he then conversing with them and instructing them and as he was so doing he was taken up out of their sight into heaven and they stood gazing up after him Luke 24.51 Acts 1.9 which things are not applicable to Christ within them Again it s said He shall come not in but with his Saints Jude 14. accompanied with them and they shall be all caught up to meet him together in the air 1 Thes 4.16,17 But in the spiritual coming of Christ in the Saints there is no such being caught up into the air there to meet him besides that thought denieth and destroyeth the Humanity of Christ and all its unspeakable glory upon its â—nexpressible sufferings for it springeth from such a conceit that there is no spiritual glorified body of Christ for him to come in but onely the mystical his people and it leadeth to the denial of all that glory that the Saints shall have in their bodies by and after the resurrection of them yea then we destroy the faith which witnesseth that even that that is gone up to heaven from the earth and is no longer in the world with his Disciples but is contained in heaven shall at the time of the Restitution of all things descend from thence and come again even Christ in that his sometime dead but now raised and glorified body to judge the world in righteousness and that then they that have here suffered and been put to death for righteousness sake and for their testimony to Christ shall be raised up again out of all their death and be by his glorious and divine power presented alive set free from all their mortality and corruption that now cleaveth to them and receive the great and full reward of all that patient waiting upon God and warring against the Beast the World Satan and Sin which untill then is laid up and reserved in heaven for them Acts 3.13,14,21 Then shall it be that they shall have no more pain sorrow crying or death but shall be compleatly like him even to Christ whom they have honored and whom then they shall see as he is and not onely have glory but appear in glory to all with him but not till then as some wrongfully understand or apply the things so spoken Thence need of Patience and Faith throughout all the dayes of warfare and therein to follow the steps of the Fathers who all died in Faith not having received the Promises for indeed God hath so ordered for the full performance harvest and full possession of these great Promises that one Saint of Christ shall not prevent another Abraham and Isaac shall not be perfect without us nor we without them the then living shall not prevent or be before them that long since are faln asleep and as to their bodies are dead Heb. 11.40 1 Thes 4.15 Therefore also they are grosly erroneous and to be avoided as destroyers of the faith who say that the Resurrection is now made or is already past and the day of the Lord even of that his discent from and coming in the clouds of heaven so much spoken of in the Scriptures is already come to them 2 Tim. 2.17 and they are in glory and have already as much fulness of it as is ever to be had by any These are the mockers fore-spoken of that contradict the tenour of the Apostles Doctrine These are of them that say they are Apostles but are not but are found to be lyars Revel 2.2 And therefore thou who ever thou art that art called to and believâ—st in Christ fly thou from them and gird up the loyns of thy mind to waite with long-suffering and patience for the great Harvest the salvation to be revealed at the great appearance of the Lord Jesus and the resurrection of the just knowing that those that deny these things are of the same strain with the ancient Hereticks long since condemned by the Apostles and given over by them to Satan for blaspheming but mind thou the faithful and true sayings of God and wait for them offering up thy very body also a sacrifice to God holy and acceptable by Jesus Christ to do and suffer his Will knowing that thy labour shall not be vain in the Lord thou shalt receive it in a far better state then thou layst it down in for him and therein also the reward of all those things here wrought and suffered for his Name Sect. 4. Of the Resurrection BUt because it hath been the old trick of Satan and a master-piece of his subtilties to stagger and subvert men as much as he is able about the Resurrection And because it is so fundamental a point and so properly Christian that the denial thereof overthrows the whole Christian Faith and Relâ—…ion and makes it worth nothing therefore I shall yet add something further for thy help against the cunning sleights of those instruments of the wicked One which are now as busie as ever to pervert thee herein That the dead shall rise the Scriptures are so full and plain and particularly the confutation of the Sadduces by our Saviour himself and the Apostle Pauls discourse about it to the Corinthians that there seems to be no possibility of denying it by any that pretend credit to the Scriptures and yet some such do it by eluding and perverting those Scriptures to other senses or other Scriptures that they conceive make against it as others do it upon grounds of Reason as they conceive against the Scripture I shall say something to either of them The Scriptures they pervert are such as that of Solomon The body goes to the dust and the spirit to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 which is nothing it all so much as in appearance or shew against the Resurrection of the body all those that plead for and believe the Resurrection of the body manimously affirming that the body must go to the dust the spirit or breath be gathered up again to God which is all that the Text says but we believe too that they that sleep in the dust of the earth even the dead bodies shall arise again out of the dust and both bodies and spirits united be presented before the Judgement Seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body whether good or evil Joh. 5.29 Isai 26.19 2 Cor. 5.10 which that Scripture hath no shew of a denial of nor that that one thing befalleth a man and a beast as the one dyeth so dyeth the other c. Eccless 3.19 for besides that Solomon there doth but tell us what he said in his heart not what God said to him we deny not that as to the bodily death men and beasts are both subject thereto but we say that they are not alike as to Resurrection nor doth Solomon either speak of or deny the Resurrection in that saying he onely speaking of what befalls men in the flesh here not of what their state shall be for ever hereafter That which they most insist on is
our defects and failings in Faith that the convents of the new Covenant may notwithstanding be performed to us his Law be writ in our hearts and his Fear put within us his holy Spirit given to us to sanctifie teach lead strengthen and comfort us and in a word that we may be carried up to the enjoyment of the eternal inheritance Consider him then it s Christ that died for us yea rather that is risen again and is at the right hand of God making intercession for us the Captain of salvation the Author yea and the Finisher too of our Faith Consider his Love Faithfulness Office Goodness that we faint not nor be weary through any temptation Fear not but he that conquered all our enemies by himself for us will also in our following after him give us the victory over them and the reward that he hath abundantly promised It s his Word of incouragement who hath gone before us and is in the head of the battle To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of Life that is in the midst of the Paradise of God and that he shall not be hurt of the second death yea the white stone and new name the hidden Manna and in a word his everlasting Kingdom Rev. 2. and 3. 3 Yea and thirdly hath not God also given us of his holy Spirit his Power and strength to to be in us and to fight our battels for us to lead teach uphold and comfort us and he is a spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge a spirit of strength and courage and of the fear of the Lord. The holy Unction that gives discerning witnessing of Christ and glorifying him and more powerful then any thing that comes to withstand him according to that Greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 Joh. 4.4 Abide but in him and follow after his lustings and instructions in the wayes that our Lord hath prescribed to us and he will work all our works in us and our works shall be wrought in him we need not any other teaching or spirit but as and according to that which that holy Vnction teacheth us what swerves from his testimony is not to be heeded by us and that that swerves is to be discerned by this that it maketh little or no account of Christ come in the flesh 1 Joh. 4.1,2,3 of the things done and suffered by him therein it skips over or le ts go that and makes but a light matter or nullity of it whereas the holy Unction or Spirit of Truth confesseth holdeth forth and glorifieth Christ come in the flesh he saith not in our flesh for many deceivers talk of that who would lead us to exalt themselves though they be Antichrists as also the holy Spirit is the same that was in the Prophets and Apostles and leads us to hear them and to abide in unity of Faith with them Ephes 1.4,5 1 Joh. 4.5,6 whereas the false spirits slight them and lead not to hear or matter Unity of faith and confession with them If we have received this earnest why should we fear that God will fail us of the inheritance in this might and power of the Lord if we be strong nothing shall overcome us Sect. 7. Of Knowing Christ after the flesh and after the Spirit I Know they that lie in waite to deceive you will suggest that this that I have said of Christ his Death Resurrection and mediation is at best but a carnal knowledge of him according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit and that the Spirit in evidencing him will witness a more divine and spiritual knowledge and draw off the heart from this fleshly consideration or looking upon him as he was made flesh and therein suffered and died for us To perswade you to which they quote that in 2 Cor. 5.16 Henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet henceforth we know him so no more as if the Apostle meant that he minded him no more as one that was born of a woman and died in the flesh and was raised again and in that very body glorified they had sometimes such carnal apprehensions of him and looked at him as the Saviour in and by that his death and suffering indeed but now they have a more spiritual allegorical knowledge of him Against which interpretation of the Apostles words though that might suffice to preserve us that I have newly before noted from the Apostle John that every spirit that confesseth not that is glorifies not nor sets not forth Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God yet I shall for further satisfaction look more fully into that place And first it may hence appear evidently that that is not the Apostles meaning in that passage because such an interpretation of him is cross to himself and his fellow brethren and Apostles in other places for its evident that both Paul and the rest preached him as of the seed of David according to the flesh the Son of God made of a woman made under the Law made sin and a curse for us crucified and raised again and now mediating for us with God the Advocate High-priest and Prince of the Congregation and to this Doctrine and this Christ thus preached and set forth they frequently exhort believers to take heed to cleave adhere and listen and by no means under what pretext or pretence soever to depart therefrom Heb. 3.1 6.14 Acts 11.23,24 1 Joh 2.28 Gal. 1.8,9 yea to hold as execrable and accursed all that would perswade them thereto or that preach my other Gospel then that of Christ so preached by them Col. 1.22,23 in holding fast to whom and to the Gospel of him they promise safety an abiding happy condition but in the letting him and that go by any means they pronounce certain danger and unavoydable destruction Heb. 2.3 10.25,29 yea Christ as so in the flesh abased for us and now risen ascended and advocating for us at the right hand of God they themselves and in especial that very Apostle Paul rejoyces in and places the foundation of all his hope and confidence in as is plain in that of Rom. 8.32 as the very thing which being known apprehended and received by him was the great manifestation of Gods Love to him and the great argument of his further favor and good will yea the spring of his hope of glory confidence boldness access to God and renovation into his likeness yea Christ as thus he was abased and is risen and mediates for us being known believed and entertained into the heart is in the believer the very hope or that which springs up and nourishes in him an expectation of future glory as is evident from the fore-quoted place and that in Rom. 5.10 where from the consideration of Christ as delivered to death for us while sinners and of our being reconciled to him thereby he infers an
