enable us to effect this work of faith whereby we may live and also may die to the Lord and in neither sin nor serve our selvs Christ both died and rose againe and is become Lord both of the dead and of the living even in this sense before opened To this agrees what the same Apostle testifies 2 Cor. 4 12.13 compared with 1 Cor. 4.8 13. Here we find the Apostle the father and true elder as to his growth up into Christ strong in the faith and the Corinthians they are the children babes in Christ weak and low in faith but high full and puffed up in their fleshly minds Let us therefore consider the differing characters he gives of the one and of the other though both beleevers such as in their living and in their dying are or may be the Lords Ye now are full sayes Paul or this is your time of being rich and reigning as kings without us but I would to God you did indeed reigne that we also might reigne together with you But it is otherwise with us even a dying time We are troubled on every side perplexed persecuted cast downe alwayes bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus God having set forth us that are the Apostles most strong and eminent in faith as it were appointed unto death and to be made a spectacle to the world to angels and to men We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weak but ye are strong Ye are honourable but we are despised So then death workes in us but life in you And we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I have beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also beleeve and therefore speak knowing that he which raysed up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you That then which is wrought in men by Christ through the ministry of the outward word by the spirit and life of his first appearance is either restoration-work single or restoration-work joyned and accompanied with true regeneration and eternall salvation Restoration-work single is that which is called the spirit of bondage making but those servants that abide not in the house for ever as having never tasted nor partaken of that freedome wherewith the Son makes those free indeed that he knits into an indissoluble union with himself But restoration-work as it is accompanied with salvation or the birth of the immortal and incorruptible seed of life and righteousnes is that which is called the spirit of adoption of power of love and of a sound or stedfast mind that principle of life begotten and springing up in us whereby we put off that which is mutable and corruptible and put on that which is immutable and incorruptible as well in the inward man of the heart as in the outward man of the flesh We have already shewed that their obedience is accepted with God who are faithfull to their light under the first dispensation of Gods word speaking in them to the inward senses of their mind as was the case of the centurion Such persons in every nation are owned by God as those that fear him and work righteousnes And this feare is in a sense faith for they cannot thus come to God and obey him but they must beleeve that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him and hearken to his voyce Neverthelesse this is not the faith that is in the regenerate flowing from the spirit and life of the new creature and working by love but it is the faith which all restored enlightned men may have in conformity to what Adam had before his fall that knew and obeyed the eternall WORD as creatour and maker of both worlds though not as the redeemer and Saviour of men by the blood of the crosse from sin and the wrath attending it This sort of faith is that which flowes from mans exercise of his right knowledg and free will wherein he was created after Gods likenes and did receave the truth in his knowledg but in no fixed permanent love thereof because he was left free to change his mind as seemed good unto himself being in case of his failer therein personally responsible to the penalties and curse of the law For to be created with such a righteous mutable principle of activity and free moving power in the mind was simply in itself good and might be lawfully used to answer the end for which it was given which was by way of voluntary resignation to chang and turne out of that wavering unstable active power though at present righteous into that love that should bind up the moving power of mans Spirit into a stedfast and unmoveable delight and rest in righteousnes and into a fixed and unshaken enmity and aversnes of mind to sin and all evill By this new creation and forming of the spirit of man within him his first freedome is taken from him and done away or it is swallowed up into a freedome much better and more excellent wherein man is made more in Gods image and after his similitude then at the first For though all things were in a good estate with man at first when God made him upright that is to say in a due conformity unto the divine will for the performance of a pure and holy worship and service to God justice and true judgmēt to his neighbour and for the walking in a due sobriety temperance and continence as to himself yet God would have him know he might be better made through a new creation which should more then comprehend all the good of his first make and adde also to it an immutability God did therefore forbid man to trust to the uncertaine riches and fading glory of his first estate and timely to look and make out for a better But in stead of this man notwithstanding Gods prohibition runs himself aground into a very bad and evill condition Out of this forlorne state the first thing that God propounds to him in and by the knowledg of the redeemer is his restoration which God is willing to draw him to by the ministry of Moses and turn him to by the ministry of Eliah even the disobedient to the wisedome of the just to make a ready people prepared for the Lord to meet and receave him as he is given by the father in a better Covenant ordered in all things and sure of which there can never be any breach either on Gods or mans part as there was and wil be againe of the first Covenant how often soever it be repeated and renewed unlesse it end in mans being receaved and taken into the second There is then a ministry of the first Covenant in the hand of the Redeemer Sprinckled with the blood of his crosse which is able to rectify the depravation of things caused by sin and mans first breach with God consisting in a restitution towards mans
by reason of their mutable principles and slippery standing under the first and conditionall Covenant they come at last to wither and to be cut off from the root and cast into the fire that never shal be quenched Jo. 15 1 6. Rom 11. In this last sort the restoration-work is carried up very high so as to place them that have it amongst the number of those mention'd 1 Cor. 13 1 3. that may speak with the tongue of men and angels have the gift of prophecy understand all mysteries and all knowledg Yea though they should have all faith so as to remove mountains though they should bestow all their goods to feed the poor and give their bodies to be burned and yet not have love or that faith which works by love they will come at last to nothing They will prove and shew themselvs to be in the issue but as sounding brasse and a tinckling cymball This is that the highest restoration-work will discover itself to be where it springs up but from the single seed of that righteousnes which is unaccompanied with true regeneration or that faith which works by love changing the naturall mind of man from its mutable into an immutable principle of life righteousnes and glory 3. Thirdly therefore this work of restoration may and does proceed in some so far as not only to set all right and streight within and without man in a great measure and in an eminent prevailing activity according to what it was at first when he was made in Gods image but it hath a second and farther operation upon the soule which prepares and makes ready the will to deny itself take up the crosse and become absolutely resigned up to the will of another even of the Lord as the sure guardian and keeper of the will in its truest and best freedom which such service of the Lord is that is in such a manner performed that we can do nothing against the truth but all for it Through this second operation the Lord himself who is the immortall seed does most powerfully beget us and that of his owne will as he is the Son of Man begotten into the love of the father and made unmoveable in subjection and obedience to his fathers will He doth cleave unto us lay hold on us and put under his everlasting armes to make our armes strong and to guide us in that way of coworking with him in a joyntnes of will and operation that nothing can dissolve Such fooles for Christ sake with Paul 1 Cor. 4.10 through the intire resignation of themselvs to the ruling power of Christ in their hearts will not cannot