all ages with those ancient orders extant in Abrahams family as also with all the ornaments exercised amongst those Princely Tribes or Scepters of Israel as under the conduct of Moses and Aaron Caleb and Joshuah Deborah and Barak David and Samuel Christ and the Disciples the Apostles and all Nations Yea and as under the conduct and ministery of that Angelical constitution and order set forth unto them in that book of the Revelations that all shall harmonize and agree as one joyfull and triumphant song and shout of deliverance righteousnesse and salvation And when the Sun of righteousnesse lends his irradian beames through any of these bright clouds of witnesse commending it selfe unto us in any of those particular wayes of administration wherein the Saints of God have been exhaled and gathered up into unity and intimacy with the Lord Yea when any of the Saints do Evangelize out of any of the fore-named Administrations they can effectually and assumptively express that significant word Selab which in a way of asseveration as also of elevation of the same thing affirms it to have a present being and reall appearance abiding without any end or cessation thereof of which nature the things proper to the Son of God exist And of such nature is the word of God in all its wayes of administration being rightly interpreted and such as manifest and declare it otherwise they may indeed assume the riches and glory of a Church and boast of it as these do but it is a corrupted a vanishing and vaporous one Therefore he saith That their garments are motheaten that is all their honourable Ornaments wherein the Minister for the encrease and deifying of their corrupted treasure are inervated and voyd of vertue for the very substance pith and marrow of them is consumed and wasted so that when shee put them on to appeare glorious then their nakednesse appears to all men so as they glory in their shame through minding earthly things It is a gorgeous garment the world puts on in that point of its Ministry consisting of an imputed Righteousnesse resident in another but not in him that confesseth it this garment hath lyen so long in that Arke of Tradition that it is moth-eaten the strength and vertue of it is taken away and it was brought out of the treasury of a carnal Christ who is sometimes present with and sometimes remote from his Church So that in his absence they are forced to form unto themselves an imaginary righteousnesse for it is a meer Emedullatus the pith and marrow of righteousnesse is taken away For that righteousnesse which is professed out of or at a distance from the spirit of Christianity when or in whomsoever that spirit appears is not the rigteousnesse of him who is really present with or in his Saints to the end of the world that is to the ending and vanishing of all such worldly and carnall conceptions in the publication of the Gospel For if we give another form to the righteousnesse of Christ differing in the nature efficacy or dignity in the professor from that which it is in the professed it is not the righteousnesse which is by the faith of the sonne of God For as faith is alike reall and resident in all that come unto God even so is righteousnesse and He that comes unto God must beleeve that God is that is that he is that to him or in him that he comes unto him for what ever it is which is that glorious reward or end given or accomplished in all the diligent seekers of him never did any come to God but by faith for it is the hypostasis or being of God and man in one and the same condition for it is said of our spiritual David He believed and therefore he spake we also believe and we also speake Faith never differed in nature form and vertue in any for then it were not of God but of the Creature no more doth righteousnesse for where the righteousnesse of God admits of distinction in the same relation and respect as in point of justification if the man Christ or Jesus stand righteous before God by a righteousnesse in himselfe that is in that individuall and the Saints of God stand righteous by that which is in another and not in that individuall justified that is not the righteousnesse of Christ it is not the simplicity of him but is made a compound Christ is made voyd to such Christ differs not in any of his excellencies whereever they are in use nor did he ever come to deny the inheritance between brethren but to state the whole Kingdome entirely as upon one only sonne in whom soever possesseth any part thereof even as the first-born of God but if the world should not go upon mans principles to make one man as a Monarch in heaven it would harldly maintaine the Monarchies upon the earth But as it is in the kingdome of God so it is in all the things of God and his kingdome is an everlasting kingdome and so is his righteousnesse but the Doctors of the world have no use of their imputed righteousnesse when once their inherent sanctity is perfected they may as well put an end to the Kingdome of God and become companions of the bruit beasts as to put an end to the use of any thing that appertayns and belongs to the Sonne of God in his Saints We conclude therefore that imputed righteousnesse in the worlds acceptation is a moth-eaten garment a meer phylosophicall distinction of Antichrist to delude the world Of like worth is the garment of their sanctification wherein they so confidently enwrap themselves for they hold it to be a holinesse subject to increase and diminution and then it must be a creature-like holinesse and not a God-like which is holinesse of truth or the truth of holinesse which is not found but in the Son of God which cannot admit of abatements for that is proper to a creature from whose strength proceeds all their power of performances Againe the holinesse professed by the world that is by carnall men may have the vertue and office of Prayer in it but not of prophesie also and it may have the vertue office of prophesie in it but not the vertue of healing also this is a moth-eaten holinesse the vertue and power of the Son of God is eaten out of it Christ is crucified in such according to the spirit For take away one of the vertues of Christ and they all vanish for he is that bundle of life bound up without parting or any separation His vesture is seamelesse and goes all one way by lot and inheritance whether it be the robe of mercy in his or the garment of vengeance in them that so crucifie him it may not be divided So that he who denies a Christian to have power and authority from God to publish and preach unto the world the mystery of salvation contained in the Gospel may as well deny him power
the word by transforming it into the similitude of a creature and not into the glory of the Creator so that the imaginations and dictates of his own heart give a temporary forme unto an eternall word which is that carnall law of sin and death in himselfe subjecting himselfe thereunto so that whatsoever the letter saith which kils it saith it in him who is litterall and hath the power of engagement and binding that party over to the onely acknowledgement and practice thereof and so the word of God becomes a tormentor unto man for it being held or imprisoned in this unrighteousnesse or narrow and strait confines of humane principles and capacity and yet in it selfe infinite and eternal cannot possible move therein but must have respect unto its own nature which is infinite incomprehensible and eternall whereby the soule of the creature is set upon the rack hanged on the gibbet laid under an intolerable presse cast into the flames overwhelmed with the flouds being extended and intangled with that which is infinitely above as also below and beneath and in all respects beyond the reach of all humane abilities and so continually deviseth and frameth out more ways of torture and torment unto it selfe then ever mans heart in any tyrant could invent for the shame and horrour of the body In which respect that compleat condition ceaseth to be the state and condition or to be led by the proper principles of a meer creature or workmanship of God and becomes Shedim as the Caldean phrase is that is the destroyer of mankinde in humane and satanicall So that the dictates of such a heart are the proper suggestions of Satan and its operations the proper works of darknesse and the onely path wherein the wrath of the Almighty treads for ever Note also that there is in them who are under the law of the spirit a direct Antithesis unto this expressed of the wicked For the spirit of man being taken into unity with the word and so gathered up into the wisdome and power of God works nor moves not but by principles proper unto God which are of an eternall and incomprehensible nature and yet the spirit of the creature cannot move but with respect to the precincts of time in which it is but it goeth forth in and by eternall principles so that there is in the Son of God distinct operations yet every one of an eternal nature and race The one giving delight to the work through variety change of action and the other gives liberty ease and freedome unto the soule therein having so large roome and so spacious a sphear to walke and exercise it in the bounds whereof can never be troden out like the Sun in the firmament whose progresse none can hinder nor stop or prevent the health under its wings from the exercise of it self nor can any take out of order those fixed stars of the morning that fight from such an eminent and noble distance in their courses for the destruction of this wicked Sisera even those bright morning stars that sing together sons of God shouting for joy in those Nobles of Israel in laying of the first foundation of the earth so as it shall never be removed who are as far above the power and dominion of Satan as the heavens are above the earth out of the gun-shot of being insisted with any corrupt doctrine or of being hurt by any of the tyrannical practices of this present world Such is the state and condition of that mysticall body of our Lord Jesus the dictates of whose heart are the motions of that spirit of holinesse and power and his operations works of the Son of God And of such nature is the law of the spirit which is in Christ Jesus and of all such as are under command and in the authority thereof The Saints then or brethren of our Apostle know the patience of Job not at a distance but in the nearest conjunction so as being made one with it it being an entire and undivided crosse and suffering and is brought in the next sentence viz. And have seen the end of the Lord. Under the word seene is comprehended the exercise of all the sences which is usuall in Scripture as being filled in them all by the Crosse and sufferings of Christ as if he should say yee have seen ye have heard ye have tasted relished and felt the sufferings of Christ for his name is an oyntment poured out the sweet savour and scent whereof fills the whole house so that your hands have handled the word of life in this point as really as Thomas handled the humane body of Christ when he put his finger into the print of the nayles which fastned him to his Crosse for the confirmation of his faith of such reality is the Crosse of Christ as to make us to see touch and tast for our satisfaction the power and vertue of the Lord otherwise we can never handle the word of life to minister and serve in the same as Ministers of the Sanctuary and as able Ministers of the Gospel not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the spirit gives life So that our hearing or knowing of the patience of Job namely our being one with Christ in his Crosse alike as we are one with him in any other grace or vertue is that which opens unto us the scope of the Scriptures so that we see Gods end and aym in blasting unto us all carnall things is the same that appeared in Job to give double in that which never failes for we never read of any more losse unto Job but as though he were enriched for ever We see therefore Gods intent and end in the Crosse so as to make it our joy and consolation so that we rejoyce in persecution in tribulation and reproach knowing that Gods end herein is only to make his power manifest in us for in all these things we are more then conquerours knowing that our victory stands both in being the Rescuer and the rescued so that the glory and joy of them both is made one in us which no earthly Conquerour can attaine So that our laughter is that spiritull Isaac the joy of the whole earth for howsoever we know our selves in mans nature simply considered to be like Sarah barren of all the fruits of righteousnesse and destitute of that immortall seed of God and also our Lord simply considered to be past age for being brought forth and made manifest in time in one that is but of yesterdays continuance who in himselfe is that Ancient of dayes Yet the end and intent of the Lord in the conjunction of these by visiting of us in that way of the promise is the bringing forth of Isaac according to that time of life proper to the Son of God who is the joy and laughter of all that heare it so as to approve of it and give credit thereunto according to that unwavering faith
he backs it with this argument Lest you fall into condemnation The word translated Lest is not spoken as a supposition but as an absolute affirmation You are fallen into condemnation As in the Prophesie of Isaiah the words of Rabshekah are Lest Hezekiah deceive you For which in the book of Kings is written Hezekiah deceiveth you So also where one Evangelist saith Lest the people faint in the way Another rehearsing the same story saith The people will faint in the way as a certain conclusion thereof and so it is here If your yea be not yea and your nay nay you are not fallen into condemnation therefore Christ affirms that whatsoever is more of the very same point is of that evill one that is of the Devill We are to know then that such Doctrine as teacheth that it was yea that certain Angels and also man were made in happy estate and condition but afterwards it was nay for the same state and condition became evill It was yea that Christ dyed and afterwarde it was nay he lived again in the same respect that hee is sayd to be dead according to the scope of the Scriptures Also that it is yea the Saints of God are sinners but hereafter it shall be nay for they shall have nay sin in the same respect considered further it is or was yea that the worship of God is or was tyed to such a form according to the intent of Scripture but it is or shall be nay it either is not now or hereafter shall not be tyed to such a form as it hath been or now is according to the intent of Scripture Doctrine of this nature is more then to let yea be yea and nay be nay for it makes the same thing to be both yea and nay which the Apostle affirms to be the word of God not but it is yea and Amen the same for ever in the word of Blessing as also in the word of the Curse This doctrine then is that way of the fall and defection from God brings men under the state of death and condemnation as here our Apostle affirms and hath not salvation and life by Christ contained in it We are not ignorant of the manifold objections which may arise in mens hearts backed by carnall Ministry in way of mans wisdome drawn from the letter of the Scripture which we have not ceased to speake unto as the Scriptures have given us occasion Wee shall here propound two and speak a word to each of them First the fall of man which as it is carnallized seems to interpose sin between God and the elect for a time Secondly the confessions of the Saints of God of a miserable condition for present To the first we answer that there is a miserable defection from God and also a happy gathering up into unity with God both with respect unto man-kind and no other creature whatsoever in heaven or in earth And as for that Doctrine of Angels in that acceptation the world takes them it is a meer fiction brought forth by humane wisdome brooding upon the letter of the Scriptures for there is no elect Angell which consists not of the same nature which the Angell of the Covenant doth which is Christ Jesus God and man in one subsistance and being And again if there was a sin in the fall of Angels before the sin and fall of man how could the Apostle confesse himselfe in that faithfull saying worthy of all acceptation or to be embraced of all the Saints so as to acknowledg the same That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe or as the word is I am the first So that if there be a sin before the sin of man how can man be sayd to be the first sinner this doctrine therfore makes voyd the truth of the Scriptures in every foundation thereof We grant then that there is an absolute and reall change both in the Son of God and the son of perdition but what change is from that first act of the manner of the being of each of them once and for ever without other mutation or change otherwise That is to say in the Son of God the wisdome proper unto a creature is in the first act and manner of his being changed and transformed into the wisdome and principles peculiar to God himselfe and this estate is and abides the same for ever which is Christ the seed of the woman Again in the son of perdition the wisdome of God is changed and transformed into the wisdome and principles peculiar to a creature and that in the very first act and manner of his being and this estate is and abides for ever the same and is Antichrist that seed of the Serpent yea that very Serpent the Devill himselfe Even as Christ is not only that seed of the woman but also that spirit which over-shadoweth her even God himselfe Furthermore the word of God never expressed it selfe but as a word of wisdome therefore it is said by the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy workes in wisdome hast thou made them all So sayth Solomon The Lord by wisdome layd the foundation of the earth And the Apostle sayth Christ is the wisdome of God and the power of God Therefore out of him there is no wisdome so that there is no expression of the word of God or any existance of the work of God but with respect unto Christ therefore the first words and workes manifested by God in the Scriptures is the preaching of Christ which is the glad tydings of salvation the Gospel of God which was never known nor ever shall be but in the death and resurrection of Christ and that through the tender of him in whom the day springs from on high to visue us So that in the framing of neaven and earth in the beginning this mercy-seate is erected whereon those two Cherubims do stand the death and resurrection of the Son of God and from this mercy-seate and from between these two Cherubims the word of God is ever uttered and did never in any other way expresse it selfe in the world Therefore the life and resurrection of the Son of God in his Saints and his death and descention in men of the world do face each other as holding proportion and being of like capacicity even those two Cherubs of mercy and Juistice distributed in Kingly authority where ever the mercy-seate is ser up in the publication of the Gospel and this life and death holds proportion in poynt of time so as never life nor death were ever before or shall be after them The doctrine therefore of Angels and man in a state of innocency and yet out of Christ being changed from that which they were from the beginning is no doctrine savouring of Christ in the Gospel nor word of life and salvation But only as those sayings of old of the Scribes Pharisees which our Lord Christ so carefully correcteth as such as
God and man being made one through that wisdome or spirit of the creature brooding upon the same deep of the said Chaos drawing it out into the lines and lineaments proper to the principles and capacities of a creature wherein the letter of the word doth consist adorning it selfe with the excellencies and abilities of the creature and not of God the Creator in which respect it is sayd to be a house of mans building and not of Gods And this is the proper order and reformation of the world stood for and maintained to this day by Schools Libraries and Records by Art study and Law by policy experiments and force of arms unto which the most eminent and sublime order and institution of the wisdome and spirit of God are as a formlesse Chaos and most dangerous gulfe and this wisdome or device of man hath arguments according to its proper sphear it works in as punctuall and proper for the conservation and binding over of it selfe unto destruction as the wisdome of God hath in that way of Christ for the laying down of his life unto salvation We thwart not then the order and instinct of any creature but give it its proper due for which it was made which is either to give intelligence by breathing out its proper life in the souls of the Saints in directing unto another in whom the order of heaven and earth which abides for ever is established or else to retayn its own proper life which is earthly in the expiration of the life of the spirit of God whereby it becomes a builder of the tower of Babylon the one receives instruction from the world in the expiration of the life of it in himselfe it becoming as a crucified and dead carkasse unto him whereby he is made alive unto God and the other receives instruction from the kingdome of God in the expiration of the life of all the things thereof in himselfe so as it is made by his wisdome as a crucified and dead thing unto him whereby he is made alive unto the world and the things thereof adorning and supplying of himselfe with the arm of flesh and so becomes as truly Satanicall as the Saints become holy and godly It is no more wrong therefore to look upon the glory and goodlinesse of man as the flower of grasse or thing of nought when Christ was made manifest then it was wrong to the rest of the creatures when man was made as Lord of them all which before that the bruit beaste of the field might seem to have dominion of the earth Those therefore that would have the shadows of the night to retayn some excellency in their place and not to flye away when that Sun of righteousnesse ariseth and sheweth forth himselfe Let such make their opinion good unto the world by retayning of like delight in and having like esteem of such rattles and baubles in the time of their Seniority as they delighted themselves with in the dayes of their minority and so much in answer to the objection 3. The third poynt is the practice of the Elders and that is the manner how they annoynt the sick party and that is in the name of the Lord or into the power and authority of the Lord Christ for by this unction we are gathered up and are all drunke into one spirit of Jesus Christ So that men may as fittingly preach the wisdome of man to be no better then the understanding of a bruit beast as to teach that the spirit of a Christian is inferiour to the wisdome of God in Christ for they are one as the wisdome of man is one Therefore the actions of a Christian spring from the proper Edicts and Institutions of God according to the law of faith with respect unto those relations and operations established between God and man in Christ or in the unction and not from those relations and respects which naturall instincts and humane wisdom hath founded and set up between creature and creature which the beasts of the field and fowles of the ayre are for the most part inclinable unto as well as man-kind So that there is something that is proper unto God only that is a relative in all the actions of a Christian or else it is not done by the law of faith which stands in all terms of relation between God and man and not between creature and creature and thereby is every Christian made Lord of all which otherwise they could not be for by this means no creature can lay claym unto them but they are only the Lords the obligatious standing only between God and man in that law of faith or subsistance of God and man in one by the unction which is Christ Secondly the actions and demeanors of a Christian have in them the effect of Gods power and authority as well as spring from such a root so that they prove fruitful either to be a savour of life unto life or of death unto death The doctrine wayes and counsell of a Christian have a certain vertue of God in them to produce life unto life unto them that are saved or to work life in life as the word may be read in others for they bring forth in the chosen of God a life which hath all manner of livelinesse infolded and wrapped up therein for as the wisdome of God is sayd to be a manifold wisdome so is the life of God a manifold life which can never be unfolded and made manifest unto the uttermost for then it were not infinite and eternall So that if the Gospel bring forth and produce the life of Faith it hath the life of hope in it and in all things that can be hoped for which as they are obtained every one is as a tree of life If it produce love there is wrapped up therein the life of the love of all lovely relations as Father Son Husband Wife love of all kinds of friendship and the like If it bring forth the life of joy there is wrapt up therein the life of all joyfull things in the life of prosperity there is the life of all prosperous ways so that whatsoever the Gospel works in the soul there is involved therein all of that kind that ever can come into use and exercise so that it is a bundle of life which none but the wisdome of God and the power of God can ever bind up together or bring forth Againe if a Christian or the Gospel for they are co-apparent and were never one without another produce and bring forth death in any it is death unto death or death in death there is one death involved and wrapped up in another unto eternity which can never be found out to the uttermost and yet no particular way of death doth ever asswage from the height and extreamest terrour of it nor stand aside as to permit an intermission but only so as to give way or being in another to exercise its vertue in the full force
