heavenly aire or Spirit where they are to be ever with the Lord. In effect the day of Christs second appearance brings upon the stage of this world life from the dead working and declaring the first resurrection mentioned Revel 20. which is to continue visible to men on earth one thousand years The glorious chang which shal be made in the progresse of this day upon the soules and bodies of the Saincts shal be such as will no more leave them subject to corruption For over them the second death shall have no power This is another of the dayes of the Son of Man which succeeds the first is to continue a thousand years and then also have its end upon the sons making a voluntary and entire resignation of this his Kingdom unto his Father that God may be all in all For during this thousand years the son in his Kingdom shal be exalted as he to whom the father hath committed all judgmēt to be executed so that what he binds on earth shall be bound in heaven and what he looses on earth shal be loosed in heaven Whom he will he shall slay and whom he will he shal keep alive as the most absolute Monarch and only Potentate that ever reigned on the earth to the end that during this season and space of time all mē may honour the son with the honor due to the father and in this appearance of the Son se the father as in his vicegerent and doe him homage in this his living Image the Lords Christ or anointed one the man that by God is ordeined to rule the world in righteousnes even all the nations upon the earth during this his day which immediatly praecedes the day of eternity and last judgment wherein God is to be all in all The son himself after that all things shall have bin subdued and subjected unto him shal be subject to the Father that put all things under him This second day of the Son of Man is that one day knowne to the Lord not day nor night but a kind of middle state between that which is corruptible and that which is incorruptible It is neither absolutely one or the other but a mixture of both And it shall come to passe in the evening of this day it shal be light and the passage out of this into the day of eternity very pleasing and delightsome It shall distinguish itselfe as hath bin already intimated into the 3 usuall parts of a day MORNING MIDDAY NIGHT. 1. In its morning beauty and appearance the Eliah comes and restores all things as is foretold of him the BRIGHT MORNING STAR which is to shew to the kings of the east the neer approach of the only begotten Son himself and be to them and all other inhabitants on the earth the signe of the Son mans approaching and comming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory 2. In the noontide of this day of the Son of Man in his Kingdom shal be seen the height of the sunshine of that royall power and greatnes which shal be exercised by him in the capacity of universall King over all the earth the season wherein there shal be one LORD in his owne person visible and his name one throughout the whole world 3. There shall also be a declining and evening state of this glorious day which willingly and cheerfully gives place to the day of eternity wherein the father unveyled shall shine forth and be all in all How fitly does Ezekiel in the vision he had of the holy waters represent and describe this growing encreasing Kingdō of Christ revealed in the Gospel the light of Gods law that shines forth in the Son himself into the obedience and power whereof we are to be changed from glory to glory by the Lord the Spirit The waters issued from under the threshold of the house eastward on the right or south side Ezek. 47. Their first comming forth was by measure the measure of a man and gradually from the ankles to the knees from the knees to the loins from the loins to a river unpassable by man as meer man in his first constitution of being 2. 2dly then the same waters came forth in a communication above and beyond the measure of mans first nature into a river that man may swim in without drowning or being at all subject to die any more how much higher soever it rise above the head of the naturall man the first Adam And of this Noah by faith was aware who that he might obtein a state of safety from the overflowing flood by which al the world not made beleevers and taken into the arke were drown'd obeyed the counsel and command of God in building the arke and going into it after it was built and ready to receave him Herein have we a lively type of Christs humane nature offered up by the immortal Spirit and brought forth into the life that is from the dead never to die more but hath the keys of hel and death committed to him Unto the likenes of this heavenly building and temple of the living God in Christs person every true beleever is fashioned and conformed and is thereby made a fit vessel to swim in those waters of life safely and delightfully which by rising up above al the measures and proportions of the first world drowne them but are the proper element for those that are saved to live in They are fitted with enlarged hearts and mouths wide enough open'd to take in and receave those streams and rivers of the emanations of divine bounty and love how broad or deep soever they prove and how high soever they may rise and overflow For they have the man Christ Jesus their head the second Adam who as their forerunner is gone before to prepare the way for them and as the true arke in which are many mansions to receave them into himself that where he is they may be also Of what hath bin already said this