brother-hood which is in Christ who is not ashamed to call us brethren whereby he declares their disjunction and separation from the men formerly spoken of as not being naturalized or having any part or portion in that manner of death formerly expressed nor any allyance thereunto 2. Whence he infers the exhortation Be patient therefore that is as the Son of God suffers himselfe to be deprived and laid wast of all spirituall glory vertue and operations of his spirit in the world to rescue you and deliver you there-from even so do you suffer your selves without any resistance to be routed and dispoiled of all humane transitory and fading excellencies of the world that as he fully suffereth in the wicked in point of the spirit as being layd waste of all the things thereof for there is a fulfilling or fulnesse of the Scripture in Judas and the Jewes in putting Christ to death in regard of the letter of it So do you patiently endure to be dispoyled and layd waste of all that carnall and temporall glory of the world in whatsoever it may seem to consist for there is a fulfilling or fulnesse of the Scripture in the man of God also even in that Emanuel God with us or in us in regard of the true spirit and life of the word of God therefore the flesh must be abolished that so the fulness of the spirit may appear which otherwise it cannot do The word translated patience is the same where the Apostle John saith I John even your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdome and patience of Jesus Christ or in the Kingdome and under-abiding of Jesus Christ as the word is truly rendered that is a suffering of the losse of all things carnall and transitory through that Princely power of the spirit that reigns in the kingdome of God that so Christ his suffering in the flesh may be as full and compleat as that in the spirit that so the form of the Cherubims on each end of the Mercy-seate may answer one to another from between which the Oracle of God ever utteteth it selfe and else-where expresseth not it selfe in the Sanctuary and hence is Christ said to come or spring up in this place and that is the third point unto what this suffering tends and whereunto it serves and that is to the coming of the Lord. 3. The word translated coming signifies to spring grow up or ascend teaching us hereby that this is the way of the resurrection of Christ and his ascention into all spirituall and heavenly glory for he gives himselfe unto death in respect of any life of the spirit being or existing in the world or any glory of his presence in point of his divine grace ever to appeare there that is in the wicked and this is as a compleat and unvaluable ransome whereby he purchaseth unto himselfe miserable and fraile flesh in that way of his Saints to be possessed for ever in the power of his spirit in all the fruits of righteousnesse being cloathed thereupon with the glory of the sons of God and heyrs of his Kingdom this patience therefore is to the coming of the Lord into unity and brother-hood with fraile man The argument then stands thus If Christ suffer death in the spirit in the men of the world freely giving up himselfe thereunto without resistance to an eternall separation of his spirit and glory of his power from that which he himselfe is namely man Do you in like manner suffer your selves to be deprived of all the excellency glory of this world and freely lay down your life in respect of any living thereunto without resistance for it is not unto separation or departure but to the springing up and coming of the Lord that you may ascend into that which he is in himselfe namely into the state and condition of an only son Let the world take notice that if the Son of God give it its full scope without resistance to set up and exalt it selfe in riches power policy and all wantonnesse and lasciviousnesse what a shame is it to the world to deny him liberty and freedome in his Saints to exercise himselfe in all his vertues offices and operations of his spirit in his house and kingdome but they must be judging him to be factious seditious pernicious erroneous and blasphemous and that by such as are most properly sealed up unto carnall and humane principles in Schools of humane learning so as they dare not give an Exposition upon the word of God but so as it may be consonant to the rules of humane Art unlesse they receive it at second hand by some approved Author that passeth for currant in the state where they live While the world walks and works in this sphear we shall see nothing among the sons of the mighty but meerly Babels confusion For the most curious Artist destitute of the spirit of God exercising in the word of God brings forth the greatest confusion for he is bound to preserve and maintayn the flesh which in all poynts lusteth against the spirit and is contrary thereunto So that it is the division of language for his tongue is divided from God in all expressions if hee be understood according to his true intent 4. The amplification follows by an elegant allusion to a Husbandman with respect to his seed-time and harvest We all know of what nature the patient waiting of a husband-man is with respect to his seed-time and harvest Let us therefore take out the meaning of the allusion wherein is contayned a mystery implyed in this word Behold noting unto us the appearance of a signe or wonder as was formerly sayd of the same phrase Now the Husband-man is the Son of God who sowes good seed in his field But the enemy in this his sleep of death unto the spirit in the men of the world or man of sin sowes tares for it is the word of God that is sown in the world but being received and formed by the would composed of the principle and dictates of humane wisdome which hath in it the very characters of the letter of the Scriptures which is the compleat form of the law of sin and death even as the wisdome of the spirit hath in is the compleat form of the law of the spirit of life and being received and formed in that mould it becomes a pernicious and unfruitfull tare In like manner as the spirit of the creature being cast into that mould of wholsome Doctrine doth through that wisdom of God become in it the true seed of immortality to increase with the increasings of God In the allusion or metaphor we have to consider 1. A wonder noted in the word Behold 2. A patient waiting or abiding The husband-man waiteth 3. For what that is for the precious fruits of the earth 4. The time is with long patience 5. The meanes of receiving them and that is The former and latter raine FIrst for the word Behold
power of the resurrection from the dead as it is said the Lord shall raise him up there is in prayer a Lord-like authority to rise out of that grave of sin and sorrow of death and destruction so as none shall have dominion over it to keep it under for it cannot be held of death but it will remove the stone from the Sepulchre and deface and break open the seal of Herod himselfe though set upon it by the cheif Preists and Pharisees making it as sure as they can it will make the house of the carnall Jews to shake when the Apostles of Christ are gathered together or brought into unity and harmony by that reconciling spirit of interpretation It will make the foundations of the Prison to shake where the spirit of our great Apostle is infringed casting open the doors and laying wast such power to the astonishment of the Jaylors themselves whoever they may be yea it will raise Peter up out of the dungeon and cause his chains to fall off from his hands to his own admiration and wonder In a word prayer hath in it the power and vertue of the resurrection because it is the breathing of the Son of God returned from death to life this word behold he prayeth was an argument sufficient to prove Paul change from a Saul and to be risen up out of that grave and puddle of the Jewish litteral and carnall worships and from that deadly spirit of persecution which ever accompanies such maner of services Thirdly prayer hath in it the power of pardon and forgivenesse of sins for if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him or in the present tence as the word will bear they are forgiven him that is to every one that partakes in this prayer of faith To commit sin here is to be understood in a two-fold respect that is negatively and affirmatively of which the breach of law being sin doth consist now to sin and prove a delinquent in omitting and not doing that which is required is to neglect and leave undone that which the carnal commandement according to the strict spirit of a Pharisee calls for such sin or missing of the rule of the carnall commandement standing in outward ordinances is here to be understood which is the onely sin condemned by a carnall Jew and this law the prayer of faith doth rout ravell undo and abrogate with respect unto the obligation thereof in the true intent of a Pharasaical Jew And against this law doth true prayer sin in all its supplications intercessions and requests for the prayer of faith observes not in the least in any point that law of the spirit of bondage which onely obligeth to the law of the flesh nor can it keep and perform that spirit of enmity which Christ Jesus nailes to his Crosse and slays in himselfe and therefore a sinne in a Saint in way of negation against the affirmative part of the law of the flesh Againe there is a sin committed affirmatively and that is by reall acting and doing according to the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord which the wisdome of man in that carnall law forbids and that under the penalty of errour schism heresie pride blasphemy and death it self For every point of the law of the spirit rightly composed according to the prin ciples and grounds of faith is most heinous wicked detestable sinfull and abominable in the eyes of a carnal man Now the breach disannulling and abrogating of the carnall command for which the Jewes so hated Christ is the truth of the matter the reality and ever carries in it the remission pardon and forgivenes of sins in the Saints as surely as the breach of the law of the spirit and that everlasting Covenant of God carries in it guilt crime and is the condemnation of the world For every sin and blasphemy against the Son of man that is against the wisdome will power and authority of the arme of flesh shall be forgiven or it is forgiven for it hath the acquittance general discharge and release in it self but he that speaks aagainst the holy spirit that is against that law of the spirit or spirituall estate of that holy one of God it shall never be forgiven that is he that breaks the law of the spirit in any word or thing as the phrase imports it hath in it that guilt which can never be wiped out neither in this world that is in time present nor in the world or time that is to come or not in this world that is in the conscience of the party so made guilty nor in the world to come that is in that sentence of the righteous Judge which doth for ever adjudg and condemn it so that as the breach of the spiritual law hath in it an eternall guilt unseperably and enevitably fastned unto it and accompaning the same even so hath the breach or abrogation of the carnall law an everlasting pardon and acquittance before God fastned unto and ever accompaning the same Note in this point that the Levitical law which the Apostle apposeth to the law of an endlesse life doth not condemn because men fall short in some particulars of the fulfilment of the same but it condemns and is death unto him that walks according to the same or lives thereafter Therefore our Apostle saith If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye that is if yee live according to the law of the carnall commandement for by it no flesh can be justified or if yee minde the things of the flesh that is as the word signifies if ye frame form or fashon things unto your selfe according to the carnall command art or reason of man concerning the affairs of God it is death but to live after the spirit that is the law of the spirit or spirituall law is life and peace or to minde the things of the spirit that is to form frame and fashion things spiritually that is life and peace and as the one of these is sin according to mans wisdome and his accounts even so is the other sin according to Gods wisdome and his reckoning and account judgement and doom passed upon it by an eternall and unchangeable sentence There is pardon then and power of forgivenesse in prayer because it is God that sitteth upon that throne of grace judging unto justification who then shall condemn for it the spirit of grace and supplication whereof prayer doth consist yea it is the Son of God who is justified who then shal lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen that holy one of God For wherever the spirit and vertue of Christ is there is power to forgive sins therefore he saith to stop the mouth of those legall Pharisees whether is it easier to say thy sins are forgiven or to say take up thy bed and walke but that you may know that the Son of man hath power to forgive sins on earth therefore I said
then there could be no want to be supplyed so that the whole spirit of Christianity prayeth viz. God and man in unity so it is here the spirit that turns is God and man in unity and is as true a change from that which is and ever shall be Satanicall as the wicked erre from that which is and ever shall be holy and righteous and they are both of one and the same time in the rise of them For in the beginning was the word and that word is with God and is God And Satan is a lyar from the beginning and abode not in truth no more then Christs soule was left in hell or that holy one suffered to see corruption but was ever taught in the way of life and in that reall presence at whose right hand there is fullnesse of joy for evermore Therefore the Prophet saith that Christ comes meek and lowly saving himselfe that is compleatly and not apart only and therein the worth and dignity of salvation stands that it hath that weight substance of account and reckoning in it and upon this ground the Disciples are comforted against all feare whatsoever where it is said Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and yet one of them falls not to the ground without the good will of your heavenly father of how much more worth are ye then many sparrows Can you set a price and rate of so mean a thing and doth God take care for the preservation of it Of what esteem price and respect then is the state of a Christian in which not a part but the compleat spirit of the Son of God is involved and by a ransome given and payd in the world proportionable thereunto purchased This point contains a mystery which the common Priest-hood of the world so far as I have heard or seen in books is altogether ignorant of though life and death yea the spring and originall fountaine of all things is involved in it So much for the proposition the injunction followes Le him know or acknowledge c. The word let is of like signification here that it is in the beginning Let there be light let us make man c. having the power of a command and vertue of propagation to bring forth being of the nature of the word Amen so be it or so it shall be without all gainsaying or contradiction having in it a creating power and vertue to give being to the thing uttered That is that the party thus turning or turned for both are true and the word implies both one that turns and one turned for both