8. This was that which Christ told the young man was yet wanting to him that had kept the commandments from his youth and is the strait gate that all must enter at that come into the true Rest This is effected only by believing and partaking with Christ in conformity with him in his death and is a making of us weak with Christ amounting in the end to a perfect disenabling of the mind wherein this spiritual and blessed change is wrought to exercise that arbitrary independent free and proper motion of its own before mentioned in the single light and life of the creature-excellency and perfection communicated and enjoyed by the ministry of Gods first appearance under the first covenant which is apt to puff up and lead the creature to an unwarrantable boasting and glorying in the first light and voice of God Isai 40. 3. the word of the BEGINNING Heb. 6. 1. without staying for the glory of the word that comes in the end and is to follow by the ministry of his second appearance which second voice cries Isa 40. 6 7 8. All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass The grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand for ever Through this puffing up and heightning property that is incident to the natural frame of mind in Angels and men so soon as they come to the use of this shadow of divine soveraignty set up in them by the exercise of their own free-will their lust presently finds something to work upon and is ready to conceive and bring forth sin whereas the contrary poor and needy frame of spirit is set up by God in Christ for the cure and remedy hereunto by reason whereof as we may find John 14. 30. when the Prince of this world came he found nothing in him The effects then of Christs second appearance caused by the dawning light of that day upon the natural beings of Angels are First the hiding and covering of their faces as those with whom God might justly find fault if they should by any thing they had received glory in his sight and Secondly the sense of the weakness and fickleness of their first estate and thereupon a waxing weary of the burthen they were under whilst they were left by God to such an arbitrary independent exercise of mind as they were intrusted with in their operations under the first Covenant and therefore Thirdly it did cause them to sing and shout for joy to see the remedy and cure which was brought hereunto by God through the power of the Cross of Christ when they came to discern that upon this corner stone the foundations of the first creation were fastned and the instability thereof healed and helped This they found to be the Lords doing and it was marvellous in their eyes the sight whereof they obtained on the seventh day the day which the Lord made in which they did rejoyce and were glad Psal 118. 22 23 24. Here was the joy of the good Angels when by the manifestation of the true Rest revealed in the face of the Mediator the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world they came with a holy curiosity to pry into the sufferings of Christ and glory that was to follow who though he were not yet exhibited but in promise seen by them as subsisting in his head the word of life yet by a discerning agreeable to that of faith in man they had a sight of him as the seed of the woman that was to come and knew him to be the Son by whom God made the worlds and who was the brightness of Gods glory and express image of his substance who upheld all things by the word of his power and through the sacrifice of himself was to sit down on the right hand of the majestie on high and thereby obtain a more excellent inheritance then they concerning whom as the first-begotten they had received this charge from God Let all the Angels of God worship him So then through faith in the death and Resurrection of Christ as the Mediator set up from everlasting the Angels by the power of Christs second appearance came to the sight of the heavenly Image and perfection of the last Adam unto which they were in their places to bear a conformity in the true Mount Sion and heavenly Jerusalem where the Elect and holy Angels are to have their residence howbeit in station inferiour to the Church or general assembly of the first-born whose names are written in heaven and who are the Lambs Bride and wife whilst the Angels are but friends of the Bridegroom and admitted into the secrets of the Bride-chamber whose conformity to Christ in this his spiritual body or heavenly Image changes their natural frame of minde into the like spiritual heavenly-mindedness with their head whereby there is consumed taken away wholly removed and abolished the power and exercise of their first arbitrary and self-disposing property of mind which now being quitted through voluntary resignation they have in the room and place thereof by a translation and engrafture into the spiritual life will and mind of their head the life and motion of all their natural powers more excellently then before in a state of life incorruptible and unchangeable being now throughout partaking and co-operating in a joynt way of life with their head who before stood single and alone in their natural motions and operations Through the refusal and want of this change to have been wrought out in them the wicked angels fell and set up for themselves in a fixed enmity and opposition of spirit hereunto And this shall suffice to have been spoken in reference to the change that is wrought out in the good and Elect Angels In the next place we are to consider the change that is hereby wrought upon the natural being of man considered as a living soul which Adam should have experienced without falling this being appointed by God as the only effectual means to bring him into a fixed and durable state which stability is said Rom. 11. 20. to come by faith through the operation whereof man ceases from the power of standing on his own bottom for the ordering and directing of his steps by the motions of his natural mind which he is enabled to by the first Covenant considered either as it was first given at his creation or as since renewed by the blood of Christ and is made the subject in his understanding and will now crucified and resigned wherein God himself joyns in the exercise of this power with him working in him both to will and to do of his own good pleasure in stead of leaving it to the good pleasure of man who nevertheless is a free and willing co-worker with God in this day of Gods power whence it appears that
Jesus our Lord. But the justification and sanctification received upon the terms of the first covenant which are conditional and depending upon the creatures continuance are subject in a time of tryal to fail the persons concerned therein unto whom through the common relation which all mankind is taken into with Christ as he is flesh of our flesh bone of our bone like unto us in all things sin only excepted there is given as in a way of common grace and salvation first a relative holiness and righteousness in ballance to the relative unholiness and unrighteousness derived to the first Adams posterity as they stood related to him their common parent in his fallen state which is freely conferred upon them with offer and promise to bring them out of the bondage of corruption they are in by nature if they will hear and obey Secondly there is an actual exercise of long-suffering and patience put forth towards them freely on Gods part by vertue of the satisfaction he hath received on their behalf in the sacrifice of Christ by reason whereof he declares himself willing not to impute unto them sins past or present if through obeying Christs voice they shall render themselves capable of such benefit and shall not by their wilful personal sinning against the grace offered them and persisting therein so far abuse the benefit of Christs sacrifice as wholly to render themselves unworthy thereof Thirdly there is an actual imputation of Christs legal righteousness to all such as obeying his call in the first-covenant are thereby made the seed which is of the Law born after the flesh and become actual members of his natural body From what then hath been said concerning Christs active and passive obedience we may discern how far Christ therein wrought out mans redemption as he stood in the relation of a common person and parent to both seeds and as their surety undertook on their behalf to fulfill the righteousness of both Covenants in himself and this after such a manner as to be able to derive and communicate the benefit thereof unto them in a way of the Justification and Sanctification required by either of the two covenants respectively and this either singly and apart each from other or joyntly and together to the rendring those righteous in him that were helpless sinners and wretched ones in themselves Christs obedience then hitherto treated of in the two forementioned branches of his active and the first branch of his passive though it doth procure all that which is needful to make man righteous and holy according to what is required by both covenants yet it is not that properly which expiates the guilt of sin already committed nor frees from the curse of the Law in order to which Christ was made a Curse for us and did bear the punishment due to our sins which without blood could not receive remission at the hands of Gods Justice Heb. 9. There is then yet remaining a second part of Christs passive obedience to be opened wherein this did consist and in respect of which it behoved Christ to suffer as a Malefactor without the Gate a reproachful accursed bodily death with all the heightning circumstances accompanying the same from God Angels and men to the bruising of his heel in which also the Scriptures are very plain and express saying that upon him God laid the iniquity of us all Isa 53. who were as sheep gone astray and 1 Pet. 2. 