by Iebusie who when David was made King in Hebron he and all Israel went unto Iebusie which is Ierusalem which resisted David saying Thou shale not come in hither 1 Chron. 11. 4. 2 Sam. 5. 6. So also Ierusalem is called Iebusie when the land is divided unto the sons of Israel Ioshuah 15. 8. and by that name falls in the inheritance of Benjamin in whose lot the Temple was built Ioshua 18. 28. which is a Temple destroyed into which Christ never carne and a Temple reedified wherein Christ stands and preacheth Luke 4. 16 -22 of which Moses the man of God prophecies when he saith The Lord shall cover him all the day speaking of Benjamin and between his shoulders that is in the midst of the Coasts of his Land the Lord shall abide and dwell in his Temple Deut. 33. 12. So also when that Levite who sojourned on the side of Mount Ephraim fetched home his Concubine it is said they came over against Iebus which is Ierusalem which is then said to be a City of Strangers and not of the children of Israel Iedg 19. 10. 11. 12. We conclude therefore that Ierusalem is to be understood in a diverse respect according to the mind of the Scripture and that according to a reall state and condition in both for it is to be taken in that order and constitution of blessedness and peace according to that order and place of aboad of our Melchizedeck who hath his Kingdom and Priesthood there Gen 14. 18. for Salem is Ierusalem and so the Chaldees paraphrase reads that place of the Psalmist Psalm 76. 2. Jerusalem is also to be taken as it is constituted ordered or inhabited after the manner and according to the state of the curse as it is built and inhabited by the Iebusites who are of Iebus who is of Canaan who is of Cham the cursed Gen. 10. 15. 16. Gen. â— 25. Ierusalem then in this place together with her children according to Christs true intent is to be taken in the accursed state of the Iebusites Enemies to Israel as it is constituted ordered and inhabited by her proper off-spring of false and counterfeit interpreters even as the sons of men do erect constitute order and possesse the Cities and affairs of this world namely for their glory benefit safety and peace by advancing all honourable thing according to mans account in the disparadgement debasing and abandoning all things of shame discommodity and danger so far as mans wisdome in their constitution can find out with the exercising and executing their laws and edicts accordingly Even so this City and Temple of these accursed Iebusites it erects and possesseth it it self by the advancing and promoting of all things acceptable in the eyes of mans wisdom with contempt and despising of all things which might impair or any way abate the glory and lustre thereof which cannot be maintained but by debasing and despising the Spirit of God whose propertie is to blast and to wither as grasse and as the flower of the field all things set up and consisting in whatsoever that perisheth in the use thereof as all humane institutions do if ever the spirit of the Lord breath upon them they wither and come to nought where such things then are the things chiefly maintained we may safely say that the Spirit of the Lord never breathed there Isaiah 40. 6. which are the only things that false Interpreters promote and erect amongst men in the world It is not without cause therefore that Christ ingeminates upon this word Jerusalem Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem most emphatically declaring thereby that false Interpretation is cruell and accursed both in the Mother and in the Children in the Root and in all the Branches these are accursed in their Fathers who murthered the spirit of the Prophets and their Fathers are accursed in them that do the same things that spirit which is the originall and ground of their interpretation is accursed and cruell and all the fruits that flow therefrom are cruelty and accursed Oh Ierusalem yee carnally constituted and moment any Churches Oh Jerusalem yee carnally instructed Members made great of flesh Ezek. 16. 26. Ezek. 23. 19. 20. Oh Jerusalem the Mother of false Interpreters as she is in bondage with her children by the works of the Law and in all things ingendreth thereunto Now the erecting of the curse in this City is the same with the setting of it up in Canaan the son of Cham and father of Jebus Noah having planted a Vineyard after the Flood which had swept away all Cains posterity from the face of the Earth as such as have not a being in order to the new Heavens and the new Earth wherein dwels righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3. 13. yet is the curse conserved in the Ark in that spirit of the unclean Raven as well as the blessing is in that spirit of the Dove for the work of God as well as the word of God hath its operation in way of death as well as in the way of life 2 Cor. 2. 15. 16. for death springs up and revives through the resurrection of Christ in the wicked as really as life springs up and revives through his death in the godly and yet there is no savour of life in the wicked nor any savour of death in the just and this conservation of Cham in the Ark who is of Noah and so of Enoch in the destruction of all Cains posterity in the Flood is to declare that neither the blessing nor the curse is tyed or entailed to any naturall and carnall generation according to mans judgement but God hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9. 10-18 But it is said that Noah drinks of the fruit of the Vine unto drunkennesse Gen. 9. 20. 21. we know that the spirit of God alludes there unto naturall drunkennesse in the stupifying of the senses through excesse of strong drink and deny not but that holy man might take liberally of the very fruit of a naturall Vine to the obstruction of the use of naturall reason as it is in the time of sleep but we affirm that God teacheth a higher thing hereby which is Gods proper intent as the Apostle affirms concerning the care of God in not mussing the mouth of the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn 1 Cor. 9. 9. 10. God therein takes care for men and not for beasts according to the true scope and intent So God in Noah teacheth what the death of Christ is personated in Noah and not what taking away of mans naturall sense is by strong drink which is common to a beast as well as man so that as out of a deep sleep in Adam a woman is brought forth that is not only the way of mans propagation and preservation on the Earth but also one who through deceit brings in the fall and death so out of this drunkennesse and sleep of Noah there is not only the blessing of Shem and
is the beginning and end of all things that Alpha and Omega therefore never from off the head of him who rightly runs in this race for he is never void nor destitute of that honour which is peculiar to the Son of the eternal a glory without compare ever accompanied with sufficient courage fortitude and confidence to gain the prize for time to come which is as certainly renewed in the continued act and exercise in the race as it is certainly injoyed in the present time for as the operations of the Spirit of God are in present exercise upon him so he knows that the Spirit of glory and of God shall remain and rest upon him for time to come through his suffering of the loss of the glory of this world which shall be the crown of all his exercise in the things of God unto perpetual aye and therefore he runs not as at uncertainties but upon present possession which gives us assured hope for time to come as it is certain that God is faithful and cannot deny himself So fight I not as one that beateth the air that is I give not my strokes in combate in my contending for the faith of the Son of God as one that woundeth not or as one that findeth not reality of matter for the weapons of my warfare to take place in exercising their force skill and accomplishing their ends upon but I deal with such as I accomplish like atchievments upon in the management of mine affairs in the gospel as David the beloved of God did in that 11. Psalme which is a true commentary upon this my