Angels and men in the beings they have already received through the power of a resurrection wherein their first beings are not annihilated but altered and made other then they were at first as they are rarified exalted and made to receive by way of superinduction a better and more excellent form and glory in harmony with which they are so far from losing what they had that they receive their own again with usury Therefore it is described by the putting off the old and putting on the new without being found naked or destitute of the being and righteousness they had In it old things indeed pass and are done away as they are corruptible and mortal standing single upon the first root but they are brought forth and restored again upon a new account without having totally or finally ceased to be as it fares with the natural body in the lowest and most literal sense it can be taken in it is not so properly new created at the resurrection as raised up and exalted into a better tenure and exercise of the same life and operation then at first it had as is evident in the body of Christ himself giving the demonstration thereof fourty daies together whilst he was upon earth between his Resurrection and Ascention This is the END which comes and takes its place after that to the natural eye of Angels and men all things appeared to have had their finishing by reason of the good estate of being which they judged themselves to be already brought into and in possession of And indeed this was so truly and really a state of good and of perfection in its kind that God himself acknowledged it to be such by a general approbation of all those first works of his hands However as good as it was it was mutable fading wearing off and vanishing away in the principles of its natural body and first visible constitution as it is said Heb. 1. 10. 11 12 Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed evidently asserting the change they were subjected unto by God from the beginning not as we may say willingly but in hope or in reference to a better state of being intended of God through this change to be brought upon them by Christ considered in his second appearance sitting on the Throne as is in the same chapter declared ver 8 9. unto the Son he saith Thy throne O God is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy Kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows So that it is not without cause that the Apostle Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. that the natural body is sown in corruption in order to be raised in incorruption Where corruption signifies no more then that mutability or changeableness which the first creation was sowen in in its innocent and good estate of being capable to be made better by being clothed upon with what is more excellent or to decline and sink down into a sinful corruption and in that to become unchangeable in which as in chains of darkness the wicked are detained unto the judgement of the great day no more place or change or repentance being left unto them And in this as in one chief particular the weakness of things in the natural body or first creation doth appear notwithstanding the good and perfection it was set up in which was common and universal to all that was made in the six daies But secondly there was a faultiness and weakness which the Scripture acknowledges incident to this innocent state which properly and only refers to Angels and men as made under the first covenant respecting the operation of their minds and inward powers wherein they were fitted and prepared for meetness of converse with God under that covenant which faultiness is spoken of Heb. 8. 7. 8. in the case of men which compared with Jude ver 6. shews that the Angels also were comprehended under the same This faultiness sprang up partly from the terms of the first covenant requiring the creatures continuance in all things commanded under pain of the curse which terms though good and just to be imposed by God upon them yet were capable of being ill made use of by the creature as it is said 1 Tim. 1. 8. The Law is good if a man use it lawfully importing that what was good in itself and in its first institution might by the unlawful and contrary use made of it become evil to them who so abused it 2 ly This faultiness sprang up also from the creatures weakness as not long able to bear the glory of its first state with sobriety of mind occasioned by the good and perfection already received which it thought could never be valued at too high a rate so that it judged itself enabled thereby to do all that God required and commanded in the wisdom and sufficiency already communicated and imparted to it which weakness and mistake in the creature was not caused by its creation nor came necessarily from it but occasionally and accidentally by the creatures voluntary overvaluing and over-trusting in the strength and power received putting more stress upon it then was meet and putting it to other use then God intended it Whence it is said Rom. 8. 3 4. what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh it pleased God to fulfil by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull flesh and for sin condemning sin in the flesh For through this weakness sin made its entrance which weakness and faultiness therefore in all the respects before mentioned was that which God thought requisite to provide against and supply by the ending and finishing hand which he reserved to put unto the work he had made on the seventh day by translating the creature without the intervening of sin into that Rest and incorruptible state which was the true end for which the first creation was brought forth and unto which it was appointed to serve and be subject in the changeable condition it was at first set up in as the means to bring all things into their everlastingly good or bad estate fore-known unto God from all eternity who therefore in his wisdome thought meet that the natural body should be first and then the spiritual and that the natural body should be sowen in weakness corruption or mutability that it might be raised in power and in incorruption and so be made a spiritual body and brought into its true Rest if through the creatures own default it fell not short came to be excluded For though it may be objected that God who did eternall foreknow all events and who
the gates of hell to prevail against the very elect themselves that are built on the Rock and are out of his reach to annoy in reference to the certainty of their salvation finding therefore little hopes or likelihood to frustrate them in that he makes it his business to render them of all men most miserable as to any hopes or enjoyments in this life wherein he finds latitude given him in the power allowed to him to bruise their heel Secondly he useth all the means-that lie in his power by subtilty or force so far as Gods permission gives way to him to assault the will and judgement of man how highly enlightned and how far quickned soever upon his single natural root in order to entice and draw him away from his subjection unto God in the natural service and worship that is due from him never leaving till he hath prevailed with and over him to provoke God so highly notwithstanding all his goodness patience and long-suffering to him extended through the blood of Christ as thereby to render himself unworthy of any further love or favour and to move God to swear in his wrath that he shall never enter into his REST. Under these two general heads we shall find as in a constant track throughout the whole Scripture the workings and counter-workings that are kept on foot and maintained between the MAN CHRIST JESUS who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and the MAN OF SIN and grand deceiver Satan who would have no man to be saved but all to be made children unto him who is the father of lyes The means used by Christ to produce renew and maintain the workings and operations of light and life from him in the hearts and consciences of fallen mankind is by setting on foot as hath been already shewed the threefold law and government given and erected by him at the beginning over all the sons of Adam upon the fall through the power and exercise whereof First he doth that to and in the hearts and consciences of the very heathen which fits and qualifies them to live answerable if the fault be not in themselves to the law and government they are under according to the measures of attainment which the meer natural man may have The like he doth unto the children of the first Covenant unto whom he is much more bountiful sutably to the state he farther leads them into And thirdly he exceeds what he doth to both these in the communications of himself unto the spiritual seed whom he suffers not to destroy themselves but takes a course to cross their own wils and desires when they are hearkning to the temptation of their own lust or Satan to draw them away This threefold conscience and spirit of man in the proper principles and operations of each of them whether they are to be found single or all of them together as in sweet harmony thus set up in the spiritual seed our purpose is to treat of and that as particularly and distinctly as we can to fall in with the experiences of all that may be therein concerned looking upon this as the best method we can take for the clear opening and stating the several dispensations of Christs three-fold government and Kingdom already entred upon And therefore we shall consider the principles and operations of each of these consciences either First as they are Christs own workmanship in and upon the heart and spirit of man as the beginning and foundation of those holy and righteous actings by him required under the dispensation whereinto each of them is brought by God or Secondly as they are the lawfull and righteous workings of the spirit of man enabled hereunto by free gift from Christ and in dependance upon him yet as the fruit and travel of his own proper judgement and will rectified in the use of those means prepared and laid before him by Christ to bring him to the right end of all motion which is the true REST whilst as yet he is under works and not under grace or Thirdly as they are the unlawfull and forbidden fruit of mans spirit qualified and enabled from Christ as before expressed when through his own lust he is enticed and through the subtilty of Satan he is ensnared so as lust