do become degenerate plants that bring forth sowr and wild grapes whose grape is the grape of Sodom their wine the wine of Gomorrah and so are turned out of the house cut off from the vine as branches sit for the fire being trees twice dead and so plucked up by the roots once dead in trespasses and sins as children of wrath in the first Adam and dead again after their renewal to natural righteousness and holy flesh in the second Adam by sinning again after the similitude of the first Adams transgression Under this general head of Christs subjects in this second dispensation we may take notice of two sorts of professors very numerous and famous in their generations who as well teachers as disciples do content themselves with these principles and operations of conscience and spirit and bless themselves in them saying we shall have peace here as not enough aware of the frailty and slipperiness of this state or of that root of bitterness that in and with all these is or may be springing up in them to the defiling of many and causing them at last to draw back unto perdition if they be and continue strangers to that saving faith through the power of which only men are preserved to eternal life The first sort are those that hold general Redemption or that Christ died for all men the other are those that under the name of Orthodox are their fierce and implacable Antagonists herein each bearing both a true witness and a false one against another and both of them excluding and opposing upon divers grounds the true righteous seed that live by faith which faith the Scripture describes to be a heavenly power and operation of mind whereby Christ as he is the very image itself and substantial brightness of Gods glory works himself into the soul and causeth himself to subsist dwell and be evidenced there He that believeth on the Son of God hath this witness in himself and by it is taught to see that whoever they be that live but singly in the natural powers and operations of mind before described as perfect holy and righteous as they are and there rest will be in danger of miscarrying before they come to the end of their Race and so will fall short of the true mark of their high calling There is not any thing which Christian experience may more convince us of if we will be ingenuous then of the fallacy and mistake which most men run into by laying hold on some shadow and figure for the good thing it self which if they knew their own minds they themselves would have and therefore it is so much in their eye and desire in the shadow But the subtilty of the devil is such that when he cannot work the mind to a downright opposition of the truth he engages the understanding by the means of a right figure and shadow of TRUTH to oppose and keep out the very image itself that is the substance and the glory that is to follow In this stratagem the devil may be traced from the beginning of the Scriptures to the end imposing upon and deluding men whose short-sightedness at their best is such that their thoughts and Gods thoughts differ as far as heaven and earth which faith reconciles and makes co-workers together in due subordination and perfect harmony By reason of this distance between man in his most holy and righteous natural operations and the heavenly mind of Christ men yea good men are with Samuel running to Eli as thinking he cals them when they should go to God and are taking Eliab the first-born for David the youngest son Christ in his first appearance for Christ in his second and so with John in the Revelation are worshipping the Angel and fellow-servant for Christ the Lord of all and to bring this neerer to our purpose now in hand they take the covenant of nature for the covenant of grace making those inconsistent and to fight one against another that are brethren and dwell together in unity if they were rightly explicated and understood Thus with the letter of truth men endeavour to bear down the spirit of it Upon these grounds those that are for the general extent of Christs death finding the truth of their belief expressed in the letter of the Gospel as indeed it is satisfie themselves in that and rest there thinking it sufficient to try and judge all men as they reject or own and fall in with this litteral knowledge of the Gospel which they profess and give a good and faithful witness in becoming herein the more established first because they see that to be behind them which they take for the first covenant from whence they conceive themselves well escaped that is the personal righteous actings and holy operations which the natural conscience exercises itself in as looked upon to be that wherein our life consists which they wholly renounce and disclaim witnessing their life in another even in the righteous one through the propitiatory vertue of his blood and sacrifice which they indeed may yea ought as children of the first covenant the Jews being obliged to as much as we have shewed by the Law and as they were inhabitants of the earthly Jerusalem But secondly they are yet the more confirmed in their perswasion because those that pretend to be before them and above them in light do evidently contradict and deny unto them most cleer certain and undeniable truths undeniable I say admitting that which ought to be admitted to wit that the witness which is given by this sort of professors amounts no higher in its significancy and right application then to exhibit to us the state and terms of the covenant of works as it consists in the knowledge of Christ after the flesh And so all that which they say concerning conditional reprobation free-will falling away and the like as relating to the children of the first covenant will find that from the Scriptures which will justifie it Their Antagonists therefore would lose no ground by granting what they say as thus stated and considered But that which keeps those that call themselves Orthodox from doing this is that they judge it would be a giving up of their cause when indeed it would but drive them to the surest and most unresistable grounds upon which to maintain it as is most evident if you will be at the pains to take a short view of their principles and witness also For these great and lofty opposers of the general point do in like manner as the others did find that in the letter of Scripture which renders undoubtedly true what in their witness they hold forth asserting a certain number of Elect by name chosen from all eternity given unto Christ of whom he is to lose none As the fruit of this love we find also the gift of peculiar grace to some not to others which cannot fail nor be fallen from and commandments given them to do which
formes through counterfeit resemblances unto TRUTH to beguile and mislead unstable souls and is daily detected and discovered under all professions or visible formes of Saintship whether more or lesse refined whether earthly and sensual or heavenly and Angelical Hereof there are in these dayes of ours but too many living instances who as Lots wife are turned into Monuments of Gods righteous judgment declared upon them for the admonition of others And that we may not leave this subject without endeavouring to contribute some assistance towards the resolving of that great Question how the true Spirit may with certainty and infallibility be known and distinguished from the false I shall briefly recommend to consideration as conducible to the discovery hereof these following particulars The Spirit of TRUTH is evidently and infallibly distinguished from the spirit of lies and falshood three several wayes by which we may make a trial and judgement of the spirits whether they be of God or no. First by the evidence and witnesse which is given of it by the three that bear witnesse in heaven where the Spirit of TRUTH shines forth in its supreme original light and self-evidence as we have at large shewed in the first and second Chapters Secondly by the Record and witnesse that the Sonne or Christ the true Spirit gives of himself in his flesh or humane nature causing the truth to shine forth in the face of Jesus opening what he is and what he did by coming in the flesh suffering and rising againe according to the Scriptures which 1 John 5. 6. is rendred thus This is he that came by water and blood even Jesus Christ not by water only but by water and blood and it is the Spirit that heareth witnesse because the Spirit is truth even the witnesse shining forth in his Spirit and person who whether considered as being and subsisting in the WORD OF LIFE before his being made flesh or considered as after his coming in the flesh living dying and rising againe hath a witnesse born of him in heaven by the FATHER WORD and SPIRIT which Three are one and also in earth by the SPIRIT WATER BLOOD declaring themselves in and upon him as he was found in the fashion and habit of a man which agree in one Thus in the same person we have the greater witnesse which is the witnesse of God or of Christ as he is God and the lesser witnesse which is the witnesse of man or of Christ as he is the Son of man and in both these considered also as testified unto by the Scriptures we have the compleat witnesse which God hath testified of his Son By reason hereof 't is said 1 Joh. 2. 