God or in the mystery of iniquity namely the root and the branch the mother as City order and her children so that as false Teachers look back they are the children of an accursed mother or seed of an adulterous law of the carnall commandement and as they look forward at the fruit and off spring of their doctrine so they are the root or mother City of an accursed off-spring whose inhabitants are no other than the accursed Iebusites enemies to Ierusalem that is above and to the Israel of God Gal. 4. 26. Gal. 6. 16. This City therefore namely Ierusalem ordered by the law of a carnall commandement which is to expound the bond and tie of the word of God as Gods intent to stand in the relation of one Creature to another in any thing wherein God expresseth himself This City is not only that mystery Babylon the â—reat the mother of Harlots and all abominations of the Earth Rev. 17. 5. But it is also the mother of all murthers and therefore called the City of bloods in the form plurall Ezek. 17. 2. Nahum 3. 1. and therefore wo is denounced against her as the bloody City Ezek. 24. 6. 9. And so much for the acclamation and ingemination of the phrase Oh Ierusalem Ierusalem and hence it is that Christ brings in that just and deserved charge which is the second point Thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee wherein observe two things first that they kill the Prophets secondly that they stone them who are sent unto them 1 They kill the Prophets for this order and City government contrived by the letter of the Scripture for the maintaining of the glory wealth honour of the Creature cannot preserve it self therein but by imprisoning or cutting off what ever seems to impaire the same Now the wisdome of God which hath placed all honour wealth and happinesse only in things that indure for ever cannot but vilifie and bring to nought all fading and transient things and therefore our Apostle affirms that the wisdom of the Princes or most excellent and men of esteem of this world comes to nought 1 Cor. 2. 6. Therefore the orders and institutions of this City that is of all carnall policies and states leaning only upon the letter of the Scripture must of necessity bend their force against that wisdome and word of eternity as the only enemy of their pomp and glory being a shame and dishonour to all earthly excellency and beauty even as the glory and splendour of the Sun at noon day abaseth the appearance of a candle for the carnall laws and institutions of the world cannot retain their force if the wisdom of God take place therefore this Ierusalem in erecting of her orders and ordinances perishable she must terminate the word of God in them as the intent thereof or else they are not in force to insnare the conscience neither would they otherwise appear of any more worth than the laws given to the beasts of the field or the fowls of heaven which is neither sin to break simply considered nor righteousnesse to fulfill therefore they are bonnd over by the law of a carnall commandement to terminate the mind and will of God in humane orders and institutions in the neglect and rejecting of that glory of God which appears in Iesus Christ disallowing and disanulling in themselves that eternall word and law of the spirit of life which is in Iesus Christ Rom. 8. 2. which only frees from the law of sin and death and wheresoever that law is not acknowledged there sin reigns Now whosoever nullifies the spirit and life of the Scriptures by erecting a carnall commandement he therein nullifies the true spirit of prophecy and he that nullifies the spirit of the Prophets he takes away the life of the Prophets and so becomes a Murtherer of all the Prophets for the spirit of the Scriptures is of that comprehension in the true intent thereof as that it is the only life of all Prophets in every age of the world without any alteration of Gods proper intent therein no more than there was ever found salvation in any other but only Iesus Christ Acts 4. 10. 11. 12. And therefore every carnall spirit is bound over for the conservation of humane order in the erecting and maintaining thereof upon its proper principles to extinguish and put out the proper life and spirit of the Scriptures otherwise he cannot maintain his laws in force according to the nature of them in their height and glory which man naturally strives after and can never attain unto any eminency therein but by quenching of the spirit of God and despising true prophecy 1 Thes 5. 19. â—0 and all transitory Rites and Ordinances erected and maintained as carrying in them the scope of the word of God are as so many Engines and instruments appointed ordered and maintained for that very end and purpose wherewith they kill the spirit of the Prophets in preferring the dead carkasse and setting up a dumb Image before the spirit and reall substance 2 Therefore Christ addes the second act in his charge against them telling them that they are such as stone them that are sent unto them we heard before how true Prophets are said to be sent to these wicked Scribes and Pharisees as they are the off-spring of the Serpent and of such fathers as killed the Prophets and here it is said they are sent to the originall and mother of them that is Ierusalem from whom they spring whence we may observe that the Spirit and life of the word of God doth not only enterprise to solicite the world to break off and turn from their grosse aberrations and exorbitancies but also to reverse and repeal those Laws and Orders from whence they spring as things of no account in the Kingdome of God nor is there any justice oâ— righteousnesse to be expected from any humane or literall institution or order further than it is used by him who hath that spirit of the righteousnesse of faith to be his Instructer therein therefore it is that Christ affirms that in the Kingdome of God there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven and to be ignorant of this point is to be ignorant of the Scriptures and of the power of God Mat. 22. 29. 30. that is in case men acknowledge not that any temporary relation simply considered attains not unto the end of the law of God for men knowing the Scriptures and the power of God cannot but see and acknowledg that For shall we think that marriage which is the way of the multiplication of man and so the ground of all humane institutions is any point of the proper end of the law of God when as it is plain that Christ is the end of the law for righteousnesse Rom. 10. 4. but marriage as a humane act may attaine its end in a wicked man as well as in a just
man or else it were sinfull to consent to the marriage of unbeleevers Again if marriage simply considered were any part of the end of the law then would Christ Iesus the fulfiller of the Law Mat. 5. 17. never have neglected that relation but he doth it of purpose to declare that as naturall conception is not intended to be that which brings forth the Son of God and therefore he is conceived by the holy Ghost in like manner naturall marriages and contracts is not the thing intended by the word of God in the fulfilling of the Law and therefore he enters not into that relation for the consultation of the grossenesse of mans cogitations therein Therefore the spirit of the Scriptures solicite carnall Ierusalem as having relation to the Iebusites for the abrogation of her sinfull and murthering laws as she sets the scope of the word of God in vanishing things which is as durable in its proper end in all things as in its foundation Rev. 22. 13. and beginning Such laws therefore as receive strength by terminating the word of God in transient and momentany things as the Laws and orders of Ierusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children ever did Gal. 4. 24. 25. and therefore the Prophets ever cry out and inveigh against their Sacrifices Sabbaths New Moons and solemn Assemblies Temple Priesthood Fasts and all manner of exercises which God himself had commanded only they understood and used them in a litteral and carnall manner terminating the end of the commandement in things that fade and vanish which laws are the very ground and fountain of all uncleannesses and abhominations springing up among the sons of men in the World Isaia 1. Isaia 58. Ezek. 23. 38. 39. the mistake and misconstruction of the word of God in this point is the proper prophanation of all things amongst the sons of men therefore Ierusalem is said to stone them that are sent intimating thereby that she doth it by her Laws and Ordinances alluding to the Law of Moses which appointed Malefactors to be stoned to death Lev 2. 2. 27. Deut. 13. 10. Deut. 17. 5. and in that includes all other laws instituted by a false construction of the word of God whereby in her executions she brings the word of God for what she doth for her defence as though she did nothing but by the command and direction thereof which is only brought in as the Devill did the word of God in the tempting of Christ which Christ gives a quite contrary meaning thereof than the Devill intended Mat. 4. 5 -10 which is the proper overcoming of the tentation and by this false and satanicall alleging of the word of God false Interpreters do blind both themselves and the world and thereby direct the force of their law against a wrong object and so exercise their cruelty upon the innocent instead of the guilty party for we shall hardly find a wicked Lawyer or judge in the world that cannot by this means find some fault with a godly man according to his interpretation of the law of God for it is easily said thou art an Heretick Scismatick or a Blasphemer a mover of Sedition troubler of the state or enemy to Caesar Acts 24. 5. Acts 18. 12. 13. Iohn 19. 12. 13. Acts 17. 6. 7. But the question is by what law he is made such a one whether by the law of faith or by the law of sin and death for if the Judge be not able to interpret the word of God according to the Law of faith and so be a Preacher of righteousnesse 2 Pet. 2. 5. otherwise the word of God is become in him a law of sin and death directing him to the innocent instead of the guilty and therefore his judgement must needs passe according to the will and law of Satan and not of Christ Not that we deny that the sentence and execution of death may passe amongst men upon the face of the earth we only plead for a just and righteous law by which it is done otherwise the judgement is as ready to take hold of the innocent as of the malefactor for the maintaining of the Judges own ends and honour for if a wicked Iudge did it not for sinister ends and respects he would only bend the force of the l aw against the godly of the Land and not against them of his own spirit as all wicked men are only they become Tormenters one of another If a man should aske many who sit in judgement according to the law of Jerusalem in bondage with her children how it comes to passe that an Adulterer or an Adulteresse is by the law of God to be stoned to death and yet Christ acquits one taken in the act notwithstanding a grave Eldership are her accusers Iohn 8. 3 -11 or how a Murderer is by the law of God guilty of death Numb 35. 16. 17. 19. 21. and is to dâ—e the death and yet God sets a mark upon Cain that grosse Murderer that no man shall kill him Gen 4. 15. or how it comes to passe that a Usurper or Tyrant is not to be suffered therefore David complains of Saul for usurping the Kingdome Psalm 4. 2. as appears by the word translated men in that place which is â—sh a name given to man with respect to dignity authority and power as Saul had and yet David though a Warriour will not lay his hand on Saul when he was in his power to put an end to such usurpation though God had said the Kingdome was rent from him and given to David 1 Sam. 24. 6. 1 Sam. 15. 27. as one better than he and many the like which no carnall Iudge can reconcile to any satisfaction of a rationall mind and he that cannot reconcile the word of God to be at one and in an eternall agreement in it self as it is the word of God that man can never bring forth a pure law of God and he that works by a corrupt and crooked rule must needs misse or sin in all his operations for he that cannot bring the word of God to agree in all things he can never bring God and man to agree in Christ in whom only all righteousnesse dwels and abides for ever and out of whom is nothing but wickednesse in all the sons of men The Law of God then applyed unto false priuciples is the ground of all disorders in the world for can we think that if men did not put a certain Deity in worldly wealth by terminating a blessing of the word to consist in riches that ever men would spend their time and strength use such deceits and sleights in trades to deceive ingrosse monopolize and inhaunce the price to grind the faces of the poor alienating themselves from friends family and house or people of God to abide among infidels for that end and purpose to grow rich in the world Nay would men steal rob and slay but to get wealth or to attain some other
