as their living Oracles that proceed out of the mouth of Christ the Mediator is also called the WORD according to Scripturesense and acceptation which yet will be more fully evident by considering the Word of God in a third sense to wit as the holy Scriptures coming not by the will of man but by inspiration from God in men moved by the Holy Ghost are also called the Word and Oracles of God containing in them the same Declaration and Testimony of the mind and will of God as is to be found in the inward WORD but dispensing it in an outward form of wholsome words taught and inspired by the Holy Ghost himself Unto these words of the Holy Scriptures given by divine inspiration no man may adde Rev. 22. 18. or take there from v. 19. Wherefore it is that they are not of any private interpretation but require the inspiration of the living WORD to open and declare the true and full meaning of them which is near unto every true believer being the WORD which dwels in the heart by faith the key of David and that holy anointing 1 Joh. 2. 27. that is truth and no lye which abideth in the Saints in such manner that they need not that any man teach them but as the same anointing teacheth them of all things taking of the things of Christ and shewing them unto them according to his promise John 16. 14 15. whos 's teachings nevertheless are also derived and communicated from one Saint unto another by the Ministry of outward words and Exposition of the Scriptures as by being taught of God they are fitted and prepared thereunto and made able Ministers of the new Testament who handle not the Word of God deceitfully through any private interpretations of their own but by manifestation of the Truth in its own self-evidence do commend themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God not preaching themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and themselves servants for Jesus sake 2 Cor. 4 5. And Christ hath promised to send forth such a spirit of the Ministry as this in all Ages even to the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. for the perfecting of the Saints and edifying of the Body the Church till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4. 13. That then which doth enable to the work of the Ministry thus considered is the shining forth of the Truth in the face of Jesus Christ by his indwelling presence in the heart comparing it self in the mind and understanding of the Saint with the testimony which is given of it self in the Outward Word And by discerning the perfect Analogie and Harmony that springs up between both answering one another as face answers face the believer receives such certainty and satisfaction in the mind of God made known as warrants him in the delivery and declaration thereof unto others This as the safest and best rule in judging and declaring truth from the Scriptures hath been owned in a constant harmony of witness by Saints in all Ages against all the enemies under one form or other that have sprung up either against the holy Scriptures themselves or the Spirit and inward WORD that lives and breathes forth in them and by them Thus through the faith that is in Christ Jesus the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation and to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good work being in this harmony and consent with the inward WORD of the same Authority with it and of the same divine and spiritual nature property and use able to save the soul and prosper to the end for which they are sent as a servant in the hand of the living WORD to fulfil all his pleasure and become either a savour of life unto life as ministred in harmony with and subserviency unto the living WORD or a savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. as ministred singly in opposition thereunto The Scriptures then are not properly the inward and living WORD but have a testimony and expression peculiarly their own John 5. 39. search the scriptures they are they which testifie of me saith Christ in which Testimony of theirs they are either as a servant and preparer of the way unto the living WORD as those that literally testifie of it pointing at Christ the life and spirit of them or else they are to be considered as one and the same with the living WORD in perfect analogie and harmony both consorting and dwelling together in an inseparable band of union unveiling rather the naked beauty of the inward WORD then bearing any different sense from it professing themselves to be but as a dead letter or sealed book Isa 29. 11. any farther then the living unwritten WORD of God as breathing into them becomes their life and is made use of as the key to open them so that both together make up one and the same divine oracle whereas if consideration be had of the Scriptures in the letter only they are then capable of having a meer private interpretation and humane sense put upon them and so to nourish up a way of prophecying that hath its rise out of the divination of mans own heart or the single ability of the natural mind exercised in them which is so far from being the true ministry that it is but the vision of God that proceeds from man as he follows his own spirit and not Gods Ezek. 13. 2. 3. c. Now if the body of the Scriptures deserve the name as they do of the word of God their spirit and Original deserves it much more and is much more eminently of authority and use for the effecting of all that is or can be done by them even the WORD that is nigh thee that is in thy heart and in thy mouth the WORD of faith Rom. 10. 8. the unseen and unwritten WORD which evidences itself to faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen Heb 11. 1. This WORD is described Heb. 4. 12. where it is said the WORD of God is quick and powerful sharper then any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do By being here described as a person the Holy Ghost signifies to us in what sense we are to understand the WORD of God in this place even for Jesus Christ the Mediator not simply considered as the second in the Trinity any more then for the outward body of the Scriptures which person of Christ is spoken of under the same name and description Rev. 19.
