the other sort of these Witnesses is because that is wanting to them which should fix them and make them unchangeable in well-doing and cause them to be Pillars in the House of God that never go out more That they are partakers of righteous Principles and are qualified with Power to work Righteousness and this from present annointing and impression of the true and right Spirit is not nor ought not to be denied them They may be Virgins and have Lamps well trimed with Oyl fresh and full and yet not able to keep this Oyl from spending and going out nor prevent their own being to seek for want of it when they should have the greatest use of it And indeed the first sort do confess as much and own their Righteousness to be mutable and they no longer to have certainty in it than they can stand in the Obedience and that their standing or falling may be or may not be as they give their free assent or dissent to the Good and Evil that presents it self to them But with many under the second sort of Witnesses it is not so for they fasten upon the Righteousness of Christ that is wrought in his Person as that which is unchangeable in it self which it is if they do but rightly apply it and hold it upon the Texnure of the absolute and better Promises which are by the new Covenant whereof they make no doubt but they do And as to their Sanctification they have the Law for their Rule which in it self is Moral and Perpetual and so they believe all real and true Conformity to it wrought in their hearts must also be although their hearts be not yet made that good soyl that where it hath received the Word and retained it for a season are not prepared to keep it for ever and to bring forth fruit with that patience as will lose all other things rather than ever be prevailed with to let it go From both these sorts of Witnesses Christ is Preached and Righteousness made known and Propagated in the World and a Testimony kept up against open Looseness and Prophanness Atheism and Idolatry and by these Spiritual Traders and Merchants in the Traffick of Christ's Goods and Talents of the Common Gifts and Graces of his Spirit there is by some a right good use and approvement made so as they are at last perswaded to put them to the Exchangers for their Lord's Advantage and their own benefit being willing to purchase the one Pearl of great price which is obtained through saving Faith and Regeneration for many of these small Pearls that in the Day of Proof and Tryal will not endure And those that do eat and drink unworthily of this Table of the Lord notwithstanding the many wonderful things they do in his Name he will profess he knows them not but let them see they have eat and drunk their own damnation and left themselves wholly without all excuse And therefore both these degrees and growths up into Christ Jesus as branches in the Vine that after real union must either by better husbandry applied to them come to receive a fastening in and with the Root that cannot be shaken nor dissolved or else prove withered branches at last that upon tryal are only fit for the fire Their great care and business should be to make their Calling and Election sure and from evidence which cannot fail nor deceive experience that the Root bears them and not they the Root And thus we come to the Consideration of the other two sorts of Witnesses that are the standing Plants and Olive Trees in the House of God which are planted by the Fathers right hand and none whatsoever can pluck up In the former I have spoke to Christ dwells as in his Tents and mutable habitations who in that respect are called Temples of the Holy Ghost that may so be defiled that God may destroy and cast them out of his sight for ever but these we now come to describe do Constitute that Mount Zion that cannot be moved that Heavenly Jerusalem which is made a quiet habitation a place of everlasting Rest a Tabernacle that shall not be taken down as the first must in order to be new built in the Regeneration not one of the Stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the Cords thereof be broken but there the Lord will be for ever a place of broad Rivers and Streams that shall spring up into life eternal and that from the lowest Ebbs at first no higher than the Anckles become still ascending not only to the heighth and stature of man in his fullest perfection but also above it till it come to be a River to swim in a River pure and clear as Cristal that proceeds from the Throne of God and of the Lamb the Son of man glorified in the midst of the street and on either side whereof is the Tree of Life or those who live and feed upon that incorruptible Fruit. The work which is wrought by Christ in and upon the two first sort of Professors of his Name is that which seals them and binds them fast up in the bundle of life unto the Redemption that is eternal and makes them to give witness to what Christ is and doth in his second Ministry as he sends the holy Ghost the Spirit of Truth which abides in them that are made Receivers of him under an Obligation never to depart from them nor suffer them to depart from him that is he that stablisheth us in Christ pouring out that Anointing which sealeth us with the Seal of the living God as with the Name of our Father in our forehead the effectual calling of whose Name upon us by working in us and making us fit Vessels to receive it and bear it is our Adoption and that manner of admitting us unto the right and dignity of Sons which makes us heirs according to the Promise And this is done by Christ not as Creator and the Giver of the Law and Life of pure Nature upon its first Principles but by Christ as he ministers that Spirit of Truth which is the Inspiration before-described that proceeds from the Father and the Son by the operation of the holy Ghost or third Person in the Trinity whose work is Perfection and consummative of what is already in being by the Creation and Operation of the Son or Eternal Word and yet causeth so great an Alteration in the natural being of man taken at his best from what it was before and that so much for the better with respect to abundance and immutability of that which Nature it self calls good and righteous that it justly deserves to be call'd a new Creation or Regeneration that gives a new Creature Being and Life far excelling the first and much differing in glory from it To evidence this Let us consider Man in the righteousness of his Natural being wherein he hath a right understanding of God's mind in what is required
that came willingly the skins the Badgers skins the red dyed Rams skins for the Covering of the Tabernacle on the out-side good enough yet very course the Boards of Shittem wood the Curtains the Pillars of Wood of Brasse of Wood over-laid with Gold each according to its place and service in the Tabernacle more or lesse excellent as more or lesse inward or spiritual So was the Linnen the Purple the Blue the Scarlet and curious Works the most curious and pure for the Vail next the Mercy-Seat So was it in the Composition of the Perfume and anointing Oyl after the curious and choice Art of the Apothecary that no Composition or Mixture must be made like it of the choicest Spices So for the Lamps of the Canalesticks to give light and for the Altar of Incense evening and morning Oh! great is the Mystery of Godliness in all these things no Lights but what was made of this pure holy Oyl must burn before the Lord if the Priests or Levites did burn any other they must be cut off And so for the Incense of sweet Spices the Lord that Spirit is very curious and can soon spy and smell out the Mixtures of Flesh or any false Compositions and abhor them So in the Priests Garments for Aaron and his Sons to minister in the nearer the Ministration was to the Lord the Purer and Holier and the Garments the more curious The imbroydered fine Linnen Coat holy and pure the Robe of the Ephod of blue the curious Ephod with the two pretious Onix Stones and the engraving therein set on the shoulder plates the curious Girdle of the Ephod with the wreathes of Gold and the holy Brest-plate of Judgement with the twelve pretious Stones coupled to the Ephod and of the same curious workmanship with the curious Girdle the Miter the Plate of Holiness and the Crown for his head For the other Priests not so curious nor such works in regard their Institutions was less glorious In all these things how excellent how skilful and what a cunning searching Spirit of discerning and Judgement had this wise-hearted Soul in the Mysteries unfolding the Riddles and hard Sayings still opening them in Spirit faithful in all God's House and keeping nothing of the Counsel of the Lord back nor hiding his Light under a Bushel but setting it up in the Candlestick so that it gave light to many of the Lord's House I was one of the number of those that constantly attending on his Discourses as oft as I was in Town knew him more in his Family Exercises and Discourses for many years than most from whom I received more help and light in the knowledge of God than from all the men in the World besides and found his Ministry most searching and trying What others took for Gold he proved it to be but Brass and some Doctrines that others preferred for Spiritual he tryed and found them Carnal He had such a Brest-plate of Judgement and Discerning that he did constantly bear the remembrance of all the Tribes of Israel on his heart before the Lord and distinguished every Tribe after his condition yea he had this singular and peculiar gift of Judgement to discern the two Natures the two Seeds the two Covenants to admiration Many a Soul he hath put upon the search that thought he had attained and ran well whom he found to be but in Egypt or at least but departing thence Shall we say he was a Scholler Nay but a Rabbi a Doctor in the knowledge of Christ in whom a greater Fulness of the riches of Wisdom and Knowledge were treasured up than in most like that Disciple that lay in Christ's bosom He obtained so long a share of his life and growth having the true sight and measure of every man's state and growth yet himself sate on a Rock higher than all and was such a blessing in his Witness and Testimony to the Lord in his threefold state of Life Death and Resurrection and so of our conformity and likeness to Him therein that no Book extant but the Striptures did ever clear so much Truth as his Retired Man's Meditations and this blessed Epistle now of his is as a Key that further opens that to the Sons of men and they are to be understood better in spirit and in operation than in words How did he seeing Truth lay scattered maimed and mangled in