12. Who is a liar but he that denies Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son Whosoever denies the Son the same hath not the Father Whosoever sees not nor acknowledges the TRUTH as witnessed and shining forth in the face of Jesus the Son of man with those that are rightly admitted to serve in the first Sanctuary among the many that are called can much lesse behold it as witnessed and held forth in the brightnesse of Gods face or of the blessed Trinity with those who are culled out of the former and rightly admitted into the holiest of all among the few that are chosen By both these witnesses and records in harmony with the outward Word we do come to know him that is true as the right and whole object whereon through faith we are to fix our eye in the proper forme character and distinction which he gives of himself from all idols or counterfeit appearances of him whatsoever The third or last witnesse which is given us of the true Spirit is that which immediately and necessarily flows from his indwelling presence in our hearts growing up there more and more unto a perfect day by working out in the conscience and spirit of the beleever a confōrmity unto Christ in his death and resurrection causing a dying to sinne and a living unto righteousnesse in the full extent of both as we have opened For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his and if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse Examine therefore your selves whether ye be in the Faith know ye not your owne selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be Reprobate And If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead awell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwellesh in you and so the Spirit it-selfe comes evidently and infallibly to witnesse with our spirits that we are the children of God as having this Spirit of Adoption poured into our hearts for if we be adopted children then we know we are heires heires of God and joynt heires with Christ if so be we suffer with him that we may also be glorified with him And though we are now Sonnes so as it doth not yet appeare what we shall be when we come to the stature of perfect men in Christ Jesus at the full manifestation of the sonnes of God yet now we know that we shall then be like him and that we shall then see him as he is yea by faith we now see him who is invisible Heb. 11. 27. and by this knowledge we have of him in the mean time we come to see and experience him that is true and that we are in him that is true even the true God and eternal life having the witnesse in our selves through that holy anointing which is TRUTH and no lie teaching us of all things and abiding in us as a seed to preserve us from the evil and snare of all false and seducing spirits Abide therefore in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming These things I have written unto you concerning them that seduce you CHAP. XXI Shewing particularly the evil seed that is sowen in the natural conscience by Satan through which he works men off from their subjection to Christ in his first dispensation and fixes them in rebellion against him HAving already in general laid open the methods of Satan the weapons of his warfare together with the diligent and skilful prosecution of his designes upon mankind to seduce them work them off and forever deteine them from their duty and faithfulnesse unto Christ their true Husband and Lord we shall come now in a more particular manner to shew how closse an attendant he is upon the foregoing works of Christ in the hearts and consciences of men considered under the former dispensations walking about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure watching what he can find in such hearts that in the BEGINNING are Gods and Christs owne workmanship as hath beene shewed and trying whom he may corrupt from their first
as their living Oracles that proceed out of the mouth of Christ the Mediator is also called the WORD according to Scripturesense and acceptation which yet will be more fully evident by considering the Word of God in a third sense to wit as the holy Scriptures coming not by the will of man but by inspiration from God in men moved by the Holy Ghost are also called the Word and Oracles of God containing in them the same Declaration and Testimony of the mind and will of God as is to be found in the inward WORD but dispensing it in an outward form of wholsome words taught and inspired by the Holy Ghost himself Unto these words of the Holy Scriptures given by divine inspiration no man may adde Rev. 22. 18. or take there from v. 19. Wherefore it is that they are not of any private interpretation but require the inspiration of the living WORD to open and declare the true and full meaning of them which is near unto every true believer being the WORD which dwels in the heart by faith the key of David and that holy anointing 1 Joh. 2. 27. that is truth and no lye which abideth in the Saints in such manner that they need not that any man teach them but as the same anointing teacheth them of all things taking of the things of Christ and shewing them unto them according to his promise John 16. 14 15. whos 's teachings nevertheless are also derived and communicated from one Saint unto another by the Ministry of outward words and Exposition of the Scriptures as by being taught of God they are fitted and prepared thereunto and made able Ministers of the new Testament who handle not the Word of God deceitfully through any private interpretations of their own but by manifestation of the Truth in its own self-evidence do commend themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God not preaching themselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and themselves servants for Jesus sake 2 Cor. 4 5. And Christ hath promised to send forth such a spirit of the Ministry as this in all Ages even to the end of the world Mat. 28. 20. for the perfecting of the Saints and edifying of the Body the Church till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4. 13. That then which doth enable to the work of the Ministry thus considered is the shining forth of the Truth in the face of Jesus Christ by his indwelling presence in the heart comparing it self in the mind and understanding of the Saint with the testimony which is given of it self in the Outward Word And by discerning the perfect Analogie and Harmony that springs up between both answering one another as face answers face the believer receives such certainty and satisfaction in the mind of God made known as warrants him in the delivery and declaration thereof unto others This as the safest and best rule in judging and declaring truth from the Scriptures hath been owned in a constant harmony of witness by Saints in all Ages against all the enemies under one form or other that have sprung up either against the holy Scriptures themselves or the Spirit and inward WORD that lives and breathes forth in them and by them Thus through the faith that is in Christ Jesus the Holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation and to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto every good work being in this harmony and consent with the inward WORD of the same Authority with it and of the same divine and spiritual nature property and use able to save the soul and prosper to the end for which they are sent as a servant in the hand of the living WORD to fulfil all his pleasure and become either a savour of life unto life as ministred in harmony with and subserviency unto the living WORD or a savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. as ministred singly in opposition thereunto The Scriptures then are not properly the inward and living WORD but have a testimony and expression peculiarly their own John 5. 39. search the scriptures they are they which testifie of me saith Christ in which Testimony of theirs they are either as a servant and preparer of the way unto the living WORD as those that literally testifie of it pointing at Christ the life and spirit of them or else they are to be considered as one and the same with the living WORD in perfect analogie and harmony both consorting and dwelling together in an inseparable band of union unveiling rather the naked beauty of the inward WORD then bearing any different sense from it professing themselves to be but as a dead letter or sealed book Isa 29. 11. any farther then the living unwritten WORD of God as breathing into them becomes their life and is made use of as the key to open them so that both together make up one and the same divine oracle whereas if consideration be had of the Scriptures in the letter only they are then capable of having a meer private interpretation and humane sense put upon them and so to nourish up a way of prophecying that hath its rise out of the divination of mans own heart or the single ability of the natural mind exercised in them which is so far from being the true ministry that it is but the vision of God that proceeds from man as he follows his own spirit and not Gods Ezek. 13. 2. 3. c. Now if the body of the Scriptures deserve the name as they do of the word of God their spirit and Original deserves it much more and is much more eminently of authority and use for the effecting of all that is or can be done by them even the WORD that is nigh thee that is in thy heart and in thy mouth the WORD of faith Rom. 10. 8. the unseen and unwritten WORD which evidences itself to faith which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen Heb 11. 1. This WORD is described Heb. 4. 12. where it is said the WORD of God is quick and powerful sharper then any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do By being here described as a person the Holy Ghost signifies to us in what sense we are to understand the WORD of God in this place even for Jesus Christ the Mediator not simply considered as the second in the Trinity any more then for the outward body of the Scriptures which person of Christ is spoken of under the same name and description Rev. 19.
