Therefore I say though the Kingdom of God be a gloryous Kingdom yet hath he many Subjects belonging to it some in it and some pressing hard after it some going mourning and full of heavyness not accounting themselves worthy of it but yet longing after it and the glory of his Kingdom being inward the purblinde Worldly Eye see it not For who of them would think that 〈◊〉 poor shatter'd creature full of heavyness and of a drooping Spirit and it may be sorely exercised with outward afflictions and wants and hath no pleasant carriage iâ— their Eye that such a one belongs to the Kingdom of God And yet our Lord pronounces such poor ones in Spirit to be blessed and saith their's is the Kingdom oâ— God Obj. But it may be some will still object that though these things be true yet we doe not see Christians arise to that Vigor of Christianity and joy and pace as they did in the primitive times nor so quickly receive peace and comfort as they did then What 's the reason of that if the same Heavenly state be attanable now as was then attained unto by believers Answ For Answer hereunto consider that there was a mystery of iniquity to arise under the formal part of Christianity and that this mystery was to overspread Nations Tongues Multitudes Peoples and sit upon these Waters for so they are called And that under this mystery a bottomless Pit was to be opened out of which a smoke arose and darkened the Sun in the Firmament Now this mystery is the height of wickedness under the profession of Christianity To act the Devils part in the name of Christ and that makes it a mystery To teach traditions of men and their inventions for precepts of Christ which was alwayes call'd whoredom among the Jews and is so among Christians To teach lyes in Hypocrisie to teach Murther as a precept of Christ as all Persecutors who professe Religion must doe this is to hold out the Devils work in the name of Christ Now such Apostacy as this and teaching â—uch things they darken the Sunshine of â—he gloryous Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And God will not give his glory to another then Christ nor his praise to graven Images nor mens curious imaginations or traditions And therefore the gloryous beams of the Gospel being obscured by such things the Heavenly warmth and refreshing thereof hath not so speedily nor fully darted into mens Spirits to raise them up so powerfully it may be and so quickly into the enjoyment of that peace and joy that passes understanding But yet God hath not left himself without witnesses to bear Testimony to the Truth of the joyfull tydings of Salvation by Faith in Christ and he will raise up still mâ—re as the mystery of iniquity consumes What think ye of those that love not their lives unto death warring against the mystery of iniquity Who expose their lives and all they have to the fury and rage of men rather then ensnare their consciences with the vain traditions of men Thus Michael and his Angels feight by suffering And the Dragon and his Angels by inflicting Therefore seeing the mystery of iniquity is to be overcome by such warrs as these Christ Jesus our Lord and Captain wants not his valiant Souldiers to encounter with the Dragon and his Champions even under the Apostacy into the mystery The Dragon feights but prevails not against the Lords hoast Now do not think that its a small matter that makes men so resolute and venterous thus to expose their lives No it s for no lesse then a Kingdom either already in possession of or in view to be attained But these things being Spiritual are not discerned by the carnal Eye And so the Subjects of Christs Kingdom whether they be in real possession of it or in earnest pursuite of it are little seen by the World although many belong thereunto Obj. But one Objection more may seem very material and weighty to many namely thus In this Treatise of Essential Christianity why is there no mention made of Baptism and the Lords Supper and of Preaching the Word and Prayers Are not these Essential things in Christianity And why are these left out Answ I answer I do not leave them out in opposition to them but because first they are not so inseparable to the Kingdom of Christ as that there is no enjoyment thereof without these especially as they are under the Apostacy administred Secondly because these may all be professed and taken up by persons who are workers of iniquity and not owned by our Lord Jesus Christ even by men who live in open wickedness and therefore are not admitted into his Kingdom because they are Baptised or receive the Supper or frequent publique Prayers or are Preachers of the Scriptures Paul speaks the same thing to a Baptized Church who also had the Supper of the Lord in practice among them and who came behind in no gift Yet notwithstanding all these things he sets this caution before their Eyes to ponder on Know ye not saith he that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankinde nor Thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of Goâ— 1 Cor. 6.9 10. This he speaks to such 〈◊〉 did wrong and defrauded their Brethren Laying before them the danger of suâ—â— courses if they should fall back again to suâ—â— things and return with the Dog to tâ—â— vomit and like the Sow to her wallowinâ— in the mire Hence it is that we are admonished to turn away from such as have 〈◊〉 form of Godliness as men that professe theâ— things namely Baptism the Lords Suppeâ— publique Prayers and Preaching may have but deny the power thereof Simon Magâ— was Baptized and yet was in the Gall 〈◊〉 bitterness and bond of iniquity Act. 8 â— one may eat and drink the Lords Suppeâ— without profit to themselves yea they mâ— eat and drink judgment to themselves and 〈◊〉 guilty of the body and blood of the Lorâ— 1 Cor. 11. And for Prayers men maâ— make many Prayers and long Prayers and yet be no better then the Phariseeâ— or the Jews of old who honoured the Lorâ— with their lips while as their Heart waâ— far from him And Christ himself hath foretold that many shall plead for themselveâ— thus Lord Lord have we not Prophecyâ— in thy name c. Yet he will answer them I never know youâ— depart from me 〈◊〉 that work iniquity Now here 's a form of Godliness lyes in these things namely in being Baptized and frequenting Prayers and Preaching and the Lords Supper but seeing one may live in these and yet be far from the Kingdom of God therefore I have not placed these things among those that are essential to that life that enters the Kingdom although these things rightly used and at the Lambs requirings
And blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Matt. 5.3 4. Their mourning is while they are in travel but when they have brought forth then there is rejoycing when Faith hath overcome then joy and gladness And this is in some sooner in some later In the primitive times of the Apostles when the mystery of the Gospel or glad tydings was holden forth with open face as I may say and without a vail or myst many that received those tydings by Faith were immediatly filled with peace and consolation How quickly was the Jaylor that came in trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas crying out Syr's what must I doe to be saved How quickly I say was he raised up into peace and consolation after he had heard the joyfull tydings of Salvation by Christ Jesus plainly preached to him in few words and by Faith received it Act. 16.31 32 33 34. And they said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House And they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his House And he took them the same hour of the night it was not a work of many hours but the same hour and washed their stripes and was Baptized he and all his straight way And when he had brought them into his House he set meat before them and rejoyced believing in God with all his House See how love and joy accompanied his Faith believing in God he rejoyced Therefore the Gospel is called glad tyding of great joy For who can believe that his sins are done away in Christ Jesus and that freely by grace or in love the Lord accepteth him in Christ Jesus and not therein rejoyce The Preaching of the Gospel is preaching peace by Jesus Christ Act. 10.26 Eph. 2.17 And therefore it s call'd the Gospel of Peace How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tydings of good things Rom. 10.15 The Eunuch to whom Philip preached Christ and opened to him the way of Salvation by Christ and he by Faith had received this love of God in Christ the same day he was filled with joy and after Philip was caught away from him he went on his way rejoycing Act. 8.39 So at Samariâ— Philip having preached Christ unto them and working Miracles in his name there was great joy in that City Act. 8.8 So likewise that great multitude that was converted at Peters preaching the Gospel to them Act. 2. besides those eminent Fruits of love which sprang up in them in an extraordinary manner they also were filled with great joy and consolation which made them to eat their meat with gladness and singlenes of praising God This true Faith in Christ Jesus brings peace and consolation upon two principal accounts First because it receives the glad tydings of remission or forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ The guilt of sin or conscience of sin binds a man under the fear of condemnation and causes him to cry out in the bitterness of his Soul what shall I doe As it did these here in the 2d of the Acts when they were struck with a sense of their sin they cryed out Men and Brethren what shall we doe And so the Jaylor what shall I doe to be saved And this state the Apostle Paul personates Rom. 7.24 O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Now what can be more joyfull at such a time and to such a condition then to be satisfyed that their sins are forgiven them and that Christ Jesus the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World hath borne their sin in his own body on the Tree And so to have their conscience sprinkled by his blood from an evil conscience and to be made clean by that blood of sprinkling Here 's cause indeed of rejoycing by Faith in him For now the chaine of darkness is unloosed and the liberty of the Sons of God begins to appear and he is translated out of darkness into marvellous light Even the light of life 1 Pet. 2.9 And then secondly in this faith there is also a measure of the Spirit received which is the comforter and brings his Testimony with him which is beyond all words for giving consolation and peace The Spirit witnessing with our Spirits that we are accepted into Sonship with God And therefore the joy received in believing is called the joy of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit 1 Thess 1.6 And ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction and joy of the Holy Ghost That is joy which the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit ministred in their receiving the word There 's joy in Heaven over one sinner that truely repents and he also is made partaker of that joy Thus the Fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace to that man that receives the Testimony of the love of God in Christ Jesus and also it begets the same in that man towards others It begets love in him towards others and joy in their returning to God and makes him a man of Peace in the World Obj. It may be some may say how can this be seeing Christ said I came not to send peace on Earth but a Sword And to set one man at variance against another Answ That is occasionally because the Earthly Spirit will be opposing and persecuting the rightous seed although the righteous seed be a seed of peace and quietâ—ess in it self and to others Obj. Again some may say Christ â—ells of mourning ye shall mourn â—nd the World shall rejoyce c. How then doth this stand with that â—y which thou speaks of Answ A Woman while she is in â—ravel hath sorrow but when she hath brought forth she rejoyceth for joy that a man Childe is brought forth into the World so it is here And then again saith Christ Jesus In the World ye shall have tribulation but in me ye shall have peace Joh. 16.33 Forthly I come now to another Fruit or concomitant of this Faith and that is this it excludes boasting It cuts down vainglory Where is boasting then It is excluded By what Law Of Works Nay but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 For what hath that man to glory in in respect of himself that sees himself wholy a receiver at the hands of the Lord When he rightly sees himself justifyed freely by grace and the superaboundant mercy oâ— God who hath revealed himself to him in Christ Jesus That is hath revealed his love to him in Chrisâ— Jesus for God is love And hath let him see that he is accepted freely in Christ Jesus He that hath the right sence of this upon his Spirit it draws his Heart into the admiration of the infinite love and mercy of God in deep humility And the more fully this is revealed to him or in him the greater is his admiration still of
