in him which is so far from being lessened or interrupted by death and the laying down of the use of his bodily life for a time that it never comes to its full and mature perfection until then and as a consequence hereof the body be re-assumed incorruptible In this property and operation of humane life man bears the figure and image of the witness of the Holy Ghost Thus we have described what man is in his essential parts and operations in order to fit him for that communion and converse with God designed unto him by the two Covenants unto the first of which he was actually and perfectly qualified as he became a living soul and did bear the image of God in and upon his natural man as the first Adam being of the earth earthy But unto the other man by his creation was no otherwise qualified and prepared then as he was set up in such a being as was capable by a farther workmanship of God to arrive unto and attain the glory and everlasting perfection of the new and second covenant without which all that was done unto him yet by what he had received from God in his creation if left to his own freewill would but redound to his greater misery and more righteous condemnation before the judgement seat of Christ through his own default This finishing and compleating work of God upon man was reserved to be Ministred to him on the seventh day whereby a far higher and more exalted capacity of mind and operation was to be added to him for the enabling him unto an everlasting happy and compleat communion with God This is that which in his first state was wanting and could not be obtained by him but as the free gift of God then propounded to him in the tree of life This second and last state of perfection held forth unto man from the beginning in the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God is described by the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15. 44 45 46 47 48 49. where he sets it up in contra-distinction to the first and earthly make of man by his creation shewing it to be that life and immortality which is brought to light in Christ as the last Adam the Lord from heaven and quickning spirit calling it the spiritual body as that in which the power of this endless life was comprehended comparatively with the natural body wherein the perfection of Adams mutable and corruptible life consisted saying plainly that there is this spiritual body and heavenly image in the last Adam as well as that natural body and earthly image in the first howbeit that is not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual the first being the life of perfection that was found in the earthly Adam the other being that which was brought to light in the heavenly by his resurrection from the dead and therefore as is the earthly such are they that are earthly and as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly And in reference unto such as are the right heirs of salvation it is said as they have born the image of the earthly so shall they also bear the image of the heavenly and have their natural or vile bodies changed and fashioned like unto his glorious body by him who through his mighty power is able to subdue all things uno himself And if we desire to be satisfied how this change and translation out of the one perfection and image into the other is to be effected he positively asserts that it is brought upon man as the fruit of Christs resurrection or Ministry of Gods second appearance by and in him which rends the first veil and brings down the first Tabernacle of the natural body into the grave with Christ whence it springs up clothed upon with this house from heaven its spiritual body by means whereof this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality and death and the grave are swallowed up in victory This change and translation was as we have said propounded unto Adam as the end of his creation and was figured out to him in the tree of life and by the twofold exercise of life and ability of mind set up in their perfection in in him by creation he was indued with a power improveable in the use of the means God afforded him to be at least in a tendency unto so glorious an end and disposed in such a posture and frame of spirit as God required in him by the first covenant in order to this farther work which on the seventh day God would make known and impart to him What God herein required from man was signified unto him by the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the prohibition accompanying the same which was not to eat of the fruit of that tree In this tree of knowledge of good and evil man had the sight of himself in the exercise of his natural life and operations appertaining unto him as he became a living soul in the well or evi use whereof he might arrive unto the experience of the supream good held forth to him as the end of his creation the endless life that was to follow or else he might come by the forfeiture of the present good he enjoyed to know the evil of a much worse condition then at first he had for the avoiding of which and to continue in a posture meet to receive the other God required him in the state of innocency to abide in a waiting frame of spirit as a sojourner and stranger in the midst of his present enjoyments in the earthly Paradise that so through his patient forbearance from taking up his Rest or terminating his delight in seen things he might preserve in himself an unengaged unprejudiced spirit to what was yet behind of the counsel of God to be communicated to him as to a more excellent attainment and inheritance to be exhibited to him in the light of the approaching day of the Lord the beamings forth whereof as considered in type were already present CHAP. VI. Concerning the fall of man the steps and degrees to it with the bitter fruits and consequents thereof BY what hath been said of mans Creation it is undeniable that God made him perfect though the perfection of his estate was mutable or subject to change and therefore not the Rest from all eternity designed him by God so that man in this first perfect state had that still wanting which was the finishing and compleating work to what he at present enjoyed howbeit that which was wanting unto man did no way cause or necessitate his fall but that as we shall shew proceeded from the suggestion of Sathan and enticing of his own lust which lust when it had conceived brought forth sin and sin when it was perfected brought forth death although man in this estate was well and sufficiently armed and provided against it if he