then is the sum Christ is the eternall WORD and speaking power of God by whom are all things He is also as hath bin shewed the rock of ages the place of Gods rest throughout all generations the eternal Sabbath Heb. 4. wherein God finished his works so fully to his content that therein he took up his Rest even in the person and Spirit of the Mediatour the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath lain hid in God who created all things according to the eternall purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Further This eternall WORD who is the creatour of all things visible and invisible being in the Mediatour the image of the invisible God does bear the name of the blessed Trinity and stamps the impression and character thereof upon all the works of his hands He is the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and Ending of the creation of God In the Psalms and Ecclesiastes God is called by the name of creatours as being three
perfect or he is the rock that is Gods perfect work the wisedome which God possessed in the beginning of his way in which he was pleased to condescend and set forward toward the creation of the world Prov 8. and 9. chapters which compared with John 1.1 2 doe evidently shew him to be the WORD that was by God as one brought up with him who was with God and was God Gods love and delight in whom he was ever rejoycing He also had his love delight or choice in conformity to the eternal will and purpose of God among the sons of men that he makes the habitable part of his earth of whom David was the type and figure Psal 89. where God says v. 20. c. I have found David my Servant with my holy oyle have Ianointed him With him shall my hand be established mine arme also shall strengthen him I will beat down his foes before his face and plague them that hate him I will set his hand also in the sea his right hand in the rivers He shall cry unto me thou art my Father my God and the rock of my salvation Also I will make him my first borne higher then the kings of the earth I have sworn by my holines that I will not lie unto him His seed shall endure for ever his throne as the sun before me Againe Psal 78 70 c. He chose David also his Servant and took him from the sheepfolds from following the ews great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulnes of his hands Most of this is accomplished in Christ the antitype and Truth as he is the Son of Man of the seed of David according to the flesh called Gods Servant the BRANCH and the Lord our righteousnes the WORD of life that is the rock of ages whence all things are hewen He is the platform and exemplary patern of both worlds in idea as wel as execution which the divine wisedom contrived and wrought in God from all eternity as its great masterpeice by which the worlds were made Heb. 1.2 Eph. 3.9 God made all things by Jesus Christ whether visible or invisible He was the first patern of all his works Consequently according to this first and perfect patern was man made and to it in some degree and measure restored since his deformation by the fall In uprightnes was he made according to Gods image God is righteous originally in his owne nature and both originally and communicatively righteous in Christ who made man upright Eccl 7.29 The house which wisdom first builds for her self with seven pillars is in the person of Christ Gods only begotten son For he that built all things is God and this as the Son over his owne house a house not made with hands that eternal house of the Father wherein are many mansions The same WISEDOME after she had built her house killed her killing slew her sacrifice the lamb was slaine from the beginning of the world mingled her wine and also furnished her table All things being thus made ready for her guests whom she purposed to invite she sends forth her servants She crieth upon the highest places of the city who so is simple let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth understanding she saith to him come eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mingled Jt shal be to your soules as a tree of life a wel springing up into everlasting life in every one of you But as we shal shew more fully afterwards man in his perfect innocent state professing himself wise when he should have seen himself simple or at most wise only in part wanting yet that which should make him fully and immutably so became a fool And because when he knew God he glorified him not as God neither was thankful he became vain in his imagination changing the glory or likenes of the incorruptible God manifested in Christ into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds four-footed beasts and creeping things to the darkning his foolish heart that changed the TRUTH of God into a lie the original and first sin worshipping and serving the creature more then the Creatour God blessed for ever Conformity to Christ the first and most perfect patern and Rule of all obedience unto Gods word and declared will is the TRUTH of God which the first Adam changed into a lie endeavouring as much as in him lay to make it void and set up some other thing even himself in the place thereof as the law and Rule of his action which he was forbidden In departing from and disobeying of Christ who was the law of Gods mouth from the beginning the word that was commanded to a thousand generations he tasted the bitter fruit of his own doings and was ensnared by the work of his owne hands He was enticed by his owne lust sin conceaved which