but that they dissemble the same in point of any present being of them Thus these Hypocrites in expounding of the word of God dissemble the Fall of man as a thing that was and is not the Concepcion Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascencion of Christ as things past and now are not but only in Records and Histories These Stage players do not only pick the purses of their brethren but pick out their eys in beholding vain Idols not knowing the wisdom and power of God that hath appointed his Kingdom in Christ to bee alike present of like glory power peace and plenty and of like noble acts and operacions in all ages of the world where ever and in whomsoever the mystery of God in Christ appears and is made manifest Col. 1. 26. 29. otherwise let us only hear that Christ prayed but never pray in our selves and so in all things that Christ did or sayd for such is their doctrin The third particular noted in the Text is the Ground and Reason of this their wo wherein observe these particulars 1 First their act what they do and that is twofould 1 They build the Tombs of the Prophets 2 They garnish the Sepulchers of the righteous 2 Secondly observe their speech what they say that is If we had been in the dayes of our fathers we would not have partaken with them in the blood of the Prophets wherein observe 1 First they confesse blood or murder to be a capitall sin 2 Secondly that they have washed and reformed themselves and are become better than their fathers 3 Thirdly they translate and remove the cause or act of blood-guiltinesse from themselves unto their fathers 3 In the third place note what they are in point of their condicion or office in these words wherefore ye be witnesses unto your selves that ye are the children of them that killed the Prophets 4 Fourthly observe the extent of the thing witnessed unto in these words Fill yee up then the measure of your fathers The first is their act being twofould and first they are said to build the Tombs of the Prophets Wee have heard before that a Tomb is a Monument or Memoriall of that which is not in present and reall being and by Tomb in this place is meant the Historicall Narracions or Literall Form of the word of God as it utters it selfe in tearms comming within the capacities of the naturall and racionall conjectures of mans heart or words which mans wisdom teacheth 1 Cor. 2. 4. So that these men assume the word of God according to the literall form and verball expressions of the Prophets and therby build and erect monuments of Constituted Churches Offices therein Governments Orders and painted Excellencies in the world beginning and ending in Time not compatible to the Son of God thereby expelling the proper intent and minde of the Spirit which is the soul or life of the Scriptures and so set up a dead karkasse and livelesse memoriall void of the life and spirit of our great and only Prophet Iesus Christ Deut. 18. 15. For there is nothing wherein the heart of man expresseth it selfe by bringing forth som what wherein to employ himselfe for a time in this world being temporary But it is a grave wherein Christ is buried if the angell or messenger of God roul not away the stone or take away the difficulty guard props and defence thereof and sit upon it as an inferiour and subjected thing Mat. 28. 2. making it the footstool of his feet 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. Yea the Ordinance of humane Marriages is a grave to bury Christ in that he appear not in his espousall when the conjugall ty of the word of God is terminated there For it is in that point as it was at that Marriage in Canah of Galilee performed according to the Iewish Rites or the Dictates and naturall Ceremonies of mans heart where Christ came to declare that the proper power of the word of God consists not in such things no more than that water filling up those six water pots according to the purification of the Iewes was like unto that wine which Christ commanded to be drawn out of the same for when his mother taken according to the flesh offered to terminate the businesse of the day wherefore Christ was bid thither in that temporary feast or marriage teling him there wanted wine to have his power and presence to honour that his answer is woman what have I to do with thee my hour is not yet that is my time and authority consists not in these things But when his mother who brought him forth submitted to his will saying unto the servants whatsoever hee commands that do yee then Christ commands those weak and water-like Ordinances of the Iewes or of the sons of men to bee drawn out having the vigour and vertu of new and strong wine to admiracion Iohn 2. 1. declaring thereby that transcendent power and glory that is in the time and presence of Christ in all his Commands and Appointments beyond all the Ordinances and Appointments of the sons of men the naturall Dictates of whose hearts lead them unto such Orders in all temporary Institucions as naturally as in that of Feastivity or Marriage however the hypocriticall Pharises solemnize them with the intent of the word of God The Tomb of the Prophets erected in these things in the departure of the soul and spirit stands upon four pillars which enervate the sift and the sixt Commandements 1 First in point of Superiority 2 Secondly in point of Inferiority 3 Thirdly in Equality which is the sum of the fift Commandement and first with promise Ephes 6. 2 3. 