such an office that man may come to be deceived as the Jewes of old were and Jewish Gentiles are at this day and so persecute Christ in stead of receiving him when or in whomsoever he appeareth Let those of that carnall opinion that Christ shall come and reign upon the earth as a great Monarch for a thousand yeares look into this point for Christ was never known but in an office as aforesayd and every office of the spirit in its proper way and manner of working comprehends whole Christ Now the office of intercession is a work of the spirit for we know not how to pray as we ought but the spirit maketh intercession for us or in us therefore it comprehends whole Christ for he cannot be divided and it being the spirit of the Saviour must have yea be salvation for where Christ the Son of God is there is salvation In what grace vertue or office soever he appears in or by that tradition of tying salvation to believing alone is ridiculous for can there be more in faith then in love which is the fulfilling of the whole law yea of that law of the spirit of life in Christ and are not we saved by hope Doth not Timothy save himselfe and them that hear him by preaching sound doctrine Now to take faith according to that dismition the Apostle gives saying It is the subsistance of things hoped for So faith is in every vertue office and exercise of Christ for the subsistance is the being of God and man in one and that is to be held and had of Christians in all things that can be sayd of Christ therefore we acknowledg nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified There is both the unction and crucification in every thing a Christian knows but there is no unction but in the nature divine nor slaying in a Christan but of the flesh which twayn are never separated neither in love nor hope gentlenesse mercy kindnesse wisdome truth patience and whatsoever can be named of Christ it is the subsistance of twayn made one new man that compleats it and therefore salvation is in all Christs excellencies and they are all as things hoped for because they are ever to come that is not only in present being and exercise but shall for ever spring up unto a Christian out of that living and everlasting fountain All things of salvation therefore are in prayer for prayer consists of necessity and supply but all necessities and all supplies are in prayer therefore prayer contayns whole Christ which is compleat salvation therefore a work of honour to eternize the memory of a Saint This point may fence a Christian from discouraging drooping thoughts apt to sieze upon all all flesh thinking himselfe of no use in his age nor of any performance befitting such a name or calling as to be entitled a Son of God being destitute of any power or authority wisdome or policy device or invention art or science such as the sons of men have gathered and encroached unto themselves in all ages By sword stratagems by Schools and Seminaries by money and friendship by travell and humane experiments and observations Poor heart that thou art with respect unto the world canst thou pray be of good comfort it countervayls all it is the renownedst act that ever was wrought in the world Get thee to thy Closet viz. shut up thy selfe from the common courses and customs of this world and pray unto thy father in secret or according unto or in that secret and hidden mystery of Christ which is as secret and hidden from the world as thy selfe is hid from the wayes of the world in this thy closet or chamber of presence And thy father which seeth in seecret that is which beholds and approves of this mystery of God in thee will reward thee openly that is will make it manifest that the reward or end of thine estate and practice is to be made manifest to the Son of God and that the Heyr-ship and inheritance of the Kingdome of God appertayns and belongs unto thee 2. Again let such weigh this point that hold themselves free from believing any doctrine in the world till they see it accompanyed with miraculous works viz. works in like manner and form as they have beene done formerly as to heale the sicke restore the lame open the eyes of the blind and raise up the dead all these are taken in a bodily and corporeall respect These men do not consider that the famous and miraculous works that Elia did all of them are included in his prayer and that is as miraculous as any of them the miracles that Christ did they are all included in his prayers supplications and teares with strong cryes which is no lesse miraculous then any of the rest The wonders of Paul in doing and suffering are all comprized in this Behold he prayes Now the miraculous vertue and power of prayer consists not in words or any outward expression or bodily exercise in a form of words but in humble petition a lawfull suing out of right a just and legall appeale and judgement given according to the nature of the case propounded in which all accord and agree together to compleat the mystery and miracle of prayer having all these things in it whereby according to the law of the spirit our right of inheritance is faithfully sued out Note further that it is no more the form visible of any miracle that ever was wrought that is the proper seal to confirm the Gospel no more then the Ministry of the Letter that kills is the proper path of the spirit that gives life But it is the scope drift ayme and end of the miracle in what it poynts unto in that great and miraculous workmanship of Christ the son of the living God which is the true and proper seale of the Gospel and wheresoever that is effectually wrought there it is felt and approved and there only the Gospel or glad tidings of salvation is really and miraculously confirmed by a signe and wonder passing infinitely all momentany and corporeall respects But these men think they honour the Gospel and lift it up to its proper height and ancient dignity In thus concluding their opinion is no lesse honourable then that of those that have resolved and decreed that the pattering over the words of that prayer which Christ taught his Disciples as a spell is an effectuall ordinance in the house of God never looking at the life spirit and proper power of prayer only the form of words So these look at the form of the miracle wrought as it appears to a naturall eye as the other appears to the ear and never look at the true wonder and signe only sound in the son of man and else-where centred is no better then the magick of Aegypt for they may as well gape after the outward forms of words to be the prayer of the Gospel as the outward form of the work to be
power of the resurrection from the dead as it is said the Lord shall raise him up there is in prayer a Lord-like authority to rise out of that grave of sin and sorrow of death and destruction so as none shall have dominion over it to keep it under for it cannot be held of death but it will remove the stone from the Sepulchre and deface and break open the seal of Herod himselfe though set upon it by the cheif Preists and Pharisees making it as sure as they can it will make the house of the carnall Jews to shake when the Apostles of Christ are gathered together or brought into unity and harmony by that reconciling spirit of interpretation It will make the foundations of the Prison to shake where the spirit of our great Apostle is infringed casting open the doors and laying wast such power to the astonishment of the Jaylors themselves whoever they may be yea it will raise Peter up out of the dungeon and cause his chains to fall off from his hands to his own admiration and wonder In a word prayer hath in it the power and vertue of the resurrection because it is the breathing of the Son of God returned from death to life this word behold he prayeth was an argument sufficient to prove Paul change from a Saul and to be risen up out of that grave and puddle of the Jewish litteral and carnall worships and from that deadly spirit of persecution which ever accompanies such maner of services Thirdly prayer hath in it the power of pardon and forgivenesse of sins for if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him or in the present tence as the word will bear they