much Now for prayer to avail much is as much as if he said in more words it effecteth accomplisheth and brings to passe all things even as not to avayl is of none effect worth nor excellency So it is sayd Circumcision or uncircumcision avayls nothing but a new creature that is all in all for it hath the whole workman-ship of the Son of God in it Observe the speech of Haman when he is nvited to the feast the Queen makes for the King who calling his wife and his friends tells them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and all the things wherein the King had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the Princes and servants of the King Haman said moreover yea Hester the Queen did let no man come in with the King unto the banquet shee had prepared but my selfe and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the King yet all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Iew sitting at the Kings gate A wicked States-man cannot endure Mordecai which according to the etymology of the word is pure myrrhe or myrrhe of freedome signifying the sweet liberty of the Gospel for it is the first of the chiefe spices in the annoynting oyle to shew the Princely dignity that is in the grace of the Gospel that bowes nor is subject to any carnall thing whatsoever for there is but one primatus or summus which moves Haman try Mastery with Mordecai which shall be lifted up the highest There is not the most civilized man in the world destitute of the spirit of God put in place of dignity that can admit of the Crosse of Christ to have supremacy for it is as a moth to carnall pomp declaring it to be enmity therefore carnall Kingdome must ever have carnall Priest-hood to uphold it by deifying of it and it rewards them with tythes and protection But Mordecai the Jew inward in heart will not be endured by Haman for the King represents a stranger wonne to the faith as that Aegyptian King which acknowledged Joseph So that nothing avayls if Mordecai live who is a worme unto all Hamans honour that nothing is had nor done unto him till Mordecai be taken out of the way but to avail much is to bring all things to passe to be and to have the fulnesse of the soules desired and impower'd with vertue and strength to perform and effect what heaven and earth can yeeld or deny to any and therefore an instance is brought of Eliah for the proof hereof Vers 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as wee are c. In which instance or continued and persevering exemplary vertue observe for order these things 1. The party instanced in that is Eliah 2. His condition A man subject to passion together with the consimilitude that is as we are 3. His act that is He prayed 4. The issue or effect of his prayer It rained not 5. The time how long that is for the space of three yeares and sixe moneths 6. The renewing of his prayer and the effect thereof And hee prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her fruit 1. FRom the first the party instanced in is Eliah observe thus much That it pleaseth God to memorize the names of his Saints by acts of honour which he leads them through in the world This is evident throughout the holy letters written from heaven unto us see an epitomy hereof in that 11. Chap. to the Hebrews The ground of it is because the acts of the Saints are the operations of Christ Now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me which life is the root of all their motion and the memorizing of him is Gods ayme and end in all his wayes and operations hee it is whom he will make higher then Agag greater in power and authority then all the Kings of the earth His acts therefore must be as monuments in the world who ever is made marvellous in mercy only in them that believe Therefore God makes them as monuments thereof setting them as Cities upon a hill to whom all shall repayr for the richest merchandize and as beakens upon a high mountayn who only can give warning of the approach of the adversary And as the lights of the world without which no man can worke however the Prophets and Apostles were under persecution ignominy and disgrace in the time of their sojourning here yet now where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world but seeks to uphold and honour himselfe by them Yea that very spirit that slew them now builds their Sepulchres and saith If they had lived in their fathers dayes they would not have done as they did Nay God will register the names of his Saints in that book of life in whomsoever the life of Christ is there they shall be memorized and set up by God as Standard-bearers in their generations before whom if the enemy come in as a flood the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a Standard against him and chase him away Wonderfull is it to consider of this point when we see so many have gone down to the dust by plague famine sword and not a name of them left upon record in the world but hee that once comes within the volume of that spirit of intercession shall remayn engraven as in a precious stone upon the breast-plate or heart-ornament of Christ Jesus as a record or inscription of blessed memory for ever Therefore the next words are brought in viz. Is a man or as the word will beare Is a thing as the Apostle affirms Henceforth we know no man after the flesh or as the word is nothing So here Eliah is a man or thing a matter cause condition or deed such as his name imports Elijah that is my God Jah or my strong being or the strength of my existance Now if it be such a one or such a matter or cause such a condition or deed brought in as congruous to us implying all the faithfull how can it be but that name or that authority shall be memorized for ever If a word of Samuel shall not fall to the ground a deed of our Eliah shall never be forgotten when or in whomsoever it appears The second point is the state and condition of the party instanced in together with the consimilitude that is subject to passions as we are By passions here is meant sufferings for so much the word imports and to be subject is to be under that is under like sufferings that we are that is the faithfull in all ages Whence observe That the Saints of God are subject to like sufferings they all alike endure affliction they all alike inherit the Crosse it is not sayd of any particular man or particular Church limmed out by the spirit of man from some few particular expressions or practices manifected in the Scriptures but of
Likewise it hath the mystery of eternity in it for they are heavenly such as never fade away nor faile to bring in their testimony therefore it is that Israel must go three days journey into the wildernesse to worship the Lord that is there must be a totall and finall departure from Aegypt in regard of the ignorance or darknesse of it from their governments Hosts and Armies burdens tasks and cruelties Magicyan-like worships lying wonders and fauning flatteries in the erecting and setting up of the Tabernacle and worship of God at Mount horeb or Sinai This is also the reason why the Ark must go before them three days journey from Mount-Sinai to seek out a resting place namely to shew that there must be a totall and finall departure from the works of the Law in our entring into that rest that yet remaynes for the people of God Of like signification is Jonas being in the Whales belly and the Son of man in the heart of the earth Jonas is swallowed up of the Whales in carnall and backsliding Israel who observe lying vanities and decline the word of God but is cast up and made alive in the Ninivites beyond all reason expectation or thought of heart for the Publicans and Sinners enter before the strict Scribes and Pharisees into heaven Christ lyes three dayes and three nights in the grave as buryed eternally concerning any life of his spirit in Herod Pontius Pilate and that wicked Judas and the Jewes but he riseth the third day in his Disciples the Gentiles and all Nations never to dye any more but only those three dayes and three nights of eternity in the wicked of the world unto which his life in the Saints is proportionable Even so here is three years voyd of rayn or dew or any fruitfulnesse of the earth wherein both heaven and earth are in exercise and are comprehended So there is an eternall estate of the wicked that comprehends both God and man in that way of the Curse and unity of the Harlot wherein twayn are made one flesh for two saith he shall be one flesh in which estate there is no dew of heaven nor fruit yielded by the earth that is of those fruits of righteousnesse and vertues that are by Jesus Christ in those three years that is unto eternity There is also an eternall season of the Saints of God wherein no dew nor rayn from heaven or from that wisdome of the flesh falls on them to cause any fruits of the flesh or works of darknesse to be brought forth by them So that as in a yeare wee see a perfect revolution of things not only earthly but heavenly also at least in that great light and course of the Sun so that the number three signifies a totall and finall revolution of all things that concern God and man as two being joyned in way of flesh And all things also that concern God and man everlastingly in that way of being joyned unto the Lord and made one spirit with him Further we see that in a whole years space there is a like time of night as there is of day if we take the globe universally even so there is a like eternity of darknesse and the power thereof that there is of light in the Kingdome of Christ Moreover take the whole circumference of heaven and earth and there is a like time of Winter that there is of Sommer even so there is the same three-fold time of eternity in the kingdome of darknesse of blasting withering smiting with chilly coldnesse and all unfruitfulnesse as there is in the kingdome of life and light of the joy of harvest and pleasure of the tree of life which beares twelve manner of fruits as being furnished for every Tribe of Israel and every moneth of the yeare which tree is not afraid of drought nor knowes when the heate comes Concerning the sixe moneths added it is a rendring or consigning to each estate of eternity such a time for the Prophet in the history is illimited in his expression saying that it shall be neither raine nor dew for these yeares which may be applyed to time past present or to come for it is according to my word which is the word of the Lord the word of eternity so that we can give no other bounds to the time but such as hold correspondency with the word of eternity Our Apostle therefore brings it in by these expressions to declaring and distinguish his meaning namely the Prophets meaning This term of sixe moneths then is to be taken according to that distinction when he saith that sommer and winter cold and heate seed-time and harvest night and day shall not cease This sixe moneths properly sets forth unto us the time of seed-time and harvest which take it throughout the earth with respect to all grayn and it consists so long time Besides the number sixe hath in it the mystery of meanes of increase for increase multiplication and fruitfulnesse is not brought in in the creation but with the blessing which is the meanes of it So that six moneths in this place is the time and means of multiplication and increase which is here frustrate and hindered by the drought unto barrennesse and famine In the mystery of Christ the Saints of God sow unto the spirit but the seed of immortality is lost in the wicked they reap nothing unto eternall life Also the wicked they sow unto the flesh but their seed is lost in the Saints and comes to nought for they reap nothing of corruption So that in these three years of eternity there is a frustration of seed-time and harvest an absolute fruitlesnesse barrennesse and famine throughout the earth the one unto blessing in bringing forth nothing unto the flesh the other unto a curse in bringing forth nothing unto the spirit Yet men beare men in hand and vainly perswade themselves they can convert men and turn them by their preaching and make them other things then they are whereas the Gospel only declares and discovers men to appear to be that which they are no alteration of a work done once and for ever They may as well say they can make the righteous and just one a sinner as to say the wicked may become holy otherwise then as they are once and for ever for Gods work in man-kind is an eternall act not knowable but as himselfe considered one with it 6. It follows which is the renewing of his prayer and the effect thereof And he prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her fruit We are not here to take prayer as one being of a later production then the former for they are but one continued and eternall act as the doctrine of the Gospel is which is herein commended unto us for the things of God are comprehended and involved one in another and it is the skill of a Scribe taught unto the Kingdome of God to bring them out of the treasury
as things of old from eternity and new as in present use fitting and beseeming the present oration and opportunity This phrase therefore is like that where the Apostle saith My little children of whom I travell in birth againe till Christ be formed in you not as though they had now defaced Christ who before was formed in them but he declares hereby the effect of his doctrine from which some were turned aside unto the rudiments of the Law as unto another Gospel which he saith is not another but the same Gospel perverted by false Teachers telling them that some are entangled with the yoke of bondage thereby for he that is bound to any particular of the carnall commandement as to be circumcised or any outward form of bodily action He is bound to keepe the whole law and shews that such have abolished Christ and are faln from grace such effect he shews his Doctrine had of some as a savour of death unto death but there were others unto whom hee there speaks on whom his doctrine had a more noble effect as being a savour of life Therefore he saith My little children of whom I travell in birth againe or I have brought you forth not in a second act but in another manner and way namely to the forming of Christ in you or framing you into the similitude of the Son of God once and for ever Even so it is here He prayed againe that is the spirit of intercession hath a secondary or other manner of effect then that which is before specified not another prayer but another manner of wonder accomplished by the same prayer for now the heavens gave raine and the earth brings forth her fruit We are to know then that as the Gospel opens the treasuries of the Kingdome of God unto an abundant freedome liberty and plenty of the going forth and exercise of the spirit of grace in the Saints even as water poured upon the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground through that office of intercession peculiar unto our Eliah without any hinderance or engagement of any bond of the flesh when through the spirit of prayer that cloud of witnesse or rayn of liberality ariseth as a hand or administration thereof even as the word of the Lord is sayd to come by the hand of Haggie and by the hand of Malachie and by the hand of all the Prophets which so covereth the heavens as no parching sun of the beams of mans wisdome and device taketh place no more then they doe in those over-shadowings of the Virgin by that holy spirit of God in the production of Christ Even so doth Prayer set at liberty the works of the flesh in the men of the world by opening the sluces and flood-gates thereof unto condemnation and destruction for the waters of the great deep mystery or bottomlesse pit are opened for the destruction of the world as well as the flood-gates of heaven for the safety of Noah and his houshold in bearing up the Ark fifteen cubits above the great mountayns of the States of this earth or of the world And this prayer doth not simply accidentally but ministerially and effectually in the same sence That the Gospell is a savour of death unto death Not only by gleaning of all the fruits of righteousnesse out of the wisdome of the Serpent or men of the world which centred in the Saints are the proper cause of the transcendencies of their estate above all humane excellencies so doth it also gleane all the vicious desires of the flesh out of that state and condition of Christ centring them in that state of unbeliefe whereby man descends infinitely beneath a state of simple humane or properties of a meer creature and by fashioning and corrupting the holy things of God becomes satanicall and diabolicall and such as seek to finde an excellent or commendable betwixt these twayn it cannot be better described or diciphered for the solidity of it then by that partition that divides Purgatory and Hell in those of that mercinary conceipt The abundance of spirit therefore in the Saints and that plenty of the spirit of the Prince of the power of the ayre which now works in the children of disobedience hold proportion in way of Antithesis otherwise an infinite and an eternall wrath could not take place in the wicked as an infinite and eternall glory doth in the Saints For he made but one speaking of that state of Christ with an elegant allusion unto the high Priest and wherefore but one seeing he had abundance of spirit namely that there might be a holy seed that whatsoever the fruits are that are by one Lord Jesus Christ of the same nature and dignity are all the fruits of happinesse produced and brought forth by that one mystical and spirituall body and so in a diameter respect are all the fruits of sin in the wicked This plenty in this two-fold respect is signified by warning given to Ahab to betake himselfe to his Chariot for I heare a noyse of much raine which Ahab flyes from as a terrible thing as it contayns the spirit of Eliah betaking himselfe to Chariot and horse in the furnitures of this world and Eliah flyes from it as it hath the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel as that which brings destruction upon them only hee betakes himselfe to the strength of Gods spirit to take the gates of Iesreel The plenty of Eliah's spirit is seen and taught in that duration and plenty in the cruse of oyle and barrell of meale raising up the womans sonne from death to life and annoynting Hazael and Jehu for the ruine of Ahabs house Elisha to be a Prophet in his stead and in the destruction of all those false Prophets of Baal And the plenty of the rayn of that spirit of wickednesse appears in Ahab and Jezebel their cruelty towards the Prophet of God their miserable and horrible overthrow and in their desire and endeavour to nourish and maintayn such plenty of a false spirit of prophesie upon the face of the earth and in this plenty of rain seed-time and harvest are continued for the world sow unto the flesh and the flesh they reap and inherit corruption and the Saints sow unto the spirit and inherit everlasting life And from this power of prayer he assumes the power and vertue of doctrine in which he concludes the Epistle to shew that where the power and vertue of the one resides there is the power and vertue of the other The prayer of Faith is never without the spirit of Prophesie and prophesie according to the spirit is never without the life and power of prayer and where one of these is wanting they are both absent from that party in the true exercise of them for a formall prayer is never accompanyed with the life and power of sound doctrine but as they have composed a prayer by mans invention gathering up expressions sutable in the understanding of a man so do they compose a
SALTMARSH Returned from the Dead In Amico Philalethe OR The RESURRECTION of JAMES The Apostle Out of the Grave of Carnall Glosses for the Correction of the universall Apostacy which cruelly buryed him who yet liveth Appearing in the comely Ornaments of his Fifth Chapter in an Exercise June 4. 1654. Having laid by his grave Clothes in a despised Village remote from ENGLAND but wishing well and heartily desiring the true prosperity thereof John 11. 25. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert and are to be sold at the black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1655. To my honoured and beloved friends in London who in a solitary season in that populous Citie were so great refreshment unto me by their undeserved society WHereas of late I received letters from som of you wherein I read that name which is as an oyntment poured out causing the parties to whom it appeares to fall in love therewith carrying in it a spirit which can produce a reall presence where there is an absence in bodily respects and that not only in respect of divine nature simply considered but also in point of Christian relations and respects which is never destitute of humane considered therein and conversant therewith otherwise the goings forth of the spirits of the Saints could not be peculiar and distinct from that of the wicked which the divine and omnipotent power reachethalso Therefore the Saints communicate in prayers intercessions supplication giving of thanks so as a stranger cannot intermeddle therewith nor with their joy arising there-from And whereas some of you requested mee to write unto you concerning the opening of a portion of the word of God which some years agoe urged my spirit and put me into travell to bring forth but Satan hindered Your letters visited me immediately upon the employment of my spirit in another portion of the word of God which was then the proper strength I walked by which made me to think it might be a refreshment unto you which I could not lay aside till God opened another into which I might enter Neither could wee depart from that place till the cloud removed in-so-much that I was forcibly constrained to employ my selfe about the instruments and services of the Tabernacle to bring the sight thereof unto your selves in the first place And so made bold to set upon the writing of it yea when others slept beeause of my daily occasions and when it was writ I was much urged to endeavour the printing of it that so it might come to more view and being it was written in hast and so would be tedious to read I consented thereto although there is nothing which I have spoken in publique since I saw your faces but I could as freely commend it unto you The occasion of the Ark pitching upon this place which me-thinks looks like Elim in this wildernes where there are twelve fountains of water and 70. Palm-trees Numb 33. 9. For our Apostle writes to the twelve Tribes out of which we may draw plenty of the water of life and there is perfection and fulness of palm trees from which you may gather plenty of branches to carry as signes of victory not only of the abatement of that deluge of wrath but also of overcoming by faith this present world for Faith is the victory whereby we do it I say the occasion of the Arke pitching on this place was this We being met together to exercise our selves in the word of God and prayer there was one who occasionally named this Chap and read some part of it in which action the scope of it seemed to open it self unto me and to deale plainly and faithfully with you my thoughts had never been formerly upon any part of it so as intending to expresse my selfe from it but only as I have read it as other histories and writings of the word of God Whereupon my spirit was moved presently to speak from it what I did receive and immediately uttered to the same effect which I have in the following lines commended unto you out of my love unto you and engagements beyond my expression moved hereunto by your loving christian-like letters joyning themselves unto me like Philip to the Chariot of the Eunuch upon the delivery of it encouraging my heart hereunto which otherwise I had not takenupon me lest it should have been thought a worke not worthy your acceptance But if you please to take the payns carefully to peruse it I doubt not but it may give occasion of further thoughts unto you then can be expressed in so small a volume it may point as with a finger unto such things as to write them the world would not contayn the books the matter being of an infinite and an eternall nature holding proportion with Melchisedech who is without beginning of dayes or end of life Therfore the world cannot contain it unto whom this Scripture as under the motion of the cloud hath brought us where we now abide Heb. 7. For other place of our abode I may not signifie unto you for some of our Neighbours have professed before the state of England that the place of our bodily aboad is a non ens that it hath no being and others have affirmed that we are no people not affording us so much as God gives to the Conies which he calls a people though a small people yet they make their abode in the Rocks and it is that rock of Ages in whom only we desire to be found to take these courtesie a patiently as we do other kindnesses under which we yet abide as in that point of banishment only for such matters as in the following speech we tender unto you Whereas you make mention of a Sermon preached from the Prophesie of Isaiah speaking of the new heavens and the new earth in the restauration of the Church from which it was concluded that such an excellent estate of Religion was to come hereafter as never yet appeared which some could not be satisfied in such Exposition or Conclusion we see it to be not onely the common doctrine but deceipt also of the world not to give Christ a present being but hold men in expectation as in the ancient Jews who when he appears seek his ruine and that is the top of that spirit By new heavens and new earth in that place we understand the state of Christ or of that holy unction or Christianity that as the visible heavens earth to which he alludes make a compleat and fruitfull world even so do God man in Christ make one durable and fruitfull condition wherein righteousness dwells as our Apostle witnesseth which according to that law of the spirit is adorned with infinitely more relations operations and vertues then all the Creations in Heaven and Earth can set forth which hee calls new not with respect unto these visible but with