4 The fourth is our demeanour and carriage towards friends and enemies in killing and preserving life which is the sum of the sixt Commandement First in point of Superiority Rule false interpreters cannot finde any visible power upon the Earth but in Fathers according to the extent of the phrase in the Commandement which phrase of Father and Mother include all exercise of Authority Neither can they utter any Glory of Submission and Obedience but as Children are there to be extended that is to all wayes of yeeldings of obedience and these they resolve to be exercised between man and man creature and creature which is no better than a Tomb wherein the great Prophet is buried yea the tru spirit of all the Prophets is thence departed and the mysticall body of the Son of God corrupted by such Doctrin For the truth of relacion in point of Authority and Submission Command and Obedience stands properly according to that reall intent of the word of God in the relacion and respect that is between God and man in the faith and subsistance of Christ Where the Spirit of God is the proper supply of the party in both respects that is in the exercise of obedience as well as in the power of Command and may as truly be found and exercised in one
in way of humane genealogies O fools and blind shall we think that the genealogy and off-spring of the Son of God ended and was cut off in the Virgin Mary or that it was more carnal and bodily in onr forefathers then it is in our dayes is not the flesh of Christ though never a carnal and fleshly Christ conserved in his off-spring until now shall we think this word hath not eternity in it and is made good in his mystical body whereever any member thereof appears viz. My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and he that eateth not my flesh and drinketh not my blood hath no life in him or is this speech worn out so as that it comprehends not the whole body viz. My heart and my flesh rejoyces in the living God Is there no more mention to be made of this word My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth greatly after thee is a land of drought Such as lay these things aside and count it blasphemy to say Christ is compleatly present in his Saints in these dayes in the reallity of whatsoever his body consists of and will but afford him only some certain spirit or rather rayes and influences thereof to be resident in his Saints to this end that the world may not want power to do what they please with their bodies these men are of that spirit of Antichrist which deny the coming of Christ in the flesh as the Spirit of God in his Apostle averreth for if it were salvation to confess Christ come in the flesh as born of the Virgin Mary in such an age of the world only then would that wicked sea and lake of Rome have as much salvation in it as thy people at this day extant who profess and describe him in that respect by so many abominable signs and Images for our Apostle affirms that that spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God But this spirit which confesses Christ upon the same principles that Rome and the rest of the rabble of the world do who read the writings of the Apostles they do not acknowledge the insufficiency of man in that alsufficiency of the Son of God nor that disability of the creature in point of all humane help to be born up and carried out in that strength and desire proper only to the spirit of God In case therefore of the Jews in their strictness about genealogies and pedegrees I am as a Jew in all such matters and it is the only doctrine I teach whereby I find an ear in them to hear but it is to confound and bring to nought all carnal vain genealogies tribes kindreds and families as having respect unto God that the family and race of the Son of God only may take place of them all that so I may gain them all unto him or vanquish and subdue them all under him that the reality of them all may only be found in him as they are of any truth holiness honour or of any acceptation unto or in any respect with God at all and that all other are but vain and endless genealogies as our Apostle calls them Ignorance of this point in that obcaecoâ—n and pro-caxiouse spirit in the ministry of the world is the cause of that carnal conceit that a member of a church ordered composed and cast into a form by men and the children born in the confines of a church so framed are the true seed and off-spring of Christ and that all others are without any visible ensign of the true Religion and worship of God Again ignorance in this point of the true and compleat proceed of Christ whenever he appears really in any particular person or office is the very ground of that diabollical conceit that the Spirit of God operates in man here on the earth for a time and at his death man as a creature returns unto the earth both in regard of soul and body and is dissolved into the elements whereof natural bodies are made and composed and that nothing but simply God as an increated being is saved or returns to his ancient center these two opinions seem to be far distant but are both alike diabolical denying the truth and reallity of the Son of God and are deceivers of mankind causing them to be inamored with and dore upon the wayes of death and destruction in the villification and rejection of that salvation which is by Christ To them that are under the law as under the law that is to such as are under that Ceremonial bond and ingagement of being tied in the wayes of their worships to persons places times and terms of humane relations as necessary parts thereof instituting of churches creating of officers setting up seals signs services of time which in time will vanish away to these I declare my self to be under as strict bonds and ingagements as themselves be so as I move not in heart nor by hand utterance in tongue or gestures and demeanure in carriage But with respect unto this my ingagement which is the bond of the spirit binding me over unto God by freeing