Gods Eye on His Israel, Title page – To the reader

Gods Eye on His Israel · Title page – To the reader

GODS EYE ON HIS ISRAEL.

OR, A PASSAGE OF BALAAM, out of NUMB. 23.21.

Containing matter very seasonable and suitable to the times; Expounded and cleared from Antinomian abuse; With Application to the present estate of things with us.

By THO. GATAKER, B.D. and Pastor of Rotherhith.

PSALM. 94.

9. He that planteth the ear, shal not he hear? he that formed the ey, shal not he see?

10. He that chastiseth the heathen, shal not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, should not he know?

11. The Lord knoweth these thoughts of men, that they are vanity.

12. Blessed is the man, whom thou chastenest, O Lord; and teachest him out of thy Law.

LONDON▪ Printed by E.G. for Foulke Clifton, and are to be sold at his shop on new Fishstreet-hill under Margarets-Cuurch. 1643.

TO THE Religious, Iudicious, and Ingenuous READER: For such should I desire all that read me to be; Religious, that willing to be informed of the truth; Judicious, that able, when held out, to discern it; Ingenuous, that ready, when convinced of it, to acknowledge it.

Or, Because this is matter rather of wish, then of hope, To any READER indifferently; Those especially of mine own Congregation, either untainted, or tainted with Antinomian opinions.

HAving in the course of my ministery among mine own people delivered, and in conference with others elsewhere declared, my judgement, concerning a passage in Balaams prophecies, much pressed by our Antinomian Teachers, for the proofe of one of their principall Positions, concerning the present estate of justified persons, and Gods sight of sinne in them; I have by divers of those, who thereby took notice of it, been since solicited, yea by some of them importuned, to explain it more fully, and to make it more publique. Which motion, albeit I did for some space of time entertain with a deaf eare, as being one well-neere spent, and too well conscious to my self, how unfit, at these yeers, and this weaknesse, (which might justly plead a discharge from such employments) to be drawn forth into the field, and engaged in matter of controversie, further then the safety and welfare of mine owne flock might there in be concerned; yet for some considerations, which I shall not need here to relate, I have at length been induced to condescend to the desires of those, who have herein been so earnest with me. and this the rather, that I might thereby take occasion, to vindicate my selfe from some aspersions, which some of these mens followers have endevoured to fasten upon me; as if I had falsely and unfaithfully related their opinion, in the point especially, which they ground on that passage of Scripture here dealt with; whereby they affirm, that

God doth not, will not, cannot, in those times, see any sin in any of his justified children.

Which Position, albeit with much confidence they maintain, and with no lesse eagernesse contend for, as hereafter shall be made to appear; yet when it is charged upon them, their disciples are wont to cry out and clamour, that they are belied, wrongfully traduced, and injuriously dealt with, as being charged with that, which they neither teach nor maintain. And indeed, to meer strangers, or even to some of their own followers, who being but novices yet in the schoole of these mysteries, may chance to boggle and startle somewhat at such assertions as these, they may peradventure refuse, (as your brokers for Popery are in the like case wont to do with some of their grosser points, as the aaNon est dicendum in concionibus ad populum, imagines ullas adorari debere cultu latriae, sed è contrario non debere sic adorari. qia hoc dicere, non caret magno periculo. Offendit aures catholicorum. praebet occasionem haereticis liberius blasphemandi. Bellar. de cult: sanct. l. 2. c. 22. qin & qo idolatriae crimen amolirentur, imagines ullas omniuò …i se coli, negarunt apud nonnullos quidam sacrificuli; & in collationae Caleti mecum habitâ, duo fraterculi.worship of Images, and the like) to be acknown of that which yet they hold, or at least seem to hold, (for whether they can work their own hearts really to beleeve what in some things they say, may not unjustly be doubted) and, where they may be bolder and freer, stick not bbforeign. Chrysost. in Babyl. foreign. Lucian. Pseudolog.nakedly, without maske or vail, to propound, and peremptorily to avow and maintain as an undeniable truth of God, and a main principle of faith.

Nor is it any marvell, that they should thus do; since that, however ccVeritas non qaerit angulos, non amat. Bern. in serm.truth, as we use to say, seeks no corners, wherein to shroud it selfe, in times of liberty especially, such as at present we live in; ddNihil veritas erubescit, nisi solummodo abscondi. Tertul. ad Valent. c. 3. unum gestit, ne ignorata damnetur. Idem. apolog. c. 1.nor shunneth any thing more, as being of nothing more afraid and ashamed then not to be seen, and to appeare in her own native and naked shape; yet error on the other side, as conscious to it self of its own unsoundnesse, is wont to seek lurking nooks, wherein to lie hid; and starting holes, whereat to slip out; and ffforeign Basil. orat. 14. & Simeon orat. 1.shifts and sleights, wherewith to disguise it self; shunneth nothing more then the light,eeforeign. Aeschyl. arm. jud foreign. Eurip. Phaeniss. Theodoret. therap. l. 1. Julian. orat 7. Stob. c. 11. and is mostggAbscondit se, quantum potest, totamqe prudentiam in latebrarum ambagibus torqet, aliè habitat, in caeca detruditur, per anfractu… seriem suam evolvit, tortuosè procedit, nec semel totus, luci fuga bestia. Tertul. ad Val c 3.loath to be seen and appear in its own likenesse. and when it is therefore pursued, that it may be attached and brought forth to light, it either beddeth it self with the Eel in the mud, or with the hhforeign. Oppi…n. Pisc. l. 3. Vbi sensere se apprehendi, effuso atramento infuscatâ aqâ absconduntur. Plin. l. 9. c. 29.cuttle-fish, so discoloureth the waters about it, that men seem to have lost the sight of what they even now saw, and to be as if they wotted not what were become of that, iiVt aspersae falsitatis nebulis seductus, pe è amisisse se videat, qod jam certum tenebat, & intra tenentis manus totus amittatu…, qi totus ante videbatur. Greg. p. st. l. 3. c. 1. § 12.which erewhiles they deemed themselves to have had, either cleer in their eye, or fast in their hand.

This practise discovered it self over-sufficiently in those kkMr. Randall, Mr. Simson, Mr. Lancaster.three grand patrons and ring-leaders of this faction, what time they were convented before the worthy Committee of the honourable house of Commons in the Star-chamber. Where being required, or requested rather, to deliver their opinion in divers points then propounded unto them, for the cleering of themselves and the doctrine taught by them, they sought at first by all mean… to decline giving any answer at all; and, being pressed upon it, when they could not well avoid it, the answer they gave was in such generall, obscure and ambiguous terms conceived, as that they might seem to say somewhat to the point propounded, and yet conceal what their mind might be in the main matter intended.

My chief entendement therefore at present shal be, not so much to debate or discusse the points in controversie between us and them: (I shall leave that to those that have better abilities and more leisure: and the truth is, that in some particulars their assertions are so grosse, that the very llDemonstrare solummod… dest…uere est. Tertull. adv. Valent. c. 3.discovery by uncasing and devesting them of those veils & dressings wherwith their paterouns are wont to disguise them, is refutation sufficient:) but to make manifest and lay open only what it is that they maintain; that it may not be deemed, as their fautors and followers use to affirm, that in dealing with them, we fight but with mmforeign. Plato de leg. l. 8.shadowes and nnCum larvis luctari. Plin. praefat.spirits of our own raising, or ooforeign. Plato leg. l. 8. foreign. Chrysost. in Mat. orat. 33. foreign Lucian. de sect.shoot at a man of straw that our selves have set up, or to hack and hew ppContra palum in terram defixum, tanquam contra adversarium, cum crate & clava, dimicabant tyrones. Veget. milit. l. 1. c. 11. & l. 2. c. 23. Inde, pali vulnera, Juvenali sat. 6. &c. cavat assidu… sudibus, Scutoqe lacessit.a post, which insteed of an adversary, when we have none, we have made choyce of, whereon to exercise our arms and our armes.