second in the Trinity As Christ exercises this his creature-sight and discerning to which this outward Volume of Gods book is proportioned seen and known unto him are all the works of the first Creation in the order and manner wherein they are to be and have their share and lot given forth unto them in continuance of time yea the invisible substances of Angels and Men and all the life motion and demeanour wherein they are exercised from first to last upon the wavering unstable and conditional terms of their standing and holding communion with God in and by the first Covenant which communion being conditional throughout Christ doth therefore in this first book of life write down and blot out the names of those that are interested in this Covenant according as the condition is performed or not performed by them as we have in this Chapter already shewed from those Scriptures that describe this first book of life of the Lamb. Thirdly and lastly All things are naked and opened unto Christ the Mediator by reason of that his Heavenly creature-eye and most excellent way of discerning which is begotten in him as he is the first-born from the dead in which he is the quick and two edged sword so sharp powerful and piercing that it is able to divide asunder soul and spirit the joynts and marrow or to state the true difference between the creatures natural mind in the first building and its spiritual mind in the second whose priviledge it is to be admitted to the sight of the glory that is within the veil to hear the inward voyce and see the hidden similitude of God which no natural minds or discernings continuing meerly such have ever seen or can see in their highest attainments and improvements Through this third seeing power in the mind of Christ he is skilled and knowing in reading the third Volume of Gods book which contains the former two writings as well the inward as the outward so joyned and placed together as that they are comparing themselves thereby in their most perfect harmony and agreement as face answers face serving themselves of each other in such manner as may best unriddle and interpret the full and entire meaning of God in them both and herein unloose the seals that were upon the backside of the book so as the glory within the veil or inward writing may thereby shine forth upon the new-creature-discerning and yet keep the seals fast on still as to all natural eyes This writing and manifestation of God is his second appearance as he comes forth upon the creature in life from the dead and makes the Mediator the beginning root and author thereof unto the whole new and second building the true Mount Sion or City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God being founded in a new and everlasting Covenant and upon better promises then the first with which God found fault This second divine appearance is that which is so adaequate and fitted to the new creature-discerning or eye or faith which hath for object things unseen that the eye of the natural mind single hath no skil in reading this book but unto it the vision of all is become as the words of a book that is sealed Isa 29. 11. a sight which no man hath seen nor can see being the hidden Manna and new name which none knows but they that have it This third writing is the witness which is given by the third in the Trinity the Holy Ghost being that whereby with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The thickness of the outward Veyl is in this dispensation made so transparent by the loss of its own glory in the grave that now it is made of use to hand out the glory of the inward writing as that which is above and over its head unto which it is made willing and content to be the footstool and to rule only as an inferiour light in subordination and subserviency thereunto By the third power of discerning in Christ to which this third Volume is proportioned he knows who are given to him of the Father of whom he is not to lose one whom therefore he writes down in this his second book of life out of which they can never be blotted Hereby also is seen and known to Christ the end of all Gods works as well as their beginning in the order and manner in which all things have their course and progress unto their final state either in a way of everlasting honour or of everlasting contempt Thus we have considered him before whose sight all things are naked and opened as he is the living WORD of God and hath a three-fold power and exercise of mind suted unto these lively Oracles of God in which he is made conversant by the witness which the Trinity bear unto the eye of his mind Unto whose blessed and glorious person in this his three-fold perfection fitting him to his office of Mediator the Scriptures are exceeding full and plain in their testimony as first Prov. 8. where we find him described in this his fulness and riches of glory under the general term of Wisdom so that ver 30 31. we may behold him as to his first perfection in a co-eternity with God himself and in the exercise of Gods own mind and discerning as one by him and brought up with him his bosome-Counsellour from all eternity in order to accomplish and work out the communications of God by him fore-purposed unto Angels and Men. And of the two latter we have particular intimation in the same Scripture where he saith I was daily his delight rejoycing alwaies before him rejoycing in the habitable part of his Earth and my delights were with the sons of men even whilst he lay in his Fathers bosome Again ver 22 23. We have his perfection described as he is the first-born of every creature and first begotten from the dead who was set up from everlasting that is to say from the beginning or ever the Earth was whom the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way before his works of old intimating thereby the works not only begun but finished in the Mediator from the foundation of the world when there were no depths nor fountains abounding with water before the mountains were settled before the hils was he brought forth v. 24 25. shining in a two fold appearance in which he contained all creature-fulness riches excellency and perfection so is described v. 6. where he saith he will speak of excellent things in the second Covenant the opening of his lips shall be of right things as he is the King of righteousness the Head Minister of the first-covenant light glory in which he was the WORD by whom God created all things in righteousness at first And ver 27 28 29. Was with God in the
preserving of them during the thousand years in this their spotlesse sinlesse nature not suffering the Devil to annoy them or deceive the Nations till the thousand years be fulfilled executing upon the rebellious and disobedient his fiery vengeance and indignation to the cutting them off from the Land of the living as Ananias and Sapphira were dealt with making good that Word of the Lord Act 3. 23. And it shall come to passe that every soul which will not hear that Prophet in these his dayes he shall be destroyed from among the people For all those that shall then discover that they love not the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity shall be Anathema Maranatha or accursed by this coming and from this presence of the Lord. And therefore we are to know that the natural generation of men which shall be in those dayes how pure and spotlesse soever their fleshly nature be yet being but mutable will have either a good or an evil change passe upon them The good we have already spoken to and of the evil we shall say but little here since we have so at large treated of it also as it is the serpentine seed growing up in and under that which is good to the fixing and hardning of men at last in an implacable rage and enmity against Christ in his heavenly and second appearance For this hardning when it is perfected proves an unchangable enmity and brings on the spiritual or SECOND DEATH wrought out in the natural mind which is not subject to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus nor ever can be no place being now left for repentance These vessels of wrath will then be raised to everlasting contempt and will have the perfect exercise of their natural sences in spirit soul and body fitted and prepared for the taking in of the full vials thereof that shall be poured