me from all ingagements and things whatsoever inferiour to himself in his Son Christ and not the spirit of bondage which ingageth unto the creature as being set in the place of the Creatour which is ever accompanied with trembling and fear because of the conscience of the insufficiency and uncertainty thereof And by taking up these their bonds and transitory ingagements whereabout as servants of sin they spend their time imploy their studies exercise their zeal in binding heavy burdens upon themselves and others seeking rest by the imployment of that unclean spirit but find none busying themselves in picking at the bark rinde husk or shell and never come to taste of the pith marrow or kernell and by opening of these rudiments and declaring what they be in their strictest injunctions which being followed to the uttermost of their intent in what they drive at and lead unto which is no less nor fall they short of an impossibility to please God thereby I do by these things bring out the reallity of the law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord which is the only freedome from this law of sin and death Which law of God hath all its relations operations and respects only in Christ and out of him it neither binds by any bond nor layes it any burden but hath in it in every respect the liberty freedome and authority of the Son of God And by this means I gain the truth and verity of all law bonds and ingagements to have their subsistance and being only in the Son of God being of the same degree power and continuation which himself is and ever will be which is the onely freedome and therefore the Saints of God are not bound unto but transcend and are far above all humane and transitory things from which God hath freed
for the bringing forth of such operations yet cannot but confess the time of them is past and at present is only assemblance of it So do false interpreters they pretend the primative of the church and yet know no more how to make this time the first time then they know how to make a Christian in these dayes to be the first begotten of God therefore meer counterfeiters of time 4. Stage players counterfeit places if he draw but a curtain they act as in the Kings pallace when it may be but in a stew or brothel house So do false interpreters draw but out wine and wafer or water and a person without vale or covering and the act as in the pallace of the king of Saints and in the mean time confess that his dwelling is in heaven where themselves never as yet came and thus false interpreters are the stage players of the world who dissemble the being of persons histories times and places and cannot but confess the reality of them is out of being in point of present appearance Whereas the truth of interpretation doth not only comprehend them all extending it self unto them but also gathereth them up into present exercise and that in the reality of their proper being For he that can look back upon the word and work of God he knows how to convey himself thither or else it is a dead letter unto him he also knows how to bring up convey that word and work to take place and give it self a real and present being in himself otherwise it is not become a quickening spirit unto him and the like skill that the spirit of the Scriptures hath to convey it self back to the original and foundation of things it hath also to convey it self forward to the accomplishing and finishing of them not only in after times but also in the time present otherwise it is as the word of man subject to times and seasons and not as the word of God that is ever the same as himself is Therefore it is that Christ saith before Abraham was I am and the prophet Hosea speaking of Jacob conversing with God saith he met him in Bethel and there he spake with us and the Lord hath set up this name as his memorial in Abraham Isaac and Jacob as being in them conveyed unto Moses and all the Saints of God namely I am that I am hath sent thee for if the sender had not been in him that was sent those great works in Egypt had never been effected for the memorizing of the name of God forever Wo therefore unto false and counterfeit interpreters of the law of God which wo doth not only concern such as know themselves to deal deceitfully with the Scriptures for advantage but also such as upon false principles are never so much perswaded that they speak truth whether they deliver it unto others or receive and take it in as upon their own account it skils not the matter is the same and hath the same acceptance and reward intailed The word wo is a voice of cursing as an edict or proclamation given out by Christ as ruler of all things which none can gain say or contradict containing the whole sum in every part and particular of that cursed estate and condition of sin and unrighteousness as brought in and continued among the sons of men by false and hypocritical interpretation of the word of God as being no other but the spirit of the serpent from the beginning who is said to be the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan Revel 20. 2. And this woful and sinful estate and condition as the proper portion and patrimony of all false interpreters being the only spirit whereby they live in fostring and maintaining the deeds of the flesh is apposed unto that blessed condition of the Son of God the fountain and original of all happiness whose spirit is the true intent and proper scope of the word of God in which alone his life is preserved and maintained forever and therefore he is called the word of God and saith of his proper language the words that I speak are spirit and life therefore without true interpretation of the Scriptures no conservation but a crucification of the Son of God Therefore it is that Christ so often ingeminates and reiterates this word wo as the curse consisting in false interpretation being that and also those which put him to death the persons and the spears being one therefore the Prophet cries out unto God Rebuke the company of spâ—armen or the roor or the crew of the Canes or the wilde beasts of the reed as the word imports Psalm 68. 