respect unto that oldnesse of the letter and administrations according to the carnall Command wch the Apostle calls old because it is weak fading and ready to vanish away and so is called the olde heavens the old earth that passe away and that Ministry which exerciseth according to that being ever conscientious of the present want of the glory and power of God in it is constrained to form a time to come which will attayn thereunto or else it could gayn no acceptation in the world but through Conception of hopes which are like the spiders web But the Ministry of the spirit according to that word of life gives present being to the thing it expresseth or else it carries not in it that power of God the nature of whose word was ever so to do and ever will be and they are sayd to be new First because of the ground thereof for they renew themselves only by meanes of that which is antiquity it selfe for in the unity of God and man in the faith of Christ the spirit of God being an infinite fountaine must ever give out it selfe by new operations and not as one in want to gather up againe the same thing in all respects considered in which he hath been formerly exercised no more then a living fountaine gathers up the same water already vented to distribute it againe and by reason of this infinite and eternity of spirit and life the soule of a Christian or this spirituall state and condition in Christ is in an eternall act of newnesse like that new commandement that the Apostle writes of and that old commandement which is from the beginning Secondly they are new according their manner of being for in what point of the Gospel soever Christ is made it stands of as firm grounds of aboad and as impossible to remove as heaven and earth and we know that the very nature of the earth establisheth it selfe in its repayring unto the Center in such sort hath God established the state of his sons daughters and yet when another point of the Gospel is made manifest it is upon like ground but to be taken in as differing a respect and variety of furniture and glory as though it were another world and so in every appearance of Christ it hath his whole and compleat condition comprehended and comprized in the same as the whole world is in the heavens and the earth for Christ or christianity is never piece-meal'd As for example If he be revealed as Father with respect to a Son it hath the whole furniture of heaven and earth the whole estate of Christ as Husband with respect to a Spouse there is the furniture of the whole world for it is Christ who is all in all if as King with respect to subjects there is whole Christ all christianity is to be found there imbodyed and so in all points whatsoever else Christ is not preached as all in every thing no office or operation of Christ but it hath in it whole Christ and so ought to be revealed else we preach a humane Christ and not divine a carnall Christ and not a spirituall And where it is sayd the new heavens and the new earth which I will make the word may as truly be read which I do make or which I have made For it is Jesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever So that as the state of Christ which is the eternall Son must needs remayn so shall the fruitfull condition of this estate therefore their name and their seed must remayn like heaven in name or authority for operation or power and as the earth to conceive bring forth the fruits of righteousness as that which is ever in motion for the renewing of the glory and fame thereof but I doubt not but something in the speech following will give farther light to this point then now we have time to manifest Only note thus much that such Doctrine as sets forth a time to come of more worth and glory then either is or hath been such Doctrine keeps the Manna till to morrow to the breeding of wormes in it Yea it hath in it that worm that dyes not for if Christ our Pass-over be eaten according to the law of the spirit there is nothing to be left till the morning And if it be the bread that comes downe from heaven it must be compleatly eaten at present and there wil be no want to morrow for it fals anew afresh otherwise the word of God that food of heaven is corrupted by reserving that for to morrow which belongs to this present day and in the sixe dayes labour in the operations of God we have plenty to feed on In the seventh as a cessation from all our own works keeping a perfect Sabboth unto God so that the kingdome of Christ is to be declared and whole possession and present enjoyment given and yet it is a Kingdome to come So that wee have it in expectation as to come as well as we fetch it up from that eternall estate of the Son to give it a present being for if wee have it not as from the first and to the last we give it not its present being and then uo Kingdome of Christ for no man can make him the first and the last that is eternize the Son but he must give him a present being without intermission of a moment of time Dear friends let me intreat you to read and consider and lend mee your help in the way of interpretation for there is no lesse need of that in him that hears then in him that speaks in him that reads then in him that writes for the light must shine in him that heares or reads as well as in him that speaks or writes or else it is not fruitfull unto him For we see by that light set up in our selves which God hath made our owne and not as the same light is in another Therefore if you gather any comfortable fruit from what is sayd let it be as your owne worke by the spirit of Christ and not as mine I have only endeavoured to put the Manna into the Arke and there only you shall find it compleatly in the pot like the oyle in the cruse and meale in the barrell lasting to preserve life and incorrupted unto this day Which if any thing that is sayd may seem to direct you unto then I have my reward and so I humbly take my leave and ever remayne yours in all services of love in our only beloved S. G To my much respected and honoured friends in and about Lynne in Norfolke in whom I have perceived grave and joyfull Acclamations at the publication of the Gospel Deare and loving friends YOur carriage towards me or rather towards the truth of God was such when I was for a short time among you that it is a sufficient engagement to bind me over for ever to be yours Doe not thinke that my not
wherein the Sonne of God hath given himselfe unto an eternal death to deliver his chosen ones into that eternal life proper and peculiar to the lord alone His dying unto the flesh in his Saints is the life and resurrection of it in the men of the world and his dying unto the spirit in the wicked is the life and resurrection of it in the Saints of God for neither of them must be annihilated but as man at the first was made in the Image of God and the word was made dust that is in that work of God both the wisdome proper to a creature was to be found and that wisdome also proper to the Creator these twain must remaine extant for ever that is the wisedome of God extended to the uttermost in that curious workmanship of the mysticall and glorious body of Christ And also the wisdome of the creature must be extended to the uttermost in that composure of the body of sin and death which is only the curiosity of that confusion in the building of Babell there is a heaping up then and an absolute fulnesse of corruptable treasures and riches in the wealth of the world But For what is it heaped together that is for the last dayes by dayes here is to be understood times and seasons and the word last signifies the least or basest dayes and times as often it doth in the Scriptures so that this treasure rightly reckoned and justly summed and cast up amounts to the worst and basest of days a time wherein the Sonne of God exists not nor is he therein found a day not of salvation but of destruction a season of death and not of life days of sorrow and not of joy base times of famine not of plenty of pestilence not of health of war and not of peace times of murther and cruelty and not of love and freindship days of enmity pride and diabolicall policy and not dayes of that meeknesse of wisedome that is in the Sonne of God In a word the heaping together of the fruits of the flesh as our only treasure is to the bringing forth of such times and seasons wherein the policy and power of Satan ruleth and not the simplicity that is in the wisdome and virtue of the Sonne of God unto which season the oath of the Angel hath respect that stands with one foot on the sea and the other upon the earth and swears by him that lives for ever that time shall be no more that is with respect unto that foot that stands upon the troublesome and tumultuous estate and condition of that sea of evils of the world he swares that no jot nor tittle time nor moment of the life or day of Christ shall ever be found there he ceaseth in them for ever and a baser time can never be then to be voyd of him even as that time is most precious and glorious and those onely are halcyon dayes wherein he appears and Satan or ought of him is not found in them no not for a moment He shews in one particular wherein the basenesse of these dayes consists and that is in the fraudulent detaining and keeping back the hire of the labourer Vers 4. Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabboth Wherein observe 1. The note of aspect and looking up Behold 2. Who the labourers are that reap down the fields 3. What the labour and reaping is 4. What the hire of the labourer is 5. What the cryes thereof is that cryeth 6. Into what the cryes enter that is into the eares of the Lord. 7. The title or tearm of honour given unto him that is the Lord of Sabboth ANd first of the note of aspect Behold which signifies to look up in the observation of a signe or wonder which is now to appear and it is of like nature of that of the Prophet Jonah given unto the Jews that crucified Christ which was a signe of their destruction in that the Sonne of man was to lye buried three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth that is to be perfectly and perpetually dead and buried in their earthly and carnal hearts never to exercise his life and spirit in them which is a signe and wonder that the Son of the living God should be mortallized in them it is a like signe and wonder here that the Sonne of God should become a hireling defrauded of his hire For it is a like miraculous thing that the Son of sorry man who is sayd to be a worm an object a vapour a vanity to be made Lord of Heaven and Earth Judge of quick and dead as that he that is Lord ruler and possessor of all things to become a hireling So that the mystery of iniquity is not without signe and wonder no more then the mistery of God is and both reall though the one be a lying wonder and the other a true wonder the one confirms the faith of God the other the faith of Devils The one promiseth salvation for the confirmation of Pharaoh in the hardning of his heart unto destruction which is a thing contrary and therefore a lying wonder as it appears in Pharaoh and his host drowned in the sea the other promiseth salvation and deliverance unto Israel in Moses and Aaron which brings forth the thing promised and therefore a true and not a lying wonder as appeared in Israels marching triumphantly out of Aegypt Now there must be in a miracle or wonder that which goeth beyond the power of any nature else it is not a wonder and that is both in the one and the other of these miraculous signes for in point of salvation by Christ no simple nature can bring forth salvation for there must be in salvation both a Saviour and a saved else it is not full and compleat which neither the nature of man no nor the nature of God simply and disjunctively considered can be or bring forth Behold then a wonder in that which transcends and surpasseth any nature to be or to bring forth therefore it is said that we have a Mediator is made higher then the heavens that is the office of his mediatorship is of that super-eminent dignity that no simple nature can be or attaine unto therefore of twain he makes one new man in himselfe and so creates peace which otherwise could not be 2. Againe there is a wonder in destruction which goes beyond any simple and single nature also For the nature of God simply considered cannot be involved with the confines of destruction who is almighty and supream Lord over all neither can mans nature simply and disjunctively considered be in a capacity of an eternal destruction being a creature subject to the limits and precincts of time therefore God man are to be joyntly considered in that wonder and
nature which the Apostle calls the oath of interposition because that in this state of Christ he comes between the blessing and the curse in such sort that nothing of true happinesse can possibly passe by or transfuse it selfe into the cursed condition for the vertue and excellencies springing out of divine nature being the glory of the engagement all things tending to happinesse repayr thither and gather themselves into one there even as all light is gathered into the body of the Sun and is all the seale and signet of God to confirm all true happinesse to take its beginning and make its abode there for ever being an immutable thing or word abundantly declared in all the heyrs of the promise Again the wisdome of man is that counsell held and advice taken with the excellency of God arguing from cause to effect and from effect unto cause ever concluding a distance in the one from the other the result properly springing out out of mans nature and aptitude which mouldeth things in the precincts of time and concluding God to be concerned in the thing as being the cause of all cause and so argues a distance between the cause and the effect God being before as the cause and his word afterwards as an effect the divine nature in Christ before from eternity the humane after in time but the Gospel is a mystery and such argument is naturall and humane to make God eternall and man in time but the Gospel eternizeth man in God and makes God in time in the son of man 2. This wisdome argues a distance in place of cause and effect as the vertue of our salvation is in Christ as a cause being only such a person as lived in such an age of the world only but the effect is in a Christian being another which is a meer humane speculation and no mystery of the Gospel 3. Again it argues a distance in point of eminency and principality as the cause being more principall and the effect lesse principall as though the birth and bringing forth of the Son of God in the royalty of his operations were not a thing of like worth and dignity that the conception and framing of him is according to that pattern of the law of the spirit seen only in the Mount So that this wisdome ariseth from and carryeth in it principles undenyable to keep a distance and loof between God and man and therein the point of unbelief consists which is the state of death in which the son of God is made a curse in the men of the world as man is made a blessing in the Son of God in Christ and this also is an oath of interposition for hereby the Son of God being made a curse for us interposeth himselfe between the curse and the blessed state So as nothing bearing the nature of a curse sin death or any unhappinesse can passe by or defuse it self into that happy state and condition of Christ but all attracts it selfe unto that which hath so vilified and made a nullity of the Son of God and this is an immutable word or thing even the word and state of the curse which abides for ever which God explains and makes manifestly to appear unto the heyrs of Promise which stand upon this ground of the impossibility of God to lye or faile to remayn and be for ever that which once he is without alteration or change therefore in these two immutable words of blessing and cursing or immutable things of the state of death and the state of life God hath founded our salvation that wee might have strong consolation as the Apostle testifies And this wisdome or reason of man is as a seale to confirm the soule in its separation and deverse from Christ being that signet the high Priests and Pharisees set upon the stone which covers the Sepulchre of Christ and keeps him in the state of death in the men of unbelief that his glorious resurrection is not found in the men of the world from the beginning thereof unto this day and is a principall product of the Schools of humane Learning for the more refined reason is voyd of the spirit of God and the closer tyed to Grammar-rule in constructing the word of God the more are such sealed up in the word of the Curse so that you shall seldome see a great Artist embrace the simplicity of the Gospel in that Crosse of Christ And with respect to the oath of man Christ saith in a word for ever to be observed Sweare not at all which our Apostle accords with in this place saying Above all things my brethren sweare not Note from hence that he which holds himselfe under a greater bond to utter truth having taken the oath of men then he is without the same who never knew what the power and vertue of the oath of God is And if the weightinesse of a cause require an oath and not required in a thing of lesse moment then men hold the preaching of the word of God either to be but a triviall thing or else why do they not tender an oath to the Minister when he goeth about to speak thereof Note again that as men hold themselves under a greater bond have taken the oath of man then they are without it even so when they are invested into offices and places thereby they account and reckon of themselves as being better and of greater account and esteem then others of their brethren the sonnes of men To conclude this point wide is the difference between the oath of God and the oath of man the one forms and sets in place and office the Son of God the other forms and officiates the son of perdition The one swears the Lord liveth in him in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse and onely glories therein and the other swears the Lord to be another thing state and condition besides himselfe the one swears with Jacob by the feare of his Father Isaac reverencing the state of Isaac to be one with God as Abraham was and the other swears by the God of his Father Nahor the idolater who ever worships that which is acknowledged to beanother and not himselfe The Saints are ever to swear in the name authority of God but never to swear by the oath of men the world ever swears in the name and authority of men but never in that name and authority of the Son of God 2. The weight of the charge therefore is to be considered in the next place in these words above all things swear not We conclude then that it is a thing of greatest worth and weight in Heaven or in earth never to swear by the oath of men but to receive our authority and confirmation in all things by the wisdome of God and not by the wisdome of the world for the one invests as a sonne into the Preisthood and way of reconciliation of God and man and the other as a slave and vassal of
Satan sets in the state of death cruelty and wrath in the seperation from God therefore of greater weight and concernment then all things besides 3. Consider the terme he gives them my brethren as if he should say in more words except yee be of my fraternity that is of the proper off spring and brotherhood of the Son of God flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone ye will never yeeld over your selves unto this inhibition nor observe this charge given by God for none but the off-spring of God wil disingage themselves from the language of this world framed and contrived according to the reasonings thereof in the wisdome of man no more then there is any to be found but the seed of the Serpent that will disingage disjoynt and dislocate themselves from the language and oracle of God contrived and uttered by that wisdome of God in Christ prove your selves therefore by this whether you be the brethren of Christ belonging to one and the same Father possessors of the same inheritance for otherwise no heirship of heaven no share in the tender compassions of a father no virtue nor grace of the spirit no crown of life laid up onely for them that waite for and love the reality of Christs appearing in the vanishing and not appearing of all corruptible things at the brightnesse of his glory alone in what thing relation or act soever they may seem to stand in unto us so as not to be engaged unto any of them for explanation whereof he gives an instance what we are not to sweare by first particularly and then universally 1. And first we are not to swear by heaven By Heaven or height as the word imports in this place is meant Principalities powers dominions the rulers of the darknesse of this world which the Apostle stiles spirituall wickednesse or wicked spirits in high or in heavenly places such as are eminent and glorious in the eyes of men according to the judgement of humane wisdome now the Saines of God are not to swear by any of these for however the oath of man swears by the greater yet the oath of God which is onely upon the Saints of Israel cannot be by a greater then himselfe so that he is not engaged to any of these but all are subservant unto him and he is above them all for he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords as it is written upon his vesture and upon his thigh or joines as in his strength and ornaments of his power and authority it doth appear therefore Christ gives the reason why we are not to swear by Heaven because saith he it is the throne of God Now the throne is at the service of him who fits thereon and not he to be engaged to the throne so that the Principallities and powers of worldly Governments are the very thrones or chariots wherein the Son of God sits for the excecution of his wrath on the world and they all stand ingaged to be at his service as that proper matter and instrument wherein the wrath of the Son is kindled and executed For there is a throne whereon Christ sits to rule with a rod or scepter of Iron wherewith he breaks to peeces as the sheards of a potters vessel as well as there is a great white throne that from the presence of him that sits thereon this heaven and earth which are not to be sworne by do fly away and no place for them in that dominion is to be found For Ashur is the rod or scepter of his anger and the staff in their hand is his indignation unto these high places the Saint of Israel is not to be ingaged for they are all subservant unto him and thence it is that Nebuchadnezzar that great King performed that peece of service to Daniels friends for the destruction of such as were his immediate actors therein for the manifestation of a miraculous deliverance through the appearance of the Son of God in his powerfull presence with his people when as they would not swear or be ingaged to the authority and power of that high place or great King the like was in Pharaoh whose wrath Moses feared not because he saw him who is unseeable and in Hero d whom Christ looked upon as a Fox fitter to betake himselfe to the holes of the earth in his carnall power and policy then to hinder him in that worke the wisedome of the father of lights had prescribed him in the doing of which work he denies his mother to have any interest in him in that way of the earth saying Women what have I to do with thee my houre is not yet come that is my time is not to come under any carnall command or authority whatsoever Note in this point how contrary the practice of the common ministry of the world is in seeking to be ingaged unto earthly power as to sit under that shadow and protection as their onely defence having confidence therein as though there were no other safety so that if they can but stand with acceptation by the elbow of a great man and watch for a nod or a beck to signifie a permission to give thankes pray or to preach they count it their chief honour and hapinesse and take it for a proper inspiration of the spirit unto them and so it is of that spirit whereby they are led 2. The second particular by which we are not to swear is the earth Neither by the earth The word translated earth signifies a base degenerate stock such as in the judgement of man are as persons illegitimate not being borne or brought forth unto the excellency and desired priviledge of the Sons of men in and of the world These we are not to be ingaged unto or to swear by whether in respect of the state and condition of persons or of any thing base in the worlds account the Saint of Israel is not to be taken as bound over or ingaged unto these things as for their defence government supply reliefe release or redemption and deliverance in any respect so as to be required and laid claime unto by the world as their right due or as a debt from his hands no more then Satan can lay claym unto any thing that is in Christ for the Son is free from paying tribute unto the world in all the children of the kingdome onely as time place necessity occasion conveniency and expediency gives and frames a fitnesse and opportunity thereunto so do the Saints act or refraine from acting in all things which the spirit of the world ingageth it self unto as being bound and yet most free that is they are all firmly bound over in themselves for the liberty and propagating of the Gospel of God and they are free likewise from whatsoever is out of that state and condition of the Sonne of God from yeilding any tribute or being any way so ingaged as that it should make any true challenge or lay any claym or title