of God and this wisdom of God is only in Christ who is the wisdom of God the power of God 1 Cor. 1. 24. out of whom there is no proper wisdome and power which God owns as his therefore without the opening and revelation of the truth as it is in Iesus Ephes 4. 21. there is no proper wisdom or power of God extant among the sons of men but what is exercised among men otherwise is that Kingdome of darknesse wisdome of the Serpent and power of the Devill and what power or vertue there is in any or all other Creatures is to be referred unto one of these and according to that use which man makes thereof so it becomes cleane or uncleane unto him and is either Christian in its use or diabolicall Titus 1. 15. Rom. 14. 20. 3 The third point noted in the order of the Text is Christs interrogation How often would I have gathered thy Children together wherein observe 1 Christs appeal to the conscience of all wicked men that his solicitations and visitations for their recovery have been evident and are apparently known unto them which stand upon record in their hearts and can never be blotted out nor denyed for the clearing of this point read Psalm the 78. throughout 2 Secondly note the multiplication of this his solicitation How often that is my onsets upon thy children and Off-spring have been so reiterated multiplyed and constantly exhibited and represented that they cannot be reckoned they are altogether innumerable Psal 81. 8 -16 3 Observe what the proper will of the Son of God is How often would I have gathered thy Children together that is my will is only to gather mankind into unity with God for out of him there is no unity therefore he saith how often would I have gathered thy Children into unity that is the proper nature endeavour and will of Christ and he can no more will the death destruction and dissipation of mankind than Satan himself can will to submit and subject himself to the wisdome of God in Christ which he is at utter enmity against Christs will is therefore to bind over by law unto the way of salvation and it is this carnall Jerusalem which binds over by the law of the flesh unto destruction so as her children will not be reclaimed God in the way of Christ can no more will or desire the destruction of mankind than he could will or desire to annihilate the world upon the making of it that his whole work should be in vain and to no purpose It is not in the Son of God to will destruction therefore he takes a solemn Oath upon it Ezek. 33. 11. Ezek. 18. 23. As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of him that dyes and his will is that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. so that God in the way of Christ hath no will for destruction for his will is his law and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus only saves and it is the law of sin and death wherein destruction doth consist which is no will nor law peculiar unto God but proper to Satan therefore he adds but ye would not so that destruction consists in the law of this corrupt City and practice of her children it is their wil and law to have it so not that destruction depends upon the will of a Creature but it depends upon the law of sin death in false interpretation of the Word of God wherein they have formed the Word and work of God into the will and wisdome or naturall reason of a man whereby the word is become the word of the curse a savour of death and the Spirit of God a tormenter of mankinde as really as man in Christ is become a holy and a blessed Saviour and reconciler making peace between God and man and so gathering them into unity for ever 4 The fourth point is the manner how Christ strives with man set out in this metaphor As the hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings In this Metaphor we are to Consider how a Hen gathereth her Chickins under her wings or her Brood or Nest as the word imports and therefore is to be taken either as shee broods upon egges to breed life or as shee hovers upon her Chickens for the safety and preservation of them Deut. 22. 6. and secondly how it is applicable unto Christ 1 First we know a nest cannot be Compleat without the maker of it and therefore the dam or mother must be brought in as one with the egges or young therefore it is said that the Eagle stirreth up or maketh up her nest and fluttereth or moveth upon her young Deut. 32. 11. that is the nest is made up and compleat onely by the presence of the dam else either eggs or young suffer dammage So it is with the people of God the Nestling place of the Almâ—ghty he is to be considered and is become one together with them in all things and if we take him from them or them apart from him in any thing whatsoever we spoyle the Nestling place of fruitfullnesse and safety both of God and man iâ— we separate them either in point of time place or subsistence Iohn 17. 5 21 â—2 23. 2 Secondly the Hen neglects her self in the time of her brooding upon her nest that by her Constant hovering upon it no ayre or inconvenience may seaze upon it to hinder life in raising up her Kinde Even so it is with Christ the wisdome of God it neglects it self in all wicked men that none of the vertues or excellencies of the Spirit of God are found there though he be God it neglects it self also in that mysticall body of Christ that no humane glory or excellency bee found there though he be a man also and from the sufferings of the one and of the other of these twain he Broods upon the Saints to raise up an offspring and generation of sons unto God And in this respect it is said that the Spirit of God overshadowed the Virgin Luk. 1. 35. Yea the power of the most High So as neither the glory and excellency of man nor any wretchednesse or misery of man should take place to Contribute any thing to the form and being of any of the sons of God 3 Thirdly the Hen in brooding upon her Nest transfuseth her own proper heat life and vertue to give form and life unto her Nest in raysing up her Kinde and not the heat or life of any other thing the Fire no nor Sun or any artificiall heat devised will do it Even So the Wisdome Life and Spirit of God transfuseth it self into the off-spring and sons of God to give them forme life and motion as being naturallized and Kinded unto God and not any other influences as a secondary or mediate thing whatsoever therefore in every one that is called for so the word is both of
not having in it real and substantial things or matter wherewith to fill it there the aire takes place and is the fulness of it even so whereever and in what heart the real and substantial things of the Son of God are not there doth the devil take place and is the fulness of that heart whatever it be in the judgement of men So that the true acknowledgement of weakness I am one with as it is the only capacity of the fulness of the spirit of God in the exercise of its virtues and manifestation of the power of God and not of man And by this I gain weakness in the true acknowledgement thereof to consist only in Christ the alsufficient strength of God and is not elsewhere to be found where all insufficiency must of necessity flie away and there only is all true and proper motion in way of holyness and honour whereby the power and glory of God and not of the creature comes to move upon mankind and manifest it self in all his virtues and excellencies whatsoever and by this means of becoming weak I gain all weakness or weakness to become that alsufficiency and strength of the Son of God who is able to subdue all things unto himself this weakness being the proper receptacle and place of the abode and hiding of his power So as none but himself can find out how to communicate or participate therein where only he is known in all his particular virtues goodness and love in the exercise and injoyment thereof forever I am made all things in all men or thus I am made all men in all things that is there is not any thing wherein the mind of man naturally moves with respect to God or with respect to any of the works of God or wherein any of the creatures are in motion towards mankind or among themselves but I make my self a companion therewith or a suting thereunto in point of all operations relations and respects and that to this end that by opening and disclosing of my self what I am in any such operation relation or respect in point of the reality substantiality and continuation thereof in the truth and verity of the thing as countable and of worth in the records of God I may thereby disanul and abolish and bring to nought as things of no truth and of no virtue in whatsoever the natural heart of man moves towards God and the creature and also in whatsoever man naturally contains or receives from the motions of God or the creatures towards himself and make good that all such things come within the confines of that law of the carnal commandement consisting in ordinances which are against us and therefore are nailed unto the cross of Christ and forever made sure and intailed only to that carnal and fleshly spirit of the Jew which ever crucifies the Lord of glory according to the Spirit putting him to open shame or making a mock of him and therefore in the disanulling and abrogating of all these carnal things nailed unto the cross of Christ I make it plain and manifestly to appear that the solid truth and reality of all things consist and have their proper and only being in Christ and out of whom all things are vain and empty only filled with that spirit of cruelty and persecuting Jew And by this means I strip the world lay it waste and make it vacant of all things whatsoever that turn to any account or reckoning in the records of God or that is found written in that book of life wherein all living and acceptable things are written and the rest are such as are written in the earth So that the world hath nothing left to take hold of for any stay or support in which can be any hope or confidence to trust unto for there is nothing to be found of such nature or quality that is not involved within that proper state and real condition of Jesus Christ the Son of the blessed That I may by all means save some that is that I may by the true controverting of all things make it apparent and plain that salvation doth consist in every thing according to that which Gods wisdome hath ordered and appointed all things to be and appear in Christ either as he is given as a ransome and so as lost or given up unto death in all things that are holy and spiritual in the men of the world in whom nothing of his divine and proper virtue doth appear or is in being and exercised in which estate the reality of all things appertaining to death are for ever in their heighth of operation Or else as he is the ransomed from death in his chosen and elect ones in whom all things of life righteousness and peace are in their proper being virtue and exercise thereof and so in Christ as dead or alive are all real things of death and life only found and thus by becoming all things I save some or as the word imports I save all that is as all things universally became death and destruction as Satan orders them in putting Christ to death in all spiritual respects Even so all things universally become resurrection and life as the wisdome of God orders them in the mortification and death of all carnal and sensual things in Christ whereby the life of God is revived in the son of man in all spiritual and eternal respects and thus all things are destroyed and brought to nought by Satan or by man in his defection from God which is a universal fall of mankind from his Creatour forever And it is as true that all things universally are saved and confirmed in a state of excellency and perfection by the resurrection and ascention of the Son of man through that wisdome of God into the life and reign of and in all things that are proper to God eternally And observe that this death unto all spiritual things proper to the infinite and eternal Son of God must needs be of universal comprehension and being alive unto all the things proper to the same Son of God must needs be of the same universal extent yet it is impossible that these twain should reside in one and the same individual substance and being and therefore a universal estate of death and also a universal estate and condition of life is found in the sons of men of one and the same extent because it is of the Son of God in way of his death and of his life that gives latitude and longitude to them both and therefore a two fold state and condition standing in due opposition is found in mankind and shall be forever Vers 23. And this I do for the gospels sake that is that I may give all honour and estimation unto the gospel or unto the Son of God so that whatsoever hath in it any worth or dignity utility or excellency it is only substantiated and eternized in the subject matter of the gospel and not elsewhere to