are forgiven him that is to every one that partakes in this prayer of faith To commit sin here is to be understood in a two-fold respect that is negatively and affirmatively of which the breach of law being sin doth consist now to sin and prove a delinquent in omitting and not doing that which is required is to neglect and leave undone that which the carnal commandement according to the strict spirit of a Pharisee calls for such sin or missing of the rule of the carnall commandement standing in outward ordinances is here to be understood which is the onely sin condemned by a carnall Jew and this law the prayer of faith doth rout ravell undo and abrogate with respect unto the obligation thereof in the true intent of a Pharasaical Jew And against this law doth true prayer sin in all its supplications intercessions and requests for the prayer of faith observes not in the least in any point that law of the spirit of bondage which onely obligeth to the law of the flesh nor can it keep and perform that spirit of enmity which Christ Jesus nailes to his Crosse and slays in himselfe and therefore a sinne in a Saint in way of negation against the affirmative part of the law of the flesh Againe there is a sin committed affirmatively and that is by reall acting and doing according to the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord which the wisdome of man in that carnall law forbids and that under the penalty of errour schism heresie pride blasphemy and death it self For every point of the law of the spirit rightly composed according to the prin ciples and grounds of faith is most heinous wicked detestable sinfull and abominable in the eyes of a carnal man Now the breach disannulling and abrogating of the carnall command for which the Jewes so hated Christ is the truth of the matter the reality and ever carries in it the remission pardon and forgivenes of sins in the Saints as surely as the breach of the law of the spirit and that everlasting Covenant of God carries in it guilt crime and is the condemnation of the world For every sin and blasphemy against the Son of man that is against the wisdome will power and authority of the arme of flesh shall be forgiven or it is forgiven for it hath the acquittance general discharge and release in it self but he that speaks aagainst the holy spirit that is against that law of the spirit or spirituall estate of that holy one of God it shall never be forgiven that is he that breaks the law of the spirit in any word or thing as the phrase imports it hath in it that guilt which can never be wiped out neither in this world that is in time present nor in the world or time that is to come or not in this world that is in the conscience of the party so made guilty nor in the world to come that is in that sentence of the righteous Judge which doth for ever adjudg and condemn it so that as the breach of the spiritual law hath in it an eternall guilt unseperably and enevitably fastned unto it and accompaning the same even so hath the breach or abrogation of the carnall law an everlasting pardon and acquittance before God fastned unto and ever accompaning the same Note in this point that the Levitical law which the Apostle apposeth to the law of an endlesse life doth not condemn because men fall short in some particulars of the fulfilment of the same but it condemns and is death unto him that walks according to the same or lives thereafter Therefore our Apostle saith If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is if yee live according to the law of the carnall commandement for by it no flesh can be justified or if yee minde the things of the flesh that is as the word signifies if ye frame form or fashon things unto your selfe according to the carnall command art or reason of man concerning the affairs of God it is death but to live after the spirit that is the law of the spirit or spirituall law is life and peace or to minde the things of the spirit that is to form frame and fashion things spiritually that is life and peace and as the one of these is sin according to mans wisdome and his accounts even so is the other sin according to Gods wisdome and his reckoning and account judgement and doom passed upon it by an eternall and unchangeable sentence There is pardon then and power of forgivenesse in prayer because it is God that sitteth upon that throne of grace judging unto justification who then shall condemn for it the spirit of grace and supplication whereof prayer doth consist yea it is the Son of God who is justified who then shal lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen that holy one of God For wherever the spirit and vertue of Christ is there is power to forgive sins therefore he saith to stop the mouth of those legall Pharisees whether is it easier to say thy sins are forgiven or to say take up thy bed and walke but that you may know that the Son of man hath power to forgive sins on earth therefore I said
dust that it cannot yeeld fruit his ascending up into heaven in a fiery Chariot The spirit of God is pleased to commend all his honourable deeds unto the world in this one act of prayer to stand and to be as his memoriall for ever Prayer therefore is garnished with all the ornaments of a Prophet oâ— God and cannot be lesse then a most honcurable monument and memorizing of the Saints where-ever it is found extant 2. Prayer hath all the vertues and ornaments of Priest-hood in it Never was Aaron fitted and adorned with greater variety of vestments and vertues to minister before God in the holy place and according to the variety and change of the multitude of sacrifices and offerings then the spirit of prayer contayns in it and according to occasion puts on and brings forth when the vertue power of our great high Priest after the order of Melchisedech is brought in it is all summed up in the spirit of prayer as he saith also in another place Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech who in the dayes of his flesh when he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares unto him or in him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that which be feared That is he was heard in all things or for the accomplishment and bringing to passe all things that concern life and salvation Now that all things that concern the Kingdome of God is involved in this prayer is thus proved The word translated feared is in the Greek dispaired about which men have much contended how it may be said of Christ But the thing is really and substantially to be considered though men do wrest and bend mince and strayn the word to suit it to humane reason For it is as true that the Son of God in and by the spirit of the world and principles proper to humane wisdome doth dispair and relir quish all hope and expectation of being delivered or set at liberty from that infinite wrath and displeasure of Almighty God as it is true that the son of sorry man is in and by the spirit of God and principles proper to the wisdome of God established and confirmed in the love power truth righteousnesse and glory of God and of his Kingdome everlastingly If men be ignorant hereof how Christ is said to feare or dispayr in all things they may talk of eternall life but they know not how a creature can live eternally and be possessor of all things Want of this knowledg breeds your Mortallists that know not by vertue of what the soule becomes eternall either in life or death as also your Generallists that say God will save all whereas there may be as reall and undenyable arguments used upon like ground that God will destroy all and so they must be left to the height of their doctrine which will amount to no more then the condition of a beast yet doth it make them such men as it had been good for them they had never been born For the rest that have gotten a tract of salvation and damnation by tradition from schools books naturall phylosophy and observation not having the knowledg of the nature of this Priest-hood comprized in the spirit of intercession They believe such things but they must not be curiously searcht into that is we cannot know them of these we say as the mind without knowis not good