received not the Love of the Truth that they might be saved By Truth is meant Eph. 1. 13. Rom. 1. 18. the saving Truth of the Gospel which is called the Word of Truth There is a Truth natural which the Heathens had and detained in Unrighteousness which brought Gods Wrath down from Heaven upon them There is a supernatural Truth from divine Revelation This is here meant the Abuse of which Truth highly provokes God to give up men judicially to the Delusions of Sin and the Devil and at last as the just Event and Effect of their rejecting the truth and believing Lies are damned These Wretches that receive not the Love of the truth are first punished with spiritual Judgments and then with eternal ones they are first blinded here judicially and then as the just Reward of their rejecting Christ the truth as it is in Jesus they are damn'd Having divided and opened the Text I shall lay down this one general Proposition viz. Doct. That God by Christ in just Judgment gives over such as are enemies to his Gospel to the Delusions of the Devil and their own Hearts to be hardned and blinded while others in Mercy are enlightned and converted by it That Gospel which makes the way of Salvation by Christ clear and evident to many souls who are in darkness and sit as in the shadow of Death to others thro' their Ignorance Prejudice and Malice and the righteous Judgment of God for their Perverseness and Infidelity proves a means to blind and harden their Hearts That Word and Gospel which to some is a Savour of Life unto Life to others thro' their Pride and Unbelief is a Savour of Death 2 Cor. 2. 15 16. unto Death In this sense these words agree with what was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah He shall be for a sanctuary Isaiah 8. 14 15. speaking of Christ but for a stone of stumbling and for a Rock of Offence to both the Houses of Israel For a Gin and for a Snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken snared Luke 2. 34. and taken And with the words of good old Simeon to Mary the Mother of our Lord This Child is set says he for the Fall and Rising again of many in Israel and for a sign to be spoken against By the Fall and Rising again is here meant undoubtedly the Salvation and Damnation of many Christ will be the occasion of many Peoples Damnation even of all that reject him and his precious Gospel and believe not in him As Christ is the Cause of many Peoples Salvation even of all that believe and shall be saved Acts 4. 12. for there is no other Name by which men can be saved but by his So he is the Cause of their Damnation eventually and accedentually who oppose his Gospel and believes not in him for he that believeth not shall be damned This is the thing which Mark 16. 16. Christ tells us of in my Text and is spoken of by Paul Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and rock of Offence whosoever believeth Rom. 9. 33. on him shall not be ashamed nor confounded For the opening of this weighty Point I shall first shew you what those sins are which provoke God and Christ to such a-degree as to blind and harden men by that means by which others are enlightened and softned Secondly Lay down some Conclusions for the better clearing up this great Truth Thirdly shew you how this stands with the Holiness and Goodness of God to give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lies that as Paul saith 2 Thes 2. 10 11. they may be damned Fourthly Then I shall sum up the whole with some practical Application O Lord God the Father of the Spirits of all Flesh help thy poor sinful Dust the meanest of all employed in thy Vineyard Give him thy holy Spirit and Wisdom from above to manage this great Point for thy Glory the good of Souls O! let him not darken Counsel by words without Knowledge but be led into all truth and cause it to shine transparently to the Convincing of the erroneous World the Conversion of sinners and the est ablishing thy Children in their most holy Faith c. for Jesus Christ's sake to whom with thy Self and eternal Spirit of Truth be Honour and Glory for ever Amen First I shall shew you what those sins are which provoke God to such a high degree as to give men over to Blindness under the Gospel Would you know what those sins are that provoke God to blind and harden many by the Word I 'll tell you in general They are sins against Knowledge and Light 1st Sins against the Light of Nature There are such sins which Paul speaks of that are of a provoking Nature and highly displeasing Rom. 1. 21 22. unto God When they knew God that is by the Light of Nature for the Light of the Word they had not as for his Judgements and his Statutes says the Psalmist they have not known them they glorified him Ps 147. 20. not as God but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts were darkened These Heathens had the Light of Nature which was sufficient to let ' em know that there was a God and that He was not like a Man or a Beast or a creeping thing as they foolishly imagined for that which might be known of God is manifest Ver. 29. Ver. 20. in them for God hath shewed it unto them for the invisible things of him from the Creation of the world are clearly seen What is seen Even his eternal Power and Godhead But how is this seen and understood Why by the things that are made So that they are without Excuse the Heavens declare Gods Psal 19. 