out upon them for ever from the presence of the Lord Yea for this purpose they are also heightned to a partaking with the wicked Angels in the raisednesse of their Angelical beings so as to become of equal capacity with the evil Angels through the power of the resurrection from the dead that raises them up into everlasting contempt and gives them their portion with the Devil and his Angels unto whom they serve as a Temple and habitation in like manner as the Saints in their glorified body are the Tabernacle of God And in this Idols Temple the Devil shall be so able to transforme himself into an Angel of light by the experience he will have gained during the thousand years and so to transform his Ministers also as the Ministers of righteousnesse and Apostles of Christ that he shall have the confidence at the end of the thousand years when he shall again be let loose to embody his party of wicked Angels and men from all quarters and come up in this seeming glorious posture to vie it out at last with the New Jerusalem the City of the living God in this its earthly state gathering Gog and Magog to battel the number of whom is as the sand of the Sea who hoping to carry all before them shall come up on the breadth of the earth and compasse the camp of the Saints about the Beloved City desiring and endeavouring to swallow up that Assembly of true Saints on earth who have not had as yet their finall change brought upon them but are waiting for it universally to be accomplished at the end of the thousand years At which period of time the Devil being let loose and putting forth his last and utmost power doth play his game by transforming his party into the likenesse of the glorified body of Christ and his Saints gathering into one counterfeit spiritual body all his children and servants whose coming then shall be with such power and signes and lying wonders as were never put forth by him before Then Christ in a moment shall finally perfect his glorious change upon all the Elect and carry them all up with him to the mansions provided for them in his Fathers house from whence he sends down fire to devour all their adversaries and the whole visible frame of the creation casting the Devil into the Lake of fire where the BEAST and FALSE PROPHET are and shall be tormented for ever day and night by vertue of the just judgement of God which then shall be revealed against the wicked when the last JUDGEMENT shall be set and there shall appeare a great white Throne and one sitting upon it from whose face the heaven and the earth shall flee away so that there shall be no more place found for them even for that heaven and earth wherein there had beene made a full restitution of all things in those times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord during the reigne of the thousand years Then the great and last universal day of judgement shall be brought forth when the dead small and great shall be made to stand up before God and then the books will be opened and another book will be opened which is the book of life and the dead shall be judged out of those things that are written in the books And the sea shall give up the dead that are in it and death and hell shall deliver up the dead that are in them and they shall be judged every man according to their works To be more particular in describing the state of things as to the change which does respect the whole creature during this thousand years will be needlesse considering that the general expressions are so clear and full that it shall be a glorious pure incorrupt state unto the whole creation which shall then keep a holy Sabbath and Rest unto the Lord a seventh part of the time of the worlds continuance in which there shall be no sowing of the field nor pruning of the vineyard nor exacting any labour from the creature but what in voluntary service it shall performe by way of homage and worship unto Christ for the use of his Saints during the thousand years who are yet in their corruptible natural body expecting their great change Even so come Lord Jesus Come quickly FINIS
and so agreeing with the pure natural heart of man In the exercise of this second and new-covenant-life Christ was enabled to offer up himself in the flesh through the eternal spirit as a Lamb without spot and guile unto God to bring in everlasting righteousness and that subjection of heart and brokenness of spirit in man which God requires by the law of faith or tenor of the second and new-covenant answering to the law of the new-creature-being and life whose original pattern was hereby set up in Christ as the first fruits in that image of the first-born from the dead wrought out in him unto whom all the rest of the adopted children whose names are written in the Lambs book of life from the beginning of the world were predestinated to be made conformable Jesus being thus qualified in the same nature and person even as the son of man to be as well a high-Priest as a sacrifice proceeds to fulfill the will of his father that is herein given him to do even to perform that obedience that is required of him as Surety and Mediator of both Testaments standing in force by vertue of his death This obedience is the second general particular which we have propounded to treat of consisting in the right use and mannaging of those powers and senses of mind that by the WORD were formed and set up in Christ for the performance of the will of God as to all that he required from man in and by the Rule and law of the first and second covenants the righteousness of both which laws he was to fulsil even all righteousness which accordingly he did as himself declares Heb. 10. 7 9. where he saith Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will O God and this by taking away what was faulty in the first covenant and establishing the good and righteousness of both in the second For he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it so as the very righteousness of the Law which as upon its first bottom passeth away as a morning dew and waxeth old is fulfilled in the new-covenant-obedience by those who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit and was so fulfilled to the utmost in and by the man Christ Jesus who as the second Adam did all that was needful and which God required to be done for the remission of sin and the utter abolishing and removal of it out of mans nature with an absolute incapacity of ever returning more upon the true and right heirs of salvation In respect whereof it is said Rom. 5. 19. That as by one mans disobedience many that is all were made sinners so by the obedience of one many that is all shall be made righteous Having that ransom paid and means provided in him to make them righteous so that there shall be no necessity remaining upon any to perish forasmuch as sufficient provision is made to bring all men to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth that as in Adam all died so in this sense all again in Christ are made alive that is capable of receiving life from God upon the terms of one of the two Covenants For if through the offence of one many be dead and judgement was by one to condemnation much more the grace of God and gift by grace which is by one man Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many to the justification of many offences v. 15 16. God esteeming it just that by the righteousness and obedience which is performed according to his will by one man Jesus Christ the free gift should come upon all men unto justification of life as well as that by one mans offence and disobedience death should raign over all This one righteousness and obedience performed by Christ is that which not only answers by way of satisfaction unto all that was occasioned and brought forth by the offence and disobedience of Adam but where sin hath abounded grace hath abounded much more that as sin raigned unto death grace might raign through righteousness unto eternal life by Iesus Christ the second Adam Which eternal life sin shewed it self able to hinder the first Adams attainment of upon his first principles The obedience then which Christ performed we are to consider under a twofold respect First that which is usually called his active obedience whereby he was in his own person legally righteous and perfectly holy according to the tenor of the first covenant as made under the Law and rendred in the natural powers of his mind exactly conformable thereunto This conformity in Christ to the righteousness of the Law qualified him to be the Lamb without spot or blemish which God required to be offered up and slain as a sacrifice for sin which conformity may be considered either as inherent in him qualifying him thus for sacrifice or Secondly as coming into actual exercise by the proper activity of his living soul or natural man if left alone therein or Thirdly as being brought into exercise by the Fathers indwelling presence teachings not suffering him to speak or do any thing of himself or in the single activity of his natural principles as himself saith Ioh. 14. 10. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self but the Father that dwelleth in me doth the works In which third and last consideration Christ was made active through the exercise of a newness of life and operation set up in him in the way of faith flowing from that second seed and union begotten in him by the WORD as we have already shewed In which activity he did not only perform the righteousness and obedience required of man by the Law or first covenant but that also which is required of him by the new second covenant Without which second branch of his active obedience there could have been no sacrifice nor shedding of blood no Lamb slain nor feast of passover as it is written 1 Cor. 5. 7. Christ is our passover who was slain for us for there would have wanted the priest or sacrificing power to offer up the same according to the will of God declared in the new and second covenant Heb. 10. 9. For though it be most true that Christ through the righteousness of the Law and this considered chiefly as inherent in him is thereby the pure and spotless Lamb of God the male of the flock without blemish which it was needful for him to be as prepared for sacrifice and to be offered up it being requisite not only to be but to continue Holy harmless and separate from sinners throughout the whole course of his life and sufferings in the flesh yea and in the grave iâ—self not to see corruption otherwise he had not answered and fulfilled the righteousness of the Law nor been in his own person legally righteous such an one as justice it self upon that account could take no exception against yet this made him not high Priest
as in common with the other the very same benefit absolutely and unchangeably Of this generation of men in a state of fleshly Saint-ship Paul speaks when he intimates Rom. 9. that they are not all Israel which are of Israel neither saith he because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seed be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed v. 6 7 8. The true seed even according to the flesh must be comprehended in Isaac as he is the figure of Christ coming in the flesh And not only this but when Rebecca also had conceived by one even by our father Isaac it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger ver 10 12. the one representing him that was born after the flesh the seed and children of the earthly Jerusalem engendred from Mount Sinai the other him that was born after the spirit the seed that are begotten of the Ierusalem that is above which is the mother of all the right â—â—â—irs of the promise By this there is presented to our view First the natural fleshly seed of Israel that were only so outwardly whose circumcision was that only which was outward in the flesh which Rom. 2. is counted as no circumcision nor were the persons thereby really differenced at all from Heathens but were inferiour to such of them as by nature were doers of the law ver 25 26 27 28. Secondly here is described to us the true seed of Israel as they are the children of the first covenant and make up the earthly Jerusalem the proper subjects of Christ under this second dispensation as he hath Rule and Dominion over them by the law and is a husband to them by the covenant of works These are at large set out and particularly described Ezek. 16. ver 1. to the 15. Thirdly here are made known to us the true Iacobs those that like Princes wrestle with God and prevail who are the seed that overcome and though they be the younger in birth yet supplant the elder and of last do become the first being preferred before the children of the first covenant how glorious and excellent a shew soever they may make in the flesh for they are circumcised with a further circumcision made without hands in the death of Christ to the taking them out of the life of Christs natural body as it is the keeping up the first Tabernacle or Sanctuary and to the planting them into similitude with him in his dead and crucified body to open thereby unto them the way into the holiest of all the glory that is within the veyl and life that is from the dead Which circumcision Rom. 2. ver 29. is said to have its praise of God in distinction by way of eminency from the two former Now the second sort of Israelites whose Circumcision is inward to the doing away the filth of the flesh only and whose praise is of men are those the Scripture intends by the children of the first Covenant those upon whom the living WORD of God hath had such effect as to write out in the fleshly tables of their hearts a conformity to that image of God that shines forth in the flesh of Christ wherein his natural righteousness and perfection singly considered doth consist as the Rule and holy Commandment which they are to follow and be conformed unto for their sanctification whilst he himself is made their head and covering as to their justification through their actual implantation into the same living natural body or flesh with him or by the marriage union with him into which they are taken by the first Covenant Through which operation and change of condition brought upon them they are very much differenced from the doers or workers of righteousness by nature under the first dispensation for these are taught as to their justification before God and drawing near into communion with him to look at themselves as represented in their head and as having their plantation and abode in him which was figured out by the Shew-bread under the Law by their laying their hands on the head of the sacrifice upon which God had laid all their sins so as they are made righteous not in themselves thus considered but in another even through the Mediatorship of the Man Christ Jesus as their Head in whose natural righteousness and perfection they stand blameless before God wherein all their peace is founded and the comfort of all their communion And secondly as thus they are differenced by this state of their justification which the others are not acquainted with so also the image of God unto which they are to be conformed for their sanctification to the likening them in all things unto the pure and spotless natural man of Christ is that which exceeds and is superiour to the righteousness and perfection of the first Adam as the original pattern is above and before the first Copy though it be of the same nature and kind with it And such is the glory and excellency of this state that God thinks fit to lead the true heirs through this into the glory of their inheritance that is to follow and to give it them in common with those that are children of the first Covenant suffering them for a season to remain together with them as fellow-servants in the house and to live in the form and fashion of servants undifferenced in any thing from them though they be Lords of all Yea farther this first work and change as it is accompanyed with the seed of saving faith Heb. 6. 9. is the beginning of the new creation in the true heirs unto whom Christ is not only the beginner but the finisher of their faith not only the WORD that begins with them in the glory of his first appearance but the WORD that ends with them in the glory of his second whereas those that are the children of the first Covenant singly considered as left alone without the things that accompany salvation as Heb. 6. 1. to 9. though by the word of the beginning they attain great reformation and enlightnings yet after all they prove as the ground that is near to cursing whose end is to be burned falling away after all such enlightnings so that it is impossible to renew them any more unto repentance according to what is also spoken by Jeremiah Chap. 11. 15 16 17. What hath my beloved to do in mine house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many And the holy flesh is passed from thee the Lord called thy name A green Olive-tree fair and of goodly fruit but now he that planted thee hath pronounced evil against thee and kindled a fire upon thee and thy branches are broken So then to such there remains no more sacrifice for sin but the very justification it self which they were admitted into is denyed them by Christ
