ANIMADVERSIONS and CON­SIDERATIONS upon an Hereti­cal, Catabaptistical, Pelagian, Ar­minian, Papistical Sheet, lately pub­lished, entituled, A Confession or Declaration of Faith; lately pre­sented to King Charles the Second: Printed for one Francis Smith; which, because the Doctrine therein contain'd is partly Papistical, and partly mixed with the Ingredients of of Quakerism; as Free-will, Ge­neral Redemption, and falling a­way from Christ, and such like Trash, against the Doctrine of the Gospel, primarily taught by Christ and his Apostles, and secondarily witnessed to by the Protestant Christian Di­vines of all Ages, and by the Mar­tyrs in the past times of Popery; I think fit to declare to the World, for the sake of Gods Elect, chosen in Christ, by the good will and pleasure of God alone, from before the foun­dation of the World, to Eternal Sal­vation [Page 2]by the Transaction of their sins by the Father on Jesus, and the free imputation of the Righteousness of the Law, fulfilled in him to them, which they do in his time, when he gives them Faith, receive it by Faith a­lone.

LET me tell you, you Arminian, Pelagian, Papistical Baptists, are not built on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, Ephes. 3. but upon the Foundation of the Papists, and Antichrist; for the Papists are true in nothing, but in the Doctrine of the Trinity, as said Mr. Philpot, Martyr; and dying men, especially Martyrs, should be believ'd. You peep your Heads out to shew your Antichristian Horns, because you are in hope, that some lately ho­noured at the Sturn, may counte­nance your Sect, as being inclinable to the same Opinions, as being new­ly whasted (by Divine Providence) from the Transmarine Territories of Papistry, upon the Christian Pro­testant Shores; who yet, it is yet to [Page 3]be doubted hath too much of the Pelagian dust of S. Omers cleaving to his feet, or shooes: But this will fail you in the day of the Lord, when the true Jesus, Son of God, and Son of Mary, High-Priest, Prophet, and King, in one Person, will plead his own Truths, that you, and such as you, have most abominably abused and belied.

Your first Article professes Faith in one God, and the Father, of whom are all things; which the Turk and Mahometans do acknowledge as much as you, or more. See the Al­choran, Chap. 17. entitled, Of the Voyage by Night; and Chap. 18. called, the Chapter of the Cave, 27, 28, 29, 30 lines.

To the second, that all the misery, and death, and condemnation of the World, brought in by the fall of the first Adam, is but temporal, corpo­real, and only as to this life, is a Lye against Scripture, Reason, and the Authority of good and approved Authors. This Opinion was held by Jacobus Faber, and many other [Page 4] Papists, but not by Bellarmine, Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die the death; is a Hebrew phrase, signi­fying, eternal and temporal death, moriendo morieris, Eph. 2.23. Rom. 8.6, 7, 8. Rom. 5.6.8. Rom. 6.23. Rom. 7.14.17.20.23. Rom. 5, 14. to 21. Ezek. 16.3. to 9, 10. Mat. 25.41. Gal. 3.1. the wages of all. sin is death in that kind, that the gift of God is life: But the gift of God is life e­ternal to all Abraham's Seed; ergo, the wages of all sin is eternal death, by the Rule of compar. contrar. My Authorities are Calvin Instit. lib. 2. cap. 1, 2, 3. the Assemblies Cate­chism, Quest. 19. and Answer to it: Dr. Willet against Papists in his eigh­teenth general Controversie read at large, besides Luther, Zuinglius, Me­lancthon; and more Ancient, Augustine, Hierom, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Tertul. Justin Martyr.

The third Article professes Ge­neral Redemption; that the Father gave Christ out of his love to the whole world, and a Ransom for all universally: wherein 1. The Fathers [Page 5]gift is diminished; and 2. The Sons Ransom belied; for the Father gave him to be a Propitiation for the sins of the world of the Elect, and none else; that is, to all the Elect of Jew and Gentile: so is all taken, 2 Cor. 5. definitely; and John 17.6, 7. and 10. he gave him to the Sheep only, whose sins he laid on him, Isai. 53.6.11.1 Pet. 2.24, 25. 2. Cor. 5.21. and to whom only he gave and im­puted his Righteousness, 2 Tim. 1.9, 10. Gal. 1.15, 16. The Elect Jews were his Sheep; and other Sheep I have, that is the Elect of the Gen­tiles; and the Reprobates he called Dogs, Wolves, Lyons, &c. which he ransomed not, neither was given to ransom; so he did more for his Elect than you acknowledge, viz. transacted and bore their sins on his own body. 2. He did it not for all, but only for them whom the Father gave to him, and him to them, Joh. 17.2.6.8.9.11.29. Joh. 6.44.39.37. Joh. 10.3.11.15, 16, 26, 27, 28, 29. These only by his Blood hath he cleansed in his sight, not by [Page 6]Water-Baptism, but by his Blood, 1 Joh. 1.7.9. and Chap. 5. and of this is the Water of Baptism a Fi­gure; and by his Blood hath satis­fied Justice for all their sins, past, to come, and present, and redeemed them; and of this is the Supper a Symbol or Sign, 1 Cor. 11. &c.

The fourth Article sings the same Song, wresting the word All to a false sense; that God is willing that all should come to repentance, and none should perish; and that the pardon of sins should be preached to every Creature, that none might suffer in Hell: The Word of God is belied, making it speak what it intends not, and the Gospel sophi­sticated: For first, the Gospel is ministerlally offered to all, Mark 16.15. but by recommunication of the Spirit only to the Elect; Rom. 9.11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20. with 1 Pet. 3.17. Mat. 13.11. To the Elect it is gi­ven to know the Gospel, but not to the Reprobate, Joh. 12.40. Rom. 11.7, 8, 9, 10. And Piscator a Pro­testant Divine saith, Gratia affertur [Page 7]à deo, animo communicandi eam folis E­lectis hand quaque singulis.

To the fifth; I say, degrees of Christianity abstractively adapt not to the Ministry; beside, I deny you to be a Church of Christ: Ergo, have no power to give your appro­bation in Ordination: Beside, the Church alone, though true, cannot by Divine Authority ordain Mini­sters, or Commissionate them to go forth to Preach.