24. he himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree and chap. 3. 18. it is said that he being put to death in the flesh but quickned in the spirit hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust and 1 Tim. 2. 4 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all as willing to have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth Christ by being made thus a curse for us redeemed us from the curse of the Law or did that in way of satisfaction to Gods Justice by reason whereof God thinks fit and finds it just to acquit and discharge sinners from the curse and wrath of God due unto them by the Law Which benefit is either renewed to us conditionally and in reference to the first Covenant-obedience by us engaged in to live and be tryed by or is given unto us absolutely and in reference to the second Covenant-obedience as living by faith and interested in the sure mercies of David that never fail Those that partake of this benefit in the first sense are spoken of Heb. 10. unto whom having been once enlightned and then sinning willfully after the knowledge of the truth to the treadding underfoot the Son of God accounting the blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing and doing despight to the Spirit of Grace there remains no more sacrifice for sin but they fall again not only under the first curse but the second death or final ministry of Gods fiery vengeance which no sacrifice of Christ will be admitted to atone on their behalf for ever Psal 49. 8. but like sheep they are laid in the grave for death to feed on they go to the Generation of their Fathers and never see light But those that partake of this benefit of Christs sacrifice in the latter sense have at once a perfect and absolute remission of all sins vouchsafed to them never to be recalled more as it is written Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more This being laid down we shall now proceed to shew first the particulars wherein Christ did undergo Gods wrath and was made a curse on our behalf by way of satisfaction and ransome for the sins of all mankind which properly was our due to have undergone in our own persons and secondly to open the nature of that wrath from God which Christ was capable of undergoing and that was thought meet and required by God to be executed upon him and undergone by him in the work of our Redemption For the particulars wherein Christ underwent the wrath of God and did bear the punishment which was due only unto sinners the Scriptures declare them to be these First Christ was exposed as a mark which was aimed and shot at all the daies of his flesh by the rage and malice of wicked Angels and men and as a spectacle of open scorn and reproach to be trampled upon by his insulting adversaries as if he had been a worm and no man unto all which God was thus far contributing as to suffer it and sit silent as a Spectator yea by his providences and outward dispensations rather furthering then hindring it and this in persuance of his declared mind herein even unto the Serpent himself Gen. 3. 15. when he told him speaking of Christ the seed of the woman he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel For the exercise of all this rage of Devils and men against him did bring to pass no other thing but
an union between the Word and Christs manhood as we have already shewed in the precedent Chapter that in a threefold respect according to one of w th his manhood is found in the form of God and as the son of man he accounts it not robbery to be acknowledged equal with God the man that is his fellow Thirdly there is a union between the manhood of Christ who in the sense before declared is made Gods equal and fellow and the whole spiritual seed in general and each of them in particular who are as the Bride and wife to this Lamb and so in a sense are his fellows and consorts heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ where the Spirit and the Bride say come living together in this unity as Bride and Bridegroom and so intimated Eph. 5. 32. where the natural marriage is made a type of it and the Apostle saith this is a great mysterie But I speak concerning Christ and the Church And now what is more evident then that the Saints by this union with Christ are not deifyed nor Christed but have the place only of his Bride and spouse as the Queen who is all glorious within and who is one the only of her mother To be therefore a member of this Heavenly City a living stone in this divine building is that which we are to understand by this second sort of calling wherein our Election is made sure to us and a new name given us that none can read but those that have it Secondly through this unity of the faith of the Son of God whereby those that are called are placed in the relation of members to Christ as he is the Head of the Church and the first-born from the dead they are for ever justified receiving this further benefit as they stand related to Christ in this his second Headship beyond those that are singly related to his first and obtain thereby but the common and conditional justification For this everlasting justification extends to sins past present and to come absolutely and at once discharging from all sin that their iniquities may be remembred no more and presents them faultless and without guile before the Throne of God as the objects of his eternal love and favour unto which they are entitled in right of their being made his first-born from the dead whose names are written in heaven adopted into his own line family and descent by this their marriage-union with Christ who according to his heavenly manhood is the immediate off-spring of the WORD and eternal Son of God without Father without mother without descent other then that of the very Son of God into which he is adopted and taken by marriage-union which dignity and grace he freely bestows and conveys in a secondary way upon his whole spiritual seed and in this neer union keeps them from ever departing from him Thirdly these unto whom Christ is thus made their righteousness and justification he is made also their sanctification to the purifying of their hearts through believing and cleansing them from all evil conscience as well that which consists in the filthiness of the flesh as that which lies in the filthiness of spirit renewing them in their minds through the putting on of the new man to the exercising as well their spiritual senses in likeness and conformity to Christs actings and life in that unity wherein he and his Father are one whereby he crucified and kept under his natural man as to the exercising of their natural powers and faculties in likeness and conformity to the actings of Christs natural man making them herein subject to the Father of spirits and to live acceptably and work holiness in his sight as renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created them or according to the pattern of the new man in the holy and righteous actings thereof set up in the person of Christ where Christ is all and in all which good works the Saints are fore-ordained of God to walk in as their true Evangelical and new-covenant obedience Fourthly and lastly those unto whom Christ is thus made sanctification he is made also redemption or glorification to the changing them throughout in spirit soul and body into a likeness with his spirit soul and body as he is declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead at such time as our vile bodies shall be made like unto his most glorious bodie by that mighty power of his whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself which is to be brought to light in his times when he shall be admired in all them that believe and answer the expectation of the creature in delivering it