when it hath thus conceived is the root of all evil operation bringing forth fruit unto death even death eternal in the end if the Lord upon the grounds of his new and everlasting Covenant do not pluck such souls out of this danger and lead them to such a state as contains in it a perfect security and freedom from the re-entry of sin with its prevailing power over them Through the right and distinct consideration of these principles and operations of conscience in the sons and daughters of men we may come to find our selves where we are and whose subjects whether Christs or the Devils and to what Kingdom or dispensation we belong in reference to the one or the other to the Kingdom of Christs marvellous light or to the power of Satans accursed darkness and upon what terms we stand in the one or the other whether in a wavering state consisting in a capacity and possibility of removal out of the one into the other or in a fixed determined state upon which it is impossible for any change to be brought either in a good sense or in a bad in which men are reserved and kept fast either in the bonds of perfect love light and freedom that casteth out fear as the elect or in chains of darkness and captivity unto the judgement of the great day as the non-elect who will be destroyed by the brightness of Christs coming when he shall appear the second time without sin to the salvation of his People And this we shall do if God permit as a service to these present times wherein like little children most are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby men and devils lie in wait to deceive and lead on the ignorant to the Chambers of death CHAP. XV. Shewing more particularly the bounds of that Rule and Government which is set up by Christ in the natural conscience together with the answer of a good conscience thereunto in those that are under this first dispensation IT is most evident by the Scriptures that amongst the nations who are said to be without law as distinguished from the Jews that were under the law there were found doers of the law by nature who shewed the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences bearing them witness and their thoughts mean while accusing or excusing one another Rom. 2. 14 15. Of such Peter speaketh Acts 10. 34 35. where he saith Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him according as David
see thou do it not for I am thy fellow servant and of thy Brethren the Prophets and of them which keep the sayings of this book worship God by which Christ describes himself to John in his meer creature-nature according to which he saith in the Gospel Why callest thou me good there is none good but one that is God But secondly Michael is the great Prince as he is the WORD also of the final decision of all things the WORD of the oath separating in and by his last judgement and sentence between the sheep and the goats as he is the first begotten from the dead Gods high Priest consecrated for evermore Exercising the mind of God and of the creature made one in an undissoluble bond of love peace and reconciliation In which of twain that they were as first they become one new Creation in which both minds are exercised in perfect harmony and peace All enmity being slain and for ever abolished through the blood of the Cross whereby Christs creature-nature is exalted to be Gods associate or equal in his very throne receiving a Name above every Name even above that of Arch-Angel itself or first-born of every creature unto which all creature-names and natures are to bow and do homage as to him who being thus found in the form of God counts it not robbery to be equal with God A lively figure of Christ the Messiah or Michael the great Prince thus considered the Scripture gives us in the person of Melchisedech Hebrews 7. Who in his name descent and office doth most aptly represent this great mysterie First in his name as he is King of righteousness Head of all natural life and perfection and then as King of peace or author of true rest in which he is Head of the new creatures righteousness and everlasting life Secondly in his descent which is most mysterious and incomprehensible without Father without Mother without pedigree or lineal descent from the creature having neither beginning of daies nor end of life but made the likness or figure of the Son of God who was in TRUTH all this through the first and immediate operations of the Trinity bringing themselves to light in him Thirdly in his office of High-Priesthood comprehending the sacrifice as well as the sacrificer and also the first and highest Sanctuary wherein this divine service and holy sacrifice was performed to God from the foundation of the world by Christ the Lamb then slain and passing out of the state of perfection as he was the first-born of every creature into the life and quickning from the dead whereof he was made the beginning and first-begotten and in all things to have the preheminence In both which respects Christ is the Messiah him whom God sends the likeness of the appearance of whose glory considered as the WORD of God whilst as yet he was not made flesh was the subject matter of Ezekiels vision Chap. 1. where he is most lively and expresly held forth in this his twofold ministration First as he is the spirit and voice of the Almighty ver 24. giving life and motion to the four living creatures ver 5. 12. which four are but one living creature Chap. 10. 15. comprehending in itself the variety and fulness the glory and perfection of the whole first creation from the four ends and quarters of it answering therein to the first-born of every creature mentioned Col. 1. 15. Who was before all things and in whom all things consist or stand up together as in their Head which he is described to be in reference to Angels Ezek. 10. 11. where the Ministry of Angels is typed out by the wheels full of eyes whose wings were of such a height that they were dreadful Chap. 1. 18. The same with those Chariots of God Psal 68. 17. that are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels who Psal 103. 20. 21 22 in the mightiness or excellency of their strength are ever doing the commands and hearkning unto the voice of this WORD as his Hosts and Ministers that do his pleasure in all places of his dominion by reason whereof the motion of this WORD or voice of the Almighty Ezekiel 1. 24. is compared to the noise of wings and the noise of an host Now of these wheels it is said Chapter 10. 11. that when they went they went upon their four sides and turned not as they went but to the place whither the Head looked they followed it they turned not as they went meaning the good Angels contrary whereunto the motion of the bad ones is described Jude v. 6. by turning aside from this head not keeping their first estate or principality but leaving their own habitation or dependency upon their head whom therefore he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgement of the great day Thus Ezekiel saw the Lord Christ the true Messiah in his ministry of Gods first appearance And to shew that Christ in this is but a preparer of the way to the glory that follows and maker of the way for the second voice to be heard and attended unto in the end as he hath been in the beginning it is said that when the first ceased from motion and stood they then let down their wings whereupon there was a voice from the firmament over their heads when they stood and had let down their wings and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a Throne and upon the likeness of the Throne was the appearance of a man above upon it Ezek. 1. 24 25 26. which Throne is more at large as we shall shew by and by opened Rev. 4. plainly figuring out Gods second appearance even those good things to come which are opened by Christs entrance within the veil and sitting down on the Throne at Gods right-hand expecting untill his foes be made his footstool or as 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. untill he shall have put down all rule and all authority and powers of the first Creation under his feet that would be exalting themselves against him and not be freely and willingly ready with the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders to prostrate themselves with their Crowns before the Throne saying thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were Created Rev. 4. 9. 10 11. which is the true broken frame of spirit in Elect men and Angels as they are built up a-new and brought forth from the grave into the power of an endless and incorruptible life even in their natural beings who considered in that capacity as so renewed are ingraffed into a new stock by life from the dead and are so represented by the four beasts but as withall they have the addition of a better and higher principle of life installing them in a Royal priesthood with Christ and setting them on the Throne of his glory they are represented by the