The sixth Article is ambiguous as most of your Preachments are, to deceive the simple, and obtain Pro­selites, Rom. 16.17, 18, 19. Submelli Hybleo venenum latet: Faith don't justifie, as an Act; nor is it the Root of Justification, as Papists say; it is Christ, and his Personal Righteousness, that justifies the un­godly, being Elected, Rom. 4 Rom. 8.33. Psal. 32.1, 2, 3. and they by Faith, when God gives it them, E­phes. 2. apprehend and receive this Righteousness of Christ, wrote in his Person for their justification, Rom. 8.2.3. Joh. 1.12. where you [Page 8]say, Believers commit themselves to his Grace: I boldly assirm, you Ar­minians, Grotians, and Pelagians don't mean, by Grace, to the imputation of his Righteousness, wrought in his Individual Person for all his Sheep, and given to them for their justifica­tion, and received by Faith of them. Thus all true Protestants but you, with Bellarmine, and all the Papists, mean, that the Act of Faith, in this your Opinion and new-fangled Go­spel, and Christ, with repentance and obedience to your holy Bap­tism, this is your justification, and the Papists, for which you will be ashamed in the day of the Lord Je­sus, when the Thrones of the King­doms of the World shall bow before him, Phil. 2. and all that own and receive not his imputed Righteous­ness shall be slain, and cast in the Lake, Rev. 21.8. and 22.15.

The seventh Article tells a loud Lye, like his Fellows; for God gives his Spirit to his Elect Sons, before you do believe, or can be­lieve, repent, or obey; for all these [Page 9]are done by the Spirit, or some Pow­er else; but no Power else but the Spirit can work these: Ergo, the Spirit is given first, not before their Redemption, Reconciliation, and Justification, but before the Appli­cation of this Grace; by the Office of the holy Spirit, this Grace is re­vealed, received, and applied to the Elect only, Gal. 4.6. Col. 2.10, 11, 12. Joh. 14.15, 16. Chap. 1 Cor. 2.10, 11, 12. Rom. 8.15, 16. Ephes. 1.13.18, 19, 20.

The eighth Article is swoln big with the poyson of Sophistication and Contradiction; and that be­cause you hide your Errours under a disguise, like a hitter Pill wrapt up in a little Sugar, or Wormwood­seeds in Plumbs, to deceive the simple, and Children; for you would make us believe you own the De­crees of God, while indeed you de­ny them. 2. Acontradiction, be­cause if they be Elected for foreseen Faith, works, or repentance, then it is not of meer mercy, and good will, and nothing in the Creature [Page 10]but sin: So that the second part of your Article contradicts the first, and the first is sophisticated: You say, God Elects from the Foundati­on of the world such as believe; that is, when they believe he E­lects them, that is, he hath decreed to Elect all that believe; but he E­lects them as meer sinners, and be­cause he Elects them they believe, and not that he Elects them because they believe.

The ninth is like his Fellows, full of falshood, for they were ordained to Condemnation before they were ungodly men, and because of their Reprobation became ungodly men, because they were afore ordained to destruction; [...] before decreed, or afore written for de­struction; and therefore became ungodly.

The tenth lies like the father the second Article. For Adam's fall brought in Eternal deaths as well as Temporal, I said afore; and if all are under that Condemation, Rom. 5.16, 17, 18, 19. Ex. 16. Rom. 6.21. [Page 11]then Infants for Infants are part of all. Beside, all that are fallen into Condemation, which all are, cannot be saved till they are born again of Water and the Spirit, or baptized with Fire and the Holy Ghost, Mat. 4. Jo. 3.3, 5. 1 Jo. 5. Heb. 10. Ez. 36. Water, in all which places, is not your Baptism, but the clean­sing of Christ's Blood, applied by the Spirit to the Elect in their Con­version and Regeneration; of which Baptism is but a meer figure to A­braham and his believing Seed, as Circumcision was before the actual payment of the Debts of the Elect, by Christ on the Cross at Jerusalem, Heb. 13.11, 12, 13. Heb. 9.26. Heb. 1.3. Heb. 10.54.10, 14. see 18 Q. of the Assemblies Catechism, and Answer: Four things issue to all Adam's posterity by his fall. First, The guilt of Adam's first sin. Se­condly, The privation of Original Righteousness. Thirdly, A depra­vation of the whole nature of Bo­dy and Soul, by Hereditary descent. And fourthly, All actual Sins flow­ing [Page 12]from it, Ro. 5.12, 19. and 10. Ephes. 1.1, 2, 3. James 1.14, 15. Mark 15.29. Ro. 7. See Doctor Willet's 81 Gen. Controversie against Papists; the Elect have their Sins transacted on Christ, and his impu­ted Righteousness covering them, and the Spirit of Christ in his time converting them to it, and the rest, great and small, are blinded and damned, Ro. 11. The whole Law broken by Adam, and his Posterity in him, comprehends both Faith, and perfect, and sinless obedience; which Covenant being broke, he brought both himself and posterity under Condemnation Rom. 5.18, 19. tem­poral and Eternal; for such is the Wages of Sin, Ro. 6.21. and lying under the breach of the whole Law of God, are eternally condemn'd, except they be elected, called, justi­fied and sanctified freely by his Grace, Rom. 8.29, 30, 31.