parts and parcels gather it all up yea and all the Professions and Professors of it and made one whole Garment of Truth amongst them all and that without any seam or rent reconciling and healing all the Wounds and Divisions that have been amongst good People from the crown of the Head to the soale of the Foot in the Spirit of Love Righteousness and true Judgement assigning every Profession and Principle his true and proper place and state in the Body whether Natural or Spiritual VALE To the scattered Seed and Sheep of CHRIST in all Nations the true Israel by Faith unknown for the most part to themselves but more to the World and Worldly Christian Yet in this their unknown or dispersed Estate owned of the Lord as the Church that are in God the Father truly pure Catholick and Christian of which Christ Jesus is the alone and immediate Head BRethren and Fathers c. that in Jesus Christ are dearly beloved and with God of great price Grace and Peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ To you that are unknown and yet well known it is in my heart to be representing the knowledge of Him that is invisible and the view of your selves in your invisible state together with those that are your known or unknown enemies as that which may prove neither unseasonable nor unprofitable to you in this day of Israel's Captivity but approaching Redemption which hastens fast at which time the Sons of God shall be made manifest If Paul Acts 17. when he passed by and beheld the Athenians Devotions with an Altar having this Inscription To the unknown God took occasion from thence to make him known whom they ignorantly Worshipped Surely it ought not to be accounted blame-worthy in any that seeth the Worship and Devotions now in practise in the visible Christian Church to endeavour the distinguishing the right Catholick Church in its Purity and way of Worship in Spirit and Truth from them and from their wayes of Worship ignorantly however zealously performed that pass under the name of Christ's Mystical Body and his Divine Institutions But you Beloved are of God Elected known as by name having this Seal and Mark from the Lord upon you which is your Stability and sure Foundation the Lord knows who are his And let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity No matter therefore if these come to you and find you as to your outward estate in Babylon where according to what is foretold by the Apostle John in the Revelation your abode is to be
that is not only not in my sight but not in preference to him that I have given to you as my face and mouth Provoke him not for my Name is in him intimating withall that herein they were the more inexcusable because they had him with them and amongst them In him the light of God's Glory was shining forth as in God's own face and very similitude speaking his Mind by his own mouth and he was to be incarnate that the same Word might be near us even in our mouth and in our heart to hear it and do it This is the Prophet like unto Moses which God said he would raise up unto them out of and from the midst of their Brethren Let us then acknowledge this great Mystery of the Father and the Son distinguishing what God is by Nature and Essence from what he gives himself to be in the Person of the Mediator the only begotten that lieth in his bosome who yet is also his Messiah whom he sends and makes his Substitute by way of his in-dwelling Deity and Presence for the performing of all his pleasure in both Worlds The Trinity is the head and immediate cause of the being and fulness which is set up in the Person of the Mediator whom they not only inspire with each of their Names and Similitudes but make him a Vessel of meet use to convey the holy Oyl in the way of a twofold Ministry and Pipe to both Creations He therefore became incarnate that he might make use of no other spoksman immediately to interpret and declare the Mind of God unto his People than the Son of man glorified of which we have the lively Type Exod. 4. 15 16. in the Office of Aaron to Moses shewing that Aaron was made the mouth to Moses and Moses the mouth to God Aarons Office of spoksman figuring out that of Christ's Manhead and Moses his that of Christ's Mediatorship in spirits before his Incarnation upon which occasion God promiseth there in the Type that which he fulfills in Spirit and Truth in Christ's Person For as Moses had Commission to speak to Aaron as God's spoksman to him so hath the Spirit of the Mediator to Jesus the Son of man And as it was Aaron's Office to be spoksman to the People so is it the Office of Christ's Manhead to be the spoksman of Him that Moses typed out that great Prophet the Angel of God's Face and Presence and to be to him the Interpreter and Declarer of God's Mind and signifier of God's Commands to all in both Worlds Christ as he is the Son of man is to himself as he is the Word of God instead of a mouth or Prophet And Christ as he is the only Begotten or Word of the Father is instead of God most high unto his own Manhead answerable to the Promise made vers 15. and thou shalt speak unto him and put words into his mouth meaning Moses to Aaron and I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you that is both of you what ye shall do Here we see and may see it with Admiration as the Queen of Sheba did in Solomon's Temple which was the Type the Glorious Ascent into the House of God and the gradual access which by one spirit we have through Christ unto the Father I would have you know saith the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 11. 3. that the head of every man is Christ the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God Christ that is the head of every man is the head of his own manhead and therefore was Christ God's Angel Messiah or sent-one before he was Man and had for his Head the one God and Father of all things How God is the Head of Christ we have shewed The blessed Trinity is the Father to that only begotten One who is the hidden Wisdom ordained before the World was to our glory The Angel that is the Messenger and Mediator of God's Covenant of whom he commands us to beware Exo. 23. 21. and to obey his voice Provoke him not sayes he for he will not pardon their Transgressions for my Name is in him What can be more plain The most high God hath his Messiah his Angel or sent-one invested with his Majesty and Power of Command whose Voice must be obeyed as the Voice of God it being his Office to be instead of God to his Church What he binds is bound what he remits is remitted for the Name of God is in him He is in likeness and truth so near to God that he is God's equal the true Michael that is second with God in the Throne and yet he that is found in the Form of God and accounts it no robbery to be equal with God doth not disdain to have also his Equals the man that is his fellow the man of his right-haud whom he hath made strong for himself With the most knowing Jews the acknowledgment of Christ in this his heavenly and spiritual being before his incarnation was most usual and avowed The Angel that redeemed Jacob Gen. 48. they call the Divine Majesty owned for God and for Christ that was tempted in the Wilderness whose Voice say they is to be obeyed as the Voice of the living God and his Office is to be the Leader and Guide of the true Israel the great Prince that is the Presence and Majesty of God and the Lord and Ruler over all the Earth as well as Heaven all that is therein being governed by his hand Unto Him the pure and simple Essence of God is the Father and he is set up from everlasting the Father and Root whence that chief Branch springs that is Jesus the Lord and Christ in the capacity of Son to this Father who must reign till all things be subdued under him that is all inferiour Rule Authority and Power whatsoever that officiate or ought to do so in his right But when that is done and finished then shall this Son also himself be subject unto Him that is his Father that raised him from the dead and put all things under him that God may be all in all This occasioned Christ whilst he was on Earth to say Joh. 12. 28. Father glorifie thy Name speaking therein to God the Mediator to Him whose Office is to be to him the Mouth of God from whom he receives the lively Oracles to deliver to his Church as it is written I will declare thy Name to my Brethren in the midst of the Church will I sing Praises unto thee And again I will put my trust in him even in him who wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right-hand of the Majesty on high or in the heavenly This made Christ say When I am lifted up I will draw all men unto me that is mediately and in order afterwards to resign them up unto his Father and give up all his interest of Rule in them
of Divine Glory which Christ's Man-head is exalted unto in which he is according to his Man-head He that is above all one with the only begotten that is in the Father's bosome and hath the highest and clearest sight of God beyond that of Angels themselves It is that all Regenerated ones that are made heirs of the Spirit in the single portion thereof are built up and are Temples of the Holy Ghost an everlasting Habitation of God through the Spirit And because the same Jesus that after this first pattern of humane Perfection which is in him gives only the Witness that he is a meer and perfect man and in the exalted and more heavenly state of Manhead which he also hath as he that God the Father hath sealed and admitted to the sight of his own shape and very similitude hath by Inheritance obtained a more excellent Name than the Angels and must also give the Witness of what he is and in what Glory he lives as he inherits the Spirit in this double portion thereof Therefore by the same new creating Power which he is intrusted to administer as he gives the Holy Ghost he produces this second sort of new men and adopted Children heirs according to the Promise upon whom Christ poures out his Spirit not only by the measure and pattern or Rule of the first Creation but above it and beyond it according to the proportion that his own glorified Manhead hath obtained it in its highest exaltation admitting them into the same bosome of the Father with himself wherein he is as the only begotten into which bosome and most intimate vision of God neither do the Angels nor first sort of Heirs and Children of the Son's Kingdom ever arrive but is reserved to be dwelt alone in by this Seed of Abraham God's friend that are made Christ's peculiar Possession consisting of a select number of his choice Favourites and Friends that he Redeems from amongst all other men to make as the first fruits of his Creation to God and to the Lamb who are joynt-heirs with him of the double Portion and co-habit together with him in his Father's bosom where they see and Inherit his Glory in the Naked and Primitive purity which it hath in the Breast of God himself Experiencing as well what the Gift of the Holy Ghost is when it is God's Name poured out above measure as well as by measure that which Paul had some taste of whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell upon his being caught up into the third Heavens to the hearing of things impossible for him to utter in his Bodily state nor others to receive And if thus we understand the third Heavens as indeed we ought then the finding out the other two next below them will not be difficult since the second Heaven is that wherein are the Angels and Spirits of Just men made perfect upon the laying down the Body and the first that Presence of Christ and knowledge of his Name which he vouchsafes unto his Church and particular Saints in the converse they have with him here below in the Body which Paul doth also call a Heaven Phil. 3. 