unto them no more then that rich man could lay claym to the service of Lazarus so much as to bring him one drop of water to cool his tounge Christ renders a reason why we are not to swear by the earth namely because it is Gods footstool so the enemies of Christ are said to be made his footstool by the Psalmist for as the powers of the world are as the throne for the exercise of Gods displeasure so in the exercise and execution thereof they are troden down under his feete as such as are of base condition and off-spring whereon his feet are set as being victour and conqueror of them for ever therefore the promise is Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and the adder the young Lyon and the Dragon shalt thou trample under feet 3. In the third place the prohibition is of universall extent comprehending all things contained in this heaven and earth as is described in which heaven the actions relations and constitutions are multiplied as the heavenly bodies in the visible heavens are in their constitutions motions operations and respects which are innumerable The things of the earth also in their severall forms kinds and virtues are all comprehended in these words Neither by any other oath the world therefore in its exalted and troden upon estates and conditions are as full of variety in the one and in the other and with respect to each other as the heavens and the earth are which are here elegantly alluded unto and yet true Christianity is free from being ingaged to any thing it selfe only excepted not consisting of any nor of all them for the Son of God not having a greater swears by himselfe and is ingaged to none besides the spirit and life of true religion is ingaged to nothing but it selfe and unto that upon oath wherever it appears And pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is to visite the fatherlesse and the widow according to their necessities and to keep our selves unspotted of the world that is it gives out it selfe and yeelds sufficient supply onely to the fatherlesse namely to such as are cut off from that race and stock of the men of the world and so are without father as Melchizedech is and ever was and will be and in that respect the Prophet saith For with thee the fatherlesse they finde mercy who are not propagated and borne of flesh nor of blood nor of the will of man but of God for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh but that which is borne of the spirit is spirit The state of the widdow also religion supplies and is ingaged unto as to it selfe whose covenant and contract with the things of this life is broken and altogether dissolved and made voyd who are come to that age and gravity of the Gospel as of threescore years and past that is past bringing forth according to the wisdome of the flesh who are such widows that bring forth in that kind as the Apostle saith wax wanton and will marry that is enter into contract and ingagements with the things of the world through their divorce from Christ Religion is in no sort obliged unto such but onely to the modesty and gravity of the former And therefore it is said to keep it self unspotted of the world it makes it selfe immaculate and undefiled by the estranging of it selfe from the proper operation of that spirit of the world in all things for it neither eates nor drinks marries nor yet gives in marriage upon the same grounds and principles which the men of the world do in so much that Christianity is that Virgin-like Espousall which conceives and brings forth by that spirit of purity not found elsewhere but onely in it selfe which the world stumbles at more then Joseph did at Mary before God resolved his doubt when he concluded to put her away and to have no fellowship with her which all the world not taught of God proceed unto concerning the Saints of God as ingaged thereunto by that spirit of uncleanesse whereupon our Apostle brings in the next point But let your yea be yea and your nay nay That is whatsoever you acknowledge your selves to be ingaged unto affirming it to be yea let that ingagement be acknowledged to be alwayes and in all things the same without denyall thereof in any thing whereinsoever it may be concerned as for instance if ever you were ingaged to God nothing else as men for the most part acknowledge traditionally they were in the creation of the first man Adam or if you acknowledge that hereafter you shall be ingaged onely to him and no other if you cannot make this yea that is to be always the same without any negation at all it is not the confession of faith no true profession of Jesus Christ yea it must be concluded upon and acknowledge both in the preter present and future tence or else it is not pure religion and undefiled before God even the Father because otherwise it is not the ingagement of the Son of God in whom alone all purity doth consist for if any thing at any time or time it selfe for one moment interpose between God and man between the Father and the Son it is not that unity and faith of the Son of God who never admits of any time or any thing to interpose between the Father and himselfe in that subsisting unity of his 2. This exhortation is laid down in way of negation let your nay be nay that is if ever you finde a time wherein you deny your selfe to be ingaged to Satan either in your creation or in Gods determination or if ever you expect a time or way and means wherein and whereby you shall be disingaged unto him and that fully and perfectly then let your nay be nay that is let it be resolved upon that you were never ingaged unto him neither are nor ever shall be at no time nor in any respect else it is not that disingagement of the Sonne of God for Satan never came to finde any thing in him bearing the least tincture of his nature or that held any correspondency with that evill one in any respect But I cannot but wonder many times when I think of that profession of Christ which is made in the world which for the most part is of such things as themselves cannot but acknowledg were never found in Christ as ignorance pride errour absence from God selfe-love enmity disobedience unbelief and the like at the least the relicks and remaynders of these to reside in the state of Christianity not knowing that these things are to be confessed upon that condition wherein the Sonne of God is transformed by the world unto and in it selfe another thing then by nature he is in which confession there is the vertue of transmission of all sin and unrighteousnesse into its proper place even as in the acknowledgment of the righteousnesse of God it is to be transmitted
Jacob and Esau and the like as teaching higher and more transcendant things thereby Therefore to rest in these as being the intent and scope of the Scriptures without seeing and acknowledging the life and death of Christ in them both according to the flesh and also according to the spirit we may by as good skill of interpretation center and terminate the minde of God in making any or all those visible creatures in heaven and in earth in that proper work without having any respect at all unto man therein and make them the utmost and extreamest point of Gods thoughts and intent which were no better then to disinherit the Son of God making a bastard and no Son of him being they were all made to do service unto him and to stand up and jointly and skilfully point as with the finger to direct either to his perpetuall life or death as being the reality and substantiality of them all the forme of a Church therefore as constituted into particulers now in the world is of no more weight or worth in a Christian minde then any other order wherein men are conversant in wayes of civillity so called for if once we finde the substance by the light of that day that springs from on high the darknesse of night and shadow flye away So as nothing looks amiable upon us but onely glory in the highest and peace in the earth to that man of good will who dwels in the bush It is the spirit of Prophesie therefore or of true interpretation that cals in the Eldership w ch sees this sicknes or death to be that renovation of the health life of man-kinde in Christ from that carnall life which the world lives from living unto earthly and transitory things to live unto heavenly and everlasting things such as abide for ever therefore it is said that fifteen years are added unto the life of Hezekiah which number consists of ten and five ten hath in it the mystery of eternity as hath been declared and five hath in it the mystery of multiplication signifying that variety and uncountable wayes of health and life which in all respects and ways of relation are multiplied and exercised in that mysticall body and state of Christ Therefore no speech of the multiplication of any of Gods works till the fifth day to shew the mystery of this number therefore it is that Joseph brings five of his brethren before Pharoah to signifie the multiplication of blessings upon the land by all the family seeing so manny had come upon it by his being there as one the like is in Benjamins messe sent in by Joseph five times so much as any of the rest to shew the multiplication of his love to that his brother who only came of the beloved Rachel together with himselfe In the recovery out of this sicknesse or renewing of life from the dead we are to consider what Christ saith viz. Except the wheat corne dye it multiplies not that is except Christ the seed of God dye he multiplies not in which we are to know that divine nature simply considered in it selfe is not the seed of God no more then the seed of mankinde is simply in the male but respectively in male and female else it produceth not to multiply its kinde and every tree hath seed in it selfe therefore the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. They are but one tree that is one estate and condition even so the seed of God is whole Christ God and man made one and this wheat corne or seed must dye or else it brings not forth the true kinde and off-spring of the Son of God that is it must be sick and dye to all carnall and corruptible things or else it never brings forth that multiplyed fruit of the spirit which is in Jesus Christ To conclude this point to call in this place for the Elders is not meant the mendicimonium of a man without magnanimity and courage as one crouching unto a course and carnall Elder made with hands that is set up and created by men who can come unto the assembly and a private person but before it be dissolved is a pulick person a reverend Elder But this call is an anthetique and princely summons of a royall Prophet for this sicknesse hath in it the virtue and voyce of a summons to convent the true physitian multiplyed into an holy and honourable Eldership the consultation and practice of whom is the cure of the soule even as the life and frolick presumption of the arme of flesh hath in it a sufficient summons to bring in the works of unrighteousnesse to that appearance of Antichrist who is that poysonfull dragon and destroyer of the soule Yea this call is the voyce of the spouse being dead to her first husband and having forgotten her fathers house in the forsaking of all her kindred through which her speech becomes sweet and her countenance comely for ever 2. The second point is who these Elders are They are not the Elders of particular Congregations composed and ordered by man under that deceivable terme of reformed Churches as in these days which are but like to the sheards of a potters vessell which cannot be set together or sodred no more then they can ever bring themselves into unity for the spirit of that kingdome is divided in it selfe and therefore can never stand in the way of that resurrection by Christ but are in the way of that apostacy and fall of man from his Creator endeavouring still to become as Gods by the wisdome of the flesh We must observe then for the clearing of this point who they are which our Apostle writes unto in this Epistle and that is to the twelve Tribes in their dispertion and scattering from Israel as carnally considered for otherwise the Saints are never dispersed from the house and temple of God And this scattering is not into any particuler country or kingdome as into Assyria Babylon Caldea or the like but over the whole earth even upon the breadth of the land of Emanuel therefore they are said to be scattered abroad as having no confines set Neither doth he write to people as of one age or tract of time but as unto such as shall live in all ages of the world for as the word of God in the beginning went not out as to create the Sun for one age of the world but for all ages even so the word of the kingdome the Gospel of God goeth not forth to the dispersed and outcasts of Israel that is from the wisdome power and policy of the arme of flesh in one place or one age but so as every word of God in its true intent concerns and fiâ—s all places and ages of the world both in respect of the word of the curse and of the blessing so that to expound the word of God as fitting for one time place age or person and not for
dust that it cannot yeeld fruit his ascending up into heaven in a fiery Chariot The spirit of God is pleased to commend all his honourable deeds unto the world in this one act of prayer to stand and to be as his memoriall for ever Prayer therefore is garnished with all the ornaments of a Prophet oâ— God and cannot be lesse then a most honcurable monument and memorizing of the Saints where-ever it is found extant 2. Prayer hath all the vertues and ornaments of Priest-hood in it Never was Aaron fitted and adorned with greater variety of vestments and vertues to minister before God in the holy place and according to the variety and change of the multitude of sacrifices and offerings then the spirit of prayer contayns in it and according to occasion puts on and brings forth when the vertue power of our great high Priest after the order of Melchisedech is brought in it is all summed up in the spirit of prayer as he saith also in another place Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech who in the dayes of his flesh when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares unto him or in him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that which be feared That is he was heard in all things or for the accomplishment and bringing to passe all things that concern life and salvation Now that all things that concern the Kingdome of God is involved in this prayer is thus proved The word translated feared is in the Greek dispaired about which men have much contended how it may be said of Christ But the thing is really and substantially to be considered though men do wrest and bend mince and strayn the word to suit it to humane reason For it is as true that the Son of God in and by the spirit of the world and principles proper to humane wisdome doth dispair and relir quish all hope and expectation of being delivered or set at liberty from that infinite wrath and displeasure of Almighty God as it is true that the son of sorry man is in and by the spirit of God and principles proper to the wisdome of God established and confirmed in the love power truth righteousnesse and glory of God and of his Kingdome everlastingly If men be ignorant hereof how Christ is said to feare or dispayr in all things they may talk of eternall life but they know not how a creature can live eternally and be possessor of all things Want of this knowledg breeds your Mortallists that know not by vertue of what the soule becomes eternall either in life or death as also your Generallists that say God will save all whereas there may be as reall and undenyable arguments used upon like ground that God will destroy all and so they must be left to the height of their doctrine which will amount to no more then the condition of a beast yet doth it make them such men as it had been good for them they had never been born For the rest that have gotten a tract of salvation and damnation by tradition from schools books naturall phylosophy and observation not having the knowledg of the nature of this Priest-hood comprized in the spirit of intercession They believe such things but they must not be curiously searcht into that is we cannot know them of these we say as the mind without knowis not good so these mens faith is dead For wilt thou know oh empty man that faith without works is dead For the spirit of God never works in way of life but in its own light therefore ignorance in any point must be voyd of the work of faith and so of the saving vertue that is in the life of Christ But prayer comprehending the whole Priest-hood of Christ is a work of that honour and power as to memorize the name of a Saint for ever and to set him up as a monument of the wisdome and mercy of God 3. Prayer is a work that comprehends the Kingly authority of Christ for when the Apostle Paul had shaken off the traditions and rudiments of the carnall Jew the power of the high Priest in that prosecuting spirit of binding and imprisoning all that were of the way of Jesus calling on the name of the Lord and when the Lord would proclaim him and make it manifest that he was a chosen vessell fitted to beare his name or carry his authority before the Gentiles Kings and the children of Israel Yea when he would put all that honour upon him which the Psalmist foretells saying There is little Benjamine their ruler the head of the Tribe a Prince of God he comprehends and concludes all in this act of prayer to give satisfaction to Annanias behold he prayeth As if he should say it is enough to know that miraculous change from Saul unto Paul from the service of the Synagogue of the Jewes to be a ruler over Kings the Gentiles and children of Israel for the name of God is by his word advanced over all which he was to beare this is sufficient to give satisfation to all Behold he prayeth So that none can deny a Princely spirit of power and authority where the spirit of prayer bears sway and a princely excellency is of honour sufficient to eternize the record of a Christians name 4. There is in prayer the power of victor or a victorious renown consisting of the noblest conquest that ever was Jacob by prayer overcame the man that wrestled or combated with him which man is said to be an Angell but it is the Angell that blest him in the way and therefore is declared to be God for Jacob said I have seen God face to face in which act of prayer his name is changed from Jacob to Israel to declare a prince-like promise in prevailing with God as the Prophet explayns his name and act saying And by his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angell and prevailed he wept and made supplication hee found him in Bethel and there spake with us or in us for if the spirit of God had not spoke in our father Jacob and so in all of his race he had never prevailed Was ever the like Conquest made as to overcome omnipotency which could never be but through the requests of his owne spirit which he cannot deny but must yeeld himself over thereunto Prayer therefore consists of a combate which ever hath conquest therefore of sufficient honour and renown to memorize a Saint who-ever he be that exerciseth the design and skill thereof 5. Prayer hath salvation contained in it nay it is salvation For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved or in the present tense as the word will admit is saved for he that thinks he knows Christ any otherwise then in the vertue of an office exercised in such a subsistance or by such a manner or subsisistance exercised in
the seale of the Doctrine of the Gospel and any particular or all outward forms which Religion is represented unto us in to be the Religion of God as well as any or all of those former miracles wrought to be the seale of God 3. Furthermore to conclude the historicall act of wonders wrought to be the sign of confirmation is to darken yea to annihilate the vertue and power of the Gospel for in this wonder of Eliah to make the heavens as brasse and the earth as iron is here a fit allusion in the judgement of the spirit and we are to heare what the spirit saith unto the Churches in the teaching of the death of Christ and the operations thereof considered in the world and also in the house of God whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end And thus the allusion is unto a three yeares and sixe moneths forbearance of raine and afterwards to raynein great plenty This allusion is also used not in the terme of yeares but of two and forty moneths which is the same length of time but in a farre differing respect and differing doctrine in regard of the severall beames and lustre of the Gospel For there he teacheth that in measuring of the Temple the Court-yard is to be left out and not to be measured because it is given unto the Gentiles And the holy Citie shall they tread under foot two and forty moneths which is this three years and six moneths It is also alluded unto in poynt of dayes and so the same mystery is called a thousand two hundred and threescore dayes which are not properly yeares of famine but rather of fruit for it is the time of the prophesie of the two witnesses of the Gospel it is alluded unto likewise as consisting of three dayes and a halfe which is the time of the witnesses dead bodies lying in the streets of the great Citie which is spiritually called Sodome and Aegypt where also our Lord was crucified not suffered to be put in graves This wonder wrought by Eliah is alluded unto also as points or monuments of time in which the time of the womans being in the wildernesse is taught a doctrine farre differing from any of the former and that is for a time times and halfe a time on the division of time Now if the three yeares and sixe moneths drought and afterwards rayne were the substance and intent of the miracle and in that the wonder to lye for the confirmation of the Gospel how fiâ—ly could the spirit of God bring it in as an elegant allusion in all these severall respects Those therefore that would have the Gospel confirmed by miracles of like outward form as have been done in ages past they annihilate the Gospel by denying the truth substance and reality of the signe to be extant only in Christ Like friends to the Gospel are they who look to see Christ coming from heaven confined in one individuall man as the Disciples saw him go up to reign on the earth as an only Monarch for the space of a thousand yeares and then and not till then we shall see good dayes as those Doctors affirm The fourth poynt is the effect of his prayer And it rayned not Concerning the historicall form of this wonder all men know what it is to rayne and not to rayn But few know the mystery thereof which is substantiated in the Son of God and consists in that death of his reallized in the men of the world and in the men of God The spirit therefore and office of the intercession of Christ centring in and gathering it selfe into that one holy and mysticall body in the utterance and manifestation of it selfe affords not any of the raine of Gods liberality and bounty nor of that dew which causeth Israel to grow as a lilly unto that body of sinne that state of Ahab Jezebel and apostatized Israel but leaves it fruitlesse and barren like those mountains of Gilboa where Saul slaw himself c. to declare that his unction according to the works of the Law of the carnall command with all the glory arising there-from and the terrours of God are never separated nor upon that height and dignity doth ever rayn nor dew according to the intent of our Apostle in this place fall or descend to bring forth any fruit unto God but are like the heath in the parched wildernesse and as the dry dust which the winde of Gods fury driveth away 2. The spirit of intercession comprized and exercising it selfe in that Elijah the strength of our being or existance dryeth up that mysticall body of Christ that no rayne nor dew nor any moysture producing fruits according to the flesh falleth upon it or descendeth thereon And this is declared and signified unto us in Eliah who goes to the brook Cherith or the brook of slaying and mortification of the flesh with all the lusts and affections thereof intimated unto us in the drying up of the brook by that drought and he is fed by no earthly thing but only by the fowls of heaven Also when he sits under the Mulbery trees as one bereaved of his life as his fathers before him also were To the things of this world there also an Angel or Messenger heavenly only makes provision for him in his ascention to Horeb the Mount of God in the strength of which food once received though in a two-fold respect he travels forty days and forty nights the like time that Moses and our Lord fasted where he complayns to God that he only is left alone destitute of all help of man as an out-cast from all claym or title to the Kingdome of Ahab and backsliden Israel to idolatry For there is no rayn nor dew which makes that earthly condition fruitfull that falls upon him for the Famine is as great unto him in poynt of the wisdome of the flesh yeelding any food to Eliah as it is in respect of the wisdome of the spirit in yeelding any refreshment to Ahab the one being the heaven of God of Israel and the other the heaven or god of the world To conclude this point let us insert that word Selah which hath the signification of lifting up do but exalt the word of God as it is in Jesus and behold it is extant and lives in both these respects at this day and thence comes in the time of this restraynt of rayne And this is the fifth poynt which is for the space of three yeares and sixe moneths For the opening of this point we know that the number three as it hath the mystery of a true and reall distinction in it in the same individuall as in the three that beare record in heaven the father the word and the spirit and these three are one So also the mystery of fulnesse and perfection as the number seven hath for three witnesses are as a thousand they answer the Law compleatly
