the things of this present life and are not these carnall and vanishing then as held and practised by the Doctors of our dayes together with their followers and Pupils where then shall we find the men that take not their delight and place their pleasure in earthly and vanishing things whose religion is not vaporous Whereas the truth is there is nothing of Christ which hath not the nature divine in it or else it is not an ordinance act exercise or vertue becoming the Son of God who in all things is holy and pure and there is no holinesse without the spirit of God therefore they may as well hold and teach that the spirit of God vanisheth and comes to an end in the Saints as that any Ordinance Office Act Exercise or Vertue of Christ vanisheth and comes to an end in any of his mysticall body For if the unity of the Spirit cease in them in any respect then the wisdome and power of the Spirit ceaseth and then that new Commandement or law of the Spirit is abrogated and made voyd which the Apostle saith is true in him and in us because the darknesse is past and the true light shineth which is the substance of the Law in every point and particular of it And where the light of God once shineth to expell darkenesse in us it ever abideth yea in that imputed righteousnssse or righteousnesse reckoned together with us in faith prayer or whatsoever it abides firme and stable as the Son of God is firm and stable And as for eating drinking marrying and giving in marriage with all things of like nature transient having an end they are no proper parts of the Kingdom of God nor any thing whereof it doth consist but are useful in their time and season to the Saints of God and may be exercised with a holy respect unto the Kingdome for the promoting of it therefore it is said Whether yee eate or drinke or whatsoever yee doe let all be done to the glory of God Therefore when they asked Christ that question whose wife she should be in the resurrection who had had seven husbands his answer is that they erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the Angells of God in heaven Therefore it follows And beene wanton That is they joyne with these earthly pleasures wantonnesse they are become effeminate womanish having estranged themselves from that heroicall and masculine spirit which the Apostle exhorts unto Stand fast in the faith quit you like men be strong that is behave your selves as men of God going forth in his strength and not in the strength of the arm of flesh which is true weaknesse and womanish But these are become wanton and lascivious doting upon transitory and vanishing things letting the substantiall passe being subdued and overcome with pictures shadows and semblances of things that have no substance nor validity in them and not with the things themselves being taken by the sight of a wandering eye and the hearing of a sensuall eare as the woman was by the words of the Serpent and shew of the fruit in the beginning These Siberificall persons being widdows in respect of any espousall with Christ for they are such as wax wanton against Christ and wil marry in making contracts with forms of earthly Governments forms of Churches forms of ordinances and exercises wantonizing in their carnall copulations with bread wine and water oyle spittle and cream so devoutly that none must intermeddle with their minnions but such as do it by contract according to their law of Carnulentia and if any conceive by any other seed then by their pulse and lentiles which onely serves to make red earthly or Edoms broth that profane fornicatour such persons are presently counted breakers of covenant pernicious persons Hereticks Schismaticks and blasphemers of their gods These have forgotten that ancient and masculine spirit of wisdome and gravity so skilful in geneology and chronology that it can reckon it selfe up together with eternity see Prov. 8. from v. 22. to 31. Which takes its delight and solace only in the compasse or circuit of his earth or of his land which the Prophet stiles the Lords land therefore he presently interprets it and saith his delight is with the children of men where he dwels and in whom he makes his proper abode This spirit threfore in whomsoever it is takes delight in nothing as to place its pleasure in it but in eternal things which God in the Messiah onely is and all other creatures relations and operations are but as so many letters or figures to lead unto and point out what man is in Christ in whom the delight and pleasure proper unto godlinesse is onely set Because nothing else as delightful can be eternal for eternal truth we know none but onely in Christ for he is that way that truth and that life of eternity besides whom nothing can hold correspondency with God so as to be the object or subject matter of his delight and pleasure And howsoever there is in the godly man that which is a creature made within the bounds and precincts of time yet that unity is eternal because in whatsoever the unity doth consist is properly of God who is eternity and not of the creature which is in time if it be love it is the love of God and not of a creature if wisdome it is of God and not of man if it consist in power it is infinite and not finite so that that state and condition of God and man in one is eternall and not temporary it lives the life of God it walks and works by the wisdome of God and not of the creature We know the body of man hath life and wisdome as well as the soul while it is in conjunction with it not another but the same that is in the soule much more hath the soule of a christian life and wisdome in and of God and not another so long as it is in conjunction with God which is for ever or else his Sonne his proper off-spring should not inherit and be posessed with the nature of the father If the mortallists of our dayes knew the way of salvation by Christ they could never conclude like beasts that the soule of man dyes with the body like a beast for God is not onely in unity with the soule as a worker and Creator but hee is also one in the workmanship which is made for the Son of God is as truly said to be made of woman and made under the law as he is said to be the Lord and maker of all things And it is the Image or wisdome of God that gives being and forme unto that glorious workmanship of God in man so that if the soule dye there is not a nullity of the work but also of the Creator the maker of it who gives the proper being and form to the
and originally of God and not of the creature as his Sonship is of God and not of the proper off-spring of man being begotten not of mortall but of immortall seed so are all the lineaments of God and man in Christ if wisdome joyne the Tabernacle that God builds and not man it is the wisdome of God if love make the contract it is the love of God shed abroad in the heart and not the love of man which is enmity with God if faith establish the heart that it wavour not it is the faith of God which is the power of God to salvation wherein consists the great work of God which is in beleiving as Christ tels him that asked what shall I do to work the work of God beleiue saith he for therein it consists for it was by the work of faith that Abraham was justified and not by that vaine or empty faith without works that is without the present power and operation of God for such faith the Devil may attaine unto who beleives there is one God and trembles but doth not consist in his power as made one of twaine in Christ So that whatsoever is in this unity is properly and originally of God and that from a principle or law of his bounty and goodnesse whereby he communicates himselfe unto another in all things which that law or goodnesse of his nature is apt and prompt to be and to do whereby he forms himselfe in his Son without whom or out of whom he never had being took form in any will or law nor put forth himselfe in any operation therefore it is said speaking of Christ God and man all things were made by him and without him was nothing made For if ever God had had being or motion so much as of minde and will out of man it had ever been so and then salvation had not been the Saviour had never appeared for salvation canot be compleat but in him that saves and is also saved and the Almighty never was but as he is a God of salvation yea in the plurality thereof as the expression of the Psalmist is the beginning of Christ therefore canot be fathomed nor spanned out no more then the beginning of the Almighty and eternall can though there be that in Christ which is in time yet he takes not his proper being from that no more then man takes his proper being from his body but from his rational soul and spirit which inliveneth acteth and moveth the same And in the one and the other doth the glory of the Sonne of God exist for God working in and by the faculties or aptitudes to do in the soule or spirit of the creature thereby his vertues and operations come to be distinct and so full of variety of glory being the spirit and life of the creature consists in change of motion or operation also here the works of God have their proper times seasons and opportunities which in the proper and simple eternal could never be Furthermore as man works not by the principles and properties of the creature but by those that are proper to God denying himselfe being resigned over unto God and so all his operations become of an eternal race and virtue and are in the true and reall account and reckoning of eternity of such nature is the condition of the Sonne of God therefore the Prophet saith who can declare his age he is the first and the last if he never end in being last he never had beginning as he is the first but is from eternity to eternity though that be in him which is temporary in it selfe even as mans body lives and understands though of it selfe it hath nor doth either as appears when the soule is departed Secondly concerning the unity of Harlots for he that is joyned unto an harlot is one flesh that is one carnall and corrupt estate in which all the ligaments thereof are such as properly the creature is the originall and fountaine of and not the Creator how then can this unity be eternall when the proper bond is of that which is mortall and temporary To this we answer that there are certain faculties or aptitudes to do or to be in the soule of a man as also a law or principle by which it is or doth such things and for the aptitudes to do or to be We may safely say that whatsoever the