are in that state of Christ and he that preacheth any thing but Christ and him crucified he goes beyond our Apostle as far as the common apostacy The word Let then establisheth in the heart of him and no other that turneth a sinner from the errour of his way a certaine power of acknowledgment of such a condition or royall and noble acts which here follows but first see here the nature of the confession or acknowledgment of sin it is his way that turneth naturally but it is confessed to the change or converting it unto the state of the Sonne of God even as truth may be sayd to be their way naturally who are in errour but they have perverted the same into falshood turning the truth of God into a lye and his grace into wantonnesse so that their way with respect to that which they have perverted is holinesse and is and ever shall be so in Christ but there remayns nothing but sin and wickednesse in the perverters thereof So also a Christian may confesse that the evill of sin and errour is his way with respect to that which is converted and is and ever shall be so in the wicked but in that state of the turned and converted there is no sin nor errour to be found at all there is then a reality of the Saints confession of their sin but it is to the removing of it to another where it abides for ever as there is a reall confession of a holy one in the wicked but it is ever in removing it unto another which they are not which is the proper spirit of Python that unperswaded or unfaithed one as the Apostle gives the wicked the title of Apeitheis unperswaded or disobedient so that their acknowledgment of holinesse in another subsistance is the unfaithing or unbetrothing of the soule from God it is its proper and perpetuall divorce So that he that knows not how to clear the state of Christianity from sin and fill the world with wickednesse he will come to make a bankrupt-like account when ever his estate comes to be discovered Therefore the wealthy estate noble acts and royall prerogatives following are only entailed and made over to him that turns the sinner from the errour of his way errour collectively as all considered in one otherwise Christ is not cleered and made the holy one of God and then not risen from the dead We are yet in our sins the substance of the common doctrine at this day in the world The first point or act of honour given to him that turns is that he saves a soule from death not as the world thinks by preaching the terrours of the Law and frighting men from some grosse and bruitish acts they have thereby converted and saved souls the most part of those that thus save did strive to pluck men out of the hands of the Bishops that the people might be instruments to lift them up into the like seat if not worse no such conversion coms in here it is abhominable but it is a true and faithfull distribution and opening of Gods righteous and holy manner of working in the absolution of his holy son made sin in being acquit from all sin and the just condemnation of that wicked one who in being made Lucifer the morning starre became the Prince and power of darknesse From such an originall we must fetch salvation and destruction or else all our doctrine of the decree of election and reprobation will prove no better then reprobate silver not passing for currant in the Kingdome of God 1. But the thing to be acknowledged by such a one as turns or is turned is he saves that is the power and spirit of the Saviour is there when once we know of what nature the spirit of the world is namely that wee are of God and the world is of that wicked one then wee shall learn to acknowledg that salvation never appears but there is the Saviour wee thinke to honour Christ by binding him up in one individuall man in point of the mystery of the Gospel it is a carnall and humane honour not beseeming the Son of God the common Priest-hood hath blinded and besotted the world in this point setting up an idoll in mens minds and not the mystery of life that is by Christ but it is taken for blasphemy in these dayes to talk of the Son of God
to be best of all and yet prefers his traffique in some other things before his attaynment of that yea causing the things of God to stand aside and give way to his vaine and lofty lusts of what nature or kind soever to satisfie them That man doth not the good which he acknowledgeth or as the word will beare he is it not that is he is not of the faith of Jesus he is not stated in the condition of the Son of God who seeks only to do the will of the Father and prefers and glories in that above all things and he that doth not that he is of that evill one and doth the things that are proper unto him being under the state and power of sinne which is as a transition into the fifth Chapter Wherein observe two things First The generall scope Secondly The particular parts of it 1. For the scope or end to which the purpose of the Spirit is directed and that is the death or crucification of the Son of God that Just one as he is intitled vers 6. And he that shall take the scope and drist to be otherwise he misseth of that mark which the Spirit of God directs unto and shoots his shafts in vaine and this death is layd down unto us and for us in a double respect 2. For the parts of this Chapter and they are properly four 1. The first sets down unto us the death of Christ as he is crucified in the world by wicked hands or corrupt administrations through the lusts of men unto the decay and death of that law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord in and by the men of the world as once the body of Jesus was crucified and killed doctrinally by those wicked Jews and all sorts of people then united in one and this is contained from the first verse to the seventh 2. It containes the depth of the Lord Jesus as he is crucified to the world in respect of the flesh that is to all carnall and corrupt things contained in the law of the carnall commandement and hand writing of humane Ordinancs which is against us and therefore nailed unto his Crosse And thus he is slaine in the Saints even in all the Subjects that appertaine and belong to his Kingdome which consists not of the matters and affaires of this present world and this is expressed from vers 7. to the 12. 3. It gives out an eminent and universall Prohibition backed with an exhortation together with the danger ensuing the not observing thereof and that is contained in verse 12. 4. It sets beforre us or rather romidgeth our hearts to finde out in us and to bring forth by us those excellent and admirable fruits which spring up in the godly from the death of Christ and observation of the prohibition abovesaid The Irradian beames whereof are shed forth from verse 12. to the end of the Epistle And first of the death of Christ as he is crucified in the world in respect of his proper spirit and vertue that by wicked hands and administrations both of Jewes and Gentiles that is such as are strict in Religion according to the literall command and historicall notion being engaged thereto by that spirit of bondage and of fear and others loose and licentious not having the bond of the spirit of God upon them But using the liberty of the Gospell as an occasion to the flesh surreptitiously encouraging themselves thereby to all excesse of ryot in the inordinate use of carnal and vanishing things that perish in the use and this is done by men of all ranks and qualities that are not become one in that chiefe and principal goodnes reckoning themselves as nothing in account but as themselves their place authority and dignity takes its being and is summed up in that State office and dignity of the Sonne of God otherwise they are such as glory and boast in themselves which rejoycing is evil namely of that wicked one wherefore he saith vers 1. Vers 1. Go too now yee rich men weepe and howle for your miseries that shall come upon you OUr Apostle here expresseth himselfe to the wealthy of the world as rich men or collectively Rich man as of all in one that is man of Sin or men of Belial who greed and gripe after all manner of good falsely so called in the neglect of that one and alone goodnesse in Christ that one thing necessary that better or best part which can never be taken from him who chooseth it as his chiefe and only treasure But to make choise of and to rejoyce and glory in as an only and rich trade and treasure besides that is to stiflle in themselves and suffocate the life and spirit of the Lord Jesus which is thereby extinct and in them breaths not He bids them therefore Go too now or come on as if he would encourage them in their course A like phrase is used Gen. 11. at the building of Babell Go too now or come on give a word of exhortation and encouragement one to another for the furtherance of your worke As if he should say Take your liberty use your accustomed trade and traffique to get and gather in abundance of your corruptible riches that moth and rust can seize upon and spare no pains misse of no opportunity to make your selves excellent and glory in it only with this proviso namely that you will assure your selves of the income and proper return together with your adventure and this your practice upon that condition take your best advantage and full swinge in your course for the just resists you not as is expressed verse 6. For the Gospel of God is not a hinderer of wickednesse in the men of Belial no more then the sop which Christ gave to Judas together with his speech thereupon What thou dost do it quickly hindered him not in the execution of so trayterous an office for it is a savour of death unto death unto the unbelievers and of no lesse power to accomplish it through that spirit which is in the world then it is of vertue to be a favour of life unto life in the Saints through that spirit which is in them And it is as unpossible that one member of that body of sinne should come to the knowledg of the truth as it is that any one of the chosen of God should be deceived with errour and wiles of Sathan which Christ affirms it is unpossible they should be deceived For as Christ keeps his family intire and compleat So that none of them is lost but that sonne of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled in point of wrath proportionable to grace and mercy which sonne of perdition comprehending all the children of destruction was lost once and for ever Even so doth Antichrist mayntaine his interest in all the seed of the Serpent and parteth with none only that lost sheep of the house of Israel as a brand is
plucked out of the fire being found to be one of the flock of God once and for ever No marvell then though our Apostle saith Go too now unto the wicked and wealthy in point of Pharisaical excellencies for as the state of death and darknesse discovered by the Gospel doth sharpen and provoke the godly unto joy thankfulness for their deliverance and escape therefrom Even so doth the state of life and peace discovered in the Saints by the same Gospel sharpen provoke the wicked to enmity and despair which is the expelling of the spirit of God quenching the same in themselves Therefore he bids them weep howl for the misery that cometh upon them hereby and by weeping he signifies unto them the departure and loss of all good even that life of the Lord Jesus whom they crucifie afresh unto themselves and make a mock of him in whose life all goodnesse is treasured up and comprehended which unto them is vanished as a vapour therefore he bids them weepe for the losse of good causeth tears and by howling he minds them of that present wrath and torture which abides upon them and possesseth them which however it may lye as Dormant for a time yet this sin of killing Chrst in the Spirit is the same with that of Caines killing his brother and lies at the door as the proper and only in-let of the deluge of Gods wrath into the soule and indeed into the world For it cuts off the Sonne of God from being propagated and brought forth in the world according to the spirit and power proper to himselfe as that wicked act of Cain cut him off from being brought forth in his geneologie after the flesh in the way of Abel and so makes a nullity of Schin that makes all things and therefore must have all guilt in it which is the doore and in-let for execution of vengeance Therefore he adds for the misery that shall come upon you or as the word may be read in the present tense is come upon you For in these twain that is to say in the losse of all good and the possession of all evill perfect misery and wretchednesse doth consist The word translated Howle in the Hebrew is Shadad and signifies to destroy of which Zadai is derived a title given unto God signifying power or Almighty and here is an elegant allusion unto the etymologie of the originall phrase used by the Prophets signifying unto us that no less then Gods Almighty power is exercised and put forth to the utmost in the scattering and destruction of all such as stifle the Son of God in the breathings of his holy Spirit in themselves by preferring glorying in other things before it or as it is in others by vilifying contemning and persecuting it whereupon the next phrase is brought in viz. Vers 2. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are motheaten THat is all the substance they enjoy boast of and glory in is putrified and changed from that which otherwise and else-where it is for they adulterate the holy word of God unto themselves by subjecting and prostrating the same unto their owne lusts of pride cruelty and vain-glory as though such things were the naturall fruits of it they bring them forth and also nourish and foster them by it as a Harlot doth a child in an adulterous way that is after the way of the letter that kills and not in the way of the Spirit that gives out the life of the Lord Jesus Therefore it is that above he calls them adulterers and adulteresses telling them that the love of the world is enmity with God that is that which the world counts love in the height and top of affection is the proper malice and enmity of Caine whereby he kills and crucifies him who is not ashamed to call his Saints brethren being flesh of their flesh and bone of their bone And we must know that there is a unity in the Harlot as well as in the true Espousall For hee that is joyned unto an harlot is one flesh for two saith he shall be one flesh By twaine there is not meant creature and creature joyned together but God and the Creature are become one in that way of the harlot that is they are become one carnall corrupt and sinfull estate for there is as neere a unity between God and man in that man of Sin unto all unrighteousnesse in prophaning all the holy things of God unto destruction in which the holy one is cleare from being a proper actor or agent in any of them all as there is in Christ that man of God unto all righteousnesse and holinesse by setting sinfull man apart to all honour in salvation whereby being joyned unto the Lord is made one spirit with him that is they twayn are but one holy happy and righteous estate and condition wherein man is excluded from being any proper agent or actor as in any thing proper and naturall to the Creature So that man putrifies and corrupts the Son of God in himselfe through principles and aptitudes of mind proper to a Creature but not unto God subjecting the things of God to the law of the carnall Commandement naturally ingraffed and written in mans spirit which is the law of sin and death And God sanctifies and makes holy man in himselfe through principles and aptitudes proper to the Creator himselfe and not unto the Creature by subjecting it to the will of God according to his wisdome which is that state of righteousnesse and law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The proper riches and excellencies of the world then are corrupted and are become the proper mammon of iniquitie for however they may count upon truth to come within the compasse of their estates and reckonings to advance their excellencies thereby yet it is corrupted unto them for they have changed the truth of God into a lye Indeed they lay claime to Jesus as a Saviour on whom they hang all their vanishing carnall and Spider-web like hopes But he is corrupted and as a moth in them being become Shadad or Shedim a waster and destroyer They monopolize Churches and Congregations of God unto themselves but they are corrupted and are become Synagogues of Satan and an assembly of evill doers For they are no true Church of Christ or congregation of the first born of God whose names are recorded in heaven that so expound the word of God as they can but apply some one part thereof as their present ornament and furniture for they may as well as indeed they do lay aside some part of Christ for the present and so divide him and make a nullity of him as to lay aside some part of the word of God as not in present use in their dayes being a garment not holding proportion with their composed body But the true Church knowes that the end of the Law is Christ and can tell how to adorn it selfe in
