13. where he is said to be clothed with a vesture dipt in blood whose name is called the WORD of God having on his vesture and on his thigh a name written KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS v. 16. In the same sense is this WORD presented to the view of Ezekiel Chap. 2. v. 9. 10. under the description of the roll of a book which was written within and without and Rev. 5. 1 2. 3. A book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals which none whatsoever amongst the Creatures was able to open or loose the seven seals thereof In this book of God David was seen Psal 139. 15 16. by the eye of God in his creature substance yet being imperfect and therein all his members were written which in continuance were fashioned whilst as yet there were none of them The nature and use of this book considered in the several volumes of it is declared Rev. 20. 12. The books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and that we may know what book of life is here meant there is mention made Rev. 13. 8. of the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world having the names of all the Elect written in it which are never to be blotted out And Rev. 3. 5. we find another book of life belonging to Christ from whence he threatens the hypocritical and corrupted members of the Church of Sardis to be blotted out a like threatning unto which we find Rev. 22. 19. which compared with Psal 69. 28. makes it yet plainer Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous or come into thy righteousness to wit which is by faith Thus we see the unwritten and living WORD of God testified by the Scriptures to be Gods writing and Gods book as well as they themselves are so that when we call this living WORD unwritten it is but by way of distinction from the Holy Scriptures in the outward body of them as they are written with Pen and Ink for the WORD that is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express character of his substance may truly and properly be said to be the writing and engraving of the Trinity the Living book and roll of God that is all written within and without consisting of three volumes answering to the threefold power that is in the mind of Christ to read and look thereon We are therefore in both these respects to acknowledge Christ to be the living WORD first as he is he that speaks or the person whose mind and discerning is formed and prepared to look upon this Heavenly writing in all the volumes of it in order to communicate and give forth unto others the reading thereof And secondly as he is the writing itself and doth contain the lively ORACLES OF GOD or witness of the blessed Trinity representing God as to and by himself he is seen as also to and by both Creations according to the two Covenants unto which they relate In which latter sense this book is to be understood Rev. 5. 1. c. where it is said that no man in heaven nor in earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither to look thereon but it is the priviledge only of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to prevail to the opening thereof and to make the right use that is intended thereby The WORD in both these respects considered by us is a most lively description of the fulness and perfection whcih dwels in Christs person as he was set up in the office of his Mediatorship by the immediate operation of the Trinity before the world began wherein he is the only begotten Son in whom God is well pleased as he that is in himself both Priest and sacrifice abiding a High-Priest for ever at the right hand of God after the order of Melchisedech which is no way proper to him as the second Person in the Trinity simply considered where he is purely and simply God without the least mixture or composition of creature-nature and without shadow of change But now as Christ is the WORD in the person of the Mediator he hath the root of all creature-nature in him being the root as well as the offspring of David and hath this given to him for sacrifice therewith to prepare him to become a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world As thus he is the person of the Mediator he exerciseth a threefold power of mind and discerning by reason whereof this living WORD is said Heb. 4. to be the discerner of the thoughts intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto him with whom we have to do of whom we are now treating First all things are naked and opened unto him by reason of the pure all-seeing eye and discerning of God that is in him through which light of his he knows how to read the inward writing of the book or the book as it is all written within in a character that is the form of God himself in the very height of his glory and therefore proper only for the divine eye itself to contemplate and be conversant in requiring the same mind that is in God himself to conceive and understand it as simply and fingly exhibited The Mediator in the exercise of this power of mind is eternally seeing all that God sees perfectly knowing Gods mind and is his Wonderful Counsellor in all the decrees and purposes of his that concern the creatures converse with him from beginning to ending Secondly All things are naked and opened unto Christ this living WORD by reason of the highest and purest natural creature-eye and discerning that is in him as he is the first-born of every creature and is the discerner of the thoughts of the natural heart and mind of all creatures so as Psal 139. 2 4. there is not a thought in the heart nor word in the tongue but this WORD knows it altogether and afar off even before the World began Through this second seeing power of Christs mind he knows how to read the second Volume of Gods book as it is all written without in a manifestation and appearance of God which is commensurate and proportioned to the creatures judgement and discerning as it is natural and of the first building and is the same form of God abasing it self and requiring no higher an eye then what is in the natural mind of the creature to behold it and look thereon This writing is called outward or the book all written without comparatively and in reference to the inwardness of the first whose eminency and height is such as is exclusive to the creatures natural discerning not but that in its own nature it is inward and spiritual being the witness that is given by the
an union between the Word and Christs manhood as we have already shewed in the precedent Chapter that in a threefold respect according to one of w th his manhood is found in the form of God and as the son of man he accounts it not robbery to be acknowledged equal with God the man that is his fellow Thirdly there is a union between the manhood of Christ who in the sense before declared is made Gods equal and fellow and the whole spiritual seed in general and each of them in particular who are as the Bride and wife to this Lamb and so in a sense are his fellows and consorts heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ where the Spirit and the Bride say come living together in this unity as Bride and Bridegroom and so intimated Eph. 5. 32. where the natural marriage is made a type of it and the Apostle saith this is a great mysterie But I speak concerning Christ and the Church And now what is more evident then that the Saints by this union with Christ are not deifyed nor Christed but have the place only of his Bride and spouse as the Queen who is all glorious within and who is one the only of her mother To be therefore a member of this Heavenly City a living stone in this divine building is that which we are to understand by this second sort of calling wherein our Election is made sure to us and a new name given us that none can read but those that have it Secondly through this unity of the faith of the Son of God whereby those that are called are placed in the relation of members to Christ as he is the Head of the Church and the first-born from the dead they are for ever justified receiving this further benefit as they stand related to Christ in this his second Headship beyond those that are singly related to his first and obtain thereby but the common and conditional justification For this everlasting justification extends to sins past present and to come absolutely and at once discharging from all sin that their iniquities may be remembred no more and presents them faultless and without guile before the Throne of God as the objects of his eternal love and favour unto which they are entitled in right of their being made his first-born from the dead whose names are written in heaven adopted into his own line family and descent by this their marriage-union with Christ who according to his heavenly manhood is the immediate off-spring of the WORD and eternal Son of God without Father without mother without descent other then that of the very Son of God into which he is adopted and taken by marriage-union which dignity and grace he freely bestows and conveys in a secondary way upon his whole spiritual seed and in this neer union keeps them from ever departing from him Thirdly these unto whom Christ is thus made their righteousness and justification he is made also their sanctification to the purifying of their hearts through believing and cleansing them from all evil conscience as well that which consists in the filthiness of the flesh as that which lies in the filthiness of spirit renewing them in their minds through the putting on of the new man to the exercising as well their spiritual senses in likeness and conformity to Christs actings and life in that unity wherein he and his Father are one whereby he crucified and kept under his natural man as to the exercising of their natural powers and faculties in likeness and conformity to the actings of Christs natural man making them herein