threefold nature and spirit proper to each of them In one of which all the nations of the world live and walk as they are distinguished from the earthly Jerusalem the children of Mount Sinai or the first convenant In the second the fleshly seed of Israel or the worldly Church lives and walks distinguished both from the nations of the world and from the heavenly Jerusalem or the true Mount-Sion And in the third the spiritual seed or children of the Jerusalem that is above do live and walk distinguished from both the former each of them therefore are placed by God under a several Rule and law according to which their lives and actions are to be fashioned and conformed and by which they are to be tried and judged at the last day when the secrets of men of all sorts shall be judged by Christ Jesus according to the Gospel which is of that large comprehension as to take in all the three dispensations First for the nations of the world they have judgements given them by God Ezek. 5. 6 7. with which Israel is reproched as having walked short of them so that the uncircumcision did out-doe the circumcision in the righteousness the effect whereof was contained in the law as in a much superiour and more excellent administration These the Apostle cals Rom. 2. 12. such as sin without law and perish without law but yet are acknowledged as such that though they have not the law as it was given to the Jews yet have a law given them from God the work and effect of which sheweth it self in their consciences accusing or excusing them as they walk up to it or short of it even the law of nature in which they are a law unto themselves having that within them that shall witness for them or against them before the Throne and judgement seat of Christ that is to say the law of natural right and just exhibited to them through the ministry of Angels that are invisible Thrones Dominions Principalities and powers set up by God for this very end as his ministers for terrour unto evil works and as encouragers and Protectors of them that do well as will presently more fully be evinced The second Rule or law containing the judgements and ordinances of God given unto the fleshly seed or children of the first covenant is the WORD of God coming forth in his first appearance or the law proceeding from Mount Sinai witnessed unto by the Scriptures of truth and Oracles of God that were committed to the Jews first and afterwards to the Gentiles which in all the degrees and steps of its administration answers the true measure and proportion of Christs natural righteousness and perfection as he is and so hath been here described the head and root thereof to Angels and men being that holy commandment that either may be turned aside from leaving them that have been under it to a far worse state then it found them in and rendring their latter end worse then their beginning as 2 Pet. 2. 20. c. or else be kept without spot and blameless through the power of faith by the true Saint or spiritual seed The third law and Rule is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus the WORD of God in his second appearance which comes forth from Mount Sion the heavenly Jerusalem consisting not in meats and drinks and worldly rudiments but in the power of an endless life and an everlasting righteousness written out in fair characters in the death and resurrection of Christ when he ceased from his own works and became the beginning and author of life from the dead as the first-born among the many brethren whose names are written in heaven and upon whom God hath written his new name and the name of the new Ierusalem The perfection and righteousness of which second appearance is brought to light fully by the brightness of Christs comming the second time the first-fruits whereof are already given and set up in the hearts and spirits of the children of promise and of the free-woman being the hidden Manna which they feed on the new name which they can read and the holy anointing whereby they judge all things whilst themselves are judged of no man CHAP. XII Shewing wherein the three Rules and forms of administration in Christs mediatorial Kingdom do differ one from another and maintain an entire jurisdiction within themselves but in due subordination and subserviency still of the lower to the higher over the respective subjects that live under them THE first of these is the law and Rule which is given by God to all nations even to the whole world in their corrupt degenerate and fallen state occasioned by the entrance which sin made by Adam overrunning his whole posterity like a spreading leprosie whereby man that by his creation was made a temple of God became a habitation for Dragons a court for owls or birds of the night a hold for every foul spirit and a cage for every unclean and hateful bird so that although there was a natural being life and motion left unto man it was in the next degree to no being at all if not in some respects far worse Yet how great soever this desolation was and how thick soever the darkness be in this howling and barren wilderness-condition of mankind the blood of Christ is of vertue to make the heart of man again rejoyce and blessom as the Rose and the voice of the Mediator can make it self to be heard in the remotest and darkest corners of the world to the opening of the eyes of the blind and unstopping the ears of the deaf to the making the lame to leap and the dumb to sing to the causing the waters of his manifestation to break forth and stream in this desert in one word to the letting in the sound of the Gospel it-self in the shadowy dark appearances thereof upon the very ends of the world in pursuance of the extent of the reconciliation made through the blood of his Cross by whom all things are reconciled unto God whether they be things in earth or things in heaven so as the very creation it self is made capable to serve unto the ministry of the Gospel the heavens to declare the glory of God the firmament to shew his handy work day unto day to utter speech and night unto night to shew knowledge by means whereof there is no speech nor language where Christs voice is not heard their sound going into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world as Psal 19. 1 2 3 4. compared with Rom. 10. 18. doth evidence Thus the invisible things of God even his eternal power and Godhead shining forth in the face of the Mediator may be seen by the things that are made Rom. 1. and that either inwardly by the influence and operations of the holy Angels maintaining and keeping up the witness of Christ in the manifestation of natural justice
to the flesh through which they clean escape the pollutions of the world and then turn aside from the holy commandment delivered unto them in the ministry of this first covenant These are they that are under the dominion of the law or of Christ as he is the Minister of circumcision of Gods first appearance exhibiting himself to the eyes of their mind in the righteousness of his natural man as he is God manifested in flesh and so witnessed unto by the Scriptures as a holy commandment unto which he begets and requires conformity in them Here he is to be seen and conversed with as on Mount Sinai in the holy place or worldly Sanctuary where his Angels are his chariots even thousand thousands of Angels to administer the glory of this kingdom under him and as his forerunners to prepare the way whither he himself intends to come and vouchsafe his own perpetual presence and abode So then until Christs coming in the flesh into the true Tabernacle which God pitched and not man the Word Law or Rule of this kingdom also was spoken given and administred by Angels called the law and Ministry of circumcision or of Moses contained in the two tables together with the Judicial laws and fleshly rites and ordinances of divine service those relating to the second table these to the first and to the material temple-worship which were to contiune till the time of reformation at the comming of the true Temple it self when the WORD was made flesh But Christ being come and having in the body prepared for him fulfilled the will of the Father in offering up himself in the flesh without spot unto God through the eternal spirit and with his own blood entred into the holiest of all he thought fit no longer to dwell in Temples made with hands Acts 7. 