Christ did not come into the World to save men if they would, Ephes. 2.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. for then none would be saved; but he [Page 13]came positively and absolutely to save them that were eternally given to him to save, Jo. 17. and Jo. 10.26. to 29. Christ's death and pas­sions were not Temporal and Bodily only, Mat. 27.46. and Chap. 26.36, 37, 38, 42. Mark 14.3, 4. Luke 22.42, 44. Joh. 18.11. but Spiritual and Infernal passions, Acts 2.31. Ps. 16.10. Lament. 1.12. And if Christ's Sufferings were such, then Adaw's fall must procure such: But this Hellish Doctrine denyeth both: By this Doctrine the Covenant of Grace was made since the fall of Adam, and not from Eternity, as the Scrip­ture inculcates, Titus 1.1, 2, 3. Ps. 89. and Zach. 6.13. 2 Sam. 23.5. and then the Covenant of Grace is but a new Covenant of Works, viz. Faith and Obedience; as if Faith was not included in the Covenant of Innocency, and fulfilling the conditi­ons of the pardon of Sin in the Gos­pel, upon pain of Eternal Damna­tion; so that by this Doctrine the new Covenant of Grace is a thou­sand times more bondaged, servile, [Page 14]and legal than the Covenant of In­nocency: For the forfeitures of that, say they, was but bodily and temporal, and so was Christ's death that satisfied for it: But the forfei­tures of this new Covenant of Grace, according to their Doctrine, is Spiritual and Eternal Damnation, and no help or satisfaction neither: in the Covenant of Innocency Christ made up the breaches, but the breaches of this Covenant of Grace we our selves must make up by our Free-will, Faith, Repen­tance, and Obedience, or else perish eternally: And from the Pe­lagion, Arminian, Papistical new Co­venant of Grace, wherein Christ is only or chiefly an example, only by his Kingly and Prophetical Offices in Heaven, he prays for me, my Faith, Victory, and Repentance; but if I do it not, or cannot, his Prayer is in vain. And as for his Priestly Office, as Dr. Hammand saith, it dyed with him: For it was only to remove the Covenant of Works, which was by a temporal death [Page 15]easily removed, its forfeitures being but a temporal death; from such a New Covenant, Lord deliver me, and his Elect, and from the Promul­gators of it. Another Juggle they have is, that Election is not in the Covenant of Works, or from Eter­nity, but in Christ since; that is, they that do believe the Doctrine they preach, believe, repent, obey, and be baptized, are Elected; and this God foresaw, and knew, and willed: And to uphold this Babel, and Whores Doctrine of Babylon, they turn upside-down the very Heart and Entrails of the whole Scriptures, to the last of the tenth Article: I say the Jews were under a Covenant of Grace, and by the sign thereof, Gen. 17. brought by Divine Command their Children into the vi­sible Church. We are under the same Covenant of Grace, and the matter and manner of the sign was changed under the New Testament, or Administration of Grace, but not the Subjects; for then it had been necessary that Christ should [Page 16]have forbidden Infants Baptism, or John Baptist his Messenger, for Christ knew it was once commanded as the New Covenant sign; but he never repealed the Subject, nor his Messenger that came before him, or the Ministers that followed after him; Ergo, what is not repealed by Divine Institution, abides stedfast, as a Nail fastened by the Masters of the Assembly, given by one Shep­herd, Christ Jesus: Therefore till the Catabaptists prove by Scripture, that Christ, or his Predecessor John Bapt. or his Successors, the Apostles, forbid the Subjects in Gen. 17. li­censed, till then you do all of you shamefully beg the Question; and you shall be with your Antichristian Spirit famished for me, before you shall have a Morsel from me to feed your Heresie: wherefore leave that unlawful Trade of Begging, and work for your livings; that is, prove out of the New Testament, by Gods Word, that Infants are com­manded not to be Baptized, or that Circumcision was not a Sign [Page 25]and Seal of the Righteousness of Faith. Or, that Baptism did not come in the room of Circumcision; do one of these or be silent before the Lord for ever: For, because you have rent the Seal of his Covenant, God will rend you and your Sect into a thousand pieces: This will be the end of you, to perish in your own Dung, Phil. 3. Except the Elect among you, and true Con­verts, they only shall be preserved, and in due time come out of your Babylon, as well as Rome's or Eng­land's Babylon.