being perfected brought forth death And if it be objected 't was impossible the first Adam should sin against Christ or the TRUTH of God as it is in Jesus because where there is no law there can be no transgression when as yet nothing was declared of Christ there could be no offence against him The Answer is easy and plain There was both knowledge and need of Christ before the fall as well to prevent and keep out sin from entring into the world as to expiate and deliver from it by his death after it was entered and secure against its return againe This the Apostle Paul asserts with great cleernes in his Epistle to the Romans shewing that Adam was but the Image and figure of him that was to come Christ made from the beginning the power of God unto Salvation and the righteousnes of God that was to be revealed from faith to faith This man at his creation and before his fall could not be ignorant of For that which might be known of God in Christ by the book of the creature was shewed to him and made manifest in him For the invisible things of him even of Christ who is the invisible image of God and hidden mystery ordeined for our glory before the world and kept secret in God were cleerly seen and to be known by the things that are made the creatures he produced to the making manifest his eternal power and Godhead thereby rendring them without excuse that would otherwise be apt to make the forementioned objection and on that presumption thinke themselvs at liberty to change Gods truth into a lie But hereby every mouth comes to be stopped and al the guilty world are subjected to the righteous judgment of God Christ who is the law of Gods mouth required of man obedience as soon as he was created He called upon him to be a hearer of the will of God which he was intrusted to reveale and teach the most acceptable manner of
were liable to be broken off again and those also that are after the spirit true heirs according to the promise who are in like manner under this dispensation and teaching til the seed himself come and take them from this Schoolmaster in order to bring them under the most lively effectual teaching and instruction of his owne mouth and by his owne personal appearance in spirit to them either as the day-star arising in their hearts and giving forth the glory of his first appearance in his owne face as he is the Son of man in the form of a servant and fashion of the first Adam made immutable or 2dly as the sun in its strength breaking forth in their soules that are gathered to him appointed and qualified to be with him in the Kingdom of his father and admitted to the peculiar priviledge of beholding his glory in the face of his most exalted and heavenly manhood as he is the only begotten lying in the fathers bosome he that is above all What he hath seen and heard in the beholding of the fathers shape and very similitude that he testifieth but no man receaveth this his testimony that is but a meer man and no more For it is not it cannot be conveyed or communicated unto any but with unspeakable words which it is not possible for man in the single capacity of his first nature and make though become immutable to receave or utter so much doe they surpasse all the knowledg as wel as expression of meer man Under the voice of this threefold ministry God the mediatour who is the possessour of heaven and earth the maker of them and all therein hath made of one blood al nations of men for to dwel on the face of the earth hath distributed to al of them and determined the bounds of their habitations as also the different and proper means to bring them back to himself by repentance from dead works and faith towards the living God He hath awakened that light in every one that comes into the world that shal move and cal upon them at some time or other upon occasion of sundry concurring providences to seek the Lord if haply they may feel after him and find him who is not far from every one of us It ought not then to be a thing incredible with us but that by these means provision is made by God in Christ and care taken not only for the restoring of man againe unto that righteousnes and purity of nature which he lost and to the exercise of that kind of freewil which he enjoyed at creation but yet farther to regenerate and beget him into a more excellent fashion of being and heavenly frame of Spirit in and by which the end of his first creation is fully answered and the law of it accomplished Of this we shal now in the third place proceed to treat by way of answer to 3. The third generall Query which is this In what sence is it possible for man in his mutable state considered either before or after his fall according to the degree of restoring healing grace which he does or may arrive unto to hear and obey the things of Gods law without turning from it finally and in so doing to grow up out of his mutable into his immutable state and be made heir and possessour of life eternal To understand this the more plainly and distinctly and to prevent prejudices and mistakes we shal discusse this subject under these 4 particular enquiries following as branches of this 3d maine point and general query 1. Whether was man at first created in a capacity of being and aptitude of mind possible to obey and fulfill the law of nature so to as answer the end of his creation til brought under a second work of Gods hand call'd the new creation and thereby cast into a new mould and frame of being Secondly whether man by sin be so unmade againe and corrupted so disorder'd