of her person in the day of her nativity then God passed by her looked upon her and made it the time of his love saying unto her when she lay in her blood Live and causing her to multiply as the bud of the field till she encreased and waxed great and came to excellent ornaments to have her brests fashioned and her hair grown who was naked and bare for God had spread his skirt over her covered her nakedness and entred into covenant with her so that she became the Lords And he cleansed her with water washing away her blood from her anointed her with oil decked her with ornaments and jewels and caused her to eat fine flower and hony and oil and she was exceeding beautiful and did prosper into a kingdome in which glory of hers she was visible to others so as her renown went forth among the heathen for her beauty which was perfect through the comeliness which God had put upon her This is farther enlarged Deut. 32 4. c. where this work of God upon these Israelites is also called perfect flowing from their rock or from Christ that had been a Father to them and had bought them and made and established them and had thus divided and distinguished them from the rest of the sons of Adam Yet there were amongst these an unwise generation in and under all this those that had no faith and who considered not their latter end but corrupted themselves and had a latter end worse then their beginning so as their grape was the grape of Sodom and their vine was the vine of Gomorah and their spot shewed itself not to be the spot of Gods children declaring them to be a very crooked and perverse generation The first of the same principles with these was Cain whom Eve received as a man from the Lord then those sons of God in the old world who corrupted themselves and left a rebellious race of Giants or men of renown for enmity against God with which fleshly seed the Lord would not suffer his spirit any longer to strive in the daies of Noah Gen. 6. 1 2 3 4. Then Ishmael the son of Hagar the bond-woman figured out this generation under the first covenant after him Esan then the whole nation of the Israelites brought out of Aegypt who were all of them baptized unto Moses in the red sea and did eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink yet with many of them was not God well-pleased And so Israel after the flesh all along from them downward as they are described in all the Prophets to be righteous men and a holy seed yet such as Ezek. 18. 24. turned from their righteousness and committed iniquity stumbling at the stumbling stone being leavened with the leaven of the Pharisees and in whom sprang up a root of bitterness to their defilement so as after all their enlightnings and enlivenings from God they miscaried being such as Elias interceded against saying Lord they have killed thy Prophets and digged down thine Altars and I am left alone and they seek my life Rom. 11. 2 3. and concerning whom Esay is very beld saying All the day long I have stretched forth mine hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people Rom. 10. 20 21. who also saith of them Rom. 9. 29. except the Lord of Sabboth had left us a seed we had been as Sodom and had been made like unto Gomorah which frame of spirit they fully discovered at last when they crucified the Lord of glory and were the Jerusalem in whom was found the blood of all the Prophets Nor are we to think that this generation of men passed away with the Jews since Christ himself in the very Gospel may be known after the flesh and doth beget an Israel after the flesh in and under Gospel-ordinances and ministrations who by the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the holy commandment delivered unto them in his fleshly manifestation for their Rule may clean escape the pollutions of the world through lust and yet return with the dog to the vomit and with the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2. 20. c. yea who may by the word of the beginning Heb. 6. 1. or first appearance of Christ pass through the great enlightnings and quicknings from Christ there spoken of to the tasting of the heavenly gift and partaking of the Holy Ghost to the relishing of the good Word of God and powers of the world to come and yet fall away and draw back unto predition being void of that faith that failes not wherewith we are to believe to the saving of the soul This sort of men the Apostle Paul in all his Epistles takes notice of and distinguishes the true believer from having had his warrant for it from Christ himself who said Many are called but few are chosen and again of the labourers in the vineyard he saith there are first that shall be last in Gods acceptance and last that shall be first and that these children of the kingdom shall see many come from the four parts of the world to sit down with Abraham I saac and Jacob in the kingdome of heaven and they themselves be thrust out with those that say Mat. 7. 22 23. Lord Lord have not we prophecyed in thy name and in thy name cast outdevils and done many wonderful works unto whom Christ will answer Depart from me ye workers of in iquity I know you not These are they Rom. 4. that find whereof to glory in the flesh of Christ or in their own holy flesh as the seed of Abraham that are by the law or first covenant who are righteous workers according to the law in the most Gospel-like administration of it but at the bottom are still upon the tenure and account of debt for so is their reward accounted to them by God as looking upon them still under the first covenant till they be brought to be of the faith with blessed Abraham These in 1 Cor. the 12. and 13. Chapters are intimated under the title of spiritual men in distinction from the heathen as having the manifestation of the spirit given them to profit with by means whereof they may come to great attainments in spiritual gifts and excellent operations of mind so as to speak with the tongues of men and Angels know all mysteries have all faith so as to remove mountains give all they have to the poor and their bodies to be burned and all this but upon the first root and single seed of natural righteousness remaining yet unexperienced of the more excellent way of enjoying and doing all this in union and harmony with a higher and better principle of life by participation of the divine nature which the true heirs do obtain and which is there called by the name of love Again 2 Cor. 10. 11. These are described under the names of those of which number Paul said he was not who measuring themselves
the first as that wherein this second sort of men that make up the earthly Jerusalem have all things in common with the first as to their being benefited by the dispensation of natural right and justice enjoying withall much more then all this amounts to even the comfortable warmth and life that is found in the day-light of Christs first appearance and by immediate and fruitful converse with him in the same which is far to be preferred before the night of the Gentile world The third and last form or administration of the Kingdom of Christ which is exercised over men is that whereby the true spiritual seed of Abraham according to Gods promise Gen. 22. 17. do possess the gates of their enemies and shall in their proper season be manifested to be the seed wherein all the Nations of the earth shall be blessed which is farther explained Dan. 7. 18. 22. where it is said that the Saints of the most high shall take the Kingdom and possess it for ever even for ever and ever in fellowship and society with Christ their Head sitting upon the Throne with him having a dominion glory and a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed The supreme Lords and Rulers then in this kingdom under Christ are the Saints or general assembly of the first-born whose names are written in heaven Children that Christ will make princes in all lands giving them the honour written to bind even Kings in chains and the Nobles in fetters of iron unto whom as unto the right heirs of salvation the elect Angels will be constant ministers and attendants in their charge and office of administing natural right and justice and executing vengeance on all the enemies of these Saints of the most High who come not to the attainment of this high glory and dignity suddenly or one before another but by a general gathering of them all together by their head first into one dead body with him as planted together in the likeness of his death or offering up in the flesh which is a needful preparation to the bearing and right managing the honour and preheminence of that Crown and dominion which they are called unto over all the works of Gods hands Secondly by their being gathered together unto him in one heavenly and glorified body as planted also in the likeness of his resurrection in the glory wherein he is set down at Gods right hand which is expected to be fulfilled at his return when we shall see him coming from heaven in like manner as he was seen to ascend up thither This third sort of Christs subjects are compared by himself Luke 8. unto the good ground on whom Christ the word and seed of life fell as into honest and good hearts that having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience having such a faith as is mentioned James 1. 3. that under manifold temptations approves and justifies itself to be found durable and saving in and by the fruit of patience which it works obtaining a free passage and course for the WORD OF CHRISTS PATIENCE in the soul till it hath had its perfect work and made the mind perfectly conformable with Christ in his death 1 Pet. 4. 1. to the making the believer perfect and entire wanting nothing and to be of the number of those that do overcome and are made pillars in the house of God never to go out more These are the true Heirs of salvation that as princes may be found walking on foot here in this world whilst servants are riding on horseback and are in faith and patience possessing their souls albeit they be killed all the day long and accounted as sheep for the slaughter Rom. 8. 36. slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they hold Rev. 6 9 10 11. unto whom white robes are given even garments washed in the blood of the Lamb in which patient posture they are appointed to wait and rest for a little season untill their fellow-servants also and brethren that should be killed as they were should be fufillled We find not only this third sort of Christs subjects mentioned and comprehended under that parable of the sower Luk. 8. but the second and first also very lively described to those that have ears te hear yea and Christ himself as the universal seeds-man the living WORD OF GOD who scatters the seed of his searching light and life into all hearts and consciences whatsoever enlightning every one that comes into the world and setting up that in them which is a discerner of their thoughts and of the intents of their hearts who therefore is held forth in that parable first as he sows his seed by the wayside or high waies interpreted by himself Mat. 22. 