Gods love in the soul apprehended by faith and is a fruit of faith There is a worldly sorrow which causeth or worketh death being wrought by the apprehension of death or punishment and this is in wicked and unregenerate men fear of death drives them to a kind of repentance yea and the Saints sometimes having attained but a small measure of the apprehension of Gods love in Jesus Christ being under a spirit of bondage and looking upon God as he manifested himself upon Sinai are so filled with fear and terror which causeth abundance of sorrow even mourning and grieving exceedingly because they can grieve no more and that meerly upon this ground that if their sorrow were in any good measure answerable to their sin then they hope that God will pardon them apprehending in themselves and being told so by others that if they doe not soundly repent mourn and grieve for their sinnes heartily and seriously confesse them with a resolution to leave and forsake them that God would not nay could not pardon them and all this from mis-understanding of Scripture as he that hideth his sinne shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy and if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. concluding from the very letter of these Scriptures not having the true meaning thereof explained unto them that unlesse they first grieve and mourn and confesse God will not pardon and so goe heavily under this burthen for want of better information but true repentance which is repentance indeed doth not proceed from a bare hope of pardon but from sence of pardon already apprehended for as no man can believe his justification until God hath revealed it to him by Jesus so neither can any man repent truly and indeed untill he first understand and believe that God for Christs sake hath forgiven him all his trespasses And this repentance is called a repentance unto life or a repentance flowing from life or evidencing life and life which is Christ is very desireable unto all them who have but the least sence or taste of it and it is also active wheresoever it is and puts men upon all enquiries what must we doe that we may have life those Converts in the Acts had but a little before been very forward in the crucifying of Christ and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him goe Yet now when they hear the Apostles preach remission of sinnes in his name and that there is no other name given under heaven whereby they must be saved but the name Jesus onely and that God hath advanced him on high and given him all power to bring all those to life and salvation that desist from their evill wayes and believe in his name Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts now Christ who is life began to stirre or act a little in their hearts and now what shall we doe men and brethren that we may have and enjoy more life To whom the Apostle answered repent not that repentance doth purchase pardon but if yee doe indeed believe in Jesus and if he be come into your soules then yee can repent indeed and by your true and sound repentance yee may be assured that your sinnes are forgiven for yee shall receive the gift of the holy Ghost which shall seal the same unto you and it is further said that the same day there were added three thousand soules And for that which the Apostle John saith If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive c. The Apostle seemes in this place to deal with two sorts of men The one sort are very high in notion and opinion and think themselves to be the men that are in Christ and have fellowship with the Father in the Son and yet notwithstanding they walk contrary to him in their practice nay saith the Apostle that cannot be for God is light and with him is no darknesse at all God is a holy and righteous God and will doe neither can he doe any thing but what is most pure and just and if any say that they have fellowship or communion with him and yet are not conformable to him in holinesse and righteousnesse they lie and doe not the truth and if they say as many doe that they have no sin Christ hath finished transgression and made an end of sin in them so that let them doe what they will they cannot sin they deceive themselves saith he their deceived heart hath turned them aside and there is no truth in them The other sort are such as in whom Christ is revealed but yet in a low degree and these are still in feares and doubts and would gladly know how they may be assured in some comfortable measure of the favour of God and of the pardon of their sins To these he answers If yee walk in the light as he is in the light c. God is a holy God a most pure Spirit with whom is no iniquity and if he by appearing in your soules hath wrought you to a love of purity and holinesse and also to a loathing of all sin and wickednesse then yee may be sure yee have fellowship with him and the bloud of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth you from all sin But if they further say as many a poor soul doth yea but we find that sin is not dead in us but lively and corruptions strong a Law in the members leading us into captivity the good that we would doe we doe not the evill which we would not doe that we doe The Apostle answers your condition is good if God by his Spirit in you hath brought you to see and confesse this yee need not be discouraged for God is a faithful God he never begins a good work but he will perfect it he hath already pardoned your sinnes and he will more and more assure your hearts thereof by cleansing you by degrees from all your corruptions Q. If justification and remission of sinnes be free without any condition desert or desire on our part why then doth our Saviour teach us to pray for it saying forgive our debts And if men be justified and their sinnes be forgiven before they repent then what need have men to repent at all A. Although justification and remission of sinnes be free and undeserved yet it is not presently revealed to the soul so soon as men believe but it is brought home to the soul a little at once by degrees according as they are enabled to believe neither doth the Lord discover himself in his love to all in a like measure for it pleaseth him divers times to suffer many of his dear ones to sit a great while in darknesse and to see but a very little light and to have but a small measure of the comfortable