and disabled that by the blessing and vertue of Christs blood and the proper and fit means that by the father are put into the hands of the Mediatour he is not in a capacity and possibility notwithstanding his losse by the fall to be restored and made able againe to obey Gods law with the same kind of ability God gave him at first And upon such restoration is he not obliged to set about it at least to shew his good will and syncere inclination of mind there unto according to the measure of the ability he receaves 3. How was man to employ and make use of his naturall ability and strength given for the performance of Gods law and according to what rule might or ought he to have walked with God either before or after the fall which would infallibly guide and unmoveably keepe him in the way to eternall life a way which is called the way of holines such as the uncleane passe not over and the wayfaring men though fooles cannot or shall not erre therein and at the end whereof is immortality and eternall blessednes 4. How comes man in a judiciall manner to be hardned by God and made a vessell of wrath fitted and appointed to everlasting destruction And when is it that he shal be denied any farther benefit by the Sacrifice or Christs death and no more permitted to change his mind and turne from his evill wayes though he should seek it with teares but be in a certaine expectation of the unquenchable flames of Gods wrath ordeined for the punishing and devouring of all fixed and impenitent sinners To the first of these enquiries The creatour did at the beginning put a created ability and principle of motiō into the creature But the strength and power of this first impression is not sufficient for the continued motion of every respective creature in its kind but a perpetuall concourse and cooperation of the creatour is needfull thereunto Then doubtlesse man who was made in Gods image a rationall and free agent the masterpiece of the visible creation ought not to thinke himself exempt from such a dependance nor to covet or desire to be made perpetuall upō such tearms as would in effect dethrone his creatour and make more Gods then one The end for which man was at all created was to be perpetually moving in love and service to his creatour as a vessel prepared with meetnes for the use of his Lord in whatever he should be commāded by him for the advancement of his prayse and glory Now as loue is the end and perfection of the commādemēt so is it the first and cheife principle out of which all true obedience to the commād must proceed and a duration and perpetuity in this loue and duty is absolutely necessary to mans hapines and continuance in Gods favour and good liking For untill a man keep Gods commandements out of this principle and be sure of its unchangeablenes he neither can be sayd to walke in that Covenāt or agreement with God
primitive purity and the remission of sins past and this by a repentance from dead workes and a returning by faith unto the living God Moses began this ministry John Baptist continued or rather renewed it as the immediate fore-runner unto Christs comming in the flesh and Elias in spirit and power or the spirit and power of Elias that is yet to come as the latter raine of Christs first appearance shall cary on this work of restoration to its perfection and immutability in the hearts of Christs slaine witnesses and be as the fore-runner and bright morning-star that is to usher in the sun-shine of Christs second comming Then will Christ come forth in his owne person to celebrate publickly before the eyes of the whole creation the marriage of the lamb with his bride This latter Elias is he that must destroy that painted Jezebel which puts Naboth to death by the authority of Ahab Revel 2 20 22 the earthly lying spirit of the false righteousnes in the mouth of the false Prophets which by the secular power in all ages puts to death Naboth the spirit of true Prophesy in the mouths of Christs faithfull Servants by false witnesses to the treading downe and keeping under the true Prophets of God during the time times and half a time foretold by Daniel and the Apostle John And as this Elias must rectify the worship of God so must he set in order the man towards his neighbour He must turn the heart of the fathers to the children and of the children to the fathers putting an end to all differences betweene the spirituall fathers and their children and the spirits of the later Prophets shal be subject to the former Prophets For when this Elias comes he will untie all knots answer all objections and resolve all doubts In a word he wil bring back againe the whole man unto his God He will restore the naturall man to his right He will also prepare and point out the way unto the heavenly man for the obteining of his right He will recover all Edom to the house of Israel and the kingdom shal be the Lords Obadiah v. 21. And why should we doubt or despair but such a time there wil be when things which now are have long bin and will yet be more turn'd upside downe all out of order all confounded shal be restored and brought to right againe Have not all the Beasts had their reigne and shall not Christ have his Shall not his kingdom come and will be done in earth as it is in heaven unlesse we pray so without faith and hope Have we not a promise that there shal be times of refreshing from this heavenly presence and appearance of the Lord shall not a generall restitution of all things be the effect of such his appearance in the very dawnings