20. where he sayes Our Conversation is in Heaven meaning by the walking with Christ in Spirit as well as being and living in it whilest we are here in this World in which Christ is able and doth appear to our Bodily sensual part before its change and putting on that which is Incorruptible as it must do and Christ's manhead thus considered as it makes this threefold Heaven was lively represented and described by the form of building God caused the Ark to be built up in Gen. 6. 16. where the directions that are given do require Noah to make it of lower second and third stories or heights one above another like the outward Court the Body of the Temple and Holy of Holies or inmost part of the House which God commanded also in Solomon's Temple and both not without signifying this great Mystery in the glorified manhead of Christ by the Spirit and Presence whereof he makes a threefold Heaven and way of converse with the Sons of men under the threefold degrees of Light and Glory that from his Face and by the Spirit of his Mouth are given forth and hath answerable Hearers and Receivers 1. That Administration of the Light of pure Nature the effects whereof upon the hearts of the Receivers produces healing and restoration of the wound made by sin and renews a like frame of Spirit in man as to the kind of it wherein he was at first Created and is still exercising his first mutable and wavering Principles that in time of tryal fail and so end in Apostacy and Death through the weakness and fault of the Vessel not of the Liquor or Oyl which is poured out into these Lamps that in his own Nature is Incorruptible but is suffered to leak out by these broken and frail Vessels Secondly The Light of pure Nature and right Reason fixed and made incorruptible through Faith and Regeneration whereby the former frailty and leaking of the Vessel is perfectly cured without changing the fashion of it any further than what is requisite to bring it into subjection and obedience to a supream Judgment and Will given as its guide and surety to sustain and influence the actings thereof throughout The Third is the Light of Divine Love which he that dwells in dwells in God and is in the Light as He is in the Light beholding divine beauty in its original where it is most attractive and binds up the Judgement and Will of the beholders into its own likeness most willingly and irresistably transforming them into the thing beloved This is the Love which casts out fear and all torment in the cleerest evidence and greatest assurance that the Creature can possess And by this Love it is when not seen that Faith works and the Spirit of Adoption crying Abba Father that Spirit and Presence of the Son that is sent into our hearts which we are knit into by an inseparable union and the Soul is formed thereby into the likeness of him that doth beget in either of the two last degrees of Light and quickning before-mentioned Both which do beget that Seed of Life in the heart that is immortal the Princely prevailing conquering Seed of Believers that are the true Israel of God to whom all the Promises are sure this is wrought by the coming of the Son in Spirit into the Soul there to beget and form his own likeness in our Understanding and Will the making us know him that is true and that we are in him that is true either according to this lower or higher birth of himself of which he calls us to partake and so become Witnesses thereof in our selves and unto others This then is the knowledge of the Truth which we are to understand doth make the Adopted Children of God free with another and better kind of
as in a wilderness condition for 1260 years now near expired And although from that state of servitude and hard bondage unto which you have been exposed by the Rulers no wrestlings or contendings by humane wisdom and power have availed to work your deliverance because the appointed time set by God is not come Yet this ought to be your comfort that so soon as that time comes there will then need very little other help than the Grave it self to cast you forth as the Womb doth her fruit which it cannot longer detain For of this be assured that Christ's dead body mystical can no more be held in its figurative grave after the set time is come than his natural body could in his literal grave Acts 2. 24. where it is said that after Christ by wicked hands had been slain God raised him up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible he should be held of it Nor are you to be too much grieved and discouraged in this your low depressed and dead estate under the rage and indignation of the World and Powers of it since to you is the promise of Life and Resurrection and you are sure for the present to be fed in the Wilderness and to be kept green and flourishing in your inward man by secret dew inspired and distilled from Heaven whatever perishing and decays are brought upon your outward where you are bearing the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus Hearken therefore to the Call that is given you of retiring inward into the life of your Head and Root the life that is hid with Christ in God And as the means to be so with more freedom labour to keep the door of your sensual part shut and fast closed about you as much as may be that the noise and diversions of this sinful and unquiet World may not disturb nor interrupt you For though through impatience and unbelief you may be arguing and concluding against your selves as the whole house of Israel did Ezek. 37. 11. that your bones are dried your hope is lost and you are cut off for your parts yet ye shall know that the Lord he is God when he hath opened and brought you up out of your graves v. 13. He will then own you visibly for his people by wonderfully putting his Spirit within you and causing you to live And when you see this your heart shall rejoyce and your bones shall flourish like an herb and the hand of the Lord shall be known towards you his servants and his indignation towards his enemies He hath the weapons of his vengeance in readiness full Vials of his wrath to be poured forth by his heavenly Militia and Troops upon the Beast and his Worshippers when all humane means fail This you are therefore to know that though the Saints who have adventured to oppose the Beast and the kingdom of Antichrist all along contending in a good Cause have been still crushed and subdued as is foretold Rev. 13. 7. yet the time is coming yea is even at the very door for God to take the business into his own hands and to put forth the power of his wrath by heavenly Instruments forasmuch as the earthly ones as you have seen have proved ineffectual And this ought to be a teaching to us to depend upon God for the avenging of his people even when all humane ability to perform it is vanished and not hastily to run out in the use of any indirect means though tempted and allured thereunto But to return to the things which we propound to set before you in this Epistle They are reducible unto these particulars following 1. First The sight and knowledge of Christ as he is the Invisible and Holy One from whom as from the Head all natural as well as spiritual good doth flow 2. Secondly Christ's Headship exercised by him ever since his Ascension as he is the Son of man glorified and this in the two distinct branches and administrations of it The one that wherein he is the Lord and restorer of pure incorrupt Nature upon the Principles of the first Covenant renewed and confirmed in his blood The other that in which he is the giver of the Holy Ghost or the Minister of the Spirit and new Name as Ointment poured forth which where it is received upon the Principles of the new Covenant never fails but abides with such for ever 3. Thirdly The true Annointed Ones or Witnesses of Christ according to both his before-mentioned Administrations and the Annointing which is given by the one and by the other 4. Fourthly Those that in Principles are opposite unto these two Annointings and the effects of them declaring their enmity in and by the continued war they maintain against them in the posture of open enemies or dissembled friends both making up but one and the same Kingdom of Antichrist 5. Fifthly What Word and part of his Counsels contained in the Promises and Prophesies not yet accomplished is the Lord now fulfilling in the present dispensations of our day 1. To the first 'T is the Testimony which came out of Christ's own mouth concerning Himself and his Father Luke 1. 22. That no man knows who the Son is but the Father nor who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him which plainly declares that the beings both of the Father and of the Son are great and hidden Mysteries The one as well as the other is mystical and invisible and must be taught and revealed before it can be truly and fully known and understood what they are Agreeable to this is that Joh. 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time that is immediately but by the means of the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him The Son therefore who is the only begotten is said to be the Image of the invisible God The first name and similitude whereby God is possible and capable to be known to others beside himself For by and from Him as the Head the knowledge and fruit of the whole Deity is derived and communicated in such fit Images and lively Representations as He hath fore-determined within himself to be known by unto his whole Creation from the beginning to the end thereof Hence it is that we find Christ the Mediator by the Prophet Isa 43. 10. speaking of himself after this manner Ye are my Witnesses saith the Lord and my Servant whom I have chosen The Lord the Mediator hath and owns for his Witnesses the Womans Seed in the head and in the members the promised Seed in his Servant the Branch the chief and principal one and in his Brethren the same Seed and who are made to bear his Fathers Name by Adoption as well as himself and to continue it for ever that one Seed Gal. 3. which saith the Apostle is Christ the mystical body that are Heirs according to promise Ye are my Witnesses sayes