9. to be the visits and communications of light and life sowen by him among the Gentiles For so he saith when he would intimate Gods intention upon the Jews rejection of him to bring the Gentiles into the knowledge of himself Go ye therefore into the High waies or unto the Gentiles and as many as you shall find bid them unto the marriage shewing evidently that by the high-waies on which the seed fals he means the Gentiles as appears Luke 8. 12. where it is said that in this state the devil comes or may come and take away the Word out of their hearts lest they should believe and be saved that is before it come up to the birth of faith in them so much as of a temporary faith for oommon salvation which appertains to the second sort properly represented by the second and third the stony thorny groud much less a saving one being only a seed of light or work of Christ in the conscience teaching to feel after faith and salvation but not actually entring them into it and so is a most lively description of the subjects of Christ and hearers of the word under the first dispensation Now that which remains is to shew how the children of the first covenant and earthly Jerusalem under the Gospel are also held forth in this parable who are temporary believers arriving at and attaining through the power of the WORD a state of common salvation with those of the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3. who thereby became rich and increased with goods needing nothing being ignorant that they were miserable and poor and blind and naked in a condition that would abide trials no more then those represented by the stony and thorny ground who when they heard received the Word with joy and for a while believed but in time of temptation fell away as unable to resist and avoid the abuse of lawfull comforts and enjoyments vouchsafed unto them by God in the first convenant but ready every moment to over-charge their hearts with surfeiting drunkenness and good things of this world the sweet whereof was relished and esteemed by them in such excess as to work in them an undervalue and disrellish of Christ in his heavenly glory to
power and glory shining forth in the beauty of his new name that is above every name either in this world or in that which is to come every knee is appointed to bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and the duty of every tongue shall be to confesse that Iesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Hence then it is evident that as God or the WORD in Christs first appearance was pleased to be manifested in flesh wherein to condescend and make himself of no reputation by taking upon him the forme of a servant and being made in the likenesse or habit of a man and in this fashion as a man subjecting himself to the doing and suffering all that which was required to be done and suffered on the behalf of sinful mankind and for the bringing many sonnes unto glory so also is he that thus did and suffered all things as a man in the dayes of his flesh for our redemption at this time to see his seed and reap the fruit of the travel of his soul which then he made a sacrifice for sin being now a second time to appeare without any reference to sinne as then he did but instead thereof to declare himself the Sonne of God with power by the resurrection from the dead So as in and by this second appearance the man Christ Iesus in the fashion and forme of his exalted and glorified manhood consisting of spirit soul and body in substantial or personal union with the WORD is to shew and manifest himself in the glory of the Father in the joynt and united exercise of the same divine life and power with him and therein to give a plaine demonstration that he is the Sonne of God as by his being made flesh and becoming obedient to the death of the Crosse he did undeniably demonstrate that he was really and properly the Sonne of Man made of the seed of David according to the flesh living the life and dying the death of a perfect natural man Thus the Sonne of man shall come with power and great glory sitting with the Father upon the same Throne therein shewing himself the only POTENTATE the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS dwelling in immortality and that light which no man can approach hath seene or can see Christ then considered as thus dwelling in immortality and that light which is invisible and inaccessible in reference to all those that are meer natural men shall at this time declare himself to be the life and quickning of his own dead body and the object of their converse who having been made one dead body with him as planted in the similitude of his death shall now be called and gathered together unto him in one incorruptible immortal glorified state of spirit soul and body be planted into the likenesse of his Resurrection to the attaining of their compleat adoption and the redemption of the body at this manifestation of the sonnes of God and heirs of salvation which is spoken of Colos 3. 4. where 't is said that when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall also appear with him in glory and 1 Iohn 3. 2. we are now sonnes but it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is or as he dwells in immortality and in that light from whence he excludes every natural eye reserving it as the peculiar enjoyment and inheritance of his friends whom he loves that are Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Christ in the things prepared only for them which neither eye hath seene nor eare heard nor have entred into the heart of the natural man to consider This likenesse which the true Saints shall be brought forth into with Christ the beginning and first-begotten from the dead is described in general by the promise Christ makes to them on that behalf And Iesus said unto them Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit in the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matth. 19. 28. So Rev. 3. 21. To him that overcometh sayes he I will grant to sit with me on my Throne even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his throne which imports First that as by the Fathers quickning of Christ raising him up and fitting him in spiririt soul and body to exercise in unity with him the same divine life and power to the making his manhood Second with him on the Throne so Christ in like manner will quicken and raise up all the members of his dead body or slaine faithful Witnesses that have beene made conformable unto him in his death and fit them in their spirit soul and body to exercise in unity and association with his heavenly manhood the life and power which he is enabled to exercise as he is the exalted Sonne of man to the rendring them a fit Bride Queene and Second with him in his Throne where they shall neverthelesse sit as upon Thrones of their owne as his Equals and co-heirs yet in subordination unto him judging the twelve Tribes of Israel in a light and glory superiour to the earthly Jerusalem or worldly Church yea to the good Angels themselves who shall be found but standing about the Throne whilst the Saints shall be sitting downe with Christ upon it Secondly as the Father gives authority to Christ in the capacity of the Sonne of man to execute judgement as the only l'OTENTATE KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS under him so Christ also shall give and derive to his body the general assembly of the first-borne whose names are written in heaven authority to be the only Potentates Lords of Lords and Kings of Kings under him whose Decrees and Ordinances shall be binding unto all in heaven or in earth or under the earth next and immediately under Christ their head and this as well in reference to the regulating and well-ordering the service and worship of God in the societies of Saints and all his true worshippers as in reference to the governing and well-ordering the natural and outward converse of men in their humane societies during the reigne of Christ upon earth the thousand years Both these powers and jurisdictions shall be residing in the general assembly of the first-borne whose names are written in heaven who shall then be declared the Bride the Lambs wife the New Ierusalem coming downe from God out of heaven described Rev. 21. 2. as she that is prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband being that Tabernacle of God with men wherein he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and he himself will be with them and be their God wiping away all teares from their eyes so as there shall be amongst them no more death nor sorrow nor crying