to a more safe and un-erring intuition into the whole Fabrick If the newness of many things thou meetest with offend thee consider with thy self what unsearchable riches are to be found in the WORD of God whose best wine is kept for the last when Christ shall be admired in all those that do believe amongst whom he that is feeble at that day shall be as David and the house of David shall be as God as the Angel of the Lord before them Zach. 12. 8. and this by the means of the WORD who as a mysterie has lain hid in God from the foundation of the world and is no new Commandment but that which was in and from the beginning the old Commandment appearing only new because the darkness in which it hath been a long time veiled is passing away and far spent so as the true light now shines in Iesus Christ according to the revelation of the mysterie which was kept secret since the world began but is now made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known to all Nations for the obedience of Faith Rom 16. 25 26. Again if thou findest the language rough tedious and unapt to convey the discovery of such excellent glory as is shining forth in the face of this living WORD of God quarrel not with the treasure for the earthliness of the vessel through which it passes but allow something as remembring that thy self also art in the body and confined and be ready and willing in thy place to supply what is deficient my design having been more to intend the knowledge of things then the elegancy of words Lastly if in the opening of mystical and dark prophesies that which principally is aimed at and applied throughout in this Discourse be the inward and spiritual meaning of them Know that it is not to exclude thereby their literal and historical sense but to shew how well both may stand together In which case such Essays deserve to be born with considering how much of the one sort is made extant by many pens already and how little of the other Farewel I am thine in the love and service of the truth H. V. From Belleau April 20. 1655. A TABLE OF THE Chapters Chap. I. Wherein is shewed that the foundation and first Rule of all true and right knowledge of God is seated in Christ the living WORD as the blessed Trinity by their own immediate operations do make themselves personally visible therein Chap. II. Concerning the holy Scriptures their authority and use with the harmony and analogy which they hold with the living WORD Chap. III. Concerning the creation of all things by Jesus Christ who is the mystery that lay hid in God from the beginning and makes himself manifest as well by the works of creation as of redemption Chap. IV. Concerning the creation nature and ministry of Angels Chap. V. Concerning the creation of man on the sixth day Chap. VI. Concerning the fall of man the steps and degrees to it with the bitter fruits and consequents thereof Chap. VII Shewing that God on the seventh day ended the works which he had made and produced the Rest and fixed state appointed to the first creation which Christ the Medidiator as he is the minister of Gods second appearance is the Author and accomplisher of Chap. VIII Shewing the conviction and judgement that came upon men and Angels for their sin and disobedience by the shining forth of the al-searching light of Gods second appearance in the WORD before which every creature stands naked and discovered Chap. IX Concerning the WORDS being made flesh for the performance of the whole will of God in reference to mans redemption and salvation Chap. X. Concerning the benefits that do inseparably accompany Christs person where he is received either by the first or second Covenant according to the tenour of both which there is vertue in his blood to reconcile and bring men to God Chap. XI Shewing the subordinate use that the elect Angels are of unto Christ in his bearing up the pillars of the creation that else had been dissolved through the fall and the place which they have in the threefold general administration of his mediatorial Kingdome set up in the world Chap. XII Shewing wherein the three rules and formes of administration in Christs mediatorial Kingdome do differ one from another and maintaine an entire jurisdiction within themselves but in due subordination and subserviency still of the lower to the higher over the respective subjects that live under them Chap. XIII Shewing the fixed enmity and warre that is maintained and kept up by Satan against the Rule and Kingdome of the Mediator in the world in order to make of none effect unto men the inestimable price and usefulnesse of Christs blood in their fallen state Chap. XIV Shewing the continuance and progresse of the war between the subjects of Christ and Antichrist and the terms and issues upon which they joyn Chap. XV. Shewing more particularly the bounds of that Rule and Government which is set up by Christ in the natural conscience together with the answer of a good conscience thereunto in those that are under this first dispensation Chap. XVI Concerning the Rule and Dominion which by the Law Christ exerciseth in the minde of those that are made children of the first Covenant together with the answer of a good conscience thereunto in such as are subjects unto Christ under this second dispensation Chap. XVII Shewing the nature of that Kingdome and Rule of Christ in the Saints which consists not in word and in the forme of godlinesse only but in power and in the life of saving faith the first fruits whereof appear in those that are made conformable to Christ in his death Chap. XVIII Concerning the Saints conformity with Christ in his death particularly opened and cleared from those mistakes which the enemies to the Crosse of Christ are apt to brand it with Chap. XIX Giving a general view of the counterworkings of Satan to the Government of Christ in all the forementioned administrations thereof Chap. XX. Concerning death to sin and life to righteousnesse considered as well in the distinct Branches and parts thereof as in the full extent and comprehensivenesse together with the discovery thereby of that which is counterfeit hypocritical or otherwise defective Chap. XXI Shewing particularly the evil seed that is sowen in the natural conscience by Satan through which he works men off from their subjection to Christ in his first dispensation and fixes them in rebellion against him Chap. XXII Shewing in particular the workings of the mystery of iniquity in the consciences of the children of the first Covenant to the ripening of them unto perdition and finall falling away from God Chap. XXIII Concerning the common interest wherein the Devils subjects meet and correspond under both the dispensations before mentioned which yet by the wisdome and power of Christ