is the beginning and end of all things that Alpha and Omega therefore never from off the head of him who rightly runs in this race for he is never void nor destitute of that honour which is peculiar to the Son of the eternal a glory without compare ever accompanied with sufficient courage fortitude and confidence to gain the prize for time to come which is as certainly renewed in the continued act and exercise in the race as it is certainly injoyed in the present time for as the operations of the Spirit of God are in present exercise upon him so he knows that the Spirit of glory and of God shall remain and rest upon him for time to come through his suffering of the loss of the glory of this world which shall be the crown of all his exercise in the things of God unto perpetual aye and therefore he runs not as at uncertainties but upon present possession which gives us assured hope for time to come as it is certain that God is faithful and cannot deny himself So fight I not as one that beateth the air that is I give not my strokes in combate in my contending for the faith of the Son of God as one that woundeth not or as one that findeth not reality of matter for the weapons of my warfare to take place in exercising their force skill and accomplishing their ends upon but I deal with such as I accomplish like atchievments upon in the management of mine affairs in the gospel as David the beloved of God did in that 11. Psalme which is a true commentary upon this my warfare For I am not as one beating or fighting with the aire as with a thing of no substance I doing no real exploit nor it receiving any wound or foil from me but closeth up and healeth it self again as fast as it receiveth the strokes but contrarily I beat down and bring to nought that which hath in it the reality of sin and death which is the wisdome or law of the flesh As certainly as I guard and defend that which hath in it the reality of eternal life and peace namely tbat wisdome or law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus my Lord exercising it self in the one and the other in my soul and that no otherwise but as it shall be my life and peace spirit and power prowess and victorious imployment and conquest forever for the offices exercises and virtues of Christ are all of like honour worth and duration Vers 27. But I beat down my body that is the body of sin and death and it is my body as in the original and materials of it consisting of God and man as truly as Esau and Jacob came both out of loyns of Isack and Rebekkah so doth the body of sin arise of God and man being made one in that way of the body of death and also that mysticall body of life in Christ in the one the properties and heavenly disposition of the Son of God are crucified to the sin and Satan in the Son of perdition and in the other the properties and earthly disposition of man aâ—â— crucified to the life of righteousness and peace in the Son of God Again it is my body as I am considered from the earth and so have naturally in that respect the nature and disposition of all flesh as the gospel is my gospel as in the spirit of God I come down from heaven and so am one with the Son of God being of the same spirit with him who is both the authour and product thereof Again it is my body as I die thereunto dayly as the same Apostle speaks and also it dies nnto me so as it never hath any power over dominion or me or I any community or fellowship with it even as the body of Christ is mine as I rise and live in newness of life unto it and it unto me wherein consists my proper and only converse and fellowsh p. Again it is my body as I acknowledge the misery and wretchedness of all slesh destitute of the wisdome and Spirit of God and so it is gone over all in regard of the aptitude and disposition of all men naturally inclining thereunto and so I can say in that respect O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Even as I can give God thanks as in that body of Christ acknowledging by the spirit thereof my deliverance happy condition and salvation being inabled by the same spirit to bring that body of death into subjection in all things exercising the rule and authority of the Son of God over it so as it can never prevail against me but though the enemy may come against me as a flood yet the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standerd against him to chase him away so that in my mind that is in the formings fashionings and framings of all things in my spirit I serve the law of God but in my flesh that is as my natural disposition is found in the men of the world out of Christ there it is under sin and death being a servant thereunto forever Now the ground and reason why I thus beat down my body and bring it in subiection and not the body of another is this viz. Lest whilst I preach to others I my self should become a reprobate in these words our Apostle doth elegantly as in a figure as he speaks formerly in this epistle in a like case transferring the state and condition of all false teachers of the word of God unto himself that thereby he may with modesty set them forth and make them appear in truth to be that which indeed they are Lest while I preach to others or as the word is lest while I preach in others the word lest is not brought in here as a doubt or supposition but as a thing of certainty as if he should say he who preacheth in another he is a reprobate or he is reproved rejected or is become a castaway as disallowed of God So that the Apostles argument stands thus he that preacheth in another that which he preacheth not in himself as being matter of the gospel that minister and ministry is as reprobate silver it is disallowed of God and never passeth for currant doctrine in his kingdome So that he which forms sin in such sort as that he inveighs against it and indeavours to beat it down in another and not in himself as being free from a sin of that nature as in or of himself that is a reprobate ministry he beats the aire and doth not beat down that body which is his that ministry therefore that forms sin so as to belong to one state of men and not unto another to be a sin in one age of the world but not in another or to belong to one six or age of man and not unto another that man doth not in all things beat down his own body that
for the bringing forth of such operations yet cannot but confess the time of them is past and at present is only assemblance of it So do false interpreters they pretend the primative of the church and yet know no more how to make this time the first time then they know how to make a Christian in these dayes to be the first begotten of God therefore meer counterfeiters of time 4. Stage players counterfeit places if he draw but a curtain they act as in the Kings pallace when it may be but in a stew or brothel house So do false interpreters draw but out wine and wafer or water and a person without vale or covering and the act as in the pallace of the king of Saints and in the mean time confess that his dwelling is in heaven where themselves never as yet came and thus false interpreters are the stage players of the world who dissemble the being of persons histories times and places and cannot but confess the reality of them is out of being in point of present appearance Whereas the truth of interpretation doth not only comprehend them all extending it self unto them but also gathereth them up into present exercise and that in the reality of their proper being For he that can look back upon the word and work of God he knows how to convey himself thither or else it is a dead letter unto him he also knows how to bring up convey that word and work to take place and give it self a real and present being in himself otherwise it is not become a quickening spirit unto him and the like skill that the spirit of the Scriptures hath to convey it self back to the original and foundation of things it hath also to convey it self forward to the accomplishing and finishing of them not only in after times but also in the time present otherwise it is as the word of man subject to times and seasons and not as the word of God that is ever the same as himself is Therefore it is that Christ saith before Abraham was I am and the prophet Hosea speaking of Jacob conversing with God saith he met him in Bethel and there he spake with us and the Lord hath set up this name as his memorial in Abraham Isaac and Jacob as being in them conveyed unto Moses and all the Saints of God namely I am that I am hath sent thee for if the sender had not been in him that was sent those great works in Egypt had never been effected for the memorizing of the name of God forever Wo therefore unto false and counterfeit interpreters of the law of God which wo doth not only concern such as know themselves to deal deceitfully with the Scriptures for advantage but also such as upon false principles are never so much perswaded that they speak truth whether they deliver it unto others or receive and take it in as upon their own account it skils not the matter is the same and hath the same acceptance and reward intailed The word wo is a voice of cursing as an edict or proclamation given out by Christ as ruler of all things which none can gain say or contradict containing the whole sum in every part and particular of that cursed estate and condition of sin and unrighteousness as brought in and continued among the sons of men by false and hypocritical interpretation of the word of God as being no other but the spirit of the serpent from the beginning who is said to be the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan Revel 20. 2. And this woful and sinful estate and condition as the proper portion and patrimony of all false interpreters being the only spirit whereby they live in fostring and maintaining the deeds of the flesh is apposed unto that blessed condition of the Son of God the fountain and original of all happiness whose spirit is the true intent and proper scope of the word of God in which alone his life is preserved and maintained forever and therefore he is called the word of God and saith of his proper language the words that I speak are spirit and life therefore without true interpretation of the Scriptures no conservation but a crucification of the Son of God Therefore it is that Christ so often ingeminates and reiterates this word wo as the curse consisting in false interpretation being that and also those which put him to death the persons and the spears being one therefore the Prophet cries out unto God Rebuke the company of spâ—armen or the roor or the crew of the Canes or the wilde beasts of the reed as the word imports Psalm 68. 30. prophecying of those who gave Christ vineger upon a reed in his thirst upon the cross and put a reed in his hand and smote him on the head head with the reed Matth. 27. 29 30 34 48. Psalm 69. â—2 as such as make hollow the word of God emptying it of the proper spirit thereof which thereby becomes as a spunge to draw in sharp bitter and tart things to present unto Christ that is cruel and savage persecutions even unto death therefore the prophet calls them the mighty bulls and calves of the people that is the high priests scribes pharises and elders who falsly expound and apply the word of God to the putting of it to death of whom the prophet largely comments in that two and twentieth Psalme Now to describe a false expositour of the word of God as a general Maxim to hold true undeni bly and universally in the discovery of them in all times places and persons is this They deny the word of God its proper and natural rise and accordingly carry it to an improper and unnatural center First they deny the word of God its proper and natural rise that is they conclude that all things whereinsoever God hath expressed himself do not arise nor have their original in the word of God as considered and consisting in the unity of God and man no nor that any thing in the first act of creating the world could possibly arise out of such a fountain but say they that device of God and man being one was only brought in after man had sinned but in the beginning all things were good yea man himself in a goodness besides short of and out of Christ Whereas the truth is there was never reality of goodness to be found as coming within the account of God but only in that work of God and man being made one in Christ therefore it is that when the man said unto Christ good master taking him for a meer man Christ asks him why callest thou me good there is none good but God not denying himself to be good but that goodness doth not consist in the excellencies of the creature but in the excellencies of the Spirit of God that made all things and what work soever holds nor proportion with the mind of the maker hath not the
