the glory of God in this his mercy and the deeper is his humility and lowlines of minde Minde but the writings of the Holy Apostles of Christ Jesus and you will finde it so that still they are harping upon this string sounding forth the mercies of the Lord in Christ Jesus and his love in revealing his Son to them Yea observe but that high state of the Elders spoken of in the Book of the Revelations who were set upon seats round about the Throne and cloathed in white Raiment and Crowned The substance of their song was this Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof Now mark why For thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood out of every kinred and Tongue and People and Nation Mark Not a word of their own righteousness not a word of their works how good soever they were which doubtles were excellent but yet not a word thereof the riches of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus puts all that out of sight and layes them low at his Footstool for they are said to fall down before the Lamb and sing this Song Now what are these Elders but representatives of all the Elect seed of God from all parts of the Earth Seeing it is contained in their Song that they were redeemed by his Blood out of every kinred and Tongue and People and Nation Now there be many more kinreds and Tongues and Nations then four and twenty but all represented by these four and twenty Well then you see their faith in Christ is not like the Faith of the Pharisees in which they stand justifying themselves in their own works and exalting themselves thereby over poor Publicans But all their admiration and glorying is in the mercy of God And so we finde the Apostles sounding forth the same things in their Epistles Eph. 2.4 5 6 7 8 9. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus For by grace ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Not of works lest any man should boast Thus all boasting is excluded by true Faith And as I have shewed before the right Faith works by love and that love is not of an exalting nature But as the Apostle saith it vaunteth not it self is not puffed up 1 Cor. 13.4 Thus the true and right Faith shuts out boasting and cuts down vainglory and makes humble Therefore saith our Lord Jesus Christ Verely I say unto you except ye be converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little Childe the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. 18.3 4. Fifthly To proceed this true Faith is accompanyed with an Vnction or an Anointing from the holy one John writing to those he calls little Children whose sins are forgiven for his names sake saith thus But ye have an Vnction from the holy one and ye know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 All things that is that appertained to life and godliness Why For this Unction or Anointing taught them all things that appertained thereto that so walking according to the teaching thereof they might abide in Christ Now this Unction is the Spirit which gives a sense and feeling of the will of God what he would have us to doe and what he would have us to forbear And we need not that any maâ— should teach us beyond the teachingâ— of that to amuse us with high notions and mysteries which the Unction gives us no openings of Anâ— so keeping to that keept us wiâ— to sobriety minding to doe thâ— will of God which the Unction inclines our Hearts to rather theâ— to fill the brain with knowledge 〈◊〉 things which add not to our comfort and profiting and grouth iâ— Christ Now that this Unction 〈◊〉 the Spirit appears by compearinâ— this Scripture with another Thaâ— is compare this 1 Joh. 2.20 2â— with Ioh. 14.16 17. Where it 〈◊〉 expressed by the name of the Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you This is that abideing Unction which abides with the Faithfull for ever The Unction is a constant abiding thing and so is the Spirit abiding for ever Thus the Lord fulfills his promise of old Isa 44.3 and chap. 59.21 I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground Thirsty and dry these are such as hunger and thirst and fit to receive the Heavenly rain but he expresses â—t more plainly in the following words thus I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon â—hine Off-spring Then in ch 59.21 â—he promises the constancy of this Spirit with the seed of Christ in â—hese words As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord. My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy Mouth shall not depart out of thy Mouth nor out of the Mouth of thy Seed nor out of the Mouth of thy Seeds Seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever So that this is a promise to all the Seed and that for ever which promise is fulfilled to all faithfull believers in Christ Jesus Therefore saith the Apostle if any maâ— have not the Spirit of Christ he iâ— none of his Rom. 8.9 And herein thâ— Son-ship is established even in thiâ— Spirit or abiding Unction oâ— Anointing As the Apostle witnesseth ver 14. For as many as are leâ— by the Spirit of God they are the Sonâ— of God Thus the Anointing witâ— the Spirit typifyed by the precious Ointment that was poureâ— upon Aarons head and ran dowâ— to the Skirts of his Garment thiâ— Anointing with the Spirit runâ— down from our High-Priest to thâ— lowest of his Servants He waâ— anointed with the Oyl of gladness above his fellows but we all of his fullness receive every one a measure of his Spirit and so are hereby stated by this Spirit of Adoption into Sonship and Heir-ship with him If Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ c. Rom. 8.17 And this state or Spiritual condition carryes its own evidence in it self for the Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the Children of God ver 16. And as this Spirit or Unction is a guide to the Children of light leading them into all Truth and as it is a witness to