erre or miscarry in the holy way of Gods ransomed ones This is that which the Apostle meanes by love 1 Cor. 13. and chap. 8.1 where he sayes knowledg puffeth up but love edifieth that is makes firm and stedfast work of it It erects that building founded on the rock Math. 7. that is unmoveable and cannot be shaken This love of God by which he makes us his choice ones lies close and concealed a great while in the heart during which time the work of faith is weak and low very wavering and apt to faile But afterwards by falling into divers temptations wherein our faith is put to its proof it does of weak become strong When faith thus begins to come forth with power that love by which it workes is spread abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given to us whereby we come to experience our selvs to be firmly rooted and grounded in the love of God to the making us able to comprehend with all Saints what is the length breadth depth and height of it whilst the communication of it is enjoyed by any measures Some do ascend yet farther even to know the love of Christ in its highest and most extensive diffusing of itself passing knowledge exceeding all measure and filling them with all the fulnes of God The former communication of God who is love is the single portion or gift of Christ in spirit which all true Saints have their share in The second is the double portion which they only do inherit who are made Gods first born Sons higher then the kings of the earth whose names are written in heaven Concerning this love in both these sorts of true beleevers and Saints we shall come in its proper place to a more particular search and consideration First we shall enquire into it as it is in its concealed state making us babes in Christ in a low and weake exercise of saving faith 2dly as it hath a time wherein it comes to be spread abroad in the heart to the warming and quickning of it and to the fulfilling of the work of faith with power in an activity that failes not but is immutable encreasing more and more to the perfect day of Christs second appearance In generall we may say that this is that love which 2 Cor. 3. is called the spirit which where it is there is liberty even a liberty with open face to behold the glory or image of the invisible God and by beholding it to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory a state directly opposite to that of the spirit of bondage The love we speak of does truly regenerate and bind up the will in a unity of operation with the will of the Son of God It workes that hearing eare and obeying heart to Christ in spirit in the life and exercise whereof true and saving faith does consist yea it is the activity itself which quickens that faith and by the which faith workes This love hath its beginning in us in and with Christs first appearance but it is perfected and comsummated by working out the redemption of the body at the day of the manifestation of the Son of God in the brightnes of his second comming At that time the creature itself the very animalish and sensuall soule in us with the filthy garments of the mortall body wherewith it is clothed shal be freed from the bondage of corruption and brought into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God putting on the chang of raiment which in that day wil be provided for it With this love the father loved our head the second Adam And the WORD that was from the beginning laid hold on the seed of David so as that both he that sanctifieth and he that is sanctified became one one engraffed WORD that is the fathers love the spirit wherein he is alwayes well pleased which can do nothing but what he sees the father do and those things he does and fulfills after him with a heart after the fathers heart He is so entirely in the fathers love and well-liking that he shews him all that himself doth or hath a purpose and intention to do For this end Christ hath sanctified himself that is our nature in his owne person that he which sanctifieth and we that are sanctified may be all of
her untimely and over-forward request on their behalf Mat 20 20 22. She seemed desirous to have them in the throne before they had drunk of the cup and bin made partakers of the great tribulations wherein they were to abide with Christ and all other beleevers in them represented This suffring season is to hold till the time of the Gentils shal be fulfilled for the treading downe and trampling under foot by the space of 42. months the holy city and tabernacle of David that hath bin reared up amongst them by the Apostles ministry after it was fallen amongst the jews Act 15. v. 16 17. When it was fallen amongst the jews it came to be set up in the midst of the Gentiles a nation that for a season did very affectionately bring forth the fruits of the gospel Thus the residue of men those that were not regarded till the jewish nation was rejected and broken off from the good olive tree were brought to seek after the Lord even all the gentiles upon whom my name is called saith the Lord who doth all these things This is the first act and effect of Christs resurrection or of that day in the spirit upon the hearts and minds of the children of this his Kingdom which is preparing them by the trialls allotted to them in the keeping the word of his patience to sit with him on his throne and shine forth in the day of his power not only as bright morning stars but as the sun itself in its strength in the Kingdom of their father The beginning of the whole day of Christs Kingdom wherein he will have the word of his patience kept in faith and faithfull witness-bearing was without all question from the time of his Ascension according as it is written Act. 1.8 Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth To like effect spake Ananias to Paul upon his conversion Act 22 14 15. The God of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will and se that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth that thou mayst be a witnesse unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard And although there be something in this conversion of Paul which is extraordinary as to his unction and mission into the ministry and office of Apostleship yet this description of the Apostles conversion hath that in it as to the essentiall parts of it which is common to all the spirituall seed of Abraham For first they are all chosen to know the will of God secondly to know it by the sight of the just one Christ in spirit through faith thirdly to heare the voyce and understand the language of the spirit of Christs mouth by the eare that is given them to hear what Christ in spirit saith to the churches or to particular members of his body fourthly to be witnesses according to their measure and degree of light in their stations and callings of what they have seen and heard In this sence the whole spirituall seed of Abraham are Christs witnesses specially since his ascension from which time he began to be seen by them in spirit and to speak to them from heaven by his indwelling presence in their hearts through faith True beleevers as hath bin opened are of two sorts or degrees Both of them are free-born sons and citizens of the same heavenly Jerusalem and holy city Christ calls them his two witnesses and declares the sackcloth testimony of his name which they are to bear during the treading down of them the holy city underfoot even by the gentiles of the outward court for the space of 42 months But although that these two witnesses were in being and also engaged in the work of witnessing what they had seen and heard according to Christs commission immediatly after the comming down of the holy Ghost upon them at the day of Pentecost not only in Jerusalem and Samaria but also to the ends of the earth yet the time of the treading them underfoot by the gentiles of the outward court did not begin till some hundreds of years after nor by the same reason could their sackcloth testimony begin which had relation to that treading downe and must needs therefore be contemporary with it When once this began it was to continue but 42 months or 1260. years from the very same time as that power that was to tread them downe came to have its beginning as authorized or permitted to make war with them and bring them under To the Beast which all the world wonder'd after and fear'd to make war with was power given to continue 42 months that he might make war with the saincts and overcome them Rev. 13.7 Who or what this beast is was long agoe made knowne to Daniel and by him foretold and described ch 7 23 24. It is said to be the fourth beast signifying the fourth Kingdom or universal oppressing power that should be on the earth over the saints of God and that should come in processe of time to stand up in a diversity from all the other three Kingdoms or universall monarchies that had gone before it This considerable variation did come to passe and shew itself