Almighty is prompt unto that through the sublimity and excellency that God hath made the spirit of a man to be of he is prompt unto the variety of operations and excellencies that are in the Son of God yea even to compasse the earth and comprehend all things and find out the causes relations and operations of them yea even to eternize himselfe on the earth by calling his lands by his name by living in his posterity by some great work wrought or monument set up to memorize him unto posterity and ages to come yea doubtlesse some States-men and Politicians of the world are apt to lay plots and platforms how to bring about accomplish and achieve things which they know can never be done in their dayes that their wisdome and policy may live and be in use when they are gone and of such use and from such aptitudes come humane Chronicles writing of bookes or the like to reach to eternity which God only wise is So that man works in and by the aptitudes of God but not from that law and principle proper to the Son of God For whereas God out of that law of bounty and goodnesse of his nature communicates himselfe in whatsoever he is apt to do and be whereby he doth it and is it in the creature The creature exercising it selfe in the way of mans wisdome in things which God himselfe is prompt to be and to do not by giving himselfe up unto God to be his and not his owne but by that principle of self-love and law of exalting the arm of flesh he arrogates unto himselfe and monopolizeth the things proper to God unto himselfe ascribing them unto the things of man to beautifie and to set up the things of the creature thereby attributing and giving unto the flesh that which is proper only unto the Son of God which is a turning of the truth of God into a lye a changing the glory of God into the image of a corruptible man and a worshipping and serving of the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed for ever Amen We conclude then that as God by that law of grace exerciseth himselfe in all his excellencies in the aptitudes of mans soul filling them with himselfe so as the things of eternity come to be distinct to have their proper season time place yea and person so as the Saints are truly distinct and the operation of their faith as the Apostle amply declares in that to the Hebrews Chap. 11. So also that man of sinn through that carnall law exerciseth himselfe in the aptitudes of God
God condemning such as justifie the words of wisdome which only sets forth the folly of the world or else it appears not And they only love the works of darknesse and dare not come to the light least their deeds should be discovered 2. They do not only condemn but they kill the Just one and that in a two-fold respect First consider that a thing is said to be killed when it is expelled the proper place of its aboad so it is slain in way of negation and denying it its right and due Deny a fish the water and it is killed take a plant out of the earth and it withereth take water out of the Sea and it moves not in ebbing and flowing and deny any thing the benefit of the ayre and it cannot live no not the water nor the fire it selfe Now man-kind is the proper place of Gods residency and abode in the exercise and manifestation of his wisdome delighting himselfe in the habitable parts of his earth even in the sons of men But where the wisdome of the flesh beares sway and makes its abode there the wisdome of God is denyed any place of residency therefore Christ who is the wisdome of God and the power of God lives not there in any of his operations and vertues for as Jacob said of Joseph he is not that is he is not living in that heart 2. He is killed actually by laying violent hands or administrations upon him to the quenching of his spirit whereby he becomes life-lesse in the world haling him to the places of execution for Christ never appeared or was known in the world but by vertue of an office and institution For how can a King appeare but by vertue of his inauguration or a Prophet but by or in the spirit of a Prophet Or what is a Priest if he have not somewhat to offer for he cannot be a Priest without Christ appears not but by vertue of institution and commission to execute perform and do the will of the Father therefore he saith I come not to do my owne will but the will of him that sent me Now to institute temporary Ordinances and offices vanishing and fading not holding correspondency with the nature and constitution of Christ it is to destroy and thrust out the proper spirit and authority of Christ as it not having a being in the world For to frame an Office or Ordinance of Christ and not to have the spirit of Christ is to destroy and abolish unto themselves that mysticall body of Christ even as a naturall body deprived of the soule that gives it life is thereby abolished and turned to putrifaction Let us consider then how to form Ordinances and establish offices and Officers of Christ for if they have not in them the spirit of Christ they will prove no better then those legall and Jewish services taken up from Moses as representing the letter of the Scripture and accordingly practiced in the dayes of Christ by Herod Pontius Pilate Scribes Pharisees Lawyers and Souldiers and the whole body of the people who cryed out crucifie him crucifie him away with him When water in the River or Pond hath the spirit of life from God in it then we shall count it as an Ordinance of Christ when bread and wine on the Table have the spirit of mortification of the flesh and quickning power of the resurrection of Christ in them then will they prove spirituall Ordinances of Christ beseeming the son of the living God For there is no office exercise or ordinance proper to the kingdome of God that is voyd and destitute of the holy spirit of the Son of God who is that great ordinance of God in whom every particular is wrapped up and infolded and not one of them barren or destitute of the same spirit of life from God otherwise all Ordinances and offices taken up from Christ and his Apostles are of the same nature of those taken up from Moses in Christs days and shall prove of the same effect when ever Christ appears for the one stands upon the proper letter of the Scripture as well as the other and Satan can alledg the Scripture to back his temptation as well as Christ doth for the confounding of him Now if the spirit and life of such Ordinances depend upon the Priests and Elders the Instituters and Conservators of them why should they then contend with those which they call Papists but joyne hand in hand as being one with them Let us remember therefore that If we bereave the body of the proper soule and spirit of Christ we abolish and destroy the Just one and turn him to corruption unto our selves 3. The next poynt is the demeanor of the just And he resisteth you not that is he doth not stay or hinder your project violence from execution he doth not detain nor keep back himself from you but patiently suffers himself to be dispoiled of all his vertues and excellencies in you which are the native and proper operations of the Son of God ceasing from his own work in you that you may take your full swinge in that which is proper and naturall unto you as to exercise your pride and policy your principalities powers of darknesse your spirituall wickednesses in high places according to the Prince of the power of the ayre That wheresoever any heart is empty and destitute of she spirit of God hee insinuates himselfe to be the fulnesse of it that according to that plenty of wickednesse the wrath of God may finde fuell to kindle it selfe upon and so he freely without resistance layes downe his life in the wicked as a ransome that he may take it againe in his Saints and in them live for ever And so much for the death of Christ according to the spirit in the men of the world who crucifie afresh unto themselves the sonne of God and make a mocke of him And from this our Apostle infers an exhortation consisting of divers particulars which do concern the death of Christ according to the flesh as he is considered in the Saints and that is the second generall head in the Chapter which is contained to the 12. verse And with respect unto death in both these respects the Apostle Paul saith God forbid that I should rejoyce in any thing save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the world is crucified in me and I am crucified in the world Vers 7. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord behold the husbandman waiteth for the precifruit of the earth and hath long patience for it untill he receive the early and latter raine Wherein observe 1. The terme or kinde appellation Brethren 2. An exhortation in these words Be patient 3. How long or to what end To the coming of Christ 4. An allusion to a husbandman with respect to his seed-time and harvest 1. ANd first for the term given unto them Brethren which is with respect unto that