48. but abolishing all the former fleshly rites and worldly ordinances belonging unto the Temple-worship that was then he did build up out of the ruines thereof a spiritual Temple 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. which Temple saith the Apostle Paul unto the Corinthians are yee which yet is but such a kind of building for permanency and abiding as the former For whosoever of you saith Paul shall defile this Temple him shall God destroy whoever you be that after your being enlightned and having received the knowledge of the truth shall not hold fast your confidence unto the end but become such servants as are to be cast out of the house making shipwrack of faith and a good conscience Thus there is an Israel after the flesh kept up and continued under the Gospel as well as under the law who are now under Christs immediate government by his spirit in the ministry of his first appearance and according to the tenor of the first covenant as they then were under the law and had the word spoke unto them by Angels in the Mosaical ministration both being but one and the same earthly Ierusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children in which it is most true still that they are not all Israel that are of Israel neither because they are the seed of Abraham the Father of the faithful so pretending to be believers are they all children but in Isaac crucified offered up Isaac shall thy seed be called that is to say they that are the children of the flesh and of the living and natural body only are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed that were raised out of a womb as good as dead and sprang up to Abraham after that he had received the promises as they respected his fleshly seed by Isaacs restauration as from the dead the figure of Christs death and resurrection This earthly Jerusalem is the worldly Church under the Gospel the incorporated body of visible Saints called out and separated from the world who for their Law and Rule own and profess the written word and the spirit of Christ received and held forth in no higher a ministry then that of Christ as he is the head and root of all natural purity and perfection singly considered declaring themselves herein a holy or a separated people by a manifest self-distinguishing profession according to the measure of their receiving from Christ and growth up unto him from all heathenish worship yea and corrupt Christian professions or practises walking in all the ordinances and judgements of Christ held forth to them from the Scriptures in the various forms thereof which their light leads them to receive This visible temple or worldly sanctuary of God is a true Church as they walk in the light and according to the truth of this Law under which they are and as shall be shewed the nursery or womb of all the true spiritual seed Rev. 12. 1. c. Where it is described by the woman cloathed with the Sun the day of Christs first appearance and having the Moon or heathenish Gentile state under her feet being exalted into a glory far above them and made use of by God to bring forth the manchild or heavenly seed that are to rule the Nations with a rod of iron which in their divine birth are caught up to God and to his Throne and so much farther exalted above the earthly Jerusalem then she is above the rest of the Nations This earthly Jerusalem in the times of the Law had judicial Laws for the heightning of a civil Magistracy into a sutableness unto the divine service of this worldly sanctuary But since Christs ascension and the spirituality of this very temple to be continued under the Gospel till the fulness of the Gentiles come in and the mysterie of God in Christs fleshly dispensations shall be finished although many attempts have been made and endeavours used to revive a like Magistracy again in conformity to the judicials of Moses in the very letter of them there hath seldom been found any considerable progress or success herein forasmuch as Christ is rather pleased to detain his people in subjection and captivity under the powers of the world and the Magistracy kept up by him over men as men during the season of sufferings allotted to them in which as souls under the Altar of persecution they cry out How long Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwel on the earth and are enabled by faith to see through and above the visible powers and thrones of this world into the ministry of Christ by his Angels who are all the while Magistrates and Rulers in a higher sphere and capacity then the others and who as the times of Christ draw near who is the only Potentate and KING OF KINGS shall shew themselves to be his servants taking vengeance in flames of fire upon all ungodly men that are his and his peoples implacable enemies By what then hath been said we may see how consistent this second branch of Christs Rule over men is with
the choaking of the true spiritual seed in its approaches to them by the means of the riches and pleasures of this life working death in them by that which is good so as no fruit in them comes unto perfection or is brought forth in duration abundance as by those that bring it forth with patience under the teachings and disciplinings of the Cross whereof such as are bastards and not sons do not partake and for want of which they at last fall away and draw back unto perdition Now saith Christ in what he subjoyns to this parable think it not sufficient therefore to be those that have light and are hearers yea and receivers of the WORD for so in some degree or other all the world may be as we have shewed but consider how you hear or what use you make of it for those that use it lawfully and are faithfull in little or in the least partakings of it unto them more shall be given till the seed spring up unto a perfect day but those who shall use it unlawfully and unworthily so as to cover it with a bushel or hide it under a bed so as to detain it in unrighteousness or take up their Rest in that which is short and but in part from such shall be taken away ever that which they have and seem to hold upon such a tenure that it will not fail them but abide unto life everlasting CHAP. XIII Shewing the fixed enmity and war that is maintained and kept up by Satan against the Rule and Kingdom of the Mediator in the World in order to make of none effect unto men the inestimable price and usefulness of Christs Blood in their fallen state WHen the Devil found by the just and irrevocable sentence of God which was passed upon him and the wicked Angels the desperatness of his and their condition and understood the power of a mighty Saviour and Redeemer discovering itself in the Mediator to obviate and break in pieces all his devices and evil designs together with the way whereby this should be wrought out and brought to pass by the promised Seed that was to be born of a woman whose heel he should have the liberty to bruise before his own head should be totally broken and himself and instruments troden under foot he is presently enflamed and breaks out into implacable rage against the woman and her seed in whom all mankinde are again made alive and such of these with whom he cannot prevail to continue his subjects but despairs of bringing them to his Lure or making them to serve his ends he sets at open defiance not being idle in the mean time by his utmost endeavors to keep off as many as he can from closing with the free and gracious offer tendred to all men in the blood of Christ and where that hath had any influence or prevalency to bring over men unto Christ for a season he makes it his business to beguil and seduce them back again unto him notwithstanding if it be possible And thus increasing and strengthening a party to himself from within the bowels of the Mediators own Kingdom he declares himself in an open war and absolute enmity against the true and faithful Subjects and Witnesses of Christ which he puts in execution by vertue of the general Commission received from God wherein liberty and power is given to this Serpent to bruise their heel not only to the depriving them of all that might be hopefull or desirable to them in this life and making the world to become a barren wilderness to them in all respects as far as he may but also to the incensing and arming all the visible Powers and Thrones of this world against them to keep them in a kinde of temporary captivity and subjection In which posture we may finde the faithful Subjects and Witnesses of Christ from Abel downwards to the last finishing of their testimony Rev. 11. patiently bearing all the brunts of this war between Michael and his angels and the devil and his angels from its first rise to its last conclusion untill the measure of Christs sufferings in them be fulfilled in the utmost extent of them as the whole seed is therein concerned by means whereof their faith and patience is exercised to the end even till the time come that they must be crowned with glory and honour and be set above all the works of Gods hands Hence then we may perceive the race of patience that on the one hand is set before the true believers in conformity to their head making the world and present life in it as an irksom wilderness unto them whereinto they are led to be tempted and proved to the utmost in the obedience