assurance of his love These he holds in suspence and therefore they cry and pray forgive us our sinnes not being assured of the pard on thereof Yea others also that have attained to a higher degree of assurance and are able to conclude and that safely that their sinnes are forgiven and that Christ is their righteousnesse unto justification yet seeing their own weaknesses and knowing that they are sanctified but in part and having a law in their members rebelling against the law of the mind they have need and doe pray for a further discovery of Gods love to perfect their sanctification that they may thereby have a further evidence of their justification and therefore it is said forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors that is Lord work in us such a holy frame of spirit that seeing thou hast freely forgiven us through Christ all our sinnes we may also freely for thy sake forgive our offending brother his trepasses and that our readinesse and willingnesse to pardon others may evidence unto us that thou hast forgiven us so that we are not taught to pray for pardon of sin as though the Lord would not forgive us untill we pray for it but rather that God would manifest himself so to us in acts of sanctification as may testifie unto us our justification And although repentance is not necessary as a meanes of remission and so of life yet it is a necessary consequence or effect of life as the fruit is not a meanes or a condition of life to the tree but an effect or evidence of life in the tree for it is impossible that Christ should be in the soul and not act like himself according to that degree and measure in which he manifests himself therein Now repentance is not onely a sorrow for sin for that may be in wicked men neither is it a bare confession joyned with the former for both these may be done for self-ends But when a man doth indeed apprehend the love of God in Jesus freely justifying and pardoning all sin and transgression whatsoever without any desert or desire and not onely so but also sanctifying and saving him from all sin for the future then his soul is melted and dissolved into godly sorrow mourning and grieving not for fear of death and hell but because he hath walked so contrary to God who hath so farre condiscended in love to him and hereupon falls to confesse all sin and to rip up his heart and to search out his most secret sinnes as well as those that be more outward and desires to appear before God the most vile and abominable sinner in the world in his own eyes deserving nothing but wrath and condemnation and admires at the infinite love and goodnesse of God in Jesus Christ thus pardoning and sanctifying him and prayes earnestly unto God that he will make further discoveries of his love unto him in Jesus that he may be more vile in his own eyes and that he may now hate and abhorre all sin which is so contrary to the holinesse of God that Christ may live more in him and that he may henceforth be enabled through him to walk in all well pleasing And thus the Saints though they be already justified and pardoned yet cannot but repent for if Christ who is the root be within repentance which is a fruit thereof will appear in the branches and thus the Saints can mourn after Christ and blessed are they that so mourn for they shall be comforted Q. Seeing that the Saints or Believers are sanctified but in part and have flesh as well as spirit and are compassed about not onely with many infirmities but also with many enemies which are strong and potent Whereby are they then quickened Or what helps have they to grow in grace and sanctification A. The chief help or meanes whereby the Saints are quickened up to holinesse is Christ himself dwelling in them and acting them by his spirit or power to all well pleasing but there are other subordinate meanes which he hath appointed and sanctified to that end as namely his Word in the reading and preaching of it as also godly conference with one another and prayer Q. How can the Scriptures being but the writings of men be of any force to help us grow in grace c. A. Although the Scriptures were written by men yet they were not the device of mens braines or wits but they were the words of God inspired into men by the holy Spirit neither did men write them at their own pleasure but how and when the Lord who is that Spirit pleased and they are profitable to teach instruct to reprove and correct yea there is in the Scriptures whatsoever is necessary to be known to salvation they being a revelation of the most righteous and perfect will of God in every dispensation and they are also mighty through Christ for indeed to the Saints Christ is the Word and the Word is Christ and when he is pleased to come forth in it read or preached then it casts down strong holds then it divides asunder between soul and spirit between men and their beloved lusts then it subdues every high thought and brings every thing into subjection that exalts it self against Christ and then when he is pleased to come forth thus in it by his Spirit then it transformes the soul into the same nature or Image of it self which is Christ And here is the power of binding and loosing or the power of the keyes There is in the word a double power or efficacy when it comes in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit it is both for softening and for hardening of mens hearts and it alwayes doth the work to which it is sent it is called a sharp two-edged Sword the Sword of the Spirit c. Now no mans word can work any effect upon mens hearts they may blesse or they may curse and all to no purpose they may bind and loose at their own pleasure but there is nothing done in the soul but where this word comes indeed in the name that is in the power and authority of Christ there it doth the work effectually and there is no resistance it either makes men fruitful and meet for salvation or else hardens them and binds them over to damnation Q. Yea indeed Christ is the Word and he came from the bosome of the Father and he onely doth reveal the Fathers will But doth he not doe it by visions and revelations of the Spirit rather than by a written word which is so full of contradictions or so contrary to it self A. Christ hath alwayes manifested himself or the Fathers will by visions and revelations but yet in a different way in every dispensation when the Gospel was first preached he was pleased to reveal himself unto the Apostles for the most part without any written word they having but a few dark
note much more the promse which was to them of greatest concernment yet notwithstanding the greatest part of them were ignorant of Gods meaning in the promise there were but very few that knew any more than the outside of it namely that God would raise up some man of the Seed of Abraham who should deliver them from their bondage in Aegypt and settle them in the Land of Canaan where they should be free-men and enjoy peace and plenty c. And this it is very probable they expected should have been fulfilled now in Moses For God had wonderfully manifested himself by Moses in Aegypt and at the Red Sea by many great and terrible works of wonder and now at this time also Moses was able to endure the presence of God and to hear him speak and to go up into the Mount when he call'd him And because they were not able to abide the sight of God nor hear his voyce therefore Moses must go to God and bring them word what God saith and then they will hear him and be obedient for they perceived that Moses was very high in Gods favour and therefore they desired him to be a Mediator between God and them Q. But how did God take the matter Was he well pleased with them for this thing A. Yes God did very well approve of them for desiring a Mediator for he said they had well spoken But withal he told Moses that he was not the man in whom the promise must be fulfilled for I will raise them up a Prophet of their Brethren saith God like unto thee and I will put my words into his mouth and he shall declare unto them all my Councel and in hearkening