subject to the Father of spirits and to live acceptably and work holiness in his sight as renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created them or according to the pattern of the new man in the holy and righteous actings thereof set up in the person of Christ where Christ is all and in all which good works the Saints are fore-ordained of God to walk in as their true Evangelical and new-covenant obedience Fourthly and lastly those unto whom Christ is thus made sanctification he is made also redemption or glorification to the changing them throughout in spirit soul and body into a likeness with his spirit soul and body as he is declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead at such time as our vile bodies shall be made like unto his most glorious bodie by that mighty power of his whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself which is to be brought to light in his times when he shall be admired in all them that believe and answer the expectation of the creature in delivering it from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God at their manifestation and the compleating of their adoption by this redemption of their bodies These are the benefits in short and in general that inseparably accompany the guift of Christs person to the soul as he ministers himself in the two Covenants respectively and are the fruits of his presence there Which will serve as a key to open many things in the following discourse when we come to speak of the practical conscientious part that is begotten in and exercised by the subjects of Christ as they live under his Rule and dominion in the world and are therein contesting and warfaring with the adversary the devil and his instruments CHAP. XI Shewing the subordinate use that the elect Angels are of unto Christ in his bearing up the pillars of the creation that else had been dissolved through the fall and the place which they have in the threefold general administration of his mediatoriall kingdom set up in the world THough sin entred upon all men and death by sin through the act of one mans disobedience and judgement came upon all men because in one man all had sinned yet by the obedience of one and his righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life Rom. 5. and where sin abounded grace did abound much more by reason whereof the whole first creation in all the parts of it is made Christs by the price of his blood which was made Sathans and sins by the fall that as the soul of the Father is Christs so also is the soul of the Son and he only that personally transgresses shall die Ezek. 18. 4. God having been pleased to find a ransom in Christ for atonement and propitiation to the forbearance of sins that are past and to the admitting of man to a new treaty of reconciliation and trial by vertue of the first covenant renewed in and through the blood of Christ whereunto the ministry of the good Angels serves and is made use of by Christ the KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS who employs these his ministers of justice as the higher powers over the world committed by him to their charge to mannage order and govern in all the affairs thereof under him
having put all its Inhabitants in this sense in subjection unto the government of the Elect Angels to be a terrour unto evil works and a protection and refuge to them that do well who therefore Eccles 5. 8. are described to be those that are higher then the highest ministers of justice in this world or then the supreme powers here below and yet saith the text there be higher then they which are Christ the WORD of God and the blessed Trinty In reference to the Angels therefore in this their office and administration of justice under Christ it is said Deut 32. 7 8. The most high divided unto the nations their inheritance from the daies of old or the beginning of the world when he separated the sons of Adam according to the number of the Angels as the Septuagint renders it or under their rule and government as he separated the day from the night in this visible world by two great lights that he set up in the material heavens the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night Gen. 1. 14. 16. typifying this office and ministry of Angels as to the government of the sons of Adam all the nations whereof in their earthly state God made of one blood to dwell on all the face of the earth but thought fit upon the fall and sin of the first Adam to set the bounds of their habitation according to the number of the Angels or measure of their natural perfection as subjected made subservient to Christ their head being in this respect the shadowy image of Christs first appearance in which they are able to proportion suitable manifestations of Christ to the natural discerning of men in what state or condition soever they are found whether such as are without law or such as are under the law The first of these know no higher rule at present then this shadowy image of Christs natural perfection reflected and beamed forth upon them from the face of angelical glory where the sound of the Scriptures hath not yet been heard who therefore as heathens are said comparatively to abide in darkness as under the rule of the lesser light typifyed by the moon the ruler of the night these are the uncircumcision in the flesh living remote from and as it were without Christ and God in the world as aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenants of promise yet in a capacity to seek the Lord if haply they may feel after him and finde him though he be not far from every one of them being that light that enlightens every one that comes into the world The second sort of men are those sons of Adam that are higher enlightened by being brought beyond this first shadowy image of Christ unto the Ministry of the Law and placed under the dominion thereof becoming actually thereby of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh being made partakers of the first Covenant renewed in the blood of Christ and so called the circumcision in the flesh and in that sense Israelites children of the first Covenant to whom pertains the Adoption and the glory and the Covenants who are called Jews children of God or visible Saints resting in the Law or taking up their station in Christs first appearance or natural perfection making their boast of God as knowing his will and approving the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the Law whether considered as ministred by Moses or by the flesh of Christ who therein is the head-perfection of it who are confident that they themselves are guides unto the blind lights unto them that sit in darkness instructers of the foolish teachers of babes which have the form of the knowledge and truth of the Law or first ministry of Christ whose praise is of men Rom. 2. 29. who in one word are made the children and off-spring of Christ according to what he is as head and root unto the perfection of the natural Creation single yea even unto himself according to the flesh considered as a meer man or in the fashion and likeness of the first Adam in his sinless and incorrupt nature Both these sorts of men being still but the sons of the first Adam or of an earthly descent and birth fall properly under the Ministry of Angels in the hand of Christ whom he hath appointed in a twofold dispensation serving in the one to veil and in the other to unveil him in his first appearance as he is KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESSE being in the witness they give herein as two great lights in the firmament of the spirits of men the greater to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night In this latter they are as the Moon to rule the Kingdom of darkness whereinto all mankinde in their fallen corrupt state are plunged renewing and setting up something of that light in the natural spirit of man with which every man is enlightned that comes into the world however degenerate his condition be in all other respects in the other they discover the Sun that is to rule the day of mans further enlightned judgement when he is separated from amidst all the corrupt world and is clothed with a visibility of Saintship profession wherein he hath the praise of men that measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves amongst themselves without having the true Spiritual light of Christs second appearance to help their discerning therein 2 Cor. 10. 12. and so are not wise but are such children Deut. 32. 20. in whom is no faith who notwithstanding all the commendation they assume unto themselves are not they whom God commends This generation of men are Israel according to the flesh whether under the Law or under the Gospel which are not to pass away till the sufferings of the whole spiritual seed be fulfilled but shall be found in that great city Jerusalem mentioned Rev. 11. 8. which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified and amongst whom the dead bodies of his witnesses must lie unburied three days and an half ver 9. Thus the most High divided to the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam not only into their several countries and local habitations but into the day and night of his administrations of Rule over them and communications of light life and power to them after their Fall when he set the bounds of the people according to the number of angels made by him ministers of his Kingdom of natural righteousness as hath been declared The third sort of people in that distribution of the Sons of Adam are the true Jacob or Spiritual Seed that are of the Faith of Abraham whether Jews or Gentiles and right Heirs of God according to the promise that are not only Sons of Righteousness as the former in the perfection of the natural man but SONS OF PEACE where of twain springs up one new man through the blood of the