therefore not to infer from what hath been said as some ignorantly or maliciously do that in asserting those under the two former dispensations to be capable of miscarrying as not therein arrived at that which is their true safety and blessedness we destroy the faith of many dear Saints and professors of Christ who have dyed or yet may die without ever acknowledging or experiencing a higher or other state of acceptation with God For upon this ground Christ should never have come in the flesh or have promised to come the second time without sin unto salvation because many a true Saint may have died and never seen nor acknowledged him in either of these his comings But indeed this assertion is so far from straitning or lessening the number of those that are the true heirs of salvation that it rather discovers how they may lie hid as they did in Elijahs time out of the observation of visible professors amongst those that they exclude as heathens and may be comprehended by Christ their spiritual head when as yet they may not have their spiritual senses brought forth into exercise so as to apprehend him but may be babes in Christ walking as men 1 Cor. 3. 1 3. undistinguished from the rest of the world And although they may in that respect seem to be men in the flesh yet they may live according to God in the spirit and find acceptance in the beloved one whilst they themselves may either be without law exercising a chaste natural conscience or may be under the law believers so Zealous of the law as to flie in the face of Paul himself for witnessing a higher light then they have yet experience of or can bear Which being premised we shall now proceed to shew what is the third and last sort of Rule and operation of Christ that is set up in the hearts and consciences of men by vertue of the new creation and everlasting covenant described Ephes 2. 10. to be that workmanship whereby we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them distinguished as well from the good works of the law as the good works of nature before spoken to consisting in the operation and exercise of that faith through which we are preserved from falling away taken off from those operations wherein self is kept alive and weighs down the ballance and carried on to the saving of the soul For the nature of this faith is to give subsistence and reception in the heart unto Christ in his second appearance considered as in the seed thereof springing up more and more unto a perfect day which consisting in the very image it self and substantial brightness of Gods glory as it subjects and subdues the first earthly and shadowy image wherein man was created unto a perfect subserviency to and harmony with it self makes of twain one new man or Temple of God in heaven where also is seen the Ark of his Test ament and forms the heart into a subjection unto Christ not only as he is the KING OF RIGHTEOUSNES but as he is KING OF PEACE also qualifying the soul not only to minister in the charge of the Levits in the holy place but to draw neer unto God and enter with the high Priest into the holiest of all as having the exercise of all the natural powers and faculties of the mind in their own proper righteousness and holiness but retained in a broken bruised crucified state perfectly subjected to the spiritual sences and operations brought into exercise through faith to the perfecting and fulfilling of the other and so making the same Saint capable to sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb too Thus by living the life of faith the true Saint comes to have the evidence of things unseen and to hope above hope whilst the first Tabernacle is taking down to be laid in the grave and Christ is bringing a perfect weakness and insufficiency upon him to speak think will or do from any other spring or fountain of action and motion then from himself who is risen from the dead or from his exalted heavenly manhood who by degrees as their house from heaven cloaths them upon and keeps them from being found naked though despoyled of their first self-sufficiency ability as it stood single alone This is the faith whereby power is given to us to be the sons of God in a birth and participation of the divine nature wherein God communicates himself in his first and second appearance as knit together and made up of twain into one new name in Christ which none know but they that have it forming up the answer of a good conscience through the resurrection from the dead 1 Pet. 3. 19. to the receiving of whole Christ as he is the finisher as well as the beginner of our faith as he is the High Priest as well as the sacrifice in our nature or as through the unity of Spirit wherein he lives with his Father he does offer up and crucify the will of his flesh bringing it into perfect subjection to his Fathers will This is the patern of being and obedience according to which we are formed when we are made NEW CREATURES being that image of the Son unto which all the adopted children of the new Covenant given by the father to Christ are predestinated to be conformed in copartnership with Christ as he is the first born among many brethren for which he prayed as the peculiar mercy reserved for them in distinction from all the world beside whom therefore in this sense he did not pray for when he desired of his father that they all might be one as he and the father are one Joh. 17. 9 11. And says he the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect in one and be with me where I am that they may behold the glory that thou hast given me in the love which thou shewedst me and wherewith thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world that so also the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them ver 22. 23 24 26. The effect of which prayer is accomplished in the heart and conscience of every true believer that is made a NEW CREATURE and is that which constitutes and sets up the new man in his right and perfect distinction from the first Adams highest purity and utmost perfection consisting in that building of God made without hands mans house from heaven with which he is gradually clothed upon as he is gradually unclothed of the first building and so formed up in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto that perfection of manhood which is attainable even unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ unto which we shall arrive when
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
yea have no glory at all in comparison of that which excels and is to follow 2 Cor. 3. 10. or else as that which will be swallowed up of corruption and changed into a body of sin and death is the wages of mans disobedience and fruit of Gods displeasure for the same In this sense we are to understand man to be made in a mutable and corruptible state as having that set up in him and given to him through the well or evil ordering whereof he may either lose and justly be deprived of it in a way of Gods displeasure or exchange it for a second and more excellent appearance of God the glory that is to follow wherein this also is comprehended and made perfect and durable And that we may the better understand the nature of this changeable state wherein man is found under the first Covenant and see the weakness and faultiness thereof comparatively with that which is designed by God unto man wherein to fix and rest it will be needful for us to be more particular in describing first what man is in his essential properties and operations in that make and constitution communicated to him by the Trinity in his creation and then to shew what was the nature of the communion and converse with God which he was thereby fitted and qualified unto in order to grow up to be perfected in by the means for that end given him by God if the fault were not his own as it is written Thy destruction O man is of thy self Man then as he bears the image of the Trinity is constituted of spirit soul and body as his essential parts which whatever suspension of exercise or temporary alteration any of them may have do never suffer annihilation but make up