A CAVEAT TO All True Christians Against the spreadings of the Spirit of Antichrist and his subtile endeavours to draw men from JESUS CHRIST Propounded to them by J. Horn one of the unworthiest of Christs servants in his Gospel a Preacher thereof in South Lin Norfolk Together with some brief Directions for their orderly waâ—…ings Prov. 19.27 Cease my son to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge Prov 7.25,26,27 Let not thine heart decline to her ways go not astray in her paths For she hath cast down many wounded yea many strong men have been slain by her Her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death 1 John 2.24,25 Let that therefore which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you if that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you ye shall continue in the Father and in the Son And this is the promise which he promised us even eternal life London Printed by R.W. for T. Brewster and G. Moule and are to be sold at the three Bibles at the West-end of Pauls 1651. TO The Vertuous and Religious Gentlewomen M rs Jane Desborow wife to the Honorable Major General John Desborow M rs Alice Toll wife to the Right Worshipful Mr. Thomas Toll Esquire and M rs Judith Cook wife to the Right Worshipful Col. Thomas Cook of Bebmarsh in Essex Esquire Grace Mercy and Peace in Jesus Christ Much beloved in the Lord IT is the Councel of the Apostle John not to believe every spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God And sure there is now as much need of this counsel as ever because there are diversity of Spirits and Prophets gone out into the world and all pretend to God but all confess not that is magnifie not or lead not to exalt Jesus Christ come in the flesh but divers of them deny or undervalue that by which it is manifest that they are not of God to those that duly try them but that they are of that spirit of Antichrist of which we have heard that it should come into the world And truly though it be an heavy judgement of God to order such a spirit of error to enter into and amongst men and men to be possessed and acted by him yet if the matter be well and duly considered it will appear a just and righteous judgement and may afford us much matter of warning For wherein hath or could God have testified or commended his love more to the world then in giving forth his only begotten Son to be believed on and to that end to be delivered to death for our offences and become the propitiation for our sins and being raised again and glorified to hold forth in and through him unto us an immeasurable fulness of glory and salvation And what might God look for and challenge at our hands for so great goodness less then all possible thankfulness and most chearful ready receit of and submission to him but alas how contrary are the returns that he findeth from men What is there that is so little regarded and so much neglected as this his Son what so little received and fed upon by men Is not the preaching of the Cross of Christ become foolishness again not onely to the rude and prophane or to the Pharasaical that establish to themselves a righteousness of their own but which iâ— the most to be lamented to such as have tasted of his goodness and had him livelily set â—orth to them even many such have crucified â—im to themselves afresh and have not obeyed the truth so far as to cleave with stedfast purpose of heart unto him Many that have received the â—tdings of Christs Death and Resurrection for them as sometimes the Israelites the Manna with joy and admiration have with them also after a while grown weary thereof as if it was a light bread and their souls have loathed him and lusted after some other thing to feed upon that might more puff them up in themselves and give more sensual satisfaction And alas how few are there who are not more or less tainted with this infection as if there was not an enoughness in Christ his Death Sacrifice and Mediation for them to feed upon Now what more just with God then that his so great love being so abrogated and so nothing set by should turn to jealousie and that he revenge the injury done unto his Son and to himself with the heat of indignation by sending to them as to the Israelites for their offence fiery Serpents Numb 21. spirits of error and of delusion that because they received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved but had pleasure in their unrighteousness in disesteeming so great a witness of love and not in the truth therefore the efficacie of error should infatuate them and carry them headlong into destruction the abuse and contempt of greatest love deserving to be revenged with the severest condemnation But alas where the spirit of Error hath gotten rooting how many are there so strongly giddified therewith that they make but a mock of these things and think there is no other hell but what here befals them throwing up the whole Christian Faith by the very foundation A piteous and much to be bewailed mischief which cals for not onely our best endeavours by Prayers and Supplications and faithful Instruction to prevent its spreading but might also challenge in many the Magistrates inspection that as of late they have worthily made an Act to prevent and punish Blasphemy against God so they might endeavour to stop the over-free spreading of Blasphemy against Christ by the like provision But for that it s our business to pray God rightly to direct them and that none of them that should discountenance such evil be either tainted therewith themselves or so far destitute of that spiritual Eye-salve as not to have thereof a right discerning As for your parts Worthy Friends I hope you have received so much of that holy Unction as hath helped you to understand the wiles of Satan so that I may say to you as the Apostle in 1 Joh. 2.21 I write not to you because ye know not the Truth but because ye know it and that no lie is of the Truth both blessing God that he doth keep you in so evil a day and praying for you that yet ye may be filled with the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding and so more abundantly anointed with that spiritual Eye-salve that ye may be further able to discern things that differ and so be kept for even And indeed I know no better thing that I can wish for you then that for where that is not I know not what else can preserve men For Satan coming not in his own colours but disguised as an Angel of Light not as an enemy but as of old the Serpent as a friend that will shew the way to a more happy and glorious
his Sacrifice sanctifieth men and makes them Saints or holy unto God it being the anointed one Christ himself that is their sanctification by being in him they become separared from the world and are made Gods lot part and portion a people holy to him Saints then are a people created in Christ Jesus or begotten and born to God in the Knowledge and faith of his Son by the power of the Spirit a people born of the Promise of God or word of Promise that is the Gospel concerning Christ raised from the dead and the salvation that is in him Gal. 4.24,25 Acts 13.32.33.1 Pet. 1.3 and 3.31 The manifestation of God his Mind Love Grace and Goodness therein being that water in the Word flowing from beside the Altar of God of which it behooves that men be born through the power of the Spirit working therein or else they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Ezeck 4.7 That 's the Free-woman the Jerusalem that is above the mother of us all by this a man drawn to Christ quickened up and devoted to God in him is made a Saint of God So that in this Saintship there are these two things to be minded 1. That God in the word of the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ and his Death Resurrection and Mediation hath shined in his love to the soul and thereby hath begot and in some measure quickned up a man to a lively hope a hope in God and that founded upon nothing of his own nor any fruit of the Law in him whether sorrow humiliation reformation legall conversion work indeavour frame or vertue found in him but only the grace and love of God as manifested in Christ Christ dead for him and risen for him and glorified of God for and to him received into his heart by faith is there become the hope of glory to him the sight or belief of Christ crucified for him drew him in to beleeve not his conceited act or fruits of beleeving made him judge Christ crucified for him 2. That the love and grace in Christ thus apprehended by him and giving him hope changes him into the likeness of Christ principles him God-ward puts a law of love into his heart and carries him after God and so devotes him unto God to Christ to be his and for his praise So that in a Saint of God there is neither a hope bottomed upon his changing and endeavors nor yet a dead hope without a change but a change and renovation springing from his hope and that hope from grace discovered in God by Jesus Christ in the power of the spirit he hath his life in love and lives to the God of Love And every such soul as from the grace of God in Christ is quickened up to hope in God and in that hope given up to be God's Christ's whatever difference may be found otherwise in the flesh or in some opinions not essentiall to the faith is a Saint of God whether for the Scripture makes this difference 1. Children weak and as it were but embrio's Christ not yet formed in them Gal. 4.19 their apprehensions of Gods love in his Son but weak and small and so their hope and faith but little and weak wavering staggering not as yet setled and confirmed and made strong in Christ who therefore are to be tendred and more warily walked toward and as it were nursed up with wholesome words like milk and not roughly dealt with lest they be broken