in a horn of remarque and note by itself that upheld the same oppressing power and principles against the saints of the most high for the treading downe of the holy city that the other three had don before but under a new forme or name of Christian which they had never owned On the account of this name or outward profession of Christianity which the fourth beast came to make in the course of the little horne he plucks up by the roots the worship and many prophane customs that had bin cleaved to owned and practised during the reigne of meer down-right heathenisme all the time of the three former Kingdoms Babylonish Persian Grecian as also a great part of the Romane till this fourth Kingdom or universal monarchy came to be headed with the little horne under the style of universall Bishop or cheif preist when the Romane empire that had bin heathenish came to divide and sinke downe into ten horns or Kingdoms all agreeing yet in this to give up their power to the little horne in acknowledging the papacy and universal Rule over them in spiritualls by the Bishop of Rome These ten Kings with their civil power thus uniting under one head as to spiritualls do together with their head constitute that course and state of the fourth monarchy under which it is called the little horne Now when the time of this combination began is somewhat difficult to say exactly and to a year But if the beginning of this little horne be once rightly found out and stated it will not be difficult to say when it shall end or when the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth shal end which must be at the same time For the 42 months of this little hornes continuance in
A pilgrimage into the land of promise By the light of the vision OF Jacobs ladder and faith OR A serious search and prospect into life eternal pointing out the way and discovering the passage out of mans mutable state of life into a state of immutable righteousnes and glory through the knowledg of Christ in Spirit Written in the year 1662 by HENRY VANE Knight towards the latter end of his prison-state by himself fully reviewed and perfected some few dayes before his suffering and left as his last Testimony and service to this present generation according to the wil of God before he fell asleep HOSEA 12.3.4 and 6. verses He took his brother by the heel in the womb and by his strength behaved himself princely with God Yea he had power over the angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Beth-El and there he spake with us Therefore turn thou to thy God keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually Printed in the yeare 1664. A TREATISE CONCERNING ETERNAL LIFE THe purposes and counsells of Gods mind are first taken within himself before they are or can be knowne to any other They are therefore called the deepe and hidden things of God For God is his owne counsellour There is none that can instruct him His mind is not only comprehensive of all that can be knowne and consulted upon but hath those eternall springs of light and power by which he is the supreame cause and orderer of all things And these as to their manner and kind of operation are three These first and great powers are they who in their name and manifestation are the Father Son and Holy Ghost by whom the same God doth forme and take all his counsells within himself and put them in execution according to the purpose of his owne mind These are the severall distinct powers of discerning and will in the same divine essence With the first of them God minds things after his owne incomprehensibile manner of being knowing and willing them as God Of this patern there is no imitation I am says God and there is none besides me With the second God minds things on earth or in the world condescending to proportion himself in his knowledg and will to the creature in order to be found in the likenes and fashion of created nature and so to act over the law first in himself that the creature may be capable to imitate and fulfill it after him With the third he does so admirably joyne and put both these minds into one and fix them in such most perfect harmony and love that they are not to be divided yet keeps and upholds in each their proper and distinct operations By this threefold operation God sets up the eternall law and causes the manifestation of that which is the very wisedome and reason of God himself the head of Christ the person of the blessed mediatour For he who thus is three in counsell wherein he decrees and orders all things giving the law in one and the same eternall mind does not execute by himselfe immediatly but by the Mediatour his representative or image the Angel of his presēce in whom his name or likenes is placed in order to beare it and bring it forth into the sight and participation of others By the immediate operation of the Trinity he is made and constituted the Lords Christ and true Messiah the secondary and executing power ordeined by God as the breath and voyce of his mouth to fulfill all his wills and all the counsells of his heart This is he who was from the beginning the breath of God the inspiration of the Almighty the face and image of the invisible God First by eternall generation within the mind of God 2. By everlasting emanation as the outshining light and express character of he divine essence 3. By temporall incarnation and inseparable personal union whith the seed of David According to his eternal generation he is without Father without Mother without descent coeternally and coessentially God with the Father or first cause of all no lesse truly and properly God then God himselfe But that which he is by everlasting emanation is the first born of every creature he that was before all things and by whom all things consist And according to his temporall incarnation he was made man like unto us in all things sin only excepted He is the inward writing of the eternal law that is written and lies within the bosome of the father None can read or unloose the seales on the backside of this writing but the lion of the tribe of Judah he that from eternity hath knowne Gods mind and bin his counsellour as the almighty breath of his month inspiring and giving life and being to all things which when put forth doth execute most exactly all that the dictates of Gods mind require to be done Without him is not any thing made that is made Nay admit the creature could receave being without him which it cannot yet the eternal law and will of God could never be knowne to angels or men unlesse revealed to them by this lively oracle and voyce of his month For all things are delivered to him of the father and none knows who the Son is but the Father nor who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveale him No man hath seen God at any time The only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him even he that was in the beginning was found in the forme of God and thought it not robbery to be equall with God the WORD in whom is life and that life the light of men By him comes all hearing understanding and obedience to be wrought in the creature The first creature in which it is wrought is the building not made with hands eternal in the heavens made part of himself who as Mediatour is a mixed seed of both natures in one person and Spirit In this Spirit he comes in the dispensation of the fulnes of time to be made flesh and so hath in him the voice of God the voice of the head and cheif of angels and of the head and cheife of men by meanes whereof he speakes and converses with all created understandings in their owne likenes and language Thus comes he to be that spirituall ladder and way of graduall entercourse by means whereof the angels that are ascending and descending upon him doe keepe the doore open betweene heaven and earth and he fils al things This is Gods first best and most perfect worke finished from the beginning the works that are so much the object of Gods knowledg and delight that he therein rests subjecting them no more to change This is the building not made with hands eternal in the heavens the invisible and exemplary paterne unto both creations the rock whence they flow Deut. 32.4 He is the rock his work is
