therefore every Herb Plant and Tree live and work by Vertue of a Vegetative Spirit so the Beasts Fowls and Fishes and Creeping Things live by Vertue of a Sensitive Spirit also all Angels and Souls of men live immortal Lives by Vertue of a rational Spirit Even so all real and true Christians live and move in a Divine Life by Vertue of that Divine Spirit which is the very Life and Vertue of Jesus our Emanuel which Vertue was in him in such exceeding Fulness that from his sacred Body Vertue issued out to cure by touching all the Impediments of Nature for by touching He cleansed the Leper drave away the Fever Mat. 8.19 Chap. 9.29 opened the Ears of him who had been Defective both in his Speech and Hearring raised the Widows Son as he was carrying to his Burial Mark 7.37 Luke 7.4 Mat. 9.20 21. stanched the Bloody Issue which the Physicians could not do yea by touching He Expelled Fear out of the Spirits of his Disciples when sorely surprised therewith in the Mount of Transfiguration Mat. 17.7 So that the whole Multitudes of People sought to touch him by reason that Vertue went out of him to cure all their Maladies Luke 7.19 Even so also the precious Faith of Christians that Divine Principle begotten in the Souls of God Elect goeth forth from thence as a touching Instrument Tit. 1.1 Mat. 15.2 Gal. 2.20 which reacheth into the very Heart of Christ and draweth forth that Divine Vertue which dwelleth there into its self and so by that Vertue it lives Divinely Acts 6.5 and walketh with God. Now according to the Greatness and Perfection of the Instrument even so is the Measure of Vertue obtained by it Heb. 11.33 Therefore in ancient Times when Faith in the Prophets and Apostles and Holy Men of God was strong and famous so accordingly their Souls were possessed with great Degrees of Vertue by which they wrought many famous Miracles Heb. 2.4 Deut. 2.1 and in which they flourished in a Life of Eminent Piety but as a little Fire can give but a little heat and a little Candle can yield but a little light even so Faith since it became weak Miracles are for the most part ceased and Piety doth but meanly flourish Therefore Bethania who is poor in Spirit is letting out her whole Heart and Soul to Christ Isa 26.9 John 21.14 offering up her whole Will to him and so presseth after a great increase of Faith by which her Soul may be fast linked to her Saviour in which most Blessed Union she may obtain much of his Vertue Luke 1.75 and shine forth in it right gloriously before her fellow-Mortals in which most pure Life she liveth to the Praise of him who hath called her to Glory and Vertue 2 Pet. 1.3 Prov. 12.4 Chap. 30.10 and 29. and so this Vertuous Woman is a Crown to her Espoused Husband and when she can be found Her Price is above Rubies and though many have done vertuously yet she in that that is Divine hath Excelled them all Vertue is the Direct contrary to Vice and so is of God in whom dwelleth all good things but Vice is of the Devil Vertue maketh man like God James 1.17 Psal 119.68 Acts 10.38 and in it man is good but Vice maketh man like the Devil and in it he is a meer Monster Vertue is always profitable both in Church and State but Vice bringeth Ruine upon both It s Property is ever to do good even in Natural and Spiritual Things but is altogether a Stranger to Evil. Col. 1.10 Rom. 16.19 In either of these Vertue is of great Antiquity even from Eternity it self but Vice is but of yesterday and had a Beginning Mat. 10.16 Verse 6.16 Rom. 6.12 Rev. 21.25 and at last all Iniquity shall have an End. Vertue liveth in the whole Creation except in that part that is Degenerated from its first Estate and it a very Courteous and of good Behaviour always letting out it self for the good of others that it may transform other things into its own likeness It is very humble gentle and exceeding harmless helpful to all and needesh help from none It will shine before the Face of Tyrants Cant 3.16 John 2.14 Rom. 5.3 Rev. 15.4 Heb. 1.14 Rev. 12.11 1 Cor. 20.24 and stand in a modest boldness against the Threats of most furious Mortals Vertue is a Conqueror of the Devil and triumpheth gloriously over all Temptations it standeth in perpetual Friendship with God and Angels delight to become Ministring Spirits unto those who are Professors of it It maketh nothing of Death and Fear can never make it hide its Head yea those that hate it Gen. 39.2 3. and will not entertain it in themselves do yet desire to be served by it in others Dan. 2.4 hence Joseph and Daniel became famous in the sight of Heathens Psal 11.7 Acts 10.39 Psal 63.8 Rev. 14.4 for it is faithful in its Service both to God and Man. Vertue hath great Communion with an Holy God who