The question then is, what it is that these men maintain, concerning Gods sight of sinne in the faithfull. which (to state aright the controversie, as it stands between them and us) is not either concerning the efficacy of justification in generall; or concerning Gods sight of sin generally in such as beleeve and are justified; (that which would be observed, to discover the meer impertinency of a multitude of allegations, which out of orthodox autors concerning those points these men heap up to no purpose) but whether God do, or will, or can see sinne in the same manner in persons so qualified and estated now, as in former times he did. In which question we maintain the affirmative, to wit, that God seeth sinne in such as well now, as in former ages he did; they are stiffe for the negative, to wit, that albeit in former ages God did see and take notice of sinne in such, yet in these dayes he doth not, he will not, he cannot so do.

That this is the true state of the controversie between us and them, may appear by a prolix Treatise of this argument, generally received, and highly esteemed with them, the book beareth this title.

The Honey-comb of free justification by Christ alone: collected out of the meer Authoritie… of Scripture, and common and unanimous consent of the faithfull Interpreters and dispensers of Gods mysteries upon the same; especially as they expresse the excellency of free Iustification.

This is said to have been preached and delivered by Iohn Eaton, while he lived, and was since his decease published in Print by Robert Lancaster: the same man that set out some Sermons of qqDr. Crisp.another, now, I hope, with the Lord; which yet, in regard of divers passages too much tending to the countenancing of some of these mens unsound assertions, it may well be wished, had rather died with the Autor, that so the errors, which had escaped him, tho a pious person otherwise, might have rested, if it might be, with his remains.

The main subject of this book is to prove the point above-mentioned, to which purpose, that we may not mistake him, he maketh rrHoney-comb chap. …. pag. 98.a distribution of beleevers or justified persons in regard of their estate in this behalfe according to three distinct times; the time of the Law the time of Iohn Baptist, and the time of the Gospel: the first, glorious; the second, more glorious; the third, most glorious. And if it be demanded, wherein the difference of these degrees of glory in those severall times consisted; he thus laieth it down.

ssPag. 98.The first time of the Law was glorious; because ttHeb. 13.8.Heb 13:8Iesus Christ was in it; and uuPsal. 87.3.Ps 87:3glorious things are spoken of the City of God that then was▪ yet Christ and those glorious things were veiled and greatly obscured with the bondage and terrors and legall government, not onelyonly of the ceremoniall law, as the Papists hold, but also of the morall law, whereby sin was severely taken notice of, and also punished sharply in Gods children.

aaPag. 102.The second time between the Law and the Gospel, to wit, the time of Iohn Baptist, continuing unto the death of Christ, was more glorious then the former; bbPag. 103.because in it the former legall severity, that then lay upon the Children of God, began now to slack and cease. For altho Iohn laid open their ccCulpas.sinnes, and the danger of them; yet we read not ddDe poenis.of any punishments inflicted on Gods children. whereupon tho eeMatth. 27.70, 74. Luke 22.60, 61.Matt 27:70Matt 27:74Luke 22:60Luke 22:61Peters foul fault of denying and grosse for swearing his Master, and other sinnes were taken notice of in this middle age, yet no punishments were inflicted upon them for the same.

ffPag. 106.The third time, the most glorious, is since Christ groaned out his bloud and life upon the Crosse, by which the ggCulpa.sinne it self, and hhReatu….guilt, and iiPoena.punishment are so utterly and infinitely abolished; that kkPag. 41. & 108.there is now no sinne in the Church of God; and llPag. 108.that God now sees no sinne in us: mmPag. 39.and whosoever beleeveth not this point, (thereby nnPag. 108.robbing this third time of her glory, and Christ of this full revealed efficacy of his bloud) is undoubtedly damned.

To the strengthening of this his fiction concerning this last period of time, he abuseth divers places of Luther, Calvin and other worthy Divines, who in all likelihood never once dreamed of this his fancy; (which I will not stand now to discusse;) those words of the C…eed, ooPag. 41 & 108.One holy Catholike Church; (as if Gods people before Christs appearance in the flesh were not ppDeut. 14.…1. & 28.9. & 33.3 Psal. 16.3 & 30.4. & 31.23.Deut 14:1Deut 28:9Deut 33:3Ps 16:3Ps 30:4Ps 31:23holy, as well as they that now live) and among other Scriptures, that of Iohn qq1 John 3.5.1 John 3:5he came to take away sinne; and in him (that is, rrPag. 108.saith he, in his body the Church) is no sinne. So that the main glory of the state of Christian men, or the beleevers of these times, he makes to consist in a freedome from Gods sight of sinne in them, and his being offended with them for it; (as ssThe Autor of the bloudy Tenent. Propos. 6. See … use last of the ensuing Discourse.some other the fruit and effect of Christs coming in the flesh, in a procurement of permission for all sorts of religions) that tho they now sinne never so grievously, yet God is not so much as angry with them for any of their sinnes, much lesse doth he chastise any of them for the same, as in the first period of time he did: yea that he doth not so much as see it, much lesse take any notice of it, as he did yet in the second ▪ and his main conclusion therefore is, that ttHoney-comb Chap. 3. pag. 35God seeth now no sinne at all in his justified children. I adde, that, as he doth not, so he will not: for, uuChap. 4. p. 61.God, saith he, seeth all things, saving that which he will not see, and which himself undertakes to abolish out of his sight, that he may not see. and yet further, that he cannot. for how can God see sinne, where no sinne is? as was before by him averred. and xxChap. 3. p. 77.it is impossible, saith he, for us to hope that God should love us, till our sinnes are clean put out and abolished. and again, yyChap. 3. p. 25.He that beleeveth that Christ hath taken away his sinne, is as clean without sinne as Christ himself.

Hence then it appeareth, that the matter in controversie, as before was said, between us and these men, is not, how farre forth sinne is removed or abolished in beleevers, or how farre forth it is by justification abandoned, or in what sense God is said to see, or not see sinne, or to t…ke notice of it, in beleevers and justified persons; but whether God do see, and take notice of, and chastise sinne in such now, as in times past he did. and you see the point determined directly for the negative, that God doth not, will not cannot, see, or take notice of, any sinne in any beleever, much lesse chastise any such (albeit in former times he had wont so to do) for ought that now he doth amisse. in plainer tearms, that tho a beleever fall never so foully, or live never so loosely, God doth not see it, nor take notice of it, nor is at all offended with him for the same. For example; suppose a Christian travelling into Turky, and falling into the hands of Mahometan pirates, who by torture would enforce him to deny Christ and Christianity, if such an one, to escape torment and attain liberty, should with oaths and execrations deny Christ, and abjure his Christian profession; that God would not so much as take any notice of it in him; albeit in Peter, when he offended in somewhat the like case, he did. again, that howsoever, when aa2 Sam. 11.4.15, 27.2 Sam 11:42 Sam 11:152 Sam 11:27David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and to smother his sinne and enjoy her, took away the life of her husband Vriah; God beheld it, took notice of it, was displeased with him, and bb2 Sam. 12.10 11, 14.2 Sam 12:10chastised him very sorely for it: yet in these dayes, if the like wickednesse should by any beleeving persons be perpetrated, to wit, that a stranger should solicite a mans wife to uncleannesse, and she admit him to her husbands bed ccProv. 7.19, …0.Prov 7:19in his absence, being either about publike service, or private employments, abroad; and they should afterward both further complot together, to take away the life of her husband, that they might the more freely enjoy either other; God would not so much as once so see it, as to take any notice at all of such villany; or be at all angry, either with the one, or the other (supposing them to be such as David was) for so doing; or ever so farre forth call them to a reckoning, as to chastise either of them in the least degree, for the same. which doctrine, whether it be not such as removeth a main curb of restraint to keep men and women (in secret especially) from sinne: and whether it be a lesson fit to be instilled into the minds and heads of young women, in the times especially of their husbands more then ordinary occasions of absence; and whether they deale wisely and discreetly, or are not injurious to themselves, that in such case give entertainment to the teachers of such doctrine, such of them especially, if any such be, or shall be, as either are not, or have not been wholly free from some scandall themselves; I leave it to any sober-minded Christian to judge.