30. prophecying of those who gave Christ vineger upon a reed in his thirst upon the cross and put a reed in his hand and smote him on the head head with the reed Matth. 27. 29 30 34 48. Psalm 69. â—2 as such as make hollow the word of God emptying it of the proper spirit thereof which thereby becomes as a spunge to draw in sharp bitter and tart things to present unto Christ that is cruel and savage persecutions even unto death therefore the prophet calls them the mighty bulls and calves of the people that is the high priests scribes pharises and elders who falsly expound and apply the word of God to the putting of it to death of whom the prophet largely comments in that two and twentieth Psalme Now to describe a false expositour of the word of God as a general Maxim to hold true undeni bly and universally in the discovery of them in all times places and persons is this They deny the word of God its proper and natural rise and accordingly carry it to an improper and unnatural center First they deny the word of God its proper and natural rise that is they conclude that all things whereinsoever God hath expressed himself do not arise nor have their original in the word of God as considered and consisting in the unity of God and man no nor that any thing in the first act of creating the world could possibly arise out of such a fountain but say they that device of God and man being one was only brought in after man had sinned but in the beginning all things were good yea man himself in a goodness besides short of and out of Christ Whereas the truth is there was never reality of goodness to be found as coming within the account of God but only in that work of God and man being made one in Christ therefore it is that when the man said unto Christ good master taking him for a meer man Christ asks him why callest thou me good there is none good but God not denying himself to be good but that goodness doth not consist in the excellencies of the creature but in the excellencies of the Spirit of God that made all things and what work soever holds nor proportion with the mind of the maker hath not the
are the ornaments of your offices unless the Church in your estimation prefer you and where are those treasures of gifts you have if the Church have not distributed them unto you Again ye fools and blind is not the Son of God he that makes holy as well as he that is made holy and are ye bound more strictly to the one then the other when as they are both one individual subsistance Hebr. 1. 2 3. Ephes 2. 14 15. neither is there any place of glory worship or holiness but in that mystical body in Gods account Ephes 2 16. nor is there any gift person place or office in that Temple and dwelling place of the most high that is preferred in dignity one above another save only as Gods oportunity calls for present use and exercise of any of them and that prefers every one or every thing in Christ our true and only Temple to be chief and have preheminency in its proper time and place Eccles 3. 1 11. Again whosoever swears by the altar it is nothing but he that swears by the gift that is thereon he is a debter that is say these false interpreters he that is ingaged to the altar may dispence with his being present thereat and his attendance thereupon even as there is a liberty in the alter it self to be erected not alwayes of the same materials for sometimes it is an altar of earth Exod. 20. 24. and it is also an alter of wood Exod 27. 1. Sometimes it is an altar of stone Exod. 20. 25. and sometimes an altar of brass Exod. 39 39. Yea and sometimes it is a golden alter Exod. 39 38. and yet the truth is the difference of the materials whereof the altar is appointed to consist gives not the least liberty to dispence with the bond or oath so as to be freed of or absent from the altar in any respect For the difference of the matter whereof the altar consists is only to declare unto us that when Christ Gods true and only memorial is erected and proclaimed unto the sons of men in the world when they through a misconceiving spirit and miscarrying womb Hosea 9. 14. do cast that memorial of God into a form carnal and set up a statue destitute of the life of God then are the Saints of God by his authority and appointment to erect the worship of God to consist in things as far differing from their carved form as wood differs from earth and stone from wood brass from stone and pure gold from brass and yet no declining nor departure from the altar in any respect Hence it is that the Spirit of God in its metaphorical expressions by the prophets in the appointments of the worship of God in holy Writ by its elegant allusions to things within the sphere of humane capacity concerning the ceremonies and services of the law which carnal Israel understanding according to humane reason framing and erecting forms unto themselves accordingly The same Spirit of God in the prophets thereupon inveighs against them cries them down and disanuls them as being mans meer inventions and no part of the scope of the Prophet nor any thing of the mind and intent of the Spirit of God Isaia 1. 11 15. Psalme 40. 67. Hebr. 10. 1 9 Again these false interpreters will confess that Christ is the true altar because the Apostle affirms so much Hebr. 13. 