warfare For I am not as one beating or fighting with the aire as with a thing of no substance I doing no real exploit nor it receiving any wound or foil from me but closeth up and healeth it self again as fast as it receiveth the strokes but contrarily I beat down and bring to nought that which hath in it the reality of sin and death which is the wisdome or law of the flesh As certainly as I guard and defend that which hath in it the reality of eternal life and peace namely tbat wisdome or law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus my Lord exercising it self in the one and the other in my soul and that no otherwise but as it shall be my life and peace spirit and power prowess and victorious imployment and conquest forever for the offices exercises and virtues of Christ are all of like honour worth and duration Vers 27. But I beat down my body that is the body of sin and death and it is my body as in the original and materials of it consisting of God and man as truly as Esau and Jacob came both out of loyns of Isack and Rebekkah so doth the body of sin arise of God and man being made one in that way of the body of death and also that mysticall body of life in Christ in the one the properties and heavenly disposition of the Son of God are crucified to the sin and Satan in the Son of perdition and in the other the properties and earthly disposition of man aâ—â— crucified to the life of righteousness and peace in the Son of God Again it is my body as I am considered from the earth and so have naturally in that respect the nature and disposition of all flesh as the gospel is my gospel as in the spirit of God I come down from heaven and so am one with the Son of God being of the same spirit with him who is both the authour and product thereof Again it is my body as I die thereunto dayly as the same Apostle speaks and also it dies nnto me so as it never hath any power over dominion or me or I any community or fellowship with it even as the body of Christ is mine as I rise and live in newness of life unto it and it unto me wherein consists my proper and only converse and fellowsh p. Again it is my body as I acknowledge the misery and wretchedness of all slesh destitute of the wisdome and Spirit of God and so it is gone over all in regard of the aptitude and disposition of all men naturally inclining thereunto and so I can say in that respect O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Even as I can give God thanks as in that body of Christ acknowledging by the spirit thereof my deliverance happy condition and salvation being inabled by the same spirit to bring that body of death into subjection in all things exercising the rule and authority of the Son of God over it so as it can never prevail against me but though the enemy may come against me as a flood yet the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standerd against him to chase him away so that in my mind that is in the formings fashionings and framings of all things in my spirit I serve the law of God but in my flesh that is as my natural disposition is found in the men of the world out of Christ there it is under sin and death being a servant thereunto forever Now the ground and reason why I thus beat down my body and bring it in subiection and not the body of another is this viz. Lest whilst I preach to others I my self should become a reprobate in these words our Apostle doth elegantly as in a figure as he speaks formerly in this epistle in a like case transferring the state and condition of all false teachers of the word of God unto himself that thereby he may with modesty set them forth and make them appear in truth to be that which indeed they are Lest while I preach to others or as the word is lest while I preach in others the word lest is not brought in here as a doubt or supposition but as a thing of certainty as if he should say he who preacheth in another he is a reprobate or he is reproved rejected or is become a castaway as disallowed of God So that the Apostles argument stands thus he that preacheth in another that which he preacheth not in himself as being matter of the gospel that minister and ministry is as reprobate silver it is disallowed of God and never passeth for currant doctrine in his kingdome So that he which forms sin in such sort as that he inveighs against it and indeavours to beat it down in another and not in himself as being free from a sin of that nature as in or of himself that is a reprobate ministry he beats the aire and doth not beat down that body which is his that ministry therefore that forms sin so as to belong to one state of men and not unto another to be a sin in one age of the world but not in another or to belong to one six or age of man and not unto another that man doth not in all things beat down his own body that
reallity of goodness in it and that was never found but only in that device and workmanship of Christ who is the ingraven form of Gods subsistauce and that which gives being to all things without whom they are not never were nor shall be For the wisdome of God is the original and fountain of all things as maker and former of them all but the wisdome of God doth properly consist in that device of the creature and creatour being made one in Christ without which Gods wisdome could never appear for he cannot be known but by his own light Psalme 36 9. ther efore the unity of God and man in that faith of Christ is the proper original fountain and cause of all things and hath all things in it wherein the reallity of goodness doth consist and all other things are but as the hand upon the dyal which points at time which it self is not so do all other things in heaven and earth point at an eternal state and condition which not any nor all of themselves either are or ever shall be So that he that brings out an original goodness or righteousness in angel or man and not out of this fountain of God and man being one in Christ he is a false interpreter of the word of God and the doctrine of such is that which is and ever was the proper inlet of sin and wrath upon the sons of Adam for being they raise righteousness and goodness from a false fountain they bring in the devils to be the state of Christ as all Idolaters have ever don from the beginning and such is the falshood of the fountain out of which their doctrine springs and therefore it is that the consultations of the serpent who is said to be wiser then any beast which the Lord God made proves the very devil and Satan Revel 20 2. himself Secondly false interpreters terminate the word of God in a false and counterfeit center in that they carry the intent and scope thereof to other things besides Christ that is God and man in unity such are they who center the word of God in good angels which they confess are not in this unity also in man in his first creation which they exclude from this unity of such mistake is the centring of the word of God as being the intent thereof in offices and ordinances called divine and civil which have not the nature and also the duration of this unity in them for Christ is the first and the last the beginning and the end the proper rise and termination of all things therefore he is said to be the Lord our Lawgiver and also the end of the law Revel 22. 13 Isaiah 33. 22. Roman 10. 4. Therefore it is no law of God in what relation soever considered that terminates or ends in any thing short of or besides Christ yet do we not deny the lawful use of any humane ordinances no more then we deny the ordinance of the Sun and of the moon So they be used as becomes the nature of them in their time and season which are all found to be in the judgement of God no better then empty husks such as the prodigal fed upon being destitute of this unity which is in Christ Luke 15. 