XIII.

CHAP. Church, nor any fruits or evidence by which the true Church may be known or distinguished from the false, by those who are without.

31, 33.

Heb. viii.

57. It may be observed, that the Covenant which was entered into by the Church, was kept and maintained as an internal law, during seven years; and it was afterwards committed to writing in form, on account of those who were without, and to convey an understanding of the faith of the Church in relation to a joint interest; and to confirm it beyond dispute, as the mutual faith and practice of the Church, to all whom it might concern, it was signed by the members at large.

58. But this form of the Covenant, is not the Corenant itself. The internal spirit and substance of the Covenant is more than ever was, or ever will be written with paper and ink, being the fulness of the law of Christ, written by the Spirit of God, in the heart, and on the mind of every true member of his Church; and is by them kept and maintained as an internal law of liberty, justice and equity. And although the spirit and substance of the Covenant is not contrary to the form, yet it is exclusive of, and entirely distinct from any written form whatever.

59. Thus the promise of God by his prophets, Fax. concerning Christ, is fulfilled: I will give thee for a Jer. xxxi. covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.— Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Isreal-I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

4, 10.

60. Christ, in his first and second appearing, hath made manifest the whole spirit and substance of the law, in The Two tables of the New Covenant; and the Two Anointed Ones, or Two first-born in the new creation, have finished their work, between whom the covenant of eternal life is established; hence the spirit and substance of this new Covenant, in its fulness, is written in the hearts, and on the minds of all their spiritual children.

61. And therefore, in the gathering, building, increase and establishment of God's spiritual house,

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all the members of the Church, both male and fe- CHAP. male, as his Sons and Daughters, Brethren and Sisters of one family, according to their lots and several abilities, possess and enjoy one mutual interest, and one joint inheritance, both in regard to the things of time and eternity.

62. However humiliating to the pride of fallen man, the present work of God may be, in disannulling their human systems, and forms of worship; yet the work has commenced, and will be accomplished. Already have we ourselves suffered the wreck of all our own works and inventions; yet we have had, and still have, the greatest cause of thankfulness to Almighty God, for that work which is accompanied with the real and abiding treasures of salvation and eternal life; and have therefore received joyfully the spoiling of our goods, and have received, even in this life, an hundred fold, according to the promise of Christ.

63. And certain it is, that by those means which seemed foolish to the wisdom of this world, hath God, according to his own unchangeable purpose, completed the foundation of his spiritual building, and established that law of order, harmony, peace, and righteousness in the earth, that will stand forever; and which, in its increasing operations, will, in the end, be an everlasting blessing to all nations.

CHAPTER XIV.

Prophecies and Promises fulfilling in the present increasing Work of Christ.

foundation of the world; and as far as possible, invisible spiritual things have been revealed by the things that are made; therefore said the Lord by the prophet Hosea, I have multiplied visions, and used Mossa zi similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

CHAP.
XIV.

2. Christ Jesus, the first who received the substance of the promises, seemed often at a loss for means to convey an understanding of spiritual things to souls that were lost in their sins: and therefore he had recourse to similitudes, and compared spiritual things with natural, as the most striking means of Mark iv. Conveyance. "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we Luke i compare it? Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it ?"

32.

18.

3. When Christ compared the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard-seed, to leaven hid in three measures of meal, or to a net cast into the sea, he could not mean that there was any resemblance in the case to the view of the natural eye. And therefore, it must be a false imagination that will look for the spiritual object to appear in the natural form, or shape of those things to which it may have been compared.

4. It would be very unnatural and unreasonable to look for a kingdom to appear in the shape or form of a net, or of a piece of leaven; yet in the spiritual mind there is a true sense, in which these things in nature have a resemblance to the spiritual work of God. And this is particularly made manifest, in the present day, in and by the Church of Christ, which is built according to the fore-knowledge of God, answerable to all the similitudes that were ever drawn by the spirit of Christ, in prophets or apostles.

5. The Church of the latter day was represented by the prophets, under the similitude of a kingdom, a city, particularly Jerusalem, Mount-Zion, the temple, and such like objects of visible glory; and the gathering and uniting of God's people into Churchorder, is compared to the. gathering of the Israelites, from the countries in which they were dispersed, and establishing them in the possession of their own land.

6. But to frustrate the carnal mind, Christ and the apostles represent the same spiritual work, by things directly contrary; so that the proud and aspiring have as good reason to look for the promise to be fulfilled in planting a grain of mustard-seed, as in setting up

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a great visible kingdom; for thereunto is the king- CHAP. dom of heaven likened. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the true signification of the promises of God to his Church and people, and wherein they have been fulfilled.

7. Whatever the promise of God literally referred to, whether to a kingdom, a new city, or a new heaven and earth, it doubtless alluded to men and women, living on the earth, in and among whom the work of God was to be wrought, and to whom the promises were finally to be fulfilled, for the establishment of everlasting righteousness and peace; therefore, such must constitute the true Church of Christ, the only antitype of every figure, and the substance of every blessing promised.

8. We shall take notice of a few general promises, which comprehend all the particular ones, relating to the Church of the latter day, together with their plain and pointed accomplishment and first we shall consider what was promised through the prophet Daniel.

28, 31

9. By the fate of the image which was shown to Nebuchadnezzar, and of the four beasts which ap- Dan. peared to Daniel, both representing four great em- 35 & v pires, God did particularly promise and show the final dissolution of those monarchal governments, by which mankind were bound in ignorance and wickedness.

10. In the fourth and last of these empires, Antichrist was to have his reign, in which the civil and ecclesiastical powers would be divided, like the feet and toes of the image, and into which the existing powers of government would gather, for the support of the whole system.

11. A stone was also cut out of the mountain without hands, and smote the image on his feet, which were part iron and part clay, and broke them to pieces, and continued to break and bruise every part of the image, until the whole was broken in pieces together; and the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image, became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

CHAP.

43.

XIV.

12. It was thereby expressly shown, and promised, that the powers of monarchy should be weakened, in the latter end of Antichrist's dominion, by a Dan. li. mixture of republican principles; that is, the seed of men, where all, however divided, have equal power and authority, and where those Antichristian and republican principles should be blended together, like hard iron and soft clay; there God would smite them both together, by the Everlasting Gospel, given by invisible inspiration from heaven.

44.

13. All this God is particularly fulfilling in this latter day; for, as stone is harder than any metal, and grinds and wears away iron and brass, silver and gold; so the truth of God is harder than all the most polished systems and principles of men, and must in the end, grind and wear them away till no place be found for them.

14. And as republicans are mixed with Antichristians in every department; so this mixed government is partly strong and partly broken, and the different parties help to weaken and break each other. And as neither are founded on the revelation and spiritual work of God; so neither can stand, but in the end both must fall together; and only by a proper relation to the spiritual work of God, can the principles of real and true freedom be finally estab lished.

15. For neither empire, nor republic, founded in the corruptions and depravity of the fall, can stand in the shaking of this last and great day of God Almighty and therefore the perfectly just and peaceable kingdom of the Messiah, is opened as a refuge for all that would escape the promiscuous wreck and ruin of the Antichristian world.

16. This was also included in the same prophecy Dan. through Daniel. "And in the days of these kings, [that is, in the time of the fourth empire, before the kingdom of Antichrist is at an end,] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” 17. And further, says the same prophet," I beheld

chap. vii. 9, 13, 14.