begining when he prepared the Heavens and set a compass upon the face of the depth when he established the Clouds when he gave to the Sea his decree when he appointed the foundations of the Earth and was also the counsel sound wisdom understanding and strength ver 14. whereby all humane societies are governed ordered and maintained in their natural capacities For by me saith he ver 15 16. Kings raign and Princes decree justice the Nobles rule and all the Judges of the Earth and ver 18. Riches and Honour are with me the perfection of all natural good whatsoever yea durable riches and righteousness and ver 19. His fruit is better then gold yea then fine gold and his revenue to be preferred before choice silver the most excellent natural perfection whatsoever whereby he causes those that love him to inherit substance ver 21. the enduring treasures of the new and everlasting Covenant wherein he is the King of peace and brings into the true Rest ministred by Gods second appearance Lastly we may behold this Wisdom speaking unto men as Elihu spake unto Job Job 33. 6 7. where prefiguring the Incarnation he saith I am according to thy wish in Gods stead flesh of thy flesh and bone of thy bone formed out of the Clay that my terrour may not make thee afraid nor my hand be heavy upon thee So this WISDOM puts forth her voyce Prov. 8. 1 2 c. to you O men doth she call and her voice is to the sons of men in the top of high places by the way in the places of the paths or common road at the gates at the entry of the City at the coming in at the doors unto men of all Nations and places qualities and conditions being found to this end in the form of a servant and fashion of a natural fleshly man like unto us in all things sin only excepted And least we should think he were to be known only according to the flesh and in the first appearance of his manhood he speaks to another sort of men ver 32 33. whom he cals Children given him by his Father made to have a new name better then the name of sons and daughters under the first Covenant being those blessed ones that keep his wayes whom he feeds with the hidden Manna as the fit portion for those to whom is given a new name that none do know but they that have it speaking to them with his voice from Heaven or by the voice of his heavenly manhood in the exalted state of it at the right hand of God who so findeth me findeth life and shall obtain favour of the Lord ver 35. This is the Wisdom Solomon acknowledged to be in Christ as that person in whom it pleased God all fulness should dwel The like view of Christs fulness appears to have been given unto the Prophet Isaiah in the 43 44 46. Chapters compared with the 48. Chapter In the 46. chap. ver 9. it is said Remember the former things of old witnessing me to be God and that there is none else I am God and there is none like me and ver 5. To whom will ye liken me and make me equal for chap. 43. 10. Before me there was no God formed or nothing was formed of God neither shall there be after me And he that thus speaks of himself as he is God proceeds to give the witness of himself as he is also the Saviour and Redeemer ver 11. when he saith I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour and therefore chap. 46. 3 4. Hearken unto me O house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel which are born by me from the belly which are carryed from the womb and even to your old age I am he and even to hoar hairs will I carry you I have made and I will bear even I will carry and I will deliver you And chap. 44. 6 7. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts I am the first and I am the last and besides me there is no God and who as I shall call and shall declare it and set it in order for me since I appointed the Ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come which he doth as Mediator Saviour and Redeemer the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world In which state considered as the first born of every creature and first begotten from the dead he is declaring the end from the beginning chap. 46. 10. and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsel then taken shall stand and I will do all my pleasure according to what is written in those books and living Oracles of God that are abiding with me and in me which causes him to say chap. 48. 12 13. Hearken unto me O Jacob and Israel my called I am he I am the first I also am the last my hand hath laid the foundation of the Earth and my right hand hath spanned the Heavens the one as he is the Minister of Gods first the other as he is the Minister of Gods second appearance so that when he cals unto them even all concerned under either they stand up together in his sight and presence as in their Head and original pattern And as Christ was thus beheld by Solomon and Isaiah so is he also testified unto by Daniel where he is spoken of as the great Prince named Michael or Gods equal and likeness taken into union and society with God himself and made the Head and prime Minister of Gods name and manifestation wherein to be the Messiah to both worlds In and by whom God renders himself the object of communion unto Angels and men either under the first or second Covenant In this likeness and equality which he hath with God signified by his name Michael he is the WORD that is with God not considered properly as he is purely and simply God but as together with that he is the Word of the beginning Heb. 6. 1. according to the marginal reading and the Word of the end the final deciding Word or Word of the Oath Heb. 7. 28. which was since the Law making the Son a high-priest who is consecrated for evermore He is the WORD of the beginning as he is in the beginning the first-born of every creature that is before all things The Lord descending from heaven with a shout 1 Thess 4. 16. with the voice of the Arch-Angel with this trump of God that Christ as the first-born of every creature is able to sound In which capacity he is the head of Angels in their natural perfection and therefore seems in this place to be called the Arch-Angel or Michael the great Prince in this first sense and together with this being considered as also made man he may be the Angel spoken of Rev. 22. 8. 9. whom John fell down before to worship him and who replied
head of the woman is the man the head of every man is Christ and the head of Christ is God testifying hereby to faith which hath Christ for its object in all it receives the method wherein God proceeds as he creates all things by Jesus Christ for saith he God is the head of Christ or the Trinity by their immediate operation do first comprehend the person of the Mediator in God himself and then do send him forth as the true Messiah making him the Minister of Gods first and second appearance to the creature in the capacity of head and root to both creations Thus Secondly Christ is the head unto every man comprehending all mankind whatsoever as well they that are of the earth earthy as those that are of the Lord from heaven in himself who is the root to both creations and from thence causes them to flow forth and exist as his off-spring in their particular nature and proper persons in their several generations from the beginning to the end of the world Lastly Man is the head unto the woman in his creation so made by God unto Eve that therein he might as a shadow and figure illustrate not only the truth and reality of being which Eve had in her head but withall the true end of her being so comprehended that she might not abide single and alone cut off from dependance on and duty to her head but be brought into compleatness of being through her return into the neerness and intimacy of marriage-union with him yet without losing the property of being which she is made to have as the woman in distinction from the man This is the figure and resemblance of Gods method and proceeding in creating all things by Jesus Christ which haply the wisdom of man will carp at thinking to find absurdities in it through the deceits of Philosophy and worldly rudiments that are not after Christ but faith sees through all these Clouds and if need be interprets the riddle shewing that the truth which is spoken in Gods word hath also its testimony from humane principles so far as they have any rectitude in them It is plain That the worlds were made by the word of God that is God from eternity gives being unto the WORD as image of the Trinity and the WORD through the excellency of power and glory which he hath in and with God was able out of nothing to create both worlds giving them their beginning and foundation in himself as he became the first-born of every creature and first-begotten from the dead In which state he that thus was the first and was also the last did with his call cause all things in both to stand up together as by name in his sight and presence when he took notice of them recorded them in his books whilst as yet they were not fashioned and did behold them in the particular forms wherein afterwards they were to be Thus in the beginning was the WORD the WORD was with God and the WORD was God in this WORD was life even the life of both creations and therefore also of the man Christ Jesus that was fore-appointed the head and original pattern unto which as well the natural as spiritual man were to be conformed who did as the truth and substance it self at last appear and minister the true sanctuary which God pitched and not man accomplishing all that was written in the Volume of Gods book for him to perform for the abolishing of sin and death and the bringing forth of life and immortality to light In this his Angelical and spiritual state wherein the man Christ Jesus stood comprehended in the root of David before the world began he was figured out unto the children of Israel by the two Cherubims of glory covering or shadowing the Mercy-seat Heb. 9. 5. and by the two Olive-trees or the two anointed ones standing by the Lord of the whole earth Zech. 4. 14. which compared with 1 Kings 6. 23. will make it appear that Solomon was not ignorant of this great mysterie in that he made the two Cherubims when he was to build the Temple and set them up therein of Olive trees or trees of oyl to signifie the mediation of Christ in spirit in his head as these two Olive-trees were the two golden pipes that emptied out the golden oyl Zech. 4. 12. of all Gods communications unto the works of his hands in both worlds This is that Jesus who whilst comprehended in his head and for a long time shadowed and typed out as the promised seed that was to come in the flesh had notwithstanding all the actions of his head and root attributed to him as much as when in the very image it self he was made manifest and therefore is said to be that Jesus by whom all things are and were created and are of him and to him and for him in subordination to the Word Thus is Christ the son of man in heaven before he descended and was made flesh and in this heavenly state of his man-hood doth not actually exercise his humane life but his life is the same with the life of the Word all whose actions are imputed unto him as Abrahams were unto Levi who is said to have paid Tythes to Melchisedec in his fathers loyns so Jesus Christ may be said to comprehend in him and the actings of his mind the particular forms and life of all in both worlds to be manifested and brought forth in their proper seasons into their visible appearances in the worlds by him and at his pleasure for whom they are and were created And when we say that the particular life and form of every creature is thus comprehended in the heavenly manhood of Christ the meaning is either immediately or mediately For he that is thus before all things is not created alone but in and with this head they all consist or stand up together as in their head capable to exist in themselves in their heavenly invisible part at the pleasure of their head before they be brought forth into their mortal and visible frame and fashion in this world In which sense all of them are Christs off-spring and seed known to him by name whether such of them as are given to him by the Father to be trained and brought up by him as children of the second new and everlasting covenant or those of the first whether they be inhabitants of Mount Sion or Mount Sinai of the heavenly City that is above or of the earthly and fleshly Jerusalem whether they be men or Angels they are all his off-spring in one of these two respects and are to receive their natural or spiritual perfection from him as he is the Minister of Gods name in his first or second appearance unto them whence it is that Christ saith to his Father Heb. 2. 13. Behold me and the children which thou hast given me in distinction from the rest of the world the former of these