it is exprest in Ver. 6. For as the use and exercise of the law of the spirit in the declaration of the virtue of Christ Jesus the contraction and Emitto whereof is the splendant brightnesse of Christianity testifying unto all men that therein consists the crucification of the flesh in all the affections and lusts of it Even so the exercise of the law of the flesh in the contraction and sending forth of the desires and affections thereof testifies unto all men that therein consists the crucification and death of Christ Jesus according to the spirit testifying an eternal guilt upon an act of such nature as that is which is of no lesse concernment then the kissing of the Son of the eternal God Secondly It eates their flesh as fire now we know that as rust eateth and consumeth the mettals in which it breeds so doth fire consume and destroy the fuel in which it fastneth it selfe and taketh hold and without fuell the fire ceaseth for take away fuel and the fire goeth out Now the proper fuel wherein the wrath of God kindleth it selfe is the wisdome of the flesh so that take away that and the fire thereof goeth out it is not without that no more then fire is without fuel and therefore no creature in the world is capable of the eternal wrath of God but onely mankinde no more then any can be in a capacity of the consolation of God but such as are indued with his wisedome For as the consolations of God kindle themselves and become extant through that wisdome of God which hath given it selfe so glorious and an eternal forme in all the virtue relations and respects that are between God and man in Christ without which the consolations could not be no more then the eye can see without light or a house stand without the pillars and joynts of it even so the jealousie and wrath of Almighty God kindles it selfe becomes extant and in exercise through the wisdome of the flesh setting such a forme on the operations relations and respects as are conversant in the state of Antichrist between God and man For the wisdome of the creature or carnal law is wrath unto execution against such as use cruelty to the innocent especially in the highest degree and when the proper operations of the word according to the carnal law are made manifest it shall appear that they have exercised cruelty against the innocent Son of God that then in the highest degree in putting him to death in all that livelyhood and operation of his holy spirit which is not permitted to exercise it selfe or breath in them whereupon they must of necessity by that their wisdome judge condemn and execute wrath upon themselves which could not hold proportion with this their fact but as the power of God kindles it selfe therein yet so as the proper power and spirit of God is not any cause or original thereof that is of their torment but man himselfe is the proper cause and fountaine thereof out of which it for ever floweth For as the soule of man is kindled and inflamed through the wisdome of God with the love and consolations of God yet the soule of the creature is no proper original or fountaine thereof for they are the love and comforts of the Creator and not of a creature yet is the creature conversant and active in them even so the power and spirit of God kindles it selfe through the wisedome of the flesh the literall voice of the Scriptures written in all mens hearts in wrath and displeasure and is conversant and infinitely active therein yet is the spirit and power of God no proper original or fountaine of wrath but the wisedome and spirit of the creature is the proper cause and fountaine of it therefore it is sayd of the Lord fury is not in me We must remember then that when the Scriptures ascribe unto man love joy peace grace mercy glory power and virtue proper unto the Saints they are such as God is the fountaine and cause of and not the creature yet are they the excellency of the Sonne of God who is not without the creature though he be God blessed for ever So likewise when we see the Scriptures ascribe unto God anger wrath fury displeasure and vengence which are proper unto the wicked they are such as the creature is the proper fountaine and original of and not God yet are they not without God but are the proper exercise of that man of sinne and sonne of perdition yea of that Shadad or Shedim that destroyer of man kinde who is the God of this world the Prince that ruleth in darknesse which is accursed for ever And as for such devils as are composed through that conjuration of academicall Nations from literall expressions of the Scriptures as connexions of the dictates of their own hearts we skill not but give glory to God both in mercy and severity in the exercises of them and so the rest is an infallible testimony and witnesse of the nature and practice of Satan himselfe the God of this wicked world therefore the Apostle saith We know that we are of God and the world is of that wicked one as the word is that is of the Devill the off-spring and seed of the Serpent accursed from the beginning 3. He addes therefore in the third place Ye have he aped treasure together for the last day To heap treasure together is to augment increase inlarge and so to fill up as nothing more can be added which is impossible unlesse it be an infinite Treasury and then he who onely is infinite must be in the store so that almighty and eternal God is in the wrath hoarded up against the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgement of God for there is a fulnesse of sin without vacuity either in respect of time place or action for the sinne of the Amorites must be full when Abrahams seed possesse the land or else the fulnesse of our deliverance in Christ appears not for there is a fulnesse in or fulfilment of the letter of the Scripture in that way of Judas in his betraying of Christ unto death as there is a fulnesse in that law of the spirit or fulfilment of the Scripture in bringing forth unto light and of that Emanuel God with us For as Christ being true man naturally mortall is filled with eternal life in the excellency and purity of the Son of God so Antichrist being true God in the unity of his creation immortal becomes filled with eternal death through the lusts and corruption of man for it is whole Christ that dyes and not a part of him he dyes in the Saints unto sinne Satan and all corruptable things So that when the Prince of this world cometh he findes not in him to joyne himselfe with or lay claym unto and he dyes in the unbeleife unto all things of the spirit acceptable unto God and in this doth that ransome consist
wherein the Sonne of God hath given himselfe unto an eternal death to deliver his chosen ones into that eternal life proper and peculiar to the lord alone His dying unto the flesh in his Saints is the life and resurrection of it in the men of the world and his dying unto the spirit in the wicked is the life and resurrection of it in the Saints of God for neither of them must be annihilated but as man at the first was made in the Image of God and the word was made dust that is in that work of God both the wisdome proper to a creature was to be found and that wisdome also proper to the Creator these twain must remaine extant for ever that is the wisedome of God extended to the uttermost in that curious workmanship of the mysticall and glorious body of Christ And also the wisdome of the creature must be extended to the uttermost in that composure of the body of sin and death which is only the curiosity of that confusion in the building of Babell there is a heaping up then and an absolute fulnesse of corruptable treasures and riches in the wealth of the world But For what is it heaped together that is for the last dayes by dayes here is to be understood times and seasons and the word last signifies the least or basest dayes and times as often it doth in the Scriptures so that this treasure rightly reckoned and justly summed and cast up amounts to the worst and basest of days a time wherein the Sonne of God exists not nor is he therein found a day not of salvation but of destruction a season of death and not of life days of sorrow and not of joy base times of famine not of plenty of pestilence not of health of war and not of peace times of murther and cruelty and not of love and freindship days of enmity pride and diabolicall policy and not dayes of that meeknesse of wisedome that is in the Sonne of God In a word the heaping together of the fruits of the flesh as our only treasure is to the bringing forth of such times and seasons wherein the policy and power of Satan ruleth and not the simplicity that is in the wisdome and virtue of the Sonne of God unto which season the oath of the Angel hath respect that stands with one foot on the sea and the other upon the earth and swears by him that lives for ever that time shall be no more that is with respect unto that foot that stands upon the troublesome and tumultuous estate and condition of that sea of evils of the world he swares that no jot nor tittle time nor moment of the life or day of Christ shall ever be found there he ceaseth in them for ever and a baser time can never be then to be voyd of him even as that time is most precious and glorious and those onely are halcyon dayes wherein he appears and Satan or ought of him is not found in them no not for a moment He shews in one particular wherein the basenesse of these dayes consists and that is in the fraudulent detaining and keeping back the hire of the labourer Vers 4. Behold the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabboth Wherein observe 1. The note of aspect and looking up Behold 2. Who the labourers are that reap down the fields 3. What the labour and reaping is 4. What the hire of the labourer is 5. What the cryes thereof is that cryeth 6. Into what the cryes enter that is into the eares of the Lord. 7. The title or tearm of honour given unto him that is the Lord of Sabboth ANd first of the note of aspect Behold which signifies to look up in the observation of a signe or wonder which is now to appear and it is of like nature of that of the Prophet Jonah given unto the Jews that crucified Christ which was a signe of their destruction in that the Sonne of man was to lye buried three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth that is to be perfectly and perpetually dead and buried in their earthly and carnal hearts never to exercise his life and spirit in them which is a signe and wonder that the Son of the living God should be mortallized in them it is a like signe and wonder here that the Sonne of God should become a hireling defrauded of his hire For it is a like miraculous thing that the Son of sorry man who is sayd to be a worm an object a vapour a vanity to be made Lord of Heaven and Earth Judge of quick and dead as that he that is Lord ruler and possessor of all things to become a hireling So that the mystery of iniquity is not without signe and wonder no more then the mistery of God is and both reall though the one be a lying wonder and the other a true wonder the one confirms the faith of God the other the faith of Devils The one promiseth salvation for the confirmation of Pharaoh in the hardning of his heart unto destruction which is a thing contrary and therefore a lying wonder as it appears in Pharaoh and his host drowned in the sea the other promiseth salvation and deliverance unto Israel in Moses and Aaron which brings forth the thing promised and therefore a true and not a lying wonder as appeared in Israels marching triumphantly out of Aegypt Now there must be in a miracle or wonder that which goeth beyond the power of any nature else it is not a wonder and that is both in the one and the other of these miraculous signes for in point of salvation by Christ no simple nature can bring forth salvation for there must be in salvation both a Saviour and a saved else it is not full and compleat which neither the nature of man no nor the nature of God simply and disjunctively considered can be or bring forth Behold then a wonder in that which transcends and surpasseth any nature to be or to bring forth therefore it is said that we have a Mediator is made higher then the heavens that is the office of his mediatorship is of that super-eminent dignity that no simple nature can be or attaine unto therefore of twain he makes one new man in himselfe and so creates peace which otherwise could not be 2. Againe there is a wonder in destruction which goes beyond any simple and single nature also For the nature of God simply considered cannot be involved with the confines of destruction who is almighty and supream Lord over all neither can mans nature simply and disjunctively considered be in a capacity of an eternal destruction being a creature subject to the limits and precincts of time therefore God man are to be joyntly considered in that wonder and