The Eleventh Article builds up your Idol Baptism, and sets it on your sandy Foundation; for there is not one word of Teach before Bap­tise; but contrary, after Baptism to Teach, Mat. 28. latter end: For the first word rendered to Teach, is, in the Greek, Matheteusate, that is, Disciple all Nations. But the Questi­on may be asked, How shall we Disci­ple them? the Answer is, Baptize­ing them, &c. then teach them to observe all things, &c. the Jews [Page 26]did so Disciple their Children; and Children Acts 15. are called Disci­ples; and doubtless the Righteous­ness of Christ, and the Kingdom of Heaven, is given to the Elect of them, Mat. 18.4, 5, 6. 1 Cor. 14 20. Mark 9.42. Luke 17.1, 2. and belongs to them; and therefore the Sign of the Covenant belongs to them, which is the Water of Baptism, and the very rantizing or sprinckling in the Figure is sufficient, because the Sprinckling the Blood in the Sub­stance is sufficient, 1 Pet. 1.2. The same way that Abraham was Disci­pled are all aged ones in all times; that being ignorant of God's Cove­nant never knew it, or received the Figure before: and this by teaching them the Covenant of God, as God taught Abraham, and then set the Sign on them. But the way to Dis­ciple Infants, as in that day by Cir­cumcision, so in this day by Bap­tism, Acts 15.10. 1 Cor. 12.13. Their Children were called Disci­ples, and so are ours Disciples of right, if the Substance of the Cove­nant [Page 27]of Grace be the same, as it is, for there is no new thing sub Coelis; and our Baptism now doth Baptize into the whole Body or Church U­niversal, 1 Cor. 12.13. that is, into the number of the Elect, and not into particular, visible Congregati­ons, and when they do actually be­lieve, then are they Members of the visible, particular Church, actual Members; and then, as Baptism, shadowed out their cleansing by Christ's Blood, and the Applica­tion of it to them in the Womb by God. So doth the Supper, when they believe, figure out Christ's Redemption and Satisfaction to them by his Blood, Joh. 6. ult. 1 Cor. 11. ult. And though the Sacraments be distant in Administration and Re­spect of time, yet Satisfaction, Re­demption, and Cleansing, was actu­ally done at once for all the Elect by Christ, John 18.34, 35. with 1 Jo. 5.6, 7, 8. and yet, I say, the Elect have their cleansing sealed and sign­ed Externally, (for the Internal Seal is the Spirit, Ephes. 1.13. Rom. 4.) [Page 28]mostly in their Infancy, because God imputes Christs Righteousness to them in their Infancy, Rom. 9.10, 3. Gal. 1.16. Mat. 19.14. And because Baptism is not a Communion Sacra­ment, as the Supper is, 1 Cor. 11. hence they did not eat the Pascal Lamb, till they were able to stand on their Feet, eat bitter Herbs, and walk, Exod. 12. for the Pascal Lamb, under the old Administration of Grace, was the Sign of Christ's Death for the Elect, as the Supper is now, both figuring out the same thing; to wit, the pardon of Sins by Christs bearing them, as the Lamb taking them away, John 1.29. only that figur'd out the actual time of dis­charge of the Elect to come, but the Supper that the actual time is past, Heb. 9.29. and ch. 10.14. Nei­ther is Baptism the way of making visible Churches, but Profession of the true Faith of Christ, Rom. 10.11.10.12. Gal. 3.26. By Faith, and not by Baptism; you make Baptism your Christ, and so slight the Lords Blood, by placing life in the Figures. [Page 29]But the Apostle, when some in his time, see 1 Cor. 1. did too much magnifie it, he thanked God that he he had not Baptized but a few Fami­lies, and tells them, His Mission was to preach the Gospel: A more weighty Affair than administring Baptism, though both belonged to him. The Apostles never preach­ed up Baptism, as the Catabaptists do: And though Circumcision did make Disciples of right, yet it did not make them visible and actual Di­sciples, but Faith in God's Covenant, and the eating the Pascal Lamb was a, or the, visible Communion, as the Supper is now to professed Be­lievers. You belie the word of God to prove your own Heresie. For this you must answer one day; mark it, Generation was not the way of the Jews, intromiting Church-Members, or making them. It was the knowledge of God's gra­cious Covenant, Gen. 15.6. Faith in Christ, as now. Christs Priestly Office took away the Sins of the Elect un­der the old Administration or Te­stament, [Page 30]as well as now under the new. The Covenant was and is substantially and formally the same, only differs diathetically, and by way of Administration, Heb. 8. Jer. 31.31, 32, 33. 1 Joh. 2.1, 2, 3. Why do you lye against the Scrip­tures? and say, That Ʋnscriptural Sprinckling, for, 1 Pet. 1.2. as the Blood of sprinckling purges away the Sins of the Elect, so will the Water of sprinckling sufficiently figure it out. A little Wax will seal a great Lease when the Cove­nants therein are firmly agreed. do you know what you prate of, the Bond-woman and her Son? You your selves are Children of the Bond-woman, Gal. 4, The Seed of the Adulterer and Whore, Isay 57.34, 10. and 12. You trust in the life of your hand, in your Faith, Repentance, and Obedience for your formal justification, as all Papists do; and as the carnal Jews did suppose that the Law of works was given for them to fulfill in their own per­sons, and what they failed of it was [Page 31]to be supplyed by the Sacrifices and Ceremonies. Thus mistaking the whole Order and End of the Law, which was to carry them to Christ the Mediator, who was ordained in his person to fulfill all the Law of God, and that Righteousness of his to be imputed to the Elect for their justification, and received by Faith, when God gave it them to believe: And so the Law at Sina, given in Thunder and Tempest, was to shew them their Sinfulness, Rom. 3.19, 20, 21, 22. and God's Wrath boyl­ing against Sinners, Rom. 1. and 2. ch. who all in Adam have violated Gods holy Law, Rom. 3. and come short of the Glory of God by it; and to break the Rock of their Carnal Con­fidence and security, 2 Cor. 3. Exod. 19. and 20. To bring the Elect there­by humbly to submit to Christ, the Everlasting Mediator, on whom the Lord laid all the Sins of the E­lect, Isay 53.6, 11. 1 Pet. 2.24, 25. Mica 7.18, 19. Psal. 89. and Psal. 80. ult. and imputes his Personal Righteousness to them for their ju­stification, [Page 32]2 Cor. 5.21. Gal. 3.13. Now as they corrupted their Admi­nistration of Grace under the Old Testament, so do you and your Ge­neration, Pelagians, Arminians, and Papists, under the New Testament: For, the Apostle in that Text, Gal. 4. opposes the Covenant of Grace to the Covenant of Works, or to the Law, made by the Jews, as a Cove­nant of Works, as aforesaid; and not the New Testament or Admini­stration of Grace against the Old; for as they did take the Law for a Covenant of Works, so do you the Gospel; calling Faith, Repen­tance, and Obedience, the Condi­tions of it; which are freely given to them as Fruits of the pardon of Sins, not procurers; and rejecting the imputed Righteousness of Christ, as Papists do, and make the Acts of your Faith to justifie you, which is full of Sin, yea full of Errour and Heresie; and therefore your Righ­teousness shall not profit you in the day of Christ, because you are not wholly freed by Christ, but Sons of the Bond-woman.

There were never but two Cove­nants, for Matter and Form, that of Works, and that of Grace, directly opposite one to the other. The Co­venant of Works was never by Di­vine Institution established to men since Adam's fall; but immediately taken up by Christ, the Elects Sure­ty, and laid on his Shoulders, Isay 9. Being freely wrought in and by him for them, is a Covenant of Grace to them, but of Works to Christ; who obtained all by his Works for them. This Covenant of Grace hath two Administrations; one un­der the Old Testament, before the Law at Horeb, and after the Law to Christ's time in the Flesh: Then began the New Testament and Ad­ministration of Grace to the Elect; more glorious by far than the other for Administration; though in re­spect of the very Substance of the Covenants, the Stipulator and Me­diator Christ, who undertook it for them, the Father gave him from E­ternity, Titus 1.1, 2. 2 Tim. 1.9, 10. Rom. 8.29, 30, 31. Ps. 89. Isay 53.6. [Page 34] Zac. 9.11. and 6.14. In that of Works in Paradise, there was Faith and perfect Obedience, but no Re­pentance, Confession, or Sorrow of Sin, or new Obedience was admit­ted in that; but in that of Grace, there is Faith, but different from that Faith in the Covenant of Works, and new Obedience and Repentance, Confession and Sorrow for sin ad­mitted of none of these, but to for­mally justifie, only Faith in Christ receives justification, and Repen­tance, and New Obedience follows as fruits of Faith, and of the par­don of sin, which sundamentally hangs on Christ's bearing sin away, and satisfying for it once for all. Neither doth our Faith, or Repen­tance, or new Obedience, make us Righteous, but Christ's Righte­ousness, fulfilling the Covenant of Works in his own person, and im­puted to us, and received by Faith, as given of God for that purpose, Ephes. 2.5, 6, 7. Neither is our Re­pentance, or Confession, or New O­bedience, or sorrow for sins com­mitted [Page 35]any part of our Righteous­ness before God, (but as to man) be­ing wrought by the Spirit of Christ in us; follow the pardon of our sins, and our being made Righteous; and follow Faith also in this administra­tion of Grace publickly, Gal. 3. and are not the Grounds or Causes of pardon or Receivers, but the abso­lute Fruits and Effects in the Elect believing. Besides: The Law at Ho­reb was to the Jews a conditional Covenant for Temporal Blessings, and being broke, incurred Tempo­ral Cursings; which, as such a Co­venant, expired when Christ came, and the Paedagogy of the Jews ceas­ed; only the Law, as in the Spiri­tual Power, of it, as a demonstra­tive Law in the hand of Christ and the Spirit, to humble the Elect, and make them sensible of their condi­tion and misery, by the fall from the Covenant of Works in innocency, as in Adam, the only Hole at which all Curse, Wrath and Misery, Spiri­tual and Temporal entred, Rom. 5. That they may fall on Christ, and at [Page 36]his Feet for all Redemption and Help, out of themselves; thus the Law continues still, and for want of this Spiritual Ax, Mal. 4. to cut down and humble you, that you may appear as nothing but Fire­brands for Hell, it is that you and all your proud Generations have perverted Christ's Gospel, and esta­blished a new one, Gal. 1.8, 9. the which makes your case worse, you are insensible of it, but glory and triumph in your cursed Bondage, Gal. 4. Your justification is full of sin, and you make Christ to pur­chase a sinful justification, Gal. 2. and so the Minister of sin you make him, while you prate that he removed the Covenant of Works, and satis­fyed that, and procured a Lex re­mediens, a milder Law; that is, that by Faith, Repentance, and Obedi­ence, we may be justified; and so you make sin to justifie; for all our Faith, and Repentance, and Obedi­ence is but filthy Rags, Isay 64.6. Phil. 3. and full of sin: And Christ faith, That when they have done [Page 37]all that's their duty, that is to be­lieve, to repent, and obey, Luke 17. then are they unprofitable Servants. Ergo you make sin to justifie when you make Faith actually to justifie. 2ly you make Christ the upholder of sin, when you, with the Papists your Brethren, make Christs Blood to purchase a sinfull justification; that is, that our Faith, and Re­pentance shall justifie. Do you see the Pelagian, Arminian, Papistical Crew! upon what Rocks and sholes you split your selves, and all to bring in a new and another Gospel to damn you, and to exclude Christ's everlasting Righteousness, or the Law of works perfectly fulsilled in his person, to be imputed to poor, sinful, undone, ruined Worms, for their free and real justification.