could take in by its first make and constitution of being upon natural Principles he proceeds to declare his purpose to speak again and form a hearing ear and seeing eye proportion'd to his second voice adding this kind of hearing and sight to the samâ— Creature-being whose first Principles of Knowledge and Will aâ— too short and weak to bear this Voice called in Scripture the sight and hearing of Faith that must be mixed with our natural Principles as their stability and consummation and have the place of guide to them and Lord over them that the Scripture in this sense may be made good that the elder shall serve the younger The Root of this Second sight of God is wrought out in Christ as he is the only begotten that lies in God's bosom and from thence is made the Minister and Giver of what himself first receives and enjoys So that now supposing the Spirit of the Mediator that is the only begotten and first-born of every creature to be the Root of all natural Principles and Perfection as he is the Messiah and the hearer and obeyer of God's first Voice of which we have already spoken we are now to know that God proceeds to make the same only Begotten to have being and abode in him as his peculiar possession and choicest object of his Love in the relation of his Spouse and Consort He is formed and prepared hereunto by becoming him that is made able to hear receive and obey God's Second Voice his highest most excellent and fullest manner of manifestation of himself to Creature-understanding with power in the dispensation of the fulness of time to become Man made of a Woman under the Law and afterwards raised up from the dead and made to sit down on the right hand of the Majesty on high working out the same work in Jesus his Servant the chief and principal Branch which is first wrought out in himself as in the root and head of all natural and supernatural perfection It is then a kind of working over the Creature again out of its first frame and constitution of being into a frame and constitution much more excellent and capacious a state incorruptible never needing nor being subjected to change of any kind afterward which the first building upon natural principles doth and did need This working over or re-building the Creature again called in Scripture Regeneration is not simply restoration or confirmation conveying immutableness to the first Principles and no more but it is quite a new Creation that takes down of the first building as much as the Builder pleaseth and leaves no more of it standing than what is consistent with and grows up into perfect harmony use and serviceableness to and with the new addition and enlargement that is made not destroying the first Image of God in man This rebuilding work then produceth not a total anihilation of the natural being but brings upon the life and manner of operation that flows from natural principles such a cessâ—â—ion as amounts to a kind of death at least to a bitterness more than dâ—ath it self rendring it impossible for the Creature to live or move any longer unto sin and evil and quickning it and raising it out of this dead state into the greatest freedom to and stedfast perseverance in all kinds of good that is imaginable as that which becomes most natural and delightful the contrary thereunto most grievous and disquietful to it This Second Life which accompanies Salvation and brings Immortality to light is a kind of life from the dead that the natural beings of Angels and Men are begotten into by being made meet Temples and Subjects for the Holy Ghost in a state of life eternal by a union with God that can never be dissolved Angels therefore as well as Men are called Children of the Resurrection Luke 20. 35 36. as they are brought into a state never to change more Hence it is even amongst these Children of the Resurrection that the immortal life wherewith they are quickned by Christ as he is the giver of the Holy Ghost is of two sorts as to the degree and measure of the glory thereof First Such wherein Men and Angels are equal And the Second Such wherein some Men are made in such manner Christ's Equals the Lamb's or Bridegroom's Wife that lies in his bosom that they are the Angels superiours and are made joynt-heirs with Christ of that Name which he hath obtained better than that which is the Angels food that Word of God's mouth that they live upon So that now when we speak of Christ as the Author of life Eternal in this second sort of Ministry wherein the natural beings of the creature are as it were wrought over again and rebuilt we would be understood that there is a birth of this Immortality which amounts to the giving of the Holy Ghost in the single portion of it and also in the double portion of it as we shall distinctly open in its place both being distinct from that pure holy righteous life of Nature that was at first given by Creation or afterwards renewed by a Restoration and kind of new Creation of qualities but falls short of true and saving Regeneration properly and rightly explicated and made known by which the natural frame and make of the natural soul and spirit of man is in a manner wholly altered and changed and much for the better because it is raised out of its frail mutable wavering as well as sinful natural state into a strong stable immutable posture of mind in Righteousness and true Holiness as a Rock and Stone that the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against This further Gift and Grace of God though it be the end of Man's Creation and that which God as the reward to those that are obedient under the first Ministry doth promise and hold forth in a way of Promise yet is conditional and so that which in Justice God need not confer upon any that perform not the Condition but by their sin do forfeit it And therefore it so happens that all who inherit this Blessing are made receivers of it by Promise and by a second and new Agreement with God which he enters into with them in regenerating them and makes them new Creatures thenceforward to serve him and live to him in newness of Spirit and Life 3. We now come to shew according to the Third Particular proposed who those be that are Christ's Anointed Ones and Witnesses under both his fore-mentioned Administrations and the Anointing it self which is given by the one and by the other Christ is as we have shewed the Original and primitive Pattern of all Perfections the Works that were finished from the beginning known to God from all Eternity and actually wrought and set up from Everlasting in the Mediator through that Eternal Wisdom which was by God as one brought up with him Prov. 8. and whom he possessed in the beginning of his way before his Works of
by Faith through the power of which the entire resignation of our will into the leading and rule of the Spirit and Will of Christ is onely wrought and of which we shall treat particularly in its proper place though this small touch of it is needful here But the choice which Man made was to lean to his own understanding for his guide and to trust to the use of his Freedom which gave him to be at his own dispose as sufficient to encounter with and resist all Temptations and upon the first encounter failed and miscarried and let in Sin Death and Wrath upon himself and all his Posterity as the sad Consequence of that Fact of his To be then upon these terms as Adam was before his fall personally righteous and finding acceptance with God whilst we stand in such Obedience and Righteousness is an Effect which Christ in his first Ministry doth produce in the hearts of men making them in this respect the first sort of the four Witnesses we have before-mentioned and which though we have been considering of them in the Person of the first Adam before the Fall yet by the same Rule and Proportion the Witness is still the same whether it be communicated originally at mans Creation or else by renewal or restauration again after the fall by the same hand and Ministry which first gave it which Christ may do if he please and that he hath done is most obvious and undeniable from the experience we have had of late years within these Nations in a sort of Professors and Witnesses of Christ that do exactly go upon this bottom of Personal Righteousness wrought by the Principles of pure Nature renewed and restored within them which they assert may be held in perfection whilst we are here in the body and by which we may as by the Light within us perfectly subdue our brutish nature and keep under the body though all this be accompanied with mutability and the acceptance which they find with God is according to their works whilst they do well otherwise sin is at the door and the punishment according to the same This sort of Professors of the Name of Christ rise so high in their Testimony concerning him as to call him The glorious Sun of the soul the Searcher through of all darkness the Wonderful Power the Incomprehensible Wisdom and Immutable Holiness a thing that is invisible to every fleshly thing the one individual Spirit of Brightness that created all souls and are so dazeled with the Beams of this Glory all which he truly is that they overlook him too much according to his Humanity and see him not as he is the Son of man in whom Redemption is wrought for us and the Atonement for sin made by the price of his Blood the benefit whereof they have whether they confess it or not These are they that by the Candle of the Lord that is lighted within them the work whereof is written in their inward parts though they be not so much hearers of the Law by the Ministry of the outward Word yet do they shew themselves doors of the Law by the power of the Light that is within them doing as it were by Nature the things contained in the Law and so not having the Law outwardly considered are a Law to themselves shewing the work of it written in their hearts and by keeping the Righteousness of the Law do judge them who by the Letter transgresse the Law and do feel Peace and Comfort in their works In this manner did the Centurian fear God and work