the world the same that is sayd of himselfe what is it that can impaire or diminish that light So that as wicked men have changed the truth of God into a lye and have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man so they have changed the light of God into darknesse in themselves And herein Christ hath given himself as a ransome compleat and every way proportionable for ever unto that condition which man-kind is brought back and redeemed into which is to be the son of the eternall and living God to dwell with him in that inexcessible light which no flesh can approach unto and it is alike holy and precious act in God to give his holy Son to be judged condemned and executed in the world and yet be no proper cause thereof as it is to save man by nature sinfull and God himself the plenary cause thereof for to justifie the wicked condemn the just are alike abhomination yet God hath found a way wherein the Just one by nature is and ever shall be so in the Saints is in the world condemned and also that wicked one who is and ever shall be so in the wicked is justified and saved in himselfe that is in the Lord. Grudge not therefore brethren by unity and contract in creation one against another though in act of conception and springing up from that one Embryon or formlesse substance you become thus un naturalized and divided into two Nations in direct antithesis one to another quarrell not against the work of God herein but admire his wisdome who hath hereby brought to passe our salvation by the stopping of the mouth of all flesh that glory may for ever redound to him and not to the creature For it is as voluntary an act in the wisdome of man to choose the way of death in the preferring of the things proper to a creature before the things that are of God as it is in the wisdome of God in Christ to prefer and make choise of things proper to the eternall before those which are momentany and mortall so that the worke shall never say to the work-man why hast thou made me on this fashion For nature would not give in exchange its own nature disposition for another because its life and being cleaves thereunto which the nature of another must of necessity be death unto it which is declined by all things Do not murmure then nor grieve let not the works of God be any way vexatious unto you but behold with joy and admiration that wonderfull wisdome of God in that comely order of his justice who hath adorned himselfe with as glorious ornaments of wrath in the execution thereof on the world as he hath done in the distribution of his grace and mercy in that way of his onely Son in the one is the thing given as a purchase and in the other is the thing purchased Our father Abraham was well acquainted with this poynt when he bought that burying place of the sonnes of Heth for him and his to be buryed out of sight he would not take it as a gift but gave out the just proportionable worth thereof in money by weight for he knew according to the truth of Justice that as there was a valuable consideration given for a place wherein to be buried out of sight as Abraham saith of Sarah a like riches and dignity should be in the inheriting and possessing of the land by his seed to teach us this point that according to the worth of that which is given to be buryed in the world which is the Son of God where none of his vertues nor graces is declared alike shall be the worth of that estate and condition of such as are risen again in Christ according to the rule of justice which is no lesse then Son-ship unto the eternall and living God This was in the heart of David moving him not to accept of that kind offer of Araunah the Jebusite concerning that threshing floor oxen and instruments but would pay a valuable price for them because he would not worship the Lord in offering of that which cost not a valuable price And this is written according to the letter as all other Scripture is in every mans heart and utters it selfe if not stifled through desire of gaine in all merchandizes of the world Such therefore as have critically brooded upon the Scriptures to hatch a temporary and humane death only to be the death of Christ Jesus the Son of God telling us of an ayry vertue or efficacy thereof meerly imaginary for they know not how any reality thereof should reach unto us through ages past for say they his death was so long ago and but of part of three days and three nights continuation for whole ones they cannot make them all and it was only the humane nature that dyed which is only a separation of soule and body and neither separated from God By which doctrine it follows that mans resurrection and life is only a rejoycing of soule and body without any unity or conjunction with God which is the overthrow and destruction of the doctrine of Christ and so of the state of the Sonne of God and of salvation For there is as reall a departure from God in the day of the wicked whose state and condition consists of God and man otherwise no eternall wrath as there is a coming to God in the way of the Saint of Israel whose state and condition consists of God and man otherwise there were no eternall mercy and favour the doctrine of the world therefore teaching a monarchicall Christ and a kingdome bounded by time at least in point of time past it is of proper use to whet and sharpen the spirits of men to hunt and seek after a State and Kingdome of that nature and constitution which man exerciseth and not the Sonne of God These men have tyed all sin originally to one man in the fall as they by tradition call it but yet know not how nor by whom the entrance of sin came But carry us to imaginary Angels sutable to the rest of their doctrine neither know they the way of the derivation of it which is of so great concernment Even so they having tyed all righteousness unto one particular and individuall man in his resurrection compassed and surrounded by time but are ignorant of the way and manner of the derivation of it for it is whole Christ derived or else salvation is imperfect and maymed But the spirit of Christ or as some mince it the influence of the spirit without the body compleat is but a part of Christ the Son of God divided as by this way of derivation he is is as sound a doctrine as to say Paul was crucified for you To conclude this point therefore the work of God in ordering of the state of the wicked truly known and rightly judged of is of no more disquiet grief or vexation
life even as the world was in darknesse without the creation of light or as the body that breaths not is dead so is the soule without prayer Concerning praying therefore being so necessary unto the life of the Son of God consider 1. The signification of the word 2. How it is to be taken in this place as an answer to the interrogation or effectuall and forcible sentence To pray is to make an appeale it is an appellation or intercession for the originall word in the Hebrew tongue which the Prophets use for prayer is Hithpallel which signifies to appeale or present a mans selfe or cause to the Judg and it comes of pillel which signifies to judg or determine causes for which appeals are made 1. To pray therefore is to make our appeale from one Judgement-seate unto another that is from the judgment and determination of mans wisdome opinion and sentence to that wisdome and device of the Son of God who judgeth not as man judgeth For as farre as the heavens are higher then the arth so is the way of the judgment of God higher than all the Thrones and Judgement-seats of the sons of men therefore the Apostle tells the Corinthians that were carnall That it seemes a small thing to him to be judged of them or of mans judgment or of mans day as the word is that is by the light understanding or wisdome humane only he stands to the judgment and wisdome of God so as he judgeth not himselfe that is by his own wisdome as a man but by the wisdome and light of the spirit of God Therefore the Psalmist complayns saying Many there be that say of my soule there is no hope for him in God Selah but he appeals unto God as to his shield and the lifter up of his head but thou O Lord art a shield about me that is a defence from all adverse power set forth and signified in Absoloms conspiracy and the lifter up of my head or head-ship in setting me to be head of the people and not Absolom and that only through thy wisdome where the wisdome counsell and craft of Achitophel cannot take place prayer therefore is an appeal from one judgment-seate to another 2. Prayer is to speake or plead a cause so saith the Prophet Daniel Whilst I was speaking in prayer presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountaine of my God even while I was yet speaking the man Gabriel or the strength of God came flying vehemently and touched me It is a word or speech by which the strength of God hasts it selfe and makes speed to lay hold upon the soule So David cals it a speech saying My heart was hot within me whilst I was musing the fire burned and I spake with my tongue Lrrd make me to know mine end c. 3. Prayer is to supplicate and intreat so saith the Psalmist Return we beseech thee O God of hosts And again I beseech thee deliver my soule And again Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity So sayth Moses I beseech thee shew me thy glory Prayer is the office and property of a supplicant 4. Prayer is to judg and determine a cause as the word signifies therefore David saith Heare me when I call O God of my righteousnesse or justice that is of my just and righteous cause and agayn Judge me O Lord for I have walked in mine integrity I have trusted in the Lord I shall not stagger And againe Heare me when I call and answer my prayer Now for God to judg the cause of his Saints to heare prayer and to answer when they cry unto him is to give right sentence and to determine the matter which thing is not done in another state and condition but in that individuall being and state of a Christian in that Saint of Israel or holy one the judgment is not passed and sentence given of the cause and matter by or from another subsistence or being but in that subsistance and consistance of the Son of God the hearing answering judging determining and passing sentence of or upon any cause or matter presented by prayer is no further off nor at any other distance from the state and being of a Christian then the cause or matter is which is presented for they both flow from and are acts of the same spirit as man ascending in the word of God for supply and the word of God discending in man to declare its fulnesse So that there is in prayer a just appeale from the wisdome and practice of the world unto God and there is in it also an humble sute and reall act of a supplicant and intreater for favour yea and the pleading and laying open of a righteous cause before the Judge of all the earth together with the hearing answering judging determining and passing Sentence thereupon And every one of these are as really intrinsicall and of the same nearnesse to a Christian making all for his proper being and subsistance as well one of them as another neither shall he for ever be without any one of them but they shall be as an harmonious mellody in the soule or life of a Christian for ever which if we deny we hold not the unity of faith according to that compleat and mysticall body of Jesus Christ but make a fraction therein to the deviding of that holy one of God which is that state of unbeleif on which wrath abides So that when a Christian ceaseth to judge between sinne and righteousnesse between Christ and Belial when he ceaseth to discerne the difference between light and darknesse between God and the Devill then prayer shall have an end and cease in the spirit of a Christian and not till then for it is the very breath of the Sonne of God whereby he lives the life of God eternally Note from this point as it hath been often declared unto us how the prayers of the world not onely in set forms but in the more refined Preisthood fall short of the nature of the intercession of Christ who ever lives to make intercession not onely for but in us without straining of the word so that they deny the nature of the prayer and intercession of Christ in this great point of its continuation And so in like manner their doctrine must needs fall short of that message of life and salvation and so much for the signification of the word prayer 2. The second point is in what acceptation it is to be taken here and that is for an appeal implying hereby thus much as if in more words he should say have you lost all your own humane and fading excellencies in the proper life and spirit of all your earthly and momentany relations for the most honourable losse of them is when we are cut off from them in our hearts in the present injoyment of them as in covenants contracts and combinations with the creature that carnall