threefold nature and spirit proper to each of them In one of which all the nations of the world live and walk as they are distinguished from the earthly Jerusalem the children of Mount Sinai or the first convenant In the second the fleshly seed of Israel or the worldly Church lives and walks distinguished both from the nations of the world and from the heavenly Jerusalem or the true Mount-Sion And in the third the spiritual seed or children of the Jerusalem that is above do live and walk distinguished from both the former each of them therefore are placed by God under a several Rule and law according to which their lives and actions are to be fashioned and conformed and by which they are to be tried and judged at the last day when the secrets of men of all sorts shall be judged by Christ Jesus according to the Gospel which is of that large comprehension as to take in all the three dispensations First for the nations of the world they have judgements given them by God Ezek. 5. 6 7. with which Israel is reproched as having walked short of them so that the uncircumcision did out-doe the circumcision in the righteousness the effect whereof was contained in the law as in a much superiour and more excellent administration These the Apostle cals Rom. 2. 12. such as sin without law and perish without law but yet are acknowledged as such that though they have not the law as it was given to the Jews yet have a law given them from God the work and effect of which sheweth it self in their consciences accusing or excusing them as they walk up to it or short of it even the law of nature in which they are a law unto themselves having that within them that shall witness for them or against them before the Throne and judgement seat of Christ that is to say the law of natural right and just exhibited to them through the ministry of Angels that are invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities and powers set up by God for this very end as his ministers for terrour unto evil works and as encouragers and Protectors of them that do well as will presently more fully be evinced The second Rule or law containing the judgements and ordinances of God given unto the fleshly seed or children of the first covenant is the WORD of God coming forth in his first appearance or the law proceeding from Mount Sinai witnessed unto by the Scriptures of truth and Oracles of God that were committed to the Jews first and afterwards to the Gentiles which in all the degrees and steps of its administration answers the true measure and proportion of Christs natural righteousness and perfection as he is and so hath been here described the head and root thereof to Angels and men being that holy commandment that either may be turned aside from leaving them that have been under it to a far worse state then it found them in and rendring their latter end worse then their beginning as 2 Pet. 2. 20. c. or else be kept without spot and blameless through the power of faith by the true Saint or spiritual seed The third law and Rule is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus the WORD of God in his second appearance which comes forth from Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem consisting not in meats and drinks and worldly rudiments but in the power of an endless life and an everlasting righteousness written out in fair characters in the death and resurrection of Christ when he ceased from his own works and became the beginning and author of life from the dead as the first-born among the many brethren whose names are written in heaven and upon whom God hath written his new name and the name of the new Ierusalem The perfection and righteousness of which second appearance is brought to light fully by the brightness of Christs comming the second time the first-fruits whereof are already given and set up in the hearts and spirits of the children of promise and of the free-woman being the hidden Manna which they feed on the new name which they can read and the holy anointing whereby they judge all things whilst themselves are judged of no man CHAP. XII Shewing wherein the three Rules and forms of administration in Christs mediatorial Kingdom do differ one from another and maintain an entire jurisdiction within themselves but in due subordination and subserviency still of the lower to the higher over the respective subjects that live under them THE first of these is the law and Rule which is given by God to all nations even to the whole world in their corrupt degenerate and fallen state occasioned by the entrance which sin made by Adam overrunning his whole posterity like a spreading leprosie whereby man that by his creation was made a temple of God became a habitation for Dragons a court for owls or birds of the night a hold for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird so that although there was a natural being life and motion left unto man it was in the next degree to no being at all if not in some respects far worse Yet how great soever this desolation was and how thick soever the darkness be in this howling and barren wilderness-condition of mankind the blood of Christ is of vertue to make the heart of man again rejoyce and blessom as the Rose and the voice of the Mediator can make it self to be heard in the remotest and darkest corners of the world to the opening of the eyes of the blind and unstopping the ears of the deaf to the making the lame to leap and the dumb to sing to the causing the waters of his manifestation to break forth and stream in this desert in one word to the letting in the sound of the Gospel it-self in the shadowy dark appearances thereof upon the very ends of the world in pursuance of the extent of the reconciliation made through the blood of his Cross by whom all things are reconciled unto God whether they be things in earth or things in heaven so as the very creation it self is made capable to serve unto the ministry of the Gospel the heavens to declare the glory of God the firmament to shew his handy work day unto day to utter speech and night unto night to shew knowledge by means whereof there is no speech nor language where Christs voice is not heard their sound going into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world as Psal 19. 1 2 3 4. compared with Rom. 10. 18. doth evidence Thus the invisible things of God even his eternal power and Godhead shining forth in the face of the Mediator may be seen by the things that are made Rom. 1. and that either inwardly by the influence and operations of the holy Angels maintaining and keeping up the witness of Christ in the manifestation of natural justice
and righteousness by way of counter-ballance to the works of the devil and his kingdom of darkness in the world or outwardly by the books of the creature and daily discoveries of Gods providences that are teaching and instructing to the lowest and meanest natural discernings of men And to enable them to the receiving hereof they have a further taste of the bounty of Christ the Redeemer who doth freely renew and continue their life breath and all things unto them upon a new tenure even by the ransom procured for them in his blood by vertue of which none of them do fail of partaking in a common enlightning from him when they receive their beings in this world and have the lamp or caâ—â—le of the Lord set up in them to be as a witness for or against every man according to his works being a light which searcheth the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. Over the nations then and people of the world thus considered we say Christ doth dispense his Rule and government and gives unto them judgements and ordinances according to which they are to walk Ezek. 5. and in the doing or not doing of them their consciences are accusing or excusing of them and Christ in this his government shews himself by his ministers to whom he hath committed the mannaging thereof either in wrath and terrour against all evil works or an Encourager and Protectour of all them that do well The prime Minister of God on this behalf is Christ The hands in which this government is betrusted by Christ are the invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities and powers of the holy Angels as we have already declared and shall yet further enlarge made by Christ and for Christ the chief Lords and Rulers of the first world and all the inhabitants thereof Regard seems to be had to this administration of government Iob 2. 