they might the Ceremoniall and other Lawes Secondly From the nature of the law it selfe which in Scripture is compared to fire hammer Sword c. whereof circumcision was a figurative signe shewing it to be no lesse then a keen cutting instrument through the penalty which by a secret insition was to seperate that caule skin or film spread over the Spirit eye judgement of reason at first occasionally entering in by the sences now through custome being so habitually contracted in mans nature as it proves to some many times an incureable disease i Necessary it was then that from the eight day of the wombe at the first budding of the sences they should bee gradually and regularly disciplined accordingly And as for time so for place this signe was very significant it being done there from whence instrumentally was to bee acted the strongest and most burning lust of humane and naturall concupiscence the difficulty in suppressing which and the danger of neglecting was secretly hinted by the paine sorrow and bloodshed in this ceremonial transaction neither is the persons lesse observable God shewing by such an administration that it was the male not the female that was first intrusted from whom as the head and stronger vessel he cheifly of him required performance or else his blood must go or some others for him must doe and suffer what in Gods account is a satisfaction equivolent Thirdly When circumcision and the Law was most in force and highly exalted and through a sence thereby of mans weaknesse though it became instrumentall to beget as upon Hagars knees faithfull children unto Abraham Yet Gospell and Evangelical righteousnesse as a spring and river of life sweetly yet secretly was then running under allegories tipes and ceremonies in a ministration distinctly differing from the former for they all dranke of the same spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ and they all were baptized as wel as circumcised though mistically under a cloud and in the Sea where water and not blood was the materiall substance of this ordanicall Sacrament Fourthly From the nature and end of baptisme it selfe which is not to bee paraleld so as to come in the roome of circumcision The matter and manner of which holy institution presenteth to our view and serious consideration these severall things following First That it is neither circumcision nor any other ceremoniall reparation but an absolute Sacramentall dissolution of our bodily elements into their first principles as best suiting with a visible Gospell administration From which secondly was lively represented to the eye of faith not sence by the death of the body a spirituall freedome from the imputation of sin * power of the law curse death and the devill The ground of which is this in that God at first gave this Law principally to be binding to the sensitive and weaker part the inward man from it being destinct although united makes but one person l upon which the outward being first in the transgression and by occasion an inlet of sin to the other It pleased God to impute that sin and charge the punishment upon it when yet by a decreed union If faith in an unexpected promise had not intervened the inward had also been in the same predicament from the neernesse of which union of these two destinct natures there is a communion of operations and proprieties so that what may be affirmed of one and the same person at one and the same time in referrence to one nature may be denyed of the other so that by one he may be said to be earthly dead under the law c. and by the other he may be said to be yet heavenly not living under that Law holy blessed and under the protection of God for ever And yet again where faith in a promise is not there a person in both natures is perpetually miserable but where it is that person in both Natures is eternally happie Yet in order first the one and then the other this then asserted is cleared if we observe that when God came to execute judgement he progressively past sentence upon that which was the first occasion of sin beginning with the Serpent then the woman and last of all with the earthly man making good his former threatning That in the day it did eat it should die For earth it was and to earth it should return which was the substance of the outward not the inward m man Thus then this exact compounded elementarie substance at first a fit instrument for the celestiall Spirit to transact a terrestial service being under the sentence of death it became not only unserviceable through a declining weaknesse but it caused also a spirituall death dulling the edge and quenching the sparklings in the Intellect of the divine off-spring for the cheering and reviving again of which he was pleased by a promise in a blessed seed of the same substance to give hope to the one by dying of a better Resurrection and through the quickning spirit for the present to give the other deliverance from a sinful captivity Now a figure of this death of the body was lively held forth by the bodies blood of Beasts which were to be offered up in Sacrifice as a present attonement for the reprieve of all sublimary created things of the same elementary substance until the substance of that which was chiefly tipified and intended namely the body of Christ in which as a spiritual publike person all the bodies of the Saints was included in the offering up of which the wil of God being done he hath consecrated for ever through that will those which by faith in his blood were sanctified Thirdly Baptisme was also ordained that it might be not only a similitude of that union and communion of the body of Christ with the faithfull but also that it might hold forth by this union to a visible part in the behalf of the rest of the members of the invisible body a community of the same Spirit vertue life resurrection and glory of the Head And this we find excellently set forth to us worthy our serious perusall in the sixt and seventh Chapters to the Romans the Apostle in the seventh shewing That now the first husband the body to whom the Spirit by union was marryed it was dead to the Law in the body of Christ so that now the spirit without being counted an Adulteresse might make choice for a husband him that is raised from the dead That by such a union it might bring forth fruit unto God for faith he when we were in the Flesh the affections of sin which were by the Law had force in our members to bring forth fruit unto death but now we are delivered from the Law he being dead that is to say the body in whom we were holden that we should serve him in newness of Spirit and not in the oldnesse of the Letter Fourthly and lastly by the