of their faith and the race of prosperity earthly glory and power on the other hand which the wicked are likewise brought into as their reward in this life in the service of the god of this world who are permitted to have their hearts desire and for a season to bring their wicked devices to pass even against the righteous For both their sakes therefore it will be needfull to take as exact and particular a survey of the whole matter on all hands as we can which in the following chapters our intention is to do and therefore in this we shall but give some general glances thereat that we may come the more clearly to see the end of the Lord and stand astonished at the wisdom of his Counsels and excellency of his Workings in the winding up This method of Gods proceedings being that which is chalked forth to us by the Scriptures of truth from the beginning to the end may through Gods blessing become the means of explicating many dark and difficult places thereof and minister a fit occasion to lay open the power and workings of Satan as influencing the judgement and wills of men whilst the free motion and managing thereof is in their own keeping unsubdued and unbroken by the cross of Christ that takes this arbitrary and self-directing power out of their hands bringing it down to a perfect silence and cessation in all those that by believing enter into the true Rest of which by being left alone to the use of their freedom those do come short even after all their attainments in a state of common salvation who for a while do appear the subjects of Christ whether under the first or second dispensation and afterwards prove to be of that prevailing power and interest which Satan wins from Christ and works over to himself fixedly engaging them to take part and side with him as that Serpentine brood and viperous generation that treads so hard upon the heel of the true Saints in all Ages with a bloody cruelty and fixed implacable enmity against those precious witnesses of Christ for their exact likeness and conformity unto their Head which is such as that Rev. 11. 4. they are described by the same two Olive branches which Zach. 4. are
the gates of hell to prevail against the very elect themselves that are built on the Rock and are out of his reach to annoy in reference to the certainty of their salvation finding therefore little hopes or likelihood to frustrate them in that he makes it his business to render them of all men most miserable as to any hopes or enjoyments in this life wherein he finds latitude given him in the power allowed to him to bruise their heel Secondly he useth all the means-that lie in his power by subtilty or force so far as Gods permission gives way to him to assault the will and judgement of man how highly enlightned and how far quickned soever upon his single natural root in order to entice and draw him away from his subjection unto God in the natural service and worship that is due from him never leaving till he hath prevailed with and over him to provoke God so highly notwithstanding all his goodness patience and long-suffering to him extended through the blood of Christ as thereby to render himself unworthy of any further love or favour and to move God to swear in his wrath that he shall never enter into his REST. Under these two general heads we shall find as in a constant track throughout the whole Scripture the workings and counter-workings that are kept on foot and maintained between the MAN CHRIST JESUS who would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth and the MAN OF SIN and grand deceiver Satan who would have no man to be saved but all to be made children unto him who is the father of lyes The means used by Christ to produce renew and maintain the workings and operations of light and life from him in the hearts and consciences of fallen mankind is by setting on foot as hath been already shewed the threefold law and government given and erected by him at the beginning over all the sons of Adam upon the fall through the power and exercise whereof First he doth that to and in the hearts and consciences of the very heathen which fits and qualifies them to live answerable if the fault be not in themselves to the law and government they are under according to the measures of attainment which the meer natural man may have The like he doth unto the children of the first Covenant unto whom he is much more bountiful sutably to the state he farther leads them into And thirdly he exceeds what he doth to both these in the communications of himself unto the spiritual seed whom he suffers not to destroy themselves but takes a course to cross their own wils and desires when they are hearkning to the temptation of their own lust or Satan to draw them away This threefold conscience and spirit of man in the proper principles and operations of each of them whether they are to be found single or all of them together as in sweet harmony thus set up in the spiritual seed our purpose is to treat of and that as particularly and distinctly as we can to fall in with the experiences of all that may be therein concerned looking upon this as the best method we can take for the clear opening and stating the several dispensations of Christs three-fold government and Kingdom already entred upon And therefore we shall consider the principles and operations of each of these consciences either First as they are Christs own workmanship in and upon the heart and spirit of man as the beginning and foundation of those holy and righteous actings by him required under the dispensation whereinto each of them is brought by God or Secondly as they are the lawfull and righteous workings of the spirit of man enabled hereunto by free gift from Christ and in dependance upon him yet as the fruit and travel of his own proper judgement and will rectified in the use of those means prepared and laid before him by Christ to bring him to the right end of all motion which is the true REST whilst as yet he is under works and not under grace or Thirdly as they are the unlawfull and forbidden fruit of mans spirit qualified and enabled from Christ as before expressed when through his own lust he is enticed and through the subtilty of Satan he is ensnared so as lust when it hath thus conceived is the root of all evil operation bringing forth fruit unto death even death eternal in the end if the Lord upon the grounds of his new and everlasting Covenant do not pluck such souls out of this danger and lead them to such a state as contains in it a perfect security and freedom from the re-entry of sin with its prevailing power over them Through the right and distinct consideration of these principles and operations of conscience in the sons and daughters of men we may come to find our selves where we are and whose subjects whether Christs or the Devils and to what Kingdom or dispensation we belong in reference to the one or the other to the Kingdom of Christs marvellous light or to the power of Satans accursed darkness and upon what terms we stand in the one or the other whether in a wavering state consisting in a capacity and possibility of removal out of the one into the other or in a fixed determined state upon which it is impossible for any change to be brought either in a good sense or in a bad in which men are reserved and kept fast either in the bonds of perfect love light and freedom that casteth out fear as the elect or in chains of darkness and captivity unto the judgement of the great day as the non-elect who will be destroyed by the brightness of Christs coming when he shall appear the second time without sin to the salvation of his People And this we shall do if God permit as a service to these present times wherein like little children most are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby men and devils lie in wait to deceive and lead on the ignorant to the Chambers of death CHAP. XV. Shewing more particularly the bounds of that Rule and Government which is set up by Christ in the natural conscience together with the answer of a good conscience thereunto in those that are under this first dispensation IT is most evident by the Scriptures that amongst the nations who are said to be without law as distinguished from the Jews that were under the law there were found doers of the law by nature who shewed the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences bearing them witness and their thoughts mean while accusing or excusing one another Rom. 2. 14 15. Of such Peter speaketh Acts 10. 34 35. where he saith Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him according as David