so these mens faith is dead For wilt thou know oh empty man that faith without works is dead For the spirit of God never works in way of life but in its own light therefore ignorance in any point must be voyd of the work of faith and so of the saving vertue that is in the life of Christ But prayer comprehending the whole Priest-hood of Christ is a work of that honour and power as to memorize the name of a Saint for ever and to set him up as a monument of the wisdome and mercy of God 3. Prayer is a work that comprehends the Kingly authority of Christ for when the Apostle Paul had shaken off the traditions and rudiments of the carnall Jew the power of the high Priest in that prosecuting spirit of binding and imprisoning all that were of the way of Jesus calling on the name of the Lord and when the Lord would proclaim him and make it manifest that he was a chosen vessell fitted to beare his name or carry his authority before the Gentiles Kings and the children of Israel Yea when he would put all that honour upon him which the Psalmist foretells saying There is little Benjamine their ruler the head of the Tribe a Prince of God he comprehends and concludes all in this act of prayer to give satisfaction to Annanias behold he prayeth As if he should say it is enough to know that miraculous change from Saul unto Paul from the service of the Synagogue of the Jewes to be a ruler over Kings the Gentiles and children of Israel for the name of God is by his word advanced over all which he was to beare this is sufficient to give satisfation to all Behold he prayeth So that none can deny a Princely spirit of power and authority where the spirit of prayer bears sway and a princely excellency is of honour sufficient to eternize the record of a Christians name 4. There is in prayer the power of victor or a victorious renown consisting of the noblest conquest that ever was Jacob by prayer overcame the man that wrestled or combated with him which man is said to be an Angell but it is the Angell that blest him in the way and therefore is declared to be God for Jacob said I have seen God face to face in which act of prayer his name is changed from Jacob to Israel to declare a prince-like promise in prevailing with God as the Prophet explayns his name and act saying And by his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angell and prevailed he wept and made supplication hee found him in Bethel and there spake with us or in us for if the spirit of God had not spoke in our father Jacob and so in all of his race he had never prevailed Was ever the like Conquest made as to overcome omnipotency which could never be but through the requests of his owne spirit which he cannot deny but must yeeld himself over thereunto Prayer therefore consists of a combate which ever hath conquest therefore of sufficient honour and renown to memorize a Saint who-ever he be that exerciseth the design and skill thereof 5. Prayer hath salvation contained in it nay it is salvation For whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved or in the present tense as the word will admit is saved for he that thinks he knows Christ any otherwise then in the vertue of an office exercised in such a subsistance or by such a manner or subsisistance exercised in
fruit nor profit ariseth For he is cut off from the land of the living in the world and hath made his grave in the wicked and in the rich of this world is his death For the Son of God hath expended his life in Antichrist unto no fruit or profit of the Spirit but unto corruption as the Son of man hath expended his life in Christ unto no utility or fruit of the flesh but unto purity and holinesse 4. Therefore in the fourth place they are said to keep back his hyre the hyre of a labourer is to return unto him a reward proportionable to his worke The word hire signifies to gather together as a Master gathers to himselfe a servant to be answerable one to another by contract which the world in that unity of the harlot denyes unto Christ for he that is holinesse gives and unites himselfe unto them but they return no such thing unto him but only corruption He who is love in himselfe is united unto them but they return nothing but enmity He who is truth gives himselfe to them but they return a lye unto him He who is eternall life gives himselfe to them but they return eternall death unto him and so hold no proportion with him unto whom they are contracted nor bring they forth any thing for his supply sutable in the least to his nature and quality Whereas the Saints make return to God with things which are of God holding proportion with him with whom they are in contract For they are increased with the increasings of God for of his fulnesse we all receive and grace for grace It is the love of God shed abroad in their hearts which is the love by which they make over themselves in contract unto him and become Espousals together with him and can say with David that beloved one All things are thine and of thine own we have given thee Which the world falls infinitely short of yea is in direct Antithesis unto the same therefore they are said to keep back by fraud deceit or guile because they give that unto themselves and things of the creature which belongs unto the Lord and things that are of him they give unto themselves wisdome power and glory which is the prerogative Royall of the Son of God defrauding him of his right for they give their sons unto Moloch or unto the King that is unto the Kingdome and glory of the world wherein there is as absolute a change of the word of God from its proper nature and operation to become sinfull and diabolicall in them in that way of Antichrist as there is of sinfull man from his naturall properties to become that holy Son of God in the way of Christ therefore they that gave their sonnes unto Moloch that is to the reign dominion and counsell of the flesh they are said to sacrifice unto Devils and not unto God no greater fraud then to give that to the Devill which is pretended to be given unto God and it is the proper work of Sathan to bow the heart to the glory of the creature whereby hee keeps back and retains to himselfe that honour which is proper to the Creature These persons defraud the Son of God of his livelihood who only lives by his labour for where there is no operation and work of Christ there is no life of Christ no work of faith no labour of love no patience of hope no breathings of Christ he is dead in that heart for the Religion of God is not notionall but efficatious The Lord Jesus lives by his labour the world defrauds him of it detaining it in their own sinfull and selfish operations whereby they with-hold the truth in unrighteousnesse the titles given unto Christ as of a person King Lord Prince c. As of an office as Mediator Advocate Intercessor Or of relations as Father Husband friend or the like are carefully to be taken up and assumed by the Creature as they do concern the honour office and relation of this life yet they may be assumed in that respect as we may eate and drinke marry and give in marriage which all perish in the use provided that they be assumed as we are to buy or as we are to marry that is as though we possest them not and as though we assumed them not for the fashion of this world passeth away that is that which men may form unto themselves to be excellent and praise-worthy may at another time or in another place become odious and abominable as we have seen in the name King Bishop Priest having many wives and keeping only to one have been But to assume them or teach men so to do as things appertaining to the dignity office or relation of a creature not considered in Christ but as it concerns creature and creature to be the ultimate end scope and drift of the Scripture in any Title Office or Relation whatsoever is satanicall and wicked for the end of the law is Christ therefore the scope of them all and every particular is God and man in Jesus Christ and thither it is to be brought and there centred or else we defraud the labourer by detayning his due unto our selves or rather giving it unto Satan himselfe In which the cry of the defrauded one doth consist