1 2. Ver. 23. Glory and the Firmament shews his handy Work Now this Light they abused and misimproved they changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible Man and to Birds and four footed Beasts thus they became vain in their own Imaginations For which cause God gave Ver. 24. them up to uncleanness thro' the Lusts of their own Hearts yea he gave them up to vile Affections and to a reprobate Mind or Ver. 26. to a mind void of Judgment to do those things which are not convenient Now if sins against the Light of Nature be of such an aggravating Nature as to provoke God to give up Persons to blindness of Mind What will sins against the Light of the Gospel do the greater the Light is that persons sin against the greater must their Sin be and the more provoking in the Sight of God Which brings me to the Second thing Namely sins against the Light of the Gospel these are great sin and provoke God highly to Anger to reject Christ and his Gospel and not receive the
are pure in their own eyes and yet Pro. 30. 12. were not wash'd from their filthyness Many think and flatter themselves that they are Rich and full and have need of nothing and know not that they are Poor Rev. 3. 15 16. and Blind Naked Wretched and Miserable Thus many deceive themselves and put a dreadful cheat upon their precious Souls But 3dly you have the predicate or thing spoken of by Christ to this People in these words For Judgmemt I am come into this World that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made Blind a startling and a wakening Word Before I lay down the Proposition I must a little open the word Judgment in the Text which will give great Light into it Judgment is taken many ways in the Holy Scripture 1st It is sometimes taken for the Just Statutes and Holy Commandements of God Ps 19. 9. the Judgments of the Lord says Ps 19. 9. David are Pure and Righteous altogether 2dly For punishments Inflicted upon Christ by God for our sins which we must have suffer'd in Hell had not he born them for us on Earth Acts. 8 and 33. In his Humiliation his Judgment was taken away and who can declare his Generation By humiliation here is meant the Grave and the bands of Death which Christ suffer'd and lay under for our Sins and by Judgment is meant the Hand says one and Counsels of God justly afflicting and punishing his Son our Surety for our Sins and sakes but this is not meant in our Text. 3dly It is taken sometimes for the moderation or measure which God keeps in Chastizing of his People O Lord Correct me says the Prophet but with Judgment let it be with measure and moderation not in thine Jer. 10. 24. Anger lest thou bring me to nothing God hath not ty'd himself not to Afflict his people he will debate with them but it shall be in measure he keeps time and measure with his in afflicting of them so that they cannot enter into Judgment with God But 4th for the Wrath and Vengeance of God which he Mat. 8. 28. will Execute upon Wicked Men at the last day the Lord says the Apostle will Come Jude 5. 15. with Ten thousand of his Saints to do what To Execute Judgment upon all that are Ungodly c. The day of Judgment will be a passing of an Irrevocable Sentence and Condemnation upon all that shall then be found Enemies to Christ and his Pure Gospel But lastly It is also sometimes taken for the Spirit of Wisdom and Justice to know and discern what is Right what is wrong what is Good and what is Evil. Give the King says the Pfalmist thy Judgments and thy Righteousness Psal 72. 1 2. to the King's Son but neither of these senses are meant in the Text. Quest What is then meant by Judgment Answ 1st Some by Judgment here understand the Eternal Counsel and Decree of God as if Christ had said I am come into this World to Execute the Righteous Will and Counsels of my Father and the Event of it is this viz. that some who saw not see and some who see in a sense are made blind This I conceive is not primarily meant here 't is true Christ came into the World to do the Will of his Father and John 6. 38. 39. to Execute his Eternal Purposes of Grace in the Salvation of Sinners by his Death but yet I cannot think that this is meant primarily by Judgement here tho' some great Men would have it so But Secondly Others by Judgement here understand the Sentence of Condemnation as if Christ had said I am come to execute the Judgement of Condemnation but this is not meant by it for if you take it in this Sense you 'll find it hardly reconcileable with what is said John 3. 18. God sent not his John 10. 10. Son to condemn the World but that the World thro' him might have life Christ's first coming was not as a Judge but as a Saviour he came not in the days of his Flesh to condemn Sinners but by his Death and bloody Luke 19. 10. Agony to save them from Hell and Wrath I had rather Fall in and acquiesce with those Divines that by Judgment here understand the spiritual Government of the World by Christ committed to him as Mediator by Christ committed to him as Mediator by God his Father and managed by him with perfect Equity and Righteousness Thus Judgement is sometimes taken in Scripture The Father says Christ judgeth no man that is but by his Son for he has commited all John 5. 22. 16. 