in the destroying Angel to cause him to passe over as not having any employment there Even so the blood of Abel shed by the cruelty of Cain as a Lamb slain from the beginning according to the spirit or by the subtilty of Judas betraying him with a kisse hath in it a sufficient cry in the destroying Angel to move the exercise of wrath upon the first born of Aegypt the beginning top of all that strength wherein they trust who cruelly and fraudulently keep back Israel from his advance unto the land of Canaan The one hath in it the voyce and language of peace reconciliation and agreement with God as his first-born and onely beloved The other hath in it breach of brother-hood and fellowship the voyce of a vagabond flying from Gods presence and the glory of his power as in Caine and wrath unto self-murther and destruction as in Judas Iscariot that Confessor or Preacher for hire as his name signifies in whom the word of God in it selfe Lord over all is changed and transformed into an hireling 6. This cry enters into the eares of the Lord for as there is a certaine propencity in the eare of a man to take in any sound that moves the ayre and to give it a true and proper form his heart ecchoing the same thing whether it be matter of joy or matter of terrour Even so there is nothing that moves either in the proper sphere of Gods displeasure or of his acceptation and love but there is a proper and immediate aptitude in his wisdome and power to receive and give a true form thereunto according to the nature thereof ecchoing the same thing in returning an answerable and proportionable measure of wrath or mercy into that heart in which it moves where he hath place of a boad either in way of mercy as man by unity is become the Son of God in Christ or else in wrath as God is by unity also become the sonne of perdition in that way of Antichrist 7. And therefore that terme and title of honour is given him namely the Lord of Sabboth or Sabboths plurally for that which the Prophet Isaiah writes the Lord of Hosts plurally the Apostle to the Romans writes the Lord of Sabboth that is the Lord of Rest or plurally Rests and this declares unto us that wonder of Gods rest or cessation from his work and labour in the beginning and and how he worketh also even untill now For God rests and there is an absolute cessation of all works and operations proper to the Son of God in that way of the fall eating of the forbidden fruit or exercise of the carnall commandement in which no vertue motion or operation of the spirit is found but an utter and absolute cessation from them all and so the earth is sayd to enjoy its Sabboths by Gods laying of it wast from its inhabitants and in this condition the operations of the flesh and power of Satan are found and frequently in exercise Againe God resteth and ceaseth from labour for we never understand the name God in a good and proper sence but with respect unto God in Christ by whom the worlds were made and in him God rests and there is an utter and totall cessation from all the works of sin and death fruits of the flesh and operations of Satan which mans nature is subject unto there is a perpetuall rest cessation and sabbatizing in the Son of God from them all but there is a most glorious operation of the spirit and powerfull work of the Son of God in that estate and condition of Jesus Christ who is that rest that yet remayns in the people of God therefore it is said hitherto the father worketh and I worke and therefore the word Saba in the Hebrew tongue signifies either Sabboth a Rest or an Host or Armie and sometimes the Apostles in Greeke translates it Lord God Almighty to declare that there is an Almighty power of conquest in whomsoever the rest is found for there is an Almighty power of the whole host of Satans enmity in conquering and subduing the spirit and vertues of Christ in themselves resting from them all And there is an Almighty power of the spirit of grace in that Army of Heaven and order of the Son of God in vanquishing and subduing of all the power of sin and Satan unto that perfect rest which ever remayns in that only and beloved Son of God And truly the world may as well preach the temporall sword to be the Rescue Reformer and Conservation of the Church as the best and greatest Councell Synods Synodrians and Assemblies that ever were or can be gathered together only in the strength and power of humane learning wisdome experience and policy for in such the Lord is in array as an host and in rest and cessation but it is to do that work that strong worke of wrath not proper to the Son of the blessed whereby he rests from all his owne operations as the ensuing words do declare Vers 5. Yee have lived in pleasures on the earth and been wanton yee have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter YOu have lived in pleasure on the earth as Dives or that rich man did that is you have taken delight and made it your very living to exercise your selves in earthly and temporary things all your dealings and commerce is in such things as your selves cannot but confesse must have an end and cease to be and therefore earthly as your bodily fasts and humiliations your bodily feasts and verbal thanksgivings for vanishing things your Sabboths only in cessation from bodily labour your earthly victories and honourable achievements these are the food you feed on the things wherein your delight and pleasure is set and must they not have an end If so then are they earthly because they fade and vanish as the flower of grasse Nay the order of your Churches and Elderships the ordination and institutions of your Oracles and Orators will these stand with the Assembly and Church of the first-born of God whose names are enrolled in heaven where every one hath a like share and equall right to all the offices orders and priviledges of the kingdome if not they are earthly composed by the ministery of the letter that kills and not by the law of the spirit of life Add further what is your faith your prayers and righteousnesse are not these earthly and carnall as held and practised by you Can you tell what use to put them unto in your professed world to come I tro not for for any thing that ever I could learn from the common Priesthood of these dayes they have no use of the imputed righteousnesse of the Son of God when once their sanctification is compleated nor of their faith when they have attayned the end of it which they say is at their coming to heaven nor of prayer when they shall need no more to converse with or have supply of
filling them with the things of the creature so as they become unmeasurable not bounded by any time or season but take in the vast space of eternity and so the state of the wicked is also evelasting in that son of perdition as well as in that Son of God and yet that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit but both perpetuated of like race in respect of time in the sight of God and all that judg and discern according to the spirit of God for as it is affirmed of that eternall word that it was in the beginning In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God So it is affirmed of the wicked one that he is a man-slayer from the beginning and not to abide in the truth but is a lyar and the father of it There is therefore a change and a reall change in Satan for the truth of God is turned into a lye in him but it is in the number and act of his being so that it is as true and reall that he was never otherwise and therefore he is said also to be the fountaine and father of it as he that is so originally even as Abraham that high Father and ancient of dayes is sayd to be the father of the faithfull as the originall and propagator of them all And without this unity of the harlot prostrating and adulterating the word of God unto the lusts of men Satan is not known but works in and by and is conversant with man and man knows it not It is true also that there is a change and a reall change in Christ the son of the blessed for mans nature is changed from its visiosity and vanity proper to the wisdome of a creaeure to become the undefiled of God in the blessing and reality of son-ship but this change is from the manner instant and eternall act of his being so that it is as true that he was never other but that undefiled and reall son of God blessed for ever with respect to time past and that which is to come So that the Son of God is never alive in the spirit but Satan is dead in and to him nor is Satan alive in the flesh but Christ is dead in and to him and by his slaughter the world nourisheth its heart and feasts it selfe so that the mortification of the spirit of the Scripture or word of life is the revivall of the letter which becomes the proper nourishment of the carnall minde which is that state of death for to be carnally minded is death So also it is true in Christ that the mortification of the flesh in the abrogating of that carnall law of sin and death is the slaying of that Leviathan Sea-Dragon or man of Sin who is given to be meate for Gods people in the wildernesse that is it is the revivall of the spirit which becomes the proper nourishment of the sons of God and is that bread from heaven that perisheth not and food of eternall life which abides for ever And as food becomes one with that body that feeds upon it in the nourishing of it so doth the spirit and life of the living and eternall God become one state and condition in that man of God and mysticall body of Christ Jesus our alone Lordship and salvation And so also doth that spirit of death and destruction in that the truth of God is turned into a lye become one state and condition in that man of sin that vile body and mystery of iniquity wherein that eternall death only consisteth and remayneth for ever In the next verse he declares who it is they have killed and the manner of it Vers 6. Yee have condemned and have killed the just and he doth not resist you Wherein observe 1. The act of the wicked Yee have condemned and have killed the just 2. The demeanour of the Just He doth not resist them Their act is two-fold 1. They condemn him 2. They kill him 1. BY the just here as hath been declared is meant the Lord our righteousnesse or our justice as the Prophet calls him Whose path is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day that is hath all manner and motions of glory in it as from the rising of the Sunne unto the height thereof it is he onely in whom perfect justice resides which consists in a Justifier and a justified which is only found in Christ out of whom no perfect justice is found for if the Justifier be one and the justified another individuall or substance there is a fraction in the act it admits of default and imperfection you cannot find it whole in either of them Christ therefore is only just and hence it is that seates of Judicature must either condemn him in the world or else they cannot justifie themselves to have the perfection of the Law so they are sayd here to condemn the just or that just one To condemn implies the giving of sentence as by law for there must be a discerning wch is by a rule or else sentence cannot passe and every thing hath its proper and peculiar law whereby it seeks to effect the conservation and safety of of it selfe in its proper condition and where the wisdom of the flesh and carnall mind gives the proper being unto the condition it hath a certain law bond or engagement upon it in way of argumentall and legall reasoning for the safety and conservation of it selfe in its own principles and achievements and to condemn and sentence whatsoever makes for the bane and overthrow of them and unto that stands bound and engaged in it selfe as to its ruler or god Now the Crosse of Christ in the crucification of the flesh and order of that law of the spirit doth confound humane wisdome in the way of its being and all its enterprizes making it the proper folly of the world for it is written I will destroy the wisdome of the wise and will cast away the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made the wisdome of this world foolishness Therefore the wisdome of the flesh or carnall law doth bind over under penalty of destruction of it selfe to convent arraign convict condemn and passe a finall sentence upon the Son of God that law of the spirit of life otherwise it cannot reteyn and conserve it selfe So that we may as soon and with better acceptation perswade a rationall and ingenuous spirit to lye downe and utterly forsake the nature and activity of his wisdome and to become a beast of the dullest capacity as to perswade a carnall mind where the son of peace is not upon the true and proper conditions of the Gospel to become a son of God It is no marvell therefore though the world love their owne and hate such as are taught of
and that in way of wonder behold the Judge standeth before the doore THe word brother in this place comprehends not onely the brotherhood of the Saints of God as in the next verse where he adds my brethren but also a certaine relation in brother-hood which is between the saints and men of the world set forth unto us in that between Jacob and Esau which the Scripture so often expresseth and alludeth unto Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith the Lord yet I have loved Jacob and hated Esau and have laid his mountaine wast and his heritage for the Dragons of the wildernesse For Christ ariseth and is brought forth out of as near a kinn with the men of the world as Jacob was unto Esau his brother who had both one father even Isaac and one mother being both begotten at one going in of Isaac to Rebecca as the Apostle reports unto the Romans Even so Christ and Belial God and the Devill spring out of one act of union and conjunction of God and man which must of necessity have in its divine wisdome and humane else God and man are not existing therein For the wisdome of God transcends all creatures and it is the excellency of man-kinde that his wisdome transcends all creatures on the earth besides himselfe So that without the wisdome of God and the wisdome of a creature the creation of man is not for he is made in the Image of God Therefore in the propagation of the Sonne of God there is the wisdome of God subjecting and prostrating mans wisdome unto it selfe which is the bringing forth of Christ the Sonne of God Also the wisdome humane subjecting and prostrating the wisdome of God unto it selfe as the Serpent did the wisdome of the woman who was made in the Image of God is the bringing forth of Antichrist the seed of the Serpent the sonne of perdition So that it is God and man conceived and brought forth by the wisdome of God which is Christ the Sonne of God the Saviour of man-kinde And it is man and God conceived and brought forth according to the principles of humane wisdome that is Antichrist the sonne of perdition and that destroyer of man-kinde So that they are one in conjunction and unity of God and man in the root as near as Jacob and Esau were in that one act of generation but in the springing up and perfecting of them they are as different and at as great a distance as Jacob and Esau were in those two nations of Israel and Edom. And here note with me my good freinds that man cannot be known no not that man of God nor yet that man of sin in a simple act of creation without respect unto generation nor in one simple act of generation without respect to that act of creation For as it is in nature that all the wisdome in the world in the act of mans creation cannot expresse or set forth his multiplication and continuation on the earth but with respect unto the act and virtue of generation nor can it in the act of generation set forth and declare mans beginning and originall but with respect unto that act of creation even so no man can truly preach Christ in that work of creation as we are Gods work-manship created in Christ unto good works but with respect unto the act of generation as he is the seed of the woman begotten and borne of a virgin Nor can he be truly known in the act of generation but with respect unto that act of creation as the spirit of God carries up his geneology which was the sonne of Seth the sonne of Adam the sonne of God For the wisdome of God and the wisdome of a creature are both in the unity which is as that unformed Chaos in the beginning but Christ is onely propagated according to the wisdome of God and Antichrist is generated by the wisdome of a creature which is the giving of every thing a forme and virtue out of that