Misrepresentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated, Part 3 · Section 4
SECTION. IV. The fourth Thing observed in Mr. W—ms's Method of managing the Controversy, particularly considered, viz. His advancing new and extraordinary Notions, not only manifestly contrary to Truth, but also to the common & received Principles of the Christian Church.
THUS it is with Regard to many Things which have already been taken Notice of. As, that Men may be ungodly Men, and yet truly profess to love God more than the World: That Men may be Professors of Religion and have no true Grace, and yet not be Luke-warm, but serve God as their only Master: That such may profess to be subject to Christ with all their Hearts, and to give up all their Hearts and Lives to Christ, and speak true, &c. &c.
I shall now take Notice of another remarkable Instance of this, viz. That Mr. W. in his Reply to my Argument from the Epithets and Characters given by the Apostles to the Members of visible Christian Churches, in their Epistles, represents (P. 56. d.) That there is no Difference in all the Epithets and Characters, which I had heap'd up from the New-Testament, from those that are given in the Old-Testament, to the whole Body of the Jewish Church; which he elsewhere abundantly supposes to be the whole Body of the Jewish Nation; yea, even in their worst Times, 'till the Nation was rejected and cast off by God from being any longer his People: as I shall have Occasion particularly to observe afterwards.
That it may be the easier judged, how manifestly this is contrary to Truth, I shall here repeat some of those Epithets and Characters I before mention'd, which Mr. W. has Reference to. This is very manifest concerning most of them: but that I mayn't be tedious, I will now rehearse but a few Instances, viz. Being made free from Sin, and becoming the Servants of Righteousness: Having the Spirit of Adoption: Being the Children of God, Heirs of God, Joint-Heirs with Christ: Being Vessels of Mercy, prepared unto Glory: Being such as don't live to themselves, nor die to themselves; but live to the Lord, and die unto the Lord; and who living and dying are the Lord's: Being those that have all Things for theirs, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the World or Life, or Death, or Things present, or Things to come; because they are Christ's: Being begotten through the Gospel: Being such as shall judge the World: Being washed, sanctified, justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God: Being manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ, written not with Ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in Tables of Stone, but in fleshly Tables of the Heart: Being such as behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord, and are changed into the same Image, from Glory to Glory: Being chosen in Christ before the Foundation of the World, that they should be holy and without Blame before him in Love; and predestinated unto the Adoption of Children: Being sealed by that holy Spirit of Promise: Being quicken'd, tho' once dead in Trespasses and Sins: Being made meet to be Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light: Being dead, and having their Life hid with Christ in God; and being those that when Christ who is our Life shall appear, shall also appear with him in Glory; Having put off the old Man with his Deeds, and having put on the new Man, which is renewed in Knowledge, after the Image of him that created him; Being begotten again to a living Hope — to an Inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for 'em; who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation; who love Christ, tho' they have not seen him; in whom, tho' now they see him not, yet believing, they rejoyce with Joy unspeakable & full of Glory; having purified their Souls in obeying the Truth thro' the Spirit; Knowing him that is from the Beginning; having their Sins forgiven; having overcome the wicked one; having an Unction from the holy one, by which they know all Things; who are now the Sons of God; and who, when Christ shall appear, shall be like him, because they shall see him as he is.
Now let the Christian Reader judge, with what Face of Reason our Author could represent as tho' there were Nothing in all these Epithets and Characters, more than used of Old to be given to the whole Nation of the Jews, and that even in Times of their greatest Corruption & Apostacy, 'till the Nation was rejected of God! One would think, there is no Need of arguing the Matter with any that have read the Bible.
This Representation of Mr. W—ms's is not only very contrary to Truth, but also to the common Sentiments of the Christian Church. Tho' I pretend not to be a Person of great Reading, yet I have read enough to warrant this Assertion. I never yet (as I remember) met with any Author that went the same Length in this Matter with Mr. W. but only Mr. Taylor of Norwich, in England, the Author that lately has been so famous for his corrupt Doctrine. In his Piece which he calls A Key to the Apostolic Writings, where he delivers his Scheme of Religion (which seems scarcely so agreable to the Christian Scheme, as the Doctrine of many of the wiser Heathen) he delivers the same Opinion, and insists largely upon it; it being a main Thing he makes Use of to establish his whole Scheme. And it evidently appears, in the Manner of his delivering it, that he is sensible it is exceeding far from what has hitherto been the commonly received Sentiment in the Christian World. He supposes that as all those Epithets & Characters belong to the whole Nation of the Jews, eyen in their most corrupt Times, so they belong to all Christendom, even the most vicious Parts of it; that the most vicious Men, who are baptized, and profess to believe Jesus to be the Messiah, are chosen before the Foundation of the World, Predestinated according to the Foreknowledge of God, Regenerated, Justified, Sanctified, Children of God, Heirs of God, Joint-Heirs with Christ, the Spouse of Christ, the Temple of God, made to sit together in heavenly Places in Christ, being the Family of Heaven, &c. &c. And certainly he may with as good Reason, and with the same Reason, suppose this of all Christendom, even the most vicious Parts of it, as of the whole Nation of the Jews, however corrupt, 'till there was a national Rejection of them.
Indeed, 'tis manifest there is no other Way of evading the Force of the Argument from the Epistles, but by falling into Taylor's Scheme. If his Scheme of Religion ben't true, then it is plain as any Fact in the New Testament, that all the Christian Churches, thro' the whole Earth, in the Apostles Days, were constituted in the Manner that I insist on. The Scripture says ten Times as much to demonstrate this Matter, as it does about the Manner of Discipline, Officers, and Government of the Church, or as it does about the several Parts of the publick Worship, or about the Sanctification of the Christian Sabbath.