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A65195 Two treatises ... both written by Sir Henry Vane, Knight in the time of his imprisonment. Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662.; Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662. Epistle general, to the mystical body of Christ on earth.; Vane, Henry, Sir, 1612?-1662. Face of the times. 1662 (1662) Wing V80_PARTIAL; Wing V67_PARTIAL; ESTC R7026 96,369 132

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the other sort of these Witnesses is because that is wanting to them which should fix them and make them unchangeable in well-doing and cause them to be Pillars in the House of God that never go out more That they are partakers of righteous Principles and are qualified with Power to work Righteousness and this from present annointing and impression of the true and right Spirit is not nor ought not to be denied them They may be Virgins and have Lamps well trimed with Oyl fresh and full and yet not able to keep this Oyl from spending and going out nor prevent their own being to seek for want of it when they should have the greatest use of it And indeed the first sort do confess as much and own their Righteousness to be mutable and they no longer to have certainty in it than they can stand in the Obedience and that their standing or falling may be or may not be as they give their free assent or dissent to the Good and Evil that presents it self to them But with many under the second sort of Witnesses it is not so for they fasten upon the Righteousness of Christ that is wrought in his Person as that which is unchangeable in it self which it is if they do but rightly apply it and hold it upon the Texnure of the absolute and better Promises which are by the new Covenant whereof they make no doubt but they do And as to their Sanctification they have the Law for their Rule which in it self is Moral and Perpetual and so they believe all real and true Conformity to it wrought in their hearts must also be although their hearts be not yet made that good soyl that where it hath received the Word and retained it for a season are not prepared to keep it for ever and to bring forth fruit with that patience as will lose all other things rather than ever be prevailed with to let it go From both these sorts of Witnesses Christ is Preached and Righteousness made known and Propagated in the World and a Testimony kept up against open Looseness and Prophanness Atheism and Idolatry and by these Spiritual Traders and Merchants in the Traffick of Christ's Goods and Talents of the Common Gifts and Graces of his Spirit there is by some a right good use and approvement made so as they are at last perswaded to put them to the Exchangers for their Lord's Advantage and their own benefit being willing to purchase the one Pearl of great price which is obtained through saving Faith and Regeneration for many of these small Pearls that in the Day of Proof and Tryal will not endure And those that do eat and drink unworthily of this Table of the Lord notwithstanding the many wonderful things they do in his Name he will profess he knows them not but let them see they have eat and drunk their own damnation and left themselves wholly without all excuse And therefore both these degrees and growths up into Christ Jesus as branches in the Vine that after real union must either by better husbandry applied to them come to receive a fastening in and with the Root that cannot be shaken nor dissolved or else prove withered branches at last that upon tryal are only fit for the fire Their great care and business should be to make their Calling and Election sure and from evidence which cannot fail nor deceive experience that the Root bears them and not they the Root And thus we come to the Consideration of the other two sorts of Witnesses that are the standing Plants and Olive Trees in the House of God which are planted by the Fathers right hand and none whatsoever can pluck up In the former I have spoke to Christ dwells as in his Tents and mutable habitations who in that respect are called Temples of the Holy Ghost that may so be defiled that God may destroy and cast them out of his sight for ever but these we now come to describe do Constitute that Mount Zion that cannot be moved that Heavenly Jerusalem which is made a quiet habitation a place of everlasting Rest a Tabernacle that shall not be taken down as the first must in order to be new built in the Regeneration not one of the Stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the Cords thereof be broken but there the Lord will be for ever a place of broad Rivers and Streams that shall spring up into life eternal and that from the lowest Ebbs at first no higher than the Anckles become still ascending not only to the heighth and stature of man in his fullest perfection but also above it till it come to be a River to swim in a River pure and clear as Cristal that proceeds from the Throne of God and of the Lamb the Son of man glorified in the midst of the street and on either side whereof is the Tree of Life or those who live and feed upon that incorruptible Fruit. The work which is wrought by Christ in and upon the two first sort of Professors of his Name is that which seals them and binds them fast up in the bundle of life unto the Redemption that is eternal and makes them to give witness to what Christ is and doth in his second Ministry as he sends the holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth which abides in them that are made Receivers of him under an Obligation never to depart from them nor suffer them to depart from him that is he that stablisheth us in Christ pouring out that Anointing which sealeth us with the Seal of the living God as with the Name of our Father in our forehead the effectual calling of whose Name upon us by working in us and making us fit Vessels to receive it and bear it is our Adoption and that manner of admitting us unto the right and dignity of Sons which makes us heirs according to the Promise And this is done by Christ not as Creator and the Giver of the Law and Life of pure Nature upon its first Principles but by Christ as he ministers that Spirit of Truth which is the Inspiration before-described that proceeds from the Father and the Son by the operation of the holy Ghost or third Person in the Trinity whose work is Perfection and consummative of what is already in being by the Creation and Operation of the Son or Eternal Word and yet causeth so great an Alteration in the natural being of man taken at his best from what it was before and that so much for the better with respect to abundance and immutability of that which Nature it self calls good and righteous that it justly deserves to be call'd a new Creation or Regeneration that gives a new Creature Being and Life far excelling the first and much differing in glory from it To evidence this Let us consider Man in the righteousness of his Natural being wherein he hath a right understanding of God's mind in what is required