confused and deformed Chaos So that without generation creation hath no off-spring and without creation generation hath no beginning or originall Therefore the Son of God is voyd without the one and the other and so is that Son of perdition Note therefore that in that unity or act of creation of God and man to be one workmanship there is a kindred between Christ and Antichrist as near in all respects as that of Jacob and Esau considered in that lawfull contract and act of Isaac and Rebecca But in that act of conception and springing up according to the wisdome of God and the wisdome proper to a creature there is that infinite distance and disproportion as is between Israel and Edom Christ and Antichrist the son of God and the son of perdition Our Apostle therefore doth with good advice exhort the Saints of God not to grudg against the men of the world and that in the relation of brethren saying Grudge not brethren one against another Grieve not or groane not as the word is that is let not the enmity that is in the world be vexatious unto you But behold in that way of sin and death Gods wonderfull device for the in-let of wrath and execution of justice in the world and know that without that way of destruction salvation had never been For if the Son of God had not beene made sin in our nature and yet so as not to know sin that is never to approve thereof or be stained therewith in the least for never was guile found in his mouth being that Immaculate and spotless Lamb of God altogether pure without superfluity or defect So that his nature in whatsoever is proper unto him is free from all guilt and staine although he be found in a true sence in that condition which is sinfull Otherwise our nature had never been made the righteousnesse of God in him for whatsoever is proper and naturall unto man knows no such righteousnesse nor can it approve of or be satisfied therewith therefore can wee never receive and accept thereof but with the losse and denyall of all things proper to the nature of man as considered in that off-spring of the earth which he is changed and renewed from by the wisdome and spirit of God being turned from darknesse into light fram Satan unto God a change which all the Saints participate of therefore can no flesh boast for by this meanes boasting is excluded our owne works are utterly renounced Even so the Son of God is become darknesse in the men of the world as absolutely as man is made light in the Lord therefore it is said that if the light which is in thee be darknesse how great is that darknesse For if that which makes light be become darknes there is nothing left to cure that darknesse so also if mans nature which is in it selfe is darknesse be made light it selfe in the Son of God as he affirms of the Disciples that they are the light of
entire simple and undivided act in him and in them also bearing the same forme containing the same virtue subject to the same reproach by the men of the world as also of like joy and acceptation as of old unto the godly by whom it is said Rejoyce greatly O daughter of Zion shout O daughter of Jerusalem behold thy King cometh unto thee he is just saving himselfe lowly and riding upon an Asse and upon a colt the foal of an Asse Consider the word of God brought not forth in the begining the sun moon and stars or any creature upon the face of the earth to be of one nature and virtue in one age of the world and of another nature and virtue in another time or age thereof no more doth the word of God bring forth the sufferings of the Son of God to be of one kinde and virtue in one man of God and of another kinde power or virtue in another man of God or in one age to be really present with the Disciples and in another age to be far remote for they are all one individuall act in that one multiplyed Saint or holy one of Israel And so are the sufferings of Christ according to the spirit in the man of sin and sons of Beliall which crucifie the Son of God afresh unto or in themselves putting him to an open shame it is not one in Pharaoh and another in Herod it is not of one nature or kinde in Cain and of another in Judas it is not one in the Scribes and Pharasees and another in the wicked Lawyers and Souldiers it is not of one nature and kinde io that Antichrist and son of perdition and of another nature and kinde in the Devil and Satan But it is one simple and eternall act of that one man of sin multiplied into many Antichrists which are now working already in the world according to the power of the Prince of the ayre the spirit which now worketh in the children of unbelief unto which Christ speaks as unto one saying what is thy name the answer implies both the singular and plurall number my name is Legion for we are many For we must remember that what soever the law saith it saith unto them or as the word is in them who are under the law that is whatsoever the law of the spirit speaks now the law of the spirit of life is in Christ Jesus according to which he submits to the will of his Father that ancient of days in all things as also rules over all temporary and carnall power for there is nothing in Christ as wherein he submits but it hath the virtue of authority therein also and whatsoever this law saith it saith it in all that are subjects unto the same and gives being to what it utters as the word did to all things in the beginning so that if it speak of faith in any it speaks without respect of persons according to that impartiality which is in it self so that where it utters faith it is in the powerfull work of faith as a work wherein the Son of the eternall is involved in whom it hath its virtue and power if it utter alone it sheds it abroad in the heart in the labour of it as that wherein God dwels who is composed of it if it speaks of hope it is not deferred but springs up in the soule as that tree of life in the Paradise of God and if it speak of suffering it creates the Crosse not in any other form and virtue but in that wherein it takes its being from the beginning even as it was at the first with the creation in the operation of the word in bringing forth all creatures to exist and have a being When it made the Sun it formed it in that virtue that abides the same in all ages and so it is with all creatures receiving their being and virtue by that word even so whatsoever the law of the spirit saith it gives the same being and virtue thereunto in all that are under that law whether it concerne humiliation or exaltation death or resurrection the being of the Lord the Saviour or the saved of the Lord. For what or in whom-soever it speaks it saith it to the reallizing of it selfe in the thing spoken and that without exclusion of any one particular or including any one more then the rest which are found under the same law For as unto us there is but one God so there is but one Image of that God which is his wisdome made manifest in Christ which is the proper and perpetuated form of Christ wherein soever he is manifest and of all true Christianity in all ages of the world We must therefore either take Christ or a christian forme being under the law of the spirit and then there is no other seat to set him in but under the dominion of the flesh that law of sin and death or else the Crosse expressed and maintained according to that law of the spirit is the same in Christ and in every Christian in all respects For it is that circumcission made without hands that is without any wisdome or ability proper unto or atainable by man namely the cutting off of that superfluous foreskin of the flesh which is superfluous to the fulnesse of Gods wisdome and power which is the proper hinderer and obstructor of the propagation of the Son of God Therefore this circumcission is to be exercised upon every male in the family of God and that by divine institution that is upon every one who have that masculine spirit of the Son of God to acquit themselves like men of God by faith conquering and overcoming the world for this circumcision onely brings the soule of man into a capacity of having the power of God to be exercised therein in which is that fulnesse and perfection that all things natural or proper to a creature are altogether superfluous and therefore it is said to be Circumcision or cutting round so as no beginning or end of this virtue can ever be found out for it is eternall Againe there is also the law of the carnal commandement or the carnall law and whatsoever that speaks it saith it onely in them and in all them respectively that are under that law And this consists in carnall and temporary ordinances and institutions such appointments as fade and perish in the use such as abide not with man or he not with them for ever and what this law saith it saith it in all and every particular that are under the same that is it reallizeth it selfe in every heart wherein it speaks forming and framing a work therein according to the word gone out for she word of God speaks that language in a figure which mans heart naturally speaks taking that by viewing it by his own light to be the substance and reality of the minde of God in his intent but is but a shadow a figure or signification thereof thereby carnallizing
the word by transforming it into the similitude of a creature and not into the glory of the Creator so that the imaginations and dictates of his own heart give a temporary forme unto an eternall word which is that carnall law of sin and death in himselfe subjecting himselfe thereunto so that whatsoever the letter saith which kils it saith it in him who is litterall and hath the power of engagement and binding that party over to the onely acknowledgement and practice thereof and so the word of God becomes a tormentor unto man for it being held or imprisoned in this unrighteousnesse or narrow and strait confines of humane principles and capacity and yet in it selfe infinite and eternal cannot possible move therein but must have respect unto its own nature which is infinite incomprehensible and eternall whereby the soule of the creature is set upon the rack hanged on the gibbet laid under an intolerable presse cast into the flames overwhelmed with the flouds being extended and intangled with that which is infinitely above as also below and beneath and in all respects beyond the reach of all humane abilities and so continually deviseth and frameth out more ways of torture and torment unto it selfe then ever mans heart in any tyrant could invent for the shame and horrour of the body In which respect that compleat condition ceaseth to be the state and condition or to be led by the proper principles of a meer creature or workmanship of God and becomes Shedim as the Caldean phrase is that is the destroyer of mankinde in humane and satanicall So that the dictates of such a heart are the proper suggestions of Satan and its operations the proper works of darknesse and the onely path wherein the wrath of the Almighty treads for ever Note also that there is in them who are under the law of the spirit a direct Antithesis unto this expressed of the wicked For the spirit of man being taken into unity with the word and so gathered up into the wisdome and power of God works nor moves not but by principles proper unto God which are of an eternall and incomprehensible nature and yet the spirit of the creature cannot move but with respect to the precincts of time in which it is but it goeth forth in and by eternall principles so that there is in the Son of God distinct operations yet every one of an eternal nature and race The one giving delight to the work through variety change of action and the other gives liberty ease and freedome unto the soule therein having so large roome and so spacious a sphear to walke and exercise it in the bounds whereof can never be troden out like the Sun in the firmament whose progresse none can hinder nor stop or prevent the health under its wings from the exercise of it self nor can any take out of order those fixed stars of the morning that fight from such an eminent and noble distance in their courses for the destruction of this wicked Sisera even those bright morning stars that sing together sons of God shouting for joy in those Nobles of Israel in laying of the first foundation of the earth so as it shall never be removed who are as far above the power and dominion of Satan as the heavens are above the earth out of the gun-shot of being insisted with any corrupt doctrine or of being hurt by any of the tyrannical practices of this present world Such is the state and condition of that mysticall body of our Lord Jesus the dictates of whose heart are the motions of that spirit of holinesse and power and his operations works of the Son of God And of such nature is the law of the spirit which is in Christ Jesus and of all such as are under command and in the authority thereof The Saints then or brethren of our Apostle know the patience of Job not at a distance but in the nearest conjunction so as being made one with it it being an entire and undivided crosse and suffering and is brought in the next sentence viz. And have seen the end of the Lord. Under the word seene is comprehended the exercise of all the sences which is usuall in Scripture as being filled in them all by the Crosse and sufferings of Christ as if he should say yee have seen ye have heard ye have tasted relished and felt the sufferings of Christ for his name is an oyntment poured out the sweet savour and scent whereof fills the whole house so that your hands have handled the word of life in this point as really as Thomas handled the humane body of Christ when he put his finger into the print of the nayles which fastned him to his Crosse for the confirmation of his faith of such reality is the Crosse of Christ as to make us to see touch and tast for our satisfaction the power and vertue of the Lord otherwise we can never handle the word of life to minister and serve in the same as Ministers of the Sanctuary and as able Ministers of the Gospel not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills but the spirit gives life So that our hearing or knowing of the patience of Job namely our being one with Christ in his Crosse alike as we are one with him in any other grace or vertue is that which opens unto us the scope of the Scriptures so that we see Gods end and aym in blasting unto us all carnall things is the same that appeared in Job to give double in that which never failes for we never read of any more losse unto Job but as though he were enriched for ever We see therefore Gods intent and end in the Crosse so as to make it our joy and consolation so that we rejoyce in persecution in tribulation and reproach knowing that Gods end herein is only to make his power manifest in us for in all these things we are more then conquerours knowing that our victory stands both in being the Rescuer and the rescued so that the glory and joy of them both is made one in us which no earthly Conquerour can attaine So that our laughter is that spiritull Isaac the joy of the whole earth for howsoever we know our selves in mans nature simply considered to be like Sarah barren of all the fruits of righteousnesse and destitute of that immortall seed of God and also our Lord simply considered to be past age for being brought forth and made manifest in time in one that is but of yesterdays continuance who in himselfe is that Ancient of dayes Yet the end and intent of the Lord in the conjunction of these by visiting of us in that way of the promise is the bringing forth of Isaac according to that time of life proper to the Son of God who is the joy and laughter of all that heare it so as to approve of it and give credit thereunto according to that unwavering faith