which is the fifth point propounded in order 5. And this cry is the cry of the blood of Abel for the exercise of wrath in wrong done unto the innocent whose life as it is taken away by force and cruelty of Cain that man-slayer from the beginning so is it taken away by guile and subtilty defrauding by the Serpent him of the proper meanes of his living which is his owne operations the fruits of that tree of life by giving the glory and vertue to make wise unto the tree of knowledg of good and evill which is a preferring the law of the flesh above the law of the spirit the wisdome of man above the wisdome of God For as the wisdome of God in that law of the spirit through its curious device of the joynting of God and man to be one estate and condition carries in it a sufficient and prevalent argument to move the tender compassions and bowels of mercy therein as in an only beloved son even so the wisdome of man in that law of the flesh craftily insinuating the glory and power of the arm of flesh to be the glory and power of God giving unto it what is only proper to God hath in it a sufficient acclamation and argument to move the exercise of Gods wrath in the soule as in one that is guilty of an infinite deceipt of Serpents subtilty Yea as that life-blood of sprinkling of the Lamb slain according to the flesh in that house of the Israelite struck upon the door-posts and Lintels thereof that is upon all the wayes of egresse and regress into and out of the same hath in it a sufficient testimony and cry of restraint
filling them with the things of the creature so as they become unmeasurable not bounded by any time or season but take in the vast space of eternity and so the state of the wicked is also evelasting in that son of perdition as well as in that Son of God and yet that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit but both perpetuated of like race in respect of time in the sight of God and all that judg and discern according to the spirit of God for as it is affirmed of that eternall word that it was in the beginning In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God So it is affirmed of the wicked one that he is a man-slayer from the beginning and not to abide in the truth but is a lyar and the father of it There is therefore a change and a reall change in Satan for the truth of God is turned into a lye in him but it is in the number and act of his being so that it is as true and reall that he was never otherwise and therefore he is said also to be the fountaine and father of it as he that is so originally even as Abraham that high Father and ancient of dayes is sayd to be the father of the faithfull as the originall and propagator of them all And without this unity of the harlot prostrating and adulterating the word of God unto the lusts of men Satan is not known but works in and by and is conversant with man and man knows it not It is true also that there is a change and a reall change in Christ the son of the blessed for mans nature is changed from its visiosity and vanity proper to the wisdome of a creaeure to become the undefiled of God in the blessing and reality of son-ship but this change is from the manner instant and eternall act of his being so that it is as true that he was never other but that undefiled and reall son of God blessed for ever with respect to time past and that which is to come So that the Son of God is never alive in the spirit but Satan is dead in and to him nor is Satan alive in the flesh but Christ is dead in and to him and by his slaughter the world nourisheth its heart and feasts it selfe so that the mortification of the spirit of the Scripture or word of life is the revivall of the letter which becomes the proper nourishment of the carnall minde which is that state of death for to be carnally minded is death So also it is true in Christ that the mortification of the flesh in the abrogating of that carnall law of sin and death is the slaying of that Leviathan Sea-Dragon or man of Sin who is given to be meate for Gods people in the wildernesse that is it is the revivall of the spirit which becomes the proper nourishment of the sons of God and is that bread from heaven that perisheth not and food of eternall life which abides for ever And as food becomes one with that body that feeds upon it in the nourishing of it so doth the spirit and life of the living and eternall God become one state and condition in that man of God and mysticall body of Christ Jesus our alone Lordship and salvation And so also doth that spirit of death and destruction in that the truth of God is turned into a lye become one state and condition in that man of sin that vile body and mystery of iniquity wherein that eternall death only consisteth and remayneth for ever In the next verse he declares who it is they have killed and the manner of it Vers 6. Yee have condemned and have killed the just and he doth not resist you Wherein observe 1. The act of the wicked Yee have condemned and have killed the just 2. The demeanour of the Just He doth not resist them Their act is two-fold 1. They condemn him 2. They kill him 1. BY the just here as hath been declared is meant the Lord our righteousnesse or our justice as the Prophet calls him Whose path is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day that is hath all manner and motions of glory in it as from the rising of the Sunne unto the height thereof it is he onely in whom perfect justice resides which consists in a Justifier and a justified which is only found in Christ out of whom no perfect justice is found for if the Justifier be one and the justified another individuall or substance there is a fraction in the act it admits of default and imperfection you cannot find it whole in either of them Christ therefore is only just and hence it is that seates of Judicature must either condemn him in the world or else they cannot justifie themselves to have the perfection of the Law so they are sayd here to condemn the just or that just one To condemn implies the giving of sentence as by law for there must be a discerning wch is by a rule or else sentence cannot passe and every thing hath its proper and peculiar law whereby it seeks to effect the conservation and safety of of it selfe in its proper condition and where the wisdom of the flesh and carnall mind gives the proper being unto the condition it hath a certain law bond or engagement upon it in way of argumentall and legall reasoning for the safety and conservation of it selfe in its own principles and achievements and to condemn and sentence whatsoever makes for the bane and overthrow of them and unto that stands bound and engaged in it selfe as to its ruler or god Now the Crosse of Christ in the crucification of the flesh and order of that law of the spirit doth confound humane wisdome in the way of its being and all its enterprizes making it the proper folly of the world for it is written I will destroy the wisdome of the wise and will cast away the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made the wisdome of this world foolishness Therefore the wisdome of the flesh or carnall law doth bind over under penalty of destruction of it selfe to convent arraign convict condemn and passe a finall sentence upon the Son of God that law of the spirit of life otherwise it cannot reteyn and conserve it selfe So that we may as soon and with better acceptation perswade a rationall and ingenuous spirit to lye downe and utterly forsake the nature and activity of his wisdome and to become a beast of the dullest capacity as to perswade a carnall mind where the son of peace is not upon the true and proper conditions of the Gospel to become a son of God It is no marvell therefore though the world love their owne and hate such as are taught of