16 17. so that further then they direct us unto Christ they are no bread becoming our fathers house and so will appear when ever we come to our selves by getting out of that way of prodigallity but if we terminate the law of God in them they all become Idolatrous which have proved the snares and Idols of the world unto this day whilst counterfeit and hypocritical interpreters present wood and stone and foolish pictures unto us that we may bend oll our zeal only against such trash that in the mean time Satan and his ministers may raign as angels of light 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. And thus much briefly for present in the describing of a false interpreter of the word of God Now that we may the better understand their just desert of so many woes pronounced against them in this chapter let us take a short sum and view of the particular ground and cause of the pronunciation of every wo as they lie in order before we come to this which we have read The ground of the first wo is laid down in the 13. verse and contains three things 1. First that they shut up the kingdome of heaven against men 2. That they will not enter thereinto themselves 3. That they will not suffer them that are entring 1. They shut up the kingdome of heaven against men that is you draw a vale over the holy and eternal things of the Son of God by terminating the word of God in temporary and terrene things that is when men so expound the law of God as to make things which indure not for ever to be the intent and purpose of the word of God as titles offices relations and operations that shall end by their own confession when God is all in all but for the present the word hath its proper center in them this is a vail drawn over those orders institutions relations and operations proper to the house and kingdome of God as a door shut and fast bolted that men enter not which is made up and consists of the proper workmanship of mans natural heart which hath ever appeared a glory in mans eye to the darkening and hiding of that glory of the Son oâ— God therefore it is said that the ministration of condemnation is glorious glory is to be done away otherwise the vail is upon the heart of man to shut him out of the holy place that is our of that state of Christ Jesus when Moses is read unto this day 2 Cor. 3 so that the centring of the word of God in an earthly glory which must be don away is the ministry of condemnation which shuts up the way of salvation which is by Christ Luke therefore expresseth it in these words Ye have taken away the key of knowledge Luke 11. 52. that is ye have hid and covered by your earthly ties and relation the spirit of the Scriptures which as a key passeth through all those wards and bolts of humane relations and respects loosening and and dissolving them all as things of no value for the free passage of the Saints of God into a kingdome which fades not in any of its relations and respects but lasts for ever 1 Pet. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 5. 4. Or it causeth the wisdome of the flesh that great bar which bolts up the kingdome of God so to fall and fly back as â—he bolt of a lock when the wards are opened of which Christ saith get thee behind me Satan that the Saints of God may enter into the exercise of the wisdome and knowledge of God in which Luke makes the kingdome of God to consist saying Ye have taken away the key of knowledge and enter not into it that is into
and affairs which themselves are freed from so that they only may be drawn out in prayer as a continned act office trade or calling belonging only in that point unto them as their peculiar calling and office this is a false pretence and meer colour and deceitful gloss set upon prayer to beguile the world when men ingross the holy and free spirit of supplication monopolizing it unto themselves by denying the rest of the Saints of God to injoy it in like extent and by as just and good right in the exercise of it continually and as not being of like concernment in every one of the godly as it is or ever was in any one or as thongh others of the Saints stood not so near unto God therein nor came into the holy of holyest by virtue of office as themselves do This is a meer pharisaical and hippocritical deceit concerning praying to delude the world namely to draw out prayer as a continned act and exercise and to be of more concernment in some mens calling then in others of the people of God for the spirit of intercession is of like virtue extent and concernment when and in whomsoever it doth appear otherwise the bloud of sprinkling should not be of like virtue to speak the same good thing in one of the Saints of God as it doth in another for it is the same eternal spirit by which he offereth up himself without spot unto God Hebr. 12. 24 Hebr. 9. 14 in all as one and in one as all And by this pharisaical and hypocritical deceit is the widows house devoured for whosoever he be that sets himself by office nearer to God then the rest of his brethren that man must of necessity exclude and shut them out of that holy place of Gods habitation and dwelling which is that state and faith of the Lord Jesus that habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes 2. 22. and so defrauds the desolate of that plentiful supply which God hath appointed for all such as come unto him by enterposing himself between God and them for he that sets one Saint of God nearer unto God then another he devours and spoils the habitation of God that is he corrupts the state of the Lord Jesus in which holy habitation God is only a father to the fatherless and a Judge of the widow For therein and not elsewhere is he become their head and only Lordship there is he their protection and defence there is he their provision and bountiful supply there is he their only instruction and instructour and there and not elsewhere is he that happy multiplication and multiplier of himself in all those fruits of righteousness which are of God by Jesus Christ Rom. 7. 4. Philip. 1. 11. Therefore Christ saith in opposing these false interpreters to all true disciples be not ye called Rabbi for one is your master even Christ or yet have one mastership even that unction which teacheth you all things John 2. 20. Hebr. 8. 11. and ye are all brethren or ye are all one brotherhood that is equal in any point of dignity and call no man father on the earth for one is your father in heaven You are not the off-spring of any earthly progenitour but are the royal seed of heaven and have alike fatherly authority in your selves to produce a like posterity therefore he saith he that is greatest among you shall be your servant that is the greatest dignity in any of the Saints is to be a servant unto all the Saints therefore did the Lord of all wash the disciples feet and wiped them with the towel wherewith he had girded himself to give them an example of performing the like service John 13. So Christ saith to the disciples Whether is greater he that fitteth at meat or he that serveth is not he that â—itteth at meat but I am among you as he that serveth Luke 2â— 27. 1. He then whosoever he be that in pretence of being exalted by the word of God into place and office above any of the servants of God that is such servants as are the Lords freemen 1 Cor. 7. 22. that man is a false interpreter of the word of God yea an hypocritical scribe and pharisee it is he that loves the uppermost seat in the synagogue for it is not the sitting in any seat but the love of a high seat that he may appear as the nearest to God in all acts of worship and to come more immediately from God in all his commands and exortations then any of his brethren Matth. 23. 6. These are they that devour the widows houses by setting themselves nearer to God then others and thereby shut the desolate out of the place of Gods holy habitation where only the Lord is the present and full supply of them Psalme 68. 5. 2. These are they who loved the uppermost roomes at feasts as being the proper cause of all festivity they being the only instruments of peace the procurers of plenty and chief cause of the joyful condition of the people and so interpose themselves between God and such as are in plenty also that the praise may redound unto them and so deprive God of his glory in their deceiving of the people Matth. 23. 6. 3. These are they that love greeting in the market place and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi Matth. 