are the heavenly spiritual seed and from above measured out with a line of life as adopted children and friends of God the latter are the earthly or fleshly seed and from beneath measured out with a line of death as chusing the state of a servant or to remain single and alone in their natural principles enemies to the cross of Christ and resisters of the grace whereby the other are saved which saving grace we shall find 2 Tim. 1. 9. was conferred freely on the Elect without condition according to Gods purpose and given them in Christ Jesus before the world began So Ephes 1. 3 4. They were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in Christ according as they were chosen in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before him in love Thus we see in what sense the particular beings of men and Angels are the off-spring and seed of Christ children of the first or second covenant frequently so called in Scripture although none but those that are called according to his purpose to be heirs of God and joynt-heirs with Christ of the Fathers glory ministred to them in and by the new and everlasting Covenant do truly deserve the name of Sons or Children who have a name better then that of Sons and Daughters by the other Covenant From this general consideration therefore of Men and Angels as all are the seed and off-spring of Christ we must come to several distributions of them For First Here we have the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven the inhabitants of the true Mount Sion and City of the living God Secondly we have the innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12. 22 23. who are made ministring Spirits to these heirs of salvation Heb. 1. 14. Thirdly we have the Legions of wicked Angels that made themselves such by their fall and disobedience reserved in chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day Fourthly we have the whole race of mankind in one lump or mass as considered in their natural life and being bearing the image and similitude of God according to his first appearance wherein all are brought forth in the beginning as a state for them not to abide in but from whence to be passing into an endless and immortal state of honour or dishonour All these by name are created and have their invisible immortal substances brought forth by the WORD as his off-spring made to stand up together in and with the man Jesus Christ as their head and are committed to the charge of the Mediator to assign unto them all circumstances for their being brought forth into their visible bodily appearances in this world together with the means and method of bringing them upon the stage of this first creation and the lot there wherein they are to stand and serve in their several places uses and relations according as he hath received command from the Father So that from the time that the man Christ Jesus began to be in the WORD as in his head and root standing up in the sight and presence thereof as the promised seed to come we are to date the beginning of dayes unto the invisible substances of Angels and Men who then also began to be in their head and were ever beholding or rather beheld by their Father in heaven untill they were made actually to exist in continuance of time in their own proper persons and beings CHAP. IV. Concerning the Creation Nature and Ministry of Angels IT is said Gen. 1. 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth In what sense Christ is the beginning hath been already opened and how as the Messiah he is the Minister of Gods first appearance in which he is head unto the Angels the Lord amongst them in Sinai by whose voice the Law or first covenant was given where he was compassed about with these his fiery Chariots who receive what is spoken by Christ of the mind and will of God to speak it forth again as the Word they are to publish unto men in the Ministry of the first covenant Heb. 2. 2. In this sense it is said Acts 7. 53. that the Law was given by the disposition of Angels They therefore do obtain the first order and rank of all natural beings in the first creation and are endued with an instrumentalness of being and motion to this use and service of their Head as also to be the subordinate means of all converse which by Christ is maintained between God and the first world unto whom it is put in subjection as Heb. 2. 5. compared with Psal 8. 5. do evidence These in their creation are described by the light which God made on the first day Gen. 1. 34. when he said let there be light and there was light and God saw the light that it was good approving this first work of his hands in the beginning of that day and God by his dividing the light from the darkness signified the heavenliness of their frame and constitution as they stand exalted and separate in their beings from all sensual life in the form of invisible spirits whereof the material heavens in their creation are the first shadow which are called Prov. 8. 26. the highest part of the dust of the world as David also giving account of both their creations together Psal 104. ver 2 3 4. saith who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariots who walketh upon the wings of the wind who maketh his Angels spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire in which posture and preparation the Psalmist describes the WORD as he proceeds to the rest of the creation ver 5 6. c. intimating that as man in his bodily state was made dust of the ground so the Angels were made a flame of fire in their natural constitution In this their natural frame they excell in strength and power Psal 103. to execute the commands of their head and in their motion and actings are exceeding high and dreadful comparatively with all other parts of the Creation and therefore these Morning-Stars considered as they are together in one society and corporation amongst whom there is a chief and prince called Lucifer the first son of the morning are the image and glory of Christ as he is the first-born of every creature in like service use and relation as the woman is to the man whose image and glory she is A view of these angelical spirits in their nature ministry and use is lively set forth and represented in the vision Ezekiel had Chap. 1. compared with Chap. 10. as the body unto Christ who is there described by the living creature which the Prophet saw under the God of Israel which living creature is said to have the likeness of a man and is also called
and the works of his hands judging and condemning the wicked Angels for their disobedience reserving them in chains of darkness unto the judgement of the great day and taking the holy and obedient Angels into participation and fellowship with himself in the life from the dead by him obtained and possessed as the Lord to whom God spake to sit down at his right hand from the beginning until he made his foes his foot stool through whom as through a Propitiatory covering he did look down upon all the works of his hands and was at rest and well pleased with them as wrought in the Mediator notwithstanding all that had been done by sin or Satan to effect a breach and alineate his mind from them Hence Job 38. 6 7. it is said that God fastned the foundation of the first world and laid the corner-stone thereof viz. in the person of the Mediator by way of provision and preparation against all the power of sin and Satan in their attempts upon it At this the good Angels those morning stars and sons of God rejoyced prying into this mysterie which made them sing and shout for joy as on the same occasion it is said Psal 118. 22 23 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it to see thereby the Devil and his Angels disappointed in their wicked designs who by the bringing in of sin were in hopes to have hindred the growing up of Jesus the BRANCH that was to spring out of this ROOT But Davids ROOT sitting as Lord at Gods right hand had before obtained that power which was to subdue all enemies and lay them flat at his foot-stool Davids OFF-SPRING therefore was in no danger of having his course stopped or race hindred wherein as a mighty Saviour and Redeemer he was to go forth and rescue the whole spiritual seed out of the hands of sin and Satan to bring them unto the true REST and obtain a gracious reprieve and forbearance for the most obstinate and rebellious also And as this was the end of Christs coming in the flesh he is accordingly fitted and qualified thereunto enabled in every particular to fulfil and accomplish the same But that we may the more clearly and distinctly understand and come to see wherein Jesus Christ as man is made this mighty Saviour and Redeemer unto men we shall consider this in three chief particulars all which were the product and consequents of the Word 's being made flesh As first the seeds and principles of a two-fold holiness and righteousness formed and set up in the mind of Christ as he is a man answerable to both Covenants For by the Word 's being made flesh the man Christ Jesus was taken into a twofold union and communion with God through the overshadowing of the Holy-Ghost in the womb of the Virgin becoming thereby in his own person the substance of both Covenants Isa 42. 6. and ch 49. 8. The true Abraham or Father to both seeds as well that of the Law as that of Faith In both which considerations of his man-hood he was substantially or personally united with God or with the WORD he and the WORD making but one Person and one Mediator which no man whatever besides himself is or can be and by vertue hereof he is qualified both as Priest and Sacrifice to pay that ransom and make that atonement for sin which God required The first of these unions he had as made under the Law or first-covenant which produced in him suitable righteous and holy principles unto the rule and tenor thereof enabling him to fulfill all that kind and sort of righteousness therein and thereby required and commanded In respect of which union and the image of God thence springing up in him and adorning of him he was truly and properly made a living soul and in this fashion and habit of a man was to taste death for every man as being in a state subjected thereunto called the natural body in distinction from the spiritual body For 1 Cor. 15. 44 45. there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body as it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit Through this first union Christ had an exercise of life as meer man and in common with all men sin only excepted by reason whereof the workings and operations of his mind though they were in their kind most perfect yet were but those of the first Adams righteousness in the highest purity and perfection thereof The second union and communion then which is contracted between the WORD and Jesus the Son of Mary made him a quickning Spirit and brought him under the Law of the Spirit or of the second and everlasting Covenant as it is written Isa 59. 21. Thus 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 from henceforth and for ever Through which union Christ as man had the Spirit poured out upon him without measure and above the measure according unto which he was the receiver of it as he was under the Law singly considered as him whom God the Father seals and on whom he confers his new name or second image feeding him with hidden Manna and admitting him into the glory within the veil setting up in him the exercise of spiritual senses suited and prepared to converse with the very substantial brightness and similitude of God face to face even apparently in which Moses was the figure of him Numb 12. 8. In this exercise of life Christ as man is made higher then the heavens exalted to a name above every name far above all principalities and powers having herein obtained a more excellent name and inheritance then the Angels unto whom nevertheless as he was made under the law he was made inferiour for the tasting of death In respect of this his exalted state of humane nature he is called Gods first begotten Heb. 1. 6. by reason of whose hypostatical or substantial union with the WORD the Angels of God are appointed to worship him and to acknowledge him in this glory one and equal with the Father alwaies doing that which is pleasing unto him The seed of this union and communion was sown in the humane nature of Christ in the very womb the former and this both together making up that holy thing born of the Virgin that child Jesus who is said to grow in grace and in favour with God and with man like the vine whose fruit was refreshing to the heart of God and of man having the principles and exercise of life springing up in him that were most suitable agreeable to the heart of both being a man of God after Gods own heart as well as a righteous and holy man according to the Law