four living creatures from its four faces signifying Christ himself thereby as his life is in the WORD and as in that life he comprehends the very form of the son of man and is the root to the whole first creation unto which through the Ministry of Gods first appearance he gives life being motion in the exercise of this his creating power he is the head of Angels and they are the body to him that he makes use of in his service Ezek. 10. 11. Whose voice they hearken unto as ready to execute all his commands and pleasure in this his first dominion The spirituality of motion in the head and body is such that they are said to run and return like a flash of lightning and to the place whither the head is to go they go and turn not and their likeness or appearance was like burning coals of fire and the workmanship of this body was like a wheel within a wheel four wheels Chap. 10. 9. that were but one wheel ver 13. Chap. 1. 15. answerable to the four living creatures that were but one living creature and the rings of the wheels were so high that they were dreadful and were full of eyes in which wheels was the spirit or WORD of life riding as in his Chariot Psal 68. These chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place In a like representation they were beheld by Elishaes servant 2 Kings 6. 17. when he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha as the invisible guard and protection which were with them to defend them from the Syrians By what hath been said we have a little view into the nature and use of Angels in the hand of Christ from the beginning of these sons of the morning that shouted for joy at the beholding of Christ when he was revealed to them to be the corner-stone of stability and fixedness even to the very first creation In general then we may perceive that the office and use of Angels is to be ministring spirits principally sent forth to Minister unto them that shall be heirs of salvation in which ministry they are perfected by being made immutable and brought into the best and highest rank of servants transformed into a likeness in life and principles with that which is found in the glorified natural man of the Saint whose service and subjection is made perfect in love as the tongue that readily confesses and the knee that willingly bows to the glory of the Father in the Sons new name in which glory the Saints are co-heirs and so obtain by inheritance a more excellent name then the Angels Heb. 1. 4. who therefore confess that they are not the Son nor the true Bridegroom or Bride but servants and friends to the marriage union esteeming it a posture becoming them to hide their faces before the unveiled glory of the Son to stand still in silence and to let down their wings Ezek. 1. 24. that the glory of the Son sitting on the Throne may shine forth from the firmament that is above over their heads and the heavenly voice of his second appearance may be heard obeyed accounting it their blessedness to be neer the Bridegroom and to be servants and friends to the marriage of the Lamb as a guard of fire round about the Throne on which the Lamb and his Bride sits swift executioners of vengeance 2 Thess 1. 7 8. upon all those which shall endeavour to put those asunder whom God hath thus joyned together These are described Rev. 4. 8. to be they that rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God almighty which was and is and is to come giving glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the Throne and lives for ever and ever As thus they are this heavenly building they are the first heavens the Tabernacle and clouds of heaven or the air for the day-break and glorious sun of Gods first appearance to run his race and finish his course in whereby to enlighten the ends of the earth and all things under heaven These sons of this morning are the first light-bearers to the Inhabitants of the first world therein are covering Cherubs unto the Son in his own proper glory that they may be enabled to bear light or the similitude of Christ in his first appearance unto others they are first the receivers of that light in themselves in a spirituality of being and form fitted and suited thereunto which accommodates them with the exercise of senses meerly spiritual and inward exceeding high intuitive and comprehensive a manner of life shadowing out the divine life in the name of the Father whose voice is net heard at any time nor shape seen but is like a consuming fire to burn up and slay whatever natural Organ is coversant about it or stands before the beams and raies of its most pure and invisible glory In a shadowy imitation of this the angelical spirits when they come forth in the nakedness of their own invisible substance and glory of their own being they are flames of fire consuming and dissolving all objects of outward sense to the very disinabling as to the exercise of all such life of sense any living creatures whose life consists therein whereof the whole fabrick of this visible world in all the parts of it which is reserved to be destroyed by the flames of this fire will be a most undeniable demonstration and death it self is a daily witness hereof in every man who no sooner is deprived of the exercise of his bodily life and departs this world but is brought into a state of life wherein he is an equal and associate to Angels good or bad for in the world to come they neither marry nor are given in marriage saith our Saviour but are equal with the Angels And as thus Christ by the angelieal ministry doth gather in mans breath and leave his body to the dust whilst they return with his spirit to God that gave it in which service they are employed by Christ at mans dissolution Luke 16. 22. so also they have service to perform in their place under Christ in bringing in and continuing the exercise of all bodily life throughout the whole fabrick of the first creation yea even in man himself the abridgement thereof in which operation of theirs they seem not unfitly to be compared to the influence and generating power of the Sun that is it self but a creature and yet effectually co-operates to the production and conservation of bodily life in pursuance of those orders and laws of second causes established by God himself respecting his creation and continuance of the first world The Angels then in their receivings of light and life from Christ have for object the brightness of Gods first appearance shining forth through him as the root of all natural perfection and so
in him which is so far from being lessened or interrupted by death and the laying down of the use of his bodily life for a time that it never comes to its full and mature perfection until then and as a consequence hereof the body be re-assumed incorruptible In this property and operation of humane life man bears the figure and image of the witness of the Holy Ghost Thus we have described what man is in his essential parts and operations in order to fit him for that communion and converse with God designed unto him by the two Covenants unto the first of which he was actually and perfectly qualified as he became a living soul and did bear the image of God in and upon his natural man as the first Adam being of the earth earthy But unto the other man by his creation was no otherwise qualified and prepared then as he was set up in such a being as was capable by a farther workmanship of God to arrive unto and attain the glory and everlasting perfection of the new and second covenant without which all that was done unto him yet by what he had received from God in his creation if left to his own freewill would but redound to his greater misery and more righteous condemnation before the judgement seat of Christ through his own default This finishing and compleating work of God upon man was reserved to be Ministred to him on the seventh day whereby a far higher and more exalted capacity of mind and operation was to be added to him for the enabling him unto an everlasting happy and compleat communion with God This is that which in his first state was wanting and could not be obtained by him but as the free gift of God then propounded to him in the tree of life This second and last state of perfection held forth unto man from the beginning in the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God is described by the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15. 44 45 46 47 48 49. where he sets it up in contra-distinction to the first and earthly make of man by his creation shewing it to be that life and immortality which is brought to light in Christ as the last Adam the Lord from heaven and quickning spirit calling it the spiritual body as that in which the power of this endless life was comprehended comparatively with the natural body wherein the perfection of Adams mutable and corruptible life consisted saying plainly that there is this spiritual body and heavenly image in the last Adam as well as that natural body and earthly image in the first howbeit that is not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual the first being the life of perfection that was found in the earthly Adam the other being that which was brought to light in the heavenly by his resurrection from the dead and therefore as is the earthly such are they that are earthly and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly And in reference unto such as are the right heirs of salvation it is said as they have born the image of the earthly so shall they also bear the image of the heavenly and have their natural or vile bodies changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body by him who through his mighty power is able to subdue all things uno himself And if we desire to be satisfied how this change and translation out of the one perfection and image into the other is to be effected he positively asserts that it is brought upon man as the fruit of Christs resurrection or Ministry of Gods second appearance by and in him which rends the first veil and brings down the first Tabernacle