23. 7. they love to be honoured as masters and lords of the market that is of all commerce and trade not only between man and man but also between God and man and so in the feasts also for who must be an instrument to feast thâ— soul but only they and who must rejoyce and sing when they see cause of mourning this point is not only practised amongst them who are raised bâ— the help and addition of school-divinity to their natural spirit for it is evident amongst these Indians the Barbarians amongst whom we live for if any of the superiours mourn if there be found any of the inferiours rejoycing if he escape with his life it is much if it be not taken away by one means or other But these must be masters and lords of the market also in that they appoint the place the time the manner of commerce for weights measures kinds of coyn with the value of it keepers of the peace quieters and stillers of the people and he that keeps not time comes to the place holding weight and measure acknowledging the rates and valuation set by elders of church or state that man is a sinner culpable of punishment what are they then who love to be called lord â—ord but such as are nearer God then others stand in the place of God which the rest of their brethren do not these devour the habitation of the widow by shutting the desolate out of Gods holy habitation where he hath related himself alike unto all in that judgement which he pass th upon all of them whose first husband the law of the carnal
carnal Christ 2 Cor. 5. 16. then is his life and spirit taken away for not to give it to him is to take it away and so the true Prophet is slain and crucified for deny a Plant its residency in the earth and ye kill the Plant deny a Fish her being in the water and you kill the Fish deny the spirit of God its reall residency and aboad throughout the whole Confines and Circumference of Christ his mystical and spirituall body and you kill the spirit of Christ and have murthered the true Prophet in your selves Count therefore and reckon if you can how many killers and murtherers of the Prophets there is extant at this day who would be counted men that maintain their lives and say if we had been in the dayes of Saul Ahab Iezabel and Herod we would not have done as they did or in the dayes of the Scribes Pharisees Elders Lawyers and High Priests we would not have done as they did the proper plea of all such persons as these were is to kill the spirit of the word build up the tomb of the letter 2 They do not kill but crucifie those that are sent unto them that is they nail or fasten them to the crosse or to the Gibbet as the word Crosse signifies or Gallows which is the shamefulest Engines that man wisdom can devise to erect to take away the lives of such as are Enemies unto or Troublers of a state a death fitter for a dog than a man made in the image of God a sensible and intelligible man cannot but be ashamed of his own kind as he is a man to see a man bearing his form and visage to hang upon the gallows it is the shame of man and therefore Christ is said to be made a curse in that he was hanged on a tree Deut. 21. 23. Gal. 3. 13. Now the crucifying or nailing of the man of God unto the Crosse or hanging him on a tree is the greatest shame can be done to the Son of God which is by false interpretation of the word of God placing the glory of God a consisting in his humane offices and institutions which is indeed the proper shame of the Son of God to account or esteem of him according to any momentany or transient thing whose Kingdome is eternall Dan. 4. 3. 34. Heb. 1. 8. and therefore not of this world Iohn 18. 36. for it affords nothing whereof a Kingdome of that nature can be composed or ordered but is the very inlet of the curse and the proper maintainer thereof in the world being that whereunto the spirit of the word is fastened unto the giving up of the ghost of all those proper vertues livelihood appertaining unto the same in all those who are proper actors in tying the spirit and intent of the word of God unto the outward form of words Grammatical and Logical construction of the Scriptures who teach that the curse consists in being void and destitute of temporary Ordinances power and glory had and maintained by such institutions and that they are cursed who seek to blast and cause to wither such manner of glory in whomsoever it is promoted as chief to bear sway which is no more but to follow the Lords direction in giving Caesar his due in that which belongs unto him Matthew 22. verse 20. where Christ brings in Caesar in opposition unto God and if all manner of good be due unto God and belong unto him we must give him the glory and right of it all and then none belongs to any other therefore the due of Caesar must be all evill according to the nature of that spirit which thus comes to insnare Christ therefore nothing but p I de and cruelly subtle and mischievous devises and enterprises is to be expected or looked for from the world wherever the glory of it bears sway and the image and superscription of the Son of God is not found who is the brightnesse of the glory of the father which no man ever saw at any time neither can a carnall eye behold it and live Heb. 1. 3. Iohn 1. 18. 1 Iohn 4. 12. Exod. 33. 20. And therefore it is that the glory of the world which is obvious unto man doth vomit the spirit of the word of God out of their proper state and condition as an accursed and pernicious thing as an enemy to Caesar a Sectary Schismaâ—ick-babler broacher of new Opinions a fellow of no learning or else too much learning hath made him mad an Allegorizer of the Scriptures or spiritual Leveller though he meddle not with temporary privileges and carnall interests therefore it was that they hanged Christ upon a Tree between Heaven and Earth as cast out of their jurisdiction as being no part of their Kingdom and glory neither in point of subjection nor rule and command and as the Revolution of the Heavens serve to putrifie and corrupt a dead body hanged upon a Tree so is it with the revolutions of all wicked states in the world who corrupt and falsifie the word of God in all their motions they corrupt and putrifie that mysticall body of Christ unto themselves and become as guilty as those wicked Iews in putting the innocent unto a cruel and shameful death because his doctrine exalts the glory of God which is eternall wherein the life of Christ consists and abaseth the glory of the world which is temporary in which glory the life of Antichrist doth consist yet it is not denyed but a Servant of Christ may use the glory of the world in the outward â—orm thereof as though he used it not 1 Cor. 7. 31. taking it up only as a vanishing vapour even as a limb of Antichrist may use the name of God when he makes small account thereof but his heart is after the workes and power of Satan Ezekiel 33. 30 -33 Mat. 27. 22. 23. And because of this nailing of Christ unto the Crosse fastning his glory upon temporary and carnal things he complains against such wicked and carnall Iewes saying they pierced my hands and my feet Psalm 22. 16 that is as the feet are the instruments of motion and the hands of skilfull operation and curious works which being nailed unto a Tree there is a cessation of both so this fastning of the Spirit and glory of the word of God upon humane and carnall things as though that were the Law of the spirit of Life this takes away all that proper motion and skilfull operation which the Lord Iesus hath exercised in his Saints from the foundation of the world making a nullity of them all Therefore contrary unto this Christ nails this Law of the carnal Commandement standing in the Ordinances of men that handwriting which is against us unto that his Crosse where he is crucified in point of all spirituall life and exercise which is that accursed thing Col. 2. 14. Gal. 3. 13. even that glory of the world preverted before the glory of the Son