cross and life from the dead These are the hundred fourty and four thousand spoken of Rev. 14. 1. which were redeemed from the earth ver 3. or out of all that was earthy and had learned to sing a new song before the throne and before the four beasts and the four and twenty elders which no man could learn but themselves ver 3. These are they which were not defiled with women but are virgins induced from the simplicity that is in Christ to follow the Lamb whereever he goeth who were redeemed from amongst men being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb v. 4 In whose mouth was found no guile for they are without fault before the throne of God able to sing the sing of Moses and of the Lamb. These are the Jacob that are Gods portion Deut. 32. 9. or his peculiar people and treasure the lot of his inheritance reserved for the immediate shining forth of light from the face of the Son himself whether in his first or second appearance These are they of whom the Israelites after the flesh that were not of the faith of Abraham nor born after the spirit but children only of Mount Sinai and of the bondwoman were only the types and figures and as such were cast off when the true seed came and appeared calling the Gentiles home unto himself even as the worldly Church and fleshly seed of Professors among the Christian Gentiles shall be dealt with when the Jews are grafted in again upon a Spiritual account and shall be made known to be the fulness of the Gentiles Thus in brief we have made way unto the stating first the subjects of that threefold kingdom of Christ which we propounded to treat of secondly the rule set up over each of them appointed by Christ to govern judge and condemn those of them that walk not in conformity thereunto in these several distinguished conditions of men Thirdly the distinct nature and kind of these several administrations of Christs Kingdom and Government kept on foot and upheld by him in the world Which three particulars we shall first give you the view of in a clear witness from the Scriptures and then apply our selves to a distinct treating of the things and persons relating to each of these three Dominions or Kingdoms of Christ or rather distinct administrations of the one Government of Christ which he is heir and possessor of over men and Angels First then we are to consider the subjects that are bred up under the three administrations of Christs Government and Rule over men in their proper distinguishing characters names and descriptions wherein the Scripture presents them to our view But that we may be the better understood what we mean when we speak of these subjects it will be needfull for us to premise that there are two sorts of subjects under each administration either first such as are willingly subject for conscience sake whom Christ rules by the power of his light by them received owned and walked in Or secondly such as he rules over by force and with a rod of iron as his enemies breaking those that will not bend when they fall by their miscarriage and demerit under the power of his revenging Justice in any of these branches of his Government First then these two sorts of subjects under Christs first administration of Rule we shall find comprehended in those general Scripture expressions which distinguish all the Nations of the earth in their Gentilism and uncircumcised state from the Jews that are a higher enlightened sort of the sons of Adam in a separate and divided state as planted wholly a right seed Jer. 2. 21. a noble vine whereas the other are said to be alienated from the life of God delivered up to vile affections having their understandings darkned and walking in the vanity of their minds who as compared with the Jews are those that live without Law are sinners without law and perish without Law Rom. 2. 12. who are also said in this sense to be without God and without Christ in the world Such as have little or nothing of the first Image left in them but are carried away unto dumb idols as they are led This is the state wherein we are all by nature dead in trespasses and sins walking according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the Ruler of the darkness of this world working in the children of disobedience having our conversation in the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires thereof and of the mind as children of wrath Eph. 2. 1 2 3. working all uncleanness with greediness These are further described by the uncircumcision in the flesh the corrupt natural man or the heathen in Scripture phrase that is to say the nations kindreds and people of the world that through the fall are turned into a degenerate plant a wild Olive tree having their place and habitation in the WICKED ONE who Rules acts and influences them at his pleasure In this sad helpless forlorn and wretched state Christ the Mediator finds all mankind by the fall and is pleased not here to leave them but through the ransom by him paid for all to bestow freely upon them the benefit of this first light and Rule under which he places them by the means of the ministry of Angels with which he enlightens every one that comes into the world begetting in them a capacity to seâ—k the Lord and to feel or grope after him in the midst of their darkness and setting up a work in their conscience to do and perform the things contained in the law if they wilfully desâ—ise not and neglect the means of light provided for them in this state which some of them do make a right and good use of and so are led forward by further enlightnings and quicknings to the saving of their souls whilst such as refuse or despise this are hardned and seared in their rebellion and reservea with the wicked Angels in chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day These willing captives of Sathan were typed out by those servants under the law who refusing their liberty offered in the years of Jubilee and seasons for their redemption were boared in the ears in token of the just and perpetual servitude that belonged to such as so little valued their liberty when freely offered to them and when the having or not having thereof depended meerly upon their own acceptance or refusal Secondly The two sorts of Subjects under Christs second administration consist of those sons of Adam that are purified quickned and enlightned whose bodies are washed with pure water cleansed from the filthiness of their natural man by having that done to them which was done to the Jewish nation or seed of Israel when called by God into a distinguished state from among the Gentiles Ezek. 16. ver 5. to the 15. when she was as a cast-out among the Gentiles to the loathing
be reigning as Kings in a fleshly visibility and worldly glory without the true crucified Saint that in the meane time is made a spectacle to men and Angels and judged as the filth of the world and as the off-scouring of all things unto whom neverthelesse Christ speaks after this manner Esay 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust This is the last particular of our conformity to Christs death And now by what hath beene said in these four particulars as the result rising out of them all our eye may receive enlightning if God please in this great and glorious mystery of Christs death and the effect it hath upon us when it conformes us unto its own likenesse and similitude For we see it doth not annihilate the first Adam or natural man in us but it spoils and disrobes him of the power in effect to sin against God which he upon specious pretences would faine keep for sacrifice in bodily exercise though of little value a power to do his own will and to be at his owne disposal in the strength of grace received bearing oile in his Lamp but not in his vessel In the exercise of which power man is perfectly weakened and disabled by the Crosse First through Christs withdrawing the food and nourishment of it in him Secondly through Satans bruising and breaking down his stout-heartednesse as an executioner of Gods wrath upon him in bereaving him of worldly comforts which God sanctifies to a laying low of mans spirit under this rod of God though applied by Satan and his instruments Thirdly through the victory and conquest of faith which never leaves till it captivate all the powers and faculties of the natural man and bring them into obedience and subjection unto Christ to live unto him that is risen from the dead and so to bring forth fruit unto God in newnesse of spirit and of life made at last to take faith in the principles and operations of it for its Lord and best friend and therein to observe the Law of God given on that behalf that the elder should serve the younger that the first Adam should serve the last Adam Esau should serve Jacob or the naturall powers and faculties of the Saints mind should serve the heavenly birth and spiritual senses thereof that the righteousnesse of the Law may be performed in the Spirit of faith by being made one spirit with Christ in the glory of his resurrection from the dead the life whereof doth not yet fully appear but shall do when he shall be seene in that admirable glory and bring his Saints with him in the same likenesse that they may see him as he is as his associates and coheirs of the same incorruptible inheritance having hereby the use of heavenly faculties and powers given unto them whereby Christ will be admired in all those that do beleeve and they are admitted to enter within the veile and are made capable to converse with God in his own similitude apparently face to face as friend converses with friend which no man as a natural man