from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God at their manifestation and the compleating of their adoption by this redemption of their bodies These are the benefits in short and in general that inseparably accompany the guift of Christs person to the soul as he ministers himself in the two Covenants respectively and are the fruits of his presence there Which will serve as a key to open many things in the following discourse when we come to speak of the practical conscientious part that is begotten in and exercised by the subjects of Christ as they live under his Rule and dominion in the world and are therein contesting and warfaring with the adversary the devil and his instruments CHAP. XI Shewing the subordinate use that the elect Angels are of unto Christ in his bearing up the pillars of the creation that else had been dissolved through the fall and the place which they have in the threefold general administration of his mediatoriall kingdom set up in the world THough sin entred upon all men and death by sin through the act of one mans disobedience and judgement came upon all men because in one man all had sinned yet by the obedience of one and his righteousness the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life Rom. 5. and where sin abounded grace did abound much more by reason whereof the whole first creation in all the parts of it is made Christs by the price of his blood which was made Sathans and sins by the fall that as the soul of the Father is Christs so also is the soul of the Son and he only that personally transgresses shall die Ezek. 18. 4. God having been pleased to find a ransom in Christ for atonement and propitiation to the forbearance of sins that are past and to the admitting of man to a new treaty of reconciliation and trial by vertue of the first covenant renewed in and through the blood of Christ whereunto the ministry of the good Angels serves and is made use of by Christ the KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS who employs these his ministers of justice as the higher powers over the world committed by him to their charge to mannage order and govern in all the affairs thereof under him
those were that should be everlastingly saved or everlastingly perish would seem by this way of his ordering of things in the first creation to be very accessory to the sin and fall of Angels and men seeing it was in his power to have made them otherwise not at all subjected to this weakness it is very true God could have made them otherwise but when both in wisdom and justice he thought fit to make them thus who art Thou O man that repliest against God And how unseemly is it for the vessel to say to the potter why hast thou made me thus that is subject to such mutability and weakness as may end in everlasting contempt and misery seeing that God puts no influencing necessity upon thee either by his decree or otherwise but leaves thee to the free motion and choise of thy own mind and will herein and for this very reason made thee a creature indued with free will that no turning of the scale towards thy misery and ruine might proceed from him but from the moving and enticing of thy own hearts lust which state also ministred occasion to thee by the weakness and mutability thereof to have looked after that better state that was provided and was approaching even ready to be revealed whereby all the faultiness of thy first state might have been remedied and such a change attained unto as was more worth then all the hazard and loss that lay in the way of coming to the enjoyment of it amounted to The wisdom and justice then of God is very perspicuous in ordering that state of things which by creation was first brought forth as a preparatory and fore-running dispensation to the glory of the spiritual body that was to follow and succeed And the folly and weakness of Angels and men is very inexcusable that in this estate made so bad use of those gifts and communications of God so freely received from the hand of a bountiful Creator as to make him weary of giving more and repent as it were of what he had given already in that it was so shamefully abused by the receivers thereof as to reproach the maker and provoke him to exclude them for ever from the true Rest Now what this second and more excellent state is into which the creature is to be translated may partly be understood by the opposite weakness and faultiness in the other that hath been already opened forasmuch as it contains in it the full cure and remedy thereunto and in general doth procure a full redemption unto the natural body out of its first bondage of corruption and mutability in all respects which therefore the whole creature waits for Rom. 8. 19. but as for the manner and particulars of that glory wherein they shall be brought forth we are to wait till those times of refreshing that shall come from the presence of the Lord for this restitution of all things do themselves give the explanation thereof in visible characters But that which lies most properly before us in the matter we are now handling is the consideration of what that change is in reference to the inward intellectual and rational powers in Angels and men respectively who having received at the first immortal and invisible substances as hath been shewed are not in the essential parts of their first constitution to be annihilated but the Angels are still spirits and flames of fire and men do still consist of spirit soul and bodie retaining the powers and operations incident and proper thereunto after that they have passed by a considerable and irrevocable change through the resurrection from the dead into everlasting honour or everlasting contempt That the perfection of Angels and men which was communicated to them by creation was mutable and corruptible is generally confessed and experienced likewise is it as little to be doubted but that the instability and change in both by their sin and fall did proceed from that freedom of will proper motion of their own which they were enabled to exercise according to the first constitution and natural frame of their minds and spirits wherein they possessed an arbitrary independent and free exercise thereof without any interruption by God who was pleased to suffer this for his own most wise and holy ends intrusting them with what they had received to use and employ it for the glory and in the service of their Creator and not to serve their own private lusts and interests therewith In this honour and trust received from God it would well have become as well Angels as men to have found themselves not a little burthened under the straits and difficulties attending the right managing such soveraignty and arbitrariness of power which seems so much above the weakness of meer creature-beings that until God take them into such intimacy of union by the second Covenant as not to leave them alone in the exercise of this power they are every moment subject to miscarriage in the use thereof God therefore was willing to take a Rise from hence to discover to the creature the needfulness of its being taken out of this wavering state and translated into the permanent glory that was to follow whereby to secure it in the midst of all its present excellency and perfection from destroying itself by forfeiting and losing all that it had already attained and to set up in the creature a house and an abiding place for himself wherein he may rest for ever Esai 66. 1. when all things that his hands had made and are said by him to have been by virtue of the first creation came short of so glorious an end and use as left to themselves and were by him laid by as unregarded That then which God had in his eye and which his heart and regard was set upon consists in a frame of spirit and mind reserved by him to be brought upon Angels men that stood in direct opposition and cross constitution unto this eminently shining forth in the crucified spirit of Jesus the last Adam which God by the vertue and means of his death and resurrection designed to superinduce upon the natural beings of Angels and men as in the way of a new creation before which the old should vanish wear away This Isa 66. 2. is lively set forth where to those expressions all these things hath mine hand made and all these things have been the Holy Ghost subjoyns but to this will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word The like is to be found Psal 109. 16. where Judas and such enemies unto Christ are prophesied of as persecuted the poor and needy man that they might even slay the broken in heart This poverty neediness and brokenness of spirit is that which Christ cals blessed Mat. 5. 3. saying that theirs is the kingdom of heaven being ever accompanied with a purity and a purifying through faith whereby they come to see God v.