This then it is, that these men directly avouch, and with an high hand contend for, pressing it upon us, yea upon all persons, (as ye have heard) to be beleeved and received, under a peremptory penalty, of no lesse then everlasting damnation. And this because we contradict and oppose, averring on the other hand (for that is all that in this particular we maintain against them) that God doth see and take notice of, the sinnes, slips, and excesses of his Saints, as well in these dayes, as in times past, and doth oft chastise them, and that sharply also sometime, for the same; we are therefore by them branded with most opprobrious imputations, and loaded with the vilest aspersions that may be. which if you can endure with patience to heare, as we must bear, be pleased to consider with me a while, how the Honey-combs author hath behonyed us; and from him learn, what the usuall dialect concerning us is among his disciples. In this manner then is he pleased to bedaub us with his honey, such as it is.

These men, saith he, ddHoney-comb pag. 44.tho they be Protestants in name, and professe themselves utter enemies to Papists, yet shake hands with them in the main points of salvation. and, eeIbid.by reason… of their being in a dead faith, understanding not the doctrine of justification, but conceiving it after a carnall and humane witted fashion; ffPag. 45.talking of what they hold, as men in a sheep, and running round, as blind horses in a mill; and with ggJohn 3.4.John 3:4Nicodemus accounting the hhforeign. 2 Cor. 2.10.2 Cor 2:10deep things of God absurd; iiPag. 44.they nullifie free justification, and make it as good as nothing. for kkPag. 48.they have as much faith as an Oxe or an Asse; beleeving nothing but what they see and feele; llPag· 54.following meerly their present sense, as a beast: and mmPag. 58.stumbling at this block of their sight, sense and feeling, they break the neck of their faith, and so endanger to break the neck of their soules. for nnPag. 66.by breaking the neck of their faith, they make it a dead faith, good for nothing, neither to glorifie God, nor to save their souls. thus ooPag. 39.they make God no God; but make reason, sense, and feeling their God. for ppPag. 52.pratling idlely and talking by the light of nature, of Gods power and presence, and all-seeing and all-searching nature, after a Gentilish and heathenish manner; to the frustrating of his word and promises; and qqPag. 58.seeming to stand for and defend the same; rrPag. 55.by cavils and allegations, ssPag. 52.Heathenish, and Gentilish, and Papisticall; yea ttPag. 55.beastly, ungodly and blasphemous; uuPag 59.breathing out nothing but unbelief; xxPag. 58.which, as a blind bayard, goeth about to make God blind, that he cannot see his own work wrought upon his children; and like a bold Betteresse, maketh God to her selfe impotent, blind, and a lier; yyPag. 52.they reject faith, dishonour God, rob him of his power, spoil him of his truth, find him no more our God, then the Gentiles and Heathen did; and seeming to glorifie him, rob him of the glory of his God-head: zzPag. 64.making him impotent in his power, false in his word and promises, blind, that he cannot see his own and his Sonnes proper work in and upon us; and so by unbelief abolish to themselves the whole God-head.

Again, aaPag. 113.lisping in speech, and limping in practise, yea halting down-right in the doctrine of free justification, and bbPag. 114.sliding back to the legall teaching of the Old Testament, in promising rewards to the followers of righteousnesse, and threatning punishment to transgressors; they sow up▪ again the veil, that was ccMatth. 27.51Matt 27:51rent from the top to the botome, and shut up the holy of holies. ddPag. 137.and by mingling the Law and the Gospel together, as if one should mingle black and white, they marre both; and not onelyonly blemish and darken the doctrine of grace, but take away Christ, and all his benefits; secretly undermine, and utterly overthrow the Gospel, eePag. 65.and all the benefits of it; ffPag. 59.deny the nature and essence of faith, deny baptisme, deny Christ, ggPag. 1…5deny his satisfaction; and hhPag. 86. & 137.by perverting the Gospel of Christ, become of preachers of the Gospel, Ministers and Apostles of the Devill. and iiPag. 137.by making a miscilan and mixture of the Law and the Gospel, they preach neither good Law, nor good Gospel, but a miscilan and marring of both; and thereby make kkGal. 4.25.Gal 4:25miscilan Christians, that is, meer hypocrites▪ for llPag. 142.they expell the filiall, and bring in a servile fear; and make Gods children serve him with eye…service, which in them is abominable; and so mmPag. 60.nourish hypocrisie, but nnPag. 140.greatly hinder true sanctification, true repentance, and holy walking, ooPag. 115.by legall threats and rewards; which cause but a constrained hireling sanctity, which is hypocriticall legall holinesse; or else cause people to run, tho more cautiously, yet the faster, into sinne.

Furthermore, ppPag. 110.they bring forth a rod, to whip, if shee tread her foot a little awry, the bride in her qqApoc. 19.7, 8.Rev 19:7Rev 19:8mariage attire, rrPag. 115.the Queen in her ssPsal. 45.9.Ps 45:9royal robes, and pulling the wedding garments off, over the brides head; and ttPag. 136.putting on her a mourning garment of blows: uuPag. 144.stripping the Queen and bride, & making her stand naked, to be whipt with rods of crosses & afflictions, at her marriage feast; xxPag. 64. & 57they frustrate and make void the wedding garment of Christs righteousnesse; yyPag. 57.which hereby is made one, in regard of the being of sinne it self, and Gods sight of sinne in his, with the hypocrisie and security of the wicked: and Gods covering is made all one with mans covering; nay rather with the deceitfull covering which the wicked make to themselves: and the justified in regard of Gods seeing the being of sinne in them, are made all one with the reprobate and wicked. zzIbid.every one of which points is horrible blasphemy against Christ and his righteousnesse.

Besides that, hereby aaPag. 150.they rob God of the glory of his justice, and infinite hatred of the least sinne: which bbPag. 57. & 65being the image of the Devill, ccPag. 150.is a thousand times more filthy and loathsome in Gods sight, then the loathsomest dung can be to the eyes of a Prince; and ddPag. 141.being horrible poyson of hell, so poysoneth us, and all our walking of sanctification, that (as eeMa…k 7.21.23 Pag. 65.Christ saith) it defileth all unto damnation: yea ffPag. 140.is such a plague-sore of our soul, as maketh us unable to do any spirituall duty. and as therefore ggPag. 65.the justified must needs be, not onelyonly more foul and loathsome, then any spider or toad full of loathsome poyson, or any swine defiled over head and ears with mire, in our sight, but even as foul as ugly Devils in Gods sight, if he see any sinne in us; and hhPag. 50.51.they are to be condemned of filthy hypocrisie, that dare presse into Gods presence with the least sinne in them and upon them: so iiPag. 65.God, being the fountain of justice and righteousnesse, cannot but detest and abhorre us, as long as he sees us in our sins; nor will the holy Ghost dwell in such foul hogsties; nor will Christ knit such ugly members, much lesse marry such a foul sow, and such filthy swine, to himself; nor will God acknowledge, much lesse adopt for his sonnes and daughters, those whom he seeth full of the image of the Devill. kkPag. 64.for if God see any one sinne in them, seeing it is sinne it self, and nothing else but sinne, it is sufficient to defile them so in Gods sight.

Lastly, llPag. 138.they paint out God like an angry father, ever seeing sinne in us, and ever standing with a rod or staffe in his hand, lifted up over our heads, with which by reason that he ever seeth some fault and blame in us, he is ever ready, if not to strike us down, yet to crack our crowns, and sorely to whip us, and to becudgel us thoroughly.

Thus you see, with what language the first founder of this faction among us, salutes all those, and what liveries he b…stowes on them, that either oppose him, or dissent from him in this his groundlesse and godlesse conceit. which to requite, and that much more deservedly, with the like, tho it would be a matter of no great difficulty, yet I shall willingly forbear: onelyonly desiring the intelligent Reader seriously to weigh, and advisedly to deem of, these ensuing propositions.

1. Who they be that blind-fold God, and make him mmHony comb. …ag. 58.a blind God: they that say, he seeth sinne, wheresoever, and in whomsoever it is; or that say, he doth not at all see it, nor can see it in some.

2. If Gods covering of sinne, do so nnPag. 24.32.37utterly abolish all sight of any remains of corruption in those, whose sinnes are by God said so to be covered, how it came to passe, that in those former ages, God saw and took notice of sinne and corruption in those, ooPsal. 85.2.Ps 85:2whose sinnes yet he is in these times said to have covered.