of the natural body into the grave with Christ whence it springs up clothed upon with this house from heaven its spiritual body by means whereof this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality and death and the grave are swallowed up in victory This change and translation was as we have said propounded unto Adam as the end of his creation and was figured out to him in the tree of life and by the twofold exercise of life and ability of mind set up in their perfection in in him by creation he was indued with a power improveable in the use of the means God afforded him to be at least in a tendency unto so glorious an end and disposed in such a posture and frame of spirit as God required in him by the first covenant in order to this farther work which on the seventh day God would make known and impart to him What God herein required from man was signified unto him by the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the prohibition accompanying the same which was not to eat of the fruit of that tree In this tree of knowledge of good and evil man had the sight of himself in the exercise of his natural life and operations appertaining unto him as he became a living soul in the well or evi use whereof he might arrive unto the experience of the supream good held forth to him as the end of his creation the endless life that was to follow or else he might come by the forfeiture of the present good he enjoyed to know the evil of a much worse condition then at first he had for the avoiding of which and to continue in a posture meet to receive the other God required him in the state of innocency to abide in a waiting frame of spirit as a sojourner and stranger in the midst of his present enjoyments in the earthly Paradise that so through his patient forbearance from taking up his Rest or terminating his delight in seen things he might preserve in himself an unengaged unprejudiced spirit to what was yet behind of the counsel of God to be communicated to him as to a more excellent attainment and inheritance to be exhibited to him in the light of the approaching day of the Lord the beamings forth whereof as considered in type were already present CHAP. VI. Concerning the fall of man the steps and degrees to it with the bitter fruits and consequents thereof BY what hath been said of mans Creation it is undeniable that God made him perfect though the perfection of his estate was mutable or subject to change and therefore not the Rest from all eternity designed him by God so that man in this first perfect state had that still wanting which was the finishing and compleating work to what he at present enjoyed howbeit that which was wanting unto man did no way cause or necessitate his fall but that as we shall shew proceeded from the suggestion of Sathan and enticing of his own lust which lust when it had conceived brought forth sin and sin when it was perfected brought forth death although man in this estate was well and sufficiently armed and provided against it if he
Angels and men in the beings they have already received through the power of a resurrection wherein their first beings are not annihilated but altered and made other then they were at first as they are rarified exalted and made to receive by way of superinduction a better and more excellent form and glory in harmony with which they are so far from losing what they had that they receive their own again with usury Therefore it is described by the putting off the old and putting on the new without being found naked or destitute of the being and righteousness they had In it old things indeed pass and are done away as they are corruptible and mortal standing single upon the first root but they are brought forth and restored again upon a new account without having totally or finally ceased to be as it fares with the natural body in the lowest and most literal sense it can be taken in it is not so properly new created at the resurrection as raised up and exalted into a better tenure and exercise of the same life and operation then at first it had as is evident in the body of Christ himself giving the demonstration thereof fourty daies together whilst he was upon earth between his Resurrection and Ascention This is the END which comes and takes its place after that to the natural eye of Angels and men all things appeared to have had their finishing by reason of the good estate of being which they judged themselves to be already brought into and in possession of And indeed this was so truly and really a state of good and of perfection in its kind that God himself acknowledged it to be such by a general approbation of all those first works of his hands However as good as it was it was mutable fading wearing off and vanishing away in the principles of its natural body and first visible constitution as it is said Heb. 1. 10. 11 12 Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands They shall perish but thou remainest and they all shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed evidently asserting the change they were subjected unto by God from the beginning not as we may say willingly but in hope or in reference to a better state of being intended of God through this change to be brought upon them by Christ considered in his second appearance sitting on the Throne as is in the same chapter declared ver 8 9. unto the Son he saith Thy throne O God is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy Kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God even thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows So that it is not without cause that the Apostle Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. that the natural body is sown in corruption in order to be raised in incorruption Where corruption signifies no more then that mutability or changeableness which the first creation was sowen in in its innocent and good estate of being capable to be made better by being clothed upon with what is more excellent or to decline and sink down into a sinful corruption and in that to become unchangeable in which as in chains of darkness the wicked are detained unto the judgement of the great day no more place or change or repentance being left unto them And in this as in one chief particular the weakness of things in the natural body or first creation doth appear notwithstanding the good and perfection it was set up in which was common and universal to all that was made in the six daies But secondly there was a faultiness and weakness which the Scripture acknowledges incident to this innocent state which properly and only refers to Angels and men as made under the first covenant respecting the operation of their minds and inward powers wherein they were fitted and prepared for meetness of converse with God under that covenant which faultiness is spoken of Heb. 8. 7. 8. in the case of men which compared with Jude ver 6. shews that the Angels also were comprehended under the same This faultiness sprang up partly from the terms of the first covenant requiring the creatures continuance in all things commanded under pain of the curse which terms though good and just to be imposed by God upon them yet were capable of being ill made use of by the creature as it is said 1 Tim. 1. 8. The Law is good if a man use it lawfully importing that what was good in itself and in its first institution might by the unlawful and contrary use made of it become evil to them who so abused it 2 ly This faultiness sprang up also from the creatures weakness as not long able to bear the glory of its first state with sobriety of mind occasioned by the good and perfection already received which it thought could never be valued at too high a rate so that it judged itself enabled thereby to do all that God required and commanded in the wisdom and sufficiency already communicated and imparted to it which weakness and mistake in the creature was not caused by its creation nor came necessarily from it but occasionally and accidentally by the creatures voluntary overvaluing and over-trusting in the strength and power received putting more stress upon it then was meet and putting it to other use then God intended it Whence it is said Rom. 8. 3 4. what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh it pleased God to fulfil by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfull flesh and for sin condemning sin in the flesh For through this weakness sin made its entrance which weakness and faultiness therefore in all the respects before mentioned was that which God thought requisite to provide against and supply by the ending and finishing hand which he reserved to put unto the work he had made on the seventh day by translating the creature without the intervening of sin into that Rest and incorruptible state which was the true end for which the first creation was brought forth and unto which it was appointed to serve and be subject in the changeable condition it was at first set up in as the means to bring all things into their everlastingly good or bad estate fore-known unto God from all eternity who therefore in his wisdome thought meet that the natural body should be first and then the spiritual and that the natural body should be sowen in weakness corruption or mutability that it might be raised in power and in incorruption and so be made a spiritual body and brought into its true Rest if through the creatures own default it fell not short came to be excluded For though it may be objected that God who did eternall foreknow all events and who