thereof Were this to be mans work no doubt would be made of it O we of little faith shall we then doubt of it when God himself undertakes it the mighty God the Lord the Redeemer that is yet to come out of Zion to turn away iniquity from Jacob in a spirit and power that all must bow under and fall before Let us then upon whom the ends of the world are come lift up our heads in the sight of the neernesse of this redemption which is hastning apace upon us in despite of all the opposition that is can or shal be made against it This then is that which we are to understand by the restoration-work which God begets carries on and perfects by the ministry of the outward and written word as the handmaid and servant to the sons appearance himself in spirit It is that whereby man is first brought back againe to God and to himself in the exercise of his right judgment and freewill Then is he also ledd out of that into the love which he that hath dwells in God takes up his rest in the divine nature becomming the habitable part of the earth wherein the divine nature inthrones itself and dwells as in his temple and resting place This is the land of Emmanuel the true Israell's land the land of promise in the spirit the city that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Christ himself being the cheif corner-stone thereof It is therefore the kingdom that cannot be shaken at the comming on thereof all that is moveable must be taken out of the way and give place He that is least in this kingdom is greater then John Baptist though he were greater then all the other prophets that went before him the meaning is in reference to this restoration-work which is the proper effect of John Baptists ministry through which Gods Covenant is repeated and renewed with man in the blood of the redeemer after which a breach between God and man is still in possibility and danger to happen and the spirit of man may be broken off from him with whom it had bin made one as a member of the same body For by the power of this restoring healing ministry of the first Covenant taking force by the death of Christ the Lord does create or make man againe of one mind one will and heart with him according to the law of the first creation which is throughout conditionall and may be made void through mans default as appears by what Paul and Barnabas speake to the contradicting and blaspheming jews Actor 13.46 It was necessary that the word of God should first have bin spoken to you but seing ye thrust it from you and judg yourselvs unworthy or shew yourselvs not desirous of eternal life lo we turn to the gentiles Oh how liable is the heart of man under this conditional Covenant though never so far advanc'd to be suddenly broken off againe from God by its hope and trust in the creature or in the uncertain riches that are either within us or without This the Apostle Paul well knew and therefore charg'd them that are rich in this world not to trust in the uncertainty of riches no not in the very inward riches of the heart as enriched with the restored mutable principles of righteousnes but in the living God the WORD that is in our heart and in our mouth in the person of Christ the enduring substance that never failes nor fades away Christ says wo be to the rich to wit that trust and put confidence in any the above-mentioned fading riches within man or without Againe he says Blessed are the poor in spirit who doe resigne the activity life and way of working righteousnes and worshipping God in the fading restored mutable principles of the first creation growing weak feeble and low in all such wayes even of doing well wherein man hath whereof to boast in order to a growing rich and strong in the Lord or in the new-creature life activity and way of worshipping God and working righteousnes in spirit and truth in the steady and unchangable principles of everlasting righteousnes We cannot serve two
Ierusalem Esai 2. And I will assemble her that halts and will gather her that I have driven out and her that I have afflicted and will make of the one a remnant and of the other a strong nation and the Lord shall reigne over them in mount Zion from thenceforth even for ever And nation shall not life up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more For all people will walk in the name of their God and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever For a small moment I have forsaken thee and hid my face from thee but with great mercies and everlasting kindnesses will I gather thee For thy maker is thy husband the Lord of hoasts is his name and thy Redeemer the holy one of Israel the God of the whole earth shal he be called Behold they shall surely gather together but not by me Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake For all thy children shal be taught of the Lord and great shal be the peace of them In righteousnes shall they be established They shal be far from oppression feare or terrour No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every tongue that shall rise up in judgement against thee thou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousnes is of me saith the Lord. This is Israel my servant Jacob whom I have chosen and the seed of Abraham my freind These and many more like precious promises we meet with in the Scripturs concerning a most prosperous and glorious state that shall visibly come upon Gods people even in this world according to the assurance thereof given unto Abraham that he in his seed should be heir of the world All these