into the state and condition of Christ or else it is not an acknowledgment and confession of faith And so sin is confessed upon the head of the Scape-goat to be carryed into the wildernesse which is desolate and way lesse unto the people of God neither is he nor it that is the goate nor the sin in that true respect found in Israel any more and so sin it set on its probase and place of its perpetuall aboad not only in time to come but past also that is in Babylon in the land of Shyner the place of confusion wherein note that the strictest order composed by the wisdome of man which is in truth and substance consonant to the letter of the Scripture men being tyed thereunto as a rule to walk by is that proper confusion of Babell unto a Christian unity because it makes man the fore-runner and not the Lord Christ who only enters within the vale where the true oracle is uttered even as it is true that when the will of God according to the law of the spirit is the most distinctly made manifest it appears to be the only confusion in a carnall mind because it layes wast those proper principles whereby it adorns it self with all its ornaments Note here how necessary it is for mans wisdome to moderate it selfe in the making of Lawes and binding men under penalties to take them as rules for all to walk by And here we propound a question whether one Law of God be not of like weight as another for that distinction of the first Table being more eminent then the second is meerly humane for doth not Christ center both in two commands and affirms them to be of like weight and the Apostles bring all into one saying love fulfils the whole law So that the two Tables do teach unto us the unity of God and man and that both according to the letter of the Law and also of the spirit and therefore the Law is broken by Moses at the foot of the Mount as considered in the Leviticall Priest-hood exercised in the Rebels in the wildernesse and the Law is preserved and kept by Moses in the Arke unto this day as the Scripture affirms as it is exercised in that way of the Spirit in Joshuah or Jesus who leads into the land as that Captain of our salvation But however the question stands concerning strictnesse of Law in two commands of the second Table which are of the same weight and importance to every Christian the one as the other and that is the not killing but preservation of life and the not committing of adultery in the preservation of chastity Is there not then a like care to be had and provision made for the preservation of life in respect of its existance and being as there is to preserve chastity that so man may appear in honour and temperancy If there be a like care to be had in both then I demand how it comes to passe that men make a law to execute death upon that fact of adultery which reacheth unto the very Embryon and unformed substance of man in the womb that so they may prevent a Bastard-like brood and that impure and incontinent conversation of men in the world Why are they not alike carefull to ordaine and execute a law upon men in case man and wife know each other when there is no possibility of conception whereby the life of man seems to be destroyed and cut off as considered in the very same capacity and principles and so upon the like ground murder committed This case may seem to be the very point of Christs argument brought forth by his practice against the Scribes and Pharisees who stood so strictly upon the letter of Moses writing when they brought that woman taken in adultery unto him who in pretending the fulfilment of the Law out of a malicious spirit seeke to ensnare the Son of God to kill him and put him to death which murthering litterall spirit of theirs he convicts them of and acquits the woman in that double act of his in writing on the earth having respect unto the writing of the two Tables of stone signifying unto them that killing letter bearing sway in themselves whereby they sought to take away his life rather then the womans by putting the force and dignity of the Law to stand in carnall and fleshly observance and so convicted them in his first writing upon the earth as having broken the Law as Moses did the first Table and therein their consciences accuse them as guilty of murder and so they absent themselves from Christ And in his second writing on the earth hee signifies that law of the spirit which is for ever kept and preserved in himselfe wherein is found no condemnation but an acquittance from all sin and unrighteousnesse and therefore the woman escapes without condemnation when none but Christ according to that law appears with her A Commentary might be writ of this point but thus much only as closely as may be in way of caution to prevent men in their so confident prosecutions formed from the letter of the Scripture as they piece-meale it out of the wisdome of man left it prove no better in conclusion then the wisdome of the Serpent that whilst they entice to the eating of the fruit of one tree because of the fairnesse and benefit of it they do not corrupt and destroy another in themselves in so doing before they be well aware of it For if such mens wisdome and wills had taken place in the dayes of Juda and Thomas they would have made a breach in the Geneology of Christ And if they say they would have stopped execution till the children had been born then they would not have stoâ—d to the glory of the Law which after it be truly discerned stands in seleritas inexequendo Wee are then to attend the mind of the spirit of God in this namely that our yea be yea and our nay nay wherein the scope of the Scriptures do consist being the state of man-kind with respect unto God which is in one act and for ever and not in the relation of any one Creature or Creatures with respect unto others that is to any meer creature or creatures which may now be yea it is and immediately nay it is not but in Christ it is not so who is the end of all law the scope of all relations and the very end which all operations drive at presse unto as he is crucified according to the flesh or else according to the spirit in which respect yea remayns yea and nay remayns nay both in the way of Christ and in the way of Antichrist So that he that teacheth another thing to be the intent and meaning of the word of God what ever it is that may one time be and another time not be in the same state condition of man-kind considered that is a doctrine under the state of condemnation Therfore
supplicant humbly prostrates the cause in the necessity of and with respect unto supply which is the glory of its office so to doe And the suppleo yeelds relief and supplies the necessity and it is the glory of its office so to do and if either of these be wanting in a Christian spirit it subsists not because it is not the spirit of the Son of God in whom is power to forgive sins as well as to make supplication for pardon So that the glory of the speaker in prayer or pleader of the cause before the Judge of all the earth is one reall glory and the glory of the sentence passed thereupon is another real glory but both but one act of the law the glory of the speaker in prayer as Daniel calls it is to open the cause holding plea upon true principles unto the point of issue now Christ is the end and issue of the law in all points of relation and causes depending between God and man whatsoever Againe the glory of the Judge is to passe sentence according to the law in the point of issue so that the cause pleaded and Judgement given is but one act of the law which is Christ and in case either of these be wanting in a Christian he ceaseth to be that law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lordship and is become that law of sin and death So that the party praying and the party prayed unto are one in point of hypostacis and being and the party or office of prayer and the party or office of hearing or answering are twain in point of the variety in reallity of glory for God and man are compleatly in unity in them both else Christ is divided Even as it is said that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive which the Apostle affirms to be the saying of Christ though we finde no such place in Scripture in so many words so that it may seem that the whole Gospel or speech of Christ is summed up therein namely in giving and receiving as he saith to his Disciples in sending them out to preach freely you have received and freely do you give so that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive that is it is another thing a further