God or in the mystery of iniquity namely the root and the branch the mother as City order and her children so that as false Teachers look back they are the children of an accursed mother or seed of an adulterous law of the carnall commandement and as they look forward at the fruit and off spring of their doctrine so they are the root or mother City of an accursed off-spring whose inhabitants are no other than the accursed Iebusites enemies to Ierusalem that is above and to the Israel of God Gal. 4. 26. Gal. 6. 16. This City therefore namely Ierusalem ordered by the law of a carnall commandement which is to expound the bond and tie of the word of God as Gods intent to stand in the relation of one Creature to another in any thing wherein God expresseth himself This City is not only that mystery Babylon the â—reat the mother of Harlots and all abominations of the Earth Rev. 17. 5. But it is also the mother of all murthers and therefore called the City of bloods in the form plurall Ezek. 17. 2. Nahum 3. 1. and therefore wo is denounced against her as the bloody City Ezek. 24. 6. 9. And so much for the acclamation and ingemination of the phrase Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem and hence it is that Christ brings in that just and deserved charge which is the second point Thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee wherein observe two things first that they kill the Prophets secondly that they stone them who are sent unto them 1 They kill the Prophets for this order and City government contrived by the letter of the Scripture for the maintaining of the glory wealth honour of the Creature cannot preserve it self therein but by imprisoning or cutting off what ever seems to impaire the same Now the wisdome of God which hath placed all honour wealth and happinesse only in things that indure for ever cannot but vilifie and bring to nought all fading and transient things and therefore our Apostle affirms that the wisdom of the Princes or most excellent and men of esteem of this world comes to nought 1 Cor. 2. 6. Therefore the orders and institutions of this City that is of all carnall policies and states leaning only upon the letter of the Scripture must of necessity bend their force against that wisdome and word of eternity as the only enemy of their pomp and glory being a shame and dishonour to all earthly excellency and beauty even as the glory and splendour of the Sun at noon day abaseth the appearance of a candle for the carnall laws and institutions of the world cannot retain their force if the wisdom of God take place therefore this Ierusalem in erecting of her orders and ordinances perishable she must terminate the word of God in them as the intent thereof or else they are not in force to insnare the conscience neither would they otherwise appear of any more worth than the laws given to the beasts of the field or the fowls of heaven which is neither sin to break simply considered nor righteousnesse to fulfill therefore they are bonnd over by the law of a carnall commandement to terminate the mind and will of God in humane orders and institutions in the neglect and rejecting of that glory of God which appears in Iesus Christ disallowing and disanulling in themselves that eternall word and law of the spirit of life which is in Iesus Christ Rom. 8. 2. which only frees from the law of sin and death and wheresoever that law is not acknowledged there sin reigns Now whosoever nullifies the spirit and life of the Scriptures by erecting a carnall commandement he therein nullifies the true spirit of prophecy and he that nullifies the spirit of the Prophets he takes away the life of the Prophets and so becomes a Murtherer of all the Prophets for the spirit of the Scriptures is of that comprehension in the true intent thereof as that it is the only life of all Prophets in every age of the world without any alteration of Gods proper intent therein no more than there was ever found salvation in any other but only Iesus Christ Acts 4. 10. 11. 12. And therefore every carnall spirit is bound over for the conservation of humane order in the erecting and maintaining thereof upon its proper principles to extinguish and put out the proper life and spirit of the Scriptures otherwise he cannot maintain his laws in force according to the nature of them in their height and glory which man naturally strives after and can never attain unto any eminency therein but by quenching of the spirit of God and despising true prophecy 1 Thes 5. 19. â—0 and all transitory Rites and Ordinances erected and maintained as carrying in them the scope of the word of God are as so many Engines and instruments appointed ordered and maintained for that very end and purpose wherewith they kill the spirit of the Prophets in preferring the dead carkasse and setting up a dumb Image before the spirit and reall substance 2 Therefore Christ addes the second act in his charge against them telling them that they are such as stone them that are sent unto them we heard before how true Prophets are said to be sent to these wicked Scribes and Pharisees as they are the off-spring of the Serpent and of such fathers as killed the Prophets and here it is said they are sent to the originall and mother of them that is Ierusalem from whom they spring whence we may observe that the Spirit and life of the word of God doth not only enterprise to solicite the world to break off and turn from their grosse aberrations and exorbitancies but also to reverse and repeal those Laws and Orders from whence they spring as things of no account in the Kingdome of God nor is there any justice oâ— righteousnesse to be expected from any humane or literall institution or order further than it is used by him who hath that spirit of the righteousnesse of faith to be his Instructer therein therefore it is that Christ affirms that in the Kingdome of God there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven and to be ignorant of this point is to be ignorant of the Scriptures and of the power of God Mat. 22. 29. 30. that is in case men acknowledge not that any temporary relation simply considered attains not unto the end of the law of God for men knowing the Scriptures and the power of God cannot but see and acknowledg that For shall we think that marriage which is the way of the multiplication of man and so the ground of all humane institutions is any point of the proper end of the law of God when as it is plain that Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse Rom. 10. 4. but marriage as a humane act may attaine its end in a wicked man as well as in a just
exchange the birth-right and inheritance of the Son of God from our selves And thus much for the charge Christ layes upon Jerusalem as the foundation and ground of killing the Prophets as having reference to Moses law she stones them to death for it is her practice to murther the Saints by law and in that respect Gallio said well If it were a matter of wrong or an evill deed O ye Jews I would according to reason maintain you but if it be a question of words and names and of your Law look ye to it your selves for I will be no judge of those matters Act. 18. 14. 15. And how the true Prophets of God are said to be sent unto a City of such foundation and order as to kill them by law notâ— thus much in brief as a transicion into the next point that God never uttered himself in his word but there was that in the expression which accordeth and agreeth with mans reason as well as that which only suiteth with the wisdome of God therefore all his works were brought forth by his word Psalm 33. 6 -9 which are suitable and agreeable to man as well as man himself in the image of God which only holds proportion with the wisdome of God Gen. 1. 27. So that the wisdome of God never utters it self but with respect unto mans wisdome and proper operations of mans heart which wisdome of man he prevents from taking place in that way of Christ framing the mind of man according to his own wisdome wherein man becomes the image and likenesse of God yea a true Son and holy off-spring of God not onely an Heir but also the Author of all his works Heb. 1. 2. Col. 1. 15. 