and serving only to create Strife, and to make plain things obscure; and would enjoin all sides to insist upon, and unite in plain and wholsome Truth, evident by its own intrinsick Light, to the Conscience of each Godly Man, through Faith, and either to cut off and forbear all further Disputes, or manage them in Love, and in the Spirit of Meekness, we should soon see an End of Controversies concerning Religion. In the mean time it concerns us all to get and keep well grounded Certainty through Faith of our own Salvation, and earnestly to contend for this Faith. This Certainty is by way of special Revelation: For all Divine Revelation, since Adam's Fall, is either Principal and Special, or Subser­vient and Common. Special and Principal is that, by Faith, in the Hearts of all the Regenerate in various Degrees, and there is no other Special and Principal Divine Revelation since Adam's Fall. Eph. 1.17. and 4.5. 2 Cor. 4.13. 2 Pet. 1.1.

4. Fundamental Truth is not by way of Number, but by way of holy Likeness to God, who is simply one, and simply one is above Number, and not reducible to it. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three, truly divers and distinct, yet not three by way of Number, Order, and Dependence, common to us and Heathens, but by way of unsearchable Diversity, not to be understood savingly without Christian Faith [...] which Heathens have not. They who hold, that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, and the Son, do not mean that he proceedeth from them, as from two Firsts: for there cannot possibly be two Firsts in God; Rev. 22.13. And they who hold, that he proceedeth only from the Father, do yet hold, that he is by Nature very and eternal God, and the Spirit of the Son, and that the Son doth from the Father send the Holy Ghost the Comfor­ter. This supposed, the Difference seems to be but in Word, and not in Substance of Matter.

5. It is evident from Job 13.7. Heb. 1.1, 2, 3. and from the Nature of the thing, that there is the Person of God. For God is an intelligent Being, though infinitely intelligent and increated, and every intelligent Being must needs be a Person; Gen. 14.21. Jon. 4.11. Numb. 31.28. Now they who hold, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Persons, do yet hold that they are but one God. And if they who hold that as they are but one God, so they are but one Person, do yet hold that the Person of God the Father, unbegotten and not incarnate, as [Page 42]such, is not the Person of God the Son, begotten and incarnate, in my opi­nion they both hold the same fundamental and necessary Truth, and do but differ in Word. The common School-Doctrine, that in the Trinity there is alius & alius, but not aliud & aliud: And in Christ aliud & aliud, but not alius & alius, I conceive to be an Errour. For aliud & aliud must needs mean either Contrariety or Diversity: If it mean Contrariety, then it is false that there is Contrariety in Christ: If it mean Diversity, then it is false, that there is not Diversicy in the Trinity. So the common distinction of the Works of God within God, and without God, ad intra & adextra, is certainly an Errour. For every Work of God is an effect simply dependent upon his free Pleasure; Eph. 1.11. But no dependence can be in God, all in God is simply independent. And as there cannot be a Creature without a Creator, so there cannot possibly be a Work of God without God; Joh. 1.3. And look as it is said, of his own Will God begat us, Jam. 1.18. So equally it may be said, of his own Will he made all Things, and them­fore not of Nothing: For God's Will is not nothing, but it is the prime Cause, and the prime Cause is superlatively material to our Faith.

1. SIN is the Transgression of the Law, the Wages whereof according to legal Justice, is eternal Damnation: or, it is the Undoing of Bo­dy and Soul for ever in Hell, if God's Grace in Christ prevent not by giving Repentance and Pardon. Look as all in God, is God, so all in Sin, is Sin. With respect to human Judicature, Sin is an Effect, and Man's Will is the true Cause of it: With respect to Divine Judicature it is no Es­fect, and therefore it can have no Cause, but all that sin transgress without Cause. Psal. 25.3. Joh. 15.25. As to human Judicature, Sin is an Accident, a thing that comes to pass in time, and is distinct from Man's natural Substance, and is truly evitable: As to Divine Judicature, it is no Accident: For from Eternity it was future, it hath Dominion over the Un­godly, and as never repented of, it abides in the Conscience for ever, and breeds the never-dying Worm. This cannot be affirmed of an Accident, quod subjecto inest, & quod potest adesse, vel abesse absque subjecti Interitu: For nothing eternal, can be accidental. It is one and the same thing, which is both Sin and Guilt, but not in the same respects. Sin as pleasant, ungodly Men do naturally love: but as Gu [...]lt doth intrinsecally go along, with Sin, and gripe their Conscience, and fill them with legal Terrour, so they do naturally hate and flee from it. They love Sin, but not Hell.