him back from the error of his wayes but he had not this Holy abideing Unction And so may others have the gift of Prophecy and understand many mysteries c. and yet be destitute of this Anointing as its plain from the Scriptures Psal 68.18 Mat. 7.22 1 Cor. 13. But I am sparing of speaking of these things because the same gifts may accompany the true Anointing and these gifts are serviceable for the edifying of the Babes of Christ Therefore let none think that I would undervalue such precious gifts or teach others to despise Prophecying that is not my purpose but only to give the right understanding of that which is essential to Christianity and a Heavenly life in which true believers walk with God Who doe not alwayes bear the greatest show in their profession by such gifts nor bear forth themselves the highest among their Brethren but yet their lives are most innocent in the World I have seen in several professions of Religion this humble seed this plain hearted this true hearted Jacob bowing under his rough Brother Esau and like a little shrub under tall Cedars which flourish and spread forth themselves over his head for their inclination is to exalt themselves his care to keep out of vain-glory and to walk humbly with his God Thus in some measure the Children of light who are the first Fruits unto God are distinguished from the Children of darkness who are of the World and therefore love the World and the things that are of the World namely the lusts of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of life I doe not mean that hereby they are made so distinct one from another that they may certainly and fully be known in the World but my endeavour is so to discover the essential life of Christianity to themselves that they may not rest in a formal and circumstantial profession of Christianity without the true life and power thereof wherein true peace and fellowship with God is enjoyed and lived in which indeed is the Kingdom of God Which at first may be but like a grain of Mustardseed but it is of a growing nature Therefore many may for a time in an outward profession outshine those that are entring yea and entred into the Kingdom But these last will become first and those first will become last For the seed of the free Woman or new Covenant born by promise and begot by Faith will become Heir when the seed of the bond Woman borne after the Flesh must be cast forth These things here written are no new things but according to the current of the Doctrine of Christ and his Holy Apostles left upon Record But it may be some Objections may be made against them by some For Truth doth usually meete with Opposition Obj. Perhaps some will say these things speak of the Kingdom of God here in this life but we look for the Kingdom of God after this life Answ True the Kingdom of God is here spoken of to be entred into in this life but not in opposition to the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven hereafter but as an entrance into the everlasting Kingdome which shall have no end For the Kingdom of Heaven is begun here and entred into by faith which works by love and purifyes the Heart And therefore when Christ Jesus our Lord sent forth his Disciples to preach and to heal the sick he bid them preach saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And he told the Jews that the Kingdom of God commeth not with outward observation but that the Kingdom of God was within And the Apostle tells us wherein it doth consist namely in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit For the Spirit that comforter administers that joy And this is the earnest of the everlasting inheritance and it is the beginning of his Kingdome into which the Saints witnessed an entrance formerly Col. 1.13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the Kingdome of his dear Son And the Apostle Peter tells us how an entrance shall be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. A place of Scripture worthy to be Printed in every ones Heart seeing it teaches an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God In which things there written the Saints then living were found walking and yet being of so great importance the Apostles care was to put them still in minde of them that after his decease they might alwayes have them in remembrance I shall give you some of the words and leave you to read the rest in your Books Peter writing to those believers who had obtained like precious Faith with him and other Apostles through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ note not through their own rightousness but through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ he exhorts them to give all diligence to add to this Faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly kindness and to Brotherly kindness love For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall not be barren argues slothfull nor unfruitfull to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ But he that lacketh these things is blinde and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore the rather Brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye doe these things ye shall never fall For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Now take notice that it is not the knowing of these things but the walking in them that gives an abundant entrance into the Kingdom If ye doe these things saith the Apostle Obj. Doubtles It is a happy thing to walk and live in these Admonitions of the Apostle may some say But who is there that do so We know but few if any that do so then how few enter into the Kingdom if so great and high things are to be lived in Answ For answer hereunto consider these things following 1. That there be various stations in Religion and so some are nearer and some further off from the Kingdom of God Some are seeking it with their faces thitherward as it s said of Sion some are weeping and mourning and hungring and thirsting after Gods Righteousness These if they hold on are under a blessing and promise to be answered and filled and though they be poor in Spirit yet theirs is the Kingdome and in due time they shall possesse it and enter into it Some are near the Kingdom as that young man was who had keept the precepts of the Law from his youth which Christ looked upon and loved though he was not yet able to enter into the Kingdom because of his riches