reserved in heaven for them ready to be revealed in the last time They that are born of this seed are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of Man but of God and through the power of faith and the abiding of this seed in them are kept unto salvation without any possibility of sinning unto death or any danger of final falling away having by vertue of their reception of this seed in the heart through the gift of God the nature of true believers communicated unto them even the unity of the faith and knowledge of the son of God which makes them members of the new Jerusalem children of the promise who are born after the spirit and have that anointing whereby they know all things immediately from the head and fountain itself and need not that any man should teach them but as the same anointing teacheth them of all things 1 Joh. 2. 20 27. which was given to their head the true Aaron without measure running down upon all those that dwell together with him in the unity of the faith of the son of God even to the skirts of his garments upon the lowest members of this NEW JERUSALEM consecrating them a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD with himself to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God This new nature in the seed of it whilst it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen is called faith even the faith that justifies spreading over us the propitiatory covering of Christs spiritual headship and EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS in which we are made to stand for ever spotless and without guile before the Throne of God Those that are of this faith are blessed with faithful Abraham and are of that one seed that are heirs according to the promise The work of this faith and new birth when once wrought out by Christ in the heart and conscience is to breed patience and that patience experience and that experience hope even that hope which maketh not ashamed The patience which is wrought out in every regenerate one by this faith is called the obedience of faith that when it hath had its perfect work maketh us perfect so as to want nothing arming us with the same mind that was in Christ Jesus to suffer in the flesh in order to put an end to sin and to work off the soul from the will desire of the flesh into an absolute subjection and conformity to the heavenly will of Christ wherein he is one with the Father and so enabling us to keep the word of Christs patience which is indeed the Law and Rule under which the true believer is subjected until Christs second coming being to rest in the grave with Christ untill the remainder of his sufferings be fulfilled in his whole body the Church under the certainty and with the comfort of his promise that those that thus suffer with him shall also raign with him and those that thus die with him shall also live with him And that all true believers are thus observers of this Rule according to the patern left by Christ in his own sufferings purifying themselves as he is pure keeping the word of his patience and performing the obedience of faith which is required by the law of the new covenant we shall endeavour to make known as in the experience thereof and Testimony from the Scripture it is held forth For through the comprehending power of Christ as he is the head and root of this spiritual seed and precious faith which is obtained by Gods chosen ones they are separated from the very womb yea they have grace given unto them in Christ Iesus before the world began and are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in him being accepted in the beloved In this respect Jacob was loved and Esau was hated or the one was accepted and the other was refused in their mothers wombe the children being not yet born neither of them having as yet done good or evil that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth Howbeit we are not in Scripture sense nor in truth as some unwarrantably affirm actual believers until by effectual calling we are made receivers of whole Christ in the seed as before described And therefore the Apostle Paul who is a remarkable example herein though he had received grace in Christ Iesus as in his head before the world began and as thus comprehended in his head was separated and distinguished from the womb in whom the purpose of God according to the election was to stand yet it pleased not God to call him and by revealing his son in him to make him actually a believer and new creature until he had spent many years even a great part of his life in a sowerness and rigidness of spirit under the dispensation of the Law flaming out at last into cruel and fierce persecution of the Church of God though in all still preserved by his head from wilfull enmity For saith he I did it ignorantly In like manner all the children given to Christ by the Father whereof he is to lose none are thus separated and distinguished from the rest of the world as the beloved seed according to Gods purpose from the womb and so according to Gods purpose are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ before the world began Yet until it pleaseth God by his grace to call them whether they be in the state of circumcision or uncircumcision they live and walk according to the principles and Rule of that dispensation they are under For so we see in the great instance of Abraham the father of the faithful as by Stephen he is described to us Acts 7. in the manner of the calling with which he was called and whereby he was made actually a Believer and a new creature which was by Gods appearing to him and by the power of his WORD working in him calling and bringing him out of his own Country the land of his Nativity and from his natural relations into the land which he should shew him causing him herein to resign up his natural judgement and will entirely to his disposal and through faith to obey for he went out not knowing whither he went which first remove of his was out of the state of degenerate nature and his heathenish life into the earthly land of Canaan as that was a type and figure of the heavenly and into circumcision or experience of that communion with God which is by the first Covenant whereby the filth of the flesh in his heathenish state was cut off and cleansed and he in minde as well as in body brought into the figurative land of promise even to a conformity in mind and spirit to the Law the perfection of Christs flesh or natural man In this promised land perceiving by faith that it was but the type and shadow of the good things themselves the heavenly Country which was
several as they may without the seed of saving faith accompanying them how high and heavenly soever they may seeme to be they are but common grace and may be fallen from and so those may perish that have them But where such gifts are followed with that farther work in the soul which is the proper fruit and effect of the third Ministery containing in it things that accompany salvation then those very gifts hereby washed in the blood of the Lamb do change their fading and failing property and become saving and everlasting In the righteousnesse then of Faith both the former righteousnesses are fulfilled and established upon better principles and Promises then those of the first Covenant to the making the possessors thereof heirs of God co-heirs with Christ and so partakers of the Divine nature entering them into the glory that is within the veile and setting them downe with Christ on his Throne as he is set downe with the Father on his Throne in the fulnesse and perfection of both Creations having all power in Heaven and in Earth put into his hand This is the Mortification and Vivification the dying to sin and living to righteousness witnessed unto by the Scriptures and shining forth in the face of Christ as the Truth that is in Jesus unto which we are made conformable by being planted together with him in the likenesse of his death and resurrection comprehending in it all that righteousnesse and holinesse which is but in part and is upon right grounds pleaded for either by the Natural or Legal Conscience and holding forth over and above that which is higher and of a better and more durable kinde then theirs But however it be that the defect and miscarriage we are speaking to that is incident to Natural or Legal righteousnesse lie not in this that it is counterfeit or hypocritical but that it is that which is but in part and which therefore does unwarrantably exalt it self into a competition with or opposition to the whole as it comes to passe in those who make such ill use of Christs first appearance as thereby to resist and keep out his second yet we are neverthelesse to acknowledge that there is much counterfeit work to be found in the world as daily experience sheweth both as to light practice principles and converse amongst those that pretend fair to be great proficients in that righteousnesse and holinesse that makes up the answer of the Natural or Legal good conscience who do not truly live in the principles