deriver of life And both come as worshippers of him by sacrifice for cleansing and perfecting their consciences and maintaining union and communion between them and God which through the fall was lost And he that is thus prophesyed of as one to come Mich. 5. 2. is also prepared and set up from everlasting His goings forth having been of old though he takes occasion by the fall of man to reveal himself more fully who is the WORD that hath been heard from the beginning and hath caused the sound of his voice and the power of his Rule and dominion to go forth and be obeyed from the rising of the sun to the setting thereof in all ages For the government of Angels and men is upon the shoulders of this great Councellor and Prince of peace Who as he had the bounds of his Kingdoms and the confines of his dominions set out by the Father from all Eternity so was it now high time to declare himself in the administration and exercise thereof upon this foul miscarriage of the fallen Angels with all mankind in Adam and to shew himself to be He that is the possessor of all power in heaven and in earth and that hath the chief administration thereof This is he spoken of Isa 49. 2. whose mouth the Lord hath made like a sharp sword who was hid in the shadow of his hand and as a polished shaft in the quiver of the living WORD before the Lord called him from the womb of the virgin and from the bowels of his mother ver 1. and to whom God said ver 3. c. Thou art my servant whom I have raised up in righteousness and in whom I will be glorified Ask of me and I will give thee the utmost ends of the earth for thy possession for it is a light thing for me that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel I will also give thee for a light unto the Gentiles that thou maist be my salvation to the ends of the earth Thus saith the Lord In an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee who as a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world was with God and I will preserve thee and give thee as a covenant of the people to establish the earth and cause to inherit the desolate heritages to say to the prisoners go forth and to them that are in darkness shew your selves to give bread to them that are hungry and waters freely to them that thirst for he that hath mercy on them will lead them even by the springs of water will he guide them and he will make all his mountain a way and his high way shall be exalted Behold these shall come from far and these from the North and the West and these from the Land of Sinim Thus is this polished shaft that is hidden in the shadow of his hand and in the quiver of the Living WORD provided from the beginning with all the power of a mighty Saviour and compleat Redeemer and is bringing of it into exercise upon the first occasion promising the familiar and plain discovery of himself to the very outward as well as the inward senses of man by the Words being made flesh and born of a woman whereby that which was in the beginning might be heard with our ears seen with our eyes handled with our hands of the WORD of life which was with the Father and who from the Creation downward during Moses his ministry was spoken to the Fathers by the Prophets at sundry times and in divers manners till at last he came himself to speak in his own person through whom as in Adam all died all are again revived and made to live CHAP. IX Concerning the Words being made flesh for the performance of the whole will of God in reference to mans redemption and salvation THE WORD in the sense here treated of is not to be understood simply as he is the second in the Trinity but as he is also the root of David the ancientness of whose dayes is spoken of Dan. 7. 13. whos 's goings forth were of old and from everlasting Micah 5. 2. in order to come forth unto God a Ruler in Israel by his being made flesh and so is as well the root as off-spring of David in the same blessed person of the Mediator Rev. 22. 16. having power in the fulness of time to bring forth his servant the BRANCH Zech. 3. 8. or to bring forth himself in the form of a servant as he is that righteous BRANCH Jer. 23. 5. which is promised to be raised up unto David to sit upon his Throne Christ as he is the root of David and head unto both creations is the WORD that was in the BEGINNING the image of the invisible God the first born of every creature and first begotten from the dead in which mysterie that from the beginning hath lain hid in God all men are called to see and know what fellowship is to be had for them by means of the union that is between the man Christ Jesus and the WORD between the ROOT and this BRANCH of the Lord Isa 4. 2. which is beautiful and glorious and whose very earthly fruit is excellent and comely to them that are escaped of Israel Hereby that which was from the beginning kept as a secret is now made the object of open and familiar converse even that which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the WORD of life for the life which was in the WORD was there the light of men which as a mysterie or secret with the Father does by becoming the BRANCH make it self manifest unto men in their particular beings so that they see it and bear witness and shew that eternal life which was with the Father before the world began but is now made manifest unto us by the appearing of Jesus our God and Saviour God manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up into glory Here we find the progress of this great mysterie of godliness for the making it self manifest unto Angels and men by the means of Christs incarnation life and death in the flesh and final taking up into glory through the power of the resurrection from the dead And as this Jesus in the dispensation of the fulness of time appeared and descended into the lower parts of the earth So we see that he had a heavenly place in his head and root whereby he was found in union with the WORD of life before the world began lying hid in God and was even then as a polished shaft in this quiver of the WORD ready to be sent forth as the servant the BRANCH in his proper season This union though it was mystical heavenly and invisible
and the works of his hands judging and condemning the wicked Angels for their disobedience reserving them in chains of darkness unto the judgement of the great day and taking the holy and obedient Angels into participation and fellowship with himself in the life from the dead by him obtained and possessed as the Lord to whom God spake to sit down at his right hand from the beginning until he made his foes his foot stool through whom as through a Propitiatory covering he did look down upon all the works of his hands and was at rest and well pleased with them as wrought in the Mediator notwithstanding all that had been done by sin or Satan to effect a breach and alineate his mind from them Hence Job 38. 6 7. it is said that God fastned the foundation of the first world and laid the corner-stone thereof viz. in the person of the Mediator by way of provision and preparation against all the power of sin and Satan in their attempts upon it At this the good Angels those morning stars and sons of God rejoyced prying into this mysterie which made them sing and shout for joy as on the same occasion it is said Psal 118. 22 23 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it to see thereby the Devil and his Angels disappointed in their wicked designs who by the bringing in of sin were in hopes to have hindred the growing up of Jesus the BRANCH that was to spring out of this ROOT But Davids ROOT sitting as Lord at Gods right hand had before obtained that power which was to subdue all enemies and lay them flat at his foot-stool Davids OFF-SPRING therefore was in no danger of having his course stopped or race hindred wherein as a mighty Saviour and Redeemer he was to go forth and rescue the whole spiritual seed out of the hands of sin and Satan to bring them unto the true REST and obtain a gracious reprieve and forbearance for the most obstinate and rebellious also And as this was the end of Christs coming in the flesh he is accordingly fitted and qualified thereunto enabled in every particular to fulfil and accomplish the same But that we may the more clearly and distinctly understand and come to see wherein Jesus Christ as man is made this mighty Saviour and Redeemer unto men we shall consider this in three chief particulars all which were the product and consequents of the Word 's being made flesh As first the seeds and principles of a two-fold holiness and righteousness formed and set up in the mind of Christ as he is a man answerable to both Covenants For by the Word 's being made flesh the man Christ Jesus was taken into a twofold union and communion with God through the overshadowing of the Holy-Ghost in the womb of the Virgin becoming thereby in his own person the substance of both Covenants Isa 42. 6. and ch 49. 