the Scripture And this thing the Servants of the Lord witnessed as to their own condition as well as others We our selves saith the Apostle Tit. 3.3 4 5. were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another This was their state before the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared to them but after that appeared to them which is the very ground of Faith then came the washing from these things and Salvation But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of rightousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Here Faith is plainly implyed in this work For the kindness and love of God appearing is received and that 's Faith and in this receiving of the love and kindness of God comes the washing of regeneration without which washing we have no part in Christ Joh. 13.8 And so here comes the renewing of our Hearts by the Holy Spirit which the Apostle calls the renewing of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit That is the renewing of our Hearts by him who is let in by Faith for it s we that want renewing not the Holy Spirit So here the new Creature is begot by the Spirit which is created in Christ Jesus unto good works Mark In Christ Jesus that is in the ministration of the Gospel or of the kindness and love of God whereof Christ Jesus is the Minister not in Moses or in the ministery of the Law which consists in works But in Christ Jesus whose ministery is in Faith in this is the Creation unto good works that we should live in them and no longer to serve the evil and impure lusts of the Flesh For if we live after the Flesh we shall dye but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live Rom. 8.13 Now the Heart thus washed and renewed that which proceeds out of the Heart savours of cleannes and purity Out of the aboundance of the Heart the mouth speaks and so better language is hereby learn't Corrupt language comes under judgment being felt inwardly to be contrary or a burthen to thâ— Spirit of life now in measure received And thus the Lord fulfills hiâ— promise to his People in turning to them a pure language The leaâ—â— grain of Faith though it be but aâ— a grain of Mustardseed inclines thâ— Heart thus after righteousness anâ— Holyness And if through temptation the Heart be sometimes overtaken with evil yet it hath not rest there but it turnes again in pursuite of righteousness until it get Victory over the World and the lusts thereof and in Faith is the victory 1 Joh. 5.4 And here 's the Heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness which it hath received a taste of by the Holy Spirit shed abroad upon it And this is one inseparable Fruit of true Faith thus to work against sin and to thirst after rightousness from the seed of Sanctification sown in the Heart which springs up to eternal life Secondâ—y Another inseparable Fruit of true Faith is Love Gal. 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but Faith which worketh by love Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision no outward badge or character is now available with God but Faith which worketh by love No outward distinction nor every Faith neither is available with God but that Faith which works by love Such a Faith as is of the true stamp which hath the nature of Christ Jesus in it which is love This is that Faith which pleases the Lord. And this therefore discovers all killing and destroying Faiths all persecuting and hurtfull Faiths to be ungrounded and false Faiths They are not right they bear not a resemblance with the Faith of the Apostles and ancient believers But such a Faith is a Heterodox Anti-christian Faith Its not of a right birth but spurious begot by thâ— Law of works or from the evil one and not from the kindness and love of God in Christ Jesus It s a kin to the faith of Devils The Devils believe and tremble but remain Murderers So these that believe and remain Mutherers and persecuters stand as yet ingrafted into the murthering and persecuting Spirit The works of their Fatheâ— they doe who was a Murderer from the beginning But he that come to the true Faith he works according to the nature of that Spirit that begets his Faith and that is to save life to doe good and not to destroy The destroying Faith is of Apollyon that is a destroyer but the saving Faith is of him that came to save mens lives and not to destroy That Faith that saves us teaches us to save or preserve others not to seek their destruction It matters not how zealous men be for their Faith if it carry the destroying nature in it it s not right in the sight of God it springs but from works at best not from grace nor is it according to knowledge The persecuting Jews had a Zeal of God but not according to knowledge and so may false Faiths have and hereby they are discovered to the true seed that they are not according to true knowledge This is the second Character of true Faith it works by love Thirdly It brings peace and consolation Rom. 5.1 Therefore being justifyed by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Therefore saith the Apostle the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 It must needs follow that he that sensibly believes this love of God in Christ Jesus to all men and to him in particular It must needs be I say that peace will spring up in his Heart thereby And so here 's the entrance into the Kingdom of God by Faith The Kingdom of God is within and it consists in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit And into this Kingdom or Heavenly Canaan we enter by Faith While unbelief and fears lye upon us and shut up our Spirits we are short yet of our possession of the Kingdom There are some to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs who are not fully entred into the possession of it as an inheritance may belong to an Heir before the time come that he possesseth it such are the poor in Spirit who go mourning under the sense of the body of sin not yet shaken off and who go hungring and thirsting after righteousness which they have not yet attained unto as their Souls desire Such I say are under a blessing and have right to the Kingdom of God though as yet they go mourning For Christ Jesus our Lord applyes the right of the Kingdom to them Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven
seemes to make the other resurrection which is to be general out of the graves to be more marvellous Secondly the first of these resurrections is in order to bring men to live the life of righteousness but the second or general resurrection is after â—â—ey have done good to give them their reward The first is only a raising up to life The second is a raising up of some to life and of others to condemnation according as they have done good or evil in their life time For we must know that this is after men have done good or done evill that is at the last day which our Saviour often mentions for the comfort of the righteous who are before hand raised up to life by him Joh. 6.39 40 44 54. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day And this is the will of the Father that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day Again No man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day Again saith he Who so eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day This is not a raising up out of the death oâ— sin unto life but a raising up again of those that before hand have eternal life And this is spoken for the comfort of all such as also many other comfortable words are left upon record for such which also clearly hold forth this Doctrine of the general resurrection Take this one place for concluding of this particular 1 Thess 4 13. to the end of the Chapter But I would not have you ignorant Brethren concerning them which are a sleep that ye sorrow not as others that have no hope For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the comming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are a sleep For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Archangel and with the Trumph of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Ayre and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words Here he calls the death of believers a sleep as Christ said of Lazarus he sleepeth when he was dead and it s frequently said in the Old Testament such a one sleept with his Fathers when he was dead Death is but as a sleep out of which men must rise again therefore sorrow not saith the Apostle as others that have no hope For if Jesus dyed and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him And further the Apostle here describes the order of the resurrection The dead in Christ shall rise first and with them such believers or Servants of Christ as are then alive shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Ayre and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now comfort one another herewith saith the Apostle Here is a stedfast ground for Hope to Anchor upon One thing he expresses in the 1 Cor. 15. which is here passed over concerning them that are alive at that day namely they shall not dye but they shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye for this mortal must put on immortality and the natural body must be made a Spiritual body I have spoken the more of this because although the common notion hereof is retained among People yet the lively sence of these things is to much buryed and out of minde For surely if men did seriously meditate hereof it would have a weighty influence upon their lives and conversations to make them inoffencive in the World Another thing collateral with this is that as there shall be a resurrection of all so there shall be a day of judgment for all when every man shall receive according to the things done in the body whether good or bad It may be some will say this is rather a ground of fear then a ground of hope True it is so to them who take pleasure in iniquity and are strangers to Christ Jesus and to a righteous life But to those that are innocent in the World and believe in Christ and meet with afflictions and tribulations here it is a most comfortable ground of Hope For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory But before we speak more of it see first how certainly it is grounded upon Scripture that there shall be a day of judgment Act. 17.30 31. The times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Hence it s plainly held forth that the raising of Christ from the dead is a sure Testimony to all men that God will in an appointed day by him judge the World and that in righteousness For every man shall receive according to his deeds done in the body whether good or evil Again the Apostle Paul tels us of a day of wrath and righteous judgment of God Rom. 2.5 and so forward But thou after thy hardness and impenitent Heart treasurest up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality to them he will render eternal life But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the Truth but obey unrighteousness to them indignation and wrath Then he goes over with it again ver 9 10. Tribulation and anguish upon every Soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile But glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Again minde what our Saviour Jesus Christ said to his twelve Disciples when he sent them forth with power to preach or publish the Kingdom of Heaven to be at hand and therefore to call them to repentance and to heal the sick and cast out Devils c. saith he whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when ye depart out of that House or City