1 2. where the sons of God or these holy Angels in their administration of this kind of government presented themselves before this Lord Christ and Sathan came also among them having been his circuits walking to and fro in the earth and up and down in it unto whom the Lord propounds the case of Iob as of a perfect and upright man so as there was none like him in all the earth and who accordingly had found Christ owning encouraging and protecting of him as the devil himself alledged Chap. 1. at the same kind of meeting between God and the Angels then held also for saith Sathan to God hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blessed the works of his hands and his substance is encreased in the land intimating hereby the reward that is administred as to the kind of it by the holy Angels under Christ to the very heathens themselves and the punishment of wrath to consist in the contrary dispensations of God hereunto when he declares himself outwardly a terrour to wicked works and puts forth his hand therein for which purpose these excellent spirits are invested with power might and dominion over all the works of Gods hands in the first world to execute Christs commands as the Hosts and Ministers that do his pleasure in all places of his dominion and are alwaies attending and hearkning unto the voice of this WORD speaking to them as he is the root and head of all natural good and perfection Under these invisible Thrones and higher powers there are visible ones also set up and are Christs ordinance and institution in an inferiour and subordinate ministration of this government of Christ over men which are called the higher powers of the world whether contracted in one universal Monarch as in the time of Nebuchadnezar Dan. 2. or dispersed into many several and distinct forms of Magistracy in the world according as the most high is pleased to set them up pull them down or change them in reference to the present work which he hath to do in the world and to the state and condition of his own people in it either for their bringing into bondage and captivity under the worldly powers or for the leading them out of the same into the glorious liberty by him designed unto them in the last of daies whereof Nebuchadnezars image was a notification once for all and was so interpreted by Daniel himself when he said to Nebuchadnezar the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom power and strength and glory and wheresoever the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and fowls of the heaven he hath given it into thy hand and made thee ruler over them who therefore art this head of Gold Which government in the succession of it shall be dispersed decline and corrupt until it quite break asunder and split in pieces before the everlasting kingdom which is intended by God to be set up in the room thereof Which compared with Cap. 4. 17. makes it yet more evident that this visible government in the hands of the higher powers of the world is superintended over-ruled and influenced throughout by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones or Angels to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men evidently declaring that promotion cometh not from the East or West or South but Christ who bears up the pillars of the earth when else through sin and the fall the earth and the inhabitants thereof had been dissolved he is the judge he puts down one and sets up another Pal. 75. 6 7. And if then in the inferiour visible administration of this government over men in the hands of men the Rule is given and declared whereunto the governed are to be subject not only for wrath but conscience sake Rom. 13. how much straightlier is every soul obliged to the same Rule as it is administred in the hands of the invisible Thrones at the judgement seat of Angels who next under Christ the supream Minister of God are exercising their Ministry in a way of wrath and terrour against all evil workers and in a way of encouragement and protection unto all those that do well and walk uprightly in the earth Thus according to the orders and decrees of these watchers and holy ones whether declared by their inward ministry in the spirits and consciences of the men of the world or outwardly by the wholsome laws and ordinances of man as the product and fruit of the light by them dispensed or by the visible providences of God is the first administration of Christs kingdom managed and upheld throughout the whole earth and over all the world even the nations that are yet aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise And because it is very cleer from Scripture that the holy ones or Elect Angels are intrusted
under Christ with the dispensing of natural just and right and are invested with power to see their decrees and orders herein from time to time by them published and declared either inwardly or outwardly to be observed and conformed unto throughout all the earth or visible world either voluntarily by those that do well or by way of penalty compulsion and terrour by those that are evil doers It may be worth our while to enquire in what capacity it is that the holy Angels as thus ministers of God and Rulers and governors of the world do take this administration upon them and how they are qualified for the dispensing of the same We are therefere to remember that the Angels before their fall had a subordinate usefulness unto Christ for the production of the visible world and were his Chariots wherein he descended for the effecting thereof covering himself with their light as with a garment and flying upon the wings of this wind being the top perfection of the first world wherein man was made inferiour to them and wherein they had a superiority and rule over all the works of Gods hands that were of this first building This Rule or dominion the good Angels that held close to their head and obeyed the voice of his word in becoming serviceable to him in his second appearance ceasing from their natural motion and workings to reassume their life through the power and tenure of the resurrection from the dead were so far from forfeiting or being disabled unto and deprived of the use thereof that together with and over and besides this they received an addition of life and power in a far better capacity then what they had by nature wherein they were made Ministers to the Heirs of salvation and through the Testimony they then were made to have and bear of Jesus in the change that came upon them to fix them in eternal blessedness when the others fell they do contribute unto the unveiling of the Son and are prepares of the way unto his shining forth immediately in his natural life and perfection as reassumed by him through the power of his resurrection In which second capacity they are made use of by Christ as mediate instruments under him in the giving of the law or renewal of the first Covenant at Mount Sinai when the word was spoken by Angels and conveighed in figures and types under Moses Ministry pointing out Christs coming in the flesh and so Christ himself considered as the WORD that was to be made flesh was ministred by the disposition of Angels and the descriptions by them given of him Act. 7. 53. We are then to acknowledge that the holy and elect Angels are in a two-fold capacity of usefulness unto Christ In the first of which they are as his shadow and image standing singly in themselves and shewing forth unto the world the natural justice and right that shines forth in their natural beings made unchangeable by the vertue of Christs resurrection wherein they are still as they were at first a garment of light or a veyl wherewith Christ covers himself in his converse with the world and Nations of the Earth in their corrupt natural state keeping up hereby some light and Rule even in this night-condition of the world which is but as a region of darkness in comparison of that day-break from Christ that shews it self to those that are children either of the first or second Covenant The second capacity wherein the elect Angels do stand is as they bear the image and similitude of Christs natural life and perfection in unveyling and uncovering their Head and hiding their own faces before it with the four and twenty Elders Rev. 4. that cast their Crowns to the ground before the Lamb crying day and night Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come In the first sense they are as the Moon that rules the night and in the second as the bright morning stars or SONS OF THE MORNING ushering in the day-break and ministring therein unto the birth of Christ in his first appearance in and under the first covenant The second form of administration wherein the Kingdom and government of Christ is dispensed and exercised over men is that which is set up over the children of the first covenant Israel after the flesh or the earthly Jerusalem A holy City that God sets in the midst of the Nations and Countries round about her figured out by the Jerusalem placed in the Land of Canaan unto which people or generation he is a Saviour or deliverer out of the house of bondage and a leader towards the Land of promise and true Rest But through their high provocations of him and refusal of his Judgements and Statutes which he gives them to walk in distinct from the rest of the Nations and through their resisting of the Holy Ghost or second appearance and voice of Christ as him that speaketh from heaven to which Moses and the voice on earth at Mount Sinai pointed and directed them he swears at last in his wrath that they shall never enter into his Rest so as they all fall short thereof that herein abide single and are made partakers of no higher birth These have had their general characters given them already who by the neerness of union and communion which they are taken into with Christ himself as their Husband and Bridegroom under the first covenant are a great a wise and a holy people in the sight of all the Nations of the World having Statutes and Judgements so righteous and excellent as is to their admiration living under the first presence or appearance of Christ with the fruits thereof discernable to the natural capacity of man owning him and owned by him who dwels among them as in his sanctuary and holy temple therein distinguishing them from all other Nations who in respect of them are living as it were without God and Christ in the world None are brought or do come into this Kingdom of Christ but such as accept and answer their call out of the first through which they become transplanted out of the wild Olive tree of degenerate nature and become engrafted into the good Olive tree receiving as from a new root a new nature or rather from Christ as he is the root of all natural purity and perfection a renewing of the same pure nature for kind wherein man was at first created and in that state are fed and nourished up at Christs own table with those Luke 13. 25 26. who will say Lord Lord open unto us we have eaten and drunk in thy presence eating his flesh and drinking his blood to the growing up into one living body with him and to the partaking of the root and fatness of the good Olive tree yet never come to a spiritual discerning of the Lords body as crucified and raised from the dead but taking up their Rest in a knowledge of Christ that is but according