Now all these Imperfections are covered to true Believers with the same Righteousness that covers their persons, Tit. 1.15. And so both they and all their Performances and Righ­teousness, though in it self faulty, is accepted and sanctified, and all the [Page 38]sinfulness of it and them covered, Ps. 32. Rom. 4.5, 6, 7. This is a be­nefit peculiar to the Elect, who tru­ly believe and receive the imputa­tion of Christ's Righteousness, and not to you that cannot cry [...], but [...], whose Ruine, Damna­tion lingers not, except in infinite Mercy he give you humility and po­verty of Spirit; Faith in that truth of the true Jesus, and everlasting Covenant, and Repentance for your Blasphemies and Errours, as a Fruit of the pardon of your sins by their transaction on him, and the Evidence of your Faith in receiv­ing his Righteousness, &c. So un­less you are freed by Jesus from all sin and misery in esse or posse coming on you in Gods sight from Adam's fall, or by your own actual and daily Transgressions, and from all the sin and spottedness of all your most holy Duties, your Faith, Pray­ers, Repentance, and new Obedi­ence, though wrought puerly in you by Christ's Spirit as true Believers, and freed from allsin, past, present, [Page 39]and to come, by the transaction of them on Christ by the Father, Isa. 53.6. and the imputation of his pure Righteousness to your persons, received by Faith alone, you are not free indeed by the Son, Jo. 8.31, 32. but in Bondage under the Law and Curse thereof, Deut. 27. ult. with your Children.

Your twelfth Article is swollen big with an absolute Errour drawn from the practice of the Apostles, laying on of hands, not ministerially, as a sign of the approbation of El­ders, but as an Apostolical practice, which did with them cease, as being fruitless and uneffectual, beyond their time, and unpractised in the or­dinary Churches, nor at all upon a­ny Record of Command — more than James anointing with Oyl, which Papists make a Sacrament; or Christ's washing his Disciples Feet: But because it is sufficiently confuted by Colonel Danvers, a Brother of yours in the water, but I hope in the Spirit built on better Principles, I desist to prosecute further; only I [Page 40]observe this by the way, That your Tribe and Fraternity, having sinned most against the Covenant of God's Grace in Christ, in founding your selves upon Popish, Pelagian, and Arminian Principles, he hath hard­ened your hearts, and left you to more Horrible Errours than o­thers.

Your thirteenth Article is double tongued—runs with the Hare and holds with the Hound; for Com­munion, Prayers, and use of Sa­craments, are the duty of Belie­vers —but not the immediate du­ty of damnable Hereticks. For first repent, and believe the Gospel, if you can, according to its primitive Institution, then those follow in or­der.

To your fourteenth Article I an­swer that you have neither the true Form or Power; and if you had the Form and not the Power, it's e­nough for us to depart your Tents, because they are Tents of Dark­ness. You have not the true Faith, ergo not the true Spirit; ergo not [Page 41]the true Love, ergo not the true Power. And for your Form it is not Apostoli­cal or truly Scriptural. Antichrist's Foundation, ever since the false Apo­stles seduced the Galatians, is that you are built on.

Your fifteenth Article is a Beggar too, and presupposes that which we cannot grant you, That you are the true Church and Ministers of Christ; 'Tis true, the true Ministers of Christ are to be free, and Hospi­table, not like your ltnierants, who trade it in the World, and prate of what you know not, and have not observed the Apostles Rule, 2 Tim. 2.4. and 15.16. vers. for you do not Orthotomounta rightly cut down in twain the Law and the Gospel; preaching one to the proud, self­conceited Hypocrites, and the o­ther the humbled Sinners; and as for Hospitality, when God shall give us Gosel-wages, 1 Cor. 9.12, 13, 14. 2 Cor. 11.7, 8. I trust we shall by his help do our duty in that. You preach not the true Jesus, nor [Page 42]the true Gospel, as Paul did, 1 Cor. 15.3.17. 2 Cor. 11.4.