of either of these states but make a flourish with meere notion head-work and light without heat together with some overly performances as desirous of a share in the praise of men with those who truly live in such principles by a meere outward plausiblenesse in converse whilst their inward part is full of ravening and wickednesse Others also that are unsincere and faulty in their very principles we are to discover and lay open for the preventing of the deceit with which under these the Devil lies in wait to insnare and turne men aside from the TRVTH This sort of men in whom are found these corrupt principles whereby they become men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith speaking lies in hypocrisie the Scripture expressely takes notice and warnes us of above all the rest as the great engines the Devil makes use of for the instillation of his Doctrine by faire speeches to the deceiving of the hearts of the simple Since therefore there is such deceivable work kept on foot in men by that grand Impostor Satan and that under pretence of their dying to sin and living to righteousnesse in many feigned shews of mortification forbidding of marriage and commanding to abstain from meats which may be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth which things have indeed a shew of wisdome in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh all which is so far from being comprehended in the righteousnesse revealed by the Gospel as any part of it that under a counterfeit shadow and similitude thereof it stands in direct opposition thereunto begetting in the conscience such a dying unto Christ or the Spirit of TRUTH as imports and plainly speaks forth a living unto Antichrist or the spirit of lies and fashood prophesied of as that which with great confidence will be obtruded by the witnesse and practice of divers in the last times 1 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. and elsewhere since I say these things are so I have held it my duty in very faithfulnesse unto the TRUTH not to passe by the same in silence without giving my Testimony against all such deceitful workings in those who having departed from the faith give heed unto seducing spirits speaking lies in hypocrisie or in feigned resemblances unto TRUTH Of such the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 11. for whose sake he was exceeding jealous lest the Corinthians through their influence and subtilty should be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity of mind which they ought to bear as chast Spouses unto Christ their one Husband v. 2 3. Such saith Paul are false Apostles Prophets and professors of Christ transforming themselves into the appearance of Christs true witnesses and followers and no marvel For Satan himselfe is transformed into an Angel of light Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers be transformed as the Ministers of righteousnesse taking upon them to personate true mortification or dying to sinne and true vivification or living to righteousnesse whose end shall be according to their Works ver 13 14 15. This sort of men as appeares in the examples of Hymeneus and Alexander have been once enlightned and through the receivings of grace and attainments under the first Covenant have had that which the Scripture calls Faith and a good conscience 1 Tim. 1. 19 20. who notwithstanding do put away their good conscience and concerning faith make shipwrack being the adversaries on the one hand which Paul exhorts Timothy to maintaine a good warfare against as well as against the Teachers of the Law on the other hand who being ignorant whilest they are under the Law how to pursue the true end of it run out into unprofitable heady disputes and endlesse questions having once turned aside unto vaine jangling understanding neither what they say nor wherefore they affirme v. 4 5 6 7. But stumbling at that stumbling stone in Sion and rock of offence to enemies Rom. 9. 33. but of defence and salvation to his chosen beloved ones Psal 95. 1. the same Christ becoming to these a sanctuary or place of refuge to them a stone of stumbling even to both the houses of Israel a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of the earthly Jerusalem Isa 8. 14 who going about to establish their own righteousnesse do not submit unto and so fall short of the righteousnesse of God Rom. 10. 3. Both these sorts of men on
purity and simplicity through the actings and lustings of their owne wills till he fix them at last in an unchangeable defection from and enmity against God that created them and Christ that bought them We shall here therefore declare what effect the power of Satan hath in the renewed natural consciences of men causing them to deteine the truth manifested in them in unrighteousnesse and rendering them unworthy either of keeping the good they have or of receiving any further or gre 〈…〉 by the blood of Christ who hath more grace and mercy in store for those that approve themselves faithful in the lesser measures committed to them For such is the long-suffering and forbearance which by Christs ransome is procured from God on the behalf of fallen man that he will have none to perish for want of meanes to be saved but does so provide for them according to the state they are in that all may if they will be led unto repentance and come to the knowledge of the TRVTH which the witnesse of God set up in them faithfully hearkened to will enable them to feele after but when it so comes to passe that in stead hereof they do abuse this good will of God towards them and through the impenitency and hardnesse of their hearts go on to despise and neglect the grace tendered to them then does God think fit to reveale his wrath from heaven against such ungodly and unrighteous men that hold the truth of God in unrighteousnesse accounting them unworthy of more favour who under all their receivings of the witnesse of TRUTH declaring it self in the work of their consciences and the protection and encouragement which in the practice of and conformity unto the same is afforded to them in this state from the wholesome and good impressions of the holy Angels as the benefit of their Ministery and charge do despise all this already shewed them being willing to be hardened by Satan and bid defiance thereunto walking on in wayes of unrighteousnesse highly provoking and displeasing unto God notwithstanding all the faithful dictates inward motions of light and impressions in their owne minds and consciences to the contrary of which number are they of the Nations Kindreds and Tongues throughout the whole world whether acquainted with the holy Scriptures and things contained in them or not being such as live without Law and perish without Law who being founded upon the principles of right reason or the common enlightning work of God in the conscience according to the measure and degree received do refuse to reteine the Truth thus manifesting it self in them in a way of righteous and holy operations and walkings according to the rule of that first dispensation and as taking pleasure in the contrary and preferring before it the corrupt conversation of the old Adam consisting in vanity foolish uncleannesse and noisome lusts do prosecute the same with all greedinesse till they come to be wholly alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them and affected by them because of the blindness of their hearts rendering them at last past all sense and feeling of the evil they commit being given up by God to this uncleannesse of spirit through the lusts of their owne hearts as the due reward unto their wilful disobedience that as they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge but rather chose to break with God so also he held it just to break with them and give them over to a reprobate mind to do things that were not convenient and to be filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness becoming full of envie murder debate deceit malignity whisperers back-biters haters of God despightful proud boasters inventers of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding Covenant-breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful who knowing the judgement of God by that self-evidencing TRUTH with which all are enlightned more or lesse that come into the world do most wickedly and profanely imprison the workings thereof suppresse slight and reject all its motions and counsels declaring to them continually that they that do such things are worthy of death and going on in opposition and defiance thereof not only to do the same things that bring downe finally the wrath of God but take pleasure in them that do them Under this head of openly prophane persons what multitudes of subjects unto himself as their Lord and Ruler does the Prince of the aire gaine