8. The true Abraham or Father to both seeds as well that of the Law as that of Faith In both which considerations of his man-hood he was substantially or personally united with God or with the WORD he and the WORD making but one Person and one Mediator which no man whatever besides himself is or can be and by vertue hereof he is qualified both as Priest and Sacrifice to pay that ransom and make that atonement for sin which God required The first of these unions he had as made under the Law or first-covenant which produced in him suitable righteous and holy principles unto the rule and tenor thereof enabling him to fulfill all that kind and sort of righteousness therein and thereby required and commanded In respect of which union and the image of God thence springing up in him and adorning of him he was truly and properly made a living soul and in this fashion and habit of a man was to taste death for every man as being in a state subjected thereunto called the natural body in distinction from the spiritual body For 1 Cor. 15. 44 45. there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body as it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit Through this first union Christ had an exercise of life as meer man and in common with all men sin only excepted by reason whereof the workings and operations of his mind though they were in their kind most perfect yet were but those of the first Adams righteousness in the highest purity and perfection thereof The second union and communion then which is contracted between the WORD and Jesus the Son of Mary made him a quickning Spirit and brought him under the Law of the Spirit or of the second and everlasting Covenant as it is written Isa 59. 21. Thus saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever Through which union Christ as man had the Spirit poured out upon him without measure and above the measure according unto which he was the receiver of it as he was under the Law singly considered as him whom God the Father seals and on whom he confers his new name or second image feeding him with hidden Manna and admitting him into the glory within the veil setting up in him the exercise of spiritual senses suited and prepared to converse with the very substantial brightness and similitude of God face to face even apparently in which Moses was the figure of him Numb 12. 8. In this exercise of life Christ as man is made higher then the heavens exalted to a name above every name far above all principalities and powers having herein obtained a more excellent name and inheritance then the Angels unto whom nevertheless as he was made under the law he was made inferiour for the tasting of death In respect of this his exalted state of humane nature he is called Gods first begotten Heb. 1. 6. by reason of whose hypostatical or substantial union with the WORD the Angels of God are appointed to worship him and to acknowledge him in this glory one and equal with the Father alwaies doing that which is pleasing unto him The seed of this union and communion was sown in the humane nature of Christ in the very womb the former and this both together making up that holy thing born of the Virgin that child Jesus who is said to grow in grace and in favour with God and with man like the vine whose fruit was refreshing to the heart of God and of man having the principles and exercise of life springing up in him that were most suitable agreeable to the heart of both being a man of God after Gods own heart as well as a righteous and holy man according to the Law
by themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves were not wise but justly comprehended under the rank of foolish virgins over whom the Apostle was jealous with a godly jealousie hoping to have presented them as a chaste virgin to Christ but now fearing lest they should be beguiled and sin after the similitude of Adams transgression through the subtilty of the devil transforming himself into an Angel of light These among the Galatians were they that Paul stood in doubt of as discerning in them principles that would carry them no higher then the first Covenant before whom therefore he laid the distinction of the two Covenants and the two seeds even under the Gospel those that might be born after the spirit and those that might be born but of the flesh only one of the free woman the other of the bond And among the Philippians this sort of Professors were so prevalent that the Apostle was very sharp ch 3. v. 2. v 18 19. calling them those of the concision dogs and enemies to the cross of Christ whose God was their belly and whose glory was in their shame minding earthly things walking in a quite different strain from them who forgetting what is behinde press forward to the mark ver 14. of perfection brought to light by the death and resurrection of Christ worshipping God in the spirit rejoycing in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the flesh It would be endless to rehearse the several passages in the remaining Epistles of Paul and the other Apostles deciphering this generation of Professors in the times they lived Teachers of the Law that knew not what they said nor whereof they affirmed as to the lawfull use of the very Law it self who by not holding faith and a good conscience which is interpreted Heb. 10. 23. a not holding them fast but in such wavering uncertain principles as the first Covenant ministers concerning faith made shipwrack and so lost their good conscience too at last drawing back into perdition Like the Jerusalem complained of Ezek. 5. 5. c. where they were so far from walking up to the light of the Covenant with God which they were under that in their walkings they fell beneath the very light and principles of heathens not doing according to the judgements of the nations round about them but becoming adulterers and adulteresses such as defile the Temple of God and therefore such whom God would destroy Lastly as once for all we may see this generation of men in their holy profession and visibility of Saintship incorporated together with the true spiritual seed in every one of the seven Churches mentioned Rev. 2. and 3. chapters which are usually accounted to be typical inreference to the state of the Church under the Gospel from the Primitive times to Christs second coming In every of these churches Christ makes the distinction between the Spiritual Seed that had the spiritual ear and the carnal Seed that had it not but who in and under those very Church-forms were the Nurseries of all hypocrisie apostasie and other Spiritual uncleannesses and defilements there and were not of the faith nor in the faith of those that overcome but were such as from whom the Candlestick and light they had from Christ might be removed verifying therein that saying of his speaking of this generation as they should continue under Gospel Ordinances when he was foretelling the end of the world under the type and figure of the destruction of the material Temple in Jerusalem Verily verily saith he This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled his mystical meaning herein being that this crooked and perverse generation mentioned Deut. 32. 5. who were always resisting the Holy Ghost Act. 7. 51. and were to succeed in that enmity which they bear unto the true Spiritual Seed to the very end of the world according unto what God declared from the beginning when he said I will put enmity between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent should continue till the serpents head be wholly broken and he trampled under foot and the Saints heel wholly bruised or the measure of Christs sufferings remaining to be wrought out in his whole body the Church fulfilled These are they which call themselves Jews but are not in spirit and truth though they pass currant in the judgement of mans day for the only visible Church of God excluding the heathens on the one hand as Sathan appearing in his own likeness and the true spiritual believers on the other hand as the same evil spirit transformed into an Angel of light The third sort of subjects belonging to the last administration of Christs kingdom are they who in faith and patience do possess their souls following the Lamb whither soever he goes not loving their lives unto death but through the blood of the Lamb being received into the unity of the faith of the Son of God have the use of spiritual senses set up in them enabling them to hear and obey what the spirit saith unto the Churches and so are worshippers of God in spirit rejoycing in Christ Jesus having no confidence in the flesh enjoying within themselves the witness of a better and more enduring substance then what is experienced under the first-covenant-ministry through this law of the spirit of life which the spiritual sied are made under have that overcoming power of Christ ever present with them in the actings of true and saving faith which overcomes the world and gives them the victory over all opposition not but that they also in walking as men have the same common weaknesses as other men are liable to many failings and miscariages but as they are born of God and walk and live in that spirit sin hath no more dominion over them to make them fulfil the lusts thereof Gal. 5. 16 18. These therefore are distinguished from all the earth-born sons or children of the first covenant by their higher and more divine birth as born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Joh. 1. 13. not but that they are born also of all the other principles as well as othermen possess them in common with others something of the corrupt nature with the heathen and something of the renewed nature with the Jew or worldly Christian but they have over and besides a birth of God which none of the other two have living thereby in that light and life which no man hath seen or can see wherein they are a sort of heavenly seers and men of God that enter with Christ within the veyl and are admitted into the sight and enjoyment of God in the very brightness of his glory and express character of his person shining forth in the face of Christs second appearance and herein are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ partaking after this manner of the divine nature it self wherein they see God face to