them to be Abrahams fleshly seed but saith he ye seek to kill me and therefore ver 39. he denies them in effect to be Abrahams spiritual seed or of the faith of Abraham for if ye were thus the children of Abraham saith he ye would do the works of Abraham and this did not he he did not become an enemy and seek to kill men for speaking the truth which they have heard of God ver 40. If therefore you desire to know what Father youbelong to I tell you plainly you are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it ver 44. So then although God gave to Angels and men at first the goodness and perfection of natural beings and doth freely offer a renewal of the same to men in the blood of Christ by the first covenant made again in force by vertue of his death as the first Testament Heb. 9. 15 16 17 18. yet this image and likeness of God wherein they were made and whereunto they are again renewed as it stands single and alone without the other is a mutable and corruptible seed the children whereof are therefore capable to turn again into degenerate plants and into the wild olive tree For God comes down in the ministry hereof as under a veil to the creatures sight and enjoyment in which man fixing and taking up his abode waiting for no further discovery nor expecting or listning after that second voice of him that speaketh from heaven may for ever stand excluded from entrance into or converse with the glory that is within the veil where God is to be seen and enjoyed by the creature face to face By the blood of Christ then man is first made capable to be taken out of the wild degenerate state of nature and to be planted into the good Olive tree the flesh or natural man in the person of Christ and when he comes to partake of the fatness thereof as it singly gives forth Christ in his first appearance or a knowledge of him only according to the flesh which Paul grew a stranger to as he came to be more acquainted with the Cross he is still but in a capacity to stand or fall again as upon his second proof and trial in the renewed exercise of his free will and rectified natural abilities of mind he demeans himself according to which he proves the womb whereinto is received either a divine seed and birth whereof the mediator in his death and resurrection is the author and parent or else a devilish seed and birth whereof the Serpent and old Dragon is the Father growing up into a wilful and fixed enmity against the Cross of Christ One or other of these two seeds all sorts of men do become by the evil and unworthy or the good and worthy use of Christs blood and the benefits of his death and so are either the seed of the woman and of promise or the seed of the Serpent lying children born from beneath of the father of lyes in comparison of the divine birth of the true seed that in the other sense are born of God and from above This latter is attained unto through Gods bounty and free love the Mediator adopting them into oneness of seed with himself as he is the only begotten Son in whom God is well-pleased The other through Gods just permission and Satans prevailing power and influence upon their lust and natural will at its best are changed and corrupted into likeness and oneness of seed with the old Serpent By reason of which different dispensations the innocent good righteous and perfect state of mans nature communicated to him by vertue of the first covenant comes either to grow up into that which is much better even into the power of an endless life or else to degenerate and sink down into that which is much worse even eternal enmity and opposition of mind unto God which is the second death That then which fixeth man in his unchangeable and permanent state of everlasting blessedness or misery is the bringing him forth out of his first wavering and changeable state into oneness of seed with Christ the Mediator in his second appearance wherein he is made to bear the likeness of his death and resurrection or the leaving him to be transformed into oneness of seed with the destroyer and thereby to become a child of perdition The first of these changes mans natural will at its very best lusteth against as the greatest cross that can be brought upon it until by regeneration and the baptism of fire it be prepared broken and subdued into a meet subjection thereunto And the latter change cannot be obtruded by the devil or forced upon mans will but is brought upon him by and with his own free consent which was not found difficult to be gained in the state of mans innocency and purity in Paradise and is not more since Here then we see the seat and original of this enmity between the two seeds springing up in the manner before expressed in their respective heads and roots who are thus to be found as they are in their heads and first principles before they flow forth in the off-spring and are discerned in their distinct operations in the particular beings of men here in this world as deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil for which all men are rendred accountable when they come to stand before the judgement seat of Christ In order therefore to their own voluntary actings herein they are endued with the exercise of a freedome of will which by creation was perfect absolute and uninterrupted and which by the ballance that God since the fall keeps up by the ministry of the holy Angels with their influence and impressions upon the natural enlightned conscience as also by the work of the spirit himself upon those farther illuminated minds under the first covenant against the power and influence of the devil upon mans corrupted and depraved state is so far and truly exercised by man in the several measures and degrees thereof as will render him inexcusable for not hearkning to the light and means tendred and afforded to him through the blood of Christ revealed by the Gospel in one or other of the three forementioned branches of his kingdome So that now upon Gods making man on the sixth day of the creation forming the first Adam of the dust of the ground and breathing into him the breath of life he became a living soul was set up in the first image of God brought forth in the same kind of mutable perfection with the Angels and in all the glory and accomplishments of this first state was a fit subject brought upon the stage capable to be attempted by both these great
also expresseth Psalm 34. 12 14 15 16. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many daies that he may see Good let him depart from evil and do good for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth and this without respect of persons for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law Rom. 2. 12. And on the contrary as many as have approved themselves faithful unto God without law in a dutiful and chaste observance of the judgements which by him are given to all nations Ezek. 5. 6 7. are alike accepted Acts 10. 35. as those that under the law have approved themselves righteous in walking in all those commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless Luke 1. 6. and are equally rewarded by God according to their answerableness to the light they live in who will punctually perform what lies on his part in giving to the righteous man the righteous mans reward according to the tenor of the promises covenant and light they live under For the Lord is a God of Gods and Lord of Lords a great God a mighty and a terrible one which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward but judgeth righteously the whole world and all the nations in it Deut. 10. 17. though he was pleased to delight so far in the fathers of the Jewish seed as to chuse their seed after them above all people of the world besides to take them neerer to him and make them a habitation more immediate for himself Yet as to the main which is the grace of being made new creatures the Scripture saith expresly neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any-thing or hinders at all either of them from being taken into the RIGHTEOUSNES OF FAITH and life of the new and everlasting covenant The nations then of the world considered as those that are without law comparatively with the Jews are not left by Christ without a witness of God kept up amongst them nor without Judgements Ordinances and Laws proper to them in that state ordained by God to bring them unto life and to the knowledge of the truth accompanied also with suitable and sufficient means to lead to that end And therefore immediately after the flood God declares himself as making a kind of stipulation and covenant with all nations in the person of Noah and his family giving them statutes and ordinances upon the observance whereof he promiseth his reward and blessing referring the sum of all to this that in the image of God did he make man which perfection he requires and expects still that man should be aiming at and endeavouring the attainment of in all his operations as intimating thereby the obligation under which all men are by nature especially considering the extent of Christs death to yield obedience to that law which was written out in mans nature at first the seeds and principles whereof are renewed freely by gift from Christ in that enlightning wherewith he enlightens every man that comes into the world making the spirit of man in a lesser or higher degree and measure the candle and lamp of the Lord that is fed with oil out of the holy candlestick from Christ through a work in their natural conscience by the ministry of Angels enabling them to a discerning of good and evil according to the light and principles of that natural righteousness wherein they