The sixteenth Article opposes his Fellow afore-going, and gives him the Lye to his face, where Ministers are to be hospitable—But here you take the means of hospitality from them, and tell them, they must preach freely. You forbid Tythes, that sticks in your throats— though Christs Covenant dashed in pieces you can swallow down like the Pharisees Camel, ex ungue Leo­nem: But pray, where are Tythes forbid (jure Humano) as a Gospel Maintenance, if not jure Divina. I would Gospel Ministers had the Tythes by the godly Magistrates An­thority, it would be no sin against Christ.

I ask you a Question, Did Constan­tine sin, or not sin, in giving the Tythes to the Clergy; which thing was done by him: 1. Before the Roman Antichrist arose. 2. In love to Christ, notwithstanding that Voice that is said to tell him, that he had by so doing ruined the [Page 43]Church. If you say it was a sin, then prove against what Law he sinned? for where there is no Law, there is no Transgression. Is it not lawful for Gospel Magistrates to provide for Gospel Ministers? if they may not, by what Law may they not? if they may, by what Law may they not give them the Tenths? 1. You'l say, perhaps, because the Tenths are the Hus­bandmans own; it may be when Christ hath taken the Kingdoms in his own Power, he will give it up to them; but till then 'tis in the pow­er of Kings to dispose it as they will, and your duty to be subject to them, Rom. 13. And it is a custom, è memoria hominum, and therefore not ours, but the Princes; and may not he give it to whom he will? 2. You'l say, 'twas an Antichristian Maintenance, brought in by the Pope: This Reason is of most pre­valency, could you prove it. For first, 'tis apparent that Tythes were given to the Pastors of Churches, before the Roman Antichrist rose [Page 44]up.—So, you make Baptism of In­fants Antichristian, as brought in by the Pope, which was practised from the Apostles days, and never questioned till about the fifth Cent. and then by the Insurrection of Ca­tabaptists. See Calv. Instit. 4. lib. 15, 16. Chapters. But to close all, pray why do you bring in, and establish the capital Errours of Antichrist and Papists; as Free Will, General Redemption, falling from Grace, &c. which were established by Hu­berus, Phygius, Hemingius, Bellarmine, and many other Papists: Yet wipe your mouths, like the Whore in the Proverbs; Come, let's take our fill of love, I have offered Burnt-of­ferings and Peace-offerings to day: So you, Come, let's build on their Foun­dation, for we are baptized with Be­lievers Baptism, and have gathered Churches, and separated from the Church of England. Don't you know that Separation is not a mark of the Spirit sufficient to carry you out, Jude Ep. 19. No, nor giving your goods or bodies to the fire neither, [Page 45]1 Cor. 13, no, nor the multitude of your Party, 1 Kings 18.22. and Chap. 23.20.21, 23, 24. For your pretended holiness, prayers, and zeal, Mat. 6.5, 7, 8. Phil. 3.6.— Now seeing you build upon the Foundation of Antichrist, the very Doctrines of the Whore, and cloath your selves with his Scarlet Co­verings, hating all that are not of your Sect, especially of the Element of Water, and with her Whores Righteousness, viz. that of Works, for Faith and Repentance are our Works for Justification; and yet rail so egregiously against others for holding some of her Ceremonies and Figures,—which at worst can't be so bad as her Doctrine is; there­fore sweep your own doors, and pluck the Beam out of your own eyes, ye Hypocrites, Luke 6.42.

The seventeenth Article cuts its own Throat, for none are more no­torious Hereticks than you Pelagi­ans, Arminians, that have drunk down the Poyson of Antichrist in these damnable Principles, which [Page 46]never no true Protestant held, since the Reformation, till Arminius and Grotius in Germany, and the Socini­ans in Muscovia, till King James his days, who gave a breathing time to the Promulgators of it, and permit­ted it liberty, to the rooting it self in the Brittish Soyls. All the Martyrs died professed Enemies a­gainst it, and charged it upon the Papists, who ever owned it as the Foundation of all their Doctrine. See Foxes Martyrol.

Augustine opposed it in the fifth Cent. wherein Pelagius first broach­ed it in the Western World; and being banished from Rome, brought it into Britain. Not a word of it in the first four hundred years after Christ, though the Arrians, Nesto­rians, Eutychians, and Manechees swarmed with damnable Heresies, yet not a word of this new Gospel; though I believe the Basis of it was laid by Cerinthus and Cerbion, in Primitive times, and by the false A­postles before the Apostles death, [Page 47]as the Apostle demonstrates in his Epistles to the Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews. Therefore we must leave to do with you after the first and second Admonition, and reject you, as the poyson of the Church, and the greatest Enemies to Christ, his im­puted Righteousness, and our preci­ous Souls.