Righteousness Act. 10. before he heard those words from Peter that instructed him in the knowledge of Christ's Death and Resurrection and the Peace that comes to the Soul by his Blood unto the Remission of sins by whom all that believe are justified from all things which they could not be justified from by the Law of Nature or Works These ought not to be denied place in this rank of Christ's Witnesses whereof we have been speaking since they own and declare themselves to be fearers of God and workers of Righteousness upon these first principles of it which pure Nature teaches and plants where ever it is renewed and restored from the hand of Christ's liberality and bounty to put the Receivers of it to the tryal how far they will shew their faithfulness in the measure committed to them and in what readiness they are to put these Talents out in the way of exchange to get more and not to rest untill they obtain that state which is immutable It therefore greatly concerns such to look to their standing which is very slippery and uncertain and take heed lest they fall and to think soberly of themselves as they ought to think and not affirm as they are apt to do that their Witness contains in it all that Christ is lest otherwise when they come to be weighed in the ballance of the Sanctuary they be found at last to deny more of Christ than they confess of him Nor are they to exalt this part of the Ministry of Christ which is but the beginning against that fuller sight and knowledge of him that is still to be revealed but this one thing they should do Forget that which is behind and press forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling which is in Christ And although it be a commendable thing in them even upon their Principles to spread the knowledge of Christ in all the dark corners of the world where the Scriptures and written Word of Truth are not heard or received the effect of which labours with God's blessing may be the heightning and refining man's nature and purging it from filthy lusts and prophaness teaching them to fly from the Wrath and Vengeance which awaits evil-doers Yet this is to be done in subserviency unto not in opposition against the right knowledge and powerful Preaching of the Scriptures those Divine Oracles which God hath preserved for the great benefit and use of his Church in all times since the first writing of them By these are witnessed the righteous Principles and Actings according to the Law of pure Nature wherein Man was at first created and may so often as Christ pleases be again received in by that Light with which he enlightens every man that comes into the world whereof Christ as we have shewed is the Author and Dispenser and under this first Witness all these are to be comprehended who approve themselves doers of the Law men that fear God and work Righteousness in every Nation in such manner as God accepts though as yet they have not attained to the knowledge of Christ by the outward Ministry and hearing of the written Word But as these are such who pretend to be doers of the Law by a Light within them without dependance upon the Ministry of the written Word by a Teaching of the Word as it is spoken inwardly to the mind by Angels who are entrusted
by the Law which he consents and agrees to as that which is righteous and holy and spiritual and good and a will to put it in execution as that which in the doing thereof he doth but his duty and which he is obliged to by GOD and his own voluntary Engagement and to continue therein under the danger of the Curse upon failer Here the Command is a Lamp and the Law is Light to instruct man in his Duty and the Spirit and Mind of man keeping to this Light and walking up to it and faithfully in it is in a good and perfect state by God approved and justified so that there be but a continuance in it And this Christ seems to acknowledge to him that put him the Question Luke 10. 25. What shall I do to inherit Eternal life In the Answer he gives bidding him do that which is written in the Law which sayes Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy strength and with all thy mind do this and thou shalt live Where then lies the difficulty what is it that is yet wanting The difficulty lies in man's part whereof he is not enough sensible and the want is that of a Guide and Surety to set and to keep man's spirit right in the doing of that which the Law requires in the manner God prizes and most esteems For there is a way that is right in man's eyes even in yeelding obedience to the Law of God wherein man glories and is puffed up in himself but hath no praise from God and this is from that spring and principle of activity which is seated in the freedom of Will which is natural to man in his first righteous Nature and was found in him before his Fall and is capable of Restitution since nay is actually restored through the benefit of his Death more or less in every man by that common Light and Grace which Christ doth no more withhold from any man than he doth his Rain from raining upon the Just and Unjust but in way of further bounty doth confer in large proportions where he pleaseth a distribution of his Goods and Spiritual Gifts in which he causeth the Receivers thereof to differ one from another according to the use he intends them unto By which enriching of man's nature upon this his restored natural bottom of a free active righteous spirit according to the Law whilst the primitive mutability is still continuing with him he is so far from being made a New Creature and truly regenerate as is but too generally conceived that nothing but passing under the new Creation-work translating man out of his primitive natural freedom and activity into an activity and Freedom of another kind is capable to hinder this first freedom from engendring to bondage and the righteousness accompanying it from failing and ending in the death of Hypocrisie and final Apostacy which made Christ in Joh. 8. 31. to deal so plainly with the Jews that in this wavering spirit were for the present such as passed currant for Believers and were so called by the Evangelists but Christ knew they were not of continuance and so told them ver 31. together with the Remedy which he had by him for the cure of it For they stood in need to be made free by the knowledge of the Truth or rather to be known of him that is True the Son that abides in the house for ever who is able to bring them into that state of freedom that shall make them free indeed with an impossibility ever to be imbondaged more or to serve sin as their lord and master This mutable state wherein man did at first receive God's Image by Creation and doth in the way of Restoration again partake of it by vertue of the Ministry of Christ's first anointing and comforting Presence in which he takes up his habitation in the soul as a so journer and passenger although there be given that knowledge of God's Will and Mind to man which is true and as perfect and full as the Vessel that takes it can bear yet the weakness of the Vessel is such that it is like the wave of the Sea tossed with every wind when temptation arises and is either of it self apt to mistake and misunderstand the Rule given him to walk by or to close and fall in with a false deceitful spirit transforming himself into the Image of Righteousness and imbrace him for the True one for whatever Image of God that which is a meer Creature and no more is found in the old Serpent knows how to imitate and personate the same in the very likeness wherein it shines forth in Christ's own Person and with the same to seat himself in the hearts of his followers as in the Temple of God and to shew himself as far as that will go for proof and demonstration that he is God to the imbondaging and carrying captive by this deceit all that receive not the Truth in the love of it Whereas the Image and knowledge of God and of his Will which is given by the Truth or by his coming into the Soul who is the true One doth anoint and impress the Soul with that Name of God which doth exclude by the very Nature of its evidence all possibility of falshood deceit or uncertainty as doth the Dayes-spring of Light to the natural eye which by its self-evidence assures it It is that Light wherein is no darkness at all but is able to distinguish it self as that which is separate from the darkness of every counterfeit and false representation This comes only by the Law of Faith and true Regeneration that Gift of the Holy Ghost as he is the Second and better Comforter the Spirit of Truth which the World neither doth nor can receive Christ therefore calls himself the Truth as he is the receiver and giver of this Anointing as these Rivers of Living Waters flow from him that fail not but are a well-spring unto Life Eternal as it is written Joh. 7. This spake he of the Spirit for the Holy Ghost was not yet given that is in this Ministry and by the means of Christ's Manhead because Jesus was not yet Glorified Jesus was a man and the most perfect righteous natural man which ever was the form of which is made in him Incorruptible having its first mutability fixed by being subjected and made a Servant though the elder unto a New-spring of Light and Divine Birth that was added to him as he became the engrafted Word and wherein he and the Father are One and not he but the Father doth the work Therefore he sayes in Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the Keyes of Hell and of Death According to this pattern of man's Natural Perfection made in Christ incorruptible and brought forth in perfect subjection and subservency unto and agreement with a more excellent birth