more then we read of the other Apostles in so much that he called him Satan saying to him quickly after he had called him Peter or a Rock or a Stone get thee behinde me Satan we finde not that he ever said such a word to any of the rest except Judas whom he said was a Devil one of you is a Devil Therefore Peter standing in the Revelation of the Father firm in that or upon that Rock he became as a secundary Rock layed upon the chief Corner-stone and so did all the rest of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2.20 But Peter standing in the wisdom of the Flesh out of that Revelation of the Father he was an offence and no better then Satan and to be rejected and cast behind the back and so is every one that stands there namely in the wisdom of the Flesh in opposition to the work of God Peter was no foundation for the Church to be built upon as he was a mutable man but only as he stood in the infallible Counsel and Revelation of the Son of God So he held forth the Rock to others and was dignifyed with the name of the Rock So likewise Christ will put his own name upon others that stand faithfull to him as he writ to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.12 Him that overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God and my new name And so Peter was dignifyed with the name Petrus or Petros from Petra which was the true Rock in all ages because he professed him from the revelation of the Father Whom say ye that I am saith Christ Thou art the Son of the living God saith Peter Here was the Rock or foundation the Corner-stone Petra As all the Scriptures testify and from hence he was called Petros but in Satans work he was called Satan Therefore the Spirit he stood in gives the denomination So likewise concerning others Herod in his crafty ravenous Spirit was called a Fox So if Peter or the Pope pretending to be Peters Successor shall stand in a destroying Spirit doth not he deserve the name of Apollyon which signifies a destroyer And is not this name justly put upon the King of the destroying Locusts Rev. 9.11 I desire thee whosoever thou art to weigh this well Peter or whoever it is that stands in the Spirit of God which reveales the Son of God and are keept in that God dignifies them with Honourable names such as none knowes but they which receive them On the other hand those that stand in another Spirit have names given accordingly Therefore i'ts a sottish and incongruous thing for men living in one Spirit to challenge a name proper to the contrary How foolish and impertinent is it for men that are as Locusts and Scorpions carrying stings in their Tails wherewith to hurt men who arise out of the smoke of the bottomless pit of mans wisdom and imaginations for them to challenge the name of Christians a name proper to those who standing in the Revelation of God and nature of Christ follow him as innocent Lambs I'ts as discrepant or contrary as for a Wolf or Fox to challenge the name of a Lamb. So for the King of these Locusts these stinging Scorpions for him to go under the name of Christs Vicar and Peters Successor is as contrary as to call Fire Water or Water Fire I'ts to put light for darkness and darkness for light And thereunto belongs a woe Isa 5.20 Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter I have insisted the more upon this lest men should misse of their expectation and fall short of the comfortable enjoyment of the Kingdom of God in building upon the Sands and not upon the true Rock Another thing to be considered and which was published by the Apostles to beget faith was the sufferings and resurrection of Christ This also was done without us we have no hand in it And this also was from the love of God God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but should have eternal life And what did God give him to do for us One thing was to bear our sins He became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the rightousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 that is he bare our sins in his own body and suffered for them that we by faith in him might be cloathed with Gods righteousness or with the love and mercy of God For that 's it which being received by faith is called Gods righteousness Now tho the foundation for Faith be layd out of us in the good will and love of God in Christ Jesus and in his sufferings and resurrection yet the work of Faith that 's wrought in us by the Spirit of God for it s he that opens the Heart of man to believe his love Sin shuts up the Heart of man against the Lord and is as it were a bolt against him Therefore to take away that bolt and to make way for the opening of the door Christ suffered He bare our sins in his own body on the Tree to make way for man to conceive the love of God in Christ And that 's not all I'ts the entrance or the beginning of Faith which he follows by the operation of his Spirit in us washing our consciences by the Blood of Christ and so giving boldness through him to draw near to God and to come to him as a Father and thus by degrees the Lord makes his entrance into the Hearts of the Sons of men that they may become the Sons of God He living in them and they living in him For his love being received which in very deed is Faith he himself who is love is received and here is begotten a Son to God As many as receive him to them gives he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name For this is the end of our Faith that God may dwell in us and so renew his image again which through sin hath been defaced That man that pretends faith in Christ and yet lives in the nature or Spirit of the Devil doing his works his Faith is but like the Faith of his Father the Devil whose works he doth The Faith of the Sons and Daughters of God is shown by their Fruits for they work the works of their Father Every Tree is known by its Fruits Now this is the great mystery hid for so many ages and generations which in due time God revealed by his Spirit to the Apostles of Christ Namely Christ to be brought forth in us and this is the hope of glory And the preaching of the first principles of the Doctrine of Christ is but to make