The eighteenth Article proclaims loudly falling away from Grace, and so speakes perfectly the Language of Rome. See Dr. Willet against Papists, in his Fifth Absurdity of General Redemption and Universal Grace, pag. 912 of his Sinopsis. This Errour was detested by the Fathers of the Primitive Times; as first Dio­nysius the Areopagita, in his Ele­venth Epistle to Apollophanus, who as he says of himself, was 25 years of Age at Christ's death. Next Justin Martyr, 163 years after Christ, in his Explic. Quest. a Gentibus Christ. positaram, Quest. 23. and Quest. 98. he declares against it, That the Saints cannot fall away, being once in Christ. Then Ireneus, about 182 [Page 48]years post Christ lib. 5. Cont. Heres. pag. 550. to 558. and pag. 564. ac­cordingto the Edition at Basil, 571. — And Clemens Alexandrinus, a learn­ed man, Anno Christi 200— Then Tertullian, about the same time, in his Book Adversus Hereticos. cap. 2. Editio Beati Rhenati Parisus, 1566. Tom. 1. par. 161.162. — Nemo sapiens, nemo fidelis, nemo major est, nisi Christianus. Nemo autem Chri­stianus, nisi qui ad finem us (que) perseve­raverit. And Origen— And Cy­prian, Anno 270. post Christum. Ar­nobius, Hilarie, and Basil, 370. Am­brose 400 Epiphanius and Chrysostom, Anno Christi 230. and Angustine in cent. 5. Cyril, prosper, and Gregory the Great, 600. and Bede 700. An­selme, 1093. since the Conquest; and Bernard, Anno 1140. As in a Sermon on Can. 7.9. and Can. 3.4. I held him, and would not let him go, un­till I had brought him into my Mothers house. He descants thus. Venerunt flumina flaverunt venti & impegerunt in eam & non cccidit, co quod fundata esset supra petram, petra autem est Christus, [Page 49] Anno Christi, 1616. And Luther, and Calvin, Melancthon, Zuinglius, and Zanchy, and all the Councils, as Milivitan. Can. 3.4. Jo. Hus. and all the Protestants beyond the Seas, have wrote against the Papists, and defended the impossibility of a Be­lievers falling finally. And to shut up all, take Christs own words, Joh. 10.26, 27, 28, 29. And last­ly, take August. once more, lib. de cor. rep. & grat. Chap. 7. Eorum qui E­lecti sunt, si quispiam perit fallitur De­us, sed nemo eorum perit quia non fal­litur Deus, 2 Tim. 2.19. Rev. 3.3. Heb. 6.4.5. are, with other such places, spoken of Hypocrites; as Mat. 13.5, 6, 7. which were ne­ver elected, or truly converted and called. Where are you now? can you subvert Christs words, Joh. 10.26. Ye believe not, because ye are not my Sheep; And Rom. 8. latter end; My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and they shall never perish, and none shall pluck them out of my hand. And then for that Text, Joh. 15. you pervert it, [Page 50]as you do other Texts, to your own destruction, 2 Pet. 3. For every Plant or Branch in Christ the Vine, by external profession, that brings not forth the fruit of true Faith, for Faith is the fruit of the Spirit, shall be taken away from that profession, to some damnable Heresie or A­theisme: And that Scripture is ve­rified in you, and hundreds more of you Baptists, who since you have for­saken your Baptism, and the Cove­nant of the Grace of God, are gi­ven up to damnable Heresies, to Ar­minianism, Pelagianism, a Popish Prin­ciple, and some to Quakerism, and flat Atheism: And therefore this day is that Doctrine of Christ fulfilled upon you. O! that God would grant you repentance, 2 Tim. 2.25. it is God that gives repentance; and it is to be feared, because you have stoln that Prerogative from God, and placed it in your selves, that God will harden your hearts, as he did Pharaoh's, Rom. 9. and give you up to believe a lye, that you may be damned, 2 Thes. 2.10, 11, 12. [Page 51]and Joh. 12.40. blind your eyes, and harden your hearts, lest you should be converted: For to him is all Power, and Glory, and Freedom, to do what he will in Heaven and Earth, for ever and ever, Rom. 11. last.

The nineteenth Article makes provision for the poor, and belongs to the Church-wardens and Over­seers of the Poor, and to the Kings Justices of the Peace at the Quarter Sessions, and Monthly Meetings: Nevertheless, I desire to give of my Morsel to every one that wants, and a Cup of Water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple.

This is the Mode of all Sects and Heresies, this day in the World, to call all their own Brood Saints: so do the Papists, Arrians, Arminians, Socinians, Quakers, and Baptists. This is that Christ prophesied of, Mat. 2.11. Loe here is Christ, loe there is Christ; but you are all deceived, for Christ is not confined to your secret Chambers, to your Societies, or to your Wilderness: he is where­ever [Page 52]the Faith of Christ is, which you deny, having brought another Gospel, Gal. 1. and are therefore accursed.

The twentieth Article professes the Resurrection from the Dead, which the Quakers do seem to de­ny; that is, that the Bodies of the Saints that died, shall rise again, and together with Christ their Head be glorified; and the Bodies of the Unbelievers be raised, and their Spirits and Souls be re-conjoyned, and suffer together with the Devils to all Eternity. But some of you Baptistical Arminians do hold, that the Soul is mortal, and dies with the Body, till the Resurrection,— con­trary to the true Churches confessi­on in all Ages, and to the Scrip­tures, Phil. 1.21, 22, 23. ver. If Paul's Soul had died with his Body till the Resurrection, it had been no gain to him to die; for then there had been more gain to have lived, though in a wicked World, because here he by Faith enjoyed Christ, and his Soul lived with his Body; but [Page 53]when dead, his Soul also slept at least, and then he could enjoy no Communion of Christ, till the time of the Resurrection: But to die is gain; Ergo, his Soul did live and enjoy Christ immediately after his dissolution, as vers. 23. Again, Heb. 9. after Death comes Judgment, yea a particular Judgment of the particular Soul: but if the Soul die with the body, though but for a time, then no particular Judgment, which the Scripture allows: if the Soul dies with the Body till the Re­surrection, what need then is there that Christ should intercede, Heb. 9.24. and appear there before God for the Saints, Heb. 6.20. What does he appear for the dead? then he need not intercede till they live, that is, till the Resurrection: Be­side, Christs Argument to the Sad­duces, your half Brethren, may serve to confute you, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; Er­go, the Souls of Abraham, Isaac, Ja­cob, and all do live, though their Bodies be dead, and Christ, in re­spect [Page 54]of his Body, is the Fore-run­ner, because the Bodies of the Saints shall also (their Souls being reconjoyned) enter with him, Joh. 17.24. 1 Joh. 3.2. Phil. 3.21. and the Souls of the damned are now in Hell, Jude Epist. vers. 7.2 Pet. 2.7. Ergo, the Souls of Saints are now in glory with Christ the Lord. And lastly, the old Whores Purga­tory is better than your mortality, for a live Dog is better than a dead Lyon, Eccles. 9.4.

The one and twentieth Article acknowledgeth a general Judgment, but tacitly denieth the particular Judgment, because the Authors of the Article deny the Immortality of the Soul, from the time of the death of the Body, to the general Resur­rection, as I said before: It is, saith Paul, appointed once for every man to die, and after that death, to Judgment; that is, every particular man; for the Premises is particular, there­fore the Assumption must be parti­cular: the death he speaks of is a particular death; Ergo, the Judg­ment [Page 55]that follows is a particular Judgment; which, I say, these good Gentlemen tacitly deny: It is ab­surd, that the Soul should not live a moment; for if the Soul be im­mortal, à parte post, that is, from the instant of its infusion into the Body, it may not desist from life a moment, for then it would lose its Immortality. If we grant you Mortality of the Soul for a time, they may as well beg its Mortality for ever; for to unreasonable per­sons that have not the true Faith of Christ, grant an Inch, and they will crave an Ell.