3. Whether of the two make men more ppMultum refraenat homines conscientia, si credamus nos in conspect… Dei vivere, si non tantumqae gerimus, videri desuper, sed etiam qae cogitamus, aut …oquimur, audiri à Deo putemus. Lactant. de ira Dei c. 8. Magna vobis necessitas est indicta probitatis, qi ante oculos agitis judicis cuncta cernentis. Boet. consol. l. 5. & Bern. medit. c. 6.conscientious of their wayes; they who teach and maintain, that qqJob 34.21, 22. Psal. 119.168. Prov. 5.20, 21.Job 34:21Job 34:22Ps 119:168Prov 5:20Prov 5:21God hath an eye on them, as well when they do evill, as when they do well; or those who say, rrJob 22.13, 14. Psal, 10.11. & 94.7.Job 22:13Job 22:14that he hath no eye on them, when they do amisse, either to take notice of it, or to be displeased with them for it.

4. Whether this doctrine, that God seeth when men sinne, and taketh notice of it, be a likely means ssHoney-comb. Pag. 115.to make men run out the faster into sin; or the contrary teaching rather, whereby it is avowed, that he doth nothing lesse.

5. Whether the former doctrine and the teaching of it, when time was, did then ttIbid. pag. 60.nourish hypocrisie, and tended to the making of Gods people, that then lived, uuPag. 137.meer hypocrites.

6 Whether Davids xxPsal. 16 8.Ps 16:8setting God alwayes before his face, and his perswasion that yyPsal. 119.168.Ps 119:168all his wayes were in Gods sight, did make him, or other of the faithfull, that then lived, and were likewise so perswaded, either zzSee Honey-comb. Pag. 140.the more slack, or lesse sincere, in their service.

7. Whether any of the faithfull in the time of the Old Testament, did ever aaHoney-comb Pag. 138.paint out God like an angry father, standing alwayes with a rod or staffe in his hand over his children, ready, because he saw ever some fault or blame in them, therewith, if not to strike them down, yet to crack their crowns, and whip them sorely, or becudgel them throughly: and whether it was not a notorious calumny for any man to say they so did; albeit they did, and (by this Autors own grounds and graunts) might truly, teach herein then, the same that we now do.

8. Whether in the times of the Old Testament, there were bbIbid. Pag. 57.no difference at all between persons justified, and the wicked and reprobate, in respect of sinne it self, the being of it, and Gods seeing of it, in them.

9. Whether ccIbid.Gods covering of sin in those times, when he is acknowledged yet to have seen it, was all one with mans covering, or with the deceitfull coverings that wicked men make to themselves: or ddIbid.the garment of Christs righteousnesse, (which they also had a right to and a share in, as well as we now have) all one in that regard, with the security and hypocrisie of the wicked.

10. Whether the very being of the remainders of sinne, that were in the beleevers, (tho justified persons) of those times, and Gods sight of the same in them, did eePag. 140.utterly disable them unto the performance of all spirituall duty; ffPag. 141defiled all their holy walkings, even unto damnation, ggPag. 65.made them as foul as Devils, hhPag. 50.51▪so abominable in Gods sight, as that without filthy hypocrisie they could not proffer any petition unto him, or presse into his presence; iiPag. 65.so vile and ugly in his eyes, that he could not but detest and abhorre them; such hogsties, as that the holy Ghost would not dwell in them; such foul sowes and filthy swine, as that Christ would not unite, much lesse mary them, to himself; and so full of the Devils image, that God would not own them, much lesse adopt them for sonnes and daughters.

11. Whether the faithfull in those times, when God saw, took notice of, and chastised sinne in them, and they beleeved that he so did, kkPag. 52.found him no more their God, then the Gentiles and Heathen did.

12. Whether in those times, those who taught, that God saw sinne in such, llPag. 150robbed God of the glory of his justice, and hatred of sinne ▪ or, mmPag. 64.made him impotent in his power, false in his word, and blind, that he could not see his own and his sonnes proper work in and upon them; and so by unbelief abolished to themselves the whole God-head.

All which assertions concerning God himself, his Saints of former times, his covering of sinne with them, his sight of sinne in them, his detestation of them, and their dismall estate and condition in that regard, if it be most repugnant to Gods word, yea no lesse then horrid blasphemy, for any man to averre; then are we, not onelyonly acquited from those hideous imputations, that these men would fasten upon us, for affirming no more of the faithfull and justified ones that now live, then themselves by evidence of truth, agreeably to Gods word, are enforced to confesse and acknowledge, concerning those faithfull and justified ones, that lived in times past before Christs appearing in the flesh; but the crime of blasphemy may also not unjustly be retorted upon them, whose positions do necessarily inferre all that hath been said concerning those blessed Saints and faithful servants of God, who then nnJohn 8.56. & 12.41. Heb. 11.13. & 13.8.John 8:56John 12:41Heb 11:13Heb 13:8beleeved in Christ as well as we now do, were ooRom. 4.3, 5. 2 Cor. 4 13.Rom 4:3Rom 4:52 Cor 4:13justified by the same faith that we now are, and ppActs 15.11.Acts 15:11saved by the same grace that we partake in with them.

The result of all that hath hitherto been said then, is this.

1. That we wrong them not in that which we charge them to maintain, to wit, that God doth not now see, or take notice of any sinne in any justified person, nor is at all displeased with him, much lesse doth at any time chastise him, for the s…me; albeit that in his best Saints and children in times past he so did.

And 2. that they wrong us, in charging us with blasphemy and such horrid crimes, as following necessarily from that, which we maintain contrary to this their assertion; when as the same may as justly be charged upon that, which themselves hold, concerning the faithfull of former times, and on the Scriptures that hold out the same.

Now because it may be said, that this was indeed the opinion of Mr. Eaton while he lived: but that that opinon of his died with him.

It were to be wished indeed, that it had so done, but as by the late publishing of his discourse concerning it, the contrary appeareth; so for further satisfaction herein, I shall entreat the Reader, to consider and take notice of these ensuing Positions, which, with others of the like nature, at a publike hearing before a Committee of the Honourable House of Commons in the Star-chamber, were by sufficient witnesses proved to have been delivered by qqThe parties before-mentioned.three of the chief leaders of this faction among them, some in publike, some in private, some of them in the Pulpit, and some by the Presse.

1. rrMr. Randall, and Mr. Simson.That the morall Law i… of no use at all to a beleever; no rule for him to walk, nor to examine his life, by. and that Christians are free from the mandatory power of it.

Whence (it may well be) proceeded those exclamations of ssMr. Simson.one of them in the Pulpit, Away with the Law; away with the Law: and that horrid ttAverred by not a f…w, that then heard him.speech of his, The Law cuts off a mans legs, and then bids him walk.

2. uuMr. Randall, at Martin Orgars.That it is as possible for Christ himself to sin, as for a child of God to sin.

3. xxMr. Randall; delivered by him in private, and defended in publike.That a child of God need not, nay ought not to ask pardon for sin: and that it is no lesse then blasphemy for him so to do.

4. yyMr. Simson.That God doth not chastise any of his children for sin: nor is it for the sins of Gods people, that the Land is punished.

5. zzMr. Simson.That if a man by the Spirit know himself to be in the state of grace, tho he be drunk, or commit murther, God sees no sin in him.

6. That when Abraham aaGen. 12.13. & 20.2.Gen 12:13Gen 20:2denied his wife, and in outward appearance seemed to lie in his distrust, lying, dissembling, and equivocating, that his wife was his sister, even then truly all his thoughts, words, and deeds were perfectly holy and righteous from all spot of sinne in the sight of God freely.

To which may be added that wholsome exhortation, then also averred, to have been delivered by bbMr. Simson.one of them likewise in the pulpit, which might well passe for an use of the point, Let believers sinne as fast as they will, there is a fountain open for them to wash in.

By these their assertions then it is evident enough, that as Mr. Eatons book is in great request and high esteem with them, so his doctrine is still constantly held and maintained by them.