received his Sonne as from the dead in his exercise of the Preists office in sacrificing and offering him up unto God This sicknesse therefore is as that of Lazarus whom Jesus loved for when his sister told Jesus that he was sick it is plaine by the record in computation of the time that he was then dead which Christ affirmes is not death but that way of the operation and manifestation of the glory of God which onely and for ever shineth and setteth forth it selfe through the death of the flesh that is the death of all humane and carnal reasonings resolutions and conclusions in point of the knowledge of Jesus Christ which sicknesse or death to all the legall and litteral services according to the carnall law is truly said to be not unto death because it is unto that eternall life of the Son of God and a sicknesse of this nature we are to understand in this place or else we carnallize the sicknesse as surely as Rome doth at this day the Eldership as also New-England more zealously then they and the reason is because the one is Hehetated with worldly pomp and the other is Persequentissimus but hath not yet attained thereunto And whereas it is said Is any sick among you or as the word may be read is any sick in you as speaking either of person or thing as the Psalmist hath a phrase help Lord for the fathfull faile that word faithfull is used in Scripture sometimes for a true or faithfull person and sometimes for a true thing as if he should say help Lord for trueths faile or fidelities faile So this word any may be taken for any person or any thing as if he had said is any thing in you sick or are you dead to any particular thing whatsoever which worldly men make their life and trade so that you cannot relish nor tast it no more then a sick or dead man can relish any food to quicken or enliven him be sure then to use the remedy prescribed unto you for your health and restoration and your dayes shall be renewed with Hezekiah and your life recovered with Lazarus and you shall be raised out of the grave of all sin and sorrow and that is to call for the Elders of the Church for they are the resurrection and the life in this point in which observe 1. What it is to call 2. Who these Elders be 3. What is the Church of which they are 1. Concerning the Call the same word is prefixed as before let him call it is of like Emphesis that is to say that through this sicknesse or death here spoken of it creates and gives being in that soule unto the life of the Son of God and that life is the light of men by vertue of which light he becomes a Seer for it hath the spirit of Prophesie in it whereby he discerns wherein true health doth consist and knows what the Eldership is and where to finde the true Church which is so controverted throughout the earth in all ages of this present world so that if this sick party had not perfect vision he might wander from mountaine to hill and from the flood to the worlds end before he could attaine the true knowledge thereof For some say lo here is Christ and some say lo there which we are not to beleive neither the one nor the other some say he is in the desert and some say he is in the mountain and some in the secret Chamber but as the lightning shineth from one end of heaven unto the other so is the coming of the Sonne of man that is to say all things that ever were or shall be proclaime his present abode in man-kinde either in point of his life or death in mercy or else in his severity and such are the confines of the Church it is not bounded within the circuit of time place or person no more then the Son of God is for his Spouse holds proportion with himselfe in all points therefore is she admired as one that looks forth as the morning faire as the moon clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with banners nay it is said to be his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all So that to form and fashion a Church of lesse comprehension then Christ will prove rather a Sinagogue of Satan or cage of unclean birds then the spouse of Christ so that our Chronologers deceive the world in framing a Christ onely by genealogie not knowing what the Prophet meaneth when he saith he was taken from prison from judgment and who shall declare his generation he was war cut off from the land of the living and made his grave with or in the wicked and in the rich in his death it seems Philip that man of war is not joyned to their Chariot as his name signifies And so they frame a Church not onely by seperation of themselves from others by some carnall and temporary ceremonies that they may say Stand by thy selfe I am holier then thou If these be their defences from the wicked they had need carry them along with them through death or else the fence being down they will go near to come over and feed with them in the same pasture But this is not all the seperation they make for they divide the word of God seperate it to form their Church saying that such portions of the word of God were for the form of the Church in such an age of the world for such people but now another portion of it gives the forme in our dayes as though the word of God were dead or falne asleep unto the world in some injunctions and promises but alive and awake in others whereas they may as wel change and alter the form and manner of the being of the Son of God as to change and alter the form and manner of being of the Church of God for the word of God in whatsoever it hath expressed is the will or law of God and the will of God cannot change and Christ is the end of the law so that if we fall short of him in any portion of the word of God as though he had been in it but now is passed over it or as though it intended him but yet hath not brought him forth we make it the word of man and not the word of God for mans reason is the proper word of man even as the wisdome of God in that wonderfull contriving of his Son is the word of God and therefore man is said to be made a living or a speaking soule or life of speech or reason whereby he transcends all other creatures excepting none for no Angel that is messenger or message was ever sent from God unto the world out of man-kinde It is true indeed that the word of God hath expressed it selfe as in divers Nations Jew and Gentile in differing generations or genealogies as Cain and Seth Abraham and Nahor
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
brightnesse thereof in the one we see from what we are eternally delivered and in the other to what we are eternally delivered so that the three dayes and halfe is the same with that time times and the division of time in which the woman is sayd to be in the wildernesse it is for a time that is one simple time or act of eternity it is times plurally that is there is a time of the Son of God wherein nothing of the son of perdition is contained and there is a time of the son of perdition wherein nothing proper to the state of the Son of God is contained And there is the division of time that is in one simple individuall act of eternity they are everlastingly separated and divided infinitely remote from each other in all things which appertain and belong unto them If this Candlestick were not removed for it is but one by the testimony of the Prophet Zachary with seven bowles and this oyle and light extinct in the world and these Prophets or this Prophet killed the men of Belial could never glut themselves with the things of the flesh nor so send abroad and communicate the gifts thereof one with another as now they do holding only to the word of the beginnig of Christ and cease not there-from or the elements and rudiments of Christ or if you will the letter of Christ or literall Christ as the word imports that historicall Christ contained in such a time of the word and not else extant confined to such a place else-where not really present visible onely in such a particular person or else not apparant nor to be found These men that are ever laying againe the foundation of repentance from dead works faith towards God of the doctrine of baptisme and laying on of hands of the resurrection from the dead and of eternall judgement having them still to begin as in a subject out of Christ not placing them all in that one eternall act of God in forming of Christ as in that common faith once and for ever delivered unto the Saints but have ever a new fabrick to set up which is not yet raised and an old house to pull down not yet demolished whereas the summe of the Gospel is onely to proclayme what is Ad sum these men never attaine that perfection which the Apostle there onely exhorts and leads unto These men will never suffer the carkasses of the Prophets to be buried for their dead bodies must lye in the streets of that great City where our Lord is crucified that is they must set up a livelesse form of an eternall estate to allure and terrifie the world but take away that proper spirit and life that is the onely agitator and mover in each of them giving a livelesse form to a Church Ordinances as also the world and practices thereof with no more substance of the proper spirit of either then there is the vertue of fire in a shadow thereof painted upon a wall which to see a company of men to stand by and diligently turning themselves to warme in extreamity of cold would make a wise man admire Such is the care and zeale of most Churches if not of of all erected in these dayes they have taken away the life of the Prophets but keep a dead form as the Pharisees built their Sepulchres They have barked my Olive tree as the Prophet complayns that no sapp nor oyle can ascend And they have taken away the seven lamps