body c must be dead because of sinne when the spirit is to live for a better righteousnesse sake And so I come to the second particular the Government Ecclesiasticall which imediately receded the other in the Infancy thereof The instruments and formes whereof hath also beene various before the time of Christs fleshly presence the reason of which was the good pleasure of the Fathers will the divine mystery of his Grace since revealed to us in the fullnesse of time for the most part hid in d him whose dispensations works alwayes appeare most perfect in the end During the infancy and minority of the mysticall body of Christ the Church then begun it seemed good to him here and there to enlighten and by a secret and inward call to seperate and segregate from the Common masse of mankinde such as should hold forth according to the measure of faith then dispenced the word of life That in divers wayes manners e and formes of discipline were made instrumentall in their generations to congregate as time and place afforded the children of truth Gradually first preparing and then through union of affection couching them in their due place as so many pollished stones upon that precious corner and first foundation stone of the spirituall Temple Christ Jesus I purpose not here for brevity sake to write severally of the particular Formes in those Ages past but rather with the * Authour of that forenamed Pamphlet I shall fall in with his Method in that Forme since as a Government for us more practically imitable It was evident then according to Scripture when the full time appoynted of the Father for the spirituall liberty and age of the Church was come He sent forth his Sonne into the world cloathing him with humane flesh and in the substance and shape of man put him under the Law That in his pure flesh in mans stead and for his benefit he might actively and passively performe what God or man by any Law could possibly require and though he knew no sinne neither was a transgressor of any Law yet he being instrumentall in the Creation of man the first and supreme * head of man by relation a * brother to man and by a peculiar right had an interest in man it was both just and reasonable that he onely as the fittest person should principally transact the affaires of man and for that end he was by God in the behalfe of all fallen man imputed a sinner numbred amongst transgressors made a curse by suffering upon the Crosse as a Thiefe and Murtherer that so thorough this Gods peculiar ordinance and acceptance he might no more remember or punish eternally the transgressions committed against the first Testament as also to give a sure ground of future hope that the bodies of the faithfull one day shall be perfectly redeemed from the power of sinne death and the Devill unto which by a righteous sentence they became with others most miserably captivated with all to give good assurance to all such by the death and sealing bloodshed of this Sonne of God which was appoynted to be both the testator and Mediator of the new Covenant t eternally stablished upon sure promises their spirits once cleansed from the filth and guilt of the old May now by a new and living way thorough the vaile of his flesh have a free passage into the most holy Sanctuary and presence of our heavenly Father in the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God and for that end this our great high Priest and Apostle of that faith which wee should professe during the time of his abode upon earth he made it his own because the Fathers worke to dispence light according to his will in matters of this Nature that so by it he might publiquely gather unto himselfe all those children of God that were capable Subjects for an audible administration and for that cause he was pleased to elect not onely twelve principall but many others to whom he did impart those mysteries that they might afterwards as good Disciples and Scribes before instructed communicate the same Upon whom after his ascention he poured out his spirit in the dispensation of extraordinary gifts that so by them the foundation begunne and forme prescribed for such a sprituall structure might successively be carried on in all succeeding times untill the very top stone should be layed and grace grace cryed thereunto It s easily conceived then by that 's past who were the Mr. workemen and what was the matter for this building but for evincing a double mistake in our pretended Mr. Builders It s necessary the matter of it be a little further considered It being affirmed by some on the one hand that all persons in a Nation yea infants are fit materialls for this Caelestiall Fabricke The folly of which opinion appeareth in that it is not onely contrary to the practice and direct precept but also the true nature and end of this institution by Christ Besides what benefit can acrew to Infants and others almost as uncapable to be made Members by any initiating ordinance since they are in no capacity through naturall weakenesse visibly to doe or receive any good neither hath God at any time or anywhere as is falsly by them premised engaged through an unwarrantable use of Baptisme to wash away originall sinne Regenerate visibly unite to himselfe and save Infants for why then doth not answerable effects follow Time quickly shewing that many thousands so baptized become Abhominable and Reprobate to every good worke Strange therefore it is to see how these men have been pusled to evade the cleare light of this Scripture Go discipline and baptise and that other Scripture he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but to these persons it seemeth fulfilled if they injoyne others to professe faith for them which visibly have none as if one mans bare profession which is not probably reall were with God meritoriously saving for others in like manner are they pusled about Circumcision which they say Baptisme cometh in the roome of when its clear to them which wil understand that Circumcision was no initiating ordinance for a Church and Gospel fellowship It being but a signe of an externall Covenant and stipulation made with Abraham and his Seed for a revive of the first Testament touching a civill and unblameable conversation in the flesh For sayth God my Covenant shall be in your g flesh So that all Israel after the flesh by the Law gendering to bondage were not Israel after the spirit borne of the free woman gendering to a spirituall liberty And this I am induced verily to believe for these Reasons viz. First Because all those that partook of Circumcision by Scripture proof were rigedly bound to a personall and perpetuall performance of the Morall Law in reference to the outward man h which our Saviour yet testifieth none of them did * keepe nor indeed could as