of the Father of the faithfull who staggered not Therefore the end of this Crosse is manifested to be son-ship unto God as it is sayd My sonne my sonne despise not that is honour and embrace the chastning of the Lord in the cutting off of all superfluity of naughtinesse which mans nature is subject unto for the end thereof is that child-like disposition being naturalized unto the Lord. Yea Gods end herein is to receive and embrace us as his peculiar ones For whom the Lord loveth he chastneth and scourgeth every sonne whom he receiveth This is that through which we participate in his holiness and are possessors of that integrity which is in none but himself For hee correcteth in cutting off all superfluous branches to this end that we may be made partakers of his holinesse Yea the end of the Crosse is to invest us in our filiall portion for if you endure chastning God dealeth with you as sonnes for what sonne is he whom the father correcteth not and that for this very end namely to fit him thereby to exercise and bear up his own spirit nature office and authority Such is the Lords end and intent in our undergoing of the Crosse to bestow a double portion on us as he did to Job which is the proper right of the first borne of God appointed by the Law in Israel For where it is said the Lord gave Job twice as much the word is Added double The same phrase is used by Elisha where he desires to receive a double portion of the spirit of Eliah or that spirit of partition whereby to divide Jordan aright as his Master had done before him the word properly signifies the mouth exercising the part of two which is the spirit of Prophesie considered in a double or two-fold respect that is as it contayns the spirit of intercession in laying open and interpretting the state and condition of man-kind before God from which the Saints are freed and delivered as also the laying open before the sons of men the state and condition of the Son of God opening and interpretting that to which we are delivered both these were in Job the one signified in his praying for his friends that they might be delivered from unrighteousnesse and the other in the names given to his daughters declaring his present joyous and delightfull condition Likewise the spirit of Prophesie is signified unto us in that he seeth his seed unto the fourth generation which number foure hath in it the mystery of the extension of things as in the gathering of the elect from the four winds or foure corners of the earth so also in that four times ten or forty dayes fast of Christ his continued act of obstinance from the wayes of sin and death is signified as in that four times ten or forty yeares travell of Israel in the wildernesse declares the Saints sight and acknowledgment of the works and wayes of the Nations in all their performances to be unto them as a barren dry wild and way lesse wildernesse for ever Likewise Gods visiting of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him is for ever for whom he hates once he hates for ever which visitation the holy man Job seeth his seed freed from by the spirit of Prophesie in this estate and condition of his restauration and eternall enriching by God in way of this double portion For as the office of Kingdome and Priest-hood are the inheritance of the first-born in the family so also is this double portion in Prophesie or mouth performing the part of twaine that is he hath the mouth to perform the part of the sonne of Man namely in exercise of the spirit of God in interpretting and laying open the state and condition of all flesh and by the vertue and authority of the high Priest of God which is done not unto terrour griefe or controversie but unto peace joy and reconciliation with God as one that is entered within the vale And thus the mouth and breath of prayer is opened and drawn out with boldnesse before the Lord at the throne of grace as coming in that name and authority of Jesus Christ who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Againe in this double portion is the mouth of the Sonne of of God exercised as from heaven opening and interpreting unto the world the mind of the Father in that state and condition of Jesus Christ freely offering and making tender of the love bounty good will and mercy of God unto the Saints and this is done in that Princely spirit and bounteous riches and liberality consisting in the power and authority of a King which things are comprehended in the right of the first born and are the portion of Job in this his restauration wherein we see the end of the Lord and in whom the state of all the Saints is personate and involved and no other end is aymed at or effected by God in all the sufferings of the Saints but to give in exchange for transitory and vaine things an inheritance mortall and undefiled which fadeth not reserved for us in heaven or in the height of of that estate and condition of the Son of God For the confirmation whereof he brings in that argument propounded in the next place which is the fourth point For the Lord is very pittifull and of tender mercy To pitty spare or to be indulgent is to refraine from imposing any penalty or burthen it is to forbeare to vex in the least even as not in pittying or sparing a person or a people is to execute destruction to the uttermost This pity is exercised in the spirit of Christianity and of Christ as when the sonne of sorry man is acknowledged to be such as there needs no other weight but his own proper propensity to cast himselfe down unto death for ever nor any other subtilty but his own to intrap and ensnare him unto the will of Satan for ever then only do the compassions and pitty of a father move upon that heart so as to adde no sorrow thereunto Againe to pitty or commiserate is to redeem release and deliver from whatsoever might annoy or disquiet the party which is subject to distresse therefore it is sayd that in his love and pitty he redeemed them and bare them as out of the reach of any harm all the dayes of old So that when the heart declineth the help of all creatures as insufficient to lend a hand from any of their proper abilities to help or rescue out of trouble and that wretchednesse whereunto all flesh is by nature subject then doth the pitty and compassion of a father as being author of all tendernesse and compassion move upon that soule effecting Gods end by suffering of the loss of the abilitie and power of the creature For when Job abhorred himselfe as being but dust and ashes then the Lord stirs up himselfe to release him not only
nature which the Apostle calls the oath of interposition because that in this state of Christ he comes between the blessing and the curse in such sort that nothing of true happinesse can possibly passe by or transfuse it selfe into the cursed condition for the vertue and excellencies springing out of divine nature being the glory of the engagement all things tending to happinesse repayr thither and gather themselves into one there even as all light is gathered into the body of the Sun and is all the seale and signet of God to confirm all true happinesse to take its beginning and make its abode there for ever being an immutable thing or word abundantly declared in all the heyrs of the promise Again the wisdome of man is that counsell held and advice taken with the excellency of God arguing from cause to effect and from effect unto cause ever concluding a distance in the one from the other the result properly springing out out of mans nature and aptitude which mouldeth things in the precincts of time and concluding God to be concerned in the thing as being the cause of all cause and so argues a distance between the cause and the effect God being before as the cause and his word afterwards as an effect the divine nature in Christ before from eternity the humane after in time but the Gospel is a mystery and such argument is naturall and humane to make God eternall and man in time but the Gospel eternizeth man in God and makes God in time in the son of man 2. This wisdome argues a distance in place of cause and effect as the vertue of our salvation is in Christ as a cause being only such a person as lived in such an age of the world only but the effect is in a Christian being another which is a meer humane speculation and no mystery of the Gospel 3. Again it argues a distance in point of eminency and principality as the cause being more principall and the effect lesse principall as though the birth and bringing forth of the Son of God in the royalty of his operations were not a thing of like worth and dignity that the conception and framing of him is according to that pattern of the law of the spirit seen only in the Mount So that this wisdome ariseth from and carryeth in it principles undenyable to keep a distance and loof between God and man and therein the point of unbelief consists which is the state of death in which the son of God is made a curse in the men of the world as man is made a blessing in the Son of God in Christ and this also is an oath of interposition for hereby the Son of God being made a curse for us interposeth himselfe between the curse and the blessed state So as nothing bearing the nature of a curse sin death or any unhappinesse can passe by or defuse it self into that happy state and condition of Christ but all attracts it selfe unto that which hath so vilified and made a nullity of the Son of God and this is an immutable word or thing even the word and state of the curse which abides for ever which God explains and makes manifestly to appear unto the heyrs of Promise which stand upon this ground of the impossibility of God to lye or faile to remayn and be for ever that which once he is without alteration or change therefore in these two immutable words of blessing and cursing or immutable things of the state of death and the state of life God hath founded our salvation that wee might have strong consolation as the Apostle testifies And this wisdome or reason of man is as a seale to confirm the soule in its separation and deverse from Christ being that signet the high Priests and Pharisees set upon the stone which covers the Sepulchre of Christ and keeps him in the state of death in the men of unbelief that his glorious resurrection is not found in the men of the world from the beginning thereof unto this day and is a principall product of the Schools of humane Learning for the more refined reason is voyd of the spirit of God and the closer tyed to Grammar-rule in constructing the word of God the more are such sealed up in the word of the Curse so that you shall seldome see a great Artist embrace the simplicity of the Gospel in that Crosse of Christ And with respect to the oath of man Christ saith in a word for ever to be observed Sweare not at all which our Apostle accords with in this place saying Above all things my brethren sweare not Note from hence that he which holds himselfe under a greater bond to utter truth having taken the oath of men then he is without the same who never knew what the power and vertue of the oath of God is And if the weightinesse of a cause require an oath and not required in a thing of lesse moment then men hold the preaching of the word of God either to be but a triviall thing or else why do they not tender an oath to the Minister when he goeth about to speak thereof Note again that as men hold themselves under a greater bond have taken the oath of man then they are without it even so when they are invested into offices and places thereby they account and reckon of themselves as being better and of greater account and esteem then others of their brethren the sonnes of men To conclude this point wide is the difference between the oath of God and the oath of man the one forms and sets in place and office the Son of God the other forms and officiates the son of perdition The one swears the Lord liveth in him in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse and onely glories therein and the other swears the Lord to be another thing state and condition besides himselfe the one swears with Jacob by the feare of his Father Isaac reverencing the state of Isaac to be one with God as Abraham was and the other swears by the God of his Father Nahor the idolater who ever worships that which is acknowledged to beanother and not himselfe The Saints are ever to swear in the name authority of God but never to swear by the oath of men the world ever swears in the name and authority of men but never in that name and authority of the Son of God 2. The weight of the charge therefore is to be considered in the next place in these words above all things swear not We conclude then that it is a thing of greatest worth and weight in Heaven or in earth never to swear by the oath of men but to receive our authority and confirmation in all things by the wisdome of God and not by the wisdome of the world for the one invests as a sonne into the Preisthood and way of reconciliation of God and man and the other as a slave and vassal of