unto him they shall be happy and he that will not hear that Prophet I will require it of him Q. But if it was not the purpose of God that they should be happy by their obedience unto the Law why then did he annex such large promises unto the observation of it and denounce such heavy curses and judgements in case they disobeyed A. The Lord having brought forth this people of Israel from Aegypt where they had been a long time under cruel Bondage and minding according to his promise made to Abraham to take them to himself for a peculiar people above all the Nations of the earth was graciously pleased in giving them this Law to enter into Covenant with them herein promising to be their God and that they should be his people to which they did agree Now this Covenant was two-fold Inward and Outward or Spiritual and Temporal And so the Promises that were annexed to the same were of a two-fold consideration also That part of the Covenant which was outward or temporal was at large declared and often repeated and so were the promises which belonged to the same but the inward or Spiritual part of it was not expressed but implyed and so were the promises Q. What was the outward part of the Covenant and the promises which belonged to the same A. The outward and temporal part of the Covenant was this That if they would acknowledge the Lord to be their God and diligently obey his voyce and observe and do all his Commandments with their whole hearts then the Lord promised to set them up on high above all the Nations upon earth to give them the Land of Canaan to multiply their Seed to prolong their dayes to give them peace and plenty and to make them prosperous in every thing they set their hands unto And on the contrary if they would not hearken unto his voyce nor obey his commandment but walk after other gods c. then the Lord would make their plagues wonderful and curse them cross them until he had destroyed them Q. What was the inward or Spiritual part of this Covenant A. The Lord was pleased herein to Covenant That forasmuch as this Law was Spiritual and their hearts were Carnal and altogether indisposed to obey yet he himself would undertake for them and though they were weak and unable yet he would lay help upon one that was mighty and herein make over himself to be righteousness unto them and for them And in this they were not to act but believe that God not for their righteousness but for his own sake would be merciful to their unrighteousness and freely forgive their sin becomming Justification and Sanctification unto them And the Promises which were hereunto annexed were Spiritual and very mystical for here the Lord promised that he would be their God that he would fill their hearts with joy and peace in believing that is that he would in the right apprehension of this Covenant so communicate and discover himself unto them in the sweetness of his love and the excellency of all Spiritual and heavenly comforts that they should not now look upon him as an Enemy with terror but should have sweet fellowship with him as dear Children with a loving Father that so partaking of his glory in some measure in this life and living according to it he would at length glorifie them with himself in eternal glory But on the contrary if they were disobedient that is unbelieving trusting in their own righteousness thinking to obtain his favour by their own outward and litteral observations then he would leave them to their hearts lust and fill them with their own devices And instead of enjoying him in the lively apprehension of his love and favour which is Eternal life they should in this life not onely be empty of all true and sound comfort and joy but also be filled with terror and horror of conscience vexation and sorrow and to be for ever separated from the presence of the Lord in endless misery Q. Did God give them any other Lawes besides this Law of the ten Cammandments Or was the Covenant wholly comprehended in it A. God by the Ministry of Moses did command them divers and sundry Lawes and Ordinances conteined in the Judicial and Ceremonial Lawes so called But they were wholly comprehended in those ten words or ten Commandments for they even those ten words were indeed the very summe and substance of the most pure perfect and absolute will of God yea they being the righteousness of God revealed which is Jesus Christ for therein he was mystically exhibited or held forth for he is the Lord our righteousness and he is made of God righteousness to us 1 Cor. 1. 30. and we are made the righteousness of God in him Neither was there any thing at all which the Lord expected form his creature in his obedience unto him but what was wholly conteined in those ten words Q. The Law-being delivered in so few words and the Covenant therein conteined being so dark and mystical How came they then to understand Gods meaning therein A. The Lord was pleased in much wisdom and goodness to
explain those words and to interpret his own meaning â—herein both as they concerned them in their duty to himself and also as they conteined their duty and behaviour one towards another Moses goes up into the Mount where the Lord commands him in particular how they ought to behave themselves one towards another naming also certain feasts-dayes and other observations about them and Moses writes all the words of the Lord in a Book and declares them to the people and they promise obedience And as this Law conteined Gods Worship and their duty therein Moses is again called up into the Mount where he is forty dayes and forty nights in which space God shewes him a Pattern commands him to make him a Sanctuary that he might dwell among them and also gives him rules of a most exact and holy Worship which he expects should be strictly performed by them in which both holy place and holy Worship he doth really yet darkly declare that unless he dwell among them and communicate himself unto them they could not be a holy people For indeed that very Tabernacle and afterward the Temple were representations or significations of the humane body of Christ in which the Lord would manifest himself and dwell among them as the Vessels wherewith they ministred were holy So the Lord would have them know that he could not be Spiritually worshipped with Carnal hearts and hands The Ark was a visible Type of Christ by whom the Lord would manifest himself The two Tables of the Covenant were put into the Ark to shew that Christ was both the Law and the Covenant to his own and that the righteousness which the Law required was wholly in him The Mercy-seat where God appeared was placed above upon the Ark to shew that God would not manifest himself in mercy and goodness to any but onely to them that were in Covenant with him in Jesus Christ The Table and the Shew-bread that stood upon it was to teach them that Christ was both the Feeder and the food The Candlestick with his seven Lamps alwayes burning did signifie the wisdom of the Spirit without which there was no finding out the mind of God in these mysteries The Oyl wherewith the Lamps were dressed and made to burn was of pure Oyl-olive beaten and without mixture to shew that the true knowledge of God in the mystery of