and pipes from the top or head of the Candlesticke that no light can shine in the Sauctuary And as it is the greatest shame and abomination for man not to bury his dead his own kind out of sight when his nakednesse doth appeare being disroabed of all humane abilities even so it is the abhomination and shame that the world glories in to keep that great body politick of humane wisdome unburied in the Churches which it that which gives form and being to all their temporary Institutions and Ordinances which is as voyd of life proper to the wisdome and spirit of God as a dead body is when the soule is departed And therefore cannot move nor breath out the reality of the being of that estate both of the just and unjust to be as truly without beginning as without end for the world doth not eternize the Son of God by that common of trinity in unity and unity in trinity in the divine essence for he is not Christ that annointed son of God but as he is considered in both natures nor is the eternall wisdome or work of God beseeming himselfe who is infinite and eternal extant but in that workmanship of Christ for it is true that as the seed of man propagates not his kind but as considered in male and female even so the immortall seed of God produceth not his off-spring but as considered in God and man in Christ therefore they have killed the faithfull and true witnesse the head and top of the creation of God by not giving him the reality of being from eternity therefore he is sayd to be one that was dead and is alive or as the word is he is dead in the present tence as in the wicked and is alive that is in the Saints for the word translated was is the same where the Apostle faith I am an Apostle in the present tence And here let us adventure to insert a word of the nature of the unity between God and man which eternizeth the estate both of just and unjust seing there is in both mans nature which is temporary made and brought forth in time being a reall and proper creature For the unity that is in Christ which is a being joyned unto the Lord and becoming one spirit or one mystical and spiritual estate and condition together with himselfe Consider with me that there is in the eternall an aptnesse to do or to be and a proper principle or fountaine from which he doth or is such a thing For doing and being the thing done are conjunctive never seperated but where the one is there is the other to do the law of God is to be the law of God and so the Saints are a law unto themselves as well as the profane Gentiles the one not having or doing the law of the flesh no more then the other hath or is the law of the spirit God therefore is apt and prompt to know to be wise prudent to debate determine and conclude to love to pity to have compassion to be at peace to be kinde joyous and salvation but he doth or is these from that principle or fountain of goodnesse and bounty wherein hee communicates himselfe unto another in the being and exercise of them all wherein is such infinite fulnesse that that which is proper unto the principles and practice of a creature is superfluous in every one of them So that in whatsoever a christian is united unto or comunicates with God in it is properly
entire simple and undivided act in him and in them also bearing the same forme containing the same virtue subject to the same reproach by the men of the world as also of like joy and acceptation as of old unto the godly by whom it is said Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just saving himselfe lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a colt the foal of an Asse Consider the word of God brought not forth in the begining the sun moon and stars or any creature upon the face of the earth to be of one nature and virtue in one age of the world and of another nature and virtue in another time or age thereof no more doth the word of God bring forth the sufferings of the Son of God to be of one kinde and virtue in one man of God and of another kinde power or virtue in another man of God or in one age to be really present with the Disciples and in another age to be far remote for they are all one individuall act in that one multiplyed Saint or holy one of Israel And so are the sufferings of Christ according to the spirit in the man of sin and sons of Beliall which crucifie the Son of God afresh unto or in themselves putting him to an open shame it is not one in Pharaoh and another in Herod it is not of one nature or kinde in Cain and of another in Judas it is not one in the Scribes and Pharasees and another in the wicked Lawyers and Souldiers it is not of one nature and kinde io that Antichrist and son of perdition and of another nature and kinde in the Devil and Satan But it is one simple and eternall act of that one man of sin multiplied into many Antichrists which are now working already in the world according to the power of the Prince of the ayre the spirit which now worketh in the children of unbelief unto which Christ speaks as unto one saying what is thy name the answer implies both the singular and plurall number my name is Legion for we are many For we must remember that what soever the law saith it saith unto them or as the word is in them who are under the law that is whatsoever the law of the spirit speaks now the law of the spirit of life is in Christ Jesus according to which he submits to the will of his Father that ancient of days in all things as also rules over all temporary and carnall power for there is nothing in Christ as wherein he submits but it hath the virtue of authority therein also and whatsoever this law saith it saith it in all that are subjects unto the same and gives being to what it utters as the word did to all things in the beginning so that if it speak of faith in any it speaks without respect of persons according to that impartiality which is in it self so that where it utters faith it is in the powerfull work of faith as a work wherein the Son of the eternall is involved in whom it hath its virtue and power if it utter alone it sheds it abroad in the heart in the labour of it as that wherein God dwels who is composed of it if it speaks of hope it is not deferred but springs up in the soule as that tree of life in the Paradise of God and if it speak of suffering it creates the Crosse not in any other form and virtue but in that wherein it takes its being from the beginning even as it was at the first with the creation in the operation of the word in bringing forth all creatures to exist and have a being When it made the Sun it formed it in that virtue that abides the same in all ages and so it is with all creatures receiving their being and virtue by that word even so whatsoever the law of the spirit saith it gives the same being and virtue thereunto in all that are under that law whether it concerne humiliation or exaltation death or resurrection the being of the Lord the Saviour or the saved of the Lord. For what or in whom-soever it speaks it saith it to the reallizing of it selfe in the thing spoken and that without exclusion of any one particular or including any one more then the rest which are found under the same law For as unto us there is but one God so there is but one Image of that God which is his wisdome made manifest in Christ which is the proper and perpetuated form of Christ wherein soever he is manifest and of all true Christianity in all ages of the world We must therefore either take Christ or a christian forme being under the law of the spirit and then there is no other seat to set him in but under the dominion of the flesh that law of sin and death or else the Crosse expressed and maintained according to that law of the spirit is the same in Christ and in every Christian in all respects For it is that circumcission made without hands that is without any wisdome or ability proper unto or atainable by man namely the cutting off of that superfluous foreskin of the flesh which is superfluous to the fulnesse of Gods wisdome and power which is the proper hinderer and obstructor of the propagation of the Son of God Therefore this circumcission is to be exercised upon every male in the family of God and that by divine institution that is upon every one who have that masculine spirit of the Son of God to acquit themselves like men of God by faith conquering and overcoming the world for this circumcision onely brings the soule of man into a capacity of having the power of God to be exercised therein in which is that fulnesse and perfection that all things natural or proper to a creature are altogether superfluous and therefore it is said to be Circumcision or cutting round so as no beginning or end of this virtue can ever be found out for it is eternall Againe there is also the law of the carnal commandement or the carnall law and whatsoever that speaks it saith it onely in them and in all them respectively that are under that law And this consists in carnall and temporary ordinances and institutions such appointments as fade and perish in the use such as abide not with man or he not with them for ever and what this law saith it saith it in all and every particular that are under the same that is it reallizeth it selfe in every heart wherein it speaks forming and framing a work therein according to the word gone out for she word of God speaks that language in a figure which mans heart naturally speaks taking that by viewing it by his own light to be the substance and reality of the minde of God in his intent but is but a shadow a figure or signification thereof thereby carnallizing
Jacob and Esau and the like as teaching higher and more transcendant things thereby Therefore to rest in these as being the intent and scope of the Scriptures without seeing and acknowledging the life and death of Christ in them both according to the flesh and also according to the spirit we may by as good skill of interpretation center and terminate the minde of God in making any or all those visible creatures in heaven and in earth in that proper work without having any respect at all unto man therein and make them the utmost and extreamest point of Gods thoughts and intent which were no better then to disinherit the Son of God making a bastard and no Son of him being they were all made to do service unto him and to stand up and jointly and skilfully point as with the finger to direct either to his perpetuall life or death as being the reality and substantiality of them all the forme of a Church therefore as constituted into particulers now in the world is of no more weight or worth in a Christian minde then any other order wherein men are conversant in wayes of civillity so called for if once we finde the substance by the light of that day that springs from on high the darknesse of night and shadow flye away So as nothing looks amiable upon us but onely glory in the highest and peace in the earth to that man of good will who dwels in the bush It is the spirit of Prophesie therefore or of true interpretation that cals in the Eldership w ch sees this sicknes or death to be that renovation of the health life of man-kinde in Christ from that carnall life which the world lives from living unto earthly and transitory things to live unto heavenly and everlasting things such as abide for ever therefore it is said that fifteen years are added unto the life of Hezekiah which number consists of ten and five ten hath in it the mystery of eternity as hath been declared and five hath in it the mystery of multiplication signifying that variety and uncountable wayes of health and life which in all respects and ways of relation are multiplied and exercised in that mysticall body and state of Christ Therefore no speech of the multiplication of any of Gods works till the fifth day to shew the mystery of this number therefore it is that Joseph brings five of his brethren before Pharoah to signifie the multiplication of blessings upon the land by all the family seeing so manny had come upon it by his being there as one the like is in Benjamins messe sent in by Joseph five times so much as any of the rest to shew the multiplication of his love to that his brother who only came of the beloved Rachel together with himselfe In the recovery out of this sicknesse or renewing of life from the dead we are to consider what Christ saith viz. Except the wheat corne dye it multiplies not that is except Christ the seed of God dye he multiplies not in which we are to know that divine nature simply considered in it selfe is not the seed of God no more then the seed of mankinde is simply in the male but respectively in male and female else it produceth not to multiply its kinde and every tree hath seed in it selfe therefore the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord. They are but one tree that is one estate and condition even so the seed of God is whole Christ God and man made one and this wheat corne or seed must dye or else it brings not forth the true kinde and off-spring of the Son of God that is it must be sick and dye to all carnall and corruptible things or else it never brings forth that multiplyed fruit of the spirit which is in Jesus Christ To conclude this point to call in this place for the Elders is not meant the mendicimonium of a man without magnanimity and courage as one crouching unto a course and carnall Elder made with hands that is set up and created by men who can come unto the assembly and a private person but before it be dissolved is a pulick person a reverend Elder But this call is an anthetique and princely summons of a royall Prophet for this sicknesse hath in it the virtue and voyce of a summons to convent the true physitian multiplyed into an holy and honourable Eldership the consultation and practice of whom is the cure of the soule even as the life and frolick presumption of the arme of flesh hath in it a sufficient summons to bring in the works of unrighteousnesse to that appearance of Antichrist who is that poysonfull dragon and destroyer of the soule Yea this call is the voyce of the spouse being dead to her first husband and having forgotten her fathers house in the forsaking of all her kindred through which her speech becomes sweet and her countenance comely for ever 2. The second point is who these Elders are They are not the Elders of particular Congregations composed and ordered by man under that deceivable terme of reformed Churches as in these days which are but like to the sheards of a potters vessell which cannot be set together or sodred no more then they can ever bring themselves into unity for the spirit of that kingdome is divided in it selfe and therefore can never stand in the way of that resurrection by Christ but are in the way of that apostacy and fall of man from his Creator endeavouring still to become as Gods by the wisdome of the flesh We must observe then for the clearing of this point who they are which our Apostle writes unto in this Epistle and that is to the twelve Tribes in their dispertion and scattering from Israel as carnally considered for otherwise the Saints are never dispersed from the house and temple of God And this scattering is not into any particuler country or kingdome as into Assyria Babylon Caldea or the like but over the whole earth even upon the breadth of the land of Emanuel therefore they are said to be scattered abroad as having no confines set Neither doth he write to people as of one age or tract of time but as unto such as shall live in all ages of the world for as the word of God in the beginning went not out as to create the Sun for one age of the world but for all ages even so the word of the kingdome the Gospel of God goeth not forth to the dispersed and outcasts of Israel that is from the wisdome power and policy of the arme of flesh in one place or one age but so as every word of God in its true intent concerns and fiâ—s all places and ages of the world both in respect of the word of the curse and of the blessing so that to expound the word of God as fitting for one time place age or person and not for
whole mysticall body of Jesus Christ otherwise it is not the word or Gospel of the kingdome nor the spirit of intercession which is by Jesus Christ Object But it will be sayd that these things crncern the invisible Church and not the visible for the true visible Church is otherwise to be considered Answ To which we answer that it is a work of as great curiosity to frame a visible Church of Christ as to frame and compose a visible body of Christ therefore the Apostle comparing the true Church to a body sayth For as the body being one hath many members and all the members of that body being many are but one body so also Christ And agayn hear what the spirit sayth by the Apostle John viz. As he is so are we even in this world where he speaks of the Son of God So that to frame and compose a visible Church and to frame and compose a visible Christ are of the same nature and of like ease and difficulty and are alike strange unto the world and of the same acceptation to bring into manifestation and appearance Yet we know that Christ in both respects for otherwise we know him not is truly apparent and visible as also secret and unseen For Moses by faith saw him meaning Christ who is invisible that is he saw him who is unseeable and both are really true in a diverse respect And they who frame a Christ visible in one age of the world and not in another they do by the same argument conclude the visible Church to appear and to be manifest only within the same confines and precincts of time wherein Christ appeared For the Church was never known to appeare but in the reall form of Gods righteousnesse and wisdome which is Christ for he is the wisdome of God and the righteousnesse of God by saith which is the reality of the Church and as for all imaginary Churches we skill not for they will vanish and come to nought together with the professors of them as they have done in all ages Again such as form a Christ unto themselves to appear visibly unto a carnall eye so as to accept and approve of that his way of appearance at the carnall and perfunctory worshippers of the Jewes did Know this that whensoever the true Christ appeareth he will receive at the hands of such the same measure which was measured out unto Jesus born of the Virgin by Herod Pontius Pilate Scribes Pharisees with the cry of all the people saying Crucifie him crucifie him away with him crucifie him Even so they that frame unto themselves a visible Church so as to appeare unto a carnall eye or understanding as being in a capacity to approve and like well of it at the least for a certaine season Whensoever the true Church makes it selfe visible it shall receive like measure at the hands of such persons to the utmost of their power and ability as Christ did when he appeared unto the Jewes For in such persons and in that spirit is the zeale of persecution properly founded in the visible and apparant exercise thereof Moreover they that form a visible Church as not having the invisible vertue alike efficatious in every part and member thereof they also form unto themselves a visible Christ to appear without aving the compleat vertue of the wisdome and power of God in all respects in him either in point of his being or in the order and manner of his being and this is that great Image of Nebuchadnezzar which hath beeen so long erected and set up in the world where the Scriptures are traditionally acknowledged and read w ch all must bow down unto at the noise of their instruments and institutions or else the fiery tryall must passe upon them that obey not Only this is our comfort that the Son of God will so appear with them or in them that so much as a smell of that zeal or fiery fume and wrath of the world shall not appeare upon them but serve only to the destruction of such as are zealous actors in such matters of the worlds melody The next point is the exercise of the Elders and the first is they pray over him or for him or without any wrong to the Text with him that is in communion and fellowship with him for there was never prayer of faith made unto God out of which any elect or chosen vessel was excluded the reason is because every acceptable prayer hath in it the vertue of the intercession of Christ otherwise it is not in his name and authority and the spirit of Christ neglects not any one that appertayns to his mysticall body for if it should that soule could never be inspired with the spirit of prayer without which there is no participation in the mediation of the Son of God and then no acceptation with the Father therefore prayer is communicative to all the Saints if it be as the prayer of faith it is as the life-blood running into all the veyns of the whole body for none can enter into the holy place but he that carries all the Tribes upon his heart it is not our temporary and private wants which can bring forth a faithfull prayer to God for as prophesie is not of any