As for Abrahams example, which to that purpose they abuse, being taken out of Mr. Eatons book, where it is verbatim ccHoney-comb chap. 5. p. 79▪ 80.so found; and he endevoureth by this observation to adde strength unto; to wit, that ddChap. 4. p. 72.tho men did reprove him, yet we read not that God took notice of any sin in him, nor did once rebuke him all his life, after his calling for any one sin.

1. I should demand, whether this be a good argument to prove, that God approved, or did not mislike, or take notice of, or was displeased with, any sinfull act in any person, because he is not read to have reproved the party so offending for the same. For if so, we may consequently conclude the same of eeGen. 9.21.Gen 9:21Noahs being drunk; of ffGen. 19.33, 35.Gen 19:33Gen 19:35Lots daughters making their father drunk to make way for their incest, and of their incestuous companying with him; of ggGen. 27.27.Gen 27:27Iacobs deluding his father Isaac with a lie; of hhIbid. v. 9, 10.Rebekkah his mothers putting him upon it; of iiGen. 38.14, 15, 18.Gen 38:14Gen 38:15Gen 38:18Iudah… lying (tho upon a mistake) with his daughter in law Thamar, and of her disguising of her self to enduce him therunto; of kkGen. 35.22.Gen 35:22Rubens defiling of his fathers bed; ofll2 Sam. 11.4,2 Sam 11:4 Bathshebaes yeelding to Davids adulterous desire; of Joabs murther, first of mm2 Sam. 3.27.2 Sam 3:27Abner, and after of nn2 Sam. 20.10.2 Sam 20:10Amasa, &c. all which, tho sinfull acts and excesses, God is no where recorded to have rebuked them for, or to have reproved in them.

2. I demand, which of the three periods of time before-mentioned, Abrahams life is by these men referred unto. For if they will say, that he lived before the Law; and that therefore it was then with him, as it is now with us.

1. Moses his example will herein control them, who lived also before the Law given in mount Sinai; and yet did God so far forth see and take notice of sin in him, as that upon his hanging back, when he called him to go on his message to Pharao, he was ooExod. 4 14.Exod 4:14very angry with him; and for the neglect of his childs circumcision, he was like ppExod. 4.24.Exod 4:24to have slain him.

2. It will overthrow the main ground of their assertion; to wit, that this priviledge tooke not place, qqHoney-comb chap. 3. pag. 38. & 40. & chap. 6. pag. 106.untill Christ had groaned out his blood and life on the crosse. Or, if they shall grant, that by vertue of his blood then shed it was formerly enjoyed, they shall by that grant again overthrow their own assertion, concerning those that lived after the delivery of the Law; unlesse they will affirm, that the Law was given to abbridge the vertue, and impeach the efficasy of Christs bloud.

3. Let it be observed, to what intent and purpose this of Abraham, and that also, with so many down-right tearms of deep aggrevation, is produced; namely, to prove, that tho a man now do, as they say he then did, dissemble, ly, and equivocate; yea more then that, cheat and cousen those he deales with, swear and forswear, or worse then all this; yet if he be a believer, (as every one almost is over-prone to believe himself to be, and they most many times, that have least cause so to do) or if by the Spirit he know himself to be in the state of grace; (which too many presume of, upon the report and suggestion, not of zzTit. 1.2. Iohn 16.13.Titus 1Gods never erring, but of their own corrupt and **Ierem. 17.9.Jer 17:9deceitfull spirit; but being granted that such they are, or may be) that then God doth not see, or heare, or regard, or take notice at all of what they do, or the lesse mislike them for so doing.

4. I desire to have it considered, whether according to these tenents, a man may not well expect honest and faithfull dealing, rather at the hand of an heathen, holding at least a deity and a providence, or of a conscientious Papist, then at the hands of an Antinomian thus principled. For aaforeign Epi…h…rm. apud Clem strom. l. 5. Euseb. praep…r. l. 13. c. …3. Theodor. ther. l. 6. Thales interrogatus, foreign. respondit. foreign. Laert. l. 1. foreign. Ep…ct…t l 2. c. 14. Idemqe l. 1. c. …4. foreign; Socrates apud Xenoph. memoral. l. 1. foreign. Indegnomica illa, foreign. Et, foreign. Et, foreign. apud Plut. ad Colot c 9. Justin. de monarch. Clem. strom. l 3. Euseb. praepar. l. 13. c. 10 M…nandro alii, alii Philemoni tribuunt. Salust. ad Caesar. Nam mihi pro certo constat, omnium mortalium vitam numine invisi; neqe bonum, neqe malum facinus cujusqe pro nihilo haberi, sed ex naturâ diversâ praemia bonos malosqe seqi. Silius bel. Pun. l. 15. …qecunqe capesses, Testes factorum stare arbitrabere divos. Plaut. Capt. 2.2. Est profectò Deus, qi qae nos gerimus, aud…tqe & videt. Is uti tu me hîc habueris, proinde tuum illic curaverit Benè merenti benè prosuerit, malè merenti par erit. Sen. ep. 83. Nihil Deo clusum est. interest animis nostris, & cogitationibus medus inervenit.heathen men, so qualified as hath been said, have by the light of nature acknowledged and professed to believe, that God did see and take notice of whatsoever they did, or spake, yea or thought, and was offended with them when in ought of these they failed; and even Papists also, by those grounds which they hold in common with us, as also the bbforeign. Justin. apolog. 2. foreign; Clem paedag. l. 2. c. 10. foreign. Isidor. l. 4. ep. 47. foreign. Basil. in Psalm 33.13, 14. Deus autor omnium, ac speculator omnium, à qo nullum potest esse secretum, tenebris interest, interest cogitationibus, tanqam alteris tenebris. Faelix Octav. Oculum non in te intendit suum qi fecit tuum? Aug. de verb. dom. 10. Speculator adstat desuper, …Qi nos diebus omnibus Actusqe nostros pro picit, A luce p…imâ in …esperam. Hic testis, hic est arbiter; Hic intuetur, qicqid est Humana qod m…ns con ipit. Hunc n…mo fa…lit ju licem. Prudent. cathemer. …. Nil absente Deo l…qimur: nil abdita clausum pectoris antra te…unt: cernit Deus omnia praesens. Juvenc. hist. Evang. Man…t spectator desuper cunctorum D…us, bonis praemia, malis supplicia dispensans. Boet. cons. l. 5.Ps 33:13Ps 33:14Christians of former ages, do here in accord with them. Whereas our Antinomians, you see, flatly deny, that God doth see or take notice of any evill, or failings in ought of theirs, (presuming them to be in the state of grace) no, not of d…unkennesse or murther, much lesse of a fraud, of a ly. yea they stick not to say; and it followeth unavoydably indeed from their principles, that God is no more displeased with them, when they ly, then when they speak truth, (that which indeed, I believe, makes so many of them such notorious liers, as I have by experience my self found some, and by credible report heard others of them to be) no more when they be drunk, then when they keep themselves sober; no more when they commit adultery, then when in wedlock they live loyally.

Again, if it shall be said, that some of the above-mentioned assertions, may yet beare an orthodox sense. as indeed they did endeavour, when time was, by some qualifications to allay the horridnesse of some of them. for, who can deny, may some say, but that there is a fountain ready open for sinners to wash in, tho they have never so oft sinned, ccZech. 13.1.Zech 13:1upon their repentance? and for a believer, as ddMr. Randall.one of them sought to salve it, to aske forgivenesse of his sin, as if Christ had not made full satisfaction to God for it, were a point of much impiety. and further, that in divers sound authors of former ages some such speeches are found, as these men now use to presse, in the venting and vindicating of their positions.

To all this I answer, 1. that the Apostle by precept enjoyneth Timothy, to ddforeign. 2 Tim. 1.13.2 Tim 1:13keep a form of wholsom, as well words, as doctrines. as also by his own practise he admonisheth us to speak eeforeign. Acts 26.25.Acts 26:25the words as well of sobriety, as of truth. but these their forms are sure far from sobriety; and from wholsomnesse as far.