applied unto Christ himself to signifie that they are planted with him into the same likeness in Gods twofold name figured out thereby and so have that twofold name and witness wrought out in them which distinguishes them as well from the children of the first Covenant who bear conformity but with one of the Olive branches as singly communicable without the other as also from all that are called Gentiles whose very light is but as darkness to the shining forth of the single witness only in the children of the first Covenant Thus we are to understand by the two OLIVE TREES and the two CANDLESTICKS mentioned Rev. 11. 14. the whole Spiritual Seed considered in their exact conformity to their Head as well in his second as in his first appearance who are the two witnesses that from the very beginning of the world successively in their several generations have been the slain ones of the Lord the slaughtered sheep of Christ for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Yet we are not to rest and content our selves only with this general sense of the place which is true and doth give the proper character of the true Saint possessing and inheriting whole Christ and bearing upon him his whole name or his new name wherein of twain they are made one inseparably communicated as the twofold witness wherein the true heirs of salvation must be found to the glory of God the Father But we may farther take notice of a more restrained and particular consideration of these two witnesses which will be but a small digression from the matter in hand as they are spoken of in that place Rev. 11. where they are also to be looked upon as a particular number of the true Seed living and standing up in the world in that age and season foretold by John and qualified with an extraordinary Spirit of prophesie in reference to the justifying before the eyes of the world the truth of this twofold witness being clothed with power suitable in a way of working wonderful things during the time of such their prophesie whereof Elijah was the type in his days who by praying to God shut up the heavens for three years and an half that it did not rain the like is prophesied to be done by these witnesses ver 6. and brought down fire from heaven to prove that he was a MAN OF GOD and that his God was the true God yet after all this was forced to flie for his life to get from under the cruelty and oppression of his enemies and was at last taken up visibly into heaven in a chariot of fire Elisha beholding and looking upon him In which Spirit of Elijah some of the true Spiritual Seed are reserved by God to be brought forth in the last days and to give a most spiritual and remarkable witness unto the truth of Christs first and second appearance in his Saints before the great and terrible day of the Lord come In which dispensation they shall serve as the immediate forerunners to the brightness of Christs second appearance for the restoring of all things preparatively by this their Ministry of fire as John Baptist served unto the coming of Christ in the flesh by his Ministry of water and in that sense was owned by Christ to be as Elijah already come to wit in the shadow or figure of this Elijah that is to precede his second coming By what then hath been said we may perceive who are meant by the Spiritual Seed and how they are described in the Scripture as the two witnesses of God first in a more general acceptation as in all Ages they are to have their heel bruised and to be slain for the word of God and then in a more particular and restrained sense as some of them are to come forth in the latter days in the Spirit and power of Elijah to prepare for Christs second coming and then to have their dead bodies for three days and an half remain unburied in the great City spiritually called Sodom and Egypt which city as the mother of Harlots hath been extant in its spirit and principles from the beginning as well as the prophane heathenish world with the powers thereof embodied together upon differing grounds and interests by the Spirit of the old Dragon and influenced by him as suitable instruments of War and Engines of battery for the bruising of the heel of the true Spiritual Seed and keeping them under in all generations as spectacles to men and angels who are weak despised thirst hunger are naked and buffeted have no certain dwelling place but labour working with their hands who being reviled bless and being persecuted suffer and being defamed entreat are made as the filth of the world and off-scouring of all things to this very day To this War between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent all things tended and wrought from the very moment that Christ did accomplish and finish the seventh days work discovering thereby Gods true REST as it was set up in his own Person as the Mediator and Lamb slain from the foundation of the world when he offered up that in sacrifice according to the will of the Father wherein he rejected and cast under his feet the purest choicest excellency and perfection of all natural beings as they stood single in themselves unperfected by the union and subjection they were to be taken into by his second appearance necessarily conducing to the breaking of the serpents head and top glory in his Angelical nature and to the trampling it under the feeet of the Saints In like manner the Devil that old Dragon perceiving that to be done in Christ the Mediator which he could by no means rellish or bear that which was totally cross and destructive to him as fixed in that selfish spirit or single state of natural perfection wherein he lusted to Rule and Reign as god in the world and propounding the greatness of a Kingdom and glory to himself in which to enjoy his own will think his own thoughts do his own works and speak his own words which were not lawfull for him in the Sabbath of the true Rest to the Lord he wilfully and maliciously quitted his head Christ left his own habitation choosing rather to become the Father of lyes then to remain the son and servant of truth and so finished and compleated that root of enmity against Christ and the Spiritual Seed in himself whose off-spring they are that have this root of gall and bitterness springing up in them notwithstanding the life and perfection of their natural beings wherein either they were at first created or unto which in the principles thereof they are again renewed in the blood of Christ by which they strike in with the devils interest in downright opposition to Christ taking part with that King Apollyon Rev. 9. 11. to destroy him what in them lies as himself plainly tels this sort of men Joh. 8. 37. acknowledging
a threefold respect Magistracy may be brought into its lawfull exercise over men and where it is not so it is the sinne and abuse of those that exercise it and deteine it in unrighteousnesse contrary to the light within them which they live under and ought to be faithful unto Before we go farther then we are to acknowledge that Magistracy or Rule over men may be exercised amongst all Nations in general in a lawful and right manner suitable to their dispensation and light received and as such is as a weaker or stronger sort of Rule of and from Christ set up amongst them and ought not therefore so much as in its lowest dispensation in the righteous exercise thereof to be judged condemned or disobeyed byany as accounting it a part of the fourth Monarchy or seat of the beast since it is so only as considered and found in its corrupt use and fixed enmity against Christ and his Saints Againe by this also we may take notice that we are not to be in bondage to the Judicials of Moses as in the letter of them they conveyed the Lawes of Civil Government to the people of the Jewes since the spirit and original patterne of those very Judicials is set up by Christ in men through his resurrection from the dead to enable them unto a righteous ruling over men in the fear of the Lord by the pouring out of his Spirit upon all flesh and thereby qualifying them unto that office as wel as to all other Christian duties performable by the renewed natural man So as it would be a returning back againe unto Moses contrary to his owne charge Acts 7. if we should bind up our selves to his Judicials For Moses himself saith A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me him shall ye hear in all that he shall say unto you as well for the enabling of you to the right discharge of Magistratical duties as the rest of that work which the Christian is to be conversant in according to his command So that instead of going thus backward we are to go forward and to be still enquiring and learning out more of Christs mind in this great work as by steps and degrees he leads us thereunto through the influencings of his Spirit in a way of righteousnesse and by the daily renewed outgoings of his providence And doubtlesse if Moses Judicials are thus to be left behind as they that have lost their force and obligation no humane ordinances or positive Lawes must expect to be perpetual and exempt from change and removal if the Lord please by a visible hand of his owne in judgement and righteousnesse to fold them up as old garments and change them as vestures of the worlds old fashion to make way for the new heaven and new earth that Christ is bringing into their roome whose abolishing and taking away in such a case is their improvement perfection and establishment according to the Primitive and best Constitution of Government This being by way of preparation and introduction laid down we shall now proceed to shew more particularly wherein Magistracy as to the purity of its constitution and righteousnesse of its exercise doth consist Magistracy then is the Rule which God hath ordained to be exercised over the outward man by man himself qualified thereunto to act in righteousnesse and in the fear of the Lord in discharge of this his high and great trust and so is an office meerly respecting Rule and Government over men in their outward concernes which is capable to be rightly used or not according as the persons entrusted therewith are qualified and do exercise the same the office of it self being good and the end for which it is set up being according to Gods Ordinance and institution for the ministring of punishment to them that do ill and encouragement and protection to them that do well And men may lawfully arrive and attaine unto this office and dignity either in an ordinary way through the endeavours and free choice of men or extraordinarily by the immediate call of God himself to the exercise thereof making those that are to obey willingly subject in that day of his power For the office it self it is as we have shewed in Gods institution a Rule that is set up over the outward man in righteousnesse and in the fear of the Lord obliging the persons intrusted with this power to put forth righteousnesse in all their actings that appertaine to their publick charge in the judgements and statutes given for the right ordering and regulating of humane societies in the outward converse of men one towards another and in the common protection safety and defence which by them is to be provided with reference to those that are under their charge And as in this the principles of natural justice and right in their highest improvement are to be their Rule so the fear of the Lord should oblige them in an humble dependency upon him and trembling posture of mind before him to be watchful in not suffering any thing to be done by them that may carry in it hinderance or opposition to the breaking in of higher discoveries upon them as to the very exercise of the Magistratical office in the purity and perfection wherein it is promised to be brought forth in the last dayes by Christ himselfe unto which they should alwayes have willing and ready minds to make way and to submit Upon such grounds Magistracy may be preserved in its lawful use and exercise as a faithful servant waiting for the coming of his Lord and the persons exercising that authority are to be accounted as the Ministers of God to us for our good of whom we are to be afraid if we do evil and whom we are not to fear if we do well because they are to be a terrour only to evil works and a praise to the good In which respect the Apostle sayes true Christians must needs be subject as having an obligation leadin them thereunto not only for wrath but for conscience sake Rom 13. 