who works in these children of disobedience carrying them captive unto his owne will to accomplish his designes and maintaine his quarrel against all shew and appearance of godlinesse even in the very forme of it as well as the power and to render them in this corrupt interest of theirs the more formidable he embodies them as it were in one corrupt love and desire filling them with one common spirit of uncleannesse alienation and enmity to the life of God and godlinesse in any kind which influences them in all their operations whether considered as private persons in their actings betweene man and man or as publick persons in their Ministery of Rule and Government over one another according to the various formes and administrations thereof under which through Gods providence they are placed and become related to all which conspiring as it were together in one spirit and combined in one corrupt interest are as a universal Dominion and Rule which the god of this world maintains greatens and manages against Christ and his spiritual seed considered either under the first or second Covenant as a distinct jurisdiction of his owne keeping all that are under him in this sense as much as lies in his power without all appearance or influence of any other God but himself So as they are properly described in the Scriptures to be such as live without hope and without God in the world Therefore it is that this corrupt interest and prophane spirit considered as dispersed through the Nations Kindreds People and Tongues in the whole world is called the beast Rev. 13. which John saw coming out of the sea foaming out its owne filth in a way of open profanenesse having seven heads and ten hornes and upon his hornes ten crownes and upon his heads the name of blaspemy or evil speaking against godlinesse in any kind unto whom the Dragon gives his power and seat and great authority that is does so influence and advantage them in all their actings of Magistracy in the capacity of publick Persons and Rulers in order to render and keep them subservient to this corrupt interest that he gives them all manner of prosperity and successe in the exercise of all power and tyranny to the greatning and advantaging of themselves in the things of this life and of their worldly being who finding and experiencing the sweet of this gaine do shew themselves obedient and faithful in all their actings to the interest of the god of this world which they serve and are
the want of which it now groaneth and travelleth as in paine as deteined under the bondage it is fallen into by sin and is stretching out its neck as it were with a holy impatiency after these times of refreshing that are to come from the presence of the Lord by the sending of Jesus a second time and revealing him with power from heaven to restore all things and accomplish the full redemption of the body which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began Acts 3. 19 20 21. But considering the distinct and large handling of this weighty subject from testimony of Scriptures and otherwise in Volumes lately made extant together with the reserve which Christ thinks fit to keep in his owne hands as well of the time as the exact patterne and material circumstances of this his Reign it shall suffice me to be joyning in testimony unto this great truth according to the general prospect thereof which hath beene given in to my faith in some small glimpses as well from the inward as outward Word of God in a patient and humble expectation of the clearer and more certaine description thereof as the things themselves are drawing on which Christ in his times will fully shew by the brightnesse of his owne coming unto which the children of light and of this day are exhorted to be hastning as that which is hastning upon them that so it may not overtake them as a thief in the night at unawares but the mindfulnesse thereof may keep them in a meet posture with their loines girt and lamps burning as men waiting for the coming of their Lord. Paul in 1 Tim. 6. 15 16. does call these dayes the times of Christ in which he will shew that his judgment and power shall bear sway in distinction from and opposition to the power and judgement of mans day now in exercise and credit throughout the world himself being the blessed and only POTENTATE the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS that must take place with his everlasting Dominion This Scripture compared with Rom. 8. v. 19 to v. 24. Acts 3. 19 20 21. 1 John 3. 2. Hab. 2. 3 14 20. 2 Thes 2. 8. Phil. 3. 20 21. Dan. 2. 44 45. and Dan. 4. 3. and Chap. 7. 26 27. does evidently declare thus much that the hidden life and immortality wherein the man Christ Jesus does remaine with God as him that is invisible seene only to the eye of faith by the true sons and heirs of salvation shall have a season and time to be manifested and brought to light openly before the eyes of all and this two manner of wayes First in a way which shall be peculiar to the spiritual seed and extend only to them who having died with Christ shall now live with him and having suffered with him shall now reigne with hiw as gathered into one spiritual and heavenly body with himself through his changing their vile body into the likenesse of his most glorious body according to the working of his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Secondly in a way which shall be common to all natural men yea to the whole creation of God so as every eye shall see him and every tongue shall confesse him and every knee shall how to him either voluntarily or by compulsion as unto the only POTENTATE unto whom they owe their subjection and that in the right of the redemption by him procured for them who became a ransome for all to be testified in due time through which they shall be actually and entirely delivered from the bondage of corruption and restored into their Primitive purity natural life and glory upon the same tearmes of mutability as wherein Adam was at first created yea with this advantage over and above what he had not only a being taught by his experience but assisted with those means which he experienced not in the manner they shall do together with a freedome from any exercise of that old Serpents power or subtilty upon them who during the time of the whole thousand years shall be bound and sealed up in the bottomlesse pit by the power of Christ Rev. 20. 2 3. and so totally disabled to deceive or beguile the Nations any more all that while as he beguiled Eve that Christ may rule in righteousnesse amongst them without disturbance nothing being left to hurt or destroy them in all his holy mountaine or Dominion if they destroy not themselves for they shall be left unto the full and entire scope of their own free will self-managing and disposal that they may be as good as they themselves shall desire to be and have the means at hand to keep them so if themselves be not in the fault That which Christ will do at his second coming is intimated by those greater works he speaks of John 5. v. 20 to v. 30. at the sight whereof every one should marvel In which Scripture we find a twofold power that shall then be exercised by Christ First a quickning power for Christ shall then quicken whom he will calling whom he pleases out of their very graves whether spiritual or literal and they shall hear his voice and come forth the grave at his call shall yeeld up her dead not being able to resist the power of this quickning spirit of his who then as by the voice of the Arch-Angel the trump of God 1 Thes 4. 16 shall visibly declare the exceeding greatnesse of his power over death and the grave it self in the sight of the whole world to the admiration of all and to the stopping the mouths of the greatest enemies and gain-sayers that would be apt to contradict and oppose the glory of his Kingdome Secondly a Judicial power For Christ shall then receive authority from the Father to execute judgement also and that as the Sonne of man according as it is also expressed Acts 17. 31. He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus then as the Father hath life in himself that is to say the proper life of God absolute supreme irresistible and Almighty the SONNE OF MAN shall then also come forth in the exercise of the same life in unity with the Father it being given to him in like manner to have life in himself and to effect and execute all that which he desires and thinks fit in both these respects in the exercise of the same absolute and Almighty power of God himself By reason whereof it shall come to passe that all men shall honour the Sonne even as they honour the Father and whosoever honoureth not the Son shall be proceeded against in judgement and in the execution of Gods wrath as if he had not honoured the Father For unto the Sonne of man in this day of his