also will own it wheresoever it appears for it keepeth constantly at his Right-hand and will follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth John 4.17 2 Pet. 15. It hath great boldness in the Day of Judgment and knoweth that it shall not be condemned and where the precious Faith is there it is also as a perpetual Companion and so those that have walked with God by Faith have also walked before him in a state of Vertue It maketh uncomely Bodies very Beautiful when Vice deformeth the most comely Creatures So then Vertue is a strong Pillar in the House of Wisdom and a Street in Bethania in which Bethania hath many a Walk with God. In this street standeth her Market-place from whence are dispersed many precious things Therefore O ye that pretend to Faith be careful to prove the Truth thereof James 2.18 by its Companion Vertue and whatsoever things are true whatsoever Things are honest whatsoever Things are just whatsoever things are pure Phil. 4.8 whatsoever Things are lovely whatsoever things are of good Report if there be any Vertue if there be any Praise think on these Things CHAP. V. THE Second Pillar in 〈◊〉 House of Wisdom is Knowledge in which there are two Party First Speculative by which we look at things without us Secondly Experimental by which we know things from within us It consistent mainly in two Things First In 〈◊〉 Knowledge of God. Secondly In the Knowledge of our selves and in both these Bethania desires to walk 〈◊〉 Wisdom Without all Controversy God is a great Mystery and so also is man Col. 4.5 1 Tim. 1.16 Psal 139.14 Mat. 13.33 Therefore saith David I am fearfully and wonderfully made Man is to be considered in a Threefold Life the which are the three Measures of Meal in which the Leaven is to be hid The first of these is Rational in which man is in Union of Life
sleep begin to speak This Divine Charity being the Head Stone of all is still looking upwards and setteth its Affections on things above Heb. 11.24 so that all Earthly things are of a small Esteem with it therefore if it lose all its worldly Possessions for Jesus sake it grieveth not If it have but one Isaac and he also a Child of Promise yet Love will give its first-born to God who did not with-hold his first-born from men Nevertheless Charity loveth every Creature yet not for their own but for the Creators sake and so it loveth the Earth and all that groweth upon it because Gods Vegetative Spirit is the Life thereof it also loveth the sensitive Creature because Gods sensitive Spirit dwelleth in them it loveth all Angels and Souls of men John 21.16 John 4.2 because Gods national Spirit hath inspired their Essences it loveth Christ and the Saints most dearly because God by his Divine Spirit liveth in them it loveth the Sun Moon and Stars Rom. 1.20 Job 31.27 Rev. 5.13 with all the whole Host of Heaven because they possess the light of God and shew forth his Eternal Power and Godhead to men Yet it will Worship no Creature whatsoever God and the Lamb are the only Objects of Divine Worship with it 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6 7. therefore Charity envyeth not but suffereth long and is not easily provoked yea it thinketh no evil but is kind and beareth all things endureth all things vaunteth not it self is not puffed up seeketh not her own neither doth it behave it self unseemly it rejoyceth not in Iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth Verse 8. Verse 13. it standeth firm and unchangeable when all Prophecies fail and Tongues do utterly cease yea it out-liveth Faith and Hope and will at last swallow up all the Heavenly Off-spring into it self and become their Glorious Habitation in Endless Eternity this is the longest Street in all Bethania and we have not yet travelled unto nor yet seen the End thereof Therefore cannot give so full a Description of it as we would and possibly as many also may desire yet all the Free-born Citizens of Bethania often walk in this Street and all other Streets have a Dependance upon it CHAP. XI THese are the seven Pillars of the House of Wisdom Prov. 9.1 Ephes 5.2 Verse 15. 