Freedom than that wherein man was at first Created in that mutable and Primitive state of purity And what this Freedom is we shall shew that is so worthy to be obtained and fought after in exchange for the other This Freedom consists in the witnessing every respect which is wrought in the Understanding and Will of man by Regeneration and Divine birth of the one or other sort to render them of entire use and service unto that higher and superiour Will in the second Adam the Lord from Heaven that is made and given of the Father to be a quickning Spirit unto them in a twofold capacity First of their natural Head and Sovereign whom they are to serve as in relation of Subjects to their King and Law-giver and therein fulfil and answer the very end of the Law of Nature and actually become those righteous persons against whom there is no Law that can take hold of them to punish them or take the least exception to their perfect Righteousness that have given to them a constant and perpetual Will to do right to every one and love the Lord their God most intirely by influence from their Head who in this respect is the common Parent to both the sorts of Children whom he makes free Citizens and Inhabitants of the Heavenly Jerusalem his own glorified man-head which is the Mother of us all But secondly Christ the second Adam comes forth also in another Headship to the second sort of these Children which is that of Husband and Bridegroom gathering them up into a state of higher Love and Duty than that of Servants and Subjects and receiving them unto more honorable use in familiarity intimacy and a kind of equality comprehending the Love and Duty of righteous and faithful Servants but in respect of the nearness of relation and union becoming much the more excellent and transcendant The Inspiration and holy Anointing which flows from Christ in this twofold Headship of his into the hearts of these his Members hath that effect upon them as joyns them to him in unity and agreement of spirit or of judgment and will and so entirely possesses them engrosses them in the service and to the use of their Lord that it leaves them at no liberty to 〈◊〉 the use or service of any other but in subordination to his will which excludes sin and all evil esteeming it their greatest happiâ—… thus to be bound up in a way of love delight and entire obâ—…nce in the Will of their Head their second Adam and Lord frâ—… Heaven Hence they experience that they are not their own in â—…ny thing for it is not they that live but Christ liveth in them and with his Princely prevailing Influence as their Head is their infallible Guide and firm Security in all their operations giving them such an abiding and growth up in all things into him in an entire resignation and obedience to his Will as co-workers together in every thought word and work that they cannot miscarry nor shall ever be hurt by the second death but shall be rewarded with those pleasures that are at his right-hand and at his left in his Kingdom for evermore And although this most perfect Freedom which is obtained by this binding and conjunction in unity and agreement of spirit with Christ be esteemed by the Possessors of it of price inestimable yet it is the greatest bondage and cross that can befall a wicked heart and is that which is reserved by Christ to be their torment for ever in the end which will be given by him to his first Ministry in the hearts where he is finally rejected from whom after he is departed and withdrawn for a season as if they should never hear of him as indeed they shall not to their comfort yet they shall to their terrour and sorrow be made sensible of him by the fastning which he will make of his Darts of enlightnings into the minds of the wicked as sharp Arrows and a gnawing Worm that shall never dye when by the breath of his mouth he shall kindle a fire of Conviction and self-judging in their Conscience together with the just sence of his Divine Vengeance they can no longer flee nor escape from But on the contrary the truly regenerated souls are made willing and exceedingly pleased to draw in this yoke with their Head to see with his eyes and act by his quickning in all they do and to put on with him this lowliness meekness and purity of spirit which feeds on that which is incorruptible and is with God of great price so great as no righteous workers have his praise and blessing but these who are properly Christ's Mystical Body the Branches that abide in him and whose Fruit is permanent unto Life Eternal and this Body or Church of invisible Saints and spiritual Worshippers of the true God even whilst they are in their Wilderness and suppressed state Christ the great Overseer of their souls doth feed with Teachers afâ—â—â— his own heart and is not wanting by an outward Ministry under him â—o feed and refresh with Oyl the Lamps of all sorts that he makes use of as his Witnesses and bear his Name whether according to the knowledge his Will that is revealed in the first or in the second Covenant that so hâ— may by upholding such an Office under him edifie all that are under his Charge as he sees occasion and is agreeable to the condition the Church is in whether of restraint or freedom from the Powers of the World By those which Christ puts in to the Ministry of his Spirit under him we are to understand such ahe gives his Vnction and Mission unto as he is the Head of Nature or of Grace and from their own Experience are made able to minister the knowledge of Christ in his healing and restoring work or in his regenerating and New-creation-building before described giving their Witness according to what they themselves have received of the Spirit in the three distinct Dispensations of it before expressed in the first of which because of the mutable state of the operation thereof both in themselves as well as in their hearers they that are eminent Preachers unto others by the excellency of Gifts with which they are anointed and that from Christ may nevertheless themselves be found at last Cast-awayes But in the other two they which experience the Anointing thereof become Pillars in the House of God that never go out more and may obtain the highest Order and Rank of Ministry in the Church even that of Apostles in the same way as Paul himself did by such a Spiritual Light of Christ as he sayes 1 Cor. 9. 1. Am not I an Apostle have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord And as thus the Apostolical Order came to have being in the Church by the immediate sight of Christ in Spirit as we see in Paul's Case which comprehends in it all other the inferiour Ranks of Ministers whether Prophets
Medicine which declared the Case as yet which Man was in not so desperate but he might be restored and not only so but have an additional sight given to him that should make him see better than ever he did before For the second It is also that state which is common to all that have sinned and upon whom Death hath passed as to the alienation of their minds from the Life of God whose teeth are set on edge by the sowr grapes that were eaten by our first Parents and therefore by way of free gift are restored by the benefit of the Ransom paid by the Redeemer on their behalf to such a degree of enlightning and renewed Righteous Life as is a Lamp or Candle lighted in the soul of every one that comes into the World in which little they are put to the proof of their faithfulness how far they care or desire to hearken to it or not that which is the work of the Law written in their hearts by Christ as a Record and Witness against them if it be slighted and abused whereby there is a Witness set up in the very natural Conscience as a light in a dark place that is ever accusing or excusing as the action done doth deserve To this Light in the Conscience which is the Law within us must every one stand or fall as to matter of information or proof how that soul hath shewed it self in this state whether a lover of Darkness more than of Light for this will either shew it self our Friend or our Enemy as we behave our selves in receiving of its instruction and following its guide and submitting to its reproof For he that is faithfull in the least is to be presumed he will be faithfull in much and he that is unjust in the least will be also unjust in much So that Christ may truly and justly say to such If they have not shewed themselves faithful in the unrighteous Mammon or uncertain Riches who will commit to their trust the true Treasure And thence it is that all those who in this state of proof and tryal under this first dispensation of Light declare themselves Enemies in a fixed Rebellion and hardning against the Teaching and Dictates thereof they plainly shew that they love the Disease better than the Remedy and had rather continue blind than have their sight and limbs restored to use them as they ought and by the Law they are obliged to do for running with delight and continuance in the race of God's Commandements and had rather perish in their sins than believe in Christ and by believing be freed and saved from the wrath that is to come The Natural Conscience in this sense corrupted heardned and become unreclaimable by refusing Reproof and perfectly hating all those that set about their recovery and restitution out of this their bondage under what ever Name or outward Profession of Religion and Divine Worship it be found in doth afford the first sort of Subjects whereof the kingdom of Darkness doth consist a Region like to that where Abraham coming in his Travels did pronounce The fear of God is not in this place nothing of Conscience was there owned or practised but the Contrary of open Prophanenesse or Idolatry The Third state is that which is not of such general extent but a more peculiar condescention and effect of God's bounty and good will to some sinners beyond others in admitting them to a farther and higher proof than the former and therefore doth vouchsafe them a greater measure and gift of the Spirit and work of Restauration out of their natural blindness and death for with a mighty hand and a stretched out Arm and with many Signs and Wonders he brings them as he did Israel of old out of the house of Bondage and by the Angel of his Presence saved them from the hands of their Enemies and offered to lead them into the state of rest and immutability which he had prepared for them and therein did propound to give them a better sight and fuller fruition of himself than in the way of meer Restauration they could attain unto For as to the Restauration and Freedom out of Egypt God's Work was perfect and a just and right God he had shewed himself to them nevertheless they that were new come to have the use of their sight and their feet again to be washed with Water and anointed with Oyl and when they were in their blood God bid them Live and made them again living Souls yet like an unwise and foolish People they very evilly requited this bounty and goodness of the Lord and of the Rock that begat them and of the God that formed them they were very unmindful and proved themselves a very froward and provoking Generation Children in whom was no stedfastness nor that cared to use the means to be made so when it was offered but they rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit that is as Steven interprets it They blasphemed and resisted the Holy Ghost and refused the Teachings of that Miristry by which the Truth is conveyed in the love of it which would for ever free them from the power and dominion of sin and for ever fix them in the Kingdom of Christ and make them Pillars in God's Temple never to be removed These are they that because they say they see or have sight enough already and neither need nor desire better therefore their sin remains and is a sin unto death for which God swears in his wrath thèy shall never enter into his rest The light of their eye upon this becomes evil and hates those that see cleerer and better than themselves and cannot endure to hear of new lights that go beyond theirs or that is upon the encreasing more and more unto the perfect day In this evil mind there is a lusting to Envy against the true heirs and a saying in the heart Come let us kill them and the Inheritance shall be ours which so far doth many times transport them that they become the bitterest Enemies to God's choicest Saints and dearest Children and when they kill them they think they do God service and when they cast them out and make them as the scum and off-scouring of the World they say Let God be glorified these are they that are neither hot nor cold but under whatever forms of Godliness and different perswasions they may be in matters of God's Worship do give their strength to the common Enemy of the true Saints and though they can no more cleave the one to the other than the Iron to the Clay yet they both can sit at one Table devising the destruction of the true Israelites and take up their places in the Feet and Toes of the great Image that figured out the universal Kingdom of Antichrist These are the Two opposite Principles unto the Two Anointings and the effects of them in and upon the truly Regenerate ones In these Principles Satan lodges and dwells as in his
