CHAP.

IV.

18. Therefore, when he had related to Joshua, thing by thing, what he had done, Joshua said, "Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones: (for in the case of wilful and knowing disobedience the law shewed no mercy.) And they raised over him a great heap of stones-wherefore the name of that place was called The valley of Achor [i. e. the valley of trouble] unto this day."

19. Hence the Lord speaking, by the prophet Hosea, of the work of Christ in the latter day, refers to this circumstance, as particularly to be fulfilled, in its full design and signification, upon the very cause Hosea and principle of sin, when he says, "Behold I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope."

14,15,&c.

Luke vii.

29, 30.

Matt. v.

20. Without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better and therefore such as receive the power of salvation and real acceptance with God, must receive it through that medium appointed in the order of God, before them; and by finding their union and relation to the order of God's appointment, they find their relation to God, which was ever his manner of working, in every dispensation of his grace.

21. Hence those who came to John, and were baptized of him, confessing their sins, justified God; while the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him, For as John was sent of God; so whatever was done unto John, was accepted as done unto God, according to the extent of his mission.

22. The power and authority of Christ, both in the person of Jesus, and in the order of the Primitive Church, has been already sufficiently stated to show that there was no other medium, through which mankind could find access to God, than that in which he was manifested, which was in his faithful and true witnesses.

23. Hence said Jesus to his chosen followers, "Ye 13, 14. x. are the salt of the earth-Ye are the light of the world. He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and

40. xviii.

IV.

he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.- CHAP. Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.-Whose soever sins ye remit, John xx. they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins 23. ye retain, they are retained."

24. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given unto them.-As my father hath sent me into the world, even so send I you. The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. -If any man hear my words and believe not, I judge him not He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

ch. xvii.

22. xx. 21

v. 22. all.

47, 48.

14.

Xiii. 11.

25. It was the Word, dwelling in the saints, which was to judge the world at the last day; accordingly Jesus said, "I have given unto them thy Word.-It chap.xv is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.' Hence Mark it is written," He that abideth in the doctrine of 2 John 9. Christ, hath both the Father and the Son-Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

26. And therefore, Christ, dwelling and abiding in the saints, did, in and by them, hear and judge of all things pertaining to salvation. And as there was no other name given under heaven among men, whereby any could be saved, but by Christ, and Christ dwelt in his saints and they in him; so there was no other medium under heaven, where God could be found to salvation, or where true remission of sins could be obtained.

16. and

1 Cor. ii.

vi. 19.

18.

27. As God is All-seeing, and knows the most secret thoughts, words and actions of all men; so in this respect, nothing can be covered from him, nor uncovered before him; therefore when many that be- Acts xix. lieved came and confessed and shewed their deeds, they Mat. xxiv did not go into the desert, or some secret place to 26. confess their sins, as many do now-a-days; but they came to the apostles, who were the light of the world, and brought their deeds to the light, and shewed them.

28. In this was substantially fulfilled, according to

IV.

CHAP. the measure of that dispensation, what was so abundantly spoken of, in the law and the prophets, about John ii. confessing sins to God. Hence said Christ, "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

20, 21.

29. The greatest power that Christ had, was that which pertained to salvation, and the remission of sins. And as the Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins; so he gave the same power unto his followers, 2 Cor. iv. whom he had chosen to give the knowledge of salvation to the world, which treasure was committed to earthen vessels. Whose soever sins they remitted, they were remitted unto them; and whose soever sins they retained, they were retained.

7.

Dan. vii.

30. This was the true order and power in which the Primitive Church stood. And although the power of the holy people was scattered, and the true order in the confession and forgiveness of sins was perverted and lost, during the reign of Antichrist; yet, according to the most pointed testimony of both prophets and apostles, the same power, and greater, was to be restored and given unto the saints in the latter day.

31. Agreeable to the vision of Daniel, Judgment 22,26,27, was given to the saints of the most High. And acOba. 21. cording to Obadiah, Saviours shall come upon mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

10, 22.

32. The judgment of Esau, which is Edom or old Adam, is thus described by the prophet Jeremiah : "I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his seJer, xlix. cret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. And at that day shall the heart of the men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs." That is, pained to be delivered of those abominations which they know must come to the light.

33. The same thing was testified by all the prophets who spake of the work of the latter day, from Enoch the seventh from Adam, to John the last of the Jude 14, inspired apostles; as it is written, Behold the Lord

cometh in ten thousand of his saints, to execute judg

IV.

ment upon all. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon CHAP. them, and judgment was given unto them.

34. So universally believed and known was this Rev. xx. matter, among all who ever stood in any light or or- 4. der of God, St. Paul expresses it as a matter of astonishment that any should be so ignorant as not to know it: Do ye not know that the saints shall judge 1 Cor. vi. the world?

35. Then as the revelation of God is given in this day of Christ's second appearing, by which the secrets of the heart are searched out, and the real power of salvation administered; so this Word of salvation is sent unto all that are weary of sin, and desire to be stripped of all that is contrary to the pure nature of Christ, and released from the bondage of corruption.

36. Every one that doeth truth, cometh to the light, confessing and shewing their deeds, that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. And as sin is ever a transgression of the law, and not one jot or tittle of the law can in any wise fail, till the whole be fulfilled; so in order to obtain a final forgiveness, an honest and full confession of every sin, in the order of God, will forever be indispensibly necessary, while one sin remains concealed in the earth.

37. No person living will freely and honestly confess all their most secret sins before another, as in the sight of God and his witness, but from the most sincere and upright principle. And there is no person of feeling and candour, but will acknowledge, that the principle which would lead any one, honestly, to bring their dark deeds to the light, and to witness against them, is not the same principle which led the person to commit sin and keep it concealed.

38. For it is the nature and disposition of fallen man tonimit sin in the dark, and keep it concealed; so it is the nature of the spirit of God, and the disposition of those who are led thereby, to bring every secret abomination, and hidden work of darkness to light and the former is as contrary to the latter as midnight darkness is opposite to the brightness of the meridian sun.

39. And therefore, all such as receive the grace of Ddd

2.

V.

CHAP God, which bringeth salvation, in the present day, first, honestly, bring their former deeds of darkness to the light, by confessing all their sins, with a full determination to forsake them forever. By so doing they find justification and acceptance with God, and receive that power by which they become dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto. God, through Jesus Christ, and are enabled to follow his example, and walk even as he walked.

CHAPTER V.

The Sufferings of Christ, in the Work of Regene

ration.

ROM what has been stated concerning the com

Fogo Christ, it is evident that every step of his

coming, from first to last, was contrary to the wisdom of this world and although he was in the world, yet the world knew him not: and as little did they know whence he came, or whither he went when he departed out of the world.

2. Instead of descending through the air, from some unknown region, in a splendid appearance, and ascending in like manner, he first came forth from such a cloud as all other infants come from: and at his departure, a cloud received him out of their sight. The truth is, he was born into the world, and he was born out of it and his being born into the world was one birth, and his being born out of it was another.

3. And although millions had been born into the world before him, yet he was the first who was actuAnd as the world were ally born out of the world. dead in trespasses and sins, he was therefore properly called the first-begotten from the dead, and the firstborn of many brethren. For being found in fashion as a man, with all the infirmities of mankind, and in all things made like unto his brethren, in things natural, and being tempted in all points as they were, it was necessary that he should be conceived by the Ho