the proper discriminating form of man by which he stands distinguished from all other the works of Gods hands in both worlds And thus first man is created spirit and made to subsist in his head Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world as we have already shewed where he stands comprehended in the life of Christs natural perfection as he is the Father of spirits in like manner by way of comparison as in reference to his fleshly seed all the posterity of Adam stood in the loyns of their common parent from the time of his creation Yet this is not the state of mans spirit made perfect but is only a first degree of his being which is the foundation laid by God to mans exercise of a bodily and spiritual life and operation incident and essential to him as a man whether he become a vessel of honour or dishonour So that in this state of a created spirit man had a being in his head before he was brought forth in the exercise either of his sensual or rational life and is rather comprehended in his head then actually and perfectly apprehending or enjoying in respect of which first state and invisibility of being he is a dark shadow of the witness of the Father Secondly man is to be considered in his bodily frame as he is made of the dust of the ground and had the breath of life breathed into him by God through which he became a living soul This breathing of the breath of life by God into mans nostrils doth declare first Gods bringing the soul of man into the actual being and exercise of its sensual life which till then lay hid in mans spirit by the means whereof he is furnished with a capacity of receiving and taking in by the organs of sense the knowledge of things proper to him as a man which though it be his weaker and inferiour part yet is first in motion in order to yield its service and subjection to the rational and superiour part This life which the soul leads and manages by actuating and informing the senses serving herself of them is that whereby the report of things from without is let in upon mans reason which is for the most part so prevalent as if the soul were absolutely and intirely dependent upon and necessitated unto the use of the senses in respect whereof some have thought very groundlesly that it hath either slept or ceased to be upon the laying down of the body By this first exercise of a living soul in man is figured out the witness of the Son Thirdly the spirit of man is the foundation and spring unto a rational spiritual or intellectual exercise of life wherein he is capable of associating with Angels and becoming their equal even in his natural capacity of a man which also was actually set up in Adam by that act of Gods breathing into him the breath of life and was as the superiour ruling part in man obtaining the place of Lord Ruler and Husband unto his first inferiour and sensual part which in its actings was to be dependent upon and subservient unto this in all usefulness and harmony Thus in a mystical sense man was made Male and Female in the same person through the setting up this two-fold exercise of life and operation of soul in him sensual and rational This second sort of operation is mans higher and nobler part and shews most the man in it the other distinguishes the man very little from the beast but that the countenance of man looks upward and the face of the beast downward The exercise of life in this higher and more raised part of man Adam obtained at first in perfection and had it in its compleat stature so far as it was capable during its association with its mortal body and while it was on this side the state of being made perfect in spirit and equal to Angels Luke 20. 36. by laying down the body in the grave either to good Angels when they become the spirits of just men made perfect or to evil Angels when they are the spirits of wicked men grown up to the height of their natural stature in spirit and by vertue of that perfect exercise of the rational and intellectual part which Adam had in the body he had a capacity to take in the knowledge and discerning of things immediatly from the inward vision represented to him by the ministry of Angels he had also an intuitive prospect into the nature of all visible and bodily things in their causes without being beholding to the report given by his senses and as a fruit hereof we do find Gen. 2. 19 20. That Adam gave names to every living creature according to their nature by vertue of this his intuitive knowledge which he exercised in a way independent upon his sensual part the property of this his spiritual and rational part being to act as in the body or as out of the body that is to say to serve it self of the use of its bodily senses or not according as they conduce to the furthering and bettering him in his true and right discerning of things man then hath a perfect compleat intellectual and rational life springing up
that which Christ in no sort or sense was capable to undergo being every moment of his sufferings the most perfect object of Gods eternal love doing that all along which was most perfectly welpleasing and lovely to the Father even whilst his natural man was the object of his temporary wrath and displeasure But Gods wrath in the first sense hath for its object all sinners whatsoever they be whether elect or non-elect whether such as shall be finally saved or finally damned consisting in that discountenance and rebuke which God hath resolved to put upon sin wheresoever he finds it yea though in his own dear children which therefore is consistent with his peculiar love as himself saith speaking of the spiritual seed to whom the sure mercies belong and with whom his covenant stands fast for ever Psal 89. 30 31 32 33. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgements if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments then will I visit their transgression with the rod that is of this wrath and their iniquity with stripes Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail With this rod and with these stripes was Christ himself smitten and we healed Isa 53. to the marring of his visage more then any mans and his form more then the sons of men Chap. 52. 14. leaving in him no form or comeliness to the eye of the natural man who therefore when he thus seeth him saith there is no beauty that we should desire him Chap. 53. 2. c. looking on him as despised and rejected of men and therefore hiding the face from him as not valuing or esteeming him at all but judging him as one stricken smitten of God and afflicted or as as one whose name is blotted out of Gods book a phrase usual in scripture to describe those that are under this first dispensation of wrath as accursed and separated from God Rev. 3. to whom God doth in this temporary ministry of wrath attending the breach of the first covenant declare himself as an enemy Thus it was with Christ not only to the judgement and discerning of others whether of his own people the Jews or of the heathens but thus he stood represented to himself in his own natural judgement and sense as a meer man who lay really under this wrath of God as the object of it for the sins and on the behalf of all mankind which seems to be intimated by Moses when in the person of Christ he was mediating with God Exod 32. 