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Show ~76 r668. ~ Chap. I. Rom. 6.t6. 1 John 3• 7, 8. Mat.26·49• Mat.1~· 24. tf"a.43·'4· J.lat. 7ol6o Rev.1.9. No CROSS, No CROWN. VoL. r. Jtwt, the Vifible Church of that Age, He flighted the~r Prctenfions to .Abraham and iUofu, and pb!nly told th_em, That be tb.1t commmd Sm, n·a.r the Servant of Sin. They dtd the DeVII's Works, and therefore were the Devifs Children. The Argument wllhlways hold upon the fame Reafons, and therefore good ftill: His Servauts you are, faith Paul,. wbom you obey: And, faith. ]1Jhrt to the Chur_ch of Old, Let no M.m dccewe ~ou_; _he that committetb Sin is of the Dev1l. Was Judas ev.er the better Chnlhan, for crying, Hail Mtifler, and Kiffing Chrifl:? By no ?ytcans : They were the Sig~ nal of his Treachery; the Token given, by wh1ch the Bloody Jews fhould' know and take Him. He call'd Him Jl1a/lu, but betray'd Him; he Kiffed, but Sold Him to be Kill'd: This is rhe Uplhot of the Falfe Chriftians Reli· gion. If a Man a!k them1 Is Cbrijl your Lord? He will cry, God [orb1d elfe: Yes, He ir our Lord. Very well: But do you keep his Comman4- ments? No, How /hould we? How rhen are you his-Difciples? lt it i111fJPJjible, fay they; What! Wo11ld you IJttve 11s ~eep His _Comman_dments? J\o Man can: What! Impoffi.ble to do th:It, Without whiCh Chnfi hath made it impoffible to be :1 Chriftian? Is Chrift unreafonable? Does. He Re11p uere He bat not Sown? Require where he has not enabled) Thus it is, th:a with Judas they call Him Mafler, but take Part wiDh the Evil of the World to betray Him; and Kii.S and Embrace Him as far as a fpecious Profellion goes; and then Sell Him, to gratifie the Paffion that they mofi indulge. Thus, as God faid of Old, they Make him Serve with tbeir Sint, and for their Sins too. §. VJ. Let no Man deceive his own Soul; Grapes are not gat1Jered of Tbornt, nor Figs of Thijllu: A Wolf is not a Sbeep, nor is a V11lture a Dove. What Form, People, or Church foever thou art of, 'tis the Truth of God to Mankind, that they which have even the Form ofGodlincfs, but (by their unmortified Lives) deny the Power thereof, make nor the True, but Fatfe Church: Which though !he intitle herfelf the Lamb's Bride, or Church of Chri{l, !he is that lHyflery, or Myj1erio11S Babylon, fitly called by the Holy Ghoft:, the Mother of Harlots, and all Abominations; becaufe degenerated from Chriftian Chafrity and Purity, into all the Enormities of Heathen Babylon: A fumptuous City of old Time, much noted for the Stat of the Kings of Babylon, and at that Time the Place in the World of gre:u~ eft Pride and Luxury. As !he was then; fo Myflical Babylrm is now, tbc Great Enemy of God's People. §. VII. True it is, They that au Born of the F!cfo, bate and perfeCIIte them that are Born of the Spirit, who are the Circ11mcijion in Heart. It feems they cannot own, nor Wor(hip God after her lnventionst. Methods and Prefcriptions, nor rec~ivc for Do£hine, her Vain Traditions, any more th:m they can comply wah her Corrupt.Fafhions and Cuftoms in their Converfarion. The Cafe being rhus, from an Apoftate the becomes a Perfecutor. 'Tis not enough th~t ~e her felf declines from Ancient P11rity, ~thers muft do fo too. She will g1ve them no Reft, that will nor partake with her in that Degeneracy, or receive her Mark. Are any Wifer than the, th:m .A-1o-' ther-Churcb? No, no : Nor can any make War with the Ben {I fhe rides upon, thofe Worldly Powers that protea her, and Vow her Maintenance agai":ft the.Cries of ~er Diffenters . .Apo/lacy and Superflition are ever promr and. tmpauent of Ddfent: All muft Conform, or Perifh. Therefore the Slam Wanejfes, and Blood of tbe Souls under the .Altnr are found within rho Walls of this Myfliial Babylon, this G~etU City of Fai.re Cbri/lians, and are charged upon her by the Holy Ghoft, m the Revelation. Nor is it firange that the fhould Slay the Servants, who firft Crucified the Lord : But firange and ba~barous too, that the fhould KiiJ her Hujband, ::md· M11rder btr S4vi· our, Tttles fhe feems fo fond of, and that have been tO profitable to her; and tha.t fhe would recommend h_er felfby, though wirhour all Jullice. ~ut her Chtldren .are red_uced fo. enurely under the Dominion of D:ukne!S, by Means of thctc contumed Dtfobedience to the Manifejlation of tbe Divine Light in their So11f.t, that they forget wh~t _Ma_n once was, or they fhould now be; and know not True and