13. where he is said to be clothed with a vesture dipt in blood whose name is called the WORD of God having on his vesture and on his thigh a name written KING of KINGS and LORD of LORDS v. 16. In the same sense is this WORD presented to the view of Ezekiel Chap. 2. v. 9. 10. under the description of the roll of a book which was written within and without and Rev. 5. 1 2. 3. A book written within and on the backside sealed with seven seals which none whatsoever amongst the Creatures was able to open or loose the seven seals thereof In this book of God David was seen Psal 139. 15 16. by the eye of God in his creature substance yet being imperfect and therein all his members were written which in continuance were fashioned whilst as yet there were none of them The nature and use of this book considered in the several volumes of it is declared Rev. 20. 12. The books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and that we may know what book of life is here meant there is mention made Rev. 13. 8. of the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world having the names of all the Elect written in it which are never to be blotted out And Rev. 3. 5. we find another book of life belonging to Christ from whence he threatens the hypocritical and corrupted members of the Church of Sardis to be blotted out a like threatning unto which we find Rev. 22. 19. which compared with Psal 69. 28. makes it yet plainer Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous or come into thy righteousness to wit which is by faith Thus we see the unwritten and living WORD of God testified by the Scriptures to be Gods writing and Gods book as well as they themselves are so that when we call this living WORD unwritten it is but by way of distinction from the Holy Scriptures in the outward body of them as they are written with Pen and Ink for the WORD that is the Image of the invisible God the brightness of his glory and the express character of his substance may truly and properly be said to be the writing and engraving of the Trinity the Living book and roll of God that is all written within and without consisting of three volumes answering to the threefold power that is in the mind of Christ to read and look thereon We are therefore in both these respects to acknowledge Christ to be the living WORD first as he is he that speaks or the person whose mind and discerning is formed and prepared to look upon this Heavenly writing in all the volumes of it in order to communicate and give forth unto others the reading thereof And secondly as he is the writing itself and doth contain the lively ORACLES OF GOD or witness of the blessed Trinity representing God as to and by himself he is seen as also to and by both Creations according to the two Covenants unto which they relate In which latter sense this book is to be understood Rev. 5. 1. c. where it is said that no man in heaven nor in earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither to look thereon but it is the priviledge only of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to prevail to the opening thereof and to make the right use that is intended thereby The WORD in both these respects considered by us is a most lively description of the fulness and perfection whcih dwels in Christs person as he was set up in the office of his Mediatorship by the immediate operation of the Trinity before the world began wherein he is the only begotten Son in whom God is well pleased as he that is in himself both Priest and sacrifice abiding a High-Priest for ever at the right hand of God after the order of Melchisedech which is no way proper to him as the second Person in the Trinity simply considered where he is purely and simply God without the least mixture or composition of creature-nature and without shadow of change But now as Christ is the WORD in the person of the Mediator he hath the root of all creature-nature in him being the root as well as the offspring of David and hath this given to him for sacrifice therewith to prepare him to become a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world As thus he is the person of the Mediator he exerciseth a threefold power of mind and discerning by reason whereof this living WORD is said Heb. 4. to be the discerner of the thoughts intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto him with whom we have to do of whom we are now treating First all things are naked and opened unto him by reason of the pure all-seeing eye and discerning of God that is in him through which light of his he knows how to read the inward writing of the book or the book as it is all written within in a character that is the form of God himself in the very height of his glory and therefore proper only for the divine eye itself to contemplate and be conversant in requiring the same mind that is in God himself to conceive and understand it as simply and fingly exhibited The Mediator in the exercise of this power of mind is eternally seeing all that God sees perfectly knowing Gods mind and is his Wonderful Counsellor in all the decrees and purposes of his that concern the creatures converse with him from beginning to ending Secondly All things are naked and opened unto Christ this living WORD by reason of the highest and purest natural creature-eye and discerning that is in him as he is the first-born of every creature and is the discerner of the thoughts of the natural heart and mind of all creatures so as Psal 139. 2 4. there is not a thought in the heart nor word in the tongue but this WORD knows it altogether and afar off even before the World began Through this second seeing power of Christs mind he knows how to read the second Volume of Gods book as it is all written without in a manifestation and appearance of God which is commensurate and proportioned to the creatures judgement and discerning as it is natural and of the first building and is the same form of God abasing it self and requiring no higher an eye then what is in the natural mind of the creature to behold it and look thereon This writing is called outward or the book all written without comparatively and in reference to the inwardness of the first whose eminency and height is such as is exclusive to the creatures natural discerning not but that in its own nature it is inward and spiritual being the witness that is given by the
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
and righteousness by way of counter-ballance to the works of the devil and his kingdom of darkness in the world or outwardly by the books of the creature and daily discoveries of Gods providences that are teaching and instructing to the lowest and meanest natural discernings of men And to enable them to the receiving hereof they have a further taste of the bounty of Christ the Redeemer who doth freely renew and continue their life breath and all things unto them upon a new tenure even by the ransom procured for them in his blood by vertue of which none of them do fail of partaking in a common enlightning from him when they receive their beings in this world and have the lamp or caâ—â—le of the Lord set up in them to be as a witness for or against every man according to his works being a light which searcheth the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. Over the nations then and people of the world thus considered we say Christ doth dispense his Rule and government and gives unto them judgements and ordinances according to which they are to walk Ezek. 5. and in the doing or not doing of them their consciences are accusing or excusing of them and Christ in this his government shews himself by his ministers to whom he hath committed the mannaging thereof either in wrath and terrour against all evil works or an Encourager and Protectour of all them that do well The prime Minister of God on this behalf is Christ The hands in which this government is betrusted by Christ are the invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities and powers of the holy Angels as we have already declared and shall yet further enlarge made by Christ and for Christ the chief Lords and Rulers of the first world and all the inhabitants thereof Regard seems to be had to this administration of government Iob 2. 