Truth vindicated against all heresies shewing how the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is distinguished : the woman cloathed with the sun discoverd, she having the moon under her feet : the Old and New Testament made to agree and God's justice and mercy magnified.

II. Shewing whom the Seeds are between whom God put Enmity. (Book 2)

NOw as to the Curse the Lord laid upon the Ser∣pent. Gen 3.14,15. Thou art cursed above all Cattel, and above every Beast of the Field: upon thy Belly shalt thou go, and Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy Life: And I will put enmity between thee and the Woman, and between thy Seed and her Seed; it shall bruise thy Head, and thou shalt bruise his Heel. Now this Serpent is to be understood under a twofold Head. First, That this Old Serpent called the Devil, did appear in the shape of a Serpent, or rather entred into a Serpent, and so spake in the Serpent. Whose going was not so uncom∣ly, as we may understand from the Words of the Text,

before the Curse was laid upon him, as after: Neither any such enmity between the Woman and the Serpent. For God made all the Creatures subject to Adam, and therefore then there was no enmity between them. And after Adam's transgression it was that God placed Enmity between the Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent: And when we would bruise the Ser∣pent, it is at his Head we strike, and he at our Heels. And that there was a real Serpent, it doth further ap∣pear, in that he was to go upon his Belly all the days of his Life; which accordingly he doth. But in that the Scriptures are of more then a private Interpreta∣tion, 2 Pet. 1.20. And therefore this Scrrpture hath its chief tendency to the Old Serpent, called the Devil, whom Christ the Seed of the Woman should bruise. And likewise between the Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Old Serpent, God hath also put En∣mity. But who this Seed of the Old Serpent was, or is, is here to be considered. Whereas God said, I will put Enmity between the Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent, Gen. 3.15. And the Serpent has no other Seed but what does adhere to him; and then none had adhered to him to give themselves to his dis∣pose but the Angels whom he drew off with him when he revolted; and therefore he is called Belzebub the Prince of the Devils, Matth. 12.24. And it was for the De∣vil and his Angels that Hell-Fire was prepared, Matth. 25.41. And it was between this Seed of the Serpent, and the Seed of the Woman that God did then put Enmity; for the Prince of darkness then had no other Seed but the Angels that fell: For when Eve bore Cain, she said, I have gotten a Man from the Lord: And therefore then he was not the Seed of the Serpent. And for Cain's first Offence, God did not cast him out of his presence, but said, If thou dost well, shalt thou not be excepted? but if thou dost Evil, Sin lieth at thy Door, Gen. 4.7. But he by

adding Sin to Sin, thereby became of that Evil One for which God cast him out of his presence. So the Seed of Seth, whilst they served God, were called the Sons of God. But when they had corrupted their Way, where∣by the earth was filled with Violence they were alike cut off together. And so Israel, of whom God said, I had planted thee a noble Vine, a holy and a right Seed, Jer. 2.21. God having before proved and tryed Abraham, Gen. 22.16,17,18. of whom Israel sprang, and had they con∣tinued in the steps of Abraham, they would have remain∣ed Blessed: but they turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine, ver. 21. For when they forsook the holy Commandment, and did strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel, Mat. 23.23,24. For they wanted Faith in the Belief of the Writings of the Prophets, as to think that the threatned Judgments from God by them would fall on them, if they were disobedient to the weightier matters of the Law; and therefore Christ said in the Parable, If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets, (as to be warned by them) neither will they believe, though one rose from the Dead, Luke 16.29,30,31. And also Christ saith, For had they believed Moses, they would have believed me, for he wrote of me, John 5.46. For had they lived blamelesly, Luke 1.6. according to the rule God had given, Israel had never been left to Blindness. And it was better for them to whom Christ spake in Parables and dark Sentences, and did not his mighty Works amongst them, nor suffered his Disciples to declare them, that so they might be left to Blindness, then those where he did his mighty Works which never Man did, Mat. 12.24,35. there∣by to convince them: Yet they would wilfully set themselves in opposition; therefore Christ said, It should be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon, and Sodom, in the Day of Judgment then for such, Mat. 11.22,23,24. Deut. 32.5. And whereas some of Israel were

elected, and to others of them, a door of mercy set open, but the greater number of Israel were left to Blindness. And St. Peter saith of Israel, Acts 2.47. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. Because some of them were likewise saved by afore-appointment, whilst it happened that for Sin the major part of Israel were left to Blindness, Rom. 11.25. And the major part in Scripture is often called as the whole, or all; but it was the major part was left to blindness. So likewise the Gentiles that were fore∣chosen, and who first believed, Ephes. 1.12. were ap∣pointed by God, that the World through them might be∣lieve. John 17.21. For there was a particular and a general Calling by the Gospel, by which general Call the Nations embraced the Faith, and became the Seed of Abraham: But when they came to have no Love to the Truth, but took pleasure in Unrighteousness, God gave them up to strong Delusions to believe Lyes, that they might be damned, 2 Thes. 2.10,11,12. Here are two things lays People under Damnation; first, In having no Love to the Truth. 2dly, In taking plea∣sure in Unrighteousness. And those that have no Love to the Truth, are not only those that laid the World in Darkness, but also all those that doe wil∣fully oppose the Truth, thereby to keep the World in Darkness.

For all such as would rather let God be dishonoured, and the Bible made to contradict it self, and his People destroyed for lack of Knowledge, Hosea 4.6. rather than themselves be found in a mistake. Such may easily conclude what will be their portion.