11. Judgements to him thus it is understood in my Text God governs and judges the World now by his Son Christ that all men may honour him as they honour the Father and great part of this Government of the World by Christ was his promulging and publishing his everlasting Gospel which is called the word of Life the Power of God Phil. 2. 15. Rom. 1. 16. to the saving of them that believe and the Law of Faith The Effect of this is twofold 1st That they which see not might see i. e. that those poor Souls who are spiritually blind and so utterly unable to see and find the way that leads to Life might thro' the Spirit as this Man born blind saw clearly be enlightned into the saving Knowledge of Christ and of the divine Truths of the Gospel The second Effect is and a dreadful one too that they which See might be made Blind that is that those who think they see and boast of their Knowledge as these did might through their prejudice to the Gospel Infidelity be more Blind than they were from their Birth There are two things signifi'd in making persons blind first to keep men from seeing and knowing the Truth when the Light of it is set before them this is a dreadful judgment and how many are there in this miserable case they have the Light of the Word shining in the midst of them and yet they discern it not The Bible is a sealed Book to many they know nothing savingly and feelingly of the truths and mysteries of the Gospel Their eyes are blinded Psal 69. 23. that tho' the Light shine they cannot behold it is not the case of such Souls dreadful to whom the Gospel is hid yes says Paul if our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost But 2dly To make blind is to increase Ignorance for the great Abuse of former Knowledge and Light this happened to them spoken of by Paul 2 Thes 2. 11 12. For this Cause God shall send them 2 Cor. 4. 4. strong Delusions that they should believe a Lie that they all might be damned who believe not the Truth but have pleasure in Vnrighteousness This is a dreadful Judgement but what is the Cause of it Verse 10th tells you Because they
be not found at last Rejecters of Christ and his Gospel For remember that the Judgements inflicted others God means to you Who so despiseth the Word let him Prov. 13. 13. be who he will and as great as he will shall be destroyed it is not said they may but they shall be destroyed 3dly Because no ungodly Men in the Reas 3 World can be sure for the time to come that they shall not fall upon him What Assurance have you O Sinners who live in sin and despise the Word that you who think you see and boast of your Knowledge shall not be blinded and turned into Hell as Psalm 9. 17. Mat. 24. 48. to the end others for their Disobedience and Unbelief are Doth not the word of the holy God say that all the wicked shall be turned into Hell and are you sure this shall not be your Portion Were these wretches in my Text blinded for their Unbelief and despising dear Jesus and his precious word And are you sure Sinners that this Judgment will not fall upon you if you thus continue to sin and reject the Grace of the Gospel Have many for their sins as a just Judgement from God been blinded and damned by the Word which have been a means thro' Grace to save others Oh! Coâ—â—â—er this you that forget God lest he tear Psal 50. 21 22 Prov. 29. 1 2. you in Pieces and there be none to deliver you Remember what the word saith that he who is often reproved and yet hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy But 4dly It is thus because the Judgements Reas 4 in this Life are typical to wicked men Of what if they die in Unbelief and Rebellion against Christ and his word shall be their Portion in the next Despair to a wicked man is a typical Hell for Hell is a Place of eternal despair and so all other Punishments and Judgements here are but little Hells Let Sinners tremble at this who are Rejecters of Christ and take unjustly Offence at his word Oh! You wretches consider Mat. 13. 21. this that any fearful Judgements that fall upon others for their sins may fall up on you and that God is as well displeased with your sins as with those that he has plagued and sent to Hell this our blessed Lord Jesus tells you is a truth Think ye says Christ That they upon whom the Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5 6. Tower of Siloam fell and slew them that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem Were there none in that City to be parallelled with them for their sins I tell you except ye repent you shall all likewise perish It is no matter what Sinners they were if you do not repent and leave your sins you shall all perish as well as they But so much for the fifth Proposition 6thly God by Christ is just and righteous Prop. 6. in this dispensation of his in causing some to see and others by the same means to be hardened and made blind None shall have ought to say against him at the Last day but all then shall be made to say Righteous art Jer. 12. 1. thou O Lord. Christ will have enough to lay to the Charge of wicked Men for their rejecting of Him and the tenders of his Grace to them in and by his Word But their Mouths shall then be all stopp'd muzzled for none shall enter into Judgment with God nor have Mat. 22. 12. any thing to say for themselves nor against God Some now say that God will not turn them that he has reprobated them to Hell and if they pine away in their Sins how con they help it Thus many quarrel with God here but no such complaints shall Ez. 33. 