and lest by any abuse of our liberties or any other way they be scandalized and offended or 2. Young men such as are strong and have overcome the wicked one have endured temptations and have the word of God somewhat setled and abiding in them and therefore ablet to bear and not so soon stumbled nor in so great danger of miscarrying or 3. Farhers men well grown and long experienced and so more usefull for begetting and training up others in the knowledge of Christ 1 Joh. 2.14.15 And to all such as thus by the word of the Gospel and the grace or love of God therein discovered to them in the Death and resurrection of Christ have been emptied of themselves and their filthy confidences and rejoycings and are begot to hope in God and framed to the love and likeness of God in some beginnings or in further growth do I bend my following words with the severall counsels and instructions therein given CHAP. II. Sect. 1. Of the estate of the Saints ANd first of all I desire you to minde the state in which you are which admits of diverse distinct considerations For a Saint is in a measure proportioned to Christ and there is a great deal of likenes between them though also mixed with much unlikeness Christ had a twofold nature and discent each of which had its distinct properties of God and of man the Son of God and the Son of man according to the flesh and according to the Spirit according to the flesh of the seed of David according to the Spirit the Son of God and so declared to be with power in the resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.2.3 According to the flesh the Jews knew whence he was and stumbled at him according to the Spirit they knew him not whence he was nor did acknowledge him according to the flesh he was put to Death and died according to the Spirit or in the power thereof he was raised again He was a man a man anointed of God with the holy Ghost and power So is every reall Saint or Christian he is to be considered as a man and as a Saint as of Adam as in Christ of God according to the humane nature that he hath by generation in the flesh and according to the divine nature which he partakes of in the Spirit He is neither all flesh nor all Spirit but hath something of both though yet neither in the same way had Christ his flesh as he hath neither hath he the Spirit in the same immeasurable fulness as Christ had so that in that regard there is also disproportion between them the very flesh or body of Christ was so of God that it was not by immeditate humane generation and he was so the Son of God in the Spirit that he also was and is God and all the fulness of gifts and grace was and is in him not so the Saint he hath his flesh by humane generation as other men and he hath a measure of the gift of Christ in one way or other but no one hath all nor can communicate to others as Christ can The man Jesus Christ was the Son of God by union with the word so are the Saints but not in the same manner there the word was made flesh and the person so made is yet called the word here the word is united to the soul by faith yet so as it s not made to be flesh or man nor the person in whom it is is made the word there he was the
minded you of the state both as men and as Saints in the head and in your selves consider yet a little further with me that as in your selves you are yet imperfect and subject to weakness so it would be minded that in respect of some others you are in a state of enmity hatred too though beloved of God Christ yet hated and rejected of men and Angels that love not God and Christ and so you are in a state of warfare here you have enemies to incounter with and that will be sure to incounter with you within and without and they will set upon you because ye are Saints though ye be called to glory and vertue ye must not think to have that glory or walk out in that vertue but with some sufferings you must fight for what is given you or else you cannot enjoy it you shall meete with Canaanites that will incounter you before you can sit down in rest in the good land promised you and if you yeeld to them or be overcome of them as indeed you shall not be overcome but by yeelding they will dispossess you here is the faith and patience of the Saints and of them that keep the commandments of Jesus Revel 14.12 Here you are as a Lily among Thorns as a ship in the midst of the swelling waves as a partridge hunted by the ravenous birds hence the difficulty of obtaining what is given you the straitness of the gate and narrowness of the way to life herein consisteth ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake saith the Lord your head Mat. 10.22 other men may hate one another but all will hate you Manasseh against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasseh but both against Judah Isa 9.21 one sect against another prophane against zealous and zealous against prophane Edomites against the Ishmaelites and Ishmaelites against the Edomites but both against Israel all against you that are Saints indeed and that not for injury done by you but because of his name that is in and upon you because of the holy unction and because of the sincerity of your profession some because ye will not do as they in all excesse of riot some because ye condemn their works of Religion and evidences for heaven and tell them they must not inherit upon those terms with you 1 Pet. 4.4 Gal. 4.2 some because their works are evil and yours good and you reprove their evil by your good 1 John 3.12 John 7.7 All that will live godly in Christ must suffer persecution 2. Tim. 3.12 yea the wise and zealous potent and chief Commanders will set against you yea under pretence of the law and Temple even out of misguided zeal for God they will brand you and speak all manner of evil against you for his names sake that is beleeved in and confessed by you for your good-will they will reward you evil and hatred for your love while you seek to save them they will seek to destroy you and roote you out of the land of the living the Herodians that seek to establish their greatness and usurpe the power of the Kingdom of Israel to themselves will seek to slay you the Scribes and Pharisees that arrogate to themselves the chaire of Moses and to be the only Rabbies in Religion and pillars of the Church will seek to crucifie you they that deny your Lord and master wil go about to undermine and pervert you many will fight against your Liberties and outward welfare because of your faith many against your faith it self seeking to poison you there by corrupting you from the simplicity of the truth beleeved by you So that you are in no small danger in your journey toward Sion to be beaten off before you there appear in its glory especially seeing also you have an enemy within you strong and subtle and that so much the more dangerous because so near you and as it were a part of you mortifie your Members that are on the earth Col. 3 5. They are as the very members of your body lust in your hearts the flesh with its wisdom will affections appeties these will be often solliciting you to close with present earthly objects and neglect the better things to which God hath called you many strong men have fallen by her and many though not quite deprived yet have been so maimed by her counsels that they have gone halting to their inheritance ever after this kept back many of the old Church in the wilderness from the earthly Canaan this keeps back many of the Church in the wilderness now from the everlasting Kingdom this is an enemy within ready to open the gates of the soul to any that shall conspire against it from without and it mindes nothing else but to betray the Saints to them its life is in the world and in self and it s as death to it that the soul be pulled from the world and from it self therefore it loves and prompts the soul to go back to the flesh-pots and provisions of the world or to confidence in its self If the world and its authority frown and threaten it bids yeeld and by no means hold up arms against so potent an adversary whispering in our bosoms master save thy self let not these sad things befall thee it suggests weakness in us power in it the harshness of persecution the inability of the flesh to indure under them not at all regarding God or savouring the things of him If the the world smile it counsels by all means to listen to it and embrace friendship with it and thi◠proves no small disadvantage to the Saints in their spiritual travel that they have such a clog to retard them such a spy to betray them such 〈◊〉 bosom-Traytor to conspire with the world against them O ye that love the Lord hate thi◠flesh Psal 97.10 shake it off and all its subtile inticements Abstain from fleshly lusts after profits honors pleasures promotions c. which war against the soul 1 Pet. 2.11 He that sows t◠the flesh shall of it reap corruption but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting Gal. 6.7,8 But yet neither is here all you have to war against there are other enemies still of another nature that in and with these improve all their subtilty and skill of which they have no want with all their force and power to supplant you For we fight not only with flesh and bloud but also with principalities and powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this world and against Spiritual wickednesses in heavenly things Eph 6.12 There are invisible essences which are more subtile and forcible then those that are visible such as are Angels and Spirits which by how much they are the purer in essence then any bodily being by so much the more forcible are they and able to penetrate having not that earthly grossness in them that dulls and abates the force of other creatures besides