them to be Abrahams fleshly seed but saith he ye seek to kill me and therefore ver 39. he denies them in effect to be Abrahams spiritual seed or of the faith of Abraham for if ye were thus the children of Abraham saith he ye would do the works of Abraham and this did not he he did not become an enemy and seek to kill men for speaking the truth which they have heard of God ver 40. If therefore you desire to know what Father youbelong to I tell you plainly you are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his own for he is a lyar and the father of it ver 44. So then although God gave to Angels and men at first the goodness and perfection of natural beings and doth freely offer a renewal of the same to men in the blood of Christ by the first covenant made again in force by vertue of his death as the first Testament Heb. 9. 15 16 17 18. yet this image and likeness of God wherein they were made and whereunto they are again renewed as it stands single and alone without the other is a mutable and corruptible seed the children whereof are therefore capable to turn again into degenerate plants and into the wild olive tree For God comes down in the ministry hereof as under a veil to the creatures sight and enjoyment in which man fixing and taking up his abode waiting for no further discovery nor expecting or listning after that second voice of him that speaketh from heaven may for ever stand excluded from entrance into or converse with the glory that is within the veil where God is to be seen and enjoyed by the creature face to face By the blood of Christ then man is first made capable to be taken out of the wild degenerate state of nature and to be planted into the good Olive tree the flesh or natural man in the person of Christ and when he comes to partake of the fatness thereof as it singly gives forth Christ in his first appearance or a knowledge of him only according to the flesh which Paul grew a stranger to as he came to be more acquainted with the Cross he is still but in a capacity to stand or fall again as upon his second proof and trial in the renewed exercise of his free will and rectified natural abilities of mind he demeans himself according to which he proves the womb whereinto is received either a divine seed and birth whereof the mediator in his death and resurrection is the author and parent or else a devilish seed and birth whereof the Serpent and old Dragon is the Father growing up into a wilful and fixed enmity against the Cross of Christ One or other of these two seeds all sorts of men do become by the evil and unworthy or the good and worthy use of Christs blood and the benefits of his death and so are either the seed of the woman and of promise or the seed of the Serpent lying children born from beneath of the father of lyes in comparison of the divine birth of the true seed that in the other sense are born of God and from above This latter is attained unto through Gods bounty and free love the Mediator adopting them into oneness of seed with himself as he is the only begotten Son in whom God is well-pleased The other through Gods just permission and Satans prevailing power and influence upon their lust and natural will at its best are changed and corrupted into likeness and oneness of seed with the old Serpent By reason of which different dispensations the innocent good righteous and perfect state of mans nature communicated to him by vertue of the first covenant comes either to grow up into that which is much better even into the power of an endless life or else to degenerate and sink down into that which is much worse even eternal enmity and opposition of mind unto God which is the second death That then which fixeth man in his unchangeable and permanent state of everlasting blessedness or misery is the bringing him forth out of his first wavering and changeable state into oneness of seed with Christ the Mediator in his second appearance wherein he is made to bear the likeness of his death and resurrection or the leaving him to be transformed into oneness of seed with the destroyer and thereby to become a child of perdition The first of these changes mans natural will at its very best lusteth against as the greatest cross that can be brought upon it until by regeneration and the baptism of fire it be prepared broken and subdued into a meet subjection thereunto And the latter change cannot be obtruded by the devil or forced upon mans will but is brought upon him by and with his own free consent which was not found difficult to be gained in the state of mans innocency and purity in Paradise and is not more since Here then we see the seat and original of this enmity between the two seeds springing up in the manner before expressed in their respective heads and roots who are thus to be found as they are in their heads and first principles before they flow forth in the off-spring and are discerned in their distinct operations in the particular beings of men here in this world as deeds done in the body whether they be good or evil for which all men are rendred accountable when they come to stand before the judgement seat of Christ In order therefore to their own voluntary actings herein they are endued with the exercise of a freedome of will which by creation was perfect absolute and uninterrupted and which by the ballance that God since the fall keeps up by the ministry of the holy Angels with their influence and impressions upon the natural enlightned conscience as also by the work of the spirit himself upon those farther illuminated minds under the first covenant against the power and influence of the devil upon mans corrupted and depraved state is so far and truly exercised by man in the several measures and degrees thereof as will render him inexcusable for not hearkning to the light and means tendred and afforded to him through the blood of Christ revealed by the Gospel in one or other of the three forementioned branches of his kingdome So that now upon Gods making man on the sixth day of the creation forming the first Adam of the dust of the ground and breathing into him the breath of life he became a living soul was set up in the first image of God brought forth in the same kind of mutable perfection with the Angels and in all the glory and accomplishments of this first state was a fit subject brought upon the stage capable to be attempted by both these great
for ever to bear their shame and their abominations though yet for a season made keepers of the charge of the Temple for all the service thereof and for all that shall be done therein Ezek. 44. 13 14. Nevertheless the true Saints by being built up one Royal Priesthood with Christ shall be admitted into the most holy place This the Apostles well understood that were the first ministers under Christ of this dispensation unto the Gentiles which considered singly as the ministry of Christs first appearance is acknowledged by them to be but the building up again of the Tabernacle of David that was fallen and brought down to the grave with Christ in his death which thus he had power to rear up again amongst the Gentiles notwithstanding its fall among the Jews Acts 15. 14. when he did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a People for his name that was now ceased or ceasing amongst the Jews In this sense Paul understands the mercy of God shewed unto the Gentiles Rom. 11. upon the rejection of the Jews confessing it to be but such an implantation of the Gentiles into Christ the good Olive tree which the Jews had before and from which state they might again be broken off as the Jews were already which can therefore be no other state but that which Christ doth communicate as he is the minister of circumcision or of the covenant of works by the means of those gifts and distributions of the Holy Ghost which he gives forth amongst them after his ascention dividing to every one under this first covenant severally and a part according to his good pleasure till thereby his whole flesh or natural body be built up also among the Gentiles and compleated With this agrees fully the exposition which Peter gives Acts 2. of that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel It shall come to pass in those daies saith God I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved ver 16 17 21. From the right consideration hereof we may discern that this dispensation was no other then that of Christs first appearance wherein he was the perfection of the first covenant the giver forth of common salvation and Redemption the minister of circumcision and the setter up of the truth of God in his own flesh which was promised unto the fathers and whereof the whole ministry of Moses was but the type and figure as appears Acts 7. 