doth eternize the spirit of the creature which by its own nature and property is momentany and mortal So that in this inocculation of the wisdome or word of the creature all the motions and operations springing up in the Creatour as being the stock which in it self is eternal are all translated and changed into temporallity and mortality and so the power of God works effectually in the way of death as the wisdome of God implanted in the weakness of man the creature comes to work effectually in that way of eternal life and that whole state or tree is but one eternal Son and Saviour And in that implanting of the wisdome of man in the power of God that whole state or tree is a state of mortallity and destruction and is but one son of perdition and law of sin and death because all that spring up and what fruit it yields is of the nature of the science and doth not savour of the stock at all but is become mortal and diabolical even as a man in that way of Christ is become eternal and the real son of the immortal God So long therefore as an eternal wisdome abides to draw forth the stock in whatsoever it yields according to the nature of the science so long shall the fruits of righteousness and delight appear upon the Saints in a blessed estate and condition And so long as the power and plenty of an eternal stock yields any motion or matter of growth so long shall that graft or science of the wisdome of the flesh mortalize it and change it into corruption in it self then the which greater indignity cannot be done unto a pure and immortal word or spirit so long shall that unhappy guilty and accursed condition of the wicked abide and remain so that both estates have their pereminency arising from the eternity of the holy word of God though the one be a state of the eternal life and the other a state of eternal death and the stock of each is no proper cause of the fruit which the whole tree yields and forever brings forth Take in also Christs inference and conclusion in these words therefore you shall receive the greater damnation Mat. 23. 14. The word damnation implies a disinheriting and binding over to distruction and by greater here we are not to understand it comparatively with respect to others damned but superlatively as the greatest measure of distruction so that false interpreters are in the grand condemnation that is they receive no less then damnation of the devil who is a murtherer from the beginning and abode not in the truth or inheritance Iohn 8. 35 44. a false interpreter therefore is the grand sinner and therefore receives the damnation of the devil for as the serpent set himself nearer to God then the woman as knowing more of God then she did Gen 3. â— 2 3 4 5. So do those false interpreters these hypocritical praâ—ers as though their calling were nearer to God then others of their brethren wherein they act the part of the serpent and are in the grand condemnation of the devil so in Scripture Language the eldest is said to be the greater Gen. 25. 23. the Hebrew word Rab whereof great men are called Rabbies as first or chief in place and office is translated by the holy Ghost in Greek the greater Rom. 9. 12. so that whilst men talk of Original sin speaking they know not what for mans sin cannot be Original if there was sin in the devil before they are in the very progress thereof and are in that act of false expounding of the law of God as truly the first bringers of sin into the world as the continuation thereoâ— for a spirit cannot be devided though the kingdome wherein it works may and they have the proper spirit of the serpent which is only to make false repo t of the word of God whether to a mans self or to others which may be comprehended in this bud namely that one Saint or Son of God is nearer to God and in more fâ—vour and respect with God then another or that God was ever or at any time or in any thing at one with himself out of mankind For a man to conclude that any Saint of God fails or falls short of the grace of God in any particular wherein another hath interest is that root of bitterness or gall of wormwood which springs up to the trouble of all the world for it is that which springs up as the Greek translates en cholee with gall Dent. 29. 18. and enochlee with trouble Heb. 12. 15. having both the bitterness of death in it being the bond iniquity Acts 8. 23. and the trouble and vexation of disinheriting in the loss of the first birthright therefore the Apostle brings in the fornication and profaneness of Esau thereupon as under the guilt of sin Heb. 12. 16. as also the trouble of his being disinherited as seeking a blessing too late with tears for there is no place of repentance found in the father Heb. 12. 17. or way to change his mind forever the Apostle concludes this to be the defilement of many that is to say of all the world for so the word many is taken Rom 5. 18. We would think that man a fool that went about to teach any humane art to another if he did not conclude that the principles thereof were wrapt up as in a bud in the disciple and he only indeavours the drawing of them out in their proper luster and use otherwise a man might as well set himsâ—lf awork to teach a dog or a horse humane arts who are altogether destitute of that proper nature in which they are only found and if we understand the bud we see the whole tree therein and wrong the bud if we give it not the glory of it And though a grain of mustardseed be one of the smallest seeds yet it hath branches for the fouls of heaven to make their lodging in the branch or under the shadow of it Matt. 13 31. unto which Christ compares the kingdome of heaven So that if we give not the whole glory of the kingdome unto the seed in which it is involved we give not the seed its proper right and due which belongs unto it but are faâ—sifiers of the word of God And no man can look upon a Saint destitute of the seed of God 1 Iohn 3. 9. nor void of the Spirit of God Rom. 8. 9. he therefore that gives not the seed the glory of the whole off-spring of God he wrongs the kingdome and is a false interpreter and he that denies the Spirit of God the compleat life and virtue of the Son of God he is a false expounder of the work and operation of God and so is under that grand condemnation Matth. 23. 14. of the devil That ministry therefore that spends its time study and care in seeking and hoping for the transfusing of the Spirit of Christ into such hearts
this wo is their gross hypocr sie in that they strain at a gnat and swallow a Camel These kind of interpretors are very strict in straining out of some things of small value as very pernicious and swallow down great abominations as things of nothing like a man which hath great care to strain a mote or flie out of his drink but can swallow without let a mountain or powerful serpent They can strain out the gnat of dipping into or sprinkling with water in their entrance into their Church as also gestures and vestures in the exercises of their Church but they can swallow down that abominable idolatry in falling down before and attributing unto the creature that which God never intended who desires mercy and not sacrifice which will pass away as the early cloud and as the morning dew and the knowledge of God more then all burnt-offerings Hosea 6. 4 5 6. Yea such perfunctory services are nothing but rebellion against Gods command in the weighty matters of the law and as the sin of witchcraft unto the people 1 Sam. 15. 21 22 23. These men can carefully strain out of office such as have not been trained up in some university and attained to orders meerly humane but they can swallow down thousands that never came to the knowledge of the mystery of God nor the operations of his spirit only expressed therein and not elsewhere to be found Yea they can strain out by death of the parties an act of adultery committed between creatnre and creature as brute beasts and in the mean time swallow down that sin of iucest in bringing the holy and eternal word of God into copulation with earthly and transitory things as a temporary Church erected in time and in time dissolved offiâ—ers ordained in time and in time may be deposed or by death abrogated and void ordinances that may not only be changed in time from one form into another but also surcease in time and be no more as though the Lord by conjunction with things that pass away should conceive and bring forth his kind and native properties whereas the word of life hath only purified it self in that undefiled bed of the mystical body of Christ for in the Son of man it is not only a word of putrifying but also putrified and therein and not elsewhere conceives and brings forth its own kind and native properties in all the fruits of righteousness w ich are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God Philip. 1. 11. and makes use of all other things as taking occasion thereby to express and declare the power and virtue which forever resides and dwels in that his mystical body for that end he preached in the Jewish Temple or Synagogue went up to their feasts conversed with the Samaritan at the well went to the marriage of Cana in Gallilee healed the man that was born blind and for that end the word of God hath respect unto in the expressing of it self all things that come within the compass of mans reason or found in the nature or operation of any creature not lodging it self in that but only visits it as a stronger in its going forth and return to its native home Add further these interpretours are strict to strain out bloud-shed in the several distinctions and degrees thereof but in the mean time can swallow down the killing and crucif iâ—g of the Lord of glory the Son of God by condemning the right of the first-born to belong unto that compleat mystical body of Christ and depriving it of the reallity of one and the same spirit virtue and acceptation in the sight of God in every part thereof having headship in whom or in whatsoever it put forth it self in present exercise for if the spirit of the Lord be upon any that party in that particular wherein it goes forth is the anointed of the Lord which infinitely transcends all transient things Isaiah 61. 1 2 3. And that doctrine that denies this glory to be the Spirit of Christ takes away and destroyes that wherein the life of the Son of God doth consist which is no other then the proper seed and off spring of him who is a murtherer from the beginning as also that lier who abode not in the truth Iohn 8. 44. as we are not to fear such therefore that can kill the body but have no power to torment the soul when that is done so we are to have in abomination that doctrine and those doctours which strike at the life of Christ in the Spirit of the Scriptures though they should never lay violent hands on the bodies of any of the Saints nor outward estates in point of their bodily well-being in the things that concern this mortal and temporary life Wo then unto false interpretours who highly advance mean and base things of no account in the records of God in neglect and villifying of the great and weighty things in his accounts and strain out and indeavour to clear themselves of such evils as are simply considered only evils in the judgement of man and thereby swallow up and devour as a thing of nought â—amely the things of God in Christ which is the breeding and bringing in the greatest evil yea the devil himself and hence Christ brings in the sixt wo laid down in the 25 26. verses wherein observe these particulars 1. First that there is a clensing pharisaical 2. Of what that is cups and platters 3. The manner how that is the outside 4. A manifestation of the inside and that is full of bribribery and excess 5. A taxation in these words thou blind pharisee 6. An exhortation in way of rebuke for their preposterous practice first cleanse the inside of the cup and platter 7. What would inevitably follow thereupon that the outside may be clean also 1. For the first observe that as there is a righteousness of the scribes and pharises which never enters into the kingdome of heaven Matth 5. 20. so there is a cleansing which is only the purification of the flesh in that sense as slesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 15. 50. and that stands in an indeavour to conform a mans self to the letter of the Scripture which is the proper character of all mens minds naturally according to the principles of humane reason under which as the kernel in the shell or the corn in the husk the will of God is devulged unto the world so that a man is exempted from the seed of the word of God only the conception of it makes it either a first-born or an abortive either the seed of the woman or the seed of the serpent and the more a man inclines after this purification Hebr. 9. 13. according to the law of the carnal commandment standing in outward ordinances Hebr. 7. 16. Ephes 2. 15. Col. 2. 14. the more he declines that simplicity and purity that is in Christ even as a spiritual minded man the