up his sanctified ones unto perfection but that however he and the Doctrine of him are meet to bring in souls to God at the first yet after men are once brought in they must look after some other more excellent thing even as the Israelites dusted in the Wilderness for flesh to bring them to perfection Thence the spirit of Anti-Christ which is the very spirit and inspiration of Satan is Charactarized and described by his denying Jesus to be the Christ 1 Joh. 2.22 and 4.2,3 makeing but a Type or Figure or Fancy of him or not by confessing him come in the flesh that is he magnifieth not or commendeth not to men but as much as in him lieth suppresseth slighteth speaks overly and makes nothing of the Abasement Humiliation Death Sufferings and Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and so the whole business of his coming in the flesh either more directly and openly or else more closely and by consequence whereas God and his Spirit takes the things of Christ and shews them to men leading them there to have their constant and continual feeeding incouragement to Hope and matter of Consolation And indeed did not Satan some way or other prevail with men either to keep them from Christ or to withdraw them when they have begun to look towards him he should nothing avail in all his attempts against them seeing life is so intailed upon him and put into him that he cannot miss it possibly that misses not of him But alas his design is accomplished in too many men though all are not in the same way deceived by him Some he so hoodwinks and keeps in darkness that they not seeing Christ the Righteousness of God freely given to them go about to establish to themselves a righteousness of their own and submit not to him trust not in his Grace but in their own works thinking that for the goodness thereof or as it were thereby Christ will save them Others he perswads to rest in a Notion and profession of the truths of Christ though they discern not nor imbrace not Christ himself and his Sacrifice in their hearts nor the love of God commended therein to them Others he more subtly snares with a conceit of faith the rise and spring whereof is not Jesus Christ and his Sacrifice and the love of God therein manifested to them while sinners ungodly and nothing better then others but some disposition frame work or some Word or Promise applyed to them by their own reasonings or brought to their minds in which yet the Lord Jesus was not discovered to or set before them But yet more subtly and speciously he plays the Serpent indeed when by pretending to bring them to a better condition then what they have by the faith of Jesus he secretly undermines them and draws them from him of which I desire we may especially beware because he often comes with great artifice and cunning He can suck poyson out of Hony and usher in some way of darkness with words of light as we have already seen wrest some Scripture-saying to turn the eye and heart from Jesus whom they all speak on He will come and tell men that the Death and Resurrection of Christ and so his Sacrifice and Mediation are things without men and what good will they do to the soul if lived and fed on Men must have Christ in them the hope of glory and so doth some times subtly draw men from what he propounds from the Scripture to them For that Christ must be in men the hope of glory is a very pretious truth the thing that above all other I would prefer thee to and wish thee to take heed of being beguiled of but Satan means not so less when he brings that saying For whereas Christ is indeed in the Believer that is in his heart knowledge confidence consideration affection c. for after that manner objects are said to be in the hearts of men as he was made flesh * See the truth of this in Rom. 8.32,33,34 and 1 Pet. 1.3 and offered up himself in Sacrifice for us and is in the vertues thereof at the right hand of God mediating in our behalf and authorized to save us c. the hope not the present possession or enjoymeâ—… of glory as this view consideration knowledâ—… and judgement of him is spirituous powerfâ—… beget and nourish in the soul a lively hope 〈◊〉 expectation of the glory possessed by him for and in him set before us Satan in his tempâ—…ons sometimes takes hold of that and such 〈◊〉 sayings to another purpose for makeing use mens unlearnedness or want of stability in tâ—… Apostles Doctrine he uncloths Christ of 〈◊〉 those considerations of his Death and Sacrifâ—… c. yea makes it his business to withdraw tâ—… soul from him as such a one and so indeed froâ— the true Christ to look for another thing a lighâ— frame power or operation in them not of Chriâ—… as crucified for them and fed on by them though as so considered and fed on he is in thâ— Believer the hope of glory according to thâ— Apostles aim and intention as is said before anâ— not as divested and unclothed of that consideration Nay which is worse Satan sometime prevails so far with men that having stolen thâ— true form of Christ from men and having perswaded them to let go him and their confidence in him as a fleshly Christ and fleshly confidence which they must sacrifice as once Abraham did his Isaac though not with his success for they scarce ever receive him again they part so fully from him and perswading them that Christ is nothing but a certain force power light or operation in the heart he himself cloths himself with the Name of Christ transforms himself into â—n Angel of light and insinuates himself with all the strength and efficacie of delusion into their hearts as the true Christ and his strong deceits and operations as the very inspirations and operations of God and Christ of far more excellency then what the Gospel holds forth as recorded in the Scriptures and so leads them on headlong to their ruine for then no marvel if they run into strange and monstrous conceptions and practises deny the Scriptures make themselves God or a part of him say they have no sin in them that there is no such thing as sin or devil or heaven or hell at least more then is now in men cast off all religious exercises and live like Heathens perswading others to the same things also with them If Satan once have got such credit with men as to be intertained for their Teacher in stead of Christ his Spirit into what principles or practises may not he lead them though it stand not with his policy to lead all that entertain him into such gross ways but to act some as if they were Angels or Messengers of Christ that so others might be the better drawn away after them and so thâ—y be but
Apostle further adds as useful for our direction herein in that sixth of the Ephesians viz. 6. Take unto you also the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God To the Law and to the Testament that that speaks not according to that word hath no morning light in it Isai 8.20 there 's no divine Truth in it That will discover and drive back all assailants The VVord of God that 's the immortal seed that the Believer is born of and this is he still to covet after that he may grow by it This David his in his heart that he might not sin against God and indeed that 's the best preservative from sin and direction in Righteousness when it s so hidden This is the Truth and discovers the true Righteousness of God is preached in and declares the Gospel is the Mother and Nurse of right Faith the word of Faith and of Salvation yea this is a Lanthorn to our feet and a light unto our paths In this the Spirit worketh and in the belief thereof preserveth the soul unto eternal life yea this is Spirit and Life as its full of divine and living operations unto Faith But what is this VVord of God I Answer in one sense Christ himself is the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word or Reason that was in the beginning with God and by which all things were made of God the essential Word or Word of power and Wisdom of God which also was made flesh and dwelt amongst us And it s no doubt but with this Word the Spirit fights as he doth glorifie and lift him up but that 's not done but by the Word in another sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the Word there in Ephes 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word spoken the declaration of the Mind and Truth of God that which God hath uttered by the mouth of Christ and of All his holy Prophets and Apostles this Word as it was originally from and by the Spirit so is that the Sword that he leads his to make use of and by which he driveth back the subtile and violent adversaries of our souls and defends us that believe and believingly make use of it in the Spirit Take to you selves then this Word of God this Sword of the Spirit believe it mind it meditate on it cleave to it bring all Motions Doctrines and Practises to the Light of it let it dwell richly in you in all wisdom it will teach and admonish you it will shew you the right way and how to behave your selves in every condition it will admonish you of the danger that is in by-wayes and in temptations so that it be I say hid in your hearts and dwell there so as that you know love believe understand and mind it in what it speaketh as it was in the heart of the Lord Jesus being so kept it will keep you instruct teach and guide you aright for his words do good to the upright-hearted Mic. 2.7 that believe and obey them in sincerity And indeed this as Cha. 3. Sect. 6. was before hinted is worthy to be minded that that 's the acceptable and right believing which purely and singly closeth with God and Christ not for or according to our sensible experiments and feelings so much as for and according to the Soveraign authority of God and his infallible and most pure sayings that believes the Word though it see not any probability as to Sense or Reason of the things there declared That Faith that 's built upon Sense as we have shewed alters and varies often according to the alterations in sense as we shewed in the Israelites who so long as some great work was in their eye and some satisfaction apprehended in their sense believed the VVord and sang his Praise but when those great things were withdrawn and danger and death surrounded them they distrusted murmured and rebelled the Word of God was of no account or force with them because it was not the bottom of their faith nor abode in them So fares it now also with many souls that receive the Word as the stony ground doth the Seed with joy for a time so long as there is no trial but all seems to go along with and demonstrate the thing that is spoken to and believed by them but when such sensible feelings or satisfactions to Reason fail and trials come then in a day of temptation they fall away they wither in a year of drought as it were not having moisture enough from the Word within to cause them to abide in a patient waiting upon God for his gratious returns to them the Gospel of Peace hath not prepared them for a long travel or trial because not heartily and throughly received and cleaved to by them in the love of it nor well digested in them therefore they have no patience but fall to murmuring repining and inordinate lusting after sensible feelings of comfort and God deferring them they either run back to the world again resolving to have its consolations rather then none or else if any Doctrine or Spirit under pretence of Gods come unto them and promise them feedom from such sad conditions and long waitings though it be from Satan and lead them quite from the faith of Jesus to some strong delusion they embrace and run after it to their own destruction preferring sensible feelings and flashes of joy and comfort and raptures c. though from false and failing delusions of Satan withdrawing them from the VVord before a patient hoping in a dark exercised condition in the VVord for its unspeakable and eternal consolations Surely from this sometimes souls are misled and given over to believe or rejoyce in a lye as if they were now at prefect freedom and as fully possessed of heaven as ever any shall be had attained the Resurrection already as much as any shall or can attain to yea were Godhead with God and made parts of his indivisible Essence Satan mounting them up aloft and causing them to speak great swelling words of vanity and shine as Comets to the admiration of others he transforming himself into an Angel of light and perswading them it is the true Light that they see and glory in though in the issue they go out in darkness and have the blackness of it reserved for them whereas on the other side where the Word of God is in the heart and the meditation thereon day and night and the hope in the Lord Jehovah there-through and according thereto it will preserve and perfect that man to the inheritance being the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes Acts 20.32 a pure infallible and sure Word that will not fail or deceive any Happy is he that though he see not or prove little or nothing in his own sense yet believeth according to what is said in that that will give comfort strength greenness growth fruitfulness and preserve the