in his best capacity did ever see nor can see and so the true Saints are made such excellent seers and contemplators of God thus influenced and over-ruled in all the powers and faculties of their subdued natural man as fashions them to do the will of God in earth or their earthly natural man thus taught obedience as they see it done and as they are the doers of it in heaven or in their spiritual and heavenly part and have oile in their vessels as well as in their lamps In which heavenly frame of spirit they are beheld by the Prophet Isaiah in the 54 chapter before mentioned when he saith All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall their peace be In righteousnesse shalt thou be established thou shalt be farre from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terrour it shall not come near thee when thou art made thus to dwell on high and art seated upon this munition of rocks behold they that shall gather together against thee shall not do it by me but whoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise in judgement against thee thou shalt condemne this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord. And let me say thus much upon this occasion in one word to the youthful visible and flourishing Saints of these our dayes who with great earnestnesse and zeale are trimming their Lamps with oile to go out to meet the Bridegroome in expectation of the fleshly glory of Christs Kingdome to the keeping up of Absalon against the true David in Spirit of my Lord Esau against the true Jacob or of Isaac in the flesh against Isaac crucified and offered up in sacrifice to God to be received againe in spirit in the life from the dead They are not yet under those promises before mentioned by reason whereof those that gather together against them may prevaile over them and the weapons formed against them may prosper till the power of the holy people be scattered and none shut up or left Whereas if the Lord take down and bruise the youthful spirit that is in them and cause them with David when they have tried the armour of man to put it off againe to go forth in this armour of God which makes the Saint strongest when he is weakest our Goliah shall be slaine that defies the Hosts of the living God and great salvation shall be wrought for Gods people when they shall be little more then standers by the Lord of the whole earth and lookers on By this time we come to see wherein our conformity to Christ in his death consists the place whereof is found under the third administration of the Kingdome of Christ which in the three branches thereof we have endeavoured to describe in the preceding chapters The first of which may be compared to the Moone that rules the night as the weaker and fainter light of Christs first appearance the representation whereof is given by the single Ministery of Angels as the supreme Lords and Rulers under Christ of the natural and first world by the first Covenant considered meerly as the Law of nature receiving its renewal in the blood of Christ The second is likened by the Scripture unto the Sunne which shadowes forth the vigorous light and glory of Christs first appearance as it is ministred singly in and by the first Covenant considered as the Law and perfection of his flesh in the principles and life whereof the sonnes and servants are not differenced one from another but both walk to the house of God as friends the sonnes of God as well as the sonnes of perdition those that are borne after the flesh as well
a subordinate and subjected way to be inseparably harmonious co-workers with that second and better activity of faith which blessed association of these two in the last Adam is much better then the one that is single and alone in the first making up of twain that one new man and new name which is better then the name of sons and of daughters in the children of the first Covenant Hence it appears that Christ in his active obedience did not only conform to the Law as a legally righteous and holy man doing the work of a servant in the spirit and life of the Son fulfilling the righteousness of the Law by faith but that he did also perform the proper works required by the Law of the new-covenant consisting in the holy observation of the true Sabbath and bringing his fleshly principles into subjection unto and useful co-operativeness with his heavenly and spiritual in the exercise of faith And so Christs active obedience we see distinguisheth it self into the works required to be done by the first and second covenant This hath brought us to the second sort of Christs obedience which is called passive as consisting in that wherein he was a sufferer which also is capable of a twofold consideration First in respect of that which he suffered under the power and activity of faith carrying his natural judgement and will into a voluntary captivity to the teachings of the Father that trained him up to the doing of his Fathers will with the denyal or not doing of his own as properly his in the activity of his fleshly or legal principles or secondly as relating to that wherein he was made a curse for us appointed and delivered up by the Father though still with his own consent to bear the punishment due unto sinners and perform that in his own person wherewith Gods Justice might be satisfied and sin expiated as it is written by his stripes we are healed the just is punished and the unjust is set free Christ was in the first of these respects truly and properly a sufferer as he that submitted himself to be bereaved and deprived of the exercise of these principles in and upon the operation whereof in the judgement of the natural man as single depended the performance of the condition of the first Covenant wherein all mankind was concerned as it is written He that doth these things shall live in them So as the weakness and disability which he suffered to be brought upon himself in this his operation might seem to be the way to expose him to the curse and wrath of God threatned upon non-performance of the condition of the Law as it is written Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them and therefore was hard even for Christs natural man to undergo costing him many a tear groan and cry before his natural judgement was fully silenced and made to yield to it as giving full credit to this report of faith calling for obedience hereunto as to the voice of God Isa 53. And as this seemed hard to Christs natural judgement so nothing was more bitter and cross to the inclinations and desires of his natural will then to have his natural spirit thus broken abased humbled and laid low in such a poor destitute and weak condition as to become a worm no man unable to make resistance or defence for himself by the exercise of that activity that was properly his own which is hereby taken out of his single dispose in order to be brought forth in newness of operation through the power and activity of faith or the seed and principles flowing forth from his second union wherein he and his Father are one and the life he lives and the will he does is not his own exercised single but in conjunction and association with that of the Father Howbeit in this we are not to understand the natural man of Christ as meerly passive or violently bereaved of the use and exercise of this his first operation and activity but are to consider him herein as convinced in judgement and gained in will to the forbearance thereof and cessation therefrom and so voluntarily submitting his own hands in this regard to be bound and his feet tyed upon undeniable reasons and clear demonstrations to the eye of his faith of a far greater good to be redounding to him by the same This Christ asserts Joh. 10. 17 18. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self who might keep it and exercise it if I would for I have power or freedom to lay it down and also to take it up according to the commandment which I haveh rein received from the Father and because I do it in the way of choice and freely not by compulsion therefore it is my Father loves me Thus also Christ testifieth of himself Joh. 8. where he saith I am one that bear witness of my self or I have a principle in me that can declare it self in the proper life and operation of a natural righteous and holy man as one made under the Law and walking in all the ordinances and commandments of God therein blameless Yet saith he Joh. 5. 30 31. to come forth in the single exercise hereof is not my manner of acting for of my self I can do nothing or I am taught by my Father to do nothing but in association with him as I hear I Judge and I am thereby instructed not to do my own will or go forth in the single exercise of my first activity but to seek the will of the Father that sent me even to the offering up in sacrifice my own proper will and desire For if I should bear witness of my self my witness single were not true or authentique to make out truth according to your law which Ioh. 8. 16 17 18. requires two witnesses for the establishing of every truth therefore saith he there is another with me in association that never leaves me to my single actings and I know that the witness which he gives of me is true and that the testimony which I give flowing from that anointing is truth in the full and compleat evidence thereof That then which in this first sense Christs natural man was a sufferer in consisted in the weakness and disability which was brought upon the fleshly mind to resist the powerful workings of his faith or spiritual mind unto the obedience where of it is voluntarily made captive as the only way and means to be brought into the Rest and Cessation required by the Father in respect whereof it is that he saith he can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do for whatsoever things he doth these doth the Son likewise and so is no loser by this kind of weakness and inability but rather a rich