power and office by the sight givē to them of his star a star that made him known to thē and went before them to conduct them to a sight of him in his owne person which is al that this sort of messengers or preachers of Christ can do Thus the book of the creatures by Gods special Ordination and institution in the way of types ād figures through the ministry of angels does teach and preach the righteousnes of God which is in Christ in order to lead us to the personal sight of him that we may in the end hear himself speak After this manner the righteousnes of God in Christ is and may be manifested without the law or written word Secondly In the same Psalm he mentions another sort of preaching and teaching of the knowledg of Christ and that is out of his law the law of his written word the ministry whereof is for the converting of mens Soules and it is a sure Testimony that makes wise the simple more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold sweeter also then hony and the hony-comb The righteous statutes and judgments of God signified in his written word reioyce the heart and are true and righteous altogether His commandement is pure enlightning the eyes Concerning the law or command of God thus manifested Christ sayes search the Scripturs whose true office is not only to revive and instruct you in that law that was written in your hearts at the creation and lost by the fal but to send you to me also that by obteyning a personal sight of me in spirit you might be farther instructed in the knowledge of me But ye wil not come unto me that ye may have life Thirdly and lastly Ps 8 2 David shews that there is another sort of preachers that God sends as labourers into his harvest saying out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou founded or ordeined strength because of thine enemies and that thou mightest stil the enemy and the avenger These babes and sucklings Christ himself interprets and expounds to us Luke 10.21 first of those his sent ones seventy in number which he immediatly authorized and qualified by commission from himself sending them two by two before his face as his harbingers and forerunners into every city and place whither he himself would come Secondly he expounds it of those babes and children of the fathers begetting to whom he reveals those things which he had hid from the wise and prudent One of these babes Peter is acknowledged by Christ to be Mat. 16.17 when he called him the rock Christ hereupon owned him as one of the blessed seed who had that sight and knowledg of Christ in spirit given to him which none but the father could reveale Flesh and blood could neither give nor receave it For such knowledg of Christ requires a spiritual eyesight and discerning peculiar to these children and babes of the fathers owne begetting the plantation of his owne right hand of whom Christ sayes Mat. 13.16 17. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear Verily I say unto you many prophets and righteous men have desired to se those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them For all things are delivered to me of my father and no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son wil reveal him This sight of the Father and Son in their mutual relations to and fruitions of each other gained by the personal sight of Christ in spirit is mentiond by Paul 1 Cor. 9.1 when he says Am not I an Apostle have not I seen Christ or am not I one of those that by the sight of Christ in spirit and the revelation of the Son in me have receaved grace and Apostleship to the obedience of faith among al nations for his name These are the pure in heart and poor in spirit that are taught after this most excellent manner to se God and have the knowledg of Jesus Christ in order thereby to be made ministers and witnesses as wel of the things at first seē by them as of those also wherein afterwards Christ yet reserus himself farther and more fully to appear unto them These speak the things which they know testify that which they have seē whether their witnesse be receaved or no having themselv first heard the record that God gives of his Son and set to their seal that God is trues This is the threefold cord the lines whereof are streched out over al the world and to the ends of the earth by the quickning power of the living WORD He rideth upon the heaven of heavens of old Loe he sends out his voice in each and in al these his dispensations and that a mighty voice sharper then any two-edged sword peircing even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow a discoverer of the thoughts and intents of the heart Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight All things are naked and open to the eyes of this our great saviour and redeemer And as he speaks immediatly by himself by the voice of his owne mouth so does he also send out his voice by his hosts or armies of angels those ministers of his which doe his pleasure and signify his commands to others which they receave as always attending and hearkning to the voice of his word The word therefore as at first it is given in a fore-running and preparatory dispensation to the Sons appearance in his owne person is called Heb. 2.2 the word spoken by angels the command whereof is so stedfast that every transgression and disobedience thereof receaves a just recompence of reward By the Rule and autority of the holy and elect angels exercis'd according to his word and law was God the Mediatour Pleased to put and keep in subjection the whole first creation even man also who in his first and mutable state is the cheif and highest member thereof next under the angels themselvs By means of this angelical ministry and Rule under Christ or in the hand of the Mediatour the righteousnes of God wrought out in the person of the redeemer is made manifest without the law to the gentiles that are without law that is the knowledg of the Scriptures or written word as also by the law to the jews that are in and under the teaching of Gods written oracles and do or may there find the witness and manifestation thereof In and by these it doth appear that Jesus Christ died for our sins and is risen again for our justification By jews in this case we are not only to understand the seed of Abraham according to the flesh but those also among the gentiles who are planted into the same good olive tree Christ on the same tearms of mutability as they
is neer to every one of us upon whose name if we call he will save us from our sins and make our reconciliation once more with God if the fault be not in ourselvs Yea he will save us to the uttermost if we continue in our obedience and in a pliablenes of spirit to the voyce and words of his mouth that will be a sure guide to us till it have brought us into that kingdome of his that cannot be shaken These are the first sort of servants and subjects that may be found faithfull and obedient unto the word and command of God which was from the beginning These are they that feare God and work righteousnes by an inward teaching suited to the spirituall senses of the naturall mind which is the same with the light and law of pure nature Now of these some and those the greatest part by far being wholly left to their owne choice and in the hand of their owne counsell continue not in their obedience but perish through a hardnes and impenitency of heart in which they rebell against the encreasing measure of light with which the holy Ghost would enlighten them in order to the enlarging of their hearts to an entire and stedfast walking with God in that Covenant of his that cannot be dissolved But others of them through Gods free and peculiar preventing grace are withheld from so sinning against God and are layd hold on and apprehended by the son's comming into their soules and contracting a most intimate and inseperable marriage union with them fastning them to himself the rock af ages and cheif corner stone by whom their bow is made to abide in strength and their arms are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Thus of servants they do with the eunuch and centurion who were converted by Philips and Peters ministry of the outward word become Sons that are heirs according to the promise or else they are admitted immediatly to the fight of Christ in spirit as Paul was in his conversion unto which heavenly vision they prove not disobedient being taught not only to live in the Spirit but to walke after the Spirit This then that we have bin speaking of is the first light and workmanship that Christ in his first appearance may and does visit the sons and daughters of men with even those that are not yet brought to the knowledg of his voice in and by the holy Scriptures There is then a second degree of light and glory wherein Christ breakes forth in the workmanship of his Spirit upon the hearts and minds of men which compared with the first is a more excellent and neer approach to the sight of the Son himself testifying most particularly in what manner and at what time the WORD was to be made flesh and in that flesh to be crucified and die for our sins and to rise againe into a life wherein he was never to die more Now the voice of this word is from divine inspiration moving in the hearts and speaking by the mouth of Moses and other the Servants the Prophets of the Lord in the old Testament to John the Baptist and afterwards by the holy Evangelists and Apostles conteining the doctrine of both Covenants that of works and that of faith the law and the Gospell These divine words and oracles were committed to writing and preserved for the use of the Church from Moses his time downwards to this present day by Gods especiall