37. where Moses is brought in saying a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me him shall ye hear Christ as thus the true Tabernacle and sanctuary in his flesh which God pitched and not man was also to suffer that so he might bring down the first standing thereof into the grave whereby to make way into the holiest of all whereinto he entered by his own blood and did build up the Tabernacle of David thus fallen in and by his death into the power of an endless life wherein he sate down at the right hand of God exalted far above all heavens having all principalities and powers made subject to him who in his fleshly man was made lower then Angels for the suffering of death We are therefore to understand the TABERNACLE OF DAVID by the means of the eternal words being made flesh to have had a twofold being and building up given unto it First in the natural and fleshly man of Christ wherein he was the perfection of the first Adam bearing that image and made in all things like unto him as he was made a living soul and enjoyed a sinless spotless nature before the fall In this natural perfection singly considered Christ as meer man was inferiour to the Angels as having that life of man in him which was lower then theirs which was the heel which the Serpent had permission to bruise the Lamb without spot and blemish the body that was prepared him to offer up in sacrifice to God as he had received commandment In this building he became Emanuel God with us according to the first covenant and was a new head unto all the sons of Adam in the first Adams image which all that are planted into are taken out of the wild and engraffed anew into the good Olive tree to partake in the fatness and goodnes thereof as it is the root and spring whence proceeds that restauration and renewal of mans first nature given to Adam by creation and corrupted by the fall which renewal as it flows from the flesh of Christ is the fruit and benefit of his death and where-ever it is wrought by Christ in any sons or daughters of Adam it makes them to become members of his body flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone baptizing them all whether Jews or Gentiles into the same living body with himself the first Sanctuary and building making them all to drink intothe same spirit and seed upon the same natural perfection and purity which flows forth from his own flesh or natural man typed out by the Manna given from heaven which is said to be Angels food and is interpreted by Christ himself to signifie his flesh which he was to give for the life of the world or for the renewing of life unto the world from himself as head of the first Adams perfection and purity This flesh of Christ is spiritual meat such as the Angels themselves feed upon in heaven as on the incorruptible food which is prepared for them by the quickning given unto Christs natural manhood through the resurrection from the dead which flesh considered as given to men in this world may be received and eaten of by them either worthily or unworthily either in the lawful use thereof for which it was ordained and given by God as the Angels in heaven feed on it and true believers here in this world or in the unlawful use of it as it is fed upon by those that discern not nor distinguish between Christs living body and his crucified body between a being made one living soul with him and a being made one quickning spirit with him in a life springing up out of the ruines of this first Tabernacle the fall whereof in this Lamb slain and the true followers of this Lamb whithersoever he goeth is in order to its being built up anew in him and in them by the resurrection from the dead This second sort of building is that which we mean by that second being which is given to the Tabernacle of David in the person of Christ in which he is exalted above the Heavens and is the Temple opened in heaven Rev. 11. where also is seen the Ark of the Testament and so is Emanuel God with us in and by the New and everlasting Covenant having
things sin only excepted which as the Law or holy commandment ministred by him is given them to keep without spot and unrebukeable unto his second appearance 1 Tim 6. 14. and as was typed out by the Manna is then no longer to be fed upon as singly ministred nor is to be gathered when this true Rest or Sabbath appears but melts away before the heat of this more glorious Sun and brighter day of Christs second appearance to them as having attained its end calling with the Angel Gen. 32. 26. to be let go and ceased from because of the day-break of Christs second coming and the sounding forth of the voice of God from that most excellent glory in which even this first ministry is also comprehended and fufilled This is Israel after the flesh whether considered as they were shadowed and typed forth by the fleshly seed of the Jews in general or as they were in truth the circumcision of Christ made without hands in time of the law or of the Gospel among Jews or Gentiles who as such are called Jer. 2. 21. wholly aright seed and Isa 5. a vineyard of Christs in a very fruitful hill fenced cleansed and planted with the choisest vine in expectation of their bearing good fruit and bringing forth right grapes but many of them in the end do bring forth sowr and wild grapes From these then thus considered are distinguished those under the Law that were only such outwardly their circumcision being only that which was outward in the flesh who having singly the form of knowledge according to the law contained in ordinances and outward observations knew not what it was to be a lew in spirit so much as in a conformity of inward perfection and life to Christ in his headship to the natural man These are described Ier. 32. 23. as those that walked not in Gods Law nor did any thing of all that God commanded them to do in the spirit and power of the commandment parallel unto whom are those in these daies under the Gospel who seem exceeding zealous of outward Ordinances and observations consisting in worldly rudiments as touch not tast not handle not which all are to perish with the using whilst they remain strangers and enemies in their minds by wicked works even to that life of natural righteousness that is required by the Law not being renewed in and by Christ as his seed and off-spring so much as after the flesh nor made true members of his living body as planted into a likeness and conformity with him in his natural perfection of fleshly life And as the inward fleshly Israelite differs thus from the outward so is he in eminency far above all that rectified and reformed state of nature effected by the ministry of Angels in and upon those who are not yet actually taken out of their first corrupt natural root the old Adam but stand yet related as members to that head notwithstanding all the change brought upon them by the first dispensation For such are not as yet truly feeding with Christ at his fleshly table nor eating and drinking in his personal presence whilst they go forth singly in the acting of what is natural right and just and have no other foundation for their peace with God or means of maintaining fellowship and communion with him but the righteous and good works which they do according to the light dispensed in that first ministry and government whereas the Israel that is after the flesh as renewed in the flesh of Christ and becoming children of the first covenant are receivers of Christ himself in his first appearance for the foundation of their converse with God and the means of maintaining their fellowship and communion with him In this respect they are said to have faith accompanied with a good conscience but such as may be lost and shipwracked 1 Tim. 1. 19. and 5. 12. such a faith as in comparison with the faith that works by love and springs from the root of the Heavenly Adam is accounted as no faith at all Deut. 32. 20. but is rather to be esteemed the knowledge with which men are in danger of being puffed up 1 Cor. 8. 1. and such a receiving of the truth which as it may consist with so also may be without the love of it in the spirit and power thereof in which manner they receive it who afterward sin wilfully and so come to be denied any longer continuance of the benefit of Christs sacrifice for the expiation of their sins Heb. 10. 