what his hand and counsel had before determined to be done For they that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers because they knew him not nor yet the voices of the Prophets they have fullfilled them in condemning him Acts 13. 27 29. And when they had fullfilled all that was written of him to be done by them upon him as instruments of vengeance they took him down from the tree In all which proceedings of God Angels and men Christ the just suffered for the unjust the innocent and righteous had the due reward of the guilty transgressor so that he being thus made the punishment for our sins it seemed good unto God to make us righteousness in him and to become capable of the reward contained in the promises due unto the same upon the terms of the first or second covenant Secondly whilest thus the wrath and rage of man in all the circumstances thereof was as it were armed by God to shew it self in open violences and injuries against him God was also in a more immediate way exercising him inwardly with all manner of desertions and withdrawings of his presence with the fruits and comforts thereof from his natural man denying and with-holding the reward due to him as a righteous and holy man according to the Law and instead thereof recompencing unto him the punishment due unto the worst Malefactor appearing to the eye of flesh and blood in him and to the judgement and perswasion of him as he was a natural man in the posture and with the face of an enemy lively declared to be so apprehended by him in those dying words of his My God my God why hast thou forsaken me which is also most affectionatly and prophetically expressed Lam. 3. 1 c. not only in the person of Christ but also of his suffering Saints who drinking of the same cup of spiritual desertions and sufferings with him are those that in a sense also do bear the indignation of the Lord Micha 7. 9. not by way of satisfying Gods Justice and atoning his wrath which is peculiar only to Christ in his own personal sufferings but as such sufferings are requisite to the bruising of their heel subduing their natural man to a conformity with Christ in his death and to the filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in their flesh The Prophet in the place mentioned on this account Lam. 3. 1 c. complains after this manner I am the man saith he that have seen affliction by the rod of his wrath He hath led and brought me into darkness but not into light Surely against me he is turned he turneth his hand against me all the day My flesh and my skin hath he made old he hath broken my bones He hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chain heavy Also when I cry and shout he shutteth out my prayer He was unto me as a Bear lying in wait and as a Lyon in secret places He hath turned aside my waies and pulled me in pieces he hath made me desolate He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins I was a derision to all my peeple and their song all the day He hath filled me with bitterness he hath made me drunken with wormwood He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones he hath covered me with ashes And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace I forgat prosperity And I said my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord remembring mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled bowed or bruised in me The remembrance which Christ had under all this dispensation of wrath from God to the sense and discerning of his natural man of what was due unto sinners and what they had done to whom he was given for a Head Surety and Redeemer added as it were the sting to all these his sufferings setting before him the very form and ministry of that wrath from God which man fell under by reason of sin contained in that threatning In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Thus we are come to the second thing which is to open the nature of that wrath from God which Christ was capable of undergoing or that was needful to be poured out upon him in reference to the work of redemption Wrath properly is not to be found in the nature of God simply considered for God is love who therefore saith Fury is not in me but wrath as God is capable of exercising it consists in that posture of an enemy and face of displeasure wherewith he cloths and arms himself in Christ the Mediator in his intercourse with the creature Angels or men as the contrary form visage and appearance to that wherein he comes forth towards them as he is their God and husband upon the terms of either covenant first or second The ministry of which wrath is exercised therefore by God in a suitableness to the nature of the covenant it accompanies and is annexed unto and accordingly admits of a differing consideration For the ministry of Gods wrath contained in the threats of the first covenant is but temporary and conditional admitting of atonement remission and reconciliation by sacrifice ransome and intercession which being provided the benefit thereof obtained and applied redeems the sinner from under this curse and displeasure of God which is therefore called Gal. 3. 13. our redeeming from the curse of the law through Christs being made a curse for us Secondly then there is a higher and more fiery ministry of Gods wrath contained in the threats of the new and everlasting covenant which is eternal final and irrevocable never to be drawn in again when once gone forth because it never comes forth till the sinner hath been tryed and proved to the utmost and having abused all Gods patience and long-suffering treasuring up unto himself wrath against this day of wrath fixes at length in that remediless posture of defiance and enmity against God as is exclusive to all sacrifice or intercession of the Mediator as to any benefit thereby to him for ever Psal 49. 8. called Rev. 20. the second death which is everlasting for there remains no more sacrifice for his sins nothing now but fiery indignation reserved for implacable adversaries and wilful obstinate sinners Heb. 10. This ministry of wrath is mentioned also 2 Thess 1. 8. as that flaming fire wherein vengeance is taken on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel or new Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ Gods wrath in this second sense the damned and reprobate Angels and men are the objects of This is the lake of fire and brimstone they shall be cast into which shall never be quenched and therefore
reserved in heaven for them ready to be revealed in the last time They that are born of this seed are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of Man but of God and through the power of faith and the abiding of this seed in them are kept unto salvation without any possibility of sinning unto death or any danger of final falling away having by vertue of their reception of this seed in the heart through the gift of God the nature of true believers communicated unto them even the unity of the faith and knowledge of the son of God which makes them members of the new Jerusalem children of the promise who are born after the spirit and have that anointing whereby they know all things immediately from the head and fountain itself and need not that any man should teach them but as the same anointing teacheth them of all things 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. which was given to their head the true Aaron without measure running down upon all those that dwell together with him in the unity of the faith of the son of God even to the skirts of his garments upon the lowest members of this NEW JERUSALEM consecrating them a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD with himself to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God This new nature in the seed of it whilst it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen is called faith even the faith that justifies spreading over us the propitiatory covering of Christs spiritual headship and EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS in which we are made to stand for ever spotless and without guile before the Throne of God Those that are of this faith are blessed with faithful Abraham and are of that one seed that are heirs according to the promise The work of this faith and new birth when once wrought out by Christ in the heart and conscience is to breed patience and that patience experience and that experience hope even that hope which maketh not ashamed The patience which is wrought out in every regenerate one by this faith is called the obedience of faith that when it hath had its perfect work maketh us perfect so as to want nothing arming us with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus to suffer in the flesh in order to put an end to sin and to work off the soul from the will desire of the flesh into an absolute subjection and conformity to the heavenly will of Christ wherein he is one with the Father and so enabling us to keep the word of Christs patience which is indeed the Law and Rule under which the true believer is subjected until Christs second coming being to rest in the grave with Christ untill the remainder of his sufferings be fulfilled in his whole body the Church under the certainty and with the comfort of his promise that those that thus suffer with him shall also raign with him and those that thus die with him shall also live with him And that all true believers are thus observers of this Rule according to the patern left by Christ in his own sufferings purifying themselves as he is pure keeping the word of his patience and performing the obedience of faith which is required by the law of the new covenant we shall endeavour to make known as in the experience thereof and Testimony from the Scripture it is held forth For through the comprehending power of Christ as he is the head and root of this spiritual seed and precious faith which is obtained by Gods chosen ones they are separated from the very womb yea they have grace given unto them in Christ Iesus before the world began and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in him being accepted in the beloved In this respect Jacob was loved and Esau was hated or the one was accepted and the other was refused in their mothers wombe the children being not yet born neither of them having as yet done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth Howbeit we are not in Scripture sense nor in truth as some unwarrantably affirm actual believers until by effectual calling we are made receivers of whole Christ in the seed as before described And therefore the Apostle Paul who is a remarkable example herein though he had received grace in Christ Iesus as in his head before the world began and as thus comprehended in his head was separated and distinguished from the womb in whom the purpose of God according to the election was to stand yet it pleased not God to call him and by revealing his son in him to make him actually a believer and new creature until he