Christ was not attained by the help of humane wisdom and learning but by the light and wisdom of the Spirit onely The Altar and all those Beasts that were offered thereon did signifie Christ his death and sufferings who should by offering up himself to God once for all both redeem them from the curse of the Law and for ever perfect them that are sanctified The blood of those Beasts wherewith they were sprinkled did signifie the blood of Christ wherewith the Atonement was to be made and whereby their Consciences were to be purged from the dead works of the Law to serve the living God in Spirit and Truth The Priests which offered the sacrifice were holy men and consecrated and set apart for that service to shew that God will be sanctified in all them that draw near to him The sacrifices might not be offered without a Priest to teach that there is not any service can be acceptable to God unless it were offered up to him in the Spirit and Power of Jesus The glorious and beautiful garments wherein Aaron did minister did hold forth the infinite purity and transcendent excellency and righteousness of the Lord Jesus in whom onely God is well pleased The Onix-stones whereon the names of the Children of Israel were engraven were put upon the shoulder-pieces of the Ephod to teach that true Israel indeed are kept by the power of the Lord Jesus through faith unto salvation for he is the wisdom and the power of God unto salvation in all that do believe The twelve precious stones which were set with the names of the Children of Israel in the Breast-plate of judgement did declare that Spiritual Israel that were in Christ were a precious people in the judgement and esteem of God The curious Girdle wherewith all those goodly garments were girded to the Priest did hold forth the faithfulness and truth of God in making good all his promises in Christ in whom all the promises of God are Yea and Amen The holy Anoynting Oyl wherewith the Tabernacle and all the furniture and the Vessels there of were Anoynted did signifie the Anoynting of the Spirit which they that did believe should afterward receive it might not be poured upon mans flesh neither might any man make the like to it nor put it upon a stranger upon pain of being cut off from his people to shew that fleshly carnal outside-hypocytical-holiness is an abomination to the Lord. The Sabbaths were a sign unto them that the Lord Jesus was their Sanctification six dayes might work be done but on the seventh they must rest to shew that in the works of Civil concernment they were to labour but in the business of sanctification they were not to act one jot but rest wholly upon Christ the Messiah In seed-time and in harvest they must rest on the Sabbath even in times of greatest necessity to shew that their best services and most religious performances were like a menstruous cloth and in no wise to be rested in but in the holiness of Christ were they to rest They were forbidden to kindle a fire throughout their habitations on the Sabbath to shew that no selfe-holiness or self-sanctification attained by any religious duties or performances whatsoever must be joyned unto the holiness of Christ but they were to rely wholly upon the Lord Christ onely The Leprosie and all those unclean issues did shew forth the horrible and filthy nature of sin The Offerings and Washings appointed for their clensing did signifie the blood of Christ without which there could be no remission nor Sanctification In a word for it would de too tedious to speak of all in particular There was not the least circumstance in all their commanded Service and Worship but which did mystically hold forth Jesus Christ thus the Law was their Schoolmaster unto Christ that they might be justified by believing in him who was made of God Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption unto them and not by their own outward observations of the Law Q. Was this Law given and this Covenant made with the Israelites or seed of Abraham according to the flesh or did it concern the Gentiles also A. The Law or Covenant so farre as it was outward and literal did concern all Israel as well one as another and they were all of them to observe the same and that strictly in case they would be prosperous in their temporal estates for the promises of
prophecies and types which made mention of him and therefore they were enabled extraordinarily to declare both in word and writing the whole will and counsell of God and the word so spoken and written being a revelation of Christ through the Spirit was written and spoken for our instruction Christ now reveales himself to us also by the same Spirit and to the same ends and purposes but not in the same manner nor in the same degree Christ by revelation enabled them to speak and write a mystery and by revelation he enables us to know and understand that mystery which was spoken and written by them They were inspired by the Spirit immediately to write and speak the mind of God perfectly To us it is given to understand and believe the will of God in the mystery of Christ by attending upon reading exhortation and doctrine even by the same Spirit The Apostles were sent to preach the Gospel and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word preached Paul was an Apostle a teacher of the Gentiles and unto him was this grace given that he should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ c. The Gospel must be preached but every preaching is not the preaching of the Gospel for some men preach neither Law nor Gospel but their own fancies others preach justification by the duties of the Law knowing neither what they say nor whereof they affirm and others jumble Law and Gospel together saying that men must believe in Jesus Christ and yet they must walk in a strict performance of the duties of the Law or else they cannot be saved But the Gospel where it is purely preached is not with wisdome of words to exercise or set forth mens humane arts and acquired abilities but in the evidence and power of the Spirit to perswade men to believe the preaching of the Gospel is not to chide or revile men for not believing but to beseech men to be reconciled to God The preaching of the Gospel is not to threaten wrath and vengeance against sin and sinners but to offer termes of peace reconciliation and salvation through Christ Jesus to the worst of sinners Moreover the Lord hath in much wisdome and goodnesse manifested his will in a written word for he very well knew what was in man many Prophets of old did run before they were sent but because they spake not according to the Law and the Testimony their written word their was no light in them There were also false Apostles in the Primitive Churches but because they spake not according to the word of faith revealed in the true Apostles they were soon discovered to the Saints The Mystery of iniquity in that man of sin came into the world after the working of Satan with signes and lying wonders and men were deluded by them because they did not receive or believe the truth as it was revealed in the written word but Christ hath already in part and is daily destroying more and more that mystery and kingdome of the devill by his