18. 19. Therefore to terminate Equality in temporary relacions as the meaning of the word of God is a strong pillar to bear up and establish the Tomb of the Prophet And in these three points of Supportacion of the Tombs of the Prophets wherin their spirit is departed stands the enervating and disanulling of the fift Commandement and he that is guilty of one hee is guilty of all James 2. 10. 4 The fourth pillar supporting the Tombs of the Prophets for the expunging of their spirit out of the world that men may send gifts and gratifications one to another rejoyceing in the glory of the flesh by abandoning the deeds of the spirit Revel 11. 7. 8. 9. 10. stand in the abrogacion of the sixt Commandement Thou shalt not kill but shalt preserve life wherin all meanes of offence and defence are strictly given in charge for the effecting whereof how many are the terms relacions and respects of Honour contrived and composed in Military affaires and Disciplin according to the differing peoples and Nacions wherein it is exercised with their severall Engines and Instruments to attayn their ends and that from the Law of the carnall Commandement as it is written in all mens hearts Rom. 2. 14. 15. And when the word of God is expounded so as to consist in any thing as is naturally brought forth in the heart of man destitute of the spirit of Christ that is a meer karkasse of the Scripture voyd of the spirit of true prophesy so that to place the word of God in warlike affaires attayning its end in gaining or recovering temporary interests of honour riches lands places offices revenues safety or destruction of body goods and the like this may be done as a karkasse of the Law voyd of the spirit and life of it and so no more but a Tomb wherein the Prophet lies buried And the parties thus teaching and submiting to such Doctrin by working accordingly may and are destitute of the current of the Law how it runs wherein the proper plea stands and what is the tru point of issue For the Law is spirituall but the mind of man never so much refined by humane Learning gives a carnall construction therof Rom. 7. 14. But true Martiall Discipline that is of God must have Eternity in it elce it is not of God And all warlike affaires temporarily managed without the spirit of Christ is an unclean thing yea the Tombes of the Prophets and all the strength manifested therein is but as dead mens bones accompanied with rottennesse and filthinesse For the Military affaires intended by the word of God calling him The Lord of Hosts or of Armies Psalm 46. 7. Psalm 48. 8. is to be followers of the Lamb upon mount Zion as an Army of an hundred forty and four thousand every one of the twelve Tribes being multiplied into twelve thousands to signify unto all men that in whom soever Christ Iesus becomes a Root in Israel whether the Root in David Revel 5. 5. or a Root in Iesse Isay â—1 10. or the Root in Ephraim or any of the Tribes Judges 5. 12. 13. 14. 15. he multiplies himselfe into a compleat and triumphant Host for the conquering of whatsoever opposeth him who have their fathers name as the Motto in their Ensigne written in their foreheads that is the authority and power of God alone openly chearfully and boldly professed and maintayned amongst them Revel 14. 1 And for the Harnesse wherewith the spirit of the Prophet strengthens and animates it selfe it is the whole armour of God for a good souldier of Christ hath his loynes girt about with truth and hath the breast-plate of righteousnesse the helmet of salvacion the shield of faith his feet shod with the preparacion of the Gospell of peace the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and therefore a spirituall war praying with all supplication in the spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Ephes 6. 14 -18 And for their Onsets and Assaults it is to resist the Devill in the stedfastnesse of Faith 1 Pet. 5. 9. to quench the fiery darts of Satan Ephes 6. 16. and war a good warfare according to the Prophesies that are gone before of every son of God 1 Tim. 1. 18. centring themselves in each of them as their proper intent in whom they are fulfilled and made good by which wee are made able to war a good warfare For the weapons of our warfare are not carnall but spirituall mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginacions and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. And so much for the four Pillars upon which the Tombs of the Prophets are erected and are every one of them a compleat grave wherein Christ is buried that he appears not in the world but in a sensuall respect 1 For the Superiority and Authority of the world is a grave wherein Christ as King is covered with that dust or earth and men walk over it and perceive it not Luke 11. 44. 2 The Inferiority and temporary Subjection of the world is a grave wherein the High-priest of our profession lies hid and covered mens eyes being directed unto that Monument that they perceive not the Subjection of the Son of God who humbled himselfe and became obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse 1 Phil. 2. 8. Hebr. 3. 1. 3 The Doctrin of Equals in the world is a Monument to cover Christ as he is the First-born of God when they state Equals in King and King earthly in Priest and Priest made by men in Captain and Captain only for the slaughter or preservacion of an earthly body or corporacion these things in Equality being made the scope of their Doctrin do fill the eys of men as a Monument set upon a grave and so hide the state of the first-bornship that is in Christ Iesus where every one hath equall Dignity for every Saint and Son of God is the first prime and chief act of God for the tru form of Christ Gal. 4. 19. is the principall and chiefe work that ever God did and all other things whatsoever are subservient thereunto Rom. 11. 36. P ov 16. 4. No direct nor tru Equality can bee found therefore out of the Son of God which is hid and buried by false interpretacions of the Word of God 4 The fourth particular is a grave to bury Christ as he is the Captain of our Salvacion Hebr. 2. 10. whilst men set up a Hearse of temporary Conquest over the bodies of men to be the end and accomplishment of the word of God for which their prayse is to be returned which hath not Eternity in it for they dare not lay prayses upon the Altar for that they have thrust mens souls down to Hell therefore a temporary act that mens eyes must be held
the breach of every law under the breach of every one Jam. 2. 10. And the multiplyed and innumerable manifestation of distinct laws and punishments for the breach of them is to declare how unreckonable the wayes are wherein that one holy mind and will of God in Christ may be contradicted and violated with the variety of plagues and punishments appertaining and annexed thereunto but every one of them of an infinite and eternal nature which cannot admit of any conteinment limitation or bounds of restraint even as it is with one Son of God to have such infinite wayes of the legal and orderly expressing of himselfe and to every one of them an eternal peace and satisfaction in God annexed To terminate the word of God therefore in the distinctions of these humane laws and institutions together with their penalties or rewards annexed is nothing else but to garnish the burying place of that righteous and equal one declaring to all the world that his spirit is ceased therein and departed therefrom so that all manner of dissimulation and cruelty is to e expected in all the wayes of their administration indevouring only to uphold the throne of iniquity by establishing the wisdome and glory of the flesh in the pulling down and demolishing that righteous Reign and Scepter of the Son of God Psal 94. 20. 23. Heb. 1. 8. Keeping him in the grave as dead and buried in regard of any of his life vertues-wisdome justice or righteousnesse appearing in such way of interpretation and administration For God as he hath formed himself in Christ is not in all their thoughts Psal 10. 4 5. Psal 56. 5. For he that forms another law to himselfe besides the law of the spirit in Christ as under the bond of the word oâ— God that man frames another God to himself besides the true God and lies under the breach and guilt of the law of God expressed in the first Commandement Exod. 20. 2 3 2 The second point in the order proposed in the Text stands in what these false Interpreters say that is in what they teach for it is their doctrine wherby they build the Tombs of the Prophets and garnish the Sepulchers of the righteous therefore where one Evangelist saith he said unto them another saith he said unto them in his doctrine Compare Mat. 13. 3. with Mark 4. 2. so that it is matter of doctrin whereby both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdome of Satan are erected and maintained 1 And first they conclude their Progenitors to be Murtherers in that they took away the lives of the Prophets by which we see that it is a maxime written in all mens hearts that the cessation of the spirit of prophefie which is done by falsifying and counterfeiting of the Scope and intent of the word of God is a grosse and capital sin which is to extort and violently to take away the life of any one that is innocent Q. But if it be a sin to take away by violence the life of the innocent is it not a sin to lay down and part with an innocent life if there be power to retain it as Christ is said to lay down his life Iohn 10. 11 12. Answ The Answer to this is twofold first it is not against law to suffer as an innocent for it is the gift of God to suffer as well as to beleeve Phil 1. 29. And it is a blessed thing to suffer for righteousnesse sake 1 Pet. 3. 14. but it is against law to take away the life of the innocent for God never made law to take away the life of his Son as the world do violently extort and take it away for then he should institute a law against himself and that eternal life for the Father and the Son are one Iohn 10. 30 Secondly we answer that Christ layes down his life properly with respect unto his death unto all the motions of sin operations of the flesh in all things which is his proper quickning and reviving in the spirit and living eternally unto God which death iâ— nothing else but his Resurrection and possession of everlasting life therefore a righteous and glorious act in the Son of God thus to lay down his life being an innocent act to crucifie all the affections and lusts of the flesh to the quickning and reviving of all the operations of the spirit of God Gal. 5. 24. Ephes 2. 16. 2 The second point in the order of the text stands in what they say in way of excusing and clearing of themselves in these words if we had been in the dayes of our Fathers we would not have taken parts with them in the blood of the Prophets wherein they acknowledge their Fathers to be murtherers â—â—t themselves reformed and become in better state and condition than their fathers were wherein they professe a better condition and a worse in the same Line Posterity Generation and Ofspring of Father and Son as though there were a better state and a worse where God is the Father and Fountain and his sons and offspring Iohn 1. 12. and a better and worse condition also where Satan is the Father and Fountain and his offspring and Children Iohn 8. 44. 1 Iohn 3. 8. This is the doctrine of all false and hypocritical Interpreters at this day who say that Satan is in a worse condition than mankind though never so wicked because the Devil sinned voluntarily without a tempter but man sinned being tempted drawn aside by another plainly declaring thereby that they know not what the Devil is who is so often in their mouths and hearts also nor what mans fall from God is nor wherein consists that great though secret inlet of sin into the world Neither can they truly teach what Christ is what his resurrection from the dead is nor wherein consists that great though secret and hidden inlet of Gods righteousnesse into the sons of men Again they teach that in the way of God there is a better and an inferiour condition as that one son of God is nearer to the father and in greater favour and dignity than another whereas they reall first-born Heb. 12. 23. or else they cannot be an acceptable gift nor are they to be consecrated unto the Lord unlesse they be the opening or emission of the womb Exod. 13. 1 2. Luk. 1. 13. therfore they are called in Hebrew Coach the first of Gods might or able strength or the beginning ofstrengths so the first-born is named Deut. 21. 17. Gen. 49. which Christ complains to be dryed up personating himselfe in those wicked Iews his persecutors Psal 22. 15. These men teach also that the Fathers who served in their generations before us were more remote from God under dark semblances and shadows the light of salvation not so appearing nor the approach and appearing of Christ so neer and perspicuous as it is to us at this day and such Fathers as were in favour with God also for we know that