there was in publicke a little book intitled A Shrill cry for the resolve of 13 Queries in which with many other things touching the Covenant c. very considerable there was inserted the primitive institution and supreame end of a Civill and Ecclesiasticall Government in a more full pursuance then of what was there so briefly presented I shall indeavour in this insuing discourse to hold forth these 3 particulars as very necessary further to be discussed and cleared in these times First wherin each particular Government with their distinct and peculiar interest doth a part consist 2. In what particulars they may harmoniously accord 3. Some probable meanes propounded tending to settle each in their primitive glory To begin then with that Government which is called Civil First acted upon the Theater of this world yet in force which as touching the forme since hath been very contingent uncertaine God sometimes deputing one as supream to give out Lawes and rule the Nations Sometimes permitting others by right of Conquest to impose Laws upon the subdued multitude some were elected Kings to whose lawes the people voluntarily submitted Others by their Representatives proposing Laws to these elected Kings by which they would bee governed And lastly some few have been elected in severall Counties to Governe and transact for the good and benefit of the whole These and such like are usually distinguished by the names of Monarchy Aristocrasie Democrasie c. The reason of which variety hath been the universall corruption of humaine flesh Governours being drawne aside by their own concupiscence through ambition and self-interest and other causes to pursue ends destructive to common-safety But from the beginning it was not so for if man had stood the most pure and primitive had been that of Monarchy Adam being intrusted under Christ to weild the supream Scepter of this terrestriall Diademe which probably might have continued to all succeeding Generations The subject matter for which Government would have been his owne Off-spring and fellow creatures The forme most excellent each Minister under him in their proper place orderly and sweetly dispencing an equall distribution to God and each particular being The rules and bounds for which was the law of nature reason morallity The disciplin was by instruction exhortation example and such like to draw forth and exercise daily the intellect of all intelligible creatures in the things before recited So as from non-age to ful-age each particular according to their measure and proper place might become serviceable to the universall and publicke good There being yet this difference in the state of innocency though continued between Adam and his progeny that as he was created a perfect man his internall faculties was acted readily from himselfe as several objects and relations were presented in their time and place whereas his posterity stood in need of a continual inculcation of instruction from others before they could act their inward principle dexteriously and habitually in a way of nature and reason to which other parts of discipline before expressed in this state of corruption is necessarily to be added sharpe reproofes and severe corrections The next and last particular appertaining to this Government is the supream end Namely the preservation of each mans propriety in name goods and other things of this life And herein the particular and intire interest of this and all other civil sanctions doth consist A first Testament and Covenant once in the power of man to keepe most perfectly which since through weakenesse of the flesh fruits and effects of the fall is now impossible precisely to be performed All men in nature thereupon by a just sentence as under the first breach of this Law becomming children of the curse wrath and death wee need not wonder then at the revolutions and changes of Government since every thing else now is restlesse untill it returne to its primitive and supreme center from whence there was suddainely so great an Apostacy that the whole earth was filled with violence insomuch immediately after mans commecall scheane of Terestiall glory became dissolved into a watery Tragedy a few inconsiderate persons for number only excepted preserved from being overwhelmed in that universall deluge which no sooner by multiplying had againe filled the surplase of the earth but the like universall corruption appeared All fixed principles for pure Nature Reason and Morallity was by it eaten out and became obliterate which doubtlesse was the cause why God in the next Age did againe minde the same through the figure of circumcision as also not long after in that terrible manner upon Mount Synaia in Iudea the Hemispheare of Nations give out his Law to shew man once more not onely from whence he was fallen but to stirre him up thereby to his former duty the matter whereof was engraven in Tables of stone evidently to be seene and read of all men And although heere againe the forme of this Government then was Monarchicall yet was it not therein an indisputable president and patterne for other Nations or succeeding times for though it should be admitted that this was most Primitive and in Gods esteeme most Excellent either in Adam and those other Anoynted Kings to whom extraordinary assistance and abilities was given for performance of such a trust as particular Types of Christ Yet experience tells us through changes and reason and providence dictates no lesse that where this immediate Divine Assistance is wanting to guide any single supreme in evill times of defection that Government proves dangerous and those Governours probably most safest for that people which shall through providence be admitted to Rule after a sensible feeling and late deliverance with them from under a yoke of Tiranny It not to me seeming likely that such who have seene justice done upon others themselves in it being instrumentall should through Tiranny by any Law make heavy yokes for their brethren and in it their owne Posterity which if they would be most inexcusable because they of all other in this latter Age of the world have seene most examples and presidents of the good and evill of Government Thus much then of the first particular in which is briefely shewed the Ministers matter Forme Lawes discipline end and intire Interest of all Civill Government both at first and since which because it was held excellently forth in the Common-wealth of the Jewes It was called a Sanctuary a yet worldly and fleshly far different from that which concernes the inward and spirituall man which though the ministration of it be in the flesh yet it is not after nor for the present little appertaining thereunto It being untill the day of our bodily redemption b under the discipline of the first Testament for corrupt flesh as all now is must as grasse and the flower of the field first wither become dead vanish away in the judgement of those which are to be fit matter for the second and new Testament for the