mistery of iniquity also which properly makes and gives being unto the God of this world which is no lesse then Satan himselfe who attempts through his arrogating insatiable spirit to tender unto Christ all the kingdoms of the Earth and the glory of them the one of these is a wonder but a lying one because it brings not forth what it promiseth as the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises is a righteousnesse but not that which enters into the kingdome and the other is a wonder and a true miracle because it brings to passe the things it promiseth even as the righteousnesse of Christ enters into the kingdom and sitteth in safety and honour at the right hand of God And they that preach not the Gospel as accompanied with these signes in the ministry of it according to the variety of the work proposed the speaking and creating word of his signes is not sent unto that people for their release and deliverance out of the house of bondage and yet it is true that tongues are for a sign not to them that beleive but to them that beleive not that is an unbeleiver ever expects that a signe should speak in the same form which formerly it hath done or else he takes it not for a wonder wrought by God but then there should need no interpretatiin the Church at all without which tongues are not of use unto edefying The worlds expectation of signes to accompany the preaching of the Gospel for the confirmation of it in the same forme as formerly is the expectation of Infidels such as follow Christ to be fed with carnal things bread that perisheth in the use like them that after they had been fed miraculously with the loaves and the fishes they persue and follow him to have a signe that he is a man of God and conclude that Moses was a man of God that could give bread from heaven but this not coming in like for me but from the Earth though in that wonderfull multiplication and increase is as nothing unto them But the signs wonders and mighty works accompanying the grace of the Gospel never appear twice in the same forme so that a man may as well expect the water that now bubleth up in a living and swift running fountaine to tarry and abide for him till his return to it againe as to fit down by a wonder wrought by God till it appear in the very same forme againe it coming out of that inexhaustible fountaine and swift running current of that infinite variety of his wisdome and power Moses miraculously fasted forty dayes and forty nights and is in the mount with God and hath in that fast the law the perfect pattern of all truth and holiness presented and shewed unto him and againe Christ fasted forty dayes and forty nights but was in the wildernesse among wilde beasts and therein had the temptations of Satan the proper platforme of the power of darknesse represented unto him which differs much from the pattern of salvation and kingdome of light Eliah also fasted forty dayes and forty nights but was miraculously fed before in the strength of which food he went into a cave by the mount of God and there had apparitions voices manifested unto him wherein God made himselfe manifest and also such wherein God appeared not at all one forty dayes fast not but in variety of wonder one death of Christ but a diverse signe in it he is slaine at Jerusalem and our Lord is also crucified in Sodome and in Aegypt true in both with respect to flesh and spirit And so much for the word Behold implying a wonder wherein observe the deceitfull sleights and cunning devices of the Magissians the Jannes and Jambres of our dayes who have erected for the confirmation of Princes great signes of honour and Godlike prosperity Kings Chappels and pulpits of State State-prayers and state-like officers in the Church for forming of them that they may carry their virtue by whomsoever uttered state-religion and state-like pompe in the exercise of it as though the Kings of the earth should be thereby declared to be not onely the off-spring of the almighty but the deputed Gods In what doth the successe and issue of these Doctors indeavors end in differing from those Magissians in Aegypt in the confirmation and incouragement of their King first born and his alies 2. The second point is who the Labourers are or the Labourer for the word may be read either singular or plurally as it usuall in Scripture to use words of active and passive signification as also such as may be read either in the masculine or feminine gender without wrong to the Text so also such as will beare either the singular or plurall number and so it is in this place To take the word therefore in the singular acceptation it is Christ collectively considered in that one intire and mysticall body of his comprehending all the Saints in all ages of the world Againe take it plurally Labourers and it is Christ distinctly distributed and given out in all the parts and members of that body for he is that Labourer or Husband-man that sowes good seed in his field though the evill one sow tares in the time of his sleep or when and where he is dead to all things of the spirit which is in that evill one only upon whom they grow He sowes with his owne hand as he is that one fountaine and giver out of the seed in all ages yesterday and to day and for ever the same And his seeds-men sow also as he is a participator and the receiver thereof for he receiveth the spirit though not by measure for it is immence 3. The third point is what the labour is in reaping down the fields By reaping here is not meant cutting downe but in gathering also as the word-imports Christs reaping therefore is the cutting downe of all those riches and ripened fruits of the flesh those superfluous branches from the true Vine that they be not found in the field or upon that hand of Emanuel which else-where is said to be the crueifying of the flesh in the affections and lusts and the slaying of the enmity in himselfe which are the proper in gatherings of the worke and that whereof their harvest and Vintage doth consist whereby their regions become white unto the harvest that is it sets them in a capacity to be cut downe by an eternall destruction and in these the labourer is defrauded who hath spent his strength in them in vaine or unto emptinesse and laboured for nought as he complains by his Prophet or in the Prophet Isaiah In them he hath lost his time as a labourer hath who is deprived of his hire for his time and age is not extant in them the time of grace is expended the day of salvation is not found in them his generation is ceased in them and is no more even as a labourer hath lost his time so spent as no
and originally of God and not of the creature as his Sonship is of God and not of the proper off-spring of man being begotten not of mortall but of immortall seed so are all the lineaments of God and man in Christ if wisdome joyne the Tabernacle that God builds and not man it is the wisdome of God if love make the contract it is the love of God shed abroad in the heart and not the love of man which is enmity with God if faith establish the heart that it wavour not it is the faith of God which is the power of God to salvation wherein consists the great work of God which is in beleiving as Christ tels him that asked what shall I do to work the work of God beleiue saith he for therein it consists for it was by the work of faith that Abraham was justified and not by that vaine or empty faith without works that is without the present power and operation of God for such faith the Devil may attaine unto who beleives there is one God and trembles but doth not consist in his power as made one of twaine in Christ So that whatsoever is in this unity is properly and originally of God and that from a principle or law of his bounty and goodnesse whereby he communicates himselfe unto another in all things which that law or goodnesse of his nature is apt and prompt to be and to do whereby he forms himselfe in his Son without whom or out of whom he never had being took form in any will or law nor put forth himselfe in any operation therefore it is said speaking of Christ God and man all things were made by him and without him was nothing made For if ever God had had being or motion so much as of minde and will out of man it had ever been so and then salvation had not been the Saviour had never appeared for salvation canot be compleat but in him that saves and is also saved and the Almighty never was but as he is a God of salvation yea in the plurality thereof as the expression of the Psalmist is the beginning of Christ therefore canot be fathomed nor spanned out no more then the beginning of the Almighty and eternall can though there be that in Christ which is in time yet he takes not his proper being from that no more then man takes his proper being from his body but from his rational soul and spirit which inliveneth acteth and moveth the same And in the one and the other doth the glory of the Sonne of God exist for God working in and by the faculties or aptitudes to do in the soule or spirit of the creature thereby his vertues and operations come to be distinct and so full of variety of glory being the spirit and life of the creature consists in change of motion or operation also here the works of God have their proper times seasons and opportunities which in the proper and simple eternal could never be Furthermore as man works not by the principles and properties of the creature but by those that are proper to God denying himselfe being resigned over unto God and so all his operations become of an eternal race and virtue and are in the true and reall account and reckoning of eternity of such nature is the condition of the Sonne of God therefore the Prophet saith who can declare his age he is the first and the last if he never end in being last he never had beginning as he is the first but is from eternity to eternity though that be in him which is temporary in it selfe even as mans body lives and understands though of it selfe it hath nor doth either as appears when the soule is departed Secondly concerning the unity of Harlots for he that is joyned unto an harlot is one flesh that is one carnall and corrupt estate in which all the ligaments thereof are such as properly the creature is the originall and fountaine of and not the Creator how then can this unity be eternall when the proper bond is of that which is mortall and temporary To this we answer that there are certain faculties or aptitudes to do or to be in the soule of a man as also a law or principle by which it is or doth such things and for the aptitudes to do or to be We may safely say that whatsoever the Almighty is prompt unto that through the sublimity and excellency that God hath made the spirit of a man to be of he is prompt unto the variety of operations and excellencies that are in the Son of God yea even to compasse the earth and comprehend all things and find out the causes relations and operations of them yea even to eternize himselfe on the earth by calling his lands by his name by living in his posterity by some great work wrought or monument set up to memorize him unto posterity and ages to come yea doubtlesse some States-men and Politicians of the world are apt to lay plots and platforms how to bring about accomplish and achieve things which they know can never be done in their dayes that their wisdome and policy may live and be in use when they are gone and of such use and from such aptitudes come humane Chronicles writing of bookes or the like to reach to eternity which God only wise is So that man works in and by the aptitudes of God but not from that law and principle proper to the Son of God For whereas God out of that law of bounty and goodnesse of his nature communicates himselfe in whatsoever he is apt to do and be whereby he doth it and is it in the creature The creature exercising it selfe in the way of mans wisdome in things which God himselfe is prompt to be and to do not by giving himselfe up unto God to be his and not his owne but by that principle of self-love and law of exalting the arm of flesh he arrogates unto himselfe and monopolizeth the things proper to God unto himselfe ascribing them unto the things of man to beautifie and to set up the things of the creature thereby attributing and giving unto the flesh that which is proper only unto the Son of God which is a turning of the truth of God into a lye a changing the glory of God into the image of a corruptible man and a worshipping and serving of the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen We conclude then that as God by that law of grace exerciseth himselfe in all his excellencies in the aptitudes of mans soul filling them with himselfe so as the things of eternity come to be distinct to have their proper season time place yea and person so as the Saints are truly distinct and the operation of their faith as the Apostle amply declares in that to the Hebrews Chap. 11. So also that man of sinn through that carnall law exerciseth himselfe in the aptitudes of God
implying a wonder note thus much in the distinction of it from the former expression for the word of God in every phrase hath its peculiar and distinct lustre In the former Christ is brought in as an hireling in his death in the spirit here as the Husbandman or Lord of the harvest in his dying unto the flesh Whence we observe That it is a like wonder and miraculous act and deed for the sonne of God to be made an hireling in the world or kingdome of men as it is for the sonne of man Enoch sorry and base man made of the earth to be made Lord of the harvest ruler of heaven and earth Let this be the only use of it to carry newes to all men that he that knows not the mystery of the one cannot unfold the Chidah that hidden matter or riddle of the other for the spirit of Joseph can interpret the dream of Pharaoh's Baker as well as that of his Butlers 2. The husbandman waites The word implyes a wayting as an over-seer to give things their due and to keep from harm hee tarries and abides by his field to see that nothing be wanting nor that any tare be pluckt up to the hurt or disadvantage of the corne but will have them grow together till harvest Whence we observe That there can be no true and acceptable division made betwixt wheat and tares just and unjust but by the perfect growth and ripenesse of them both the man of God must be brought forth unto perfection so also must the man of sinne Yea the seed of God sown in that great field of the world not in one age but in all ages thereof as also the seed of the Serpent or tares sown by that evill one must be opened unto the full measure of sin and righteousnesse in the one and in the other or else no man can rightly divide between the precious and the vile He cannot pluck up a tare otherwise but he hurts the wheat for no man can scant a wicked man of the fulnesse of sin but he besmears the Just one that holy one of God with what hee keepes back from the wicked for if it be not brought unto the wicked as to its proper seate in its perfection it is left unto the Son of God as he yet abiding under it This Lord of the Harvest therefore waits as a carefull and diligent over-seer that no such great inconvenience and evill befall his field or hinder the right and joyfull in gathering of his harvest They therefore that go about to gather in the wheat or binde up the tares before they be waiters and over-seers unto fulnesse and perfection of both that they can truly say the harvest is come which is the end of the world namely of all worldly excellencies of the Saints these are those unskilfull servants which know not the mind of the Lord nor is their enterprize acceptable unto him 3. He waits for the precious fruits of the earth and tarries and abides to preserve all things in order and place to the appearing of them which are the abundant and fruitfull exercises of mercy and justice which spring up in the just and unjust These are they which the Psalmist speakes of when he saith Mercy and truth are met together justice and peace have kissed each other For these are both alike innocent and guiltlesse precious and of like difficulty to be found out as they are gathered together and exercised by the wisdome and power of God who thrusts in the sickle of his wrath and displeasure as well as of his love and good will when the regions are white unto the harvest in the one respect and in the other For it is alike precious thing in God to redeem and deliver the elect by man and yet to free man in point of his own proper nature and ability from being any cause or furtherance in the work thereof as it is to condemn and destroy the wicked by the Son of God and yet to free God in point of his own native properties and operations from being any furtherance of the work thereof and without both the one and the other of these brought to light the words of wisdome are not justified In the one he that glorieth or as the word is praiseth himselfe it must be in the Lord for the boasting of all flesh is excluded In the other he that is shamefully dishonoured and blasphemed it is only in man for the Son of God is most glorious and excellent for ever and most precious fruits of justice and mercy ariseth from each of them In the one the Lord alone is our salvation and our strength and in the other Oh Israel thy destruction is of thy selfe The fourth point is the time of waiting and that is with long patience The length of this patience is answerable to the long suffering of God in the dayes of Noah who suffered himselfe to be mortified in respect of all spirituall and holy things in Cain even as Abel was by him slaine and put to death for in Cain the life of righteousnesse never appeared for he was destroyed in his seed in the deluge in that respect never to live onely none is to put him to death nor diminish him in his living unto the flesh in which respect he lives to this day in those that wander in the way of Cain as the Apostle teacheth and so Abels blood speaks wrath in him untill now And Abel is never to live after the flesh nor bring forth an off-spring in that way and yet speaks in that voyce of faith and life of Christ in Seth that set one in his stead of whom Christ came as an offering acceptable and of sweet smelling savour before God for ever This patience then hath the length of eternity in it for he that cannot expect the reception and rising up of these fruits at an eternall distance as fresh and new in exercise and execution as though they had never taken being before both in mercy to the godly and in terrour to the wicked he can never perceive nor rightfully enjoy the present being of the one nor the other For if we look upon them according to the dimentions which God gives unto them then are they to come unto eternity both the destruction of the wicked in our ransome as the salvation of the just in their purchased possession and they are both of them really present in that act of expectation even as the Son of God is one that is and is to come So that in patient waiting we possesse and in present possession we patiently waite else things are not looked upon as having God in unity but only as Creature in relation to Creature but the Apostle testifies that Abraham in wayting for the Promise had the present enjoyment of it and that as the father of all the faithful who only inherit accordingly and in no other way and thence he brings in the next point Which is