2. The Holy Ghost in Scripture is taken two ways, either for God the Holy Ghost, and so we are baptized in his Name: Or for an Effect pro­duced by him. Hereof there are two Kinds, principal and subservient: principal is that Divine and Holy Nature, which God doth plant in the Hearts of all the Regenerate, in the instant of their Pardon and Justification by Faith. Eph. 1.13, 14. The Holy Ghost in this Sense, none of those, now in Hell did at any time partake of. Considered, as a subservient Effect, so it was eminently poured forth on the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost, and was common in that first Age of the Christian Church: It consisted in the Gift of Tongues, of Healing, of casting out of Devils, and other mira­culous Distributions. The Holy Ghost in this Sense, many never Regenerate might partake of, and afterward totally fall away & perish eternally. And this, for ought I know, is the meaning of the Holy Ghost, in that much contro­verted Scripture, Heb. 6.4, 5, 6. compared with Mat. 7.22, 23. and 12.24, to 32. Act. 2. and 8.17. and 10.44, 45, 46. and 19. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Luk. 10.20. Joh. 7.39.

3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is therefore simply unpardonable, be­cause the Person guilty of it is justly forsaken of God, given up to a repro­bate Sense, to final Obduration in Sin, and to strong Delusion to believe a Lie, and so he cannot but be finally impenitent, and incurably graceless. It seems to be a Degree of that kind of implacable Enmity against God, and his holy Image, which is in the Devil himself. The Devils believe and trem­ble: they cannot but have an inward Sense and Conviction, that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the World, and the Judg of all, both quick and dead, and that the Religion contained in the Bible, and sincerely professed by Abel, Moses, Peter, Paul, and the rest of the Elect, in all Ages, is the only true Religion. And yet being eternally forsaken of God, and left to themselves, they have no power evangelically to repent, they cannot but im­placably hate God, and his holy Image, blaspheme his Truth and pure Re­ligion, and endeavour the utter Extinction of it, and the eternal Ruin of e­very Man.

4. I was before a Blasphemer, and a Persocuter, and Injurious. But I obtained Mercy; because I did it ignorantly, in Ʋnbelief. 1 Tim. 1.13. This implies that had he done it wilfully, and knowingly, against the inward Belief and Conviction of his Conscience, his Case had been very perilous. In my Opinion, the safest and easiest way to understand what is the Sin a­gainst the Holy Ghost, is to make the Devil himself the Standard of it. Though all ungodly Persons be the Children of the Devil, yet as they are not all Atheists, Murderers, Adulterers, Sodomites, Perjured, Traitors; so they are not all guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost. They who make Conscience of their ways, and fear to sin against God, may be sure [Page 44]they have not committed this unpardonable Sin. They who have been convinced and perswaded of God's true Religion, and have solemnly covenanted and engaged their Souls to God, in Christ Je­sus, and have professed the way of Truth, if afterward they shall renounce the true Religion, and blaspheme it, and persecute the sincere Professour [...] of it, and shall suffer themselves to be deluded, so as to believe Lies contrary to the true Religion, I think the Case of such is very perilous.

5. We are to pray for all Men now living, and that shall live hereafter, but not for those whom we know to have committed the Sin against the Ho­ly Ghost. 1 Joh. 5.16. For the Rule of Prayer is not God's unsearcha­ble Prescience, what will be, but God's Law obliging us to love our Neigh­bour as our selves, and in Token thereof to pray for him, while there is a­ny Hope. Now of all Ungodly Men, while in the World, there is huma [...] Hope, which is a kind of middle State between the Godly, in whom is Di­vine Hope of Salvation, and the Damned in Hell, and Persons guilty of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, of whom there can be no Hope at all. As for such as teach that we must pray for all sorts of Men, but not for all of every sort, pro generibus singulorum, sed non pro singulis generûm, it seems to be vain deceit. Col. 2.8. For bare Generals, as distinct from all the Indivi­duals and Particulars, is a meer Chimera. Christ, as Man, prayed for all and in this he is our Patern. Christ, as God the Son incarnate, did not pray for all, but did omnipotently intercede for those only whose Salvation was future, and for none else, so as for them. In this he is not our Patern­but infinitely above us. Joh. 17.9, 20. Luk. 23.34.