26. These with the stony ground receive the word with joy and are believers but when their faith comes to its trial Iam. 1. 2 3. they prove waverers and unstable such whose faith fails in the time of need wanting the incorruptible seed of the heavenly Adam to bear them up and make them durable Through this temporary faith they are admitted into Christs presence to eat and drink with him at his table and are enabled to do many wonderful works in his name and to make a very fair shew in the flesh and yet have no abiding city nor ever enter into the true Rest but only from the top of this Mount Pisga they may have a view and prospect into the true Land of promise the kingdom that cannot be moved that is in spirit and power appearing to them as a Land of distances very far off and may see its Lineaments and proportions though never be able to enter into the life and power of it as in like manner from the top-perfection of the first dispensation a survey may be taken of the earthly Jerusalem and of the glory of Christ according to the flesh without ever being actually translated into it or knowing of Christ in the life and power of his first appearance unto which many of those that go under the name of Quakers do seem to arrive CHAP. XVII Shewing the nature of that kingdom and Rule of Christ in the Saints which consists not in word and in the form of godliness only but in power and in the life of saving faith the first fruits whereof appear in those hearts that are made conformable to Christ in his death BY what we have laid down in the two foregoing chapters it plainly appears that Christ hath subjects and faithful walkers with him under both the former dispensations wherein he suffers the tares and the wheat the children of this world and the heaven-born sons of Zion to grow up together for a while without any discrimination being not yet come to the harvest that finishing work of his wherein he makes up his jewels Mal. 3. 17. setting apart his choise treasure unto himself and causing a manifest distinction and difference to shew it-self between the wicked and the righteous between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not between those that draw back whose soul God takes no pleasure in and those that go on to the saving of the soul Heb. 10. 38 39. We are
imputed as it is written Where there is no Law there is no transgression hence is it that in his temptations and assaults with which he approaches men that are subjects unto Christ under his first dispensation or the birth of natural ight by him renewed and wrought out in their consciences he does endeavour either to make them reject scorne and withstand that work of the Law in their hearts so as in their operations to preferre and adhere to the unrighteousnesse and uncleannesse of the flesh before that righteousnesse and holinesse that Christ requires of them or else so to over-value trust and rest in their personal fleshly purity and holinesse unto which they may and do oft attaine under that first administration of Christ as to become fixed opposers and resisters of the higher discoveries of Christ that are yet behind and were to have beene made knowne unto them if through this insobriety and impatience of spirit they had not justly deprived and rendered themselves unworthy thereof Now this sort of sinners and corrupted consciences when thus againe returned into a voluntary subjection unto Satans Kingdome and Rule being such who have sinn'd against and denied the Lord that bought them are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God who though they shall not be judged for what they had not and knew not as to the righteousnesse which they themselves were to have found in Christs person for their justification in the sight of God as shall those that are under the second dispensation unto whom Christ in this sense is revealed yet they do justly fall under the sin of unbelief as well as the other bringing down the guilt of Christs blood upon their souls through the unlawful use they make of their present attainments and personal righteousnesse in which they harden themselves to the opposing and keeping off the manifestation of Christs own righteousnesse unto them so much as in the knowledge of him according to the flesh The second sort of Christs subjects which the Devil applies himself to and attempts the gaining over unto his use and service for the encrease of his Dominion in opposition to Christs are those of the Circumcision children of the first Covenant who are the subjects wherein Christ sets up and maintaines his Rule and Dominion by the Law the holy Commandment delivered to them in the knowledge of him according to the flesh into whose hearts he comes as that stronger man to the dispossessing of Satan and casting of him out as an uncleane spirit who till then had beene prevailing over their minds to runne into all excesse of riot in the grosse uncleannesses of the flesh whom now Christ restrains by binding him up and in the roome thereof bringing forth the fruits of his own indwelling presence in them to the cleansing sweeping and adorning of his house and Temple wherein he comes to live with them under the first Covenant Satan perceiving how desperate his game is like to prove by this work of Christ if he should in down-right termes attempt to bring such as these back againe into the bondage of corruption is willing for a while very much to decline that way chusing rather to endeavour a returne into these cleansed enlightened hearts in the forme and appearance of an Angel of light that he may work death in them by that which is good seducing and beguiling them with subtilty as he did Eve by making their very conformity to the Law and the upholding thereof in power and credit in the conscience to be not only the means of his re-entry with seven spirits worse then before but to serve as a strong-hold to resist and beat off Christ in his approaches unto the soul in the glory of his second appearance by fixing it in a hardnesse and implacable resistance against the dawnings of that day and brightnesse of his coming In this posture is the Devil able to seat himself in the very Temple of God as God shewing himself to be God whose coming into the heart is with power with signes lying wonders and all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse in all that perish and take pleasure in this kind of unrighteousnesse and hatred of the truth By this means sin comes forth in the mysterious workings thereof which lies dead amongst those under the first dispensation as it is written without the Law sinne is dead taking its revival as to this kind of its operation by occasion of the coming of the Commandment in power and prevalency in respect whereof it is said The strength of sinne is the Law which strength being wanting in those that are without Law is the reason that sinne thus considered remains in them as dead without motion or activity For untill the soul by the ruling power of the Law be brought into a kind of security in its own apprehension from all prevailing danger of fleshly impurity and uncleannesse this kind of sinning springs not up in its force and vigour working death by that which is undeniably good through which it becomes exceeding sinful In this security the heart of man is the more easily nourished up from the experience it hath of converse with Christ in his own immediate personal appearance as those Luke 13 25 26. who upon this ground maintaine their confidence for acceptance with Christ saying Lord Lord open unto us for we have eate and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets finding themselves planted into him as branches in the Vine or good Olive-tree and so rendered righteous in the righteousnesse of their head and root which knowledge and experience those under the first dispensation are strangers unto being aliens from this Common-wealth of Israel Of this number are they who after much enlightning fall away and draw back unto perdition Heb. 6. and chap. 10. with Demas Hymeneus and Philetus making shipwrack both of faith and a good conscience In these kind of Seducements the Devil hath beene long versed who began this practice upon Adam in his natural righteousnesse and purity experiencing in his case all that resistance that man in honour or at his best estate standing but upon the root of his natural perfection does signifie or amount unto for the keeping out of sin or the hindering it a second time from re-entry and revival to the making of men sin over the same sin againe after the similitude of Adams transgression Thus the old Serpent through this deceit is able to slay man againe and work death in him as fast as natural righteousnesse and holinesse renewed and revived does give him matter to work upon this way This mystery of iniquity is undiscernable at first in the consciences of those where it works who judge it to be their duty and obedience to the Law which they are performing whilst in their very righteous and holy operation they are made to serve a contrary interest unto Christs by going about to establish