10 11. be heard against God at the Last day for then all sinners shall see that their Damnation is Just and so shall clear God and forever Condemn themselves One will say when in Hell God is Just in sending of me hither for by my sins I have deserved to come to this place of Torments Another will say my Pride hath brought me hither another my Swearing and Prodigality a third my Unbelief and rejecting of Christ and his Word has sunk me into this abyss of misery Oh! What complaints will sinners make against themselves How will they reiterate again and again those good Sermons and wholesome Instructions they have heard and misimprov'd here on earth each one will say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart despised reproof and have not Obey'd the ways of Prov. 4. 11 12 13 14. my Teachers nor Inclined my Ear to them that Instructed me The Lord will every one then say is Just and Righteous in sending me here to this place of endless and easless Misery For by my sins I have deserved it a Thousand times over Thus much for the Propositions I shall now 3dly shew you how this stands with the Holyness and Kindness of God to 3d. Head 2 Thes 2. 10 u. give Men up to Blindness of Mind and Hardness of Heart to believe Lyes that as the Apostle says they may be damned This I must confess sounds harsh at the first and seems to be Inconsistent with that goodness and kindness that God hath expressed in his Word to sinner But I hope anon you will see clearly that in these tremendous dispensations God is both Good and Just Before I speak directly to this case I shall premise two things that will give you great Light in this matter First that God in all his dispensations of Grace and Providence acts in a way of Soveraignty Prem 1. like himself as not being bound to his Creatures He hath Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardneth Why doth God write some Names in Rom. 9. 18. the Book of Life and leave out others Why doth he save some and Condemn others at last Why are some Enlightned and others Blinded by the same Word Why doth not God Accompany it with the Efficacy of his Spirit in some as well as in others What beloved will you resolve these things into but the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God Who giveth no Account of his matters Job 33. 13. unto any Why are some Rich and others Poor some Noble and others Ignoble some Strong and Healthy and others Sickly and Weakly c. Why it is the Will and Pleasures of God it should be so God giveth Grace when and to whom he pleases as well as other things Why doth not God mould the Heart to a Gospel frame when he fills the Ear with a Gospel sound Why are not all Converted by the Word as well as some Why doth God strike off the Chains from some and tear off the Veil from the Heart while he leaves others in Slavery and Egyptian darkness Why do some ly under the bands of Death while others are raised to spiritual
Preach the Gospel of Christ and He strived to Preach where Christ had not been Named And all this was made efficacious by Mighty Signs and Wonders by the Power of the Spirit of God So that it was best for the Churches and more needful he should continue though to his loss Phil. 1. 21. In all this Notwithstanding He was most mindful to ascribe all to Grace 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the Grace of God be was All that He was and after all his Discourse of his Line and measure He concludes He that Glorieth Let him Glory in the Lord 2 Cor. 10. 17. The Apostle Finished this course under and by the High Priest and Apostle of our Profession whose the fupreme Glory in all is Inasmuch as He who Built the House hath more Honour then the House whose House with all Prophets Apostles and Saints Heb. 3. 1. The Apostle was For He who Built All Things in his Church is God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Head 3. I come now to the third Head or Character the Apostle gives of himself I have kept the Faith This Completes the whole Herein the Apostle speaks again as a mighty Champion that retain'd the Riches of Faith Much more precious then of Gold that Perisheth The Faith he retain'd with such a Might and would by no means suffer it to be forced out of his Hand 1. That Great Principal and most essential Faith the Apostle kept or held fast is Jesus Christ Himself and his Righteousness who is pleased because he himself is indeed the All of Faith to be styled Faith it self Gal. 3. 23. 2. It is the whole Truth of the Gospel as the Apostle Jude gives it the Honourable Title of the Faith once at once once for All Delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Comprizing the Righteousness of Faith by which the Just Live and receive even full assurance of understanding The Righteousness of God revealed from Faith to Faith The Faith embracing the truth that is after Godliness which whoever walks contrary to denies the Faith The Faith that looks to the Eternal State and Condition which Hymeneus and Philetus denying by saying The Resurrection was past already overthrew the Faith of some This the Apostle held fast in all the senses of it now given and would by no means part with or betray to any Seducers or Adversaries of one sort or other as was before asserted under the first Character of Fighting a good Fight 3. The inward Grace of Faith in the Heart and Holy confession of