32. in behalf of the transgressing children of the first covenant bringing this as his last argument Blot me saith he out of thy book if thou wilt not forgive them as if he should have said Am not I willing to be blotted out of thy book that thou mightest forgive them have not I thus been wounded for their transgressions that by my stripes they might be healed under this wrath or curse Paul also in imitation of Christs affection declares himself willing to fall if thereby he might benefit his brethren his kinsfolks according to the flesh This then is the only sense wherein Christ is capable of bearing Gods wrath and of being made a curse for us And now how innocent and spotless is this precious and most profitable doctrine of Christs sufferings or passive obedience as to the calumnies and unworthy reproaches of those who take upon them to brand it with Popery Socinianism and how unjustly doth this proceed out of their mouths who state the point of justification so as to make it little other or better then that of works or of the first covenant having the imputation of no higher an object then Christs active obedience or legal righteousness singly considered for the matter of it whereas by this doctrine of Christs death and passive obedience we see something farther required by the law of the new covenant over and above the former which as a higher and more acceptable object of imputative righteousness is given to the true and right heirs of salvation viz. that of Christs broken meek crucified spirit the true Isaac as offered up which is before God of great price In this everlasting righteousness all the spiritual seed obtain at once an absolute remission and freedom from sin standing before the throne of God without blame in their spiritual Head the spotless Lamb in whom is no guile to the obtaining an eternal redemption peculiar to themselves from amongst all others the sons of men And forasmuch as herein is asserted that the sinner is thus justified in the spirit and righteousness of his head imputed to him as soon as he is made actually a believer and of that one blessed seed it doth avowedly decry Socinianism which makes the personal obedience of the Saint in conformity only to the death of Christ as his pattern and this but litterally also understood to be that alone which is thesinners justification which withall excludes the secondbranch of Christs passive obedience here asserted as it is the satisfaction to Gods justice and the atonement for the appeasing of his wrath on the behalf of sinners And as thus the true believers have a higher and more excellent objective righteousness offered and imputed to them so have they also a more excellent and precious faith then the other to receive and apply it founded in the spirit of true son-ship and adoption as the spring of that newness of life and operation which the law of the new covenant requires This faith we say is saving and to be of it is inconsistent with our being of works singly considered so that to be and live by this grace is no more to be and live by works otherwise grace is no more grace and if it be of works then is it not of grace otherwise work is no more work Rom. 10. 6. which with what else hath been said on this subject of Christs obedience doth suffiicently bear witness against the Romish doctrine of works Thus we have treated of the obedience of Christ both active and passive through which he fulfilled all righteousness and underwent all things written of him needful to be by him performed and suffered for the compleating mans redemption and salvation without having inflicted upon him the pain of the damned or the wrath of God in that sense as some groundlesly and without warrant from Scripture do affirm And as thus we have seen Christ mystically as well as litterally laid in the grave and rendred obedient to the death of the Cross so in the third and last particular he remains to be considered as through the progress which the witness and teachings of the Father made in him he comes at length to be declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead the holy one which was so far from being left in the grave or suffered to see corruption that his crucified natural man or dead
things sin only excepted which as the Law or holy commandment ministred by him is given them to keep without spot and unrebukeable unto his second appearance 1 Tim 6. 14. and as was typed out by the Manna is then no longer to be fed upon as singly ministred nor is to be gathered when this true Rest or Sabbath appears but melts away before the heat of this more glorious Sun and brighter day of Christs second appearance to them as having attained its end calling with the Angel Gen. 32. 26. to be let go and ceased from because of the day-break of Christs second coming and the sounding forth of the voice of God from that most excellent glory in which even this first ministry is also comprehended and fufilled This is Israel after the flesh whether considered as they were shadowed and typed forth by the fleshly seed of the Jews in general or as they were in truth the circumcision of Christ made without hands in time of the law or of the Gospel among Jews or Gentiles who as such are called Jer. 2. 21. wholly aright seed and Isa 5. a vineyard of Christs in a very fruitful hill fenced cleansed and planted with the choisest vine in expectation of their bearing good fruit and bringing forth right grapes but many of them in the end do bring forth sowr and wild grapes From these then thus considered are distinguished those under the Law that were only such outwardly their circumcision being only that which was outward in the flesh who having singly the form of knowledge according to the law contained in ordinances and outward observations knew not what it was to be a lew in spirit so much as in a conformity of inward perfection and life to Christ in his headship to the natural man These are described Ier. 32. 23. as those that walked not in Gods Law nor did any thing of all that God commanded them to do in the spirit and power of the commandment parallel unto whom are those in these daies under the Gospel who seem exceeding zealous of outward Ordinances and observations consisting in worldly rudiments as touch not tast not handle not which all are to perish with the using whilst they remain strangers and enemies in their minds by wicked works even to that life of natural righteousness that is required by the Law not being renewed in and by Christ as his seed and off-spring so much as after the flesh nor made true members of his living body as planted into a likeness and conformity with him in his natural perfection of fleshly life And as the inward fleshly Israelite differs thus from the outward so is he in eminency far above all that rectified and reformed state of nature effected by the ministry of Angels in and upon those who are not yet actually taken out of their first corrupt natural root the old Adam but stand yet related as members to that head notwithstanding all the change brought upon them by the first dispensation For such are not as yet truly feeding with Christ at his fleshly table nor eating and drinking in his personal presence whilst they go forth singly in the acting of what is natural right and just and have no other foundation for their peace with God or means of maintaining fellowship and communion with him but the righteous and good works which they do according to the light dispensed in that first ministry and government whereas the Israel that is after the flesh as renewed in the flesh of Christ and becoming children of the first covenant are receivers of Christ himself in his first appearance for the foundation of their converse with God and the means of maintaining their fellowship and communion with him In this respect they are said to have faith accompanied with a good conscience but such as may be lost and shipwracked 1 Tim. 1. 