had spent many years even a great part of his life in a sowerness and rigidness of spirit under the dispensation of the Law flaming out at last into cruel and fierce persecution of the Church of God though in all still preserved by his head from wilfull enmity For saith he I did it ignorantly In like manner all the children given to Christ by the Father whereof he is to lose none are thus separated and distinguished from the rest of the world as the beloved seed according to Gods purpose from the womb and so according to Gods purpose are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the world began Yet until it pleaseth God by his grace to call them whether they be in the state of circumcision or uncircumcision they live and walk according to the principles and Rule of that dispensation they are under For so we see in the great instance of Abraham the father of the faithful as by Stephen he is described to us Acts 7. in the manner of the calling with which he was called and whereby he was made actually a Believer and a new creature which was by Gods appearing to him and by the power of his WORD working in him calling and bringing him out of his own Country the land of his Nativity and from his natural relations into the land which he should shew him causing him herein to resign up his natural judgement and will entirely to his disposal and through faith to obey for he went out not knowing whither he went which first remove of his was out of the state of degenerate nature and his heathenish life into the earthly land of Canaan as that was a type and figure of the heavenly and into circumcision or experience of that communion with God which is by the first Covenant whereby the filth of the flesh in his heathenish state was cut off and cleansed and he in minde as well as in body brought into the figurative land of promise even to a conformity in mind and spirit to the Law the perfection of Christs flesh or natural man In this promised land perceiving by faith that it was but the type and shadow of the good things themselves the heavenly Country which was
way of natural good works and well-doing pretending to keep up his natural lust and desire in the life exercise and power thereof as Saul did the best of the goods of the Amalekites and their King for Sacrifice to God And therefore the natural man in the Saint in all the powers and faculties thereof stands it out long against the workings of faith in him and fights hard upon this principle of self-preservation deriding with the brothers of Joseph that dreamer which the New-Covenant-Faith in the life language and obedience thereof appears to be to the judgement of flesh and blood when it perswades us to become weak with Christ to suffer our selves to be disarmed and despoyled of this first power and the free exercise thereof upon its single natural root as keeping up a covetousnesse in us that is Idolatry and the root of all evill and does assure us that Gods strength shall be made perfect in us through this weaknesse so as we may rejoyce and glory in such infirmities through which the strength of Christ shall come to be ever resting on us whereby at last we shall be made to take pleasure in these infirmities reproaches necessities persecutions and distresses for Christs sake which at first are grievous but in conclusion we find by experience that when we in our selves are thus most weak then are we in the Spirit of Christ made most strong In this weaknesse then which is brought upon the naturall man of the Saint in which he is made to bear about in his body the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus consisting in infirmities reproaches necessities persecutions and distresses inward and outward doth the death of Christ work in the flesh of every Saint untill it be fully crucified brought downe into the grave and formed into one dead body with Christs natural man for ever disenabled and weakened from acting this selfish power or exercising this natural lust or desire though in a way of natural or legal good workings singly considered but to have them brought to their lawful rest in the grave of Christ as a Sabbath-keeping there their reasonable service and sacrifice acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ Whence it comes to passe that we no longer live but Christ lives in us and in and through this weaknesse brought upon us by the Crosse quickens us to a more excellent way of working with God and for God then ever we were acquainted with before to the fulfilling and establishing the righteousnesse required by the Law to the highest so that against these weakened Saints and poor broken-spirited children of God there is no Law but the death of Christ that thus works in them doth condemne sinne in the flesh and never leave till it quite abolish it there and bring in the everlasting righteousnesse of God in the roome of that righteousnesse of man which was but as a morning dew Thus we come to bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal or crucified flesh which work of mortification is unto the old Adam most bitter and grievous it being that which bruises him and puts him to grief beyond all that can be imagined and which therefore he fights against and resists to the last drop of blood till he can no longer stand upon his feet but doth fall down amongst the slaine in the blood of Christ whose rest is blessed thus dying with or in the Lord and his works follow him This is the third particular wherein our conformity to Christs death doth consist The fourth and last does respect the workings of faith as they maintaine the good part of this fight in the Saints and gaine the victory over the world and the fleshly seed and principles in them In the managing of which faith doth at first whilest the spiritual senses are not come into use nor strength undergo many a sore brunt and is hard put to it by the workings of unsubdued flesh and blood in them as in the renewed principles thereof they abide in their vigour and flourishing of youth under the first Covenant having through the power of the Law and life of Christs fleshly perfection brought forth in them overcome the wicked one and by the knowledge of Jesus Christ after the flesh cleane escaped the pollutions of the world respecting the filth of the flesh in the confidence and strength whereof these young ones in the experiences of the Gospel think nothing too hard for them to break through and get the mastery of and therefore despise the workings of faith and seed of the promise as a barren desolate widowhood in comparison of their flourishing youth and would be putting in for the inheritance as obteined by the perfection of the Law and Christs first appearance esteeming that to be the Kingdome that is to abide and continue the holy City whose Tabernacle must never be taken down But against all these fierce encounters from pure flesh and blood in the Saint armed with conquests over the wicked one and many fruitful evidences of Christs presence and communion as a Bridegroome and Husband according to the flesh faith armes the soul putting on it the whole armour of light and evidencing to it things unseene the hidden Manna the new name the Jerusalem that is above that which neither eye hath seene nor eare heard nor hath entred into the natural mans heart and conception with which it puts forward and advances bringing in that which is enduring substance an inheritance undefiled and which fades not away in opposition to a failing decaying corruptible Crowne and Rest which flesh and blood glories in And in this more excellent way of worshipping and serving God it comes forth and gains ground in the heart to the stopping the high careere that flesh and blood was in before to the utter silencing it at last and casting down its lofty imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Through this powerful operation of faith the youth of flesh and blood in the Saint is weakened and grey heirs now begin to appear here and there upon him in this his captivity to the obedience of faith which state is very honourable and is the qualification that renders Saints the true Elders in the Church of God who being old men in Christian experiences ought to be in great esteeme for the use and advantage they are of and the great benefit they may bring to true Church-fellowship and Christian Societie how despicable soever this frame of spirit be in the eyes of the worldly Church and of the youthful visible Churches of Saints flourishing with their fair shewes in the flesh whereby they are puffed up and have life working in them whilest death works in Paul the aged and such Elders in spiritual growth that walk as he walked yea these are full and rich and would
formes through counterfeit resemblances unto TRUTH to beguile and mislead unstable souls and is daily detected and discovered under all professions or visible formes of Saintship whether more or lesse refined whether earthly and sensual or heavenly and Angelical Hereof there are in these dayes of ours but too many living instances who as Lots wife are turned into Monuments of Gods righteous judgment declared upon them for the admonition of others And that we may not leave this subject without endeavouring to contribute some assistance towards the resolving of that great Question how the true Spirit may with certainty and infallibility be known and distinguished from the false I shall briefly recommend to consideration as conducible to the discovery hereof these following particulars The Spirit of TRUTH is evidently and infallibly distinguished from the spirit of lies and falshood three several wayes by which we may make a trial and judgement of the spirits whether they be of God or no. First by the evidence and witnesse which is given of it by the three that bear witnesse in heaven where the Spirit of TRUTH shines forth in its supreme original light and self-evidence as we have at large shewed in the first and second Chapters Secondly by the Record and witnesse that the Sonne or Christ the true Spirit gives of himself in his flesh or humane nature causing the truth to shine forth in the face of Jesus opening what he is and what he did by coming in the flesh suffering and rising againe according to the Scriptures which 1 John 5. 