and admirable providence called the holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus They are not of any private interpretation but attended with the ministry of the holy Ghost in his various distributions and gifts dividing unto every one severally as himself pleases to the making the doctrine flowing from this word pure and converting the soule that also which is an enlightning of the eyes and a washing of the heart with clean water from its old sins it is profitable also for reproof correction and instruction in righteousnes to the making the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good word and work even such hearers of the word and doers of the work as prove blessed in their deed if the fault be not in themselvs in failing to performe the condition of the Covenant through that faith which excludes boasting and failes not This second sort of hearers and doers of the word are they that are alive unto God through Jesus Christ by hearing the voice of the living word in and through the ministry of the outward letter of the Scriptures testifying of Christ and of the work of redemption given to him by the father to finish and of his comming not by water only but by water and blood to the paying a ransome for our sins and for the planting of us into a likenes with him both in his death and resurrection Under this second dispensation which is the ministry of the outward and written word accompanied with the presence and power of the holy Ghost and his gifts there is a workmanship of Christ formed in and upon the heart consisting of severall degrees and growths up into him who is our head the good olive tree that is willing ready and able to receave us into himself as our spirituall root which bears us and fills us with the oile and fatnes that springs up from the same into every branch and member of his body considered either as his body is his living flesh ot as it is his flesh crucified 1. As it is the mannah and living bread that is the life of the world or of the worldly Church and enlightned naturall man that may eat and drinke in his presence at this his table and eat and drinke his flesh and blood to their owne damnation 2. There be those that feed upon the crucified flesh the carkasse or dead body of Christ out of whose weaknes comes strength and from whose crucifying comes that meat which perishes not but is bread that nourishes to eternall life Thus it is written Rom. 14. None of us that live liveth unto himself and none of us that die doe or ought to die unto our selvs But whether our faith be weake and low and our naturall ability to hear and obey active and strong in us or whether the work of our faith be strong and powerfull and our natural activity weak and low yea brought into the very grave with Christ the life or the death is not to be to ourselvs but to Christ In and with him must we live and in and with him must we die Whether then we live with Christ by faith as it is weak or whether we die with Christ by faith as the work of it in us is powerfull and strong we should live to the Lord and die to the Lord that so living and dying we may be found amongst the number of those that are the Lords For this end and to
its persecuting power and war on the saincts who prophesy all the same time in sackcloth as a despised rejected remnant of outcasts are according to the true meaning of the holy Ghost to take their date and beginning from that conspiracy or combination of the ten hornes uniting in one preistly head as to spiritualls Concerning the Rise then of this little horne we may safely assert 1. That there was a time certaine when the papal power did begin and that time was after the dissolution of the Roman empire as it was meerly heathenish And this power was as the corner stone to cement and build up the ruins of the Roman empire into ten Kingdoms bearing the name of Christian and acknowledging the supremacy of the pope Secondly That so soon as this power was first in being the power which hath made war with the saincts ever since did begin For these ten Kingdoms with their Ghostly father the Pope have ever since bin treading down and keeping under the holy city or true citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem necessitating the two witnesses if they will prophesy at all to do it in sackcloth that is under great persecution and tribulation Thirdly It is evident that from the time of such beginning of the power of Daniels little horne or last branch of the fourth Kingdom upon the earth the sackcloth Testimony of the witnesses did also begin And after the continuance of the one and the other for the space of 42 months or 1260 years the day of the Kingdom of Christs patience is to expire and the time of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth is to be no longer But in stead hereof the time of the lambs wrath is to come and be revealed from heaven against all this bestiall domination over his saints and he will openly take to himself his great power and reigne He will set up his Kingdom over the heads or on the top of all the other Kingdoms and Rule with his saints or the earth one thousand yeaves Rev. 20. In order and by way of preparation to this Christ comes in the latter rain of his spirit upon the earth to gather the harvest of the world and keep the last and great feast of Tabernacles to which the true spirituall Israelits amongst jews and Gentiles are invited Zech 14 16 21. These then are the two distinct commings of Christ wherein he comes to his people as the former and the latter raine in this third day that is the day of his Kingdom in spirit the day wherein first he shews his royall patience and forbearance towards his worst enemies and the day wherein secondly he shews forth his royall power and universall irresistible command in earth as well as in heaven The one as well as the other of these dayes or parts of the third day above mentioned do belong to this great Kings making himself knowne even as he is the Son of man ordeined by God to judg the world in righteousnes But it may be demanded since both these make but the one day of Christs Kingdom in spirit called in Hosea the third day wherein he hath promised to raise up the children of this his Kingdom and cause them to live in his sight how comes it to passe that during the long time of Christs first appearance in the Kingdom of his patience the true saincts are in an outwardly suppressed and afflicted condition as inhabitants of the dust trampled under foot by the powers of the world The answer is easy by this short and cleer distinction The raising up or resurrection of them to live in his sight which Christ promises is twofold 1. Such a raysing up as is wrought inwardly in their minds directing them to the sight of things above and fastning their affections and desires accordingly binding them up in the life which is hid with Christ in God This first kind of resurrection is knowne and experienced in themselvs by the renewings of their inward man day by day under the perishings and decayes of their outward when they are looked upon as in the grave in a very sad and low condition by the eye of the world 2. But secondly there is a raising them up to live in Christs sight discernably to the very eye of the world At that season glory and honour shal be put upon their very outward man and they shal be called to sit downe at Christs right and left hand in the Kingdom of his power to the visible treading all their enemies under their feet like mire in the streets They shall also administer healing and refreshing to the whole creation of God For in this seed all nations of the earth shal be blessed and the very creature freed from the bondage of corruption The promise then of raising up the true children of the Kingdom shal be made good both these wayes and that successively the one after the other as will appear in its proper place when the day of Christs second appearance in spirit shal be particularly spokē to But in this the scripture is very positive and expresse that untill we be children of the resurrection in the first of these respects during the season of suffering with Christ we shall never be children of it in the second If we die not or suffer with him now we shall not live and reign with him thē It therefore highly concerns us even as much as to make our calling and election sure to have the certain and cleer discovery yea and practicall experience of what it is that makes the children of the resurrection in the first sence For over those only that are such the second death will have no power And they also are of two sorts being found in a first or second degree of life from the dead which is wrought out in Christ as he is the Son of man In the first of these they are made sharers with the holy angels in their atteinment and fruition of God and goe no higher But in the second they are sharers with Christ in that higher atteinment and fruition of God which he hath as he is the engraffed WORD and is admitted accesse to the very similitude and shape of God in his owne proper forme Man by his owne voluntary sinfull act hath concluded himself and God by his judiciall act hath concluded all men under the death of sin and unbeleif In these chains might man justly have bin left by God for ever bound up in an alienation of mind from all good But by the tender mercies of God in the redeemer he is visited by the power of that voice of the son of God which raises him out of the grave awakens him out of this deadly sleep into which he is not at first so deeply plunged as to be irrecoverable and without remedy This death is properly of the mind as become the servant of sin and it is not only that by which the spirit of the mind is gone out from its subjection to