promises are reducible only to the state of those times that shall certainly be brought upon the stage of this world when the Kingdom and second appearance of the great God and our saviour Jesus Christ shall shine forth in its brightnes upon earth This is that which is not only promised so very often and testified by all the Prophets but was much spoken of and beleeved amongst the Jews before Christs comming in the flesh It was universally receaved also in the first age after Christ and all were accounted hereticks and deniers of the resurrection that did not acknowledg it And in that great Council of Nice called by Constantine the great it was asserted in an article of their Ecclesiasticall doctrine to this effect That by foreknowledg God did not make the world in that height of perfection at first which he intended to bring it unto in the end because he foresaw man would sin Therefore say they we expect new heavens and a new earth according to the scriptures And then as Daniel sayes the saincts of the most high shall take the Kingdom and there shal be a pure and holy world a Land of the living and not of the dead This David by the eye of faith foresaw when he sayd I shall se the goodnes of the Lord in the land of the living the land of the humble and meeke Blessed are the meeke for they shall inherit the earth and be clothed beautified and adorned with salvation So Esay 26. The foot shall tread downe the lofty city even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy This great truth was thus witnessed unto then and afterwards also till the adversaries knew no other way to avoyd it but by denying the book of the Revelation to be scripture In the beginning also of the reformation in England in a catechisme set forth in Edward the sixths time and by him authorized the last year of his reigne that part of the Lords prayer Thy Kingdom come is thus commented upon Hitherto we se not all things put under the feet of Christ we do not yet se that stone cut out of the mountaine without any work or endeavours of man that is to breake and dissipate into nothing the great image described by Daniel that the little stone which is Christ may possesse and obtein the empire of the whole world according to the graunt of the father Antichrist is not yet destroyed whence it is that we are to desire and pray that in Gods due time it may be done and that Christ alone way reigne with his Saints according to his divine promises that he may live and reigne on the earth according to the laws of the holy Scriptures and not according to the traditions and lawes of men and the tyrannicall will of this world So have we it in that Catechisme Another passage there is relating to this subject in the same book upon the article of the last judgment distinguishing between the end of the world and the last generall judgment saying that the holy Scriptures call the end of the world the time of consummation the full filling of the Kingdom and mysteries of Christ in the restitutiō of all things It seemes bu agreable to reasō that the dayes should come wherein the corruption chang and sin to which the whole world hath bin heitherto subjected should cease This shall be done by fire as gold is refined by which it shal be brought to its last and highest perfection And this man the lesser world shall much more experience in being freed from the bondage of corruption and brought into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God For mans sake therefore the visible frame of heaven and earth shal be renewed with a much more pleasant and beautifull face or for me then it had before But secondly as to the last and generall judgment the answer is Christ shall come at whose voice the dead shall arise and be made perfect in soule and body And he shall sit on the throne of his majesty seen by the whole world and pronounce the finall sentence upon the testimony of every ones conscience out of his owne mouth Then the Sons of God shall compleatly possesse that Kingdom of immortality and eternall life which was prepared for them before the foundation of the world and shall reigne with Christ unto all eternity But the wicked which do not beleeve shal be cast into eternall fire appointed for the devil and his angels This distinction between the dayes of the end of the world and the work proper to them called the last dayes and the great day of eternity or the last judgment is well explained and cleered by Mr. Mede who gives the account before mentioned in these things In a word he declares his judgment to be that the seventh trumpet or thousand years reigne of Christ on earth conteined therein is that great day of the Lord the day of his Judgment so much celebrated among the Jews in their writings and from them taken up by our Saviour and his Apostles not a day of a few houres as some suppose but a continued interval of many years wherein Christ