appearing and the brightnesse of his coming according to this written word And there be many also that boast and brag of visions and revelations and despise and deride the Scriptures but because they resist or put away the truth therefore they shall not be able to proceed much further for their folly shall be made manifest to all men by the power of truth revealed in the Scriptures Neither is the Scripture contrary to it self or any the least contradiction in it for as no part of it was written by the private motion of mans own Spirit so neither is it of any private interpretation nor to be drawn or stretcht to any mans private purpose for we are not to use the Scriptures for our own self ends or so much of them as will serve our turnes but to weigh and consider the whole Scripture and labour to reconcile seeming differences for though there may appear some small seeming jarrs in the letter yet being compared with other Scriptures and weighed with a Spirit of love and meeknesse there will be found a sweet harmony in the sence and meaning and where any thing is hard and difficult and not easie to be understood there we are not rashly to determine but by prayer and supplication to wait upon God who is a revealer of secrets and to whom interpretations doe belong and in due time we shall reap if we faint not Q. What is Prayer A. Prayer is much spoken of and much used among men but it is not very well understood for many people can and doe utter words and sentences which the Saints in Scripture have used in prayer and yet they doe not pray prayer is not every lifting up of the voice to God nor every lifting up of the heart to God for the most wicked man may pray and that earnestly and that for life and salvation and yet not pray aright yea a believer and one that is in Christ may be very fervent in prayer and yet not being rightly catechized and instructed in the nature of true prayer may not be accepted but offend in praying Prayer is not a work of wit or memory or of any other common gift of the Spirit but true and right prayer as it goes up to God through Christ so it comes down first from God by Christ and is indeed the intercession of Christ in the soul for no man knowes how or what to pray for as he ought yea the Saints themselves are compassed with many infirmities and many of them lie under many outward crosses c. by reason whereof they may and doe now and then use prayer in a carnal manner now it is the Spirit which removeth or helpeth against these infirmities when the Spirit prevailes as it doth for the most part in the Saints then it assures them of the love of God and overcomes all feares and doubts and carries them up to God with free accesse making them to know that God is not delighted with eloquent words and speeches or sentences finely framed and artificially drawn into a method But that he is well pleased with Christ and delights in nothing but Christ and if he be in the soul though at present they cannot utter many words or outward expressions nay if they can but groan in spirit he knowes the meaning thereof for he knowes the heart and understands the mind of the spirit If prayer proceed from a mans own spirit then it is alwayes for self ends but if it be the intercession of Christ in the soul then it is alwayes agreeable to the will of God for he even Christ maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Q. If prayer be the intercession of Christ in the soul then how is it said that he is at the right hand of God and maketh intercession
truth which is to be perfected by degrees in this life though not fully untill the life to come Neither is there any outward ordinance or observation that can hold proportion or correspondence with this Spiritual Kingdome it being exalted above all the Hills and infinitely above all significations Now Water-Baptisme can no way shew forth our union with Christ for that is a Spiritual union and Water-Baptisme is a Carnall ordinance and holds no proportion with the former Againe we are not made one with Christ as we are one flesh with him but as we are one Spirit with him Christ by taking our flesh became Immanuel or God one with us in the flesh but now the Lord who is that Spirit takes us into the same Spirit and so we are made one Spirit with him To this very end the glorious God did abase himself and clothed himself with our flesh and took it into union with himself that so by this meanes he might also receive all them that do truely believe in him into union with himself by the same Spirit So that it is not the Baptisme of Water that can ingraft us into Christ or make us one with him But by the Baptisme of the eternall Spirit are all the Saints united to him and partake of the same Divine nature with him And further Water-Baptisme can give us no true fellowship with the Saints for where the Saints have true fellowship one with another they have this fellowship together in Christ So that this fellowship consists not in being of the same opinion or forme one with another But in partaking of the same Spirit are united into one body together in Christ For by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one Body whether we be Jewes or Gentils So that it is not water-baptisme that can give any true fellowship with the Saints but onely a carnall admission into an outward fellowship with men of the same form which may hold for a time and afterward come to nothing Ananias and Saphira may have for a time an outward fellowship with the Apostles and Simon Magus with Phillip and the rest of the Saints in Samaria Q. What say you then of the Lords Supper is not that an Ordinance of Christ to be used now in the time of the Gospel A. That our Saviour Christ did give Bread and Wine unto his Disciples in remembrance of his death which he was now suddenly to accomplish is not denied but that he left it with them as an ordinance to be performed by all believers in the dayes of the Gospel is to be enquired into Our blessed Lord a little before his suffering told his Disciples that he had a great desire to eat one Passeover more with them before his death and being come into the house as they were eating together he tells them plain that one of them should betray him into the hands of the chief Priests and Elders c. and that he was to undergoe great sufferings yea and death also and that all this was no more than what was written of him though they were ignorant of it and that they must now enjoy his company but a very little while for as he came forth from the Father into the world so he must now leave the world and goe to the Father upon this heavy and sad and indeed unexpected newes his poor weak Disciples who looked for better things from their Master at least in their own conceits were so presently filled with sorrow that they knew not what to say much lesse what to doe whereupon our Saviour seeing them take the matter so to heart and knowing that his death was of so great advantage unto them takes occasion to instruct them in the knowledge and ends of the same that as his departure from them was cause of great grief and sorrow unto them so the remembrance of the great benefits which should redound unto them thereby might a little stay and