6. is rendred thus This is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood and it is the Spirit that heareth witnesse because the Spirit is truth even the witnesse shining forth in his Spirit and person who whether considered as being and subsisting in the WORD OF LIFE before his being made flesh or considered as after his coming in the flesh living dying and rising againe hath a witnesse born of him in heaven by the FATHER WORD and SPIRIT which Three are one and also in earth by the SPIRIT WATER BLOOD declaring themselves in and upon him as he was found in the fashion and habit of a man which agree in one Thus in the same person we have the greater witnesse which is the witnesse of God or of Christ as he is God and the lesser witnesse which is the witnesse of man or of Christ as he is the Son of man and in both these considered also as testified unto by the Scriptures we have the compleat witnesse which God hath testified of his Son By reason hereof 't is said 1 Joh. 2. 12. Who is a liar but he that denies Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denies the Son the same hath not the Father Whosoever sees not nor acknowledges the TRUTH as witnessed and shining forth in the face of Jesus the Son of man with those that are rightly admitted to serve in the first Sanctuary among the many that are called can much lesse behold it as witnessed and held forth in the brightnesse of Gods face or of the blessed Trinity with those who are culled out of the former and rightly admitted into the holiest of all among the few that are chosen By both these witnesses and records in harmony with the outward Word we do come to know him that is true as the right and whole object whereon through faith we are to fix our eye in the proper forme character and distinction which he gives of himself from all idols or counterfeit appearances of him whatsoever The third or last witnesse which is given us of the true Spirit is that which immediately and necessarily flows from his indwelling presence in our hearts growing up there more and more unto a perfect day by working out in the conscience and spirit of the beleever a confōrmity unto Christ in his death and resurrection causing a dying to sinne and a living unto righteousnesse in the full extent of both as we have opened For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse Examine therefore your selves whether ye be in the Faith know ye not your owne selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobate And If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead awell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwellesh in you and so the Spirit it-selfe comes evidently and infallibly to witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God as having this Spirit of Adoption poured into our hearts for if we be adopted children then we know we are heires heires of God and joynt heires with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him And though we are now Sonnes so as it doth not yet appeare what we shall be when we come to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus at the full manifestation of the sonnes of God yet now we know that we shall then be like him and that we shall then see him as he is yea by faith we now see him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. and by this knowledge we have of him in the mean time we come to see and experience him that is true and that we are in him that is true even the true God and eternal life having the witnesse in our selves through that holy anointing which is TRUTH and no lie teaching us of all things and abiding in us as a seed to preserve us from the evil and snare of all false and seducing spirits Abide therefore in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you CHAP. XXI Shewing particularly the evil seed that is sowen in the natural conscience by Satan through which he works men off from their subjection to Christ in his first dispensation and fixes them in rebellion against him HAving already in general laid open the methods of Satan the weapons of his warfare together with the diligent and skilful prosecution of his designes upon mankind to seduce them work them off and forever deteine them from their duty and faithfulnesse unto Christ their true Husband and Lord we shall come now in a more particular manner to shew how closse an attendant he is upon the foregoing works of Christ in the hearts and consciences of men considered under the former dispensations walking about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure watching what he can find in such hearts that in the BEGINNING are Gods and Christs owne workmanship as hath beene shewed and trying whom he may corrupt from their first
preserving of them during the thousand years in this their spotlesse sinlesse nature not suffering the Devil to annoy them or deceive the Nations till the thousand years be fulfilled executing upon the rebellious and disobedient his fiery vengeance and indignation to the cutting them off from the Land of the living as Ananias and Sapphira were dealt with making good that Word of the Lord Act 3. 23. And it shall come to passe that every soul which will not hear that Prophet in these his dayes he shall be destroyed from among the people For all those that shall then discover that they love not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity shall be Anathema Maranatha or accursed by this coming and from this presence of the Lord. And therefore we are to know that the natural generation of men which shall be in those dayes how pure and spotlesse soever their fleshly nature be yet being but mutable will have either a good or an evil change passe upon them The good we have already spoken to and of the evil we shall say but little here since we have so at large treated of it also as it is the serpentine seed growing up in and under that which is good to the fixing and hardning of men at last in an implacable rage and enmity against Christ in his heavenly and second appearance For this hardning when it is perfected proves an unchangable enmity and brings on the spiritual or SECOND DEATH wrought out in the natural mind which is not subject to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus nor ever can be no place being now left for repentance These vessels of wrath will then be raised to everlasting contempt and will have the perfect exercise of their natural sences in spirit soul and body fitted and prepared for the taking in of the full vials thereof that shall be poured out upon them for ever from the presence of the Lord Yea for this purpose they are also heightned to a partaking with the wicked Angels in the raisednesse of their Angelical beings so as to become of equal capacity with the evil Angels through the power of the resurrection from the dead that raises them up into everlasting contempt and gives them their portion with the Devil and his Angels unto whom they serve as a Temple and habitation in like manner as the Saints in their glorified body are the Tabernacle of God And in this Idols Temple the Devil shall be so able to transforme himself into an Angel of light by the experience he will have gained during the thousand years and so to transform his Ministers also as the Ministers of righteousnesse and Apostles of Christ that he shall have the confidence at the end of the thousand years when he shall again be let loose to embody his party of wicked Angels and men from all quarters and come up in this seeming glorious posture to vie it out at last with the New Jerusalem the City of the living God in this its earthly state gathering Gog and Magog to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the Sea who hoping to carry all before them shall come up on the breadth of the earth and compasse the camp of the Saints about the Beloved City desiring and endeavouring to swallow up that Assembly of true Saints on earth who have not had as yet their finall change brought upon them but are waiting for it universally to be accomplished at the end of the thousand years At which period of time the Devil being let loose and putting forth his last and utmost power doth play his game by transforming his party into the likenesse of the glorified body of Christ and his Saints gathering into one counterfeit spiritual body all his children and servants whose coming then shall be with such power and signes and lying wonders as were never put forth by him before Then Christ in a moment shall finally perfect his glorious change upon all the Elect and carry them all up with him to the mansions provided for them in his Fathers house from whence he sends down fire to devour all their adversaries and the whole visible frame of the creation casting the Devil into the Lake of fire where the BEAST and FALSE PROPHET are and shall be tormented for ever day and night by vertue of the just judgement of God which then shall be revealed against the wicked when the last JUDGEMENT shall be set and there shall appeare a great white Throne and one sitting upon it from whose face the heaven and the earth shall flee away so that there shall be no more place found for them even for that heaven and earth wherein there had beene made a full restitution of all things in those times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord during the reigne of the thousand years Then the great and last universal day of judgement shall be brought forth when the dead small and great shall be made to stand up before God and then the books will be opened and another book will be opened which is the book of life and the dead shall be judged out of those things that are written in the books And the sea shall give up the dead that are in it and death and hell shall deliver up the dead that are in them and they shall be judged every man according to their works To be more particular in describing the state of things as to the change which does respect the whole creature during this thousand years will be needlesse considering that the general expressions are so clear and full that it shall be a glorious pure incorrupt state unto the whole creation which shall then keep a holy Sabbath and Rest unto the Lord a seventh part of the time of the worlds continuance in which there shall be no sowing of the field nor pruning of the vineyard nor exacting any labour from the creature but what in voluntary service it shall performe by way of homage and worship unto Christ for the use of his Saints during the thousand years who are yet in their corruptible natural body expecting their great change Even so come Lord Jesus Come quickly FINIS