But I pass to the two and twen­tieth Article, which is like a Jewel in a Swines Snout: What, the King­dom of Christ set upon the Founda­tion of the Whore of Babylon, and Antichrist? it loaths my Soul to see it. The Reign of Christ in the Kingdoms of the World in his Saints, in a restorative Apostoli­cal manner, before the final dissolu­tion of the World, is and ever was the Judgment and Faith of Saints; [Page 56]and not only so, but at the general Judgment, when Christ shall again the second time appear, Acts 1. in that glorified body of his, and de­scend from the Throne, in that flesh he did ascend with, the innumerable Societies of Saints and Angels, the then living Saints being changed, 1 Thes. 4. ult. Phil. 3. ult. to meet the Lord in the Clouds of Heaven, and together with him, to return to take the Kingdoms of the World into his possession, Dan. 7. Rev. 11. and so to judge the Earth, and give his beheaded and suffering Sons, Rev. 20. quiet and peaceable enjoy­ment of the new Heavens, and new Earth, Isai. 63. and 2 Pet. 3. till the second and last Trumpet, 1 Cor. 15. whether numerically for a thousand years, or less, or more, may be di­sputable by some; but for the sum and substance, hath been owned from the very Apostles days by the Fathers; as Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, and almost, if not all, except August. and Jerom, who yet spake very favourably fo the Chy­leasts, [Page 57]or fifth Monarchical Judg­ment. Licet non sequamur, tamen dam­nare non possumus, quia mult [...] Ecclesi­asticorum virorum ista dixerunt, Jer. 23. Ep. de regnand. secundo Christi. But to set up this glorious Truth and Kingdom of Jesus Christ upon a rotten Papistical, Pelagian, Armi­nian, Heretical, Antichristian Foun­dation, you will receive the reward of the Pharisees, Mat. 7. Lord, we have prophesied in thy Name, and cast out Devils: but, saith Christ, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for unbelievers.

The three and twentieth Article pleads for the holy Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith and Life; it is one thing to take the Letter of the Scripture, with the Doctrine and sense of the Holy Ghost included, and another thing to accept for our Rule the humane glosses of mens na­tural or deluded spirits, the latter of which is equal with their Errour that deny the regular Authority of the Scriptures: The Letter of the Scriptures, and the Spirit of Jesus, [Page 58]are both in Commission from Christ our Prophet to teach his people: they that exclude the Spirit, and pretend the Letter, are as unfortu­nate as Arminians, Socinians, Pelagi­ans, and other Carnal Hereticks: but they that reject the Letter, and pretend the Spirit, are swallowed up of Enthusiastical Delusions, as Quakers and such like: For whom God hath joyned together, we must not dare to separate asunder, with­out incurring the Curse of adding or diminishing.

The twenty fourth Article pleads for Liberty of Conscience in spiri­tual matters: It is not to be doubt­ted but that the Saints of God ought to have their liberty to worship God; and to hinder them, is the greatest sin, next to the sin against the Holy Ghost: but the question is, who are the Saints? 2. Whe­ther false worshippers may have li­berty from godly Magistrates? 1. Saints are either called to the Faith of Christ, and so to the profession of it; and such are visible, though [Page 59]they may differ among them­selves in some circumstances: 2. Saints that are Elect, but uncal­led, may be among them that are false worshippers, till called: the first only worship God truly; be­cause none can worship God truly, but such as truly believe in the Son of God, according to the Declara­tion of God, and that Record he hath given in the Word of his Son; viz. that Christ was made Sin, and a Curse; that he laid their sins on Christ, and so freed them, and their Curse; and so that Righteousness of the Law fulfilled in his Person as God-man, is imputed to them for their whole Righteousness, which they by Faith alone receiving, are visible Saints, and do worship God truly: they that have not this Faith, though Angels in appearance, are but false worshippers, because the Law of Faith in Christ, is the fulfil­ling of the whole Law directly, the first Table towards God, Exod. 20. containing first four Command­ments, that is fulfilled compleatly [Page 60]in a true Believer: and forasmuch as Love flows from Faith, so is the second Table fulfilled in a true be­liever; but this fulfilling the Law by Faith in a Believer, is not his Ju­stification or Righteousness before God, for that is Christs fulfilling it in his Person, Rom. 8.2, 3, 4. and Gods imputing it to the sinner, Rom. 4.5, 6, 7. and Faith as an In­strument receives it, and applies it to its self: So then the Act of Faith in us doth not justifie, for then our Works and the Law would justifie, but it is still Christ alone that justi­fies, Rom. 8. To the second questi­on; the Magistrate may restrain false worshippers: See Rev. 2.20. and 2 Cor. 10.5. the Instruments of the Church for this purpose are spi­ritual, 1 Cor. 5. delivering the proud and contemptible to Satan; and the godly Magistrate is but a Ruling Elder, whether in a Congre­gation or Nation. Let the Tares grow with the Wheat—some say is meant of secret Hypocrites: but I suppose that blood-shed, consiscati­on, [Page 61]or any corporal persecution in this day, is not to be in any wise inflicted on deluded Consciences.

The twenty fifth and last Article, seems to contradict his Predecessor; for he allows the Magistrate to pu­nish evil doers, and incourage the good, but his Predecessor flatly de­nies the Magistrate to have any thing to do with matters of Divine Worship. Now among the Preten­ders to Spiritual Worship, three parts for one may be supposed to be erronious: Now, what is more cru­el than false worship? Ergo, the Magistrate is to punish false Wor­shippers, or else he must not punish all evil doers, forasmuch as such are the greatest evil doers in quality, if not in quantity, or number. But here lies a Falacy occult to most mens judgments; false worship, say they, consists in mode, or manner of worship, not considering that the greatest evil in worship lies in the substance, not in the mode: For false worship consists either in the substance, as in a false Faith, and [Page 62]false Principle, or else in false mode, or manner of worship: the last is bad, but the former worst of all, because it is the ground of the lat­ter; the latter, though true, is but a form of godliness, if the former be wanting. Hence all Arrians, So­cinians, and the greatest part of Rattabaptists, Arminians, Free-willers, General Redemptionists, Conditional Decretists, and Quakers err in the former, though some of them may not in the latter; therefore, at best, have but a form of godliness, and from such we are commanded to turn away; for the Power consists in true Faith, and true Principles, and true love to God and Man, both arising from the diphthongued Union between the Soul, and the Man Christ Jesus, by the Spirit of the Lord; and then mode, order, and disciplinal method will be soon re­ctified, if the Premises be truly grounded, or else not.