1 2. where the sons of God or these holy Angels in their administration of this kind of government presented themselves before this Lord Christ and Sathan came also among them having been his circuits walking to and fro in the earth and up and down in it unto whom the Lord propounds the case of Iob as of a perfect and upright man so as there was none like him in all the earth and who accordingly had found Christ owning encouraging and protecting of him as the devil himself alledged Chap. 1. at the same kind of meeting between God and the Angels then held also for saith Sathan to God hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blessed the works of his hands and his substance is encreased in the land intimating hereby the reward that is administred as to the kind of it by the holy Angels under Christ to the very heathens themselves and the punishment of wrath to consist in the contrary dispensations of God hereunto when he declares himself outwardly a terrour to wicked works and puts forth his hand therein for which purpose these excellent spirits are invested with power might and dominion over all the works of Gods hands in the first world to execute Christs commands as the Hosts and Ministers that do his pleasure in all places of his dominion and are alwaies attending and hearkning unto the voice of this WORD speaking to them as he is the root and head of all natural good and perfection Under these invisible Thrones and higher powers there are visible ones also set up and are Christs ordinance and institution in an inferiour and subordinate ministration of this government of Christ over men which are called the higher powers of the world whether contracted in one universal Monarch as in the time of Nebuchadnezar Dan. 2. or dispersed into many several and distinct forms of Magistracy in the world according as the most high is pleased to set them up pull them down or change them in reference to the present work which he hath to do in the world and to the state and condition of his own people in it either for their bringing into bondage and captivity under the worldly powers or for the leading them out of the same into the glorious liberty by him designed unto them in the last of daies whereof Nebuchadnezars image was a notification once for all and was so interpreted by Daniel himself when he said to Nebuchadnezar the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom power and strength and glory and wheresoever the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and fowls of the heaven he hath given it into thy hand and made thee ruler over them who therefore art this head of Gold Which government in the succession of it shall be dispersed decline and corrupt until it quite break asunder and split in pieces before the everlasting kingdom which is intended by God to be set up in the room thereof Which compared with Cap. 4. 17. makes it yet more evident that this visible government in the hands of the higher powers of the world is superintended over-ruled and influenced throughout by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of the holy ones or Angels to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of men evidently declaring that promotion cometh not from the East or West or South but Christ who bears up the pillars of the earth when else through sin and the fall the earth and the inhabitants thereof had been dissolved he is the judge he puts down one and sets up another Pal. 75. 6 7. And if then in the inferiour visible administration of this government over men in the hands of men the Rule is given and declared whereunto the governed are to be subject not only for wrath but conscience sake Rom. 13. how much straightlier is every soul obliged to the same Rule as it is administred in the hands of the invisible Thrones at the judgement seat of Angels who next under Christ the supream Minister of God are exercising their Ministry in a way of wrath and terrour against all evil workers and in a way of encouragement and protection unto all those that do well and walk uprightly in the earth Thus according to the orders and decrees of these watchers and holy ones whether declared by their inward ministry in the spirits and consciences of the men of the world or outwardly by the wholsome laws and ordinances of man as the product and fruit of the light by them dispensed or by the visible providences of God is the first administration of Christs kingdom managed and upheld throughout the whole earth and over all the world even the nations that are yet aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise And because it is very cleer from Scripture that the holy ones or Elect Angels are intrusted
fire of more dreadful vengeance and wrath in whom the Devil transformes himself into an Angel of light by meanes whereof these his Ministers do become false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and Ministers of righteousnesse whose end is according to their works an end that deceives them as well as they by their works deceive the world All these under the various formes and visibilities of Saint-ship wherein they are found throughout the whole world under the name of worshippers and servants of God whether more or lesse refined whether Seraphicks in Angelical brightnesse or Sensualists in meere bodily exercise which profits little are embodied and incorporated together as into one Temple or house of rest unto the false spirit or great deceiver through whose subtilty and dexterity they are beguiled to sinne againe after the similiude of Adams transgression that as the Serpent beguiled Eve so are these also corrupted in their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus 2 Cor. 11. 3. drawne by the taile of the great Dragon out of their heavenly habitations unto a revolt and backsliding with him into a fixed enmity against Christ their true Husband to the committing of whoredome and lewdnesse with a false spirit as adulterers and adulteresses which adulterous brood of hypocrites and back-sliders that the Devil hath in all ages propagated and multiplied by occasion of the same meanes that Christ ordeined to bring to life and lead unto salvation are compared in Scripture to the holy City where our Lord was crucified spiritually called Sodome and Egypt the Israel after the flesh which Esay complaines of saying Had not the Lord left us a seed we had all beene like Sodome and Gomorrah referring to Deut. 29. where Israel Gods covenanted people v. 3. that had seene with their eyes the great temptations signes and miracles which he did were not yet so secured thereby v. 18 19 c. but that amongst them even that enlightned people might spring up a root that bears gall and wormwood that though they hear the words of the curse declaring the wrath of God against the falshood uncleannesse and deceitfulnesse of spirit which they live in towards God under all their righteous and holy operations makes them neverthelesse blesse themselves saying We shall have peace though we walke in the imaginations of our owne hearts adding drunkenness to thirst In which case the Lord declares that he would pour out his fury upon them to make them as Sodome and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath And Deut. 32. 32 33. this generation of men in their good beginning as well as in their backsliding accursed end are at large described where their Vine is said to be as the Vine of Sedome and of the fields of Gomorrah their grapes grapes of gall their clusters bitter their wine the poyson of Dragons and the cruel venome of Aspes their choisest food and ministrations leading to the chambers of death and tending to the bowing downe of the back alway Is not this sayes God sealed up among my treasures and laid up in store with me in the proper time to be revealed when they shall be consumed by the breath of Christs mouth and brightnesse of his second coming This is the great City BABYLON the great who is fallen is fallen from the glory of her first state in communion with Christ himself in his first appearance and by the first Covenant and through Satans seducements and beguilings is become the habitation of Devils the hold of every foul spirit and cage of every uncleane and hateful bird For all Nations or all sorts of men in all Nations have drunk more or lesse of the wine of the wrath of her fornication or have made themselves drunk with the wine of this false spirit and the Kings or eminent ones of the earth men of renowne for godlinesse and vertue have committed fornication with her and the Merchants of the earth are waxen rich through the abundance of her delicacies even all that are for gaine from their quarters that count gaine godlinesse or are followers of godlinesse for earthly rewards and as they gaine by it some way or other in this world The Devil muster 's strong of the inhabitants of this City from the lowest and sourest spirited legalist to the largest loose spiritual Apostate and wanderer from the truth who center in one common interest of enmity to the Crosse of Christ and the glory that followes in the power of an endlesse life by attaining the resurrection from the dead taking in all hearts and consciences upon what pretence and cause soever that do faile of the grace of God and instead thereof have some root of bitternesse springing up to their spiritual defilement and corrupting of their way towards him that is risen from the dead and offers to marry them unto himself by an everlasting Covenant In this I shall not need to enumerate in regard the universal Apostasie of the latter times will be the best interpreter hereof and will signifie as it were by name the several distinct professions that will be herein concerned whether of such as are zealous of Ordinances shut-up under them or of such as are loosen'd from them living above them in a false deceitful spirit This sort of Satans instruments and subjects are described Rev. 13. 