19. and 5. 12. such a faith as in comparison with the faith that works by love and springs from the root of the Heavenly Adam is accounted as no faith at all Deut. 32. 20. but is rather to be esteemed the knowledge with which men are in danger of being puffed up 1 Cor. 8. 1. and such a receiving of the truth which as it may consist with so also may be without the love of it in the spirit and power thereof in which manner they receive it who afterward sin wilfully and so come to be denied any longer continuance of the benefit of Christs sacrifice for the expiation of their sins Heb. 10. 26. These with the stony ground receive the word with joy and are believers but when their faith comes to its trial Iam. 1. 2 3. they prove waverers and unstable such whose faith fails in the time of need wanting the incorruptible seed of the heavenly Adam to bear them up and make them durable Through this temporary faith they are admitted into Christs presence to eat and drink with him at his table and are enabled to do many wonderful works in his name and to make a very fair shew in the flesh and yet have no abiding city nor ever enter into the true Rest but only from the top of this Mount Pisga they may have a view and prospect into the true Land of promise the kingdom that cannot be moved that is in spirit and power appearing to them as a Land of distances very far off and may see its Lineaments and proportions though never be able to enter into the life and power of it as in like manner from the top-perfection of the first dispensation a survey may be taken of the earthly Jerusalem and of the glory of Christ according to the flesh without ever being actually translated into it or knowing of Christ in the life and power of his first appearance unto which many of those that go under the name of Quakers do seem to arrive CHAP. XVII Shewing the nature of that kingdom and Rule of Christ in the Saints which consists not in word and in the form of godliness only but in power and in the life of saving faith the first fruits whereof appear in those hearts that are made conformable to Christ in his death BY what we have laid down in the two foregoing chapters it plainly appears that Christ hath subjects and faithful walkers with him under both the former dispensations wherein he suffers the tares and the wheat the children of this world and the heaven-born sons of Zion to grow up together for a while without any discrimination being not yet come to the harvest that finishing work of his wherein he makes up his jewels Mal. 3. 17. setting apart his choise treasure unto himself and causing a manifest distinction and difference to shew it-self between the wicked and the righteous between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not between those that draw back whose soul God takes no pleasure in and those that go on to the saving of the soul Heb. 10. 38 39. We are
abundantly confirm and make good the justification which is not of works but of grace according to Gods purpose The very nature and kinde of this faith may suffice to all unbyassed judgements to shew that those that are justified by it are not justified by works since in its principles and seed it is quite differing from that which is by the Law or born after the flesh which is of works so as the one is differenced from the other in the very kind of perfection and life both as to principles and works the seed and the fruit of each yea and this faith of the right kind considered as abiding in Christ not in us is that that properly justifies the believer For if it be by grace it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work And besides the Spiritual Seed are beloved as they are chosen in Christ before the world began and are distinguished as so accepted in him from the fleshly seed before they have done either good or evil This chusing in Christ is not the justification by faith inasmuch as that act of God never passes upon us till we be actually believers For though we have being in our head who is blessed and beloved before the world began Ephes 1. Yet we are not made to be in our own persons of that Spiritual Seed untill we have the righteousness of our head actually imputed to us and so are made to stand without guile or spot before the throne of God whilst as yet we are ungodly and bear about with us a body of sin and death unsubdued and unabolished which nevertheless in the end by faith is overcome and wholly done away The working power then which is put forth by faith in the heart and conscience of him that is the true Believer is to be distinguished from faith in the first act singly considered as the new birth and reception of Christ to inhabite and dwell there as the root and author of all spiritual life and perfection which indeed is rather itself the work or workmanship of Christ as the suitable reception that he makes for his indwelling presence in the heart then any effect of the power of faith working patience and experience there in pursuance of the end for which it is given which is to work the spirit of man either under the first or second dispensation to a compleat and full resignation of its understanding will and desire unto the teachings light and life of this faith evidencing him that is invisible and giving entrance into the glory that is within the veil shewing what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward that believe Which glory is not seen all that while to the natural senses and discerning but the life and workings of faith wherein the spiritual part of the believer does exceedingly rejoyce the fleshly or natural man in the Saint unsubdued cannot bear but hath its reluctancy against lusting to envy ready to oppose resist and contradict the same to the utmost and is all the season of the trial of faith in great heaviness grief and despondency through manifold temptations whilst the believing part is exercising love on him whom the natural senses cannot reach nor come to the sight of In whom though now we see him not yet believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious girding up the loyns of our minds in sobriety and hope For the power of faith is such in its operation that it overcomes the world and all the powers of flesh and blood in us at the best which serve but to be made conquest of and triumphed over by faith in order to be nailed to the cross of Christ for the slaying of the enmity which thereby would be springing up to the choaking of the spirtual seed the crucifying afresh the Son of God and trampling under foot the blood of the everlasting Covenant as an unholy thing This power of flesh and blood that ends and expires at last under the conquering and triumphing power of faith causes for a long time a sore and fiery trial in the soul through