seat and suitable habitation in the hearts of his Children who is the Father of all Unrighteousness and Deceit these flow from him as from their Fountain and Well-head and he is their Countenauce Protection and Propagation for the encrease and enlargement of his Kingdom of Darkness By the means of this Two-fold hatred that Satan begets in the subjects of his Kingdom against the Light of God's Glory shining in the Face of Christ and in the witness of those that are the Members of his Mystical Body here on Earth he blows up a continual War and keeps on foot a fixed Enmity between the subjects of the one and of the other Kingdom and the Enmity is still the same in effect whether it be open and allowed or dissembled and hid the hatred and opposition is not the less in it self but the last of the two is the worst and most dangerous This he Heads with a visible Power as well as sowes the Seed of it invisibly in the Children of his Kingdom and either by violence or fraud or both hath never failed from the beginning of the World to this day by the wise permission of God for the bruising of the Heele of the Womans Seed in the Head and Members to shew himself the God or chief Potentate and Ruler in and over the whole World And so influence in such manner all the visible Rule and Authority whether Civil or Ecclesiastical that is exercised on Earth and is supported by humane Wisdom and Power centring in the foresaid Principles of batred and prejudice against Christ and his Kingdom that he hath ever got the better of it in the eye of flesh and blood over the true subjects and servants of Christ and hath as much as is in him slain Christ's Witnesses and kept them under in a most oppressed and dispersed condition Of this the Seed of Abrabam beginning in Sem and so downward until Christ's Incarnation and Death and as the Consequence thereof the rejection of the Seed according to the flesh were the living and known examples in their dayes what Servitudes and Captivities were they not exposed unto and did they not undergo And at last the very visibility of their own Church and State was wholly defaced and lost though both of Divine Constitution and supported not only with divine Laws but with the visible signet of the Divine Presence and by whom was this People upon whom the Name of God was called brought under persecuted and suppressed but by those who were foretold by Dan. ch 2. and most lively represented and described by that great Image which was the subject of Nebuchadnçzzar's Dream that none but Daniel could rehearse and interpret signifying the Persons and their Successors that should be found possessing the Universal Empire and Command of the World during the continuance of those known Four Monarchs that have followed successively one after another according as they were fore-told and charactered out some thousand years ago and are now standing upon their last legs the time drawing on apace when the spiritual seed of the same Abraham shall be made heirs even of the World by Faith and what was done by Abraham in Figure and Type as to his Conquest over the Four Kings Gen. 14. must have its accomplishment in Reality and Truth by those of his seed that are the true Israel in Spirit who by the Spirit of Life entring into them at the appointed time together with the Charge committed to them of pouring out the seven Vials of the last Plagues of God shall bring the final downfal and destruction of those Four Monarchs and in and with it of the Kingdom of the Beast and of Antichrist and bring home again and receive the true Lots that have been sojourners in the Sodom of this World all this time under the Power of their Oppressors And as it did befal Israel after the flesh that were Abraham's Natural Seed under the three first Monarchies and part of the Fourth our Saviour suffering Death Under the Roman Empire so are the Scriptures very plain and express if considered with a spiritual eye that the Israel after the flesh that have been adopted into the room and place of the former and though wild by Nature yet engrafted upon the same Stock and Root of the good Olive Tree the true anointed One that is the Father of many Nations as he is the Second Adam whose standing is by Faith that if they exalt themselves and become hardened and resist the Ministry of the Holy Ghost as the Jews that were their Predecessors did Christ will then make it appear also in the Case of these latter Jews who say they are so but having not the Spirit and Nature of true Faith in them do lye and deceive themselves as well as others that it is not they that bear the Root but the Root that bears them who therefore can cast them off as he did the others and once more not only shake the Earth but the Heavens although called Christian to make way for that Kingdom of his that cannot be shaken whereof we have already shewed and how nigh this is accomplishing and is even at the very doors we shall have occasion to make mention of more particularly as the next and last Particular we are to speak unto For an Introduction whereunto let me only mind you of some few things that the Apostle John in his Book of the Revelations layes before us on this behalf declaring first the things that were to befal the Heathenish Roman Empire and the Church of God abiding under its Protection during the time of the first Six Seals which by Computation continued till somewhat more than four hundred years after Christ j about the end of which period that Empire as Heathen dissolved and a new face of things in Church and State rose out of it at last for so mnch as concerned that part of the World which thereupon in Name became Christian And because the Spiritual part of the Church at that same time began to be most suppressed being forced to fly from the fury of the Serpent into a wilderness-state and condition therefore the visible Constituted Frame of Civil as well as Ecclesiastical Power called Christian were represented unto John The First under the seven-headed and ten-horned Beast that came out of the Sea And the Second under the two-horned Beast that came out of the Earth answerable to what was under other similitudes intimated of them in the Iron Legs and the Feet and Toes of Nebuchadnezzar's Image part of Iron and part of Clay Whereby the Iron leggs are the Civil Power as it became Christian and retaining still the Reliques of the Roman Empire and by the Feet part of Iron and part of Clay is meant the Ecclesiastical State and Power partly Papal and partly Reformed as an earthly Jerusalem yet visible and both enemies to the Jerusalem that is above and yet not very good friends between themselves whose
knowledge of the Life which is hid with Christ in God Those that are in this Kingdom and in whom the Power of it is are fitted to flye with the Church into the VVilderness and to continue in such a solitary dispersed desolate condition till God calls them out of it They have VVells and Springs opened to them in this VVilderness whence they draw the VVaters of Salvation without being in bondage to the Life of Sense and the objects depending thereon as touch not taste not handle not which perish in the using 2. But Secondly Christ's Kingdom is also outward appearing to sense and to the eye of the sensual or inferiour part of the mind which works only by bodily organs judging by the sight of that eye and the hearing of that ear whose life is in and by the body consisting in bodily exercise and is therefore compared Revel 11. 2. to the outward Court and the VVorship thereunto appertaining This is the Dominion of God in the Conscience also though but in the inferiour or sensual part of the mind where it becomes a Law in our Members to put in execution and perform the Law of the Spirit of our Mind that so our very bodies may become the Temple of the holy Ghost and we may be able to glorifie God not in our Spirits only but in our Bodies also as clean Vessels and earthen Tabernacles upon which may be written HOLINESS TO THE LORD Zech. 14. Now the Kingdom of Christ comes not properly to appear in outward shew and visibility but as it shines forth in this lower and earthly part of the Soul witnessing the Dominion and Power of God to be there as a Law and commanding Principle in and over the outward man With respect to this kind of its Appearance in affecting and influencing the bodily part of man and becoming the Life thereof it is capable to come forth in a Power and Glory that is corruptible fading and that wears away as also in that which is incorruptible and abides for ever The first of these is meant 1 Joh. 3. 