us read it in the woman and the serpent from the beginning Again if we say it is we as we are men that must be made better by our endeavours and use of means and not the son of God then we divide our selves from Christ making his condition one and our own another which is to divide Christ and hath ever been from the beginning that main bar of infidelity that shuts men out from entring into that rest of God Heb. 4. 1. 2. 7. which is to interpose some good thing yet to be attained by doing or suffering that is not yet in its perfection in the state of a Saint of God this is to reckon and account of our selves according to the proportion and measure of a Creature and not according to the dimensions of the son of God which is and ever was that great contest between the Angel of God and the Devil about the body of Moses or incorporated state according to law whether it is to be measured according to the periods and limitations of the Creature or according to the illimited and immense condition and incomprehensible state of the son of God Zach. 3. 1. 2. Iude 9. Again if we interpose a thing that is evil between God and the perfection of his Son or Saints as sin Devil fall of man terrours of the law spots and breaches in our sanctification stains of conscieuce and the like then we either adde unto the death of Christ who is a lamb sâ—ain from the beginning Revel 13. 8. who was made sin for us or in our nature in them that perish proportionable unto that righteousnesse of God which we that beleeve are made in him or in that nature divine which is infinite and therefore neither sin nor righteousnesse can admit of increase or diminution 2 Cor. 5. 21. 2 Pet. 1. 4. Christ then having perfectly suffered the just for the unjust nothing is to be added thereunto under the pain of making his death ineffectuall 1 Pet. 3. 18. which it is in every one who makes it not perfect infinite and all sufficient And if the evils we bring in be such as concern us and not the son of God then we take them up upon our selves as we being the saviours and deliverers of our selves being out of that proper state and condition of the son of God and so deny the death of the son of God to be that which it is namely to comprehend and comprize aâ—l evill whatsoever as his life comprehends all good and so take upon us to bear our own burthen in that state of death and of the damned for ever And thus false Interpreters bring in a Tree of the knowledg of good and evill to be communicated with in the perfecting of the word and work of God which is the way of the Serpent in his seed at this day which ever kils and murders the true Prophet in not suffering the life and Spirit of the word of God to come forth and appear which life is ever taken away by them to raise up advance and maintain the life of the flesh in all the lusts pride glory power and abominations thereof according to their present state as they can stand with the rank and station wherein they are set or serve in way of further preferment Therefore saith Christ Behold that is look up and wonder to your astonishment and overthrow for ever for so much the word Behold imports in this place I send unto you saith he Prophets c. the persons to whom he speaks here are false Interpreters who judge falsely of the word and work of God whether in themselves teaching and declaring it to others or approving it from others it matters not it is alike detestable in all the Serpent divulging and the woman approving is all one in this point and to parties of this rank and quality the son of God utters these words Behold I send unto yon Prophets Wise men and Scribes which are all taken in a good sense as good and holy men in this place sent from the Lord our righteousnesse from whence this question may be moved namely how the word of God by good men yea by the Son of God himselfe may be said to be sent to wicked men yea to false Interpreters thereof which spirit of falshood is never found but in the Devil himselfe 1 This point narrowly scanned may breed some commotion in the mind of man for if God send his word unto the wicked which hath salvation in it then if he deal plainly with them whose nature it is so to do his intent is to do them good therby and to save them and if so then salvation depends upon the will of the Creature in the approving or disallowing in its reception or rejection thereof 2 Again if God do not intend their salvation that is of these wicked Scribes and Pharisees unto whom he sends it then he may seem to pretend one thing in sending it unto them and to intend an other which is deceit and therefore he being a God of truth which cannot lie or feign a thing to be which is not it may seem that he sends his word only unto the elect of God which is contrary unto this expression of Christ but the son of God being one is at unity in all his enterprises 3 Furthermore the waters may seem to be troubled in this point in regard that the word of God was never sincerely expressed as the word of God sent from him but by one who is of the faith of Iesus made one with God by vertâ—e of that covenant of grace in Christ for in other way the Lord never sent nor uttered himself in his own language and upon his own proper terms for otherwayes it is not the word of God but the word of man which is naught and brings to naught Therefore if the word of God be sent by a Prophet a Wise man or Scribe men that are godly and holy as the word is holy being one with it for the word of Christ never appeared nor uttered it self but in and by the spirit of man for if it come not from him in whom God and man consist in one it is not the word of Christ how then can it be sent to all wicked men seeing as many men live and dye and a godly man never cometh nigh unto them yea it may be as is like people and nations if we look but upon the Moores Indians and Barbarians in these our dayes doubtlesse it is and hath been the case of many thousand men in the world never to hear a Prophet and holy man of God speak although Scribes and Pharisees may speak plentifully for their own advantage as also many Infants dying before they have the use of reason a godly man therefore can never be sent or expesse himselfe unto them 4 Add further the voice of Satan never uttered it self but as man was really considered therein so it was in Cain in whom
carnal Christ 2 Cor. 5. 16. then is his life and spirit taken away for not to give it to him is to take it away and so the true Prophet is slain and crucified for deny a Plant its residency in the earth and ye kill the Plant deny a Fish her being in the water and you kill the Fish deny the spirit of God its reall residency and aboad throughout the whole Confines and Circumference of Christ his mystical and spirituall body and you kill the spirit of Christ and have murthered the true Prophet in your selves Count therefore and reckon if you can how many killers and murtherers of the Prophets there is extant at this day who would be counted men that maintain their lives and say if we had been in the dayes of Saul Ahab Iezabel and Herod we would not have done as they did or in the dayes of the Scribes Pharisees Elders Lawyers and High Priests we would not have done as they did the proper plea of all such persons as these were is to kill the spirit of the word build up the tomb of the letter 2 They do not kill but crucifie those that are sent unto them that is they nail or fasten them to the crosse or to the Gibbet as the word Crosse signifies or Gallows which is the shamefulest Engines that man wisdom can devise to erect to take away the lives of such as are Enemies unto or Troublers of a state a death fitter for a dog than a man made in the image of God a sensible and intelligible man cannot but be ashamed of his own kind as he is a man to see a man bearing his form and visage to hang upon the gallows it is the shame of man and therefore Christ is said to be made a curse in that he was hanged on a tree Deut. 21. 23. Gal. 3. 13. Now the crucifying or nailing of the man of God unto the Crosse or hanging him on a tree is the greatest shame can be done to the Son of God which is by false interpretation of the word of God placing the glory of God a consisting in his humane offices and institutions which is indeed the proper shame of the Son of God to account or esteem of him according to any momentany or transient thing whose Kingdome is eternall Dan. 4. 3. 34. Heb. 1. 8. and therefore not of this world Iohn 18. 36. for it affords nothing whereof a Kingdome of that nature can be composed or ordered but is the very inlet of the curse and the proper maintainer thereof in the world being that whereunto the spirit of the word is fastened unto the giving up of the ghost of all those proper vertues livelihood appertaining unto the same in all those who are proper actors in tying the spirit and intent of the word of God unto the outward form of words Grammatical and Logical construction of the Scriptures who teach that the curse consists in being void and destitute of temporary Ordinances power and glory had and maintained by such institutions and that they are cursed who seek to blast and cause to wither such manner of glory in whomsoever it is promoted as chief to bear sway which is no more but to follow the Lords direction in giving Caesar his due in that which belongs unto him Matthew 22. verse 20. where Christ brings in Caesar in opposition unto God and if all manner of good be due unto God and belong unto him we must give him the glory and right of it all and then none belongs to any other therefore the due of Caesar must be all evill according to the nature of that spirit which thus comes to insnare Christ therefore nothing but p I de and cruelly subtle and mischievous devises and enterprises is to be expected or looked for from the world wherever the glory of it bears sway and the image and superscription of the Son of God is not found who is the brightnesse of the glory of the father which no man ever saw at any time neither can a carnall eye behold it and live Heb. 1. 3. Iohn 1. 18. 1 Iohn 4. 12. Exod. 33. 20. And therefore it is that the glory of the world which is obvious unto man doth vomit the spirit of the word of God out of their proper state and condition as an accursed and pernicious thing as an enemy to Caesar a Sectary Schismaâ—ick-babler broacher of new Opinions a fellow of no learning or else too much learning hath made him mad an Allegorizer of the Scriptures or spiritual Leveller though he meddle not with temporary privileges and carnall interests therefore it was that they hanged Christ upon a Tree between Heaven and Earth as cast out of their jurisdiction as being no part of their Kingdom and glory neither in point of subjection nor rule and command and as the Revolution of the Heavens serve to putrifie and corrupt a dead body hanged upon a Tree so is it with the revolutions of all wicked states in the world who corrupt and falsifie the word of God in all their motions they corrupt and putrifie that mysticall body of Christ unto themselves and become as guilty as those wicked Iews in putting the innocent unto a cruel and shameful death because his doctrine exalts the glory of God which is eternall wherein the life of Christ consists and abaseth the glory of the world which is temporary in which glory the life of Antichrist doth consist yet it is not denyed but a Servant of Christ may use the glory of the world in the outward â—orm thereof as though he used it not 1 Cor. 7. 31. taking it up only as a vanishing vapour even as a limb of Antichrist may use the name of God when he makes small account thereof but his heart is after the workes and power of Satan Ezekiel 33. 30 -33 Mat. 27. 22. 23. And because of this nailing of Christ unto the Crosse fastning his glory upon temporary and carnal things he complains against such wicked and carnall Iewes saying they pierced my hands and my feet Psalm 22. 16 that is as the feet are the instruments of motion and the hands of skilfull operation and curious works which being nailed unto a Tree there is a cessation of both so this fastning of the Spirit and glory of the word of God upon humane and carnall things as though that were the Law of the spirit of Life this takes away all that proper motion and skilfull operation which the Lord Iesus hath exercised in his Saints from the foundation of the world making a nullity of them all Therefore contrary unto this Christ nails this Law of the carnal Commandement standing in the Ordinances of men that handwriting which is against us unto that his Crosse where he is crucified in point of all spirituall life and exercise which is that accursed thing Col. 2. 14. Gal. 3. 13. even that glory of the world preverted before the glory of the Son