stories as that a cock scratching up a dunghill found a Jewel and finding it wisht rather that he had found a kernel of Barley in which he intended not to tell a real story of any Dunghill Cock but under that devised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fable to set forth the folly of vain men who if they light of some pretious Truth or meanes of understanding prize it not but prefer some small worldly commodities or pleasures before it as better suiting their principles and dispositions and so under a Tale of a Frog and a Mouse fighting till the Kite catch them both up and devoured them he sets forth the way and issue of civil dissentions in which while both parties fight against each other they both become a prey to some third common and more potent enemy And under the Tale of a Dog passing over the water with a piece of meat in his mouth catching at the shadow of it and loosing the substance he declares how foolish vain men having some substantial Truth and catching at some vain shadow of Truth as if it were another or a more substantial truth loose and fall from that substantial Truth that before they were possest of Such is the nature of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a devised Fable Now the Apostle Peter tells us that they did not so declare the coming of Christ as if what they declared of Christ as born of a Virgin the Word made flesh and as opposed by Herod and other enemies working Miracles dying rising and ascending was but a witty representation of something done within them as of Truth born in an honest and innocent heart and there opposed by Corruption and Lust yet after some strength attained teaching many good Lessons to the soul and doing great works in it curing its blindness healing its lameness inlivening it from its deadness sometimes again stifled as it were by corruption and darkness but yet after a while getting the upper hand again and obtaining a more glorious conquest ravishing the soul and carrying it up into heavenly joyes and consolations Verily if this had been the thing the Apostles meant in speaking of Christ his Incarnation Sufferings Teachings c. and all the History of Christ but deviled to set this forth they have declared as plain and manifest and yet as wisely a devised Fable as ever Aesop devised to represent his moral instructions But the Apostle tells us lest we should be beguiled and led into such a fancy that they did not follow any such thing when they preached Christ but told us a true History and that that was the true Grace into which they have instructed us 1 Pet. 5.12 .. It s a truth indeed and that plainly asserted too in the Scriptures that while w◠behold the glory of the Lord with open face as in a Glass we are transformed into the same image c. that there is a great resemblance between the word of essence or Word that is God made flesh in the person of Christ and the Word or revelation of the grace of God in Christ united to our hearts by faith this conforms us unto Christ in Death and Resurrection It is opposed by corruption and growing up getting roote or dwelling richly in us teaches and admonishes us and keeps us safe in the midst of corruption from being overcome of it yea inasmuch as the Spirit of Christ is in it it gives the soul understanding and fills it with life power and salvation or rather Christ doth all this by it through his Spirit 's working effectually in it possibly to corruption at some time may cloud and dead its operations in some hour of temptation and day of desertion and it may break forth again and shine more gloriously in the soul after such a condition by the power of the Spirit quickning it in us and it may then raise us up in our spirits more gloriously and lead us up to heavenly consolations and all these things may be found attested in the Scriptures but yet this is not that coming of Christ in the flesh the Death and Resurrection of him declared in the Gospel but in some things the fruit of our sinnings against God or of his hiding his face by way of trial of our faith and in other things the fruit and operation of the Spirit of God sent unto us in Christ Name who suffered and rose for us We are to distinguish between the sufferings of the Humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth with its Resurrection and Glory his being made Lord and Christ c. and the conformity of the Humanity to him in his members by the working of his divine Spirit in them through the faith of him and not make the things affirmed of the head meet devised things to set forth Truth in the members nay deny the head and make him but a fained type of the members as they that hold not the head Col. 2.19 or ascribe not to the Humanity that suffered rose and ascended or to Christ as in it the true nature of a head I am the larger in this because it having a shew of wisdom beguiles many from the head of all principality and power the Lord Jesus Col. 2.8.10 and as was foretold by the Apostle causes them to turn asideto Fables or rather to turn the Gospel into a Fable This turning all into an Allegory is as notable a baite as any Satan can fish with for if a man be once brought to that that he thinks the Scriptures hold not forth the mind of the Spirit in and according to its expressions but speak of other things then it will follow that the literal expressions will not be much heeded but some spiritual pretended mystery looked for to resemble the things spoken of and then Satan himself transforming himself into an Angel of light may pretend to declare or suggest that true spiritual meaning and the soul hath nothing in the Word left certain by taking heed to which it may dicover him the Scriptures being now made to it like to the Philosophers first matter Omnium formarum capax fit to be interpreted by any new devise or figment that hath a shew of wit and subtilty in it as the spiritual sense of it yea the devil will lead men inevitably by this to deny the plainest affirmations of God in the Scripture as he was bold to tell Eve that in dying she should not dye the dying spoke of was not what she thought of it should be but a dying to her present dark state of faith and she should be as God and live a more divine life of Knowledge and sense so will he nay he doth lead men upon this principle to deny Christ the Lord that bought them suggesting to them that though the Scripture speak of one Jesus born of a woman at Bethlehem and dying neer Jerusalem for our sins and that we ought to believe in him yet the truth is that is but a Fable a
though they have despised the simplicity of Gods Wayes appointed for their salvation But ye beloved beware of such conceits as such are led with and keep ye close to God in making known your requests dayly and as the Apostle exhorts in every season watching thereunto that ye may find the leadings of the Spirit and Grace of God with you therein and know what to ask of him and that ye may hear what answers God will again return to you not giving over your requests because ye are not presently supplied or helped in the things ye ask but herein exercise Faith and Patience and be strong and persevere till God hath blessed you Remember Jacob who wrestled with God weeping and making supplications unto him and prevailed Remember also that Christ our Lord hath left us many instructions to importunity in prayer with many incouragements thereunto that we might not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 18.1 be out-evilled made to faint by his seeming delays and denials of us though he may try us yet calling upon him in his way according to his Will he will not deceive us Indeed if we regard iniquity in our hearts if we set up an Idol in his Temple and pollute his Name he will not hear our prayers he will have us lift up â— uâ—e hands and clean single true hearts and then he will be found of us It s true in many things we sin all and he is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity and we are in our selves too unworthy to have audience by him and too unable to do any thing fit to be presented to him but in that he hath also provided incouragement too for us we have an Advocate and a high Priest with him who hath prevented us with his Love in offering up himself for us an offering of a sweet smelling savour unto God and it s his work to intercede to God for us for us I say in special that come to God by him to take away our sins and perfume our prayers with the odours of his Sacrifice and so make them acceptable unto God yea he mediateth the New Covenant for the called Ones that the holy Spirit may be given to them to work their works in them and that they may receive the inheritance promised them Having then such invitations faithful promises and every way great incouragements let us not put off this business to some pretended illuminate Elders but let us go with boldness true hearts and full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled with the blond of Jesus from an evil conscience and bodies or whole conversations washed with pure water the pure water of his Word and the grace held forth to us therein and call upon God in and by Christ for our selves and one another that he may help and save us Had we an al sufficiency in our selves we should not need to go for help to God but we are not God nor hath God put the disposal of himself and fulness into our hand but reserves it with himself in Christ ready to give it forth to us in submission and supplication to him for it so that we have need also as well as incouragement to call upon him Pray then for help for your selves and pray for one another and for all the Saints and in special that they may be enabled to stand and for me also the meanest of all Saints that I may so declare and walk on in the Mysteries of the Gospel as I ought God will not onely hear you for your selves but for one another and without his hearing and helping the other parts of his spiritual Armor will be too heavy for you you will be as unable to buckle them all on and go forth in them as David was to go forth in Sauls armor but call upon him and he will help you yea and be armor of proof to you Sect. 8. Of Brotherly Communion YEa yet further my brethren that we might yet be better enabled to resist Satan and his temptations and to go on with patience and chearfulness in the race set before us let us go on together in love and unity not forsaking the assembling of our selves as the manner of some yea of too many is God hath called us together unto Christ as to a head and in him hath compacted us together as a body giving us a common interest in the priviledges of Christ and useful gifts differing according to his goodness that we might both have need of and be useful one to another each supplying to other out of that measure given to it from the Head in the faithful loving exercise of themselves in which God giveth forth his blessing even as the body natural thrives while the members compacted together do minister to each other nourishment and spirits without stop or interruption but when the blood and spirits have not free access and recess to the several parts and members it decays grows diseased and ill-affected and often falleth into sickness and death so is it here while the unity of the Spirit is held fast in the bond of peace and brotherly love abides and each in love seeks the love and profit of other all grow up together to a perfect man yea and all together become as a City compacted and at unity within it self and so more strong and able for offence and defence against all that would annoy but being disunited either through Factions and Divisions or through a willing careless neglect of each other and the administrations of the Lord to all by every each one they become weak and feeble and Satan gets great advantage against them to infect them one by one and to devour them for in loose sitting one from another â—or divisions each member contents it self with that measure given to it self or to a few and deprives it self of that strength life nourishment and spirits that might be administred by many Now though God be al sufficient to preserve and strengthen one alone where he by his Providence necessitates it to be so or in a hidden day such as that of Elias when the Saints appear not to or know not one another yet where he hath given opportunities of communion and mutual edification and that through pride negligence envy or arrogance is despised and slighted there souls receive not that measure of his fulness and sufficiency that otherwise they might for he that so sleights and despises sleights and despises the way that God hath appointed and ordained for us to waite upon him in and he that despiseth his Way despiseth him that appointed it and out of his way in a mans own way will he will not meete with blessing nay out of Gods way and in their own seem it never so right to men in their own eyes they may and usually do meet with delusion it being a just judgement of God upon the pride and folly of men that seeing they refuse the simplicity of his they should