1 2. where 't is said Now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him or have the like appearance with him for we shall see him as he is The Sons of God are not yet in the proper appearance of his Sons but do bear the form and appearance of the fleshly man to the making a fair shew in the flesh They have their Treasure but in an earthen Vessel unredeemed from its present bondage unto corruption But the time is hastening when they shall in Spirit shine forth as the Sun in its strength in the Kingdom of their Father and their very bodies shall be as the Firmament transparent and of service to unvail the glory of the inward man and not cover and disguise it as now they do But alas This fair shew in the flesh which may also be made by those that are strange Children passes with most for the Kingdom of Christ even yet in these last dayes some crying Lo here and some lo there according to that form of service and divine worship they are perswaded in their minds is according to the Rule of God's VVord though it be but that only which appertains to the outward Court which is given up by God into the hands of the Gentiles to possess and tread under foot at their pleasure The Heavens hereof are passing away with a great noise and these worldly Elements are melting apace As a Vesture they shall be folded up and changed they shall perish and wear old as a Garment whilst Christ's inward and spiritual Kingdom shall remain and in its due time come forth in an appearance that shall be lasting and unshaken for ever VVherefore we receiving this Kingdom which cannot be moved let us hold fast and have Grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and Godly fear For our God is a consuming fire But to return and apply our selves to the subject we were on before which is To give the view of what Word God is fulfilling and what part of his Counsel he is executing among us in this our day The Heavens are now black over our heads the Sun is turned into darkness the Moon into blood and mens hearts are failing them for fear of what God is bringing upon the Earth Great distress is in the Land and upon the Nations Wrath is coming upon that People who say they are Jews and are not but shall be found liars The Sea and the waves also will roar the prophane heathenish party of men will be in great perplexity too Surely the Figtree and all the Trees are shooting forth and after this cruel sharp Winter that is and for some space is yet to be upon us the Summer approaches that will make amends for all Great cause there is for the Sons of God to lift up their heads as foreseeing that their Redemption draws nigh In this point the Book of the Revelations will be every day more and more opened to give us light and instruction the Providences of God helping much every day too as to the interpretation thereof together with the Spirit of Truth that dwells and lives in the hearts of Saints Through mercy the Lord who is that Spirit hath not been wanting in his Teachings of this kind to a poor Worm in my present solitude and bonds I shall have occasion to tell you by and by that there appears cause to me of dissent from Mr. Mede as to some applications that are made by him in his learned Commentary on that Book when I come to speak of some particulars concerning the Witnesses and their twofold time and state of prophesying 1. Their thousand two hundred and sixty years prophesying in sackcloth in a persecuted wilderness state 2. Their prophesying in power and glory during the space of the pouring forth of the seven Vials of Wrath as a fore-running Eliah-like Ministry preparatory to Christ's thousand years Reign on Earth Yet as to that which Mr. Mede calls his great Key for the opening of that whole Book to wit his Synchronisms or Contemporations of things which he finds to agree and fall out together in the same age and time I exceedingly reverence his Judgement and look upon him as one that hath most happily found out the hidden order and method used by the holy Ghost in that Prophetical Book This method being once known to the very rational judgment of man that may be exercised upon the matters contained in that Book they are thereby rendred much more easie and intelligible Let us also take it for granted as that which is the common judgment of those that acknowledge the Scriptures that in this Book of the Apocalypsâ— are contained and revealed in an orderly method the things which were to fall out in the course of God's Providence and wise ordering of
and Body This is that Principle and Power that after the limited time of 1260 years must fall and be taken out of the way 15. By the Witnesses Prophesying in Sack-cloth are meant the true Circumcision in Spirit who Worship God in Christ Jesus and live in a through-resignedness of mind to him that is risen from the dead who is the Spirit of Truth which is given them by the Father to be their guide of whom and of whose Testimony they are not ashamed what ever disgrace it be in or however rejected by the Government under which the Providence of God hath placed them They do therefore own it as their Principle and make it their practice to bear and suffer under such worldly Powers and Governments in Faith and Patience whatever befals them for their Testimony 's sake without attempting to resist the Powers that are to disturb their peace or give them any just cause of offence They are called Witnesses because of the word of their Testimony which they forbear not to give in the worst and most suffering times whatever it cost them And they are Two described by two Candlesticks or Societies of Believers and two Olive Trees or Sons of Oyl because through Faith they are the receivers of the Anointing which comes from the Holy One and is Truth and no Lie This Anointing proportions it self in its Gift either according to the measure it finds the Nature of man capable to take in and possess without any new addition of a distinct superiour capacity and reception or else gives forth its self in a vast and boundless communication wherein it is capable to flow forth into man and to form in him an answerable Reception thereunto beyond and above that capacity and measure of knowledge and discerning which is proper to man in his first make or building to the extending and enlarging the intellectual part of man's Being into a more abundant fruition of God in a superiority to that of Angels even to a joynt inheriting seeing and enjoying of God with the exalted humane Nature of the Son of God in that Name which he obtains above Angels and wherein he is more excellent than they At this more excellent Name of Christ as it originally shines forth in Christ's own Person every knee must bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father These two sorts of Saints are in most intimate Union and inseperable conjunction with the Lord that Spirit who is the Son of man glorified or justified in Spirit and who hath the gift of the Anointing in both the respects before-mentioned The one sort of these Saints as well as the other do with open face behold as in a glass the Glory of the Lord whether that wherein he is perfect man or that wherein he is more than man the man that is God's Fellow and Equal and so Superiour and Head to Angels Principalities and Powers ascended far above all Heavens And they are changed into the same Image respectively whether of the one Glory or of the other by the Spirit of the Lord or the Lord the Spirit These Two Witnesses do live and abide in their Principles and word of their Testimony when their persons die and they have put off their earthly Tabernacle For the Witnessing-work is carried on in a succession of new Witnesses brought upon the stage of this World one Generation after another during the time declared of 1260 years whilst they are appointed to prophesie in Sack-cloth And when that suffering season of theirs shall have an end put to it as it must the like two Companies and Societies of Saints spirited with the same Principles that these sackcloth or suffering Prophets are of both of them making but one Church and House of the Living God shall be quicken'd and rais'd up in Power by such a Redemption wrought in and upon their bodies even here in this life from the bondage of Corruption as is called the Adoption of the body Rom. 8. 23. This Adoption or Redemption of the body on this side the Resurrection will hold proportion very much with Christ's Transfiguration This state of the body is prophetically described Dan. 12. 3. where we are given to understand that the bodies of the Saints or of those that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and their Spirits as the Stars for ever and ever For into such an intimate relation and conjunction will Christ as he is the Head of Angels take and adopt the Spirits of Angels and men regenerated with himself and with one another as by his own influence on the Spirits of Saints and by his and the influence of their own Spirits on their bodily or sensual part to reduce their bodies into so near a relation to and conjunction with the Life of their Spirits and Christ in Spirit as will raise and advance them into a heavenly frame and render them meet for so great a glory of Spirit or eminent exercise of spiritual Life and Power This will be a glory of the body not before known as a common and general dispensation since the World began nor yet hardly so eminently experienced even by those few choice Types and Shadowes of it Enoch Moses and Elias or others This is that state of body or of the very outward-man and sensual part of the Saint whereby Christ will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all those that do believe A LETTER OF Sir HENRY VANE To his LADY from the Isle of SCYLLY My Dear Heart THe Wind yet continuing contrary makes me desirous to be as much in Converse with thee having this opportunity as the Providence of God will permit hoping these will come safe to your hand It is no small Satisfaction to me in these sharp Tryals to experience the Truth of those Christian Principles which God of his Grace hath afforded you and me in our measures the knowledge and emboldned us to make the profession of For surely by this Fiery Tryal which is from God appointed to try us no strange or unusual Dispensation of God hath happened to us differing from that which all his Servants and Prophets from the beginning of the World to this day have found also to be their Lot Nor is it other than the Condition as I may say and Law that all those must come under and submit unto that will approve themselves Christ's Disciples indeed Luk. 14. 26 27. And it is no small Mercy that the greatest Extremities we have already under-gone and which do as yet threaten have found that strength and rooting of the Grace and Love of Christ in our Hearts which causes us not to despair of being made more than Conquerors in the end without desiring those Conditions of peace vers 32. which are not consistent with our being such Disciples of Christ as will cheerfully when called to it forsake all they have in love to him and subjection to his Will Why should Christ ask us