2 Cor. 2.14 Ephes 5.1 Rev. 14.4 and upon them pure Christianity most firmly standeth and so is thereby exposed to open View The savour of the Knowledge of Christ being manifest by these things in every place they are the seven famous Streets in Bethania wherein she is carefully walking with an holy God and is a faithful Follower of the Blessed Lamb and in this Path of the Just which is as a burning light shineth more and more to the perfect day John 14.23 John 15.11 Isa 26.3 2 Cor 4.4 Job 29.3 4. She experienceth great Communion with God and in that Communion is often filled with Divine and lasting joy And being stedfast in Spirit in these Paths of Vertue their minds are kept in perfect Peace and the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ shineth in and round about their Tabernacle by which many famous Mysteries are plainly discovered for unto these it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God who are therefore enabled in the Spirit to speak Mysteries Mat. 13.11 1 Cor. 14.2 1 Tim. 3.9 Rev. 5.5 1 Tim. 3.16 Mat. 11.27 and also to hold the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience for 't is the Lamb whom these do follow that openeth the seven Seals of the Mystery of Godliness which without Controversie is exceeding great and it is his proper Work to reveal the Father and in his times to shew who is the Blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Heb. 1.3 Acts 5.19 Lev. 25.9 10. Rev. 14.14 who only hath Immortality dwelling in the Light which no man can approach to whom no man hath seen or can see but by the Revelation of him who is the express Image of his invisible Substance which are the times of refreshing which will shortly come from the presence of the Lord Ephes 1.10 Rev. 10.7 being the glorious Jubilee and Year of Rest for all labouring and painful Christians in which Dispensation of the fullness of times all things in Christ will be gathered together in one both which are in Heaven and Earth These also being the days of the Voice of the seventh Trumpet in which the Mystery of God will be fully finished and the Eternal Light and Love of the Father 1 John 1.7 Chap. 4.16 in which he moved in all Eternity most gloriously Unvailed the which Divine Brightness and the Everlasting Love will then be the State and Habitation of all Holy Souls who have walked in light and dwelt in Love while they were strangers in this World and so God shall be all in all and the Eternal Admiration of all Divine Creatures both Angels and Men who now in these times through the glorious Son of Righteousness see the Face of the invisible God Rev. 22.4 and have his Name written in their Foreheads CHAP. XII EVEN so also to such as Walk with God in these Divine Paths Luke 24.22 Isa 16.11 Psal 25.14 The Lamb openeth the Mystery of the Holy Scriptures and sheweth unto them the Paths of Life making manifest the Secret of the Lord to them that fear him teaching the humble his most pure Way and guiding the Meek in Judgment Isa 42.16 Chap. 29.18 Psal 119.99 Mat. 13.2 for he will bring the blind by a way they knew not and make them see out of great Obscurity so the humble and holy Souls in Divine Wisdom oft excelleth their very Teachers and grow so skillful in the Word of Righteousness that as Scribes greatly instructed into the the Kingdom of God Wisdom 2. they can bring out of their Treasures things both New and Old and thus the pure Wisdom which in all Ages entereth into Holy Souls still maketh such kind of men Friends to God Psal 63.5 and Prophets by whom the inside of Scriptures and Divine Ordinances are clearly discerned and invisible things which are signified by External Forms are the satisfying and Nourishment of the Soul for the Soul of Man heing a Spiritual Essence cann't be perfectly satisfied by a Corporal thing therefore as it is tinctured by an Heavenly Influence it still looketh into inward things and through the pure Humanity of Jesus our Saviour it spyeth out his glorious Divinity and through the Ministerial Word the Holy Scriptures it searches into the Essential Word which was before the Scriptures were written and through the Baptism of Water which concerneth the Body it reaches into the Baptism of the Spirit which concerneth the Soul and through the Bread and Wine which nourisheth the outward man it discerneth the Lords Body which is the Life of the Spirit
and a stamering Tongue it is too much to be doubted that others also are somewhat dull of hearing and from hence it might and yet may arise that our Mothers Children have had some occasion to be angry with me however I am greatly inclined to still them as well as I can so that I may keep Truth from falling in the Streets and a good Conscience from being violated by any means And you may plainly percieve that I have no end at my own glory in these things in that I have not attempted to beautifie it at all with humane wisdom but with great simplicity as becomes the Title it presents it self to view Neither do I mind mine outward profit by any thing that is now undertaken my mind being but little enclined thereunto ever since you and I have had to do one with another And by reason of many natural Impediments both pains and loss are like to be my present rewards and you are witnesses and