the fifth in order and that is the meanes of receiving of them and that is the early and the latter raine This early and late raine the Prophet Hosea calls it the first rain in the second implying that the reality of them both is in one act as the Son of God is sayd to be the first and the last and yet but one Christ Now we know that in point of husbandry the first raine gives properly the seed to put forth root downward and the second or letter raine causeth to put forth into blade eare and full or ripe corne in the eare Therefore the Prophet Isaiah saith that the escaped of the house of Judah shall take root down-ward and bring forth fruit upward Now the rooting which the Saints give both unto just and unjust is from eternity otherwise we give them not the proper meanes of their growth for the Psalmist affirms that the birthdew of Christ is from the womb of the early morning and the ground hereof is as hath been said because the eternall is in the united and therefore he is sayd to be a dew unto Israel that he may cast forth his roots and branches and grow as a lilly and as the root goes down into eternity in point of time past else no proper meanes of growth so the branch in the height of it and full corn in the eare to the ripenesse of it is unto eternity for time to come else hath it not the perfection of its growth And it is an act of like nature in faith and of like necessity to salvation to give it selfe a being from eternity as to give it selfe a being to eternity and hee that misseth in the one and sinneth in the other for his eternity to come is but from tradition For without the fetching up of himselfe from the one and stretching out himselfe unto the other he hath not the proper and essentiall being of a Christian therefore Christ is described in whomsoever he appears to be he which was and which is and which is to come Note here that the mistake of this point is the ground of all that deceitfull doctrine at this day so acceptable in the world namely that such excellent times and also miserable dayes and places have been which are not now to be found in the world as Israel considered both in Canaan and in Aegypt also and such excellent times are to come as were never yet attained unto as in that new Jerusalem calling of the Jewes or Christ coming to reign a certaine space on the earth as the sole Monarch of the world taking the letter of the word in which death consists to be their proper guide and directory whereas the proper scope and intent is by an historicall narration of things which have been to fetch up things of an eternall nature to give them a present and reall being both in just unjust from a time so early as none can ever descend beneath to present it otherwise And also when the Scriptures speake in way of Propheticall prediction of things that are to come men take occasion thereby to carry us up in a phanaticall conceipt to look after that which never yet was whereas the scope is to fetch down things that reach unto eternity to give us the present enjoyment of them which never any can get beyond or climbe higher this deceitfull spirit of was or will be but is not in present existence could never endure the present appearance of Christ But if he be truly made manifest it is a torment unto them and they say in heart he comes to torment them before their time But to conclude this point we affirm that present precious fruit together with patient waiting for is the proper inheritance of the promise containing both sowing and in gathering in the kingdome of God and to separate them is to divide Christ who is ever in unity and never without the sayd respects whereupon he brings in the next words as an inference Vers 8. Be yee also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh In which words observe 1. The renewing of the exhortation Be ye also patient 2. An enlargement thereof drawn from the former metaphor or amplification in these words Stablish your hearts 3. The ground or reason of it For the coming of the Lord draweth nigh BE ye also patient that is do every one of you state himselfe in â—he condition of the Husband-man and personate the Husbandman in himself that so in patient waiting for you may enjoy the harvest of the promise in the precious rare things of God in Christ and in the present enjoyment of them you may expect the coming of them in like glory power and virtue for ever The earth brings forth sufficient for its inhabitants in one year but it hath not spent its virtue but hath a new glory and store brought forth the next also continuing its virtue and ability therein from the beginning and shall we think that ever the Sonne of God shall be so comprehended and grasped up together in his glory and virtue that he hath it not to bring forth a fresh both in mercy and justice as though it had never before appeared not so for in his presence is society and fulnesse of joy that is perfection thereof at present and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore that is a delightfull and pleasant renewing of them for ever Note here that those persons that preach a defect and imperfection in Christianity they ever hold a time to come when there shall never be more attained though not at death yet at the day of their carnallized judgement which is all one as to hold that the Sonne of God may be exhausted and drawn dry in respect of his virtues as though he were not that living fountaine that runs afresh for ever or as though the eternall were wrapt up in the bounds of time and that infinite were now become fioite this is the glory and top of such mens religion that teach or hold an imperfection in the state of Christianity and it is only tradition that keeps them from preaching it in Christ also for otherwise they know not his perfection 2. He ads further in the exhortation grounded upon the former doctrine Stablish your hearts that is settle fix and confirme your spirits upon this foundation or two-fold piller in the Sonne of God namely the reality of his immediate presence compleatly and perfectly and that he is no lesse compleatly to come therefore it is that he comes in preaching peace to them that are afarr off to them that are nigh alluding to the history of the Jewes and Gentiles but the body and truth is in Christ for it is no parradox to faith to say Christ is the nearest and also the farthest of for faith is the subsistance of things hoped for that is it is the present being of things that yet are not for hope which is
the resurrection and so much for the argument drawn from the danger Lest ye be condemned The second follows which is the readinesse for execution and that in way of wonder Behold the Judge standeth before the doore Behold that is admire and wonder at the appearing of this signe also namely that the righteous Judge of all the earth that renders to every one according to his work hath no other door to come in at no other way of entrance whereby to passe sentence of absolution or condemnation no way to quit the just or condemn the wicked no way to exercise mercy or severity but only through this two-fold estate and condition of man-kind namely the crucifiers of Christ according to the flesh and the crucifiers of Christ according to the spirit Therefore he that finds a condition way or act wherein God is only as a bare spectator or else exerciseth some-what besides or out of the way either of mercy or wrath among the sonnes of men let such conclude of another estate in man-kind besides these twayn But let such know that they are not of the spirit of Abraham the friend of God for he acknowledged freely the Lord to be Judg of all the earth in that destruction of Sodome and deliverance of just Lot which these men deny if there be another way of the administration of the Creature whereinto the Lord enters not for he hath no way of entrance in the way of his administrations among the sons of men but only at this two fold door either of mercy or wrath Let such look to this point who makes a good and commendable way of administration in meer civill affayrs wherein the grace and favour of God is not properly exercised in that way of Christ neither is the wrath of God in exercise as in that way of Antichrist But such will find that he who is not of the faith and works of Abraham hee is of the law of the flesh and spirit of the world and he that hath the spirit of the world hath not the spirit of Christ And whosoever hath noth the spirit of Christ the same is none of his and they that do not the works of Abraham they are not the children of Abraham but of their father the Devill whose workes they do and will do For this two-fold door is the only way of entrance in all the wayes of administration belonging to him who is that righteous Judge of all the earth Therefore he is sayd to stand before the doore or as the word may be read with the doore that is hath setled and confirmed himself to be Judg of all with this way of entrance for administration for the word stand in this place signifies to minister as in the administration of the Priests and Levites in the house of the Lord It is said that Judah rejoyced that they stood before the Lord So the Prophets are sayd to stand before the Lord when they Minister with power and authority from him And the word translated Before may be read with by the allowance of the spirit of God for where one Prophet saith I am a stranger before thee as my fathers were Another reports the same thus I am a stranger with thee as all my fathers were And where it is translated to be the speech of the King to Haman he will force the Queen before me in the room Another translates he will force the Queen with me in the room and many the like for the Hebrew words ethpenei and liphenei are both one of the same signification and put one for another in the Scriptures To conclude this poynt the wonderfull and miraculous power of the Gospel in being a savour of life unto life and a savour of death unto death consists in this two leaved gate as the phrase of the Prophet is and here it is a door of a double or two-fold entrance of one eternal act in the distribution of mercy and justice For behold the Judg hath no other entrance but with respect of opening this two-fold work of the mystery of God and the mystery of iniquity for the performance of all the workes which have been are or shall be exercised and done among the children of men the truth whereof is ever repined at by such as are under the power of condemnation from whom he separates the Saints whereupon the next words are brought in as holding a consimilitude among themselves Vers 10. Take my brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience In which words observe 1. A reiteration with an addition of the terme Brethren My brethren 2. Adoration leading them to the Prophets for a pattern who are described unto us 1. By their speaking of the word of the Lord. 2. By their suffering affliction and patience therein 1. HE gives the terme brethren here as he did before but in another respect for he excludes that brotherhood as having respect to that of Esau therefore he speaks unto them conjunctively and assumptively my brethren So that it is not the phrase of Scripture that is onely to be minded in the understanding of the will of God but what it is that God intends in that place by using such a phrase so accompanied with its coherence otherwise we may take Antichrist for the true Christ and the true Christ for Antichrist and the God of this world for the true God For sometimes the word Gods in the plurall number intends Idols as the Apostle teacheth there are Gods many and Lords many that is Idols cut out unto places and offices in the world created and set up by men but unto us saith he there is but one God And sometimes the plural Gods Elohim signifies the true God the Creator and maker of all as it is sayd In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth c. And sometimes the same word is taken for the holy and godly Judges in Israel as when the servant after his seven years service would not depart from his master he was to be brought to the Gods the word is Elohim that is to the Judges to have his eare bored through to serve him for ever So also the Scriptures makes report of false Christs in the plural number and the true annoynted is given in the plurall phrase also where the Psalmist saith Touch not my Christs and do my Prophets no harme and so Antichrist stiles himselfe Christ in the singular phrase as well as the true Christ is so expressed as the Evangelist reports many shall come in my name and shall say I am Christ and shall deceive many there is joy in the stony ground where the corne withereth and never comes to good as well as in that harvest which is ripened in the kingdome of God where they return with joy bringing their sheaves with them there is a righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees which enters not into the kingdome as
the authority and power of God which comprehends not onely speech but action also that is those signes and wonders and mighty works which accompany the preaching of the Gospel in the confirmation of it testifying the presence of God accompanying the word making it good by act and deed according to the expressions thereof For the word of God is never truly uttered without the appearance of a signe and wonder and a great work no lesse then such as holds proportion with God for the confirmation of the same Now we know a wonder is a monster in nature such as no nature in its proper instinct brings forth it goes beyond the bounds abilities and precincts of any naturall confines whatsoever and without such works signes or wonders the Gospel is never truly preached for if it should Christs promise would faile but heaven and earth shall faile before that one jot or tittle of the word of God come to corruption So that there is no speech or doctrine of the Gospel but in its expression it frames constitutes and brings forth a work of such nature as no simple nature whatsoever can bring forth therefore a wonder and a signe to be admired yea truly miraculous for no nature can reach thereunto in the utmost extent thereof For as it is true that there is no operation of the spirit of God in the way of Christ but it is above and goes beyond the nature of the creature having the power and glory of the Creator in it nor is it attainable by any or by all creatures So it is true also that there is not any work or operation of the Gospel which the divine nature simply and abstractively considered can be sayd to be in any capacity or possibility to attaine thereunto but the possibility of God to do all things stands in his making himself to be such a one otherwise it is unattaniable in the nature divine simply and singly considered because there is no work of the Gospel without man considered in it no more then there is a Christ without mans nature who is the subject matter of the Gospel And as Christ is not without mans nature no more is any work of the Gospel for as the divine nature cannot of it selfe simply and solely considered dye nor ascend neither descend being incomprehensible No more can the humane nature considered simply in it selfe have in it eternal life comprehend all things or be omnipotent but in that unity of the Gospel the Sonne of God they are all brought to passe and all in act and being in that one Christ nothing in him therefore whatsoever but being set forth and brought to light there appear a wonder a miracle is wrought a signe set up for the confirmation of the Gospel such as no nature simply considered can attaine unto or bring forth so that if the true word of the Prophet or of interpretation be spoken this true and miraculous work must enevitably appear transcending all nature in the utmost capacity thereof And therefore that saying holds firme that we have a Meditor made higher then the heavens a work and wonder above all nature simply and solely considered and therefore Christ is that new creature yea the beginning or head of the creation of God for God is one in the work not onely in making but as one made in Christ And thus the Prophets are invested with power and authority to speak in the name of the Lord not onely in word but in work also a signe and wonder accompanying the word at all times which makes them most noble and God-like to the cutting off of the spirit of Princes becoming terrible to the Kings of the earth 2. Whence he brings in the second description of a true Prophet as the means whereby this power and authority is attained and that is through suffering affliction and long patience By suffering affliction in this place we are to understand a being cut off from being supported by any earthly power carnall policy or any temporall glory whatsoever with respect to friends or alies or any earthly relations which fade and vanish away which human spirits seek unto and rely upon for the promoting of themselves For onely in the losse and laying aside all these things a true Prophet comes to be invested into the power wisdome and excellency of the Son of God in whom is found all friendship all offices and all relations whatsoever not onely compleated but also eternized to abide for ever in whose power and authority by this means they go forth By this means it was that Moses became so great a deliverer for he refusing to be called the Son of Pharaohs daughter choosing rather to suffer adversity with the people of God in the losse of all such kinde of glory as Pharaohs Court afforded became an effectuall instrument to manifest that power and glory throughout all the land of Aegypt in the deliverance of Gods chosen and overthrow of his enemies Again take Eliah for an instance in this point comprehending all the Prophets as he did in his appearance with Christ in the transfiguration and you shall finde him complaining that he is left alone as cut off from all relations from carnall apostatized Israel and his life sought after to be taken away also by the policy and power of the whole kingdome of Israel under the Government of that wicked Ahab For a true Prophet is to endure hardnesse as a good souldier of Jesus Christ and no man that warreth intangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a souldier For no superiority dignity or advance no place of office or atendance no conjunction or relation of this life but must suffer wrack and ruine in the true prosecution of the authority and spirit of a Prophet otherwise the name of God is not called upon as Christ witnesseth saying For whosoever of you he be that forsakes not all that he hath he cannot be my Disciple The bond of family with respect to wife and children must give way to this the bond of trade and imployment must give way to this the bond of office and place to uphold this tottering temporary order amongst men must give way to this the bond and tye to particular congregations of tittuler Pastor Teacher or in any other way hireling ministry which are much alike to family cares relations and employments to maintain a temporary credit and lively-hood in this life the power and spirit of Eliah breaks them to peeces if the spirit of God breath it snaps them all like Sampsons bands which were but as flax when it smels the fire though the world in the losse of the lock by its Dla's who hath bewitched them to stand ingaged unto it contrary to the expresse word of Christ which sayth If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life
entire simple and undivided act in him and in them also bearing the same forme containing the same virtue subject to the same reproach by the men of the world as also of like joy and acceptation as of old unto the godly by whom it is said Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just saving himselfe lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a colt the foal of an Asse Consider the word of God brought not forth in the begining the sun moon and stars or any creature upon the face of the earth to be of one nature and virtue in one age of the world and of another nature and virtue in another time or age thereof no more doth the word of God bring forth the sufferings of the Son of God to be of one kinde and virtue in one man of God and of another kinde power or virtue in another man of God or in one age to be really present with the Disciples and in another age to be far remote for they are all one individuall act in that one multiplyed Saint or holy one of Israel And so are the sufferings of Christ according to the spirit in the man of sin and sons of Beliall which crucifie the Son of God afresh unto or in themselves putting him to an open shame it is not one in Pharaoh and another in Herod it is not of one nature or kinde in Cain and of another in Judas it is not one in the Scribes and Pharasees and another in the wicked Lawyers and Souldiers it is not of one nature and kinde io that Antichrist and son of perdition and of another nature and kinde in the Devil and Satan But it is one simple and eternall act of that one man of sin multiplied into many Antichrists which are now working already in the world according to the power of the Prince of the ayre the spirit which now worketh in the children of unbelief unto which Christ speaks as unto one saying what is thy name the answer implies both the singular and plurall number my name is Legion for we are many For we must remember that what soever the law saith it saith unto them or as the word is in them who are under the law that is whatsoever the law of the spirit speaks now the law of the spirit of life is in Christ Jesus according to which he submits to the will of his Father that ancient of days in all things as also rules over all temporary and carnall power for there is nothing in Christ as wherein he submits but it hath the virtue of authority therein also and whatsoever this law saith it saith it in all that are subjects unto the same and gives being to what it utters as the word did to all things in the beginning so that if it speak of faith in any it speaks without respect of persons according to that impartiality which is in it self so that where it utters faith it is in the powerfull work of faith as a work wherein the Son of the eternall is involved in whom it hath its virtue and power if it utter alone it sheds it abroad in the heart in the labour of it as that wherein God dwels who is composed of it if it speaks of hope it is not deferred but springs up in the soule as that tree of life in the Paradise of God and if it speak of suffering it creates the Crosse not in any other form and virtue but in that wherein it takes its being from the beginning even as it was at the first with the creation in the operation of the word in bringing forth all creatures to exist and have a being When it made the Sun it formed it in that virtue that abides the same in all ages and so it is with all creatures receiving their being and virtue by that word even so whatsoever the law of the spirit saith it gives the same being and virtue thereunto in all that are under that law whether it concerne humiliation or exaltation death or resurrection the being of the Lord the Saviour or the saved of the Lord. For what or in whom-soever it speaks it saith it to the reallizing of it selfe in the thing spoken and that without exclusion of any one particular or including any one more then the rest which are found under the same law For as unto us there is but one God so there is but one Image of that God which is his wisdome made manifest in Christ which is the proper and perpetuated form of Christ wherein soever he is manifest and of all true Christianity in all ages of the world We must therefore either take Christ or a christian forme being under the law of the spirit and then there is no other seat to set him in but under the dominion of the flesh that law of sin and death or else the Crosse expressed and maintained according to that law of the spirit is the same in Christ and in every Christian in all respects For it is that circumcission made without hands that is without any wisdome or ability proper unto or atainable by man namely the cutting off of that superfluous foreskin of the flesh which is superfluous to the fulnesse of Gods wisdome and power which is the proper hinderer and obstructor of the propagation of the Son of God Therefore this circumcission is to be exercised upon every male in the family of God and that by divine institution that is upon every one who have that masculine spirit of the Son of God to acquit themselves like men of God by faith conquering and overcoming the world for this circumcision onely brings the soule of man into a capacity of having the power of God to be exercised therein in which is that fulnesse and perfection that all things natural or proper to a creature are altogether superfluous and therefore it is said to be Circumcision or cutting round so as no beginning or end of this virtue can ever be found out for it is eternall Againe there is also the law of the carnal commandement or the carnall law and whatsoever that speaks it saith it onely in them and in all them respectively that are under that law And this consists in carnall and temporary ordinances and institutions such appointments as fade and perish in the use such as abide not with man or he not with them for ever and what this law saith it saith it in all and every particular that are under the same that is it reallizeth it selfe in every heart wherein it speaks forming and framing a work therein according to the word gone out for she word of God speaks that language in a figure which mans heart naturally speaks taking that by viewing it by his own light to be the substance and reality of the minde of God in his intent but is but a shadow a figure or signification thereof thereby carnallizing