last and most glorious trump of God Christs humanity as head of the elect Angels all principalities and powers being subjected unto him who as he is the Son of man is made the cheif of the aÌ„gels and the prime minister of the WORD of life for food unto them This beginning of the sounding of the seventh Trumpet is that which as hath bin said is the ministry of Eliah and goes before the ministry that shal be immediately exercised by the Son himself in his owne person By Christs revealing himself from heaven the head of angels he employes them as his reapers in the end of the world or in the last times to sever the wicked from among the just and gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend He will send a quickning Spirit of life from his presence that will breath the breath of prophecy into the holy angels those voices that are to be heard in heaveÌ„ saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ These voices wil be heard as it were the voice of a Trumpet talking with the Saincts on earth and calling them up into the same heavenly converse with themselvs causing them immediatly thereupon to be in the spirit beholding the throne that is in heaven and him that sits thereon as the head of those holy and blessed spirits who are all desirous to do him homage and worship refusing to take that to themselvs which is due only to their head and which the saints themselvs on earth would be but too forward to give them as was the case of John Revel 22.8 9. Under this ministry and dispensation the church and every particular member thereof do become the children that are all taught of God inwardly by this heavenly breath or angelical inspiration For this qualifies and enables them by the sight of the just one to know the mind and will of God and to do and fulfill it after Christ as they se he hath done it before them with a heart and spirit like unto his as he is the son of man And as so considered he is head of the holy angels by them speaking to and inspiring the church on earth He is also the head of that church in God the father that is above the angels so as unto principalities and powers the very elect angels by the church in this sence even the generall assembly of the first borne whose names are written in heaven the manifold wisdom of God shal be made knowne By these divine men who are the bride the lambs wife he will shew himself speaking and inspiring the good angels in heaven to all eternity and judging the evill and wicked ones into the flames of eternall fire The first of these attainments is that wherein the lower and common ranke of beleevers called in scripture the fulnes of the gentiles compared with the true Jews Gods first borne sons are gathered into society with the holy angels into a copartnership with them in an immutability of righteousnes and glory and so into Christ their head as into their proper element and sphere in which they are raysed up to live in his sight and to eat and drink with him at his table in his fathers Kingdom to all eternity Over these the second death never hath power And this is called the first resurrection which the other sort of beleevers those that are the fulnes of the Jews do enjoy in common with them during the thousand years reigne of Christ on earth And after that they have a farther ascent into the life and glory of the second resurrection which is not to be revealed in the power of it untill Christ have resigned up the Kingdom unto his father that God may be all in all But during the thousand years reigne of Christ on earth both these houses of Israel shal be gathered as sheep under one head and shepheard into one sheepfold and shine forth only in the life and glory of the first resurrection witnessing to the headship of Christ which he exerciseth over the angels and by them over the very church itself whilst the Kingdom of the son is unresigned by him into the hands of the father The life and glory of both these resurrections whether as they respect the mind or body of the true saincts and children of God or both is that immortality which is brought to light by Jesus Christ the life from the dead which will shew itself in the times appointed thereunto and translate us at length into eternity where time shal be no more And we are begotten even while here in our mortall bodies through fellowship with Christ in his resurrection unto a lively hope of this inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away ready to be revealed in these last times Untill then it is in faith only and the seed of it does beget and produce the two sorts of beleevers so frequently mentioned who now by this ministry of Eliah are beginning to be made manifest and shal be distinguished as the true Israel of God from all strangers and deceitfull workers whatsoever that either love or make a lie The first of these are in their principles said to be of the common faith and to have â—â—teined the common salvation Thus Paul writes to Titus as his son after the common faith Tit. 1 4. And Jude v. 3. sayes I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation to the fulfilling of the scripture Rom. 4 17. Gen. 17.5 speaking of Abraham I have made thee the father of many nations as wel as of one nation peculiar above and besides all the rest For so Abrahams seed was to be a seed made up of many nations and a seed of one more peculiarly beloved nation also that were to be seperated to him to dwell by themselvs and not be reckon'd amongst the nations that are the fulnes of the Gentiles Abraham is but the typicall father Christ is the father in spirit and truth to this twofold seed In Gen. 13. and 15. chapters God promised Abraham to make of him a great people numberlesse as the dust of the earth or the stars of heaven which he makes good in the fulnes of the true Jews But chap. 17.5 he gives an additional seed also which he there promises him besides what he promised before saying behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a high father of a multitude of nations Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram that is high father but Abraham high father of multitudes Hence is it that in Gods everlasting Covenant there comes to be found salvation for a multitude of nations common as it were to all mankind if the fault be not in themselvs and not salvation only for one great nation the Israel that is Gods first borne God hath therefore an everlasting love and salvation which comparatively spoken of is that which is common and extensive to a numberlesse