10 11 12. but their confession is meerly verbals for they say Christ is the altar only as he is God and the sacrifice as he is man when as the truth is there is no office or act appertaining unto the Son of God that can be ascribed unto a nature which is not of twain made one Ephes 2. 15. for if God at any time or in any thing had reckoned himself one of or absent from the son of man no possibility had been left to have cast up or found out another form for he is the Lord that changeth not Mallac 3. 6. But these men say however men may be ingaged to the altar yet they are not bound alwayes to attend uoon and be present with the Lord Christ who is the true altar for he now only resides in heaven a place remote from the Saints on earth as though Shâ—cinah according to the Chaldee phrase the divine presence or grace were so bound up in one Son of God as not extending it self to another as a first born of God also of whom our Apostle affitms that there is an assembly and Church of them Hebr. 12. 23. or as though humane nature in one of Gods holy ones were nearer to divine grace and fatherly compassion then in any of the rest of that stock whereas the Apostle affirms that through the great and precious promises we are made partakers of the divine nature 2. Pet. 1. 4. plainly shewing that the proper subject of the promise which Christ in us the hope of glory and the divine nature are never seperated which is the subject matter and mysterie of the Gospel Coll. 1. 27. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Wherefore to hold our selves not bonnd to the reality of the presence of the alter is to deny and falsifie the mysterie of the Gospel for the whole form and frame of the worship of God consists therein Therefore it is called in Hebrew Mizbeach and in Greek Thusiasterion that is the Sacrificatory or place of slaying the sacrifice as being that whereby the world is crucified unto us we unto the world Gal. 6. 14 15. therefore when the prophet foretels the calling of the Gentiles under the term of Egyptians he saith In that day the alter of the Lord shall be set up in the midst of Egypt and a piller by the border thereof unto the Lord and it shall be for a signe and witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt Isa 19 20. that is it shall testifie the deliverance of the people from all wayes of Idolatry and their investment into the whole frame of the pure worship of the true God Somet â—es the altar is called Ariel that is the Lion of God Isa 29. 1. as that which devours all adverse power which opposeth any part of the purity of Gods worship as it is erected in Christ who is that true pattern shewed only in the mount Acts 7. 44. Exod. 25. 40. Hebr. 8. 5. therefore the altar is sometimes called Haâ—el that is the mountain of God Ezekiel 43. 15. as that which is lifted up and established above the heights and tops of the principallities and powers of this world the platform whereof cannot be seen by any but only him who is taken up into the mount to converse with God therein But the false interpretours affirm that whosoever swears by the gift on the altar he is a debter or bound and ingaged thereby that is such as are ingaged in the gifts laid on the altar or exercised in the form of worship as the gift of tongues the knowledge of arts the gift
of forms of prayer or of preaching exhortation admonition or reproof they only who are invested into these in the way of a Judaical Levitical and literal law or law of the letter that is according to that humane order where they live these are bound to the presentation exercise and ordering of these gifts as their proper trade and calling exempted from others of the houshold of God And that all the rest of the people are ingaged unto these gifts to yield their submission unto them as also to maintain the parties thus gifted in the exercise of them the parties also being gifts themselves unto whom the people are bound and become debters concluding that pastours teachers prophets Apostles and Evangelists are given of God unto the rest of the people Jerem. 3. 15. Ephes 4. 11. therefore the gift binds but not the altar say they But what saith the answer of God to these men ye fools and blind that is ye are fools and idiots with respect unto Gods wisdome and manner of arguing even as a natural fool void of reason is not in a capacity to understand reason neither to receive it or give it out no more do you understand the way of Gods wisdome either to propose it to others or to receive and approve of it when it is propounded to you ye are blind also or in the dark not for want of the light shining for though the Son of righteousness cast out his beams upon you Matth. 5. 45. ye perceive nothing nay ye turn light into darkness in your selves And if the light that is in you be darkness how great is that darkness Matth. 6. 23. for the God of this world that is the wisdome of this world hath blinded the minds of the infidels that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ which is the image of God should not shine unto you or should not shine in you 2 Cor. 4. 4. for the world by wisdome or in and through wisdome is ignorant of God 1 Cor. 1. 21. Now to evince this his taxation he interrogates whether is greater the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift he confounds them in their own wisdome to prove them fools and blind in the wisdome of God for in humane reason that which makes holy must have the preheminency of that which is made holy by it the Authour and Fountain is greater then the product and the stream so that to strive against the wisdome of God brings a man to turn fool even in humane argument Again in point of Gods arguing they are fools and blind for Christ is the altar that makes holy Heb. 13. 