were at first created and requiring them to exercise and improve this talent and ability of mind freely given unto them promising to have his eye for good upon them in their being faithful according to that little they have received and to accept them according to what they have and not according to what they have not and to keep his ears open unto their cry if they want wisdom or strength to go forward and improve what they have received causing them also to meet with protection and encouragement under the ministry of the good Angels in counter-ballance to the discouraging assaults of the wicked ones to the end that by being thus assisted and strengthned in willing and resolving on a holy and righteous course of life and operation and putting the same in practice they may the better bear up against the degenerated part of nature in them and all the power and influence of Satan joyning therewith until the fault manifestly appear to be in their own free-will and determination by rebelling against the Rule and government which Christ hath given them to walk by and detaining the manifestation of the truth communicated to them in unrighteousness And besides this inward strengthning and encouragement afforded by God unto them there is also a visible and outward Testimony of his acceptance accompanying them as in the case of Job where the devil takes notice that as a reward unto Iob in his faithful and upright walking with God in fearing God and eschewing evil God made a hedge about him and about his and about all that he had and blessed the works of his hands giving herein his Angels charge over him being as yet but under this first dispensation though withall he had a seed of immortal life underneath The sum then of what God requires by the Rule and judgements he gives unto all nations is that they depart from evil and do good in the exercise of the natural abilities of their mind rectified and enlightned through the benefit of Christs blood and so made improveable by the use of the means which he affords them in present and is yet further willing to reveal to them in future in order to their growing out of all natural filth and pollution of flesh in conformity to that primitive purity wherein man was at first created and to their being delivered out of the kingdom of Sathan and power of darkness in which the design of the devil is to fix and detain them for ever Now the good answer of this natural conscience unto this Rule and these judgements and ordinances of Christ consists first in the fear and aw of God which such have in them that keeps them from sinning against him or thwarting the dictates of their own enlightned judgement shewing itself in accusing them for evil doings and excusing them in good especially when strengthned herein by inward good motions and impressions that are the effects of the ministry of the good Angels to perswade and encourage hereunto Secondly in a vigilant care and industry to walk up faithfully to this light not slighting or neglecting any proper and suitable means conducing thereunto Thirdly in an experimental sense of the emptiness and insufficiency of the good works by them done to justifie and present them faultless before God before whom the Angels themselves are ashamed and hide their faces which made
a Name given him above every name either in this world or in the world to come according to that description we find of him Isaiah 4. 2. c. where Christ the BRANCH is held forth in both these capacities called also Zach. 4. the two olive trees or sons of oyl that stand by the Lord of the whole earth by means of the one emptying out the golden oyl of all natural perfection as he is the Son of man singly considered Christ according to the flesh Head and Root of the renewal of natural purity and perfection by vertue of his blood unto Adams fallen posterity and by means of the other emptying forth the oyl of Gods new Name and of all Spiritual perfection as he is the beginning and first born from the dead made Head to the Heavenly body the Church that general Assembly of the first-born whose names are written in Heaven In both these respects this BRANCH of the Lord is to be made beautifull and glorious so as the very fruit of the earth or the earthly Adam shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel Isa 4. 2. For in them the very being of the first Adams perfection considered as built up again in fellowship and harmony with the second Adams perfection through the Resurrection of the dead is as the Ark of the Testament which is to be seen in this Temple whereby the Song of Moses shall be sung as perfectly as the Song of the Lamb as the musick and harmony requisite to be made by the inhabitants of the NEW JERUS ALEM those that are left in Zion and that remain in Jerusalem when God shall have cleansed them and purged them by the spirit of Judgement and burning by the baptism of the fire of the sacrifice of Christs death wherby they are written among the living in Jerusalem that is do become a Heavenly Tabernacle as built up into a life from the dead for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain in which dwelling places of Mount Zion and upon her Assemblies the Lord will create a cloud and a smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory shall be a defence ver 3 4 5 6. From this Scripture it appears that after men have had that work pass upon them which baptizeth them into one living Body with Christ making them living Members of his fleshly Manhood and enabling them to bring forth the excellent comely fruits of the renewed earthly Adam ver 2. unless they yet further abide the trial of fire which is to pass upon them by the Spirit of Judgement and burning of the day of Christs second appearance they will not continue long in ZION nor remain members of this earthly Jerusalem but will defile and pollute the Temple and Tabernacle of God set up in them in conformity to the flesh of Christ and so make themselves fit subjects for God to destroy and to swear in his wrath that even this Generation thus far advanced out of Egypt toward the Land of Promise shall never enter into his Rest as those that are but after such a manner Christs house as is intimated Heb. 3. 6. whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end And as those Paul speaks of amongst the Corinthians that walked like men 1 Cor. 3. 3 17. If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are Those then are the Children of the first Covenant who are Christs seed and off-spring as he is the Head of the first Adams natural perfection and doth renew the Spirit and power of that perfection in the purity thereof as a seed in fallen man that shall grow up and prosper even into a Kingdom in the soul so as to be the prevailing principle there and carry the Rule and sway over the corrupt and prophane part causing men clean to escape the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of him after the flesh only and with this flesh as the true Manna and bread given them from heaven nourishing them up in the beauty and strength of his natural life The character of this sort of Christs children by the first covenant is lively set down by the Prophet Ezekiel instancing in the children of Israel whom God took by the hand and led out of Aegypt under the ministry of the first covenant wherein he was a husband unto them as appears Jer. 31 32. and had made them beautiful and of great renown in the sight of the Heathens round about them from whom they were separated as made perfect through his comliness which he had put upon them Ezek. 16. 13 14. which sort of Gods children Paul ranks those Galatians amongst that still desired to be under the Law in the time of the Gospel Gal. 4. calling them children of that covenant given from Sinai gendring to bondage or of the Ierusalem that now is to wit the earthly Jerusalem in distinction from the children of the other covenant or of the Jerusalem that is above viz. the heavenly For we must not think that this generation of men passeth away through the coming in of the Gospel but is rather much more improved and compleated forasmuch as by the means of Christ death the Holy commandment is now spoken by the Son himself delivered more immediately by the dawning of the light of Christs first appearance in the heart which was in the time of the ministry of the Law the word only spoken by Angels as committed unto them to mannage through whose ministry or disposition Acts 7. 53. the circumcised seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob received it who were as figures of this circumcision to be made immediately by Christ himself among the Gentiles without hands by the pouring forth of his spirit upon all flesh and building them up with him into one living body as the true Israel of God after the flesh all which amounts but to the compleating of Christs living body through this first-covenant-work of his set up in the heart and conscience called in Scripture the FIRST FAITH which may be departed from and prove a faith that fails as being held upon wavering and uncertain principles until it be fixed by the baptism of fire and have that brought forth in fellowship with it which accompanies salvation to wit the incorruptible and immortal seed of the perfection of the second Adam causing them to dwell on high and placing them upon the munitions of Rocks where bread is given to them and waters that do not fail The Rule that is given unto this fleshly seed or children of the first covenant is the pattern of Christs natural life and perfection as he appeareth in the fashion of a man and form of a servant like unto us in all