that is not only not in my sight but not in preference to him that I have given to you as my face and mouth Provoke him not for my Name is in him intimating withall that herein they were the more inexcusable because they had him with them and amongst them In him the light of God's Glory was shining forth as in God's own face and very similitude speaking his Mind by his own mouth and he was to be incarnate that the same Word might be near us even in our mouth and in our heart to hear it and do it This is the Prophet like unto Moses which God said he would raise up unto them out of and from the midst of their Brethren Let us then acknowledge this great Mystery of the Father and the Son distinguishing what God is by Nature and Essence from what he gives himself to be in the Person of the Mediator the only begotten that lieth in his bosome who yet is also his Messiah whom he sends and makes his Substitute by way of his in-dwelling Deity and Presence for the performing of all his pleasure in both Worlds The Trinity is the head and immediate cause of the being and fulness which is set up in the Person of the Mediator whom they not only inspire with each of their Names and Similitudes but make him a Vessel of meet use to convey the holy Oyl in the way of a twofold Ministry and Pipe to both Creations He therefore became incarnate that he might make use of no other spoksman immediately to interpret and declare the Mind of God unto his People than the Son of man glorified of which we have the lively Type Exod. 4. 15 16. in the Office of Aaron to Moses shewing that Aaron was made the mouth to Moses and Moses the mouth to God Aarons Office of spoksman figuring out that of Christ's Manhead and Moses his that of Christ's Mediatorship in spirits before his Incarnation upon which occasion God promiseth there in the Type that which he fulfills in Spirit and Truth in Christ's Person For as Moses had Commission to speak to Aaron as God's spoksman to him so hath the Spirit of the Mediator to Jesus the Son of man And as it was Aaron's Office to be spoksman to the People so is it the Office of Christ's Manhead to be the spoksman of Him that Moses typed out that great Prophet the Angel of God's Face and Presence and to be to him the Interpreter and Declarer of God's Mind and signifier of God's Commands to all in both Worlds Christ as he is the Son of man is to himself as he is the Word of God instead of a mouth or Prophet And Christ as he is the only Begotten or Word of the Father is instead of God most high unto his own Manhead answerable to the Promise made vers 15. and thou shalt speak unto him and put words into his mouth meaning Moses to Aaron and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you that is both of you what ye shall do Here we see and may see it with Admiration as the Queen of Sheba did in Solomon's Temple which was the Type the Glorious Ascent into the House of God and the gradual access which by one spirit we have through Christ unto the Father I would have you know saith the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 11. 3. that the head of every man is Christ the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God Christ that is the head of every man is the head of his own manhead and therefore was Christ God's Angel Messiah or sent-one before he was Man and had for his Head the one God and Father of all things How God is the Head of Christ we have shewed The blessed Trinity is the Father to that only begotten One who is the hidden Wisdom ordained before the World was to our glory The Angel that is the Messenger and Mediator of God's Covenant of whom he commands us to beware Exo. 23. 21. and to obey his voice Provoke him not sayes he for he will not pardon their Transgressions for my Name is in him What can be more plain The most high God hath his Messiah his Angel or sent-one invested with his Majesty and Power of Command whose Voice must be obeyed as the Voice of God it being his Office to be instead of God to his Church What he binds is bound what he remits is remitted for the Name of God is in him He is in likeness and truth so near to God that he is God's equal the true Michael that is second with God in the Throne and yet he that is found in the Form of God and accounts it no robbery to be equal with God doth not disdain to have also his Equals the man that is his fellow the man of his right-haud whom he hath made strong for himself With the most knowing Jews the acknowledgment of Christ in this his heavenly and spiritual being before his incarnation was most usual and avowed The Angel that redeemed Jacob Gen. 48. they call the Divine Majesty owned for God and for Christ that was tempted in the Wilderness whose Voice say they is to be obeyed as the Voice of the living God and his Office is to be the Leader and Guide of the true Israel the great Prince that is the Presence and Majesty of God and the Lord and Ruler over all the Earth as well as Heaven all that is therein being governed by his hand Unto Him the pure and simple Essence of God is the Father and he is set up from everlasting the Father and Root whence that chief Branch springs that is Jesus the Lord and Christ in the capacity of Son to this Father who must reign till all things be subdued under him that is all inferiour Rule Authority and Power whatsoever that officiate or ought to do so in his right But when that is done and finished then shall this Son also himself be subject unto Him that is his Father that raised him from the dead and put all things under him that God may be all in all This occasioned Christ whilst he was on Earth to say Joh. 12. 28. Father glorifie thy Name speaking therein to God the Mediator to Him whose Office is to be to him the Mouth of God from whom he receives the lively Oracles to deliver to his Church as it is written I will declare thy Name to my Brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing Praises unto thee And again I will put my trust in him even in him who wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right-hand of the Majesty on high or in the heavenly This made Christ say When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me that is mediately and in order afterwards to resign them up unto his Father and give up all his interest of Rule in them