16. And this is the turning of man from darknesse to light from the power of Satan to God Act. 26. 18. and without this God had never been known for he cannot be seen possibly but only in his own light Psalm 36. 9. which must be communicated with the Creature otherwise no capability of knowing the Lord and this wisdome of God communicated with man is not only Gods off-spring being his reall and true image but also the Author of all his works therefore the Psalmist in way of admiration and out-cry in viewing the works of Creation saith How manifold are thy works O Lord in wisdome hast thou made them all Psalm 104. 24. and so saith the wisdome of God The Lord by wisdome hath laid the foundations of the Earth and hath established the Heavens through understanding Prov. 3. 19. Again the wisdome of man was never formed nor uttered but the wisdome of God was included in the expression for the wisdom of man with respect to God and himself and all the Creatures is the true Character or Letter of the Scriptures and this wisdome of man for the preservation and exaltation of it self forms God unto it self according to its own proper principles where the light of the Spirit of God shines not which this wisdome prevents that it takes not place which doth so far manifest it self that man cannot but acknowledg that there is a higher more principal thing than that which he so voluntarily makes choice of unto himself so that it is an apparition of the wisdom of God which he forms according to his earthly capacity and in so doing the word of God is in him altered from its own nature proper disposition and operation which it hath in that wisdome and form of the Son of God as man in that way of Christ or wisdome of God is altered and changed from his own nature disposition and proper operation as he is considered a limb of Satan son of perdition dead in sins and trespasses Ephes 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Col. 2. 13. So that the wisdome of God utters not it self in the Saints but with respect to that wisdome of man which so falsifies the word of God from which the wisdome of God hath freed us and by a perpetuall act triumphs over it yet notwithstanding this appearance of mans wisdom is a powerfull assault of Satan because a Saint of God as he is considered man is by nature in that respect as prompt to work upon the same principles as any other man and it is only the wisdome and spirit of God by which he is a continued and perpetuated victor and hereby all the assaults of Satan are overcome only by this wisdome and Son of God and not by any thing that is of man So likewise the wisdome of man moves not upon any word or work of God but there is a higher excellency and vertue presents it self therefore Pharaoh though he would not acknowledge the Lord of the Hebrews yet he appeals unto his Magicians and unto Moses also for help when they could not do it so did Nebuchadnezzar appeal to his Magicians for some higher revelation than himself had and they themselves acknowledge a higher than they as if there were a possibility for the Gods to come down and interpret the dream Dan. 2. 10. 11. whose dwelling is not with flesh nor with any transitory and carnall ordinance or institution whatsoever ordained by the King and this appearance of a higher wisdome and power is a strong solicitation and onset given upon all wicked men to imbrace and accept of that wisdome and authority wherein only safety doth consist because the highest and it is a strong assault and visitation because there is that in a wicked man which is of its own nature as ready and willing to accept and yeeld it self over unto that wisdom and authority as it is in any man whatsoever for the Spirit of God is as really and in a like sence in the most wicked that ever was or shall be as the spirit of man is in the most just and righteous one that ever was or shall be namely the Son of God Now the wisdom of man by false interpretation preventing the wisdom and spirit of God of its proper work it is his fall from God and falsifying the word of God in its proper intent destroyes the true spirit life of all true Prophets which are as really sent unto them that thus deal with them as Satan himself is a tempter of Christ and as the Prince of this World coms in temptation and finds nought in Christ to fasten a tentation upon Iohn 14. 30. so doth the King of Saints solicite the world to accept of the wisdome and work of God in salvation but findes nothing in that Son of perdition to fasten salvation upon therefore they stone them that are sent unto them Note hence that there is no true reall and proper power of God but that which springs f om the true interpretation of the word of God for it is the word of God which gave all things their being at the first conserves them in their being operation unto this day now the word of God which gave all things their being is the wisdom
out of an unclean and corrupt Fountain or habitation for Earth holds no correspondencie nor hath any congruity with Heaven the Creature with the Creator but falls infinitely short in all things not a blemish forbidden in all the Sacrifices and Offerings but in that respect he hath the defect superfluity and defilement upon him yet doth he corrupt a pure and holy thing in himself and unto himself namely the holy Word of God in the false construction thereof so that as this unclean Spirit corrupts a pure Word of Eternity in it self mortalizing it by putting it into a human form so also its return is into an house of uncleanness of like antiquity in point of the state of death and mortality and so is truly said to go out of an unclean habitation which never was otherwise and yet he makes it unclean and desolate of all the things of God unto himself by false interpretation bringing the will of God unto the mind of the Creature and not the mind of the Creature to the will of God But the Spirit of Christ coming out of a clean Fountain even from God himself and therefore is said to come forth from God and go to God Ioh. 13. 1. yet doth he purifie in himself that which by nature is otherwise unclean namely the spirit of man else were he not the son of Man as he is called a matter of eighty eight several times in the Prophecie of Ezekiel and according to the eternity of that Word or Spirit that purifies such is the state and condition of the purified for they are no more twain but one Mat. 19. 6. And thence it is that Man who otherwise is mortal lives an eternal and immortal life being that the Wisdom of God hath formed his mind according to the Will of God and not to the will or law of a creature and so Man in Christ who otherwise is mortal lives for ever and knows no death no more than En ch did Gen. 5. 24. who was translated that he should not see death Heb. 11. 5. That is that he should never tast of it or feel the nature thereof so the Psalmist saith Tast and see how gracious the Lord is Psal 34. 81. And the Son of God who otherwise is immortal doth in that way of Antichrist dye an eternal death where never any life appears but a mortal state and condition of like time of him who is mortalized therefore they are said to go into everlasting fire which must have respect to time past as well as time to come Mat. 25. 41. Therefore Tophet is prepared of old or of antiquity or from eternity as the word imports yea it is prepared for the King the burning whereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a River of Brimstone kindles it Isaiah 30. 33. So that as antient as the breath of the Lord is so antient is that place of abode for the wicked therefore a full measure of wrath in point of time as well as present torment So that unclean spirit is said to take seven spirits worse than himself that is fulness of uncleanness and vexation which a creature simply considered could never have therefore his going out in the matters of God in a carnal manner is the way of his multiplication of mischief in himself therefore his house is empty and swept of all the things of God but furnished with all uncleanness and wickedness suitable to that unclean and wicked condition therefore the end of that man is worse than his beginning for the original and proper ground ofthis abomination ariseth from the creature whichin it self is but a finite thing as all other creatures are but his end and scope being to adorn himself with God in making him like to himself as the Psalmist speaks Psal 50. 