of a ceremonious and imperfect dispensation, by knowing the realities of those mysterious representations in themselves.  In this time the law was written on stone, the temple built with hands, attended with an outward priesthood, and external rites and ceremonies, that were shadows of the good things that were to come, and were only to serve till the seed came, or the more excellent and general manifestation of Christ, to whom was the promise, and to all men only in him, in whom it was yea and amen, even life from death, immortality and eternal life.

This the prophets foresaw, and comforted the believing Jews in the certainty of it; which was the top of the Mosaical dispensation, which ended in John’s ministry, the forerunner of the Messiah, as John’s was finished in him, the fulness of all.  And then God,

that at sundry times, and in divers manners, had spoken to the fathers by his servants the prophets, spoke to men by his Son Christ Jesus, who is heir of all things, being the gospel-day, which is the dispensation of sonship: bringing in thereby a nearer testament, and a better hope; even the beginning of the glory of the latter days, and of the restitution of all things; yea, the restoration of the kingdom unto Israel.

Now the spirit, that was more sparingly communicated in former dispensations, began to be poured forth upon all flesh, according to the prophet Joel; and the light that shined in darkness, or but dimly before, the most gracious God caused to shine out of darkness, and the day-star began to rise in the hearts of believers, giving unto them the knowledge of God in the face, or appearance, of his Son Christ Jesus.

Now the poor in spirit, the meek, the true mourners, the hungry and thirsty after righteousness, the peacemakers, the pure in heart, the merciful and persecuted, came more especially in remembrance before the Lord, and were sought out and blessed by Israel’s true Shepherd.  Old Jerusalem with her children grew out of date, and the new Jerusalem into request, the mother of the sons of the gospel-day.  Wherefore, no more at old Jerusalem, nor at the mountain of Samaria, will God be worshipped above other places; for, behold, he is, by his own Son, declared and preached a Spirit, and that he will be known as such, and worshipped in the spirit and in the truth.  He will now come nearer than of old time, and he will write his law in the heart, and put his fear and spirit in the inward parts, according to his promise.  Then signs, types, and shadows flew away, the day having discovered their insufficiency in not reaching to the

inside of the cup, to the cleansing of the conscience; and all elementary services expired in and by him, that is the substance of all.

And to this great and blessed end of the dispensation of the Son of God, did the apostles testify, whom he had chosen and anointed by his spirit, to turn the Jews from their prejudice and superstition, and the Gentiles from their vanity and idolatry, to Christ’s light and spirit that shined in them; that they might be quickened from the sins and trespasses in which they were dead, to serve the living God, in the newness of the spirit of life, and walk as children of the light, and of the day, even the day of holiness: for such put on Christ, the light of the world, and make no more provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.  So that the light, spirit, and grace, that come by Christ, and appear in man, were that divine principle the apostles ministered from, and turned people’s minds unto, and in which they gathered and built up the church of Christ in their day.  For which cause they advise them not to quench the spirit, but to wait for the spirit, and speak by the spirit, and pray by the spirit, and walk in the spirit too, as that which approved them the truly begotten children of God, born not of flesh and blood, or of the will of man, but of the will of God; by doing his will, and denying their own; by drinking of Christ’s cup, and being baptized with his baptism of self-denial; the way and path that all the heirs of life have ever trod to blessedness.

But alas! even in the apostles’ days, those bright stars of the first magnitude of the gospel light, some clouds, foretelling an eclipse of this primitive glory, began to appear; and several of them gave early caution of it to the Christians of their time, that even

then there was, and yet would be more and more, a falling away from the power of godliness, and the purity of that spiritual dispensation, by such as sought to make a fair show in the flesh, but with whom the offence of the cross ceased.  Yet with this comfortable conclusion, that they saw beyond it a more glorious time than ever to the true church.  Their sight was true; and what they foretold to the churches, gathered by them in the name and power of Jesus, came to pass: for Christians degenerated apace into outsides, as days, and meats, and divers other ceremonies.  And, which was worse, they fell into strife and contention about them; separating one from another, then envying, and, as they had power, persecuting one another, to the shame and scandal of their common Christianity, and grievous stumbling and offence of the heathen; among whom the Lord had so long and so marvellously preserved them.  And having got at last the worldly power into their hands, by kings and emperors embracing the Christian profession, they changed, what they could, the kingdom of Christ, which is not of this world, into a worldly kingdom; or, at least, styled the worldly kingdom that was in their hands, the kingdom of Christ, and so they became worldly and not true Christians.  Then human inventions and novelties, both in doctrine and worship, crowded fast into the church; a door opened thereunto, by the grossness and carnality that appeared then among the generality of Christians, who had long since left the guidance of God’s meek and heavenly spirit, and given themselves up to superstition, will-worship, and voluntary humility.  And as superstition is blind, so it is heady and furious, for all must stoop to its blind and boundless zeal, or perish by it: in the name of the

spirit, persecuting the very appearance of the spirit of God in others, and opposing that in others, which they resisted in themselves, viz. the light, grace, and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ; but always under the notion of innovation, heresy, schism, or some such plausible name; though Christianity allows of no name, or pretence whatever, for persecuting of any man for matters of mere religion, being in its very nature meek, gentle, and forbearing; and consists of faith, hope, and charity, which no persecutor can have, whilst he remains a persecutor; in that a man cannot believe well, or hope well, or have a charitable or tender regard to another, whilst he would violate his mind, or persecute his body, for matters of faith or worship towards his God.

Thus the false church sprang up, and mounted the chair; but, though she lost her nature, she would needs keep her good name of the Lamb’s bride, the true church, and mother of the faithful: constraining all to receive her mark, either in their forehead, or right-hand; that is, publicly, or privately.  But, in deed and in truth, she was mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots, mother of those that, with all their show and outside of religion, were adulterated and gone from the spirit, nature, and life of Christ, and grown vain, worldly, ambitious, covetous, cruel, &c. which are the fruits of the flesh, and not of the spirit.

Now it was, that the true church fled into the wilderness, that is, from superstition and violence, to a retired, solitary, and lonely state: hidden, and as it were,