2. That these men deal with orthodox Authors, I cannot say, ffforeign. Justin. ad Tryph.as flies, that leave the whole hide where it is whole & sound to seize on some sore or unsound part; (tho prone enough, I doubt not, they would be ggforeign. Plut. de curios. & consolat. ad uxor.so to do, if they could light on ought thus tainted in thē) because those writers were sound enough in those places, which these men, thereby to countenance their own unsound opinions, do abuse. and yet, I may well say,hhforeign. Pl…t de …ranquil. as flies, that are wont to slip away from the glasse, where it is slick and smooth, but to fasten upon it, where they find any scratches in it. for they passe by those places in them, and those their speeches, where and wherein they plainly and familiarly deliver themselves and their mind, in tearms most proper and suitable to the truth and nature of the doctrine they deal with; and pitch upon some high and harsh expressions, which carried in an hyperbolicall strain, do sometime fall from them; the rather thereby to amuse silly people; who are iiFlebecula ind…cta qicqid non inte…lig…t, plus miratur. Hieron. a… Nep…t.prone most to admire, what they least understand; and to beguile such, as are not able to distinguish between propriety of speech, and rhetoricall, tho sometime more emphaticall, meer flourishes. where they might do well to remember, that it is a dangerous matter, as from **Theologia symbolica, typica, vel tropica, non est a…gumentativa. De Valentinianis Tertul. c. 27. Omnia in imagines urgent, planè & imaginarii ipsi Chr… stiani.typicall, so from tropicall speeches, hyperbolicall especially, to raise points of doctrine, and to strain that to propriety, that is spoken by a figure. But herein they deal as the Papists do in some controversies between us and them; who to justifie the invocation of Saints deceased, passing by, yea kkVideantur Indices expurg. Hispan. & Belg.crossing out sometime, those cleer places of the ancients, wherein they are most pregnant for invocation of God in Christ onelyonly, use to presse us with those passages in their panegyricall discourses; where they break forth into rhetoricall compellations of the blessed spirits deceased, as they do sometime the like, llIta, paschatia festum. Greg. Stas orat. in S. Pascha Aqae elementum, Ambros in Luc. 10.Luke 10of the senselesse, yea and livelesse creatures; and to make men beleeve that their late forged monster of transubstantiation is no novelty, but a doctrine held and beleeved in the ancient Church, letting slip the plain and pregnant speeches of the ancients to the contrary; which yet they cannot be ignorant of, being inserted mmVideantur ex Augustino adducta à Gratiano de consecr. dist. 2.some of them, even into the corps of their Canon-law; fasten upon and urge against us, some sacramentall, metonymicall and hyperbolicall expressions, as in heat of affection, and eager pursuit of their matter, have slipt at some times from the lips, or dropt from the pens of those Worthies; which yet divers of them (unlesse they will venture as farre as nnIbid. in Confessione Berengario praescriptâ.Pope Nicolas, whom the glosse it self is ashamed of) in ppSee of this kind out of Chrysostom, in the defence of my Treatise against Transubstantiation, D…vis. 14. § 9. p. 219.propriety of sense themselves dare not admit.ooNisì sanè in…elligas, in majorem incides haeresin, qam Bereng. ipse habuit. Gloss. ibi. where by the way, tho a little out of the way, I cannot forbeare in a word to intimate; how herein also these men imitate the patrons of Popery: for look what imputations they cast on us, because we refuse to receive contrary to the evidence of our sight and sense, the grounds of sound reason, and principles of Religion, that hideou… conceit of Christs whole body comprehended in a little thin Wafer-cake, which they have now made qqConcil. Trident. sess 13. de Euchar Sacram. cap. 1.an article of faith; that rrIta passim illi; & inter reliqos Anonymus ille, qi Tractarum eâ de re meum impugnare aggressus est.we are meere carnall creatures, preferring sight and sense before faith; that we make Christ a lyer; deny the truth of his Word, and the power of his deity; the very self-same aspersions, as at large you have heard, full as soule, if not fouler, do these corrupters of the truth of God, bedew and bedaub us with, because we will not ssSee Honey-comb, chap. 9. p. 180, 181.abandon sense, reason and religion, so as to believe that, which they presse as a fundamentall article of faith, to wit, that believers have no sin that God can see in them, tho they see and feel it in themselves; and that ttIbid. c. 4. p. 65.God cannot but abhor them, and refuse to own them, if he should espie but the least mote or spe…k of sin in them.

3. The scope and drift of these men (farre different from theirs, whose speeches they make use of) would in these their expressions be observed. which is, (as by the main course of their teaching plainly appears) 1. To keep men from making conscience of any sin, in regard of Gods sight of it in them: and so to take off from mens consciences all such kind of curb and restraint, as might thereby represse the remainders of corruption in the heart of a Christian.

2. To disswade them, from being at all in that regard troubled, when they have been so overtaken; and from endevouring by the practice of humiliation and renewed repentance, to make up again those breaches, that have been made between God and them by their sins; and by perswading them that their sins have no hand in the procurement of the present calamities, to divert them from being humbled in that regard for any sins of their own; whatsoever they may be for the excesses of others. Which are such consequences, as those men never intended, but would have extreamly abhorred, whose expressions and speeches, (as with divers passages of holy writ they likewise deal) contrary to their own minds and intents, they do wretchedly abuse. The Apostle telleth the Romans, that uuRom. 5.20.Rom 5:20where sin had abounded there▪ grace did much more abound. but doth he therefore inferre, Let men sin therefore as fast as they lust; the more they sin, the more shall Gods grace abound in the abandoning of their sin? Nothing lesse. nay rather, having by way of preoccupation propounded, what some corrupt heart might hereupon have suggested, xxRom. 6.1.Rom 6:1Shall we sin then the more, that grace may abound? with detestation he rejecteth it, and with an absit answereth it, God forbid; as if he should say, Far be it from any Christian heart to entertain the least thought looking that way. and as far would it have been either from the Apostle, or from any of those, whose speeches these men cite and presse concerning Gods free grace and the power and efficacy of Christs blood, for the taking away of sin, to have added upon their discourses of either subject, such an inference as this, Let Christian men therefore sinne a… fast as they list, there is Christs bloud at hand ready to wash all away. Sure it is, let their intendement be herein what it will; as they remove hereby one main means of restraint from sinne, Gods sight of it in his, when they sinne; so they take away one main ground of sincere repentance, to wit, that aa2 Cor. 7.10.2 Cor 7:10godly sorrow and grief for sinne, whereby men are grieved, because by their sinnes they have bbEzek. 6.9.Ezek 6:9grieved God, and ccEsay 63.10. Eph 4.30.Isa 63:10Eph 4:30vexed his good Spirit. for, as we use to say, ddVulgò dicitur, Q…d oculus non videt, cor non de…a. Bern. in sest. omn. Sanct. serm. 5.What the eye seeth not, the heart …ues not. nor can God be grieved, nor his Spirit vexed by us, with that, which he neither sees, nor takes notice of at all in us; nor can any man be grieved with the apprehension of that, which he beleeves not to be.