the sharp contest and dispute that arises between the heavenly powers and spiritual senses on the one hand and the fleshly and natural powers in the same Saint on the other by reason of which the soul is often inclining and falling back into the life of the flesh and workings of the natural will instead of being strengthned in the inward man and fixed there in love and true Rest against all contradicting whatsoever made by flesh and blood whether pure and holy flesh or sinful and corrupt So that oft the party which faith by its power makes for it self in the heart and conscience of the believer is deserted and in a manner given off through the prevalent reasonings and desires of flesh and blood which make resistance in this warfare to their last breath or activity that remains in them And first when faith cals the heart to leave its natural state its kindred and relations in the heathenish world the morality and civility whereof seems to have much to say for it self after the corrupt part in it is cast off the natural powers and faculties of the mind in that state rebel and resist a long season not knowing how to submit though upon hopes of a land of promise specially when they must not know or cannot be made acquainted whither the soul is going and are therefore constantly representing all discouragements imaginable to hinder its obedience to this call of faith till at last they be over-ruled and brought under But secondly when through faiths workings by the power of the Law or Ministry of Christs first appearance the soul is brought out of the corrupt degenerate state of nature hath turned its back upon the land of its nativity and is come to the earthly Canaan to the circumcision of the flesh not in the letter only but in the spirit for the righteousness of works by the first Covenant then hath faith another Call or second voice to the soul causing it to sojourn as a stranger even in the land of promise and to look upon this earthly Jerusalem as no abiding City but that out of which it must also pass into a heavenly Country the Jerusalem that is above forgetting the things that are behind or unto which it hath already attained and pressing forwards to the mark for the price of its high calling to be clothed upon as with its house from heaven Through the call of this last voice of faith all flesh and the glory thereof is blown upon and made as nothing Isa 40. 6. the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry All flesh is grass and the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field perishing and fading in a moment
way of natural good works and well-doing pretending to keep up his natural lust and desire in the life exercise and power thereof as Saul did the best of the goods of the Amalekites and their King for Sacrifice to God And therefore the natural man in the Saint in all the powers and faculties thereof stands it out long against the workings of faith in him and fights hard upon this principle of self-preservation deriding with the brothers of Joseph that dreamer which the New-Covenant-Faith in the life language and obedience thereof appears to be to the judgement of flesh and blood when it perswades us to become weak with Christ to suffer our selves to be disarmed and despoyled of this first power and the free exercise thereof upon its single natural root as keeping up a covetousnesse in us that is Idolatry and the root of all evill and does assure us that Gods strength shall be made perfect in us through this weaknesse so as we may rejoyce and glory in such infirmities through which the strength of Christ shall come to be ever resting on us whereby at last we shall be made to take pleasure in these infirmities reproaches necessities persecutions and distresses for Christs sake which at first are grievous but in conclusion we find by experience that when we in our selves are thus most weak then are we in the Spirit of Christ made most strong In this weaknesse then which is brought upon the naturall man of the Saint in which he is made to bear about in his body the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus consisting in infirmities reproaches necessities persecutions and distresses inward and outward doth the death of Christ work in the flesh of every Saint untill it be fully crucified brought downe into the grave and formed into one dead body with Christs natural man for ever disenabled and weakened from acting this selfish power or exercising this natural lust or desire though in a way of natural or legal good workings singly considered but to have them brought to their lawful rest in the grave of Christ as a Sabbath-keeping there their reasonable service and sacrifice acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ Whence it comes to passe that we no longer live but Christ lives in us and in and through this weaknesse brought upon us by the Crosse quickens us to a more excellent way of working with God and for God then ever we were acquainted with before to the fulfilling and establishing the righteousnesse required by the Law to the highest so that against these weakened Saints and poor broken-spirited children of God there is no Law but the death of Christ that thus works in them doth condemne sinne in the flesh and never leave till it quite abolish it there and bring in the everlasting righteousnesse of God in the roome of that righteousnesse of man which was but as a morning dew Thus we come to bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal or crucified flesh which work of mortification is unto the old Adam most bitter and grievous it being that which bruises him and puts him to grief beyond all that can be imagined and which therefore he fights against and resists to the last drop of blood till he can no longer stand upon his feet but doth fall down amongst the slaine in the blood of Christ whose rest is blessed thus dying with or in the Lord and his works follow him This is the third particular wherein our conformity to Christs death doth consist The fourth and last does respect the workings of faith as they maintaine the good part of this fight in the Saints and gaine the victory over the world and the fleshly seed and principles in them In the managing of which faith doth at first whilest the spiritual senses are not come into use nor strength undergo many a sore brunt and is hard put to it by the workings of unsubdued flesh and blood in them as in the renewed principles thereof they abide in their vigour and flourishing of youth under the first Covenant having through the power of the Law and life of Christs fleshly perfection brought forth in them overcome the wicked one and by the knowledge of Jesus Christ after the flesh cleane escaped the pollutions of the world respecting the filth of the flesh in the confidence and strength whereof these young ones in the experiences of the Gospel think nothing too hard for them to break through and get the mastery of and therefore despise the workings of faith and seed of the promise as a barren desolate widowhood in comparison of their flourishing youth and would be putting in for the inheritance as obteined by the perfection of the Law and Christs first appearance esteeming that to be the Kingdome that is to abide and continue the holy City whose Tabernacle must never be taken down But