glory a various vertue in the Sonne of God as if he should say it is a blessed thing to receive moreover or furthermore it is a blessed thing to give for the one is the blessing of giving and hath its reall and peculiar blessednesse really consisting therein and the other is the blessing of receiving and hath its reall and peculiar blessednesse really consisting therein and one of these cannot be without the other for no giver without a receiver and no receiver without a giver and each of them hath whole Christ exercised therein that only blessed one therefore as the hearingeare and the seing eye are both alike of the Lord so it is true of giving and receiving and the difference stands onely in the variety of glory even as in the three witnesses that bear record in heaven no other disproportion can be found For a naturall man can neither perceive so as to give nor effect so as to receive the things that are of God for they are spiritually to be discerned and apprehended and said hold of for none knows the things of God but the spirit of God no more then any other creature can know the spirit of a man but onely he that is of his own kinde And it is the Son of God onely that knows the father and it is the Son only that reveals him for no man knowes the father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveales him We conclude then that prayer consists of whole Christ and that both in point of petition as also in the answer otherwise it is not this prayer of faith and therefore it is that prayer is of that validity and force as to do such mighty things as are here attributed unto it As First saves the sick it hath the vertue and power of salvation annexed unto it which can be ascribed unto nothing but unto Christ alone who never was nor can be known but in the exercise of an office for it is the vertue and power of the spirit of God that makes manifest the Son of God and it is he alone that saves for he hath salvation Therefore it is said deliver my soul from the sword my darling or as the word signifies my alonely soule as having no copartner from the power of the dog and it is he that comes meek and lowly as the Prophet Zachariah saith saving himself and not another for as the father and the Son are one so is the Lord and the Disciple one the Saviour and the saved are one else Christ should not be God-man Salvation then is in prayer as the Scriptures testifie and the time is come that every one or whosoever call on the name of the Lord shall be saved many teach that salvation is only by faith that neither know what faith nor salvation is for faith hath salvation in it onely as it is that hypostacis and subsistance of the Son of God and so Paul teacheth faith without works that is without the works of the law which he calls dead works because the life and spirit of the Son of God is not in them but our Apostle James ascribes salvation unto works and declines faith as being the beliefe of devils that is such faith as hath not the powerful operations of God working in and together with it so that there is compleat salvation in any proper work or operation of the Son of God as well as in faith therefore Christ concludes that the great work and operation of God to be in faith for faith is not without the works of God nor the works of God without faith We are also said to be saved by hope as well as by either faith or work there is salvation also in love for it is the fulfilling of the law and where the law is compleat and full there can be no condemnation but perfect acquittance and salvation yea God is love and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him which canot be without salvation yea salvation is in patience for he that continues to the end shall be saved so that we are saved by it Furthermore we are saved by wisdome for the poor man by his wisdome saves the whole City of God though his wisdome be despised and his words not heard by the wise of the world And to conclude this point salvation is in prayer it saves the sick because it is the subsistance of the mediator-ship of the Son of God which is ever one and the same where when or in whom-soever it appears although it be so little in use and so lightly accounted of in these days wherein we live Secondly it hath in it the vertue and
or a Saviour any where but as lockt up in a humane body in heaven that men may stand here in his room till he return from thence to suck up all the glory of the earth It was not so in ages past and men spirituall for Joshuah Moses Minister was called Jesus a Saviour as the Apostle interprets his name and the Lord acknowledgeth in raising up Judges in Israell that he raised up Saviours unto them And Paul was not affraid to tell Timmothie that in taking heed to himselfe that is how God hath composed salvation in his consisting in Christ and unto learning or doctrine that is how it ought to be layd out and distributed to others that in so doing he should be a Saviour of himselfe and them that heare him 2. A second point is what he saves that is a soule or a life this is not meant of the life of a meer creature but it is the life of the Son of God as our Apostle affirms Now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live is by or in the faith of the sonne of God So that a Christians life is the life of Christ and there is no life of man-kind but either the life of the Saviour or else the life of Sathan that destroyer for heaven and earth conspire together in the making of man Let us speaking with respect to that plurality in our image that is in our image earthly as well as heavenly for there is a heavenly body and there is an earthly body and God is as just and righteous in the making of the one as of the other and every way as honourable the one in mercy and the other in severity And man cannot be known in a simple act of creation for that multiplies him not but propagation or generation must be brought in also else the son of God nor the seed of the Serpent can be known so both are brought forth in that first act of generation in Cain and Abel wherein the seed of the Serpent appears in the same act as in Jacob and Esau together with Christ in Abel dead by Caine in the spirit and in Seth that sett one in life for evermore who is set in the room of Abel crucified in the world So that the life of Christ and of Antichrist are both from one act even from as early dayes the one as the other and without the true knowledg of that we know neither of them and for other life in man-kind we know none worthy the name of life beyond other creatures but as it serves to the setting forth of the one or of the other of these and so they transcend the life of all other creatures as far as the image of God did the frame of any other creature or that earthly image descends below them all even to a bottomlesse pit which no other creature is subjected unto but only man 3. There is a third point what he saves from that is death namely a death that holds correspondency with that infinite and eternall life of the Son of God in way of Parathesis in all points for Christ is saved from whatsoever Sathan is hath or undergoes and Sathan is destroyed from whatsoever Christ is hath or is advanced unto therefore that conceit that Sathan was an Angell that is a meere creature at the first and in acceptation with God is a meer humane tradition and philosophicall fiction and is a point of greater concernment then men are aware of for it is as safe to say that the son of God was for a time out of the Fathers favour as to hold that the Devill at any time was in acceptation with God for whatsoever is out of Gods favour can never return into againe and what is accepted of him for a moment caâ— never be rejected 2. A second royalty or act of fame that is to be acknowledged by him who turns the sinner from the errour of his way changing him into truth it selfe that is the covering or hiding of a multitude of sins This is taken from the speech of Solomon Hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth all sins which our Apostle calls a multitude of sins the word signifies the deep of the troubled ocean intimating that huge multitude of torturing and troubling