4. It is to be considered, that these their assertions thus grossely delivered, may, and do in likelihood passe fo… currant with many of their hearers and followers, these their qualifica…ions and modifications of them being concealed from them, and reserved to themselves. And herein also they deal just as our Popish teachers do in many points of their religion. For example; to gull the people, and draw money from them, they tell them, that through the Popes pardons they may have free and full remission of all their sins whatsoever, even eeSiqis virginem Ma…iam vitiosset ac gravidam fecisset. Tecelius fraterculus indulgentiarum p…ntificiarum institor. Jo. Slei dan. comment. l. 13. an. 1531.that sin not excepted, which tho the Frier in the Pulpit shamed not publikely to mention, I abhorre to relate: whereas when they come to debate and dispute the point in the schooles, they are by evidence of light enforced to confesse. ffBellarm. de indulg l. 1. c. 7.1. that they cannot free **Non a culpa. qia tolli non potest s…ne infusione gratiae.from the fault it self: for that cannot be without infusion of grace. 2. nor from the ggPer indulgentias non absolvimur, vel solvimur, à reatu culpae ullius, nec letalis nec venialis.guilt of any sin either mortall or veniall: 3. nor from any hhNon liber amur à poenis naturalibus.naturally penalty, as sicknesse, death, or the like: 4. nor from any iiNec possunt tollere poenas, qae in foro externo, vel civili, vel ecclesiastico in…iguntur.civill or ecclesiasticall censure. but from what then? onelyonly from those pains which a man should have suffered jjItaqe Roffensis noster adv. Luther. artic. 19. Qam diu nulla fuit de Purgat…rio cura, nemo qaesevit indulgentias. nam ex illo pendet omnis Purgatorii existimatio. si tollas Purgatorium, qor…um indulgentiis opus erit?in Purgatory for his veniall sinnes, had he not made satisfaction for them, while he lived here. but while they dispute the point thus in the schooles, the poore people mean while take for Gospel what in grosse they tell them, that their sinnes are so blown away so soon as the Popes Bull bloweth upon them, that they shall never more hear of them, or be reckoned with for them. so in the matter of image-worship; they teach the people to ado…e images, and the cruc…fix as Christ. and when for such doctrine and practise we charge idolatry upon them; they tender us a many distinctions to salve the matter withall; that they kkNon coli imaginem, sed exemplar coram imagine. ita nonnulli apud Bellarm· de cult. Sa…ct. l. 2. …. 20.worship not the image it self simply, but that by it, whose image it is; or if llPerse, & proprie, ita ut ipsae terminent venerationem, ut in se considerantur. Bell. ibid c. 21.the image it self, yet not with the same, but with mmHonore mino…i qim ipsum exemplar. ib. c. 20.a lower degree of worship, then that wherewith they worship that whose image it is; or if nnEodem genere culius, qo exemplar ipsum colitur. ibid. c. 23.with the self-same worship, yet ooNon propriè. Ibid. c. 24.not properly, but ppImpr…priè, qandò imago accipitur loco exemplaris. Ibid. c. 23.improperly, as the image standeth in Gods, or in Christs stead, like qqVt legutus, Regis l…co honoratur. Ibid. c. …0.an Embassador representing the person of his Soveraign, to receive for either the worship due to the Deity, or rrPropriè, sed per accidens; qando tanqam imagine vestitum adoramus. Ibid. c. 23.if properly, yet not by it self, but by accident, as a man conceives God or Christ invested with that image, and so worships it with the same act of worship, that he worships God or Christ with, as ssSicut qi adorat regem purpura vestitum, vestem sive purpuram simul adorat. Ibid· c. 20. & 23.a man worships the royall robe, that the King weares, when he worships the King. mean while the common people not able to sound these subtilties (supposing, that being aright conceived and observed, they could free from idolatry) are taught to practise, and encouraged to commit grosse idolatry without fear; as they cannot but know, who thus mince out the matter in their scholasticall, or rather sophisticall, disputes. In like manner here, suppose we, that by such reserved qualifications (as these men are sometime enforced unto, when the points in controversie are pressed upon them) these assertions, some of them, could in some sense be maintained, as free from those horrid and even blasphemous tinctures, that they carry with them in the forehead; yet being thus crudely and rudely propounded to many shallow headed people, either not at all acquainted with their nice distinctions, or not well able to understand them, they are by them swallowed without more ado, unto the poysoning of their souls; being the rather prone to entertain them because tending to that, ttforeign. Sophocl. foreign. Plut. in Artaxer. foreign. Diodor. hist. l. 12. foreign. Greg. Nyss. apud Anton. meliss. l. 1. c. 16. foreign. Greg. St…s. de pace 3. foreign Ibid. 2. foreign. Idem apolog. vide Socratis cum Cali… scorto collationem apud Aelian. l. 13. c. 32. Omne in praecipiti vitium stetit. Juvenal. sat. 1. Non gradu, sed praecipiti cursu à virtute descitum, ad vitia transcursum. & ubi semel deerratum, in praeceps pervenitur. adeò mature à rect… in prava, à pravis in praecipitia pervenitur. Pater…. hist. l. 2. Facill… in proclivia vitiorum decurs… est. Sen. de ira. l. …. c. 1. Etiam sine magistro vitia discuntur. Idem qaeest. nat. l. 2. c. 30. Ingenium est omnium hominum à labore proclive ad libidinem. Ter. Andr. 1.1.which the bent of mans nature is of it self over-strongly enclined unto.

Lastly, I desire that it may be advisedly weighed, what a wide gap may be broken up for the venting and spreading of all manner of strange fancies and impious assertions, to the poysoning and destroying of the souls of silly people, or such as are of themselves forward to imbrace new upstart opinions and uncouth paradoxes, such as have not been formerly received, or heard; when tho they sound pure blasphemy, as they are delivered, yet they shall go for sound and orthodox, because by the help of some concealed nice subtilty, they may be wrung and wrought into some such sense as is agreeable unto truth. For example; A child of God, saith one of these men, ought not to aske God forgivenesse of his sinnes: yea it is blasphemy for him so to do. and how is this assertion salved from being it self blasphemous? why? it is blasphemy for him so to do, as if Christ had not made full satisfaction for it. for that were to deny the efficacy of Christs death. Now I desire to have it considered whether by this his practise, I say not, any Popish, but any atheisticall point, may not be divulged; and afterward by some such glosse as this, when it hath done much mischief, be salved up and excused, as containing nothing but what is sound and true. For may not a man, whose wit itcheth to set such novelties and impieties on foot, by the like reason, presume to averre, that it is blasphemy for a man to confesse his sinnes to God. and then say he meant it, supposing thereby to acquaint God with that, which he was ignorant of before. for that were to deny Gods omniscience. that, it is blasphemy to intreat God, to have compassion on his people; or to make good his gratious promises to them. but his meaning is, presuming that he is not of himself ready and prone thereunto. for that were to question Gods fatherly affection and disposition toward his people; and his faithfulnesse in performance of his promises.

And, I beseech you, give me leave a little further to exercise your patience, by instancing but in one particular; the rather that thereby you may guesse (judging aaforeign. Aristid. orat. Platon. 3. foreign. Diogenian. …dag. 4… 6.of the whole peece by the list) what manner of stuffe it is, that these men are wont to vent in private, where they suppose none but their own present, none at least able to contradict or control them in what they deliver. That which I shall herein acquaint you with, is no other then hath been averred, both by the word, and under the hand, of a Reverend Divine of good note, who being present at a collation made by bbMr. Randall.one of the parties before mentioned, but standing out of sight, both heard what was delivered, and took notes of what he heard. And I am therfore the bolder to make it more publike, because I understand that a copy of the collation it self is abroad in the hands of his hearers, reported by them to be approved of by him, with a purpose, (as they give out) for the clearing of himself, to present it to the Honourable House of Commons.

The Scripture he handled was, Iohn 1.9, 10. The world there spoken of, in which Christ is there said to have been; and to illighten every one that cometh into it, or, (as he addes) is within it; he affirmeth to be the whole creation, Heaven, Earth, and Hell; yea all their creatures in their severall divisions, spirits, devils, men, &c. and hence he concludes, that Iesus Christ is in every creature, in men, beasts, horses, dogs, every thing. and that he gives light to every one of them. not that Iesus Christ is every creature, but that he is in every creature; and every creature is light in him and by him. and that in this sense, as the world is round, so he knoweth no difference between good and bad; they have all one life and death, one joy and comfort. yea that he is perswaded (and he willeth them to mark what he saith) that that spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience (which the Apostle, I am sure, ccEphes. 2.2.Eph 2:2saith is the Devill) is the same spirit, that is in the Saints.

