CHAP. Lord cometh in ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto

Rev. xx.

them.

35. So universally believed and known, was this matter, among all who ever stood in any light or order of God, that 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 the world?

36. 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 true and real power of salvation is administered, so 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, is this Word of salvation sent.

37. And 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.

38. 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 an honest and full confession of every sin, in the order of God, will forever be indispensibly necessary in order to a final forgiveness, while one sin remains concealed, in the earth.

39. 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.

40. 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.

41. For as it is the nature and disposition of fallen man to commit 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 ev ery 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.

24. And

III.

42. And therefore all such as receive the grace of 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,

43. And 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.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. IV.

The Sufferings of Christ, in the Work of Rez generation.

CHAP. FR

IV.

ROM what has been stated concerning the coming of 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 actually born out of the world, and was therefore called the first-begotten from the dead, the first-born of many brethren.

4. For being found in fashion as a man, with all the infirmities of mankind, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 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 Holy Ghost, in relation to a second birth, or being born again.

"Ve

5. And by him the Holy Ghost first practically taught the doctrine of the second birth. Marvel not John iii. 7. that I say unto you, Ye must be born again. Matt. xix. rily I say unto you, that ye who having followed me,* in the Regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

28.*Gr. Akoluthee santes.

6. Here then was the true design of Christ's coming into the world, not to continue in the nature and spirit which he took upon him, through the medium of a fallen woman, in behalf of man's redemption, but to be regenerated, or born out of it, into a state

of

of immortality and eternal life, and that others might CHAP. follow him in the same example.

7. Then as it is expressly said, that Christ Jesus was the first-born, and that he was to be followed in the Regeneration, and as he came into the world by water and blood, the same as other infants, by which medium he took upon him the seed of Abraham, the nature and enmity of fallen man, and as in this sense millions were born into the world before him ;

IV.

8. Therefore it is to be certainly understood that he was regenerated and born again: for in truth, he could not teach others to follow him, in a way, in which he did not walk himself: and he expressly testines Except a man be born of water, and the John iii. 5 Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

9. Then as Christ Jesus opened the way into the kingdom of God, by a real spiritual birth, and as all who ever possess that kingdom, must enter in by the same way, after his example, therefore it is in vain for any to stand gazing up into the natural heavens, in hopes of seeing the sons of God either ascend or decend, seeing the children of God come forth into his family, by being born again, as much as the children of this world are born into the society of men.

10. And as the spiritual birth is as real as the natural, and the manner of the one is as expressly described as the other can be, and is certainly and positively known; so from the time that the new man is begotten, he as sensibly grows up into the nature and likeness of him that begat, as the natural man from his conception, grows up into the nature & likeness of his father.

11. As the natural man is conceived in a body, and while in the generation consists of two parts and those two parts are fully and finally separated, in his actual birth, so that the tie by which they were united, is cut off forever, and the inner part comes forth in perfect shape with all the features of the father, so in the Regeneration there are two, called the flesh and Spirit, both in the same,body, and the one is enclosed in, and bound by the other, from which it must come forth, and be separated, and wholly cut off before it can ever see the kingdom of God.

12. Therefore as the natural infant in its generation, lies concealed within a second veil, so, the real child of God who is in the spiritual work of Regeneration, is as remote from the natural eye.

A a a 2

13. And

CHAP
JV.

13. And as the natural infant within the second veil in the womb of its mother, is insensible, and totally ignorant of what passes among the living, untilit has been brought forth, and borne upon the sides, and dandled upon the knees, and

comes to

sufficient maturity:So is the natural man, covered up in the womb of nature's darkness, wallowing in the blood of his nativity, and is insensible and totally ignorant of the birth, until he is brought forth, separated and wholly cut off from the tie of the flesh, by which his soul is held in bondage.

14. Hence the Lord by the prophet, speaking figuratively of Jerusalem in her natural state, and of the second birth or new creation, saith, "Fhy nativEzek. xvi. ity, in the day thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed with water to supple thee? thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.-And when I passed by thee, & saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, in thy blood Live ; Yea, I said unto thee, in thy blood Live."

15. Such, in a true spiritual sense, is the highest perfection of man in his natural state, like an infant unlooosed, wallowing in the blood of its nativity, and without a deliverance, & a final separation from that in which it is held, must perish without remedy.

16. Now as nothing is born without a separation, and no separation can take place without suffering, so that which bears has to suffer, and not that which is born. And as that which beareth is first in the or der of things, and not that which is born, and as that is first which is natural, and not that which is spiritual, therefore it is that which is natural that suffers, in the work of Regeneration, and not that which is spiritual.

17. The inner or new man in Christ Jesus was borne by the outer man, or in ether words that which was spiritual was within that which was natural, and had to be brought forth out of that which was natural and old; and hence as sin occupied that which was natural and old, and the pain and sufferings of Christ began in that which was natural, in Christ's first appearing, therefore the pain and sufferings must continue in his second appearing until the work of regeneration is completed, and that which is Datural and old is finally overcome by the new.

18. Upon this distinction between the natural and spiritual body, hangs the whole of the apostle's doctrines; and take away that distinction, and the

whole