supplicant humbly prostrates the cause in the necessity of and with respect unto supply which is the glory of its office so to doe And the suppleo yeelds relief and supplies the necessity and it is the glory of its office so to do and if either of these be wanting in a Christian spirit it subsists not because it is not the spirit of the Son of God in whom is power to forgive sins as well as to make supplication for pardon So that the glory of the speaker in prayer or pleader of the cause before the Judge of all the earth is one reall glory and the glory of the sentence passed thereupon is another real glory but both but one act of the law the glory of the speaker in prayer as Daniel calls it is to open the cause holding plea upon true principles unto the point of issue now Christ is the end and issue of the law in all points of relation and causes depending between God and man whatsoever Againe the glory of the Judge is to passe sentence according to the law in the point of issue so that the cause pleaded and Judgement given is but one act of the law which is Christ and in case either of these be wanting in a Christian he ceaseth to be that law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus our Lordship and is become that law of sin and death So that the party praying and the party prayed unto are one in point of hypostacis and being and the party or office of prayer and the party or office of hearing or answering are twain in point of the variety in reallity of glory for God and man are compleatly in unity in them both else Christ is divided Even as it is said that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive which the Apostle affirms to be the saying of Christ though we finde no such place in Scripture in so many words so that it may seem that the whole Gospel or speech of Christ is summed up therein namely in giving and receiving as he saith to his Disciples in sending them out to preach freely you have received and freely do you give so that it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive that is it is another thing a further glory a various vertue in the Sonne of God as if he should say it is a blessed thing to receive moreover or furthermore it is a blessed thing to give for the one is the blessing of giving and hath its reall and peculiar blessednesse really consisting therein and the other is the blessing of receiving and hath its reall and peculiar blessednesse really consisting therein and one of these cannot be without the other for no giver without a receiver and no receiver without a giver and each of them hath whole Christ exercised therein that only blessed one therefore as the hearingeare and the seing eye are both alike of the Lord so it is true of giving and receiving and the difference stands onely in the variety of glory even as in the three witnesses that bear record in heaven no other disproportion can be found For a naturall man can neither perceive so as to give nor effect so as to receive the things that are of God for they are spiritually to be discerned and apprehended and said hold of for none knows the things of God but the spirit of God no more then any other creature can know the spirit of a man but onely he that is of his own kinde And it is the Son of God onely that knows the father and it is the Son only that reveals him for no man knowes the father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveales him We conclude then that prayer consists of whole Christ and that both in point of petition as also in the answer otherwise it is not this prayer of faith and therefore it is that prayer is of that validity and force as to do such mighty things as are here attributed unto it As First saves the sick it hath the vertue and power of salvation annexed unto it which can be ascribed unto nothing but unto Christ alone who never was nor can be known but in the exercise of an office for it is the vertue and power of the spirit of God that makes manifest the Son of God and it is he alone that saves for he hath salvation Therefore it is said deliver my soul from the sword my darling or as the word signifies my alonely soule as having no copartner from the power of the dog and it is he that comes meek and lowly as the Prophet Zachariah saith saving himself and not another for as the father and the Son are one so is the Lord and the Disciple one the Saviour and the saved are one else Christ should not be God-man Salvation then is in prayer as the Scriptures testifie and the time is come that every one or whosoever call on the name of the Lord shall be saved many teach that salvation is only by faith that neither know what faith nor salvation is for faith hath salvation in it onely as it is that hypostacis and subsistance of the Son of God and so Paul teacheth faith without works that is without the works of the law which he calls dead works because the life and spirit of the Son of God is not in them but our Apostle James ascribes salvation unto works and declines faith as being the beliefe of devils that is such faith as hath not the powerful operations of God working in and together with it so that there is compleat salvation in any proper work or operation of the Son of God as well as in faith therefore Christ concludes that the great work and operation of God to be in faith for faith is not without the works of God nor the works of God without faith We are also said to be saved by hope as well as by either faith or work there is salvation also in love for it is the fulfilling of the law and where the law is compleat and full there can be no condemnation but perfect acquittance and salvation yea God is love and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him which canot be without salvation yea salvation is in patience for he that continues to the end shall be saved so that we are saved by it Furthermore we are saved by wisdome for the poor man by his wisdome saves the whole City of God though his wisdome be despised and his words not heard by the wise of the world And to conclude this point salvation is in prayer it saves the sick because it is the subsistance of the mediator-ship of the Son of God which is ever one and the same where when or in whom-soever it appears although it be so little in use and so lightly accounted of in these days wherein we live Secondly it hath in it the vertue and
unto thee arise take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house So that to preach the Gospel to the restauration of the soule from the policy that is from the fear terrors and tremblings of the law as at Mount Sinai to bring it unto Zion giving strength to take up that and carry it unto its proper place as that man carried his bed into the proper place which is his house which before had carried him extravagantly and diseasedly abroad wheresoever the Gospel exerciseth its power to raise up any to walk in the way of God before others in prayer or prophesie or any appointment of God according to the nature and season of it as that man is said to walk before them all to their admiration wheresoever the Gosplel is ministred to that effect there is also in that ministration power to forgive sin for the one is of like case and of like difficulty as the other is yea they are both in one act for he that can preach the Gospel to carry sin into its proper place which must be done or else the Gospel is not truly preached he must of necessity remove it from the chosen of God which is the true remitting and passing of it over unto another He that hath power therefore to preach the Gospel to the healing of the Conscience of the palsie sicknesse or tremblings of the law in the dead works thereof or works of death that man hath power to forgive sins on earth for they are inseperable and Christ in that place alluded unto makes them one for first he saith son thy sins be forgiven thee and in the rehearsall of it he saith his speech was arise take up thy bed and walk go thy way into thy house And we know that Christ saith to his Disciples whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retaine they are retained And again what ye binde on earth is bound in heaven and what ye loose on earth is loosed in heaven to walk and work therefore in the things of God according to the power intended by the word of God are of greater concernment then they would think for to preach the Gospel in the revelation of the minde and will of God as to an onely Son or to present our supplications to God as a father from the minde and disposition of an onely son are of no lesse authority and power then to to give sins for to pray with the spirit and to pray with the understanding also that is to pray according to the mystery of Christs meditation and yet with that wisdome and skill of expression as to unfold and explaine it in the minds of others that they may ascend up unto God together therewith as Manoa's Angel in the flame of the sacrifices this and to pardon sin are of like power skill and authority and a like weight lies upon both to whomsoever communicates in them For to pardon sin is not to change or alter the minde of God toward that party but to explaine and interpret the minde of God concerning that party which minde and will of God is the same in that one faith of the Son of God to all the chosen of God and wheresoever it is rightly unfolded and made manifest in the proclamation of peace and reconciliation of God and man in one if the Son of peace be there he accepteth and receivet the same as the right of his inheritance If the Elders pray or prophecy unto health therefore they pray or prophesie to the remission of sins in whomsoeve commucates in the same his sins are forgiven him To conclude this point it concerns us then to know what sin is that we may rightly conceive of it as it is pardonable and also as it not pardonable for there is a sin saith the Apostle John which is not unto death or which is not in death that is it is not in that way of death and there is a sin that is in death I do not say that you shall pray for it that is you shall not pray for the pardon of it because it is not to be pardoned for where Christ is once crucified in the spirit he never is to live in that heart according to the spirit no more then where he is once crucified in the flesh he never lives in that heart according to the flesh Therefore in the next place he exhorts us unto the confession of our faults in the true acknowledgement of them one to another Vers 16. Confesse your faults one unto another and pray one for another that ye may be healed the effectuall fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much In these observe 1. An exhortation consisting of two parts 1. To confesse faults one to another 2. To pray one for another 2. The end wherefore That ye may be healed 3. A reason ground or cause drawn from the nature of prayer which is two-fold 1. It is effectuall 2. It is fervent 4. The qualitie of the person praying that is A righteous man 5. The issue or event of such prayer It avayleth much 1. ANd first for confession of faults sins or oberations from a law For where no law is there is no transgression for sinne is the transgression of a law or as the word is the withoutnesse of a rule Now there is the law of the flesh or carnall commandement which is the law of sinne and death and there is the law of the spirit or power of faith which is the perfect rule of righteousnesse or law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Now the carnall commandement or perfunctory and fading ordinances may be broken yea abrogated and nayled to the crosse as that which is against us and yet forgiven for every breach or piercing through of the sonne of man that is mans institutions and appoyntments composed by that carnall law shall be forgiven or are forgiven for the disannulling of mans wisdome and in that respect to become a foole is the establishment of Gods wisdome in the removall of all guilt and condemnation from the soule And there is the law of the spirit or of that holy Ghost which if a man speake a word against intentionally or blaspheme and pierce through that is abrogate or make a nullity of it It shall never be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come that is neither in the present mind and conscience of him that so doth nor in that holy mind and judgment of Christ from passing sentence against it being so remote and at such a distance from it and contrary unto it for the abrogation of the law of the spirit is no lesse then to disannull that wisdome of God in Christ by which device only the sin and guilt of the sons of men is taken away and no other way for else-where the redemption of the soule ceaseth for ever Confession of sins then one to another This phrase one to another is of like nature as
is betrayed it were good for that man if he had never been born also if an enemy had done it I could have born it but it was thou Oh man my familiar I speaking of the trechary of Achitophel and Prophecying of Judas into whom Satan entred which is that man of sin that Antichrist and deceiver of which spirit and power there were many in the Apostles time but the Preisthood of our times have collected them into one man only and crowded him up only in that corner of the world called Rome that so notice may not be taken of their opposing and rejecting of Christ to the deceiving of the people as that spirit ever doth into him or into them Satan enters or takes his beginning in them for as the Son of God hath no beginning but in man so Satan or the Devil hath no beginning but in man even in that man of sin and son of perdition for as the Scriptures give the word of truth a being from the beginning for in the beginning was the word even so it gives Satan to be a lyer from the beginning and one that abides not in the truth and this two-fold estaâ—e man to be taken in else know we not how to acknowledge sin nor how to praise God for our deliverance into those fruits and happy estate of righteousnesse by Christ We answer then that when a Christian confesseth acknowledgeth or praiseth the excellencies of God in Christ giving them their proper and full vertue and extent as love joy mercy gentlenesse kindenesse bounty power and eternall goodnesse man participates thereof the creature really and sensibly possesseth and enjoys them in the unfeigned and just confession of them that is the man of God the new creature which is that work-manship of God in Christ Jesus and man-like Son of God standing in that one alone sonship of God not found extant but in Christ that annointed one But man or the creature that is that man of sin made to be taken and destroyed ungodlike men that man of Beliall that vaine and empty man of faith without works of which beleife the Devill is yea that Antichristian spirit wherever it is that molds the worship of God into a form tying him to appear in the same figure and posture Againe we say that man or that creature hath no fellowship with the things proper to the Son of God as peace joy love nor any of the fruits of the spirit which are by Christ he is a stranger unto them all and therfore intermeddles not with the joy of the saints though they be reall forceable and effectuall in the man of God or saint by calling when ever they are uttred or expressed Even so there are the terrors of death vexations of spirit guilt of sin condemnatory sentence of conscience that ever accompanies the sins confessed by a Saint really beyond any shadow or semblance and that not bounded by time but are eternall and yet the man or the creature that is the man of God or the new creature participates not in the least in any of their distresse guilt or fear no more then the wicked partake in the joys of salvation in Christ he hath no taint or tincture of the enmity of the Serpent nor sence unto pangs and vexation of the guilt of corrupt and defiled conscience and yet saith truly and unfeignedly this is my sin this is my death and this abomination is in me that is in my flesh or in that carnall estate out of which I am taken where dwels no good thing but is a cage of all unclean and abominable filthinesse and wickednesse So that in a true confession of sin according to faith not onely it but all its appurtenances are carried forth and set upon their proper base that is in that land of Shiner which is Babylon that confusion gone over all the earth which is that strict composure of things by mans wisdome according to times places persons and temporary respects whatsoever which makes a nullity of Gods order who is a God composed thereof and all things therein are illimitted not any thing tyed to time place person or any temporary or fading bond whatsoever otherwise it is not the order of the Son of God but a device and inventions of man unto confusion whether the Epha of wickednesse is carried and is the house built for it where for ever it shall remaine and abide Thither all sin and sorrow in true confession is carried as fully as all righteousnesse and peace is carried onely into that happy estate and incomprehensible order that is of God by Jesus Christ the carnall minde or man therefore is onely sensible of sin in the way os Gods displeasure but not of that vertue of reconciliation and the spirituall minde or man is onely senfible of all righteousnesse in way of the peace of God but not of that horror which comes through that breach of the everlasting Covenant And yet is neither the one nor the other voyd of sence with respect unto the others condition For the wicked from the sight of the Saints being lifted up in that holy unction and taken into an everlasting reigne and authority by unity with an omnipotent and all-sufficient power are filled with fear and terror at the fight and apprehension thereof as having the glory of a righteous Judge also the Saints of God beholding themselves lifted up and taken out of that fearful and abominable state and condition of the wicked rejoice thereat with joy unspeakable and full of glory even as Noah when he saw the waters over-whelm and destroy the world was by the same waters lifted up to heaven as sase from all rocks mountaines or hills that might annoy him so the Saints seeing how the Son of God hath given himselfe unto death in the world never to live the life of the Son of God in them as a ransome whereby he is lifted up unto the throne of Gods glory in the Saints everlastingly which carries with it a holy shout harmonious and melodious singing and rejoycing for ever to see the terrors of death captivated under eternall darknesse which can never seize nor intrench upon that Sun of righteousnesse which shineth in the saved of the Lord. The second part of the exhortation is to pray one for another or appeal one to another the word for and to are indifferently taken as you may see by the difference of translations One saith a Psalm for the sons of Corah and another saith a Psalme to the sons of Corah so that here it is taken for one to another that is in your confessions of the nullity and breach of the law of the spirit by that wicked one do you appeal to the law of the carnall command which is of sin and death which is thereby established and confirmed in the world whereby the men thereof are effectually bound over under that spirit of bondage to walk and work according to the letter that kills and
spirit and know that it is established and confirmed for ever thereby This is the Medicamentosus without which no prayer can be made acceptable unto God for if prayer confirme not the law of the spirit it bindes not over the Lord to be our supply if it comprize not his mercy within the bounds of its proper place which is Christ our boundlesse and common salvation This appeal or prayer must also confirme the law of the flesh or else it carrieth not all sin and sorrow into its proper place of aboad which is Antichrist or Satan that slayer of the Sonne of man from the beginning even as Caine slew his brother because his own works are evill and the works of the Sonne of man good and in these twain stands the health of our souls and is by them preserved for ever viz. a place of the reception of all wickednesse where it abides exercised in the curse for the acquitting of the Saints for ever And a place of reception into righteousnesse and residence of that blessed estate of the Sonne of God in the love and delight of the father for ever in the just condemnation of all enmity The third point is the ground of this sound and healthfull condition by this appeal or prayer and first it is effectuall or forceable without let or hinderance the appeal is made upon such grounds as nothing can stop the bringing of the cause thither either for the stating of sin or of righteousnesse of the curse in the confirmation of the law of the flesh or of the blessing in the law of the spirit of Christ in the one and Antichrist in the other No Supersedias can be sued out no counter-command can be given no obstruction can be made to stop or recall the stating of all abominations in the exercise and practice of the carnall command and all the vertues excellencies and dignities of God in Christ in that law of the spirit for Satan the God of this world which is the wisdome of the world the subtilty of the serpent as he is a murther our from the beginning in slaying and putting to death the Lord of life and glory so is he a lyar and abode not in the truth so is he sacrelegious robing God of his glory making himselfe to be God adulterating the word of God turning the glory of God into shame and is the sole and proper opposer of God in all his excellencies therefore nothing can hinder no law or evidence gain-say but that state is the proper sinck and center of all wickednesse and so of all wrath Also in its appeal to the law of the spirit which is the proper order and composure of the Son of God what can obstruct but that in him are all those dementions of height depth length and breadth of the goodnesse mercy truth life power spirit and love of God for ever therefore this prayer or appeal is most forceable and effectuall it passeth through without let or hinderance for the performance of its work in rendring to each his right in the perfecting of the cause of its appeal 2. It is fervent hot without any intermixture of cold the word signifies to boyle which admits of no cooling thing to come there such is the nature of true prayer it admits no chilly or cold thing to be cast into the love and zeal of God in Christ but findes the coles thereof to be fiery coles yea to have a vehement flame Neither can the spirit of prayer admit of any cooling mixtures in the fume and heat of Gods wrath in the wealthy of the world named above for a fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn down to the nethermost hell But the Academists of our age they know how to moderate the love of Christ in those whom they call Saints by some cold and decaying humor of the spirit of the world yet tradition is of that strength in them that they dare not impute such to him that was borne of the Virgin but for any sound knowledg they have of him they might as soon do it to him as any of that mysticall body and would for advantage if they had been brought up in Schools of such principles for they have nothing but what they receive from man Likewise they can cool Gods infinite displeasure against sin with graduall distinctions of it as good part in nature some good works wraught some remainders of Gods image in the wicked such sleights of Satan we skill not but are confident the path of fervent prayer never lay in that way nor shall ever be beaten out or found in it by all those carnall and superstitious cuttings and fleshly launsings of the Priests of Baall to uphold Ahabs Throne in all the Statues of his Ancestor Omry The fourth point is the qualification of the person praying and that is a righteous man Now a righteous or just man is he who gives every thing its proper right and due which appertains and belongs unto it if we speak of any thing of God give unto it arise arraign and scope appertaining to God if we speak of any of the ordinances of God give them the vertue property duration and continuance of the Son of God who abides for ever else we give not the Son of God that great ordinance and fountaine of all holy ordinances his right and due who is holy spirituall just and good otherwise they are human and perishing things and we are found unjust in not giving Christ his due the spirit of prayer and this effectuall appeal resides not there Againe if we speak of any thing as not having the Sonne of God in it then give it the spirit and power of the Prince of the aire the spirit that now works in the children of unbeleif or disobedience for the scope and end of all things is Christ in the exercise of mercy in the faith of the Gospel or in the exercise of wrath in that way of Antichrist for we know that we are of God and the world is of that wicked one namely the Devil therefore if we speak of sin give it its due the guilt of making a nullity and falcification of him that made all things in truth If we speak of sinners give them the state and condition of their father the Devill whose works they do and will doe Either clear the innocent whom God in Christ justifies once and for ever and so give them their due belonging unto them and condemn the guilty who reject the manner and way of his acquitting of his Saints or else no person quallified for prayer if you speak of death bring it unto the scope either death unto all transitory and carnall things in Christ or else death unto all spirituall and durable things in Antichrist or else we give not right unto it and so are not that righteous man whose prayer availeth and is the event and issue of this prayer which is the fifth point that is it availeth
or a Saviour any where but as lockt up in a humane body in heaven that men may stand here in his room till he return from thence to suck up all the glory of the earth It was not so in ages past and men spirituall for Joshuah Moses Minister was called Jesus a Saviour as the Apostle interprets his name and the Lord acknowledgeth in raising up Judges in Israell that he raised up Saviours unto them And Paul was not affraid to tell Timmothie that in taking heed to himselfe that is how God hath composed salvation in his consisting in Christ and unto learning or doctrine that is how it ought to be layd out and distributed to others that in so doing he should be a Saviour of himselfe and them that heare him 2. A second point is what he saves that is a soule or a life this is not meant of the life of a meer creature but it is the life of the Son of God as our Apostle affirms Now I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live is by or in the faith of the sonne of God So that a Christians life is the life of Christ and there is no life of man-kind but either the life of the Saviour or else the life of Sathan that destroyer for heaven and earth conspire together in the making of man Let us speaking with respect to that plurality in our image that is in our image earthly as well as heavenly for there is a heavenly body and there is an earthly body and God is as just and righteous in the making of the one as of the other and every way as honourable the one in mercy and the other in severity And man cannot be known in a simple act of creation for that multiplies him not but propagation or generation must be brought in also else the son of God nor the seed of the Serpent can be known so both are brought forth in that first act of generation in Cain and Abel wherein the seed of the Serpent appears in the same act as in Jacob and Esau together with Christ in Abel dead by Caine in the spirit and in Seth that sett one in life for evermore who is set in the room of Abel crucified in the world So that the life of Christ and of Antichrist are both from one act even from as early dayes the one as the other and without the true knowledg of that we know neither of them and for other life in man-kind we know none worthy the name of life beyond other creatures but as it serves to the setting forth of the one or of the other of these and so they transcend the life of all other creatures as far as the image of God did the frame of any other creature or that earthly image descends below them all even to a bottomlesse pit which no other creature is subjected unto but only man 3. There is a third point what he saves from that is death namely a death that holds correspondency with that infinite and eternall life of the Son of God in way of Parathesis in all points for Christ is saved from whatsoever Sathan is hath or undergoes and Sathan is destroyed from whatsoever Christ is hath or is advanced unto therefore that conceit that Sathan was an Angell that is a meere creature at the first and in acceptation with God is a meer humane tradition and philosophicall fiction and is a point of greater concernment then men are aware of for it is as safe to say that the son of God was for a time out of the Fathers favour as to hold that the Devill at any time was in acceptation with God for whatsoever is out of Gods favour can never return into againe and what is accepted of him for a moment caâ— never be rejected 2. A second royalty or act of fame that is to be acknowledged by him who turns the sinner from the errour of his way changing him into truth it selfe that is the covering or hiding of a multitude of sins This is taken from the speech of Solomon Hatred stirreth up strife but love covereth all sins which our Apostle calls a multitude of sins the word signifies the deep of the troubled ocean intimating that huge multitude of torturing and troubling trespasses proper to that great gulfe of the bottomlesse pit Now to turn from the error of a mans way is to turn to truth and no man can turn to truth but by that unity that is in Christ none turns to truth but hee that becomes truth for there is no terme or title given in Scripture but being rightly interpretted and rightly applyed the truth substance and being of the thing is there for God useth no expression but he intends under that the truth and substance of the thing expressed To turn to truth is not only truth in word but truth in act also yea to be that very thing as Christ saith I am the way the truth and the life Now that unity that is in Christ is the fulfilment and compleating of the law of the Spirit for if the love of Christ be in us and constrayn us to all acknowledgments of him we know that love is the fulfilling of the Law and where the Law is fulfilled there sin utters not its voyce nor hath it a face to appear it is altogether hid and covered for ever Christ is the eâ—d and scope of the law for righteousnesse and more it aymes not at nor more it cannot require for it is the sonne of God that is justified who then shall condemn him The law is fully satisfied from what ground then shall any accuse yea our Apostle saith that the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in us that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit No hiding of sin therefore but by fulfilling of the law but what law not the law of the carnall commandement generally taught in the world by which no flesh can be justified but it is the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus or which consists in that unction office or spirit of the Saviour Againe how do the wicked hide righteousnesse that none appears in them but only the spirit of the wicked one namely by walking according to the law of the flesh For he that walks after the law of the flesh he cannot please God so that all righteousnesse is hid and covered in them yea even by fulfilling the law of the flesh for the more they conform themselves thereunto the more their condemnation doth appear for it is not because men cannot perform all the works of the law in that respect that they cannot be justified thereby but because they do any of them for it is against the nature of that law of the carnall Commandement and every part thereof to justifie for it is its proper nature and office to condemn for we may as well say that the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus is a law of sin and death as to say the law of the carnall command can give life or peace no not in the compleat performance of it For every part thereof is a breach of the law of the spirit And whatsoever is a breach of the law of the spirit is a crucifying of the Son of God afresh and putting of him to open shame so that every performance of the law of the flesh according to the intent thereof is a breach of the same law of the spirit and he that breaks one breaks all therefore all righteousness is hid and covered in the wicked even so the true keeping of the law of the spirit of faith in any part of it is a nullifying of the whole law of the carnall Command therefore no law of sin and death is found in them all sins and sorrows are hid and covered therefore the man is blessed whose trespass is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man and he only unto whom the Lord imputeth accounteth or reckoneth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile Amen By Sam Gorton Professor of Christ FINIS