of Judgment at last without Mercy A remarkable example of this we may see in the Case of Jacob and Laban Gen. 31. 44. Laban a Righteous man at least pretending to it in his appeal to the God of Justice conversing with God in and under the Law of Nature and what of God is to be known under that Ministry saith to Jacob Come now after all our difference and unkindness thou shalt see I will deal righteously with thee and put thee to the proof who shall be found more righteous thou in thy way of serving God or I in mine Let us strike a Covenant I and thou and let it be for a Witness between me and thee Let Him whom I know and serve by the Light and Law of Nature and whom thou servest by a higher Law and Light that of Faith which doth not destroy but establish the Righteousness of the Law let him whose eye only seeth and before whom we cannot be hid either from his knowledge or his vengeance watch and mark our carriages in pursuance of our Covenant and Agreement and accordingly be a Witness for or against us upon the breach thereof Unto this Jacob chearfully agreed upon his Principles and Laban upon his In which it is evident that the same God and Christ may be conversed and walked with upon differing Principles and that righteous Agreements may be upheld and maintained by those that own and call Christ to witness as he is the Sovereign Minister of God's Justice whether their knowledge of him be according to the first or second Covenant in both which Christ comes forth as to his Communications and enlivening Presence in the hearts of the sons of men which is the point that we are now upon and have cleared in the first branch of it The Second being that which consists in a knowledge and manifestation of God that is beyond and above Nature that which man in his natural make at best reacheth not or hath a mind or will to receive is more difficult to be expressed and when expressed to be understood For after this manner God is not seen or communicated unto any but in a secret and hidden way which he makes not common but reserves for peculiar kindness to those that find grace in his sight upon their coming as Esther did into the inner Court to have this golden Scepter held out to them by promise or else they die God's first Voice and Manifestation of himself unto the Creature speaks and declares him as we have shewed to be just in a way of Law and righteous Government which he exerciseth over his Creatures He is their Soveriegn they are his Subjects in order to receive the reward of Love or of Wrath That which this Second Voice ministers and speaks is that Love and the knowledge of God in it which he spreads abroad in the hearts of his good and loyal Subjects after the proof made of the Loyalty and stedfastness of their Love to him Not that they love him first but of his own Will they are begotten by the Word of Truth into this Love of his which comprehends them long before they apprehend it and God in it But he that shall come will come and will not tarry if by Faith we are taught to wait for him Whom having not seen yet we love or have secret cleaving to and earnest longing after In whom even whilst we see not but find our selves altogether in the dark and at a loss as to what may be seen and known of him by natural Light and Reason yet believing and having thereby given us the evidence of things unseen by the natural eye they become so real and are made so certain to us as we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory We could do no more were we at the end of our Faith and did see as we are seen as we shall at the compleat Salvation of our Souls From him then that is thus the Love and Joy of the believing Soul that is to say Christ the Minister of the Spirit and giver of the holy Ghost and that new Name which none know but they that have it is this Second kind of Knowledge of God and Communication of Life from him that we desire to open and lay before you You have already heard that Christ is the only begotten of God as he is the Building and Sanctuary which he that is the builder of all things sets up in himself for his own use as his Temple and speaking-place where to give and whence to deliver his lively Oracles and Inspirations of both sorts with which he fills all things In this Heavenly Habitation God records his Name and hath the place of his Throne and of his Footstool with which he will dwell and tabernacle among his People for ever Again By this workmanship and heavenly building Christ the Mediator hath a Creature-being given unto him in spirit before the World was and is he who was before all things and by whom all things consist is the Angel of God's Face and Presence that is by God and with him First As his chief Messenger and Servant his Messiah and then as his Spouse and Equal that lies in his bosom knows all his secrets and is retained in the most intimate bond of spiritual marriage-union that is possible for Creature-nature to be taken into with God even by personal union as the body is with the soul And thus Christ is found even as a Creature in the form of God and is called Michael God's Fellow and Equal after such a manner as the body is to the soul both making but one person Now Christ as he lies in the Father's bosom and is the Spouse to the blessed Trinity is a higher manifestation of God than he hath sent out from God as the Messiah that bears God's Name only by figure and representation as his single Image which yet speaks truly what God is and as fully as the Creatures first vessel of Receipt and Measure knows how to bear and receive but doth not speak out all God's fulness nor shew the Original it self whereof it is the figure and character which in its single standing and appearing out of God as a thing distinct from God and not at the same time known to have any abode in him after that intimate manner of union and conjunction before-mentioned the finite and short-sighted understanding of the Creature is ready to imagine that manifestation and sight of God's Glory to be all that is to be known and inherited of God And to desire as the Israelites did Exod. 20. in the Person of Moses as the Type that God would not add to speak more or shew forth his naked and unvail'd glory to them but they would content themselves to hear God speak under the Vail which Moses had put upon his face and not look out after any higher attainment When God had spoken once and shewed the Creature as much of himself as it