from the bitternes of his friends but repayrs all his losses with the right and priviledges of the first-born of God Such is the tendernesse and pitty of the spirit of our good Shepheard gathering the Lambs into his arms and carrying them in his bosome and gently leads such as are with young yea layes downe his life for his flocke And this is the state and condition of all such as find themselves fatherlesse in respect of any love pitty or compassion exercised towards them by the spirit of the world of whom it is sayd Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we say any more to the works of our hands yee are our gods for in thee the fathers find mercy For he is not only pittifull but of tender mercy whereby the day that springs from on high hath visited us Or that morning Sunne which is the light and glory of the world is risen up upon us to give light to such as otherwise fit in darknesse and in the shadow of death even that light of prosperity joy and gladnesse peace and plenty which ariseth out of the light and inheritance of the first-born unto whom the full inheritance belongs with whatsoever the Father was is or shall be in all his enterprizes and operations For the nature office and operation of the Son of God is ours through these tender mercies bowels and compassions of a Father which cannot with-hold from an only Son not only freeing us as a mercifull high Priest from all evill and sin but as a most bountifull and liberall King supplying and furnishing us with all good for if we see the end of the Lord in our suffering the losse of corruptible things we are sure to feel the tender mercies of a compassionate Father communicating himselfe with us in all the things incorruptible and eternall without which he is not and therefore is ceased to be mercy and tender pity in the world that so as a Father is in his Son he may be what he is only in us Whereupon he brings in an eminent and universall prohibition backed with an exhortation together with the danger of not observing the same contained in the next verse Vers 12. But above all things my brethren swear not neither by heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation Wherein observe these particulars 1. The necessity and weight of the charge in these words But above all things 2. A loving insinuation to move unto observation My brethren 3. The charge it selfe or inhibition Swear not 4. An instance in particulars not to be sworn by that is 1. Not by heaven 2. Not by the earth 3. A universall comprehending of all things contained in them both Neither by any other oath 5. An exhortation consisting of affirmation and negation But let your yea be yea and your nay nay 6. The danger ensuing the not observing hereof Lest you fall into condemnation AND first of the charge Sweare not By swearing in this place is meant any Covenant Contrract or betrothing unto a thing as to be engaged as subservant thereunto that is when we are obliged and bound over as being under the authority or command of any thing further then it is found in or serving unto the compleating and setting forth the mysticall body of Christ that son of eternity Now a man is under the command and power of a thing when he waites thereupon so as to observe and answer to the time and opportunity thereof In the rejection or neglect of any other thing which might take up the opportunity and hinder or obstruct the time whereby that his Commander might be defrauded of its interest in him whether it be office dignity allyance relation slothfulnesse or operation And first for office and dignity throughout the confines and government of a Kingdome they ought not to captivate a Christian but must be subservant to the kingdome and call of Christ whose kingdome is not of this world or things therof When did Abraham that high father of the world Isaac and Jacob who were heyrs with him of the same promise settle and establish their Scepter in any part of the earth as tyed by place and office there and were not as pilgrims and strangers standing in readinesse as that righteous one of the East to answer Gods calls and to follow the Lord at his foot who made the nations as stubble unto his sword and as driven stubble unto his bow Or where did Moses King in Jeshurunn pitch his Tent to make his abode longer then it pleased that cloud of witnesse to exercise its abode upon the Tent being ever ready to depart with the motion thereof Which bore witnesse in its two and forty removals in the wildernesse to those two and forty generations or resurrections of Christ from Abraham to the womb of the Virgin as also to the over-shadowing of the Virgin by the spirit of God in that conception of the Son of God from all the scorching reys and sun-shine of mans glory and subtlety in that day-time of our salvation as also unto that fiery light of the spirit breaking forth in Israel through that Crosse of Christ as in a night so dark and obscure unto the nations And to what people or places were any of the Prophets of God or Apostles of Jesus Christ tyed or engaged by any temporary or terrene band except imprisonment by the adversary that so the vertue of the Crosse in its courage constancy and Princely resolutions might appear and make it self evident Or were the Judges and Law givers in Israel tyed to dayes times seates and circuits as men making merchandizes of mens estates credits and lives that in case an Oath be bidden and given in exchange delivery must be made without controversie and many times the cause is as currant as when the strongest caries away the purse on the high way though a possibilty may be to finde out the falshood of the oath afterwards when there is left no hope of redemption And as for that mercinary and belly-god-like bond to be engaged to places and people under the names of Pastor and Teacher to evade the troubles and travels of Prophets and Apostles Let that suffice which hath already been sayd only let such look themselves as in a glasse in that young man of the house of Judah and yet a Levite joyned unto their congregations as he to the family of Mica Read Judg. 17. and let them read the effect of their Ministry in that strange kind of Levite who is of mount Ephraim joyned unto his Concubine of Bethlehem Juda according to what it brings forth between Benjamine and Israel set forth unto us Judges the 19. and 20. Chap. Againe in point of family as in kindred and relations the words of Christ holds firm and are to be valued at the same rate we set upon him and he
way to Damascus So that we may not give these execrable things any being or time or abode in the Apostle of Christ no more then we can give unto him to be a servant of sin at that time when he saith So then in my mind I my selfe serve the law of God but in my flesh the law of sinne which things are inconsistant in one individuall subject For the word of God is an eternall word and expresseth not it selfe but with respect unto an eternall act it is not a transient and momentany thing when it saith of Christ I am a worm and no man an object a scorn a bubble a vapour a vanity a nothing to be in the belly of hell and in the heart of the earth to be shut up and cannot get out These things are not momentany expressions and transient acts for the word and work of God is no such thing according to the true and reall intent and operation thereof But they are reall manifestations and declarations of what the world hath really made of the word and wisdome of God in themselves And so are these expressions of Paul true manifestations what the condition of a carnall Jew is and how they deal with Christ the wisdome of God and ever will do in whomsoever he appears from which spirit that glorious change wrought once and for ever in Christ hath freed all the Saints and set them in the liberty of the Son of God which otherwise are no better but by nature the same with others So that it is not creation of man in being made one with God wherein blessednesse doth properly consist but it is that generative vertue of the immortall seed bringing forth unto God together with that act of conjunction whereunto true blessednesse is annexed therefore Christ is truly sayd to be made and also to be begotten For out of that act of Creation in the unity of God and man not only the wisdome of God makes it selfe manifest in giving form unto Christ the seed of the woman but also that wisdome of the creature namely of man which gives form to the Serpent who was more wise then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made And that is the seed of the Serpent so brought forth that is in consulting with the wisdome of God from humane principles This is a faithfull saying then of Paul and worthy to be embraced of all men so as to utter the same language That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe For he that cannot acknowledge himselfe to be the first or chiefe of sinners that is to say in his grand Ancestor being made one in that act of Creation as he comes of the earth and so in that way of the unbeliever is the first perverter of the word of God to destruction though in himselfe in his proper subsistance in the way of the generation of the Son of God hee is once and for ever freed therefrom in that deliverance made by Christ so that it is none of his inheritance or portion otherwise no man can ever acknowledg himselfe to be blest and possessed with the first and chief righteousnesse that ever was namely that righteousnesse of God in Jesus Christ nor know himselfe to be a first-born of God an heyr of the promise and an inheritance of life that lasts for ever And so we come to the fourth part of the Chapter contayning that fruitfull and wholsome benefit which spring from the death of Christ in all true Christians the first whereof is layd downe in the next verse Vers 13. Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing VVHerein we are to observe a two-fold proposition layd down interrogatively together with a two-fold answer given thereunto The first whereof is this Is any among you afflicted let him pray By affliction in this place is meant diminishing or weakning as the word imports and so Pharaoh afflicted Israel in Aegypt to weaken and diminish them lest they should grow in multitude and so wax too strong for him and his people but God makes use of that his dealing with them to increase and multiply them exceedingly for that which weakens men in the worlds account proves through Gods device to be the strength and power of the Saints of God Therefore our Apostle puts us upon this question Is any among you afflicted Being that he had told them of what nature the death of the Son of God is in the godly namely to bereave and dispoil them of all the strength glory excellency and goodlinesse of man so as it becomes as the withered grosse or decayed flower of the field when the spirit of the Lord breaths upon it yea though they be weakned and diminished in all such respects so as they have nothing of that nature to trust or betake themselves unto which can stand them in any stead As if hee should say hath the Gospel and word of the Kingdome made spoyl and prize of all things among you or in you hath it routed and layd you wast of all such transitory wayes and perfunctory worships as the carnall and litterall Jewes do commonly boast themselves of and comfort and content themselves in of which Paul sayth If any man might boast of he much more circumcised the eighth day of the stocke of Israel of the tribe of Benjamine an Hebrew of Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeale persecuting the Church and touching that righteousness which is in the law blamelesse And where shall we find a Church extant in these dayes which speaks by any other spirit then this which runs in the sincke and channell of such externall and extrinsicall institutions ordinances genealogies pharisaical righteousnesse persecuting zeale and tribe-like division of rule and government But what saith our Apostle of all these things But what things were gaine to me that is as the very wealth and riches of a carnall Jew those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I counted all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and count them but dung that I may winne Christ And for this losse diminution or affliction our Apostle prescribes the cure and remedy in whomsoever it is suffered in this his answer given Let him pray The word Let hath a like Emphasis as that of the Creation at the beginning Let there be light and it was so and hath in it the very force and vertue of creating the spirit of prayer and intercession in that heart in which this losse diminution or affliction is found for it signifies as much as Amen so be it or so it is or so it shall be so that it fits the soule with the spirit of prayer as the world was furnished with light by the same phrase in the beginning without which spirit or breath of prayer the soule is without
received his Sonne as from the dead in his exercise of the Preists office in sacrificing and offering him up unto God This sicknesse therefore is as that of Lazarus whom Jesus loved for when his sister told Jesus that he was sick it is plaine by the record in computation of the time that he was then dead which Christ affirmes is not death but that way of the operation and manifestation of the glory of God which onely and for ever shineth and setteth forth it selfe through the death of the flesh that is the death of all humane and carnal reasonings resolutions and conclusions in point of the knowledge of Jesus Christ which sicknesse or death to all the legall and litteral services according to the carnall law is truly said to be not unto death because it is unto that eternall life of the Son of God and a sicknesse of this nature we are to understand in this place or else we carnallize the sicknesse as surely as Rome doth at this day the Eldership as also New-England more zealously then they and the reason is because the one is Hehetated with worldly pomp and the other is Persequentissimus but hath not yet attained thereunto And whereas it is said Is any sick among you or as the word may be read is any sick in you as speaking either of person or thing as the Psalmist hath a phrase help Lord for the fathfull faile that word faithfull is used in Scripture sometimes for a true or faithfull person and sometimes for a true thing as if he should say help Lord for trueths faile or fidelities faile So this word any may be taken for any person or any thing as if he had said is any thing in you sick or are you dead to any particular thing whatsoever which worldly men make their life and trade so that you cannot relish nor tast it no more then a sick or dead man can relish any food to quicken or enliven him be sure then to use the remedy prescribed unto you for your health and restoration and your dayes shall be renewed with Hezekiah and your life recovered with Lazarus and you shall be raised out of the grave of all sin and sorrow and that is to call for the Elders of the Church for they are the resurrection and the life in this point in which observe 1. What it is to call 2. Who these Elders be 3. What is the Church of which they are 1. Concerning the Call the same word is prefixed as before let him call it is of like Emphesis that is to say that through this sicknesse or death here spoken of it creates and gives being in that soule unto the life of the Son of God and that life is the light of men by vertue of which light he becomes a Seer for it hath the spirit of Prophesie in it whereby he discerns wherein true health doth consist and knows what the Eldership is and where to finde the true Church which is so controverted throughout the earth in all ages of this present world so that if this sick party had not perfect vision he might wander from mountaine to hill and from the flood to the worlds end before he could attaine the true knowledge thereof For some say lo here is Christ and some say lo there which we are not to beleive neither the one nor the other some say he is in the desert and some say he is in the mountain and some in the secret Chamber but as the lightning shineth from one end of heaven unto the other so is the coming of the Sonne of man that is to say all things that ever were or shall be proclaime his present abode in man-kinde either in point of his life or death in mercy or else in his severity and such are the confines of the Church it is not bounded within the circuit of time place or person no more then the Son of God is for his Spouse holds proportion with himselfe in all points therefore is she admired as one that looks forth as the morning faire as the moon clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with banners nay it is said to be his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all So that to form and fashion a Church of lesse comprehension then Christ will prove rather a Sinagogue of Satan or cage of unclean birds then the spouse of Christ so that our Chronologers deceive the world in framing a Christ onely by genealogie not knowing what the Prophet meaneth when he saith he was taken from prison from judgment and who shall declare his generation he was war cut off from the land of the living and made his grave with or in the wicked and in the rich in his death it seems Philip that man of war is not joyned to their Chariot as his name signifies And so they frame a Church not onely by seperation of themselves from others by some carnall and temporary ceremonies that they may say Stand by thy selfe I am holier then thou If these be their defences from the wicked they had need carry them along with them through death or else the fence being down they will go near to come over and feed with them in the same pasture But this is not all the seperation they make for they divide the word of God seperate it to form their Church saying that such portions of the word of God were for the form of the Church in such an age of the world for such people but now another portion of it gives the forme in our dayes as though the word of God were dead or falne asleep unto the world in some injunctions and promises but alive and awake in others whereas they may as wel change and alter the form and manner of the being of the Son of God as to change and alter the form and manner of being of the Church of God for the word of God in whatsoever it hath expressed is the will or law of God and the will of God cannot change and Christ is the end of the law so that if we fall short of him in any portion of the word of God as though he had been in it but now is passed over it or as though it intended him but yet hath not brought him forth we make it the word of man and not the word of God for mans reason is the proper word of man even as the wisdome of God in that wonderfull contriving of his Son is the word of God and therefore man is said to be made a living or a speaking soule or life of speech or reason whereby he transcends all other creatures excepting none for no Angel that is messenger or message was ever sent from God unto the world out of man-kinde It is true indeed that the word of God hath expressed it selfe as in divers Nations Jew and Gentile in differing generations or genealogies as Cain and Seth Abraham and Nahor
this sick party if they be Elders having it by right of inheritance of whom it may be said Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee For the day wherein Christ is begotten or the day of salvation or of the Saviour as the word will beare is like the seventh day in the Creation whereunto neither evening nor morning are annexed as to the rest of the dayes for it is ever the same where in the Son is begotten even an eternall light or day Therefore this Eldership knowing it to be the birth-day of the Son of God in that resurrection of the dead they cannot with-hold the whole Kingdome nor any priviledg prerogative or royalty thereof from any one that appertayns or belongs thereunto The use and benefit of the holy unction therefore is not yet ceased for then the kingdome of God should cease for all things in it that ever were are or shall be in it taken and understood according to the mind of God are of the same duration that the kingdome it selfe is which must be as ancient as the King himselfe But the carnallizing of the word of God in that and all things is ceased unto us according to the Leviticall services the Kingdom Priest-hood thereof holding no proportion with the Kingdom Priest-hood of our Melchisedech For men may as well go about to divide the Red Sea with a materiall rod or wand as to poure oyle upon a sick body to give him health and forgivenesse of sins Let us know therefore that such as trade in materiall oyle water bread wine gestures and vestments they are such as serve in the oldnesse of the letter that kills its subjects and not in the newnesse of the spirit which gives life to them that are exercised therein And to make a difference between the histories of Christ and his Apostles as being more cleer and to be practised in the letter then the histories of Moses and the Prophets it is a meer trick and device to deceive the world for the one hath as great a vaile upon it as the other and needs the same spirit of interpretation to open it For Christ himselfe uttered his minde in parables and without a parable saith the Text spake be nothing We conclude then that every Saint of God having received that spirit of antiquity which only makes an Elder or Governour in the kingdom of God without which no true Saintship or holinesse being a spirit of Princely rule dominion undaunted courage and fortitude in the things of God whatsoever he may appeare to be in the eyes of the world and judgment of men yet he is one that sheds forth the holy oyle having the materials of which is consists and skill to compose the ingredients according to the device of wisdome or that word of God which he pours out in prayer and prophesie to the healing of the sick strengthening of the weak quickning of the dead and acquitting of the soul from the guilt of sinne in all such who finde themselves dead unto all such things as men naturally live unto as they are the proper off-spring of the earthly man and these Elders do ever acknowledg as great an excellency and no lesse miraculous act in him that receives the unction as in him that pours it out for none but the first-born of God whose right it only is can receive it nor can any of lesse authority or more inferiour off-spring shed it forth Object But some will say That this doctrine denies that order set in the society of man-kinde consisting of superiour and inferiour Answ To this we answer that the order set in nature in poynt of sexe age gifts place c. they are all as significant intelligencers of higher and more noble and durable things for as it was in the creation of all things in the beginning so it is now in this poynt there being respect had unto man-kind in every particular work of Gods hand for whose use and service they were all created and he the last as being the end and scope of them all who was indeed that Microco sinus in himselfe as the very sum and Epitomy of them all Even so man in himself considered or with respect unto any creature act or thing unto w ch he may stand in any relation whatsoever to things in heaven or in earth he hath therein a proper respect unto the Son of God Jesus Christ poynting at and leading unto him even as all other creatures had a proper aspect upon man-kind for whom they were made and whensoever the thing taught by which is the Son of God appeareth who is the truth and substance of them all then the shadows fly away and are of no more validity nor value to a knowing and inlightned mind which carries some resemblance of the body and substance but holds no weight value or considerable worth with the same therefore when ever Christ appears who is the end and substance of the law then doth the letter betake it selfe to its respitillian wings and is no more in point of any account or reckoning with the sonnes of God who weigh and measure all things according to that law of the spirit of life which is in Jesus Christ For the unity and conjunction of God and man simply considered is that reall and substantiall Chaos or unformed thing taught unto us by that in the beginning which no mind or heart of man can so light up it selfe as to give a comely form unto the same or deck it with ornaments pleasing unto a meer Creature that is that God should be made man and become a creature who is the Creator of all things or that man being a creature should be made the Son of God he that creates all things without whom nothing is made Now the wisdome of the spirit of God brooding upon this deep as in the beginning brings forth all the ornaments of Christ in his unity offices vertues relations and operations whatsoever who indeed is that Microcosmus furnished and adorned with all those super-eminent excellencies and glory of the son of God being that world whereof his kingdome doth consist which is the world to come or else it could not be happinesse unto the inhabitants thereof if it were not to come as really as now it is For as he was before the earliest time that can be reckoned or retreated and fallen back unto even so he will be or is to come beyond the latest houre that ever can be marched unto hereafter And in this Chaos drawn out unto these ornaments and beautified with these honourabe and eternall vertues in Christ the order of God or the God like order doth consist who is that God of order and not of confusion and the most eminent and strictest order in the worlds account besides this is reall confusion Yea that Babylon the great the mother of harlots which the Scriptures forewarns us of and this order ariseth and is drawn out of the Chaos of