Now what sec…et shifts this man hath, or will be able, if occasion be, to produce, whereby to clear these and such like assertions, from being deemed blasphemous, I shall for the present leave to himself, whom it most concerneth, to consider. but how silly women, who admire this profound and mysterious discourse, as a principall Master…peece; do apprehend them, and what fancies their brains may be thence possessed with, other men may guesse as well as my self. Sure it is, that such expressions as these, either argue some monster, that these men go great with, or that they desire at least to fill peoples heads with such monstrous notions, as may raise an admiration of them, as speaking new and strange things, such as others are not acquainted with, in the minds of the common sort; ddPraeceptor q…ndam meus Gregorius Nazian rogatus … me ut exponeret, qid sib… vellet in Lucâ Sabbatum foreign, eleganter lu…u; Docebote, in…iens, super hac re in ecclesiâ, in qà mihi omni populo acclamante, cogeri… invit… scire qod nescis: aut si ce…iè solus …acuer…, sol… ab omnibus stultitiae condemn… beris. Hieron. ad Nepot.ready so to entertain such things, as neither they understand, nor those themselves that deliver, many times, know well what they would have in them. Mean while they are not likely to breed, either good bloud, or good spirits in any, but to produce much corrupt matter, that may ee2 Tim. 2.17, 18.2 Tim 2:172 Tim 2:18spread like a gangrene, if not speedily suppressed, (and indeed hath done too much already) to the perverting and subverting of the faith of not a few. which I wish those, that are in authority, advisedly to weigh, and effectually to take to heart; as having a strong obligation lying upon them, ffDeut. 13. per totum. 2 Chron. 13.10, 11, 12. & 15.…, 12, 13. & 19.4. & 29. per tot. & 30.1—12. & 31. per tot. Nehem. 7-30. 1 Tim. ….….Deut 132 Chr 13:102 Chr 13:112 Chr 13:122 Chr 13:152 Chr 13:132 Chr 19:42 Chr 19:29Neh 7to have an eye as well to the vindication of Gods honour, and the safety of the souls of his people, as to their civil society and bodily welfare.

But to return to our first and principall subject at present; a very sad and lamentable thing to me it seems, to see and consider, that after so long, so much light, people should be, either so dim-sighted, or so wilfully blinded, that they should not be able to discern the vanity, folly, and impiety of such fantasticall teachings, as would blindfold God to them, and keep not him from seeing, but them from the sight of him seeing their sinnes. It is recorded in Scripture as the impious speech, or imagination at least, of ungratious wretches, men abandoned to all manner of mischief, that ggPsal. 10.…1, 13. & 94.7.Ps 10:1Ps 10:13Ps 94:7God sees not, nor regrards, what they do. but that it should in these dayes be the conceit of those that professe themselves Gods people, and of some of those among them, that would seem in a more speciall manner to hhEsay 58.2.Isa 58:2draw neer unto God, seemeth to me a dreadfull prodigie, and direfull presage of some further evill ready to break in upon us. For let it, I beseech you, be seriously and sadly considered, what a curb we cast off for the restraint of our corruption, which remaineth too much in the best, and unruly more then enough, even where it is best managed, and most over-ruled and mastered, when we expell and exile this perswasion of Gods eye upon us, and of his angry eye, when we wilfully give way unto evill. And let us take heed, how by intertaining such kind of thoughts we make our selves like those foolish persons, who (as the iiPolyb. hist. l. 4.Greek historian observeth) suppose themselves safe and secure enough, as kkforeign.if others could not see them, or discern what they do, when they have so shut their own eyes, that they cannot see themselves. Which fond and sottish affection, howsoever in llforeign. Callimach in D…an.little children, in regard of their naturall simplicity, as also in the mmEa est struthiocameli stoliditas, …t cum col. la frutice occul…averit, latere se existimet. Plin. l. 10. c. 1. foreign. Diodor. hist. l. 2. … 50. qi tamen & aliam hujus rei rationem assi…nat.Ostrich and some nnPerdix aliàs astuta, in hoc fatua, qod capite occultato, totam latere se credit, & cum neminem videat, … nemine videri. Autor Anonym▪ de nat. rer. Verum perdicem eam vult ille, qam rusticam Maltial. l. 13. ep. 76. alii Rusticulam; nos a Woodcock▪ De Sciaena Oppian. l. 4. foreign. De Mugile Aristot. hist. anim. l. 8. c. 2. foreign.other brute creatures in regard of ooJob 39.17.Job 39:17an inbred stupidity, may be deemed more excusable; yet in men, who in regard of their yeers, should have pp1 Cor. 14.20.1 Cor 14:20more wi… then little children, in regard of their endowments, qqJob 35.11.Job 35:11more understanding then brute beasts, that grave writer not undeservedly brandeth, as rrforeign. Polyb. ubi sup.a mixture, or medly of badnesse and madnesse. Let us consider, what a foul blemish it is, not to mans nature onelyonly, but even to God… grace, when men endowed with ssGen. 1.26, …7. & 9.6. 1 Cor. 11.7.Gen 1:26Gen 1:7Gen 9:61 Cor 11:7Gods image by nature in part, (for the remains of it are found eventtIn gehenna ipsa imago Dei uri poterit, non exurit ardere, sed non deleri. Bern. in Annunc. ser. 1.in the reprobate, and in the very damned spirits themselves) and professing▪ to have it further by grace uuEphes. 4 23, 24. Col. 3.10.Eph 4:23Eph 4:24Col 3:10renewed and repaired in them, should by their own wilfull depravation, make themselves guilty of that folly, which in babes and brutes themselves are wont to make sport with, and to xxMugilum natura ridetur, in metu, capite abscondito, totos se occultari credentium. Plin. l. 9. c. 17.deride; and withall remember we seriously (for this indeed is no sporting matter) what one of the Ancients well saith, that by such fond and ridiculous, or rather impious and irreligious perswasions as these, yyTe mihi absconderem, non me tibi. Aug. confess. l. 10 c. 2.howsoever we may keep our selves from beholding of God, yet we cannot keep God from beholding of us; we may hinder our selves from seeing his eye upon us, but not his eye from seeing and taking notice of our wayes and our works, whether publike, private, or secret. yea that thus, as another well, aaTe fallu, non Deum. Bern. de grad. humil.beguile and gull our selves we may, but beguile him we cannot; who, as the Apostle telleth us, bbforeign. Gal. 6.7. Derideri, aut circūveniri Deus non potest, neo aflutia aliqa falleme deludi. perspicit ille abdito, & secreta atqe occulta considerat. Je…. 23.24. videt corda & pectora singulorum: & judicaturus non tantum de factis, sed & de cogitationibus nostris, omnium mentes voluntatesqe in ipsis adhuc clausi pectoris latebris intuetur. Cypr. de laps.Gal 6:7is not, nor can thus be deluded, or beguiled.

But I fear, curteous Reader (for such I will presume thee to be) that I trespasse too much upon thy patience and presumed curtesie, by somewhat an unmannerly and uncurteous, tho in some regard not unnecessary, detaining of thee so long in the porch; especially if ccforeign. Plato de repub. l. 4. sive▪ ut Method. apud Epiphan. haer. 64 foreign. Sed jam non sustineo vos morari. scio, qam sit odiosa Circensibus pompa. M. Sen. praefat. controv.desirous to look into the house, and to see what there within may be found. Let it suffice therefore for the present, that it hath been evidently and undeniably made to appear, that herein we charge these men with nothing but what they professedly maintain. As for the ensuing discourse, my first and principall intendement therein, was to remove onelyonly one main pillar of that their pernicious opinion. Wherein yet, if by such occasionall explication and prosecution of the Scripture by the maintainers thereof wronged, ought else shall be found, that may conduce unto the cleering of any other passages of holy writ, (of which nature somewhat peradventure may be) or if thou shalt therein meet with ought, that may otherwise be usefull to thee, for the staying and setling of thy faith in these staggering and tottering times, for the bearing up of thy spirits under any present pressure, confirming of thine heart against crosse and unwelcome occurrents, or steering of thy course and directing of thy cariage, amidst the common calamities and disturbances of the times; give God the glory, and afford thy requests (I beseech thee) at his throne of grace, for the support and strengthening in his ddforeign Psal. 141.7. foreign Psal. 9.13. foreign. Oppian. pisc. l. 5. ad leti portas. Maro culic. limina, Lucret. l. 3. Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisqe in faucibus orci. Maro Aeu. l. 6. foreign. Lucian. apolog. aetate devexa & praecipiti, in extrema consistens tegula. Sen. ep. 12.Ps 141:7Ps 9:13approaches to the pits-brinck, of

His unworthy servant, and thine in him, THO. GATAKER