trespasses proper to that great gulfe of the bottomlesse pit Now to turn from the error of a mans way is to turn to truth and no man can turn to truth but by that unity that is in Christ none turns to truth but hee that becomes truth for there is no terme or title given in Scripture but being rightly interpretted and rightly applyed the truth substance and being of the thing is there for God useth no expression but he intends under that the truth and substance of the thing expressed To turn to truth is not only truth in word but truth in act also yea to be that very thing as Christ saith I am the way the truth and the life Now that unity that is in Christ is the fulfilment and compleating of the law of the Spirit for if the love of Christ be in us and constrayn us to all acknowledgments of him we know that love is the fulfilling of the Law and where the Law is fulfilled there sin utters not its voyce nor hath it a face to appear it is altogether hid and covered for ever Christ is the eâ—d and scope of the law for righteousnesse and more it aymes not at nor more it cannot require for it is the sonne of God that is justified who then shall condemn him The law is fully satisfied from what ground then shall any accuse yea our Apostle saith that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit No hiding of sin therefore but by fulfilling of the law but what law not the law of the carnall commandement generally taught in the world by which no flesh can be justified but it is the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus or which consists in that unction office or spirit of the Saviour Againe how do the wicked hide righteousnesse that none appears in them but only the spirit of the wicked one namely by walking according to the law of the flesh For he that walks after the law of the flesh he cannot please God so that all righteousnesse is hid and covered in them yea even by fulfilling the law of the flesh for the more they conform themselves thereunto the more their condemnation doth appear for it is not because men cannot perform all the works of the law in that respect that they cannot be justified thereby but because they do any of them for it is against the nature of that law of the carnall Commandement and every part thereof to justifie for it is its proper nature and office to condemn for we may as well say that the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is a law of sin and death as to say the law of the carnall command can give life or peace no not in the compleat performance of it For every part thereof is a breach of the law of the spirit And whatsoever is a breach of the law of the spirit is a crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting of him to open shame so that every performance of the law of the flesh according to the intent thereof is a breach of the same law of the spirit and he that breaks one breaks all therefore all righteousness is hid and covered in the wicked even so the true keeping of the law of the spirit of faith in any part of it is a nullifying of the whole law of the carnall Command therefore no law of sin and death is found in them all sins and sorrows are hid and covered therefore the man is blessed whose trespass is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man and he only unto whom the Lord imputeth accounteth or reckoneth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Amen By Sam Gorton Professor of Christ FINIS
he backs it with this argument Lest you fall into condemnation The word translated Lest is not spoken as a supposition but as an absolute affirmation You are fallen into condemnation As in the Prophesie of Isaiah the words of Rabshekah are Lest Hezekiah deceive you For which in the book of Kings is written Hezekiah deceiveth you So also where one Evangelist saith Lest the people faint in the way Another rehearsing the same story saith The people will faint in the way as a certain conclusion thereof and so it is here If your yea be not yea and your nay nay you are not fallen into condemnation therefore Christ affirms that whatsoever is more of the very same point is of that evill one that is of the Devill We are to know then that such Doctrine as teacheth that it was yea that certain Angels and also man were made in happy estate and condition but afterwards it was nay for the same state and condition became evill It was yea that Christ dyed and afterwarde it was nay he lived again in the same respect that hee is sayd to be dead according to the scope of the Scriptures Also that it is yea the Saints of God are sinners but hereafter it shall be nay for they shall have nay sin in the same respect considered further it is or was yea that the worship of God is or was tyed to such a form according to the intent of Scripture but it is or shall be nay it either is not now or hereafter shall not be tyed to such a form as it hath been or now is according to the intent of Scripture Doctrine of this nature is more then to let yea be yea and nay be nay for it makes the same thing to be both yea and nay which the Apostle affirms to be the word of God not but it is yea and Amen the same for ever in the word of Blessing as also in the word of the Curse This doctrine then is that way of the fall and defection from God brings men under the state of death and condemnation as here our Apostle affirms and hath not salvation and life by Christ contained in it We are not ignorant of the manifold objections which may arise in mens hearts backed by carnall Ministry in way of mans wisdome drawn from the letter of the Scripture which we have not ceased to speake unto as the Scriptures have given us occasion Wee shall here propound two and speak a word to each of them First the fall of man which as it is carnallized seems to interpose sin between God and the elect for a time Secondly the confessions of the Saints of God of a miserable condition for present To the first we answer that there is a miserable defection from God and also a happy gathering up into unity with God both with respect unto man-kind and no other creature whatsoever in heaven or in earth And as for that Doctrine of Angels in that acceptation the world takes them it is a meer fiction brought forth by humane wisdome brooding upon the letter of the Scriptures for there is no elect Angell which consists not of the same nature which the Angell of the Covenant doth which is Christ Jesus God and man in one subsistance and being And again if there was a sin in the fall of Angels before the sin and fall of man how could the Apostle confesse himselfe in that faithfull saying worthy of all acceptation or to be embraced of all the Saints so as to acknowledg the same That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe or as the word is I am the first So that if there be a sin before the sin of man how can man be sayd to be the first sinner this doctrine therfore makes voyd the truth of the Scriptures in every foundation thereof We grant then that there is an absolute and reall change both in the Son of God and the son of perdition but what change is from that first act of the manner of the being of each of them once and for ever without other mutation or change otherwise That is to say in the Son of God the wisdome proper unto a creature is in the first act and manner of his being changed and transformed into the wisdome and principles peculiar to God himselfe and this estate is and abides the same for ever which is Christ the seed of the woman Again in the son of perdition the wisdome of God is changed and transformed into the wisdome and principles peculiar to a creature and that in the very first act and manner of his being and this estate is and abides for ever the same and is Antichrist that seed of the Serpent yea that very Serpent the Devill himselfe Even as Christ is not only that seed of the woman but also that spirit which over-shadoweth her even God himselfe Furthermore the word of God never expressed it selfe but as a word of wisdome therefore it is said by the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy workes in wisdome hast thou made them all So sayth Solomon The Lord by