10. he is also the gift that is made holy Iohn 3. 16 Iohn 17. 19 and if he be the one and the other which is of greater estimation and value for Christ is one there is but one lord Jesâ— Christ in whom are all things and we in him 1. Cor. 8 6. he being one there can be no choice in one nor preferring of one before another for what he is hath the worth and weight of the Son of God in it and therefore they argue not according to the order of Gods wisdome which is not extant in the truth and substance thereof but only in Christ 1 Cor. 1. 24. whence Christ infers a threefold argument for the conclusion of this point First therefore whosoever sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by all things thereon that is no man can be ingaged unto the true altar the Son of God in whom the enmity is slain Ephes 2. 15 16 the flesh kild and crucified in all the affections and lusts thereof Galat. 5. 24 25. but he must be ingaged and sworn unto all things that belong and appertain to the Son of God for himself and his furniture are inseparably one and can never be divided whosoever therefore is bound over unto God by faith in Christ is bound over to the gift of prayer prophesie intercession mediation to the gift of Pastour Teacher Evangelist Apostle Priesthood Kingdome and whatsoever appertaineth unto the Lord Jesus that true altar for the altar withont the gifts is useless and attains not its end and what gift soever not found on that altar is void of holyness and falls short of acceptation before God and good men Secondly he inferres that whosoever sweares by the Temple sweareth by it and him that dwels therein that is he that is ingaged to the pallace or place of Gods abode which is the Church of God made an habitation of God through the Spirit that man is also ingaged and bound over unto the inhabitant and indweller the Lord himself for there is none ingaged unto the house of God but by ingagement unto God himself for they are not twain but one intire being so that none can erect a house or habitation for God but it must be framed in a capacity to sute such an inhabitant who is incomprehensible which nothing can do in heaven or in earth but only the Son of God Jesus Christ and none can describe an inhabitant fit to furnish and fill such a Temple or pallace but it must be the Lord alone that can do it when we set forth the Temple therefore in its true form and beauty we only declare the glory of Christ in that consideration therefore he saith destroy this Temple and I will build it up in three dayes speaking of his body John 2. 19 20 21. not only of his body doctrinal born of the Virgin Mary which may be construed literally and carnally as well as spiritually and heavenly Iohn 6. 51 58. but of his body mysticall comprehending all the Saints of God which if a man eat or communicate in he lives forever And when we describe him that dwells in the Temple we only set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus who dwels not in temples made with hands that is of mans building according to humane reason and art Hebr. 9. 11. for the heaven of heavens cannot contain him 1 Kings 8. 27. 2 Chron. 6. 18. much less an house coupled together according to those mean and beggerly thoughts of men whereby Churches are erected in these dayes which men may be bound too to day loose to morrow which is all one to say a man may be faithed and betrothed to Christ to day and unfaithed and devorced to morrow which is no less then to fall away from grace which such builders seem to inveigh against for the Temple and he that dwells therein are one never to be separated no more then God and man can be separated in Christ therefore such pharisaical interpretours who erect Churches as true Churches of God that admit of decay and falling from God in whole or any members thereof are they who have deceived and undone the world from the foundation thereof unto this day and are the proper witches of the world which the Scripture intends and that they may pass without notice being taken of them they
this wo is their gross hypocr sie in that they strain at a gnat and swallow a Camel These kind of interpretors are very strict in straining out of some things of small value as very pernicious and swallow down great abominations as things of nothing like a man which hath great care to strain a mote or flie out of his drink but can swallow without let a mountain or powerful serpent They can strain out the gnat of dipping into or sprinkling with water in their entrance into their Church as also gestures and vestures in the exercises of their Church but they can swallow down that abominable idolatry in falling down before and attributing unto the creature that which God never intended who desires mercy and not sacrifice which will pass away as the early cloud and as the morning dew and the knowledge of God more then all burnt-offerings Hosea 6. 4 5 6. Yea such perfunctory services are nothing but rebellion against Gods command in the weighty matters of the law and as the sin of witchcraft unto the people 1 Sam. 15. 