Chap.46 of the ï.f ue of °eleever,r. Chriftiañ ; how high were thofe in Idolatry mentioned, P, a1. to6e 36, 37, 38, 39? arid yet in Covenant, ver. 45. For the Church of the Apoftle is plaine,a brother may be an Idolater, i Car, 5. r i. It ; is within the Church, and not wiahout, where men efcape death by plagues, yet repent not of the works of their hands, that they fhould not worfhip `Devils, and idols of gold, and filver, and =bra ffe, and Hone, and of wood, -which neither can fee, nor hear, nor watke, Rev. 9.20, For Papifts, I'marvel! how they are diftinguifhed from Ido- lacers and Hereticks; for Hereticks as falfe Prophets were of the Church of the Jewes, fo Hereticks are of the Church in Gofpel- times, 2 Pet. z I. TheApoftle tells the Elders of Epheftu, Aas 20. 30. Of your oWn felves fhall men a,ife,fpeaIZng perverte things to draw away difciples after them. ForWitches,though there were a Law in Ifraelnot to fuffera Witch to live, E lead. 2. a. a 8. yet If- I rael had Witches , as is feene in thofe that Saul put, out of the Land,-and her that in his diftre(fe he fought unto, r Sam. z8. Tad I had never reckoned -up witchcraft amcng thofe finnes that Phut out of the Kingdome of Heaven , and certified the Churches of Galatia of ir, had there beene an impoflibility that any fuch fhould be found of their number that made claime to it; This Matter Cotton doth as much as acknowledge in the words that follow, I deny not (faith he) but that in fame fenfe, any fuch notorious offender may have the e f fence and being of a member of the Church as vifible, to wit, in this fenfe a corrupt and rotten member fit to be cut off: r/f member of the vifible Church, (though formerly an inoffenfive profef or of the faith) may afterwards fall array into a- ny of thole notorious (caudal!, and yet for a. while lid retaine the effence and being of a member of the Church as vifible, Maftcrl. Rutherford that is there oppofed (I fuppofe) will affirm no more, ÿ refpetiive to the power of godlineffe, there is in them no found - neflè, nor yet in thofe that are better then, thefe ; :force fay that one that is fuch in any known foule finne, to them is no better then a Heathen, as bad as a Turk,, or Pagan, and nothing at all better for the name Chriflian. And I fay, that to me they are as bad as to them, d perhaps worfe in the eyes of God. This priviledge in which they ftand thus interefed, is an aggravation of their fin, and a farther provocation of God againft them; when the Lord, faze it, he abhorred them, becaufe of the provokinjo f his fonnes and ,of his daughters , Deut. 32. 19. yet fuch is. Gods. 1ong-fuf- I i i 3 feting 1 i
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