against all these fierce encounters from pure flesh and blood in the Saint armed with conquests over the wicked one and many fruitful evidences of Christs presence and communion as a Bridegroome and Husband according to the flesh faith armes the soul putting on it the whole armour of light and evidencing to it things unseene the hidden Manna the new name the Jerusalem that is above that which neither eye hath seene nor eare heard nor hath entred into the natural mans heart and conception with which it puts forward and advances bringing in that which is enduring substance an inheritance undefiled and which fades not away in opposition to a failing decaying corruptible Crowne and Rest which flesh and blood glories in And in this more excellent way of worshipping and serving God it comes forth and gains ground in the heart to the stopping the high careere that flesh and blood was in before to the utter silencing it at last and casting down its lofty imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Through this powerful operation of faith the youth of flesh and blood in the Saint is weakened and grey heirs now begin to appear here and there upon him in this his captivity to the obedience of faith which state is very honourable and is the qualification that renders Saints the true Elders in the Church of God who being old men in Christian experiences ought to be in great esteeme for the use and advantage they are of and the great benefit they may bring to true Church-fellowship and Christian Societie how despicable soever this frame of spirit be in the eyes of the worldly Church and of the youthful visible Churches of Saints flourishing with their fair shewes in the flesh whereby they are puffed up and have life working in them whilest death works in Paul the aged and such Elders in spiritual growth that walk as he walked yea these are full and rich and would
yet it was so real and influencing that the BRANCH may truly be said to have lived in this his root the Father of Spirits as properly as the seed of the first Adam may be said to have lived in the loyns of him their common parent who was the Father of the flesh Christ the BRANCH considered as thus living in his root is said and accounted in Scripture phrase to act live and perform all that which was the action life and performance of the WORD For by Jesus God is said to create all things and to make both worlds who is said also to be before all things and in all things to have the preheminence And in this heavenly place of residence and abode which Christ the BRANCH hath in his root the whole spiritual seed Eph. 1. 3. are blessed with all spiritual blessings from the foundation of the world and received grace before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9 10. forasmuch as Christ had the same union then contracted between his humane nature and the WORD of life vertually and radically which afterwards by the incarnation flowed forth actually to the making of him not only a living soul after the pure image of the first Adam but a quickning spirit as the original pattern unto the heavenly and spiritual seed of himself the second Adam This praeexistent union between Jesus and the WORD before the WORD actually was made flesh Christ asserts upon several occasions as John 3. 13. where he saies No man ascended up into heaven but he that descended even the Son of man which is in heaven that is in his head and root where as a mysterie he lay hid in God before the world began interpreted thus by himself in effect John 6. 62. when he saies What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before likewise Phil. 2. it is said that he that was found in the form or WORD of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and was found in fashion and habit as a man as if to come forth as the servant the BRANCH were rather a diminution then advance to him simply considered who was before in that exalted state where he though it no robbery to be equal with God And John 8. 58. he asserts this ancientness of his daies unto the Jews saying unto them before Abraham was I am and Mat. 22. 42 43 44 45. he unriddles this mysterie to them where he affirms that he was as well Davids root and Lord as Davids son and off-spring saying that so he was acknowledged by David himself when he was seen unto him in spirit as the Mediator called Lord unto whom God the Father spake Psal 110. 1. where t is said The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy foot stool which expression can no way suite or agree with the second person in the Trinity simply considered but must necessarily be understood of the Lord the Mediator the WORD of life as he is the first born of every creature and first begotten from the dead the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to whom as risen from the dead the right hand of God is most fitly to be assigned This witness is also given by John Baptist John 1. 30. when he saith After me cometh a man which is preferred before me for he was before me the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world both as he is the root and the BRANCH in the former capacity as the root he became the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. In the other capacity as the BRANCH he was carried as the Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep dumb before the Shearers Isa 53. 7. in the dayes of his flesh For though what is said Heb. 9. 27 28. As it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgement so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many may seem strongly to confine the death of Christ to his offering up in the dayes of his flesh so as to exclude the other yet if this be compared with v. 26. it will appear to be so far from excluding that it rather asserts it by shewing how both these do well stand and consist together For saith the text he must then often have suffered since the foundation of the world taking that for granted which was performed before or from the foundation of the world in his mystical and heavenly state as he was Davids root But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself That which he did after an invisible manner in his heavenly and mystical state wherein he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world the same thing in the end of the world he doth in a visible manner in mans nature when he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself which sacrifice in his humane nature was but once offered nor could be forasmuch as it is appointed for man but once to die therefore Christ also in offering up this sacrifice as man could offer it up but once as Heb. 10. 12. It is said But this man Christ considered as the BRANCH or off-spring of David after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever sate down at the right hand of God In which action he that is the BRANCH and off-spring ascends up into the glory wherein he was before as the ROOT the first born of every creature and first begotten or beginning from the dead Indeed Christ by being the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world did but lay the needful foundation and preparation to the one sacrifice to be once made by him as man in the end of the world for the putting away of sin So as in effect both are but one and the same sacrifice in its compleat consideration and full extent and the obedience also to the will of the Father but one performed now in earth as from the beginning it had been done in heaven Without such a glorious and blessed counsel and contrivance of God preceding the very creation it self and the entrance of sin upon it how can God be said to have finished his works in the person of the Mediator from the foundation of the world and to be entred into his Rest Heb. 4. 3 4. if sin by entring in upon the creation or works of God after they were made should be able to disturb them and bring a desolation upon the whole Fabrick as it ought to have been dealt with in way of Justice if this Lamb slain had not born up the pillars of it who by standing up in the office of Mediator and High-Priest by whose sacrifice the atonement was actually made and remedy provided before the evil and danger did happen did immediately set all things straight again between God