the guilt observe these things 1 What manner of blood it is or whose blood it is that is righteous blood according to Matthew the blood of all the Prophets according to Luke 2 Observe how it is dealt with that is it is shed and the place where upon the Earth 3 From what time it is shed that is from the foundation of the World 4 Vnto what time that is to the present generation 5 That of them it is required that is of the present generation as Luke records it 6 And lastly that it comes upon them according to Matthew For the first the Spirit of God stiles it righteous blood and it affirms also that it is the blood of all the Prophets from the foundation of the World so that there is the same guilt in taking away the life of any of the Saints or Prophets of God that is of any true Interpreter of the word of God in the present age that ever was in the spilling of any righteous blood in the world from the foundation thereof Christ Iesus himselfe not exempted for there is but one righteous life and death as the word blood signifies both which are ever found in Christ and never elsewhere for in all the operations of life he is the Lord our righteousnesse Ier. 23. 6. by whom we live unto God now I live not I any more but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2. 20. Again there is but one righteous blood in point of death unto sin and Satan therefore Christ once suffered and once offered up himselfe 1 Pet. 3. 18. Heb. 9. 26. Heb. 10. 10. which is not found but in Christ for it is one act which comprehends all the Saints therefore the Apostle saith I now rejoyce in my sufferings for you and fill up the remainder or that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ Col. 1. 24. that is I fulfill in my flesh that off-spring or posterity of the suffering of Christ which are common unto that incorporate body according to the true intent and meannig thereof shall we think our selves to be the off-spring and posterity of Christ and not have the similitude of Christ in all things Was ever such a generation brought forth that bears not the image of the Progenitor if we be implanted into his resurrection we are implanted into his death also Romans 6. 5. if any man have not the Spirit of Christ the same is not of his Rom. 8. 9. and so it may be said of all things that are appropriated to Christ as his peculiar interest if any man have not the life of Christ the same is none of his if any man have not the wisdome of Christ the same is none of his and if any man have not the death of Christ that man is none of his we conclude then there is but one righteous life and death in the true posterity and off spring thereof wherefore he that spills the life by living carnally unto the things of the world or he that spils the death by dying carnally unto the things of God that man is guilty of blood in the highest degree for there is but one righteous blood therefore the same guilt and condemnation in the shedding thereof in whom or what age or generation soever Moreover it is but one and the same spirit of that one word of God which hath been falsified and cruelly destroyed by false interpretation from the foundation of the world which is that name of Christ that none can read but himselfe for he is called the word of God Rev. 19. 12. 13. Now if the letter of the word were Christs name or authority then any wicked man might read and know the name of Christ yea the Devill himselfe in his tentations alleged the letter of the Scripture Mat. 4. 6. compared with Psalm 91. 11. 12. who is so far from the knowledge of Christ or from acknowledging him in his vertues to be that which he is But none can know this name of Christ namely the word of God but himselfe therefore wheresoever the truth of the word of God is known there is Christ himselfe he that is guilty therefore of the neglect or rejection of the spirit of the word of God or of that law of the spirit in whomsoever it is that person is guilty of the neglect and rejection of Christ himselfe Luke 10. 16. for none hath or knoweth that name but himself 2 The second point is how they deal with this blood where it is shed that is on the Earth false interpretation lets the blood of Christ who is heavenly out of its proper place as Cain did the blood of Abel which is therefore said to cry from the ground Gen. 4. â—0 it speak but not as in its proper veines and place of its naturall residency and aboad contrary to that blood of sprinkling which is therefore said to sprinkle Heb. 12 24. as having livelyhood and spirit in it to give life and motion to the whole body and therefore speakes better things than that of Abel in as much as life is better than death But the blood being shed on the Earth as Christ affirms here in this place it is that is expounded and applyed carnally as that the death of Christ should consist in the separation of the soul and body of a man living and dying only in such an age or time of the world and not else thus to draw forth the death or the life of Christ is to shed it upon the earth and as blood shed upon the ground is a meanes for the ground to bring forth more abundantly earthly fruits which are naturall to the ground where it is shed but none of those fruits which it brings forth in the body the proper place of its residency even as the blood of a Lamb shed and sucked up by a Woulf ceaseth to have any more the livelyhood and spirit of a Lamb in it but it is now translated and changed by its community with the Woulf as the ptoper agent to work upon into the liâ—e spirit motion and nature of the Woulf so is it in that way of false interpretation for it takes the spirit and life of the word of God out of its proper place that is to say out of that mysticall body of Christ and will not give it its proper place of its aboad For they say that the Saints of God have only some created or creature-like vertue and certain influences of the spirit of Christ but not the same spirit in the reality of it which the Son of God hath They say the Saints of God have a death in them to sin and Satan but not the reality of the death of Christ They teach that the people of God have the righteousnesse of Christ else they could not be just before God but it is not in them nor theirs properly as they are Saints but it is the righteousnesse of another that is nearer to God than themselves and is only imputed to
fulnesse of all subtilty and all mischief the child of the Devill and enemy of all righteousnesse which ceaseth not to pervert the straight wayes of the Lord Acts 13. 10. And without an emptinesse of man in both these respects from the first act of his ordination or creation the full and compleat death of Christ is never known nor doth it appear in the world unto salvation which sets man at an utter distance from God in Cain with respect unto Abel as also it sets man in unity with God in Seth with respect to the same Abel he being set in his stead and the father of Christ Luke 3. 23 -38 And from this twofold vanity the death of the Son of God is forever perfected for in that way of Cain he is dead to al heavenly and spiritual vertue as he is the Son of God and yet God in the exercise of wrath and displeasure is really there and in Seth he is dead to all earthly and carnall things as he is the Son of Sons man and yet man in exercise of goodnesse and love is really there and without respect to these twain the death of Christ is not revealed for it is not part of Christ that suffers for the salvation of man as only in his manhood as the blind Pharisees of the world hold and teach but it is Christ compleat who consists of God and man and in the same respect he is said to dye he never lives therefore it is said that he is dead and is alive as the words may be truly read Rev. 1. 18. Rev. 2. 8. And from this death of the Son of God in this twofold respect there flows a twofold righteousnesse or justice namely of absolution and of condemnation Mat. 25. 34. 41. Psalm 6. 8. And if it were not for this death of Christ thus considered there were no place for the righteousnesse of Faith in the exercise of mercy nor for that of the Scribes and Pharises in that exercise of Gods severity Rom. 11. 22. Rom. 9. 22. 23. but Gods glory were extinct in both respects and therefore he is righteous Abel For if a wicked man could content himself simply with the Creature in his relation to it as the bruit beasts do then were there no severity of God to be exercised in way of the curse for there were no ground nor footing for it But man hath a spirit as it appears in Gain that will inherit acceptation with God as well as his brother though in that way of an earthly and carnall sacrifice whereby it cometh to passe that he kils his brother causelesly nay he kils him because his own works are evill and his brothers good even as all wicked men quench and kill the spirit and life of Christ Iesus in their own hearts by their earthly and carnall thoughts and imagination of that good word and work of God in point of salsalvation 1 Iohn 3. 12. which is the kindling of wrath in our soules for as it was in Cain so it is in all such as wander in the way of Caein Iude 11. For according to the worth and dignity of the person whose life is extinct and taken away which is the spirit and life of the Son of God of such wce and weight is the nature and guilt of his sin for so doing which can never be recovered nor healed and accordingly the weight of justice and Gods severity must of necessity go forth in the exercises of self in his just condemnation and execution thereof And as the spirit of man naturally being made one with God inclineth and seeketh after God whereby to honour and dignifie it selfe with his titles and excellencies without which he cannot make himself Lord of all Gen. 1. 28. which carnally enterprised works such effect So also there is naturally in the Son of God an aptitude and propensity unto man for the revelation and manifestation of himself in all his vertues according to the fulnesse thereof which cannot be but by the crucifying of the flesh in all the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. which is a work of no lesse weight than the overcoming of Satan himself which none but the Son of God himself can do Heb. 2. 14. which conquest and vâ—câ—um of the flesh is a work of no lesse worth nor holinesse inferiour unto that which is peculier to the spirit of God and therefore the righteousnesse of absolution and acceptation with God in the bountifuâ—l expression of mercy and goodnesse is ever annexed thereunto and thus is there a righteous Abel or righteous vanity spread throughout the Earth overall mankind there ore the Psalmist saith every man is vanity or as the word is all Aâ—am is vanity taking Adam there as the root of all mankind which are either empty of the things of God as the wicked universally are or else of the lusts of men as the elect of God in that mysticall body of Christ are Gal 5. 24. And it is a certain and undeniable truth as Christ the Son of God is set forth and taught herein that he who is the Creator and Maker of all things emptyeth himself and becomes vain in all things both of flesh and spirit that he thereby may manifest himself to have the glory of all things not only of life but also of death for in that he dies to the things of the Spirit in the wicked he thereby riseth in wrath through the wisdom of the flesh and in that he dies unto the flesh in the Saints he riseth in mercy and peace in the exercises of the spirit whereby he hath the glory of all things which otherwise could never be For as man in Christ hath the righteousnesse and glory of God and yet nothing can be attributed to the things naturall proper to man in that wonderfull work of Gods Creation even so God in Antichrist hath the sin and shame of Satan and yet nothing of that condition can be attributed to any thing naturally proper to God in that wonderfull destruction of the Devill And with respect unto vanity thus distributed it is called the bloods of thy brother in the form plurall Gen. 4. 10. And it speaks guilt and terrour from the ground or earthly heart of Cain that so drinks it in Gen. 4. 11. and it also speaks as a witnesse of acceptation with God by faith in that way of Seth who is that set one unto this day of whom is Christ who yet speaketh Heb. 11. 4 for though Abel be cut off from all succession of mercy in that way of carnall sacrifices in Cain yet hath he a succession of terrour in Cains heart Gen. 4. 13. 14. so also though he have no succession according to the flesh in that acceptable Sacrifice of the firstling of the flock being dead in that respect in the way of Seth yet hath he his succession and language in the witnesse and acceptation of faith unto this day Heb. 11. 4. And according to this