his law in both his Covenants so plaine that those who run may read it And unto this selfsame thing the heart and mouth of those that God will think fit to use in this ministry shal be wrought by Christ spirit as the most glorious earnest they can receave here on earth of the life in glory which they shall for ever enjoy with Christ in heaven For it shall come to passe that those who are thus called into this ministry shal be found speaking with the tongues not of men only but of angels and to have also the love requisite to distinguish them from all counterfeits Yea they shall have this love of Christ and the spirit of it perfected in them to the casting out of all torment and feare making them bold as a lion fearing the face neither of devils nor of men in the discharge of this their ministry which shal be so powerfull as to turne many even innumerable multitudes to righteousnes to the admiration of all beholders The Gentiles shal come to this light and Kings to the brightnes of the very rising thereof Then shalt thou se and flow together and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged because the noise or abundance of the sea shal be turned towards thee or multitudes and prophane persons who before were to be seen foaming out their owne filth shall now be converted to thee the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee Esay 60 5. And not the Gentiles only but the Jews also or the mysticall earthly Jerusalem consisting both of Jews and Gentiles that earth shal be made to bring forth in one day that nation shal be borne at once That Zion so soon as she travels shall bring forth her children whose wall the sons of strangers shall build up and their Kings shall minister unto her For in my wrath sayth the Lord I have smote thee but in my favour I have had mercy on thee Therefore thy gates shal be open continually they shall not be shut day nor night that may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles and their Kings with them For the nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish Yea those nations shal be utterly wasted In these beleevers shall Christ be admired and to the exercise of their faith all things shal be possible The power of the keyes shal be so committed to them as is promised that whatsoever they bind or loose on earth shall be bound and loosed in the heaven These will be found to be the angels that come forth out of the temple with the seven vials of Gods wrath commissionated to poure them out upon the beast the whore the false Prophet and the whole Kingdom of Antichrist They shall not need to take care as to what they are to speak and answer for themselvs when they are brought before Magistrates for Christs name sake for in that houre a mouth and wisdom shal be given unto them which their enemies shall not be able to resist 3. The third particular that shall accompany the second comming of Eliah is the neccessary consequent and product that shall and must attend the excellent and powerfull ministry above made knowne For it is by the breath of this mouth of the Lord in his servants the loud plaine and certaine sound of this seventh Trumpet even when it begins to sound that Jacob must arise as low and as small as he and the dispersed seed of God will at that time be judged to be in the eye of the world or in their owne sight Ezek. 37.11 These bones however they seeme to be dried up must live and by this breath of prophesy from the Lord that is to enter into them they shall once againe stand upon their feet with that firmnes and stability as never to fall more When the command is once given for the spirit of prophecy to come forth in that excellent and powerfull way of ministry before-mentioned it will first make a great noise amongst the inhabitants of the world It wil be a voyce of noise from the city a voyce from the temple a voyce of the Lord rendring recompence to his enemies And after the noise which shal be occasioned by this voice of the Lords second appearance to the great joy of his saints and utter shame of his and their enemies there shall immediatly follow a great shaking or earth quake where in a tenth part of the city shall fall to make way for the more easy and ready comming together of the dry bones which will thus gradually become an exceeding great multitude in excellent order For first the sinews and flesh will come upon them and the skin will cover them above but no breath in them yet This is a typicall description of the state of the witnesses who do for a season lie as it were breathlesse and dead in the street of the great city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt But upon the command given to the breath of prophesy that was called from the foure winds to breath upon these slain and cause them to live the breath comes into them and they live and stand upon their feet an exceeding great army even these dry bones of the whole house of Israel who looked upon themselvs a little before as those whose bones were dried whose hope was lost and who were cut off for their parts For at this time God will open as it were the very graves of his people and cause them to come out from thence into their owne land the land of the promised spirit Emmanuells land by putting after this admirable and extraordinary manner his spirit within them that shal be in them and to them as life from the dead causing them to know that the Lord hath opened their graves fro them and brought them into their owne land by vertue of the everlasting Covenant that he hath made with them and hath set his sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore The Lord in this day will performe the word spoken by the Prophet Micah chap. 2 12 13. I will surely assemble O Iacob all of thee I will surely gather the remnant of Israel I will put them together as the sheep of the flock in the midst of their fold They shall make a great noise by reason of the multitude of men The breaker up is come up before them they have broken up and have passed thorow the gate and are gone out by it and their king shall passe before them and the Lord on the head of them For the children of Israell shall abide many dayes without a King Prince or sacrifice image Ephod or Teraphim And afterward shall they return and seeke the Lord their God and David their King and shall fear the Lord and his goodnes in the latter dayes when the Mountaine of the house of the Lord shal be established upon the top of the Mountains and the las shall goe out of Zion and the word of the Lord from
last and most glorious trump of God Christs humanity as head of the elect Angels all principalities and powers being subjected unto him who as he is the Son of man is made the cheif of the aÌ„gels and the prime minister of the WORD of life for food unto them This beginning of the sounding of the seventh Trumpet is that which as hath bin said is the ministry of Eliah and goes before the ministry that shal be immediately exercised by the Son himself in his owne person By Christs revealing himself from heaven the head of angels he employes them as his reapers in the end of the world or in the last times to sever the wicked from among the just and gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend He will send a quickning Spirit of life from his presence that will breath the breath of prophecy into the holy angels those voices that are to be heard in heaveÌ„ saying The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ These voices wil be heard as it were the voice of a Trumpet talking with the Saincts on earth and calling them up into the same heavenly converse with themselvs causing them immediatly thereupon to be in the spirit beholding the throne that is in heaven and him that sits thereon as the head of those holy and blessed spirits who are all desirous to do him homage and worship refusing to take that to themselvs which is due only to their head and which the saints themselvs on earth would be but too forward to give them as was the case of John Revel 22.8 9. Under this ministry and dispensation the church and every particular member thereof do become the children that