God also that I have coveted no mans Gold or Silver or Apparel though I migt have had all these from you with right true desire but these hands for the most part through the good providence of God hitherto ministred unto my necessities and so what I have freely received I would freely give again desiring the Ever Blessed God to make all my poor endeavours as the wilderness-Feast of Barly Bread and Fishes which was blessed for the nourishment of very many Souls So not being willing to burden you too much nor too long to detain you from the things that follow I desire earnestly the continuance of your serious requests for me as I hope mine will be still for you Who am your unworthy Servant in what I can for your Souls Advantage W. P. THE PREFACE TO THE READER Courteous Reader THou art here presented with a little Treatise which meer Necessity forceth into the World being a Summary of the Faith and Practices in brief of the Christian Catholick Church which in her Militant Estate is rightly stiled Bethania and it was first occasioned by some Suspitions and Accusations cast upon the Author chiefly by some of his Mothers Children touching the Principles of his Belief who being known to be one that holdeth Vniversal Redemption hath been charged or at least suspected to hold many gross Opinions by them that are of a contrary Mind as Free-Will or Single Power in the Creature in the work of the Souls Conversion Secondly Of denying the Humanity of our Saviour and sometimes also his Divinity Thirdly Of holding the Mortality of the Soul and denying the Resurrection of the Body from the Dead or something equivalent thereunto sometimes suspected of Arianism of Praying to Angels and Justification by Works and such like things which suspicious minds could frame All which things he hath sometimes born with much calmness of Spirit thinking it sufficient that his own Conscience hath pronounced him innocent as to things of this nature and also rejoyceth in Divine Grace by which he hath been kept in such a state although full of imperfections as that occasion hath not been given to the accused or much suspected of an impious Life yet for the sake of the poor in Spirit his only companions and which are very dear unto him he hath given forth a brief declaration of the Christian Faith Order and Life in the which he himself expects to be saved and his design is to further the good and benefit of all serious Souls who in very many tossings to and fro have almost been tired and discouraged on the Mountains of Wandring but yet this is not all for he would fain awaken the Careless Daughters and give a Midnight-Cry to the Foolish Virgins that if possible they might see the Bed of Christian-Profession to be too short and the Covering of Church-Communion to be too narrow to rest secure in from that Heart-searching God with whom we all must shortly have to do But the Author did first intend to have left this little Treatise in Manuscript only to three Societies with whom he hath been more than ordinarily concerned the which though little in Bulk is great in Matter and contains that which might have been the Subject of many great Volumes it relating to the whole Mystery of Godliness from first to last the which without controversie is exceeding great and it is designed to be promoted by the Author as his poor Abilities will afford not only in the Theory thereof but also in the practical Part which is indeed the Substance of true Divinity and though it may come forth in a Name and Title somewhat strange at first yet when the Reason thereof is given it may not always appear a wonder for as the Church of Christ is sometimes in Scripture called a City as in Psal 46.4 There is a River the streams whereof makes glad the City of God the holy Place of the Tabernacle of the most High So Mat 5.14 it is said to be the Salt of the Earth and a City set on a Hill that cannot be hid and in Eph. 2.19 Now therefore ye are no more Strangers and Foreigners but Fellow-Citizens of the Saints and of the Houshold of God. So also there are divers Cities and Towns in Scripture that do very much represent the same among which Bethania is no small representation according to the Hebrew signification of it And first it is represented by Zion which signifieth Driness and so indeed she is with respect to her own estate but that the Rivers of the waters of Life from the Rock in the weary Land Isa 32.21 flow unto her and is a place of broad Rivers and Streams therein Isa 33.2 Secondly Israel signifying the Vision of Peace and indeed this City where Christ the Prince of Peace dwelleth must needs be the elearest sight of Peace on this side Heaven it self and the Peace