comfort their hearts untill he did appear to them more fully To this end he took bread and brake it saying This is my body which is given for you as if he had said as I break this bread and give it unto you so my body is given and must be broken for you even for your sinnes And taking the cup he saith drink yee all of it for it is the New Testament in my bloud or a signification of the bloud of the New Covenant which is my bloud that must be shed for you and many others also or else yee cannot have remission of sinnes And for a help to their weak faith and comfort in their sad condition he said also unto them doe this in remembrance of me as if he had said I know that for the present you are almost overwhelmed with grief and sorrow because I say such things to you yet let this be a little comfort to you make use of Bread and Wine in-remembrance that my death is of great advantage to you and though I goe away in the flesh yet it shall not be long ere I see you again in the Spirit for I will not leave you comfortlesse but will come to you in the comforter which is the Spirit of truth and then your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man be able to take from you so that from hence it may appear that this action of Christ and likewise his command was rather to comfort and stay the hearts of his poor sorrowrowfull fainting then Disciples than to be a standing Ordinance for all believers afterwards Q But it is not said in many places in the Acts of the Apostles that this Ordinance was in use even among the Apostles themselves and many other Saints after the Ascension of Christ and sending down of the holy Ghost A. The Apostles indeed are said to break bread and that from house to house but every breaking of bread there spoken of cannot be said to be the Lords Supper for it is said that they did eat their meat with gladnesse and singlenesse of heart whereby it may appear that by breaking of bread in that place is rather meant the Saints mutuall love in receiving and entertaining one another into their houses with feasting and rejoycing than eating the Lords Supper for it is said that the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any man that the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things common The preaching of the Apostles was of such power and efficacy that it wrought great effects there was none that lacked they that were poor were provided for out of the goods of them that were rich But if by breaking of bread in this or other places be meant the eating the Lords Supper yet it was used as a thing indifferent and of christian liberty rather than a binding Ordinance for the Apostles
it is also as plain in our daily experience how that the Saints in whom Christ dwels and who are united to him and made one with God in him that they are carried forth in the strength of his quickning spirit to shew forth the prayses of him who hath called them out of darknesse into his marvelous Light But on the contrary we see worldly wicked men live many of them more like bruite beasts than reasonable creatures pampering and feeding themselves without fear swilling and wallowing themselves in their own vomit like filthy swine sporting and delighting themselves in their own lusts and windy fancies and deceivings belching out the rottennesse of their own hearts by cursed oathes and blasphemies making a continual â—â—ade of mocking backbiting standering fighting and quarrelling ranting and roaring in a word living in all ungodlinesse and dying without repentance And thus it is plain in experience that there be many yea too too many who are so farre from living in God and God living in them by Jesus Christ that they are rather possest of Satan who lives in them and leads them captive at his own pleasure Thus both Scripture and Experience do clearly witnesse that God is not in all men in a way of life and salvation which is by Christ Jesus But in a common spirit or common and outward providences so he acts rules and orders all men Neither can God be said to be in the Saints in his fulnesse for the fulnesse of the Godhead dwels onely in Christ and the Saints receive of that fulnesse which is in him For though they partake of the same spirit or divine nature with him yet it is still in that measure or degree as he is pleased to let out or to manifest him self by Christ is the head and the Saints are the body or members now all the members as they have several offices so they have several capacities for God hath set all the members in the body every one in due place and office that it might be compleated in the head which is Christ And from Christ or the head the whole body being fitly joynted together receiveth nourishment to every part a measure even to encrease and edifie it self in love Neither is this to divide God for as he cannot be devided so neither can he be comprehended for he fills all things and so he fills the Saints yet while they walk in flesh they are not able to comprehend him in his fullnesse But they are all so filled according to their several measures to advance the good of the whole And that God may be in men in his love in Jesus Christ and ever lie hid and not appear is contrary to Scripture and right reason For God is light and with him is no darknesse at all And where God comes in this Light which is Christ there he expels darknesse The Saints indeed while they are in the state of nature are in darknesse because they want the manifestation of God or revelation of Jesus Christ All this while they are in the love of God but this Love is not yet shed abroad in their hearts the seed was sown but it was not yet quickned up to life But when the appointed time is come that Christ will say come forth and I say unto thee arise Then appeares first the blade then the eare then the full corne in the eare But this is not in all men without exception but onely in the Saints who are elected in Christ Jesus in the purpose of of God before the world began that they should be thus conformed unto the Image of his Sonne and so be holy and without blame before him in love Q. But election doth not relate to persons but to the things in the persons for Gods love hatred is not toward the persons of men but toward the good or evill in the persons and this is Typed out in Jacob and Esau which as good and evill dwell in every man as they were in the womb of one Rebecca for the persons of men are but outward formes in which good and evill is acted and these outward bedies can act nothing but are acted themselves either by a good or an evill spirit How then can God be said to elect or not to elect to save or not to save the person of a man which is nothing and shall be nothing when the spirit ceases to act in it A. That election doth not relate to mens persons but to the good things acted in the persons is a meer fancy and quite contrary to the mind of God revealed in the Scripture First we must consider what the person of man is and what makes him a man or person and then secondly prove that election relates to the person For the first in short a man and every man consists of two main parts The body and the soul without the soul or spirit the body is but a dead carcass and without the body the soul hath no residence or place to act in and cannot act at all Therefore it must be concluded that if either be wanting there is not a man or a person A man then is a person consisting of a reasonable soul and humane body Now that election doth relate to a person thus considered and not to the good things acted in the person is easily made good in Scripture The Apostle in the Ephesians chap 1. vers 4. 