wisdome layd the foundation of the earth And the Apostle sayth Christ is the wisdome of God and the power of God Therefore out of him there is no wisdome so that there is no expression of the word of God or any existance of the work of God but with respect unto Christ therefore the first words and workes manifested by God in the Scriptures is the preaching of Christ which is the glad tydings of salvation the Gospel of God which was never known nor ever shall be but in the death and resurrection of Christ and that through the tender of him in whom the day springs from on high to visue us So that in the framing of neaven and earth in the beginning this mercy-seate is erected whereon those two Cherubims do stand the death and resurrection of the Son of God and from this mercy-seate and from between these two Cherubims the word of God is ever uttered and did never in any other way expresse it selfe in the world Therefore the life and resurrection of the Son of God in his Saints and his death and descention in men of the world do face each other as holding proportion and being of like capacicity even those two Cherubs of mercy and Juistice distributed in Kingly authority where ever the mercy-seate is ser up in the publication of the Gospel and this life and death holds proportion in poynt of time so as never life nor death were ever before or shall be after them The doctrine therefore of Angels and man in a state of innocency and yet out of Christ being changed from that which they were from the beginning is no doctrine savouring of Christ in the Gospel nor word of life and salvation But only as those sayings of old of the Scribes Pharisees which our Lord Christ so carefully correcteth as such as
were corrupters of the Law walking according to the oldnesse of the letter and not in the newnesse of the spirit for arguments of that nature are not consistant with the doctrine of the Gospel and faith of Christ Jesus For to affirm that man is sometimes in Christ and sometimes out of Christ in the same individuall is all one to affirm that the Sonne of God is sometimes in favour with the Father and sometimes out of favour with him which is no lesse then to say that sometimes Christ the Saviour of the World is true God and sometimes he is no God and then no Saviour at that time at all And note here for the conclusion of this point that the doctrine of the Gospel is not yea and nay but yea and Amen once and for ever That the Son of God never was nor is considerable knowable or speakable but in the compleatnesse of his mystcall body in the contriving and device whereof the wisdome of God doth properly yea solely consist for all other things point as with the finger thereunto So that to deprive Christ of that work-manship at any time first or last is to deprive God only and infinitely wise of that his wisdome then the which greater Sacriledge cannot be What change therefore may be concluded to appertain and belong unto the Son of God the same also belongs unto the Saints of God and that is once for ever For as there is but one death of Christ so there is but one change as one eternall act and as death is considerable in a two-fold respect so is the change and are of the same rise in point of time past and of the same race or duration for time to come No marvaile therefore though men cannot calculate the time when Angels according to their Doctrine were created or when the Devill as they form him took his beginning and rise But a word of the next point objected against this eternall Gospel which that Angell that flyes through the midst of heaven preacheth being at a like distance from every part of it all things being beyond comprehension and he is a like neare unto all for the midst of heaveen is the center of the world where all points of the heavens meet and unite themselves in one And this second Objection consists in the Confessions of the Saints of God and is a confirmation of the poynt for which we will instance in one for all and that is the Apostle Paul who is said to be first a Saul and afterwards a Paul who first breathed out slaughters against the Saints and afterwards payers Behold he prays once sayd to be the chiefe of sinners and againe not inferiour to the chiefest Apostle of Christ once a persecuter of the Church and afterwards a Preacher of righteousnesse in the constitution of the Church once a blasphemer and afterwards utters the high prayses of God once engaged to the high Priest of that carnall and degenerate Synagogue of the Jewes by letters received to execute their enmity on all that call on the name of Jesus and afâ—terwards so engaged to the Saints of God as to be sacrificed or poured out as a drinke-offering upon the service of their faith To which we answer That whatsoever is said of this holy Apostle in point of evill with respect unto that vitious and depraved nature of man it is spoken of him only as personated in that corrupt course and condition of the carnall Jew so as to declare and set out unto all the world that stock and race of which by nature he comes even as all men spring out of the dust which is the proper meate of the Serpent wherewith he is nourished and kept alive according to the flesh and according to the proper bent and propencity thereof brings forth nothing but enmity corruption and subtilty For it is dust and Gods image which are the materials of mans being in his Creation for there is the seed of mans wisdome as a creature as well as the seed of Gods wisdome as a Creator which twayn are mayntained for ever or else Gods workman-ship should faile and come to nought but it is to abide in both respects and that in the height and eminency of each of them which could never be in one and the same subject undivided for they are inconsistant therefore man-kind cannot be known but with respect unto seed and generation and so these are both found in their height in Caine and Seath who is set in Abels stead and in them the whole work is brought to light which before lay but as in the Chaos or Embryon in the man and the woman so that neither is to be annihilated No man shall kill Caine a mark is set on him by God as a seale to confirm his life to the flesh the very prints and characters of humane wisdome turning it selfe as seale to the wax to the word or wisdome of God So that as the Sun which hath dominion of the day and the Moon having dominion of the night shall never faile but are those faithfull witnesses of heaven so the sight of Gods wisdome hearing rule in the day of salvation and the wisdome of man as that other great light ruling in darknesse over all those Lucubrations of the men of the world are those faithfull witnesses of Gods mercy and severity for ever Paul therefore sets forth himselfe that is what he and all men are with respect unto that wisdome exercised in that legall and literall worship of such as put Christ to death namely the carnal Jew thereby declaring unto all men from whence and from what the word of life hath rescued and delivered him in whom the state of all the Saints is personated and involved for the word of God is not of that narrow scantling and capacity as to center it selfe only in one particular man but it takes in all men that belongs unto that proper inheritance which it intends in its expressions The scope of the Scripture then in Paul as in all other of the Saints is to preach Christ and centers not in any particular man otherwise and so declares from what he is changed as he is man to be made the holy one of God for ever Not that Paul was in any time of his life of that corrupt and carnal spirit of the wicked Jew for blasphemy against the spirit of God shall never be forgiven Also he saith of himselfe that he was called and sanctified from the womb and that hee saw Christ as one borne out of due time or as an abortive that is he reckons himselfe in the wisdome of God which gives him his being and makes him to be that which he is as one born out of time that is before all time for no time can comprehend that and as one that never saw the Sun that is the glory of the Creature to place an excellency therein but only in that light which shined round about him in the