and the works of his hands judging and condemning the wicked Angels for their disobedience reserving them in chains of darkness unto the judgement of the great day and taking the holy and obedient Angels into participation and fellowship with himself in the life from the dead by him obtained and possessed as the Lord to whom God spake to sit down at his right hand from the beginning until he made his foes his foot stool through whom as through a Propitiatory covering he did look down upon all the works of his hands and was at rest and well pleased with them as wrought in the Mediator notwithstanding all that had been done by sin or Satan to effect a breach and alineate his mind from them Hence Job 38. 6 7. it is said that God fastned the foundation of the first world and laid the corner-stone thereof viz. in the person of the Mediator by way of provision and preparation against all the power of sin and Satan in their attempts upon it At this the good Angels those morning stars and sons of God rejoyced prying into this mysterie which made them sing and shout for joy as on the same occasion it is said Psal 118. 22 23 24. This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it to see thereby the Devil and his Angels disappointed in their wicked designs who by the bringing in of sin were in hopes to have hindred the growing up of Jesus the BRANCH that was to spring out of this ROOT But Davids ROOT sitting as Lord at Gods right hand had before obtained that power which was to subdue all enemies and lay them flat at his foot-stool Davids OFF-SPRING therefore was in no danger of having his course stopped or race hindred wherein as a mighty Saviour and Redeemer he was to go forth and rescue the whole spiritual seed out of the hands of sin and Satan to bring them unto the true REST and obtain a gracious reprieve and forbearance for the most obstinate and rebellious also And as this was the end of Christs coming in the flesh he is accordingly fitted and qualified thereunto enabled in every particular to fulfil and accomplish the same But that we may the more clearly and distinctly understand and come to see wherein Jesus Christ as man is made this mighty Saviour and Redeemer unto men we shall consider this in three chief particulars all which were the product and consequents of the Word 's being made flesh As first the seeds and principles of a two-fold holiness and righteousness formed and set up in the mind of Christ as he is a man answerable to both Covenants For by the Word 's being made flesh the man Christ Jesus was taken into a twofold union and communion with God through the overshadowing of the Holy-Ghost in the womb of the Virgin becoming thereby in his own person the substance of both Covenants Isa 42. 6. and ch 49. 8. The true Abraham or Father to both seeds as well that of the Law as that of Faith In both which considerations of his man-hood he was substantially or personally united with God or with the WORD he and the WORD making but one Person and one Mediator which no man whatever besides himself is or can be and by vertue hereof he is qualified both as Priest and Sacrifice to pay that ransom and make that atonement for sin which God required The first of these unions he had as made under the Law or first-covenant which produced in him suitable righteous and holy principles unto the rule and tenor thereof enabling him to fulfill all that kind and sort of righteousness therein and thereby required and commanded In respect of which union and the image of God thence springing up in him and adorning of him he was truly and properly made a living soul and in this fashion and habit of a man was to taste death for every man as being in a state subjected thereunto called the natural body in distinction from the spiritual body For 1 Cor. 15. 44 45. there is a natural body and there is a spiritual body as it is written the first man Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam was made a quickning spirit Through this first union Christ had an exercise of life as meer man and in common with all men sin only excepted by reason whereof the workings and operations of his mind though they were in their kind most perfect yet were but those of the first Adams righteousness in the highest purity and perfection thereof The second union and communion then which is contracted between the WORD and Jesus the Son of Mary made him a quickning Spirit and brought him under the Law of the Spirit or of the second and everlasting Covenant as it is written Isa 59. 21. Thus saith the Lord my Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth and for ever Through which union Christ as man had the Spirit poured out upon him without measure and above the measure according unto which he was the receiver of it as he was under the Law singly considered as him whom God the Father seals and on whom he confers his new name or second image feeding him with hidden Manna and admitting him into the glory within the veil setting up in him the exercise of spiritual senses suited and prepared to converse with the very substantial brightness and similitude of God face to face even apparently in which Moses was the figure of him Numb 12. 8. In this exercise of life Christ as man is made higher then the heavens exalted to a name above every name far above all principalities and powers having herein obtained a more excellent name and inheritance then the Angels unto whom nevertheless as he was made under the law he was made inferiour for the tasting of death In respect of this his exalted state of humane nature he is called Gods first begotten Heb. 1. 6. by reason of whose hypostatical or substantial union with the WORD the Angels of God are appointed to worship him and to acknowledge him in this glory one and equal with the Father alwaies doing that which is pleasing unto him The seed of this union and communion was sown in the humane nature of Christ in the very womb the former and this both together making up that holy thing born of the Virgin that child Jesus who is said to grow in grace and in favour with God and with man like the vine whose fruit was refreshing to the heart of God and of man having the principles and exercise of life springing up in him that were most suitable agreeable to the heart of both being a man of God after Gods own heart as well as a righteous and holy man according to the Law