5. 6. 7. telleth the Saints or rather blesseth God on their behalf for that he had chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without blame before him in love And that he had adopted them to be Children by Jesus Christ meerly of his free grace even his own good pleasure And that they were accepted in the beloved for no other end but for the praise of his glorious grace And not onely so but also through the riches of his grace wherein he abounded towards them they were redeemed from Sinne and Satan Hell and Death their sins being forgiven them through his bloud From whence it is plain that persons and not things are here intended For it is not said that God had chosen holinesse or unblamablnesse in them but them to be holy and unblamable Neither is it said that God had predestinated the good things in them to the adoption of Children But them to the adoption of Children Again if election relate not to persons but to things I wonder what redemption remission of sins mean in this place and many others what can good things be redeemed from and how can good things stand in need of remission of sins And the Apostle Peter in his first Epistle 1. Chapter 1. 2. Tells the strangers that were scattered that they were elect according to the fore-knowledge of God and not the good things in them And that this election is assured
to them through sanctification of the Spirit that thereby they might believe or be obedient and be sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus Now what can be added to good things or how can good things believe or be sprinkled with the bloud of Jesus or have remission of sins Againe if gods anger be not against the persons of men as well as against sin in the person then why did he so severely avenge himself upon sin in the person of Christ Was it sin or Christ that cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And for that Jacob and Esau are brought in to be a type of this great mistery being both in the wombe of one Rebecca it makes nothing to this purpose that God should elect the good things in a man and not the man Jacob and Esau were men and both of the seed of Abraham and both of them the sonnes of Isaac and both in Rebeccas womb at one and the same time and yet one of them elected and the other rejected to shew that the purpose of God in election was not out of any fleshly or carnal respects But meerly according to his own good pleasure For all are not Israel that are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all Children True it is that there is flesh and Spirit both in the Saints yet that is no ground to conclude that God will destroy the flesh and save the Spirit and not the person but rather that God will save the the Saint or person and destroy the flesh And whereas it is said that the persons of men are but outward formes and act not but are acted and therefore salvation and damnation belongs not to them I hope then that if it be made to appeare that mens persons do act then it will be also granted that salvation and damnation belongs to them And for the word person or man it is all one and that by person or man is meant the whole man and so to be understood is already shewed Now that sin is acted by the whole man is very clear in Scripture In the third of Genesis 1 2 3 4. It is there declared at large how the Serpent begiuled the woman First he is dealing with her understanding and the thing must needs have passage through her eares for the devill was yet without doors Next she looked upon it with her eyes for she saw the fruit that it was good Then her affections were wrought upon And she desired it At length the will consented and she took it with her hand and did eat yea and gave her husband and he did eat Who doth not see here an act of the whole man And it is just so in every actual sin for though Satan be gotten within yet he can force no man to sin but is dealing with the understanding to deceive that and the understanding being deceived cannot force the Will noâ— the will the outward man For though the body cannot act in good or evill without the soul yet those very actions of the soul performed by the outward man are accounted actions of the body both in good and evill things And though mens persons be acted either by a good or evill Spirit the good Spirit is God and the evill Spirit is the Devil and neither of these do force the person of a man For man being a reasonable creature even that good Spirit or God deales with him according to reason and though it be said that the love of God constraineth us Yet it is not meant of using violence to any mans person but such a constraining as Lydia used towards Paul even a perswading or intreating for so saith the Apostle God doth beseech you by us And we pray you in Christs stead c. Again every man is transformed into the same nature of that spirit which bears rule in him They in whom Satan bears sway they partake of his Image and nature and it is as natural yea as delightful unto them even the whole man to obey Satans commands in committing of sinne as to performe any natural actions which are civilly good And is it not then just with God to render to every man according to his workes Q. But Christ is Gods elect and he in whom his soul delighteth and it is said Eph. 1. 10. That he will gather together all things in Christ And Col. 1. 16 17. All things were made by him and for him and by him all things consist and in him dwels all fulnesse Christ shall come forth as a refiner and purifier of silver and shall purifie the sonnes of Levi and purge them as gold c. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame and shall burn up his briars and thorns in one day c. And if any mans work burn he shall suffer losse yet he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire From all which Scriptures it is manifest that Christ will come forth in all men and destroy and consume all sin and wickednesse and unbelief and gather all the good and the believeing part which is himself into himself God is the fountaine from whence all things proceed and into the same fountaine shall all things return God will come forth in consuming fire and separate between the precious and the vile and gather the good into himself and destroy the evill For Christ and the Saints make but one elect and God by electing of Christ elects all that is good and by saving of Christ saves all that is good for he is the chief good and sin is the chief evill and he onely is elected and sin destroyed thus election and salvation meet in one Christ who is the onely elect and relate not to mens persons for how can it be that God should be so unjust as to make man and afterward damne him first to love him and afterward to hate him A. That Christ is the elect of God and he in whom his soul delighteth cannot be denied But how is Christ Gods elect As touching his deity or divine nature so he is the mighty God the everlasting Father who of his rich and infinite grace and love doth elect and choose to salvation Then surely as he did partake of our nature and our flesh so he was Gods elect and as he was thus Gods elect so all the Saints are elected in him he being the first fruits of election in him the whole lump even all the Saints are sanctified to God and so presented by him Christ was elected of God but not that one person or man in whom the God-head did so wonderfully appear and shine forth should be saved But that all the Saints in all ages and in all nations in whom the divine nature or Christ should appear and shâ—ne forth according to their several measures should be brought home to
