A Christian Plea, Treatise 1 · Chapter 4 · Part 1
Of Iſraell heretofore, and Chriſtian Churches ſince, being in Apoſtaſie and Defection.
A further declaration hereof I took‘Advertiſ. p. 59. from the example of Iſraell. For having alledged, that thoſe words, My people, imply the covenant of God, which is, I vvill be your God, and you ſhall be my people; I annexed thereupon, And ſo is Iſraell often called the Lords people, and is thus ſpoken off in the time of their apoſtaſie, by the Prophets: 2 King. 9, 6. and 13, 23. 2 Chron. 30, 6 — 9. Hoſ. 4, 6 — 12. and 5, 4. and 14, 2. Amos 7, 15. and 8, 2, &c. Whereunto this oppoſite not finding what to anſwer‘Animad. p. 81, &c. betaketh himſelf to his woonted shifts and evaſions, and thereupon anſvvereth, that vve proue not the Queſtion. Where let the reader judge, vvhether the point in hand touching that phraſe of Gods people to imply the covenant of God, be not proved by the example of Iſraell, and the Prophets uſe of that ſpeach concerning them. And that ſo plainly, as this man himſelf is glad to paſſe over the Scriptures here alledged, vvithout inſiſting thereon. Moreover, the queſtion here in hand being, concerning the Temple of God, ſpoken off 2 Theſ 2.4. whereabout I alledged alſo that terme and eſtate of the people of God, ſpoken off Rev. 18, 4. he keepeth not hereunto, as he should: but fleeth to Babylon, there to ſeek ſome evaſion, if he could.
Of this vvoonted courſe of his in not keeping the Apoſtles vvords (the Temple of God) whereabout our queſtion is, but in ſtead thereof uſing the termes of the Antichriſtian church, Babylon, and the like, I hauehave ſpoken‡Pag. 144. here before: & need not repeat it. As alſo of the terme*Pag. 129 Gentiles: by the ſound vvhereof he would novv cary avvay the Reader, whenas heretofore (in‘Def. againſt M. Sm. p. 12, 13, 14, 15. the very place here cited by himſelf) he could diſtinguish betvveene theſe Gentiles, and the Court of the Temple here ſpoken off: Rev. 11, 2, 9, 18. Where likevviſe there is*Rev. 11 ch manifeſt reference made (in divers reſpects) not onelyonly to Iſraell, but alſo to Iudah: Which may aſſure us, that theſe are true & fit types alſo of the things here ſpoken of, concerning the church of Rome and other churches in apoſtaſie and defection. For vvhichwhich ſee here before, pag. 127, &c. And ſtill remember, that the very terme of the Temple of God, 2 Theſ. 2, 4. & Rev. 11, 2. beſides all the other things follovving in the ſame chapter, teach the ſame thing undeniably. For vvhichwhich alſo ſee before, pag. 124 — 127. &c.
His next anſvver is touching Iſraell it ſelf: vvhere he laboureth to diſproue, what I alledged concerning them out of the Prophets: but yet medleth not with the Scriptures, vvhichwhich I cited hereabout, and vvhichwhich are vvell to be obſerved about the point in hand: beſides that in his diſcourſe (after his manner) he uſeth what other shifts he can, and falleth into ſundry errors, & great abuſe of the Scriptures, as I hauehave more largely shevved‘Pag. 96. 97, &c. here before, treating of this matter, and of ſome ſpeciall things concerning Iſraell, which here he inſiſteth on more particularly. To which therefore I refer the Reader.
And having now intreated already ſo largely both of Iſraell, and the church of Rome, & other churches in apoſtaſie and defection, as the Reader may ſee I hauehave done: I shall not, for the reſidue of his treatiſe, inſiſt upon every particular from point to point. For ſo I might vvrite many books & volumes thereabout. And in this I hauehave already vvritten much more, then I thought to hauehave done, vvhen firſt I began it. For the reſt therefore of his diſcourſe, it shall ſuffice to note a few (of the many) errors, evaſions, contradictions, and other ſuch ſtuf, vvherewith his treatiſe aboundeth throughout: leaving it to the Reader to eſteem of them and the like, which he may obſerue himſelf, as he shall find them for to be.