shake off the dust of your feet Verely I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment then for that City Matth. 10.14 15. The like expression he uttered concerning Chorazin and Bethsaida in the next Chap. viz. Chap. 11.21 22. Because they repented not when they saw the mighty works which he had done in them It shall be more tolerable saith he for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment then for you Hence its plain that there 's a day of judgment yet to come for those Cities that have been so long since destroyed And that it shall be more tolerable for them at that day then for those that have had more means of knowledge and true understanding afforded them and yet cast it behinde their backs and remain impenitent This being rightly considered may make the stoutest Heart to tremble who goes on in the paths of wickedness as it did Felix Act. 24.25 As Paul reasoned of righteousness temperance and judgment to come Felix trembled or was made fearfull struck with fear For he that is to judge is no respecter of Persons and hath all power given him in Heaven and in Earth and from him can none flee for shelter Therefore to the unrighteous and ungodly that day is terrible But to the upright in Heart who in sincerity and Truth desire to please the Lord in walking obediently before him in a good conversation and innocent in the World to them the day of judgment is a ground of Hope Why Because they shall receive good at the hands of the Lord He will appear to their comfort Judge you how comfortable a thing it shall be at the last day to the righteous and mercifull when Christ shall say to them come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World Matth. 25. But because that portion of Scripture doth so eminently set forth the day of judgment with some remarkable circumstances thereof let us view it a little more fully in the preparation to it and also in the matter of fact upon which judgment is to passe and the Sentence of judgment it self The preparation is this The Son of man shall come in his glory and all the Holy Angels with him and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory ver 31. there 's the preparation of the judge And before him shall be gathered all Nations ver 32. there 's the preparation of the People to be judged And he shall separate them one from another as a Sheepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand but the Goats on the left Here now is his secret judgment of them in himself who knowes the wayes and thoughts and Hearts and lives of all men Then follows his open expressed sentence of judgment upon them First to those on his right hand this comfortable sentence come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World ver 34. And then he gives the reason of this his righteous judgments For saith he I was an hungred and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in I was naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me Then shall the righteous answer Lord when saw we thee so and so or did so unto thee Take notice Their sentence or judgment of matter of fact runs wholy upon Acts of mercy which by them were not had in remembrance or at least little set by for they had herein minded the Counsel of Christ in not letting their left hand know what the right hand had done But though they minded not what they had done yet the righteous judge of all the World recorded what they had done and brings up again their mercy into remembrance to their joy and comfort Yea a Cup of cold Water given to one of his little ones in love to them because they belong to him shall not be forgotten Then on the other hand he shall say to them on his left hand depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And then he gives the reason of their sentence which is only a defect in mercy For saith he I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not Then these shall plead for themselves as the others did against themselves saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not Minister unto thee Then shall he answer them saying Verely I say unto you in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal Here you see this Scripture doth not only hold forth a day of general judgment but upon what grounds also the sentence of judgment shall passe And its worth your observation to take notice that the sentences run wholy upon Acts of mercy and the want of mercy It runs not upon this or that profession or united Society of men It runs not thus come ye blessed of my Father for ye are Catholiques or Papists and have been absolved by your Priest or ye are Protestants reformed in part from the superstition and Idolatry of the Papists or ye are of the Episcopal or Presbyterian or Independent or Anabaptist or fifth Monarchy or Quakers Society But ye have been mercifull ye have shown forth the nature of your Heavenly Father who is love and mercy and therefore now mercy is extended to you For seeing God is love surely he must needs have most respect to his own nature where it is found As on the other hand he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy Oh therefore list up your heads you tender hearted humble mercifull men in hope of a righteous day of judgment to come and faint not in doing good or in your patient waiting for the comming of the Lord though you be under affliction and tribulation in the World For the day will come that will make amends for all and satisfy you to the full So that your labour of love in what kinde soever shall not be in vain or forgotten of the Lord. Divers other Scriptures do confirm the general resurrection of the dead and Eternal judgment which were principles in the Doctrine of Christ and not to be confounded with the first Spiritual resurrection out of the Grave of sin or with the particular secret judgment of God inwardly in a mans Spirit For these are before death natural the other come after These first are