21. thence it is that God becomes a fearfull and infinite death and torment to him which all the creatures in the world could never be And of such nature and concernment is the house or habitation of these false Teachers which is left unto them or in them desolate of all the things proper to God and filled with all the things of Satan even as Iudas was to become his own Executioner and the bursting of him in sunder that all men might see his abomination and shame who is said to goe to his own place Act. 1. 25. as one laid waste of all Apostleship and Ministry in the Faith of Christ and therfore his proper inheritance or habitation yeelds him nothing that is holy or profitable to Minister but is voyd and desolate of all Neither hath he any life or spirit to move or act in the things of God though tendred unto him for he is dead and gone to his own place and office of an eternal executioner of himself And this is the desolation of the habitation applied to Iudas the false and counterfeit betrayer of Christ with a kiss which Christ applyes hereunto all false Interpreters of the Word of God in these Scribes and Pharisees who faun upon Christ in their Doctrin in all lowly demeanour to maintain uphold him in the ways of the flesh by things mortal momentary therby give a sign unto the world for the betraying of that life and spirit of the Son of God into the cruel hands of the wicked that the law of the Spirit or Christ taught after the Spirit wilnot be suffered or endured among them the habitation of such Confessors Pharisees or Preachers of Christ with Iudas is left unto them desolate without any in-dwellings of the Spirit of God with them or any building up of the House of God by them but ruination of themselves and others with Iudas who are their maintainers and upholders The Reason of this Desolation and Destruction follows For ye shall not see me henceforth Whence observe that the want of Christs sight and revelation in the world is the cause of all ruin and desolation of the world as Christ affirms Without me saith he ye can do nothing Ioh. 15. 5. It is alike true without me ye have nothing without me ye are nothing Christ is unto man that Microsmos or little world as the Sun in the Firmament is unto this spherical world take away and annihilate the one or the other and all things therin perish and come to ruin Want of true Revelation is the cause of all Desolation and Destruction By seeing here we are to understand the communication of the sences The Apostle Paul saw Christ when he went to Damascus even that light that shined about him clearer than the Noon-day for it is said he saw no man Act. 22. 26. Act. 9. 8. That is he saw no humane shape of Christ though he opened his eyes to see but Christ according to the spirit in his mystical body was revealed unto him therefore he saith Am I not aâ— Apostle am I not free have I not seen our Lord Iesus 〈…〉 Cor. 9. 1. Paul alâ—â—â—eard
to any of their principles our faith depends not upon any of their principles our love embraceth not upon any of their principles our hope expects not upon any of their principles nor doth our power and sufficiencie stand upon any of their principles And therefore as brute beasts are unto them so are they to us in the things of God and we are unto them as men bereaved of their wits for they cannot but discern a certain power of argument in us beyond all brutish cogitations whatsoever yea such as transcends and over-tops what is in themselves for the Wisdom of God though a meek and descended Wisdom yea foolishness in the worlds estimation yet it over-powers and over-tops the highest Cedars standing in the worlds Lebanon and is bottomed and founded upon grounds and undeniable reason and true argument in Gods Wisdom yea argumentation for conviction and confirmation infinitely surpassing and transcending all Logical and artificial argument coming within the compass of human device and learning therefore we conclude that the Wisdom of God though become foolishness unto the world yet doth it contain sufficiencie of power in argument to over-top any Council Synod Synedrion or Assembly composed by humane art and learning And that makes them so fearfull and of such care to guard themselves from the apparition therof For as it is in that way of the devil to propose his temptations from the Letter of the Scriptures thinking to win or subdue Christ thereby So is there sufficiencie of spirit and wisdom in the true interpretation thereof to confound and bring them in the party proposing them to nought And whereas you say There is a thing underneath which cannot be satisfied vvith the divings into the mystery of the Scriptures of truth which phrase as it seems to import cannot be a â—ruth for the mystery of the Gospel is described to be Christ in you the hope of Glory Now this Christ the Son of the Eternal comprehends all things really and eternally good so that there is nothing so low but it is raised up in him nor any thing so high but it is descended in him and so becomes a plain path wheron our God passeth in the wilderness so that dive into him as to lay open this Mystery of the Word of Truth and there is nothing so low underneath nor any thing so high and above that can possibly faile or come short of satisfaction which appertains unto the Saints and Sonnes of God now that hee ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth he that descended is also the same that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things therefore discover the mysterie of the Word and it fills all things to satisfaction for no man hath ascended up to heaven but hee that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven So that as you cannot goe above him who is height it self nor below that which is depth it selfe so you cannot hide any thing above or beneath but the mysterie of the Word is the light which finds it out and brings satisfaction therewith for the life the light are one ever in conjunction with Christ from whom nothing is hid Therefore we honour that phrase in the true intent thereof that when you are clouded you vvait and vvhen moved you journey for we know the cloud to be the glory of Israel in the Wilderness that wayless place in point of any of the Nations who cannot take a step therein but onely to the fall of their carkasses yea even of carnal Israel For this cloud is a cloud of witness presenting unto us a record and testimony of the acts and deeds of all the Saints of God Therefore as a pillar remains and abides with us day and night and is a cover in the day not to darken that light and leading of the Angel of his face but to over-shadow us as we are the Virgin of Israel than none of those scorching beams or rayes of that Sun-shine or light of the Nations takes place upon us nor contributes no more to our being than Ioseph that just man according to the law or letter did unto the conception of Mary And in its stay and abode upon our Tabernacle we so wait on God as in exercise in uncovering the Ark of his presence ordering the instruments and glories thereof according to appointment and with Moses turn in unto the Lord without either vale or covering which abides on the heart of carnal Israel when Moses is read unto this day when we with open face behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirrour and are changed into the same image from all that glory of the Ministry of condemnation consisting in the letter unto that exceeding glory of the Spirit wherein we stand with Moses conversing with God face to face as a man talks with his friend And this state and manner of waiting upon God he hath perpetuated in our host wherein according to the prayer of Moses the Lord returns unto the many thousands of Israel for we have the record of them all in this cloud and their order and