of God which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 doth keep the Hearts and Minds of them in perfect Peace who as the true Israel of God do stedfastly walk by the New Creature-Rule Gal. 6.16 Besides this City does not only see Visions of Peace from God but also Visions of Peace are seen from it to Men being a Kingdom which is not of this World John 18.36 Neither consisteth in meat or drink Rom. 14.7 but in Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Thirdly Bethlehem which signifies the House of Bread and in the true Church of Christ this Bread of Life is the only food of Souls the which being the flesh of Christ our Life all the heavenly Off-spring live thereby John 6.57 He that eateth me shall live by me and from hence the Bread of Life is also ministerially tendered For the Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that Heareth say Come and whosoever will let him come and take of the Water of Life freely Rev. 22.17 and so Prov. 9.5 Come eat of my bread and drink of the Wine which I have mingled So
in the fulness of this Vnion Meum and Tuum are not the native Speech this Vnion is perfectly compacted and maintained by unfeigned Love the Bond of Perfection Col. 3.16 And where Love abounds Life and Goods and all will very easily go for the Brethren therefore we long greatly to see this Place and State and often express our Desires in this manner O that the Salvation of Israel were come out of Sion And Return Return O Shulamite return return that we may look upon thee for the Shulamite hath long time dwelt in the Clefts of the Rock and the secret places of the Stairs and our Church hath yet recovered but little of her Beauty nevertheless we have found out her Charter and out of it collected some part of her Divinicy and it is greatly desired that all the true Sons of Sion would leave all their Fury in which they have appeared like a wild Bull in a Net Isa 1.200 take poor Bethania by the hands that Sharon may be a Fold of Flocks and the Valley of Achor Isa 65.10 viz. a state of trouble for a door of hope Hos 2.15 That the ruines of many gener ations may be repaired and that the Divisions of Reuben may not fill the Souls of the Poor with the cup of trembling for whose sakes chiefly we have written this little Treatise and have likewise given an Account why we call it Bethania who though we have been born out of due time and very unworthy to be numbred among the Repairers of Breaches yet we have endeavoured and attempted to cast in our Mite in order thereunto and in all that we have done do really design the Glory of God the Benefit of the poor in Spirit the Satisfaction of all our Mothers Children the Advantage of Truth and Profit of our Fellow-creatures and desire herein to be judged by the great Charter of Bethania and so Courteous Reader I commit thee to the Father of Mercies desiring that the Wonderful Counsellor may be thine infallible Guide and keep thee from every crooked Path Even so Amen W. P. Ancient Christianity REVIV'D c. Principles of Doctrine believed in Bethania laid down in several Articles for the Removing of Doubts touching the Faith of the House of the Poor FIRST THERE is one only God acknowledged and believed in Bethania Joh. 17.3 Joh. 4.24 Col. 1.15 1 Kings 8.27 Heb. 13.8 Rev. 1.4 Jer. 23.24 2 Cor. 6.18 1 Joh. 4.16 1 Tim. 6.16 Jude 25. 1 Pet. 1.16 Heb. 13.20 Psal 145.9 Psal 103.17 Deut. 32 14. Exod. 34.7 Psal 103.2 who is purely a Spirit invisible incomprehensible eternal infinite omnipotent who is Love it self dwelling in light unto which no man may approach and is most wise most holy a God of Grace full of tender and Everlasting Mercies yet most just without iniquity and will in no wise clear the guilty knoweth all Secrets and filleth all places of whom are all things who is distinguished not divided into Father Son and Spirit SECONDLY II. 1 Cor. 8.6 1 Joh. 5.7 1 Tim. 3.16 Joh. 14.9 Heb. 1.3 Rev. 1.8 Phil. 2.16 Isa 43.10 1 Cor. 8.6 John 1.3 Rev. 3.14 Colos 1.15 Who that he might become manifest unto Angels and to men gave forth an express Image of his own invisible substance which Image is the First-last the very form of God before whom there was no God formed by whom were all things made that were made who is the beginning of the Creation of God and First-born of every Creature the Head of all Principality and Power The glorious Root of David and Upholder of the whole Universe in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily and from whom the glorious Attributes and Properties of the absolute Deity do shine forth in full Perfection He is of the same Essence with the Father as firmly believed in Bethania THIRDLY III. Which glorious Image in