11. and represented by the other beast which John saw coming out of the earth who had two hornes like a Lamb to signifie the likenesse he bears in all his actings unto Christ according to the flesh or in his first appearance but however keeping the fiercenesse and cruelty of nature that was in the first beast by speaking as a Dragon For indeed this is still the first Adam or natural man new washed in the blood of Christ and healed of the deadly wound at first given to him and all his posterity by the fall through which healing he comes to be wondered at or admired by the rest of the world that are made partakers of this change as if these men were so the mighty power of God that nothing could withstaud or make warre against them to the puffing of them up in this their cleansed healed state of nature and emboldening them to open their mouth in blasphemies against God to blaspheme his Name his Tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven and to prosecute these their words with execution to the making warre with the Saints and overcoming them So as what with the power of the first beast and the power of this second the Devil rules and hath his dominion over all kindreds tongues and Nations and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slaine from the foundation of the world This second beast which is the first considered as having the deadly wound thus healed as wash'd from the filth of the flesh is
now are shall passe away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up to make way for and give place unto the NEW HEAVENS and NEW EARTH wherein dwelleth righteousnesse which we look for according to his promise 2 Pet. 3. 10 13. Nor are we to think that the Saints departed who are now exercising the life that is equal to Angels are at all debased or lessened in their heavenly or Angelical enjoyment as brought forth gathered together into one spiritual and glorified body with Christ at his coming For hereby they are enabled to exercise over and besides the first that life which Christ led here upon earth after his resurrection which excludes them not from being with the Lord in the aire 1 Thes 4. 17. or in the exercise of their Angelical life in which they are for ever with him for as much as they do assume the exercise of this bodily life againe in its incorruptible forme upon such termes that it is no hinderance to or in the least inconsistent with the free and absolute exercise of the former Angelical life but serves rather as the meanes for them to be in the body as well as out of the body at their owne pleasure and as they shall find it most suitable to Gods designes for the maintaining and keeping up the Rule and Dominion of Christ in the world during the thousand years in the hands of this GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the first-borne who as the Jerusalem coming downe from God out of Heaven are to be the Tabernacle of God with men to administer the accomplishment of Gods promise as to the making good the reward which godlinesse is to receive even in this life and the promise unto Abraham and his seed of making them heir of the world through faith Rom. 4. 13. by vertue of the quickning power of Christ which he shall put forth at this time of the Restitution of all things The forementioned exercise of this bodily life to be assumed by Saints departed at the Resurrection is intimated to us by what is recorded Matth. 27. 52 53. And the graves were opened and many bodies of the Saints that slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many Signifying by way of figure and prediction the common practice hereof at Christs coming to quicken his Mystical dead body and bring them out of their graves as it is written Esay 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead The third and last sort of humane life which the body or Church of Christ shall by their Head be brought into the exercise of is that of his exalted state as He ascended to his God and their God to his Father and their Father going before to prepare a place for them as being unwilling that his Saints should rest so much as in the second degree of life shining forth in his person by the Resurrection without expecting a higher which he gave notice of to Mary when he said Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father John 20. 17. in whose house there are many Mansions John 14. 2. which at the end of the thousand years he hath in store to lead them into as their final and utmost degree of glory and perfection in heaven in the immediate and beatifical vision of God when the world shall be no more mentioned Rev. 20. 11 and as the last retreat to the full Rest God hath prepared for his Saints when upon the expiration of the thousand years Satan being let loose out of his prison shall have mustered up his last reserve of force against them from all the four quarters of the earth even Gog and Magog who for number are as the sand of the Sea who come up on the breadth of the earth and compasse the camp of the Saints about and the beloved City the NEW IERUSALEM which thereupon ascends up into heaven their enemies beholding them into this utmost degree of the Resurrection and their exaltation as made with Christs manhood to ascend to their God and his God to their Father and his Father in the exercise of the life of the first-borne of every creature and first-begotten from the dead to the obteining a name above every name which sets them with Christ far above all principality and power might and dominion the name or nature of any other particular being whatsoever And all this they attaine unto by their being made one with Christ Davids OFF-SPRING as this OFF-SPRING or BRANCH is made one with his owne ROOT who is the beginning and first-begotten from the dead having in all things the preheminence as being from above and over all made higher then the Heavens better then the Angels as having by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they so that Angels and authorities are made subject to him and therefore in a state exalted above all natural men for they are lower then the Angels In this capacity Christ in his own person received the pouring out of the Spirit without measure and in this capacity his body the Church shall as at the second hand in this day of their ascension and final exaltation receive the effusion of this same Spirit without measure upon them unto which they have spiritual sences in some degree fitted and suited whilst they are here in the body through the newnesse of life and motion set up in them by faith or the new Creation which are yet farther heightned and enlarged after the laying down of the body by the two first degrees of glory and power into which they are brought by the resurrection from the dead but shall then be ripened to their most absolute capacity compleat exercise and perfect use upon this their ascension and highest advance at the expiration of the THOUSAND YEARS Into this state of glory Christ as we have said did arrive in his own person upon his ascension having received of the Father the promise of the holy Ghost or the actual possession of this inheritance of God at Gods right hand where his man-hood doth so become the INGRAFFED WORD of God that as man he is taken into the enjoyment of Gods naked glory and very similitude and forme beholding him face to face and conversing with him as friend speaks with friend mouth to mouth sharing and partaking throughout with the WORD of life the ROOT of David in all those first creature-operations that are set up by the immediate Workman-ship of the Trinity when they personally appeare in the WORD in respect whereof this creature-state in Christ is said to be without Father without Mother without descent Heb. 7. having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life