way for this Under the great Apostacy wherein the Whorish Spirit hath raigned the mystery of the glorious Gospel hath been vailed And men have highly pretended Faith in Christ and yet lived in the nature of the Devil murdering and destroying one another and despising one another for a few outward observations and Ceremonies Whereby it is manifest that the Faith of the Gospel hath been vailed among them The Sun hath been darkened in the Firmament through the Clouds of mens imaginations and inventions and traditions upon which they have put the weight of their Religion and so wanting the nature of the true Faith they have persecuted one another for these things For they have been ignorant of their own state and taken themselves to be Churches of Christ when they were but the outward Court which was left out unmeasured and given to the Nations When the Woman the true Church withdrew her self into the Wilderness the Lord in mercy left an outward Court open for the Gentiles or Nations to assemble in for their assemblings are in the outward Court. And he left it unmeasured giving the Gentiles or Nations leave to use their own wisdom in their wayes of assembling and approaching towards his Holy Temple But they mistaking their own institutions for the true Ordinances and Institutions of Christ have in their blinde Zeal for them persecuted one another and also trampled the Holy City under foot among them because she could not walk with them in their humane traditions and mingled inventions which indeed have borne some face of Christs Ordinances but polluted through mens inventions the Nations setting Gods post by mans post as the Scripture speaks And hence in pretence for God they have been destructive one to another and all to the true worshippers and so are plainly discovered to be out of the true Gospel Faith which hath been obscured among them and they involved in darkness and ignorance For had the Nations known their own state that they were but the outward Court left unmeasured then would they have known also that the measures of others in their approaching to worship might be as good as their own or at least wise that it was left at liberty as well as their own Or had the Nations known the power and true nature of Faith they would not have persecuted and destroyed others for differing from them in profession of Religion But it is said when the Son of man comes shall he finde Faith on the Earth Which implyes the great defect thereof and the great Apostacy therefrom upon the Earth As indeed is made manifest by the lives and works of men For if by Faith the Son of God were received they would do the works of God Yea they in whom Christ lives they do the works of Christ And blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that he is again reviving of the truth and dispelling the darkness and begetting a People to himself not only to know his Heavenly nature better but also to live therein in their measure And he will yet more and more discover the false Fruitless and destroying Faith of Nominal and National Churches who pretend Faith in Christ and Hope in Christ and yet live in the nature and works of him whom Christ doth cast out and whose works he comes to destroy which kinde of believers or Professors of Christianity cause the gloryous name of our Lord Jesus Christ to be blasphemed that is evil spoken of among them that own him not as namely Turks and Jews and other infidels Therefore the Lord will bring down such Hypocritical Faiths And that shall be the fall of Babylon the great For what was the fall of the Jews Was it not the discovery of their false and Hypocrical profession of his name leaving them therein as in a Snare when he drew out from among them the upright and simple hearted who truely feared him and believed in him So the fall of Babylon that is of all false Faiths which work the works of Satan and hold the seed of Christ in bondage their fall shall be the discovery of their Hypocriticall Faith that shall be the fall thereof and she shall be discovered to be a habitation of Devils False Faiths that bring forth the works of the Devil lying deceit murder persecution pride envy hatred and such like such Faiths are fit receptacles and habitations for the Devil to act his part under and men living in his Spirit and doing his works are rightly caâ—led by his name as Peter was when he did so On the other hand they that live in the Spirit of Christ Jesus in his innocent nature following him they are rightly called the Sons and Daughters of God This was no strange thing in the Apostles dayes when their Faith was a living Faith and gave them fellowship with God though in our dayes since the memory of many some have been Pillored and Stigmatized for blasphemers for professing Sonship with God Which showes what grosse ignorance and darkness hath been over the Spirits of men though highly professing Faith in Christ For if they had known either the Scriptures or the power and Priviledges of a living Faith they durst not have done so Now are we the Sons of God saith John And as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God saith Paul and such having received the Spirit of Adoption draw nigh to God in that Spirit crying Abba Father Yea the Apostle goes higher and is very bold in his expressing of the near relation of the Sons of God with him If Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ if we suffer with him that we may be also glorifyed together Rom. 8. True and living Faith gives this Sonship As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his name So believing on his name is receiving Christ and with him Sonship and Heir-ship And then he being received and his Spirit leading us we are thereby taught to walke as the Sons of God without rebuke in the World And so the lives of the Servants of the Lord being blamelesse are ar lights in the World and preaches righteousness to the World and tend to the glory of God Let your light so shine before men saith Christ that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven To whom be glory and Honour for ever for his unsearchable love manifested to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS