is under from God as he is made in Gods image he hath an aptitude a strong bent lively inclination and disposition of mind to the right and just which is conteined in the law of God and wherein mans whole duty doth consist But because as hath bin said man is by nature not withstanding all this left at such a liberty as that he is not by any certain prevailing and overcomming power over and against whatsoever shall make resistance with held and restrained kept and bound fast to his duty at this door through the weakenes of the flesh sin entered and death by sin passed upon all men because in Adam the common parent all men had sinned This door unto sin is kept open so long as mans naturall freedom continues with him either as receaved at first before the fall or by way of restoration through the redeemers blood since which we shall speake unto in its proper place That which opens this door is mans owne lust as it is written Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with evill neither tempteth he any man But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his owne lust and enticed Thē when lust hath conceaved it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death The mind of God is above all temptatiō to evil The mind of man is not so though formed in Gods image whilst he is yet under the law and its dominion and hath not atteined unto nor bin brought under grace So long then as man lives in and will not part with his primitive natural fredom nor resign it through faith in exchang for a second gift of it from God in a better kind and way he is stil under the dominion of the law and not only accountable for the breaches of it and transgressions against it but under the inevitable condemning and revenging power thereof that wil first or last execute the curse threatned upon all evil doers But he that is under grace is become dead to the law being crucified with Christ or fastned and bound by the power of the death and cross of Christ with such a bent of mind and hatred against sin as nothing can alter or chang and is so quickned and made free and a live unto righteousnes as nothing can hinder the course and duration of it By this means the door of the mind is so fixed and fast shut against all sin as it is not in the power of the gates of hel ever to set or break it open more In the mind of man we are to acknowledg as hath bin already intimated two parts 1. the spirit of the mind the superiour and intellectual part equalizing man with angels 2dly the sensitive and inferiour part which abases man into the likenes and into a kind of equality with the Beasts and is indeed capable to make him a beast yea actually and that too generally does make men so This inferiour part of mans spirit is as the door of his mind the mouth or instrumēt of its cōverse inward or outward and in distinction from the first and superiour power the spirit of the mind is called in scripture flesh or the sensuall and living soule Hēce that of the Apostle Rom. 7.25 So then I myself with my mind do serve the law of God but with my flesh the law of sin So also our blessed saviour observing the fleshly drowsines of his disciples that they could not watch one hour with him at such a pinch of straits as he then was in the spirit says he is willing but the flesh is weak This was the lusting flesh in mā evē in paradise whilst in his innocēcy and through its weaknes was the door of the mind set open to let in temptation and sin For it is soon taken and deceaved and is weak in resisting evil And it is as soon weary of wel-doing if the way to persevere in weldoing be through the crosse and all kinds of streights hardships and disappointments unto the flesh even to this fleshly and sensual part of mans mind For no sooner does this come into activity and liberty by the conjunction and fellowship it is taken into with the intellectual and superiour part the spirit of the mind but it is apt to run wild fly out and grow untamed and extravagant as that which loves not to be accustomed to the yoke and held in subjection to the spirit of the mind as that is subjected to the law of God It is apt to judg itself wise enough to make its owne choice and to trust to its owne single judgment in all its actings And in case it be cross'd and not complied with by the dictates of right reason in its superiour part 't is apt to murmure and be sullenly rebellious so as to forbeare to do its office and duty to its head and Lord the spirit of the mind In order to bribe off and gain the consent and approbation of the superiour and ruling power of the mind to the way and course it desires to take it will invent many fair specious and plausible pretences make false representations of things fascinating appearances and mists to delude and blind the superiour discerning of the mind It will turne every stone to obteine its end spreading before the spirit of the mind flattering speeches as nets and bands to take and ensnare it as the strong man Samson was serv'd by his Dalilah This demeanour and practice of the woman the female and inferiour power of the mind towards its Lord and husband the superiour is most lively described by Solomon Eccles 7.26 I find sayes he more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands bands who so pleaseth God which without faith is impossible shall escape from her but the sinner shal be takē by her he that is a sinner through unbeleife The spirit of mans mind by refusing and resisting that offer and work of the spirit of God whereby it should be brought into a most free subjection and captivity to the law of faith becomes a sinner and so comes to be taken by the nets and snares the enticing words and pretences of its inferiour power and in downright tearmes at length to be wholly captivated and subjected under the usurped commanding influence of that sensuall life it ought to rule over This was the lusting flesh in Adam as also in Eve before the fall which the Serpent knew how to tempt and gratify And such did the weaknes of this flesh prove that it was not able to withstand or resist the temptation All that the serpent aim'd at was but to prevaile with this flesh to think itself so wise and sufficiently able to move and act by the strength and excellency of its owne single judgment as that it might safely undertake to doe what should be found most liking and agreable to its owne sense and refuse the
contrary without being bound up to any necessary dependance upon or holding conformity and agrement in its actions either with the right dictates of the intellectual part or with the righteous rule of Gods law This once obtein'd Satan had his end For he well knew that this being granted all the rest of the evil he desired to bring into man and by him into the world would easily and quickly follow And this was so pleasing and gratifying a baite to the flesh the assuming a power to direct its owne steps take its owne course and way that it was quickly swallowed downe by man without any due deliberation or pause upon the matter suspecting no hurt as yet till the lust that thus was conceaved came to be finished and to take along with it the spirit of the mind corrupting and seducing that also from the simplicity that is in Christ and thereby turning the soule from the truth of God declared in his law to the lie and deceit of Satan conceaved in his crafty suggestion Thus by degrees was man brought to worship and serve the creature that is the devil more then the creator under whose law he was first made and who is the only true God blessed for ever Unto this the Scripture witnesseth Rom. 1 22 23. Professing themselvs to bewise they became fools and changed the glory WORD or Image of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and unto birds four-footed beasts and creeping things This man came to by preferring the counsell of a fallen angel that was gratifying and desireable food in the eye of flesh before the holy law and commandement of the living and eternal God which by the eye of his spirit or superiour part of his mind he saw and knew himself obliged to the observation of For this cause God gives men up to the course and full sway of their owne wills and vile affections leaving them as bondslaves to sin and Sathan children of wrath and disobedience in whom the Prince of the aire seats himself as in his throne carrying them captive to his will Mans continuance in honour and in Gods image wherein he was created was but a very little while He quickly found out and followed many inventions contrary to Gods expresse command written in his mind as also signified by the sundry peeces of the creation and sounded out by an audible voice to him from God himself Sin being after this manner the voluntary and free act of our first parents not only conceaved but finished in the disobedience by them wrought and persected the wages of it which is death they immediatly receaved For being presently alienated from the life of God or the righteousnes performable by them in that image of God wherein they were created they became dead in trespasses and sins The image of God in man was defaced changed into an image in some sort of the devil All pronesse and inclination of the will to good was forthwith worn off and lost upon the fall and not only so but contrary qualities thereunto possessed the mind Thus mans primitive freedom and alacrity to righteousnes was turn'd into vile subjection and service to the devil and to all manner of uncleane affections and unrighteous actions Neverthelesse this sudden and unexpected chang in man brought about by the subtilty and influencing power of the Serpent by reason of the weaknes of the flesh that discovers itself in mans mutable state is not such but that this deadly wound is capable of healing and man capable of being thereby restored yea to be made not only as good but better then he was at first through the vertue and efficacious power of Christs sacrifice and death which was not only a generall propitiation and atonement of sins past but also for the sanctifying and purifying mans nature for time to come after a more excellent manner through regeneration then it was by creation Unto this regenerate state our first parents were called by the voice and doctrine of the Gospel speaking to them in and on the seaventh day as the only way and means to have prevented the fall and kept out sins entrance upon the nature of man For when God committed to the keeping of Adam his owne soule in the good estate wherein he had set it by making man in his image and after his owne likenes it was not without a most speciall charg to keep this choise jewel safe and vncorrupted at the peril of his very life till chang'd into a better state This God required him to do in the use of the best wayes and means that should be afforded him even by taking fast hold of instruction not letting her goe but keeping her as his life yea keeping his heart above all keepings as that from whence are the issues of life To this end was the tree of life placed in the midst of paradise open to his sight that he might have the view of it And by what was figured and signified to him in this tree was it declared how the keeping of his soule might be by another even by the Son of God or by the Holy Ghost the spirit of truth dwelling in the heart by faith which the worldly or fleshly mind does not cannot receave but by such an act of absolute resignation of itself in obedience to the wil of the Son of God as is more hatefull to it then the worst of evils Yet is there no other way possible for man to keep his soule safe for any long continuance and in the houre of trial when assaulted by the power of darknesse The counsel and instruction given by the word of the Gospel in the tree of life was that if man found upon full debate and consideration within himself that he was not like to continue long safe in his owne hands neither could with certainty keep himself pure and incorrupt as the law required that then he would be content to accept for his guardian and keeper the Son of God himself in whose person the judgmēt and will of man is fixed so as to be the corner stone to al the rest of the heavenly and spirituall building even the effectual means to fix and make immutable in righteousnes both men and angels that wil be prevailed with to let him take the charge of ruling and keeping their hearts in such manner as pleases him This is the only way for man to become free indeed with a better freedom then that of nature abovemention'd even with the freedom wherewith Christ himself is first made free as he is the son of man in heaven who came downe from heaven before he ascended up againe thither John 3.13 This good will and gracious offer of the Son of God figured out in the tree of life our first parents either neglected and slighted or the way of his keeping them did not please them but the suggestions of Satan were rather hearkned unto that they might safely leane to their
its persecuting power and war on the saincts who prophesy all the same time in sackcloth as a despised rejected remnant of outcasts are according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost to take their date and beginning from that conspiracy or combination of the ten hornes uniting in one preistly head as to spiritualls Concerning the Rise then of this little horne we may safely assert 1. That there was a time certaine when the papal power did begin and that time was after the dissolution of the Roman empire as it was meerly heathenish And this power was as the corner stone to cement and build up the ruins of the Roman empire into ten Kingdoms bearing the name of Christian and acknowledging the supremacy of the pope Secondly That so soon as this power was first in being the power which hath made war with the saincts ever since did begin For these ten Kingdoms with their Ghostly father the Pope have ever since bin treading down and keeping under the holy city or true citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem necessitating the two witnesses if they will prophesy at all to do it in sackcloth that is under great persecution and tribulation Thirdly It is evident that from the time of such beginning of the power of Daniels little horne or last branch of the fourth Kingdom upon the earth the sackcloth Testimony of the witnesses did also begin And after the continuance of the one and the other for the space of 42 months or 1260 years the day of the Kingdom of Christs patience is to expire and the time of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth is to be no longer But in stead hereof the time of the lambs wrath is to come and be revealed from heaven against all this bestiall domination over his saints and he will openly take to himself his great power and reigne He will set up his Kingdom over the heads or on the top of all the other Kingdoms and Rule with his saints or the earth one thousand yeaves Rev. 20. In order and by way of preparation to this Christ comes in the latter rain of his spirit upon the earth to gather the harvest of the world and keep the last and great feast of Tabernacles to which the true spirituall Israelits amongst jews and Gentiles are invited Zech 14 16 21. These then are the two distinct commings of Christ wherein he comes to his people as the former and the latter raine in this third day that is the day of his Kingdom in spirit the day wherein first he shews his royall patience and forbearance towards his worst enemies and the day wherein secondly he shews forth his royall power and universall irresistible command in earth as well as in heaven The one as well as the other of these dayes or parts of the third day above mentioned do belong to this great Kings making himself knowne even as he is the Son of man ordeined by God to judg the world in righteousnes But it may be demanded since both these make but the one day of Christs Kingdom in spirit called in Hosea the third day wherein he hath promised to raise up the children of this his Kingdom and cause them to live in his sight how comes it to passe that during the long time of Christs first appearance in the Kingdom of his patience the true saincts are in an outwardly suppressed and afflicted condition as inhabitants of the dust trampled under foot by the powers of the world The answer is easy by this short and cleer distinction The raising up or resurrection of them to live in his sight which Christ promises is twofold 1. Such a raysing up as is wrought inwardly in their minds directing them to the sight of things above and fastning their affections and desires accordingly binding them up in the life which is hid with Christ in God This first kind of resurrection is knowne and experienced in themselvs by the renewings of their inward man day by day under the perishings and decayes of their outward when they are looked upon as in the grave in a very sad and low condition by the eye of the world 2. But secondly there is a raising them up to live in Christs sight discernably to the very eye of the world At that season glory and honour shal be put upon their very outward man and they shal be called to sit downe at Christs right and left hand in the Kingdom of his power to the visible treading all their enemies under their feet like mire in the streets They shall also administer healing and refreshing to the whole creation of God For in this seed all nations of the earth shal be blessed and the very creature freed from the bondage of corruption The promise then of raising up the true children of the Kingdom shal be made good both these wayes and that successively the one after the other as will appear in its proper place when the day of Christs second appearance in spirit shal be particularly spokē to But in this the scripture is very positive and expresse that untill we be children of the resurrection in the first of these respects during the season of suffering with Christ we shall never be children of it in the second If we die not or suffer with him now we shall not live and reign with him thē It therefore highly concerns us even as much as to make our calling and election sure to have the certain and cleer discovery yea and practicall experience of what it is that makes the children of the resurrection in the first sence For over those only that are such the second death will have no power And they also are of two sorts being found in a first or second degree of life from the dead which is wrought out in Christ as he is the Son of man In the first of these they are made sharers with the holy angels in their atteinment and fruition of God and goe no higher But in the second they are sharers with Christ in that higher atteinment and fruition of God which he hath as he is the engraffed WORD and is admitted accesse to the very similitude and shape of God in his owne proper forme Man by his owne voluntary sinfull act hath concluded himself and God by his judiciall act hath concluded all men under the death of sin and unbeleif In these chains might man justly have bin left by God for ever bound up in an alienation of mind from all good But by the tender mercies of God in the redeemer he is visited by the power of that voice of the son of God which raises him out of the grave awakens him out of this deadly sleep into which he is not at first so deeply plunged as to be irrecoverable and without remedy This death is properly of the mind as become the servant of sin and it is not only that by which the spirit of the mind is gone out from its subjection to
the law of God and hath given up itself to the rule of the declared enemy of God the spirit of darknes that rules in the children of disobedience but it is also that by which the outward man of the heart called Coll. 3. the members of the mind that are upon the earth withdraws itself from its due subjection and conformity to the dictates of right reason that are suggested to it from time to time by the enlightned spirit of the mind and gives up itself to vile sensuall lusts and affections that carry the whole man captive to sin and death to commit all iniquity with greedines and run into all manner of unrighteousnes The mind which in both these respects is dead is a downright servant of sin and is free from righteousnes or hath freed itself intirely from under its command and Rule as it is written know ye not that to whom ye yeild yourselvs Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousnes The freedom wherein man was at first created was such as whereby he might freely and voluntarily fix himself or rather be fixed in the service of righteousnes through beleeving or in the service of sin by unbeleif By the one he might have bin for ever free from all danger or possibility of serving sin or turning from the service of righteousnes By the other he might in such manner free and discharg himself from the service of righteousnes as never to be receaved into it againe but be for ever condemned to the unchangeable servitude of sin as his punishment The first use man made of this primitive freedom was to free and turn himself out of the service of righteousnes and yeild up himself in subjection to sin And the work of Christ the redeemer is to turn him back againe from the service of sin and power of Satan unto God setting him in as good a condition as at first yea farther to free him for ever from any possibility of becoming a servant to sin any more if the fault be not in himself This restoring renewing and regenerating of man by the power and workmanship of the redeemer in whom we are anew created unto good works is frequently tearmed in scripture a resurrection or quickning from the dead But now this renewing work flowing from the spirit of Christ into fallen man admits of severall measures and degrees which are accompanied with answerable operations and effects upon the mind 1. It turns man back againe from sin to righteousnes conferring upon him the use and exercise of his free will in Gods service upon the like tearms of mutability as he had it at the first creation thereof And to be thus anew created in and by Christ Jesus unto good works is in a degree and measure to be quickned with Christ and raised by him from the death of sin as sin is the transgression of the law They that are under this worke and chang wrought by Christ upon their hearts are yet but under the law or under the rule and command given by God in the first Covenant This ministry of the spirit of Christ doth in Scripture passe under the name of Moses John Baptist and Eliah as the voice of the messenger going before but not the voice of the Son of God himself in his owne person 2dly Therefore there is a farther and an additionall work to this which supposes this chang first to be wrought the operation whereof is to make this a repentance never to be repented of this chang unchangable by bringing the mind into that better state of fredom which is for ever exclusive of sin or of any possibility to chang and return to the service of sin againe This second work enlarges the first making it more entire within itself then ever it was in yeilding subjection to righteousnes as transform'd into the whole will of God with an impossibility to chang or turn in affection from it This is properly the workmanship of the Son himself called Regeneration which carries in it the fredom with which the Son makes all those free indeed whom he causes to receave him in this gift of himself to them likening them unto himself in that lowly meek and subjected frame of spirit wherein as the Son of man he is prepared to se God and to do alwayes that which is welpleasing in his sight Those that are under this second work are properly beleevers having faith of the right kind saving faith And they are therein created by Christ Jesus unto good works with another manner of will and spirit then those are of that are but restored only unto the service of righteousnes and chuse there to be left to work out their owne salvation in the single principles of their rectified nature and free will For in them that freewil offering Rom. 12.1 is made the life of that flesh is offered up in sacrifice which the law of faith commands as the only way to exclude boasting or a being puffed up in the service of righteousnes and indeed to exclude all possibility of finall relapse from God or returne to the service of sin This flesh that would live in us is the power we have to lust and desire move and act of ourselvs in the use and exercise of our primitive free will either to good or evill as likes us best This freedom may either be taken away from us by force or we may be brought through a principle of love begotten in us of our owne choice to resigne it up into the hands of another ordeined of God thereunto to keep and manage for us This is that Christ tells us John 6 37 40. All that the father giveth me shall come to me and it is his will that of all that he hath given me I should lose none but raise them up againe at the last day For I came downe from heaven not to do my owne will but the will of him that sent me And this is his will that he that seeth the Son as he lives not in his owne will but in the will of the father and beleeveth on him living in the will of the Son and not in his owne will should have everlasting life and be raised up at the last day To be taken off then by this gift and drawing of the father from all desire to live in our owne will or be at our owne arbitrary single choise and dispose and to be made willing and contented to live in the will of Christ to be built up in a conjunction of spirit a unity and simplicity in the motion of our will with his will enable us truly to say with the Apostle that now not we live but Christ liveth in us and the life that we now live in the flesh or as yet in the mortal body we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave himself up to death for us that he
shall first destroy all his enemies even death itself and shall end with the universall resurrection and and passing of the finall sentence winding up all in the resigning up of his Kingdom to the father that God may be all in all Thus the thousand years is no distinct time from the day of Judgment neither before it nor after but the same with it the whole time during which this great day of judgment does continue in the very beginning whereof Antichrist shall finally be destroyed and not before These therefore in Scripture are called the times of Christs Kingdom wherein he will shew himself the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and this for the space of a thousand years in the last period of which comes the last and finall sentence before mentioned to be pronounced and executed The reason therefore why the excellent promises above recited are not yet performed is twofold 1. The times for their performance are not yet fully come though very neer But most certaine it is as we have heard that they shall and will come 2dly Because the seed also to which they are made is not yet come to be made manifest as they shal be in distinction from all counterfeits and false pretenders which say they are Jews and are not but do lie This discrimination and certaine cleare discovery of the true seed of God from the false will be begun to be made by the ministry of Eliah or the ministry that shall rise up in the spirit and powers already discribed This excellent ministry must and wil be attended with a church of saints answerable which shall consist of the risen witnesses the dry bones that this spirit of prophesy brings out of their graves from the foure winds of heaven causing them to stand againe upon their feet an exceeding great army All of them are to be quickned by the means of this powerfull and glorious ministry with a spirit of life from God that enters into them and shews itself to be that life from the dead in them which is never more subject to corruption It is unto these also that God sayes by a great voyce from heaven which they are fitted with ears to heare come up hither and they do accordingly ascend up to heaven in a cloud their enemies beholding them or rather heaven is brought downe into their knowledg and possession here on earth whilst as yet they are clouded with their mortall body which nevertheles shall at last be changed in a moment and they not se death In the meane time they shall experience their very mortall body freed from the bondage of corruption and restored to the primitive purity glory use and serviceablenes unto the mind which it had in paradise in the persons of our first parents before the fall And to these shall it be given to se the opening of the heavens long since promised by Christ and the temple of God that is there opened also and in the temple the arke of the Testament both which Revel 15.5 are put together and called the temple of the tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven which in that day shal be opened the true tabernacle or sanctuary which God pitch'd and not man Heb. 8.2 In this temple dwelleth the fulnes of the God head bodily the vision whereof is to be made plaine to the eye of our sensuall part or to our inward bodily senses that by seing the mind of God in such legible characters in the spirit and person of Christ the like mind may be found and seen in all that are his who are then to appeare in the same likenes by seing him as he is That which Christ is and in spirit shal be seen to be as the mind of the father is wrought out in him the Apostle Paul points out Philip. 2.5 c. 1. He is in the forme of God the WORD of life who was in the beginning was with God and was God And thus considered he accounts it not robbery to be Gods equall 2dly In the dispensation of the fulnes of time the same that is in the forme of God is also found in fashion as a man and is made flesh with the use of a living soule in the very earthly and outward senses of it bearing the form and likenes of the first Adam in his primitive purity 3. He that thus descended into flesh and the lowermost parts of his habitable earth in which earthly make and nature he became inferiour to angels for the suffering of death is the same that out of this does ascend and is exalted far above all heavens by being made in his humane spirit soule and body the temple wherein all the fulnes of the God head dwells bodily and a meet vessel to receave possesse and be the minister of it unto others He is the WORD of life the brightnes of the fathers glory the expresse character of his substance by which this manhood is sealed and made heavenly partaking with the living WORD as he is the Angel of Gods presence in whom is Gods name He is the cheif and highest Angel and as such is head of all principalities and power And over and above all this in his archangelicall estate he is the true Michael Gods equall the man that is made Gods fellow or second in the same divine throne of glory In these three cheif particulars Christ the temple of God in heaven shal be seen and made manifest as that which he is and will witnes himself to be in the hearts of all true beleevers the sons of his love that are to be are his likenes and to be seen with his name and superscription upon them In this respect it is that he hath given that commandement 1 John 4 20 21. that he who loveth God in Christ love his brother also which those that doe not will thereby prove themselvs liars if they say they love God For how can he love God or Christ whom he hath not seen that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen There is a day comming when that which Christ wil be seen to be in himself he wil be seen to be also in his members that shal be receaved and gathered unto him as joynt heirs and possessours of his fathers love and glory When Christ who is their life shall so appear they shall also appear with him in glory They shall no longer remaine in their hidden and concealed state wherein they are judged according to men in the flesh whilst they live according to God in the spirit Nor shall they any longer be like Princes walking on foot whilst Servants ride on horse back Behold then upon the opening of the temple of God in heaven the powerfull and glorious effects that the ministry of the spirit flowing from thence shall produce and be accompanied with for the making manifest the true Israel of God The Lord himself will descend first with the voice of the Archangel that
multitude that he saves out of all people and nations kindreds and tongues that are upon the face of the earth who yet are not brought so neer to him as that peculiar nation of his which he makes a Kingdom of Preists But they have a portion that is full and sufficient comming from the hand of their everlasting father who like to Jacob in the type hath his specially beloved Josephs and Benjamins by Rachel the choice delight of his eyes and hath his ten sons besides that are also children of his blessing sons and not bastards or cast-awayes but such as he ownes for legitimate and makes heirs of his Kingdom They are provided with inheritances in the land of promise And as there is such an everlasting love and salvation spoken of in the scripture which is called common in the respect above mentioned so is there also a common faith and salvation that is but temporary begets but such a repentance unto life as the effect of it upon the minde from whence there is a turning away againe and a drawing back unto perdition This kind of beleevers in stead of holding fast faith and a good conscience do put away their good conscience and concerning faith do make shipwrack being not able to ride it out in the stormy weather of temptations They do therefore declare by the event that they never had faith of the right kind but that the chang of mind brought upon them by the preaching of the gospel and knowledg of the Lord Jesus Christ amounted but to such a repentance as might againe be repented of or turned from and but to such a faith as might faile though both were the fruits of the gospel or good tydings of the worke of redemption and reconciliation wrought in the person of the mediator as ministred but by the first and conditionall Covenant which obliges the children of it in a debt to the whole law upon the terms of renewing to them their primitive naturall activity and use of their freewill for the performance thereof Thus Christ gives himself to be the life and reconciliation of the whole world commanding all men every where to repent excluding none from this benefit of his death the atonement of sins past and after this manner to have faith and repentance wrought in them if the fault lie not in themselvs The same gospel then and blessed knowledg of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ is in the ministry and preaching of it the everlasting gospel as accompanied with fruits that end in salvation and are permanent and abiding and is also the gospel whose candle may be put out and candlestick removed out of its place as Christ not only threatned to the seven churches of Asia but actually executed upon their apostasy and unworthy walking under the light thereof And if the scope and intent of the Epistle of Jude be well weighed together with his expressions wherein he makes mention of the common salvation and faith once delivered unto the saints we shall find that he does very evidently set forth the division and contention which did arise in his time between these two ministries of the gospel and those that had these differing effects and operations produced thereby upon their hearts For the same common salvation and change wrought by the preaching of it upon the minds of the hearers which begot in them repentance from dead works and faith towards God if it were accompanied with the faith of the right kind once delivered to the saincts through the power of which we are kept unto salvation he shewes plainly v. 20 21. that being built up in this our most holy faith and praying in the holy Ghost we shal be kept from falling and shall keep ourselvs in the love of God waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternall life But if this faith be wanting whatever other effects enlightnings or quicknings the knowledg of Christ and preaching of the gospel may have upon us in the judgment of the Apostle Jude such are to be looked upon as having no more certainty of salvation nor probability of a good end then those of the children of Israel that the Lord saved out of Egypt and the house of bondage but destroyed before they entered into Canaan or then those angels that fell and kept not their first habitation or then Sodom and Gomorrah Yea or then the rejected nation of the jews by whose wicked hands our saviour was crucified They stumbled at the stumbling stone and though they sought after righteousnes yet was it as it were by the works of the law children they were in whom as it is written Deut. 32.20 there was no faith Upon this very ground the church of the gentiles that were taken into the place of the jews and had Gods name called upon them doe run the same hazard with the Jewish church that is of being cut off from the good olive tree when they shal be found to be but such as have not their standing by the faith that is triall proof They therefore shall in like manner be swallowed up into a universall and most signall apostasy from the truth and power of the gospel a little before Christs second comming It is no marvell then that the Apostle Jude is so earnest in exhorting to contend earnestly for the faith as it is of the right kind and primitive purity wherein it was once delivered to the saincts bringing forth those fruits in them that accompanied salvation and were not to be fallen from This contention warfare or battel was in heaven in the very church itself between those that had a stronger and firmer birth of grace and those of a weaker that was wavering uncertaine and capable to prove abortive as not comming of Sarah the free woman that is the mother of us all Nevertheles in this contest and warfare the woman that brings forth the manchild is necessitated to fly for it into the wildernes though a conquerour whilst the battel was fought out by spirituall weapons only in a church way For when once the secular powers came to exercise a ruling stroke and decisive jurisdiction in the Christian religion then she betook herself to the wildernes became solitary and neglected by men In that wildernes state the remnant of the womans seed that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus continue for a season trod under foot and oppressed by their opposite brethren that are countenanc'd and upheld against them by the power and strength of the Kingdom of the beast For having got possession of the outward court of the temple which is left out as no longer regarded by God they become a fit seat for Antichrists throne a great bulwarke and strong hold for the man of sin and Son of perdition whereby to maintein his war against those worshippers that are so in spirit and truth and not in word or forme only and whose place it is to officiate either in
wel of the one kind as of the other if they shal sin wilfully after that they are come to the knowledg of the truth there remains then to them no more Sacrifice for sin but a most certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries even all the dwellers in that earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it but in stead of bringing forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed doe bear thorns and briars which causes them to be rejected makes them nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burned But if the same earth in stead of bringing forth thorns and briars does become ground prepared and made fit to receave the immortal and incorruptible seed by the word of God which abideth and liveth for ever and to bring forth the proper fruits thereof with patience meet for him by whom it is dressed it wil be sure to receave blessing from God even to be blessed with the having of those better things that are accompanied with salvation For he that is faithfull in that which is least by the same grace laying hold on him and keeping him from evil becomes also faithful in much And he that is uniust in the least even in the use of his least natural fredom wil be uniust also in much even in the highest atteinments which he can arrive unto in that his mutable state and whilst in his owne keeping Without blood there is no remission of sins But through the sprinckling of the blood of Jesus who is our passover whose blood speaks better things then that of Abel the wrath and severity that is by the law is either mitigated and all proceedings in the way of revenging justice for a time at least respited and the persons reprieved upon condition of repentance and amendment of life or else totally and finally remitted This latter is the case of al true beleevers that are in Christ Iesus by the new and everlasting Covenant Thus is that saying made good Iam 2 13. He shal have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy and mercy rejoyceth against judgment on behalf of al that are justified frely by grace through the eternal redemption which Christ hath obteined for them So then though al have sinned and come short of the glory of God he hath not so concluded and shut them up in their disobedience and unbeleif but in and through the blood of Christ he is ready to shew mercy of one kind or other unto all I. First such mercy as is intimated in that parable Matth. 18. v. 23. to the end where the lord at first upon the reckoning he made with his servant pronounced judgment upon him commanded him his wife children and al he had to be sold and payment forthwith to be made which in effect was executed in the case of our first parents but afterwards upon the servants repentance and humbling himself beseeching frō his Lord only patiēce and promising he would pay him all his Lord was moved with compassion shewed him mercy in loosing him and freely forgiving him the debt But this mercy as appears after was not that which is called Gods sure mercies such as David had because capable of revocation upon the servants abuse of it in shewing no mercy afterwards to his fellow servant which renewed his Lords wrath again towards him so that he delivered him over to the tormenters til he should pay all that was due unto him He also made it a ruled case for al in the like condition saying If ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother his trespasses so shal my heavenly father sayes Christ doe unto you that is not forgive you your trespasses And Luke 13.7 9. the same truth is confirmed in another parable where the Lord of the vineyard sayes to the dresser of it behold 3 years I come seeking fruit on this figtree and find none cut it down why cumbreth it the ground He answering said Lord let it alone this year also til I shal dig about it and dung it and if it bear fruit well if not after that cut it down This first sort of Gods mercies to sinners is conditional and universal common to the whole posterity of Adam He is moved with a general pity and tendernes towards them in the day of their nativity when no eye hath compassion on them Yea to some of them also he is pleased to shew more particular kindnes so that of his owne accord passing by and seing them in their blood he bids them live he spreads his skirt over them to cover their nakednes makes that the season of his love appearing to them teaching them to deny ungodlines and adorning them with his owne comelines Notwithstanding al this they trusting to their beauty and righteousnes in this dispensation wrote in and put upon them doe fal and make themselvs worse by their apostasy then Sodom or Gomorrha Then the Lord judges it equal that such righteous men as these when they turn from their righteousnes as they finally may and commit iniquity should die in it and also hereupō have all their sins committed before their conversion or change to that state of righteousnes afresh imputed to thē though before God had declared they should not be mētioned but buried in oblivion and that in the righteousnes which they did they should live Thus is the Lord many a time ful of compassion to unworthy sinners whose hearts are not right with him so as to be stedfast in his Covenant Psal 78. He forbears howsoever to destroy them til he hath made proof of them to the utmost Therfore turns he his anger away from them again and again and stirs not up al his wrath He deales with them according to the multitude of his louing kindnesses and the variety of mercies that are in him There are no sort of sinners then who in a lesse or greater degree tast not of these riches of Gods mercies the more of which is shewed to them and abused and sinned against the more is their condemnation heightned For by such demeanour they do crucify to and in themselvs the son of God afresh and put him to open shame counting the very blood of the Covenant wherewith they have bin sanctified an unholy thing and doing despite to the spirit of grace With these kinds of mercies Christ is the saviour of al men a propitiation for the sins of the whole world And thus God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their sins and he not only commands but beseeches al men to be reconciled to him to lay hold on his strength and be at peace with him as not having receaved in vaine the grace he hath begun to bestow upon them But besides these his common mercies declaring his good wil to al men as not taking pleasure in the death of any sinner he hath also his choice and peculiar favour and loving kindnes
for some as it is written I wil give ye the sure mercies of David absolute irrevocable gifts Those that after this manner find favour in his eyes have the remission of their sins confirmed with an oath that their iniquities shal never be remembred any more and that his mercy towards them shal never faile he will not leave nor forsake them My mercy wil I keep for him for ever more my Covenant shal stand fast with him His seed also wil I make to endure for ever and his throne as the dayes of heaven Their transgressions shal not hinder the good I have purposed to them For notwithstanding their unworthines for which I will chastize them with the rod and with stripes yet my loving kindnes wil I not utterly take from them nor suffer my faithfulnes to faile My Covenant wil I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips Once have I sworn by my holines that I wil not lie unto David the man that is after my owne heart nor to his seed after him that walk in the steps of his Spirit and faith Psalm 89. I will build him a house and establish it for ever by an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure In this most gracious promise David acknowledges al his salvation to be and all his desire 2 Sam 23.5 Mercies of both these kinds are with God who is rich and plentiful in goodnes having none like him He is a God that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the trangressions of the remnant of his heritage He reteineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will turn againe he wil have compassion upon the remnant of his heritage subdue their iniquities and cast al their sins into the midst of the sea But as to the rest of mankind that prove disobedient or have receaved the grace of God the former sort of mercies in vaine that word shal be made good upon them which the Lord spake concerning the Sons of Eli 1 Sam. 2. 30 I sayd indeed thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever but now be it far from me for them that honour me I wil honour and they that despise me shal be lightly esteemed This shews what condition was implied upon which God made that promise Since then by man came death by man also is come life and resurrection from the dead And this is revealed to fallen man in the good tydings of the promised seed who as hath bin sayd declares himself the saviour of al men but especially of those that beleeve He hath a common stock and Treasury of goods and spiritual gifts wherewith the whole world more or lesse is watered fed and enriched by him For he causes his rain to descend and sun to shine on the unjust as wel as on the just But over and besides all these whether natural or spiritual gifts he hath an inheritance incorruptible and undesiled that fadeth not away the heavenly and true Treasure which he gives and commits to those who are by him found or rather made faithful in the little that at first is trusted to their use and management Luk 16. And he causes them to possesse it in an hereditary right as coheirs with the only begotten Son children of the promised Spirit either in the single or double portion thereof This is he that is appointed by the father to turn men back againe to God out of their fallen sinful state by a repentance not to be repented of By his name and faith in his name whoever calls upon him shal be saved from his sins and be ledd on in the way to life eternal He was made a sacrifice or sin-offring for us that we might become the righteousnes of God in him Thus God found it consistent with his justice as wel as his goodnes to grant remission of sins to al that should seek unto him for it by the mediation of his Son who is the righteousnes of God that without the law is manifested being witnessed unto by the law and the Prophets to and upon all that beleeve without respect of persons Him hath God set forth and made manifest to be a propitiation through faith in his blood declaring his righteousnes to be that which procures remission of sins and Gods passing over al that is past in the way of his forbearance and reprieve til farther trial and proof had of the whole world as wel as to be absolutly and immutably the justifier of al that beleeve in Jesus with the faith that abides trial and by which the world is overcome The difficulty which yet remains is that which the Apostle Paul was sensible of Rom. 10. where he affirm's that whosoever beleevs in Jesus shal not be ashamed and that there is no difference between the jew and the Greek because the same Lord over al is rich unto all that cal upon him Whosoever therefore being sensible of his lack of wisdom shal cal upon his name he shal not be upbraided nor sent away empty but have the means revealed to him whereby to make him wise unto salvation But how shal they cal on him saith the Apostle in whom they have not beleeved and how shal they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and how shal they hear without a preacher and how shal they preach except they be sent and who are they that God sends with these his glad tydings the very feet of whom ought to be beautiful in our eyes and the report they make and witnesse they beare most acceptable to us The answer there to these and the like questions is very short So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God not by that word whose sound goes forth into al the earth and into the ends of the world When the Lord gives forth this general word or command he hath a great army of preachers ready to be sent on his message Great is the company of those who are ready willing and have an aptitude in them to publish it This David wel knew when be gave a description of three sorts of preachers within his observation The first sort he mentions Psal 19. The heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work even in the mediatour as in them he made a tabernacle for the sun which as a bridegroom comming out of his chamber shines more and more unto a perfect day His going forth is from one part of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it so that there is nothing hid from the heat and light thereof Thus also God brought forth Abraham shewed him the stars of heaven and sayd so shal thy seed be preaching Christ to him in and by the sight of those heavenly bodies And Abraham beleeved and it was accounted to him for righteousnes In like manner were the wise men of the east brought to the knowledg of Christ in his kingly