To the word of this Eliahs ministry in the hearts of beleevers the whole creation shal be obedient The heavens at their prayers will shut or open They shall do greater things on earth then ever yet have bin done by the power that Christ hath with the father which in this day he will begin visibly to set on work and exercise for the good of his people But the great question is when shall these things be Answer The signe of Christs comming is already spoken to in this ministry of Eliah which does immediatly goe before it And when this ministry comes and reveales itself in power as it must in the hearts of all the true Israel of God it will untie all the knots and difficulties that do yet remaine to be resolved concerning Christs second appearance and things to come But when may this second comming of Eliah be expected 1. After that Christ in spirit hath as signally bin rejected by the generation of Jews under the gospel which were surrogated and engraffed in the room of Abrahams naturall seed as he was by that Jewish nation which crucified him at Jerusalem And when accordingly they shall have openly declared it by the like severe proceedings against the true spirit of prophecy manifesting itself in Christs witnesses who by humane laws and bodily punishments wil be suppressed kept under and put to death as much as lies in man to do 2dly When this persecution and rejection of Christ in his members hath had its progresse and course with the preaching of the gospel itself during the six trumpets from the one end of the earth to the other which hath shined as lightning from the east to the west and when the gospel and obeyers of it shall meet with the sharpest brunt of opposition so as that the dead bodies of the witnesses shall not be suffered to be put in their graves during the last three years and half of this houre and power of darknes that is to come upon the church of Gods hidden ones the remnant of the womans seed that keep the commandments of God and faith of Jesus But they are nevertheles helped and much saved from the flood of their enemies malice by the like mistake as was that of Herod who slew all the children from two years old and upwards hoping amongst them to find the promised seed but failed The earth helps the woman The earthly Ierusalem with her inhabitants shall prove a skreene to the heavenly Mount Zion 3dly When the wise virgins as wel as the foolish shal be found in a deep sleep of security and think the worst past looking for nothing more but the comming of the bridegroom before it be yet midnight The witnesses of Christ wil be ready to make account that their 1260 years of suffering under the reigne of the beast is either expired or upon the very point of expiring and therefore begin to put off their sackcloth or lay it quite aside as taking for graunted that the time is come that sorrow and sighing are flowne away never to returne more But they will afterwards find themselvs deceaved and that they are but falling into the times of the three last years and halfe it being Gods usuall and accustomed method from the beginning to usher in any great exaltation of his saincts with some desperate extreamity and calamity immediatly foregoing And therefore till after the wise virgins sun be turned into darknes and the foolish virgins moon be turned into blood the BRIGHT MORNING STAR of Eliahs ministry comes not But then it does immediatly follow 4thly and lastly when Antichrist and all enemies of the witnesses of Christ shal be in the grearest peace unity and joy imaginable amongst themselvs at the beholding the dead bodies of the two prophets that tormented them that dwell upon the earth and shall cry peace peace as esteeming their mountaine to be made so strong that it can never be moved In one word When the sunshine of their prosperity peace and power is at the height and to their thinking impossible ever to set againe Let this suffice without proceeding farther to speak concerning the two other parts of this great day of Christs second comming which wil be dignified with his owne personall reigne on earth the THOVSAND YEERS of the FIRST RESURRECTION Then will he put an end to this very day of his owne Kingdom by his free and voluntary resigning it up into the hands of the father that God may be all in all Let me only adde this word that the visible reigne of these saints of the first RESURRECTION here on earth for a thousand years wil be in the new Jerusalem state that is to come downe from God out of heaven in a state of beatitude and glory partaking of the divine presence and vision of Christ their King in an immutable righteous state both of body and Soule distinguished from the state of the nations that shall walke in her light all the world over and be happy and glorious also but changeable THE END Mistakes in the printing Page 9. lin 36. for teams read tearms p. 21. l. 30. this r. his p. 41. l. 32. themselv r. themselvs and l. 33. trues r. true p. 43. l. 26. to as r. as to p. 70. l. 21. 3d r. 2d p. 83. l. 31. hasband r. husband p. 84. l. 29. contracted r. contracted p. 91. l. 3. tempestous r. tempestuous and l. 14. eujoy r enjoy p. 95. l. 40. powers r. power