which the Apostle saith Rom. 10. With the Heart Man believes unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made to salvation The Life he liv'd by the Faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave himself for him The Faith even the Plerophory of it sprinckling the Heart from an Evil Conscience by the Blood of Jesus the Faith by which we have Peace with God the faith that embraces the Promises by which we cleanse our selves from all Filthiness of Flesh and Spirit the sheild of faith The Apostle Exhorts above all to take to quench the fiery Darts of the Devil The faith by which the Elders obtained so Honourable a Testimony and Memory Heb. 11. In all those their grat Acts The faith that passes through all afflictions temptations and tryals till those Pillars are set up with this Inscription Rev. 13. Here is the Faith and Patience of the Saints here are they who keep the Commandments of God and hold the Testimony of Jesus Lastly the faith the very presence of things hoped for raises to that Plerophory of hope that enters within the Veil All Saints with the Apostle who by faith have dyed and slept in and by Jesus and are entred into rest with him even as this servant of the Lord hath done by the same faith and whom God even our Lord Jesus will bring with him the Living remaining Saints shall not Anticipate The Lord my God will come and all his Saints with him But in all this faith our whole subsistence is in and by the Author and Finisher of Faith And so we are come to the second part of the Text Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness This is the Prize of the High Calling of God in Jesus Christ Eternal Glory the Eternal Inheritance Eternal Redemption the whole Excellency Glory and Blessedness of the Eternal State is the Inheritance of the Saints in Light which is alone by Jesus Christ in us the Hope of Glory reserved in Heaven This the Lord as a Righteous Judge gives and he gives as a Crown of Righteousness Because Jesus Christ hath purchased it with his own Blood and Obedience And in him it is that Saints are able to subsist in this Eternal Glory Being made like him by seeing him as he is but most Glorious herein is that State He in the Father the Father in Him and Saints hereby in Christ and in the Father and the Love wherewith the Father Loved Him even before the Foundation of the World is in them because He is in them and in all this the Son Intercedes with the Father as a Righteous Father John 17. 24 c. To open this part of the Text according to the Tenor of the present Discourse so far as we have proceeded 1. That expression of the Apostle Henceforth or as the word in the Greek signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which remaineth is there is laid up for me c. An expression suitable to this is that Heb. 4. 9. There remaineth a rest for the People of God This hath an Immutable certainty If the Judgment of wicked Men be laid up in store with God and Sealed among his treasures Deut. 32. 34. How much more the Salvation the Glory and Blessedness of his Saints It is as cerrain and much more certain then as in themselves the precedent Fighting the good Fight c. For their assurance is not in themselves They would fail and come behind as Combatants not obtaining the Prize If all the certainty were in themselves as the Angels not Elect and Adam fail'd or fell short But the Prize it self to be given to them who do Fight and Run is in the nature of the thing out of themselves and in God alone and is assur'd by his Righteousness and Veracity that cannot fail This remainder is so Connexed as not possible to be separated from what went before and more Impossible by far to fail then what went before as in us but as all is sure in the Great surety It is to be fulfilled in all his Even as the Debt He paid for them is set far above all doubts 2. In this assurance of the Prize the Apostle speaks so triumphingly of he says The Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me He Styles the Lord the Judge and the Righteous Judge in agreement with the custom of those Games In which there was a Person solemnly constituted who should adjudge the Prizes
down to the present Time in the midst of such a World of Men Ignorant of God Alienated from his Life without God in the World without Christ and Enemies in their Minds so much given up to the World and the Lusts of it as to be called The World and the Men of this World in a State of Enmity to God and his Kingdom the Seed of the Serpent the Dragon Haters of his Servants and on all opportunities Slaying them as Cain the Seed of the Wicked one Did Abel in the very Beginning That yet in the midst of all these there should be a Generation of Men and Women that should be in an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a course a Lincal succession of the Saints and Servants of God like the succession as in the House of Levi of the Preisthood and of the High Preisthood in the Family of Aaron the more Eminent and the less Eminent among the Servants of God but all a Royal Priesthood or like the Stars of the First Magnitâ—de in the Regions above and those they call the Sporades the Multitude of the lesser Stars Now the very Root and Foundation and Corner Stone of all this is That Grand Elect Servant of God in whom His Soul delighteth who in Raising up a Generation of the Servants of God dealeth with all mildness A Bruised Reed shall He not break nor smoking Flax shall He quench but shall send forth Judgment unto Truth of Victory Esa 42. 