fuilness of time Gal. 4.4 Heb. 2.14 Isa 7.14 Heb. 7.14 Rom. 1.3 Heb. 4.5 Luke 21.23 assumed humane Nature and was born of a pure Virgin A branch sprung out of David and made of his seed according to the Flesh and so in all things like unto us sin only excepted in which humane Nature he was nourished by and subject to Parents And in it was circumcised and fulfilled the whole Law who also about thirty years of Age was baptised to fulfill all Righteousness both Legal and Evangelical Mat. 3.15 In it he was tempted but overcame the Tempter Mat. 4.3 and then went out to preach to the lost Sheep of the house of Israel Act. 2.22 Luke 24.19 1 Pet. 2.21 Isa 53.4 Chap. 7. Phil. 2.8 Col. 2.15 Isa 53.11 Dan. 9.24 2 Cor. 5.19 John 1.29 Luke 1.77 Chap. 24.27 Exod. 34.7 1 Cor. 15.4 Dan. 9.24 Rom. 4.25 Acts 1.3 Chap. 1.11 Heb. 12.3 Mat. 15.18 John 5.27 2 Cor. 5.10 Mat. 1.21 23. In our humane Nature he wrought many famous Miracles and gave forth a perfect pattern of absolute Piety At last quietly endured the smitings of God and uttermost cruelties of men subjecting himself to the Death of the Cross by which he spoyled the Principallity of Darkness satisfied Divine Justice and so made Reconciliation between God and Man. And having obtained Eternal Redemption for us opened a way for the Remission of sins which before Divine Justice would in no wise admit of And then the third day in our Nature rose again from the Dead and brought in Everlasting Righteousness for our Justisication And after he had reigned forty days over Death in this World he ascended in our Nature into Heaven and sate down on the Right Hand of God and so hath all power in Heaven and Earth delivered into his hands who as he is the Son of Man will come again the second time to judge the Quick and the Dead and give to every one as his work shall be He is our Emanuel and our only Saviour in Bethania FOVRTHLY IV. Gen. 1.1 Exod. 20.11 Col. 1.16 Rev. 4.11 Psal 103.19 20. Mat. 18.10 Heb. 1.7 Verse 14. Ezek. 28.15 Verse 3. Eph. 21.22 Rev. 4.10 Chap. 19.14 Jude 6. 2 Pet. 2.4 Mat. 25.41 Touching the Creation in it glorious Elohim the number of whose Name is Three Created three sorts of living Creatures The first whereof were Angels unto whom Heaven was assigned for their Habitation These by Nature are Spirits and their Life is only rational and immortal of whom the first-born of every Creature was and is Soveraign Lord being the glorious Head of all their Principality and after whom they were to move in great Subordination Their Essence is immutable but their State in Creation subject to change Therefore many of them breaking the order designed by Creation and kept not their first Estate were cast down to Hell and are reserved under Darkness in Chains unto the Judgment of the Great day after which they are deeply involved in Gods Eternal Wrath out of which there is no Redemption The Second sort of
Soul and Edifieth it which is the only Design of Divinity in all its various Operations So then Singing of Psalms is used in Bethania For the Song of Hosannah was sung very near it Mat. 21.9 but it is used there as a Gift of the Holy Spirit peculiar only to him that hath it and not as an Ordinance of God which respecteth all Yet nevertheless Praising of God is an Ordinance of God according to the Principles of Nature proper to all Creatures and so all the Works of God do Praise him but do not Sing unto him except only when their Spirits are Elevated and then the Trees of the Wood sing out and clap their Hands Psal 145.10 Isa 24.7 Isa 55.13 when the Celestial Influences have quickened them in the Spring and Summer and their Voice is uttered in their Leaves Blossoms and Fruit. But when those Influences are withdrawn then they retire and are silent all the Winter Season and so the Sun Moon and Stars Psal 148.3 do Praise the Lord by the Influences of his own Vertue that is in them yea Dragons and all Deeps Fire Hail Snow Stormy Wind Mountains Trees Cedars Beafts Cattle Creeping Things Flying Fowls all these Psal 148.7 8 9 10. in their proper Nature Praise the Lord and Sing unto him in that Season when he putteth the Song into their Mouth Bethania's Walks WITH GOD. Now last of all having briefly hinted First At the Doctrine of Bethania And Secondly At some part of her Discipline and Order We hope now Lastly Briefly to lay down her Manner of Life and serious Walks with God and to what Place this Motion Tendeth CHAP. I. THe Conversation and Manner of Life in Bethania is very Divine and Heavenly Gen. 5.22 Chap. 6.9 being a serious Walk with God and a careful Imitation of the innocent and pure Life of Jesus so that as her Inhabitants are begotten by the immortal Seed of the Word of