5. The power that appertains to this office is all the strength that man is capable of being formed into either in a way of counsel or force to prevent and resist all assaults that may encounter the same in way of disturbance or opposition to the end that righteousnesse in the outward converse of men may run and be in Authority and Rule against all contradiction thereunto from the malice of Devils or men And therefore we are not to conceive as most are apt to do that man in his innocent state and sinlesse nature stood in no need of this office of Magistracy for it is not only useful to restraine from unrighteousnesse and disorder occasioned by sin and the fall but also to conserve and maintaine men in the good order and right disposition of things wherein by their creation they were placed in a preventing way unto the disorder and danger that lust
threatens and is ready to introduce upon man in his mutable righteous and holy state And in this way of exercise it will be upheld by Christ during his Reigne on earth the thousand years when with the whole creature it shall be restored from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God and be made subservient to the interest of the right heirs of salvation whereby Kings shall become nursing Fathers and Rulers Nursing Mothers unto the Church bringing the glory and power of all Nations unto it so as all Nations shall walk in the light of the new Jerusalem before which all the Kings of the earth shall stoop and be made to yeeld homage and subjection as not able to resist the wisdome and power of God there shining forth but from the conviction and demonstration flowing thence shall conforme whether they will or no to the righteous Rule of this Government of Christ who thereby binds their Kings in chaines and their Nobles in fetters of yron causing them to fall downe and yeeld themselves up in submission thereunto or else to be burnt up like thornes in the fire as they shew themselves resisters thereof this being the honour which all the Saints shall have in this manner to prevaile over and subdue all their enemies and opposers Psal 149. From what hath beene said we have had some general insight into the true nature of Magistracy or Rule over men and how righteous an administration it is respecting the outward man as well in the Principles as the Rules of righteousnesse that are enabling thereunto on Gods part whose ordinance and institution it is so that considered such as God requires it to be it is mans Ruling over men in righteousnesse and in the true feare of the Lord. And this Christ in his own person as the Sonne of man is perfectly qualified to do whose right also it is having all power in heaven and in earth put into his hands And his Saints when fitted by him to sit upon the Throne of the same glory with him shall likewise be found prepared to bring forth even Magistracy it self in its right exercise exactly answering the end for which it was set up by God and so shall be acknowledged by all the Nations of the world during the thousand years Reigne of Christ on earth Which pure state of Magistracy in the practice of it answerable to the righteousnesse of its Primitive institution is part of Christs Kingdome which he exerciseth in the world Which therefore we are to eye and be farre from discountenancing or grieving the witnesses thereof who through humane frailty may be at first very raw in the particulars unto which they give witnesse herein when their hearts may be sincere to Christ in longing after his coming to set up even Magistracy it self in the purity of its use and exercise And if it be here demanded whether the Saints of God are to content themselves with having this in their eye only and with the contemplation of it by faith as the thing which Christ will bring about in his due time in despight of all opposition who as the stone cut out of the mountaine without hands Dan. 245. shall become a great mountaine that shall fill the whole earth It is answered Though the Saints should sit down in faith and patience waiting to see this promise accomplished by the immediate power and hand of Christ without entertaining any solicitude in reference to other meanes they should not be disappointed nor fall short of their expectations at the last But secondly there is a duty of the day a generation-work respecting the time and circumstances of action in which the lot of our life is cast which calls upon us to use all lawful and righteous meanes that are afforded by the good hand of God through the inward light and knowledge he vouchsafes and outward providences and helps which he casts in whereby to make way for and to be hasting unto the coming of that day of God wherein the old heavens and earth shall be rolled away as garments yea with the works that are therein be burnt up and the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse shall be brought forth in their roome Our part is the same therefore in this as in the practice of other righteous duties appertaining to us the perfection whereof we cannot expect untill the redemption of the body and yet we are to be using all lawful meanes and endeavours to come as near the Primitive patterne and Rule as we can in our whole practice throughout So that when once we have well considered what Rule Christ himself if he were on earth would exercise over men in protecting those that do well and being a terrour to evil works as also in distributing righteousnesse equally and impartially unto all upon the grounds of right and just which everyone in the measure of light they have attained are acquainted with and do acknowledge for the Rule which they are willing to be concluded under as to all their outward concernes we ought in the way of Christ and in the use of all lawful meanes to be as near this in our practice as possibly we may in the Rule over men which we shall be either as principals or accessories in setting up holding our selves obliged in heartinesse and freedome of mind to maintaine In this lesson the Lord Jesus hath given cause to many of these Nations in these late years to be great proficients by the experiences which he hath afforded them step by step for the learning of his will and mind therein who hath not emptied us from vessel to vessel without some teachings thereby what was bad and fit to be left behind nor without some dawnings and intimations of what is good and is yet before us to be prosecuted and followed after Which whoever shall impartially and sincerely weight the cause and interest which the good people of this Nation have all along engaged in as well in reference to their Civil liberties or interests of men as men as to their Christian liberties as Saints cannot but acknowledge nor therefore can yet remove the perswasion throughly out of their minds that God who hath brought on the work thus farre should leave it here when it is come as it were unto the birth and is upon the very anvil to be formed into what may answer the true ends of Magistracy and common good of men unto which if there were yet applications made in a way of righteousnesse and in the fear of the Lord good men and Gods own people might not despaire of being taught by God and enabled through his power to grow up to that wherein like faithful servants unto Christ they might receive encouragement from their Lord at his coming and finding of them so doing with their loynes girt and lamps burning ready to receive him at his second appearance For if once the Lord be pleased so
the want of which it now groaneth and travelleth as in paine as deteined under the bondage it is fallen into by sin and is stretching out its neck as it were with a holy impatiency after these times of refreshing that are to come from the presence of the Lord by the sending of Jesus a second time and revealing him with power from heaven to restore all things and accomplish the full redemption of the body which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began Acts 3. 19 20 21. But considering the distinct and large handling of this weighty subject from testimony of Scriptures and otherwise in Volumes lately made extant together with the reserve which Christ thinks fit to keep in his owne hands as well of the time as the exact patterne and material circumstances of this his Reign it shall suffice me to be joyning in testimony unto this great truth according to the general prospect thereof which hath beene given in to my faith in some small glimpses as well from the inward as outward Word of God in a patient and humble expectation of the clearer and more certaine description thereof as the things themselves are drawing on which Christ in his times will fully shew by the brightnesse of his owne coming unto which the children of light and of this day are exhorted to be hastning as that which is hastning upon them that so it may not overtake them as a thief in the night at unawares but the mindfulnesse thereof may keep them in a meet posture with their loines girt and lamps burning as men waiting for the coming of their Lord. Paul in 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. does call these dayes the times of Christ in which he will shew that his judgment and power shall bear sway in distinction from and opposition to the power and judgement of mans day now in exercise and credit throughout the world himself being the blessed and only POTENTATE the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS that must take place with his everlasting Dominion This Scripture compared with Rom. 8. v. 19 to v. 24. Acts 3. 19 20 21. 1 John 3. 2. Hab. 2. 3 14 20. 2 Thes 2. 8. Phil. 3. 20 21. Dan. 2. 44 45. and Dan. 4. 3. and Chap. 7. 