are all taught of God inwardly by this heavenly breath or angelical inspiration For this qualifies and enables them by the sight of the just one to know the mind and will of God and to do and fulfill it after Christ as they se he hath done it before them with a heart and spirit like unto his as he is the son of man And as so considered he is head of the holy angels by them speaking to and inspiring the church on earth He is also the head of that church in God the father that is above the angels so as unto principalities and powers the very elect angels by the church in this sence even the generall assembly of the first borne whose names are written in heaven the manifold wisdom of God shal be made knowne By these divine men who are the bride the lambs wife he will shew himself speaking and inspiring the good angels in heaven to all eternity and judging the evill and wicked ones into the flames of eternall fire The first of these attainments is that wherein the lower and common ranke of beleevers called in scripture the fulnes of the gentiles compared with the true Jews Gods first borne sons are gathered into society with the holy angels into a copartnership with them in an immutability of righteousnes and glory and so into Christ their head as into their proper element and sphere in which they are raysed up to live in his sight and to eat and drink with him at his table in his fathers Kingdom to all eternity Over these the second death never hath power And this is called the first resurrection which the other sort of beleevers those that are the fulnes of the Jews do enjoy in common with them during the thousand years reigne of Christ on earth And after that they have a farther ascent into the life and glory of the second resurrection which is not to be revealed in the power of it untill Christ have resigned up the Kingdom unto his father that God may be all in all But during the thousand years reigne of Christ on earth both these houses of Israel shal be gathered as sheep under one head and shepheard into one sheepfold and shine forth only in the life and glory of the first resurrection witnessing to the headship of Christ which he exerciseth over the angels and by them over the very church itself whilst the Kingdom of the son is unresigned by him into the hands of the father The life and glory of both these resurrections whether as they respect the mind or body of the true saincts and children of God or both is that immortality which is brought to light by Jesus Christ the life from the dead which will shew itself in the times appointed thereunto and translate us at length into eternity where time shal be no more And we are begotten even while here in our mortall bodies through fellowship with Christ in his resurrection unto a lively hope of this inheritance incorruptible and undefiled which fades not away ready to be revealed in these last times Untill then it is in faith only and the seed of it does beget and produce the two sorts of beleevers so frequently mentioned who now by this ministry of Eliah are beginning to be made manifest and shal be distinguished as the true Israel of God from all strangers and deceitfull workers whatsoever that either love or make a lie The first of these are in their principles said to be of the common faith and to have â—â—teined the common salvation Thus Paul writes to Titus as his son after the common faith Tit. 1 4. And Jude v. 3. sayes I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation to the fulfilling of the scripture Rom. 4 17. Gen. 17.5 speaking of Abraham I have made thee the father of many nations as wel as of one nation peculiar above and besides all the rest For so Abrahams seed was to be a seed made up of many nations and a seed of one more peculiarly beloved nation also that were to be seperated to him to dwell by themselvs and not be reckon'd amongst the nations that are the fulnes of the Gentiles Abraham is but the typicall father Christ is the father in spirit and truth to this twofold seed In Gen. 13. and 15. chapters God promised Abraham to make of him a great people numberlesse as the dust of the earth or the stars of heaven which he makes good in the fulnes of the true Jews But chap. 17.5 he gives an additional seed also which he there promises him besides what he promised before saying behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a high father of a multitude of nations Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram that is high father but Abraham high father of multitudes Hence is it that in Gods everlasting Covenant there comes to be found salvation for a multitude of nations common as it were to all mankind if the fault be not in themselvs and not salvation only for one great nation the Israel that is Gods first borne God hath therefore an everlasting love and salvation which comparatively spoken of is that which is common and extensive to a numberlesse
assuredly be found to be the beginning of the preaching of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ that is to say of the Gospel preached by that trumpet that gives the certain second and makes manifest the Sons of God in an immutable everlasting state of righteousnes and glory here upon earth in a Kingdom that cannot be shaken which is to succeed all other Kingdoms shewing itself to be the stone cut out of the mountains that will fill the whole earth This everlasting Gospel we are told Revel 14.6 7. is to be preached by an angel flying in the midst of heaven that must with a loud voice say unto them that dwell on the earth and to every nation kindred tongue and people fear God and give glory to him for the houre of his judgment is come This is the houre or the day of that great judgment wherein God will judg the world by that man which he hath ordeined Jesus Christ This houre and day is to have continuance in the course of its execution on the earth for the space of a thousand years During this time the Kingdoms of this world shal become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ as holding of him their universall head and exercising all their authority under him Revel 11.15 So then in effect Christ alone shall reigne and be exalted in that day one Lord and his name one over all the earth This day is to begin as hath bin said with the second comming of Eliah and is described in the Scriptures of truth as to the severall particulars thereof The seventh angel sounds by reason whereof it comes to passe that there are great voices to be heard in heaven appointed by Christ as he is the bright morning star and head of all Principalities and powers the true Michael and Archangel to seize upon all scepters and governments of this world to take the Rule and visible power out of the hands of all the Potentates of the earth and reassume it in such a wonderfull manner into the hands of the holy and elect angels who under Christ are appointed the highest and cheif Rulers of the visible world that by the astonishing dispensations of Gods providence in that season it will appear and be acknowledged that Christ hath begun and entered upon the taking to himself his great power in order to exercise his visible Rule as the great only and universall King over all the earth This he will do to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men giving it to whomsoever he will Yea it shal be acknowledged and seen that under the most high the heavens do rule Dan. 4.26 All matters shall at that time be carried on in the earth visibly by the decree of the watchers v. 17. the supream counsell and senate of judicature wherein the holy angels shall sit and exercise jurisdiction under Christ for the good of his church on earth They are ministring spirits in this very respect sent forth and authorized for this employment even to minister for them who shal be heirs of salvation as it is written all things are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods In that day saith Christ for brasse I will bring gold and for yron I will bring silver for wood brasse and for stones yron so glorious will then the restoration of al things be and I will also make thine officers peace and thine exactours righteousnes Violence shall no more be heard in thy land wasting not destruction within thy borders but thou shalt call thy walls of defence salvation and thy gates of justice prayse Then the haughtines of man shal be layd low and his lofty lookes brought downe and the worshippers of idols shall goe into the holes of the rocks and caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and of the glory of his majesty when he shall thus arise most terribly to shake the earth Esay 2. The same thing is promised Haggai 2 6 7. Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and the earth the sea and the dry land And I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations shall come that is to say after the terrible forerunning dispensation ministred by Eliah that went up to heaven in a fiery chariot to take his seat amongst this heavenly colledge of angels and be in that glory with other the spirits of just men made perfect shall the desire of all nations Christ himself come to perfect and consummate what is left wanting in the operation of the former ministry and fill his owne house with glory in the sight of the whole world during the space of a thousand years 2. But 2dly although at the sounding of the seventh trumpet it do come to passe that there be great voices in heaven what is that to the inhabitants that are on earth those that are at home in the body absent from the Lord whose spirits are fast asleep in the earth to wit in the organicall life and exercise of bodily senses Will not they be out of the hearing of the sound of these heavenly voices At least will they be able to understand their meaning unlesse what is uttered by the angelicall tongues be in words easy to be understood by the spirit of their minds who live and dwell in mortall clay and that an easy understanding thereof also be communicable to the sensuall part of the soule which is as the door to take in and give out againe what shal be heard by the sound of such a heavenly Trumpet By what is recorded for our instruction we may be assured this is not impossible nor unpracticable It hapned thus to the Apostle John before his change by death even whilst he was a prisoner and a banished man in the I le of Patmos for the Word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ He looked and behold a door was opened in heaven By the opening of that door he came to be made able to hear the voices in heaven the first and second voice of the angel Revel 4.1 10 8. as it were of a trumpet talking with him which sayd come up hither and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter By the power of that voice calling him he was immediatly in the spirit that is as Paul absent from the body He had such an awakening of his inward senses wrought in him such an opening and making of them meet to heare and receave what by the tongue of the angel was to be delivered that he was in the spirit or in the exercise of the same kind of life and manner of conversing with spirits that they are in one with another or that the spirits of just men made perfect do use with the holy angels when in the state of soules seperate from the body made equall to angels and children of the resurrection in the first degree or step of it which is called Revel 20
the first Resurrection The Apostle does there speak of the time when this way of heavenly converse between the saincts that are on earth and the holy angels shal be frequent and usuall and no such wonder or strang thing as yet by most it is accounted This will be brought to passe by the opening of the door in heaven interpreted by Christ himself Jo. 1.51 in his answer to Nathaniel Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the fig-tree beleevest thou Thou shalt se greater things then these What greater things A door open in heaven as a means of easy and familiar entercourse between the inhabitants of heaven and dwellers on earth The angels are to be employed as messengers of intelligence between Christ and his Saincts before the time of his owne personall converse with them on earth For saith Christ verily verily I say unto you Hereafter you shall se heaven open or the gate and door that is made into it and kept open by me for the ascent and descent of my holy angels between me and my Saincts on earth At that day Christ wil be glorified in his Saincts and honour them in the sight of them that hate them God will answer them before they pray whilst they are yet speaking he will heare and speedily avenge them of their adversaries He will grant them the desire of their hearts But when will this day be that these great and wonderfull things shal be seen The text is plain and expresse Revel 11. T is evidently to begin at the rising of the witnesses who shall immediatly upon their rising be thus in the spirit as John was on the Lords day in the I le of Patmos This wil be the proper and usuall dispensation in that day of the Lord that is to begin at the sounding of the seventh trumpet The spirit of life from God shall then enter into the witnesses set them upon their feet and immediatly qualify them to be in the spirit or have their inward senses awakened and fitted to hear and receave messages from heaven and the knowledg of the mind of their Lord by the immediate impression and inspiration of angels employed by him for that purpose We know this was frequently the case with Daniel and most of the other dear servants and prophets of the Lord. Unto Jacob this great mystery and truth was most particularly and distinctly foretold in the ladder which he saw the feet whereof touched the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels ascending and descending upon it and the Lord himself standing above and speaking by that means unto Jacob acquainting him thereby with his mind and giving to him most rich and precious promises The interpretation of this ladder was not only made by our saviour to Nathaniel as we have opened but it was at the same time given to Iacob with the vision itself as appears by the Result that came into his mind thereupon when he sayd How dreadfull is this place It is the very house of God where his throne is It is the very gate of heaven through which by the ministry of angels in the hand of Christ as he is the son of man and hath the use and exercise of all kinds of humane sense in perfection in his glorified manhood the inward and outward man of the saincts shal be so affected changed and transformed as to give them a kind of entrance into and a being in heaven even whilst they are yet here in the body This Christ wrought and obteined the power of when he ascended up above all heavens and as man did come to have a more excellent name then the angels Now that he ascended what is it but that he who was in the forme of God and counted it not robbery to be equall with God did first descend lower then the angels into the fashion of an earthly man the lowermost part of his habitable earth Prov 8 31. even the animalish and sensuall nature of man using and exercising as well the bodily as spirituall senses appertaining to the very naturall man When he had done this by laying hold on the seed of Abraham and receaving it into personall union with himself he set up that ladder in his owne person the feet whereof stand on the earth whilst the top of it enters into the highest heaven For he that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens that he might fill and fulfill all things That therefore which Jacob pronounced in the spirituall interpretation of his vision is most undeniable This is none other sayes he then the house of God the building not made with hands whose builder and maker is God the fathers house wherein are many mansions built by the eternall WORD and wisdom of the father in the person of the mediatour considered as he is the first borne of every creature and the beginning or first begotten from the dead Col. 1. in whom is that life that is the light of men who was before all things and by whom all things consist The way for God that is the high and lofty one inhabiting eternity to descend and come to dwell in the humble broken and contrite spirit as the place of his rest and the way for the humble poor and broken spirit to ascend into the persence and sight of God all this was wrought out in our nature by the WORD that made himself flesh and in that body died rose again and ascended where he was before as in the volume of Gods book it is written of him This he told his owne disciples Jo. 14. In my fathers house are many mansions If it were not so I would have told you Behold I go to prepare a place for you to set the ladder by which the ascent and descent is contrived into my fathers house for such as you are And if I goe and prepare a place for you you may be sure I will come againe and gather you unto my self that where J am ye may be also At his comming again the same Apostle John finds the thing to be true that his Lord had promised For Revel 11.12 19. it appears that upon the rising of the witnesses and sounding of the seventh trumpet the temple of God wil be opened in heaven which is the same opening of the heavens before-mentioned Jo. 1.51 and there wil be seen in his temple the arke of his Testament the law of the two tables written in the heart of Christ the Son of Man from whose presence the fiery law is to be dispensed by the ministry of angels at which there wil be lightnings voices thunderings an earth quake and great haile The door into heaven being thus set open the risen witnesses are spoken to v. 12. saying come up hither or be with me in the spirit in a mind fitted to enterteine converse with me by the ministry of the holy angels And for such a blessing and benefit be not unwilling