private spirit or interpretation but holy men speake as they are moved by the holy Ghost of like publique spirit is true prayer So that this sick party is in unity with the prayer here spoken of for the eldership of this Church or that eternized fellowship in the ancient of dayes never appears unto any in that miraculous vertue of healing but in way of unity with the party healed Therefore it is that Christ will have the stone rouled away from the Sepulchre that nothing interpose betwixt Lazarus and himselfe when he restores him from death to life Also Elisha will be shut up in the same roome with the widows sonne when hee rayseth him up from the dead and Paul the Apostle falls upon Eutichus and embraceth him when he brings his spirit into him agayn Furthermore where this true Eldership appears it ever communicates a like vertue to every individuall of the body for the spirit is not received by measure for that which in it selfe is emence cannot be received by measure they that go about to perswade men that some have a greater portion of the spirit and some have a lesse measure thereof they may upon as good grounds perswade men that some shall be saved and be happy and blessed a long time and some a shorter time for if the spirit of God in any poynt of our salvation be subject to measure in latitude it is as truly subject to be measured and bounded in longitude and then salvation is voyd which is the doctrine of the most of our Elders in these dayes but the spirit of glory and of God that rests upon the Saints through this sicknesse and suffering is neither given out nor received by measure
God and man being made one through that wisdome or spirit of the creature brooding upon the same deep of the said Chaos drawing it out into the lines and lineaments proper to the principles and capacities of a creature wherein the letter of the word doth consist adorning it selfe with the excellencies and abilities of the creature and not of God the Creator in which respect it is sayd to be a house of mans building and not of Gods And this is the proper order and reformation of the world stood for and maintained to this day by Schools Libraries and Records by Art study and Law by policy experiments and force of arms unto which the most eminent and sublime order and institution of the wisdome and spirit of God are as a formlesse Chaos and most dangerous gulfe and this wisdome or device of man hath arguments according to its proper sphear it works in as punctuall and proper for the conservation and binding over of it selfe unto destruction as the wisdome of God hath in that way of Christ for the laying down of his life unto salvation We thwart not then the order and instinct of any creature but give it its proper due for which it was made which is either to give intelligence by breathing out its proper life in the souls of the Saints in directing unto another in whom the order of heaven and earth which abides for ever is established or else to retayn its own proper life which is earthly in the expiration of the life of the spirit of God whereby it becomes a builder of the tower of Babylon the one receives instruction from the world in the expiration of the life of it in himselfe it becoming as a crucified and dead carkasse unto him whereby he is made alive unto God and the other receives instruction from the kingdome of God in the expiration of the life of all the things thereof in himselfe so as it is made by his wisdome as a crucified and dead thing unto him whereby he is made alive unto the world and the things thereof adorning and supplying of himselfe with the arm of flesh and so becomes as truly Satanicall as the Saints become holy and godly It is no more wrong therefore to look upon the glory and goodlinesse of man as the flower of grasse or thing of nought when Christ was made manifest then it was wrong to the rest of the creatures when man was made as Lord of them all which before that the bruit beaste of the field might seem to have dominion of the earth Those therefore that would have the shadows of the night to retayn some excellency in their place and not to flye away when that Sun of righteousnesse ariseth and sheweth forth himselfe Let such make their opinion good unto the world by retayning of like delight in and having like esteem of such rattles and baubles in the time of their Seniority as they delighted themselves with in the dayes of their minority and so much in answer to the objection 3. The third poynt is the practice of the Elders and that is the manner how they annoynt the sick party and that is in the name of the Lord or into the power and authority of the Lord Christ for by this unction we are gathered up and are all drunke into one spirit of Jesus Christ So that men may as fittingly preach the wisdome of man to be no better then the understanding of a bruit beast as to teach that the spirit of a Christian is inferiour to the wisdome of God in Christ for they are one as the wisdome of man is one Therefore the actions of a Christian spring from the proper Edicts and Institutions of God according to the law of faith with respect unto those relations and operations established between God and man in Christ or in the unction and not from those relations and respects which naturall instincts and humane wisdom hath founded and set up between creature and creature which the beasts of the field and fowles of the ayre are for the most part inclinable unto as well as man-kind So that there is something that is proper unto God only that is a relative in all the actions of a Christian or else it is not done by the law of faith which stands in all terms of relation between God and man and not between creature and creature and thereby is every Christian made Lord of all which otherwise they could not be for by this means no creature can lay claym unto them but they are only the Lords the obligatious standing only between God and man in that law of faith or subsistance of God and man in one by the unction which is Christ Secondly the actions and demeanors of a Christian have in them the effect of Gods power and authority as well as spring from such a root so that they prove fruitful either to be a savour of life unto life or of death unto death The doctrine wayes and counsell of a Christian have a certain vertue of God in them to produce life unto life unto them that are saved or to work life in life as the word may be read in others for they bring forth in the chosen of God a life which hath all manner of livelinesse infolded and wrapped up therein for as the wisdome of God is sayd to be a manifold wisdome so is the life of God a manifold life which can never be unfolded and made manifest unto the uttermost for then it were not infinite and eternall So that if the Gospel bring forth and produce the life of Faith it hath the life of hope in it and in all things that can be hoped for which as they are obtained every one is as a tree of life If it produce love there is wrapped up therein the life of the love of all lovely relations as Father Son Husband Wife love of all kinds of friendship and the like If it bring forth the life of joy there is wrapt up therein the life of all joyfull things in the life of prosperity there is the life of all prosperous ways so that whatsoever the Gospel works in the soul there is involved therein all of that kind that ever can come into use and exercise so that it is a bundle of life which none but the wisdome of God and the power of God can ever bind up together or bring forth Againe if a Christian or the Gospel for they are co-apparent and were never one without another produce and bring forth death in any it is death unto death or death in death there is one death involved and wrapped up in another unto eternity which can never be found out to the uttermost and yet no particular way of death doth ever asswage from the height and extreamest terrour of it nor stand aside as to permit an intermission but only so as to give way or being in another to exercise its vertue in the full force
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
then there could be no want to be supplyed so that the whole spirit of Christianity prayeth viz. God and man in unity so it is here the spirit that turns is God and man in unity and is as true a change from that which is and ever shall be Satanicall as the wicked erre from that which is and ever shall be holy and righteous and they are both of one and the same time in the rise of them For in the beginning was the word and that word is with God and is God And Satan is a lyar from the beginning and abode not in truth no more then Christs soule was left in hell or that holy one suffered to see corruption but was ever taught in the way of life and in that reall presence at whose right hand there is fullnesse of joy for evermore Therefore the Prophet saith that Christ comes meek and lowly saving himselfe that is compleatly and not apart only and therein the worth and dignity of salvation stands that it hath that weight substance of account and reckoning in it and upon this ground the Disciples are comforted against all feare whatsoever where it is said Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and yet one of them falls not to the ground without the good will of your heavenly father of how much more worth are ye then many sparrows Can you set a price and rate of so mean a thing and doth God take care for the preservation of it Of what esteem price and respect then is the state of a Christian in which not a part but the compleat spirit of the Son of God is involved and by a ransome given and payd in the world proportionable thereunto purchased This point contains a mystery which the common Priest-hood of the world so far as I have heard or seen in books is altogether ignorant of though life and death yea the spring and originall fountaine of all things is involved in it So much for the proposition the injunction followes Le him know or acknowledge c. The word let is of like signification here that it is in the beginning Let there be light let us make man c. having the power of a command and vertue of propagation to bring forth being of the nature of the word Amen so be it or so it shall be without all gainsaying or contradiction having in it a creating power and vertue to give being to the thing uttered That is that the party thus turning or turned for both are true and the word implies both one that turns and one turned for both are in that state of Christ and he that preacheth any thing but Christ and him crucified he goes beyond our Apostle as far as the common apostacy The word Let then establisheth in the heart of him and no other that turneth a sinner from the errour of his way a certaine power of acknowledgment of such a condition or royall and noble acts which here follows but first see here the nature of the confession or acknowledgment of sin it is his way that turneth naturally but it is confessed to the change or converting it unto the state of the Sonne of God even as truth may be sayd to be their way naturally who are in errour but they have perverted the same into falshood turning the truth of God into a lye and his grace into wantonnesse so that their way with respect to that which they have perverted is holinesse and is and ever shall be so in Christ but there remayns nothing but sin and wickednesse in the perverters thereof So also a Christian may confesse that the evill of sin and errour is his way with respect to that which is converted and is and ever shall be so in the wicked but in that state of the turned and converted there is no sin nor errour to be found at all there is then a reality of the Saints confession of their sin but it is to the removing of it to another where it abides for ever as there is a reall confession of a holy one in the wicked but it is ever in removing it unto another which they are not which is the proper spirit of Python that unperswaded or unfaithed one as the Apostle gives the wicked the title of Apeitheis unperswaded or disobedient so that their acknowledgment of holinesse in another subsistance is the unfaithing or unbetrothing of the soule from God it is its proper and perpetuall divorce So that he that knows not how to clear the state of Christianity from sin and fill the world with wickednesse he will come to make a bankrupt-like account when ever his estate comes to be discovered Therefore the wealthy estate noble acts and royall prerogatives following are only entailed and made over to him that turns the sinner from the errour of his way errour collectively as all considered in one otherwise Christ is not cleered and made the holy one of God and then not risen from the dead We are yet in our sins the substance of the common doctrine at this day in the world The first point or act of honour given to him that turns is that he saves a soule from death not as the world thinks by preaching the terrours of the Law and frighting men from some grosse and bruitish acts they have thereby converted and saved souls the most part of those that thus save did strive to pluck men out of the hands of the Bishops that the people might be instruments to lift them up into the like seat if not worse no such conversion coms in here it is abhominable but it is a true and faithfull distribution and opening of Gods righteous and holy manner of working in the absolution of his holy son made sin in being acquit from all sin and the just condemnation of that wicked one who in being made Lucifer the morning starre became the Prince and power of darknesse From such an originall we must fetch salvation and destruction or else all our doctrine of the decree of election and reprobation will prove no better then reprobate silver not passing for currant in the Kingdome of God 1. But the thing to be acknowledged by such a one as turns or is turned is he saves that is the power and spirit of the Saviour is there when once we know of what nature the spirit of the world is namely that wee are of God and the world is of that wicked one then wee shall learn to acknowledg that salvation never appears but there is the Saviour wee thinke to honour Christ by binding him up in one individuall man in point of the mystery of the Gospel it is a carnall and humane honour not beseeming the Son of God the common Priest-hood hath blinded and besotted the world in this point setting up an idoll in mens minds and not the mystery of life that is by Christ but it is taken for blasphemy in these dayes to talk of the Son of God
way to Damascus So that we may not give these execrable things any being or time or abode in the Apostle of Christ no more then we can give unto him to be a servant of sin at that time when he saith So then in my mind I my selfe serve the law of God but in my flesh the law of sinne which things are inconsistant in one individuall subject For the word of God is an eternall word and expresseth not it selfe but with respect unto an eternall act it is not a transient and momentany thing when it saith of Christ I am a worm and no man an object a scorn a bubble a vapour a vanity a nothing to be in the belly of hell and in the heart of the earth to be shut up and cannot get out These things are not momentany expressions and transient acts for the word and work of God is no such thing according to the true and reall intent and operation thereof But they are reall manifestations and declarations of what the world hath really made of the word and wisdome of God in themselves And so are these expressions of Paul true manifestations what the condition of a carnall Jew is and how they deal with Christ the wisdome of God and ever will do in whomsoever he appears from which spirit that glorious change wrought once and for ever in Christ hath freed all the Saints and set them in the liberty of the Son of God which otherwise are no better but by nature the same with others So that it is not creation of man in being made one with God wherein blessednesse doth properly consist but it is that generative vertue of the immortall seed bringing forth unto God together with that act of conjunction whereunto true blessednesse is annexed therefore Christ is truly sayd to be made and also to be begotten For out of that act of Creation in the unity of God and man not only the wisdome of God makes it selfe manifest in giving form unto Christ the seed of the woman but also that wisdome of the creature namely of man which gives form to the Serpent who was more wise then any beast of the field which the Lord God had made And that is the seed of the Serpent so brought forth that is in consulting with the wisdome of God from humane principles This is a faithfull saying then of Paul and worthy to be embraced of all men so as to utter the same language That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe For he that cannot acknowledge himselfe to be the first or chiefe of sinners that is to say in his grand Ancestor being made one in that act of Creation as he comes of the earth and so in that way of the unbeliever is the first perverter of the word of God to destruction though in himselfe in his proper subsistance in the way of the generation of the Son of God hee is once and for ever freed therefrom in that deliverance made by Christ so that it is none of his inheritance or portion otherwise no man can ever acknowledg himselfe to be blest and possessed with the first and chief righteousnesse that ever was namely that righteousnesse of God in Jesus Christ nor know himselfe to be a first-born of God an heyr of the promise and an inheritance of life that lasts for ever And so we come to the fourth part of the Chapter contayning that fruitfull and wholsome benefit which spring from the death of Christ in all true Christians the first whereof is layd downe in the next verse Vers 13. Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing VVHerein we are to observe a two-fold proposition layd down interrogatively together with a two-fold answer given thereunto The first whereof is this Is any among you afflicted let him pray By affliction in this place is meant diminishing or weakning as the word imports and so Pharaoh afflicted Israel in Aegypt to weaken and diminish them lest they should grow in multitude and so wax too strong for him and his people but God makes use of that his dealing with them to increase and multiply them exceedingly for that which weakens men in the worlds account proves through Gods device to be the strength and power of the Saints of God Therefore our Apostle puts us upon this question Is any among you afflicted Being that he had told them of what nature the death of the Son of God is in the godly namely to bereave and dispoil them of all the strength glory excellency and goodlinesse of man so as it becomes as the withered grosse or decayed flower of the field when the spirit of the Lord breaths upon it yea though they be weakned and diminished in all such respects so as they have nothing of that nature to trust or betake themselves unto which can stand them in any stead As if hee should say hath the Gospel and word of the Kingdome made spoyl and prize of all things among you or in you hath it routed and layd you wast of all such transitory wayes and perfunctory worships as the carnall and litterall Jewes do commonly boast themselves of and comfort and content themselves in of which Paul sayth If any man might boast of he much more circumcised the eighth day of the stocke of Israel of the tribe of Benjamine an Hebrew of Hebrews as touching the law a Pharisee concerning zeale persecuting the Church and touching that righteousness which is in the law blamelesse And where shall we find a Church extant in these dayes which speaks by any other spirit then this which runs in the sincke and channell of such externall and extrinsicall institutions ordinances genealogies pharisaical righteousnesse persecuting zeale and tribe-like division of rule and government But what saith our Apostle of all these things But what things were gaine to me that is as the very wealth and riches of a carnall Jew those I counted losse for Christ yea doubtlesse and I counted all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and count them but dung that I may winne Christ And for this losse diminution or affliction our Apostle prescribes the cure and remedy in whomsoever it is suffered in this his answer given Let him pray The word Let hath a like Emphasis as that of the Creation at the beginning Let there be light and it was so and hath in it the very force and vertue of creating the spirit of prayer and intercession in that heart in which this losse diminution or affliction is found for it signifies as much as Amen so be it or so it is or so it shall be so that it fits the soule with the spirit of prayer as the world was furnished with light by the same phrase in the beginning without which spirit or breath of prayer the soule is without