and the adjunct being but one yea even the Son of God is made vain and empty to the end he may fill all things and is made nothing that he may substantiate all things for so much is in those words translated he was made of no reputation that is he was made vain empty nothing as the word signifies that is he is nothing in point of the spirit and life in the wicked that they may be filled with horrour mortality and wrath and he is nothing in point of the flesh and glory of man in the godly that they may be filled with the fulnesse of God in immortality and eternal life and peace and so much for present concerning the word Abel together with the adjunct righteous Abel The second point concerns the manner of this fact of murthering the Prophets which either aggravates or extenuates an act and that is said to be from blood to blood that is from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharia By Abels blood here that is his slaughter we are to understand the sacrifice for which he was slain for Cain slew him for the goodnesse of his work or offering 1 Iohn 3. 12. now we know that Christ is the sacrifice offered as really as he is the Sacrificer that offers it therefore in Abel he is said to be a Lamb slain from the beginning Rev. 13. 8. also our Apostle affirms that Christ our Passeover is Sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. where he concludes him to be the Sacrifice so that the slaughter of Abel is the unnaturall murthering of the true offering or that illegall enmity which Cain hath against Christ being brought in as the only acceptable thing unto God for he that hates his brother is a Murtherer and we know that no Murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him 1 Iohn 3. 15. For Abel bringing the firstling of the Flock which is the first-born of God not at Cain was the prime according to the judgment of the flesh as one judged who the Apostle saith was deceived 2 Cor. 11. 3. But he is the first born or he that opens the womb of eternall generation and true off-spring of God to appear in mankind and that by emptying man of all humane and temporary glory and excellencies to be filled and replenished with the glory of God only in the excellencies of his holy Spirit in all the operations thereof and the nature of that firstling Cain could never abide who is that first-born after the flesh and judgment of humane wisdome who builds Cities and severall Orders and Institutions calling them by the name given to his Son to glorifie himself in an Off-spring of mortall and carnall things Gen. 4. 17. calling this City Enoch or according to the Hebrew Chanoch that is catechised instructed or dedicated as the same posterity do at this day set up new forms and orders of Religion as Monuments to declare unto men that they are the initiaters into Religion and the only Chatechizers and Instructers of the World so as the posterity to come must keep their order and walke only in their steps as Cain made provision for his Son so to do Again Christ is not only made vain according to all carnall things in this his offering in his whole and intire mysticall body but also he becomes bereaved of all things of the spirit in wicked men who are void of all the operations thereof that so the depths of Satan may take place which is as much as to say the Creator and giver of life and being to all things is become death as also in that way of Christ that the Creature is become eternall life which can have no other sound in a carnall ear but as though the Creator were dead and the Creature become God which Cain in all his Off-spring could never indure to hear of neither of the one nor of the other for in the one the glory of man is consumed as the grasse Isaiah 40. 6. which humane wisdome can never indure and in the other stands the shame of Satan in the quenching of all the fruits of the spirit which the pride of man can never indure but utterly denies both the one and the other to be the true Off-spring and Sacrifice of the Son God yea rejects and contemns and is in enmity against them both which enmity is the slaughter of the Son of God as he hath given himself to be this firstling offered for the redemption of his chosen ones for he that hates his brother kils him 1 Iohn 3. 15. as well as he that lookes upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart already Mat. 5. 28. even so he that hath enmity against the sacrifice of God he hath strangled it in his heart already and not taken away the blood according to Gods order and appointment which is one of those great and unsufferable abominations of the world Acts â—5 20. 25. joyned with idolatry fornication and bloodshed And thus is Abels blood shed by every false construction and interpretation of that one only and once offered Sacrisice of Christ by such as wander therein according to the way of Cain Jude 11. even the men of the World those first-born of Egypt in regard of wealth honour and humane learning who would make men beleeve thereby that they are the first-born of Israel who bring earthly momentany and transient fruits unto God as an acceptable Sacrifice as Cain did therefore they rest not in their enmity against and deniall of the true sacrifice as that Lamb slain from the beginning but they proceed also to the taking away of the life of the Sacrificer who offers the Sacrifice wherein observe that Christ is as really the Priest that offers as he is the Sacrifice offered therfore he is said to be our high Priest as well as our Passeover Heb. 2. 17. Heb. 3. 1. Heb. 4. â—4 Therefore the blood of the Priest is brought in upon the same account against them who slew Abel that they have also slain Zachariah the son of Barachiah as being that holy Prophet and Priest of God the cause and manner of whose death is recorded in that second of Chronicles Chapter twenty four So that whosoever he be that dislikes and contemns the true and reall Sacrifice offered unto God he also contemns the true Priest and Sacrificer yea whosoever is officiated by the spirit of God to be exercised in and about the offering up of the same That Christ is a Priest and the only and alone Priest in all ages is most evident where it is said the Lord hath sworn and will not repent saying Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck Psalm 110. 4. compared with Hebrews 7. 1. 2. 3. verses see also Hebrews 7. 15. 16. 17. Yea he is our high Priest in point of offering all true Sacrifice as well as the Captain of our salvation to lead us on into all conquest
out of an unclean and corrupt Fountain or habitation for Earth holds no correspondencie nor hath any congruity with Heaven the Creature with the Creator but falls infinitely short in all things not a blemish forbidden in all the Sacrifices and Offerings but in that respect he hath the defect superfluity and defilement upon him yet doth he corrupt a pure and holy thing in himself and unto himself namely the holy Word of God in the false construction thereof so that as this unclean Spirit corrupts a pure Word of Eternity in it self mortalizing it by putting it into a human form so also its return is into an house of uncleanness of like antiquity in point of the state of death and mortality and so is truly said to go out of an unclean habitation which never was otherwise and yet he makes it unclean and desolate of all the things of God unto himself by false interpretation bringing the will of God unto the mind of the Creature and not the mind of the Creature to the will of God But the Spirit of Christ coming out of a clean Fountain even from God himself and therefore is said to come forth from God and go to God Ioh. 13. 1. yet doth he purifie in himself that which by nature is otherwise unclean namely the spirit of man else were he not the son of Man as he is called a matter of eighty eight several times in the Prophecie of Ezekiel and according to the eternity of that Word or Spirit that purifies such is the state and condition of the purified for they are no more twain but one Mat. 19. 6. And thence it is that Man who otherwise is mortal lives an eternal and immortal life being that the Wisdom of God hath formed his mind according to the Will of God and not to the will or law of a creature and so Man in Christ who otherwise is mortal lives for ever and knows no death no more than En ch did Gen. 5. 24. who was translated that he should not see death Heb. 11. 5. That is that he should never tast of it or feel the nature thereof so the Psalmist saith Tast and see how gracious the Lord is Psal 34. 81. And the Son of God who otherwise is immortal doth in that way of Antichrist dye an eternal death where never any life appears but a mortal state and condition of like time of him who is mortalized therefore they are said to go into everlasting fire which must have respect to time past as well as time to come Mat. 25. 41. Therefore Tophet is prepared of old or of antiquity or from eternity as the word imports yea it is prepared for the King the burning whereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a River of Brimstone kindles it Isaiah 30. 33. So that as antient as the breath of the Lord is so antient is that place of abode for the wicked therefore a full measure of wrath in point of time as well as present torment So that unclean spirit is said to take seven spirits worse than himself that is fulness of uncleanness and vexation which a creature simply considered could never have therefore his going out in the matters of God in a carnal manner is the way of his multiplication of mischief in himself therefore his house is empty and swept of all the things of God but furnished with all uncleanness and wickedness suitable to that unclean and wicked condition therefore the end of that man is worse than his beginning for the original and proper ground ofthis abomination ariseth from the creature whichin it self is but a finite thing as all other creatures are but his end and scope being to adorn himself with God in making him like to himself as the Psalmist speaks Psal 50. 21. thence it is that God becomes a fearfull and infinite death and torment to him which all the creatures in the world could never be And of such nature and concernment is the house or habitation of these false Teachers which is left unto them or in them desolate of all the things proper to God and filled with all the things of Satan even as Iudas was to become his own Executioner and the bursting of him in sunder that all men might see his abomination and shame who is said to goe to his own place Act. 1. 25. as one laid waste of all Apostleship and Ministry in the Faith of Christ and therfore his proper inheritance or habitation yeelds him nothing that is holy or profitable to Minister but is voyd and desolate of all Neither hath he any life or spirit to move or act in the things of God though tendred unto him for he is dead and gone to his own place and office of an eternal executioner of himself And this is the desolation of the habitation applied to Iudas the false and counterfeit betrayer of Christ with a kiss which Christ applyes hereunto all false Interpreters of the Word of God in these Scribes and Pharisees who faun upon Christ in their Doctrin in all lowly demeanour to maintain uphold him in the ways of the flesh by things mortal momentary therby give a sign unto the world for the betraying of that life and spirit of the Son of God into the cruel hands of the wicked that the law of the Spirit or Christ taught after the Spirit wilnot be suffered or endured among them the habitation of such Confessors Pharisees or Preachers of Christ with Iudas is left unto them desolate without any in-dwellings of the Spirit of God with them or any building up of the House of God by them but ruination of themselves and others with Iudas who are their maintainers and upholders The Reason of this Desolation and Destruction follows For ye shall not see me henceforth Whence observe that the want of Christs sight and revelation in the world is the cause of all ruin and desolation of the world as Christ affirms Without me saith he ye can do nothing Ioh. 15. 5. It is alike true without me ye have nothing without me ye are nothing Christ is unto man that Microsmos or little world as the Sun in the Firmament is unto this spherical world take away and annihilate the one or the other and all things therin perish and come to ruin Want of true Revelation is the cause of all Desolation and Destruction By seeing here we are to understand the communication of the sences The Apostle Paul saw Christ when he went to Damascus even that light that shined about him clearer than the Noon-day for it is said he saw no man Act. 22. 26. Act. 9. 8. That is he saw no humane shape of Christ though he opened his eyes to see but Christ according to the spirit in his mystical body was revealed unto him therefore he saith Am I not aâ— Apostle am I not free have I not seen our Lord Iesus 〈…〉 Cor. 9. 1. Paul alâ—â—â—eard