exercise about the Ark. The Lord hath not left us without the testimony of the motion of the cloud also which he hath in like sort perpetuated unto us and that in the dissipation and scattering of the Nations who are Enemies unto God And we daily find that praier of Moses in use and fulfilling it selfe in us and about us viz. Arise O Lord and let thine enemies be scattered let them also that hate thee fly before thee For we daily have to doe with that people of that spirit amongst whom you now are yea and from the floud unto the worlds end by a spirit of Praier and Prophecie which all the world can never bound nor Herods Stone Seal nor Watch keep in the grave But as it goes before the Disciples into Galilee so it rebukes the Nations and brings the mad people to nought else had you not seen those lye dead before you on the shore in your approach so evidently as now you doe in point of any life or light of Iesus Christ And in this dismal and darksom night which is now upon the world this Cloud is a most firm and stately pillar of fire to give light unto us and according to its motion either by night or by day we advance unto the vanquishing and vexation of the world For the spirit of a Christian knows how to grasp and gripe in the Nations so as to cut off the spirit of Princes and to be a terrour to the Kings of the earth so as Herod and all Israel after the flesh in all their Iewish institutions shall be in trouble A Christian becomes a fool in point of Serpents wisdom in Herods Wisemen and Pharoahs Magicians is a comprehensive thing no less than the proper continent of an omnipotent power who is able to
doe all things through Christ who strengthens him for we dare not deny him to be set in heavenly places in Christ yea at the right hand of power and therefore sits at the stearn of the world layes hold on the helm and governs the ship to guide it unto its appointed haven A Christian is stil saying let there be light and it is so he shall ever divide the light from the darknes the waters that are above the firmament from the waters that are below the out-spread firmament In a word he is forever to form all things out of that antient Chaos of God and Man being made one which is a formless confusion unto the highest topped-up pinacles of the wisdome of this world but onely as they beat out a tract unto themselves through the Schools of mens policies and traditions But a Christian knows how to adorn that world whereof Christs Kingdome doth consist with all those glorious ornaments of that new heaven and earth wherein righteousness and peace dwels for ever where sin and sorrow fly away and that out of the antient Chaos that abides for ever and it is his glory and perpetuated work in God as also his rest from all the works of darkness and death to give every thing a right and due form and an effectual nature and name or authority according thereunto placing them in their proper relations and giving them their operations in the propagating and promoting of the glory of God And this is a labour which for ever beseems the honour and dignity of a Son of God who will never be disrobed of his creating virtue as to admit a cessation thereof no more than he can lay aside the glory of his power to preserve order and govern his kingdom And this work or labour hath the rest of God intayled and is never out of conjunction therewith which is a day of rest or cessation from all operations of that evill one yea it is a Sabbath or as the word signifies an Host or Army not bounded by evening and morning for it admits not of any period in the one nor in the other for neither beginning nor end thereof can be found out And this rest and labour are of the same duration and continuance else were a Christian utterly undone but God hath made him Lord in or of this Sabbath for ever whilst the carnal Jew even those amongst whom you are are in bondage under their Sabbath for it Lords it over them which they have set up as a God of time as they have their Gods of creatures and bodily exercises and this they fall down and kneel unto as a God of four and twenty hours continuance Wee know the Word of the Lord hath been amongst them and they have rejected it which makes them so carefull to guard themselves against you having felt the fury thereof as a savour of death unto them If you expect a feed of God among them take heed it prove not of the God of this world that seed of the serpent Some of them may seem to commiserate people in prison or in some want or outward necessity which is the top of their Religion to bee of that compassion which Peter seems to express when he said Master pittie thy self let not this come upon thee not judging rightly but fatanically of the Cross of Christ than the which there is nothing else that a Christian gloryes in and desires as it is that Baptism wherewith he is baptized which in desiring he still desires in the accomplishing of it as really as hee that sits upon the white horse goeth forth conquering and to conquer for if the Fountain of every thing in Christ were not inexhaustible heaven should have an end salvation ceased for there is nothing in Christ wherein salvation doth not consist and that for ever And to preach or profess Christ otherwise falsifies the Gospel and makes the faith of the Son of God of no effect We conclude then that labour and rest harmonize and kiss each other in the Kingdom of God consisting so in one that they shall never be parted without demolishing of that work wherein God himself is one not onely as a maker but is made Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption in that mystical body of Christ which workmanship and Masterpeece of Gods Wisdom and Skil is onely abolished in the men of the world and ever was from the beginning for the wicked are estranged from the womb but in the Saints it never was nor shall be impaired for they are a congregation of the firstlings of God which abide for ever Whereas you please to say Wee are vvandring from mountain to hill in our imaginations seeking rest but knovv not the place thereof Indeed it is true we know not that rest which the world ever seeks after in that way of the unclean spirit which goes out of the man of sin seeking it in barren and dry places which are altogether destitute of the dews of heaven that are the waterings of Zion and of that Riveret which refrâ—sheth the City of God But that rest which the Son of God attains and betakes himself unto in his labour of love in the ending of all carnal operations of soul that rest which yet remains for the people of God as to enter into being daily as really renewed as our Apostle protests he dies daily although it be that which we have entred into from the beginning being of an eternall rise as all things proper to the Son of God are who however it be true that he is a man yet that which makes him to be such a man is of God and not of the creature and that in all things yea death it self in Christ is not the death of a meer creature or a momentany death but it is the eternal death of the Son of God for what Christ is or doth once it abides such for ever and otherwise no truth of the Gospel appears This rest therefore we seek as diligently as the woman sought her lost groat and by sweeping that vast house of God of all uncleannes and superfluous things which cannot be done but by carrying them into their proper place in which place of uncleanness we see what the loss of all the things of God as wealth and glory is which wealth and honour of God we find through our own emptiness of all superfluous things of man which continued and eternal act of loss of the Sonne of God in the world is a perpetual renewed joy in the finding of him in our selves which joy and rest wee wait for to come in our selves everlastingly as really as wee have the present possession thereof and see our selves in it also from everlasting with respect to time past for wee judge not no not of our selves according to mans judgement but according to the account and judgement of God And for our imaginations they are such as we can give a like good and certain account of