they serve the Law of sin finding sin so farre from being perfectly overcome and subdued as once they supposed that by degrees it returnes upon them with greater force then ever making them miserable men as abandoned and left to its inroad and violence without any possibility of being delivered from this death and wrath that comes upon such wilful sinning in which case there remains to them no more sacrifice for sinne but an expectation of fiery wrath Howbeit to repair this losse unto them whilst they have their abode in this world the Devil lets them have as their reward the praise of one another and enables them to carry the world clear before them to the oppressing and trampling down the righteous and spiritual seed wringing out waters of a full cup to them These are they who prosper in the world and encrease in riches who have no bands in their death but their strength is firme who are in no trouble nor are plagned like other men but have their eyes standing out with fatnesse enjoying more then their hearts can wish They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongue walks through all the earth under the universal Dominion and Rule which Satan as God of the world hath from one end of the earth unto the other This great City or universal worldly spirit and rule under Satan sits as Queene alone and knows no sorrow but with her fornications and sorceries bewitches the world and the inhabitants thereof exercising her universal Rule and Dominion over them under various formes and administrations of government till he come whose right it is and cast downe these Thrones before him receiving to himself Dominion Glory and a Kingdome that all people Nations and Languages should serve him in a Kingdome that is never to be destroyed The principal means which God uses to bring in his Kingdome and oppose these Counter-workings of Satan is his setting up in the person of Christ a bruised broken crucified man that humbled himself to the death of the Crosse suffering without the gates of Jerusalem as the mighty power of God by which to destroy the power of the Devil and bring to nought the wisdome of the wise and the understanding of the prudent as those foolish and weak things of God in mans eye which he hath chosen to confound the great and mighty things of the world and as those base and despised things that are not which he hath chosen to confound the things that are fairest in shew and appearance Which weapons of Christs warfare though mighty through God yet being despicable and weak in the eye of Satan and to the discerning and judgement of men they are thereby the more harden'd and encouraged to contest it out with Christ till at last they come to be trampled under his feet like mire in the streets CHAP. XX. Concerning death to sinne and life to righteousnesse considered as well in the distinct Branches and Parts thereof as in its full extent and comprehensivenesse together with the discovery thereby of that which is counterfeit hypocritical or otherwise defective THe summe of what we have beene Treating of in the preceding Chapters that concerne the Work and Rule of Christ whether in the Natural Legal or savingly beleeving Conscience as also the Saints conformity with Christ in his death the discovery wherof this chapter had immediately and more orderly succeeded but that I was unexpectedly prevented in it by the Presse may very well be reduced unto the two general termes of Mortification and Vivification or of our dying unto sin and living unto righteousnesse Rom. 6. and this according to the kind and measure of Grace received whether common or special temporary or everlasting For in what ever conscience Christ works and gains so farre reception as to be hearkened unto and obeyed in the Voice or Ministery he holds forth himself by whether upon the termes of the first or second Covenant the necessary consequent thereof is a departing from sin and an eschewing of evil as saith the Scripture Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yeeld your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sinne unto death or of obedience unto righteousnesse so as the service and obedience ye yeeld unto the one frees and delivers you from the subjection ye were held in unto the other For those that are servants of sinne are free from righteousnesse or dead to it as on the contrary those that are servants unto righteousnesse obeying from the heart the teachings of Christ in any of his Three-fold dispensations before mentioned are free from sinne and become dead unto it according to the Law they are under or the manner of the working thereof in several measures and degrees experienced in any such conscience Now that which we are to understand by righteousnesse whose servants we ought to be and whereunto we are to yeeld our subjection is the Image of God formed and set up in the second Adam or Person of the Mediator propounding it self to be received and entertained by man since the Fall upon the foundation of a new entercourse and converse betweene God and Men which he hath obtained freely through his owne blood shed as a ransome for all whereby also the natural conscience is purged from dead works and fitted againe for the service of theliving God This Image of God consisting in righteousnesse and true holinesse hath power as it lives and dwells in Christ to dispence and give the communication of it self in part or in whole according to the nature of the Ministery and the manner of administration by which it is conveighed into the heart and conscience So as if this Image of God be but as the Word and Voice of God in the mouth only of servants whether Angels or Men unaccompanied with the personal presence of the Sonne himself it hath one kind of operation and effect intimated Esay 40. 3 4 5. by that Voice of the Lord or Word of God in the mouth of servants only Crying in the Wildernesse-condition of mans corrupt nature and degenerate state as he is dead in trespasses and sinnes Prepare ye the way of the Lord make streight in the desert a high way for our God and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together declaring herein this preparatory dispensation which tends and leads unto Christ in his first appearance as he is God manifested in flesh in which respect it is that all flesh can see him together for as to his second appearance he dwells in that light and immortality which no flesh can approach unto which no man hath seen or can see as he is a meer natural man This forerunning Ministery unto Christ we may also take notice of Luke 10. 1. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy and sent them two by two before his face into every City and place whither he himself would come saying unto
to Gideon with his company who stood as it were still with their lamps burning and hearts praying unto the Lord until this salvation was wrought for them And this which was wrought by the Lord only is yet said to be done by the sword of the Lord and of Gideon to shew that there was a sword still in the hands of Gods people though retained in such a posture of creature-weaknesse that it was more in shew then any thing else Unto this day of battel fought and won by Gideon doth the Holy Ghost by the Prophet Zachary referre thereby foreshewing how that the like dispensation of Gods power and protection is reserved to be put forth by him on the behalf of that remnant that shall be reduced to such a smalnesse in number and destitutenesse of all visible power that nothing but such a day of battel to be acted over againe for them as this is judged meet by God to be the meanes for their deliverance And because in this battel as we have said there was not only the sword of the Lord but the sword of Gideon it doth seeme to intimate that the sword and power of Magistracie as well Civil as Military shall not be so quite taken out of the hands of Gods people in the last and worst of dayes even whilst the Witnesses are prophesying in sackcloth and finishing their testimony but that in the midst of the little remnant of Gods faithful ones there shall be found such a holding of that sword in their hands as was with Cideon and his three hundred having been taught the practice and use of it in the greatest purity and most exact subserviencie unto Christ it is capable of till the restitution be made of that and all other things in their full redemption from the bondage of corruption by Christs second coming CHAP. XXIV Concerning Magistracy as in its primitive constitution and right exercise it hath its place and beares its part in the Reigne and government of Christ over men in this world WE have already considered Magistracy as in its corrupted degenerated use it is in a manner the Throne and seat of the beast serving to promote and advance the great designe and interest of the Devill in the world whereby it doth become part of his Kingdome and hath its place and use in the Government that Antichrist keepes up to the oppressing and keeping under the deare Saints and Holy ones of the true and living God And therefore it doth not onely follow in course but there is a kind of necessity enforcing to treat of it also as in its primitive constitution and right exercise wherein it is not only capable of serving to a higher end but must through the restitution that all things are to be brought forth in at last be made actually instrumental unto the Holy designes and glorious interest of Christ and his people as his earthly Throne wherein he will sit and rule the Nations as with a rod of iron and part of that dominion which the Father will give unto him in the end of dayes as that Glory and Kingdome wherein all people Nations and Languages shall serve him whose dominion is an Everlasting dominion that shall not passe away and a Kingdome which shall not be destroyed But as a judgement shall sit and take away all other or Contrary Dominion hereunto to consume and to destroy it unto the end whereby the Kingdome and Dominion and the greatnesse of the Kingdome under the whole Heaven shall be given to the people of the Saints of the Most High whose Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and all Dominions shall serve and obey him Dan. 7. 