freeing not onely the spirits of the Saints from thraldome in a first fruits but their bodies also from death and corruption which is called the redemption of our bodies Rom 8.23 When every eye shall see him c. Rev. 1.7 When all that are in their graves shall come forth some to the resurrection of life others to the resurrection of condemnation c. Joh. 5.29 When all the Saints together shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and be for ever with him 1 Thes 4.16,17 Now as these men deny this his glorious personal coming turning all so well as their wits will serve them and their Father help them into an Allegory so in these two things they grossly err 1. In thinking that persons to whom Christ hath come by his Spirit and whom he hath raised and quickned up to a lively hope as in the first sense are thereby above Ordinances and not bound to attend them for indeed then are they fittest to use them and will be most profitable or profited in attending on God in them Besides we finde the Apostles and other Primitive Believers of another way and judgement when the Spirit was poured upon Cornelins and his houshold that exempted them not from the outward Baptism Acts 10.48 nor were the Apostles themselves exempted from solemn prayers and fasting breaking of bread Preaching the VVord c. even after the holy Ghost was poured upon them and Christ by his Spirit dwelt with them as is plain in Acts 4.24,31 and 6.4,6 and 13.1,3 and 14.23 yea Wo to me saith Paul even after the holy Ghost was shed abundantly upon him Tit. 3 6. if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 and the Bread saith he that we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ and the Cup that we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 yea in 1 Cor. 12.13 We are all baptized saith he by or in one spirit into one body and have been made to drink into one Spirit and Chap. 6.11 they were washed justified sanctified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God but what were they all above Ordinances therefore no matter for observing them No such matter but they are yet ordered about their eating the Lords Supper yea and such as whose election in the sanctification of the Spirit is affirmed are exhorted by the Apostles to Prayer to attend on Prophesying to stand fast hold the traditionâ— such as the Supper of the Lord is called 1 Cor. 11.25 received from them either by word or writing 2 Thes 2.13,14,15 Many other like passages thou mayst finde in the Apostles Writings which they writ to preserve the Churches from sin and error which may discover the falseness of that conception Yet 2. They err much worse in that confounding the coming of Christ in Spirit to the spirits 〈◊〉 men in particular with the great Day of the Lord when he shall come to the destruction of ungodly men and the utmost salvation of all that have believed on him the Kingdom of God in the hearts of men in this Day of which Christ spake to the Pharisees Luke 17.20,21 that it comes not with observation and that it is in men yea in the Pharisees working and tendring it self to their hearts though rejected by them but filling those that receive it with righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost with the glorious Kingdom of Christ which he â—s gone to receive and which shall be set up or made manifest in the world at his great coming when he shall judge the quick and dead 2 Tim. â— 1 of which he spake to his Disciples Luke 17.21,22,23 they apply to themselves as already â—…ne in and upon them those things that are proper to that great Day of his destroying the â—…eat hope and expectation of the Saints which 〈◊〉 that great and glorious appearing Tit. 2.13 denying and mocking at that his visible and glorious coming yea and where their principle 〈◊〉 somewhat throughly improved denying the Resurrection or Redemption of the body and â—…ying the Resurrection all thats to be hoped â—or or met with is here accomplished which we â—…all speak more fully to in the proper place and â—…casion Onely now I would have thee minde that they are strongly deluded herein and that they are of those that our Saviour there doth warn us of that say Lo here lo there see here in us and to us Christ is come and the day of the Lord is revealed with us or with such and such persons the Judgement is over the mystery is fulfilled the world is at an end and we are iâ— possession of our glory though others yet are not Believe them not saith our Saviour neither go after them for that coming of the Soâ— of man shall be as visible and evident in a moment as the lightning that shines from one enâ— of the heavens unto the other end thereof iâ— shall be open and manifest to all Luke 17.22 23. Every eye shall see him even those that havâ— pierced him and all the families of the eartâ— shall wail over him Rev. 1.7 As the bringing in and alteration of former dispensations or administrations of his Kingdom have been witnessed and evidenced by notorious Demonstrations oâ— Gods Authority and presence so shal this last alâ— teration be more visible and notorious then thâ— rest When God gave the Law of Moses he did iâ— in a solemn manner with the voyces of thunderings and lightnings the shaking of the earth c. by which he owned and confirmed it as of him and when he took away that administration and brought in his onely Son and the Ordinance of the Kingdom in its present external administration he owned and attested his altering the former and bringing this in by the gift of tongues and by many wonders and signs and divers powerful works and distributions of the Holy Ghost Heb. 2.3 And when the time of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken of by the mouth of his Prophets shall come and when he shall send his Son Jesus Christ again Acts 7.21,22 whom the heavens till then must contain to take an account of all men how they have submitted to him in the former administrations of his Truth and Grace amongst them and to render to every man according to his works shall that be hidden and done now to this man and then to that no man sees how without any poblike evidence to the world No no that shall be most powerfully and to the world with greatest solemnity declared so as none shall be thereof ignorant but all flesh shall see his salvation unto is people together and those that have rebelled shall be with wondrous terror delivered over to their eternal destruction The heavens shall be on a flame or the elements melt with fervent heat 2 Pet. 3.7,10,12 even these heavens and elements and the host of them that
that in 1 Cor. 15.50 That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven neither doth corruption inherit incorruption which they indeavour to wrest and abuse to the denial and overthrowing the whole business of his discourse in that Chapter professedly to prove the Resurrection of the body not considering that 1. The Apostle says not thus Neither flesh nor blood shall inherit the Kingdom of God but flesh and blood copulatively together now flesh and blood is used in Scripture to signifie a natural man in his corruptible unrenewed estate and sometimes a body subjected to weakness and infirmity Heb. 2.14 whose natural life is in the blood and so nourished by a constant supply of blood from food received from without and indeed men shall not be such in the Resurrection to have their life in their blood as now and so corruptible and weak But this we expresly finde that the Body of Christ after the Resurrection by his own affirmation was flesh bones though spiritualized Luke 24.39 his blood was before shed for remission of our sins as the blood of expiation and surely to a raised body and immortalized blood is no more essential then our hairs are of the essence of a body mortal I would say rather that as the corruptible body in this state of corruption may be and subsist without hair or the like excrements so is it very conceivable that a spiritualized body shall subsist without blood its life not being then therein nor to be maintained by a continual supply and course thereof but immediately by the divine Spirit and Power of God Therefore it s a very inconsequent Argument to say because flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God therefore the body of Christ had no flesh in it upon its Resurrection directly contrary to his own assertion Luke 24.39 or that his body in which was flesh and bones was not assumed up into heaven or that mens bodies which now are flesh and blood shall not be raised and in their raised state be glorified or thus A natural body while such shall not inherit the Kingdom of God therefore this natural body shall not be raised and in its rising made spiritual and so be a subject of his Kingdom That speech then doth but point to the condition of the body when raised that it shall not be such as now it is a body of infirmity flesh and blood but it denies not that the body shall rise even as the foregoing similitude of the grain of Corn doth demonstrate that he meant for there he says Thou sowest not that body that shall be and yet we know its the same in another form or rather that that springs up namely the blade and ear and corn in it springs from that very body or bare grain that was sown or that bare grain that is sown by dying revives again in another and better form so also is the Resurrection the same dead body that was sown rises yet not the same in regard of its form and manner of being It s sown in corruption it s raised in incorruption the same it that was sown rises again though in a better manner more glorious powerful spiritual then when it was sown 2. The Apostle plainly expounds himself ver 51 52 53. when he says we shall