21 22 23. These men can carefully strain out of office such as have not been trained up in some university and attained to orders meerly humane but they can swallow down thousands that never came to the knowledge of the mystery of God nor the operations of his spirit only expressed therein and not elsewhere to be found Yea they can strain out by death of the parties an act of adultery committed between creatnre and creature as brute beasts and in the mean time swallow down that sin of iucest in bringing the holy and eternal word of God into copulation with earthly and transitory things as a temporary Church erected in time and in time dissolved offiâ—ers ordained in time and in time may be deposed or by death abrogated and void ordinances that may not only be changed in time from one form into another but also surcease in time and be no more as though the Lord by conjunction with things that pass away should conceive and bring forth his kind and native properties whereas the word of life hath only purified it self in that undefiled bed of the mystical body of Christ for in the Son of man it is not only a word of putrifying but also putrified and therein and not elsewhere conceives and brings forth its own kind and native properties in all the fruits of righteousness w ich are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God Philip. 1. 11. and makes use of all other things as taking occasion thereby to express and declare the power and virtue which forever resides and dwels in that his mystical body for that end he preached in the Jewish Temple or Synagogue went up to their feasts conversed with the Samaritan at the well went to the marriage of Cana in Gallilee healed the man that was born blind and for that end the word of God hath respect unto in the expressing of it self all things that come within the compass of mans reason or found in the nature or operation of any creature not lodging it self in that but only visits it as a stronger in its going forth and return to its native home Add further these interpretours are strict to strain out bloud-shed in the several distinctions and degrees thereof but in the mean time can swallow down the killing and crucif iâ—g of the Lord of glory the Son of God by condemning the right of the first-born to belong unto that compleat mystical body of Christ and depriving it of the reallity of one and the same spirit virtue and acceptation in the sight of God in every part thereof having headship in whom or in whatsoever it put forth it self in present exercise for if the spirit of the Lord be upon any that party in that particular wherein it goes forth is the anointed of the Lord which infinitely transcends all transient things Isaiah 61. 1 2 3. And that doctrine that denies this glory to be the Spirit of Christ takes away and destroyes that wherein the life of the Son of God doth consist which is no other then the proper seed and off spring of him who is a murtherer from the beginning as also that lier who abode not in the truth Iohn 8. 44. as we are not to fear such therefore that can kill the body but have no power to torment the soul when that is done so we are to have in abomination that doctrine and those doctours which strike at the life of Christ in the Spirit of the Scriptures though they should never lay violent hands on the bodies of any of the Saints nor outward estates in point of their bodily well-being in the things that concern this mortal and temporary life Wo then unto false interpretours who highly advance mean and base things of no account in the records of God in neglect and villifying of the great and weighty things in his accounts and strain out and indeavour to clear themselves of such evils as are simply considered only evils in the judgement of man and thereby swallow up and devour as a thing of nought â—amely the things of God in Christ which is the breeding and bringing in the greatest evil yea the devil himself and hence Christ brings in the sixt wo laid down in the 25 26. verses wherein observe these particulars 1. First that there is a clensing pharisaical 2. Of what that is cups and platters 3. The manner how that is the outside 4. A manifestation of the inside and that is full of bribribery and excess 5. A taxation in these words thou blind pharisee 6. An exhortation in way of rebuke for their preposterous practice first cleanse the inside of the cup and platter 7. What would inevitably follow thereupon that the outside may be clean also 1. For the first observe that as there is a righteousness of the scribes and pharises which never enters into the kingdome of heaven Matth 5. 20. so there is a cleansing which is only the purification of the flesh in that sense as slesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. and that stands in an indeavour to conform a mans self to the letter of the Scripture which is the proper character of all mens minds naturally according to the principles of humane reason under which as the kernel in the shell or the corn in the husk the will of God is devulged unto the world so that a man is exempted from the seed of the word of God only the conception of it makes it either a first-born or an abortive either the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent and the more a man inclines after this purification Hebr. 9. 13. according to the law of the carnal commandment standing in outward ordinances Hebr. 7. 16. Ephes 2. 15. Col. 2. 14. the more he declines that simplicity and purity that is in Christ even as a spiritual minded man the