14 26 27. And whereas it is said in this place all Rulers must be brought at last to serve Christ and his people yea to serve Christ in his people it doth not only meane earthly Thrones amongst men but the very heavenly Thrones of Angels themselves who are made subject unto Christ and the true spiritual seed that are the right heirs of salvation unto whom even the Angels are appointed Ministring spirits who yet as we have shewed are the highest Lords and Rulers of this world under Christ those that execute his command in all parts and places of his Dominion throughout the whole world being those that are higher then the highest Rulers amongst men and that know how to bring redresse of grievances and restauration of judgement in a Province when it is violently perverted by the uncontrolable force and power of man then in Authority and Rule there Eccles 5. 8. The Angels then under Christ are the highest powers in this world whose Thrones and Dominions and Principalities are invisible yet are influencing to all visible powers whatsoever steering them to the end Christ hath appointed whatever the intentions designes and interests of the instruments are And all visible powers are the next subordinate Thrones and Dominions unto them which amongst men who are ruled by and under a visible administration of government are accounted supreame and those we call the Higher or highest powers These powers Rom. 13. 1. are said to be ordained of God and 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. are likewise called the ordinance of man both which ingredients are therefore requisite to the setting up of Magistracy amongst men in its right constitution and exercise For men in their Creation and births are made of one blood all the nations of them Acts 17. 26. and so are equal and cannot therefore be distinguished and fixed in such different conditions and capacities of Rulers and subjects but by Gods ordinance and to serve some holy and glorious end of his nor is the subjection which God requires irrational and meerely implicit but rational and voluntary unto which men are to be led not only by the awe and feare of God unto whom it is they pay a duty but are also to be won and perswaded by the sense of their common good and benefit thereby which in what ever formes the government be administred that in themselves simply considered are all lawful and innocent doth difference just and righteous Rule and Government over men from a Tyranny and subjection unto private will and lust which is none of Gods Ordinance but the abuse of it When lust thus creeps into Magistracie which in it self is the good Creature and Ordinance of God it knows how to engender to bondage and tyranny which God for a punishment brings upon the Nations of the world and suffers but it is no part of the Primitive institution of a right Magistracie a description whereof we find Isa 1. 26. where it is prophesied of and promised to be set up as part of Christs Kingdome as reduced to its original patterne for so saith that Scripture I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellors as at the beginning afterwards thou shalt be called the CITY OF RIGHTEOUSNESSE This is yet farther explained Isa 60. 17 18. Where we find that the
the want of which it now groaneth and travelleth as in paine as deteined under the bondage it is fallen into by sin and is stretching out its neck as it were with a holy impatiency after these times of refreshing that are to come from the presence of the Lord by the sending of Jesus a second time and revealing him with power from heaven to restore all things and accomplish the full redemption of the body which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began Acts 3. 19 20 21. But considering the distinct and large handling of this weighty subject from testimony of Scriptures and otherwise in Volumes lately made extant together with the reserve which Christ thinks fit to keep in his owne hands as well of the time as the exact patterne and material circumstances of this his Reign it shall suffice me to be joyning in testimony unto this great truth according to the general prospect thereof which hath beene given in to my faith in some small glimpses as well from the inward as outward Word of God in a patient and humble expectation of the clearer and more certaine description thereof as the things themselves are drawing on which Christ in his times will fully shew by the brightnesse of his owne coming unto which the children of light and of this day are exhorted to be hastning as that which is hastning upon them that so it may not overtake them as a thief in the night at unawares but the mindfulnesse thereof may keep them in a meet posture with their loines girt and lamps burning as men waiting for the coming of their Lord. Paul in 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. does call these dayes the times of Christ in which he will shew that his judgment and power shall bear sway in distinction from and opposition to the power and judgement of mans day now in exercise and credit throughout the world himself being the blessed and only POTENTATE the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS that must take place with his everlasting Dominion This Scripture compared with Rom. 8. v. 19 to v. 24. Acts 3. 19 20 21. 1 John 3. 2. Hab. 2. 3 14 20. 2 Thes 2. 8. Phil. 3. 20 21. Dan. 2. 44 45. and Dan. 4. 3. and Chap. 7. 26 27. does evidently declare thus much that the hidden life and immortality wherein the man Christ Jesus does remaine with God as him that is invisible seene only to the eye of faith by the true sons and heirs of salvation shall have a season and time to be manifested and brought to light openly before the eyes of all and this two manner of wayes First in a way which shall be peculiar to the spiritual seed and extend only to them who having died with Christ shall now live with him and having suffered with him shall now reigne with hiw as gathered into one spiritual and heavenly body with himself through his changing their vile body into the likenesse of his most glorious body according to the working of his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Secondly in a way which shall be common to all natural men yea to the whole creation of God so as every eye shall see him and every tongue shall confesse him and every knee shall how to him either voluntarily or by compulsion as unto the only POTENTATE unto whom they owe their subjection and that in the right of the redemption by him procured for them who became a ransome for all to be testified in due time through which they shall be actually and entirely delivered from the bondage of corruption and restored into their Primitive purity natural life and glory upon the same tearmes of mutability as wherein Adam was at first created yea with this advantage over and above what he had not only a being taught by his experience but assisted with those means which he experienced not in the manner they shall do together with a freedome from any exercise of that old Serpents power or subtilty upon them who during the time of the whole thousand years shall be bound and sealed up in the bottomlesse pit by the power of Christ Rev. 20. 2 3. and so totally disabled to deceive or beguile the Nations any more all that while as he beguiled Eve that Christ may rule in righteousnesse amongst them without disturbance nothing being left to hurt or destroy them in all his holy mountaine or Dominion if they destroy not themselves for they shall be left unto the full and entire scope of their own free will self-managing and disposal that they may be as good as they themselves shall desire to be and have the means at hand to keep them so if themselves be not in the fault That which Christ will do at his second coming is intimated by those greater works he speaks of John 5. v. 20 to v. 30. at the sight whereof every one should marvel In which Scripture we find a twofold power that shall then be exercised by Christ First a quickning power for Christ shall then quicken whom he will calling whom he pleases out of their very graves whether spiritual or literal and they shall hear his voice and come forth the grave at his call shall yeeld up her dead not being able to resist the power of this quickning spirit of his who then as by the voice of the Arch-Angel the trump of God 1 Thes 4. 16 shall visibly declare the exceeding greatnesse of his power over death and the grave it self in the sight of the whole world to the admiration of all and to the stopping the mouths of the greatest enemies and gain-sayers that would be apt to contradict and oppose the glory of his Kingdome Secondly a Judicial power For Christ shall then receive authority from the Father to execute judgement also and that as the Sonne of man according as it is also expressed Acts 17. 31. He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus then as the Father hath life in himself that is to say the proper life of God absolute supreme irresistible and Almighty the SONNE OF MAN shall then also come forth in the exercise of the same life in unity with the Father it being given to him in like manner to have life in himself and to effect and execute all that which he desires and thinks fit in both these respects in the exercise of the same absolute and Almighty power of God himself By reason whereof it shall come to passe that all men shall honour the Sonne even as they honour the Father and whosoever honoureth not the Son shall be proceeded against in judgement and in the execution of Gods wrath as if he had not honoured the Father For unto the Sonne of man in this day of his