not all sleep that is rest or lye in death but we shall be all changed Now there is a great difference between a being changed in our bodies and having them annihilated or for ever lost for that the change shall be in the body is plain in Phil. 3.31 He shall change our vile body and make it like to his own most glorious body and that this change shall not be the creating a new body that is totally distinct another from this in which we now live and die is also plain in this that if the Resurrection was the living again of the Spirit in another body then this body that dies should or might yet lye in the grave notwithstanding that resurrection in another body and so the body of Christ in which he died should have been sound in the grave still when the Disciples went to the sepulchre to imbalm him but the Scripture plainly tells us that they found it not there and of that the Angels said He is risen he it not here Matth 28.6 He might have been risen and his body there too if what was put off â—nd laid down in the grave was never reassumed 〈◊〉 raised again out of it but some other body given in stead thereof Nay indeed that conception is inconsistent with the tearm of Resurrection for Resurrection is not a creation of a â—ew or another body but the rising again of â—…at that was dead or faln as all know that understand the force of the word Resurrection Yea that also would be point-blank cross to what the Apostle yet adds further the dead shall â—e raised incorruptible and this mortal shall prit 〈◊〉 immortality and this corruptible must put on incorruption he said not that the spirit that lives and goes to God shall appear again in a new body that never was in being before an incorruptible body made of nothing or of some other materials but the dead shall rise incorruptible yea this mortal this that now is subject to death this very body shall put on immortality and this corruptible not another that never was corruptible or corrupted but this body that 's now corruptible that now hath its life in its blood and dyes corrupts shall put on immortality and so shall triumph over the grave O grave where is thy victory which they could never have ground for if the conquest of the grave should be perpetual and never restore the dead bodies that it had swallowed So that its clear by the Apostles own words and by what we read of Christ raised to which ours are to be conformed that this Scripture also is abused As for the liftings up of their understandings otherwise they are partly conceptions of impossibilities of such a thing as if the bodies were so torn and corrupted and the ashes or reliques of them dispersed that its impossible it should be raised which is an impious conception for it chargeth God with weakness and impotency as if any word was impossible to him well therefore did our Lord tax the Sadduces with erring upon these principles that they knew not the Scripture nor the power of God Vain Earth-worms who are we that we will undertake to measure and put bounds to his omnipotency and make that an impossibility with him that we cannot fathom in our narrow apprehensions Of the like nature is that foolish conception that the world will not afford room enough for so many millions of men that should be raised up as if he that made all things by his Power when as there was yet nothing could not either reduce all the dispersed parcels of his dead creatures into one body again or finde room
sufficient to contain all those bodies in These are the shallow objections of vain brains that think God can do nothing that they cannot reach to in their reasonings against which for your defence against them let me say but with Paul Why should it seem a thing incredible to you that God should raise the dead Acts 26.8 Another way in which they lift up their understandings to deny this truth is by inventing and devising how to turn all the Scriptures that speak of the Resurrection to a more spiritual sense namely to speak of the Resurrection of the Spirit with Christ or as they understand from some sad or corrupt frames to Joy and Love and Light and I know not what they please to talk of whence many of them say they have here attained the Resurrection it s now made in his life and they have experimented it all that is to be injoyed But this error as it cannot consist with many places treating of the Resurrection as when it s said There shall be a Resurrection both of just and unjust Acts 24.15 and those who are affirmed to be risen with Christ in their spirits are yet minded of a further Resurrection yea even those who are now dead while they were putting to death by their cruel persecutors and refused deliverance in expectation of a better Resurrection Heb. 11.45 so the Apostle Paul hath directly noted in Hymeneus and Philetus as an error destructive to the Faith of many 2 Tim. 2.17,18 So that we cannot without open and manifest discarding and revolting from the Doctrine of Christ delivered to us by him intertain or imbrace such an evil conception Press on therefore my Brethren in minding the Love of God in delivering of his Son to Death for our offences and raising him again for our Justification so to experiment his Divine Power and Spirit quickning up your spirits to him to hope in and depend on him and to live to him as that you may therein prove a conformity to him in Resurrection in Spirit here and be filled with a lively hope of the Redemption of your bodies too from the bondage of corruption in the Resurrection of them hereafter and let not the faith thereof go for then you wil also â—…corrupted from the hope of the reward that 's â—omised and is then to be received the time of â—…unerating the services of our faith and love â—…e towards God and his Name being at the â—…e of the justs Resurrection Luke 14.14 and 〈◊〉 ye be corrupted there you will also grow â—…less and negligent in those services yea and â—…ll into all licentiousness Know that what ever evil and mischief may â—…e befall you in your bodies for the Name of Christ and however you may and must yield up â—bodily death yet he that raised up Jesus our â—…nd will also raise us up and bring us with him 〈◊〉 Cor. 4.14 If we abide in the Faith of him â—oted and stablished and be not perverted â—…om the Gospel and the hope of it that hath â—een preached therein to us and if this Knowâ—dge abide in you and the hope thereof be â—inded by you it will make you that you shall â—ot be barren and unfruitful but to be stedfast â—nd to abound in the Work of the Lord knowâ—ng that your labour shall not be in vain in the â—ord Sect. 5. Of Heaven and Glory BUt now to say what that great Reward and Glory is and shall be is above my ability is not yet manifest what we shall be but a great reward in heaven it is an heavenly not 〈◊〉 earthly reward a reward of and from God noâ— of and by men not worldly The new Jerusalem or the glory of God coming down from heaven upon men and taking men up into heaven where now also they that are Saints indeed and walk as such have their conversation What heaven is I shall not curiously inquire Its that place and state where Christ in his Humanity is for as its the subject of bodies I caâ—… and account it a place though as of the Spirit more properly its a State as when it s said Thâ— Christ is gone into heaven it s therein signified both that his body or humanity was taken up from the earth above the visible heavens where also he is contained and from whence also he shall again descend and be met by the Saints in the air as also that he is there in a glorious state of Soveraignty Power Majesty Fulness far above all creature earthy glories yea and faâ— above all heavenly creatures glory out of which glory he shall not descend at his coming for he shall come in it but from that place of his body he shall I know Mr. Collier makes heaven to be God onely and Glory but as in some other things so in that he slipt not a little into errors for in God he was while he was on the earth Knowest thou not that the Father is in me and I am in the Fatheâ—r saith he to Philip Joh. 14. while he was not yet ascended Neither had there needed any visible translocation or change of place for going up into heaven if it had been â—…ely to be in God nor doth that phrase far above all heavens signifie far above all gods but far above all these aery starry visible heavens To say nothing that Mr. Collier handsomly slips â—ver the speaking to the heaven that Christ aâ—…ended to and which is to contain him and â—…ys not one word to that Text in his Answer 〈◊〉 if he knew not how to elude it But to pass from that I grant that heaven doth not onely signifie place but also a state of glory or of diâ—…e spiritual influence operation government and advancement and this we are specially to â—…nd in it and look after and not spend our thoughts vainly or curiously about inquiring of 〈◊〉 as a place meerly as I might also say of hell â—…ough the bodies and substances of men condemned shall be in place yet the condition of â—o and torment is in that word rather pointed 〈◊〉 in which such shall be and as in a taste or first fruits as it were may now be But to return to what I was saying about heaven and the glory thereof while we are withdrawn in our hearts from base and earthy walkings designs affections c. and are in our hearts aâ—…ed by the Word that was revealed by and comes unto us from God and by the Spirit of God and of Christ the heavenly one and are minding and looking after the priviledges and excellencies thereby witnessed and led to we are said to converse in heaven and so we read of an army warring in heaven Rev. 19. which is nothing else but the Saints of God in the heavenly and divine Power and Spirit in which spiritually they live and breath making opposition against Satan and his instruments and so in like manner the high surpassing pure spiritual consolations streamings forth and abiding rivers of