Pure Chnfi1amry when they meet it: Yet . . . P~d• VIoL. I. NoCROSS, NoCROWN. Pride themfelves to profefs it. Their Meafures are fo Carnal and Fain: ahout Salvation, they call Good Etnl, and Evil Good: They makt: a Devda Cbrifiian, and a Saiilt a Devil. So that though the Unrighteous Latitude of their Lives be Matter of Lamentat~on, as to themfelves, it is of De· ftruaion, yet that co~mo~ Apprehen~on, Tbat they may be 0Jildren of God while in a State of Difobedtena to H~s Holy Com.mandments; and Difcipler of Jefm, though tbey revolt /rem Hu Crofs; and Ale111bers of ·His Tn1e Church, which is witbo.llt Spot or Wrinkle, notwitbjlanding their Lives are f11U of Spots ~n~ Wrinkles_; is, of all oth_e~ Deceptions upon tiJemfelv~s, the moff permctous to theu Eternal Condmon. For they are at Peace 1n Sin and under a Security in their Tranfgrefiion. Their vain Hope fiiences thei; ConviEHons, and over· lays all tender Motions ro Repentance: So that their Miftake about their Duty to God, is as mifchievous as their Rc:bcllion agaioft him. Thus they walk on Precipices, a.nd flatter themfehres, till the Grave fwallows them up, and the Judgment of the Great God breaks rhe Lethargy, and undeceives their poor wretched Souls with thcr Anguith of the Wicked, as fhe Reward of their Work. '"77 1668. ~ Chap.!. §. Vlll. This has been, io, and will be the Ooom of all Worldly Chrifli· ans: An End fo Dreadful, that if there were nothing of Dury to God or Obligation to Men, beihg a Man, and one acquainted with the Terror~ o£ the Lord in the Way and Work of my own Salvation, Compaffion alone were fufficient to excite me to this Dij}itajive againft the \'Vorld's Superftiri~ bns and Lulls, and to invite the Profelfors of Chrifiianiry to the Knowledge and Obedience of the Daily Cro./s of C H R 1ST, as the atone Wav, left by Him, and appointed us to Bl.effednefs 1 That they who now do but ufurp the Name, may have the Tbmg; and by the PofiJer t~f the Crvfs, (to which they are now Dead, inflead of being Dead to the Wor/J by it) may be made Partakers of the RefurreEtion that is in Cbrijl Jefus, unto Newn~Js of Life .. For they that ai'e truly in Chrift, that is, redcem'd by, and interelted in llim, are }lew Creat11res. They ha\'e received a New Will, fuch as does the Gal. 6. 15; Will of God, not their own. They Pray in Tr11tb, and don't mock God, when they fay, Thy Will be done in F;arth as it is in Heaven. They have Col.3•1,2;1: New JljfdiJons, fuch as are Set on Thrngs Above, and make Chrift their Eter~ 1 Juhn S· 4~~ nat Treafure. Xew Faith, fucb. as overcomes the Snares and Temptations of the World's Spirit in tbemfelves, or as it appears througb or bert: And laftly, New Workt, not of a Superflitiora Contrivance, or of Humane In-vention, but the Pure Fruits of the Spirit. of Chrifl, working in them, as Love, J~y, Penc~, Mttknefs, Long-Suffermg, Temperance, Brotherly-Kind~ Gat. ~.22,1~; nefs, Fauh, Patunce, Gentleltefs and Goodnifs, againft which there is no Law; and they that have not this Spirit of Cbrijl, and walk not in it the Apoftle Paul has told us, Are none oj bit; but the Wrath of God and Con· Rom. s. demnation of the Law, will lie upon them. For if there is No 'Condemna-tio'! _ro the'!' tb~t are i~ Chrif!_, _w1Jo walk not after the Flejh, but after the Spmt, whtch tS Pnu/ s DoEtnne; they that walk not according to that Holy Spirit, by his DoEtrine, are not in Chrifl:: Thlt is, have no Interefi: ~o~~~~a~~!n j~ft f~~.im to Salvation by Him : And conftquemly there is §. IX. A_nd the Truth is, the Religion of the Wicke4 is a Lye: Tbere is tra. 48. 22; no Peace, fat!h the.Prophet, to ~be f1ficked. Indeed there can be none, they are reprov d m then own Confctences, and condemn'd in their own' Hearrs in a11 ~heir.Difobedience. Go wh_ere they_ wi11, Reb11kes go with ibem, and oftenttmes ~err_ours too: F~r i~ 1s ~n offended God that pricks rhem, and w~o, by Hu Lzght,feu tbetr ~zns zn Order before them. Somerimes th~y fin~e to. appeafe Htm, by t_he1r Corporal Framed Devotion :1n"d Worfhtp, bur m va1n; for True. \Vorfhtpping of God, is Doing His Will, which thev tranfgrefs. The refi ts a falfe Complement, like him thlt faid, He woJJ/1 Mat. 21, 3o; go, and did not. Sometimes they fly to Sports and Company, ro Jrown the Reprover's Voice, and 6/imt his Atrows, to chafe away troubled Thottghts, and fecure themfetves out of the Reach of the Difquieter of their Pleafures ~ * . But. |