God and born of the Divine Spirit 1 Pet. 1.2 3. John 3.6 which Birth is from above even so their Conversation isin Heaven as the way of Life which is above to the wise Phil. 3.20 Prov. 15.24 Ephes 1.3 Col. 1.3 1 Pet. 1.4 to deliver from the Snares of Hell beneath in which place and State they are and shall be blessed with all Spiritual and Eternal Blessings in and by Christ Jesus And therefore their Affections are set on things above as things that are incorruptible and will never fade away The which being their Everlasting Treasure unto which they are begotten and born as right Heirs of the same even so their Hearts seriously incline towards that place where this Treasure is layed up for them Heb. 11.14 and their Life is framed here on Earth among men as becometh those who expect to live with God in Heaven among Angels and is such a life Phil. 1.27 which is proper and natural to the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus in which the Grace apeareth which teacheth us To deny all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Righteously Soberly Tit. 2.12 14. and Godly in this present World looking for that blessed Hope and glorious Appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might Redeem us from all Iniquity and Purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works that they might shew forth the Praises of him 1 Pet. 2.9 Phil. 2.15 2 Cor. 4.11 Chap. 2.14 Mark 3.45 who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light in which they shine as lights in the World and manifest the most pure Life of Jesus in their Mortal Flesh making manifest the Savour of his Knowledge in every place which Heavenly Off-spring are of near Affinity with most pure Jesus whose Divine Nature hath deeply Penetrated into their very Souls and changed the Properties thereof from Devilish and Beastial into Divine and Spiritual Tit. 3.3 1 Cor. 6.11 Rom. 8.28 John 3.1 2 Cor. 3.18 Ephes 2.19 Chap. 7.15 Heb. 12.13 Rev. 13.8 Gal. 4.25 and so he is but the first-born among these many Brethren as the glorious Son of God by Natural Generation and the Children of the same God with him by Divine Regeneration So that there is but one Nature Spirit Life and Image in Christ and Christians therefore they are called The Houshold of God and the Family in Heaven the General Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb stain from the Foundation of the World and so are Fellow-Citizens with the Saints in that Spiritual Jerusalem which is above and is the true Mother of all real Bethanians CHAP. II. BUT now forasmuch as Bethania is scituate on the Mount of Olives and the Earthly Jerusalem is beneath it yet scarce two Miles distant from it and the direct Motion of the true Followers of the Lamb being still upward ascending from a fleshly Glory in a visible Profession Mat. 5.3 into Poverty of Spirit and Resignation to Jesus Ephes 3.8 and so through that Estate into Spiritual and Eternal Riches we shall a little consider the walk of Saints and the walk of the World as they are both hastening apace into Endless Eternity And forasmuch as the Soveraign God in whose hands is all Power and at whose dispose all things must be hath appointed Heaven Earth and Hell these three places to be the Habitation of all Creatures in time and Eternity according to their proper State. Eccles 3.1 It is Earth only that is allotted to Time and Heaven and Hell to Eternity so that Earth stands between Heaven and Hell equally distant and there are three steps by which men ascend from Earth to Heaven and three steps by which they descend from it to Hell. Now Bethania chooseth the way of Life which is strait and narrow Mat. 7.13 and ascendeth upwards but Babel imbraceth the way of Death Job 21.13 Isa 5.14 Rev. 3.16 which is broad and pleasant and descendeth downwards and the Earthly Jerusalem not well liking either of these yet having but a Luke-warm Spirit settleth upon her Lees just between but at last must sink down with Babel like a Millstone Rev. 18.21 Isa 33.14 into the Bottomless deep of Gods Eternal Wrath which the Sinners in Sion as well as the Sinners in Babel shall not be able to escape Now these three steps by which Bethania ascendeth upwards she hath learned of Christ our Lord who himself hath travelled the same way and they are First Deny your selves Secondly Take up the Cross and Thirdly Mat. 16.24 John. 21.26 Follow me and then Where I am there shall also my Servant be But those three steps by which Babel descendeth towards her Infernal Den are wholly of another Nature as they are layed down by the Apostle Phil. 3.19 And are First Their God is their Belly Secondly Their Glory is their Shame and Thirdly Who mind