unto thee arise take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house So that to preach the Gospel to the restauration of the soule from the policy that is from the fear terrors and tremblings of the law as at Mount Sinai to bring it unto Zion giving strength to take up that and carry it unto its proper place as that man carried his bed into the proper place which is his house which before had carried him extravagantly and diseasedly abroad wheresoever the Gospel exerciseth its power to raise up any to walk in the way of God before others in prayer or prophesie or any appointment of God according to the nature and season of it as that man is said to walk before them all to their admiration wheresoever the Gosplel is ministred to that effect there is also in that ministration power to forgive sin for the one is of like case and of like difficulty as the other is yea they are both in one act for he that can preach the Gospel to carry sin into its proper place which must be done or else the Gospel is not truly preached he must of necessity remove it from the chosen of God which is the true remitting and passing of it over unto another He that hath power therefore to preach the Gospel to the healing of the Conscience of the palsie sicknesse or tremblings of the law in the dead works thereof or works of death that man hath power to forgive sins on earth for they are inseperable and Christ in that place alluded unto makes them one for first he saith son thy sins be forgiven thee and in the rehearsall of it he saith his speech was arise take up thy bed and walk go thy way into thy house And we know that Christ saith to his Disciples whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retaine they are retained And again what ye binde on earth is bound in heaven and what ye loose on earth is loosed in heaven to walk and work therefore in the things of God according to the power intended by the word of God are of greater concernment then they would think for to preach the Gospel in the revelation of the minde and will of God as to an onely Son or to present our supplications to God as a father from the minde and disposition of an onely son are of no lesse authority and power then to to give sins for to pray with the spirit and to pray with the understanding also that is to pray according to the mystery of Christs meditation and yet with that wisdome and skill of expression as to unfold and explaine it in the minds of others that they may ascend up unto God together therewith as Manoa's Angel in the flame of the sacrifices this and to pardon sin are of like power skill and authority and a like weight lies upon both to whomsoever communicates in them For to pardon sin is not to change or alter the minde of God toward that party but to explaine and interpret the minde of God concerning that party which minde and will of God is the same in that one faith of the Son of God to all the chosen of God and wheresoever it is rightly unfolded and made manifest in the proclamation of peace and reconciliation of God and man in one if the Son of peace be there he accepteth and receivet the same as the right of his inheritance If the Elders pray or prophecy unto health therefore they pray or prophesie to the remission of sins in whomsoeve commucates in the same his sins are forgiven him To conclude this point it concerns us then to know what sin is that we may rightly conceive of it as it is pardonable and also as it not pardonable for there is a sin saith the Apostle John which is not unto death or which is not in death that is it is not in that way of death and there is a sin that is in death I do not say that you shall pray for it that is you shall not pray for the pardon of it because it is not to be pardoned for where Christ is once crucified in the spirit he never is to live in that heart according to the spirit no more then where he is once crucified in the flesh he never lives in that heart according to the flesh Therefore in the next place he exhorts us unto the confession of our faults in the true acknowledgement of them one to another Vers 16. Confesse your faults one unto another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much In these observe 1. An exhortation consisting of two parts 1. To confesse faults one to another 2. To pray one for another 2. The end wherefore That ye may be healed 3. A reason ground or cause drawn from the nature of prayer which is two-fold 1. It is effectuall 2. It is fervent 4. The qualitie of the person praying that is A righteous man 5. The issue or event of such prayer It avayleth much 1. ANd first for confession of faults sins or oberations from a law For where no law is there is no transgression for sinne is the transgression of a law or as the word is the withoutnesse of a rule Now there is the law of the flesh or carnall commandement which is the law of sinne and death and there is the law of the spirit or power of faith which is the perfect rule of righteousnesse or law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Now the carnall commandement or perfunctory and fading ordinances may be broken yea abrogated and nayled to the crosse as that which is against us and yet forgiven for every breach or piercing through of the sonne of man that is mans institutions and appoyntments composed by that carnall law shall be forgiven or are forgiven for the disannulling of mans wisdome and in that respect to become a foole is the establishment of Gods wisdome in the removall of all guilt and condemnation from the soule And there is the law of the spirit or of that holy Ghost which if a man speake a word against intentionally or blaspheme and pierce through that is abrogate or make a nullity of it It shall never be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come that is neither in the present mind and conscience of him that so doth nor in that holy mind and judgment of Christ from passing sentence against it being so remote and at such a distance from it and contrary unto it for the abrogation of the law of the spirit is no lesse then to disannull that wisdome of God in Christ by which device only the sin and guilt of the sons of men is taken away and no other way for else-where the redemption of the soule ceaseth for ever Confession of sins then one to another This phrase one to another is of like nature as
when Moses cast down his rod on the earth of Aegypt it became or as the word is it was to a Serpent when it was on the ground it was a Serpent a quite contrary thing then when it is in his hand or Ministry the one declaring the Dragons fury in that government of Pharaoh in Aegypt and the other that rod or scepter in the rule of Christ as that Shepheard and feeder of Israel as the word rod signifies a Scepter So that when we confes sin that is the breach of the law of the spirit in the world through the observation of the carnall command where Christ is bereaved of all his proper vertues operations of his spirit it is unto another that is that state is become another thing as Moses rod was then the son of God for it is that son of perdition even Sathan himselfe though under the figure of an Angell of light in the eye of the men of the world Again when we confesse sin that is the breach or abrogation of the law or carnall command that Christ is bereaved and dispoyled of all glory power and vertue of the arm of flesh so that his own arm saves and gets the victory not by might nor by power but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts We confesse this sinne against the carnall command unto the unity of the spirit and the fulfilling of the law of Christ or of that rule of righteousnesse that is by faith in him which is to another that is to another thing state and condition then that of the letter that stands in outward observations temporary engagements and performances and this is that one and alone good thing desirable that Christ of God that carrieth and abideth for ever To confesse sin therefore or to make profession of any thing that is to praise or acknowledge it is to give the thing its nature and properties unto the utmost extent and so it must be here to an utter contrariety vast and perpetuated distance of the law of the flesh and that of the spirit otherwise we contradict the command of God by plowing with an oxe an asse together by wearing a garment of linnen and woollen and by sowing our field with two kinds of seed Quest Here ariseth a necessary question Whether in the acknowledgment of the nullity of the law of the carnall commandement unto that unity that is in Christ a Christian doth not thereby reckon and accâ—unt all the vertue of the Son of God to be his own proper portion and patrimony as also whether in acknowledgement of the nullity of that law of the spirit unto the unity of the harlot he doth not as necessarily reckon unto himself as his due and proper right and inheritance all those vicious abominations that rest and abide in the bosome of that man of sinne which is Antichrist Answ To which we answer that there is a like truth and reality in the acknowledgment of the one as there is in the other taken in a due respect as the mind of God commends the same unto us where he saith So then with my minde I my selfe serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of sin For a Christian must be plain down-right and reall in his acknowledgments before God whether of sin or of the fruits of righteousnesse yea in the root and originall both of the one and of the other Object But a Christian by faith professing the fruits of righteousness and fountaine out of which they flow is endewed with the life and spirit of them according to their native property in that blessed subject of Christianity else his confession of them is but as a fire paynted upon a wall or the picture of a man carved out of wood or stone that wants soule and spirit the ground of motion and operation For what is it to professe or acknowledge the love of God unlesse it be kindled in our hearts to a flame that many waters cannot quench neither the world drown or to confesse the power of Christ unlesse through him we be able to do all things or to praise the Kingdome Priesthood and propheticall office of Christ unlesse we have the power of rule reconciliation and interpretation in us Will it not then also follow that if he deale faithfully and sensibly in the confession of sin as that he hath not the understanding of a man that he persecuted the Church of God that he is the chiefe of sinners that the terrours of the Almighty are upon him that out of the belly of Hell he cries unto God that he is shut up and cannot come out If he deale playnly in that and be reall will it not follow that he hath in him the vicious desire of the flesh the state of the Devill if he be the chiefe of sinners and partaker of the terrors of Sathan sensibly if he cry out of the womb of hell that if the creature man participate of joyes celestiall and eternall in confession and acknowledgment of them So the creature or man must partake of all abominations of sinne and state and condition of the Devill if he be reall also therein in his acknowledgments Answ We answer in the name of God that no such consequence follows upon a reall confession of sin But through the wisdome and device of God it proves an eternall separation of the spirit of a Christian from all such sins and sorrows justly and really acknowledged in and upon man-kind or that matter whereof a Saint doth consist and this is proved by a true and reall distribution of man or of the creature according to the word of the Lord gone out in the disposing of it as a reall subject of mercy and severity of love and wrath We are to take a man in a two fold respect according to the intention and expression of the word of God which rightly judgeth and determineth all things 1. As it speaketh on this wise All power is given unto him in heaven and in earth because he is the son of man Againe whether is it easier to say Arise take up thy bed and walke or to say thy sins are forgiven but that ye might know that the sonne of man hath power to forgive sins So also blessed is the man or oh how happy it is and well for us that man going right forward not turning aside to the right hand nor to the left The Hebrew word Ashrei imports that simple and immixt condition of man which is only found in that man of God Christ Jesus who is God blessed for ever being that beginning head or fountaine of the creation of God that new creature and in this sence is man or the Creature considerable in the answer of this objection 2. We are to take man also in another sence infinitely remote from this where it is said man being in honour abideth not but is like the beast that perisheth and wo unto that man by whom the Son of man
all the Sains of God that ever lived or shall viz. For thy sake are we killed all the day long and counted as sheep for the slaughter There is none of those severall afflictions which the Saints of God have undergone but rightly understood one of them is as extensive as another and it must needs be so for the sufferings of the Saints is the Crosse of Christ and not the crosse of any particular creature but of the son of God therefore he saith In all their afflictions he was afflicted and therefore he saith also in the behalf of the believers and prayers in Damascus Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee Therefore it is when the Corinthians seemed to cleave one to one man and another unto another though all sound men and good one is of Paul another of Apollo another of Cephas and another of Christ that he calls them carnall because they take not every way or manner of the administration of the grace of the Gospel to be the same universally through the whole body what saith he Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized into the name of Paul I thanke God that I performed no such particular act but to such as understood the mystery of it for that is the effect of his speech and cause of thanksgiving The ground of these particular and nominall Religions as Independent Presbyterian Anabaptist Papist Generallist for they all stand on one root is because they limit and infringe the grace of the Gospel both in way of the sentence of absolution and condemnation mincing and fashioning things according to the judgment or discerning of man and not according to the light and revelation of the Son of God Hence they are affected with manlike expressions and so cleave unto man and not unto the Son of God and if the mind of God be expressed unto them they hammer it into their own shape as the Corinthians did and so make rents and schismes Now the grace of the Gospel in whatsoever it expressed it self as King or Priest Prophet or Victor father or son Master or servant Lord or Disciple Apostle or follower is as that leaven which the woman hid in three pecks of meal whereby the whole lump was leavened or like that unction poured on Aarons head which run down unto the coller or hem of his garment for the oyle contayned in that honourable vessell of the Gospel filleth compleatly all vessels that are brought into unity or love with it Of such nature and extent are all things appertaining unto the Gospel and so the afflictions of the Saints the Crosse of Christ takes not its latitude nor longitude from the dimentions of a creature but holds correspondency with the son of God for the crosse of Christ is of the same extent and continuation that his Crown and kingdome is By this we may take notice of what nature the Crosse of Christ is that it stands not in or consists of any temporary relation or operation of the creature active or passive but is the proper suffering of the son of God in the wicked as deprived of all livelihood and proper operations of the spirit in all wayes of motion and relation and in the Saints in being deprived of all livelihood and proper operations of the flesh in all the wayes of its motion and relation It would seem a great cross to a man if the world were vacant of a rationall spirit and none but beasts to converse with of no lesse but infinitely greater is the disproportion of the wisdome of God in a Christian and the wisdome of this world in the wicked yea if they be as crafty as Achitophel or as subtill as the Serpent the wisest beast of the field Yea in the world we have lost our proper life spirit and power and all vertue proper to a Christian in poynt of heavenly things Further it would seem a great affliction and suffering unto us to see the world take all our strength our wisdome honour riches peace friendship c. and leave us nothing but that wee should depart from and forsake father mother wife children c. and thus it is with a Christian The world ingrosseth power authority wisdome riches c. and leaves us as the scum and out-sweepings of all things Nay we forsake our nearest relations in all respects as the law of the flesh in its true sense calls for and go to a place we know not whether by any wisdome or understanding of the creature which can never be done but by the instinct and operation of the spirit of God opening unto us the power wisdome riches and all relations that are reall substantiall and eternall And if the spirit of God be there it never appears but in the faith and unity of Christ therefore they are the proper sufferings of Christ and not of any particular creature And when we know and judge of the sufferings of the Saints wee shall not lament if the world take all temporary things from us nor rejoyce in what it can cast upon us for God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing save in the crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ whereby the world is kill'd and crucified in me and I in the world If once we know how to loose our lives in the world in all things of the spirit and how to loose our lives in our selves and body mysticall in all things pertayning to the flesh we shall then take is lightly in whatsoever the world can give or take away from us By the nature of these sufferings we know of what spirit and power of what nature vertue and comprehension this act of Eliah is which is the third point And hee prayed Whence we note That the act or spirit of prayer hath in it sufficient honour power and authority to memorize and register the name of a christian for ever that it shall never be put out but continue in the records of the house of God For 1. Prayer hath in it the vertue and power of prophesie for in the history treating of the act of Eliah he prophesies unto Ahab saying As the Lord liveth there shall be no raine nor dew for these years but according to my word So that this prayer comprehends the whole Prophesie of Eliah and Eliah is brought in as comprehending all the Prophets as Moses comprehending the whole law in the transfiguration of Christs appearing in the same form and glory that Christ doth so that all prophesie and noble acts of the Prophets are involved in the spirit of prayer By the spirit of God in this place his reproof of Ahabs wickednesse his slaying of all the false prophets of Baal his bringing fire from heaven to slay Captayns with their fifties his dividing of the waters with his mantle his giving of his spirit to Elisha his binding up and flopping the bottles of heaven and loosing of them at his pleasure his rebuking the earth and drying it up to
or a Saviour any where but as lockt up in a humane body in heaven that men may stand here in his room till he return from thence to suck up all the glory of the earth It was not so in ages past and men spirituall for Joshuah Moses Minister was called Jesus a Saviour as the Apostle interprets his name and the Lord acknowledgeth in raising up Judges in Israell that he raised up Saviours unto them And Paul was not affraid to tell Timmothie that in taking heed to himselfe that is how God hath composed salvation in his consisting in Christ and unto learning or doctrine that is how it ought to be layd out and distributed to others that in so doing he should be a Saviour of himselfe and them that heare him 2. A second point is what he saves that is a soule or a life this is not meant of the life of a meer creature but it is the life of the Son of God as our Apostle affirms Now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live is by or in the faith of the sonne of God So that a Christians life is the life of Christ and there is no life of man-kind but either the life of the Saviour or else the life of Sathan that destroyer for heaven and earth conspire together in the making of man Let us speaking with respect to that plurality in our image that is in our image earthly as well as heavenly for there is a heavenly body and there is an earthly body and God is as just and righteous in the making of the one as of the other and every way as honourable the one in mercy and the other in severity And man cannot be known in a simple act of creation for that multiplies him not but propagation or generation must be brought in also else the son of God nor the seed of the Serpent can be known so both are brought forth in that first act of generation in Cain and Abel wherein the seed of the Serpent appears in the same act as in Jacob and Esau together with Christ in Abel dead by Caine in the spirit and in Seth that sett one in life for evermore who is set in the room of Abel crucified in the world So that the life of Christ and of Antichrist are both from one act even from as early dayes the one as the other and without the true knowledg of that we know neither of them and for other life in man-kind we know none worthy the name of life beyond other creatures but as it serves to the setting forth of the one or of the other of these and so they transcend the life of all other creatures as far as the image of God did the frame of any other creature or that earthly image descends below them all even to a bottomlesse pit which no other creature is subjected unto but only man 3. There is a third point what he saves from that is death namely a death that holds correspondency with that infinite and eternall life of the Son of God in way of Parathesis in all points for Christ is saved from whatsoever Sathan is hath or undergoes and Sathan is destroyed from whatsoever Christ is hath or is advanced unto therefore that conceit that Sathan was an Angell that is a meere creature at the first and in acceptation with God is a meer humane tradition and philosophicall fiction and is a point of greater concernment then men are aware of for it is as safe to say that the son of God was for a time out of the Fathers favour as to hold that the Devill at any time was in acceptation with God for whatsoever is out of Gods favour can never return into againe and what is accepted of him for a moment caâ— never be rejected 2. A second royalty or act of fame that is to be acknowledged by him who turns the sinner from the errour of his way changing him into truth it selfe that is the covering or hiding of a multitude of sins This is taken from the speech of Solomon Hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth all sins which our Apostle calls a multitude of sins the word signifies the deep of the troubled ocean intimating that huge multitude of torturing and troubling trespasses proper to that great gulfe of the bottomlesse pit Now to turn from the error of a mans way is to turn to truth and no man can turn to truth but by that unity that is in Christ none turns to truth but hee that becomes truth for there is no terme or title given in Scripture but being rightly interpretted and rightly applyed the truth substance and being of the thing is there for God useth no expression but he intends under that the truth and substance of the thing expressed To turn to truth is not only truth in word but truth in act also yea to be that very thing as Christ saith I am the way the truth and the life Now that unity that is in Christ is the fulfilment and compleating of the law of the Spirit for if the love of Christ be in us and constrayn us to all acknowledgments of him we know that love is the fulfilling of the Law and where the Law is fulfilled there sin utters not its voyce nor hath it a face to appear it is altogether hid and covered for ever Christ is the eâ—d and scope of the law for righteousnesse and more it aymes not at nor more it cannot require for it is the sonne of God that is justified who then shall condemn him The law is fully satisfied from what ground then shall any accuse yea our Apostle saith that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit No hiding of sin therefore but by fulfilling of the law but what law not the law of the carnall commandement generally taught in the world by which no flesh can be justified but it is the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus or which consists in that unction office or spirit of the Saviour Againe how do the wicked hide righteousnesse that none appears in them but only the spirit of the wicked one namely by walking according to the law of the flesh For he that walks after the law of the flesh he cannot please God so that all righteousnesse is hid and covered in them yea even by fulfilling the law of the flesh for the more they conform themselves thereunto the more their condemnation doth appear for it is not because men cannot perform all the works of the law in that respect that they cannot be justified thereby but because they do any of them for it is against the nature of that law of the carnall Commandement and every part thereof to justifie for it is its proper nature and office to condemn for we may as well say that the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is a law of sin and death as to say the law of the carnall command can give life or peace no not in the compleat performance of it For every part thereof is a breach of the law of the spirit And whatsoever is a breach of the law of the spirit is a crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting of him to open shame so that every performance of the law of the flesh according to the intent thereof is a breach of the same law of the spirit and he that breaks one breaks all therefore all righteousness is hid and covered in the wicked even so the true keeping of the law of the spirit of faith in any part of it is a nullifying of the whole law of the carnall Command therefore no law of sin and death is found in them all sins and sorrows are hid and covered therefore the man is blessed whose trespass is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man and he only unto whom the Lord imputeth accounteth or reckoneth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Amen By Sam Gorton Professor of Christ FINIS