2. Note, That the Doctrine which we oppose, holdeth, that Jesus Christ doth set so much by the bare believing that He is the Son of God, yea the verbal profession of it, and so little by Holiness, that if men will but make that profession, let them live how they will, let them be Adulterers, Murderers of Fathers or Mothers, perjured to God and Man, &c. yet they lose not their Right to this Privilege, that even the children of their bodies shall be of the family of Christ upon their Interest or Account: yea though themselves will not so much as soberly promise to amend, yea though they be Persecutors of any that would reform them, or any other way notoriously ungodly. Doth not this strongly tempt men to imagine that Jesus Christ came not to cure souls, and bring men back to God, and save them from sin, but to seek himself and his own honour, and that he preferred the acknowledgement of his dignity before the Interest of God, and mens souls? Doth it not tempt men to think that Christianity is no better than the other Religions of the world, when it owneth such Monsters as the Children of the Church? When we justly condemn a Seneca, Cicero, Fabrit•us, Socrates, &c. as miserable for not believing in Christ, whom they never heard of (most of them;) and privilege the children of one worse than Nero, Sardanapalus, Machiavel, and that for the sake of such a Parent▪ and as a member of him, to be in Covenant with Christ, and of the beloved Society, and Household of Faith: In my opinion this will he a horrid stumbling block to those without, and give them such cause to blaspheme our holy profession, as our Lord never gave them, who came purposely into the world to destroy the works of the Devil, ⟨p. 301⟩and to bring back revolted man to the Holy Image and obedience of his Maker, and who professed himself but the Way to the Father, and therefore established and valued faith in himself, but in order to the acknowledgement and love of God, and so of Godliness and Holiness, as its end and a greater good; yea that hath purchased us by his blood to a glory which doth consist in the fruition of God, in the perfection of Holiness, and hath sent forth his spirit into the souls of men to be in office their Sanctifier, and to make such wondrous changes on mens hearts, as shameth all the rest of the Religions of the world:
2. Note, That the Doctrine which we oppose, holdeth, that Jesus Christ doth set so much by the bare believing that He is the Son of God, yea the verbal profession of it, and so little by Holiness, that if men will but make that profession, let them live how they will, let them be Adulterers, Murderers of Fathers or Mothers, perjured to God and Man, &c. yet they lose not their Right to this Priviledge, that even the children of their bodies shall be of the family of Christ upon their Interest or Account: yea though themselves will not so much as soberly promise to amend, yea though they be Persecutors of any that would reform them, or any other way notoriously ungodly. Doth not this strongly tempt men to imagine that Jesus Christ came not to cure souls, and bring men back to God, and save them from sin, but to seek himself and his own honor, and that he preferred the acknowledgement of his dignity before the Interest of God, and mens souls? Doth it not tempt men to think that Christianity is no better than the other Religions of the world, when it owneth such Monsters as the Children of the Church? When we justly condemn a Seneca, Cicero, Fabrit•us, Socrates, &c. as miserable for not believing in Christ, whom they never heard of (most of them;) and priviledge the children of one worse than Nero, Surdanapalus, Machiavel, and that for the sake of such a Parent▪ and as a member of him, to be in Covenant with Christ, and of the beloved Society, and Houshold of Faith: In my opinion this will he a horrid stumbling block to those without, and give them such cause to blaspheme our holy profession, as our Lord never gave them, who came purposely into the world to destroy the works of the Devil, ⟨p. 301⟩and to bring back revolted man to the Holy Image and obedience of his Maker, and who professed himself but the Way to the Father, and therefore established and valued faith in himself, but in order to the acknowledgement and love of God, and so of Godliness and Holiness, as its end and a greater good; yea that hath purchased us by his blood to a glory which doth consist in the fruition of God, in the perfection of Holiness, and hath sent forth his spirit into the souls of men to be in office their Sanctifier, and to make such wondrous changes on mens hearts, as shameth all the rest of the Religions of the world:
