if so be the Spirit of God dwell in them Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his vers 9. Now there was a twofold Indwelling of God in the first Churches by his Spirit That is there was first a complying frame of Spirit to the Will of God so as not to walk after the Will of the Flesh but after the Spirit which was in a holy Conversation without which no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 For if we have not thus the Spirit of Christ we are none of his for it is required that the same Mind be in us as was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 Therefore it is not the Seed after the Flesh to whom the Promise belongs which live after the Will of the Flesh and of the Mind whether of the natural or the adopted Seed of Israel they are not the Seed to whom the Promise is made but the Seed in Christ and Isaac both of Jew and Gentile which walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit so as to have their Wills brought into subjection unto the Will of God are the Seed to whom the Promise belongs For to be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace vers 6. For the Kingdom of God and Christ must be within us Luke 17.21 if we are his For Christ must have the ruling Power in the Heart And God also saith Give me thy Heart And when we give to God and Christ the ruling Power in our Heart then is his Kingdom within us And if Christ be in us the body is dead because of Sin but the Spirit is Life because of Righteousness vers 10. Thus the true Believer is dead to the World that he may live to God And this ruling power Christ had in the hearts of his Disciples before he gave them the Holy Ghost And likewise all that did receive the Holy Ghost to be in them for the confirmation of the Gospel Christ had first the ruling power in their hearts and they yielded to him to be his Servants and then were they Baptized and thus they were prepared before they could receive the Holy Ghost to be in them by which they were then glorified and had power to speak with Tongues and work Miracles and Prophesy and understand Prophesies for the Spirit was to teach them all things John 14.26 And so by all it was then known who were the Elect And these were those whom God made to differ 1 Cor. 4.7 But some through negligence and heedlesness the Prince of Darkness makes to differ they following his dictates and so corrupt thâ—… way and when they have accustomed themselve◠〈◊〉 do evil then it is they cannot learn to do well Aâ—… some make themselves to differ by taking heed to their Ways according to the Word of God And so by considering their ways they become wise Psal 119. â— For God hath promised to bless such endeavours Prov. 3.6 For the common drawings of God are the Invitations of his Word and the good motions of his Spirit But the fore-mentioned were chosen according to the Counsel of the Will of God by the which Will they were sanctified Heb. 10.10 And received the Holy Ghost to be in them And Christ said the World could not receive the Holy Ghost because they knew him not John 14.17 For the World then lay in Wickedness and therefore they could not then receive him because they knew him not and were not prepared for the receiving of him 2dly God did not intend to give the World the Holy Ghost to be in them but to be with all such as will keep his Way And therefore Christ prayed for his Disciples and first Churches which believed on him through the Word 〈◊〉 â—he Disciples as he did not for the World but that 〈◊〉 World through them might believe that God had sent him John 17.21 And therein he prayed for the World and by the evident Witness of the Holy Ghost in them the World did believe and the Nations embraced the Faith by laying hold of the offered Mercy in the common Salvation And Christ did but promise the Remnant which were his Father's Sheep before and given to him that he would be with them to the end of the World and that he would send them another Comforter which should abide with them for ever John 14.16 But he doth not say In them for ever And he will be with all while they keep the Way But the Apostle knowing that the Holy Ghost would 〈◊〉 remain in their succeeding Generations in this time 〈◊〉 â—efore he saith Prophesie should fail and Tongues they â—ould cease and Knowledge it should vanish away 1 Cor. 13.8 Which came to pass when the Nations came to have no Love to the Truth but took pleasure in Unrighteousness Then God gave them up to strong deâ—…sions that they should believe Lyes 2 Thes 2.10,11,12 〈◊〉 he did Israel for Sin to blindness of Mind But Love and Charity among the Faithful was ever to remain as Love to God in their obedient walking according to knowledge and Charity to their Neighbour For Faith Hope and Charity were the Graces that would abide 1 Cor. 13.13 with them that will be faithful And the Apostle saith The time would come when they would not endure found Doctrine but after their own Lust shall turn away their Ears from the Truth For the generality of the World chose to themselves false Teachers before God gave them up to delusions 2 Tim. 4.3 For a Believer is no longer a Believer than a Righteous Man is a Righteous Man in the day that he wilfully commits Iniquity Ezek. 33.12 But they which live holily thereby bring forth Fruit to the Spirit But the Eternal Life that Christ gave to his Sheep which were his Father 's before was given to their Persons and Posterity and to every Believer while they continue in Believing Salvation is to be had according to his Word in the way of their Obedience For every Tree which bringeth not forth good Fruit is hewn down and cast into the Fire Mat. 3.10 And it is a meer Stratagem of the Prince of Darkness in perswading any Man God will not punish according to his Word that was the way he beguiled Ewe and so he doth the generality of Mankind IV. A Twofold Indwelling of Christ by his Spirit in the first Churches AND whereas St. Paul saith Rom. 8.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead 〈◊〉 also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Here the Apostle writes to the elect Church among the Romans who were then called and justified and glorified by receiving the Holy Ghost to be in them 1 Pet. 1.11,12 But these had not the Promise from Christ that none should pluck them out of his Hand That Promise did appertain to the Disciples which were of that Remnant
and Apostles agree that Salvation will be when the times of Refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3.19,21,22 And Christ saith Search the scriptures for they were they that dâ—d testifie of him John 5.39 And then there was no other Scriptures but the Old Testament Now all Christ's Sufferings being fulfilled in the plain Letter of the Word and left us upon Record ever to believe the same And as in the Word it is Prophesied that Israel should be scattered so we evidently see the same and we ought also and are bound to believe all the great Prophesies and Promises relating to Christ's second coming that they will be performed in the plain Letter of the Word and as it was Prophesied that God would pour forth his Spirit Joel 2.28,29 Of which St. Peter saith It was made good to them in that time Acts 2.16,17,18 Which was for the Confirmation of the Gospel and as an earnest of their Inheritance in time to come or Restitution Before which time as in Joel 2.30,31 God will shew wonders in heaven and in earth blood and fire and pillars of smoke which accordingly has come to pass for by wars much blood hath been spilt And the Lord in a great and wonderful manner hath sent out of the earth fire and pillars of smoke for these many hundred years but much more of late And it is said verse 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come This came to pass when the Nations which had embraced the Faith came to have no love to the Truth God then gave them up to Delusion 2 Thess 2.10,11 For when the people could not endure sound doctrin but after their own lusts they did heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they turned away their ears from the truth and were turned unto fables 2 Tim. 4 3,4 And when the Seducers and false teachers went about to deceive they then became deceived ch 3.12,13 For God doth never so punish without a cause Eze. 14.23 And then was the Sun turned into darkness for in the Scriptures the Teachers are termed the Light of the World and when the Sun the Teachers were darkned the Moon which is the World of People which receiveth her Light from the Teachers as the Moon doth her Light from the Sun the People were soon turned into Blood by hating and killing one another The Pope and his Clergy pretending to be the true Church Mahomet the true Prophet and every Sect the right Remnant and thus the Prince of Darkness carries on his Designs in setting Men to hate and kill one another through these Divisions Now in that Prophesie of Scripture is of more than a private Interpretation 2 Pet. 1.20 But we must be sure to put no other Interpretation on it but what we can make plain from the Word And in Joel 3.15 It is also said The sun and moon shall be darkned and the stars shall withdraw their shining Here the Prophet may have a Reference to the material Sun Moon and Stars which by the Glorious Appearing of the Lord will be obscured by his Brightness But when the Nations came to have no love to the Truth God suffered a Spirit of a strong Delusion to go forth 2 Thess 2.11 For God hath determined that those that will not deny themselves for him shall suffer by him for unto them that are contentions and will not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Rom. 2.8,9,10 For there will be a Redemption in time to come for all that order their Conversation aright and have not been wilful Opposers of the Truth which is one of the worst of Unrighteousnesses And though it is those who comes in Heirs to the Promises made to the Fathers that are made partakers of the greater Glory yet there is Glory and Salvation for others of a lower degree And though the Jews that have been since Christ's time were cast off for the Sins of their Parents yet not for ever and ever to be forgotten of God without their own Sins does occasion it for there will be a Redemption in time to come for some and if Israel for the Sin of their Parents has been left to stumble on the dark Mountains these seventeen hundred years no wonder if the Adopted Seed has been left to stumble thereon for above this thousand years For it is Israel who as touching the Election is beloved for their Fathers sake Rom. 11.28 For though there was but a Remnant chosen from among them that were chosen according to the Election of Grace verse 5. Yet they were all Gods chosen and elected People for their Fathers sake Isaiah 45.4 And this God did because he loved their Fathers because they had walked with a perfect Heart before him The which when the Lord proved Israel in the Wilderness they did not And therefore the Lord saith Deut. 31.21 For I know their imaginations which they go about even now before I have brought them into the land Here because God would have us take notice when it was he knew it therefore he redoubles his Words and saith even now at the time when they were in the Wilderness But we do never read of God's foreknowing his Drowning of the World till he saw the Wickedness of Man was great and then it was that it grieved him at his Heart that he had made Man but God's choosing Israel was for their Fathers sake and not that he had Elected them without a why or a wherefore but when God had proved and tryed Israel in the Wilderness and as they had there often miscarried God saw they would again fall away for which he determined to leave them to Blindness the like God foreseeing that the Gentiles would fall away for which he determined to leave them to Delusion For as of old when the People fell away Rom. 1.18,20,21 the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and godhead so that they were without excuse because when they knew God they glorified him not as God but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned verse 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them up to a reprobate mind So we see Man 's not improving his Day of Grace has been his Destruction all along and not that they had not a Day of Grace given them and it is such that God gives up to Delusion that first deceives and deludes themselves
the Scriptures are the rule of Faith And they being so the promised Reward is to be had by all that take hold of the offered Mercy according to the Conditions as it is there tendred And so not only the Elect but all believers will be partakers of the promised Mercy But in this latter Confession of Faith 1655. There they believe that Christ dyed only for the Elect. And that Faith comes from the gracious efficacious operation of the Holy Ghost which Illuminates their Souls and carries them to relie on the Mercy of God to be applied by the merits of Jesus Christ Yet they also in this Confession hold that good works are so necessary to the faithful that they cannot come to the Kingdom of God without doing of them And that they must keep the Commandments But tho' in this latter Confession they believe that their Faith in Christ Jesus doth come through the efficacious work of the Spirit of God in them the which is not unlikely because more of the gracious Influence of the Spirit is with them by reason they were to withstand all the fury of the Enemy and to continue to bear their Testimony against all the Superstitious and Idolatrous Worship of the Beast And also to walk in a holy and exemplary Conversation that thereby they might be a Light to the World As for Sins of Ignorance Sins of Infirmity Sins of Surprisal will not be laid to their charge they being kept from wilful and presumptuous Sins which is the great Transgression Psal 19.13 And as in their Articles they say This Church cannot be quite destroyed but that it will always remain This being according to what the Lord hath promised them they being the Church that the Lord prepared a place in the Wilderness and therefore they are of that Remnant or Sheep which were his Father 's before and given to him To whom he promised That none should pluck them out of his Hand John 10.27,28 Those are they to whom the Five Talents were given that according to their Day they might have ability to stand So that if any among them have at any time fallen into a loose or prophane Conversation or adhered to the Beast we may with St. John say They were not of them although they coinhabited with them in the Wilderness in the place the Lord prepared for them because they went out from them For had they been of that Fold to whom Christ made the forementioned Promise they would have continued with them 1 John 2.19 But Christ saith He hath Sheep of another Fold that are not to be brought into that Fold until such time there is but one Shephard and then there shall be but one Fold and one Shepherd Joh. 10.16 And that will be when the Lord again comes For tho' there was at the first publication of the Gospel a peculiar People chosen from among the Gentiles to the Praise of hiâ— Name yet at that time there was many Shepherds But those peculiar People of the Gentiles had not â— promise that none of them should be pluckt out of hiâ— hand and St. Paul cautions them fearing least the Serpent should beguile any of them 2 Cor. 11.3 But the Vaudois as well as we have lost the righâ— apprehension of this World which is to come thâ— knowledge of which was as a Light that shineth in â— dark place untill the Day dawn and the Day-Star 〈◊〉 rise in their Hearts which is an inherent perfect Righteousness will then be given when the Lord agaiâ— comes the which crowns Life to the Soul not onâ—… to the raised Saints but to Israel Isa 60.21 Thy Peopâ—… shall be all Righteous And also to the living Believer thâ—… longs for the Lords appearing to all such he will giâ—… the Crown of Righteousness at that Day 2 Tim. 4.8 The which things St Peter's care was they should always have in remembrance after his Decease 2 Pet. 1.15 He fearing least at any time they should let them slip which since for these many Years is come to pass they having lost the knowledge of these things But God having abounded in his Love to them in electing and forechosing them without their foreseen willing and running as he did likewise at the first publication of the Gospel choose a peculiar People from among the Gentiles to the praise of his Name Therefore the Vaudois as well as us by this their last Confession have thought that God had denied Man the freedom of Will to will his own good the which is quite contrary to what they held Two Hundred Years before the ancientest Acts they now have were made which were those in 1â—00 for Two Hundred Years before that time Claudius Bishop of Turin and of the Vallies writ sharply against all the Errors of the Church of Rome This Bishop maintained the Doctrine of St. Augustine concerning Grace as the late Author of the History of the Vaudois saith in Page 7. And Augustine tells us lib. de precat merit chap. 18. That it was the great care of every Orthodox Teacher in his time to take heed least they did so defend Grace as to deny Freewill and least they should so defend Freewill as to deny Grace And a good care it was and further the Author saith Neither is there I think to be found one of the ancient accounted Orthodox that hath maintained in the strict sence opposed that God commanded Men what they could not do with the common helps that he affordeth But all abhorred it as an Opinion laying high accusation upon God till many Years after Augustine altho' Augustine did fall into mistakes himself as to this point he not understanding how the Election ran And some of the Protestant Christians not apprehending the difference between the Eternal Life that Christ gave to his Sheep that were his Fathers before and given to him that unto them the Eternal Life was given to continue to their Persons and Posterity But the Eternal Life that Christ gave to every true Believer was no otherwise than whilst they did remain such they should never come into Condemnation for a Believer according to the Gospel is no longer a Believer than he yields to Christ his sincere Obedience Rom. 6.16 St Paul said to them that had embraced the Faith so as to yield Obedience unto Christ Know ye not that Christ is in you except you are Reprobates 2 Cor 13.5 That is except ye have rebelled by relinquishing your Obedience and so are become Reprobates as Israel formerly had done and therefore said of them Reprobate Silver shall Men call them because the Lord hath rejected them Jer. 6.30 which rejection was for their Sin And the Prophet speaking of the Body of the People that had wilfully Transgressed saith All our Righteousnesses are as Filthy Rags and our Iniquities like the Wind have taken us away Jsa 64.6 And the People of Gods Curse to Judgment will be them that will wilfully persist to do the thing which the
of the letter but of the spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life Now the Apostles received their Knowledge immediately from the Lord Christ and also of the Spirit for the Holy Ghost was given to be in them by which they also understood things to come and by the Spirit they were made able Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit for all the Gentiles when they were first to be called in had he then Preach'd the Letter of the Law to them they then had thereby all been Condemned But the Apostles were upon the first Publication of the Gospel to Preach Remission of Sins by Christ to every one that would turn from their evil way and by that turn they were to live in obedience to the Letter of the Word And in that he saith they were made able Ministers of the New Testament was in that the Holy Ghost was then given as a Witness to their Testimony to confirm the Truth of their Word and likewise they did Administer the Spirit for 〈◊〉 the laying on the Hands of the Apostles the People received the Holy Ghost Acts 19.6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them the holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied So also Acts 8.17 But should any Man now pretend to Preach such Doctrin of Administring the Spirit and not the Letter of the Word the People had good reason to believe that Man was out of his Senses But some have given such a turn to these Words of the Apostle from hence pretending they are not to take the plain Letter of the Word as it is spoken but according to the Spiritual Interpretation which they have put upon it the which has been according to their own Fancy And so by leaving the plain Letter of the Word in what God hath declared promised and sworn to are thereby fallen into these great and dangerous Mistakes for the Scripture admits of no other Spiritual Meaning than what is there specified which is that we perform not the Letter or practical part of the Word to be seen of Men but in sincerity of Heart so as to Worship God in Spirit and Truth But in the Word there are many Figurative Speeches which admits of no other Interpretation than what can be made out from the Word leaving nothing therein to contradict what we say And likewise some have got another way to uphold their false received Notions which is that God speaks after the manner of Men and according to Man's Understanding and if so how doth any Man dare to open another â—…ay for Man to understand of God than what God thought fit for Man's Understanding But there is no such thing said of God throughout the Word but St. Paul to 〈◊〉 the Covenant said that he spake after the manner of 〈◊〉 though it be but a Man's Covenant yet if it be confirmed no Man disanulleth it Gal. 3.15 But our Reformers had done well if they had said there was a great Secret in the Word which as yet they understand not and that it was not to be medled with till the Lord did give more Light according to his Promise before the time of the end and not to have set the Scriptures by their mistaken Interpretations at an unreconcileable Difference as they have done or it would have been much better to have thought that when the False Teachers had ingross'd the Word into their own Hands that they might have put in some words to make the New Testament appear to contradict the Old in what God had positively Promised and Sworn to therein seeing that God had intrusted Man with the Word for his Posterity as Adam was intrusted with Eternal Life for his Posterity the one being forbidden to Eat of the Tree and the other that they should neither add to nor diminish from the Word Gen. 2.16,17 Deut. 4.2 Rev. 22.18,19 But as a Reverend and Worthy Dr. said That when the Reformers first came out of Popery they did plainly see that the Papists were wrong but they themselves did not understand how to come right and indeed in losing the true meaning of the Word it was a hard matter so to do But now God according to his Promise has caused Light to break forth at Evening time Zach. 14.7 And has removed the occasion of Mistakes that thereby Knowledge might be increased whereby the God of Truth is made plainly appear to speak Truth as he is Truth and that he will do in all things according as he has said who having employed and enabled a weak Worm to vindicate his Truth and Justice to the Glory of his Name and the Comfort of Mankind Now such as will stand up to vindicate their false received Notions thereby to make the God of Truth a Lyar let them take what will follow for their Pains I am sure that the honest Heart will be glad that the Truth of God's Word is made plain and his Honour therein Vindicated I understand that some of the Honourable of the Clergy of the Church of England are well-wishers to the Truth and the soundest in the common Faith in the Knowledge of which is our Interest are part of the French Protestants part of the Church of England the Danish and Swedish Ministers and the Baptists that acknowledge that Christ Died for the World I am not to speak for Favour or Affection but as the Truth is in Jesus according to the Gospel A Papist told me that the Church of England gave the Sacrament as the Body and Blood of Christ the which I denied for though they give indeed the Bread and Wine in the words of Christ yet they do not give it as his real Body but as his Figurative Body as Christ did when he was setting whose with them at the Table for the Lord was no otherwise broken in the Sacrament than he was Slain in the Paschal Lamb yet he was said to be Slain in that Sacrifice but what great Mistakes has it caus'd the Christians to be in because they and we have lost the right Apprehension of the Scripture way of speaking XVIII An account of the Lord's five times Hiring Labourers into his Vincyard WHereas the Lord saith Matth. 20.1,2 ' The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Man that is an Housholder which went out early in the Morning to Hire Labourers into his Vineyard and when he had agreed with the Labourers he sent them into his Vineyard ' In the first place we are to take notice by the Comparison that every time the Lord hired Labourers to work in his Vineyard he came forth from Heaven and Hired them that is Agreed or Covenanted with them himself as with Noah and likewise with Abraham and also with Israel in the Wilderness and so Christ when he Established the Gospel the Agreement was that all that were Hired were to Work in the Vineyard and to have a Reward for their Labour And at the last time when the
many others by trusting to an Election that to themselves they have Framed and others by expecting to be saved by the Righteousness of Christ contrary to the words of Christ which is in the way of their sincere Obedience whereby Millions of poor Christians being thus deluded are asleep in security by which miserable mistaken Notions the generality of the Christians are become worse than Heathens Which if they are not well awakened and brought off of their sandy Foundation the generality of the Protestant Christians as well as the Papist will cry out of their Leanness the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously Isaiah 24.16 when they find themselves wanting both of sound Knowledge and good Fruit when their Destruction cometh And let all that have pretended to be God's peculiar and elect People when they are not consider what it is to Exalt themselves into that Station or Place into which God hath not put them by the Example of them that so did and were destroyed for so doing Numb 16. For did either God or Christ ever threaten Damnation to any that did not think themselves Elected Or did they only promise Salvation to them that were Elected Sure we find no such thing in the Word of God but the promised eternal Salvation both in the Old and New Testament is to them that obey him fear before him walk uprightly and fervently love him and believe his Word and cannot think that he will be false or a Deceiver but that God will perform his Promise to all according to his Word and according to his Word it will be that the Transgressors under the Law and Gospel will fall under the threatned Condemnation For the Gentiles as well as the Jews when their Prophets and Rulers which are their Seers became weary of the Ways or Laws of the Lord one was left to Blindness the other to Delusion by which we may see the Word of God made good in both and in the New Testament the Teachers are likewise called Prophets 2 Cor. 11.4 And it is said Isaiah 29.10 The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep and hath closed your eyes the Prophets and your Rulers the Seers hath he covered and the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed Now in that this Vision is termed the Vision of all therefore it hath its chief Reference to Christ's second coming the which is set down to be a Vision and that at the end it should speak Hab. 2.3 The which both Jews and Christians were commanded to wait for But because the Rulers and Teachers of both were the first occasion of laying the World in Darkness therefore God hath declared he hath covered them so as this Vision they were not to be the first discoverers of And though doubtless when Christ first came there were some good Rulers and good Priests among them so I hope there are many more amongst us Christians now But God by bringing out the Truth in an unexpected way doth thereby carry on the Counsel of his own Will which is never without a Reason and God saith he knoweth the proud afar off And therefore that such may be snared he brings to light the Knowledge of his Truth by an unexpected Hand by reason of which some had rather go without the Knowledge of the Truth than so receive it But let the Wise in Heart consider it that the Ignorant by their Example may come out of their Mistakes now God has made the Vision clear that the thinking Soul may not be taken in the Snare For this Vision in Isaiah 29.7 hath its reference to the time to come when all that have distrest Ariel shall be but as a Dream of a Night Vision they shall so pass away And this sealed Vision spoken of in the 11 verse is the Vision in the Revelations which has been Sealed unto us for we have not understood it and this Vision which God by the Prophet saith is become Sealed gives us to understand that it was not always so for when the Gospel was first Established this Gospel of the Kingdom was one of the fundamental Doctrins who when the Apostles had first fed their Converts with Milk they afterward fed them with strong Meat in declaring to them all the Counsel of God Acts 20.26 But afterward the Christians did Apostatize from the Truth and did set up their own Imaginations and would have in this time a temporal Kingdom of Christ And when they thus grew weary of the Truth of God's Word then God Vail'd or covered their Understanding so as they could not apprehend the glorious Kingdom of Christ which will be here in time to come And after this the Vision again became Sealed and then neither the Learned nor Unlearned could Read it But God often chuses to shew forth his Power through the weakness of the Instrument and on that side by whom this Offence was not committed And those that refuse the Truth because it comes forth by a Woman may as well refuse to be saved by Christ because he came by a Woman For God carries on his Works in one and the same Method for as when Israel was brought out of Aegypt to go into the promised Land the Glory of the Lord was then in the Clouds so it will be again when the Lord comes and much more abundantly and also as Christ first came by a Woman so again after the Lord arose he ' then appeared first to a Women and likewise when Christ was first brought in to the Temple to be Offered to the Lord then of all them that had their Abode in the Temple it was a Woman among them that did there first acknowledge him to be the Redeemer to such that look for redemption in Israel Luke 2.38 But that God that carries on his Works in a way of Method that the thinking Soul may consider it will not now contradict himself by leaving the Method that he formerly took And now the Vision is made so plain to any that has a Rational Understanding that according to the Word he that runs may Read it and therefore we are to wait for at the end it will speak and not lie Hab. 2.3 And now likewise the Old and New Testament are made to agree and all the occasions of the Mistakes are removed that thereby knowledge might be increased at the time of the end Dan. 12.4 And this now the Lord having made good according to his Word at the time of the end the which is a greater Evidence than if Angels had come from Heaven and declared it if they had not from the Word made it plain because we are not to receive any other Doctrin than what was first taught from the Testimony of Prophets and Apostles so as had not this been made plain from the Word it would have appeared another Doctrin and so not to have been believed because the evil Angels can Transform themselves into