offices in Christ Iesus are of like authority and dignity and are the ground of all Law and Order in that Ierusalem which is above the Mother of all true and faithfull Interpreters who dare never divide nor put asunder those whom God hath joyned together Mar. 10 9. In the one of these is submission unto all things that are of God through death unto all the things of this world and in the other there is â—ule and authority over all the things that are of the evill one through that living unto God in Iesus Christ or that life of God which nothing can subject no more than any thing can cut it off which is eternall 1 Iohn 1. 11. 13. There is also a Kingdome and Priesthood meerly earthly and carnall which as two Tables of stone are the fountain of all Law in this earthly Ierusalem which by law stones the Prophets of God and these are never separated in a state earthly though ordered in severall persons for the mannagement thereof for the greaâ—nesse of a King destitute of the spirit of Christ hath imployment sufficient as head of so many people that time permits him not to be exercised in matters of his relation to God therefore a Priest must be appointed for that purpose to establish matters between God and man through the Kingdome and a Priest of such ordination trained up of purpose only by humane Schools and education suitable to that government for such a design being destitute of the spirit of Christ must of necessity be possessed with a spirit of jealousie and feare and therefore dare not exercise himself in such a work but under the authority and power of such as will defend and maintain him therein so that the King and Priest are never separated in an earthly state and as a King is not honourable in divulging the Laws of the Kingdome but as he hath Nobles to be conversant therein neither is he honourable in the divulging of the Laws of the Church but as he makes some of the Priesthood great in respect of some relation to himself And both King and Priest maintain a certain interest in men as a foundation of all Law by these two things that is Tribute and Tythes which two words are of great affinity and aliance for the word Tribute signifying enough or all the acknowledgement of that yeelds all unto the King and so confesseth him to supply the place and have the room and office of God upon him so that wherein the headship and royalty of the Kingdome consists there is the ground and fountain of the Law whether in one or in many and whensoever this fountain shall please to call it self aside into consultation what the result is sent out by edict that is the Law and all must obey it because it is the mind of that which is in the place of God so as no other is or others are and this must hold according to the rule of naturall reason and tenour of the letter of the Scripture written in mans heart Rom. 10. 8. Again the Priesthood of the world maintains an interest in mens hearts by Tythes which is the ground of all carnall institutions in the way of Churches for the word Tyth or the tenth signifies all or alsufficiency which indeed ought ever to be given unto God for nothing isacceptable or of any account with him but only his Son who is all in all or allsufficient so the tenth signifies all where it is said That a Bastard shall not enoâ—r into the Congregation of the Lord unto the tenth generation that is to all generations as is explained in the next words The Ammonttes and the Moabites shall not enter into the Congregation of the Lord even unto their tenth generation shall they not enter into the Congregation of the Lord for ever Deut. 23. 2. 3. so as it is said that ten women shall bake their bread in one Oven in the City in the dayes of famine that is all the women in the City shall bake but in one Oven Lev. 26. 26. even so the tyth or tenth hath the signification of all as giving the Priest an interest in the first chief or prime of all things so that whilst the tenth is acknowledged to be due unto the Priest it sets him in the place office and room of God unto whom all things are due and do appertain and belong And as this Priesthood pleaseth to take it selfe aside in its Eldership in way of Synod or Assembly to consult about the laws of relation between God and man whatsoever their consultation concludes upon to be a way pleasing to God or profitable for mans salvation setting it out as a godly principle or practice to be held and maintained that must be taken as authentique or originall of authority a bond sufficient to bind mens souls over and ingage them thereunto because these men stand in the place of God and are more immediately conversant with him than any of the rest of the people which is the very cry and voice of all false and dissembling hypocrites in the world Isay 65 4. 5. and this is the proper ground of mens pleading for tythes not only to hold an interest in mens estates but principally to be as Gods in their consciences upon whom they must depend for all peace and truth and a carnall Priesthood cannot rest till this ground of law and interest in the people be established upon them which they seek to maintain by the law of Moses and equity thereof as this Jerusalem stoned the Prophets to death by the like law of Moses and it is as much to cut off a carnall interest of a Priest in a carnall people maintained by tythes as to cut off the spirit of the Devill from the world for all carnall and earthly hearts comply with this foundation of Law and interest in the Church and all your required stipendaâ—ies and necessary free-will offerings for the maintainance of Priests before any other people stands upon the very same bottom and is a branch of the same root of bitternesse sprung up to trouble the world whereby many are defiled Heb. 12. 15. for they fall from the grace of God or they faile and come short of the grace of God that is of acknowledging the compleat and perfect grace of God in Iesus Christ in whom every beleever hath a like interest for Christ is not divided and therfore he saith Without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. there is but one holines which is the holinesse of the Son of God and that not acknowledged we set up one man as holier than another among the People of God either in person or by office which is this root of bâ—tternesse upon which the prophanesse and fornication of Esau depends Heb. 12. 6. who for a messe of red broth that is carnall and earthly things to satisfie our lusts in our hunting after the things of this life give as in