26 27. does evidently declare thus much that the hidden life and immortality wherein the man Christ Jesus does remaine with God as him that is invisible seene only to the eye of faith by the true sons and heirs of salvation shall have a season and time to be manifested and brought to light openly before the eyes of all and this two manner of wayes First in a way which shall be peculiar to the spiritual seed and extend only to them who having died with Christ shall now live with him and having suffered with him shall now reigne with hiw as gathered into one spiritual and heavenly body with himself through his changing their vile body into the likenesse of his most glorious body according to the working of his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Secondly in a way which shall be common to all natural men yea to the whole creation of God so as every eye shall see him and every tongue shall confesse him and every knee shall how to him either voluntarily or by compulsion as unto the only POTENTATE unto whom they owe their subjection and that in the right of the redemption by him procured for them who became a ransome for all to be testified in due time through which they shall be actually and entirely delivered from the bondage of corruption and restored into their Primitive purity natural life and glory upon the same tearmes of mutability as wherein Adam was at first created yea with this advantage over and above what he had not only a being taught by his experience but assisted with those means which he experienced not in the manner they shall do together with a freedome from any exercise of that old Serpents power or subtilty upon them who during the time of the whole thousand years shall be bound and sealed up in the bottomlesse pit by the power of Christ Rev. 20. 2 3. and so totally disabled to deceive or beguile the Nations any more all that while as he beguiled Eve that Christ may rule in righteousnesse amongst them without disturbance nothing being left to hurt or destroy them in all his holy mountaine or Dominion if they destroy not themselves for they shall be left unto the full and entire scope of their own free will self-managing and disposal that they may be as good as they themselves shall desire to be and have the means at hand to keep them so if themselves be not in the fault That which Christ will do at his second coming is intimated by those greater works he speaks of John 5. v. 20 to v. 30. at the sight whereof every one should marvel In which Scripture we find a twofold power that shall then be exercised by Christ First a quickning power for Christ shall then quicken whom he will calling whom he pleases out of their very graves whether spiritual or literal and they shall hear his voice and come forth the grave at his call shall yeeld up her dead not being able to resist the power of this quickning spirit of his who then as by the voice of the Arch-Angel the trump of God 1 Thes 4. 16 shall visibly declare the exceeding greatnesse of his power over death and the grave it self in the sight of the whole world to the admiration of all and to the stopping the mouths of the greatest enemies and gain-sayers that would be apt to contradict and oppose the glory of his Kingdome Secondly a Judicial power For Christ shall then receive authority from the Father to execute judgement also and that as the Sonne of man according as it is also expressed Acts 17. 31. He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus then as the Father hath life in himself that is to say the proper life of God absolute supreme irresistible and Almighty the SONNE OF MAN shall then also come forth in the exercise of the same life in unity with the Father it being given to him in like manner to have life in himself and to effect and execute all that which he desires and thinks fit in both these respects in the exercise of the same absolute and Almighty power of God himself By reason whereof it shall come to passe that all men shall honour the Sonne even as they honour the Father and whosoever honoureth not the Son shall be proceeded against in judgement and in the execution of Gods wrath as if he had not honoured the Father For unto the Sonne of man in this day of his
in a superiority in all things unto the Church or true spiritual seed which is his body the fulnesse of him that filleth all in all built up into a Heavenly conformity in all things as a Wife and Spouse unto this her Head and Husband This excellency of Christs exalted manhood was surely intimated unto Iaceb by that ladder Gen. 28. 12 which in his dream he beheld set upon the earth the top whereof reached to Heaven as also the Angels of God ascending and descending upon it For thus we find it interpreted by himself Iohn 1. 50 51. as that greater sight of his humane perfection then what could be seene in the dayes of his flesh Verily verily sayes he I say unto you hereafter you shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Sonne of man as if he should have said You shall see the Heavenly Temple of God opened Rev. 11. 19. that is to be found in the WORD OF LIFE and the heavenly discoveries flowing thence or sent forth from the same in their ascents and descents in and upon the manhood of Christ as the means chosen for the making manifest the riches of his glory to men and Angels in their particular beings and persons In these three respects shall the true SONNES AND HEIRS OF SALVATION fitted and adorned as a Bride and Heavenly body to this Husband and Head appeare bearing on them the image of the last Adam made like unto him to the seeing of him as he is and shining forth in this likenesse they will have accomplished upon them that manifestation of the sonnes of God which shall vastly difference them from the naturall or fleshly seed considered in their highest mutable perfection or in the incorruptible forme wherein they shall be raised up to everlasting contempt By vertue then of this conformity in image which the Saints shall be brought into with Christs heavenly manhood they shall come forth in the exercise of this threefold life in kind wherein the manhood of Christ hath beene conversant ever since the laying down of his earthly and natural body First of that life which all the true sonnes and heirs of salvation that have died in the faith have beene exercising ever since their change or falling asleep in the Lord that is to say the life of the spirits of just men made perfect a life like that of the Angels or perfect spirits that can live and act without dependance upon bodily life and motion described by Christ himself where he sayes that they who shall be accounted worthy to obteine that world and the resurrection from the dead as were Abraham Isaac and Jacob who then were and yet are in the possession of it neither marry nor are given in marriage for they are equal unto the Angels and are children of God and of the resurrection Luke 20. 35 36 that is to say are the children of God in their spirits made perfect and thereby are become equals and fit associates for the holy Angels themselves as the souls of wicked men departed this life become equals and fit associates for the evil Angels concerning which state also in the best sense Christ spake unto the thief upon the Crosse when he said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The second exercise of life which the Saints as gathered unto Christ their Head at his second coming shall be brought forth in is that of a glorified incorruptible body in fashion made like unto his glorious body Phil. 3. Into the exercise of which life they are not yet entered but reserved for it by the MAN CHRIST IESUS the FIRST-FRUITS who will have the souls of those slaine under the Altar to rest yet for a little season in the single exercise of their Angelical life as spirits of just men made perfect untill the gathering of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the first-borne together and setting them who have beene the slaine Witnesses of Christ upon their feet in the exercise of this immortal incorruptible bodily life here in this world wherein they are to continue and abide for a THOUSAND YEARS keeping the true Sabbath of Rest unto the Lord in that seventh part of the time of the worlds duration All worldly strength wisdome and power shall then as the walls of Iericho fall flat before Iesus the true Ioshua and these true Israelites as having beene by them compassed about six dayes and now on the seventh a thousand years being with the Lord as one day 2 Pet. 3. 8. making way for the end mentioned 1 Cor. 15. 24. to come and shew it self at which time the fleshly Rule and Kingdome of Christ in his first appearance till then kept up in the world as the first general Dominion is delivered up unto the Father the Sonnewillingly becoming subject herein with reference to the bringing himself forth in his second appearance to rule and reign in the place of the first that God may be all in all and that all other rule authority and power may hereby be put downe yea death it self as the last enemy may be destroyed and made unable to deteine any under its power that the quickning vertue shining forth in this presence and appearance of Christ shall call forth and give freedome unto The Saints in the exercise of this life with Christ upon earth during this THOUSAND YEARS shall be those in whom Christ will be admired and the Father glorified This state of theirs is the reward spoken of in Scripture where it is said The meek shall inherit the earth and Godlinesse hath not only the promise of the life to come but of this also 1 Tim. 4. 8. So Rom. 4. 13. The Promise to Abraham that he should be heir of the world is declared not to be by the Law or to have its accomplishment under the first Covenant-dispensation but through the righteousnesse of faith that it might be by grace to the end the Promise might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the Law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who with other beleevers died and received not the making good thereof It therefore remains to be performed in its due time at this manifestation of the Sonnes of God which faith sees and acknowledges Heb. 11. 39. These all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise to wit this promise of being heirs of the world and of all Nations being blessed in and by the meanes of the spiritual seed which will certainly be fulfilled to them in the times of the NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH Isa 65. 17. c. God having foreseene and reserved some better thing for us saith the Author to the Hebrews that they without us should not be made perfect but that all of us may enjoy that better thing together at once in the keeping of a holy Sabbath unto the Lord at the coming of this day of God in which the Heavens that