1. That Servant of the Lord with the Key of David on his shoulder and strengthn'd with the Girdle of Faithfulness and Righteousness The Nail sasten'd in a sure place Esa 22. 20 c. Upon whom is Hung all the Glory of his Fathers House the off-spring and the Issue All Vessels of Greater and smaller Quantity from the Vessels of Cups even to All the Vessels of Flagons Had not He been a Servant in the Foundation There had never been a Servant of God in the World It is He who hath Loved and washed in His Blood and constituted Kings and Preists unto God and His Father Rev. 1. 5. Now the Charter of His making Servants to God among the Children of Men was given to the Second Adam Immediately upon the Fall of the First Adam so quick and immediate as to surprize the Power of Sathan in the First Effort when God in a Judiciary process upon Sathan says to Him under the disguise of the Serpent I will put enmity between thy Seed and of the Woman and this Seed of the Woman the one Seed Christ shall break the Head of the Serpent Gen. 3. unto perfect Victory and Thou shall bruise His Heel of which is presently to be spoken There must be therefore a Seed of the Second Adam Servants of God in every Generation who shall Fight Finish their course Hold the Faith of the Seed of the Woman the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven the Quickning Spirit the Saviour to the uttermost who Lives for ever to make Intercession and so sustains all the Servants of God coming to God by Him He Bears them up in their State of Preisthood as the Preist for ever Constituted after the Power of an Endless Life consecrated by the word of the Oath for evermore the High Preist and Apostle of our Profession the Captain of our salvation This supports the whole State of the Servants of God in all the Service here recounted here by the Apostle Fighting Running Finishing their course in order to the Receiving the Crown And thus the Line of the succession of the Servants of God hath been continued from Adam through all Ages From Adam by the Patriarks to Moses Joshuah the Judges Kings Prophets Zerubbabel and Ezra so to the Great Lord appearing in his Temple Malach. 3. 1. Then the Apostles and successive Ministers of the Gospel and the Witnesses Revel 11. 3. in the Time of the Apostacy who being the Last course of the Servants of God There is an express mention of that First Representation of things the Serpent early appearing as a Dragon in the Slaying Abel and the Seed of the Woman He endeavoured to devour by making War with them by the Beast Who kills them and they Lye Dead in the street of the Great City Till the Spirit of Life from God enter into them And then the course of things goes on to the Binding the Dragon Sathan the Old Serpent Chaining and Sealing up in the Abyss in his own Hell and Chains of Darkness and then after a short Loosing to shew his ever remaining Diabolick Spirit we have with all his Dead His Final Casting into the Lake which is the Second Death And thus we have the First Point cleared How comes there to be such a Line and Succession of the Priests or Servants of the Most High God in so Degenerate a Humane Nature And how Long Even till they come into the Glorious State of being Preists of God and Christ and Reigning with Him a Thousand Years seeing His Face as His Servants serving Him with His Name on their Foreheads and at Last deliver'd up with the Kingdom to God All in All which is the State of pure and perfect Eternity Eternal Life in its Highest Orb. Point 2. I come therefore now to the second Point How comes it to pass there is such a strict Limitation of the Servants of God First under such an Honourable Limitation as Fighting the Good Fight even unto Victory their Finishing their course even unto obtaining the Prize and their Keeping the Faith without betraying Basely surrendring or having made Shipwrack of it and so presenting it before the Righteous Judge and receiving the Crown at that Day All these are Honourable and yet Limitations Their Fight Course Keeping the Faith are not Lengthen'd out to that very Day Now of this there are very Great Reasons 1. The Great Lord of Time hath drawn the whole time with such exactness of Wisdom and Holiness That every thing is in its own Place Season and Time and as it fills that up and nothing is wanting so it cannot exceed nor reach beyond it And thus Every thing is Beautiful in its season Thus from the very Beginning Abel the First Martyr Finished his Course though short Enoch Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob theirs In the midst of whom appeared Melchisedec made like to the Son of God without Beginning of Days or End of Life Abridgeth a Preist continually He was not a Type of the Son of God in some particular excellency but He was made like to the Son of God throughout And thus is the Line of every Saints service drawn out nothing can crowd into it and this Line can by no Violence be cut shorter nor can any Zeal for Service draw it out longer The only Elect Servant is He whose Service hath no Limitation but as was said The Son Consecrated by the Word of the Oath for evermore and constituted after the Power of an Endless Life Melchisedec therefore who was