to be very wary of rash and unadvised judging But what love is that that we are to walk in to them that we discern not so far gone is it to hear them blaspheme denie undervalue and trample upon the Lord Jesus the Mediator between God and men and yet own them as brethren is it to love them more then Jesus Christs Surely this is love that we keep Gods Commandments and this is his Commandment that as we have heard from the beginning so we should Walk in it 2 Joh. 6. This is not love in a man to see his neighbour drowning or hanging himself and not hinder him or killing and poysoning others and yet not reprove them or endeavour to preserve the lives of such as he is harming or to know of men committing Incest or Adultery and yet own them as brethren and not withdraw from them and reprove them much less to see or hear them deny or vilifie the Lord Jesus Christ and yet judge them precious people and Gods dear children That Rule what thou wouldst that men should do unto thee do thou also unto them Matt. 7 12. is not to be applied to men as vitiously affected or distempered but to men walking orderly and upon well-grounded principles and so in things that tend to mens good or else we shall abuse it A Drunkard or Adulterer would have others make him drunk or commit adultery with him shall we abuse that wholsom Scripture to warrant his doing such wicked acts to or with others as unreasonable is it to apply it thus We would not be let or hindred in our endeavouring to bring men to Christ and salvation therefore neither ought we to hinder others in drawing men from Christ to their destruction Object But they think to lead men to salvation as well as you Answ But we know they think amiss when we see them go contrary to the word of salvation we know their thought but a strong delusion when we see in our cleaving to and trying them by the Apostolical and Prophetical Doctrine that they go in the very steps of those that they have forewarned us of It s true a frantick man may be and often is as confident of his way as a sober discreet man but yet a sober man will not think himself as well bound to be ruled and led by him as the frantick man to be ordered by him both may be alike confident as to the heigth of perswasion but both have not the same well groundedness for nor ability to judge of their confidence This is no right judgement of things to say this is truth as well as that because I see this man as confident of this as that man is of that We are not to judge of truth by our own or others confidence of them but by the verdict of God in the Scriptures That Rule what I would that another do to me I should do the same to them is to be applied to men in things for their good I say and upon well grounded principles I would that men should endeavour to preserve my life I should therefore do the like to them I would in case I be destracted have others keep me from hurting my self or others I would so now in my sober mind therefore let me do so to others that are destracted so it will hold but not thus I in a fit of distraction suppose would have others that are sober let me run into the river and drown my self therefore I being in a sober mind ought to let another that is distracted do so and not hinder him Yet such is their application of that Rule that would have us not to judge them in an error that we know deny the Lord Jesus Christ nor reprove them for it and endeavour to preserve others from so doing because we would not have others judge the Truth to be Error and reprove us for it and endeavor to keep back others from receiving it Indeed as I would not have others in case I should fall into distraction to do me any real harm or to deal evilly with me to make me worse and keep me from returning to a sober mind yet if their witholding me from self-murder or mischief to others should vex and make me worse though they therein deal as well and fairly with me as my destraction would permit them therein they would not be faultworthy So we are to deal righteously and lovingly as their condition may permit to those that are deceived deceivers and not by any unjust accusations of them or violent carriages towards them to harden and strengthen them from returning especially seeing the zeal and wrath of men will not accomplish the righteousness of God onely so far we must use plainness and sharpness towards them as we see necessary and requisite either for detecting their evil and pulling them out of it or however for the preserving others from being snared by them and so far as that will require it I am not to matter their offence-taking and enmity against me for the same love to particulars must give way to love to the general and love to evil men must give way to love to God and good men when they come in competition as love to a rotten member must give way to love to the found and to the whole body I shall do well if my leg or foot be wounded to apply healing medicines to it but if it putrifie I must apply things to it that will eat out the dead flesh though they will bring some smart and pain to it that will make it fell and angry yea and rather then my whole body should perish by its incorrigibleness I should do well to cut it off and sever it from the body before it be too far infected and I suppose no man would fault me for want of love and charity either to it or to my body in so doing The like is to be done to those that being corrupt themselves endanger the corrupting others too from the faith of Christ onely by cutting off I would not be understood to mean a banishing them the Country or putting them to death I would not have Saints in the way of their spiritual warfare and for their faith to make use of such weapons God having given them others to make use of viz. the Sword of the Spirit Prayers Warnings Admonitions Reproofs withdrawings from them casting them out of fellowship and looking upon them as accursed to them which are Christs spiritual weapons and to be used as the â—ase may require however some deceived or not rightly guided spirits boggle at it but as for them when without let God there judge them in the mean while Saints should by all means out of love to the sound members not cease to warn admonish and watch over them as opportunity is given them opening to them the evil of those false wayes in which others would snare them as we find to have been the frequent course of
hath manifested himself and is to be believed in in each of these as that this one God by his Word and Spirit having made and created all things for man and man in his own Image deserved and required to be obeyed and honoured by man but man sinning and therefore falling under his displeasure and making himself thereby unable to please him and unfit for fellowship with him by reason of that unspeakable pollution that hath overspread him God was yet pleased in the greatness of his mercy and freeness of his love to find out a way to recover us again and a way by which we might return back again unto him So as that both his justice and displeasure against sin might clearly be demonstrated and yet his goodness and love too toward sinful mankind be magnified which was by appointing and sending forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law so being found in shape as a man a reall man to bear in his body the punishment of our sin the sin of the world and so to give himself a ransome for all That this his Son the Word made flesh as was long before even from the beginning of the world fore-prophecied of him is now come already and hath taken upon him in the body that was prepared for him the burthen and cause of man and as a publike man given himself a ransome for All induring the Death and undergoing that sentence of curse and condemnation that by the offence of one came upon All men and that for All and hath in grapling with that death and sin overcome them so that God hath raised and justified him in the behalf of all so as he may also see the justificatian of all that do and shall believe on him To which purpose also viz. that men might in believing on him have him for their justification the Father hath glorified him in the nature and behalf of mankind making him Lord of all and his salvation to the end of the earth giving him all fulness of Authority and Power and filling him with all the fulness of the Godhead bodily even the fulness of Divine Spirit Power and Vertue yea also appointing and ordaining him as Mediator to stand in the Vertue of his Death and Sacrifice between God and men as the propitiation for them even for our sins that believe and not ours onely but also of the whole world 1 John 2.1,2 So as that with respect to him and what he hath done and suffered for sin he is good and patient and bountiful to the whole world not withstanding they sin yea and hath sent out his Gospel to be published to them all without limitation or restriction viz. that though this his Son there is forgiveness for them and he would have them saved and to that purpose come to the acknowledgement of the truth yea He to wit Christ is He in whom all the world or any of them may find favor and come into favor with God again so as to be at one with him namely by acknowledging his Truth and believing on him who also is appointed by his teaching them as a Prophet by his ruling them in righteousness and writing his Law in them and subduing their enemies as a King and Lawgiver and Judge over them and by mediating the new Covenant or Advocating and making intercession as the great High-Priest to the utmost to save all them of the sons of men that see and believe on him and so judge his and their enemies that that hate his Light and reject his â—endred mercy to condemnation to which end he shall at the time appointed of the Father come again and raise and judge both the one and the other as they have here behaved themselves towards him That as the Father hath put his Spirit upon Christ so they are to submit unto Christ in his Word and Ordinances and look unto and wait therein for this his Spirit upon him as he that is Power of God that is to bring down or effect in man that salvation that is in Christ Jesus set forth to them the Renewer Sanctifier Teacher Comforter and therefore to be heard sought after received and obeyed by men in the power of which they are to worship the Father through the Son and in the receit and indwelling of whom they shall finde and experiment the streams of that Fountain of Life that flows from the Father or rather that the Father is in and through the Son yea God himself by his Spirit to dwell in them and to set up his Kingdom in them in Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Ghost to the full possession and revelation of which in and upon them this Divine Spirit in such their listning to following after and obeying him will not fail to bring them Sect. 7. A Caveat against some mens preposterous mistakes about the Doctrines of Election and Reprobation THis then is the brief summ of the Doctrine to be held forth to the world in which we may hopefully expect and look for the assistance and operation of the Spirit to convince them of the good will of God toward them and therein of their sin for not believing on him Joh. 6.11 that hath done so much for them and is so appointed and fitted of God for saving them And of Righteousness both that all the righteousness they have of their own is empty and will not avail them otherwise no need for Christ to have died for them and also that in him is everlasting righteousness worthy to be looked after and certain in that their looking to him for it to be met with by them And of Judgement that their own self-justifications will not serve them nor their own self-condemnations so valid as remedilesly to cast them but to his doom they must stand by whom the Prince of the world is judged and they must receive their final sentence from him who is able in case of their believing on him to absolve them from all self-condemnings and in case of their disobedience against him and the Will of his Father to destroy them however their own thoughts and other men have hitherto justified them Yea in this Doctrine we may hopefully expect the holy Spirit to draw in and allure the convinced to hope in him and believe on him and therefore this hold ye forth to them and to the furtherance of this let all your conversations and walkings be directed as becoms the children of such a Father the members of such a Head as the Lord Jesus and as the Temples of the holy Ghost that they that are apt to slight the Word may yet be woon to glorifie it by the goodness of your conversation And beware I pray of that preposterous way that some run into who through mistake or unbelief of the Gospel delivered to us by the holy Apostles according to the commandment of the everlasting God and through the exercise of their own reason with the mistaking of some