some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead For if there be no resurrection of the dead or of mens bodies then certainly Christ is not risen And if Christ be not risen then we have preached in vaine and ye have believed in vaine and ye are yet in your sinnes Yea and if Christ be not risen then the Saints that are fallen asleep in him are perished and God hath sent us to bear witnesse to a falshood if the dead rise not For if Christ be not risen then the dead shall not rise But if Christ be risen as indeed he is then it is impossible that the dead should not rise For Christs resurrection is a pledge a first fruits of the resurrection of the body But if there be no resurrection we and all the Saints are the miserablest men in the world And if the dead rise not why do I put my self to paine Why do I suffer reproaches stripes imprisonments watchings fastings c. Why am I alwayes in Jeopardy of my life Nay Why do I dye daily What advantage is all this to me if there be no reward no resurrection And the Saints in the 11. Hebrewes 35. are said to be tortured mocked scourged imprisoned stoned sawne asunder tempted slaine with the sword to wander about in sheep skins and goat skins to be destitute afflicted tormented and would not accept of deliverance Why so Did they not run with the world into every excesse of riot Did they not saile with every wind turne with every tide Yea did they not sweare and swagger rant and roare and say with the Epicure Let us eat and drink for to morrow or shortly we shall die and then there will be an end of us No saith the Text. They looked for a better resurrection a resurrection to life and reward for they knew full well that if they suffered with him they should raigne with him Neither was this resurrection which they expected that first spiritual resurrection namely a rising out of sin unbelief ignorance c. to live in newnesse of life for that the Apostles and the other Saints had attained to in their several measures or else they had not been able to endure such sharpe sufferings for Christ But as their sufferings were outward in the body so they waited for the perfecting of the adoption even the redemption of their bodies So that the resurrection here spoken of can be no other but that great and general resurrection when all men shall be raised and both souls and bodies reunited to suffer or to raigne together And for that general Judgement which is said to be a disposing of all things both good and evill to a full end and period or perfect state of life and death pleasure and paine salvation or damnation Let us a little consider what these good and evill things are that so we may be able to judge of this doctrine The good things in the Saints are faith hope love joy peace gentleness kindness meeknesse c. Now these being the divine nature or Christ in the Saints the hope of glory cannot be capeable of pleasure or salvation for they were never lost But the poor Creature was lost and Christ came to save that which was lost And by taking the poor creature into the divine nature or the same spirit with himself saves the lost creature and not the good things in the creature On the other side the evill things in evill men are unbeliefe wrath hatred mallice envy thefts murders adulteries Idolatries c. And these being the devill in the creature with whom the creature is made one in sin what pain or torment or damnation can befall these when the persons by whom and in whom they were acted perish like bruite beasts and have no resurrection Therefore as God by taking his own into himself saves them souls and bodies together with and in him So the wicked and unbelievers who are not in Christ or Christ in them but are one with the devill in sin are therefore soules and bodies condemned to be destroyed in and with the devill and sin Indeed this resurrection and judgement is already begun for the Saints are risen with Christ and Christ is daily raising of them in himself But the perfection and full completion thereofis and shall be when all the Saints are gathered into Christ to make him compleat in eternal glory And so likewise this Judgement is begun already the Judge sits every day Christ is refining and purifying the saints with fire and Fullers sope the power of his spirit destroying all their lusts and corruptions subduing their vile bodies and will at length change them and make them like his glorious body And he is also daily judging the wicked First in themselves convincing them of sinne and yet hardning them therein And then he is judging them by the Saints for when they behold the godly and undefiled conversation of the Saints they are ashamed and condemned in their consciences though they hate them for the same Now though Christ be thus judging daily yet the perfection of this judgement is that which the Apostle calls a revelation of the righteous Judgement of God when he shall render to every man according to his works To them who by patient continuing in well doing seek for glory and immortallity namely to them who are in Christ and are acted and carried forth by him to set forth his praise and glory to immortality to them he will give eternal life or glorifie them with himself in his eternal glory in heaven But to them who are contentious and do not obey the truth which is Christ but obey unrighteousnesse which is the devill indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and go ye cursed into everlasting hell fire prepared for the devill and his angels Q. Heaven and hell are misteries and admit of divers acceptations as Gods right hand and his left his love and his wrath pleasure and paine salvation and damnation but properly heaven is where God is and that is in every man And hell is where Satan is and that is in every man For there is in every man light and darknesse good and evill Michael and the Dragon Now as Michaell casts out the Dragon so darkness unbelief and all sin shall be cast out of man Christ shall make a separation for all things that are good as love joy peace delight holinesse c. and God shall be comprehended and gathered into one body of unity and concord in glory which is in heaven And on the contrary all evill as hatred sorrow sinne error death and darknesse and devils shall be gathered into one body of confusion and torment which is hell For although it be said Revelation 21. 8. That the fearfull and unbelieving